"ملف 53/7 V (D 8) شؤون الكويت والقبائل العربية" [و‎‎٢‎٣‎٨] (٥٣١/٤٩٣)

[Confidential.]
No. 2799, dated Bushire, the 2nd (received 12th) December 1906.
From M ajor P. Z. Cox, C .I .E., Political Resident in the Persian Gulf,
To The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign Department.
In continuation of my two letters marginally noted by last mail, in
Nos. 2719 and 2738, dated 24tli November 1906. COnne Ction with Nejd affairs, I have the
~ i i? t -i. honour to forward, for the information of
the Government of India, a copy of a f urtlier communication which I have since
Koweit, No. 46i, dated 20th November 1906. received ttodi the Political Agent,
.. ,. , , , , , . , , Koweit, reporting the details of a conver
sation which ho has had with Sheikh Mubarak.
Ibe latter s remarks in behalf of Bin Saood's cause, as reported in para
graph 5 of Captain Knox s letter, are a repetition of his former representations,
but his subsequent observations regarding the Baghdad Railway question, are of
much interest as evidence of the astute concern which he takes in the political
situation, and, at the same time, seem to me to bear out the view which I have
all along maintained that, in spite of the coquetry with the Turks in which the
force of circumstance obliges him periodically to indulge, Sheikh Mubarak has
at bottom a genuine conviction that his salvation lies in close adherence to the
Christian Power, at present Great Britain, which occupies a predominant
position in the northern portion of the Gulf.
No. 451, dated the 20th November 1906.
From— M ajor S. G. K nox , I. A., Political Agent, Koweit,
To— M ajor P. Z. Cox, C.I.E., Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, Bushire.
I have the honour to inform you that I have just returned this morning
from a visit to Sheikh Mobarak at which he gave me the following news from
Nejd.
2. He said that he had received letters from Bin Saood and from Bin
Bashid, and that the former had told him tbat the Mutessarif with 1 ,200 men
(Syrian troops) and 12 guns had h ft for Medina on the 15th Ramzan=3rd
instant, and that on the first day of Shawal=19th instant, the Amir-ul-Alai
(Commandant) with 1,100 Iraq men and 3 guns would return to Iraq.
3. Bin Saood also said that the Turkish authorities were very anxious to
leave 200 men in El Kasim, of whom 100 men should remain in Boraida and
100 in Anaiza, To this, however, he and tl>e headmen of El Kasim refused
to consent, and eventually it was agreed that small detachments only should
remain, viz.y 25 men in Boraida and 15 in Anaiza.
4. Bin Saood also said that he holds a paper signed by 80 Turkish Officers
to say that they have found Bin Saood a loyal servant of His Impenal ajes y
the Sultan, who has helped them to all they needed as far as possible ; that
Nejd is a poor country with an abominable climate, bad water and no supp les
which can support Turkish troops.
5. Sheikh Mubarak ended this lengthy recital with comments on the
affairs of A1 Hassa which he said were in a very bad way, and su §| es ^
that it would be an excellent thing if Bin Saood were to take A1 Hassa and
Katif, his ancestral property, and that he would then app y or
protection of His Majesty's Government.
6 To this I replied that I could make on this proposal no comment
whatever^ but that, as the Sheiu h probably was perfectly well aware, all
communications that he made to me weie promp ^ f • < < • ^
transmission to higher authority who would sem S \ f i i. views such
thought fit and that it was idle for me to speculate as to wha.
authority would take.