File 705/1916 Pt 2 'Arab revolt: Arab reports; Sir M Sykes' reports' [‎109v] (216/450)

him that the head of the French mission in Mecca had told him that he had received a
telegram to the effect that a French Moslem force had sailed for Port Said from Algiers
and that it consisted of eight mountain guns and sixteen machine guns, with some
infantry and cavalry. The French mission asked where the Sherif would like this force
landed, and the Sherif replied that, as it had started, it had better disembaik at Sue^
and await orders. Colonel Wilson, being asked by Abdullah, said that this was the
only thing to do.; the alternative, he pointed out to Sir H. McMahon, was a blank
refusal of assistance, and this he did not feel justified in suggesting, although the Sherif
was not anxious to have French troops in Hejaz except in case of absolute necessity
Colonel Wilson adds that he had not asked Colonel Bremond for confirmation of this
news.
MASKAT.
[Nil.]
KOWEYT AND THE TBUCIAL COAST.
[Nil.]
BAHREIN.
' [Nil.]
PART II.
POLITICAL NOTES FROM THE FIELDS OF OPERATIONS.
Aden.
tv -Jr 11 -d^ 6 ^' es ^ eri "t s weekly letter of the 21st September, he states that a
Dr MacRae, who had that day returned from Shukra and Makalla reported that “the
Sultan s advisers at Makalla suggested to him the propriety of stopping Kathiri
supplies, and money that comes in from Java, Singapore] &c., so as to bring this Sultan
\i.e., the Kathiri Sultan, a pro-Turk] to reason.”
The Caucasus.
[Nil]
PART III.
MISCELLANEOUS.
Rechid Bey on the Situation in Turkey.
An agent connected witn the French service reports that he had an interview
with Rechid Bey, ex-Minister for the Interior in the Kiamil Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Cabinet, in the
course of which he made statements regarding the present situation in Turkey which
may be summarised as follows : —
Not only politically in order to avoid the complete dismemberment which
threatens to be the punishment reserved for her persistence in the fatal path she has
chosen, but also from an economic and humanitarian point of view it is to Turkeys
interest to withdraw from the present war. By concluding a separate peace with the
Entente^ Powers she could save herself from the frightful misery and ruin into which
she is sinking deeper and deeper at the great risk of never being able to extricate
herself, and. could shorten the war by at least several months. Assuming that Turkey
has a million men under arms on the various fronts, her withdrawal would free a