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'Report by Sir Gilbert Clayton, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B., on his Mission to the King of Hejaz and of Najd and its Dependencies, for the purpose of negotiating a settlement of outstanding questions. (July-August, 1928)' [‎24] (26/52)

The record is made up of 1 volume (26 folios). It was created in Jan 1929. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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24
existence of the posts ? As far as I had gathered from His Majesty's
statements, their objections amounted to a fear that the posts might
be used as a menace against their country and an obstacle to their
lawful movements. I had informed His Majesty on the previous
day that I was prepared on behalf of His Majesty's Government to
give him an assurance in writing to the effect that the posts were
■not intended and would not be used, in normal times, as^a base for
offensive action or for hampering the movements of tribes. And
yet his Majesty was telling me that still his people could not consent
to the retention of the posts. It seemed clear that they had other
objections than those of fear, and I would request His Majesty to
inform me what those were.
4. In his reply the King embarked on a long and detailed narra-
tive. It was to the effect that the trouble had its origin in the old
hostility of the Hashemites to him and his people. When King
Faisal was set up on the throne of 'Iraq and the Amir Abdullah made
ruler of Tians-Jordan, the people of Najd felt that these measures
were designed to encircle their country with a chain of hostile Hashe-
mite rulers, and they saddled the British Government with the
designs and nefarious activities of the two brothers and their father.
There were also, amongst other things, the notorious activities of
the Press in the Hejaz and the mandated territories, which kept
instilling the poison of fear and distrust into the minds of the people
of Najd by giving currency to disturbing news about such things as
chaining-in the people of Najd with a network of posts and railways.
He had always done his utmost to allay their anxieties and keep
them below boiling-point and had often exposed himself to the
suspicion of being himself in connivance with the British and their
agents. While his people were in that frame of mind and he was
using all his energies to pacify them and keep them in order, news
was suddenly received of the construction of a chain of posts in the
open desert ; and alongside with the construction of those posts
there was a recrudescence of rumours appearing in the Press and of
threats expressed in official speeches. Then it was that the worst
suspicions of his people were confirmed and their animosity aroused
to a pitch hich made it impossible for him while the posts remained
in existence to continue with any success his work of pacification.
5. I said to His Majesty that his statement' did not in reality
answer my question. It was an explanation of the reasons which
had aroused the suspicions and fears of his people rather than an
explanation of the exact nature of their misapprehension. With
regard to his statement on the rumours appearing in the Press I
pointed out to him that there were in all countries certain evils
which seemed inseparable from the existence of a free Press, and
that it was hardly possible or politic for a Government to attempt
at every turn to contradict every false rumour that appeared in
print. I also told him that it was not only the Press in mandated

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Content

This printed booklet, produced by the Colonial Office in January 1929, is a continuation of the April-June 1928 account of Sir Gilbert Clayton, His Britannic Majesty's Commissioner and Plenipotentiary, on the second part of his third mission (July-August 1928) to ‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd (Ibn Saud), King of Hejaz [al-Ḥijāz] and Najd and its Dependencies. The purpose of the mission was to negotiate outstanding questions mainly concerning boundaries of and relations between Ibn Saud's territories and Iraq and Trans-Jordan following the Hadda and Bahra Agreements of 1925, and the Treaty of Jeddah of 1927.

Clayton was accompanied by George Antonius, Assistant Secretary to the Palestine Government; Kinahan Cornwallis, Adviser to the Ministry of Interior in Iraq; Captain John Bagot Glubb, Administrative Inspector in the Iraq Government Service; Flight-Lieutenant G M Moore; and Bernard Henry Bourdillon, Counsellor to the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Baghdad. The Najd delegates included: Dr Abdullah Damluji [‘Abdullāh al-Damlūjī]; Shaikh Yusuf Yasin [Yūsuf Yāsīn]; Shaikh Hafez Wahba [Ḥāfiẓ Wahbah]; and Shaikh Fuad Hamza [Fu’ād Ḥamzah].

A page of contents and list of annexures appears on folio 2v with the following sections:

  • 'Colonial Office to Sir Gilbert Clayton, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B., 19th July, 1928 (Letters of Instructions)' (folios xx);
  • 'Sir Gilbert Clayton, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B., to Colonial Office, 3rd September, 1928 (Further Report on his Mission)' (folios XX);
  • 'Record of Proceedings' (folios XX);
  • 'Memorandum on the Proceedings of the Sub-Committee Meetings' (folios XX);
  • 'Draft Note on the Arbitration of Raids between Najd and Trans-Jordan' (folios XX).

There is one appendix which consists of a Foreign Office letter to the Acting British Agent and Consul, Jeddah, dated 1 November 1928. The front cover is marked 'Confidential', 'Printed for the use of the Colonial Office' and 'In continuation of Middle East No. 25', 'Report by Sir Gilbert Clayton, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B., on his Mission to the King of Hejaz and of Najd and its Dependencies, for the purpose of negotiating a settlement of outstanding questions. (April-June, 1928)' (IOR/L/PS/20/E90/1).

Extent and format
1 volume (26 folios)
Physical characteristics

Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the front cover, and terminates at the inside back cover; these numbers are written in pencil, are circles, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. The volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

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English in Latin script
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'Report by Sir Gilbert Clayton, K.C.M.G., K.B.E., C.B., on his Mission to the King of Hejaz and of Najd and its Dependencies, for the purpose of negotiating a settlement of outstanding questions. (July-August, 1928)' [‎24] (26/52), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/E90/2, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023512771.0x00001c> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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