to the Saiyids of Sergalu. If (which God forbid) you act contrary to these instructions and interfere in the said districts or intrigue against the Government in other ways, the most drastic measures will be taken against you. For the present, provided that you do not interfere with the above specified districts, and provided that you do not commit hostile acts, His Excellency does not intend to take action against you."

Shaikh Mahmud's Efforts to re-establish his Authority and his Connection with the Turks.

This expedient, which was necessitated by political and military restrictions, worked as well as could be expected, but its principal effect was to allow Shaikh Mahmud another length of rope with which to perform his own hanging. Sulaimaniya town, gradually abandoned by all its wealthier inhabitants, was left to groan. beneath his rapacious tyranny until even that town, though it holds the revered shrine of his ancestor, could endure the descendant no longer. An occasional application of aerial force ensured that the terms laid down by the High Commissioner were not too greatly overstepped, though from the first Shaikh Mahmud showed no intention of respecting them. Early in August he attempted to occupy one of the detached Nahiyahs with a tribal force. After this flagrant disregard of orders, Shaikh Mahmud's quarters in Sulaimaniya were attacked by air on 16th August, 1923, whereat his force was withdrawn from Halabja and his pen directed to inditing protestations of his eternal friendship with and obedience to the British Government.

Meantime, the administration of the detached areas was growing stronger. The registration of primary electors progressed smoothly, while the creation of a small mobile police force enabled. the Administrative Inspector, in tours through the qadhas, to make valuable demonstration of the existence of official authority.

In November, 1923, Shaikh Mahmud was again attempting to encroach beyond the area allotted to him. The incidence of the tobacco season enabled him to supply himself with funds by levying excise duty and he was further encouraged by the continuous passage of letters between himself and the Turks. On 18th November, the Turkish Government protested to the British High Commissioner in Constantinople against the attack by air on Shaikh Mahmud's headquarters on 18th August, on the ground that it was an infringement of the status quo, the maintenance of which had been stipulated in the Treaty of Lausanne. The High Commissioner at Constantinople replied, under instructions, that His Britannic Majesty's Government regarded the whole of the former Mosul Wilayat as remaining in effective occupation and under de facto administration pending any possible alteration of the frontier, and that in consequence the operation in question was no violation of the status quo, but a local administrative measure, necessitated by a menace to public security.

Heartened by small successes and hopeful of Turkish sympathy, Shaikh Mahmud now engaged in preparations for an attack on Kirkuk, and to that end he attempted to raise fresh tribal levies and gathered support from the hostile elements on the Persian frontier. The time was ripe for another forcible reminder of the terms of his presence in Sulaimaniya and his house was again attacked by air on 25th December.

The usual period of quiescence followed, but in March, 1924, Shaikh Mahmud made further efforts to increase his forces. Some of his detachments, again attempting to collect the sheep tax beyond his area, came into collision with the Sergalu villagers ; Chemchemal Qadha was raided and in Halabja, Shaikh Mahmud's men, on their way to collect sheep tax, engaged in active hostilities. with the local Mudir, and his lashkars threatened the administrative centre of the Qadha.

Meantime, deputies, including Shaikh Mahmud's own brother, had been freely elected to the Constituent Assembly, where they continued to take a staunch part in the debates on the Anglo'Iraq Treaty and showed no sympathy with Shaikh Mahmud's turbulent activities.

By the middle of May it became necessary to take further steps for the preservation of law and order and, on 20th May, the people of Sulaimaniya were warned by notices broadcasted by air that the position held by Shaikh Mahmud and his followers would be attacked by air and advised to leave their homes and go to places of safety. Two days later Shaikh Mahmud was given an ultimatum which was to expire on 25th May. He took no steps to make submission and accordingly his headquarters were destroyed, and he fled into the neighbouring hills. Most of the inhabitants had already left the town and no casualties among them were reported.

For some time the town lay derelict, while the Shaikh and his followers exercised a reign of terror over the district, but in the middle of July a column consisting of two regiments of 'Iraq cavalry, supported by Assyrian Levies and accompanied by armoured cars and aeroplanes, occupied Sulaimaniya without encountering opposition. A loose administration was set up under the 'Iraq Government, but it was agreed that until peace was restored it should remain under the direct control of the High Commissioner.

The Council of Ministers voted a sum up to a lakh of rupees for immediate administrative requirements until the ordinary revenues should begin to be available. Although Shaikh Mahmud and his henchmen continued to carry on guerrilla warfare, which at first took the form of nightly sniping at Sulaimaniya town itself, together with attacks on patrols of the 'Iraq army, and later dwindled down to mere brigandage, the situation in the town

rapidly became normal. When the re-occupation took place, the population had been reduced to about 700 persons; two months later, at the time of Lord Thomson's visit, it had risen to 12,000, and when the High Commissioner paid a short visit, on 16th November, he found a population of 20,000 and the municipal finances consequently flourishing.

At the close of the period under report, Shaikh Mahmud, deserted by all but a handful of his supporters and followers, is still lurking near the Persian frontier and, except in his immediate vicinity, administration is being carried on throughout the Division.

IMPROVED RELATIONS BETWEEN THE KURDS AND THE

'IRAQ GOVERNMENT.

It is satisfactory to note a general advance in the solution of relations between the 'Iraq Government and the Kurdish elements of the State, culminating in the whole-hearted participation of the Kurdish districts in the elections. From the first, Kurds have enlisted readily in the 'Iraq Army which, indeed, is to a large extent officered by men of Kurdish descent; Kurds are eligible for all offices in the Civil Service, not in precept only, but also in practice. There is no reason to anticipate in the future the occurrence of racial dissension and every ground for hope that further development will follow the lines of closer amalgamation. But Arab nationalists will need to bear in mind that the end in view will be more speedily and more surely attained if the national aspirations of their Kurdish fellow subjects are treated with as much consideration as the similar sentiments which they themselves cherish.

3. The Assyrians.

MUTUAL ADVANTAGE OF AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE ASSYRIANS AND THE 'IRAQ GOVERNMENT.

Nor is it only Kurdish diversity which the 'Iraq State must learn to assimilate. Of great importance to the stability of the northern frontier is the Christian community of the Assyrians. In the 'Iraq Report for 1922-23 an account was given of the means by which a large proportion of the Assyrian refugees had been induced to return to such portions of their mountain home as lay within the mandatory protection of Great Britain, or had been settled in the foot-hills of Dohuk and ‘Aqra on untenanted lands, the property of the 'Iraq Government. There has been a tendency on the part of the mountaineers to move up from the lower ground into the mountain ranges north of Amadia, but none have ventured beyond the zone administered by the 'Iraq Government under the British ægis. That zone, owing to the essential needs of the Assyrian highlanders, has extended slightly beyond the northern limits of the former Wilayat of Mosul. The Assyrians as a whole labour under no illusions as to their fate if they

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were to be re-included in Turkish limits. If the Turkish claim to Mosul, or even to the predominantly Kurdish qadhas of ‘Amadia, Dohuk and 'Aqra, were to be established, flight would be the sole resource of the Assyrian settlers who would again, as in 1918, be reduced to exile and destitution.

The advantages to the Assyrians and to the 'Iraq State, alike, in securing a frontier which would include these areas in ‘Iraq are obvious. The Assyrians, for their part, would share in the benefits of British advice and assistance offered by the present treaty, or by any subsequent agreement between the two countries. Instead of Turkish rule, they would be placed in Arab hands, who, apart from any influence exercised by Great Britain, have uniformly shown themselves benevolent to Christian communities. The 'Iraq Government, on its side, would see its frontier garrisoned by a race of sturdy mountaineers whose vital interests were involved in resisting attack from the north. That any hesitation should have been evinced on either hand in admitting the mutual advantage of agreement has been due to exaggerated expectations and misunderstandings wilfully promoted.

SELF-DETERMINATION.

The Assyrians are not the only small and defenceless group to whom the doctrine of self-determination has seemed sufficient in itself to create a nation and, if the phrase were not enough to delude them, there were not lacking those who were ready to exhibit its shining facets, or to disseminate the idea of a new Assyria extending from Nineveh to Van and drawing life and security from her ally Great Britain. As this image slowly faded from soberer minds, another hope, no less incapable of execution, took its place and the High Commissioner was asked to approach the British Government with a prayer that the Assyrian community should be enabled to migrate to one of the colonies of the Empire.

AGITATION OF THE EXTREMISTS AGAINST THE ASSYRIANS :

THE MOSUL INCIDENT.

The anxiety of the Assyrians as to the future, which was shared by a lady as wise and reasonable as Surma Khanum, sister of the late and aunt of the present Patriarch, Mar Shim'un, was due largely to a growing hostility which they noted among Moslems There can be no doubt that public and even official opinion in 'Iraq had been alarmed by the claims of irresponsible Assyrian idealists, however manifestly absurd they may have been; and unquestionably they formed admirable material for political agitators whose object was to throw discredit on the British Government and to arouse doubts as to the genuineness of its policy towards the 'Iraq State. In Mosul, where the garrison was composed of 'Iraq troops and Assyrian Levies, and where the Levy Depot was situated, the air was poisoned by hostile insinu

ations, nor were matters improved by the Assyrian Levies themselves. Esprit de corps, a sentiment in itself commendable, made them apt to demonstrate in ways comparatively harmless, but irritating, that they enjoyed a relatively favourable position under British officers. In an atmosphere thus charged, explosion was imminent. It came on 5th August, 1923, originating in a quarrel between a Tiari and a townsman who had jeered at the Tiari's native dress. High words led to fighting, which spread through the bazaar, the belligerents arming themselves with any handy weapon which they could pick up in the shops. A number of persons were injured before the police succeeded, after about three-quarters of an hour, in restoring order. A court of inquiry, immediately ordered by the Air Officer Commanding, found that the outbreak was unpremeditated, but that there had long been bitter feeling between the Assyrians and the Arabs.

REPATRIATION OF ASSYRIAN REFUGEES AND FURTHER AGITATION.

It was unfortunate that, while the public mind was thus unduly inflamed, occasion should have been given involuntarily for a renewed manifestation of hostility. At the beginning of 1923, a party of some 800 Assyrian refugees, whose original home was in the Mosul Wilayat, had arrived at Homs via Constantinople, under the auspices of the Near East Relief Committee. Permission was requested for their repatriation and the High Commissioner obtained from the Ministry of Interior the necessary assurance that they would be received. In August these people began to arrive in Mosul. Their appearance was greeted by protests from the extremists who grossly exaggerated their number and pronounced that they proved a determination on the part of His Majesty's Government to colonise the Mosul Wilayat with Assyrians. Though their gradual dispersal to their mountain villages disposed of all ground for complaint, the extremist vernacular papers continued to pour oil on the flames thus lighted. In October, when the King paid a visit to Mosul, he was of opinion that public feeling was dangerously heated, and he requested that the Assyrian Levies should be transferred elsewhere. As the Levy Battalions are accompanied by their wives and children, the expenditure entailed in erecting accommodation was prohibitive, nor was it possible to change the headquarters. But the women and children of Levies stationed at Kirkuk were removed thither and careful precautions were taken to prevent any breach of the peace in Mosul.

THE SITUATION AS BETWEEN THE ASSYRIANS AND THE 'IRAQ GOVERNMENT.

At the end of October, the High Commissioner was himself in Mosul where he interviewed the Patriarchal family. He went on to Amadia whither the principal Assyrian headmen had been

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