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File 4722/1918 Pt 1 'Mesopotamia: administration of policy and situation' [68v] (145/687)
The record is made up of 1 volume (326 folios). It was created in 23 Oct 1918-2 Nov 1919. It was written in English, French and Arabic. The original is part of the British Library: 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. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
18
quirements of selecting a ruler; not in fact until such time as we shall have
drunk the sacred nectar of education, learnt much from constant experience,
felt within our persons the early fostering-s of civilisation and citizenship and
have risen from muddy ditches of ignorance, and ascended from the oblivion
of blindness to the pulpit of knowledge and perfection. When we have at
tained to maturity and right intelligence for appraisement of the correct
methods of managing affairs, then only can we put forth our activities and
exertions for the selection of an Amir from among those, possessed of
capability, keenness, efficiency, wisdom, chastity, decency, straightforward
ness, uprightness, truth and honesty, capable to perform the requisite matters,
fit to take the reins of our welfare in his hands, setting our wrongs to rights
and checking our evils; who will keep upright the standard of justice and
temperance for the benefit of our physical and spiritual, religious and temporal
interests.
Therefore, we this day (and we request all our brother Arabs to join
their voices with ours) do not wish, and would not select, one either from
among us, nor from abroad, be it from Egypt, Syria or the Hijaz, but we would
request the appointment of one of the officers of the Great British Govern
ment as Governor with thorough and profound experience in the laws of
Government of peoples, and of civilisation and policies of nations and religion,
and this is the final request which we have in view in presenting this
Madhbatah to the Government.
\Jlere follow the signatures of 159 Shaikhs, Landowners and others.]
r
8 (-5). The Great British Government ordered us to elect someone to
become a King over us and to express our views (as to the future of the Gov
ernment of ‘Iraq), according to our own wishes.
reply, we say that trom our own point of view, we have experienced
justice on the part of the British Government and perfect working of our
affairs and rest of mind and body, and improvement in our roads and abundance
of cultivation—things which we have not seen in the late regime, and,
fowW 6 ’ T d au not Want t0 elect 1 • n :King ■ over us ’ but a man we H qualified
tor that post. The personage qualified for it is His Honour Sir P. Z Cox
And as for the boundaries of ‘Iraq, we desire that ‘Iraq should'be a
compact country, from the north of Mosul vilayet to the (Persian) Gulf.
Hated 25th Babi Awwal 1337 (December 30th, 1918).
[Signed by the tribal Shaikhs of Karbala 11 signatures.]
About this item
- Content
The volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, telegrams and minutes regarding the administration of, and situation in, Mesopotamia [Iraq] following the Asia Minor Agreement of 1916, more commonly known as the Sykes-Picot Agreement, between the French and British governments, and the Anglo-French Declaration of November 1918. The volume also concerns the subject of self-determination in Persia [Iran].
The papers notably cover:
- Discussion of advance interpretations of the 1916 Agreement
- The Anglo-French Declaration of November 1918, which publicised their intentions and policy in the former Ottoman territories of Syria and Iraq
- Presentation of the 1918 Declaration to the President of the United States of America by the French Ambassador to the US, Jean Adrien Antoine Jules Jusserand
- Disagreement between the British and French visions of the future administration of Mesopotamia
- The situation in southern Kurdistan
- The 1919 Paris Peace Conference
- Apprehensions of the Baghdad Jewish community about the tenor of the Anglo-French Declaration, including a petition to the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, requesting to be made subjects of the British Crown
- Reaction to the Declaration from the across the Arab world
- Disagreement among the British over the form that Britain’s control in Mesopotamia should take
- The views of the principal sheikhs [shaikhs] of Mesopotamia on the 1918 Agreement
- Discussion among British officials of the benefits of control over Mesopotamia and the view of the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad, Arnold Talbot Wilson, on the situation in Mesopotamia
- Discussion of the potential candidates for the head of the new state of Iraq
- Reports on consultations with political and religious leaders and inhabitants from across Iraq on the future Government of Iraq
- The views of Sir Percy Cox and Arnold Wilson on the situation in Mesopotamia
- The question of the future political status of Mesopotamia, including the views of British officers serving in Syria and the Hejaz
- Discussion of the question of Iraqi self-determination.
Notable documents in this volume include:
- Text by Sir Percy Cox regarding ‘The Future of Mesopotamia’ (ff 308-310 and ff 270-272)
- Extracts from The Times , 26 November 1819, including a series of articles under the title ‘The Arab Campaign’ (ff 230-232)
- The statutes for the independence of Iraq (ff 127-130)
- A memorandum by Major W H Young regarding the future of Mesopotamia (ff 99-112)
- Copies of ‘Self-determination in Iraq’ in Arabic (ff 75-97) and English (ff 57-73).
The principal correspondents are: 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. , Political Department; the Governor-General of India; the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Military Governor and Political Officer, Baghdad; Government of India, Military Department, the French Ambassador to the United States; and the British Embassy, Paris.
The volume includes a divider, which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (326 folios)
- Arrangement
The contents of the volume are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
The subject 4722 (Mesopotamia) consists of ten volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/755-764. The volumes are divided into twelve parts, with parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 comprising one volume each. Part 10 is missing. Part 7, entitled ‘Mesopotamia: Sir A. Wilson’s invitation to Syrian Baghdadis’, was transferred to File 5268/20 Parts 1 and 2 (see IOR/L/PS/10/913).
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1 and terminates at the last folio with 334; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Multiple intermittent additional mixed foliation/pagination sequences are also present. The foliation sequence does not include the front and back covers, nor does it include the leading and ending flyleaves. The sequence contains two anomalies: f 181a and f 181b.
- Written in
- English, French and Arabic in Latin and Arabic script View the complete information for this record
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File 4722/1918 Pt 1 'Mesopotamia: administration of policy and situation' [68v] (145/687), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/755, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100188328444.0x0000c0> [accessed 17 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/755
- Title
- File 4722/1918 Pt 1 'Mesopotamia: administration of policy and situation'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, i-r:i-v, 1r:127v, 128ar, 128r:175v, 176ar, 176r:181v, 181ar:181av, 181cr, 181br:181bv, 182r:182v, 186r:229v, 232v:325v, 327r:334v, ii-r:ii-v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence