File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎350r] (708/834)

that he must have Qunfudah peaceably or by force, or he will
discontinue his offensive against the Turks in the norti. e
adds that he will restore it at the end of the war. the letter-
goes on to say that H.M.G. was obliged in the circumstances
to advise the Idrisi’s withdrawal and it warns him of the very
brief time-limit allowed. . ,
(6) A long reply from the Idrisi to Captain lurton, ol
August 8, begins :— ,
“ . . . If it is a question of force, in the past I have opposed
his force by force although with him. were the whole forces of
Turkey, and at the present time I am ready, with the help ol
Allah, to oppose him more energetically, but I see that you
do not wish this owing to the criticalness of the situation.
He then proceeds to argue that there can be oo unity unless
each ruler keeps to his own bounds ; that the sheikhs who hold
Qunfudah for him were the most respected sheikhs of Quniucla i
and Birk districts, who had fought loyally for him against the
Turks eio-ht years before, while those who had invited the bheril
were the" pro-Turkish sheikhs of 1911 ; while, finally, as justifi
cation of his own past action, he encloses a letter ol June 14
from the Resident, Aden, containing the following sentence
“It is hoped that vour movement will be of the greatest ad
vantage to the Sherif of Mecca on whose shoulders the heaviest
burden will fall, and I am sure that he will be most grateful
to Your Excellency whatever action you may decide to take
and for this reason it appears that your attack on Ebhah and
Muhail, and Qunfudah in the first place, is the best. ...
The above statements of fact and opinion being extracted
from the reports of officers who were in a position to know e
Idrisi’s point of view, but not King Husem’s, may be regarcec
as to some extent ex farte, but one point they show clearly
that the Idrisi was in no way to blame for moving against
Qunfudah, and that he submitted loyally and with a certain
amount of dignity to a very ' galling and undeaerved public
humiliation. Officers who were m touch with him at this tir
seem to have been impressed, too, by the genuineness ol ns
desire to co-operate with the Sherif, while there are some hints
that he was not then bitterly opposed even to the Sherif s laigei
With regard to who should be the lawful overlord of
Qunfudah in the future, the notes above naturally give a one
sided impression. But the sole reason for withdrawal given to
the Idrisi was that, King Husein having uttered the first of
his long series of threats of resignation if he did not get Ins
way it was considered that the Idrisi’s claims must be over
ruled for the time being rather than that there should be any