'File 73/7 III (D 24) Status of Kuwait & Anglo-Turkish negotiations' [‎275r] (559/709)

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majiesty's Government.]
ASIATIC TURKEY AND ARABIA [June 17.]
CONFIDENTIAL. Section 8.
[27747] No. 1.
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. to Foreign Office.—(Received June 17.)
THE Under-Secretary of State for India presents his compliments to the Under-
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and forwards herewith, for the information of the
Secretary of State, copy of enclosures in a letter from the Foreign Secretary to the
Government of India, dated the 29th May, 1913, relative to Koweit negotiations.
lyidia.Office, June 16, 1913.
> ~
Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir P. Cox to Government of India.
(Confidential.) Bushire, May 11, 1913.
IN amplification of my telegram of the 10th instant, in connection with Koweit
negotiations, I have the honour to forward, for the information of the Government of
India, a copy of the political agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. 's report (with accompanying map*) on which it was
based.
No further comment on it seems called for at this stage.
Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
Captain Shakespear to Lieutenant-Colonel Sir P. Cox.
(Confidential.) Koweit, April 0, 1913.
I HAVE the honour to invite a reference to the correspondence regarding the
Anglo-Turkish negotiations relating to the status of Kovveit. ending with the Govern
ment of India telegram in the Foreign Department, dated the 15th April, 1913.
2. You are aware that I returned to head-quarters on the 21st April to find Sheikh
Sir Mubarak-as-Subah dangerously ill. He is now recovering slowly, but I have not
found it possible up to date to say more on the subject than to state that his letter and
enclosure to your address had been forwarded to the Government, that as the conclusion
of the war was in sight it was hoped negotiations would soon be actively taken up, and
that you have asked Government to keep you informed as to their course ; also that 1
did not consider paragraphs appearing in the Basra papers could give reliable informa-
^ tion of matters which were the subject of confidential negotiations between the British
and Turkish Governments, and on which we had not yet received a pronouncement from
Government.
3. On one occasion, when I visited the sheikh before I had received copies of
Foreign Office print dated the 26th March, your telegram of the 3rd April, and
Foreign Department telegram referred to above, the sheikh mentioned that he had
received news from Basra to the effect that the British and Turkish Governments
had agreed upon Koweit autonomy, and that he was perfectly satisfied, for all his
claims had been recognised. The sheikh's condition then being serious, 1 said no
more than that I doubted the authenticity of his information, or that the Porte could
have receded so completely from a position which some time ago I knew showed a wide
divergence from his claims. A few days later I obtained a copy of the " Dastur
(published in Basra), which contained a paragraph in its issue of the 12th Jamadi-al-
Awal, 1331 (16th April, 1913), practically identical with what the sheikh had told me.
I attach, for information, a rough translation of the paragraph, which, I may add, was
also received with as much satisfaction by the Koweit public as the sheikh. It will be
obvious, however, that this satisfaction is based on a vastly different conception ot
Koweit autonomy from that disclosed in the draft agreement of the Foreign Office print
[2950 r—o]
* Not reproduced.