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'File 61/11 V (D 95) Hejaz - Nejd, Miscellaneous' [219r] (454/530)
The record is made up of 1 volume (261 folios). It was created in 12 May 1932-28 Dec 1933. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
I933] IBN SA'tJD AND THE FUTURE OF ARABIA 529
King and eight of them elected—I should perhaps add that they
are elected by the King. That, in my opinion, is an ideal form
of constitution; you get sixteen members appointed by the King.
I should like to summarise shortly my own views on the future
of Arabia under Ibn Sa'ud. Ibn Sa'ud is a genius. It is by no
manner of means an exaggeration to say that he is the greatest
Arab since the Prophet. He is very fond of saying, " The
English are my friends; but I will walk with them only so far
as my religion and honour will allow." But he is genius enough
to know when to continue the walk even though it is necessary
to allow a certain amount of elasticity, both to his religion and to
his honour. In several matters repeatedly, perhaps almost once
every six months, he has come up against Great Britain, and
he has an uncommon instinct for choosing the occasions when
he can stand his ground and beat us, because for some reason,
perhaps not connected with Arabia, perhaps a Labour Govern
ment, we cannot do anything at the time. He always chooses
such occasions and always wins, increasing his prestige every
time. Otherwise he lodges a strong protest and gives way.
At the beginning of last year, for instance, there was trouble
about a slave who took refuge in the British Legation at Jedda.
Great Britain is the only country that has the right to manumit
and repatriate slaves who get into the Legation by the Treaty
of Jedda which Sir Gilbert Clayton signed, but royal slaves are
exempt from the purview of the Treaty and therefore have to
be handed back. This slave was claimed by Sir Fu'ad Hamza
as being a royal slave. His Majesty's Minister took an elaborate
statement from him by which it appeared that he had come
from Nigeria in childhood with his parents on pilgrimage. It
took two years to get across Africa, and after many vicissitudes
he had got to the Hejaz, where he was stolen and sold as a slave.
He had then been stolen again and sold once more. He even
tually fetched up in Medina in 1924, and when Ibn Sa'ud con
quered Medina in 1925 his capturer had presented him to the
King. But in fact the slave had never been in the King's house.
He had been in the house of Sheykh Yusuf Yasin, who purchased
slaves for the King. So Sir Andrew Ryan said that he was not
a royal soldier or servant in the meaning of the Treaty of Jedda.
Sir Fu'ad refused to give way and sent ten Nejd soldiers and
officers down to the quarantine jetty with orders to shoot the
slave on sight. They would not go to the extent of shooting a
slave if he was on British soil. The Legation, the Legation car
and the launch were British soil. Meanwhile the Foreign Office
About this item
- Content
The volume consists of letters, telegrams, and memoranda relating to the Hejaz and Najd. Much of the correspondence is from the British Legation in Jeddah, with regular reports on the situation in that region sent to Sir John Simon, the Foreign Secretary in London. The rest of the correspondence is mostly between the Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Bushire, the Political Agencies in Kuwait, Bahrain, and Muscat, the Colonial Office, and the Government of India.
The main subjects of the volume are:
- the change in name from 'The Kingdom of the Hejaz-Nejd and its Dependencies' to 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia';
- the announcement of Ibn Sa'ud's eldest son, Prince Sa'ud, as the heir apparent to the throne;
- the territorial dispute between Yemen and Saudi Arabia after the latter's absorption of the 'Asir region into its kingdom.
A copy of the 23 September 1932 issue of the newspaper Umm al-Qura is contained in the volume (folios 57-58). It features the Royal Order proclaiming the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Other miscellaneous subjects covered in the volume include:
- relations between Italy and Saudi Arabia;
- a dispute between Ibn Sa'ud and his agent in Bahrain, al-Quasaibi [‘Abd al-‘Azīz al-Qusaibi], over a debt the former owes the latter;
- a revolt against Ibn Sa'ud by tribes loyal to ex-King Hussein coming from Sinai;
- a request for a loan made by Ibn Sa'ud to the British Government;
- relations between the Soviet Union and Saudi Arabia;
- relations between the USA and Saudi Arabia, including the visit of a Mr Gallant looking for oil concessions;
- concessions for the building of the railway between Mecca and Jeddah;
- the prospect of Saudi Arabia joining the League of Nations;
- the case of two slave girls seeking refuge at the British Legation in Jeddah.
Other documents of note contained in the volume are:
- a copy of a new customs tariff for Saudi Arabia (folios 122-134)
- a 'Who's Who' of Saudi Arabia, produced by the British Legation in Jeddah and covering all those deemed important to know by the British (folios 183-200);
- an envelope containing the torn-out pages of an article in the International Affairs journal (Vol. 12, No. 4, Jul., 1933, pp 518-534) entitled 'Ibn Sa'ud and the Future of Arabia.'
At the back of the volume (folios 245-251) are internal office notes.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (261 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume is arrranged chronologically.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The sequence starts on the first folio and continues to the inside back cover. The numbers are written in pencil, circled and located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Note that following f 1 are folios 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D. The sequence then continues as normal from folio 2. There are two other foliation systems present but both are inconsistent and neither are circled.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/R/15/1/568
- Title
- 'File 61/11 V (D 95) Hejaz - Nejd, Miscellaneous'
- Pages
- 213r:221v
- Author
- Lewis, Captain C C
- Usage terms
- Public Domain