"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٠‎٠‎٢] (١٧٨٢/١١٥٧)

Opening of
British
relations
with Kuwait,
1775-78.
Kuwait a
depehdency
of Basrah,
1775.
Arrest of a
French officer
at Kuwait by
a member of
the H. E. I.
Company's
Basrah
Factory,
1778.
1002
The recorded history of British relations with Kuwait opens in 1775
when, on the investment of Basrah by the Persians, the British desert
/mail from the Gulf to Aleppo began to be despatched from Kuwait
instead of Zubair. This arrangement was continued during the Persian
occupation of Basrah until 1779, but it did not work very satisfactorily
as the messengers were not under any proper control, and one packet was
lost^w rou f e about the end of 1778.
In 1775 Kuwait was regarded as a dependency of Basrah; and, at
the breaking up of the Anglo-Turkish squadron at the mouth of the
Shatt-al-'Arab on the departure of the British Agency to Bushehr, it
Was considered a safe place at which to drop the Turkish and Arab
personnel.
An unusual incident occurred at Kuwait at the end of 1778, or
possibly in January 1779. On the 3rd of August 1778 M. Borel du
Bourg, a young French officer, left Marseilles with despatches in cypher
for the French authorities in Pondichery and Mauritius. He was trav
elling from Aleppo to the Persian Gulf, when, in the desert at about 15
days' journey from Basrah, a party of Bedouin Arabs threatened him,
and he had the misfortune to shoot one of their number. Severely
wounded by a sword cut on the head, he saved his life by throwing
himself on the protection of the oldest of the robbers and promising to
pa> a sum equal to £100 English on condition of being conveyed in
safetv to Kuwait. On arrival at Kuwait he succeeded in borrowing the
promised amount fiom an Armenian of the place, after which he wrote
to M. Rousseau, the French Consul at Basrah, desiring to be supplied
with the means of continuing his journey to Pondichery. The French
Resideut having refused or hesitated to honour the draft of his fellow-
countryman, it was carried by the Arab messenger to the British Factory
at Basrah, of which the staff in this manner became aware of M. du
Bourg s presence in Kuwait.
A difficult question was thus raised, for a report had reached Basrah
of war having been* declared between Britain and France, in which
uould be incumbent on British officials abroad to seize wander 4
mg French emissaries; but, on the other hand, the consequences to the
tis esident weie likely to be serious if he took action against
• u ourg on information which subsequently proved to be
orrect. Mi. . Digges Latonche in charge of the British Factoryj
France and Brif 1"^ ^ nCOr^ect • ^ rom 1778 to 1783 there was war between
the United Star ^f 1 a Con8equence of tll e former power having oponly sided witfc
the United States of America in their War of Independance.