PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎131v] (269/342)

4 The only significant internal political event during my brief absence was
the issue of a decree by the King on the 27th January, imposing^ on Ministers
before assuming their functions an obligation to swear an oath of fidelity to the
King and the Constitution. The object of this decree obviously was to render
more difficult the access to the Government of Opposition elements who refused
to recognise the legality of the Constitution of 1930. It was generally considered
that this decree was one of the King’s efforts to dig himself m m view of the
expected offensive from the new Pligh Commissioner.
5 Immediately before the issue of this decree on the 26th January, the
King had a bad attack of influenza, which went to his lungs. His recovery was
very slow, and he was confined to his room for a couple of months, only emerging
in late March, when his first public act was to administer to his Ministers the oath
imposed by the above-mentioned decree.
6. I returned from England on the 17th February. The Prime Minister,
in virtue of the protocol settlement which had been arranged in London, paid
his first official call, and friendly relations were established. Unfortunately,
Abdel Fattah Yehia Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was quite inadequate to deal with a deteriorating
political and administrative situation or with the delicate and complex questions
arising out of Anglo-Egyptian relations. He was not only incompetent and lazy
but filled with an inordinate sense of his own importance. He was quick to see
slights where none were intended, and showed himself very obstructive to us in
many affairs both great and small. Within his own Cabinet he exercised practi
cally no control, and all his Ministers disregarded him and took their orders from
Zaki el Ibrashi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . The acme of Palace Government was reached during
the first half of the year.
7. His Majesty was not well enough to receive me on my return, and I did
not see him until the 23rd March. His appearance was disquieting : he was
thinner, and his eyes seemed lifeless. It was obvious that his general health had
been impaired by his illness. He expressed the view that the Wafd were entirely
discredited and that party differences were a complete obstacle to any real
coalition. If His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, he said, were
waiting for a Government formed on a broad national basis, they would wait in
vain. Much better negotiate with the present regime, whose signature His
Majesty undertook to see honoured. No response was made to this invitation.
8. During the first half of the year the anti-foreign campaign, which had
been initiated by the Palace Government at the end of Sidky Pasha’s tenure of
office, was carried on with increased energy. The Debt case, of course, provided
strong and reasonable ground for Egyptian discontent, wffiich was imprudently
fanned by the Government. The campaign against the Mixed Courts (see para-
giaphs 224 and 225) was also encouraged by the Government to a dangerous
degree A servile Parliament was mobilised in this campaign, and the press
suitably stimulated. Foreign utility companies were also bitterly attacked, both
n 001 J A the Government as well as by Parliament and the press. Ministers
allowed themselves to use most unsuitable language and to make partly unjusti
fiable attacks on some of these companies. The Young Egypt Society, a sort of
students and others, carried on a violent
tffiiMt pnirwo 8 ] ^V afd strongly disapproved of this body it was suspected
forthenmlrl ^ a Jr o 6 en . c 9 U] ^D ein ® r d but no proof of this affiliation was ever
with thp kT,,,, .i. ' 8 m guished foreigner who had occasion to have an audience
expression of fnti fn?' 18 ^ erl0< T WaS s " 0<: '^ e ^ by His Majesty’s unrestrained
hXeThefa staJ whl^hp 1 ^ 8 - IV™ 8 su F, eSted that the Kin §’ s megalomania
was promoted bv § hiNllnJf " wtt 8 unbalanc ed and that this disequilibrium
Fmad^sronheLese, in 88 ' a PP roval of His Majesty’s Government
both general and oortirnlar* 8 ° °f ^ ^ ?- ing and Prime Minister regarding
however, later in the year further exa^aA l - h ? ate to find "
attitude regarding Mixed Courts controfei^ preSS10n m the Government’s
countrysidftherttas irinmeasr^llwU^™ 6 ' 1 , in tbe cities . « the
never degenerated into anvthino- hVa * ^ essn ess and murders which, however,
g area into anything like general insecurity. The Wafd remained