Baghdad Aug 2 Dearest Father. This week has brought a delightful letter from Mother - June 23 - and nothing else for the posts are delayed by having to come up the Tigris. I'm most interested to hear that she was preparing to see the Goschens and I think she will like them. My world hasn't grown any saner since I last wrote. We are anxiously watching the slow return of the Rumaithah [Rumaythah, Ar] column to Hillah [Hillah, Al]. It ought to get there tomorrow and when it does we shall breathe more freely. For there will be troops available to recapture the Barrage and protect Hillah from the attack of the tribes. They attacked the left bank part of the town yesterday, from the north and south but were beaten off with heavy loss. The Manchester episode, of which I told you last week, created a very unfortunate impression, as you may imagine. Of the 400 men who went out 199 are missing. They are most of them, in all probability, safely in the hands of the tribes who are not at all vindictive. The gun was disabled before it was abandoned. There is a force shut up in Kufah [Kufah, Al] which can't be relieved till the Rumaithah column gets back, but they are in no danger. In Persia we have been obliged to retire from the crest of the Elburz onto Kasvin [Qazvin] and Mr Norman is begging for two brigades which cannot be sent to him. There is however a fresh brigade arriving from India and I think and hope more will follow, for native opinion is no doubt right when it says that the tribes must see a salient military success before they will come in. Baghdad, with the exception of a small extremist group, is now very much terrified - at the results of its own handiwork, and is begging us to take immediate steps for its protection. The town is suffering a great deal of practical inconvenience for it is dependent for some of its foodstuffs on the Hillah area. My view of the matter is in a nutshell this: whatever our future policy is to be we cannot now leave the country in the state of chaos which we have created; no one can master it if we can't. If we decided to withdraw at once we should have to send at least two divisions from India to extricate the troops and personnel we have here. Those 2 divisions or less might just as well be employed in bringing the country back to order. When that is done we can begin talking. The collapse of the Arab Govt in Syria alters the whole aspect of affairs. We don't know the whole story yet: as far as I can see the French have committed a wickedness for which in the end they will have to pay dear. I've no doubt that in the end we too shall suffer from the hatred and mistrust of Europeans to which they have given fresh vigour, but in the immediate moment it is possible that we shall profit and we ought to use our immediate advantage to show that no matter what happens in Syria our intentions with regard to setting up native institutions here are unchanged and unchangeable. In doing so I would give the Arabs a very long rope, as I've often said before, in the assurance that it is only if they want our help that we can help them, in the certainty that if they are assured of the honesty of our intentions they will want our help. I've written a long letter this week to Mr Asquith more or less in this sense. I gave it to AT [Wilson] to read before I sent it. Beyond the fact that he doesn't believe that we can carry out any kind of mandate and I do, he has no objection to it. Meantime this fantastic existence goes on. Saiyid Talib is doing his best - I send an account of a conversation he had with Yusuf Suwaidi for your amusement, - but he doesn't show any constructive ability and he admits that the task of gathering together a moderate party is harder than he expected. The attempts about which I think I told you last week to form a conciliatory commission have fallen through. No one can bring himself up to the scratch. Capt. Clayton, Major Bullard and I, Major Bowman and others went to a patriotic play which was got up by ardent young nationalists. Every one was there, Saiyid Talib presiding. The scene was laid in the days of Chosroes, it was very long and incredibly dull, besides being very difficult to understand. But the audience enjoyed it because whenever the word independence occurred - which it did often - they clapped to the echo. I met on the most friendly terms everyone who had been doing his damndest [sic] against us and we all shook hands in the greatest amity. While one of those who sit studiously on the fence whispered to me in anxiety "When in God's name are you going to release us from the terror of the tribes?" I don't wonder they're afraid. Baghdad is surrounded by a ring of block houses to protect it from tribal raids, and there's no denying that the Tigris line might be cut at any moment. (NB I need not tell you that I'm not afraid at all.) Then I and others went to a big tea party at the library in honour of Père Anastase who has been given a decoration by the French Academy. A lot of Baghdad notables were there, nationalists, but none of the extremists. The height of cordiality reigned. It's touch and go - I'm quite unable to predict what will happen. Another episode like that of the Manchesters would bring the Tigris tribes out immediately Bellow Baghdad. The Bolshevist advance in Persia will be longer in taking effect but it may be a serious factor. We are living from hand to mouth - I know it - and the situation is serious and might become very grave with any little swing in the scale. Meantime I shall not go to India. I spent 2 hours yesterday afternoon discussing how to set up autonomous institutions in S. Kurdistan with the gentleman who wishes to set them up - Hamdi Beg Baban - and put in a long memo to AT on the subject this morning. He, Hamdi Beg, has all my good wishes, but I doubt if he's the man to tackle the task. If he can it would suit us well. A.T. agreed. As I tell you, it's all fantastic. I dined last night with Sir Aylmer. He, poor man, is not the person to tackle any task, I feel more and more convinced of that. And tonight Gen. Hambro has been in to ask if I can pull any strings to find out how the Manchester prisoners are getting on. I'm going to try tomorrow. He sent you many messages. I've paid Rs 113 odd for our motor hire - railway fares have not come in. The poor Mesopotamian Railways! I wonder when they will be reconstituted. Practically the whole line from Samawah [Samawah, As] to Hillah will have to be rebuilt. It's heartbreaking isn't it. The waste it all means and the inevitable bitterness it must engender, the difficulty in putting anything straight after this terrific upheaval - well, it's no good thinking of it. At least it's more profitable to think of how to find immediate palliatives. Goodbye dearest family. Your very affectionate daughter Gertrude