'Memorandum on British commitments to the Idrisi' [‎113r] (3/6)

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. replied on the 17th February, 1915, by approving the Viceroy’s
action, hut requesting that they should be given an opportunity of considering the
terms of the treaty in substance.*
On the 9th March, 1915, the Itesident at Aden telegraphed again t
“ Idrisi representative here is extremely anxious to make a treaty of friendship
on the basis of security of his seaboard against all enemies, and our diplomatic
support after conclusion of hostilities to effect his autonomy against all rivals. All
this is as already intimated reasonable, and a necessary preliminary to a pact.” The
telegram then proceeds to urge that certain additional requests for arms on the
part of the Idrisi shall be granted. “ As representative wishes to leave for Djezan
in three days, I ask for early sanction. After putting case before his master this
agent will return to Aden to conclude a treaty.”
In answer to this telegram, the Government of India instructed the Resident as
follows on the 13th March, 1915 :—J
“ You should inform Idrisi’s agent that, before the Government of India can
contemplate the gift of further arms or money, they must first see the draft
agreement which Idrisi is prepared to conclude with them, and have some positive
evidence of the co-operation he is prepared to offer in return for such agreement.”
And on the 15th March, 1915, the Viceroy telegraphed in the same sense to 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. . §
On the 16th March, 1915, however, 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. replied to the Viceroy
approving the proposals of the Resident in his telegram of the 9th March, 1915.||
The terms of a treaty were accordingly drafted at Aden by the British authorities
there and the Idrisi’s Minister, and on the 30th April, 1915, the Viceroy transmitted to
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. a report from the Resident, dated the 28th April, ]915,^[ announcing
that a treaty had been concluded with the Idrisi, subject to ratification by the Govern
ment of India, and that the Idrisi would lose no time in acting against the Turks.
A copy of the treaty, signed, and dated the 30th April, 1915, was communicated to
the Foreign Office by 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. on the 26th May, 1915.** The text of it, in the
form in which it was eventually ratified, is appended to the present memorandum, but
a summary of its main provisions may be given here:—
Article 1. Names of the signatories.
Art. 2. The objects are—(a) to war against the Turks and (b) to make a pact of
friendship between His Majesty’s Government and the Idrisi and his tribesmen.
Art. 3. The Idrisi is to attack the Turks in the Yemen and extend his territories
at their expense.
Art. 4. He will abstain from hostile or provocative action against the Imam so long
as the latter does not join the Turks.
Art. 5. “ His Majesty’s Government undertake to safeguard the Idrisi’s territories
from all attack on the seaboard from any enemy who may molest him ; to guarantee his
independence in his own domain ; and, at the conclusion of the war, to use every
diplomatic means in their power to adjudicate between the rival claims of the Idrisi
and the imam, or any other rival.”
Art. 6. “ His Majesty’s Government have no desire to enlarge their borders on
Arabian soil,” but desire that there shall be friendly relations (a) between all the Arab
rulers, each in his own sphere; and (b) between each of them and His Majesty’s
Government. ...
Art. 7. His Majesty’s Government promise to assist the Idrisi with arms and
money, in proportion to the part played by the Idrisi in the war.
Art. 8. His Majesty’s Government, while blockading all Turkish ports, will con
tinue to leave trade open between the Idrisi ports and Aden.
Art. 9. Ratification by the Government of India is necessary to make this treaty
valid.
On the 20th May, 1915, the Government of India commented on these terms as
follows in a despatch to 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. :—j't
“ The only point that appears to require definite qualification is the expression
‘ Arabian soil ’ in article 6, as this scarcely falls in with our position in Mesopotamia.
If the words ‘ Western Arabia’ were substituted for ‘Arabian soil’ this objection
would be removed, and our intentions would be sufficiently defined in the treaty.
|| 33646/15
20143/15. t 28470/15.
H 53328/15.
[884]
X 50398/15.
** 66940/15.
§ 30960/15.
tt 79794/15.
B 2