File 2764/1904 Pt 4 'Baghdad Railway: Anglo-Turkish negotiations; proposals of Turkish Govt; status of Kowait' [‎175r] (354/674)

Treaty give us the right to interfere upon land ? That difficulty was constantly
arising, and 1 believe that in some cases we did act on land. The question of what to
do with the Trucial Chiefs is, is it not, quite a different one from the point raised by
Sir Edward Grey, which is, what is the southern limit to fix with the Turkish
Government ?
SIR EDWARD GREY : Of course ; if the Turks stop at Ojair (Ukeir), the
Trucial Chiefs do not come in.
LORD CURZON : And the question therefore of whether you strengthen your
hold over them is quite an independent one.
VISCOUNT MORLEY : Yes ; but if you are taking a comprehensive view—
which is a thing to distrust, I admit, but still if you are—of the affairs of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ,
and if you realise that there is something very like a crisis actual or approaching in
the Gulf, you have got to look at the whole, detail after detail. Bahrein, of course,
and also the Trucial Chieis—first beginning with them.
LORD CURZON : Are our relations with the Trucial Chiefs disturbed now?
VISCOUNT MORLEY : Captain Hunt, you were at Debai (Debei). What have
you got to tell us ? Do not tell us the facts, because we know those.
CAPTAIN HUNT: There was a purely local disturbance. They are very
fanatical. Men were landed before daylight, and so on ; and of course they were up in
arms at once, and started firing. The Chief is a very small man, and has no power
over the country ; whereas the other people are bigger men. He is the smallest man
on the coast. The point about El-Katr is that the Turks still have 100 men at Wakra.
They landed 400 originally, and we protested, and they have taken away 300 of them
for other purposes up the Gulf.
MR. PARKER : Ever since 1872 they have had a post at El Bidaa, and we have
allowed it to remain there, but we have never recognised their claim to El Katr.
CAPTAIN HUNT : They still have 100 men there.
VISCOUNT MORLEY : Lord Curzon, to leave that part of the matter, though
it is extremely important, what is actual at the moment is about Basra and Koweit.
Admiral Slade thinks that bringing it to Basra will .be. a much better way of doing
things when the Baghdad Railway is made than bringing it to Koweit ; then this
question arises as to the navigation rights in the Shat-al-Arab. As you know, the
Persians have one bank and the Turks have another; we do all the duties of a riparian
Power, but we are not a riparian Power—we have no power at all legally and
technically. It is for the seamen, beginning with Admiral Slade, to tell us about
the navigability of the Bar and up to within 6 or 7 miles of Basra on the Shat-al-
Arab, and to on. I do not know if that point came within your view at all in
your day.
LORD CURZON : Yes ; I think we went very carefully into the whole question
of the Baghdad Railway and its possible terminus at Koweit. As. you know, I
went up and saw Khor Abdulla and went round Bubian Island. I think I advised
His Majesty’s Government on the matter, and I certainly hold very strong views
about it.
SIR EDWARD GREY : We should like to know what your views are, because it
is all in question now.
LORD CURZON : Something depends, of course, upon the position taken up by
His Majesty’s Government with regard to Koweit. Of course, you know the whole
history much better than I do. The Sheikh of Koweit had been philandering with the
Turkish Government for years, and during the time that 1 was in India he was being
attacked from a two-fold quarter. First, the Turks themselves kept sending down in
order to try to induce him to accept the Turkish flag, or to accept a Turkish garrison,
or to accept a Turkish postal official, or something of that sort. On the other hand,
there was perpetual trouble arising from the internecine conflicts of Ibn Rashid and the
other man Ibn Saud, who were two men who were fighting for the control of the interior