File 3372/1916 Pt 2 'Arabia: French and Italian policy' [‎92r] (192/498)

APPENDIX IV
COMMITTEE OF IMPERIAL DEFENCE.
Sul.-Coimiiittee on the Anns Tmttic.
Eonnn and Fifth Meetings held at the 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. on the
I-NI AND l'IItii Eebiieary 1!)I7.
Present :
1 -oKD Lsungton {Chairman).
Sii: \\. ^IcMahon.
Vice-Admiiial Sjr E. Slaf.e.
Snt W. Tyrrell.
Mr. Head.
• : ‘Major Storr.
Major Paddox.
Mr. Sjiuckhuugii (Secretary).
I. I he Sub-Commit tee considered Admiral Slade’s memorandum on the
amendments required to render the Brussels Draft Additional Act of 1908
an adequate instrument for the control of the arms traffic after the war.
. “• Mic Sub-Committee accepted Admiral Slade’s two main proposals
viz. (1) that the prohibited area, as defined in Article 1 of the draft Act,"
of Arabia (for reasons explained in paragraphs 5 and 6 , it is not thought
desirable to include Maskat, Persia, or the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. littoral); and
(J) that the export ol arms from all signatory States to the prohibited area
[u] tiiat tne export ol arms from all signatory States to the prohibited area,
for other than Government purposes, should be made illegal.
Asia Minor, Syria, &e.—The case of Asia Minor, which will include
the remnants of the Ottoman Empire, after the expulsion of the Turks from
Europe, as well as the “ zones ” or “ spheres of influence” to be allotted to
Great Britain, France, Italy and Russia, presents considerable difficulty. It
will be necessary to bring into the agreement all the States concerned,
whether holding territory in full sovereignty (as in the case of Turkey in the
districts which she is allowed to retain) or exercising in varying degrees the
rights of suzerainty, protection, Ac., as in the case of the other Powers
mentioned, within the spheres allotted to them. Responsibility must be
fixed in each case upon the supervisory Power, whatever the precise nature
of the authority or supervision exercised.
It may here be remarked that it ivill apparently be necessary, after the
war, to recognise at least three distinct degrees of supervisory authority,
other than full sovereignty, exercisable by Great Britain and other European
Powers towards various Asiatic States and rulers, viz., ( 1 ) Suzerainty ;
(2) Protection, as already exercised in the case of the Aden States, the
Trucial Chiefs, Ac. ; and (3) that of Advisory or Supporting Power, as
in the case of various Arab potentates who before the war owned a nominal
allegiance to the Sultan of Turkey. No. (3) will vary in degree in different
cases, and may need to be further sub-divided for purposes of accurate
classification.
To revert to the arms traffic, little opposition need be anticipated from
Russia, whose policy has always been to prevent the supply of arms to her
Asiatic subjects ; and there should be no great difficulty in establishing an
identity of interest between Great Britain, Iranee, and Italy, all of whom
will be faced with the problem of developing their interests in new areas,
* Present at the fifth meeting only.
A
S 337—4 75—3 17