Printed papers on the political situation and military policy in Egypt [‎77v] (154/176)

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32. The consequence was that when official negotiations came to be initiated in
1921 the Egyptians considered that they should start upon the basis of the Milner
heads of agreement minus the iudicial reform scheme, whose rejection by the capitu
lary Powers was by then a foregone conclusion. There is unfortunately no escaping
from the fact that the hands of His Majesty's Government had been forced and their
position greatly weakened for undertaking the negotiation with the Egyptian
Government of a settlement which should retain for Great Britain any vestige of the
position which she had occupied in Egypt de facto before the war and de jure since
(he protectorate.
Publication of Milner Report and fnvitation to Egypt to open Official Negotiations.
33. The report of the Milner Mission was received in December 1920 and laid
before Parliament in February 1921, and His Majesty's Government, who had in the
meantime carefully considered the policy to be adopted, published an invitation to
the Sultan to send a duly accredited delegation to negotiate a settlement, the ground
having been cleared by the work of the mission. His Majesty’s Government were at
pains to make it clear that they did not regard themselves as bound by the terms of
the mission's recommendations, but, as already explained, Egyptian opinion held a
contrary view.
Adly becomes Prime Minister.
34. The first consequence of the invitation of His Majesty’s Government was to
let loose an orgy of intrigue in Egypt in connection with the formation of an official
delegation. The Ministry of Tewfik Nessim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , whose main achievement during
his tenure of office had been to consolidate the position of his master the Sultan and
to invest him with some slight degree of popularity, yielded place to one formed by
Adly Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , who assumed the premiership on a wave of popular enthusiasm. This
immediately aroused the jealousy of Zagnlul, who could brook no rival as popular
hero. He hastened home to Egypt, which he had last left in the spring of 1919 as a
prisoner bound for Malta. His reception was a delirious triumph, and completely
turned his head; nothing short of 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 a delegation, recruited for the
most part amongst his most trusted adherents, would satisfy him. For weeks Adly
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , whose own popularity was completely eclipsed, reasoned with his overbearing
rival and offered concession after concession without avail. Eventually he abandoned
the attempt to secure the collaboration of Zaghlul, who promptly denounced him as
a traitor to his country and the agent of Great Britain, the secular oppressor.
35. Zaghlul and his followers having failed to reduce the Adly Government to
/ a state of subserviency, did their utmost to bring about its fall by %to%%ifr$^the
disorders which began at Tanta and culminated in May in the massacre of Greeks
' and Italians at Alexandria. But Adly held on, though his position was greatly
weakened, and the Zaghlulists realised that their manoeuvres had alienated foreign
sympathy without gaining any compensating advantage.
The Imperial Conference and the Egyptian Negotiations.
36. Meanwhile His Majesty’s Government had invited the Imperial Conference
which was then sitting to consider the terms of a treaty which could be concluded
with Egypt of a nature to safeguard Imperial interests. The resulting document
was less generous than the ill-fated Milner heads of agreement, which, owing to the
impossibility of obtaining the consent of the capitulary Powers to the proposed
scheme of judicial reform, no longer provided a complete framework on which a
settlement could be elaborated. Even if Adly’s Government had enjoyed the whole
hearted support of Egyptian opinion, their acceptance of such a treaty after the
expectations which the Milner report had aroused in Egypt would have meant their
downfall and the repudiation of their action by their countrymen.
Start of the Negotiations.
37. It was in these circumstances that the official negotiations with Egypt
opened in July 1921. Their prospects, never of the brightest, were not improved by
the ceaseless attempts of the Zaghlulists to undermine the Adly Government, which,
though it remained in office, became increasingly unwilling to accept any agreement
that might be open to the criticism of political opponents in Egypt.