File 2182/1913 Pt 4 'Persian Gulf: Policy towards Bin Saud (Capt. Shakespear's Mission)' [‎83r] (163/426)

Thirdly. —Law of the land shall be Shariat law, according to tenets of the Sa*V-
fr>r*o %m\\ ft. ajj nmyhorftH^-halb seoU^ and Arabs living in his towns whether
they be subjects of himself or others shall be amenable to local custom law.
Fourthly. —Except with his express permission no foreign subject shall be
allowed to acquire concessions and are to land in his territories either directly
or indirectly
Great Britain shall undertake defence of his territories from all
external aggression and encroachment on the part of any other Power whether
by land or sea.
Sixthly. —Great Britain shall not receive or harbour refugees from his
territory (presumably reciprocal).
Seventhly. —British Government will treat his subjects in its territories
with the same consideration as their own.
Eightly. —In return for above Bin Saud undertakes to have no dealings
with any other Power and to give no concessions except after consulting
British Government.
Ninethly. —He will protect trade within his territories and in matters of
administration and business will accord same treatment as that which his
subjects receive from us.
Tenthly. —He undertakes that British subjects and proteges trading in his
port shall be immune from any annoyance.
Eleventhly. —He will prohibit importation of arms and ammunition pro
vided he obtain facilities for supply of his own wants through the British
Government.
More follows.
Third Section of telegram.
Old treaty correspondence is not with me but the following additional
points suggest themselves and I imagine Bin Saud would make little difficulty
about any of them except (the) -°^^ 1 1 ty ' the telegraph.
He should undertake. One. To receive representative British Govern
ment either at his capital or sea port or both if desired.
Secondly. —To agree (to) extra-territoriality for our non-Mahometan
subjects.
Thirdly. —To abstain from waging war by sea without our consent, and
to co-operate for the suppression of piracy.
Fourthly. —To protect pilgrim traffic passing through his territory.
Fifthly. —To levy customs dues at rates which we consider reasonable,
having regard to rate prevailing at Bahrein and Koweit.
Sixthly. —To allow British merchants vessels to visit his ports,
Seventhly. —To agree to locate post office and possibly telegraph office at
his port when the time comes.
I do not include any item regarding slave trade as that is not now a
serious difficulty and has given us no trouble at Koweit.
Only point regarding which it seems necessary to offer special comment
here is the question of protection against external aggression by land. When
we invited Bin Saud to move on Basrah we undertook to protect him against
reprisals by Turks, so that as far as latter are concerned, what Bin Saud now
asks us to give does not amount to much more. Apart from Turks, Central
Arabia is practically inaccessible by land to any Power but ours, and I
venture to think that we should incur little risk by giving the desired under
taking subject to (the) reservation that aggression be unprovoked.
We have publicly declared that our object is to effect liberation of Arabs
from oppressive yoke Turkey. In this case there is no question of annexation
of territory to which our allies could take exception, while Bin Sand’s weight
in scale would be no mean asset to join cause of us all. Can I possibly be