Page 235 - Life of Gertrude Bell

THE MANDATE 215

tivc line of action would create problems the solution of which
we are learning to be harder still. GLB, November 15,1919.
Wilson admired the report for its thoroughness. But it contra­
dicted everything he stood for in the administration, at any rate
in its concluding sentences. He sent the report to the Secretary of
State on the day he received it, with a covering note which said:
‘Sir, I have the honour to enclose herewith an interesting and
valuable note by Miss G. L. Bell CBE, entitled “Syria in 1919”.
A few comments thereon in so far as it directly affects these terri­
tories are perhaps called for from me.’ I-Ie went on:
The fundamental assumption throughout tills note and, I
should add, throughout recent correspondence which has
reached me from London, is that an Arab State in Mesopotamia
and elsewhere within a short period of years is a possibility,
and that the recognition and creation of a logical scheme of
Government on these lines, in supcrcession of those on which
we are now working in Mesopotamia, would be practicable
and popular; in other words die assumption is diat the Anglo-
French Declaration of November 18th, 1918 represents a prac­
tical line of policy to pursue in the near future. My observations
in this country and elsewhere have forced me to the conclusion
that this assumption is erroneous ... I venture, probably for the
last time, in my present capacity, to lay before PIMG the con­
siderations which have led me to this conclusion.
He went on to argue, forcibly and with a good deal of historical
evidence on his side, that it was impossible to create an artificial
state, ‘a new sovereign Mohammadan State’, by diplomatic or
administrative means out of the remnants of the Turkish Empire.
The sentiments of the population were against such a belief, he
said. The warlike Kurds ‘numbering half a million will never
accept an Arab ruler’. The Shia, numbering if million in Iraq,
would not accept Sunni domination —‘and no form of Govern­
ment has yet been envisaged, which does not involve Sunni
domination.’ A revived Turkish Government would, he said,
have less difficulty in asserting itself. Then there were substantial
Jewish and Christian minorities to be considered. Three-quarters
of the population was tribal, he reminded Whitehall, ‘with no
previous tradition of obedience to any government’. He concluded:
Finally, if I may be permitted to make a personal reference, I