Foreign News: Eastern Friends

His Exalted Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad, India’s largest native State, rates a 21-gun salute from British batteries and numbers among his many titles that of “Faithful Ally of the British Government.” In World War I the Nizam demonstrated his faithfulness by giving four crores* of rupees ($15,000,000) to Great Britain’s war fund, including a $400,000 grant for anti-submarine warfare. He also placed the services of the Hyderabad troops at the King-Emperor’s disposal.

Well could the Nizam afford such generosity. The revenues of his State amount to some $25,000,000 a year—all his own if he wants it. Moreover, His Exalted Highness is considered by India’s princely spendthrifts a miser who is inordinately stingy with elephants for State durbars and who rides around in an old touring car while other less prosperous maharajas sport dozens of custom-built limousines. Thus he has amassed a fortune which includes treasure houses filled with gold, jewels, ivory carvings, antiques, not to mention a railroad or so, a few mines, stocks & bonds. He has often been called the world’s richest man.

At this war’s outbreak the “Faithful Ally of the British Government” came through again by contributing $400,000, this time to the British Air Ministry. Last week His Exalted Highness announced a further contribution—$45,000 monthly for the support of Hyderabad cavalry and infantry which may be called for service outside the State.

Meanwhile, His Excellency Lord Linlithgow, Viceroy of India, although having his troubles with Mohandas K. Gandhi’s Indian National Congress party which last week began a campaign of noncooperation and threatened one of civil disobedience, was swamped with 300 other princely protestations of loyalty and extravagant promises of support delivered in person or by telegraph to New Delhi. > The 60-year-old Maharaja of Bikaner (19 guns), also a lieutenant general, who has fought for his King-Emperor on three continents (China, Egypt, France), enlarged Britain’s war chest by a personal gift of $20,000, and a State gift of $30,000, and offered six battalions of native infantry and camel corps. Still doing his bit, His Highness took his sword and son to the Viceroy personally, regretted that owing to his age he would have to be content with sacrificing his heir and not himself. Her Highness the Maharanee also caught the loyalty fever, gave Britain $4,000 from her pocket money.

> Wired the Mehtar of Chitral (a pee-wee State on the North-West Frontier):

“We shall defend these northern boundaries of the Empire to the last man.”

>The Maharaja of Nawanagar, in western India, promised a tenth of his annual revenue of $3,400,000, was politely put off when he asked to be allowed personally to fight the Germans.

> The 65-year-old, crippled Maharaja of Udaipur became so passionately pro-British that at first he offered his entire kingdom and resources, later was content to grant $28,000 in a lump and $19,000 annually.

> The Maharaja of Indore, reported to be building a Beverly Hills, Calif., palace for his new U. S.-born wife, dug up $150,000 for the Empire cause.

In the Arab world, where Adolf Hitler’s Germany has long tried to make things difficult for France and Great Britain, the local potentates were almost as loyal. Scarcely had the war started before Egypt and Iraq forgot their peeves and declared for the British. In Palestine, heretofore irreconcilable Arab and Jewish leaders, all knowing that in wartime Britain lavishly hands out not only promises but money, swore allegiance to the Allies. Even in French-mandated Syria Cabinet officials, tribal leaders, religious heads picked Britain and France as winners. Other Arab developments:

> Early last month ambitious Emir Abdullah, ruler of British-mandated Trans-Jordan, the desert State between Palestine and Iraq, who aspired to add to his titles that of King of Syria, went to Jerusalem and there, before the British High Commissioner, swore his allegiance to King George. Last week the Emir made it official by proclaiming, in the Official Gazette of Palestine and Transjordan, that Germany was an “enemy State.” > The six sheiks who rule over the Tru-cial Coast (a modern euphemism for a 400-mile stretch on the Persian Gulf formerly called the “Pirate Coast”) let it be known through His Britannic Majesty’s High Commissioner that they were heart & soul with Britain. Their Highnesses did not have to gothrough the formalities of recalling envoys from Berlin; in 1853 these States (combined population: 80,000, including nomads) signed a Perpetual Peace Treaty with Britain, and later followed with an Exclusive Agreement by which no Trucial Coast ruler is allowed to have any truck with any outside power.

> Particularly gratifying to the British Government was the fact that His Highness Sheik Sir Hamad bin isa al Khalifa, potentate of Bahrein, an island State in the Persian Gulf which fairly oozes oil, lost no time in casting in his lot with them. He made a cash donation of $120,000 out of the big royalties he gets from Standard Oil Co. of California.

> The Sultan of Skihr & Mukalla, the Emir of Dhala, the Sultan of Lahes, and many another lesser chief along the entire southern and eastern Arabian coastline, from Aden to Basra, swore that henceforth Adolf Hitler was his mortal enemy and George VI his stanch friend.

Among all these important Arab well-wishers there were only two noticeable dissidents. Powerful King Ibn Saud, of Saudi Arabia, Guardian of the Holy Places of Mecca and Medina, who long has been annoyed because famed Colonel T. E. Lawrence did not consider him a very important Arab leader in the last war, remained discreetly silent, played a lone hand. Farther north one of Ibn Saud’s warm friends, Haj Amin el Husseini, exiled Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, was having other troubles.

Spiritual and terrorist leader of Palestine’s Arabs, the Mufti two years ago escaped to Syria, where French authorities, never very cooperative with the British in that part of the world, allowed him to continue to direct the Palestine terrorist campaign. Fortnight ago. however, French authorities arrested several of his followers, tightened the guard around his residence, appeared willing finally to cooperate with Britain in putting down any nascent Arab rebellion. This was inconvenient to the Mufti. He soon disappeared. He was reported to have escaped to Bagdad, and rumor had it that he might go from Iraq to friendly Saudi Arabia and there strengthen his forces for new Arab uprisings. But whatever he may decide to do, the Mufti is not a man likely to declare for the Allies and is destined to remain, unless cornered, a hashish headache for the British.

*A crore equals 10,000,000.