تقرير البعثة الخاصة إلى مصر بقيادة اللورد ميلنر، وأوراق ذات صلة [و‎‎٣‎٥] (٤٧٣/٦٩)

No. 3.
Earl Curzon to Mr. Scott (Cairo).
(Teiegraphic) Foreign Office, August 21, 1920.
LORD MILNER has handed me the document of which the full text is contained
in my immediately following telegram, and has informed me that copies have been
given by him to Adly Pasha for communication to Zaghlul and his associates.
Zaghlul has already returned to France, and the rest of his party followed him on
19th August. Adly Pasha has also left.
I understand from Lord Milner that four of Zaghul’s followers will return to
Egypt next month in order to persuade the country to support a settlement on the
lines which the Mission are disposed to recommend.
His Majesty’s Government have not yet considered the policy indicated in my
immediately following telegram, and in the absence of the Prime Minister and of most
of the members of the Cabinet, such consideration must necessarily be deferred.
It is on this clear understanding that the memorandum quoted in my immediately
following telegram is sent for your information and that of the Sultan and his Ministers ;
it is not intended for publication, but as Zaghlul and his associates are acquainted
with it, and will base their campaign upon it, the main points are certain to become
generally known. .
Lord Milner states that the conversations between his Mission and the Zaghlulists
were conducted in a friendly and conciliatory spirit on both sides, and though no actual
agreement has been reached, it is evident that the Lgyptians are anxious for a
settlement. In these circumstances, though the arrival of Zaghlul’s emissaries in
Ecrypt will probably cause a certain amount of excitement and a revival of political
controversy, it is not desirable to interfere with their activities as long as these are
kept within reasonable bounds, nor to use the censorship to check the discussion of
the proposed settlement in the press. It would be a good thing if in the meantime
the case of the men at present under trial could be disposed of one way or the other
and this element of possible disturbance got out of the way.
Should the reception of the Zaghlulist campaign in Egypt prove so favourable as
to warrant the mission making recommendations on the lines indicated, and should
His Majesty’s Government be prepared to endorse them, it is obvious that in the
subsequent negotiations the Sultan would have to take the lead and depute properly
accredited representatives to deal with His Majesty’s Government.
[455 l b]