Baghdad. Ap. 21. Oh darling, we're having such an agitating time. I've just been to see my two wounded shaikhs - but I'll tell you the tale from the beginning. On Thursday, after I wrote to you, I went to the Assembly. As usual, they did nothing. They elected a member to serve on the Committee which is to study the Organic Law and they made plans for electing another. Then they rose. - No, as you were; that all happened on the preceeding Monday. On Thursday they didn't meet at all.
But the High Commissioner came back from Mosul [Mawsil, Al] and we had a long talk about the situation in general, after which I went on with current work. At 12.30 the H.C. sent for me and I found Ken with him. Ken had brought the news that there was a split in the party of the Shaikhs and that the majority were attempting to bargain with the King and had declared that they wouldn't vote for the Treaty if he did not undertake to secure for them certain tribal privileges in the organic law. Vainly the King had told them that if they didn't pass the Treaty there would not be an Organic Law at all, or an 'Iraq Govt. So we three sat for an hour discussing things and drafting a telegram home. We hadn't finished by lunch time so we went back to it directly after lunch and got to the end about 3.15. Ja'far and the King are pressing for two assurances from H.M.G. One is that we will undertake to defend Mosul if the Turks try invasion, and the other that the mandate will cease with the 4 years of the Treaty, whether by that time the 'Iraq has been made a member of the League of Nations or not. Sir Henry wrote a very strong telegram (considerably binged up by Ken - this is all deadly secret) pressing these points and urging H.M.G. to speak out openly and declare that if the 'Iraq did not accept the Treaty we should go. If indeed that is what H.M.G. means to do; if it isn't, and we intend to stay at any price, which is scarcely conceivable, then we must be prepared to give the 'Iraq Govt easier terms than those laid down in the Subsidiary Agreements. That was the argument.

Meantime I sadly made up my mind that I couldn't take a holiday and spend Good Friday away from Baghdad as I had intended to do. When I left the office I motored out to Kadhimain [(Al Kazimiyah)] to see a very interesting woman, Lady 'Ali Shah, who is the mother of the Agha Khan and manages all his vast businesses, secular and religious, while he is gallivanting in Europe. She is on pilgrimage here and is going on to Mashhad [(Meshed)] in Persia and so back to India via Seistan - something of a journey, but she seems to take it in her stride.

While I was thus innocently engaged there were great doings in Baghdad. A body of scoundrelly lawyers without a practice, were entertaining the Assembly at a party - I told you the beginnings of this. Two of these young asses made violent speeches against the British in general and the Treaty in particular, averring that the Treaty contained all sorts of things that it doesn't contain at all - such as that no Englishman can be arrested for a breach of the law (the audience beat their breasts at this, as well they might!) Then Yasin got up and replied thanking the lawyers for their hospitality on behalf of the Assembly and adding that it was well to remember that England was the only friend the 'Iraq had. This does no credit to Yasin, for he had first engineered the party and then softened it down, so as to have a foot in both camps.

Next morning, Friday, the H.C. was panting for news of this meeting which I had to get for him from the Police - in a universal holiday, Friday and Good Friday. However I succeeded at last. Next Ken telephoned to say that the good shaikhs - now reduced to six - had been with him and had declared that whatever the wicked shaikhs did, they intended at once to sign a declaration accepting the Treaty. Ken added, wearily, that everything had now to be begun again from the beginning and that round this nucleus of 6 the Shaikhly party must be built up. No one came to see me that morning but one of the Kurds came to see Capt Holt, H.E.'s secretary (he speaks Kurdish) and told him that the Kurds were wearied of the whole agitation and wanted to pass the Treaty at once and be done with it. There are 12 of them.

In the afternoon I rode out to Karradah to see Haji Naji but did not find him. However, the ride calmed my ruffled spirits a little. And I dined with Nigel Davidson to meet the very nice Colonel of the Inniskillings, Col Ridings, Ken and Mr Cooke and others. We played Bridge after.

Saturday was my field day. Two of the best of the good shaikhs, 'Addai (our companion in the Hillah [Hillah, Al] shooting party at Xmas) and Mudhhir al Saqab came to see me and to tell me, both eagerly talking at once, what they were doing about the declaration. At that moment Fahad Beg ibn Hadhdhal, the old shaikh of the nomads, was announced and I asked 'Addai whether we should get him in and make him sign. 'Addai urged me to do so. So we had Fahad in and explained the matter to him. He replied that he thought the declaration an excellent idea; it should be signed by all 'Iraq shaikhs, but he was a nomad of the desert and though of course he intended to vote for the Treaty, it wasn't fitting that he should sign that document. I could see my Belloved 'Addai hopping with agitation, so I told him to run along and fetch the declaration for I had something of importance to discuss with Fahad. Off went 'Addai and I engaged Fahad in conversation about the Akhwan and kindred topics for half an hour, when 'Addai returned, very anxious lest Fahad should have left. To his great relief he found him still with me. I then retired to my desk while 'Addai read out the declaration and the 6 names of those who had signed. Fahad expressed his approval and called for his Katib, his secretary, a shock headed youth who does his reading and writing for him. He made the Katib read the whole thing out again and thus expressed his willingness to sign. I jumped up with a pen and ink and the Katib signed for Fahad Beg - the 7th name on the paper. 'Addai was delighted and so was Fahad, once it was done, and they both went off in a cloud of glory.

And I to lunch with Dr Sinderson and Iltyd Clayton, at last out of hospital and looking very weak and ill. I spent the rest of the day in visiting the sick - first Professor Sayce and then Bernard who has got neither plague nor typhoid and is rapidly recovering. Ken turned up and we came home together after a good three-cornered talk.

On Sunday morning Ken took me up to the Sarai, relating on the way all the interviews he had been having with the wicked shaikhs. I did some odd jobs in the museum and then paid a short visit to Ja'far in his office, just to hold his hand and assure him that though the going was heavy we should cover the course in the end. He and Nuri are being splendid.

I came back to find your letter of April 8 (a great consolation - Mother's was delayed because the envelope had burst open but I got it today) and then I had the Mackays (excavators of Kish) to lunch and Mr Cooke. I was resting after these activities when Ken telephoned to me about 4 to tell me that 'Addai and Salman al Barrak (another of the 6) had been shot at the door of their house by one of the rapscallion lawyers (he has been arrested) and another man not yet identified (since arrested also). They were badly but not dangerously wounded and had been taken to hospital and Ken was off to meet the King and Cabinet at the palace. On the top of this came in Sabih Beg, on his way to the palace, but not knowing why he had been summoned. So I told him. He turned as white as a sheet and said "But we may all be murdered." I replied, encouragingly, "You will be if you don't take forcible measures" and with that despatched him to the meeting.

I may notice in passing that it's one of the advantages of our policy in the 'Iraq that when they fall out they shoot each other and not us. Not that I wouldn't rather be shot than have 'Addai shot.

So then I waited and at about 6.30 Sabih telephoned to tell me that they had decided to arrest some 21 lawyers - all those who were concerned in the party - and to shut down the two extremist papers. As he finished speaking there tumbled in one of the wicked shaikhs, Ghadhban of 'Amarah ['Amarah, Al], a merry rogue for whom I have much affection and little esteem, to assure me that he wasn't wicked at all and wanted to go straight to the King and place his obedience between HM's two hands. So I telephoned to the palace to announce his arrival and this morning he turned up in my office with a note in the King's hand to say that H.M. had seen him and was satisfied with him!

Ken and I were dining with Dr Sinderson and Iltyd. At ten minutes to 8 Ken telephoned to say that he had just come in and would change and come for me as soon as possible. We got there about 8.30, had a great talk over the events of the day, a game of Bridge and so to bed.

In fact the extremists have delivered themselves into the hands of the Govt which has now the opportunity, with every good reason, of making a clean sweep. Ken's Minister, 'Ali Jaudat Beg (Interior) will go; so will the Mutasarrif of Baghdad, to be replaced, I hope, by a man who served us faithfully from 1917 onwards; and so will the C.G.S. Taha Beg who is Yasin's brother. At last they are beginning to realize the truth of the platitude which I have been expounding to them ever since 1920, namely, that those who were loyal to us will be loyal to them because they are loyal by nature, and those who were treacherous to us will betray them also, because they are traitors by nature.

In the middle of this plantasmagoria of a week we took the Amir Zaid to the Circus. Yes we did. It was Ken's party - Zaid and an ADC, Sabih Beg and 'Ali Jaudat. My heart nearly failed me because (a) I knew 'Ali Jaudat to be playing so crooked a game that I didn't want to meet him, and (b) I felt sure that the circus would bore me to tears. However I plucked up courage and went et bien m'en a pris. The dinner, which was at Ken's house, went with indescribable Çclat. Sabih began by hauling 'Ali Jaudat over the coals for having gone to the lawyers' meeting, and having reduced him to ashes he then proceeded to be the inimitable raconteur and good comrade that he is. 'Ali Jaudat recovered his spirits and was most agreeable, as agreeable as Arabs can be and you can't exaggerate their social gifts, so that we all forgot all our grievances and went off to the circus in high spirits. It was a Bellgian circus. Now I don't think I've been to a circus since the age of 6, but I shall never lose an opportunity of going to every one I can. It was delicious, so funny and so clever and so amazing. It was composed of every race under the sun; there were Japanese and Indians and Sudanese and Bellgians who spoke broken English and yet more broken Arabic. But the nicest thing of all was the elephants on a see-saw. The elephant bumped the see saw down and jumped the acrobat into the air so high that he alighted on the elephant's head and slipped down his back and his tail. Then the audience were invited to participate and a lot of Arab Coolie boys ran into the arena. Some were white with fear at being confronted with so large and animal; but the elephant loved it. He bumped them up and they fell all ways, some onto the plank and some onto the ground, till at last one, more by good luck than by any skills, succeeded in falling onto the elephant's head. And we rocked with laughter - all except the Kurdish deputies who sat together in a box and never moved a muscle the whole evening. I suppose they thought it beneath their Kurdish dignity to laugh at elephants and Coolie boys.

Well then, darling, this morning I went to the Assembly where nothing happened except that they passed a resolution sympathising with the wounded deputies and begging the Govt to avenge the injured honour of the Assembly with the utmost despatch. The little things then rose and I, coming out, found Ken in consultation with the Prime Minister and joined in to hear all that they proposed to do and to take messages to the High Commissioner.

After lunch, I rode up to the hospital to visit the Shaikhs. It wrung my heart. 'Addai, whom I adore, looked so white and tired, and Salman, with two compound fractures in the arms and a bullet through his leg, declaring roundly that it was of no consequence. I stayed with them not more than five minutes and they sent a boy running after me to beg me to hurry on the work. It is their blood which has hurried on the work -

Ken came in to hear and tell the news before dinner and I had Lionel Smith to dine, tà te a tà te - it's the first time I've seen him since his father's death. He is the most lovable person in the world and one of the most distinguished minds I have ever known. He stayed till long after 11 and during the course of the evening I read him extracts from your letter and Mother's, in which he delighted.

Darling, I tell you all these things about my shaikhs and people, and I dare day you think them very silly. I know I'm not seeing to scale, but my heart is in it. I live and die for it. Nothing else matters.

April 23. [12 April 1924] The last two days have been as rich in incident as ever - really the travails of a nation exceed all others. Yesterday morning we had the good news that the 2 shaikhs were recovering better than anyone could have anticipated - 'Addai is out of danger. With that I went off to the Assembly where to my joy I met Iltyd Clayton and we sat together on the bench reserved for us. They did nothing but elect a man to a committee, after which exhausting effort they rose. After lunch I rode down to Haji Naji to encourage him and give him his marching orders, and then I dined with the A.V.M. to meet the A.V.M. from Cairo, Sir Oliver Swan, who was at the Cairo Conference but I didn't remember him. He is very pleasant. The Dobbses were there; it was a nice dinner party. I played Bridge after with the two A.V.M.'s.
This morning the waves were raging round the tea cup. H.E. was interviewing, for 3 hours, Muhsin Beg, President of the Assembly, whose attitude is most unsatisfactory. He will not Bellieve that we are not bluffing; he thinks that at any cost we intend to remain in the 'Iraq and to that end will be prepared to modify the terms of the Treaty. While the interview proceeded Bernard and I kept on sending in urgent notes on the situation. First, Ken telephoned from the palace that the Naji-Yasin group intended to protest against the new Treason Law published yesterday; there was practically no legal way before of dealing with high treason. Then Majid Beg Shawi came hurrying in with the news that the same group would move a resolution tomorrow that the Assembly should adjourn til the Mosul [Mawsil, Al] frontier was settled and one of the good shaikhs, 'Umran al Sa'dun of Hillah [Hillah, Al] (whom you saw with Major Tyler at Hindiyah [Hindiyah, Al (Tuwayrij)]) came in hot foot with the same information. I told H.E. and sent an express messenger across to Ken. Then the Palestinian delegation turned up to see H.E. by appointment and I had to entertain them. They consisted of my friend the Mufti of Jerusalem [(El Quds esh Sherif, Yerushalayim)] - with whom I broke the fast last year, you remember - and two others. They are here collecting money to repair the Aqsa mosque. They questioned me closely about Mosul and were completely satisfied when I answered that we did not intend to yield an inch in the negotiations with the Turks, 'Abdul Muhsin Beg, who knows them all, came in while this was going on and I talked in front of him - with a purpose. H.E., I afterwards learnt, had been most impressive at the interview and I hope he has brought 'Abdul Muhsin to his senses. Then came Major MacCallum, liason officer in Beyrout [Beyrouth (Beirut)], here for two days and then home. We dined with him in 1922 - he'll come to see you. He told me that the Italians, in the wild chauvinism of Mussolini, are hot to declare war on Turkey and enforce commercial terms. After that, things quieted down, and I did a little work and came home soon after lunch, having talked things over with H.E. He, poor dear, is now interviewing Naji, Yasin and 6 others and I've no doubt with success. For me the afternoon passed peacefully. Lionel came at 4 and we walked out to Alwiyah to see a garden, and came back walking along the Tigris bank and talking of things outside the 'Iraq. And now Ken is coming to dinner; we haven't met for the last 48 hours, so breathlessly full have our days been, and I'm longing to hear from him what changes are to take place in the Cabinet. I also shall impart to him your news about our Cabinet at home.

I return Sir G.G. [Gibb]'s most interesting paper. This is my sole contribution to the mail - I can't write to anyone but you while things are humming so loud.

With all this the return of the Mujtahids has passed almost unnoticed, but they've come - yesterday. All except the worst of them, Mahdi al Khalisi, whom the King won't have back. They seem to be lying very low, as they are under written promise to do. They went straight off to Karbala today. Your devoted daughter Gertrude.