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Coll 6/93(2) 'SYRIA: Situation in – after capitulation of France, 1940. Incl. Proclamation of Independence.' [‎308v] (616/626)

The record is made up of 1 file (311 folios). It was created in 3 Jul 1941-12 Dec 1944. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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'22-
Il
mind* Hope unmixed v/ith Nazi cynicism-, I am not
suggesting of course that it is not a good thing to depress
the G-erman as to the outcome of the war, “out in striving so
to depress him we should not chal len ge his powers of
resistance and we should dangle before his eyes the vision
nf a possible future in which he would have a parto
do The German is admittedly the toughest case with
which we have to deal, and that is why I am sure we should
have still better chances with the Italian, with all neutrals,
and with the no ^'German subjects of the "New Order”.
6. Though we may. and in fact, must remain vague, we
shall have to coin an appropriate slogan to set over the
”New Order”. This may be our most difficult problem, since
slogans are apt to suggest particular, rather narrow ideologies.
Our slogan must partake of all the tendencies which are
essentially modern, progressive and ”future-minded” in the world
to-day* It must be strong enough to stand up against the
appeal of mayxisi, class-war ideology to the European masses.
It must _pven:'make Marxism seem old-fashioned - as indeed, it
is. Negatively, it must hot suggest a British or British-American
world, it must not even admit the existence in future of colonies,
it should not seem to.,be; offering the. world a greatly expanded
British Empire as an.alternative to the present cfiaos, it should
imply the opposite.of hll Atavistic tendencies grouped under the
terms totalitarian •and' poli'^e-state* '
7 0 ; It is with some diffidence, and with the idea of
provoking other suggestions, that I put forward as a possible
slogan ”A People ! s World”o• -If we announce that what we and the
Americans are striving to establish is a ”people^ world”, we could
then expand and give meaning to this phrase in all the required
ways* Let us say that we envisage a world in which the rights
of individuals are everywhere respected, where racial and religious
communities are allowed free use of their language and culture,
where regxmi and local autonomy and national independence are
everywhere combinOC with as much curtailment of a^-uceignty as is
necessary to secure, v/orld peace and world economic order, where
the soil belongs,j individually or collectively, to those who work
it, where economic and industrial planning on .a .national as well
as on a world scale.are not allowed to lead to regimentation of
workers, where there are jobs for guaranteed wages under guaranteed
conditions for everyone, where social services for all are in a
state of continuous development, where the specific local resources
of each country are .exploited in the interests of,its inhabitants
and of the world at -large„
8* Parallel with this social utopia, it might be found
useful to offer some sort of spiritual regeneration as a
rallying cry; perhaps that we regard this war against Hitler
as' a moral purge from v/hich every individual little man has to
emerge with a better-personal discipline and more common feeling
with his fellows and a determination to. work as unselfishly in the
peace as he has done during the war for the good of civilisation.
91 It is not difficult to see how readily the propaganda
lines for each separate region may he worked in.to the above.
These will be dictated to a large extent by our war policy for
that region but it is obvious that the ideology of irredentism and
self-determination will be of use everywhere. Even British-
controlled territories with strong nationalist movements, the
promise of a ’’people's world” is not in effect more than we have
already cbmmitted ourselves to in ordinary pronouncements of
policy, and it is certainly the least we can reasonably offer an

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Content

Following on from an earlier file (IOR/L/PS/12/2166), this file concerns British policy relating to Syria, following the success of the British-Free French military campaign in Syria [Operation Exporter]. (The abbreviation 'Incl.' in the title stands for 'Including').

The date range of this file is 1941-44; however, most of the material dates from 1941.

Notable correspondents include the following: His Majesty's Ambassador in Cairo (Miles Wedderburn Lampson); Minister of State, Cairo (Oliver Lyttelton); His Majesty's Ambassador in Bagdad [Baghdad] (Sir Kinahan Cornwallis); His Majesty's Ambassador in Washington (Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, referred to in the correspondence as Viscount Halifax); the Secretary of State for India (Frederick William Pethick-Lawrence); General Charles de Gaulle; General Georges Catroux; officials of the Foreign Office, the War Office, and the Government of India's External Affairs Department.

The file includes discussion of the following:

  • The British Government's relationship with Free France in Syria (particularly with General Charles de Gaulle) and the possibility that the Free French authorities are suspicious of Britain's interest in Syria.
  • Concerns expressed by the Government of India (and to a lesser degree, by the War Office) that the Free French authorities intend to take the place of the Vichy administration in Syria and renege on promises of imminent independence.
  • Arrangements for the repatriation of Vichy French officers and the return of British prisoners of war.
  • The wording of a Free French declaration (a translated draft of which is included) announcing Syria's independence and the formation of a Syrian Government, with Sheikh Taj ed Din el Hassani [Taj al-Din al-Hasani] as President, issued on 27 September 1941.
  • Britain's formal recognition of Syrian independence on 28 October 1941.
  • Reports of unrest in the Deir es Zor [Deir ez-Zor] region during October 1941.
  • The wording of a Free French declaration announcing Lebanon's independence (particularly the wording of paragraph 16, which makes reference to Lebanon as 'an indivisible unit'), issued on 26 November 1941 (a translated draft of the declaration is included).
  • Whether the proclamations of Syrian and Lebanese independence constitute the termination of the French Mandate.
  • Whether treaty negotiations should be initiated following the declarations of independence, or delayed until the end of the war.
  • The appointment of Major General Sir Edward Spears as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary A diplomatic representative who ranks below an ambassador. The term can be shortened to 'envoy'. to the Governments of Syria and Lebanon.

Also included are copies of daily summaries produced by the Middle East Intelligence Centre (MEIC) in Cairo, covering early July 1941.

There is a small amount of French language material, consisting of extracts from drafts of both of the aforementioned declarations, as well as a copy of the full text of the declaration of Lebanese independence.

The file includes two dividers which give a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. These are placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2-3).

Extent and format
1 file (311 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 312; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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Coll 6/93(2) 'SYRIA: Situation in – after capitulation of France, 1940. Incl. Proclamation of Independence.' [‎308v] (616/626), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2168, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100043060294.0x000013> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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