Coll 6/21(2) 'Saudi Arabia: Relations with H.M.G.: Saudi Legation in London and British Minister in Jeddah. Prolongation of Treaty of Jedda.' [‎12v] (24/761)

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“ There is neither victory nor defeat save as God wills,” replied the King.
“He exalts whom He will and casts down whom He will. But after our
submission to that primal truth we believe most firmly that a happy future for
the Arabs depends on a British victory and that that victory is sure. It is a
vast subject, but I will try and show you briefly the reasoning that has led me to
hold this view.
‘ ‘ Men ask : ‘ What do the Arabs think ? What do the Arabs want ? What
will the Arabs do? ’ We have to say what the Arabs are, what are theip*
qualities.
“ The Arabs have two characteristics : their Islam and their ‘ Arabiyah ’
(‘ Arabism ’—their racial and national feeling). But to be an Arab is not enough.
There are still too many primitive and ignorant people among the Arabs for them
to form themselves into a great united nation. There remains their Islam : that
is something capable of being a basis on which to found a nation. That is if it
be true Islam uncorrupted by ignorance and innovation.
“ States may have one of two foundations : either strict and undeviating
religion, the exact fulfilment of God’s law on earth, or a wise Constitution
respected and observed by all the people of the State. No Arab country to-day
has either of these.
‘ ‘ The history of the Arabs has been a tale of struggling for unity and power.
They have been ruled by a series of dynasties who all sought to weld them into
one empire and to strengthen their hold over them, from the days of Bani
Ummaiya and Abbas down to the Turks. The Turks were the last to rule an
Arab Empire. They kept it together and kept the Arabs in subjection to them
by three means : unceasing propaganda for the Turkish Khalifate—Sultan Abdul
Hamid used to spend 7 million a year on propaganda, and his ‘ du’at ’ (secret
political missionaries) were sent to the ends of the realm; flattery and bribery—
they pinned a medal on a noble Arab’s chest and dazzled him with it until he
could see nothing else; the deliberate keeping of the mass of the Arab people in
ignorance and poverty so that they were too brutalised and spiritless to rise
against them. Then there came the great war, and the Arabs stirred and rose,
filled with the hope of throwing off the Turkish domination. For the first time
for many hundreds of years independence again seemed possible. They fell under
the rule of Britain and France. You know what I think about British rule—that
I sincerely believe that it has been for the worldly good of the Arabs. As for the
French rule—you know what I think about the French. But the Arabs had tasted
freedom and now they want to feed full on it.
“In statesmanship there are two guiding principles: one is service of
country, property and person. The statesman in this is a merchant. Whether he
is serving his country or his estate or himself he is making bargains, buying cheap
and selling dear. That is natural. Self-interest must always be one of the main
motives of human action. The other principle is ‘ sharaf ' (honour and integrity).
Earthly success is unpredictable. Man’s powers vary in different times and
circumstances in inexplicable ways. At one time a man may seek to jump over
that low table there and not be able to and be forced to draw back defeated. At
another time he may leap over the mountain tops. Among the vicissitudes of
fortune and the strange chances of opportunity there is only one sure thing : to
be true to one’s own ideals. The man of integrity will retire in defeat
unconquered, though fate may seem to have vanquished him yet he will be master
of his fate because he has retained unimpaired his will to do right; he will watch
I the changes of circumstances and use every opportunity to advance in some
measure the ideals he holds. Such a man will wade through dangers and
^undertake enterprises which others, who look only to immediate profit, view with
Gear and foreboding, because he knows the end he seeks is good.
“ Until the statesmen of the Arab world understand these two principles and
act on them there can be no independence for the Arabs. I don’t see many men in
Iraq, in Egypt, in Syria who are acting on them. They do not understand their
countries' interest—not even their own. Book at Rashid Ali : the course I warned
him against might well have led to his country’s ruin. Fet that pass—he cared
not for his country’s interest; you would have thought he might have cared for his
own. No their chairs of office are dearer to them than their countries
“ We have talked about Palestine. I, an Arab, tell you that the Arabs
? created the Palestine problem. Who but the Arabs called their conferences, raised
their clamour and preached and prated about Palestine ? And who were these
Arabs ? They were three types : The man who sought to make a wordly reputation
for himself and win fame in men’s mouths; the adventurer who had no stake either
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