June 11. Baghdad Darling Father. We beat Cinderella by half an hour - the Treaty was ratified last night at 11.30 and how they managed to do it I still can't think. However, let's take things in order.
Last Thursday I had the H.C. the A.V.M. and a Group Captain to dinner and Mah Jongg. I do like the A.V.M. so much; he is most agreeable - I entirely sympathise with the lady who ran away with him and I've quite got over his hideous nose. It was a nice party, but oh so hot! We're now running up to 110.

On Friday, Ken came to a peaceful dinner and talk. We have enjoyed these little dinners by ourselves; we dine and talk and go to bed at 10. Tonight we have the last one for he leaves tomorrow; though I shall miss him dreadfully I'm glad he is going for he is so tired and worn out.

On Saturday nothing of interest happened; the Assembly didn't meet but anxious members came in to see me. No one thought the Treaty would pass.

On Sunday 'Ali Sulaiman came in for guidance immediately after breakfast. I said I still thought they should make an effort to ratify the Treaty and if they couldn't do that adopt an idea which had been put forward by the Kurdish deputies to avoid rejection and vote for postponement till the Mosul [Mawsil, Al] question was settled. Of course that would have meant the dissolution of the Assembly and assumption of more complete control by the H.C. but I didn't tell 'Ali that.

Ken took me to the Museum where I found some work to do and then went up to see Ja'far. There was a small Cabinet Council sitting, but they all bustled into Saiyid Husain Afnan's room where I was, Ja'far full of fight concocting a resolution for the ratification of the Treaty. So I cheered him on and meeting 'Ali Sulaiman outside sent him in to get his orders from the P.M.

'Ajil al Yawar came to see me at noon. "Khatun" said he "what I always wish to do is to succeed. As there's no chance of passing the Treaty I shall vote for postponement." I said that was the difference between them and us - they went with the herd whereas we looked at the question itself, decided what we thought was best and then backed our decision. 'Ajil agreed to this distinction but added that he thought the Assembly had now so completely lost its senses that if the British Govt accepted all the amendments it still would not pass the Treaty.

I had to lunch a certain Miss Carson, a young person who has come here to learn Arabic, quite inoffensive, and a very nice new Civil Chaplain called Jaque. We talked antiquities, not politics.

The launch was out of order so that we couldn't go up to our usual place above the palace to swim. We therefore went by car to the river not far from Haji Naji where there is a very nice pool and a pretty dining place. It was very pleasant but not as good as the other. Ken and I motored down together and sadly reviewed the situation.

On Monday the Assembly met. 'Ali Jaudat (Interior) spoke first. He began by pointing out all the weak points in the Treaty and ended by asking them to ratify it! The first part of the speech was more convincing that the second. Then Ja'far delivered a "large flat discourse" defending the Treaty. Ahmad Daud (one of the leading opponents) tried to get an immediate vote against it but someone proposed adjournment till next day and this was eagerly agreed to. The next day was the last day of the time limit. Ken had decided in the morning to leave on Thursday whatever happened so that altogether that evening I felt very much depressed.

Yesterday was hectic. The Assembly met at 9 but went into unofficial session, no audience admitted. At 11 I telephoned to the Secretary and found that they hadn't yet begun the official session. It began about 11.30 and almost immediately after someone moved half an hour's pause. So we reached midday and nothing done. At 1.15 Saiyid Husain telephoned that they had adjourned till the following day - a day too late! I hastily telephoned to Ken whose reply was "Good God!" and I then went to tell H.E. I never saw anyone angrier and as we talked came a telephone from the Palace asking if he would give them a day's grace. No he wouldn't, he would call on the King to dissolve the Assembly at midnight if it couldn't be got together in the afternoon and anyway he would come up at 4 and tell the King what he thought. To us Capt Holt, who had been sent to the Assembly to {report} observe. What had happened was that as soon as they reassembled the President had been deluged with resolutions of every kind, Yasin and others had spoken strongly against the Kurdish resolution and the House had just resolved to vote on it when Ja'far, who had telephoned to the palace that things weren't going well, had asked the President to adjourn and given as the reason serious problems of State. Naturally the House adjourned like a bird - it's the only thing it likes doing.

At this time Sir Henry was angrier and angrier - it was a put up job, the King was trying a new romp (this was quite unfair) and curse this and curse that - till I suggested that we should go to lunch. Under the influence of a glass of iced beer poor Sir Henry calmed down. He had every right for his feelings.

I went to Ken after lunch on my way home and told him exactly what had happened which sent him packing off to the palace. Oh yes, and by that time we had heard from the King that he had summoned the President and told him to get the House together again at 4. On that I went home, tired out, went to sleep about 3.30 and woke at 6 wondering confusedly whether it ws night or morning and why I was lying dressed on my sofa. Then I suddenly remembered, ran to the telephone, called by the secretary of the Assembly and asked whether it was sitting. No; there wasn't a quorum! As a matter of fact I afterwards learnt that there was, but Yasin was persuading the deputies to stay in the lobbies and not go into the chamber and hold a meeting.

I telephoned to Ken who said he was just coming to see me and tell me what had been done. He had gone to the King where Sir Henry joined him at 4. H.E. then told H.M. that the Cabinet must pass a law at 7 a.m. next morning enpowering the King to dissolve which he must do and that we were then prepared to go on backing the King and Cabinet - this last part needn't be told - to see what we could make of it. H.M. was very grateful and agreed to everything. Ken didn't think there was much hope, especially as they hadn't got a quorum in the afternoon. He was dining with the Joyces and we agreed that he should look in on me on the way home and that I would be ready with the latest news. I dined and telephoned to the secretary who said that Muhsin had called a meeting at 10 and that he and Ja'far were making every effort to beat up the deputies. We arranged that he should telephone to me, after 10 if there was anything doing. No message arrived; a little after 10.30 Ken came in and I told him of my talk with the secretary and said that if he liked I would ring him up again but I really didn't think it was worth while as it was obvious that they hadn't got a quorum and that the Assembly had just petered out, mocked of the universe. Ken agreed and we discussed the future for a bit, he went away and I sat on thinking - there there! it's over and what a silly business it has been - when ring went the telephone. "Do you know what has happened?" said Ken. "They've ratified the Treaty!" You will readily understand that I could scarcely believe it, but ring again and this time it was Capt Holt with the same message from Sir Henry.

With that I turned to bewildered sleep.

The first person to whom I told the good news was Marie. She has taken an eager interest because she was so much afraid that if the Treaty were rejected we should go away and she doesn't know how she could live anywhere else! I left her beaming to tell my cook Haji 'Ali. He threw up his hands and "Thank God!" he said "then we're safe." Next Zaya - but of course all Christians are overjoyed; they have been living in terror.

I found Sir Henry almost as beaming as Marie, but the absurd thing was that we didn't really know if the ratification were acceptable for we hadn't got the resolution. Presently Mr Drower brought it in - it was all right except for a sentence at the end about Mosul which might be interpreted as setting conditions on H.M.G. Sir Henry however decided that it only meant that we were to defend the rights of the 'Iraq as defined by the League of Nations and has advised H.M.G. to accept it.

Then came Nuri and I had the whole tale from him. It appears that when they met in the afternoon, Salim Khaiyun (the wicked shaikh of my former story) stood at the door and tried to persuade the deputies not to go in and Yasin stood inside and effectively prevented a quorum from assembling. The meeting was then put off till 10. Meantime the town was scoured for deputies. The Commandant of Police (Ja'far's brother) and one of the King's ADC went round in motor cars and carted the deputies to their places - good, bad and indifferent. All the leading extremists were there. The Ministers didn't sit on their own bench but scattered about among the pro-Treaty groups to give them encouragement. I'm afraid there is no doubt that Muhsin did all he knew to prevent ratification. (What he himself wants is a return to the mandate.) It had been agreed that he should put the Govt resolution first but when it came to the point he put Yasin's, asking for amendments before acceptance. Nuri jumped up and pointed out that that was tantamount to rejection, but his heart stood still while the vote was taken. Yasin was beaten, 44 to 24 or some such numbers. It had been further agreed that in taking the vote all members on one side and then on the other should stand up together and remain standing while there [sic] names were written down. Again Muhsin played them false. He called on the members one by one to declare their vote. "And they had to stand up" said Nuri "knowing that everyone was watching them and with the galleries full of lawyers and people accursed of their two parents whose eyes bored through them from behind. Really all the people who voted against Yasin voted for us, but the ordeal was too terrible and when it came to the second vote we only had a majority of 11." Eight stated that they had{n't} now no opinion to offer and one of the eight was Haji Naji! I'm sure he's feeling like St Peter, poor old darling.

Nuri sat with the 'Amarah ['Amarah, Al] shaikhs, a large group, to keep them steady. One 'Umar of Karbala, violently anti-treaty, drew near and began to whisper to them but Nuri drove him off and told him to go and sit in his own part of the House. "I really didn't think they would have the courage to stick to their resolutions. Poor Falih Saihoud" (he's one of my special friends ever since 1916, a large, calm man - the one of whom I told you the story about the dyed beard) "when Muhsin called out his name he half got up and mumbled in his beard that he was in favour. Muhsin pretended not to hear. 'You're against?' he said. And I said no, he's in favour. Muhsin told me not to answer for him so I pushed him up again and he voted for the treaty. All the 'Amarah deputies voted for it, and all {of} from Basrah [Basrah, Al (Basra)] but one lawyer, and the Kurds were solid except for the Arbil [(Hawler)] deputies who though they had signed the resolution refrained from voting, and all Mosul [Mawsil, Al] but three." And I must tell you that all the King's pet nationalists who were out against us in 1920 and joined the anti-mandate agitation in 1922 voted against it. That has taught the King a lesson. Yasin and Naji Suwaidi voted against, and Rauf Chadirji. 'Ali Sulaiman and 'Ajil for it, and 'Ajil did wonders previously in the lobby. I'm glad dear 'Ajil went straight at the end.

By this time they were all in a terrible twitter and you'll scarcely believe that Muhsin tried to take a third vote - on the Treaty, he said; Nuri believes that it was because he thought that the diminishing majority would melt wholly away. But the Ministers jumped up and said the Treaty was passed and they would vote no more, and everyone got up and streamed into the lobby. In one corner Salim Khaiyun was seen sobbing and groaning. "What is it?" said one of the Kurds (who told me the story). "My hand has been broken" he moaned by that dog son of dogs, Naji Suwaidi. It was he who urged me on - he told me we were sure to have a majority against." "The droll part of it was" said Nuri "that Naji came up in the lobby, shook my hand and warmly congratulated me. 'I did what I could to help you' he said. I said I didn't think voting against us was much help and he replied 'Oh but you see if I hadn't done that none of the deputies would have come! Rauf came up and congratulated me too. The swine," observed Nuri and I felt the expression to be not inappropriate. I fancy that Naji, Rauf, Yasin and Co will now drop out of the picture for a bit.

And then all the poor little things who had voted for the treaty declared that they didn't dare to go home - they would be murdered. So they all had to be provided with a policeman or two. Shaikh Mudhhir ibn Haji Saqab, a delightful man, Nuri packed into his own car. "Look" said Nuri, drawing out a bomb which he happened to have in his pocket "this would kill 200 people at once," an observation which had a calming effect on Mudhhir. It would have acted differently on me - in a jolty car! I should have expected the horrible thing to go off.

And having all gone to bed under police protection they've all awakened this morning to find themselves heroes! Nuri said never had so many people been to call on him or told him that he was a lion. Baghdad is breathing an immense sigh of relief and I shouldn't wonder if the Assembly now vanishes away, without organic or electoral laws. The Shaikhs have had enough.

I must dress for a tea party in the Maude garden given by the Interior to say good bye to Ken and though tea parties in this weather are no great catch I shall be deeply interested to meet the Arab world and see what it looks like. The King is overjoyed; he asked me to tea but like a beast I suggested tomorrow. I couldn't forego this hour of triumph.

- Well, I've come in. It was very pleasant. Naji Suwaidi and Rauf precipitated themselves. I condoled with Naji on his failure which rather disconcerted him. Yasin sat by me for some time - he didn't look very happy or at ease. The pro-Treaty shaikhs and the Ministers were swelling with pride and the Kurds of Sulaimani [Sulaymaniyah, As] - one of them Shaikh Mahmud's brother - were also very pleased with themselves. They have a right to be for they never wobbled.

Now for other things than the 'Iraq - I was much interested about your Kent coal and delighted with the obiter dicta of Mr Shinwell sent me by Mother and I note your dates and will write to Ceylon [Sri Lanka] in due course but I shall write weekly to Mother too. It's awkward having you at such opposite ends of the world.

I wonder would it be a great trouble to have this letter typed - leaving out just the personal bits about Ken's coming to dinner etc and send copies to Sir Percy, Iltyd Clayton and Bernard Bourdillon. I haven't time or energy to write in detail to all of them and they'll long to hear. Beginning from p 2 "Yesterday was hectic."

I must say I think Sir Henry has been very skilful. He was perfectly right to bring them to the point yesterday, otherwise they might have gone on for weeks more and ever deteriorating. (You might put this paragraph into the typed letter.)

There! I must go and have a cold bath - the nicest moment of the day. Ever your very affectionate daughter Gertrude