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File 37/1905 Pt 3 'Aden Frontier Delimitation' [720r] (1442/1518)
The record is made up of 1 file (758 folios). It was created in 1903. It was written in English and French. 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.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 3.
G^cJLM ^4-
Private Letter from Mr.
No. 1.
G. H. Fitzmuurice to Foreign Office .—
December 29.)
British Camp, Dthala, Aden Boundary Commission,
Aden, December 12, 1902.
I ARRIVED here about three weeks ago to join this Commission sent here about
a year ago to delimit the boundary between the nine protected tribes of the Aden
hinterland and the Turkish Province of the Yemen. The Commission have not begun
yet, and are not likely to do so unless the attitude of His Majesty’s Government
changes. Having come to a deadlock about the Amiri tribes, tributary to the Amir of
Dthala, the two Governments have decided to reserve the question for discussion and
settlement at headquarters, i.e., in London or Constantinople, and both Commissions
sent home about a fortnight ago a joint map setting forth their respective claims with
detailed information on the subject. That Report (Commission’s No. 180 of the 2nd
December) ought to reach the India and Foreign Offices about Christmas time. I feel con
vinced that the whole question, one of great importance as regards the future safety of the
Aden hinterland, hinges on the proper settlement of the Amiri difficulty ; that difficulty
is not to be got over by transferring the discussion from here to London or Constanti
nople. It is not the outcome of the personal relations of the two Commissions here, and
as you can realize, just like the Turkish Commissioners here, who are simply the docile
interpreters of the Sultan’s views on the subject, neither the Ottoman Embassy
in London, nor any officials at Constantinople, appointed to discuss the matter with
His Majesty’s Government, can possibly admit the justice of any one British contention
without the special sanction or Irade of the Sultan—a sanction only to be obtained by
pressure of a forcible kind. It seems imperative that His Majesty’s Government should
make up its mind without further delay to tackle and get settled this Amiri matter,
which is the crux of the whole question. For once the Turks have been compelled to
evacuate the Amir’s territory, they will be much more amenable to reason, and the rest
of the work of delimitation may be expected to go fairly smoothly and rapidly,
more especially as the Haushabi border to the south-west was practically settled last
year by the Ad Dareja incident, which has made the Turks very chary of interfering in
that direction, while in a north-east direction the Yaffai (one of the nine tribes) are a
big tribe well able to protect themselves, with our moral support, against ordinary
Turkish encroachments—a fact which they proved conclusively some seven years ago
when they repulsed a Turkish raiding expedition, inflicting on the latter heavy losses,
including baggage and guns.
The ordinary principles upon which a Boundary Commission should work are that
the Commissioners on both sides, invested with powers to settle minor points, should be
at liberty to move freely in, survey and collect information about, the debateable
territory, i.e., the British Commissioners should have been free to proceed to the
Azraki Ahmedi, Humedi, and Mihrabi districts (subject to the Amir of Dthala), as
also to the country between Jalela [sc. Jelile) and a line south of Kataba. The
Turks, however, whose Commissioners are not empowered to settle the most trifling
point, immediately on the decision to send a Delimitation Commission, and acting on
orders from the Sultan, ipade a rush and seized by force Jebel (Mount) Jihaf and Jebel
Mafari, thus driving a wedge in between Dthala and the Azraki, Humedi, Mihrabi, &c.,
dependents of the Amir of Dthala. Their sentries and Arab levies had orders to fire on,
and actually did fire on, any peaceful British party proceeding in that direction, while
they doubled their garrison at Jelil^ and brought up their one field and three mountain
guns, which they posted on Jebel Shahad (Suheb), immediately south of Jelile and com
manding the British camp, refusing to allow, under threats of firing on, any one attached
to the British Commission to go beyond their Jelilfi lines to the Amir’s villages between
[2314/—3] B
About this item
- Content
This file contains correspondence and documents related to the work of the Aden Boundary Commission, the British Government body tasked with the delineation of the borders of the British Protectorate of Aden. Much of the correspondence in the file relates specifically to the Amiri border region.
The file contains a number of letters from Colonel Robert Alexander Wahab, the Commissioner of the Aden Boundary Commission, sent to the Political and Secret Department 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. in London (and the British Political Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. in Aden).
The following documents are contained in the file:
- a report written by Colonel Wahab regarding the demarcation of the Amiri border (folios 178-184);
- a Foreign Office memorandum entitled 'Memorandum on the Boundary of the British Protectorate of Aden' (folios 706-708);
- a note compiled 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. entitled 'Aden Boundary' (folios 709-711).
The majority of the correspondence in the file is in English, but also enclosed is a limited amount of correspondence from the Ottoman Ambassador in London that is in French.
The file contains a printed map of the Aden frontier on folio 726.
The volume includes a divider which gives the year that the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references contained in it arranged by year. This divider is placed at the front of the volume.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (758 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
The Subject 37 (Aden) contains 5 files, IOR/L/PS/10/63-67.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 758; 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.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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File 37/1905 Pt 3 'Aden Frontier Delimitation' [720r] (1442/1518), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/65, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100028761154.0x00002b> [accessed 5 May 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/65
- Title
- File 37/1905 Pt 3 'Aden Frontier Delimitation'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:25v, 27r:57v, 59r:64v, 66r:132v, 135r:247v, 251r:274v, 278r:328v, 330r:334v, 336r:355v, 359r:385v, 387r:390v, 393r:395v, 397r:546v, 548r:676v, 678r:757v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence