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Coll 1/12 'Policy in the Protectorate: treaty with the Upper Yafai Chiefs, and other Chiefs in the Protectorate' [185r] (369/376)
The record is made up of 1 file (188 folios). It was created in 14 Feb 1929-1 Aug 1939. 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.
It is true that the attitude which the Imam has taken up has,
for the time being, complicated the situation, and it may well be
that His Majesty’s Government will decide that no other course
remains open than that of expelling him from the Protectorate by
force.
At the same time, I regard this as merely a passing phase. I
•believe that fhe Imam is in reality sincerely desirous of establish-
ing^ friendly relations with His Majesty’s Government but that
various factors, which time and experience should remove, have
forced him to assume an attitude which has made it impossible
for me to conclude a satisfactory agreement with him at the
present stage. It must be remembered that the Yemen is unique
in that many of its people are highly intelligent and educated in
a certain sense, while at the same time their country has re
mained for centuries so remote and secluded from the world that
arguments which seem obvious to the ordinary mind cannot enter
into the comprehension of men who have never travelled more
than a few miles from San‘a itself. Further, the military ex
perience of the people of the Yemen is confined to constant revolt
against the Turkish Empire, which was on the whole, and some
times very strikingly, successful; an ultimately victorious cam
paign against the Idrisi of Asir; and a not unfruitful policy of
aggression and encroachment on the Aden Protectorate, which
is held by a power which they have seen apparently penned within
the limits of the fortress of Aden for something like five years
by a small and poorly equipped Turkish force. Add to this the
pride engendered by many centuries of domination which, though
subject to various changes of fortune, has nevertheless been con
tinuous, and it is not difficult to understand why the Imam has—
I believe against his better judgment—been forced by public
opinion to adopt an attitude which has rendered difficult for the
moment the conclusion of any agreement compatible with British
honour and prestige.
I am convinced that, despite the present difficulties and com
plications of what, as I have already said, I regard as a passing-
phase, the sound policy in the long run will be to aim at friendship
and close co-operation with the Imamate of the Yemen, which is
one of the few societies in Arabia which is proved by history to
contain the elements of stability.
The immediate situation is full of difficulty and it is not easy
to see how the Imam can be brought to his senses other than
by a display of determination, or even of force, on the part of
His Majesty’s Govemment, but I am constrained to urge that
the ultimate aim should be to establish dose and cordial relations
with an institution which has behind it a tradition of some 1,000
years and which shows no sign, as far as I can see, of disin
tegration or decay.
I have, &c.,
GILBERT CLAYTON.
About this item
- Content
The file contains papers regarding proposals to alter the basis of treaty relationships with tribes in the Aden Protectorate, comprising annotated treaty drafts, plus correspondence between the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, 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. Political Department, the Aden Resident (later Chief Commissioner, then Governor), and the Air Ministry.
The correspondence primarily concerns a proposal by the Resident (Sir Stewart Symes) to replace existing individual tribal treaties with a single instrument, and to cease payments of fixed stipends for general service in favour of payments for services rendered. The proposed change in policy was later abandoned by the Chief Commissioner, Sir Bernard Reilly.
The correspondence also concerns Symes's conference at Lahej, and the pact with the Lahej and other Chiefs to defend against Yemeni incursion into the Aden Protectorate; the deteriorating relationship between the Aden Protectorate and the Imam of San'a; and the suggestion by the Resident that a Chiefs' council should be established along the lines of the tribal councils in Baluchistan, to act as the central authority for the settlement of tribal affairs.
The papers dated 1939 concern the Tripartite Agreement with the Qu'ayti [Qu'ayṭī] and Kathiri Sultans in the Aden Protectorate; the treaty between the British Government and Sultan Salih bin Ghalib Al Qu'ayti [Ṣāliḥ bin Ghālib Al Qu'ayṭī], Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla; and the reconstituted Qu'ayti-Kathari Agreement of 1918.
A copy of the Report by Sir Gilbert Clayton on his Mission to the Imam of San'a (Colonial Office, 1926) is enclosed at folios 156-187.
The following treaty and agreement drafts are found within the file:
- the agreement [the Lahej Pact] between the Chiefs of tribes and districts within the Aden Protectorate made 6 April 1929 in the presence of the Resident and Commander-in-Chief, ff 119-120;
- a draft treaty between the Chiefs of Upper Yafa and His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, agreeing to adhere to the purposes of the Lahej Pact of 6 April 1929, ff 84-85, 64-65, and 46;
- a draft agreement reconstituting the Qu'ayti-Kathiri Agreement of 1918, between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, His Highness the Qu'ayti Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla, and the Kathiri Sultan of Seiyun, on behalf of the Sultans of the Family of 'Abdulla al Kathiri, dated 26 February 1939, ff 19-23;
- a draft treaty between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, and Sultan Ja'far bin Mansur al Kathiri, Sultan of Seiyun, dated 2 March 1939, ff 17-18;
- a draft treaty between His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, and Sultan Salih bin Ghalib al Qu'ayti, Sultan of Shihr and Mukalla, dated 13 August 1937, ff 3-6.
The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio one).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (188 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the folder.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 188; 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 15-188; these numbers are also written in pencil and circled, but have been superseded and therefore crossed out. A typescript pagination sequence is present in parallel between ff 156-87.
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 1/12 'Policy in the Protectorate: treaty with the Upper Yafai Chiefs, and other Chiefs in the Protectorate' [185r] (369/376), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/1450, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100029535657.0x0000aa> [accessed 14 May 2024]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/1450
- Title
- Coll 1/12 'Policy in the Protectorate: treaty with the Upper Yafai Chiefs, and other Chiefs in the Protectorate'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:2v, 7r:16v, 24r:45v, 47r:63v, 66r:83v, 87r:118v, 121r:187v, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence