Arab Feudalists and Fanatics and Visionary Grievances The columns of some of the latest English newspapers to reach Basra indicate the prevalence of considerable—misconception—_at heme as to the real political and military situation in Mesopotamia, and particularly the causes leading to the revolt in the basin of the Lower Euphrates and among certain tribes farther north. Recently "there has been a notable improvement from both military: and political aspects, and recent events, including the arrival of Sir Percy Cox as High Commissioner, have gone far to minimize the deplorable consequences in this country of the delay in signing the Treaty with Turkey.
The chief origin of the insurrection has been definitely traced to this delay, which was misinterpreted by many minor shaikhs, who formed the idea that the British meant to leave the country io anarchy, This idea was fomented by Syrian agents with money to spend and by a few self-secking extremists in Baghdad. The immediate cause of the rising, however, was the attempt, at first successful, to govern a large district which had never been governed by the Turks—the comparativ thickly-populated and rich agricultural area of Rumeita, Samawa, and Diwaniya. It was a misfortune that owing to the exigencies of the campaign against the Turks no British force of considerable strength had ever been seen in the large area _between Hillah and Nasiriyeh, Thus the inhabitants of this " region were left in remarkable innocence concerning the strength of the Power which they have sought to challenge. On the other hand, they have known that demobilization has been proceeding for the last 12 months.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.