Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎80v] (162/473)

14
that, in spite of the insistence with which the High Commissioner appealed for their
reception, the real urgency of dealing with the Egyptian problem at that critical
moment had not been realised.
Every effort was made to induce Kushdi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. to withdraw his resignation, and
a prospective date for the eventual visit of the Ministers was indicated. But the
position of the Nationalists had now become so strong in Egypt that the Ministers
were only willing to go if Zaghlul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and his friends were allowed to do the same.
As it was not considered expedient to permit this, they adhered to their resignation, and
the High Commissioner was instructed to come to England himself to report on the
situation.
The result of these events was that a number of the Moderate Party joined the *
advanced Nationalists, who now advocated a more far-reaching policy, while their
agents initiated a violent anti-British campaign throughout the country, where, owing
to the calls of the flag, only a relatively small number of British officials remained.
While the proposed visit of Egyptian Ministers to London was still under *
consideration in the beginning of 191'.t, a document w r as addressed to the foreign
representatives and residents in Egypt announcing the constitution of a “ Delegation ”
of twelve members, under the chairmanship of Zaghlul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , which proposed to lay
the legitimate aspirations of Egypt before other countries. The majority of the
Delegation were identical with those included in a Nationalist Committee of fourteen
formed at the end of the preceding year.
On the 3rd March the Delegation above referred to presented to the Sultan a
petition which was generally interpreted as an attempt to intimidate His Highness and
deter him from appointing a new Government. This proceeding was felt to be a
challenge which could not be declined, and Sir Milne Cheetham, acting for the High
Commissioner, decided with the approval of the British Government to deport
Zaghlul I’asha and three of his most active adherents to Malta. This gave rise to
renewed agitation and protest, beginning with anti-British demonstrations on the part of
students in Cairo which quickly necessitated military intervention. Similar outbreaks
were soon reported from the provinces. On the 12th March disturbances broke out at
Tanta and were quelled by the military, not, however, without bloodshed. By the 14th
and 15th March the trouble had spread to most of the Delta provinces, where attempts
to interrupt communications had become general. Looting, pillaging, attacks on
British troops, and murders of British soldiers and civilians were reported from many
quarters. On the 16th the railway and telegraphic communication between Cairo and
the Delta, as well as with Upper Egypt, was broken. B\" the 18th the provinces of
Behera, Gharbia, Menufia and Dakhalia were in a state of open revolt. Upper Egypt
and the foreigners living there were completely cut off, while the fanaticism of the
insurgents culminated the same day in the murder at Beirut of two British officers and
five other ranks and of an English Inspector of Government Prisons in the Assiut-
Minia train. By the 26th March, however, the situation, from a purely military point
of view, had become stabilised. The main railway and telegraphic communications
had been re-established and the necessary dispositions of troops had been made for
their adequate protection. Mobile columns had been moved in various directions to
control the more violent areas, to arrest and bring to justice those responsible for the
excesses, and to re-establish civil control. The outlying centres of disturbance in the south
had been relieved and the first and most dangerous phase of the disorders was over.
Thus, within a week from the deportation of Zaghlul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and his associates, a
movement anti-British and even anti- European had assumed grave proportions. It
was a national movement backed by the sympathy of all classes and creeds among the
Egyptian population, including the Copts, and on the part of its more fanatical
adherents it took the form of t!ie systematic destruction ol property and communica
tions, with an increasing disregard for human life. Responsible though the Delegation
undoubtedly was for the organisation of the original demonstrations out of which the
movement grew, its more responsible members soon became alarmed at the develop
ment of a situation which rapidly passed out of their control and fell into the hands of
irresponsible extremists, supported by a certain number of undesirable foreign # «
elements.
The Commander-in-Chief in Egypt, Field-Marshal Lord Allenby, had left to join
the Peace Conference at Paris on the 12th March. He was, however, back again in
Cairo by the 25th, having been in the meantime appointed Special High Commissioner v *
during the absence of Sir R. Wingate, the High Commissioner, in England. His
instructions were to “restore law and order” and “ to administer in all matters as may
be required by the necessity of maintaining the King’s Protectorate on a secure and
equitable basis.” The military measures which had been taken had rendered the