Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎137r] (275/473)

people. I 17 111 not elaborcito the argunonts which
Lord Milner has adduced in support of tho conclusion that we
should endeavour to secure a willing acceptance by the
Egyptian nationalists of our privileged position in Egypt.
Those arguments are, in my ^iow, very strong. Failing such
acceptance our predominance in Egypt will always be contested
from within and challenged from without. If, on the other
hand, we can arrive at an agreement which satisfies Egyptian
. national pride - and political self-respect is after all, a good
and not a bad element in human nature and one for the develop
ment of which among the Egyptians wo ourselves are mainly res
ponsible,- without sacrificing conditions essential to tho
military security of the Empire, our position in the world will
bo greatly improved.
(5) It is true that the agreement involves the abandon
ment of the Protectorate which was assumed during the V7ar.
V/e shall be asked to haul down the British flag and I appreciate
and to some extent share, the repugnance which most Englishmen
feel when they are asked to retreat from a forward position
which they have once taken up. I think, however, that in the
circumstances of this case that repugnance is reduced to a
minimum. We assumed the J^rotectorate of Egypt as a V/ar
measure. It was just as much a war measure as the establishment
of the Central Control Board. It was useful to us in an
emergency but now that the emergency is passed we can review
the situation without prejudice and reverse our decision if we
think it politic to do so, without any damage to national
prestige. The Milner Report offers us all the essentials
of a Protectorate without the name. Fe are in fact to be
the sole protectors of Egypt. We are to ratify all her foreign
treaties. Though our Army of Occupation is to he withdrawn
the overwhelming pressure of the British Empire will be
bhe predominant fact which will colour and shape all