Coll 6/21(1) 'Hejaz-Nejd: Relations with H.M.G.: Hejaz Legation in London and British Minister in Jeddah.' [‎148r] (306/914)

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by which they would stand together, and which would be supported by an under
taking, to be subscribed to by both the parties, that they would not stand against
Great Britain or support any Power who went against her. He considered that
such an arrangement would achieve his own object and would serve the interests
of His Majesty’s Government.
^ 11. At 3-30 I called on the Amir Khalid, as Acting President of the
^Council. This visit was purely formal. The Prince was shy but self-possessed,
and made mild efforts at conversation.
12. The King received me again at 4 p.m. After compliments, I said that
I hoped for a fuither expression of his views. He replied that he had nothing
more to say. In view of what Sheikh Yussuf had told me, this was obviously
merely a device for throwing on us the onus of initiating the discussion of the
frontier question. I therefore said that one of the outstanding questions which
His Majesty s Government desired to see settled was that of his eastern
boundaries. I explained how convinced His Majesty’s Government were that
the only legal basis was that resulting from the Anglo-Turkish Conventions of
1913-14. The King, I said, now ruled what had been a part of the Ottoman
Empire, and had succeeded to the position of the former Turkish Government.
If this thesis, to which His Majesty’s Government held strongly, was admitted,
they would be prepared to consider modifications of the legal frontier. I must,
however, make it clear that what they had in view was minor modifications, a
qualification rendered necessary by the comprehensiveness of the claims put
forward in the last Saudi note in regard to Qatar and the country towards Muscat
and Oman.
13. This started the King in a most vehement statement. Catching on to
the mention of Qatar, Muscat and Oman, he said that he might well claim all
these places as really his. He scouted the idea that the coastal principalities
represented true sovereignties. They owed their existence to people who came
from over the sea for trading purposes. He was not, however, he explained care
fully, claiming them now, as he had entered into an agreement with His Majesty’s
Government regarding them. He was not going back on that agreement, even
though his rule would be welcomed in the coastal areas themselves. He merely
cited the more extensive claims, which would be justified but for that agreement,
in support of what he did claim, viz., authority over tribes like the Murra, an
authority extending from Hhafra all the way, I gathered, to the hinterland of
Oman. He denied the justice of the attitude of His Majesty’s Government, even
though they should insist on it, and he should be compelled to yield.
14. I cannot reproduce in an exact form what the King said, but the
foregoing paragraph gives the main lines of his thesis, which, as regards his
ancestral claims, he supported by the following arguments, interspersed in his
discourse :—
\h
(a) His historical claim to Qatar, Muscat and Oman, which he had renounced,
was borne out by what had passed between one of his predecessors and
Colonel Felly. He spoke of a treaty or agreement as having been
reached at that time. He was obviously speaking from general
recollection, and was not even certain of Colonel Felly’s exact name,
but he was quite positive that Colonel Felly had recognised a very
extensive Saudi authority.
(b) When Jasim and Ahmed-bin-Thani of Qatar had quarrelled (perhaps
some forty years ago, but no exact date was mentioned), one of them
had appealed to the then Ibn Saud for assistance, and the then Ibn
Saud had composed the quarrel.
(c) He admitted that in his early days, Ibn Rashid had held Riadh and the
Turks, Hasa. Even then Turkish authority did not extend further.
They had never ruled the Murra, &c., and had at one moment requested
him to use his authority over the tribes, whereupon he had sent fUA^o
persons, whom he named, to control them. He denied absolutely the f^fb
right of the Turks to alienate his ancestral rights. /ro"
irv'
15. I observed that the King had himself come to an agreement with the
Turks, by which he recognised their sovereignty. He did not deny this, but said
that what he had done had been done under Bi itish advice given b}
Captain Shakespear, presumably under instructions.
[181 c—1] B 2