Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [‎148v] (300/380)

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lease or purchase. Gwadur is a case in point. We feel sure that, if the
French Government can he induced to abrogate the Treaty of 1862, difficulties
and friction in the future will certainly be obviated. . . . We trust that
such steps as are possible will be taken to persuade the French Government
to cancel this obsolete agreement, which, while it not only confers no benefit,
but actually imposes an obligation, on them, trammels us in our dealings with
a petty State on whose protection we have spent so much in recent years.”
40. The cancellation of the Declaration of 1862 would be of substantial advantage
to us. But the matter cannot be regarded as one of extreme urgency ; it is not, for
example, in the same category with the question of Chandernagore. It need not be
pressed if the price demanded by the French is too high.
(c) Sheikh Said.
41. This is another case in which France is concerned. Sheikh Said is a fortified
promontory in the extreme south-west corner of Arabia, within gunshot of the British
station on Perim Island, which has in fact been bombarded from it during the war. The
promontory is situated within a small triangular area, immediately adjoining the
frontier of the Aden Protectorate, which the Turkish Government agreed, after the Aden
Boundary Commission of 1905, not to alienate “ de quelque maniere que ce soit.”
With the disappearance of the Turks, we may be content to leave Sheikh Said in the
possession of the local Arabs, 1 provided we can obtain a formal renunciation of the
French claims to the place. These claims date from 1869, when two Frenchmen
purchased Sheikh Said from the local Sheikh for a sum of $80,000. The Porte
denied the right of the Sheikh to sell, but the French, though they occupied the
place for a very short time only, have never abandoned their interest in it, and
have never recognised it as Turkish territory. The desirability of occupying it was
urged in the French Chamber in 1893, and as recently as November 1914 there was
talk of a French company—apparently a very dubious concern—having acquired the
rights of the original proprietors. It would be desirable to dispose of the French claim
once for all.
(d) Nejd, and other Independent Arabian Principalities.
42. The question of Nejd. and the other territories of the Emir Bin Sand, does not
concern any European Allied Power except ourselves. If any difficulty arises, it will
be with King Husain. As the latter is to be represented at the peace discussions, and
as his representative may possibly advance extravagant claims on the King’s behalf,
it is as well to place it on record that we have recognised Bin Sand by formal treaty
as the “ independent ruler ” of the provinces of Nejd, A1 Hasa, Qatif and JubaiL
During the negotiations of 1915-16, which preceded the Arab rising of the latter
year. Sir H. McMahon was careful, in giving assurances to the Sherif, to put in a
reservation, in which the Sherif acquiesced, in favour of our existing treaties with
Arab chiefs.
43. Similar remarks apply to the other independent Arab chieftains with whom
we are in treaty relations : the Sheikh of Mohammerah (nominally a Persian subject),
the Sheikhs of Koweit and Bahrein, the Trucial Chiefs, the Sultan of Maskat, the two
Hadramaut Sultans (Sultan of Shehr and Mokalla and of Socotra and Kishm), the
various protected Chiefs of the Aden hinterland, and the Saiyid Idrisi of Asir. ’ No
settlement with King Husain can be accepted which does not safeguard the territorial
rights of these various chieftains.
44. It is taken for granted that the settlement with Turkey will dispose finally of
. Turkish claims to suzerainty over Kbweit, and of all Turkish territorial rights of
every description on the Arabian littoral of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and its hinterland.
(e) The Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
-15. Ihe Civil Commissioner at Baghdad has recently suggested that the
opportunity should be taken to obtain from the Peace Conference formal recognition
of our protectorate rights over the various Arab principalities of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
1 The Anglo-French joint engagement of May 1916, not to annex territory in Arabia, is subject to
the following pi'oyiso:—“ Ceci n’empechera telle rectification de la frontiere d’Adenqni pourra etre jugee
necessaire, par suite de la recente agression des Turcs.” In other words, if we desired to annex Sheikh
Said, we should be free to do so, so far as the Agreement of 1916 is concerned.