Papers of the Interdepartmental Conference on Middle Eastern Affairs [‎136r] (271/290)

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from that accepted by the Conference. There were three problems
which had to be solved :—
1. Administering the country during the period which would
elapse before the coming into force of the Organic Law.
2. Discovering the wishes of the inhabitants as to the form that
the Organic Law should take.
3. Satisfying them of our sincerity.
He would like an explanation from 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. repre
sentatives whether the constitution proposed in 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. letter
of the 20th May fulfilled their three requirements or not. It must
be remembered that by establishing a constitution in advance of the
Organic Law we might be calling into being an old man of the
sea, whom we should have great difficulty in shaking from our
shoulders.
Mr. Montagu observed that most of what the Chairman said
commanded his support, but the objections raised by him appeared to
apply more to Sir Edgar Bonham-Carter’s original scheme than to
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. modifications of it. Something had to be done,
and, in the absence of an alternative proposal, he thought that 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. scheme should be accepted. He was strongly opposed
to the British majority contemplated in Sir Edgar Bonham-Carter’s
scheme. Any transfer of departments from British to Arab officials in
the future would involve a lessening of this majority and an alteration
in the balance of power. The most difficult fence to jump would be
that of transition from a British to an Arab majority. It was true that
a British majority produced more efficient results, but there was the
danger that their very efficiency would stereotype the form of
government to an extent which would render a conversion to an
Arab majority impossible. Nothing would show our sincerity better
than the fact that from the beginning we started with an Arab
majority in the Council of State.
He shared the Chairman’s objections to stereotyping certain
portfolios as Arab and others as British. He wished he could think
of some way out of this difficulty. Mr. Shuckburgh and Mr. Garbetl
had little doubt which two portfolios should be in British hands, but
were not inclined to recommend that they should be named. He
wished to avoid what was known in the terminology of the India
Office as “ transferred and reserved subjects.” As to the Arab
President of the Council of State, he said he would not be a
sovereign ruler. He did not see why the Arab President should not
develop into an Amir, if he had sufficient authority and power to
commend himself to the people and to the Legislative Assembly. If
he had not, he could disappear, as recommended by Miss Bell. The
difficulty in Mesopotamia was that there was no suitable candidate
available for the Amirate. If the first President of the Council of
State turned out after two years to be such a candidate, it might be
an advantage rather than otherwise.
The Chairman asked what was the real object in view. Clearly
to draw up the Organic Law. Who was going to do this ? The
proposed Legislative Assembly would not be in a position to introduce
any legislation which was not purely temporary. Was it proposed
that they should justify their existence by drawing up the Organic
Law ? If so, what would the Council of State do ? It was true
that we had provided for a period -of two years in the mandate, but
he hoped that it would not take so long as two years to work out the
Organic Law, and he did not himself see what useful purpose these
two bodies would fulfil during the comparatively short period before
the real constitution of Mesopotamia w r as decided upon. As to the
six departments, he was not sure that portfolios were necessary at
all. He fully appreciated Mr. Montagu’s arguments as to the merits of