It is most disappointing to learn that Sir Gilbert Clayton
left Jeddah ,last week and that there is .still no- satisfactory agreement with the King of the Hejaz. The Colonial Office on behalf of Iraq and the Foreign Office who sent out Sir Gilbert have tried with wisdom and patience to put things on a better footing. We have not enough knowledge to condemn Ibn Saud outright as wholly obstinate or unwilling to co-operate. It may be that he honestly refuses to give guarantees because he has no faith in his power to carry them out ; but it sounds very unreasonable that he apparently raises objections over fortifications a long way within the Iraq frontier, and he is naturally suspected of hostility to King Feisul as the son of his Hashimite rival. Apart from the general insecurity it is all particularly irksome to the people of Iraq, who do not feel that they are i competent to defend the borders against those nominal subjects of Ibn Saud whom he cannot restrain from raiding, and yet they do not like to admit .a dependence upon British forces for their protection.
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