Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [130v] (261/540)
The record is made up of 1 file (268 folios). It was created in 18 Apr 1931-18 May 1945. 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.
9. Except for one breeze, to be described presently, the political relations
between the two countries continued to be correct, all the more correct perhaps
because King Ghazi seems to have been lukewarm in his attitude towards pan-
Arab schemes and has so far shown no signs of succeeding to his late father’s
position as an aspirant to ascendency in the Arab world. He made a sort of
offer of mediation in the Saudi-Yemen quarrel in March and received an amiablj
evasive reply from Ibn Saud. Suitable telegrams were exchanged on other
occasions, including the happy termination of the war. No Iraqi representative
took part in the mission of Arab leaders, mentioned in paragraph 32.
10. The breeze mentioned in the preceding paragraph blew up in August,
when the Iraqi Government addressed a formal remonstrance to the Saudi
Government regarding the proceedings of Ibrahim-bin-Muammar, the Saudi
Charge d’Affaires in Bagdad. The details of the complaint were somewhat
differently stated by different personages, but Ibn Muammar was accused of
having made improper speeches at Kerbela and Nejef, of having engaged in
propaganda in favour of Ibn Saud’s candidature for the kingship of all Arabia
and of having inspired hostile articles, including inter alia comments derogatory
to the Amir Abdullah, in the Iraqi press. By this time the Iraqi Government
already had a fully accredited representative in Jedda in the person of Saiyid
Kamil-al-Gilani, the brother of a statesman who had been successively the King’s
Private Secretary and Prime Minister in Iraq. This young man arrived in Jedda
in June preceded by no great reputation for intelligence or capacity. He was
probably justified by his instructions in taking a strong line and demanding
Ibn Muammar’s recall, but he carried them out so offensively as to give grave
umbrage to the Saudi Government. The latter sought the advice of His Majesty’s
Government in the United Kingdom and made counter-accusations against the
Iraqi Government. One of their allegations was that papers found during the
occupation of Hodeida proved the complicity of authorities both in Iraq and in
Transjordan
Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan
in anti-Saudi intrigues during the war with the Yemen.
11. His Majesty’s Government were guarded, and in due course the parties
directly concerned found means to patch up the quarrel, with the result that
both representatives remained at their posts. This was probably due a good deal
to Nuri
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
As Said, who became Minister for Foreign Affairs in Iraq three
weeks after the demand for Ibn Muammar’s recall had been made. The precise
manner in which the affair was liquidated is not known but it was realised on the
Iraqi side that their representative in Jedda had been too brusque. It was
doubtless easier for Nuri
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
to admit this than it might have been for his
predecessor, and Nuri
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
is persona grata in high Saudi circles. Fuad Bey
Hamza, who met him in London in September, spoke of him afterwards in private
conversation as the man destined to replace King Feisal in the direction of the
destinies of Iraq, and one whom he, Fuad, had suspected of not being a sound
Arab but who had reassured him on that point. He foreshadowed the possibility
of a visit by Nuri
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
to Ibn Saud, if the elections in Iraq went well for Nuri.
12. There is an obvious connexion between the matters just mentioned and
the idea of a general rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and Iraq, a subject
to which further reference will be made in paragraph 61. Nothing definite had
happened in this respect up to the end of the year but about that time there was
a marked improvement in Saudi-Iraqi relations. Negotiations for a formal
agreement to settle various outstanding questions appeared to be in contemplation.
13. The project of a motor route from Iraq to the Hejaz appeared to
languish early in the year, although, as stated in paragraph 10 of the report for
1933, the Iraqi Government were understood to be pursuing it. As a question
between the two Governments it again became active in the autumn. Some sort
of a preliminary understanding was reached, sufficient to pave the way for a
joint survey of the proposed motor route from Nejef to Medina. The two survey
parties met on the frontier in the latter part of November and prospected the route
from there to Medina. Their report was favourable and they proceeded overland
to Bagdad in December, after the Iraqi party had visited Mecca and Jedda. It
was understood at the end of the year that the way had been prepared for a
definite agreement between the Governments which would enable the route to be
brought into use for the 1935 Pilgrimage.
About this item
- Content
This file contains copies of annual reports regarding the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (later Saudi Arabia) during the years 1930-1938 and 1943-1944.
The reports were produced by the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard) and sent to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (and in the case of these copies, forwarded by the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs to the Under-Secretary of State for India), with the exception of the reports for 1943 and 1944, which appear to have been produced and sent by His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires at Jedda, Stanley R Jordan.
The reports covering 1930-1938 discuss the following subjects: foreign relations; internal affairs; financial, economic and commercial affairs; military organisation; aviation; legislation; press; education; the pilgrimage; slavery and the slave trade; naval matters. The reports for 1943 and 1944 are rather less substantial. The 1943 report discusses Arab affairs, Saudi relations with foreign powers, finance, supplies, and the pilgrimage, whilst the 1944 report covers these subjects in addition to the following: the activities of the United States in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East Supply Centre, and the Saudi royal family.
The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (268 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 269; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located at 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 present in parallel between ff 2-12 and ff 45-268; these numbers are also written in pencil but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2085
- Title
- Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:269v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence