Modernization and the Growth of Nationalism 125
warning to the leading members of al-' Ahd not to be tempted into
hostile action against the Ottoman Empire, as her entry into the
war would expose the Arab provinces to European conquest; they
were to stand by Turkey until effective guarantees against Euro-
pean designs were obtained. These nationalist suspicions of
European intentions are important in the light of the conflict with
Britain and France that was to develop after the War.
Meanwhile, Kitchener and his Oriental Secretary Ronald Storrs
had been in correspondence since February 1914 with the Sharif
Husain of Mecca, who ruled the Muslim Holy Cities on medieval
theocratic lines and heartily disliked the efforts of his Ottoman
suzerain to centralize provincial administration and thus sub-
ordinate him to the Turkish wali appointed from Istanbul. This
threat to his hereditary authority had become acute with the advent
of the Young Turks, and had been held off only by Husain's skill in
tortuous and non-committal diplomacy. He had, however, found
it prudent to seek the support of the British in Egypt, though his
sons Abdullah and Faisal were anxious not to commit themselves
to the 'Franks' and make an open breach with the Turks pre-
maturely. The British negotiators were similarly cautious as long
as Turkey remained neutral, but in October 1914 they did commit
themselves in general terms to'the emancipation of the Arabs' and
'an Arab nation' in return for Arab support against Turkey. At
the same time Storrs and Gilbert Clayton of the military Intel-
ligence approached Aziz al-Misri and others concerning the possi-
bility of starting an Arab revolt; but these nationalists insisted as an
indispensable preliminary on guarantees of Arab independence
which the British spokesmen were not empowered to give. In
January 1915 a member of the prominent Bakri family of Damas-
cus, travelling to Mecca on Turkish official business, took with him
a message from al-Fatat to the Sharif, asking him to concert
measures with them for an Arab rising. The Sharif accordingly
sent his son Faisal to Istanbul, ostensibly on official business, but
really to sound the disposition of both the Ottoman authorities and
the Syrian nationalists. On his northward journey he visited the
Bakris, met members of both al-Fatat and al-'Ahd, was admitted to
both societies, and informed them of the Sharif's parleys with the
British. On his return to Damascus in May he found that in the
meantime the two secret societies had prepared a joint Protocol re-
quiring, as a condition of an Arab revolt against the Ottoman