Baghdad Sep 12 Dearest Father. There are rumours of outbreaks in Syria - I don't know whether they are true because we get practically no official information. It sounds incredible, but we have no official news about the Egyptian settlement - nothing but what we read in Reuter. And not a word from Jerusalem [(El Quds esh Sherif, Yerushalayim)] since the arrival there of Sir H.S. [Herbert Samuel] though I see in the (Arabic) Egyptian papers that the situation there is far from reassuring. These Egyptian papers, a month old when they reach us, are my chief source of information about the rest of the Arab world, unless an 'Aqail caravan comes across. The papers aren't very illuminating because the French enforce the strictest possible censorship at Beyrut [Beyrouth (Beirut)], and we haven't had any caravans for nearly a month. But I'm expecting one from Aleppo [Halab] this week. But isn't it amazing that we're left officially quite in the dark! Sooner or later Syria is bound to go up like a volcano. It would be easier for us if the explosion were to be deferred for 3 or 4 months till we've got some sort of settlement here. After that it may come when it likes. I should not be at all surprised if it takes the form of a request to be united in some way with independent Egypt. In any case I fancy you'll very shortly have that request from Palestine and I shall welcome it. It's the only way out, as far as I can see, of the impossible and ridiculous Zionist programme. Similarly with the rest of Syria. An Egyptian rapprochement might be a reasonable way of ejecting the French, which is an essential preliminary to any permanent settlement. And the same treatment might be applied to Mesopotamia. I mean, it might be placed nominally, like Syria, under the Sultan of Egypt, both provinces being given a very wide autonomy. We should certainly remain here as advisers though not as mandatory power - in fact much the same position as in Egypt, if I rightly understand it, except that a good deal more advice would be needed here, for we have still got all the work to do which in Egypt has been done. I should think Syria would also ask us for advisers. You would thus get a loose Arab federation under our guidance and in broad outlines under a single law - a unified coinage, judicial system, educational system, customs administration and so forth. You would have Khedives or Amirs or whatever you like to call them in Syria and Mesopotamia, and I should be well satisfied with the two sons of the Sharif, Faisal and 'Abdullah, if they would take it. It seems to me to be a possible solution - I'm blest if I can see any other. I should very much like to know what Domnul thinks of it. It would have to come from the people themselves, but if they proposed it, I should raise no objection. I begin to see daylight with regard to the pacification here. I think it's daylight, and AT [Wilson], to whom I have propounded the scheme, approves of it. Reprisals on our part seem to me to be pointless. Where British officers have been murdered I would hang, if I can catch them, the actual murderers, but except for Leachman, on the Euphrates, there have been no murders. On the contrary, a large proportion of the shaikhs have been at great pains to see that the P.O.s got away safely. As soon as we've opened the road to Persia I should occupy the Euphrates strongly as far down as Kufah [Kufah, Al], including Karbala and Najaf [Najaf, An]. I wouldn't attempt for the moment to govern - just prevent them from cutting each other's throats as they're doing at present: restore order and maintain it by force. Baghdad and Hillah [Hillah, Al] will be delighted; they are suffering bitterly from the tribal revolt the immediate result of which is to destroy all their property. The tribes are now living on the dates of Baghdadi landlords. I fancy Karbala would welcome our return. The town is being governed - I use the word for short - by the Bani Hasan tribe who are the hereditary enemies of the townsmen. I can't think that the latter can be having anything but a thin time. Having carried out the military part of the programme I should then bring in Sir Percy with the announcement that he would accept the submission of every tribe with its chiefs on one condition - complete disarmament; and I should fix the number of rifles which each tribe must produce. I should fix it so high that there would be no rifles left in the country. And then I would institute the strictest Arms Law inflicting very severe punishment on persons who carry arms without a pass. It would be the most salutory form of punishment, it would have the advantage of being bloodless and it would have the approval of the whole urban population ie the people to whom some sort of civilized government is a necessity. It would however be necessary to extend disarmament to tribes which have not been hostile, or not actively hostile. The last named include the whole Nasiriyah [Nasiriyah, An] district and they are heavily armed. I should demand their arms in the same manner but in their case I should buy them at a reasonable market price. It might run to about half a million rupees, and cheap at the money. The whole process should be completed in 6 or 9 months, a year at the outside, and until it is completed we must retain 3 divisions in the country. After that I should think we might immediately drop to one division or one and a half, which we could progressively decrease as we got the Arab gendarmerie (of which we already have the nucleus) and the Arab army going. I don't anticipate that without conscription you would get more than one Arab division; I would have it from the first entirely Arab with Arab officers - the help we would give them would be military schools run by British officers. And if they wanted British inspectors we would give them too. Sir Aylmer is singularly futile. His present obsession is that the tribal rising is due mainly to hatred of individual P.Os. It is unfortunate that in the case of Diwaniyah [Diwaniyah, Ad] there's some truth in it - not that the tribal rising was due to their hating Major Daly, but that the fact that they hated him precipitated matters. And it was in Diwaniyah that it began - the ice broke at the thinnest place. Personally I think they were quite right to hate him - he was quite intolerably autocratic. We have all known it for the last 8 or 9 months and one of the greatest errors that was made was to retain him. (This is, if you please, strictly private.) But except in the case of Col Leachman, who also was deeply hated (Fattuh told me in May that he was certain to be murdered and I told AT) I don't know a single other instance where the personal relations between the PO and the people were not good. Sir Aylmer of course suffers from complete ignorance which you may use if you like as an excuse for some of the unpardonable things he does, such as commissioning odds and ends of people, who come and tell him that they have influence, to negotiate with the tribes behind the back of the P.O. AT has mostly succeeded in stopping it so far, but that he should think of doing it is so unBellievable. That he should think at all, I may add, is unBellievable. He is the most vacant person. The good Gen. Hambro dined with me the other day and propounded the luminous idea that we should devastate the insurgent areas; Sir Edgar and I pointed out to him that the insurgent areas with which he is immediately concerned, Diyalah [Diyala (Sirwan)] and Hindiyah [Hindiyah, Al (Tuwayrij)], are all the estates of Baghdadis, and that though he might succeed in inflicting serious losses on the Naqib, an estimable Jew and similar persons we didn't think he would go far towards the pacification of the country! I wish they any of them knew anything; that's their trouble. Saiyid Safa al Din - you remember the Naqib's son who was there when we lunched - has been up on the estates all this time, forced to supply the tribes from his gardens. It must have been acutely painful for him, for the Naqib family never gives anything to anyone. I hear he has now got back to Baghdad, our military re-occupation having released him. I shall go and congratulate the Naqib and hear his tales. Oh, but the veering round of Baghdad is comic! They are now all discussing whether they can't write to Mr Asquith and beg him not to breathe another word against the British mandate. When they consult me, I say "Why not?" I was with Haji Naji the other day - by the way he loves the tools you sent him. I found an old saiyid sitting with him, Saiyid Hasan of Karredah, a charming man. Haji Naji said "Your coming is blessed, Khatun; I wanted you to see Saiyid Hasan. He hated the mauluds and never went to them." The mauluds were the political meetings they had in the mosques. We conversed pleasantly on these lines for some time and when I went away Haji Naji accompanied me for a bit. "Khatun" said he mysteriously "Saiyid Hasan openly cursed Saiyid Muhammad Sadr!" I don't know if you realize the full significance of a Shi'ah Saiyid openly cursing the son of a mujtahid but I must tell you that it's immense. The Sunni-Shiah reconciliation has come a terrific cropper. The Sunnis all go about protesting that the revolt was solely due to those rogues of Shi'ahs. To a certain extent they are right, but only because the Sunnis have no influence with the tribes, whereas the Shi'ah divines have. I went to see the baby to whom I gave the silver bowl, Fakhri Jamil's nephew. He is a darling child. The women are solidly against Arab nationalism - even women whose husbands have been deep it. The Jamil ladies were singularly explicit on the subject. It's getting a little cooler, thank Heaven; but Sep. is a disagreeable month. The air is very still and rather sticky - where it gets its stickiness from I can't think - and the dust hangs in long low lines over the world. This morning I was out riding just after sunrise. It was difficult to decide whether the earth or the air was the more solid. The dust bars hanging over the horizon were like slabs of desert in the sky, and in the uncertain light of sun raffs, dust and damp, when I turned round to look for my dogs I couldn't see anything tangible, but I marked each one by the little golden dust cloud that it made as it ran. My dogs are very well. So's the parrot. But the mongoose has run away. Oh I must tell you of the domestic crisis which was the feature of last week. Mahdi and Zaiya were always quarrelling with one another so I bound over Zaiya, as the younger, to keep the peace. One morning, Mahdi appeared with a hen which he had thoughtfully bought for dinner. He confined it in the kitchen, but the kitchen door being open it did not stay there. The moment it came out Rish chased it, and Mahdi after the two of them, cursing and swearing - not at Rish but at Zaiya, who really wasn't responsible. I restored order but as soon as I had gone to the office the quarrel was renewed and it ended in Mahdi's walking off in a passion - when I came home that night, no Mahdi, but Zaiya had cooked the chicken. Mahdi turned up next day and I dismissed him at once. I've got a new cook called Yusuf - and the bills have gone down 20%! Sep 13. [13 September 1920] I must tell you something remarkable. Col. Barnet (Sybil's husband) has just been in with a plateful of grapes which he brought from Tehran [(Teheran)] this morning! He left at 4 a.m. and it's now 5 pm. I suppose he arrived a couple of hours ago. I saw this morning Mrs Buchanan, the woman whose husband was killed 3 weeks ago in Shahraban [Miqdadiyah, Al]. The whole of the tale I sent you about that business was quite untrue. The affair was over in a couple of hours and the Levies melted away when the tribes attacked. Mrs Buchanan saw her husband killed and was then taken to the house of the mayor where she was kindly treated according to their lights. She can scarcely speak a word of Arabic and has been through the most terrible experience. She has a child in England - and I fancy not a sixpence to live on. The balance of the morning I spent in composing the differences between the native teachers in the girls' school! Ever your affectionate daughter Gertrude Sep 14. [14 September 1920] I've just got your letter of Aug 11 and Mother's of Aug 12 - you send most interesting enclosures from Domnul. I also have a long and interesting letter from him. I'm thankful you decided to take no action about Sir A! I'm also much cheered by Domnul's report of his conversation with Sir Percy. If that's the line, things may yet be put right. But if it weren't to be the line, I certainly shouldn't stay. I really think you might send this in strict confidence to Domnul who is the soul of discretion.