'Despatch from Civil Commissioner, Mesopotamia, to Secretary of State for India' [‎95r] (14/22)

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bur" by the anxieties of his present pSon whiA h' wTbelLTto^n Xn
Faisa returns. I should judge him to have a more solid intellSenoe than
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siderine" 11 'A^I snw P|' e cri i; e to 'Abdullah, would be a candidate well worth con-
Mnro Ti\ V fh A 1 • m in - Damascus he was good material for the psychologist
fw\ i ian i appearance and possibly in mind—it was not for nothinp-
that he was born of a Turkish mother—he has been caught up by Faisal's ardent
spint and shares his patriotic ideals; surrounded by staff officers mostly Baghdadis
whose common link of experience with this Arab Prince is a Turkish training - with
a sharply contracting background of tall negro eunuchs from the Hiiaz palaces the
^ n0 J ^ b J ria ' except for his own family; conscious that the next'few
e ks may decide the fate of a nation, an infinitesimal nation, it is true, but beinp-
his own, it fills the prospect; and young enough to be half afraid, yet glad, to inter
rupt officml business with a laugh, and half ashamed to recognise how much relieved
ne would be to exchange his very grave cares and his very simple military state for
graduate^ 011 am usements and the unparaded comfort of the Oxford under-
Yasin Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. comes next, for he is second only to Faisal in significance. His
Turkish training has stamped him Turkish, the military Teutonized Turk, not the
efiendi. He speaks moderately good English, but prefers to talk in Arabic He is
trenchant and dogmatic in giving expression to his opinions. He met me at the
point of the sword, but when he found that I wished to play audience, not adversary
he became rather more expansive and ended by being almost cordial. It was not,'
however, a genuine cordiality, nor would it be safe to say what aspect or mood of his
is genuine. Wary, aggressive, and alert, he was the most forcible personality I
encountered. He is a self-made man, but he has by no means completed a task which
is also his first preoccupation. There is no room for his ambitions in any Arab pro
vince unless, as would probably meet his views, it were to remain an integral part of
the Ottoman Empire. If, or when, the Syrian State founders, Yasin will betake
himself elsewhere, carrying his bat. But wherever he goes it will not be to Meso
potamia under a British mandate, nor, with the best will in the world, could we make
use of him.
Next to Yasin comes Ja'far Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. al 'Askari. He is Governor of Aleppo, but he
happened to be at Damascus while I was there. A Baghdadi, he has about the same
social status as Yasin; his father was Mukhtar of one of the quarters of the town.
He was educated partly in Germany and speaks seven languages fluently—Arabic,
Turkish, Persian, Kurdish, German, French, and English. He was taken prisoner
in the Western Desert of Eoypt, and has fought with the Sharif's Army from a very
early stage of the rising. He has run Aleppo since the beginning of March and done
it well, though the moving spirit of his administration is said to be Naji Beg Suwaidi.
He is a man very little over 30, tall and fat, genial, jovial, excellent company, and as
bitterly anti-French as Yasin, to whom in other respects he bears no resemblance.
He has the singular merit of honesty. I cannot call to mind any man of his calibre
in Mesopotamia, and it is my belief that we ought to be able to find a place for him;
but, like all 'Iraqis who might come to us from Syria, he would have to be handled
with great tact, for in Aleppo he has had complete independence. As Governor of
a big Mesopotamian district, if such posts were subsequently to be created, he should
do well. My impression is that he would be amenable to control if it were exercised
without too much show of authority.
I did not see Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Sa'id, who, according to report, is on the same level as
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