Page:The King of Hedjaz and Arab Independence (1917).djvu/9

 on their part in affairs purely Arabian, combined with acts of actual oppression and cruelty. This foreign and unlawful invasion of their rights and privileges, the impiety of the Young Turks, and their inhuman treatment of the Arabs of Syria and other parts of the Ottoman Empire, decided the Grand Sherif, after many indignant protests, to reassert the independence of the Arabs of Hedjaz, and with such success, that after a substantial victory had been gained by his troops in action with the Turkish forces, some few months back, he issued a proclamation to the world asserting the independence of Hedjaz and its inhabitants—their freedom from Turkish invasion and foreign control of any kind—and announcing that the assembled notables, princes, and representatives of the people had unanimously acclaimed him King of Hedjaz.

Herewith a translation is given of the actual proclamation, in order that, from the pen of the King of Hedjaz himself, the condition of affairs in Hedjaz under Turkish rule may be realised, and the causes understood which obliged the Arabian peoples to reassert their ancient and inviolable religious, territorial, and national rights against impious foreign aggression.