Page 227 - Life of Gertrude Bell

W

THE MANDATE 209
which were free and independent before the war, and areas
emancipated from Turkish rule by the action of Arabs themselves
during the war, would be recognised as independent and sup­
ported in their struggle for freedom. ‘When I saw this document
for the first time in the FO, it at once become clear to me why the
Arabs had made such superhuman efforts to win their race with I
the British cavalry into Deraa, Damascus and Aleppo ... ’, he
'
wrote. The promises to Husain, the demands of the Covenanters,
the Sykcs-Picot agreement and the Balfour Declaration combined
to produce a pretty skein for the statesmen to unravel. ‘It never
entered anyone’s mind that to make peace with Turkey would take
almost exactly as long as it had taken to fight her, and that as far
as Mesopotamia was concerned no less than seven years would
pass before final agreement had been reached,’ wrote Young.
Already many of the milling delegates and advisers in Paris had
expressed their views forcibly to the Interdepartmental Conference on
Middle East Affairs, formed by Lloyd George’s coalition govern­
ment to consider the ‘whole question’ in the last months of 1918.
Lawrence, already filling the role of war hero for which the British
public yearned, had made his view plain. There should be three
independent Sharifian states, Syria and Upper and Lower Meso­
potamia, under the three sons of Husain, while the old man ruled
the Hijaz as King and Caliph. Wilson in Baghdad had replied that
the time was not ripe for an Arab government in that country, and
reiterated his response to the provisions of the Sykes-Picot agree­
ment that ‘Mesopotamia neither expected nor desired sweeping
schemes of independence’. Nevertheless, in November 1918 he had
been instructed to ask the people of the country three questions:
Did they favour a single Arab state under British tutelage? If so
did they consider that a titular Arab head should be placed over
the new state? In that event whom would they prefer as head of
State? Wilson’s reply was that there was no adequate means of
establishing public opinion in Iraq at that time. ‘There was no
conclusive reply,’ said Young.
In March Gertrude wrote: ‘I’m lunching tomorrow with Mr
Balfour (Foreign Secretary) who, I fancy, really doesn’t care.
Ultimately I hope to catch Mr Lloyd George by the coat tails, and
if I can manage to do so I believe I can enlist his sympathies.
Meanwhile we’ve sent for Colonel Wilson from Baghdad.’ The
Civil Commissioner had been given his new rank of temporary
Lt-Colonel in order to give him something like adequate status