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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎119v] (249/792)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (388 folios). It was created in 27 Dec 1924-28 Oct 1929. It was written in English and French. 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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114
with the direction of affairs in the Hejaz left in his hands by the King’s absence,
he has proved a very Iago. The Emir Feisal, the King’s nominal representative,
has been completely effaced. Often the only effective means of checking Sheikh
Yussef’s genius for obstructive thought has been a hint that his master, when he
returns, may not altogether be too pleased at his petty management. A
4. His methods are unpleasant. He is for example engaged at present in a
battle with the local agents of the Khedivial Mail Line for quarantine dues on a
batch of Egyptian pilgrims who arrived in the Hejaz on last year's pilgrimage.
The Egyptian Government, in accordance with their own regulations, received these
dues in advance before ever the pilgrims left their own country, and are therefore
debtor in this respect to the Hejaz Government. One would have thought that
this was a simple matter easily arranged between the two Governments concerned.
Not so Sheikh Yussef Yassin ; his method is to press the Khedivial Mail Line
agents in Jeddah in order to make them advance the money themselves and take
their chance of recovering it subsequently from the Egyptian Government : he
has even gone so far as to express a foolish threat, which however not even Sheikh
Yussef Yassin would be blindly consistent enough to carry out, to detain the
next Khedivial pilgrim ship unless his demands are met. He made this threat
unofficially on the telephone to the Khedivial agent, and when asked to repeat
it backed out.
5. Similarly, when the Eastern Telegraph Company’s ship the " Mirror ” came
to Jeddah to carry out the repair of the Jeddah—Port Sudan submarine cable,
he made an attempt to hold up her work until he had received, through this Agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. ,
a definite promise from the Sudan Government to pay by a given date the sums
due to the Hedjaz in respect of certain accumulations of cable fees. These sums were
mentioned in the Cable Agreement, and were therefore due the moment the Agree
ment was signed by all parties. But, either suspecting that a promise to pay
did not exactly and literally mean a promise to pay, or desiring quick payment
in order to tide over some financial strait, or simply working with a commendable
view to pleasing his master by a show of promptitude, he insisted on dragging
the immediate payment of this money into the question of the cable ship’s opera
tions, and refused to allow the ship to begin until the Sudan Government’s promise
had been received.
6. Such an ultimatum had to be opposed and Sheikh Yussef brought to realise
that highway methods are not always successful. I assured him that I would
personally do my best to secure a speedy payment of the sums legally due, but
refused to be party to an indecorous attempt to make the Sudan Government,
(who were meanwhile unconscious of Sheikh Yussef's pistol-play), put up their
hands by a given date. This was not sufficient. An appeal was therefore made
to the Emir Feisal, who agreed at once that, so soon after the Agreement had been
signed, the Sudan Government would hardly expect that the “Mirror” would
be delayed like a hostage in Jeddah harbour. Sheikh Yussef’s manoeuvre collapsed
forthwith ; and when I met him soon after the ship had commenced operations,
he seemed almost glad that it had.
7. There is something of the knave and something of the tactician in Sheikh
Yussef Yassin. But it would probably be wrong to condemn him altogether.
He has not yet really had his chance : When he gets it, or rather when he reach
es the security he is at present striving hard for, he may develop into a less irritating
negotiator, and show less fear of, and therefore less hostility to, the outside world.
A little tolerance would greatly improve his tenacity and soften his lean and hungry
nature.
8. Mention has been made in recent reports of the Syrian influence in Mecca.
(See for example paragraphs 11-13 of the Report* for October, 1926). Such influence
undoubtedly exists, and might under circumstances favourable to itself, concei
vably develop into an important factor in Ibn Saud’s policy, a bias tending to
direct his thoughts in the direction of Syria, Palestine and Trans-jordan. Sheikh
Yussef Yassin speaks in the bitterest terms of the Emir Abdullah. On the other
hand there are considerations automatically redressing the bias. In the first
place, although Ibn Saud cannot help but be influenced by the persons who supply
him with advice and information, the King’s policy remains strongly a personal
one. That policy must at the present time be chiefly concerned with internal
affairs and with affairs touching Asir and the Yemen.
♦Enclosure to Serial No (95).

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Content

This volume mainly relates to British policy in Arabia, and specifically concerns British relations with Ibn Saud [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd, also referred to in the correspondence as Bin Saud]. The papers cover the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25 and political affairs in Ibn Saud's Kingdom of Hejaz and Sultanate of Nejd [Najd] (or the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, as it became in 1927).

The volume mainly consists of compiled sections of printed correspondence, with each section closing with a report from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah. The most prominently featured correspondents are as follows: the British Agent and Consul, Jeddah; the Secretary of State for India; the Secretary of State for the Colonies; 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. , Aden; the High Commissioner, Egypt; the High Commissioner, Iraq; the High Commissioner, Palestine; officials of the Colonial Office, the Foreign Office, the Admiralty, 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 Government of India's Foreign and Political Department. Also featured as correspondents are Ibn Saud, King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī], and British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin.

Matters covered in the correspondence include the following:

  • Diplomatic relations between Ibn Saud and Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, and Persia [Iran]
  • Information on developments in the Hejaz-Nejd War of 1924-25, mainly in the form of telegrams and letters from the British Agent and Consul at Jeddah, and British policy regarding the conflict
  • British policy in relation to the fate of the ex-King Hussein [Ḥusayn bin ‘Alī al-Hāshimī]
  • Reports of Wahabi forces having damaged or destroyed holy sites in Mecca and Medina
  • The efforts of King Ali [‘Alī bin Ḥusayn al-Hāshimī] to raise money in Jeddah
  • Details of the Hadda Agreement and the Bahra Agreement, concluded between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud in late 1925
  • Details of King Ali's surrender and abdication on 19 December 1925, and arrangements for his passage out of Jeddah
  • Britain's recognition of Ibn Saud as King of the Hejaz in February 1926
  • British concerns regarding the spread of anti-British opinion in the Hejaz
  • Public outrage in the wider Muslim world regarding the desecration of holy sites by the Wahabis, and the British Government's refusal to become involved, owing to its stated policy of non-intervention in Muslim religious affairs
  • British efforts to ensure the Government of Hejaz's participation in the International Sanitary Convention of 1926
  • Arrangements for a private visit to London by Ibn Saud's son Faisal [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd] in September 1926
  • British concerns regarding Ibn Saud's diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia [Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR]
  • A change to Ibn Saud's title in 1927, from 'King of Hejaz and Sultan of Nejd' to 'King of Hejaz and Nejd'
  • The conclusion of the Treaty of Jeddah in June 1927
  • Relations between Ibn Saud and the Imam of Yemen [Yaḥyá Muḥammad Ḥamīd al-Dīn], and the former's suspicions that the Italian Government has been supplying the Imam with arms
  • Profiles of prominent figures in the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd
  • The number of pilgrims arriving each year for Hajj
  • Tense relations between Ibn Saud and the Iraqi Government, particularly concerning the Uqair Protocol.

Also included with the correspondence are the following: minutes of an interdepartmental conference held at the Colonial Office on 20 May 1926, to discuss matters arising out of Clayton's Mission to Ibn Saud (ff 178-179); a Colonial Office memorandum entitled 'British Interests in Arabia', dated 8 December 1926 (ff 111-113).

The volume includes a small amount of correspondence written in French.

The volume 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 (f 1).

Extent and format
1 volume (388 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 first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 388; 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 between ff 118-388, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves.

Pagination: each of the various sections of printed correspondence has its own printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 3666/1925 'ARABIA: PRINTED CORRESPONDENCE 1924-28' [‎119v] (249/792), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1155, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100145454963.0x000032> [accessed 4 June 2026]

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