'Arabia. Political Situation in Nejd' [‎133v] (7/10)

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.... _ n tt iioG the greatest respect foi
made a fuss of. He is devoted to tlie Brltlsh 'Pf soui t i J' bv^post and telegraph,
Sir Percy Cox. Yet living, as he does, cut f/^ s sides, lie cannot
and getting, as he does, daily exaggerated and raise s • ^ at the present
be blamed if he gets suspicions of our actions, ^s c Sheikh Salem
^noment, is firmly convinced that the British Governmen is ( ~ anti -English
of Kovveit to fight him. TTe gets hold of such ideas from some
councillors, notably, I think, Ahmad bin Thaniyan, who, bioug i ^ up i name
is ever ready to credit the perfidious British with every sinistei mo^ . ^
" Perlide Albion ^ was just as commonly used in Stambpul be ()ie i t <
was iu Paris As I said above, a British officer visiting Pi} a i nex ^ i' '"
November next, would-give Bin Sand an opportunity of getting muc, i o i -
I am convinced my visit last February to Hoffuf resulted in bringing miu P ttlc '. 0
mind to Bin Sand. I managed to leave the impression, I think, m bin am s mni
that at any rate in Bahrein he had one to champion him, 1 he visit v.as equa y
valuable from His Majesty's Government's point of view. As I mentioned at t le trnm,
Bin Saud wants some one to talk to, and some one whom he knows will convey alJ he
has to say to higher authorities. A British officer, with possibly two others, should
be sent each cold weather if possible, not an Indian Mussalman again. ihe biggei
the man, the more Bin Saud will feel honoured. The mere presence of such a mission
in Riyadh will do more than anything else to advertise the fact to the people of
Arabia that His Majesty's Government is on the best of terms with the ruler of Nejd,
and means to support him. This is what Bin Saud wants. As he puts it, " Jiddam
al 'Arab arid al hakumah takabirni " (" Before the Arabs I want the Government to
make me big)."
According to Abdul Aziz al Qusaibi, Bin Saud is not afraid in the very least of
any direct action on the part of the Koweit-Bin Rashid-Hejaz combination. What
he does fear is the campaign of calumny which he knows people like the Sheikhs of
Mohammerah and Zubeir, also Syed Talib, will now start. He knows how clever the
Arab of Iraq is at such a game; he believes also that the above people's advice is
listened to by the Baghdad authorities. He feels lie has no champion at Government
headquarters. He fears that as a result of such campaign he will lose credit in
Government s e3'es, and that perhaps his subsidy may be reduced. I remember Bin
Saud saying to me, " Antum ya Inglis takhdun hachi an \as (" You English listen to
people s gossip 'The sentence sums up Bin Saud's feelings to-day.
10. 1 here are signs that Salem is once more trying to seduce the Ajman from
their newdy-formed allegiance to Bin Saud. Bin Hathlain, Sheikh of the Ajman, has
already been offered much money to move into Koweit territory again. Bin Hathlain
aei 1 k n h 0 s r l ed h,S "'T' f theSe eff0rtS 10 « et him - Saud is Naturally angr^
oheikn Salem, recently, also sent presents to Sheikh Isa by the hand of Ibu Shan,Tan
pearir His P r r eTroh 0 - ; V0Welt ' 1 T k 3 :° di,ri 4 uai is sti11 111 Bahrein, ostensibly buying
Isa^you will^ive to^efh^da^"^^^ 011 'V AS iTi ^ my I1 ^ me is bin
wan" Do you kn^w w^at hap pens to vc nir R s" Of in 6 f0rCed t0 , CrUsh 13,11 by
reaches Riyadh, Bin Saud hoists his standard and '(in ofT U I " u 7 ' When
people together and publicly announces that thp / .'"lamandgathcrs all the
has arrived." The tribute f the tribute from the Christian infidels
m Mecca in order to be free to practisf their region Vbd ea i'' ly Christi:ln s
put up to come ami tell me all this rubbish 0 ' ' ah ^ad obviously been
oe 8h . ikll 5 . lm . Hi . <,h.rS^, b 7A h ^ K'S
» mention thu Abd„l A,.„
Kajran. The raid was entirely successful nnJ v u ? 1 . lrs, lecei itly raided into Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
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