Skip to item: of 452
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

'File 1/A/38 I Negotiations with Bin Saud re:- Eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Qatar & Trucial Oman.' [‎39v] (83/452)

The record is made up of 1 volume (219 folios). It was created in 27 Oct 1934-24 Feb 1935. 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. .

Transcription

This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.

Apply page layout

stability as it has done at any time in the recent past and there is no reason why
Ibn Sand should not long hold his own, unless he should prefei to abdicate m
favour of his heir, still an almost unknown quantity. , i i ,
11. One of the most notable features of Ibn Baud S policy m the last two
years has been his anxiety for settlements calculated to ensure the future of his
regime. He has been at pains to seek compositions with his neighbours, to disarm
the hostility of internal enemies, e.g., by tying to his service the son^ o ormer
adversaries, and to secure, as far as he can do in his own lifetime, the succession|
to the throne of his eldest son, with the consent of the rest^of the f ami y. e may
still be attracted by the idea of an ultimate extension ol Saudi power m Aiabia,
but for the moment he seems to be content with a position of pre-eminence among
Arab rulers; to have eschewed further territorial ambitions, and to be wooing
the elusive nymph, Security. And, as I have already indicated, he sees m good
relations with His Majesty’s Government the primary external factor in his|
security. Hence his present eagerness to induce them to guarantee in some way
his position vis-a-vis Iraq and the position of both vis-a-vis neighbouring non-
Arab States like Turkey and Persia. Hence, too, his extreme discomfiture at
seeing His Majesty’s Government spring their blue-line policy on him shortly
after they had come to terms with the Yemen, and while he himself was still
engaged in a doubtful conflict with that country. He mistrusts and fears
more than he loves them, and he would be more than human if he realised fully
that that was a mere coincidence.
(C) Position of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom.
12. The list of outstanding questions in section (A) above is less formidable
than its length would suggest. The general relations between His Majesty’s
Government and Ibn Saud have, in fact, improved materially in the last three
years. They are now threatened more seriously by the ‘ ‘ blue line '' than by any
other subject of difference.
13. I cannot personally believe in the undoubted legal validity of the “ blue
line.” It appears to me that in 1915 and in 1927 His Majesty’s Government were
content to treat Qatar, the Trucial Sheikhdoms and Muscat and Oman as conter
minous with Ibn Sand’s dominions, whatever the boundaries. So far as Qatar is
concerned, it seems to me that the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913 itself
proceeded on that assumption, and that the “ blue line ” was conceived as an
arbitrary boundary between Qatar territory and Nejd. When it was recently
decided not to assert the sovereignty of the Sheikh of Qatar so far west, I myself
preferred the expression ” British sphere of influence ” to the expression cc Qatar
sphere of influence ’ ’; but I do not think it can be seriously maintained that Great
Britain has a sphere of influence in Eastern Arabia, except in the sense that her
influence extends to the coastal principalities up to their territorial limits, what
ever these may be.
14. It appears to me further that the Anglo-Saudi Treaty of December 1915
destroyed the validity of the “ blue line ” by substituting a new criterion for the
determination of Ibn Saud s boundaries. He was to be recognised as independent
within his ancestral limits. These limits may conceivably have lain west of the
£( blue line.”. This appears to be Colonel Towle’s latest contention, but I have
not seen his paper on the subject. The limits may have lain east of the “ blue
line, as Ibn Saud contends, invoking in support of his claim the proceedings of
the Belly mission, the records of which I have not seen either. My point is that
the 191o fieaty imposed on His Majesty s Government an obligation to accept the
ancestral limits in due course as determining the boundary and implied that the
coastal principalities extended up to this boundary. I have toyed with the
argument that the treaty of 1915 imposed limitations on Ibn Saud’s sovereignty
and that the treaty of 1927, which removed those limitations, again altered the
whole position and re-entitled His Majesty’s Government to rely on the “blue
line on the ground that Ibn Saud was no longer negotiating as‘a rebel against
Turkish authority, but as the ruler of a succession State.
15. This argument, however, carries no conviction in my own mind If it
corresponds with what His Majesty’s Government believed to be the position in
192,, they might well have been expected to make it clear, instead of which they
made no lefeience to the blue line, and again treated the coastal principalities

About this item

Content

The volume concerns the Eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Qatar and Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. (also referred to as the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ), and negotiations over the boundary between British officials and Ibn Saud (referred to also as Bin Saud) [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, King of Saudi Arabia].

The volume contains reports and correspondence, principally from the 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. ; HM Minister, Jedda [Jeddah] (Sir Andrew Ryan); other Foreign Office officials; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Bahrain; Bertram Sydney Thomas; and officials of the 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. .

The papers include: extracts prepared by the 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. , for the 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. , from a report by Bertram Thomas on the Trans-Oman air route reconnaissance of May-June 1927 (folios 8-21); papers on Anglo-Saudi relations and records of negotiations between HM Minister, Jeddah and the Deputy Saudi Arabian Minister for Foreign Affairs (Fuad Bey Hamza [Fu’ād Ḥamzah]), July-October 1934 (folios 37-60); further papers concerning Anglo-Saudi negotiations; papers prepared by the 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. (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle) concerning Ibn Saud and the Yemen campaign, November 1934 (folios 74-77); a letter from the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Muscat (Major Claude Edward Urquhart Bremner), dated 23 October 1934, concerning the boundaries of Muscat Sultanate (folios 78-80); a Foreign Office note dated 19 December 1934 entitled 'South-Eastern Arabian frontier and United States Oil Concessions' (folios 122-124); papers relating to the Blue Line [a line drawn by British and Turkish officials in 1913 from the Gulf of Uqair to parallel 20 degrees North, in the Rub al-Khali]; and papers concerning tribal affairs (e.g. report by the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch) entitled 'Tribal situation in the Hinterland of the Trucial Coast A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. ', folios 140-146).

The date range gives the covering dates of the correspondence; the earliest document is an enclosure on folios 8-21 containing extracts from Bertram Thomas's report on the Trans-Oman air route reconnaissance of May-June 1927, and the last dated addition to the file is an entry in the notes dated 25 February 1935.

Extent and format
1 volume (219 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are filed in chronological order from the front to the back of the file, except where enclosures of an earlier date are filed after their relevant covering letter, and terminate in a set of notes (folios 211-216).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 221; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, 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. An additional foliation sequence is also present in parallel between ff 6-216; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled, and are located in same position as the main sequence.

Written in
English in Latin script
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

'File 1/A/38 I Negotiations with Bin Saud re:- Eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Qatar & Trucial Oman.' [‎39v] (83/452), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/R/15/2/157, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100026566622.0x000054> [accessed 29 March 2024]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100026566622.0x000054">'File 1/A/38 I Negotiations with Bin Saud re:- Eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Qatar & Trucial Oman.' [&lrm;39v] (83/452)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100026566622.0x000054">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000000193.0x00037c/IOR_R_15_2_157_0083.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000000193.0x00037c/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image