'File 1/A/38 II Negotiations with Bin Saud re: Eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Qatar & Trucial Oman.' [‎100r] (204/472)

FUAD BEY HAMZA then said that if His Majesty’s Government, rather
than prolong the Treaty of Jedda as proposed, preferred to wait until an entirely
new treaty could be negotiated, or for any other reason did not wish to prolong
the treaty in the manner now proposed, the Saudi Government would not object.
In that event, he suggested that the question of slavery and manumission could be
simply dealt with in a separate exchange of notes without bringing in the Treaty
of Jedda at all.
Mr. RENDEL pointed out that this was an entirely new suggestion, and
doubted whether it would be a satisfactory one. In practice the Jedda settlement,
i.e., the Treaty of Jedda and notes attached thereto, had always been treated as
a whole. There might well be serious objections to any attempt to deal with the
settlement piecemeal, and he thought that His Majesty’s Government would
probably prefer Fuad Bey’s original suggestion, that the Treaty of Jedda should
be prolonged and agreed modifications introduced by an exchange of notes
covering all the ground.
This led to a further discussion of the prolongation or modification of the
exchange of notes (Nos. 5 and 6 ) regarding purchases of arms by the Saudi
Government.
Mr. RENDEL suggested, and FUAD BEY agreed, that this was a point of
form rather than of substance. There was no question of His Majesty’s Govern
ment treating the Saudi Government in a less favourable way than any other
friendly country in a similar position. The question of arms traffic was not dealt
with in his department, and he would have to consult the competent authorities
before saying more than this. By the words c ‘ in a similar position ” he meant
there were certain countries where, in the interests of the Governments concerned,
it had been internationally agreed that arms should only be supplied to the
Governments themselves or to importers specifically approved by those Govern
ments. The intention of this arrangement had been to prevent arms being used
by rebel tribesmen, and he cited the revolt of Ibn Rifada as one where the
limitation of the import of arms to approved importers operated to the advantage
of King Abdul Aziz. If then there were some such general international
limitation applicable to countries in the same position as Saudi Arabia, he did
not think any difficulty need be caused by provision being made for it in any
arrangements between His Majesty’s Government and the Saudi Government.
It would be time enough, however, to decide what were the most suitable arrange
ments on this point when agreement had been reached on the main question of the
prolongation of the Jedda settlement and of the abandonment of His Majesty s
Government’s right of manumission.
An allusion was also made to the question of the prevailing language of
the treaty.
Mr. RENDEL said that this was also mainly a formal and technical point
on which the competent authorities would have to be consulted in due course.
At the conclusion of the meeting SIR A. RYAN undertook to produce a
single comprehensive statement of the position reached in his discussions on
slavery with Fuad Bey, showing the lines on which the Saudi Government might
be prepared to legislate. Steps might also be taken, he thought, to consult other
departments of the Foreign Office regarding the arms tiaffic and the technical
questions of form that had been mentioned.