"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎٣‎٥‎٩] (١٧٨٢/٥٠٢)

'x
359
interview with a son of the Wahhabi Amir at Kuwait during a visit to
that port in 1903.
ilt:
Aifairs and foreign relations of Kuwait, 1899-1905.
As has already been explained, the principality of Kuwait was brought
within the political purview of Britain by the prospect of its becoming the
terminus of a railway from the Mediterranean. During the period under
consideration the importance of Kuwait to the British Government was still
the same ; and eagerness to make themselves masters of the place, which
may or may not have been due to its value for railway purposes, began to be
evinced by the Turks. At the beginning of 1899 Shaikh Mubarak, the ruler
of Kuwait, signed an Exclusive Agreement which debarred him in the
same manner as the Shaikhs of Trucial 'Oman were debarred) from
receiving representatives of foreign powers other than Britain, and also (like
the Sultan of 'Oman) from alienating any part of his territory to foreign
governments or subjects without the previous approval of Britain.
He received in return a written assurance of the continued exercise, on
certain conditions, of British good offices in his favour. Both documents
were so drawn up as to bind, and apply to, the Shaikh's heirs and success
ors as well as himself.
The Agreement, which was in the first instance secret, had no sooner
been concluded than the Turks endeavoured to assert their authority over
Kuwait by various means. One expedient was the despatch of a harbour
master from Basrah with a small military guard to take charge of the port
of Kuwait, but the Shaikh did not suffer him to remain in the place. There
was talk of forcible Turkish action against Kuwait, and a strong warning-
was addressed to the Porte through His Britannic Majesty's Ambassador at
Constantinople, which elicited an ample disclaimer, accompanied, however,
by assertions that Kuwait belonged to Turkey. A few months later, in
1900, the Turkish Government were given to understand in unmistakeable
terms that Britain could not consent to any alterations of the status quo, or
cession of territory to foreigners, at Kuwait. In 1901, after the Shaikh s
return from his unsuccessful expedition into Najd, the Turkish Wali of
Basrah visited Kuwait and endeavoured to cajole the dispirited ruler into
accepting a Turkish garrison at Kuwait j but Mubarak had sufficient liim-
ness of mind left to refuse. The attempt was renewed later in the year
through the commander of a Turkish gunboat, but again it failed, a Liitish
Exclusive
Agreement of
the Shaikh
with Britain.
Threatened
Turkish
aggressions
on Kuwait.
ii'.l