"ملف 1/A/38 I مفاوضات مع ابن سعود بخصوص الحدود الشرقية للمملكة العربية السعودية مع قطر وعُمان المُتصالحة." [و‎‎٣‎٧] (٤٥٢/٧٨)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
July 30, 1934.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 2.
[E 5064/2429/25]
No. 1.
Memorandum respecting Anglo-Saudi Relations, as seen by Sir A. Ryan in
July 1934.
IN my despatch No. 233 of the 20th June, 1931, I discussed Ibn Saud’s
attitude in regard to his relations with His Majesty’s Government in the United
Kingdom, in the light of long conversations which I had had with Fuad Bey
Hamza and the King himself. At that time he sought a rapprochement with
His Majesty’s Government. He was obsessed by suspicion of the Hashimite
rulers and one of his objects was the impossible one of ousting them from the
position of special favour accorded to them by His Majesty’s Government.
2. When I returned to England in February 1932 in the special circum
stances of the Bakhit slavery case, I attempted to review generally, but
systematically, the position as between Ibn Saud and His Majesty’s Government
in a memorandum submitted at home on the 23rd February, 1932. Many of the
statements and conclusions in that memorandum now call for revision, not so
much, I think, because they were erroneous at the time (except in one particular,
to which I will revert), as because of many changes in the situation in Arabia
since it was written. In one respect, however, the position is similar to that of
June 1931. Ibn Saud still sees in His Majesty’s Government the most important
foreign factor in the world about him and he again seeks a rapprochement in a
spirit of anxious misgiving. I again attempt a general review in the light of
my recent conversations with Fuad Bey Hamza and then with the King at Taif,
which I am recording separately.
3. I cannot do better than use the same structure as in my memorandum
of the 23rd February, 1932, with which I hope that this paper may be compared.
(A) Position as regards Various Questions of Interest to His Majesty's
Government.
4. In my memorandum of the 23rd February, 1932, I enumerated these
questions under twelve heads as follows :—
(1) Transjordan frontier question.
(2) Persian Gulf questions.
(3) Arabian air route.
(4) Shell benzine.
(5) Other money matters.
(6) Pilgrimage.
(7) Slavery.
(8) Deportation of British subjects and protected persons.
(9) Aqaba and Maan.
(10) Hejaz Railway.
(11) Naval visits.
(12) Treatment of foreign representatives in Jedda.
5. Subject to important modifications, the above list of headings still covers
all outstanding matters of sufficient importance to affect, or to be capable of
affecting, the general relations between His* Majesty’s Government and Ibn Saud.
The present position in regard to each may be briefly and roughly summed up
as follows : —
(1) Transjordan Frontier.
This has ceased to create any serious difficulty since the conclusion of the
Saudi Transjordan Treaty of July 1933. The attitude of the Saudi authorities
still gives rise to some local complaint, but there has been no renewal of
[156 gg—2]
B