'P G India Office Memorandum No B.437, P.Z.5620/1934, Historical Memorandum on the Relations of the Wahabi Amirs and Ibn Saud with Eastern Arabia and the British Government, 1800-1934' [‎17v] (45/82)

28
Const, to
P.O., No.
157, 8.3,05.
Basra to
Const., No.
26, 19.5.05.
Government and concluding with the following words: " The Government will put
soldiers in El Kasim, and there will be official relations between you (i.e. Ibn Sand)
and them, and all of yon will be in the service of the Sultan. As for Ibn Rashid,
lie shall have nothing to do with affairs in Nejd." In the following month, how
ever, the Turks were still apparently supporting Ibn- Rashid against Ibn Saud.
Ahdur Rahman takes Oath of Allegiance to Turkey, 1905.
137. In May 1905 it was reported that Riyadh, Washem, Sedayr and their
dependencies had been formed into a caza of which the centre was to be Riyadh,
and that Ibn Sand's father had been made Kaimakan of the new caza on solemnly
taking an oath of allegiance to the Sultan.
Bre. lr. 513
to G. of T.,
29.10.05.
P. 285/06.
(jr. of I. Desp.
7, 11.1.06,
P. 285/06.
S. of S.
Desp. 15,
13.4.06,
P. 2834/06.
Bre. Ir. 51
of 4.2.06,
P. 535/06.
Projected Visit hy Ibn Saud to Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , 1905-1906.
138. Towards the end of 1905 information was received that Ibn Saud had
visited Katr (still nominally under Turkish rule) and composed certain tribal
disputes there, and that he was meditating a visit to the 1 rucial Coast and to
Muscat. This news had seriously disturbed the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi, who had
himself been instrumental in the final extinction of Wahabi influence from Baraimi
and the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. in 1870, and the Sultan of Muscat, both of whom (with the
Sheikh of Dabai) belonged to the Hinawi tribe and feared that the arrival of
Ibn Saud would be the signal for a combination against them of the remaining
Trucial Chiefs who belonged to the Ghafari tribe. Ibn Saud, moreover, was
reported to have remarked " By God, I will explore the country belonging to my
father and grandfather from Muscat to Jaalan."
Views of Government of India and II.M. Government.
139. The Government of India were seriously disturbed as to the possible effect
on our position on the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. and in Muscat of a visit by Ibn Saud.
H.M. Government in the light of their views decided after consultation with the
Ambassador at Constantinople that if Ibn Saud appeared on the coast and failed to
give satisfactory assurances as to his intentions, he should be warned that any
attempt on his part to interfere in Oman or along the Arab coast, either with the
Chiefs or with their subjects, would be regarded as an unfriendly act and that
steps would be taken to frustrate it. Before these instructions were received,
Sir Percy Cox had conveyed a hint in this sense to Ibn Saud through the Sheikh
of Koweit (who regarded the proposed visit as a mere attempt to blackmail the
coastal Chiefs). The visit, probably owing to the unsettled situation in Nejd, was
abandoned. It should be recorded that, on the instructions of H.M. Government,
the Trucial Sheikhs were in the same connection warned by the Resident that, on
the ground that general unrest prejudicial to British commercial interests on the
Coast would inevitably result, the Government of India would not view with
complacency the intrigues of any of them with Ibn Saud.
Const, to
P.O., 292,
1 .5.06.
Defeat of Ihn Rashid, May 1906.
140. In May 1906 Ibn Rashid and his immediate following of 250 were
surprised and annihilated in Qasim by Ibn Saud, and Ibn Saud was reported from
Jedda in June of that year to have declared himself, consequent on his victory,
ruler of the whole " Shark " (East) and to have sent letters to Constantinople,
Basrah, Bagdad, the Hedjaz, and the Sherif of Mecca. Sir Nicholas O'Conor
doubted, however, whether Ibn Saud would be able to cope with the Turks,
" should he decide to proclaim his independence of the Sultan."
P.A.,
Koweit, to
Resdt.,
30.9.06.
Turkish Allowances to Ihn Saud.
141. In August 1906 the Consul at Basrah reported that the allowance granted
by the Turks to Ibn Saud was by a recent arrangement paid through the Sheikh of
Koweit, who deducted it from the land tax on his Fao property. The Sheikh
stated that the allowances paid by the Turks were 90 liras a month to Ibn Sand's
father and 200 liras and about 300 tons of rice to Ibn Rashid. In October 1906
the Resident at Bagdad reported a statement that Ibn Saud had in the past received
£T.30 a month from Turkey, with 100 suits of clothes and some grain—an
allowance now alleged to have been discontinued.