"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الجزء II. ج. ج. لوريمر. ١٩١٥" [‎٢‎٥‎٦‎٤] (١٢٦٢/١٠٨١)

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was not in any way prompfced by the Britisli authorities, but it may
have been instigated by Agha Muhammad Eahim ; who, besides having
private claims against Messrs. Fracis, Times and Co., had recently
become aware that the British Government, whom he represented, viewed
the traffic with disfavour.
Colonel Meade, the British Political Resident at Bushehr, arrived in
Bahrain on the 4th of February 1898, and partially examined the arms
seized ; but he declined to intervene in the matter, either by taking charge
of the arms, as suggested by the Shaikh, or by pressing 1 for their release,
as desired by Mr. Fracis—one of the partners—-who was then pre
sent on the spot. In September 1899 an attempt, noticed in the history
of Bahrain, was made by a favourite of the Shaikh to tamper with
the confiscated arms and gave rise, in consequence of an assault on
Hindu British subjects which it involved, to some unpleasantness between
the Shaikh and the British authorities ; but it did not in any way affect
the general issue of the disposal of the arms.
Eventually in April 1900, Agha Muhammad Rahim being then dead;
the Shaikh became desirous of restoring the arms to Fracis, Times and
Company, and on the 2nd of June 1906 they were handed back to the
owners, in a much damaged condition, on the understanding that
they should not be sold in Bahrain, or Qatar, or on the Arab Coast.
Consternation among dealers and litigation fpllowing the seizure,
of 1897-98.
The seizures at Bushehr, Masqat and Bahrain made a profound sensa
tion and excited much indignation and anxiety among the firms and traders
in England, whose interests were involved. The Foreign Office in London
was inundated with letters and besieged with representations from the
manufacturers, exporters, ship-owners and underwriters, whose pockets
had been touched in various ways. The nefarious business itself was even
depicted in moving terms as an a honest trade, carried on for nearly
twenty years, and now threatened with extinction by the action of the
British Government.^
Legal proceedings against Government officers followed. Messrs. Fraeis>
Times & Co. brought a suit against Commander Carr of the Lapwing'^
for the value of their arms seized on the a Baluchistan ^ and they
instituted another against Colonel Meade with reference to the confisca
tions at Bushehr and Bahrain, for which, they alleged, he, and not the
territorial authority, was responsible. In both suits the defence was
undertaken by the Treasury, and the final result in each case was favour
able to the defendants and to Government. In the suit against Commander
Carr it was finally ruled by the House of Lords on the 8th of July 1901
that a British jury could not go behind the decision of the Masqat court,
which had held that the munitions seized were intended for Persia, that
not ling had been done contrary to the law of Masqat, and that the
seizme was legal. In Colonel Meade's case judgment was given for the