ملف من أوراق مطبوعة مصنفة تحت عنوان "التفاوض المصري" بين كرزون وعدلي باشا والوفد المصري [و‎‎٣‎٨] (١٧٨/٧٥)

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic M ajesty’s Government.]
421—4 [6655]
CONFIDENTIAL.
EGYPTIAN NEGOTIATIONS.
Minutes of the Fourth Conference with the Fgyptian Official Delegation, held at the
Foreign Office, July 20, 1921, at 4T5 p.m.
Present:
Foreign Office.
The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston.
The Hon. R. C. Lindsay.
Mr. R. Vansittart.
Mr. J. Murray.
Mr. A. D. Cooper.
Egyptian Official Delegation.
His Excellency Sir Adly Yeghen Pasha {President).
Members :
His Excellency Sir Hussein Rushdi Pasha.
His Excellency Ismail Sidky Pasha.
His Excellency Mohammed Shafik Pasha.
His Excellency Ahmed Talaat Pasha.
His Excellency Youssef Soliman Pasha.
Abdel Hamed Bey Bedawi {Secretary).
LORD CURZON said that at the last meeting the functions .of the Financial
Commissioner had been discussed, and Adly Pasha had said that he had certain
observations to make on the draft clauses, whereby the Financial Commissioner was to
be consulted with regard to the raising of external loans or the pledging of public
revenue.
Adly Pasha said he wished to begin by observing that Lord Curzon had said
yesterday that the delegation had accepted none of his proposals. He hoped that this
would not be taken as a sign of intransigence or ill-will on the part of the delegation,
as the points which had been discussed were those with regard to which public opinion
in Egypt was most susceptible, and it was feared in Egypt lest by defining the powers
of the Financial Commissioner, as suggested in Lord Curzon’s memorandum,. they
should constitute an official with such extensive privileges as to exercise a veritable
guardianship over Egyptian affairs.
» >n the other hand, Lord Curzon had pointed out that it was in the interests of
the Egyptians themselves that the official in question should exercise these powers,
and should be useful to the Egyptian Government, not merely within the limits of the
existing Commission of the Debt, but also in general financial administration. He
himself sought to conciliate the two ideas, i.e., he wished to calm Egyptian fears on
the subject, while at the same time securing the effectiveness of the Financial Com
missioner. The powers suggested by Lord Curzon would tend to create an official who
would be above the Government and above Parliament, as it was Parliament who had
to sanction the issue of any loan. The Commission of the Debt had been moribund
since 1904, and on its demise Egypt should have recovered her complete financial
liberty, apart from a nominal control exercised by Turkey, which had now disappeared.
The delegation did not feel that they had the right to refasten financial fetters by
agreeing to the appointment of a super-functionary.