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Coll 6/67(1) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar.' [251r] (506/794)
The record is made up of 1 volume (392 folios). It was created in 13 Jun 1934-13 Dec 1934. It was written in English and Arabic. 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.
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by which they would stand together, and which would be supported by an under
taking, to be subscribed to by both the parties, that they would not stand against
-v Great Britain or support any Power who went against her. He considered that
such an arrangement would achieve his own object and would serve the interests
of His Majesty’s Government.
11. At 3-30 I called on the Amir Khalid, as Acting President of the
Council. This visit was purely formal. The Prince was shy but self-possessed,
and made mild efforts at conversation.
12. The King received me again at 4 p.m. After compliments, I said that
I hoped for a further expression of his views. He replied that he had nothing
more to say. In view of what Sheikh Yussuf had told me, this was obviously
merely a device for throwing on us the onus of initiating the discussion of the
frontier question. I therefore said that one of the outstanding questions which
His Majesty’s Government desired to see settled was that of his eastern
boundaries. I explained how convinced His Majesty’s Government were that
the only legal basis was that resulting from the Anglo-Turkish Conventions of
1913-14. The King, I said, now ruled what had been a part of the Ottoman
Empire, and had succeeded to the position of the former Turkish Government.
If this thesis, to which His Majesty’s Government held strongly, was admitted,
they would be prepared to consider modifications of the legal frontier. I must,
however, make it clear that what they had in view was minor modifications, a
qualification rendered necessary by the comprehensiveness of the claims put
forward in the last Saudi note in regard to Qatar and the country towards Muscat
and Oman.
13. This started the King in a most vehement statement. Catching on to
the mention of Qatar, Muscat and Oman, he said that he might well claim all
these places as really his. He scouted the idea that the coastal principalities
represented true sovereignties. They owed their existence to people who came
from over the sea for trading purposes. He was not, however, he explained care
fully, claiming them now, as he had entered into an agreement with His Majesty’s
Government regarding them. He was not going back on that agreement, even
though his rule would be welcomed in the coastal areas themselves. He merely
cited the more extensive claims, which would be justified but for that agreement,
in support of what he did claim, viz., authority over tribes like the Murra, an
authority extending from Hhafra all the way, I gathered, to the hinterland of
Oman. He denied the justice of the attitude of His Majesty’s Government, even
though they should insist on it, and he should be compelled to yield.
14. I cannot reproduce in an exact form what the King said, but the
foregoing paragraph gives the main lines of his thesis, which, as regards his
ancestral claims, he supported by the following arguments, interspersed in his
discourse :—
(a) His historical claim to Qatar, Muscat and Oman, which he had renounced,
was borne out by what had passed between one of his predecessors and
Colonel Felly. He spoke of a treaty or agreement as having been
reached at that time. He was obviously speaking from general
recollection, and was not even certain of Colonel Felly’s exact name,
but he was quite positive that Colonel Felly had recognised a very
extensive Saudi authority.
(&) When Jasim and Ahmed-bin-Thani of Qatar had quarrelled (perhaps
some forty years ago, but no exact date was mentioned), one of them
had appealed to the then Ibn Saud for assistance, and the then Ibn
Saud had composed the quarrel.
(c) He admitted that in his early days, Ibn Rashid had held Riadh and the
Turks, Hasa. Even then Turkish authority did not extend further
They had never ruled the Murra, &c., and had at one moment requested
him to use his authority over the tribes, whereupon he had sent
persons, whom he named, to control them. He denied absolutely the
right of the Turks to alienate his ancestral rights.
15. I observed that the King had himself come to an agreement with the
Turks, by which he recognised their sovereignty. He did not deny this, but said
that what he had done had been done under British advice given by
Captain Shakespear, presumably under instructions.
[181 c—1] b 2
About this item
- Content
This volume primarily concerns British policy regarding the south-eastern boundaries of Saudi Arabia.
It includes interdepartmental discussion regarding the approach that the British Government should take in reaching a settlement with King Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] over the demarcation of the boundaries.
Much of the correspondence discusses the legal and international position of what is referred to as the 'blue line' (the frontier which marked the Ottoman Government's renunciation of its claims to Bahrain and Qatar, as laid down in the non-ratified Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and redefined and adopted in the Anglo-Ottoman convention of the following year), a line which is not accepted by Ibn Saud as being binding upon his government.
The volume features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan); 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 the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. (Lieutenant-Colonel Trenchard Craven William Fowle); 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. , Kuwait (Lieutenant-Colonel Harold Richard Patrick Dickson); 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. , Bahrain (Lieutenant-Colonel Percy Gordon Loch); the Chief Commissioner, Aden (Bernard Rawdon Reilly, referred to in the correspondence as Resident); the Secretary of State for the Colonies (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister); the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (Sir John Simon); the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs; officials of the 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. , the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the War Office, and the Air Ministry.
Matters discussed in the correspondence include the following:
- Whether the British should press Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] for a general settlement of all outstanding major questions.
- The extent of territory that the British should be prepared to include in any concession made to Ibn Saud.
- The British response to what are referred to as Ibn Saud's 'ancestral claims' to territories east of the blue line.
- Sir Andrew Ryan's meetings with Ibn Saud in Taif, in July 1934.
- Meetings held at the Foreign Office between Sir Andrew Ryan, George Rendel (Head of the Foreign Office's Eastern Department), Fuad Bey Hamza (Deputy Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs), and Hafiz Wahba (Saudi Arabian Minister in London), in September 1934.
- The boundaries of a proposed 'desert zone', suggested by Rendel, where Ibn Saud would hold personal rather than territorial rights.
- Saudi-Qatari relations.
- Whether tribal boundaries should be considered as a possible solution to the boundary question.
Also included are the following:
- Two copies of an 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. memorandum entitled 'Historical Memorandum on the Relations of the Wahabi Amirs and Ibn Saud with Eastern Arabia and the British Government, 1800-1934', dated 26 September 1934.
- Copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, dated 8 November 1934 and 12 September 1934.
- A copy of a report by Bertram Thomas regarding a Trans-Oman air route reconnaissance, which was undertaken in May-June 1927.
The Arabic material consists of one item of correspondence (an English translation is included).
The volume includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the volume by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 4).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (392 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 394; 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2134
- Title
- Coll 6/67(1) 'Boundaries of South-Eastern Arabia and Qatar.'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:197v, 199r:199v, 201r:281v, 283r:328v, 340r:362v, 363ar, 363r:389v, 390ar, 390r:393v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence