Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎81r] (163/473)

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situation outwardly calm. But there was little diminution of anti-British sentiment,
which was now chiefly manifested against the military element, whose behaviour
during the repression of disorder was speciously misrepresented. Lawyers and
students continued to strike, and many officials absented themselves from their duties.
The conciliatory disposition adopted by the Special High Commissioner in
addressing a group of notables who visited him by invitation did not prevent the
outbreak on the 2nd April of a general strike, which had, however, practically
subsided by the 6 th. Meanwhile, in pursuance of his policy of conciliation, Lord
Allenby, with the approval of His Majesty’s Government, completely removed the
embargo on the departure of Egyptians desiring to travel, a measure which carried
with it the release from Malta of Zaghlul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and his three associates. Thus,
within a month of their deportation, the policy then adopted was reversed, and
the leaders of the movement became free either to return to Egypt or to proceed
elsewhere to renew their campaign of agitation.
Such, in brief, was the course of events in the first four months of the year 1919.
It is obvious, after the event, that Egyptian Ministers should have been encouraged to
come to London when they proposed to do so, and Sir Reginald Wingate, whose advice
on this subject was fully justified by the sequel, would have done well, in our opinion,
to urge his view r s with even greater insistency. After this initial mistake events moved
more rapidly in Egypt than the Administration appear to have realised. The
consequences of deporting the Nationalist leaders were not rightly estimated, and the
revoking of that measure, after serious disturbances had taken place, necessarily gave
the impression that British policy was wavering and liable to quick changes under the
pressure of agitation. In the next stage, punitive measures for the murder of British
officers and other outrages committed during the rebellion became a necessity, and
though carried out, on the whole, with moderation, they inevitably prolonged the
period of exasperation. The Administration endeavoured to conciliate Egyptian
sentiment by transferring a large number of the trials, after the most urgent cases had
been dealt with by martial law, to the ordinary tribunals, but by this time Nationalist
opinion had hardened, and the almost invariable result was that evidence ceased to be
forthcoming and that the accused were acquitted. In the meantime, Zaghlul
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and his colleagues had, on their release from Malta, proceeded to Paris, in the
hope of obtaining a hearing for Egypt’s claim to independence from the Peace
Conference. On failing to achieve this object, they devoted all their energies to
obtaining foreign support for their cause, and an emissary w’as despatched to America
to canvass opinion in the United States. At the same time, their adherents in Bgypt
worked with the greatest industry to complete their organisation, collecting large sums
of money and extending their propaganda to all parts of the country. I heir activities
in this latter sphere were largely concentrated upon the exploitation of the existing
conditions of industrial unrest, resulting in a succession of more or less serious strikes.
By this time it had been announced that the British Government intended to send the
Special Mission to Egypt, but, having made up their minds that its object would be
the extinction of Egyptian nationality, the agitators concentrated their attention on
limiting the sphere of its activities by an organised boycott.
(B.)— The Nationalist Movement and Egyptian Aspirations.
Enough has been said to explain the rapid growth of the Nationalist movement.
It is more difficult to give, within a reasonable compass, a correct and at the same
time intelligible analysis of its real nature and objects.
It has been said, that k ‘ every Egyptian worth his salt is at heart a Nationalist.
This is only true of the educated and semi-educated classes, who constitute less than
10 per cent, of the fourteen million inhabitants of Egypt. It would be meaningless
as applied to the 92 per cent, of illiterates and especially to the fellahin 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. , who are
two-thirds of the whole people. The turbulent crowds of the great towns
may indeed be easily worked up to excitement by political catchwords, which they
vociferate without understanding. But the fellahin 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. , as a body, are normally very
indifferent to politics. They are a primitive peasantry, living on the land and by the
land, to which they are passionately devoted, and from which, though working with
rude instruments and with little aid from agricultural science, they raise by their
matchless industry and perfect knowledge of the soil those wonderful crops which
are the bed-rock of Egyptian prosperity. Their whole interest in life centres in
these crops and in the regular supply of Nile water, without which their fields would
be barren. But while their outlook remains limited their independence has
developed, and they are far more tenacious of their rights than in the old days of
despotism.