PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎65v] (137/342)

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task of the British forces in defending Egypt against foreign aggression under
the terms of the alliance. At the same time, the Egyptian army is to be increased
and trained by a British military mission with the object of taking over the
complete defence of Egypt from the British army m due course.
6 . The Sudan clauses, on which the negotiations of 1930 had broken down
were rapidly settled on a basis of Egyptian acquiescence in the preservation of
the status quo with some concessions to Egyptian national feelings, such as the
return of Egyptian troops to the Sudan, from which they had been expelled after
the mutiny^of 1924. The civil clauses were settled on the basis of previous
treaties, it being understood that His Majesty’s Government in the United
Kingdom would give their whole-hearted support to Egypt in negotiations with
the Powers for the abolition of the capitulatory regime. British protection of
foreigners and minorities ceased, and the previous responsibility of His Majesty’s
Government for the preservation of internal security, &c., has passed to the
Egyptian Government, with the proviso that British commandants and a
proportion of European officers and constables shall be retained in the police
until 1941.
7. The success of the Italian campaign in Abyssinia in the spring and
summer of 1936 was undoubtedly a great factor in the conclusion of the
negotiations and the signature of the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of Amity and
Alliance in London on the 12th August. Another factor was probably the death
of King Fuad on the 28th April, shortly after the opening of the negotiations.
Although the King had welcomed His Majesty’s Government’s offer to negotiate
and contributed very largely to the formation of the Egyptian treaty delegation
on the basis of the United Front, His Majesty’s distrust of the Wafd, who
returned to office on the 9th May with a virtually unanimous Parliament behind
them, and his natural inclination to continue, as he had done so profitably in the
past, to play off Great Britain against the Wafd, and vice versa, would very
possibly have induced him to put a spoke in the wheels at the more difficult stages
of the negotiations.
8 . King luad’s death, on the other hand, deprived the country at a most
critical moment of experienced and stable leadership, coupled with qualities of
statesmanship and a wider outlook than that possessed by the majority of
Egyptian political leaders. Although the furtherance of His Majesty’s own
peisonal interests had always been uppermost in his mind, to the complete
destruction of any popularity he might have possessed among his subjects,
mg ruad had, nevertheless, on the whole steered a wise course in the ultimate
interests of Egypt and, whatever his personal sympathies, he never lost sight of
the importance of Anglo-Egyptian co-operation. His death left the throne to an
en ne y inexperienced and uneducated, although by no means unintelligent, minor
and a Louncil ot Regency whose personal honour and representative capacity
were beyond dispute, but none of whom was remarkable for ability or strength of
™™t C l er ‘-P m great P ersonal popularity of the young King Farouk from the
authorltf of^theIpalaceTn Egypl^' h ° WeVer ’ t0 ult ™ ate Preservation of the
since^lQ^^af ^ s ^inority the Wafd, who had been in the wilderness
conduct of thp . an d 18 h ar dly remarkable that their successful
Ep-vntian rpRHrmc ^ iatl ? ns aa d the improvement thus effected in Anglo-
lowerine- of the ‘dambf A °- n ^^it side by much nepotism and a general
lowering of the standards of administration which augured ill for the future.
have neve Jbeen so cordla 1 ^ f ne ^ ^ ra A n gl°"Egyptian relations which
as an ally and protector agains/tbl ^ a f 0rit X ^SYPUans looked to Great Britain
and as a 7 pXK S from and from Abyssinia,
making her first indeuendont on 111 ernatlc ! n al stage on which Egypt was now
their part, the Egyptian Covprrfm^^n SmC I t ^ e ^ a J s ^e Ptolemys. For
treaty in the spirit as well as in the lette-T^A ^? 17 latentio 1 n of working the
moreover, increasingly manifesting ^ strongly marked tendency was,
languages and culture mhe Fnglfsb ill m Egy P t . to turn awa Y from Latin
tendency, if properly directed and^pn an £ lla S e an d Anglo-Saxon culture. This
in Eg/pt. Nor. L far arlnSrEgln^ Sh ° Ul( ? stren gthen British influence
ar as Anglo-Egyptian relations are concerned, was