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THE FRAMEWORK OF THE UNITED NATIONS 155
73(c), appears to be consistent with her own construction of Chapter
XI of the Charter. As explained elsewhere in this discussion, the
United Kingdom, together with other States responsible for the
administration of colonial peoples, has always maintained that the
basic element in judging whether a particular territory should come
within the scope of Chapter XI or not is not independence, as argued
by some other Members, but the extent to which this territory has its
own indigenous self-government. In other words, in interpreting
Chapter XI, the United Kingdom took the view that the phrase ‘self-
government’ in the preamble of Article 73 is not an alternative to
independence.1 Accordingly she held that a British overseas territory
could attain ‘a full measure of self-government’, which thus excludes it
from the application of Chapter XI, while the United Kingdom still
remains responsible for its external affairs.2 During the second session
of the General Assembly Mr Creech-Jones, for the United Kingdom,
explained what he considered to be ‘a flexible’ meaning of‘self-govern­
ment’ in these words:
. . . self-government was a living process which differed from territory to
territory. . . . There were United Kingdom territories which, while not in
full control of their external affairs, were nevertheless fully responsible for
the conduct of their internal affairs. These territories included Burma,
Ceylon and Malta, and they fell completely outside chapters XI and XII.3
It can be assumed, in the light of the above statement, that the
British Government, not being in fact responsible for the internal
government of the Shaikhdoms, has, therefore, treated them as self-
governing territories to which Chapter XI does not apply. Moreover,
it can be argued that these Shaikhdoms are not non-self-governing
territories in the sense envisaged in Chapter XI. And the fact that
they are sovereign States which have, by treaties, entrusted the control
of their external affairs to the United Kingdom does not reduce their
status to that of dependent territories within the meaning of Article
73. The responsibility of the British Government towards these States
is, therefore, not based on the obligations embodied in Chapter XI,
as is the case with other British colonies and protectorates which are
directly administered by the British Government, but on obligations
embodied in the treaties between the British Government and these
States. Further, it may be argued that even as self-governing terri­
tories, these States, unlike British self-governing territories, have not
attained this status through an evolution from a colonial system within
the British Dominion.
On the other hand, a construction of Chapter XI on the lines sug­
gested by some other Members of the United Nations—the so-called
See above, pp. 152-3. And see NSGT, year 1946 (1947), pp. 132-6.
2 Ibid. 3 U.N.G.A., 2nd scss., 4th Committee, 43rd mtg (1947), p. 80.