File 6499/1920 Pt 1 'KOWEIT AFFAIRS: KOWEIT-NEJD BOUNDARY DISPUTE; LOCAL UNPOPULARITY OF SHEIKH' [‎88r] (169/294)

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return to the old state of friendship,and merely urging
order restitution to he made for the Jariyah affair, without
making ant| fe^eience to a frontier between them*
The impression which I gained from this interviewee
from his letter,was that he thought that,as we had repudiated
the Anglo-Turkish Convention,there was nothing to he hoped for
from us,as we probably meant to curry favour with Ibn Sa f ud at
his expense,and that his best policy was to try and patch up
the quarrel v/ith Ibn Sa’ud over the restitution question.,
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preferring to leave the frontier undecided than to have it
decided against him.
I tnink tnere is little doubt that he hopes that Ibn
Ca’ud will now be more anxious to come to terms and more likely
to order the return of the "halal",because of the reported
defeat of his forces by Ibn Rashid at Shu’aibah in the middle
of June,which whether true or not,is believed here. This hope
may have been strengthened by a vague rumour of another recent
defeat near Buraiiah,whioh I entirely discredit*
The- Sheikh has issued an order,and had it proclaimed
by ,, dallal ,, that no one in Kuwait is to mention the name of Ibn
Sa*ud at all. His object is said to be that lie wishes to avoid
all chance of rumours reaching Ibn Sa’ud^ ears that people
here are speaking ill of him. *
» ♦•
There is said to have been rather a stormy scene in the
Shaikh ? s house on the 11 th,presumably about this question. It is
said that jtfte Sheikh sent for Shaikh Salman bin Hamud and Shaik
*
Ahmad bin Jabir,neither of whom had been inside his house for a
long time,and that the former openly accused him of always
taking the advice of his servants and never consulting the
other members of the A1 Subah. I understand that a general
family reconciliation took place,but of course,do not know
what advice they gave,or to what extent,if any,Shaikh Salim was
influences by such advice.
The Shaikh has not mentioned the subject to me since the
12th,but from hints which Khan Sahib'Abdul Latif has thrown out
I rather gather that he is beginning to waver in his opinion,
and X shall not fce vary much surprised if he does change his