'Mesopotamia' [‎28r] (55/152)

Mesopotamia]
CONCLUSTONS
45
difficult to reconcile these promises with even nominal
suzerainty by the Porte. Should annexation he imprac
ticable, the remaining possibilities are the establish
ment of a benevolent protectorate or the creation of an
independent Arab State.
No Power in the world lias any claim comparable
with that of Great Britain to control the destinies of
Mesopotamia. For over two centuries Great Britain
has performed countless services, involving the sacrifice
of many lives and the expenditure of much money, in
the development of international trade, in the estab
lishment of communication by steamship, post and
telegraph, in the protection of traffic, and in the sup
pression of lawlessness and piracy on the rivers of
Mesopotamia, and in the Persian "Gulf. The conse
quently unique position of Great Britain in this region,
the peculiar interests—strategic, political, and com
mercial—which she has at stake, and the intimate
connection between Mesopotamia and India combine
to make the future administration of the country a
matter of vital concern to the British Empire. More
over, the great improvements effected during the
present military occupation, the millions of money ex
pended upon the port of Basra, the work on the
Hindie barrage and canal system, by which 300.000
acres have in 1018 been brought into cultivation, and
the friendly relations established between the British
authorities and the Arabs 1 , point to continued progress
in the future under British auspices. In this connec
tion the emphatic words of Sir A. Lawley are worthy
of record. 2
" It is certain that if, in an ill-starred moment when the
war draws to an end, we make up our minds to vacate the
land, our withdrawal will bo regarded as the betrayal of men
whom we have wheedled into allegiance, and will have the
worst possible effect on our Mohammedan subjects through
out the Empire. Indeed, it may not improbably lead to the
crumbling of the whole of our Eastern Imperial edifice
1 Air. Edmund Candler, despatch in the Time*, May 1, 1018.
2 .1 Message from Mesopntawia, 1017, pp. 38-85.