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'Foreign Office Memorandum on Arabian Policy.' [4r] (7/20)
The record is made up of 1 file (10 folios). It was created in c 1920. It was written in English. 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.
5
cheaper in the end to ensure his non-interference in the Aden protectorate by paying
him some small sum as a token of favour than by attempting to keep him out of the
protectorate by force. , ^
(6.) Asir.—The Idrisi Said has been loyal to His Majesty s Government
throughout the war, and was in receipt of a subsidy up to June 1919. lie not on
good terms with either of his two neighbours, King Hussein or the Imam. He has,
however, consistently professed himself rendy to accept the arbitration of His Majesty s
Government in outstanding questions. This arbitration would be difficult, if not
impossible, to carrv out if any discrimination were made between him and the Imam on
the question of financial assistance. He has represented many times that, while he has
remained loval to us, he obtains no benefit from his loyalty, and the fact that King
Hussein and Ibn Saud have both received subsidies long after his own subsidy was
stopped has probably been at the back of his mii d in making these representations.
(7.) Anazeh—Fahad Beg, the ruler of the section of the Anazeh whose country
borders on Mesopotamia, receives a subsidy of 17,000
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
a month from Mesonotamian
revenues. This is understood to be in connection with his a-si.stance to us in blockade
work, but no proposal has yet been made for the reduction or cessation of tho
allowance. - . ,,.
(8.) Koueit. — The Sheihh of Koweit has a stretch of foreshore leas« d by His
Majesty's Government, and is exempted from payment of taxes on his date gardens in
Basra to the extent of 60,000
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
a year. The Civil Con missioner at Bagdad has
recommended that the lease should be terminated, and that a similar amount should
be paid to him quarterly in arrears, admittedly as a subsidy, and subject to his good
behaviour. _ t 1 . l 1 i i
(9.) Hail.— lhn Rashid is at present in receipt of no subsidy, but the Givil
Commissioner, Bagdad, has recommended a subsidy of 37,500
rupees
Indian silver coin also widely used in the Persian Gulf.
a month.
(lo.) Nejd.—Ibn Sand is at present in receipt of a subsidy of 5,0001. a, month.
He also received recently an additional present of 5,000/. as a mark of appreciation from
His Majesty's Government for having restrained his followers from making the
pilgrimage. ^ It wid be seen from correspondence marked (C) that the High
Commissioner at Bagdad now suggests that his subsidy should be increased to 100,000/.
a vear, paid quarterly. An interesting report on the political situation in Nejd has
been recently leceived in 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.
, from which it appears that Ibn bauds
position is by no means so strong as has sometimes been imagined, and that there
would be decided opposition on the part of the other rulers to any policy of aggrandising
him at the expense of his neighbours.
12. If it is accepted that there is no objection to His Majesty's Government
concluding a tre.itv with the independent King of the Hedjaz, and that the only way
for them^to establish their influence with the remaining rulers of Arabia is to afford
them a minimum of financial support, the deduction appears to be that His Majesty's
Government should take the following line :—
(1.) As soon as the Turkish treaty is ratified, and independently of the draft treaty
dealing with Arabia (Appendix (A)), they should conclude a treaty with the King of the
Hedjaz, in which it would be provided : —
(a.) That, in return for certain definite undertakings to be made by King Hussein,
His Majesty's Government would arrange for and guarantee a loan secured
on the customs revenues and mineral resources of the country.
(h.) That, so far as his foreign relations with other Arab rulers were concerned, he
would undertake to accept the arbitration of His Majesty's Government in
every ease.
The negotiations could most conveniently be conducted through the Emir teisal.
(2.) As soon as the draft treaty (Appendix (A) ) is signed the other independent
mlers of Arabia should be informed that this lias been done, and invited to enter into,
modify or ratify the existing treaty relations between them and His Majesty s
Government.
13. The actual form which the financial assistance to the other Arab rulers should
take cannot be discussed until the broad principle that they should be so assisted is
accepted. It is, however, suggested that, in the case of rulers whose territories contain
resources which would secure a loan, the support should take the form of a loan,
possibly guaranteed by His Majesty's Treasury, and, in the case of such rulers as
Ibn Kashid, whose territory is entirely unproductive, it should take the form of a small
About this item
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This printed memorandum deals with the question of the political and financial obligations that the British Government should in future incur in relation to Arabia, in view of the forthcoming negotiations in Paris between Britain, France and the other allied powers on the subject of Arabia [the Paris Peace Conference, 1919-20]. The memorandum is signed 'H. W. Y.' [Major Hubert Winthrop Young].
Arabia is defined in the memorandum as the area bounded on the north-west by the peninsula of Sinai and the British mandate of Palestine and Trans-Jordan; on the north-east by the British mandate of Mesopotamia; on the east by the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; on the south-east by the Indian Ocean; and the west by the Red Sea.
The memorandum includes draft treaty proposals of the British delegation to Paris (Appendix A, folios 4-5), and the main body of the document discusses the articles of the proposed treaty in relation to the various constituent parts of the Arabian peninsula, as defined by the British, including the Kingdom of the Hedjaz [Hejaz, al-Ḥijāz], Nejd [Najd], Yemen, and the Gulf littoral states. The memorandum asserts the right of the British Government to recognition of their special position in Arabia in view of Britain's longstanding relations with many of the region's rulers (folio 1). There are three further appendices: Appendix B (folios 5-6) contains transcriptions of relevant correspondence issued by the Foreign Office and 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. , dated 1919-20, relating to the sub-divisions into which Arabia had been divided for the purposes of the document; Appendix C (folios 7-8) contains minutes of a meeting held at the Foreign Office on 17 April [1920] to discuss the question of subsidies to Arab rulers; and Appendix D (folios 8-10) contains a Foreign Office memorandum dated 13 July 1920 concerning the question of the continuance of financial support by the British Government to King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] of the Hejaz.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (10 folios)
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at 1 on the first folio and terminates at 10 on the last folio. The numbers are written in pencil, are enclosed in a circle, and appear in the top right hand corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. page of each folio. This is the system used to determine the order of pages.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence, numbered 2-18. These numbers appear in the top centre of each page.
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/18/B367
- Title
- 'Foreign Office Memorandum on Arabian Policy.'
- Pages
- 1r:10v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence