Page 261 - Life of Gertrude Bell

faisal’s kingdom *37
‘If the British do not faithfully carry out their pledges, there is the
Amir Rabiah with 20,000 tribesmen, and Shaikh Salim and all his
tribesmen, to ask the reason why.’ He added: ‘If there is any sign
of the British taking sides, the Naqib is prepared to appeal to the
Islamic world.’
Cox heard about the discourse within a few hours. Gertrude,
in a letter to her parents, tends to give the impression that she was
present. In fact, she was not. She commented: ‘It was an incite­
ment to rebellion as bad as anything which was said by the men
who roused the country last year, and not far from a declaration
of'jihad' And she added: ‘It’s not beyond the bounds of possibility
that Talib may prosecute the electoral campaign so hotly as to
find himself in gaol.’ Gertrude wrote the letter containing those
observations the day after Talib’s party, the 17th. That morning
Cox had consulted Haldane who agreed to arrest Talib. Gertrude
described how Talib had called on Lady Cox at 4.30 in the after­
noon and had tea with her. Afterwards, when Talib had said fare­
well to his hostess, Major Bovill who was also a guest left before
the Iraqi and waited for him near the Tigris bridge by Cox’s
house. ‘I regret that I have orders to arrest you,’ he said. ‘I feel a
load off my mind,’ observed Gertrude. ‘Talib was capable of
anything. He was already gathering round him the band of cut­
throats he used to employ in Turkish times at Basra ... It was an
item added to my report yesterday because I wanted to warn Sir
Percy that he was almost certain to attempt the assassination of
Faisal if the latter came here,’ she wrote. The arrest was an act of
social and political insensibility, and Gertrude’s part in it cannot
escape criticism any more than can Sir Percy’s or Lady Cox’s.
Many observers at the time, and not a few of the British on the
spot, thought it an unseemly end to an unseemly career; for
murderer and rogue Talib certainly was, but Cox had been pre­
pared to use him for his own ends when there were no other
leaders of his stature close at hand. Cox later reported to Churchill
in London: ‘He was arrested in a public thoroughfare this after­
noon and is being sent down river to Fao. I do not anticipate any
trouble as I think the great majority of people are relieved. I trust
you will be able to support me in my action and authorise me to
send him to Ceylon.’ Churchill replied that Talib’s speech was
seditious and that he must be exiled. The Iraqi spent most of his
remaining days wandering from one part of Europe to another,
subsidised by Britain but always threatened with the withdrawal