Evening star., 1925-11-03
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

For centuries there has been con
f1ict between the French and Syrians
The French We're already familiar with
the possibilities of making advice
pay its way il syria.
The name Frank" stands with the
1Iosiems for all Westerners. since Il
was the Franks who CONQUERED Syri4
and Palestine in the first crusade.
From Frank" the Moslems have de
rived their word "feringhi." which
they use to designate all Europeans.
1t was Napoleon Bonaparte who again
conquered Syria a century or more
ago. It was the French who fought
Nehemet Ali and his son Ibrahim, TO
defend Jerusalem in 1860. The French
have thereby registered themselves
upon the memories of the Syrian Mos
lens and Christians as their tradi-
/ tiOnal enemies through the centuries
The feringhi. or French, are con
/ fused in the minds of the Noslens as
/ one general race-the Europeans. and
| what the French do in Damascus will
/ be the debt which all civilization mus
settle before redeeming the offense in
the Near Fast. Six thousand Chris
tlans perished in Damascus by the
French bombardment Of 1860; Qe9
this year, besides the MosIems.
X %ss
The Syrian occupation has not been
without loss TO France II has already
cost 5000 French soldiers, dead or
wounded. 1t has brought the admin
lStraTlOn face TO face with an alleged
necessity TO further imitation Of cur.
rency with an issue of 10000. 600 ,001
paper francs. This unsound finance
threatens to bring a crisis in the res
ignatlon of the president OF the Bank
OF France rather than sanction this
modern John Law bubble
x
With all the bloodshed in SYRIA. ana
the threatened war between MoslenI
and Christian, there appears no step
taken by the League of Nations to
stop hostilities. although the avowed
function of the league is to act when
ever there appears unrest between ma
tons likely to cause world unrest.
As France holds League of Nations
mandate over Syria, the disquiet is
claimed to be a domestic matter
quite different from hostilities be
tween Greece and Bulgaria, which the
league claims nightly TO have
stopped. In that respect it resembles
the Franco-SpaniSh disturbance with
their colonies" in North Africa. Or.
still more, resembles the domestic
trouble which Great Britain is hay-
ing with her mandate in Nosul.
In the case of Great Britain, the
basis of the mandate lies in an agree
ment made by the British with Mespo-
tamia during the World War, to the
effect that if Mespotamia would aid
the British against the Turks, the
British would protect Mespotamia
from Turkish jurisdiction after the
war. To that end the treaty OF
SevreS awarded MOsul, of Mesopo~
tamia, to the kingdom of Iracq, which
had been set up by the British. In
1920 Great Britain accepted man
date over its protege, the kingdom Of
Iracq.
Then came a dispute between Great
Britain and Turkey as to the boun-
dary between Iracq and Turkey,
which was referred to the council Of
the League of Nations The league
council offers three solutions of the
boundary problem:
d. Mosul to go to Iracq, provided
Great Britain will extend her mandate
to 1915 instead of to its present limit,
1928. (2) Mosul mainly goes to Tur-
key. If England cannot be persuaded
TO continue it's mandate. (3) Mosul to
be divided between Turkey and Iracq,
in the absence of a prolonged British
mandate.
The Turkish suggestion of a plebi-
scite has been rejected by Great
Britain and the league, on the ground
that the people are unable to compre-
hend its strategic importance.
Mosul is separated from Turkey by
a high range of mountains. Turkey
lies between Syria and turbulent
Mosul. The center of the worlds
greatest unrest is in the Near East,
now that Locarno has taught Europe
the blessings of peace.
sCopyTight. 1925. By Paul v. CoIIlns&