The circumstances of the rising were closely investigated, on behalf of the League of Nations, by the permanent Mandates Commission at a special session held in Rome in Feb. and March 1926. The commission, in its report to the League Council, convicted the French of serious errors of policy and severely cen sured the conduct of Gen. Sarrail, though at the same time it recognized the difficulties of the mandatory power.
In June 1926 de Jouvenel appeared in person before the Man dates Commission to report progress. The gist of his statement was that France looked forward to an eventual settlement on the lines successfully followed by Great Britain in 'Iraq, but that the real difficulty was that Syria was a medley of warring sects and races which it would take time to weld into a nation. Article I. of the mandate required France to provide Syria with a permanent Constitution in the shape of an organic law within three years of the date on which the mandate came into force. The time-limit expired on Sept. 29, 1926, but on Sept. 20 the Council of the League agreed to a six months' extension. The Mandates Corn mission took note of this decision at its meeting in Nov. 1926, but it returned to the subject in reporting to the Council on the situation in Syria in July 1927, when it drew attention to the fact that the organic law had not yet been promulgated. At the end of 1927 the linked problems of Syrian constitution and of the rela tions between Syria and France still awaited a final solution.
Though in this respect the situation remained anomalous, the pacification of Syria had made considerable progress since the Druse rebellion began to flicker out in the spring of 1926. The embers of the rising still smouldered, but the crisis was over, and in the end the Druse leaders either fled the country or made their peace with the victors. In May 1926 de Jouvenel succeeded in setting up a Syrian Government under Ahmed Nami Bey, though it was a Government which derived its authority from the high commissioner and not from any representative assembly. In the State of the Alawiyin the representative council resumed its sit tings in Oct. 1926, but Syria as a whole remained without consti tutional machinery through which it could negotiate a permanent settlement with the Mandatory Powers. On the other hand, an increased measure of autonomy was granted to the Lebanon, which was formally proclaimed a republic on May 23, 1926, while in the Alexandretta district the situation was eased by the signature on May 3o, 1926, of a Franco-Turkish treaty defining the frontier between Syria and Turkey and guaranteeing Syria against Turkish raids.
In Aug. 1926 de Jouvenel was succeeded as high commissioner by Henri Ponsot, who arrived in Syria in October, was recalled to Paris for consultation with the Home Government a few months later and returned to his post in June 1927. By this time, though there was still much latent unrest, Syria could no longer be said to be out of hand. On July 27, 1927, M. Ponsot made his eagerly awaited statement of policy. Its key-note was festina lente. France undertook to encourage the political evolution of the various Syrian States and to promote co-operation between them in mat ters of common concern, but she was non-committal on the subject of Syrian unity and independence. M. Ponsot's first important step after the publication of this statement was one which caused much dissatisfaction in the Lebanon. He insisted on a drastic modifica tion of the Lebanon Constitution of 1926. The senate was to be abolished, and half the members of the chamber, instead of being popularly elected, were to be nominees of the Lebanese Govern ment. To this parliament grudgingly agreed on Oct. 12, 1927. The constitution was suspended in 1932, and restored in Jan. 1937.
On the French side public opinion was moving in the same direction, and on Dec. 14, 1927, the foreign affairs committee of the senate passed a resolution urging that definite proposals with regard to the future administration of Syria should be put forward without delay. In Feb., 1928, M. Ponsot announced that elections would shortly be held for a constituent assem bly. The immediate sequel was the resignation of Ahmed Nami Bey as president of the Syrian State in favour of Sheikh Taju'd-Din who had been M. de Jouvenel's original choice for the same appointment. M. Ponsot next proceeded to issue a series of decrees abolishing the censorship of the Press, terminating the state of siege, declaring an amnesty (with certain exceptions) for political offenders, and giving the franchise to all citizens who had attained the age of 21. Polling took place in April, 1928, and resulted in the election of a constituent Assembly of a predominantly Nationalist complexion.