File 87/1926 Pt 1 'Arabia: Bin Saud; Title; Recognition as King of the Hedjaz' [‎10r] (13/306)

r
[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.j
EASTERN (Arabia) .
r~
I
r-1
! O - * U 1
[November 7, 1927.J
CONFIDENTIAL.
i
Section 1 .
/■>
[E 4746/1328/91]
No. 1 .
Actincj Consul Jakins to Sir Austen Chamberlain.—(Received November 7.)
(No. 118.)
&ir, Jeddah, October 20, 1927.
VVITH reference to my telegram No. 60, in which I had the honour to report
the failure, over the question of Asir, of the conversations on the subject of the
Italian recognition of the King of the Hejaz and Nejd, held at Asmara, between a
delegate of His Majesty and the Governor of Eritrea, I now enclose translations of
the summary of the conversations, of a letter sent by Cavalieri Gasparini to the
King, and of the reply it elicited.
2. It will be recalled that in September last the Italian consul in Jeddah
informed His Majesty that the Italian Government was prepared to grant him
unconditional recognition, and suggested a preliminary informal meeting in Eritrea.
3. Ibn Saud, agreeing to the suggestion and giving credit to the professed
innocent nature of the proceedings, despatched as his representative Sheikh
Abdullah-el-Eadl, a man readier with his tongue than his wits, whose name is
humourously used by local notables as a synonym for c ‘ sheep.”
4. It is conceivable that a stronger delegate would have resolutely shut his
ears to the mention of the word Asir, or, as His Majesty’s Foreign Minister observed
to me in lamentation, diplomatically suggested that the whole question was one of
interpretation of the word “ dependencies,” and, without attempting to define that
term, have secured the desired recognitfon. In the circumstances, however, there
is little doubt that the Italians, taking advantage of the obvious inadequacy of the
sheikh, used the'conference simply to reopen the old sore of the Asir question, and
to rub salt in by recording the trend of the discussion in the summary to which
His Majesty’s delegate weakly affixed his signature, with a despairing reservation
on the subject of ratification.
5. Dr. Damluji, the Foreign Minister, who, as soon as Abdullah-el-Fadl had
returned with the news, paid a reproachful call on the Italian consul—only to
receive scant comfort—came to me to give me copies of the documents which are now
enclosed and to assure me how different might have been the result if they had not
been misled in the choice of their delegate.
6. His Majesty, when seen at Mecca on the 18th October by a member of this
agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , who went up to pay respects on the occasion of the King’s departure for
Hasa, appeared to be genuinely perturbed by the turn of events, and, in a private
interview, asked what was going to happen now. On his being assured that the
absence of Italian recognition would probably have as little effect in the future as it
had in the past, His Majesty went on to deliver himself of a long and sustained
complaint against the Italians. Their action in the Farsan Islands, their incite
ment of the Imam, and their corruption of Asir notables, were all referred to in
terms with which you, Sir, are already familiar. In the proceedings of these Asmara
conversations, His Majesty asserted, was the documentary evidence of Italian
intrigues we had asked him to produce.
7. It is perhaps unfortunate that further discussion of the matter with
Ibn Saud must now be suspended as he has left Mecca. On the other hand, it cannot
but be reassuring to note that His Majesty should, on the 19th October, set out on a
journey of five months’ intended duration.
I have, &c.
H. G. JAKINS.
f
[287 g-1]