أوراق مطبوعة عن الوضع السياسي والسياسة العسكرية في مصر [ظ‎‎٨‎٣] (١٧٦/١٦٦)

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religion, admitted that he had been ordered to spend all his Fridays looking after
the Under-Secretary’s farm in the country; and how the Under-Secretary himself, in
continuing his private medical practice, found it necessary, owing to the stress of his
public duty, to sign a blank death certificate for a moribund patient with instructions
to the relatives to fill it in; they forgot to do so, and the Egyptian sanitary inspector
who refused to allow the corpse to be buried and referred the matter to the Under
secretary repented of his zeal.
In the Ministry of Communications, English control was previously altogether
preponderant, and the administration has been much upset by the methods of
Mahmud Sami Pasha, the Egyptian Under-Secretary of State. Sami Pasha
possesses in a high degree the Egyptian administrative vice of overcentralisation; ho
is very hardworking, rather arrogant and has the reputation of being anti-English.
Senior Englishmen in this Ministry differ greatly in their estimates of him, some of
them finding that, with a little trouble, he is reasonable and open to conviction, while
others find that he interferes intolerably and ignorantly in the details of their
departmental work. His relations with the general management of the State
railways in particular have been, and will be again, extremely strained. Sarwat and
Sidki Pashas exercised a moderating influence in the dispute, but I foresee the
possibility of having to intervene in order to preserve the efficiency of the railways—
a matter in which we are directly interested. I have, indeed, already spoken to
Sarwat Pasha on the subject. The Coptic Minister of Communications, Wassif
Simaika Pasha, seems to be a polite nullity, with a pronounced tendency to nepotism.
I possess less evidence with regard to the working of the Ministries of Justice,
Education, Public Works and Agriculture.
The Minister of Justice, Mustapha Fathy Pasha, is a man of little account, and
the same may be said of his Under-Secretary. It is commonly asserted that justice
has become more venal than it was, but I have no actual evidence of this. Ibrahim
Fathy Pasha recently inveighed to me against the corruption of the courts, but his
own record as Acting Minister of Finance last year was not above reproach, and he
has a violent prejudice against lawyers.
7 1 he Minister of Education, Mustapha Maher Pasha, is a man of intelligence
and provincial influence, but hardly of Ministerial capacity. As an ex-mudir, he is
disposed, I understand, to excessive centralisation, so that business is much retarded,
and he spends much of his time in contradicting his own orders. This Ministry, as
was to be expected, is being rapidly Egyptianised in its higher posts, but I am told
that the Minister is courteous and considerate in his dealings with his English
officials. The students in the Government schools have shown an improvement in
their behaviour since the present Ministry took office, but they are still unamenable to
discipline, arid likely to give trouble in the future.
The Minister of Public Works, Hussein Pasha Wassif, is a very agreeable and
fairly competent man, and his Under-Secretary, Abdul Hamid Bey Suleiman, has
been marked out as one of the most promising of the younger Egyptian officials.
He is scarcely up to the level of his post, but works hard and creditably; though I
fear there is discontent among the British officials of this Ministry, who are mostly
men with considerable technical pride, and who have become accustomed to almost
entire administrative predominance in the past.
In the Ministry of Agriculture, the Under-Secretary of State, Mohammed Abul
Futouh Pasha, is well spoken of.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, when it was previously under Egyptian
control, was of little importance and highly incompetent. It now appears to be
reasonably efficient, and rapidly becoming more so, and it maintains very cordial
relations with the Residency. Seifullah Yousry Pasha has hitherto merited his
selection as Under-Secretary* and I have not observed that he is justifying in Egypt
the reputation for intrigue which he acquired in Turkey.
On the whole I do not think we need be discouraged. It must be remembered
that during the forty years of British occupation the semi-Turkish governing classes
in this country have softened and lost much of the governing sense, or turned to other
pursuits; the younger generations of officials, more Egyptian or Egyptianised, have
become less corrupt and more instructed, but we have had no great success in the
difficult task of investing them with moral courage and a sense of responsibility.
■We have vastly increased their responsibilities, at a moment 'when it was required ito
guide through"strong cross-currents of politics an Administration overstrained and
dilapidated by four years of war and three years of civil tumult. Not only have they
been deprived of much experienced British advice, but the new conditions have made
it difficult for British officials to render a full measure of assistance.