'File 61/11 VII (D 122) Hejaz-Nejd Miscellaneous' [‎35v] (83/454)

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Kiiig Ibn Saud would, in your opinion, be likely to object to the idea of acceding
to any pait of an international convention on this subject, but might still be
willing to take the desired action, do you consider that action to this end might
equally effectively be embodied in exchange of notes between His Majesty's
Government and the Saudi Government in some such terms as those of the
exchange of notes which took place between the Resident at Aden and the Imam
of the Yemen on the conclusion of the Anglo-Yemeni Treaty of Friendship and
Mutual Co-operation in February of the present year ? Copies of the texts(')
of these notes are enclosed in this despatch for convenience of reference.
6. Further, 1 consider that, before consenting to any arrangement on the
lines proposed by Fuad Bey, His Majesty's Government would be entitled to
satisfy themselves that any proclamation or legislation issued or commanded by
him against the importation of slaves into his dominions would be capable of
effective enforcement. His Majesty's Government would wish, for example, to
be fully informed in advance what machinery would be provided for the execution
of any decree or legislation in this matter; what punishment would be inflicted
for the infringement of the law; whether slaves imported in violation of the law
would be entitled to freedom; and whether, if this were so. King Ibn Saud would
guarantee to give them such freedom. The same necessity for precise information
m advance as to the details of the action to be taken would also apply in the case
of the second measure suggested by Fuad Bey, namely, action taken to alleviate
the present conditions of slavery in Saudi Arabia.
7. Subject to these conditions, I am prepared to consider any proposals
which the Saudi Government may wish to put forward, and you are authorised
to discuss the question with them on these lines in whatever manner you may
consider most appropriate. 1 should, however, make it clear that I am definitely
opposed to the abandonment by His Majesty's Government of their existing right
of manumission unless the Saudi Government can offer adequate compensation,
that is to say, unless they can make proposals, on the effective execution of which
His Majesty s Government can rely, and which would be at least as satisfactory
as the present system in securing the actual reduction of slavery. For this
reason I am not disposed to consider any proposal for less effective, or less
compiehensive, action than that already outlined by tuad Bey. I observe in this
connexion that it was provisionally suggested to Fuad Bev during the conversation
with him in London that the question of slavery might figure in any negotiations
which might be undertaken between His Majesty's Government in the United
Kingdom and the Saudi Government with a view to a general settlement of major
questions outstanding between them. While I have no objection to vour using
the occasion of such negotiations to discuss the question of slavery, if these
negotiations are, in fact, approved by His Majesty's Government and take place,
and U you consider that the subject can be most advantageously dealt with in
this manner, I am not willing that this question should be treated as part of the
geaeiai piocess of compensation and adjustment which such negotiations if they
ta. e place will doubtless entail. That is to say, the right of manumission, which
His Majesty s Government at present enjoy, should not be regarded as an asset
which may be traded against some countervailing advantage in another sphere.
but can only be abandoned m return for some action by the Saudi Government
w ich is specifically directed towards the effective limitation or abolition of
sJaverv.
(') Not printed.
I am, &c.
JOHN SIMON.