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Coll 6/15 'Syria: Administration. Question of offer of throne to King Feisal of Iraq.' [‎19r] (37/497)

The record is made up of 1 file (247 folios). It was created in 13 Jun 1928-15 Dec 1939. It was written in English and French. 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. .

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0^
Sheikh Yusuf, in drawing my attention to the seriousness of
this form of propaganda, endeavoured to prove that such a
document bore obvious traces of Hashimite authorship, and said
that it was his firm opinion that the Amir Abdullah, for whom
he expressed the greatest dislike, was the real author of the
circular. I made it plain to him, however, that I personally
could not see that his suspicions about the Amir Abdullah were
supported by any actual evidence.
3. On the 21st. August the Quaim Kaqam of Jedda brought
to me a long document which he received from the Amir Peisal.His
Excellency was instructed to communicate to me the contents of
a letter v/hich, he said, had been intercepted. The original
was with the King. Y/hat he then read to me was a copy; it
purported to be a letter from the Amir Abdullah to the well-known
pan-Arab propagandist Sheikh Kamil ul Qassab, who, it will
be remembered, paid a visit to His ^ajesty at Riyadh in the
summer of 1937 with the object of persuading the King to
intervene openly on the side of the Arabs in Palestine. A summary
of the contents of the letter in translation is enclosed. It will
be seen that the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. of the letter lays down certain
desiderata for the good government of this country. His Majesty
was evidently excessively annoyed at reading these criticisms
of his system of government, and the Amir Peisal instructed the
Qaim Maqara to protest to me most vigorously against the
intervention which the Amir Abdullah was making in the iifernal
affairs of a foreign state. I replied that all I could do was
to communicate the letter and His Royal Highness T s remarks to
Your Lordship, and to sed a copy to the High Commissioner for
Palestine and Trans-Jordan in case he could throw any light on
the matter. I am also sending to the High Commissioner a copy of
the
actual/

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Content

This file relates to the administration of Syria and the possibility of the French Government installing a King of Syria.

The file mostly contains copies of Colonial Office and Foreign Office correspondence, much of which consists of copies of the minutes, memoranda and correspondence of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, which discuss how the British Government should respond to rumours that the French Government has been approaching both King Feisal of Iraq [Fayṣal bin Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī] and his brother, Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī], as candidates for the throne of Syria.

Related matters discussed in the correspondence include:

  • The British stance on whether Iraq and Syria should be ruled by one king.
  • The possibility of Syria becoming a republic rather than a monarchy, with a Syrian as President (an outcome which is deemed to be more suited to British interests).
  • Reports in the Turkish press that the ex-Khedive of Egypt, Abbas Hilmi [ʿAbbās Ḥilmī II] has aspirations for the Syrian throne, and that the Turkish Government also favours the ex-Khedive as a candidate.
  • Reports that the French Government is contemplating ending its mandate over Syria and is negotiating a treaty with Syria, using the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty as a basis.
  • Details of the Treaty of Alliance between France and Syria (signed on 16 November 1933), and of its suspended ratification.
  • Details of the Franco-Lebanese Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, signed on 13 November 1936.
  • Egypt's preference for Prince [Muhammad] Abdul Moneim to be installed as King of Syria.
  • Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd's] concerns that the throne of Syria might be offered to a Hashimite candidate (i.e. a member of the Hāshimī family).

The principal correspondents are the following: His Majesty's Consul at Damascus (Edwyn Cecil Hole, succeeded by Gilbert Mackereth); the High Commissioner for Iraq (Sir Francis Henry Humphrys and his Acting Commissioner, Hubert Winthrop Young); His Majesty's Ambassador in Baghdad (Humphrys again, and later, Basil Cochrane Newton); the Secretary of State for the Colonies; the British Consul-General at Beirut (Harold Eustace Satow); the High Commissioner for Egypt (Percy Lyham Loraine, succeeded by Miles Wedderburn Lampson); His Majesty's Ambassador in Angora [Ankara] (George Russell Clerk, succeeded by Loraine); the British Minister at Jedda (Sir Reader William Bullard); His Majesty's Chargé d’Affaires, Jedda (Alan Charles Trott); officials of the Colonial Office and the Foreign Office.

The French material in this file consists of several items of correspondence, a copy of the Franco-Syrian Treaty of 1933, a copy of the Franco-Lebanese Treaty of 1936, and copies of extracts from two French language publications (the Lebanese newspaper, L'Orient , and the Damascus newspaper, Les Échos de Syrie ).

The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 file (247 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 248; 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 external leather cover wraps around the documents; the front inside of this cover has been foliated as f 1. A previous foliation sequence, which is present between ff 12-247 and is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 6/15 'Syria: Administration. Question of offer of throne to King Feisal of Iraq.' [‎19r] (37/497), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2081, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100049603986.0x000028> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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