Mr. Boner Law told the House on Tuesday that Sir
Percy Cox, the High Commissioner for Mesopotamia, considered the insur- rection to be virtually ended. Sir Percy Cox had a committee of former Arab deputies at work, framing an electoral law for a congress. In the meantime he had asked the Nagib, or mayor, of Baghdad to form a Council of State and to act as its president. The Council would include eight native ministers and ten other members, who were notable Arab merchants, lawyers, and soldiers, with several tribal chiefs, a Kurd, and two native Christians. The native ministers would be assisted by the British officials and would work under the direction of the High Commissioner. It is an interesting experiment which, we trust, will succeed. But we must not expect too much of a native Administration in a country which lacks both racial and religious unity and is rent by feuds of long standing between town and country and desert, and between the rival Moslem sects and the many other religious communities. Sir Percy Cox has, however, taken the first step towards the formation of a Mesopotamian State.
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