Page 501 - PERSIAN 8 1912_1920_Neat

FOR TUB YEAH 19M. 11
oiiimon task of expelling the 'Turks from Arabia As to Ibn Saud’s own
c ition ho need have no misgivings for ho bad been acknowledged by us to
P an independent ruler, and the Sharif must recognize the full import of Iho
treaty- The British Government lias no reason to believe that ho entertained
any hoslile intentions against the tribes and territories of Najd.
In ibe negotiation over the tieaty, in December 1915, Sir Percy Cox
ljsd discussed with Ihn Saud tlic possibility of bis giving us assistance against
jbn Kashid The Hakim of A’ajd then thought that Ibn Rashid would either
come in or maintain a strict neutrality. If, however, lie showed himself actively
hostile, Ibn Snud \vou;d attack him and incite the northern ’Anazah against
jjim. This intention, however, ho failed to carry out. During the spring and
summer of 191G he was occupied with a rebellion of the Murrah, following
on, and perhaps connected with, that of the Ajmau, which endangered his
communications with the IJassa. Though a large proportion of the fighting
men of the Shamraar had gone north with Ibn Rashid against tho Iraq, no
effective attack was znarli* on ijail in t.helr absence. In late June or early
July, Ibn Snud’s son, Turki, raided Jabal Sliammar, and the news may
have hastened Ibn Rashid’s reticat from our frontiers. In September or
October Turki renewed hostilities agair.st some of the Shainmar Shaikhs and
an allied section of the Harb, but the affair resulted only in the capture of
a email amount of booty, and Ibn Saud’s doctor, passing through Bahrain,
brought a message to the effect that the Amir could do nothing against the
Sbammar as long as the fugitive Ajman remained on his Hank. The true
reason for his inactivity was no doubt his own insecurity at home, but the
implacable hostility which he entertained towards the Ajman, whom he re-
gatded not only as rebels but a3 the murderers of bis brother Saud, threatened
to become a problem of some difficulty.
When Shaikh Mubarak died, in December 1915, Ibn Saud pressed bis son
and successor in Kuwait, Jabir, to drive out the Ajman Shaikhs.
Jabir made a temperate rep’y. no was unwilling to eject the Ajman,
fearing that they wculd he thrown into the enemy camp; hut-he could
rot hold out against Ibn Saud’s insistance without creating an open
breach and he expelled the tribe in February 1916. As he anticipated,
they turned for protection first to Ajaim and then to Ibii Rashid, but in
.May they asked and obtained permission from the Shaikh of Zubair to settle
quietly near Safwan and, subsequently, several of the leading Shaikhs made
submission to us When Ibn Rashid turned to Hail only two of the Ajman
Shaikhs remained with Ajairni and they had little or no following. Ibn
Sau'i*8 ardent desire*to direct his energies upon the extermination of this tribe
was net one with which wc had any sympathy, at all events at ihe present
juncture.
Shaikh Jabir, new to his office, could not hope to exercise the influei.ee
over Ibn Saud which had been possessed by that practised and weighty dip*
lomatist bis father : moreover, for some years before M ubarak’s death, relations
between Riyadh and Kuwait had been growing cooler. Ibn Saud bitterly
resented Mubarak’s attitude during the negotiations between himself and the
Ottoman Government in the spring of 1911. According to his account the
Shaikh had at first counselled him to accept the Turkish offers, but when he
reached Kuwait, in April, Mubarak changed bis note, without explanation, and
Advised Ibn Saud not to come to terras with the Turks, refusing at the same
time to be present at his meeting with the delegates. So indignant was the
Amir that lie expressly stipulated with Captain flhakespear that Mubarak
should not be consulted in the negotiations with ourselves, Tho asylum
ffiven to tho Ajman was another grievance, and in 1916 Ibn 8aud complained
of the incidence of the transit dues which
Arab I'arcau, 8th April 1910.
had been, from timo immemorial, levied
in Kuwait.
"While Ibn Baud's anxiety as to the ambitions of the Sharif and his growing
** rangement with Kuwait showed thnt tho chiefs allied with ouxsolvcs had not
reached a satisfactory understanding with oaoh other, there was evidence that the
urks were still active in Arabia. News was received from Ihn 8aud and from
‘Uicrauuiees of the despatch of an Agent (Muhammad) Taufiq Ibn Faraun of