Great Britain and Iraq The text of the Treaty of
Alliance between Great Britain and Iraq was issued last week as a White Paper (Cmd. 8627, 2d.). Thus is confirmed a most interesting development in post-War relations, for it is the first instance of a Mandatory PoNier resigning its Mandate. It is understood that Iraq will be a candidate for admission to the League of Nations in 1932, with the support of Great Britain, and in the meantime a special bond of co-operation between Great Britain and Iraq has been devised, subject, of course, to approval by the League. Sir Edward Hilton Young writes elsewhere on this experiment in advisory dominion, and we trust that the builders of the new India will not neglect this latest example of the constitutional elasticity which is possible through the free co-operation of nations, for which the British Empire stands. We note that there is a good deal of hostile comment in the Baghdad press, but it seems to us rather like the froth from the heady wine of " independence," which should soon subside. Al Iraq, which supports the present Cabinet, asserts that the Treaty " gives Iraq advantages which the people of Syria, although more advanced and better educated, have not yet obtained."
* * * *