Papers of the War Cabinet's Eastern Committee [‎162r] (323/544)

t E.C. 2133. i E C. 2207.
* E.C. 2030.
of Irak.” He went further, and said that, if a ligureheau nad to be set up, he
would recommend an old gentleman named the Nakib of Baghdad, about whom I will
say more presently. He concluded by advising against the bherif or his family in
any form, lie was even averse from our consulting him on the subject, finally,
although he accepted and agreed with the Government policy of British annexation
of Basra, or something like it, and of a British protectorate in Baghdad, at the same
time he expressed the opinion, to w r hich attention has been called by the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ,
that a uniform administration of the two vilayets was both possible and desirable.
A month after Sir Percy Cox had been here, given his views to us, had those
views accepted by the Government, and been sent back from this country with
instructions to carry them out, we had a memorandum from Miss Gertrude Bell, to
which 1 allude because she expressed in it the strongest opinions against the selection,
if we required a native figurehead, of the Nakib of Baghdad for the post. She
pointed out that he was an old man, and a man of no personality, that he had no
suitable heirs, his eldest son was half-witted, he himself was a Sunni, whereas the
bulk of the people in that part of the country are Shiahs, and she concluded by saying
that, on the whole, she would recommend the nominal overlordship of the Sherif, not,
indeed, with any son residing or exercising functions in Baghdad, but the father
wielding a sort of spiritual superiority, and having religious matters referred to hirm
She thought this might not be unacceptabla because, although the Sherif of Mecca is
a Sunni, he is a Sunni of very liberal views, and as such would be acceptable even to
the Shiah population of Baghdad and to the tribal chiefs, several of whom had
already acknowledged his authority.
The next stage w r as a telegram from Captain Wilson, acting for Sir Percy Cox
in Baghdad, dated the 15th September, 1918 (we are now approaching the present
date), in which he pointed out what I think we have all realised for long, that it is
impossible to have two administrations in the two vilayets. Indeed, he had already
decided to amalgamate the two under a single officer, Colonel Howell, at Baghdad.
A few days later, on the 27th September, 1918, Captain Wilson put forward a pro
posal for a Commission to go out from this country in the forthcoming winter, to
discuss on the spot and advise His Majesty’s Government upon such questions as
the future garrison of Mesopotamia, the construction of railways, medical organisa
tion, civil organisation, currency, banking, finance, commercial policy, navigation,
irrigation, agriculture, and so on. The Government of India strongly objected. The
India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. , in a memorandum* dated the 21st October, 1918, agreed entirely that
the idea of two separate administrations was impossible, and advocated the despatch
of a very important commission which was to deal with all these grave matters. The
case came before this Committee. Some of us—General Smuts and myself—thought
the moment was inopportune for sending such a Commission. We thought that our
case, instead of being helped, might be hampered at the Peace Conference if we were
suspected by our friends or rivals there of having stolen a march on them by creating
a svstem of government in advance. We strongly recommended that, for the time
being, the idea of a Commission should not be proceeded with.
The next paper that comes under our notice is a very important paper! by General
Macdonogh, giving his views about the future of these countries, and, in addition,
of Syria and Palestine. I need not go through the whole of his proposals. I will
only allude to those which bear on the subject we are discussing this afternoon. He
proposed that, apart from what should be done with Palestine, with Haifa, Lebanon,
and so on, the Arabs under Faisal should have all the remainder of the Arab-speaking
parts of Syria, including the coast line from Tripoli to Arsus, with a British Minister
at Damascus. The Armenians might be given the Cilician Plain with the coast line
from Ayas to Mersina. General Macdonogh further proposed a separate Arab
State, under British influence, to be constituted in the districts of Jezireh. As
regards Irak, from north of Mosul to the Gulf, we should aim at a separate State
there, with a capital at Baghdad, under Abdullah, one of the sons of the Sherif, with
a direct British administration under the British Resident at Baghdad. He sug
gested that we should leave Hussein with the title of ruler of the Hejaz, and allow
him to be praved for in the mosques.
At this stage, on the 4th November, 1918, Colonel Lawrence came before us. He
is a man with a remarkable career, and of great ability, and he represented to us
what we may call the extreme Arab point of view, the kind of thing that Faisal
would have said if he had been at our table that afternoon. We asked him to draw
up a paper! containing the views he submitted to the Committee. We also sent a
telegram to Captain Wilson, giving him a sketch of the proposals put forward by