PZ 5636/35 'Egypt: Annual Reports 1934 -1938' [‎133r] (272/342)

[11244] B 4
fZi
23. Ihe prospects for Egypt in the event of King Fuad’s death appeared
unfavourable, the nomination of the Council of Regents, as explained above,
fy ^ th ®. King s hands, subject to conhrmation by Parliament after the King’s
death, hiothing definite was known as to His Majesty’s choice, but it was
rumoured with every appearance of likelihood that Ibrashi Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Taher
- Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , despite technical disqualifications, were in King Fuad’s mind, if not
indeed, already nominated.
24. The Government, shorn of feidky, was incompetent as well as unpopular;
its sole virtue lay in the personal integrity of the Prime Minister, an asset which
was more than counterbalanced by the doubtful reputation of some of Abdel
Fattah s colleagues, notably Ibrahim Fahmy Kerim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. and Menzalawi Bey.
The heir apparent was a minor of whom little or nothing was known. It seemed
probable that the King s death would face His Majesty’s Government with the
uncomfortable alternatives of bolstering up by British arms a corrupt and
unpopular regime, which after Sidky’s elimination owed whatever it possessed
of motive power entirely to the King himself, or of intervening in Egyptian
affairs to an extent in itself unlikely to be welcome in London, and which could
hardly fail in the end to occasion a renewed outburst of Nationalist feeling in
Egypt.
25. In order to obviate this potential dilemma, the Acting High Com
missioner sought the authority of the Secretary of State to advise the Prime
Minister to strengthen his Cabinet by replacing the two Ministers mentioned
above and by eliminating the interference of Ibrashi, the head of the Eoyal
Khassa, in the administration of the country. Before a reply could be received
to this proposal, Abdel Fattah Yehia himself, on the 3rd October, following upon
a conversation on the subject of the Alexandria municipality and under the
influence of alarming reports of King Fuad’s health, broached to Mr. Peterson
the question of the King’s death and the situation involving “our joint
responsibility ” which would result from that event. The Prime Minister asked
for co-operation and close contact with the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. ; and his subsequent denials
that he had requested “advice ” were presumably based on the casuistical con
tention that co-operation can be given without counsel as well as on the impotent
thesis that it is sufficient to foresee an event fraught with danger without making
provision against it.
26. The Prime Minister’s appeal was regarded in the Foreign Office as
removing the last objection to the tendering of advice, and on the 6th October
Mr. Peterson, acting on instructions, urged Abdel Fattah Yehia to strengthen
his Administration by jettisoning the two Ministers and securing the elimination
of Ibrashi’s political influence without which no Minister worth having could
be expected to join the Government.
27. The Prime Minister’s reply, influenced on this occasion by more
reassuring reports of King Fuad’s health, was a friendly but uncompromising
refusal to consider any changes of any kind until His Majesty was sufficiently
recovered to be consulted fully. To this attitude he continued, in the weeks which
followed, to adhere.
28. Meanwhile, on the 4th October, the Acting High Commissioner paid
a visit of a few hours to Cairo, in the course of which he called on Tewfik Nessim
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , an ex-Prime Minister and ex-“ Chef du Cabinet Royal.” Mr. Peterson
had known Nessim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. during his previous period of service in the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. ,
and had travelled with him across the Mediterranean in September, on which
occasion Nessim had insisted, with every appearance of sincerity, on the necessity
of co-operation between Great Britain and Egypt. The visit was in part a
fulfilment of a promise then given, and in part due to a desire to obtain the views
of the best exponent of moderate Egyptian opinion. Nessim declared himself
in favour of a gradual reform of the Administration, more drastic measures
being left over until it should become plain that they were called for. On the
subject of the composition of the Council of Regency, his views were in close
accord with those already put forward to London by the Residency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, established in the provinces and regions considered part of, or under the influence of, British India. .
29. The first sign of any effort to meet the wishes of His Majesty’s Govern
ment in the United Kingdom became apparent when, on the 11th October, Aly