"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٠‎٤‎١] (١٧٨٢/١١٩٦)

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waB able to protract matters for a couple of years by declining to submit
to the jurisdiction of the Turkish courts ; but in December 1901, the
Turks having 1 resolved to break down his opposition to their authority
at Kuwait, he was called upon to defend his case in a Basrah tribunal
and, on his failing to do so, judgment was given against him in default,
and he was ordered to make over the estate at Zain to his nephews.
Shaikh Mubarak at once appealed to the Sultan of Turkey with the
result that, early in 1903, an Imperial Irade was issued for the appoint
ment of a Commission to settle the whole dispute between him and his
nephews. After much difficulty and delay a settlement was arranged by
Haji Mansur, representing Shaikh Mubarak, and 'Abdul Wahhab-al-
Qirtas, representing the opposite side, in communication with Mr. Crow,
H. B. M. ; s Consul at Basrah, who, under instructions from Con
stantinople, had been admitted to a share in the proceedings; and this
settlement, after being approved by the Commission and accepted by the
parties, was embodied in a deed executed at Basrah on the 11th of
July 1904 and attested, not only by the Wali of Basrah and his Council,
but also—at the request of Shaikh Mubarak—by the British
Consul. The general effect of the settlement "was to confer on Shaikh
Mubarak undivided ownership and possession of the whole property
at Fao, while an absolute and exclusive title to the Gardilan,
'Ajairawiyah, Zain and Sufiyah estates and a money payment of
£T7,296| was obtained by the opposite party. The share of the nephews
in ancestral moveable property at Kuwait was mentioned in the deed but
was not affected by it, the rights and shares of both parties therein
being maintained unaltered; but the title of Shaikh Mubarak to certain
moveable property at Kuwait was expressly validated.
Early in 1904 the Shaikh applied for a loan of Rs, 1,00,000 from
the Government of India to enable him to carry out the terms arranged ;
and this was readily granted, without interest, on condition that he
should not borrow from any other lender without the consent of His
Majesty^s Government until the debt had been repaid in full, and
that repayment should be completed by the end of 1905. The Shaikh,
who has always shown himself a good man of business, discharged the
obligation nearly a year before expiry of the period fixed.
A peculiar incident, which gave some trouble at the time but had
no political consequences, occurred at the Shaikh's Fao estate on the 10th
of October 1904, when the Shaikh's land agent brought off to
H.M.S. " Merlinthe dead bodies of an Arab man and woman
together with three Turkish gendarmes in custody, by whom, he alleged,
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