Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎32r] (63/176)

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(iv.) Preliminary discussion and approval of the proposals for the reorganisa
tion of the Mixed Courts by the representative bodies of Egypt before
promulgation.
(V.) Participation of Egypt as a contracting party in the agreements with the
Powers in regard to their capitulatory rights.
(vi.) Suppression of the stipulation for the appointment of a British official in
the Ministry of Justice. A British procurator-general would be adequate,
with the powers with which he was in the ordinary course invested, to
provide the necessary guarantees for foreigners.
(vii.) Suppression of the stipulation as to the necessity for consulting the British
financial official.
(viii.) The prohibition upon Egypt to conclude international arrangements to be
limited to purely political treaties.
9. There had been some important secessions from the Zaghlulist Party, and
Adly Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. had continued his efforts to induce some of the secessionists to join the
delegation, but to no purpose, and on the 1st May he announced that the delegation
would be composed of himself and Hussein Rushdy, Ismail Sidky and Mohamed
Shafik Pashas,' all three men of his own party. At this stage I offered to see Zaghlul
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. if it would be any use, but Adly Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. did not take up the suggestion. Neither
the programme nor the party composition of the delegation augured well for the
prospects of concluding an agreement which would be both acceptable to His
Majesty’s Government and likely to be ratified by an Egyptian Assembly. The view
had been expressed more than once from Cairo that it was idle to expect any
Egyptian negotiators to set their names to a treaty which gave the Egyptians less
than what they regarded as complete independence, and that the only way to settle
the Egyptian problem was for His Majestys’ Government, after full consideration
of all the issues involved, to decide what concessions they were prepared to make to
Egypt and to make a unilateral declaration of policy accordingly. In spite, however,
of the improbability of an agreement being reached in London, in face of Adly
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. 's programme, it was considered preferable to encourage the delegation to
proceed, not onlv as evidence of good faith on the part of His Majesty s Government,
but also because the discussions could not fail to give His Majesty's Government a
full insight into the problem from the Egyptian point of view. The delegation,
which had been strengthened by the inclusion of Ahmed Talaat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , president of
the Native Court of Appeal, and Youssef Soliman Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . ex-Minister and a Copt,
left for England on the 1st July.
5. Opening of Negotiations in London. Main Issues.
10. The negotiations were formally opened at the Foreign Office on the
13th July by Lord Curzon, who was assisted by the Hon. R. C. Lindsay, Mr. R.
Vansittart, Mr. J. Murray and Mr. A. Duff Cooper, and continued until the middle
of November, with an interruption of some four weeks in September. From the
beginning of the discussions it was apparent that the most difficult question was that
oAhe maintenance of British troops in Egypt, and, although the draft treaty as
finally presented to Adly Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was rejected by him in toto, t\iz impression left was
that questions such as foreign affairs, the powers of the Financial and Judicial
Advisers and other matters might have been susceptible of adjustment if it had been
possible to assure the delegation that His Majesty’s Government would, within a
definite time, reconsider the question of the withdrawal of the British garrisons to
the canal zone so soon as conditions in Egypt had been stabilised and satisfactory
arrangements made for the maintenance of order by some force other than British
troops. It is true that at one period of the negotiations it was suggested to Adly
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. that the article relating to the British troops should be open to revision by
mutual consent at the end of ten years, but no such clause was finally included in the
draft treaty, and it must be supposed that it did not meet with the approval of His
Majestv’s (rovernment collectively.
'll'. As this question of the troops is likely for some time to come to be a difficult
one to settle, it may be useful to go into it in some detail here. Lord Curzon s.
explanatory note to Adly Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. was to the following effect :—
“The objects for which the maintenance of a British force in Egypt is
required are, in the view of His Majesty s Government, four in number :
“(1.) The protection, both in peace and war, of the imperial line of
communications.
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