Sunday Nov 14 Dearest Father. Sunday evening is usually my letter writing time but today it's rather curtailed for the following reason: Mr Philby, Capt Cheesman and I started out at 10 am by motor on a delicious cold and sunny morning to Aqar Quf. There or thereabouts we put up lots of sand grouse and had a great shoot. Then we went on a long way further among encampments of the Bani Tamim till we came to a little shrine on some mounds where we sat down and lunched. The Bani Tamim sat round us and protested that it was most unsuitable that we should come out to their desert and bring our own lunch with us. After lunch we motored on, stopping to pursue the covies of sandgrouse which were circling round, till finally we came to a canal from the Euphrates and the tents of the Zoba' who until a month or so ago were in full reBellion - it was their shaikh who killed Col. Leachman. Here we burst a tyre and while it was being mended the two men shot plovers and I talked to the Zoba' and watched them making charcoal out of tamarisk roots which they burn in holes in the ground. It was perfectly delicious out there in the open desert, with the tents and the flocks and the sunshine and the friendly people, and it was late when we turned home. Soon after passing Aqar Quf on the way back we burst another tube and had nothing to replace it with, so we crept into Kadhimain [(Al Khazimiyah] in the sunset - the gold domes and minarets catching the afterglow till they looked like mounds and torches of light. We went to the police station and telephoned for a motor but it was getting on for 8 p.m. before it arrived. We spent the time talking to the police inspector (an Arab) and to the D.A.P.O. (an Afghan) and were not unamused. Anyhow we feel we've had our money's worth in the way of an outing! It's so good to spend a whole day in the open air. Things are getting on. The Cabinet have accepted practically without alteration, Sir Percy's scheme for the working of ministers and their advisers. It was admirably drafted by Mr Philby and I think it is a real feather in his cap. Tomorrow the Ministry of the Interior (Saiyid Talib and Mr Philby) gets into its new quarters in the Sarai, the old Turkish offices. They were turned last year into billets for officers and their wives and it's a real dispensation that the W.O. ordered all the wives home otherwise we should have had great difficulty in recovering them. As it is we are squeezing them out of the military bit by bit. There was no other possible place to put the Arab Govt and people made a great point of having the old offices to which they are accustomed. To get the ministries under weigh there is the only way of demonstrating that the Arab Govt is a real thing. The Shi'ahs remain hostile, their chief grievance being that there's not a Shi'ah with a portfolio. I think there's going to be a shuffle in the Cabinet so as to admit one of them. There is also a pretty numerous pro-Turkish party consisting mainly of ex-Turkish officials, civil and military. They don't want an Arab Govt and declare that they won't come in to it, because the Turks must certainly and inevitably return. I believe this is one of the chief difficulties which the Arab Govt will have to face, and it will disappear very slowly. Ja'far Pasha complains that he finds nothing but pro-Turks and that they are exceeding jealous of and hostile to the Arabs who have served under Faisal. The chaos in Turkey is the root of the difficulty and I see no prospect of real stability here till some solution is found there, probably a union between Turkish nationalists of moderate views and the more moderate among the officials in Constantinople [Istanbul]. Meanwhile Mustafa Kamal is out against everyone and the Anatolian Turks have come to definite terms with the Bolshevists. It's our fault. Mustafa Kamal, like other people, has two parents: the one is Greece and the other Smyrna [Izmir]. It was the Greek occupation of Smyrna which made the fortune of Turkish nationalism. The truth is that Asia, from the Mediterranean to the Indian frontier, is now such a devil's cauldron that it's impossible to feel convinced that we shall save Mesopotamia from the general confusion. More and more I feel the deep responsibility of A.T. [Wilson]. If he had had a wider political vision our local difficulties might have been enormously lessened. It is of vital importance to get back the Mesopotamians from Syria who have the real spirit of Arab nationalism in them. It's a delicate matter because so many of them have been involved in the struggle against the British military Govt on the Euphrates. Our policy should be, I think, to regard that as a closed chapter and let all come back who will be of value to native institutions here. Ja'far's sister in law, the wife of his brother, Tahsin Beg, arrived last week with a letter from Tahsin Beg to me asking if he might safely return. We have sent up a message to 'Anah telling him to come, and he will be followed by many more. She is a charming little lady, Mme Tahsin Beg. I went to tea with her and heard her adventures. From Dair [Dayr az Zawr] to Hit [(Is)], which is at present our last post, the country is completely lawless, with the tribes out for loot irrespective of any political principle, and her party was fired at all the way down. The Cabinet has asked for the return of all the people banished by AT for plotting reBellion against us. Some of them are fools and knaves who will be thorns in the side of any govt, but I fancy they will all have to return. Fortunately Yusuf Suwaidi and the other leading agitators have fled, it is said to the Hijaz. The Naqib himself takes a very decided line against letting them come back so it's lucky they've settled the point by disappearing. After all they have cost the country millions of money and thousands of lives, and what they did against us they are very likely to do against our successors. But you see from all this how difficult the beginnings are. Sir Percy preserves a calm and equitable judgement which is quite admirable and the most encouraging part of the whole business. Meantime, without waiting for further developments, I'm beginning to shape my branch of the Secretariat, on the principle that the main thing is to get going. This week I shall bring out my first fortnightly Intelligence Report which is to be our official (and very confidential) contribution to the news of the world. I've been longing to get at this for months past. I've got, so far, as part of my oriental branch a first rate little Persian, Mirza Muhammad Khan Bahadur, who is as clever as a bagful of monkeys and a delightful creature into the bargain. I've set him on to summarize the native press. Next I want a really good card index - I've my eye on the man I should like to put in charge of it. A Eurasian called Fernandez who has up to now been keeper of the records. If I can get him I've no fears as to the way our information will be indexed. Capt. Clayton, whom I particularly want as a collaborator - he is quite excellent at intelligence work - has been reft from me, I hope only temporarily, to serve with Ja'far Pasha till a permanent adviser has been appointed, so that I'm left for the moment single handed. It's too big a job for one person to do properly and I trust I shall get him back. Interviews take up such an immense amount of time. It's great fun, I need not tell you, to be creating a new office with Sir Percy's unfailing help and approval. This last week it has made a good step forward out of chaos. Nov. 15. [15 November 1920] I've had a terrifically busy day. The 2 Mosul [Mawsil, Al] members of the Council were in and out all day. They are not at all pleased with the jobs assigned to them, a state of mind which calls for a great deal of talk, apparently. It's time for Sir Percy to get out his magic wand which usually succeeds in stilling tempests - or storms in teacups which are perhaps yet more obstinate. The bright spot was a short visit from Sasun Effendi from whom one always hears good sense. Goodbye dearest family - I've several letters to write this evening. Your very affectionate daughter Gertrude Your darling letter of Oct 12 has just arrived. It finds me very cheerful thank you. At any rate, whatever the political storms, I now feel as if my own boat were in quiet waters. Thank you for Blanche's letter. [Note on back of envelope] The Naqib is delighted with your cable.