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Typescript and printed cabinet papers and parliamentary papers on events in Egypt [185r] (369/520)
The record is made up of 1 file (260 folios). It was created in 10 Jul 1921-27 Feb 1922. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
interests; and the fourth (hitherto held to be essentially bound up with the termina
tion of the protectorate) was now conceded by His Majesty's Government. The fifth
was understood to be an expression of hope that His Majesty’s Government might,
at a date not long distant, find it possible to abolish the protectorate.
40. As I have explained early in this despatch, a new factor arose, which
prevented the formation of a Ministry upon this programme. The elimination of
that factor left, in two or three weeks, a position in which I saw that were the oppor
tunity swiftly and decisively taken, the use of a new concession would produce not
only a Ministry, but effects much more far-reaching for the well-being and content
ment of Egypt and for the relief of His Majesty’s Government from a harassing
perplexity.
41. 1 advised His Majesty's Government to authorise me to address a letter to
the Sultan, of a different tone, indeed, to the previous letter, but couched in such
language as evidently to arise out of and to be consistently referable to that letter.
The first four of the above-enumerated points were admitted, an undertaking was
added that His Majesty’s Government would recommend to Parliament, without
waiting for the conclusion of a treaty, the abolition of the protectorate, and the
following four matters were left for free and friendly discussion at some future
date : —
(a.) The security of the communications of the British Empire.
(b.) The defence of Egypt against all foreign aggression or interference, direct
or indirect.
(c.) The protection of foreign interests in Egypt and the protection of
minorities.
(d.) The Soudan.
42. This letter was to be published simultaneously with the assumption of office
by Sarwat
Pasha
An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
and his Ministry, and an official registration would thus be consti
tuted of British claims in respect of those four matters, though the measures which
might be regarded as necessary for the satisfaction of those claims were left for
future discussion unrestricted on both sides.
43. I explained in my telegram No. 18 of the 12th January how the definition of
the reserved subjects had been framed to cover all points in the draft convention
which His Majesty's Government could desire to bring under those headings.
44. I learnt from your Lordship in return that the apprehensions of His
Majesty's Government had been aroused by my not producing any guarantee that
the proposed Egyptian Ministry agreed with my view about the reserved subjects,
or would be prepared to agree to the British interpretation of them as a condition of
the concession which I had advised. I therefore entered into further conversations
with Sarwat and Sidki Pashas, the results of which were formally drawn up : this
enabled me to report that they were in entire accord with my view as to the points
covered by the reserved subjects, and that they undertook not to change the existing
state of affairs in matters affecting those subjects until an agreement upon them had
been reached with His Majesty’s Government.
45. In response to my communicating to your Lordship the result of these
conversations, I received your telegram No. 26 of the 24th January, which contains
the counter-proposals of His Majesty’s Government described in your telegram
No 32 as the extremity of concession.
46. His Majesty’s Government desired that the assurances I had received should
be embodied in an acceptable and tangible form less susceptible of evasion- they
required in fact the following explicit assurances :—
(1.) A formal recognition by the Egyptian Government that the advice which
His Majesty’s Government were prepared to offer Parliament should be
the prelude to the institution of relations of perpetual friendship and
close alliance between the two countries.
(2.) 1 hat foreign intervention and the influence of any Foreign Pow r er in the
internal affairs of Egypt should be excluded.
(3.) A full recognition of the superior diplomatic position and influence of
Great Britain
(4.) A full recognition of the vital importance of Egypt as a part of our Imperial
communications and of the resultant fact that in any arrangements which
might be proposed, His Majesty's Government must be at liberty to take
such steps as may be required to maintain and defend that position.
About this item
- Content
The file contains correspondence, memoranda, minutes, and other papers concerning the political situation in Egypt and negotiations between the British Government and an Egyptian delegation for the end of the British Protectorate in Egypt. The papers cover the effort to come to an agreement on future relations between the two parties following negotiations in the summer of 1921 and up until Britain's unilateral declaration of the end of the protectorate in February 1922.
The majority of the memoranda is written by Foreign Office officials, including the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Lord Curzon. Records of meetings of the Cabinet and a sub-committee on the Egyptian situation, and of a few high-level gatherings at 10 Downing Street, make up a substantial part of the file. There is also a large amount of correspondence between Curzon and Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, High Commissioner of Egypt, on the question of Egyptian independence and events in Egypt. Other papers include printed collections relating to the Egyptian situation that were presented to Parliament.
At the back of the file is a chronological summary and a résumé of events in Egypt since the publication of the report of the Milner Mission to Egypt (folios 238-260).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (260 folios)
- Arrangement
The file is arranged in chronological order, from the front to the rear.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the first folio with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 260; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 1-260; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Typescript and printed cabinet papers and parliamentary papers on events in Egypt [185r] (369/520), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/262, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100077517245.0x0000aa> [accessed 4 June 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- Mss Eur F112/262
- Title
- Typescript and printed cabinet papers and parliamentary papers on events in Egypt
- Pages
- 1r:1v, 4r:5v, 8r:9v, 11r:19v, 23r:44v, 49r:260v
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence