File 87/1926 Pt 2 'Arabia: Bin Saud: Relations with H.M.G. Revision of Treaty.' [‎531r] (749/840)

Sixth Meeting.
The sixth meeting took place on Monday, the 19th October, at
9 a.m., with the same attendance as before.
I enquired whether His Highness had been able to study the
draft agreement which I had drawn up, and he replied that he had
seen it but it did not appear to him to make any change from what
had been proposed at the Kuweit Conference. I said that, although
-^-the draft did not contain everything that His Highness desired, it
^ was designed to meet the wishes of His Majesty’s Government and
the ‘Iraq Government while going as far as possible in the direction
required by Nejd. I hoped, therefore, that he would be able to
accept it as an instrument which would improve the existing situa
tion on the frontier. I repeated that the Government of ‘Iraq were
taking energetic action in regard to the Nejd Shammar and had
removed them as far as possible from the Nejd frontier.
Ibn Sa‘ud said that he had heard of the removal of the Shammar
to the Mosul district, but he did not believe that any substantial im
provement would result; apparently they had been raiding again
in the direction of Jauf, and he believed they were in that area at
the present moment. He had no fear as far as his own tribes were
concerned, and he pressed his point, first, because his religion and
his honour demanded it, and secondly, because he was convinced
that peace and order on the frontier could only be attained by the
acceptance of a principle which he felt sure would prove to be the
only deterrent. An agreement such as that now drafted would, he
feared, be a solution in name only, though he would of course
loyally subscribe to the terms of any agreement to which he put his
' name. He asked that his objections should be noted, so that if
trouble did ensue, he might not be held responsible, and begged me
to give very minute consideration to his proposal. His object was
to avoid conflict and discussion with the ‘Iraq Government as far as
possible and to let each Government attend to its own affairs.
I said that in matters affecting the nomad tribes on the borders I
was prepared to admit His Highness’ great knowledge and ex
perience, but his methods of dealing with them were not necessarily
possible of adoption by Governments which were differently situated.
His Majesty’s Government and the ‘Iraq Government were both con
vinced that the principle recommended by His Highness could not
be admitted or enforced.
I then asked him whether, in the event of an agreement based on
the principle which he desired being concluded, he would ask for the
return of the whole of the Nejd Shammar. Ibn Sa‘ud replied that
the return to Nejd of the Shammar had previously been the subject
of correspondence with Sir Percy Cox, and it had been agreed that
they should be surrendered ; but this had never been done. I erson-
ally, he had no wish for their return to Nejd, where they would
probably only create trouble—indeed, he would prefer that thev
should be sent still further away—but they w^ere a constant threat
to peace and that w r as why he wanted them handed over.
After further discussion on minor questions and hypotheses put
forward by Ibn Sa‘ud, I observed that it w^as beyond the wit of rnC ^
to devise any instrument which could work successfully unless both
parties were prepared to do their best to Co-operate. It w’as not my