The Story of Independence in Syria and Lebanon

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Lady Spears is counted among the most brilliant figures of the diplomatic corps who lived in our country for a period of time. There has been debate over Lady Spears's political and social capacities, especially during the November disturbances — so much so that some did not hesitate to declare that she played a skillful political role. I shall not now attempt to go into an interpretation of the role she played; rather I shall set before my readers her book, described below, in which there are explanations, not without value, of her activity in our country.

As for the book, it is small in size, and "Dar al-Ilm lil-Malayin" has rendered it into Arabic. The book consists of scattered and varied impressions of what Lady Spears lived through and witnessed in the three years she spent in our midst.

We do not deny that Lady Spears was frank in giving her opinion of what she saw in our country. I am not certain whether her frankness can be relied upon, for her life was confined to a single sphere of our social life; and this does not entitle her to pass sweeping judgments on the kind of life of our whole country.

She has succeeded in the shaping of the book: her style is lively and entertaining, for she combines direct description with the transcription of snippets from her diaries of those days.

I think the Arab reader, especially in Syria and Lebanon, will find pleasure in reading her book, for the incidents and scenes it records are ones in which we ourselves live.

As for the book's chief aims, they are to explain and to justify the role that Sir Spears played in the politics of our country during the independence movements. And thus we see that certain chapters of the book count as a historical record of our country's events, particularly the description of the relations between the English and the French, and how they were tinged with rancor and coldness on both sides.

In the first three chapters Lady Spears recounts to us her arrival in our country and her absorption, heart and soul, in directing the Spears health mission in the Middle East.

I liked Lady Spears's view of certain of our faces in social life. Here is what she says of the social world in which she lived in Beirut:

"The world of Beirut differed altogether from the world of Damascus. Since its people were Christians, or accustomed to life in a Christian society, it was easy for me to get in touch with them and become acquainted with them... The men of this class were owners of banks and of landed property... and it is said that some of them grow hashish. They were rich to a far degree, since they paid no taxes worth reckoning. Their great amusement was horse racing and card playing... There is in them a keen, childlike spirit, and in their cheerful friendship a kind of innocence that plants contentment in the soul. Nothing is easier than to gather them together or to scold them with mockery and disdain. It appears that Madame Catroux took pleasure in scolding them (and gathering them)."

As for her opinion of the ladies of this "aristocratic" society, it is as follows:

"As for the women advanced in years, in this class, they played cards a great deal, exactly like the men. They favored the game of 'bridge' and another game they call pinochle... My companions at bridge, in the first days, never changed; they were: Habib Trad, his brother, and Alice Sabbagh. Alice forever smokes the narghile while she plays cards, and in truth many of the ladies smoked these water-pipes, for it is the one Eastern custom to whose fringes they cling."

And here is what she said of Mrs. Linda Sursock: "Linda was a friend of General Catroux and of his wife; she was, naturally, French in her sympathies, but she never spoke of political questions at all. She is discreet and level-headed — indeed she is enigmatic, wrapped about with secrets. There is on her face an antique cast, and she would do well

to be painted on the walls of one of the Pharaohs' tombs!"

As for her opinion of our Lebanese company as a whole, it is not one to be envied at all! "With the days I became deeply attached to my Lebanese friends, men and women. Perhaps they were not people of great consequence; perhaps they never showed any serious feeling of responsibility toward their people; but they were sensitive children, and they enjoy captivating qualities. And if the women among them talk a great deal without there being more than the slightest of meanings in their talk, there is no doubt that their conversation was never far from graciousness and generosity of spirit."

Then she comes to the women's renaissance during the events, saying of the demonstrations our ladies held:

"But what interests me most of all, whenever I think of those days, is the conduct of the women. It truly astonished me. Three times, on three different days, they went out to ask the representatives of the Allied Powers to lay their country's cause fairly before their governments..."

Then she gives her opinion of the significance of the ladies' activity, saying: "You may say that they achieved nothing, that the governments of the Great Powers paid no attention to them, and that even at General Headquarters in Cairo they were considered a nuisance, and perhaps a jest and a joke. Who knows? But I know that they did achieve one thing, and I believe that, though the first beautiful blaze of excitement has died down, it will endure forever. They achieved national unity, and they created in the country a united spirit which I do not think will be easy to extinguish."

And Lady Spears leaves our country with pain in her heart. No wonder: such manifestations of admiration and respect were accorded her and her husband as made her feel that the like of those days would not always come again!!