Identifier: persianprobleme00whig (find matches)
Title: The Persian problem; an examination of the rival positions of Russia and Great Britain in Persia, with some account of the Persian gulf and the Bagdad railway
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Whigham, Henry James, 1869-
Subjects: Baghdad Railway Eastern question (Central Asia)
Publisher: London Isbister
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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Colonel Pelly gives in the above terms his reportto the Indian Government. The condition ofKoweit socially and commercially might be de-scribed to-day in exactly similar terms. But poli-tically the scene is changed. The Sheikh of Koweit,instead of being surrounded only by wanderingtribes, is likely to be ground between the Powers ofTurkey and Great Britain, with Germany andRussia interested spectators of the game. Only afew weeks before I visited Koweit three large Britishmen-of-war, with two attendant gunboats, lay offthe town in the magnificent harbour. The squadronis now reduced to a cruiser and two gunboats. Theyoung officers of the Fox have already introducedthe Arabs to the game of football, and they arelikely to require a permanent cricket ground atKoweit. Indeed, the Sheikh says he is quiteanxious to learn the British game of cricket. The change was originally brought about by theuntimely death of the late Sheikh Mahomed, who,along with his brother Jirrah, was assassinated by
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THE IMPORTANCE OF KOWEIT 97 another brother the present chief Mubarak. This,though a common enough event in Arab principa-lities, was a sufficiently unwonted incident in theannals of Koweit to create a new situation. Beyondthe fact that Mubarak was obliged to sleep in adifferent chamber each night for some time to avoidassassination himself, he does not seem to have suf-fered from a guilty conscience nor to have been inthe least ashamed of himself. The British Govern-ment had no interest in the matter, nor could theavowed policy of Great Britain in the Gulf allowher to interfere, since it is a fact that if Great Britainwere to interfere whenever an Arab Sheikh is doneto death by an aspirant to the Sheikhdom, she wouldhave little time to attend to the weightier affairs ofthe Persian Gulf. Mubarak contented himself withobtaining some acknowledgment of his successionfrom Turkey, and then he proceeded to upset all thetradition of his race by embarking on a career ofconquests in the interi

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