Syria has a border with Egypt, currently under European domination; at several times in its history,
the former has been dependant on the latter – as indeed it currently is in commercial matters. Syrian
merchants have ongoing relations with Egypt, they visit and know it; wealthy Syrians winter there.
The British do not trust the full-blooded Egyptians who serve them but reluctantly and with ulterior
motives; they have accordingly filled Cairo and Alexandria’s administrations with Syrians. Ideas of
rights and freedom enjoy in the eyes of these young employees the full prestige of British power. In
their continuous to-and-froing between Egypt and their country, the Syrians brought home the seeds
of new ideas that were to take root in the ancient Lebanese soil.