'File 73/7 II (D 22) Status of Koweit [Kuwait] - Baghdad railway, Anglo Turkish negotiations' [‎195r] (395/540)

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2. I would at once observe that having been over most of the ground myself,
having questioned Bedouin and other Arabs of almost every tribe, which wanders
within 300 to 400 miles of Kuwait, it is not possible for me to agree with
Mr. Lorimer in the limits he lays down in Volume II of his Gazetteer, In the
attached Note 1 have tried to give, wherever possible, evidence recorded in our
own papers and reports or gleaned first-hand from Arabs other than Shaikh
MubarakJf; Mr. Lorimer's information, on the other hand, was derived almost
exclusively from the Shaikh himself, at a time when our knowledge of the
hinterland was far inferior to that available now,
3. It will be noticed that in the attached Note I have not mentioned Jabal
Manifah nor Nairiyah Hill—the reason for the omission being that the line I
indicate includes both these points as well within the Shaikh's territory With
regard to the Summan—this tract by common consent among the Bedoum is
regarded as within the •'dira " (or district) of the Umtair tribe and so should
come within Mubarakh's territory, that tribe being subordinate to him. My
suggested boundary line, however passes along its northern limits. My reason
for so placing the line is that the really important points are the wells, and none
exist in the Summan tract; a tribe occupying Anta'a, Wabrah, Al Haba and A1
Gara'a wells is practically unassailable from the south except during the spring
and after rain, when pools may be found.
4. The line indicated in my note is as definite and definable as any which
one can expect to find in a desert, but it must be borne in mind that where wells
are mentioned, those wells are included as mthin the line, for ownership of the
wells is the paramount consideration. It is for this reason that Mr. Lorimer's
supposition {vide Gazetteer, Volume II, page 1060)—a "line running...so as to
pass immediately south of Umm Kasr and Safwan to Jabal Sanam ... is
untenable ; such a line throws these wells outside Kuwait territory and conse
quently has the effect of virtually placing the boundary at the next nearest
water, which is as far south as Jahra.
5. From the precis attached to your letter under reply it would appear that
the Government of India and His Majesty's Government have arrived at certain
conclusions with regard to the Turkish posts on the Kuwait boundaries. _ Nothing
in my office archives shows that any final conclusion has been reached with regard
to any particular point, and I mention this fact for I am convinced that nothing
has ever been communicated to the Shaikh to lead him to suppose that we
regard any of his claims as doubtful or that we contemplated acquiescing in any
way in the continuance of any one of the Turkish posts. The news will
therefore come to him as a considerable surprise and I venture to invite serious
consideration to the probable effect on the Shaikh s mind of discovering for the
first time that we are prepared to condone in the smallest degree Turkish
aggressions on his borders. The result, in my opinion, would be most deleterious
to the particularly cordial relations which now subsist between the Shaikh and
overselves and perhaps lead to an infinity of petty trouble in the future. I would
venture to recall the fact that for an oriental chief Mubarakh has been exceptionlly
straightforward in his dealings with us and that the risk of estranging him does
not appear to be warranted unless we have some very substantial quid pro quo to
offer him, which is at present beyond my ken. In his reliance upon the British
Government he has repeatedly rejected the most seductive of Turkish overtures
and we are now in the position, it seems, of discussing his boundaries, his power,
his position with the Turkish Government without giving him, one of the parties
most concerned, much voice in the matter or indeed information as to the course
of the discussion.
6. It is for this reason that I have submitted a somewhat exhaustive note
from such records as were accessible to me and venture to urge with all defer
ence that in the main the Shaikh's statement of the position is far more worthy of
credence than that asserted by the Turkish Government.
Since the above was drafted I have been able to obtain the state
ments of some Safwan cultivators, which I attach as speaking for themselves.