or sign' 3SpQCtij office. deler'ti: . 1. l'iO • 'i ' (1921)) ■">- ■'■■ AT LOS ANGELES EGYPT No. 4 (1921). PAPERS RESPECTING NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE EGYPTIAN DELEGATION. Presented to Parliament hy Command of His Majesty. LONDON : PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY HIS MAJESTY'S STATIONEKY OFFICE. To be purchased through any Bookseller or directly from H.M. STATIONERY OFFICE at the following addresses: Imperial House, Kingsway, London, W.C. 2, and 28, Abingdon Street, London, S.W. 1 ; 37, Peter Street, jNIanchester; 1, St. Andrew's Crescent, Cardiff; 23, Forth Street, Edinburgh; OR FROM EASON & SON, Ltd., 40 & 41, Low^er Sackville Street, Dublin. 1921. [Cmd. 1555.] Price M. Net. <>t Papers respecting Negotiations with the Egyptian Delegation. No. 1. Memorandum of Clauses of suggested Convention between Great Britain and Egypt, handed by the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston to Adly Yeghen Pasha on November 10, 1921. 1. — Tcr))iinatio)i of Protectorate. 1. The Government of His Britannic Majesty agree, in considera- tion of the conclusion and ratification of the present treaty, to terminate the Protectorate declared over Egypt on the 18th December, 1914, and thenceforth to recognise Egypt as a Sovereign State under a constitutional monarchy. There is hereby concluded, and there shall henceforth subsist, between the Government and people of His Britannic Majesty on the one hand, and the Government and people of Egypt on the other hand, p perpetual treaty and bond of peace, amity and alliance. II. — Foreign Relations. 2. The foreign affairs of Egypt shall be conducted by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs under a Minister so designated. 3. His Britannic Majesty's Government shall be represented in Egypt by a High Commissioner, who, in virtue of his special responsi- bilities, shall at all times be entitled to an exceptional position, and shall take precedence over the representatives of other countries. 4. The Egyptian Government shall be represented in London, and in any other capital in which, in the opinion of the Egyptian Govern- ment, Egyptian interests may require' such representation, by diplo- njatic representatives enjoying the rank and title of Minister. 5. In view of the obligations which Great Britain has undertaken in Egypt, notably in respect of foreign countries, the closest relations shall exist between the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the British High Commissioner, who will render all possible assistance to the Egyptian Government in respect of diplomatic transactions or negotiations. 6. The Egyptian Government will not enter into any political agreement with foreign Powers without consultation with His Britannic Majesty's Government through the British High Commis- sioner. 7. The Egyptian Government will enjoy the right of appointing such consular representatives abroad as their interests may require. 623 2000 12/21 F.O.P. [7384] 2Rr!0^ i 8. For the general conduct of diplomatic relations, and the con- sular protection of Egyptian interests in places where no Egyptian diplomatic or consular representative is stationed, His Britannic Majesty's representatives will place themselves at the disposal of the Egyptian Government, and will render them every assistance in their power, 9. His Britannic Majesty's Government will continue to conduct the negotiations for the abolition of the existing Capitulations with the various capitulatory Powers, and accept the responsibility for pro- tecting the legitimate interests of foreigners in Egypt. His Majesty's Government will confer with the Egyptian Government before formally concluding these negotiations. III. — Military Dispositions. 10. Great Britain undertakes to support Egypt in the defence of her vital interests and of the integrity of her territory. For the discharge of these obligations and for the due protection of British Imperial communications, British forces shall have free passage through Egj-pt, and shall be maintained at such places in Egypt and for such periods as shall from time to time be determined. They shall also at all times have facilities as at present for the acquisition and use of barracks, exercise grounds, aerodromes, naval yards and naval harbours. IV. — Employment of Foreign Officers. 11. In view of the special responsibilities assumed by Great Britain and of the existing position in the Egyptian army and pubhc services, the Egyptian Government undertake not to appoint any foreign officers or officials tp any of those services without the previous con- currence of the British Hig-h Commissioner. V. — Financial Administration. 12. The Egyptian Government will appoint, in consultation with His Britannic Majesty's Government, a Financial Commissioner, ta whom shall be entrusted in due course the powers at present exercised by the Commissioners of the Debt, and who will more especially be responsible for the punctual payment of the following charges : — (i.) The charges for the budget of the Mixed Courts, (ii.) All pensions or other annuities payable to retired foreign officials and their heirs, (iii.) The budgets of the Financial and Judicial Commissioners and their respective staffs. 13. For the proper discharge of his duties the Financial Commis- sioner shall be kept fully informed on all matters within the purview of the Ministry of Finance, and shall at all times enjoy the right of access to the President of the Council of Ministers and to the Minister- of Finance. 14. No external loan shall be raised nor the revenue of any public service be assigned by the Egyptian Government without the con- currence of the Financial Commissioner. [7384] VI. — Judicial Administration. 15. The Egyptian Government will appoint, in agreement with Jlis Britannic Majesty's Government, a Judicial Commissioner, who, in virtue of the obligations assumed by Great Britain, shall be charged •with the dutj^ of watching the administration of the law in all matters affecting foreigners. 16. For the proper discharge of his duties, the Judicial Commis- sioner shall be kept fully informed on all matters affecting foreigners which concern the ]\Iinistries of Justice and of the Interior, and shall at all times enjoy the right of access to the Egyptian Ministers •of Justice and of the Interior. Yll.—Soinlan. 17. The peaceful development of the Soudan being essential to "the security of Egypt and for the maintenance of her water supply, Egypt undertakes to continue to afford the Soudan Government the same military assistance as in the past, or, in lieu thereof, to provide the Soudan Government with financial assistance to an extent to be agreed upon between the two Governments. All Egyptian forces in the Soudan shall be under the orders of the Governor-General. Great Britain further undertakes to secure for Egypt her fair share of the waters' of the Nile, and to this end it is agreed that no new irrigation works on the Nile or its tributaries south of Wadi Haifa shall be undertaken without the concurrence of a Board of three conservators representing Egypt, the Soudan and Uganda respec- tively. YIU.— Tribute Loans.- 18. The sums which the Khedives of Egypt have from time to time undertaken to pay over to the houses by which the Turkish loans secured on the Egyptian tribute were issued, will be applied as here- tofore by the Egyptian Government to the interest and sinking funds of the loans of 1894 and 1891 until the final extinction of those loatis. The Egyptian Government will also continue to apply t\ie sum hitherto paid towards the interest of the guaranteed loan of 1855. Upon the extinction of these loans of 1894, 1891 and 1855, a^l liability on the part of the Egyptian Government arising out of the tribute formerly paid by Egypt to Turkey will cease. IX. — Retirement and Compensation of Officials. 19. The Egyptian Government shall be entitled to dispense with the services of British officials at any time after the coming into force of this treaty on condition that such officials shall receive monetary compensation as hereafter provided, in addition to any pension or indemnity to which their conditions of service may entitle them. ' On the like condition British officials shall be entitled to resign at any time after the coming into force of this treaty. ' The scheme shall apply to pensionable and non-pensionable officials as well as to employees of municipalities, provincial councils or other local bodies. 20. An official dismissed or retiring under the terms of the preceding clause shall receive in addition to compensation a repatria- tion allowance sufficient to cover the cost of transporting himself, his family and his household goods to London. 21. Compensation and pensions shall be payable in Egyptian pounds at the fixed rate of 97i piastres to the pound sterling. 22. A table of compensation, (a) for permanent officials, (b) for temporary officials, shall be prepared by the president of the Society of Actuaries. X. — Piotectio7i of Minoiities. 23. Egypt undertakes that the stipulations following shall be recognised as fundamental laws, and that no law, regulation or official action shall conflict or interfere with these stipulations, nor shall any law, regulation or official action prevail over them. 24. Egypt undertakes to assure full and complete protection of life and liberty to all inhabitants of Egypt without distinction of birth, nationality, language, race or religion. All inhabitants of Egypt shall be entitled to the free exercise, whether public or private, of any creed, religion or belief, whose practices are not inconsistent with public order or public morals. 25. All Egyptian nationals shall be equal before the law, and shall enjoy the same civil and political rights without distinction as to race, language or religion. Differences of religion, creed or confession shall not prejudice any Egyptian national in matters relating to the enjoyment of civil or political rights, as, for instance, admission to public employments, functions and honours or the exercise of professions and industries. No restriction shall be imposed on the free use by any Egyptian national of any language in private intercourse, in commerce, in religion, in the press or in publications of any kind or at public meetings. 26. Egyptian nationals who belong to racial, religious, or linguistic minorities shall enjoy the same treatment and security in law and in fact as the other Egyptian nationals. In particular, they shall have an equal right to establish, manage and control, at their own expense, charitable, religious and social institutions, schools, and other educational establishments, with the right to use their own language and to exercise their religion freely therein. No. 2. Eepi.y of the Egyptian Delegatiox to the Proposals of His Ma.jesty's Government, handed by Adly Yeghen Pasha to the Marquess Curzon of Kedleston on November 15, 1021. La delegation officielle ^gj'ptienue a pris connaissance du projefc remis a son president par Lord Curzon le 10 courant. Elle constate que sur la plupart des questions qui ont fait, depuis quatre mois, I'objet de nos discussions et des notes echang^es entre nous, le projet reproduit les textes et formules qui nous avaient ete pr^sentes au debut des negociations et que nous n'avions pas accept^s. Ainsi pour la question militaire, dont 1 'importance est capitale, le projet maintient, en aggravant inenie sa port^e, la solution que nous avions si fortenient combattue. La protection des communications imperiales que les conversations de I'an dernier avaient donnee pour seul objectit' a la presence d'une force militaire en Egypte, ne saurait justifier cette solution. Alors qu'il eut ete suffisant de determiner, dans la region du Canal, une zone ou seraient localises et les voie.s et moyens de cornmunica- tions imperiales, et la force qui les prot^gerait, le projet confere a la Grande-Bretagne le droit de maintenir des forces militaires en tout temps, sur n'impoi'te quel point du territoire egyptien, et met h sa disposition tous- les moyens et voies de communications du pays. C'est la I'occupation pure et simple qui detruit toute idee d'indepen- dance et qui supprime jusqu'a la souverainete interieure. Dans le passe, I'occupation militaire, qui n'avait pourtant qu'un caractere temporaire, a suffi pour assurer a la Grande-Bretagne un controle absolu sur Tadministration tout eutiere sans que besoin tut d'aucun texte de traite," d'aucune determination de pouvoir quelconque. Quant a la question des relations exterieures, seul point ou la fcrmule initiale du Foreign Office ait ete modifiee par I'acceptation du principe de la representation, le droit que I'on nous a reconnu est entoure de tant de restrictions qu'il devient en quelque sorte illusoire. On ne concait pas que le Ministre des Affaires ^trangeres puisse libre- ment assumer les responsabilites de sa charge s'il est tenu par une stipvdation formelle a etre en contact etroit avec le Haut-Commissaire, c'est-a-dire, en fait, a subir son controle direct dans la conduite des affaires exterieures. En outre, I'obligation de soumettre au consente- ment de la Grande-Bretagne tous accords politiques, meme ceux qui no sont pas incompatibles avec 1 'esprit de 1 'alliance, porte une grave atteinte au principe de la souverainete exterieure. Enfin, le fait de maintenir le titre de Haut-Commissaire, qu'il n'est pas dans 1 "usage de conferer aux repr^sentants diplomatiques aupres des pays inde- pendants, fait ressortir encore plus le caractere du statut politique propose pour I'Egypte. D 'autre part, le probleme des Capitulations ayant ete ajourne, nous avions tout lieu de croire qu'il ne devait plus en etre question. dans I'accord et qu'il serait traite plus tard par I'Egypte, principale iuteressee, avec le concours diplomatique de son alliee. Or, le probleme est envisage aujourd'hui comme interessant surtout la Grande-Bretagne, qui assume, d'oi'es et deja, la protection des interets Strangers et compte eventuellement conduire seule les negociations relatives a leur suppression. Nous ne voulons pas, a propos des deux Commissaires financier et judiciaire et de leur ingerence dans toute I'administration interieure du pays au nom de la protection des interets etrangers, ingerence allant dans certains cas, pour le Conseiller financier, jusqu'a tenir en echec le Gouvernement et le Parlement, revenir sur les objections presentees dans nos diiferentes notes. Nous devons dire cependant que des discussions qui ont suivi Tajournement de la question des Capitulations, nous avons eu le sentiment qu'un accord s'etablirait au sujet de la protection des mterets etrangers sur d'autres bases plus compatibles avec la souverainete de I'Egypte! Pour la question du Soudan, qui n'avait pas encore ete discutee, nous tenons a faire remarquer qu'elle est I'objet de dispositions inacceptables pour nous, dispositions qui n'assurent pas a I'Egypte I'exercice de son droit incontestable de souverainet^ sur cette contr^e et de controle sur les eaux du Nil. Les observations qui precedent nous dispensent de faire 1 'analyse du projet. Elles en font suffisamment ressortir I'esprit et la port^e. Et rinsistanee avec laquelle le projet revient sur les obligations de la Grande-Bretagne, "les responsabilites sp^ciales " du Haut- Commissaire et le nouvel objectif — sauvegarde des int^rets vitaux de I'Egj-pte — donne a la presence de la force militaire achfeve de lui imprinier le caractere d'une veritable tutelle. En acceptant la mission que Sa Hautesse le Sultan nous a confine, nous avions I'espoir de conclure un traite d'alliance, qui, tout en consacrant reellement I'independanee de I'Egypte, aurait sauvegarde les interets britanniques, et I'Egypte alli^e de la Grande- Bretagne aurait tenu a honneur de remplir scrupuleusement les obligations qui lui eussent incomb^. Mais Talliance entre deux peuples n'est realisable qu'a la condition de ne pas constituer pour I'un d'eux un pacte perpetuel de soumission. L 'esprit de conciliation qui a preside a nos discussions nous autorisait a envisager le resultat des negociations avec confiance. Le projet que nous avons entre les mains ne r^pond pas a cette attente. Tel qu'il se presente, il ne nous permet pas de conserver respoir d'arriver a un accord donnant satisfaction aux aspirations nationales de rEg3"pte. Londres, Je 15 novembre 1921. (Translation.) The Egyptian Official Delegation have taken cognizance of the draft handed to their President hx Lord Curzon on the 10th instant. The Delegation note that with regard to the majoritj^ of the questions which have formed the subject of our discussions and of notes exchanged between us diu-ing a period of four months, the draft rei:>roduces the texts and the formulae whicli were presented to us at the beginning of the negotiations and which we did not accept. Thus with regard to the military question, which is one of capital importance, the draft not only supports, but even extends the scope of, the solution which we so resolutely opposed. The protection of Imperial communications, which in the conversations of last year was given as the only reason for the presence of a militar}' force in Egypt, could not justify this solution. While it would have been sufhcient to agree upon a zone in the region of the Canal, where the ways and means of Lnperial communications and the force for their protection might have been localised, the draft confers on Great Britain the right to maintain military forces at all times, on any part of Egyptian territory, and places at her disposition all the ways and means of communica- tion in the country. This constitutes occupation pure and simple, destroys every idea of independence and suppresses even internal sovereignty. In the past military occupation, although it had only a temporary character, sufficed to guarantee to Great Britain absolute control over the whole administration without the need of an^' textual treaty or any definition of powers whatever. With regard to the question of foreign relations, the only point on which the original formula of the Foreign Office has been modified by the acceptance of the principle of representation, the right which has been recognised as ours is surrounded by so many restrictions that it becomes to a certain extent illusory. It cannot be thought that the Minister for Foreign Affairs would be able freely to undertake the responsibilities of his office, if he were compelled by a formal stipula- tion to maintain the closest relations with the High Commissoner, that 'is to say, in fact, to submit to his direct control in the conduct of foreign affairs. Further, the obligation to submit to the consent of Great Britain all political agreements, even those that are not incompatible with the spirit of the alliance, constitutes a serious infringement of the principle of external sovereignty. Finally, the maintenance of the title of High Commissioner, which it is not 'iustomary to confer on diplomatic representatives accredited to independent countries, emphasises yet further the character of the political status proposed for Egypt. Again, the problem of the Capitulations having been postponed, we had every reason to believe that there ought to be no further question of it in the agreement, and that it would be dealt with later by Egypt, the party chiefly interested, with the diplomatic co-operation of her oily. But now the problem is regarded as one that principally interests Great Britain, who takes upon herself from henceforth the protection of foreign interests and intends eventuallj' to carry on alone the nego- tiations relative to the abolition of the Capitulations. With regard to the Financial and Judicial Commissioners and their interference, in the name of the protection of foreign interests, with the whole internal administration of the country, interference going s; far in certain cases, as regards the Financial Adviser, as to con- stitute a check on the Government and Parliament, we do not wish to touch again upon the objections put forward in our various notes. We n>ust, however, say that from the discussions which followed on the postponement of the question of the Capitulations we did receive the impression that an agreement would be reached with regard to the protection of foreign interests on other bases more com- patible with the sovereignty of Egypt. With regard to the question of the Soudan, which had not yet been discussed, we feel bound to point out that it has been made the subject of provisions which we cannot accept, and which do not guarantee to Egypt the exercise of her indisputable right of sovereignty over that country and of control of the waters of the Nile. The foregoing observations render it unnecessary for us to analyse the draft, the spirit and scope of which they have sufficiently brought out. And the insistence with \\'hich it refers to the obligations of Great Britain, "the special responsibilities" of the High Commis- sioner and the new reason given for the presence of the military force, viz., the protection of the vital interests of Egypt, have the effect of investing the draft with the quality of an actual deed of guardian- ship. M^hen we accepted the mission with which- His Highness the Sultan entrusted us, we hoped to conclude a treaty of alhance which, while truly estabhshing the independence of Egypt would have safe- guarded British interests, and Egypt as the ally of Great Britain would have held it a point of honour scrupulously to fulfil the obhga- tions which would have been incumbent upon her. But an alhance 10 between two peoples cannot be realised save on the condition that it does not constitute for one of them a permanent pact of subjection. The conciliatory spirit in which our discussions were conducted entitled us to look forward to the result of the negotiations with confidence. The draft which we have in our hands does not corre- spond with that expectation. In its present form it does not allow us to retain the hope of arriving at an agreement which will give satis- faction to the national aspirations of Egypt. Loulun, Novci))ber 15, 1921. No. 3. COMMUXICATIOX FROM HlS MaJESTY's HiGH COMMISSIONER FOR EgYPT AXD THE iSoUDAX TO HiS HiGHN-ESS THE SULTAX OF EgYPT, December 3, 1921. Your Highness, 1 HAVE the honour, in accordarice with instructions received from His Majesty's Government, to place before your Highness the following statement of their views in connection with the negotiations that have recently taken place with the delegation despatched by your Highness under the presidency of his Excellency Adly Pasha. His IMajesty's Government have presented to Adly Pasha the draft pro- posals for a treaty between the British Empire and Egypt which the\' were prepared to recommend to His Majesty the King and to Parlia- ment, and have learnt with keen disappointment that these are not acceptable to him. They regi'et it the more because they regarded their proposals as liberal in character and far-reaching in effect, and because they cannot hold out any prospect of reconsideration of the principle on which they were framed. It is therefore proper that they should acquaint your Highness fully with the main considerations by which they were guided and with the spirit in which their proposals were made. One dominant fact has governed the association of Great Britain and Egypt for forty years and must always govern it — namely, the close coincidence between Great Britain's interests in Egypt and the interests of Egypt herself. The independence and the prosperity of the Egyptian people are both of great importance to the British Empire. Egypt lies upon the main line of cominunications between Great Britain and the King's dominions to the east. The whole territory of Egypt is indeed essential to those communications, since the fortunes of Egypt are inseparable from the security of the Suez Canal Zone. The immunitj^ of Eg^pt from the dominant influence of any other Great Power is therefore of primary importance to India, Australia, New Zealand and all His Majesty's Eastern colonies and dependencies ; it affects the welfare and safety of nearly' 350,000,000 of His Majesty's subjects. The prosperity of Eg_ypt is also important tv them, not merely because Great Britain and Egypt are each other's best customers, but because any serious danger to financial or com- mercial interests in Egypt in^•ites the intervention of other Powers and threatens her indejjendence. These have been the governing motives of British association with Egypt, and they are as powerful now as in the past. \ 11 The general success of that association during the generation which i)receded the great war was universally recognised. When Great Britain first began to take an active interest in Egypt, the Egyptian people were a prey to financial chaos and administrative anarchj-. They were at the mercy of every comer, and could not have resisted those fatal forms of foreign exploitation which under- mine a nation's self-respect and destroy its fibre. If the Egyptian people are a vigorous and self-respecting nation to-day, they owe that recovery largely' to British assistance and advice. They have been secured against foreign intervention ; they have been helped to create an efficient system of administration ; large numbers of them have been trained in the arts of government ; their power has steadily grown ; their finances have prospered beyond all expectation ; the welfai'e of all classes has been laid on firm foundations. There has been no shadow of exploitation in this rapid development. Great Britain has sought for herself no financial gain or commercial privilege. The Egyptian nation has garnered all the fruits of her counsel and help. The outbreak of war between the Great European Powers in 1914 made the association between the British Empire and Egypt of neces- sity more close. When the Ottoman Empire joined the side of Germany, not only Britain's communications but Egypt's inde- pendence were forthwith jeopardised. The declaration of the protectorate was a recognition of the fact that only by common action .under a single command could the common menace to the Empire and to Egypt be effectively repelled. In the extension of the war brought about by Turkey many thousands of the King's subjects from India, Australia and New Zealand as well as from Great Britain were maimed or killed. Their graves in Gallipoli, Palestine and Irak stand as witness of the great effort which Turkish intervention cost the British Cominonwealth. Covered by their ranks, Egypt passed scatheless through that period of ordeal. Her losses were inconsider- able ; her debt was not increased ; her wealth is now greater than before the war, whilst economic paralysis lies heavy -on most other lands. It is not wise for her people to overlook these facts or forget to whom they are owed. But for the power exerted by the British Empire in the war, Egypt must have become a field of action between contending forces, which would have trampled on her rights and destroyed her prosperity. But for the victory of the Allies, she; would not now be a nation claiming sovereign national status in lieu of the protectorate of a foreign Power. The freedom which she enjoys and the prospect of higher freedom to which she aspires she owes alike to British statesmanship and British arms. His Majesty's Government are convinced that the close coin- cidence of interests between Great Britain and Egypt which has made their association so mutually beneficial in the past is the key to the relationship which they should still maintain. Now, as in the past, the British Empire hl^s to shoulder ultimate responsibihty for the defence of your Highness 's territories against external menace, as also for sucii assistance as your Highness 's Government may at any time request in the maintenance of your authority at home. It must claim, moreover, the exclusive right of tendering such advice as your Highness's Government may require in the administration ()f the country, the conduct of its finances, the development of its judicial system and the pursuance of its relations with foreign Governments. These claims are not, howevei', asserted with auy desire to derogate from Egypt's enjoyment of the full rights of national self-government. They are pressed only as against other foreign Powers; and they are based upon the fact that the independence, good order and prosperity of Egypt are an essential element in the safety of the British Empire. His ^Majesty's Government regret that throughout the negotiations your Highness 's delegation made little practical advance towards recognition of the British Empire's just title to these exclusive rights and responsibilities. The treaty provisions which His ^lajesty's Government consider necessary to maintain these rights and cover these responsibilities were formulated in the draft proposals which Adly Pasha will com- municate to your Highness. Of these the most essential are those relating to British troops. His Majesty's Government gave most careful consideration to the arguments advanced by the Egyptian delegation on this subject, and were unable to accept them. Neither the present condition of the world nor the course of events in Egypt smce the armistice permits of any modification at this time in the disposition of the British forces. Egypt, it is necessary to repeat, is a part of the Empire's communications. Scarcely a generation has passed since she was rescued from anarchy, and there are signs that the extremer elements in the Nationalist movement are even now capable of plunging her back into the abyss from which she has so recently been raised. The anxiety of His Majesty's Government on this point has been aggravated by the unwillingness of your Highness's delegation to recognise that the British Empire must have firm guarantees against any such menace to its interests. Until such time as Egypt's record gives confidence in her own guarantees, the British Empire must maintain sufficient guarantees itself. Of these the presence of British troops in Egypt is the first and foremost. His Majesty's Government cannot waive or weaken it. They repeat, however, with emphasis that their claims in this respect are not intended to involve .the continuance of an actual or virtual protectorate. On the contrary, the ideal which they have sincerely at heart is that of an Egypt enjoying the national prerogatives and international position of a sovereign State, but closely wedded to the British Empire by a treaty guarantee of common aims and interests. With this end in view, they proposed to terminate the pro- tectorate forthwith, to recognise Egypt as " a Sovereign State under a constitutional monarchy," and to substitute for the present relation betw^een the Empire and Egypt " a perpetual treaty and bond of peace, amity and alliance." Their hope was that Egypt, with a reconstituted Ministry of Foreign Affairs, would at once have despatched her own representatives to foreign courts ; and they ■\\ ould readily have supported an application on her part for admission to the League of Nations. The Egv'ptian nation would have thus secured at once the powers and privileges of a sovereign State. The rejection of these proposals by your Highness's existing Government creates a new situation. It will hot affect the principle of British pohcy, but it necessarily reduces the measures which can now be carried out. His Majesty's Government therefore desire to state clearly where they stand. With regard to the immediate present, they cannot give effect to their proposals without the consent and co-operation of the Egyptian nation; but they maintain the desire, which they have long enter- 13 tained, to provide for the ever-advancing development of native talent by an increase in the number of Egyptians employed in every branch, and notably in the higher branches of the Administration, hitherto too extensively filled by Euroi)eans.' They are willing to pursue in consultation with your Highness'^ Government the negotiations in foreign courts necessary for the abolition of the Capitulations, so that the international situation may be clear when the Egyptian legisla- tion necessary to take the place of the Capitulations is ready to be passed. They would wish that the powers now exercised by the commander-in-chief under martial law should be ex'ercised only under the Egyptian civil law by the Egyptian Government, and they will gladly withdraw martial law as soon as the Act of Indemnity, which is mdispensable for the protection of that Government as well as of the British authorities in Egypt, has been enacted and become operative in all the civil and criminal courts in Egypt. With regard to the future. His Majesty's Government desire to state in plain terms the policy which they intend to pursue. They understand that the proposals presented to your Highness 's delega- tion were rejected on the ground that the safeguards for British and foreign interests contained in them would be fatal to the genuine exercise of self-government. They deeply regret that the maintenance of British troops in Egypt and the association of British oflficials with the Ministries of Justice and Finance should be so gravely misunder- stood. The progress of Egypt towards her ideals will not only be retarded, but completely jeopardised, if her people are -tempted to indulge their national aspirations, however sound and legitimate in themselves, without sufficient regard to the facts which govern inter- national life. Nothing is gained by minimising national obligations and exaggerating national rights. Extremist leaders who preach in this vein are not a stimulus but a menace to Egyptian development. By their iniiuence on the course of events, they have repeatedly challenged the interests and provoked the fears of foreign Powers; and they have sought to affect the outcome of these negotiations during the past few weeks by subversive appeals to popular ignorance and passion. His Majesty's Government do not consider that they would be consulting Egypt's welfare by making concessions to agitation of this kind : and Egypt will make no progress until her responsible leaders show the will and strength to put it down. The world is suffering in many places at the present time from the cult of a fanatical and purely disruptive type of nationahsm. His Majesty's Government will set their face against it as firmly in Egypt as else, where. Those who yield to it only make more necessary and so prolong the maintenance of those foreign sanctions which they denounce. In these conditions, for Egypt's interest as much as for their own, His Majesty's Government will continue unshaken in their aims as Egypt's advisers and trustees. It is not sufficient for them to know that they could exercise the right of re-entry into Egypt, if, left to her own unaided counsels, she should revert to the waste and disorder of the last century. They desire to see the work of Lord Cromer's generation completed, not recommenced. They do not aim at keeping Egypt in tutelage. On the contrary, they desire to fortify the con- structive elements in Egyptian nationalism, to give them scope, and to bring nearer the full attainment of the national ideal. But they must insist on effective rights and powers to safeguard both Egypt's 14 interests and their own until the Egyptian people have shown the capacity themselves to preserve their country from internal disorder and its inevitable corollary, the intervention of forei^ Powers. The true line of advance for the Egyptian people is by co-operation with the British Empire, and not by antagonism to it. In this spirit of co-operation His Majesty's Government on their side are prepared to consider any methods which may be suggested for carrying out the substance of their proposals, whenever your Highness's Government may so desire. They cannot, however, modify we principle on which their proposals are based or relax the essential safeguards which they contain. The future of Egypt under these proposals would be in the Egyptian people's own hands. The more clearly your people recognise the identity of British interests with their own, the less necessary will safeguards become. It is for the responsible l^^aders of Egypt, in this second generation of her association with Great Britain, to prove By their aceptance and steady use of the national status now open to them that the vital interests of the Empire in their country may be progressively entrusted to their care. I am, Your Highness 's, &c. ALLENBY, F.M. \ UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY This book is DUE on the last date stamped helow ^nmr '^^ 19^ vW ^^ '5i FormL-9 20m-12,'39(SS98) UAiAiromfM DT 107.8 A5 1S21 AA 001134 155 9 DEMCO LIBRARY SUPPLIES 114 South Carroll Street Madison, Wisconsin