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Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [2r] (5/380)
The record is made up of 1 file (187 folios). It was created in 1 Jul 1916-7 Dec 1918. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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merit in regard to the Holy Places of Arabia, including the Holy Shrines of
| Mesopotamia and the Port of Jeddah, in order that there may be no misunder
standing on the part of His Majesty’s most loyal Moslem subjects as to the attitude
of His Majesty’s Government in this war, in which no question of a religious
character is involved. These Holy Places and Jeddah will be immune from attack
or molestation by British naval and military forces, so long as there is no inter
ference with pilgrims from India to the Holy Places and Shrines in question. At
the request of His Majesty’s Government, the Governments of France and Russia
have given similar assurances ” (p. 2).
A much looser pledge, extending to the whole of Arabia, was given in a Foreign
Office telegram of the 14th November, 1914, to the High (Commissioner, Cairo:—
k ' His Majesty's Government have no intention of undertaking any military
or naval operations in Arnbiu, or against its ports, unless such a course becomes
necessary for the protection of Arabian interests against, Turkish or other
aggression, or in support of any attempt by the Arabs to free themselves from
Turkish rule.”
On the 14th April, 1915, the Foreign Office (acting on the strength of a letter
addressed by Seyyid Sir Ali Morghani, Grand Kadi of the Sudan, to Sir R. Wingate—
then Sirdar—and forwarded by him) telegraphed to the High Commissioner, Cairo :—
“You should inform Sir R. Wingate that he is authorised by me to let it be
known, should he think it de.drable, that His Majesty’s Government will make it an
essential condition in the terms of peace that the Arabian Peninsula and its
Mohammedan Holy Places should remain in the hands of an independent
Sovereign State ” (p. 30 ).
This was communicated to Sir Ali Morghani, and by him, apparently, to
Sherif Husein. Later, towards the end of June, the substance of it was embodied
in proclamations distributed in Egypt, the Sudan, and Arabia.
In October, when the negotiations with the Sherif were well advanced, Faroki
(a member of one of the Arab Nationalist organisations in the Ottoman army, who
had passed over to the British lines at Gallipoli and had been brought to Egypt in
October) submitted suggestions to the High Commissioner for assurances to the Sherif,
one of them being that “ England will guarantee the Holy Places against external
aggression and recognise their inviolability” (p. 51). Sir H. McMahon communicated
this in a private telegram to Sir E. Grey on the 18th October, 1915. Instructions were
sent him in a Foreign Office telegram of the 20th October, 1915, and embodied by him
in his second letter, dated the 24th October, 1915, to Sherif Husein. In this letter
Faroki’s suggested assurance regarding the Holy Places was conveyed verbatim.
Finally, the following declaration was made in an official communique published
on the 29th July, 1916, in Egypt, after the Sherif's revolt, with the authorisation of
the Foreign Office :—
“ It remains the fixed policy of Great Britain to abstain from all interference
in religious matters and to spare no effort to secure Holy Places of Islam from all
external aggression.
c: It is an unalterable point of British policy that those Holy Places should
remain under independent Moslem rule and authority.
“ The present state of war places many difficulties and dangers in the way of
those wishing to perform the pilgrimage, but the action taken by the Sherif of
Mecca gives rise to hopes that arrangements may be made whereby the pilgrims
may in the coming year visit the Holy Shrines in peace and security ” (p. 57,
Part II).
Relation of Commitments under (ii) to British desiderata :—
No conflict.
(iii.) Boundaries of Arab Independence.
In the Foreign Office telegram of the 14th April, 1915 (No. 173), to the
High Commissioner, Cairo (quoted in section (ii) above), His Majesty’s Government
committed themselves to a public declaration that “ they will make it an essential
condition in the terms of peace that the Arabian Peninsula should remain in the hands
About this item
- Content
This file contains correspondence, memoranda, maps, manuscript notes, and other papers relating to the political and territorial settlement of parts of the Middle East following the First World War. Many of the papers were collected for the attention of the Middle East Committee (later named the Eastern Committee, following the mergence of the Foreign Office's Russia Committee and the interdepartmental Persia Committee) of the War Cabinet. Contributors include officials from the War Office, Foreign Office, Admiralty, and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , as well as indivduals such as Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence. Correspondence comes from representatives of the French and Italian governments as well as British officials in Cairo and other parts of the Middle East.
The papers deal with plans for the region presuming and following an Allied victory in the First World War and take into consideration the imperial ambitions of the victorious European Powers (France, Italy, Russia, Britain, and the United States) and the multitudinous commitments made by the British to various groups. The plans are based on evolving agreements rooted in the Sykes-Picot, or Asia Minor, Agreement between the British and French of 1916. Regions under consideration include the Hejaz (sometimes written Hedjaz), Syria, Northern Iraq, Southern Iraq, Palestine, Armenia, Turkey, the Idrisi state, Yemen, Persia, and Afghanistan. Various matters are covered in the file, but particular focus is given to plans for the Sherifian family of the Hejaz, led by King Husein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī], which impacted upon policy in Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, and the Arabian Peninsula. Other matters include the situation between Jews and Arabs in Palestine, wartime commitments to ruling shaikhs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , the French position in the region, and desiderata of the Government of India for any peace settlement.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (187 folios)
- Arrangement
The file is arranged in chronological order from the front to the back.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front first page with 1, and terminates at the inside back last page with 187; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/277
- Title
- Papers on British policy and the Arab movement
- Pages
- 1ar:1av, 1r:14r, 14r:14v, 14v, 22r:59v, 62r:98r, 99v:120v, 125r:133v, 136r:165r, 166r:167r, 167av, 168r:173r, 175r:176v, 178r:187v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence