Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎45r] (89/473)

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&oum time to Csome be retained in theae posts — be tenable*
Unless such an Official is retained in the Interior,
and faven access to the iiif h Com; .1 as ioner, the latter will
have no means of procuring information* At the same time,
the continued presence of such an Official in the Administra
tion implies British responsibility*
1 have referred to official oppression, iut in Upper
i^ypt, Girgeh and Aosiout, the sport of Copt-baiti/g has
alvays been as legitimate ind popular a diversion as was
Je«-laititg in liussia in the olden days* fhe oaidi,
or Upper -fyptian, is an eaci table and a^urderous i el low, as
was shewn by his treatment of our officials in the train
last year,and the baitirg rrLJit easily lead to something
more serious* hot a few of these Copte are foreign pro-
tfigAe.
Is it an impossible hypothesis to suppose that at
some future date the maa**&Qre of, say, Greek moneylender*
at Tantah mi, ht, if we declined responsibility and adequate
redress was not forthcoming, lead to the appearance of the
ureek fleet off Aleiandria?
1 am assuming throu^out that, as Sir Cecil Hurst has
told me, we can entirely divest ourselves of ail responsibi
lity towards the fellaheen Arabic for ‘peasant’. It was used by British officials to refer to agricultural workers or to members of a social class employed primarily in agricultural labour. and leave them to the tender
mercies of the tig land-owner or Effendi, who will oppress
or exploit them* hor need any reforms for their benefit
be expected iro * the Legislative Assembly, a body composed
almost entirely of provincial notables, who are in some ways
the lost stable and beet element in the population, but are
noneleasly selfish, reactionary and ignorant of anything
tut /