Evening star., 1916-12-10
ARABIA DECLARED A new KINGDOM

jealous Of its influence both in Yemen
and at Yildiz Kiosque.
The revolt in the Yemen was stiu
on In 1904. In that year Marsnai Feizi
Pasha, commanding the Turks. lost in
one year $4,000 men in hghts against
Esseoud had beaten the allies OF the
Turks. beaten Feizi Pasha on the plaino
OF Mesopotamia: the Arabs every
ss,e ssss. in Asssp the to
a powerful Arab force 10000 strong. at
tackled the Turks. Finally. detail OF
great Importance. the soldiers or an
army corps from Damascus and Bagdad
brothers in revolt.
In 1906 Germany was busy I'm Arabia.
for there was discord between England
and Persia. The political lines have
sensibly changed since 1904. the year OF
the Anglo-French convention; then
there had passed the conference at Al
geciras: Germany multiplied her In
fiuence in Constantinople. in Asia Minor,
and the kaiser had openly declared him.
self protector of the Moslem world"
Sometime in July. 1906, NJ. Eugene
Jung, formerly vice president OF
France. in 1ndo-China. who was great
ly interested in the Arab movement. in
an article entitled: The Powers In the
Face of the Arab Revolt" said:
Arabia wishes to become an tnde-
pendent nation and consequently throw
Off the Turkish yoke Arabia pos
sesses now the Arabs of the Turkish
army; the we'll armed tribes OF syria,
Palestine and Mesopotamia; the war
like and experienced soldiers of NAH
moud-Yakia and Hedzoz 60 At sig
nal these troops will fall in line not
withstanding the desire OF the nationai
party to effect a revolution without
efrusion of blood"
The aforementioned chie1s are tnoso
who preceded Cherif Hussein in COM
mand of the Arabs OF Arabla. Ihe
note as to the Arab army, Its compo-
sition, is the first time information on
that important point has filtered
through the censorship exercised nv
the Turks. The reference to the ma
tional party must mean the party IN
Turkey then in embryo On Tufkey'
and which had not yet assumed tn.
iIiusory title of the commsttee VI
union and progress.
subsequent to the foregoing informa-
tion furnished by VI. Jung. We learned
more Of the progress OF the revolution in
Arabia The dispatches OF February. isii.
announced that the Imam Mahmoud lania
and the Cheikh Said 1driss possessed s"-
900 to 100. 900 combatants equipped win
modern rifles which had escaped the sur
yeillance of the Turkish coast guaros
The London Times Of February ]. 1911.
published information from the britlsh
ministry of the interior in which NO
hammed Said Essen and Ali al 1driss OF
Assyr also Mahmoud Yaha, were again
busy in stirring up the Arabs Moham-
med Said had proclaimed his indepenn-
| ence and appointed governors and cheikhs
! in place of the Turkish functionaries VINO
had abandoned their posts and had ned
TO the coast or to Ibha. the capital ana
military headquarters OF the Sand1ak OF
Assyr The djehad, or holy war. mas
been proclaimed
The proclamation Of the djehad must
have ernanated from the Turkish author
! tiles at Assyr, because
! arobe Aro;ns4 the insurgents have at
al! times shown a pro-
{ dOly war. gressive and liberal
spirit and have always been oppo7ed to
violence and crimes committed under the
license of djehad-
! Under the regime of the Young Turk.
IN the beginning Hilmi Pasha. grand
yiziar, who had passed seven years OF his
| life as governor of the Yemen. and thus
knew the country and its necessities, pro-
posed to the Turkish chamber the follow
ing plan for the conciliation anG pacin-
! cation of Arabia:
| First. the division of the Yemen into
| two provinces-the Djebel. or noun
| tain districts: the Tihama, or coastal
/ plain.
! Second. the appointment of Imam
| Yahia as the vail. sultan. OF the Die
! bel district. with power to appoint civil
and military functionaries. and to re-
tain and eXpeDd such a proportion or
| the local revenue as might be necessary
; for the administration of his province
| Third, the withdrawal of the greater
| part of the garrison from Sanaa. the
| capital. which would become the center
of the Imam province.
The accursed triumvirate at Saloniki
were not to be thus deSpoiled or their
prey, which, in connection with other
| things they proposed to treat with the
4 L..
siderable value to everything along the
! line or connected with the Bagdad rail-
! way.
| L. should be understood that since
/ the insurrection of 1904 the Turks. al
though defeated in the field, had main
/ taine1 their hold on Arabia by the oc-
| cupation of the principal cities-Yam-
bo. Djeddah, Mecca Medina, Taft, Ho-
deda. Moka and Cheikh Said. where the
Turks until recently maintained strong
military garrisons. This occupation
was fruitless The authority of the
s'ltan's vail was confined to the for
titica tions of these cities, The, tribes
of the entire country were actively hos
| tile and quite Independent of their con-
querors. and called corpuerors heca use
J the conquered defied them, refused to
| acknowledge the ottoman courts. re-
| fused to he conscripted. refused to pay
! taxes and besides they levied excess
/ sive taxes on Turkish caravans that
crossed their territory and collected the
| edged superiority in field fighting
| Briefly. the Turkish conpuerors OF Ara
bia shut up in fortified cities were in
| reality little less than captives.
Z
Writing of this situation OF the Arabs
of Arabia in 1911. when the world was
still under the delusion
Young Turks that the Young Turk
party was serious
d Oeiusiou. and honest party, and
not en- atrocious snare and imposition,
I suggested that Hussein Iilmi Pacha.
who was an exemplary Turk. should
be returned to Arabia with plenary
powers TO treat with Imam Yahia as
he had proposed to parliament The
party of the Young Turk paid no heed
to such a policy. but we find them, on
the contrary. endeavoring to provoke
religious fanaticism among the insur-
gents by the declaration of the djehad.
which from Arabia to India would de-
stroy effectually the enemies of Enrer.
Diemal and Ta!aat. We have seen how
the Grand Cherif of A A~abia has met and
checkmated this conspiracy.
Ell Husse.n ibn Ali appears to the
world as eminentiy fit to assume the
control of the sultanate TO which he
aspires. He says in his second proc
hn