File 4006/1919 Pt 1 ‘Arabia:- Visit of the sons of the Sheikh of Koweit + Amir of Nejd to England.’ [‎331v] (666/863)

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of Ibn RasMd, Abdul Rahman formally abdicated all claim to the throne in favour of
his eldest son. Abdul Aziz Ibn Baud, to whom he delegated the duty of recovering
the' territories of his ancestors. , „ T -
In the winter of 1900 a.d. Abdul Aziz, then a young man of only^ld, Jett Kuwait
with a following of 200 men ; having arrived at a distance of a day s journey from
Riyadh he selected 15 men to accompany him and entered the capital secretly. The
Governor was ambushed and killed in the main square and Riyadh acclaimed the
return of its rightful lords. Abdul Aziz then recovered piecemeal the whole of the |
territory, which Faisal had ruled, and in the spring of 1914 wrested the rich province
of Hasa" from the Turks by a stratagem as bold as that by which he had captured
Rivadh.
Abdul Aziz Ibn Sand had always entertained ^a feeling of friendship lor the
British, and proved his sincerity at the beginning of the Great War by undertaking
active operations against Ibn Rashid, who had declared for the Turks. Throughout
the war he co _ operated with the .Mesopotamian authoiities as fai as his isolated N
position permitted, both in the blockade of. enemy territory and in keeping up
pressure on the enemy, Ibn Rashid, thus enabling the King of the Hejaz to develop
his military operations along the railway without fear of serious interference.from Ibn
Rashid. In September 1918 he began a vigorous offensive against Hail itself and
had gained an initial success, when the signing of the armistice with Turkey rendered
the continuance of his operations unnecessary.
The relations between our two allies, the King of the Hejaz and Ibn Sand, have
never been very cordial and were becoming increasingly strained during the last
months of the war, but Ibn Sand gave ns, and faithfully carried out, an undertaking
that he would do nothing to increase the King’s difficulties so long as he was engaged
in co-operating with our military forces. After the war matters rapidly grew more
serious until they culminated in open hostilities last May, in the course of which Ibn
Sand’s forces made a surprise attack on the King’s camp, and captured all their guns,
machine guns, ammunition and other impedimenta. So far as can be ascertained
only 150 men of the King’s regular army escaped from the slaughter, in which
between 4,000 and 5,000 men are said to have perished. Ibn Sand then returned to
his capital and the peace has not since been disturbed.
At the invitation of His Majesty’s Government Ibn Sand has sent a delegation to
pay homage to f^sJMaj.esty and to congratulate him on the successful issue of the
war. The delegation is headed by his second surviving son, Faisal, a boy of 14, who
took part i-ii the military operations against Ibn Rashid in 1918. He is accompanied
in the capacity of political adviser by his cousin, Ahmad Ibn Tlmnaiyan, whose
grandfather sat on the throne of Najd for a brief space during tbe troublous years of
the Turkish occupation and who was himself, with his brothers, educated at Constanti
nople ; bis brothers were at Constantinople on the outbreak of war and served in the
Turkish army. The commercial interests of Najd are represented by the third
member of the delegation, Abdullah A1 Qusaibi, a partner of a flourishing firm of
pearl and general merchants at Bahrain. The remaining three members of the
delegation are attendants.
A treaty was signed in 1916 by Sir Percy Cox, G.C.I.E., K.C.S.I., on behalf of
Great Britain and by Ibn Sand, whereby the latter in return for a British guarantee
of the integrity of his territories undertook to have dealings with no foreign Power
but Great Britain, to keep open the pilgrim routes across his territory to Mecca and
to refrain from aggression against the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. states in treaty relations with us.
It was also agreed that rhe actual boundaries of his territories should be determined
after the war, and tint the treaty then ratified should be revised with a view to .the
establishment of a permanent agreement between Ibn Sand and the Power which lie
regards as his natural protector. Ahmad Ibn Thunaiyan has been invested by his
master with full powers to discuss these matters if such discussion is desired by His
Maj esty ’ s Governinen t.
It may be mentioned that Ibn Sand’s father, Abdul Rahman, is still alive and
that the influenza epidemic of last winter penetrating into the heart of Arabia carried
off three of Ibn Sand’s sons, including tbe eldest, Turki, a lad of 19, and already
before his death renowned for his military prowess. The heir to the throne of Najd
is Sand, the second and eldest surviving son of the ruler.