'Papers relating to transfer of Middle Eastern Affairs to the Colonial Office and creation of a new Department there, 1920-1921, with Cabinet notes of Milner, Montague, Churchill, self, and others' [‎21r] (41/136)

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of o. cystern so eroensive in men and money that sooner or
later the British Parliament will become restive. hurther,
to the 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. , Arabia and ' esoootamia with their
comparatively small population, uill see"" to be an almost
insignificant ,f side show" when com-aared a r ith the pis an tic
task with which it is confronted in the Indian hmpire itself.
Similarly the administration of Biddle ^astern
Countries on a basis consistent with our declarations to
the Arabs and others, and with our acceptance of the con
ditions implied in the mandatory article of the covenant
of the League of Nations is not a task of vhich t' e Foreign
Office is well fitted'to take charge. The methods and
traditions of diplomacy which necessarily and riphtly are
dominant in the Foreign Office do not fit in harmoniously
with the supervision and control of administration. In
this connection we cannot refrain from exoressing the opinion
that, had an office better equipped than the Foreign Office
for dealing with administrative and internal political
problems been in charge of Fgypt, many of the lamentable
difficulties which have arisen in that country during the
last six years might have been avoided.
Above all, the new task before us requires an
Arabic-speaking civil service, self-contained and inspired
by the new spirit which is now so much required in dealing
with Fastern peoples. Unless this service has a "father”
as well as "master" of its own it will be difficult to
create or to maintain.
So far from thinking that the creation of a new
Finistry and Department would involve.any further serious
charge upon the British taxpayer, we feel that, as policy
-overns expenditure, the only, way to ensure that our new
commitments in the Fiddle Fast will not involve a large
and possibly increasing financial burden lies in the
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