File 87/1926 Pt 4 'Arabia: Bin Saud: Treaty negotiations: attitude of H.M.G. in regard to their right to manumit slaves' [‎469r] (35/134)

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rejected this information and you have not yet yielded to the least suspicion. This
justifies what I think of you, and I thank you for your friendship in the past and
now. This proves that you repudiate lies told about Tbn Saud and you punish liars.
We and all the Moslems are grateful for this. We are. I swear by God Almighty,
on your side should anyone rise against you. Our brother Sultan is mad; he does
not know that we are stronger than he in men and materials; the lies carried to him
by the Bedouin excite him; but lies that excite men do not yield any fruit. However,
sooner or later our power shall prevail upon him and others.
(Usual ending.)
Enclosure fi in No. 1.
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. to Colonial Office.
Sir, 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. , August 10, 1926.
I AM directed by the Secretary of State for India to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of the 24th July, forwarding a copy of Colonel Prideaux’s despatch
No. 13 of the 9th June regarding Wahabi penetration, at the instigation of the Amir
of Hasa, in Trucial Oman A name used by Britain from the nineteenth century to 1971 to refer to the present-day United Arab Emirates. , and to transmit, to be laid before Mr. Secretary Amery,
a copy of a letter in which the Government of India support the Political Resident’s
recommendation trat a protest should be made to the Sultan of Nejd against these
infringements of the undertaking given in article 6 of the treaty of the 26th December,
1915, with Ibn Saud.
I am also to invite a reference to my letter of to-day’s date, in which the Secretary
of State records the view, which he has reached after further consideration, that it
would not be likely to serve any useful purpose merely to communicate to Ibn Saud
copies of the various agreements existing between the British Government and the
Arab rulers on the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. littoral, and recommends that an attempt be mads
to induce the Sultan of Nejd to repeat in the proposed new treaty the substance of
the sixth article of the treaty of 1915. If, on further consideration, the revised views
of the Secretary of State for India commend themselves to Mr. Amery and to the
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (to whom copies of both letters are being sent),
it would be consistent, and would seem not unlikely to prepare the w^ay, for the
inclusion of the suggested article in the new treaty, to make representations at once
to the Sultan of Nejd against his subordinates’ violations of the undertaking given
in 1915. The Secretary of State for India therefore supports the Government of
India’s recommendation on this aspect of the matter, and on the issue of advice to
the Trucial chiefs not to have direct dealings with Nejdi officials.
The actions of the Emir of Hasa to which exception could rightly be taken seem
to be the hanging of a Hasani refugee in Baraimi, and the notification to the Sheikhs
of Abu Dhabi and Dibai that the Emir of Hasa had taken the Awamir and Daru
tribes under the Sultan of Nejd’s protection (paragraph 8 of Colonel Prideaux's
despatch) ; the despatch of the letter to the Sheikh of Debai (paragraph 13) ; the
despatch of police to Shargah paragraph 14) ; and the Amir’s intervention in
judicial cases (paragraph 16). The Secretary of State, as at present advised, for
the reasons indicated in my letter P. 2585, doubts the expediency of protesting
against the levy of zikat, objectionable though this may be.
Nor does it seem advisable to ask the Sultan of Nejd, as 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.
recommends, to compel the Amir of Hasa “to observe the boundary accepted in
1922,” unless Colonel Prideaux is in possession of clear evidence that the Saud did
commit himself, either in his conversations with Sir P. Cox or subsequently, to
definite acceptance of the Salawah Bay line as the eastern boundary of Nejd. With
a view to the eventual determination by treaty of this boundary, as suggested in my
letter P. 2585, it would appear advisable to enquire of 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. , by
telegraph, what precisely is the information at his disposal in regard to this question.
Copy of this letter is being sent to the Foreign Office and Admiralty.
I am, &c.
L. D. WAKELY.