Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎15v] (30/473)

2
purpose, namely, the maintenance of our communications with the East, and not as an
Army of Occupation. Therefore, obviously, we have no claim upon the independent
State of Egypt.
The repercussion of these proposals and this model upon other parts of the British
Empire may even be more serious than the effect on Egypt. If r we leave out the word
“ Egypt ” in the document circulated last night by the Foreign Office and substitute
the word “ Ireland,” it would with very small omissions make perfectly good sense, and
would constitute a complete acceptance of Mr. De Valera’s demands.
One can also easily see that these proposals will become immediately the goal of
Indian nationalism. The ideal which Mr. Montagu has been endeavouring to hold up
before Indian eyes of India as a great self-governing Dominion within the ambit of the
British Empire and under the supreme authority of the British Monarchy will he
discarded in favour of an independent Indian Empire, according, no doubt, to the British
the sort of trading and practical facilities which were obtained in the Eighteenth Century
by the British East India Company. I thought we had all arrived in common at the
conception of the British Empire as a grouping of self-governing Dominions gathered
together under the oegis of the Crown, developing under various degrees of responsibility
within that circle. Surely here we are taking a retrograde step.
After all, the Proclamation of the Protectorate over Egypt was a solemn act of
State, and we have laboriously procured the assent of all our Allies, one after another,
to that act. No sooner is this done than we come forward and tear up the charter to
which we have just obtained the signatures of all the greatest Powers in the world.
It may have been wise or unwise to alter the juridicial status of Egypt in the
war, and I myself have often thought that the ex-Khedive was treated with
precipitate severity ; but a step of this kind, once taken, ought not to be lightly
retraced. In my judgment we should adhere to the broad ideal of full self-government
within the Empire and under the Crown for all parts of the King’s Dominions, whether
in Egypt, Ireland or India, and that any departure from this ideal and goal should only
be made by a Government which has definitely submitted its case to the British
Parliament. Following this conviction, it seems to me that the most we have to
offer to the Egyptians or to the Irish is real concessions in regard to the management
of their own affairs, and that all demands to break away from the British Empire and
British Crown should be perseveringly withstood.
Lastly, it is my duty to point out that neither the War Office nor the Air Ministry,
nor, so far as I know, the Admiralty h ive been consulted in any way upon the strategic
bearing of these proposals, and I submit that the Cabinet should have the advice of the
military and naval experts before them before giving their assent to such a scheme.
I append memoranda by the Chief of the Imperial General Staff and by the Chief
of the Air Staff.
w. s. c.
War Office,
2A:th August, 1920.
APPENDIX.
(i.)
MEMORANDUM BY THE CHIEF OF THE IMPERIAL GENERAL STAFF.
Secretary of State,
I wish to direct your attention to the attached documents,* and more particularly
to paragraphs 3 (ii.) and 4 (ii) of the Memorandum drawn up between Lord Milner’s
Mission, and communicated apparently to Zaghloul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and the members of the
Egyptian Delegation.
From Foreign Office telegram No. 750, dated 21st August, it will be observed
that “ His -Majesty’s Government have not yet considered the policy ” in question. At
the same time it is recognized in a subsequent paragraph that though it is not intended
for publication, yet “ as Zaghloul and his associates are acquainted with it and will
base their campaign upon it, the main points are certain to become generally known.
Foreign Office telegrams to Mr. Scott, Nos. 750 and 751.