Correspondence with A J Balfour, Sir R Wingate, Lord Allenby, Lord Milner and others on Egypt [‎31v] (62/300)

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General AUenby has since reported that this decision has been received with
enthusiasm in Eyypt. A body of eighteen Nationalist leaders, including Zaglul Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
and his three comrades at Malta will shortly arrive in this country.
II .—Causes of Unrest.
The immediate cause of the agitation affecting every class in Egypt is the general
wave of unrest, dissatisfaction, and vague political aspirations which is passing all over
the world as the after effect of lour years' crisis. This, Egypt, so fortunate in avoiding
the 1< sses, privations, and sacrifices of the belligerent countries, has not been able to
escape. Full use has been taken bv unscrupulous agitators of this s'ate of mind und
of grievances, some imaginary and others undoubtedly real, to fan the flame of revolt.
We do not know, and shall pmbably never learn, what wild tales as to our misdeeds
and nefarious intentions have been circulated in the bazaars and villages. The result
has been a systematically organised outbreak of extreme violence, and on an extended
scale, w^hich appears to have taken the local authorities completely by surprise.
It wmuld be well to analyse the state of mind and the sense of grievance winch
have predisposed Egypt to this upheaval. In the large towns we have always been
exposed to hostile outbreaks of this kind. The rich pashas are pro-Turkish and anti-
British, and the harems have been hotbeds of Young Turk intrigue and propaganda.
Public opinion as a whole is as yet by no means convinced of the Turks having been
defeated, and has no idea at all of the extent of that defeat. When it is realised •:he
effect will be salutary. The students and professional classes, doctors, lawyers, and a
good number of the younger Government officials, are Nationalist in sympathies and
followers of Saad Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. Zaglul. Troubles in Cairo originate with the students of the *
law school, and of the Azhar Fniversify, where the motley and unruly crew, comprising
Egyptians, Turks, Indians, Arabs, Afghans, Javanese, Moroccans, &c., are usually
engaged in fights and squabbles with each other, but are always ready to combine
against the authorities.
O •
The ideals ot the intellectual classes, even of their more moderate members, have,
during the past few years, hardened considerably. Many of those, who formerly only
hoped lor a greater freedom of political expression, now aspire to complete independence.
This is but the natural outcome of the Wilsonian idea, of the cry lor “ self-determination,’"'
“freedom of small peoples,” &c. Thinking Egvptians had realised that Egypt was
defenceless, and must rely on the protection of some strong Power, and, on the whole,
they preferred British tutelage as being less onerous than that of any other great
Power. But now they see in the League of Nations a fairy godmother, remote and
unobtrusive in their inte nal affairs, but always ready to step in and save them the
trouble and anxiety of defending themselves from aggrieved or aggressive neighbours.
'There is no doubt that Egyptian amour-propre has been wounded by the absence of
Egyptian representation at the Peace Conference, when India and, still worse, the
disliked and despised Bedouin of the Hedjaz, have been represented. A cutting from
“ The Graphic,” depicting the Emir Faisal at the Peace Conference, was circulated as a
piece of anti-British propaganda. Capital has also been made out of the Lebanese
deputation having been allowed to proceed to Europe. Even the Ministers share
this feeling, which was not without justification, and it is a pity that their aspiration
to attend the Peace Conference could not be gratified. But apart from the anomalous
status of Egypt, which the U.S.A. and neutrals have not yet recognised as a British
Protectorate, the underlying idea of the Ministers was that Egypt should be
governed by Great Britain under a mandate, with the inevitable consequence that the
Egyptian question w*add be reopened at frequent intervals. The Anglo-French
declaration to the Arabs roused hopes and jealousies. The impending abolition
of the capitulations has excited apprehensions as to the more exclusive British
judicial control that it foreshadows. The native Bar fears that an attempt mav
be made to Anglicise the law and practice of the Egyptian Courts, and to impose the
English language for general judicial use. The indiscreet enthusiasm of certain Tritish
lawyers in Egypt has done much to increase these fears. ' Opinion was also greatlv
disturbed by Sir William Brunyate’s draft of Constitutional Reform, which aims at
bestowing on an Upper Chamber, with an European im.jority, superior powers to those
possessed by the native Lower Chamber.
While it is natural that there should be dissatisfaction among the eduetted and
professional classes, whose political ideas have been excited and who have suffered
by the rise of prices during the war without any corresponding gain, it is less easy