Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎82v] (164/176)

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APPENDIX (B).
[E 10769/1/16 J (1.)
Field-Marshal Viscount Allenby to the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston.—{Received
October 9.)
fNo. 799. Confidential.)
My Lord, Ramleh, September 30, 1922.
THE Sarwat Ministry has now spent seven months in office, and the most
important line of its constructive policy, the preparation of Constitutional Govern
ment, is approaching a critical climax. I propose, therefore, to make some attempt
to estimate the achievement of this Ministry, their present position and their
prospects. I shall confine myself in this despatch to matters of administration, and
devote a subsequent despatch to matters of politics.
The Ministry has been dominated throughout by the personalities of Sarwat and
Sidki Pashas; of the rest, Ibrahim Fathy Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. is no longer the man he was in
Lord Kitchener’s time, Gaafar Wali Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , an able, cultivated and honourable man,
has, through timidity and softness, become rather a disappointment to his friends,
and the remaining five, including Mustapha Maher Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , of whom something was
hoped, have certainly failed to pull their weight.
The result has been that Sarwat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , already sufficiently burdened with the
duties of Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, has found himself over
occupied with the work of a variety of Departments, and has, I think, been unable to
give sufficient attention to his own other Ministry, the Interior, which is the keystone
of the Egyptian Administration. The Ministry of Finance has been ably guided by t «
Sidki Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , whose remarkable quickness of intelligence has made him Sarwat’s
constant and very influential adviser.
It was intended that the declaration of Egyptian independence should give a
definite impetus to the Egyptianisation of Government Departments—an inten
tion which was taken up in the Ministerial programme—and it was foreseen