TURKEY. 



041 



eminent thereupon concentrated a naval force in 

 the Persian Gulf. Several big guns were landed 

 at Koweit for the use of the Sheik Mubarek. 

 Fighting occurred between the sheik's men and 

 the Nejd warriors on Sept. 23. Subsequently the 

 Emir withdrew his force, as the British gunboats 

 in the harbor commanded the land approach to 

 the town. The Vali of Bagdad sought to prevail 

 upon the sheik to discourage the visits of British 

 war-ships, but the sheik declined to accept his 

 advice and persisted in his refusal to receive a 

 Turkish garrison for the protection of his terri- 

 tory against the Emir of Nejd. The Emir Ibn 

 Reshid, at the request of the Sultan, desisted from 

 further aggression against Koweit. He had ene- 

 mies nearer home to deal with, allies from among 

 the neighboring tribes who had helped him to de- 

 feat Mubarek's army and who, regarding the re- 

 ward they received as inadequate, made a com- 

 bined raid on the outlying districts of Nejd. The 

 result of the pourparlers between the Porte and 

 the British Government was that Great Britain 

 disclaimed any intention of occupying Koweit or 

 proclaiming a protectorate over that port, but 

 insisted on the preservation of the status quo in 

 the Persian Gulf, while Turkey disclaimed any 

 intention of effectively occupying the place or of 

 disturbing the status quo, but asserted the view 

 that Koweit was an integral part of the Ottoman 

 Empire. The refusal of the British naval com- 

 mander was explained by the British Government 

 as having been prompted by a desire to prevent 

 disturbances and justified by the fact that Koweit 

 was under the rule of an independent sheik and 

 that no sign of Turkish authority existed. The 

 Sultan recalled the zealous Vali of Basra and 

 appointed as vali and commander of the troops 

 at Basra, Mustapha Noury Pasha. , The Sultan 

 sent a special emissary to Koweit to summon the 

 sheik to Constantinople in order to make obei- 

 sance to his suzerain, threatening to remove him 

 if he refused. At the same time Ibn Reshid col- 

 lected another army and threatened Koweit. The 

 sheik refused to allow the Sultan's envoy to 

 land, and appealed once more to England for pro- 

 tection. The British naval force was increased. 

 A Russian cruiser also appeared in the Persian 

 Gulf. Anglo-Indian politicians were eager to as- 

 sert British influence in a substantive manner on 

 the Persian Gulf. This the British Government 

 was not prepared to do because any forward ac- 

 tion would provoke the active assertion of Russian 

 influence in Persia in the direction of the Persian 

 Gulf and would give cause of offense to Germany 

 at a moment when negotiations were being car- 

 ried on with the Porte regarding the continuation 

 of the Anatolian Railroad from Konia to Bagdad 

 and a port on the Persian Gulf. Koweit was the 

 very port selected. German engineers in 1900 

 were not allowed by the sheik of Koweit to sur- 

 vey the harbor, and he refused to grant the vil- 

 lage of Kadne for a railroad terminus, although 

 the Sultan had agreed to the cession. The Porte 

 needed to raise money to pay off the French 

 claims and to pay its own officials and soldiers, 

 and in return for a loan was willing to agree to 

 terms proposed by the German railroad company. 

 The concessions demanded the right to build be- 

 sides the trunk line to Basra by way of Adana, 

 Mosul, and Bagdad, branches to the Gulf of 

 Iskanderun, Aleppo, Orfah, Hanekin, and Ka- 

 zinca, with an extension to Koweit, also a prefer- 

 ential right: to construct 7 other branches, the 

 right to establish steamboat lines on the Euphra- 

 tes, Tigris, and Shatt el Arab and of making har- 

 bors wherever the railroad touches the sea, and 

 the privilege of working all mines within 20 kilo- 

 VOL. XLI. 41 A 



meters of the railroad. The Germans insisted 

 furthermore on a guaranlc.- ('mm the Turkish 

 Government of 13,000 francs net receipts per kilo- 

 meter after deducting 4,501) francs tor workiri" ex- 

 penses. French as well as (iei nuit) -apit ilists 



were interested in the scheme 

 British influence in Arabia ha 



n of 



cipally by the Indian Government horn Al 

 a political center and in combination with t 

 tension of the commerce of Bombay in the 

 gions. The Turkish Government has riot; tx 

 a position to afford the sacrifice necessary to inakf 

 good its nominal sovereignty over the Arabs, which 

 can not be upheld even in the fertile parts of 

 Yemen with powerful military forces. In central 

 Arabia the tribes acknowledge Turkish sovereign- 

 ty as long as they are left to themselves, but will 

 not pay taxes and will defend their districts 

 against Turkish troops. On the coasts of the 

 Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf the chiefs also 

 are willing to own nominal allegiance to the 

 Padishah unless the Turks proceed to any acts 

 of sovereignty, when they claim independence, as 

 in the case of the sheik of Koweit, and can 

 appeal to the British naval forces to defend their 

 independence. In the incessant tribal feuds the 

 tribes which accept British dictation receive Brit- 

 ish secret aid, while their enemies are encouraged 

 and helped by the Turks and acknowledge them- 

 selves to be good Ottoman subjects. Great Brit- 

 ain, or India, has subsidized the Sultan of Muscat 

 for a long period, and that ruler acknowledges no 

 allegiance to Turkey. During the first half of 

 the nineteenth century the British punished the 

 seafaring tribes on the Persian Gulf for plunder- 

 ing English merchantmen, exercised the right of 

 search, and compelled them to sign treaties pro- 

 hibiting the shipment of slaves and maritime war- 

 fare among themselves, leaving them free to con- 

 duct their feuds on land. Protection was promised 

 against any chiefs who violated the treaty. The 

 sheik of El Katr in 1871 acknowledged Turkish 

 sovereignty and accepted a Turkish guard at the 

 port of El Bidaa. When a war for the succession 

 broke out in Nejd between the members of the 

 Wahabi reigning family Midhat Pasha sent 

 troops to support one of the claimants, and these 

 occupied the maritime district of El Katif and the 

 island of El Hasa. Great Britain remonstrated on 

 the ground of the British treaties with the coast 

 tribes acknowledging their political independence. 

 The Porte replied that it had no intention of 

 seeking supremacy over Muscat, Bahrein, or the 

 coast tribes, or of undertaking naval operations. 

 These tribes were formerly tributary to the Wa- 

 habis of Nejd, yet excepting in" these occupied dis- 

 tricts Turkey has not attempted to assert domin- 

 ion over them since the submission of Nejd, which 

 itself has been merely formal. Bahrein, where 

 there are valuable pearl fisheries, has been claimed 

 for Turkey as a dependency of El Hasa, and 

 claimed also by Persia. In every case Great Brit- 

 ain has asserted the independence of the island, 

 the sheik of which is virtually a British vassal. 

 The territory of Basra was made a separate vil- 

 ayet in 1875, reincorporated with Bagdad in 1880, 

 and in 1884 again made independent. The Sultan 

 of Muscat, or Oman, at one time had to take 

 refuge in the citadel to escape the vengeance of 

 rebel tribesmen who seized the town of Muscat. 

 Since then he has strengthened his hold over the 

 neighboring tribes and extended his rule even to 

 the distant districts of Dhofar and Sohar and to 

 the maritime district of Sur. He has taken the 

 customs away from the Banyan trader to whom 

 they were farmed out. The trade in 1901 amount- 

 ed to $4,726,000, four-fifths of which was with 



