Page 105 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

RELATIONS WITH KUWAIT 43
the British Government and emphasised ‘the secret character of the
Agreement’.1
The Agreement of 1899 was, it would appear, signed without the
knowledge of Turkey. The latter would obviously have objected to it
had it been made in public. What is even more striking in this agree­
ment is that it assigned to the British Government more authority
in Kuwait than was originally intended by the instructions of the
home Government in London. This appears from the proceedings
reported to the Government in London by Col Meade, in which he
explained the reasons for his insertion of conditions in the agreement
without the prior knowledge of his Government.2
The agreement was later published in reply to Turkish threats to
assert authority in Kuwait. In September 1899, the British Ambas­
sador at Constantinople conveyed a warning to the Porte, laying
emphasis on British relations with Kuwait.3 He stated that
the British Government, while they entertained no designs on Kuwait, had
friendly relations with the Shaikh and that if any attempt were made to
establish Turkish authority or customs control at Kuwait without previous
agreement with Her Majesty’s Government a very inconvenient and dis­
agreeable question would be raised.4
The Agreement of 1899 proved to be a useful weapon for preventing
the Shaikh from embarking on any designs calculated to allow for­
eigners to exploit his territory. In September 1899, the British Gov­
ernment delivered a warning to the Shaikh, through the Commander
of H.M.S. Melpomene, not to make arrangements with the German
Commission, which was understood to have visited Kuwait for the
purpose of projecting the Baghdad Railway, without its approval.5
Again, on 15 April 1900, the British position in Kuwait was ex­
plicitly made known to the German Ambassador in London, who was
told that the Shaikh ‘was not at liberty to cede or in any way to
alienate to the Baghdad Railway Company either Kadhama’ or any
part of his territory, without the assent of Her Majesty’s Govern­
ment.8
The Shaikh’s request in May 1901 for British protection over his
country was again refused by the British Resident who, nevertheless,
assured the Shaikh of his Government’s intention to ‘prevent by force,
if necessary, the landing of Turkish troops at Kuwait’. This was
conditional on the continued observance of the Agreement of 1899.7
Soon after that, however, the controversy between the Porte and the
British Government over Kuwait was brought to a close as a result of
a preliminary agreement signed on 9 September 1901 between the
two Governments. By this agreement Turkey agreed to respect the
1 Lorimer, pp. 1023-4. 1 Ibid. 3 Ibid., p. 1025. 4 Ibid.
5 Ibid., pp. 1025-6. • Ibid., p. 1027. 7 Ibid., pp. 1027-30.