File 600/1905 Pt 3 'Aden Hinterland: Situation; Withdrawal of Political Agent from Dthala; Treaties with Haushabi, Kotaibi and Alawi chiefs' [‎194r] (383/508)

(ii) on the period within which it would be possible to collect supplies
and transport in Aden for the relief of the escort should such a
step become necessary.
2. I have not yet been consulted in regard to the advisabilty of retaining
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. at Dthala as a femjoorar’y measure, after the withdrawal of
the garrison. As it is impossible satisfactorily to compress within the limits of
a telegram the reasons which led me to despatch my secret telegram dated 10th
December, I take this opportunity of expressing my opinion on the matter so
that the Government of India may be under no misapprehension as to what I
believe to be the real state of the case.
3. Whatever we may wish to believe there is, I think, no doubt that the
rule of the Amir of Dthala is, by reason of his weakness and avarice, unpopular
with a large number of the tribesmen over whom he claims control.
And in consequence beholds his position mainly by reason of the support
afforded to him by British bayonets.
The Arabs of the Hinterland do not want us there, and the Amir of Dthala
only tolerates our presence so long as he requires our support against the Turks
or against his recalcitrant tribesmen. Were he in a position to stand alone he
would welcome our departure to-morrow. He has personally and plainly given
me to understand this. By the other Chiefs and Sheikhs our presence is
tolerated in consideration of the blackmail which we allow them to levy from
us. The Abdali Sultan alone appears to me to appreciate in some measure the
blessings of the and this is largely due to the fact that his
subjects are not sufficiently warlike to hold their own against their neighbours.
4, No purely temporary retention of 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. in Dthala will
remove the causes of the Amir's unpopularity, nor can the former hope, in the ,
course of a few mouths, to do what we have undoubtedly lailcd to accomplish
during the past three years, viz., to consolidate the Amir’s power and render
effective the control he claims over certain sections of his tribesmen such as the
Sliairis, Kotaibis and Jibafis. The most that 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. can hope to
effect is by the offer of good advice to render the Amir more cautions, forbear-
in" and moderate than be might otherwise he, and possibly Ins tribesmen
mi"ht be induced to be less refractory for the moment. ^ Such loss of prestige
as undoubtedly attaches to our withdrawal from the hinterland will not, in my
opinion, he lessened by a merely temporary stay of our Political Officer at
jHhala On the other baud I regard the retention of a small body of troops
(which'will not greatly exceed 100 effective bayonets) in Dthala as not
altogether free from objection on military grounds Even though not actively
employed in the support of the Amirs authority, we cannot permit tribal
fiXnf close to our camp. It will therefore be impossible m practice for 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. to avoid acting as mediator and he will be obliged peisonally
to intervene to stop or prevent the outbreak of hostilities In such circum-
stances it is quite conceivable that the escort might be called upon to defend
itself either against the tribes or the Amir’s troops.
5 Assuming however that Government decide on retaining the Political
Agent temporarily in Dthala with the escort I proposed m my telegram dated
fifth December 1906,1 consider the distribution should be as follows .
In Dthala —135 bayonets, 2 Maxims, 20 sabres, Aden Troop.
In Dthubaiyat —15 bayonets all ranks.
In Suleik —75 bayonets all ranks.
In Nobat Dakim—lb bayonets all ranks. ^ #
Owing to the difficulty of commufficatfon’ 0 auTtop °tbe road open by
and in order to control the line o£ ‘° alsoto avoid tte necessity for sending
patrolling with Mounted Infantry > and treasure convoys, I consider it
up a Strong escort with the regpl 11 J 0ur aball donment of
necessary to continue to hold iNobat va