Typescript and printed cabinet papers and parliamentary papers on events in Egypt [‎183v] (366/520)

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the British advisers in this country, and on the 17th November l telegraphed the text
of a joint memorandum which I had received from them, and expressed my opinion
that a settlement of the negotiations in London which proved unacceptable to Egypt
would make it very difficult to carry on the administration.
21. But the question whether or not I was over sanguine in the view f stated
to the Cabinet has never been put to the proof. A letter was prepared in London,
setting forth the intentions of His Majesty's Government towards Egypt consequent
upon the rejection of the proposed draft convention, which, 1 was informed, it had
been decided that I should present to the Sultan. On the 1st December this letter,
with whose contents I had no previous acquaintance, arrived, and 1 was instructed to
present it to the Sultan on the 3rd December, on which date it was to be published in
London.
22. The effect of this letter was such as largely to change the situation. It was
universally taken in Egypt as barring the way to the restoration of harmonious
relations between the two countries, as destroying the hope of any resumption of
negotiations, and as rendering the acceptance of ministerial office by any Egyptian
an act of treachery to the national cause. At any moment these sentiments, however
unreasonable, were liable to be fanned into flame by political agitators.
23. The maintenance of constitutional or even of legal government in Egypt
involves as a minimum condition the existence of a Ministry. Moreover, from the
immediately practical point of view, the attempt to carry on indefinitely the govern
ment of the country without the authority provided for by the constitution could only
lead, especiallv in the presence of increasing popular hostility and bitterness, to a
general breakdown of the whole machine of administration.
24. I lost no time in placing my proposals, before your Lordship. My telegrams
Nos. fl56 of the 5th December and flfi4 of the 11th December are doubtless still fresh
in your memory, and 1 need only remind you that I argued once again in favour
of His Majesty's Government abandoning their desire to bargain, and acting on
their own initiative in conceding the protectorate and retaining their essential
safeguards. Your reply (telegram No. 529) pointed out the impossibility of altering
the status of Egypt without previous discussion by Parliament, and made a sugges
tion as to a possible programme upon which an Egyptian Ministry might take office.
In my telegram No. 004, 1 demonstrated the uselessness of the suggested programme;
and, recognising the bar to the immediate abolition of the protectorate, I proposed
that His Majesty's Government should undertake to recommend its abolition when
Parliament met. 1 need not recapitulate the arguments with which, both from
the Imperial and the Egyptian point of view, 1 supported my case.
25. It was at this moment that Adlv Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. resigned, and in -my telegrams
Nos. 665 and 666 1 communicated to your Lordship, and supported, the programme
upon which Sarwat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who had been sent for by His Highness the Sultan, then
declared himself willing to take office. The chief feature of this programme, which
disregards the draft convention except in so far as it declared the willingness of
His Majesty’s Government to terminate the protectorate, was the proposal to
re-create an Egyptian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The entire control of the
foreign affairs of Egypt had hitherto been regarded as an essential part of the
protectorate (see, for example, Sir E. Grey’s telegram to Mr. Cheetham, No. 425 of
the 15th December, 1914), and—since later in this despatch I shall have to contest
the reality of certain other supposed concessions—T should here say that when your
Lordship on the 15th December authorised me to assent to Sarwat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's
programme I fully appreciated that this was a generous concession, and conformable
to the method of procedure which I had long advocated.
26. A new and disturbing factor now appeared and complicated the situation.
Saad Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Zaghlul, whose first hope, upon the failure of the negotiations, had
been to see himself rise supreme upon a wave of universal disappointment, had been
willing, as long as the prospects of the formation of a Ministry seemed remote, to
trust to a gradual disintegration of the Governmental parties by accessions to his
own side. Alarmed now by the apparent imminence of a new Government, he
resolved to make an immediate bid for the recovery of his old domination. My report
on the situation in Egypt for the week beginning on the 15th December records, in
sharp contrast with those for previous weeks, a notable recrudescence of popular
excitement. The anniversary of the declaration of the protectorate, on the 18th
December, and the return to Egypt on the following day of one of Zaghlul Pasha’s
more prominent supporters, were made the occasion for strikes and demonstrations.
Two British soldiers were assassinated in the streets of Cairo. Zaghlul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. had