File 7251/1920 Pt 3 'Arabia: Situation and Policy; Agenda for Inter Departmental Committee Meetings' [‎220r] (76/268)

Relation of Commitments to the Idrisi to British Desiderata,
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1915; the terms see,n to lack n ^ & truc;al treaty that the independent
As regards (a) it .s an e^e^e no relation8 with for6 i sn Powers except through
ruler who is a party to . tin f Uoap n r -ilipnato to them any portion of his
His Majesty's Government, and sl.all not lease^or ahenate^o t^ ^
territory In the P 1 ,^ j t to the ForeigI1 Office covering the Government of
India despatch of the 20th May, 191 8, justly remarked in this connection (79/ 94, lo) :
I' The matter referred to in 2%
^r^th^ih^e^hr^aty with 'the Idrisi will probably
Kec^ary in any case! e.p., to ensure that he does not cede any port or island
to a foreign Power, and to regulate the arms traffic.
Again, in the stricter forms of trucial treaty "“g
to keep the peace between the othei pai y o i t ^ e ot her party undertakes not
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by diplomatic means, to adjudicate fe ; U 'v'tu.^tin^wlien the treaty was drafted, since
This was perhaps the most we could do at the time ^ en pe relationB with
: p iK“.hE?.im« K p 3t ™ p ." — * S'"*' 1
control over their relations with one another. illustrated by the dispute in
The difficulties with which we shall be con Kunfida (182183/16 and
1916 between the Idrisi and the Sherd -y^t'edTur awarf provfsii.ally, but only
2151 55/16 (No. 142)), in which the Idrisi accepted^ ^ ( / the war .
subject to reconsideration, under ar i . ir p a tion between the Idrisi and the Imam
Ihe still more difficult problem o em vear (133-274/16 and 133783/16),
was raised by the Resident at Aden m July
but this was deprecated by the Viceroy as P. r may succee ,(l in making, fresh
Whatever settlement of these questi tl J ee ru ] ers will continually be
demarcation and allegiance disputes _)e we n overn ment will not be able to deal
arising, and it is submitted that I is - a j es J truc i a } treaty on stricter lines with the
with them effectively unless they cone u ' d their still more indefinite
Imam, and supplement their treaty with the Idrisi,
arrangements with the Sherif, in this c irec p 11 ' ^ o-uarantee the Idrisi facilities
As regards trade, again, His Majesty s for British trade
at Aden under article 8, while there ^ ° P ^ j n( j| a however, pointed out in
in the Idrisi's ports and T h« Govm-nme f ^garded as implicitly covered
their despatch of the 20th May, 1915, that this may
by the “pact of friendship ” laid down m article . at AdeIlj it ma y perhaps
Finally, as regards (h) the pos! ion . ,j a .. j n ^} ie English text of article 6,
be doubted whether the words ‘ Wes ein £ , lUV territorial enlargement
and “ Yemen ” in the Arabic, do strietly a dice " d b our negotiations with
of our Protectorate. And our case on this point P J jj McMahon, Husein, while
KingHusein. For in his first letter of J.^v 1915^0 ^ forArab
he excepted the Aden Protectorate fr0 ™ . 0 f the Aden frontier; and
independence, made no reference 0cto ber, 1915, he accepted the
Sir H. McMahon, when, in his letter of the ^ jm i ici tly pledged himself, as
proposed boundaries, subject to modifications in Syria, P
regards Aden, to the status quo.