Skip to item: of 36
Information about this record Back to top
Open in Universal viewer
Open in Mirador IIIF viewer

'Egypt: The Soudan' [‎11v] (22/36)

This item is part of

The record is made up of 1 file (16 folios). It was created in 17 Jan 1923-14 Feb 1924. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

Transcription

This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.

Apply page layout

4
may have been said before or afterwards, the agreement effected a change in the
sovereignty over the Soudan. It is suggested that this act was of a purely adminis
trative character. “All that there seems to be is a delegation of authority by the
Khedive to an officer nominated by agreement with the British Government.'’ It is
certainly a “ delegation ” of an unusual character. The agreement expresses an
obligation of an irrevocable character, to appoint, on the nomination of a foreign
Government a series of officers, each one of whom, so long as he holds office, exercises
almost complete sovereign powers in the territories committed to his charge; the
Khedive cannot remove him, cannot give him any orders or instructions, and cannot
exercise any of the ordinary attributes of sovereigntv over his head. No otherwise, it
may seem, could the object have been attained that His Majesty's Government should
retain predominant authority in the Soudan in the event of Egypt recovering its
independence.
11. But a consideration of an even more peremptory character is the
following: It is conceded that the agreement of 1899 was designed to relieve the
Soudan from the incubus of the Capitulations. This object was in fact attained.
It is then necessary to ask what kind of instrument it wms which had the force
requisite to effect this result. It is certain that no mere mandate to administer
would suffice : even the declaration of a Protectorate has no such effect. Annexation,
has. It is therefore difficult to avoid the conclusion that, in the view of the Capitulary
Powers, that is to sa}'’ of Europe and the United States, who have acquiesced in the
disappearance of the privileges they previously enjoyed in the Soudan, the agree
ment of 1899 lay somewhere above the declaration of a British protectorate and
somewhere below an out and out annexation. It must at least have involved the
vesting of an adequate measure of sovereign authority in a State which was not
bound by the Capitulary treaties.
12 This has been the view of the Mixed Courts. In 1910 the Mixed Court of
Cairo sitting under the presidency The name given to each of the three divisions of the territory of the East India Company, and later the British Raj, on the Indian subcontinent. of the German Judge M. Herzbruch, was called
upon to decide upon the relations subsisting between the Egyptian and Soudanese
Governments. The judgment contains the following passages :—
‘ Attendu qu on ne saurait meconnaitre que la situation du Soudan vis-a-vis
de 1 Egypte n'est pas, apres la conquete, restee la meme qu’elle etait avant:
“ Qu’en effet, le Soudan n’est pas revenu a 1’Egvpte libre de toutes charges,
mais greve du droit de conquete au profit du conquerant, soit la Grande-Bretagne,
qui a contribue au succes dans une large mesure et pent pretendre a "des
compensations de ce chef;
“ Attendu que le droit de conquete a et6 regie precisement dans la convention
incrimin^e, d'accord entre les Puissances conquerantes;
“Attendu qu’il a ete etabli un veritable ‘condominium’ au profit des Puis
sances conquerantes, que, pour ainsi dire, unEtat nouveau distinct et independant
de 1 Egypte a ete cree qui a droit d’administrer, de legiferer et de juger ;
‘Que Farticle 2 dispose que les drapeaux britannique et egyptien flottent
ensemble au Soudan, ce qui indique bien que le drapeau egyptien n’v a oas
seule autorite; r J
“Attendu qu’il est done manifesto que la convention dont il s’agit est un
acte de souverainete emanant non seulement du pouvoir souverain de^l’Egypte
mais encore de celui de la Grande-Bretagne,” &c.*
13. The present observations might well be brought to a close at this point.
But it may be convenient if some remarks are added upon certain relatively sub
sidiary aspects of the controversy.
* Bencini et Quistas c. le Gouvernement 4gyptien; B.L.J. 1910, p. 12.
A bench of Egyptian judges of the Native Court of Cairo decided in a similar case which arose in
1908 as follows : —
“Attendu qu’il requite de I’accord intervenu le 19 janvier 1899 entre le Gouvernement de
Sa Majesty la Reine d’Angleterre et le Gouvernement de Son Altesse le Khedive d’Egypte que le
Gouvernement du Soudan a ete fonde et est devenu detache du Gouvernement 4gyptien avec un
caract&re politique propre a lui; que le Gouverneur general y remplit ses functions'en vertu dune
autorisation a lui confer^ par le Gouvernement britannique conjointement avec le Gouvernement
egyptien. Le fonctionnaire sus6nonce est 4galement investi du pouvoir de faire les lois
n^cessaires audit pays ou sont installes des tribunaux, en vue de juger les affaires rentrant dans
ses circonscriptions territoriales.’’ (“ Bulletin officiel,” 1909, p. 26.)
In both these cases the point decided was that the Egyptian Government had no civil
responsibility for the acts of the Soudan Government. I have found no other cases.

About this item

Content

The file contains printed copies of correspondence, memoranda, and a periodical concerning Egypt and the Sudan (often written as Soudan). The papers relate to the negotiations between Britain and Egypt over the status of Sudan following the end of the British Protectorate in Egypt. They include memoranda by Foreign Office officials, correspondence between Field Marshall Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby (the High Commissioner in Cairo), and Lord Curzon, and copies of The Near East which feature articles on Egypt and Sudan (folios 15-17).

Extent and format
1 file (16 folios)
Arrangement

The file is arranged in chronological order, from the front to the back.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the main foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 18; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 1-18; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Pagination: the file also contains an original printed pagination sequence.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
View the complete information for this record

Use and share this item

Share this item
Cite this item in your research

'Egypt: The Soudan' [‎11v] (22/36), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, Mss Eur F112/264, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100076082531.0x000017> [accessed 28 March 2024]

Link to this item
Embed this item

Copy and paste the code below into your web page where you would like to embed the image.

<meta charset="utf-8"><a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076082531.0x000017">'Egypt: The Soudan' [&lrm;11v] (22/36)</a>
<a href="https://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100076082531.0x000017">
	<img src="https://iiif.qdl.qa/iiif/images/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x000299/Mss Eur F112_264_0022.jp2/full/!280,240/0/default.jpg" alt="" />
</a>
IIIF details

This record has a IIIF manifest available as follows. If you have a compatible viewer you can drag the icon to load it.https://www.qdl.qa/en/iiif/81055/vdc_100000001491.0x000299/manifestOpen in Universal viewerOpen in Mirador viewerMore options for embedding images

Use and reuse
Download this image