UNDER THE FRENCH MANDATE
Early in June 1920 Faysal, who had become the symbol
of Syrian aspirations, returned to Damascus from his second
trip to Europe fully convinced that England and France
were in no mood to accept a fully independent status for
Syria. More than that, he had agreed with Georges Clemen-
ceau to accept assistance in administrative, financial and
technical affairs. But an over-enthusiastic Syrian congress,
convened at Damascus, rejected (March 8) this mild form
of mandatory tutelage and proclaimed Faysal king over
an expanded Syria c in its natural boundaries' 'from the
Taurus to Sinai'. In the congress Syria and Palestine were
adequately represented, but not Lebanon. On July 14 the
French high commissioner Henri Gouraud, one-armed hero
of the Marne, addressed an ultimatum to King Faysal
demanding unconditional acceptance of French authority
and shortiy afterwards moved his forces upon Damascus.
The seasoned troops had no difficulty in scoring a victory at
Maysalun against a handful of hastily assembled, poorly
trained Syrian soldiers. Faysal left the country and was
later installed by the British as king over Iraq, where his
grandson, until 1958, ruled. On September 1, 1920, Greater
Lebanon was declared by Gouraud.
Syria itself presented well-nigh insurmountable difficulties. It was at perhaps the lowest ebb in its history politically, economically, socially and spiritually. It had no developed institutions for self-rule, no proper implementation for democratic procedure, and its people had no experience in parliamentary affairs or modern civil service. The man- datory was from the outset confronted with the task of literally creating administrative and judiciary organs of
