"رسالة إخبارية من المفوَّض المدني في بلاد الرافدين، إلى وزير الدولة لشؤون الهند" [و‎‎٩‎٤] (٢٢/١٢)

Rahiiai a ShahbMTa? tm |d t ucated 1 lt ?f ,n f n { years' standing. Dr. 'Abdul
been a convinced adherent ^f tl v th e American College at Beyrut, he has always
alist, but even he admittpH th^t ti T^ Un Fi J?' an d.i s no ' w an ardent Nation-
to the true welfare of the country and that th estlnian g rou P wer e indifierent
that it must lead fo rnin i-r' ■ • t , el '' expenditure was so extravagant
mi^lifiAri f i ii «• 1 A ^ maintained that there were plenty of Syrians better
fin oai iSlmf 6 incumbents, and instLed^usS al Safadt
Rnsd.fW.; A ? akl , m and Haslllm al ' Ata8i ' the two la st of Horns. I saw
/i idi bey at Aleppo, where he commands a division. He is a younp- man who was
tmthfarmis^fc^and h nd w 6116111 ; Gerllla "- He served 111 ^ Tur ki S h army
he stav^TTn t • g , een [ f, f0re the War a member of the Youn g Arab Party
and retmT?, ,/tr> 5 n0p f aS ? representative there of the Arab Government
obiect n th P Rj SOme 4 m0nt v hS ^ In his 0 P 1Ili0n the Damascenes who
O ileal theBaghdadi group are those who covet but do not merit office. Kamil
Qassab and Hashim al Atasi called on me m Damascus; the former is an Alim with
^ administrative experience, the latter a capable looking man who was a Qaim-
maqam under the lurks. Both are violently anti-French and both, like Dr. Shah-
bandar, expressed their conviction that a native government, different from the
present one comd carry on administration; but not without foreign advice in finan
cial and technical matters. I should judge my friend Dr. Shahbandar to be a wiser
man than any of these, the more so because he conceded sorowfully that an Arab
government such as he had in mind must at the last resort accept French assistance
rather than fall into the bottomless pit to which its unguided steps would lead it.
Abdul Rahman Shahbandar has not given up all hope that America could be induced
to accept the mandate, and this was the general delusion among those Syrians who
had definitely made up their mind that we should refuse it if it were offered to us;
in the first fortnight of October they were not very numerous. He thought that he
and his friends had an untried arrow in their quiver, and he intended to go to the
United States \Afith two others, one of whom was a Professor at the Beyrut College,
and lay the Syrian ease before the American nation. I gave him a private letter of
introduction to Senator Lodge, together with my blessing-—both for what they were
worth—and after he had left I devoted some moments to considering whether the tour
of the American Commissioners last July had not been on the whole the most criminal
deception which had been practised on the Syrians.
My Damascene friends were anxious to show me some of the things which they
had made themselves^—that phrase of one's childhood exactly fits my impression of
their gratification at seeing institutions grow up under their own hands. I was
therefore invited to inspect the Madrasat Banat al Shuhadah, the School for the
Daughters of Martyrs, where orphans are educated whose fathers fell fighting in
Faisal's army. It is run on private subscriptions by a committee of ladies presided
over by Naziq bint al 'Abid, a girl of 21 belonging to one of the best families of
Damascus. She is a niece of 'Izzat Pasha, who was the all-powerful Secretary of
'Abdul Hamid for a period of years, during which he earned great wealth and the
bitter recriminations of the C.IJ.P when it came into the saddle. In spite of their
threats 'Izzat managed to escape to Europe, where he had already lodged a respect
able part of his fortune. Sitt Naziq was educated in a mission school at Beyrut,
speaks English, and is the most advanced lady in Damascus. She aM her mother
sat unveiled among a company of men, a select company, but none of them related to
the 'Abid family. Another Mohammadan lady of the committee was present, and
she also was unveiled. The school building was admirably clean and airy, the sani
tary arrangements left nothing to be desired, and the teaching, so far as I could judge
from listening to a lesson in each class, was cheerful and intelligent The mistresses
were mostly Christians educated in Beyrut and speaking fairly good English.
Besides the orphans there were an equal number of girls of good Damascene tamilies
who pay for the education they receive. These girls 16 to 18 years old, were not seen
by the men of the partv. Girls and children were brought out into the large garden
which surrounds the house to sing patriotic songs^ In one of a^chorus oi the
elder girls addressed the orphans, reminding each one that her father died in the
cause nf liberty and bidding her never to forget that she was hint ul Arabi, while
the Children replied that they would never forget their birth, nor King Husam who
fnncrht for their race nor finallv (this stanza was speciallv prepared for the American
Commlsion) pSnt Wilson who laid down-save the mark-the principles of
freedom, ^ ^ place was not quite s0 satisfactory. It was the municipal