A GREAT EPIC OF ARABIA

Hokitika Guardian, 21 August 1930, Page 8

A GREAT EPIC OF ARABIA

BRITISH DIPLOMACY OPENS NEW 1 ERA. (By GEOFFREY RAWSON, 0.8. E. F.R.G.S.) ' A few weeks ago a remarkable :'scpne was enacted on the quarter deck of a small British sloop, R.MiS. Lupin, anchored off Basra. On the Depk .<* that ship two great Arabian sultans, who for a space of 15 years had regarded each' other with the bitterest animosity, shook hands, signed a treaty, and ended a feud which at one time threatened to split Arabia in twain and which had caused the British Government intense anxiety oyer a long period. The two protagonists were His Highness Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, King of the Hejaz, Sultan of Nejd, Lord pf Arabia, and His Majesty Faisal Al Husain, King of the Iraq. These remarkable men had for many years contested the supremacy of a iGreat Arabia. Ibn Saud, while still a youth pf 20, had set out upon the immense task of making hiiqself the master of the peninsula; slowly but surely be built up an immense, army of followers equipped with modern rifles. He defeated first ope and then another of the rival shieks who stood in his patch; lie ejected the Turkish troops from the Hasa province in the east; at the height of the Grept War lie signed a treaty with Britain iindpr which he received £60,(100 a year in gold, and when, after tjie conclusjpn of the war, his most potept riypl, Kipp Husain of the Hejaz, styled “King of the Arab countries,” a coolness sprang up betwen them which oi the efforts of Britain prevented' from developing into open (ibstiljjty. There was trouble about a disputed oasis, apd though Britain had threatened that if Ibn Saud djd ppt kec quiet his subsidy would be withdrawn, the pyoud spirit of the man could not brook his rival’s claims. With true Bedouin skill and in the utmost secrecy, Ibn Saud’s forces advanced under cover of night against the Hejaz army, which the King Husain had sent under the command of fiis second son, Abdulla, Faisal’s brother. 1 The sleeping army was surprised, annihilated in true Arab fashipn, and Ibn Sapd rested on his laurels. , «

SEEKING WORLDS TO CONQUER. But not for long. Soon afterwards he was off again to take action against a rival shiek, Ibn Rashid, of Jebei Shamniar. Foftupp favoured Jiim a this juncture, for his rival was assassinated ; liis hete was upeqpel tp the task of 'meeting the temblc Saud in combat, and surrended to him.' By of the whole of the Arabian, peninsula, but this geographical entity, though it was the real Arabia apd was not .subject to his rule, did pot satisfy the apibiHous and piprtial Sapd. He had beep so extra-on'diparily successful, he Wps. sp rpqch feared, he had now become so influential, and his power was sp evidently o,n the increase, that lie cast his eyps oyer a wider territory tha,n the mere Arabian peninsula itself.

To the north-east of him lay Iraq, an Arabian territory which had been handed over by Britain to, one of the sons of his old eneipy, King Husain. Kiiig Faisal now reigned there, Faisal of the' hated Sherifian family. What right had Faisal, the puppet King, to be seated on the throne of Iraq ? He was thpre, not by right of arms, not by right of conquest, not by any right, as it appeared ,tp Slaud. Np IHe sat oh the Bagdad throne because be h’ad been put there by Britain, and Britain had no right to place him there. To make matters worse, King Husain’s oilier son, Abdulla—to whom Baud had so shamelessly put to rout years before had been made king of Trans-Jfprdania, which lay to the north-west of Saud-s dominions and which thus threatened him with raids at any time. With Iraq to the north-east and Trans-Jordania to the north-west of him, he could never remain in peace. In any event, these territories were part of Arabia proper ; if these two puppet kings wished to hpld their lands, they must be prepared to fight for them—Britain or no Britain. She, in any case, was a false and fickle friend who had sided with his rivals and had withdrawn his subsidy.

BRITAIN CALLS A HALT. He raided Iraq, he raided TransJordania. He launched an army against the jftejaz. He captured the Holy City of Mecca itself and soon he had conquered the whole of the Hejaz. Here was a man indeed, a terrible nghter, as swift as a lion, as merciless as an eagle. Faisal and Abdullah trembled for their security; they leaned heavily on the British Government for support against this redoubtable warrior who made their lives a burden to them and jeopardised their security. Without Britain’s aid it is possible, nay probable that ere this, the great Ibn Saud would have overrun the Iraq and trans-Jordania and made' himself lord and master of the very “Arab Countries” to which old Husain had aspired. But skilled general though he is, Ibn Saiid could not prevail against the force of British arms. To preserve the Arabian peace and to support’ their allies in the war, Faisal and Abdullah, Britain intervened. British aeroplanes,

British troops,' British guns came into action against Sand’s raiders and they ,vere beaten off with terrible losses. He realised that his dream of an “Arab Empire” to include the Iraq and transJordania was but a dream—so long as Britain was against him. And she was definitely opposed to his grandiose schemes. She'was; behind Faisal and she w.as behind Abdulla. Ibn Saud is not only a great warrior but he is a ruler of discretion. He realised that with Britain against him he must be; content with what he had won. He consented to negotiate, he agreed to meet Faisal and they met on the quarterdeck of His Majesty’s doop Lupin in February last. Here, brought together by the strong right arm of Britain, the two rivals signed a treaty -in which ‘they recognise each other’s independance. agree to outlaw tribal raids, agreed to define the disputed frontiers and to submit future disputes to arbitration. It was as much a. victory for British diplomacy as for either side. Thus closes a long chapiter in the history of Arabia. A new one is now opened, a new era of peace, prosperity and good-will in war-wracked Arabia. But Ibn Saud cannot divest himself of his dreams and his ambitions; he is a fighting man, a warrior of the desert who realises that the day of the camel is passing. Before leaving the good ship Lupin he ordered four British aeroplanes, ■—Auckland Star.