Page 177 - Gulf Precis (V)_Neat

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APPENDIX H.
(See Section XIX.)

Communications in London and Constantinople on Koweit affairs.
August—September 1901.

Important communications took place in August and September 1901
at London and Constantinople. Consider­
Scrrct E., March 1902, No*. 127-357.
able pressure was being oxcrciscd on the
Ottoman Government by German and Russian Embassies, and though the
proposal of the Yali of Basrah to use force against the Sheikh had boon re­
jected by tho Council of Ministers, Tewfik Pasha informed Sir N. O’Conor
that Koweit was regarded as au integral part of tho Ottoman Empire.
A warning given by the Commander of the Persons to tho Captain of
a Turkish corvette oil Koweit that no troops would be permitted to land
was largely magnified in transmission, and occasioned further protests.
Tewfik Pasha enquired on the 29th August whether Her Majosty’s Govern­
ment intended to establish a protectorate, and on the same day the German
Embassy in Loudon received a pressing instruction to state that a British
protectorate would bo contrary to tho Treaty of Borlin, and that, in view of
licr interest in Koweit as the future terminus of the Anatolian Railway, Ger­
many would be compelled to rogard such a proceeding as an unfriendly act.
Tho reply in each case was that Ilis Majesty’s Government had no such
intention, Sir N. O’Conor adding tho reservation, “provided that Turkey did
not force our hands by interfering with the Sheikh.”
On the 3rd September, CountMottornich called to say “that, if by threats
of force Ilis Majesty’s Government prevented tho Sultan from landing troops
at Koweit, they were refusing to recogniso the Sultan’s authority with which
they had stated (in a memorandum communicated by the King to the Ger­
man Emperor) that they did not dcsiro to interfere in those parts, and that
tho German Government considered that Koweit formed unquestionably part
of the territories belonging to the Sultan."
Sir T. Sanderson promised to report his observations to Lord Lansdowno,
and said he could at once state that His Majesty’s Government has no desire
to disturb tho status quo.
Next day telegrams were communicated by tho Turkish Ambassador pro­
testing against the reported intention to declare a British protectorate, and
describing the Convention of 1899 as without validity, but the Sultan had
meanwhile been advised by the German Government to bo satisfied with the
assurances given to Count Mcttcrnich, and to ask for their repetition.
On the 6th September Sir N. O’Conor was sent for by the Minister for
Foreign Affairs. The following is tho report, dated the 6th September 1901,
of his visit to Tewfik Pasha:—
“ Tho Sultan, he said, had learnt that His Majesty's Govcrnmont, in replying to tho re­
presentations of Constaki Pasha about Koweit, had referred to a convention with the Sheikh,
and now wished to learn tho terms and nature of this arrangement. His Majesty was well
aware of its being a cardinal principal of His Majesty's Government not to do anything pre­
judicial to the interests and integrity of the Ottoman Empire.
After affirming Turkish sovereignty ovor Koweit in the same terms, reported in my des­
patch No. 310 of tho 23th August, His Excellency went on to say that it was not the case that
the concentration of troops which had been tho subject of my enquiry was directed against
Koweit. Its object was tho prevention of hostilities botween the Shoikh and the Amir of
Ncjd, and Hie Majesty had authorised him to assure me that there was no intontiou of either
landing troops at Koweit or of attacking it by land. The Sultan only desired an assurance
that tlioro were no political aims of His Majesty's Govornmont affecting his sovorcign rights
in these regions, and has no wish to disturb the oxisting status quo.
In reply, I said that I look noto of his assurances that there would be no attach on Koweit
by land or sea", that it was the fact that there was a convention between Ilis Majesty's Govern­
ment and the Sheikh, due to our predominan t interests in Koweit and the adjoining regions;
that it has been in no way inspired by hostility to the Ottoman Government that the Sheikh,
with whom it was concluded, was regarded by us as territorially independent, and considered
himself to be so, while willing to recognise the Sultan in his capacity of Caliph as his spiritual