"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٩‎٣‎٢] (١٧٨٢/١٠٨٧)

932
Protection of
British
subjects.
1897.
1899.
that date relieved by Captain F. "B. Prideaux, who was afterwards invested
with the local rank of Political Agent and given a guard of about 30
regular Indian infantry.
During the period now in question wrongs committed upon British
subjects and offences against the dignity of the British Government
were few, and two only need be particularised.
In 1897 Saiyid Khalaf, a bankrupt trader of Bahrain and not a
British subject, escaped from the custody of Sharidah, one of the
Shaikh's officials, and took refuge in the house of a certain Muhammad
K halil who was then acting as British Residency Agent ; whereupon
Sharidah entered the house and removed him, with the assistance of
another man, notwithstanding the protests of the Acting Agent.
Colonel Meade, the Political Resident, while admitting that Saiyid
Khalaf had no claim to British protection, considered the violation
of the British Agency to be a serious impropriety and requested that
Sharidah and his companion might be fined Rs. 500 each and obliged
to furnish written apologies for their behaviour. With this demand
the Shaikh oi Bahrain immediately complied, and the fines were credited
to the Government of India in the Bushehr treasury.
In 1899 an incident occurred which exhibited the weakness of
Shaikh Isa as a ruler and even brought loyalty towards the
British Government into doubt. A yvarehouse belonging to the
Shaikh, in which had been deposited a quantity of arms, the property
of the Anglo-Parsi firm of Fraci*, Times & Co. but at the time
under sequestration at the instance of the British Political authorities,
was feloniously entered by night ; and two Hindus, British subjects,
who occupied a part of the buildings and who imprudently dis
turbed the operations by appearing on the scene along with other Hindus,
were wounded with daggers by the trespassers. The ringleaders in
tlus case proved to be Sharidah, the same high-handed official of the
Shaikh who has ah-eady been mentioned, his son Fahad, and one Amir
^ ^ and fav0ul,ite servant of the Shaikh. The
ai s owed great reluctance to deal properly with the case;
fW.r ^ Until Str0n " preS8Ure liad been brou g h t to bear
that the offenders were banished from Bahrain and a sum of Rs. 1,000 was
pai up y wayo indemnity. Of the amount thus recovered Rs. 400 were
remainder b ^ ^ f R ^ 50 ^ Sillgh ' the wounde< l Hindus, the
emainder being retained by Government. Sharidah and his son returned
ment Tl r ^ Withoilt the cons ent of the Govern-
a aild we re again expelled; but, after their exile had
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