File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎158v] (314/450)

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gain of Britain would be increased to a quite unforeseen degree. But Italy would be
content to give up her claims to Alexandretta if her sphere of influence were enlarged
so as to include not only all Southern and Central Anatolia Peninsula that forms most of modern-day Turkey. from Mersina west of
Alexandretta to Smyrna on the west coast, but also the Asiatic coast of the Dardanelles
and the Sea of Marmora as far as Scutari, so as to reach the railheads at Ism id and
Haidar Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . And this solution would not be so difficult as it might appear to be(^
For while Russia would get Armenia, the Black Sea coast, and the European side of
the Straits, England would avoid the danger of leaving both shores in the hands of a
single Power. If Italy were given possession of the eastern shore there need be no
feeling of rivalry between the occupiers of the opposite shores, as there would be if Great
Britain were established there.
[From
“ Daily B,eview ”
(W.O.) of the 2 nd September, 1916. J
APPENDIX (C).
The British Subaltern as Judge.
(From Edmund Candler.)
Nasiriyeh.
Nasiriyeh when we first occupied it during the flood season last year was more
than a physical island ; it was an island in an abstract sense, a small cosmos isolated in
chaos, but a cosmos that was always extending its bounds. Outside the walls of the
town the anarchy that had ruled for generations was rife, inside was peace and content.
A student of British methods could not do better than pass a day in a town like
Nasiriyeh a year after occupation, and spend a morning in the Court of the Military
Governor. In the seat of authority you will probably find a very young* officer—
one of the type who has been in the habit of spending his leave before the war in
Persia, Arabia, or the Himalayas, shooting strange beasts, picking up strange dialects,
and studying the ways of stranger people. Here you have Empire in the egg ; and such
young men—subalterns, generally “ acting captains,” or captains generally “ acting
majors”—are indispensable during the incubation of any new Imperial brood. Decision
is a habit with them, they are used to hard cases ; they have acquired an insight into
obscure motives. Their judgments are quick and summary, free of pedantry, and
seldom hampered by doubts and hesitations. And the proof of this system is its
popularity.
In the mornings the approach to the Military Governor’s Court is crowded, you will
meet in the passage haughty Arabs, meek Sabaeans, furtive looking Jews, mysterious
women wrapped from head to foot in black weeds. Here are some of the problems they
submit to the decision ot youth.
Enter Shaft az Hussein; he claims a horse from Shaukat now in jail. Decree:
“Two thieves fallen out. Court refuses to act.”
Enter Sabhi ( Sabsean , mukhtar and priest. Complaint that the Sabsean girls are
all marrying Mohammedans, and the race is in danger of dying out. Petition: That
the Governor may summon all the Sabman ladies of Nasiriyeh and address them on
this matter ; doubtless they will be persuaded to change their ways. Or, if they
persist in error, that a law may be passed prohibiting such undesirable alliances.
Decree : Sabhi, mukhtar and priest, informed that the Sabseans must settle their own
affairs.
Enter a Mashhufchi. Petition : Licence to export five dead bodies (for internment
at the Holy Shrine) to Nejef. Decree : “ Granted.”
Enter (a) Fatima, veiled and shiouded in the prevalent black; (b) Fatima’s
husband. Complaint : Fatima’s husband has confiscated her house and jewellery and
cow, beaten her, and turned her out of doors. She unfolds a pitiful tale. But the
voice proceeding from the black bundle is the voice of a shrew. Altercation ensues.
The husband is a browbeaten creature. There are faults on both sides—chiefly the
woman’s, whose lies are the more gross and palpable. The end of it all is that she
shrieks and gesticulates and so generally gives herself and her shrewish temper away
that she is given a week’s imprisonment for contempt of Court.
A Jewish woman complains that her husband has deserted her and her child.'
Decree : Husband to live with wife or pay her 8 annas a day ; woman to report again
in eight days.
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