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File 4931/1916 'Arabia [Nejd]: Bin Saud's subsidy. Payment of subsidy authorised on 1 Jan. 1917. Question of incidence. Payments made without Treasury authority' [‎84v] (177/418)

The record is made up of 1 volume (202 folios). It was created in 6 Oct 1916-5 Apr 1922. 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. .

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12
centre at Damascus, and which in the summer of 1915 (when the military strength of
the Turks was concentrated at the Dardanelles, at the opposite extremity ot the Lmpire)
were a more elective political factor than at any time before or since.
From Faroki’s statement , 20 we know that the Damascus Committee had given their
allegiance to Sherif Husein before he opened negotiations with Sir H. McMahon, and^
that the terms he put forward (particularly on the question of boundaries) were largely
suggested by them. He virtually declared this in his fourth letter to Sir H. McMahon,
on the 1 st January, 1916 :—
“ Your Honour will have realised after the arrival of Mohammed (Faroki)
Sherif and his interview with you, that all our procedure up to the present was ot
no personal inclination or the like, which would have been wholly unintelligible, but
that everything was the result of the decisions and desires of our peoples, and that
we are but transmitters and executants of such decisions and desires in the position
they (our people) have pressed upon us. _ ,
“ These truths are in my opinion very important and deserve Tour Honours
special attention and consideration ” (p. 111 ).
This explains the large pretensions (otherwise difficult to uncierstand) with which
the Sherif started and which he has never given up. But oefore the Sheiifs revolt in
the Hejaz came to a head, the movement in Syria, from which his initiative had come,
was crushed by the Turks. From Faroki's statement it appears that the mihtaiy branch
was broken up about August 1915, while the civilian leaders were mostly hanged or
deported in February 1916. 2 * In his fifth letter to Sir H. McMahon of the 18th
February, 1916, the Sherif mentioned that the Syrian movement had practically been
stamped out (p. 6 , Part II), and in another letter, dated the 29th^ Maich, 1916, he
stated that the Syrians were now incapable of action. 2, ( His Majesty s Government on
their part discouraged the Sherif from a forward policy in Syria on the eve of his revolt,
both on military grounds and for fear of political complications with France . 26
Thus, during the period between the beginning of the negotiations in July 1915,^
and the outbreak of the revolt in the Hejaz in June 1916, the relative importance of
the Syrian movement dwindled while that of the Sherif increased ; and when the
question was raised of sending Faroki and al Masri, as representatives of the movement,
to Basra to get into touch with the Arabs in the Turkish Army on that front, His
Majesty’s Government referred to the Sherif’s claim to represent the Arab nation, and
laid down their policy as follows :— 2 '
<£ While there is no clear evidence as to how far this claim accords with facts,
it has not been questioned by His Majesty’s Government. If the claim be well
founded, it is a matter for consideration whether independent assurances should be
given to other and ex-hypothesi less responsible Arabs.”
When, therefore, the Sherif threw of! his allegiance to Turkey, he found his
effective sovereignty confined to the Hejaz, as Amir ol which he was merely one among
a number of independent Arab rulers, who divided between them the allegiance of the
tribes and oases of the Arabian Peninsula. The Arabs of Syria and Jezireh, whose
allegiance had promised to make him the indisputable leader of the National Movement
in the (Asiatic) Arab countries, were still under the heel of the Turk, with no immediate
prospect of liberation. But the title to leadership which they had enabled him to
assume had been confirmed by the relations into which he had meanwhile entered with
His Majesty’s Government; and this, together with his prestige as hereditary guardian
of the Holy Cities, made it difficult for him to accept bin Saud, the Imam, the Idrisi,
etc., who were his equals in fact, as his peers in honorary rank.
These facts explain the problems that have arisen over his title and his relations
with the other independent Arab Chiefs.
On the 5 th August, 1916, in a telegram of thanks to His Majesty the King for his
congratulations on the success of the Hejaz revolt, Husein signed himself, entirely
correctly, as “ Sherif and Amir of Mecca,” 28 and the same signature appeared under a
proclamation he issued next month to the people of Irak . 29
23 157740/15; cp. 152729/15: Telegram of the 10th October, 1915, from General Maxwell to Lord
Kitchener. 24 The Turkish account of the Arab movement is given in - Verne sur la question
Syrienne ” (Sta eoul: 1916, issued by the Fourth Turkish Army Command). 25 71430/16. 26 76013/16;
81915/16 ; 95496/16; 107904/16. 27 54229/16 : Foreign Office telegram No. 262 of the 5th April, 1916, to
Sir ii. McMahon. 23 153580/16. 29 205733/16.

About this item

Content

The volume contains papers, mostly correspondence and 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. Minute Papers and Reference Papers, mainly relating to the subsidy paid to Ibn Saud, Emir of Nejd [Najd]. It includes papers relating to the following:

The main correspondents are: 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 and Political Department of the Government of India; the Foreign Office; the War Office; the Treasury; the Civil Commissioner Baghdad; Sir Percy Zachariah Cox; and Harry St John Bridger Philby.

The file includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (202 folios)
Arrangement

The subject 4931 (Arabia [Nejd]: Bin Saud's subsidy. Payment of subsidy authorised on 1 Jan. 1917. Question of incidence. Payments made without Treasury authority) consists of one volume.

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 first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 202; these numbers are written in pencil, 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 additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 59-178; these numbers are written in crayon.

The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the two leading and ending flyleaves.

Written in
English in Latin script
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File 4931/1916 'Arabia [Nejd]: Bin Saud's subsidy. Payment of subsidy authorised on 1 Jan. 1917. Question of incidence. Payments made without Treasury authority' [‎84v] (177/418), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/635, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100059364058.0x0000b2> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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