Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎124v] (248/290)

8
taken very seriously. Abdulla, on the other hand, ^quite
different personality. He had recently een g ^
connection with the trouble between King Hussein and ibn hand.
He would like to see him come on to Lon on. ^ , i i ^
Meanwhile, in Mesopotamia the Wilsonian theory had been
abandoned, even by Colonel Wilson h^mseK. Jhe atesW eve ,op
ment was the formation of a Committee in D. gnu ,
the presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of Sir Edgar Bonhum-Carter winch was to
submit proposals to His Majesty’s Government fot the ‘utoe
constitution of Mesopotamia. Ihe India ce This
issuing an announcement to the people in Mesopotamia. Lhi.
announcement, in the form submitted to him, was not mg moie
another declaration. We were repeatedly issuing these declarations
in each of which we declared that we adhered to what had been said
before. If we did really adhere to it, there did not appeal to be
any object in repeatedly saying so. He fully. agreed that an
announcement of some kind should be made , but it s iou i come a.
the logical conclusion to the steps that we had hitherto taken m
Mesopotamia rather than as a reaffirmation of pledges already given.
TTr, wrvnlrl nrfifer it to be based somewhat on the following lines
The time had now arrived when the Peace Conference was
faced with the necessity for deciding the future of the Ara )
countries. These countries were to be severed from iurkey m
accordance with the policy consistently followed by the Allies all
through the war. One of these countries was Mesopotamia, in
Mesopotamia we had been gradually preparing for the establishment
of" a native Government by the institution of provincial, divisional
and municipal councils. The time had come for Mesopotamia to
reap the fruits of this preparation, and we should be glad if these
bodies, in conjunction with any other local representatives of
Mesopotamian opinion, would now advise us and the Peace
Conference as to the form which their constitution should take.
He would far sooner do this than allow Colonel Wilson to draw up
a constitution. It might be said that there was a danger that
the bodies which we had brought into existence would merely
repeat what had been said by the individuals who were consulted
at the beginning of last vear, or would say that they were reluctant
to express an opinion. He did not think that theie was much fear
of this, so long as their views were expressed spontaneously. He did,
however, anticipate that Colonel Wilson’s Committee would only pro
duce the same results as the enquiry carried out by him a year ago.
Mr. Montagu said that Colonel Wilson recommended that the
people should not be consulted. He did not agree with this himself.
What he wished us to say was that our intention was to set up a
national Government in an Arab 8tate, thus silencing the suspicions
that we were mere]}’ seeking our own advantage in Mesopotamia.
He wished the proposed announcement to carry out the promises
made by Lord Hardinge when he landed at Basrah. He concuned
generally in the lines of the Chairman’s suggestion.
The Chairman read out a rough draft on the line of his
suggestion.
Mr. Montagu criticised the expression, “ a future Arab State.
Why should we not set up an Arab State at once ?
The Chairman remarked that this depended on what was to be
said about Abdulla. An Arab State meant one country under one
ruler. He personally anticipated different requests from different
parts of the country. He saw no possibility of a united Arab State
unless Abdulla were accepted as its ruler.
Mr. Garhett, replying to a question by the Chairman, said that
he had always thought that an Arab Government could be formed
without necessarily proceeding to the constitution of an Arab State