ملف ١٩١٦/٤٩٣١ "الجزيرة العربية [نجد]: إعانة مالية لابن سعود. دفع إعانة مالية مصرح بها في ١ يناير ١٩١٧. التحقيق في واقعة. مدفوعات تمت من دون موافقة الخزينة" [و‎‎٨‎٠] (٤١٨/١٦٨)

merit m regard to the Holy Places of Arabia, including the Holy Shrines of
r . opotamia and the Port of Jeddah, m order that there may be no misunder-
t i e > pa n 01 HlS ^'jfsty’s most loyal Moslem subjects as to the attitude
o ±lis Majesty s Government m this war, in which no question of a religious
character is involved. ^ These Holy Places and Jeddah will be immune from attack
or molestation by bntish naval and military forces, so long as there is no inter-
mrence w it i pi giims from India to the Holy Places and Shrines in question. At
the request ot His Majesty’s Government, the Governments of France and Russia
nave given similar assurances ” (p. 2 ).
^ nu]C ^ looser pledge, extending to the whole of Arabia, was given in a Foreign
Office telegram of the 14th November, 1914, to the High Commissioner, Cairo:—
t! His Majesty’s Government have no intention of undertaking any military
or naval operations in Arabia, or against ibs ports, unless such a course becomes
necessary for the protection of Arabian interests against Turkish or other
aggression, or m support of any attempt by the Arabs to free themselves from
lurkish rule.
0n t ] ; e 14th Apnl, 1915, the Foreign Office (acting on the strength of a letter
addressed by Seyyid Sir All Morgham, Grand Kadi of the Sudan, to Sir R. Wingate-
then Sirdar and forwarded by him) telegraphed to the High Commissioner, Cairo
ou should inform Sir R. Wingate that he is authorised by me to let it be
known, should he think it desirable, that His Majesty’s Government will make it an
essential condition in the terms of peace that the Arabian Peninsula and its
ilonammedan Holy Places should remain in the hands of an independent
Sovereign State ” (p. 30 ).
communicated to Sir Ali Morghani, and by him, apparently, to
Siieut Husem. Later, towards the end of June, the substance of it was embodied
m proclamations distributed in Egypt, the Sudan, and Arabia.
In October, when the negotiations with the Sherif were well advanced, Faroki
(a member of one of the Arab Nationalist organisations in the Ottoman army, who
had passed over to the British lines at Gallipoli and had been brought to Egypt in
October) submitted suggestions to the High Commissioner for assurances to the Sherif,
one of them being that England will guarantee the Holy Places against external
aggression and recognise their inviolability” (p. 51). Sir H.tMcMahon communicated
this in a private telegram to Sir E. Grey on the 18th October, 1915. Instructions were
sent him in a foreign Office telegram of the 20 th October, 1915, and embodied by him
in his^ second letter, dated the 24th October, 1915, to Sherif Husein. In this letter
Faroki s suggested assurance regarding the Holy Places was conveyed verbatim.
Finally, the following declaration was made in an official communique published
on the 29th July, 1916, in Egypt, after the Sherifs revolt, with the authorisation of
the Foreign Office :—
•
It remains the fixed policy of Great Britain to abstain from all interference
in religious matters and to spare no eftort to secure Holy Places of Islam from all
external aggression.
“ It is an unalterable point of British policy that those Holy Places should
remain under independent Moslem rule and authority.
“ The present state of war places many difficulties and dangers in the way of
those wishing to perform the pilgrimage, but the action taken by the Sherif of
Mecca gives rise to hopes that arrangements may be made whereby the pilgrims
may in the coming year visit the Holy Shrines in peace and security” (p. 57,
Part II).
Relation of Commitments under (ii) to British desiderata :—
No conflict.
(iii.) Boundaries of Arab Independence.
In the Foreign Office telegram of the 14th April, 1915 (No. 173), to the
High Commissioner, Cairo (quoted in section (ii) above), His Majesty’s Government
committed themselves to a public declaration that “ they will make it an essential
condition in the terms of peace that the Arabian Peninsula should remain in the hands