مجموعة ١٢/١ "السياسة في المحمية: معاهدة مع زعماء يافع العليا، وزعماء آخرين في المحمية" [و‎‎١‎٦‎٣] (٣٧٦/٣٢٥)

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of His Majesty’s Government in regard to this question. I had
agreed to defer the general settlement of his claims for the
duration of the treaty, but I could not agree to prejudice the
British claim in regard to that settlement by admitting in any
way whatsoever a position which His Highness had obtained by-
force and in the face of constant protest by His Majesty’s Govern
ment. ihe most that I could do was to report this difficulty to
<Ais Majesty’s Government and to make the whole treaty subject
10 their ratification, thus leaving open the door for a possible
removal by friendly arrangement of what was at present a bar
to the conclusion of a treaty. I was only able to do this, how
ever, if His Highness was prepared to meet me on all other
points and also to give proof of a spirit of accommodation
in regard to the question of evacuation. 1 had studied his
list of those territories regarding which he maintained that
evacuation was impossible, and it contained a number of dis
tricts which 1 was unable to admit as falling within the category
of districts in which he had established a regular administration.
I quoted particularly the Radfan tribes (which include the Kutaibi,
the Ahl Murra, the Mahalai, the Hajaili, the Dairi and the Bakri),
the Alawi and also the Subeihi country in which he had en
croached on various villages v/hich lay on the Aden side of the
frontier. The Imam maintained that he could not evacuate ap
portions of those tribal districts of which he was now in occu
pation, and he laid a special stress on the villages of the Subaihi
district, in reference to which he stated that he could not recog
nise the frontier in any cases where that frontier included within
the Protectorate villages or districts which he held to be under
his jurisdiction. ' In other words, he endeavoured once more to
substitute for ihe demarcated frontier which he had already im
plicitly accepted a tribal boundary defined—to use his own words
—as “ the well-known boundary recognised by tribal usage be
tween the Subeihi tribes and our own province of Mokha.”
35. I had now gone as far as was possible towards meeting the
Imam’s point of view, and from his whole attitude during the
course of this interview I saw that he was still trying to evade
recognition of the demarcated frontier. He had, throughout,
endeavoured to secure my agreement to a vague boundary based
on tribal areas in place of the frontier demarcated in 1903, 1904
and 1905, but I had as consistently opposed any such suggestion
as being contrary to my instructions and unsatisfactory in
practice.
Break-off of Negotiations.
36. I now realised that further discussion would only confuse
the main issues, and I informed His Highness that, much to mv
regret, I had come to the conclusion that agreement was impos
sible without one party or the other giving way on questions of
principle which they were determined to maintain. I was there
fore forced to the decision to break off our conversations and
return to London to report to my Government. The Imam ac
cepted this statement without any attempt to dissuade me from
my decision, from which I gathered that he shared my opinion.
He expressed deep regret at our inability to reach an understand-