Coll 6/67(1) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar.' [‎187v] (379/794)

30
HM Government, “while anxious to maintain friendly relations with him so long
fs he comports himself in a manner consonant with British interests and our
engagements with the Arab Sheikhs on the coast see no necessity under present
conditions for making him any formal prom.ses of protection, which might even
have the effect of stimulating Turkish opposition to the consolidation of h^
authority.”
148. The Ambassador at Constantinople, Sir. Nicholas O’Conor, thought that
our rmht policy was “ to intervene as little as possible m the internal affairs of these
7 tribes and let them work out their own destiny as best they can, to wait on events
and to modify our policy if subsequently a closer understanding with Ibn Sand
seemed desirable. With this view H.M. Government agreed, and they instructed
the Government of India that they saw no reason to modify their earlier policy that
British interests and influence in this region should be strictly conhned to the
coast If it was quite inevitable to give an answer to Ibn band s enquiries, the
answer should be that as Ibn Sand’s proposals involved considerations which it was
impossible for H.M. Government to entertain, no reply was to be expected to them.
Ibn Rashid is defeated and abandons Qasim, 1907-1908.
149 In October 1907 Ibn Rashid was decisively defeated by Ibn Sand and
besieged by him in Boreida; and in February 1908 Ibn Rashid entered into
negotiations with Ibn Sand and abandoned Qasim to bim.
Eis
Basra to
Const.,
No. 32,
6.5.08.
Damascus
Const.,
23.9.08,
No. 48.
Ibn Sand settles Tribal Disputes in Rasa at request of Turks (1908).
ascendency in Nejd.
150. In May 1908 Ibn Sand was asked by the Turkish Wali of Basra to settle
certain tribal differences in Hasa in the Arab way. ^ In July of the same year
Sultan Ibn Rashid, himself the murderer in April 1906 of Mita’ad Ibn Rashid, was
murdered by his brother Sand, who succeeded as Amir and matte overtures to Ibn
Sand. But by September of that year the Consul at Damascus reported that
to “ Abdul Aziz Ibn Sand has become practically the undisputed Amir of Nejd, with
his ascendancy recognised in Riyadh, Qasim and by all the Bedonin tribes of Nejd.
Even Sand Ibn Rashid himself admits that his Amirate of Hail is only a vassalage
under the suzerainty of Ibn Sand.” In the same month Sand Ibn Rashid was
overthrown, and the Amirate reverted to a minor under a Regency. But by January
1909 the Ibn Rashid faction had to some extent consolidated themselves.
\
Const, to
P.O.,
No. 585,
22.7.09.
Ibn Saud and the Turks, Jidy 1909.
151. In July 1909 Ibn Sand’s agent at Bagdad, in the course of a discussion
with the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in Turkish Arabia A term used by the British officials to describe the territory roughly corresponding to, but not coextensive with, modern-day Iraq under the control of the Ottoman Empire. , remarked that “Abdul Aziz had
thought of approaching the Sultan with the suggestion that he should fly the
Turkish flag, pay a certain amount of tribute to the Turkish Government, and he
recognised as the Governor of the whole of Arabia,” and had actually sent an
emissary to take soundings Measurements of the depth of a body of water. , who had reached Basra, but had returned to Nejd on the
news of the Young Turk coup d'etat of April 1909. Ibn Sand’s object and that of
many Arabs was Arab independence. If they could not secure this they would
prefer the supremacy of a foreign Power to that of the Turks, and the emissary
clearly indicated that the Power they had in view was the British Government.
i
First Conversations between Ibn Saud and Captain Shakespear, 1911.
152. In the spring of 1911 conversations of much importance, though of a
Bre. to G. of wholly informal character, took place between Ibn Saud and Captain Shakespear,
I., 20.4.11. then 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. , Koweit. Captain Shakespear was the first European whom
Ibn Saud had met, and close personal relations appear at once to have been
established between them. The Amir described his position and his ambitions in
great detail. The following extracts from Captain Shakespear’s Report of the
conversation are of interest as illustrating Ibn Sand’s view as to the previous
relations of the Wahabi rulers with the British Government, his own relations with
Turkey and his attitude to the Trucial Sheikhs :—
“ . . . After the Egyptians had been expelled from Nejd, his ancestor^
Turki-Bin-Abdulla, had re-created most of the original Wahabi dominion^
including Hasa, Katif and most of the Oman coast from Qatar to near Muscat,,
. . . and had then made a treaty with the British Government . . .”