Typescript and printed cabinet papers and parliamentary papers on events in Egypt [‎100r] (199/520)

11
file general success of that association during the generation
which preceded the great war was universally recognised. When
Great Britain first began to take an active interest in Egypt, the
■kgyptii an people were a prey to financial chaos and administrative
anarchy. They were at the mercy of every comer, and could not
have resisted those fatal forms of foreign exploitation which under
mine a nation’s self-respect and destroy its fibre. If the Egyptian
people are a vigorous and self-respecting nation to-day, they owe that
recovery largely to British assistance and advice. They have been
secured against foreign intervention; they have been helped to create
an efficient system of administration; large numbers of them have
been trained in the arts of government; their power has steadily
grown; their finances have prospered beyond all expectation; the
welfare of all classes has been laid on firm foundations. There has
been no shadow of exploitation in this rapid development. Great
Britain has sought for herself no financial gain or commercial
privilege. The Egyptian nation has garnered all the fruits of her
counsel and help.
The outbreak of war between the Great European Powers in 1914
made the association between the British Empire and Egypt of neces
sity more close. When the Ottoman Empire joined the side of
Germany, not only Britaifi’s communications but Egypt’s inde
pendence were forthwith jeopardised. The declaration of the
protectorate was a recognition of the fact that only by common
action under a single command could the common menace to the
Empire and to Egypt be effectively repelled. In the extension of the
war brought about by Turkey many thousands of the King’s subjects
from India, Australia and New Zealand as well as from Great Britain
were maimed or killed. Their graves in Gallipoli, Palestine and Irak
stand as witness of the great effort which Turkish intervention cost
the British Commonwealth. Covered by their ranks, Egypt passed
scatheless through that period of ordeal. Her losses were inconsider
able ; her debt was not increased; her wealth is now greater than
before the war, whilst economic paralysis lies heavy on most other
lands. It is not wise for her people to overlook these facts or forget to
whom they are owed. But for the power exerted by the British
Empire in the war, Egypt must have become a field of action between
contending forces, which would have trampled on her rights and
destroyed her prosperity. But for the victory of the Allies, she would
not now be a nation clairping sovereign national status in lieu of the
protectorate of a foreign Power. The freedom which she enjoys and
the prospect of higher freedom to which she aspires she owes alike
to British statesmanship and British arms.
His Majesty’s Government are convinced that the close coin
cidence of interests between Great Britain and Egypt which has made
their association so mutually beneficial in the past is the key to the
relationship which they should still maintain. Now, as in the past,
the British Empire has to shoulder ultimate responsibility for the
defence of your Highness’s territories against external menace, as
also for such assistance as your Highness’s Government may at any
time request in the maintenance of your authority at home. It must
claim, moreover, the exclusive right of tendering such advice as your
Highness’s Government may require in the administration of the
country, the conduct of its finances, the development of its judicial
system and the pursuance of its relations with foreign Governments.