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'File 73/7 V (D 38) Status of Kuwait, Anglo-Turkish Convention' [‎27r] (66/216)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (104 folios). It was created in 3 Jan 1914-16 Jul 1919. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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165
Sir E. Grey now lias the honour to transmit a further draft, which is somewhat
amended both in form and in substance.
The changes of form are primarily due to exigencies of procedure, and are
designed to meet the fact that certain stipulations must necessarily, in the first
instance, be agreed between the Ottoman Government and the Baghdad Railway
Company or the proposed River Navigation Company, as the case may be.
The changes of substance are largely attributable to the desire of His Majesty's
Government to recall the German Government as nearly as possible to the original
proposals which they put forward, as a basis of negotiation, on the 7th May,
1913, and from which each successive counter-draft seems to have constituted a
further departure. So wide indeed has been the departure that even such import
ant conditions as those contained in section 2 (h) and the first and third sentences
of section 3 of the memorandum of that date,—which went far to constitute the
credit side of the transaction from the British standpoint,—have now, by the
wording of the German counter-draft of the 3rd November, 1913, (article 2, clause
(c), last paragraph, article 4, clauses (b) and (c), and article 5, clause (b) ), been
substantially whittled away.
His Majesty's Government reccgnise that the proposals made on the 7th May,
1913, were to some extent tentative and non-committal, and they have accordingly
not been unwilling, as the German Government are aware, to concede certain
important points in the course of negotiation in the interests of a general settle
ment ; but they are persuaded that they cannot go further in this direction with
out so weakening the conditions secured in British interests as to expose the whole
Convention to unanswerable criticism and therefore to insuperable objection.
This will be the more apparent when attention is drawn to the following consi
derations, a course which His Majesty's Government adopt in no controversial
spirit.
The principal desiderata of His Majesty's Government have from the first
been, and, as indicated in the present British counter-draft, still are, confined to
two points :—
(a) That there should be no change detrimental to British interests in what
His Majesty's Government regard as the political status qo at the head of the
Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
(6) That there should be no sort of discrimination against British trade on the
Baghdad Railway.
These points are largely covered by section 2 of the memorandum of the 7th
May 1913, and by the proposal, confidentially explained to Herr von Kiihlmann
on the same date, for the institution of a Riverain Commission on the Shatt-el-
Arab.
On the other hand, the desiderata of the German Government, as conceded in
the present counter-draft, ere relatively not inconsiderable
id) His Majesty's Government ag^'ee to an increase in the Turkish customs
duties to be borne largely by British trade which represents some 30 per cent,
of the total foreign imports into Turkey ; this increase is virtually a sine qua non
to the successful completion of the Baghdad Railway.
(b) His Majesty's Government undertake not to oppose the construction and
management of the proposed railway right down to Basra, the only natural
commercial terminus of such a line, by the Baghdad Railway Company. They
thereby abandon all claim to British control mthe Baghdad-Basra section : it will
be recollected that the satisfaction of this claim was at one time a principal
condition of British assent to the customs increase.
(c) His Majesty's Government agree that, in the important provinces of
Baghdad and Mosul, where British trade has long been predominant, they will
support no railway undertakings either in direct competition with the Baghdad
Railway Company's lines or with that Company's existing rights.
(d) His Majesty's Government agree not to oppose the acquisition by German
interests of 40 per cent, of the share capital allotted to Turkey in the proposed
Ottoman River Navigation Company.
c610fd

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Content

The volume contains letters, telegrams, maps, and newspaper cuttings relating to Anglo-Turkish negotiations over the Baghdad Railway, status of Kuwait, and other Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. matters. The correspondence is between Lionel Haworth, British Consul for Arabistan, Percy Cox, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. at Bushire (later Stuart Knox as acting Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. ), the Government of India, Henry Babington Smith, President of the National Bank of Turkey, Louis Mallet, British Ambassador to Turkey, the British Consulate at Adana, Hugh O'Beirne, Counsellor to the British Embassy in Russia, Richard von Kühlmann, Councillor of the German Embassy in London, Edward Grey, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , the Board of Trade, William Grey, Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at Kuwait, the British Consulate at Basra, Arnold Wilson, Civil Commissioner in Iraq, and Ibn Sa‘ud, ruler of Najd and its dependencies. Some of the correspondence comes as enclosures.

The documents relate to the latter stages of negotiations and partly consist of drafts and counter-drafts of the eventual agreement, which was never ratified because of the outbreak of the First World War. They also reflect Britain's involvement in the agreement between the Ottoman Turks and the Baghdad Railway Company. Also covered is a discussion about what to do in case of Sheikh Mubarak of Kuwait's sudden death and territorial claims made by Ibn Sa‘ud on what may be Kuwaiti land.

Extent and format
1 volume (104 folios)
Arrangement

The volume is arranged chronologically. At the beginning (folio 1c) is a subject index, arranged alphabetically. The numbering refers to the folio.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: The volume has been foliated from the front cover to the inside back cover, using pencil numbers positioning in the top-right corner of recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. pages. One document (folios 7-34) is an extract from a printed item that has its own internal pagination system, running from 125-179, before continuing from 180-205 (folios 38-50). The following foliation anomalies occur: 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d, 52a, 59a. There is one foldout in the volume, at folio 2.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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'File 73/7 V (D 38) Status of Kuwait, Anglo-Turkish Convention' [‎27r] (66/216), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/1/615, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023574610.0x000043> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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