مجموعة ٦/ ١٩ "الجزيرة العربية: (المملكة العربية السعودية) التقرير السنوي لمملكة الحجاز ونجد." [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٣] (٥٤٠/٤٠٦)

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it differed from that of other rebels; that any subsequent intervention by His
Majesty's Government had been inspired merely by motives of friendship for
botn sides; and that they must now disinterest themselves and leave the matter
to be settled between the parties direct. In the course of the following days,
Nuri Pasha placated Ibn Saud sufficiently, and the matter dropped, although
^ the King restated his views, mildly in a personal letter of the 11th April to
Sir F. Humphrys, and more emphatically in a note addressed by his Minister
for Foreign Affairs to the Legation on the 13th April. It was interesting to
note how much less civil the Hejazi Government were to His Majesty’s
Government than to the Iraqis over the whole affair. Anyhow, it died a happy
death, although it is not clear what happened about the members of Ibn Mashhur’s
following, whom King Feisal had undertaken to hand over to Ibn Saud together
with his property. A list of persons and effects had been forwarded to the
Hejazi Government through Sir F. Humphrys and the Legation at the end of
January, and had suggested the comment that the property included no arms.
This gave rise to some correspondence, but when it became certain that
Nuri Pasha was coming to Jedda, the British authorities tacitly disinterested
themselves in this aspect of the case also, and no more was heard of it. As for
Ibn Mashhur himself, he remained in Syria throughout the year. It appears
that he is not really on good terms with the once famous Nuri Shaalan, paramount
chief of the Ruwalla tribes, owing to his having on some past occasion stolen one
of the sheikh’s wives; but he has consorted with Nuri Shaalan’s grandson and
possible heir, a young rip who seems to feel less strongly about the abdhetion of
his step-grandinother.
(d) Miscellaneous Matters .—The other subjects dealt with by Nuri Pasha
included customs duties, passport arrangements, Haramein Wakfs, and
co-operation in regard to scientific and technical matters. He gave
Sir F. Humphrys to understand that he discussed the first two with satisfactory
results, and he told Sir A. Ryan that he had made some last-minute concession to
the Hejazis about Wakfs, without indicating its nature. As the Hejazi
communique of the 10th April describes all four subjects as having been reserved
for subsequent negotiation, it may be assumed that nothing very definite was
settled. The Pasha explained to the Hejazi Government the agreement which he
had just concluded on behalf of Iraq with the Transjordan Government. He
informed them also of his jntention of sending two members of his delegation,
Taha Pasha Al-Hashimi and another, on to the Yemen, a project which Ibn Baud
welcomed, or at least did not object to. He claimed, perhaps optimistically, to
have reconciled the King to the appointment as Iraqi Foreign Minister of
Dr. Abdullah Damluji, who had formerly served Ibn Saud in a similar capacity,
and he was given a friendly message to that gentleman. Finally, he broached
two subjects, which fall to be dealt with elsewhere in this report, the proposed
overland pilgrims’ route from Iraq to the Hejaz and the disposal of the Druze
refugees under Sultan Al-Atrash (see paragraphs 154 and 33 (b)). He does not
appear to have tackled the King on the delicate subject of the Arab Alliance.
12. Both parties designated in the summer the diplomatic representatives
whom they had agreed to exchange. In each case the choice was peculiar. That
of Iraq fell on Dr. Naji A1 Asil, who formerly served King Hussein as his
representative in London, and who left there no very good reputation. Ibn Saud
selected a certain Rushshaid Pasha, who formerly acted as Ibn Rashid’s
representative in Constantinople, and who, having passed over to Ibn Saud with
the other debris of the Rashidite regime, appears to have since lived obscurely in
Mecca. These gentlemen, who were to be appointed to the position of Charge
d’Affaires and consul-general, had not taken up their posts up to the end of the
year, but were understood to be then about to do so. Some doubt remained as to
whether Dr. Naji was to reside at Mecca in accordance with an arrangement
which Nuri Pasha thought he had made, or at Jedda in accordance with the usual
practice, to which, according to Fuad Bey Hamza, no exception could be made.
13. Little was heard of the relations between Hejaz-Nejd and Iraq after
the transactions related above. Calm reigned over their common frontier,
although in mid-October King Feisal was perturbed by reports of a concentration
of troops at Jauf, which was said to be directed against the pipe-line and railway
surveys in Iraqi territory. On one or two occasions the Hejazi Government
sought to interest His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom in matters
[7104] ' B 4