"دليل الخليج. مجلد I. القسم التاريخي. الأجزاء Iأ و Iب. ج.ج. لوريمر ١٩١٥" [‎١‎٠‎٢‎١] (١٧٨٢/١١٧٦)

1021
h,. ii
by Yusuf of Dorah on Kuwait, no interview having as yet taken place
between the Resident and Shaikh Mubarak, it became known that a
delegate from the Shaikh had arrived in Bahrain and was on hip. way
to visit the Resident, Colonel JVieade, at Bushehr; but, on hearing-
that Yusuf of Dorah was also expected in Bahrain, this individual
returned to Kuwait without accomplishing 1 his mission. Meanwhile
another case of piracy occurred in the vicinity of Kuwait.
In August Mubarak represented that he had no one sufficiently
intelligent to send as a representative to Bushehr and asked that a dele
gate from the Residency to whom he could explain his views might
be sent to visit him. In accordance with his wish Mr. J. C. Gaskin,
Extra Assistant to the Resident, was deputed to Kuwait in the R.I.M.S.
" Lawrence, " and arrived there on the 5th of September 1897. Shaikh
Mubarak, whose negotiations for recognition by the Porte were still
pending, declined to go on board the " Lawrence " lest by doing so he
should give offence to the Turkish authorities ; and two interviews, at
both of which Captain Hewett of the " Lawrence " was present^ took
place on shore. As regards piracy at the mouth of the Shatt-al-'Arab,
the Shaikh denied that subjects of Kuwait had ever engaged in piracy, but
he admitted that some of the inhabitants of his estates on the banks o
the river, over whom he had no control, might be guilty ; he had, he said,
offered to police the river mouth, but the Turks had declined to allow him
to do so, and Kuwait boats were now unable to visit the Shatt-al-
'Arab unless in twos and threes for mutual protection ; to the best of his
ability, however, he would co-operate with the British Government for
the suppression of piracy. With reference to his own overtures, which it
was the principal object of Mr. Gaskin's visit to investigate, Shaikh
Mubarak stated that he and his people, in order to prevent the annexation
of Kuwait by the Turks, who had shown themselves grasping and unre
liable, desired to be taken under British protection in the same manner
as the Shaikh of Bahrain and the Shaikhs of Trucial 'Oman; and I k
promised that, if this were done, he would assist the British Government
with all the force at his command in maintaining law and order in his
part of the Gulf.
The request of the Shaikh was at once reported to Her Majesty's
Government, who replied that they were not disposed to bring Kuwait
under protection or to interfere more than was necessary for the main
tenance of the general peace in the Persian Gulf. A few days later,
on the 20th of October, in consequence of a report that a Turkish gun
boat was about to leave Basrah for Kuwait, the question was again raised
Mr. Gaskin'a
visit to
Kuwait,
September
1897.
Overtures ot
the Shaikh
declined by
the British
Government,
October
1897.