Coll 6/90 'Syria: Anglo-French relations in the Near East. French policy in Syria.' [‎23r] (45/169)

EASTERN (Syria).
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THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GO^ERjlJflENT
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CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
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[E 5264/3/89] Copy No. !
R. Newton to Viscount Halifax.—(Received July 25.)
(No. 385.)
My Lord, Bagdad, July 18, 1939.
WITH reference to my telegram No. 244 of the 9th July, 1939, I have the
honour to inform you that the decision of the mandatory authorities to suspend the
Constitution in Syria was received with a chorus of angry protests in the Iraqi
press.
2. The main theme of the articles which have been published is that by this
act France has broken all her promises to the people of Syria and has shown her
determination to maintain indefinitely colonial rule over the French mandated
territories of the Levant A geographical area corresponding to the region around the eastern Mediterranean Sea. .
3. In many articles it was alleged that French and British policies in the
Middle East have been co-ordinated with the positive intention of weakening the
Arabs and of encroaching upon their hard-won liberties. The cry of encircle
ment was borrowed from German propaganda and the shutting-in of the Arabs
was declared to be clearly the aim of British and French policy.
4. Some papers pointed to the noble example of Palestine and urged the
Syrians to show themselves as brave as their Palestinian brothers. Others
remarked that the Syrians themselves were in part to blame for the disasters
which had overcome them because they had allowed themselves to be divided and
weakened by internal party dissensions.
5. One leader writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. declared that for years the Arabs had clung to their
trust in the British Government and in the war pledges of the Allies. This trust
had now, once and for all, been dispelled, and replaced by feelings of hatred and
the desire for revenge. The British and French policy of violence aiming at the
extermination of a peaceful and proud people was responsible for this momentous
change of feeling, the grave consequences of which God alone could foretell.
6. A happier note has been struck since the arrival in the Lebanon of the
young King Faisal. Long accounts of the warm reception given to him by the
Syrian and Lebanese people have taken the place of the earlier political diatribes
and stories of how His Majesty was hailed as King of Syria have been gleefully
published under large headlines.
7., On returning from his visit to Syria to arrange for the King’s reception,
the Prime Minister told me that he had been received by his Excellency the French
High Commissoner and had discussed the political situation with him.
8. M. Puaux had stated that he wished to negotiate a new treaty with Syria
and to bring it into force within a year. It would provide independence for Syria,
but would retain the local autonomy which was now being established by decree
for the Jabal Druze, the Alawite and the Jazirah. The Prime Minister said that
this sounded well-meaning enough, but he feared that the French would find
nobody to trust them now in Syria.
9. I took this opportunity to mention that I had heard that it was believed
in certain quarters in Syria that if it were not for help and encouragement
received from Iraq by malcontents in Syria the political difficulties in that terri
tory would soon be solved. It would be unfortunate and embarrassing for all
eoncerned if Iraq could be held to blame. The Prime Minister denied the truth
of these stories and declared that many of them were circulated by Ibn Sand who
received foolish reports from his legation in Bagdad. Recently, for example, it
had been put about by the Saudi-Arabian Minister that a large supply of rifles
and ammunition had been sent to Syria from Iraq. This was quite untrue, and
the Iraqi Government were determined to maintain a correct attitude towards the
French authorities in Syria. If, however, the French Government failed to solve
their problems in Syria now, a day of reckoning was bound to come.
I have, &c.
BASIL NEWTON.