Papers on British policy and the Arab movement [‎168r] (341/380)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government]
SECRET.
j
Political Intelligence Department,
. * Foreign Office.
Special 8.
MEMORANDUM
ON
BRITISH COMMITMENTS (DURING THE WAR) TO THE
GULF CHIEFS.
THE name “ Gulf Chiefs ” is used to include a number of independent or
autonomous Arab rulers—the Sultan of Maskat, the Trucial Chiefs of Oman, and the
Sheikhs of Katar, Bahrein, Koweit, and Mohammerah—with whom His Majesty's
Government have treaty relations, and who are dealt with by the Government of
India through the British Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Bushire) and the local political
agents under his authority.
For our relations with the Gulf Chiefs before the war, it is sufficient to refer to
the Foreign Office memorandum of the 12th February, 1908, respecting British interests
in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; to the appendices to the Anglo-Turkish Convention of the
29th July, 1913 (in which we communicated to the Turkish Government all our
agreements with the Gulf Chiefs, except the Secret Agreement of the 16th October,
1907); and to the draft of a despatch, dated August 1914, to His Majesty’s Ambassador
at Constantinople, reviewing the’course of negotiations and agreements concluded in
1913 and 1914 regarding affairs of Turkey and the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. .
During the war certain fresh assurances and pledges have been given to the Gulf
Chiefs, collectively and individually, by His Majesty’s Government, and these are
discussed below.
(i.) Collective Assurances.
In August 1914, after war had broken out between Great Britain and Germany,
and Turkey had begun to display an intention of intervening on the German side, the
British Resident in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. appears to have suggested to the Government of
India that circular letters to the Gulf Chiefs ought to be drafted in advance, to be
despatched the moment a state of war between Great Britain and Turkey came into
existence.
On the 6th September, 1914, the Government of India communicated to the
Resident the text of a draft circular communique on the responsibility of Turkey for
the outbreak of war, as well as suggestions for specific assurances to the more important
of the Chiefs, which they were submitting to the 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. (61684/61439/14, No. 1).
On the 14th September, 1914, the officiating Resident (64214/14, No. 1) submitted
to the Government of India drafts of various notices, based on the drafts and sugges
tions previously communicated to him, which he proposed to issue in the event of war
occurring. These drafts contained both individual and collective assurances. The
former will be dealt with separately later. The latter were embodied in the following
passage of a “ Special Notice to be issued on the outbreak of war to the Arab rulers
and sheikhs in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and their subjects”:—
“ Your relations with Great Britain are of long standing, and I take the
opportunity of assuring you that in this struggle we shall do our utmost to
preserve for you your liberty and religion. No act of ours shall threaten either
of these, which are dearer to humanity than life itself.”
Under the same cover, the Resident submitted to the Government of India the
draft of a circular proclamation regarding the Holy Places :—
“ From the High British Government.
“ War has broken out between Great Britain and Turkey, but it is notified
for the public information of all the Moslems that, so long as the Indian pilgrims
proceeding to Mecca and Medina are not seriously interfered with, no hostile
action will be taken by the British or Indian Government, or by their ships or
soldiers, against the port of Jeddah or the Holy Places.”
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