Report of the Special Mission to Egypt under Lord Milner, and related papers [‎228r] (458/473)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty
t
Printed for the Cabinet. July 1921.
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SECRET.
C.P. 3173.
THE CABINET.
THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES IN EGYPT.
Memorandum by the Secretary of State for the Colonies.
THE following letter has been forwarded to me by Lord Colwyn, and I think
this aspect should be seriously considered by the Cabinet.
W. S. C.
Colonial Office, July 28, 1921.
To the Right Hon. Lord Colwyn.
You have been good enough to state that my views concerning the present
situation in Egypt—as it affects the lives, property and interests of the various
European communities resident there—also concerning some possible results of the
proposed British evacuation of Egypt, may be useful to you. I shall accordingly try
to coniine myself to such matters, and to give reasons for the anxiety felt by many
people who have been connected with Egypt for a considerable time past, and who
have their families and interests there, at the prospect of that country being handed
over to the Egyptians, without any British authorities to whom they could appeal,
when necessary, for justice and protection.
The present delegation may represent the views of part of the Egyptian people,
but the great majority of the Egyptians live “on the land” and are much more
interested in the progress of their crops, and the price their cotton will fetch, than in
anything connected with politics, although they would no doubt occasionally shout for
“ Independence,” now that it has become a catch word. •
Since December 1918 there has been no shortage of plausible “ orators ” in Egypt
—self-seeking and imbued with a hatred of every European and non-Mohammedan—
who have done their best to develop in the native a hatred of everything British or
European. Their efforts led to many excesses in 1919 and 1920, and to the more
serious riots which occasioned considerable loss of life and damage to property in
Alexandria and Cairo during May this year.
It seems to me that the fanatical behaviour of the Egyptians in the recent riots in
Alexandria has hardly been realised yet in this country, and that we have not yet learnt
the lesson oi what Egyptian hatred may at any time mean to the Europeans resident
among them. That Europeans of any nationality should be attacked at sight in the
main streets of the town and butchered under revolting conditions, while the Egyptian
police watched unconcernedly and even helped the mobs ; that Egyptian troops on
being drafted into the town to restore order should look upon it as their chief duty
to fire upon the Europeans and to incite the mobs to further looting and murder ;
that these riots would have become even more widespread, to the grave danger of
every European in Egypt, had not the British troops eventually stepped in and restored
order—these are not pleasant topics for one’s mind to dwell upon, and residents in
Egypt will have cause for anxiety if the Egyptian police force and troops are to
provide the “ protection ” in future !
. Many such people are leaving Egypt, or, when possible, disposing of their lands and
interests there; and this week I have had a letter from an importer of British goods in
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