"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٠‎٦] (١٢٦٢/١٠٢٣)

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1895. In the autumn of 1895, during the presence of British warships off
Bahrain in connection with the Zubarah crisis, a number of slaves took
refuge at the British Agency in Manamah and claimed their freedom ;
a number were found to be entitled to it, and on one occasion so many
as 31 individuals were liberated. Three of the slaves emancipated
belonged to the refractory colony of Dawasir Arabs at Budaiya' and
Zallaq, who expressed great dissatisfaction and threatened to emigrate
from Bahrain ; and the example of the Dawasir was followed by some
of the Sadah of Hadd and of the Al Bu Falasah tribe. The movement
for liberty among slaves in Bahrain seems at this time to have assumed
serious proportions j and the British authorities apparently found it
necessary to give an assurance to the leading men of Bahrain that the
emancipation of all slaves was not contemplated; it was added, however,
that all cases of fugitive slaves would continue to be investigated, and
that <( recent importations and ill-treated slaves " would be freed. In
November 1895 it was reported by the Commander of H.M .S.
"Pigeon" that the Arab slave owners of Bahrain had volun
teered to give a written undertaking to the Shaikh that they would not
in future buy, sell or give away slaves; but no advantage, apparently,
was taken of this offer. After these arrangements had been made the
Arabs again settled down • some Al Bu Falasah who had left the islands
returned to their homes; and slaves ceased for a time to apply for
manumission.
1900. In 1900 Ahmad-bin-Sa'ad, a native of Kuwait residing in Bahrain,
was convicted of re-enslaving a boy who had received papers of
manumission from the British Consul at Ba-srah, and was fined $100
by the Shaikh of Bahrain,—a penalty to which the Government of
India took exception as inadequate.
1Qn . Matters continued on the footing of 1895 until ten years later,
when Captain Prideaux, the Political Agent in Bahrain, brought it to
the notice of the Government of India that the importation of slaves,
chiefly Africans, steadily continued in Bahrain, the principal offenders
being the Sadah of Hadd and the Dawasir of Budaiya/ and Zallaq; ne
estimated that the number of the slaves in Bahrain who had been
imported since 1847, and were therefore in his view entitled to freedom,
miffht now be reckoned in thousands. Captain Prideaux recommended
that steps should be taken to deal with the evil by the gradual extinction
of the institution of slavery in Bahrain on principles which had been
adopted in Zanzibar in 1891, and he made also some alternative
suggestions; but the Government of India considered the objections
ao-ainst the Political Agents proposals to be insuperable and directed,
instead, that no effort should be spared to detect and suppress tresn
importations of slaves j that every facility for obtaining manumission
papers should be afforded to newly imported slaves ; that encouragement
to applv for their freedom should not be offered to slaves who had been
long domiciled in the islands ; and that, in the event of long domiciled
slaves applying of their own accord for manumission, each case should
be considered on its merits with especial reference to the treatment ot
the slave, past and prospective, by his master. The Political Agen
was also authorised for the future, on the analogy of the practice at