'File II. IRAQ (3) Vol. 1 Shaikh of Kuwait's Date Gardens on the Shatt-al Arab. (Kuwait's relations with Turkish Govt. and Turkish demand that Kuwaitis should take out Turkish Nationality Certificates)' [‎272r] (561/636)

him. And woe to him who has spoken against the Shaikh. For in Basrah
the Shaikh has bands of men and very trusted men, to whom he pays
70 or 80 pounds a month and if these men cannot manage to tear
the offenders in pieces in the streets at night, they bring about his
ruin in a very short time by means of all sorts of calumny, false wit
nesses and reports. Against these attacks the Valis themselves are
impotent. It is a matter of common knowledge that those who made
Basrah a sort of prison for the last Vali were men who were taking revenge
on behalf of Shaikh Khazal because the Vali had taken certain measures, not
against the Shaikh but against his men ; upon which the Shaikh’s creatures
in Basrah laid a thousand different plots and caused a great difference to
arise between the military and gendarmarie on one side, and the Vilayet and
civil authorities on the other.
The political and international position of the Shaikh is gradually taking
on another aspect. Recently he went into the interior to punish certain
rebellious tribes, and rumour says that he is going to come to blows with
a branch of the famous Bakhtiaris. If he wins, his influence will increase
still more ; if he is beaten, it is anticipated that great political difficulties will
arise, for the British Government has taken the Shaikh—if not officially, at
least privately—under its protection. I have seen with my own eyes a
private communication from the British Consul at Basrah in which he says :
“ as you are aware, from events in Persia, the Shaikh of Mohammerah is
under British protection whereas in our eyes Shaikh Rhazal and his
tribes are Persian subjects and it would naturally be unpermissible for either
ourselves or Persia to allow any act or circumstance which might disturb the
status quo. It is strongly suspected that if Shaikh Khazal were defeated
England would openly declare a protectorate over the Shaikh of Mohammerah
and even actually take 07er the policing of the whole of Shiraz and Persian
Arabia urging lack of security and danger to her commerce as an excuse.
When Russia has established troops in the North of Persia on the pretext of
restoring order it will of course be impossible for England to remain with arms
folded in the South.
As an instance of the increasing favour shewn by England to the Shaikh
we may note the fact that last week he was given the order of the K.C.SI.
with the attendant ceremonial and pomp. A Major belonging to the British
army was especially sent with this order, and the Shaikh, acting exactly like a
Rajah, gave the order a salute of guns.
The results of this state of affairs fall on us with a terrible shower. In
our opinion none of these acts of protection is official. If once we hear that
they are official, we must protest with all our might and prevent them by all
possible means. Persia has been divided, it is true, into English and Russian
spheres of influence, but both parties have undertaken to safeguard the terri
torial integrity of Persia.
Now a declaration of protection and an act of interference in the interna?
order of Persia would be diametrically opposed to the maintenance of its
territorial integrity. In the second place the Gulf of Persia and the Shiraz
and Hamadan districts were considered as a neutral zone when the division
into spheres of influence took place and the effect of the Anglo Russian agree
ment on those parts must be considered nil; so that in acting in that fashion
the British Government would be acting contrary to agreement, not only
towards Turkey, Persia and the other powers, but also with regard to Russia.
Thirdly, the Anglo-Russian agreement was not confirmed by Persia or any
other interested power, and was not communicated, I think, to the Ottoman
Government; so that from our point of view it is officially non-existent.
Therefore, the question of safeguarding those Ottoman rights which are
injured at Mohammerah and of extinguishing the fire of revolt which runs in
an unceasing stream from Mohammerah into Ottoman territory is a private
matter between the Ottoman and Persian Governments. The Russian
Government’s confirmation of the clause in the agreement by which British
rights in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. are to be safeguarded cannot affect any third party —
cannot therefore bind the Ottoman Government and the safeguarding*^ of
British rights cannot possibly mean the trampling under foot of Ottoman