Letters and Papers Concerning the Trans-Persian Railway and Other Railways in Persia [‎155r] (309/442)

1979 Supply (Committee).
negotiating. Negotiations have not yet
reached a conclusion. Of course, when
they have reached a conclusion the result
ill be made known, but I can assure the
Js oble Lord that we are not committed to
any scheme as he feared we might be, and
~w e are certainly not joining in any syndi
cate on the condition that the railway
should go beyond Basra.
EARL of RONALDSHAY: My point
was not whether you are committed to a
syndicate, but are you committed to co
operate as a member of an international
syndicate as far as Basra?
SirE. GREY: We are not committed on
that point. That point will be arranged,
but we are not at the present moment com
mitted. I cannot give the result of negoti
ations before the result has been arrived
at; but we are not committed on that
point. I will come to the larger matters
later on, but I must say one word here on
what the hon. Member for East Mayo (Mr.
Dillon) said with regard to the plot in
Egypt. I have no information as to the
evidence of it, and I could not very well
have it. It is the business of the authori
ties in Egypt to go into the evidence. I
shall get a report on what the evidence is,
and the nature of the plot, so far as they
have been able to discover it; but, pend
ing the trial, it is really impossible to dis
cuss it in this House. My feeling in the
matter was one of exceeding great relief
that if there be a plot it has been dis
covered in time. I have not the least doubt
that there will be a perfectly fair trial.
I can only say that the policy of Lord
Kitchener in Egypt has by all accounts
been not only one of unqualified success,
but one which has been exceedingly popu
lar with native Egypt opinion itself.
Among other things he has been most ac
cessible to native Egypt opinion, and the
zeal and energy which he has shown in
developing Egypt in the interests of the
natives themselves, from all accounts
which have reached me, have been very
deeply appreciated. The hon. Member for
East Mayo spoke of Press prosecutions.
I do not think that is under a new law. I
think it is an old law, for no new law has
been passed.
Mr. DILLON : It has been out of use for
twenty years.
Sir E. GREY: Twenty years is a very
long time. We have not passed a new
law. You cannot judge these Press prose
cutions from the point of view of a
Western country. We hear in \\estern
Foreign Office. 1980
countries of attacks upon the Government
itself. It is perfectly well known that they
go on unchecked because there is a general
understanding that the freedom of the
Press is not to be interfered with; but in
Oriental countries that is not understood,
and the Government is always in this diffi
culty, that if violent attacks are made
upon the Government, and especially
upon persons connected with the Govern
ment, the impression given is not one of
liberty and justice, but simply one of fear
that the Government would never allow
these attacks to be made, unless for some
reason or other it was afraid of the people
who made the attacks. I do not like
Press prosecutions. I should like them to
be as few as possible; but you have to
bear in mind that when the Egyptian
Government and the British Consul-
General in Egypt have come to the con
clusion that the Press prosecution in a
given case is necessary you cannot judge
the question entirely by Western
standards. I do not want to put the
matter any higher than that. The at
tacks upon the Government really w r eaken
authority, and alienate people who are
naturally quite well disposed, and who are
led to think that the Government which
cannot stand up for itself is not to be
tolerated.
Mr. DILLON: How did Lord Cromer
allow it to lapse for twenty years ?
Sir E. GREY : I cannot give all the cases
which may have arisen when Lord Cromer
was there. My recollection is, that in the
last years that Lord Cromer was there,
he himself had come to the conclusion—
although I cannot speak with certainty,
it is my impression—that the great lati
tude wffiich has been allowed to the Press
was working grave mischief in Egypt, and
must some day be dealt with. I think my
recollection is right about that, and that
Lord Cromer did hold that opinion very
strongly. There is the case of the British
newspaper which has been prohibited
from entering into Egypt. The hon. Mem
ber for East Mayo said it w r as to supply
accurate information. I saw one article
in it wdth information absolutely in
accurate as to British policy in general,
and containing statements, the result of
which, if they were believed, must be to
make native opinion believe that our policy
was actively anti-Islamic. There can be
no more mischievous statement than that.
The chairman of the Newspaper Company,
if I remember aright, wu-ote to the
10 July 1912