"ملف 61/11 IV (D 77) مسائل متنوعة خاصة بالحجاز ونجد" [ظ‎‎٥‎١] (٣٦٦/١١٢)

6. The crux of the matter is the financial situation. Ibn Saud has no doubt
always lived up to his income and a bit beyond it. 1 he trouble now is that he can
only escape the most serious embarrassment by cutting his cloth to lit a greatly
diminished income, again because of the slump in the pilgrimage, which has been
too great to be balanced by increased taxation, and which is hardly likeh to be
repaired next year, whatever later prospects may be. He and his family are
naturally extravagant. The expenditure, for instance, on a move to Riadh is
enormous in comparison with resources. This extravagance in itself causes
adverse comment. The most intelligent foreign pilgrim 1 have met this year
remarked on the poorness of the lighting of the sacred precinct at Mecca as
contrasted with the installations in royal houses, and was very much inclined to
ask generally why Ibn Saud should aftect to miscellaneous State or other purposes
money brought by Moslems coming here as of right to fulfil a religious obligation.
Royal extravagance in personal expenditure might, however, pass, if royal
requirements for other purposes were not so great a drain. The King s strength
and prestige must depend on his ability to pay, pay, pay. An Islamised
Dutchman here, not hostile to him, has expressed to me doubt as to whether the
King means to go to Nejd at all this summer. His doubt is probably unfounded,
but his reasons for it are interesting. Custom demands that all who come to the
King's threshold in Riadh should receive food, clothing and gifts. What an
excellent plan, then, for His Majesty to put it about that he is going thither; let
the expectant Bedouin turn their steps in that direction also; retire to Taif; and
leave an eldest son to gratify as best he may the hopes of the Bedouins!
Mr. Philby again, in the conversation to which T have already referred, asked
me, with "unusual diffidence, what I thought of the financial outlook, and had
nothing hopeful to suggest when I said I could not see where any money was to
come from until late in the autumn.
7. There is little in this despatch that T have not already adverted to m
special connexions in other reports. In putting all the facts together in one
statement, I may have painted too gloomy a picture. It is not the first time in
Ibn Sand's history that he has % been confronted with difficulties, nor is there
anythino- in his record to suggest that he would easily relinquish what he has
gained. He has often been bard up, and contrived to carry on. His whole
position was endangered by the 1920 rebellion, and he came out on top. My object
is not to suggest that he is now on the point of collapse in the Hejaz, but to show
that his position here rests on foundations so unstable that a strong push from
any direction might upset it, and that his downfall, if it could be compassed,
would not be unwelcome to the population, however incapable the most visible
elements may be of compassing it themselves. My intelligent pilgrim, admittedly
a hostile witness, unlike Mr. Philby and the Dutchman, was full of the King's
unpopularity, and mentioned a prophecy, of which I had not previously heard,
that Ibn Saud's rule in the Hejaz would last seven years from the start. My
French colleague tells me that he hears the same tales as myself- of unsettled
feeling in the Northern Hejaz, and agrees with me in thinking that their
importance lies more in their persistency than in the value of particular reports.
8. While drafting this despatch I heard that a council of representatives, in
some sense elective, has been convened to meet at Mecca on or about the 1st June,
to consider matters affecting the general interests of the country. According to
mv informant, it will be a considerable gathering, comprising twenty representa
tives from Mecca, ten each from Medina and Jedda, and representatives from
other towns. This piece of news has an interesting bearing on the subject-matter
of the present despatch, which, however, I do not wish to delay. If my informa
tion is confirmed, I will report separately anything I may hear regarding the
council and its proceedings. prsr £1 g
0. I am sending copies of this despatch to the Secretary of the Government
of India in the Foreign and Political Department, His Majesty's High
Commissioners at Bagdad and Jerusalem, and His Majesty's Resident in the
Persian Gulf.
I have, &c.
ANDREW RYAN.