File 3372/1916 Pt 2 'Arabia: French and Italian policy' [‎243r] (494/498)

No. C. 343, dated Aden 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. , the 1st May 1915 (Secret).
From Majok-Gcneral D. G. L. Shaw, Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden,
To—The Secretary to the Government of India in the Foreign and Political Depart-
In sending you by this mail three copies of the Treaty signed by me and
ie Idi isi Saiyid tor the ratification of the Government of India, I have the
honour to state that the Idrisi representatives will leave to-morrow for their
country. Ihey appear to mean business.
2. 1 here is little left to be said. Paragraph 5 is the most important one,
and is m accord with the cipher instructions received from you.
3. Paragraph 7. The precise details of assistance in funds and munition
is expressly omitted at the request of Saiyid Mustafa and is done to avoid
wounding Arab susceptibilities. A receipt in full for assistance given has
however been obtained. The concluding portion of this paragraph is very
essential. Having begun a good work with so important a Chief, and one so
inimical to everything Turkish, it will be necessary to prosecute the matter a
outrance, but I was careful to insert the last nine words of the paragraph as
showing the quid pro quo for which the Idrisi is responsible.
4. I would request that two ratified copies of the Treaty may he returned
to me, one to be given to the Idrisi and the other for this office records.
This Treaty of Friendship and Goodwill is signed by Major-General D. G.
L. Shaw, the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. , Aden, on behalf of the British Government and
by Saiyid Mustafa bin Saiyid Abdu’l ’Ali on the part of His Eminence Saiyid
Muhammad bin Ali bin Muhammad bin Ahmed bin Idris the Idrisi Saiyid
and Amir of Sabia and its environments.
2 . Its main objects are to war against the Turks and to consolidate a
pact of friendship between the British Government and the Idrisi Sajyid,
abovementioned, and his Tribesmen.
3 . The Idrisi Saiyid agrees to attack and to endeavour to drive the Turks
from their stations in the Yemen and to the best of his power to harass the
Turkish troops in the direction of the Yemen and to extend his territories at
the expense of the Turks.
4 . The Saiyid’s prime objective will be against the Turks only, and he
will abstain from any hostile or provocative action against Imam Yahya so
long as the latter does not join hands with the Turks.
5 . The British Government undertakes to safeguard the Idrisi Saiyid’s
territories from all attack on the seaboard from any enemy who may molest
him ; to guarantee his independence in his own domain and at the conclusion
of the war to use every diplomatic means in its power to adjudicate between
the rival claims of the Idrisi Saiyid and the Imam Yahya or any other rival.
6 . The British Government has no desire to enlarge its borders on
Arabian soil but wishes solely to see the various Arab rulers living peacefully
and amicably together each in his own sphere, and all iu friendship with the
British Government.
7 . As a mark of its appreciation of the work to he performed by the
Idrisi Saiyid, the British Government has aided him with both funds and
munitions and will continue to assist him in the prosecution of the war so long
as it lasts in accordance with the measure of the Idrisi s activities.
8 Finally, while maintaining a strict blockade on all Turkish ports in
the Red Sea the British Government has for some months past been gn in
the Hnsi SaVd full and free scope to trade and traffic between his ports and
Aden, and this concession the British Government, in token of the inenclsh [
existing, will continue uninterruptedly to maintain.