"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٨‎٨‎٨] (١٧٨٢/١٠٤٣)

888
Persian and
Turkish
protection si
multaneously
invited by
the Shaikh
of Bahrain,
1859.
Discussion of
the policy to
be adopted
by Britain in
regard to
these events,
1860 -61.
Towards the end of the year 1859, probably in connection with this
crisis, Shaikh Muhammad made simultaneous applications for protec
tion to the Persian Governor of Fars and to the Turkish Wali of
Baghdad. The response of the Turks was delayed by the absence of
the Wali from his headquarters; but a Persian agent in the person of
one Mirza Mehdi Khan, a well-known Anglophobe, almost immediately
arrived in Bahrain, the Persian flag was hoisted, and Persian sovereignty
was proclaimed. Scarcely, however, had these ceremonies been per
formed, when Muhammad Baig, the emissary of Mustafa Nuri Pasha
appeared; the Persian flag was again lowered ; and the Turkish flag
was raised in its place. To complete the absurdity of the situation the
Persian agent refused to leave Bahrain or to surrender his imaginary
authority in the Shaikhdom.
Sir H. Rawlinson, the British Minister at Tehran, who differed from
Captain Jones, the Resident, in regarding these matters as of slight
account, contented himself with obtaining from the Shah's ministers an
assurance that no military occupation of Bahrain should be undertaken
by Peisia until the question of title had been settled by diplomatic
discussion; and he advised Captain Jones that, while hostilities against
Bahrain from any quarter were to be repelled by force of British arms,
the voluntary tender by the Shaikh of allegiance to any other power
might, so long as it was not followed by a military occupation, be
ignored as of no practical importance. On consideration of the
correspondence the Government of Bombay instructed the Resident at
Bushehr not to interfere with the occupation of Bahrain, whether by
Persia or by Turkey, otherwise than by protest and by an intimation that
the matter had been reported to Her Majesty's Government; but at the
same time the agents of both powers were to be distinctly warned that
aggression by Bahrain, or in the name of Bahrain, upon neighbouring
tnbes wouldnot be allowed by the British authorities, and would eve^
the^lc^t "f ^ 01Ce ^ " eCeSSary - In refer ri»g the general question to
lq^^ Bombay observed that the
fi t n .i t* • • ' 1 been so long preserved by
shouuTerl 1 , ntlSl ; Govemmeut 'to demand that Bahrain
should be regarded a S suhjeet neither to the Sublime Porte nor to Persia ■
and they recommended that tbp i i j » ^ >
be recognised nnrf tl t n ^dependence of the principality should
be recognised, and that those engagements which in the interests of
commerce, humanity and public seenritv b.„l v , . . luteresti ot
and the British rv,, y ee " concluded between it
a tne Jii,t ls h Government should be maintained This '
appiove y ler Majesty's Government in February 1861.
view was