Page 131 - Life of Gertrude Bell

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Encounter

Not Amurath an Amurath succeeds,
But Harry, Harry!
Henry IV, Part 2

Gertrude’s latest book detailing her studies and wanderings in
the Turkish dominions of Asia Minor was published in 1911. She
addressed a dedicatory letter to Lord Cromer, indicating the pace
and perception of her travels with a skilful blend of ardour and
understanding. ‘Liberty—what is liberty? I think the question
that ran so perplexingly through the black tents would have
received no better a solution in the royal pavilions which had
once spread their glories over the plain. Idly though it fell from
the lips of the Badawin, it foretold change ... I saw the latest
Amurath succeed to Amurath and rejoiced with all those who
love justice and freedom to hear him proclaimed. For Abdul
Hamid, helpless as he may have been in the hands of the weavers
of intrigue, was the symbol of retrogression ... ’ She was not to
find the new Sultan any more trustworthy than the last as a
custodian of liberty as time went by, but for the moment Mehemet
V embraced the eager hopes of the Young Turks and Gertrude
thought him worthy of a fair trial. Perhaps because, as Hogarth
put it, the new book contained ‘maturer science and less careless
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rapture’ than her Desert and the Sown, the public reaction to it was
little more than polite. Amurath to Amurath was well reviewed in
some quarters and barely noticed in others. The autumn months
of 1911 and much of the next year were spent mostly at home.
There was plenty to do, however, and much to catch up with. ‘I
was back in time for the Coronation and enjoyed it immensely/
she told Chirol, ‘especially the actual ceremony (I had a very good