'File 8/7 I Jidda Intelligence Reports' [‎38r] (75/536)

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CHAPTER I.—Internal Affairs.
Ibn Sa ud.—The King left Riyadh on the 2nd January for Hufuf, the capital
t)f the Hasa. * News of this visit was telegraphed by His Majesty s Min stcr to t ie
Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. and advantage was taken of it to arrange a
meeting between Lieutenant-Colonel Biscoe and Ibn Sa ud, with resu ts which aie
mentioned in paragraphs 41 to 43. Colonel Biscoe arrived at Hufuf on the 2.>i<
January and stayed until the 28th. On the 7th February fbn Sa ud left the Hasa
to return to Riyadh for the ? Id al Fitr, the breaking of the fast of Ramadhan. He
remained there for the rest of February and March.
2. Accession Day. —His Majesty the King telegraphed a message of goodwishes
to Ibn Sa’ud on the occasion of the anniversary of the latter’s accession day, Jan
uary 8 th.
3. As a result of the opposition of the Wahhabi Llama of Nejd, reported in
paragraph 21 of the Jedda report for last May—June, this year s celebration of
•Accession Day was modest by comparison with that of last year. Mecca, being a
religious centre under puritan protection, was entirely spared the defilement which
joy occasions, but at Jedda, where morals are looser, school children sang about the
streets, the Governor held a morning reception of the foreign representatives, happily
not a very gay affair, and the afternoon was devoted to a tea-party at the Green
Palace, which incidentally has not yet been paid for—the palace, that is , not the
tea-party. This was organised by the local Celebration Committee and attended
by the Viceroy, wFo came from Mecca expressly for the function. The annual
celebration was thus deliberately repeated, in spite of the King s promises to his
divines to be good, but there was neither review nor dinner-party nor the poetry-cum
picnic-luncheon at Vadi Fatima, features which so polluted the occasion last
year.
4. Ministry of Foreign Affairs. —Although His Majesty’s Minister had returned
to Jedda on December 15th, no effective contact with the Hejazi Foreign Ministry
otherwise than by letter or telephone was possible until the l nder-Secretary
for Foreign Affairs returned from Nejd, whither he had gone on December 15th.
He left Riyadh on the 2nd January, arrived at Mecca on the 5th, and came to
Jedda on the 7th, followed the next day by his princeling-Minister. The latter
made no attempt to live up to his title of Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was
nevertheless entertained to dinner at the Legation on January 11th and seemed
languidly pleased. All business was transacted with Fuad Bey Hamza, in a series
Of interviews held on January 11th, 13th, 16th, 18th, 19th, 21st, and 24th. The
Amir Feysal returned to Mecca on the 18th, his Under-Secretary on the 26th.
5. They returned to Jedda together on the 10th February for the signing of the
Italian treaty, remained to meet the first ’Iraqi diplomatic representative on the
14th, and left again on the 17th. His Majesty’s Charge d'Affaires discussed current
matters with the Under Secretary on the 11th and 16th. The next visit to Jedda
was paid on March 18th, when Fuad Bey came alone to discuss pilgrimage matters
with Mr. Hope Gill. He did so on the 19th and left a day or two later. He was in
Jedda again during the last days of March fixing up his trip to Europe, but was not
heard or seen by the Legation. Perhaps he felt that ten conversations a quarter
was enough to hold with any foreign mission. Be that as it may, His Majesty’s
Charg6 d’Affaires for his part was disposed to agree that one can easily have too
much of a bad thing.
5-A. Constitutional Reforms. —In paragraph 3 of the last Jedda report it was
remarked that Ibn Sa’ud had at length conceded the principle of a cabinet charged
with joint responsibility for government and individual responsibility for depart
mental affairs. On the 15th January the “ Umm-al-Qura ” published in the name
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate a “ Regulation concerning the Council of
Ministers ”. In form it calls for more compassion than a busy man is inclined to
feel, such a rigmarole is it, such a mesh-work of cunning knots and slip-knots. In
effect, however, it is just the sort of measure in which a subtle Syrain Under-Secre
tary of State can entangle an autocratic Nejdi Director-General of Finance who has
been keeping him and his friends short of funds. That, of course, is its raison
d’ etre, to arm the intrusive Syrain clique against the possessive Nejdi gang. Fuad