Had we acted wisely and expeditiously at the end of the war we might
even then have avoided the trouble that followed. But when Egyptian
ministers asked leave to come to London in December, 1918, we answered
that the time was not opportune for these discussions, and when the
Nationalist leaders proposed to send a delegation, we said that no good
purpose could be served by their coming to Europe. This heightened the
alarm, and the Nationalists retorted by raising their claims from
"complete autonomy" to "complete independence," and started a violent
agitation. The Government retaliated by deporting Zaghlul to Malta,
whereupon the country broke into rebellion. Lord Allenby now came upon
the scene, and, while suppressing the rebellion, released Zaghlul and
gave him and his delegation the permission to go to Europe which had
been refused in January. It was now decided to send out the Milner
Mission, but there was a further delay of seven months before it
started, and during all that time agitation continued.
When the Mission arrived it quickly discovered that there was no
possible "Constitution under the Protectorate" which would satisfy the
Egyptians, and that the sole alternatives were further suppression or
the discovery of some means of settlement which dispensed with the
Protectorate. The Mission unanimously came to the conclusion that though
the first was mechanically possible if the cost and discredit were
faced, the second was not only feasible but far preferable, and that the
right method was a treaty of Alliance between Great Britain and Egypt,
recognising Egypt as a sovereign State, but affording all necessary
guarantees for imperial interests. Working on those lines the Mission
gradually broke down the boycott proclaimed against them, convinced the
Egyptians of their goodwill, induced all parties of Egyptian
Nationalists to come to London, and there negotiated the basis of the
Treaty which was described in the Report. The main points were that
there must be a British force in the country--not an army of occupation,
but a force to guard Imperial communications--that there must be British
liaison officers for law and order and finance, that the control of
foreign policy must remain in the hands of Great Britain, and that the
Soudan settlement of 1898 must remain untouched, but that with these
exceptions the Government of Egypt should be in fact what it had always
been in theory: a Government of Egyptians by Egyptians.
Had the Government accepted this in December, 1920 (instead of in March,
1922), and instructed Lord Milner to go forward and draft a treaty on
this basis, it is extremely probable that a settlement would have been
reached in a few weeks; but Ministers, unhappily, were unable to make up
their minds, and there was a further delay of three months before the
Egyptian Prime Minister, Adli Pasha, was invited to negotiate with the
Foreign Office. By this time the Nationalist parties which the Mission
had succeeded in uniting on a common platform had fallen apart, and the
extremists once more started a violent agitation and upbraided the
moderates for tamely waiting on the British Government, which had
evidently meant to deceive them. The situation had, therefore, changed
again for the worse when Adli came to London in April, 1921, and it was
made worse still by what followed. The negotiations dragged over six
months, and finally broke down for reasons that have never been
explained, but the probability is that Egypt had now got entangled in
Coalition domestic politics, and that the "Die-Hards" claimed to have
their way in Egypt in return for their consent to the Irish settlement.
The door was now banged in the face of all schools of Egyptian
Nationalists, and Lord Allenby was instructed to send to the Sultan the
unhappy letter in which Egypt was peremptorily reminded that she was a
"part of the communications of the British Empire," and many other
things said which were specially calculated to wound Egyptian
susceptibilities.
The Egyptian Prime Minister resigned, and for the next five months Lord
Allenby endeavoured to govern the country by martial law without an
Egyptian Ministry. Then he came to London with the unanimous support of
British officials in Egypt to tell the Government that the situation was
impossible and a settlement imperative. The Government gave way and
British policy was again reversed, but three opportunities had now been
thrown away, and at the fourth time of asking the difficulties were
greatly increased. The Nationalists were now divided and the Moderates
in danger of being violently attacked if they accepted a moderate
solution. It was found necessary to deport Zaghlul Pasha and to put
several of his chief adherents on trial. Suspicions had been aroused by
the delays and vacillations of the British Government. A settlement by
treaty was now impossible, and Lord Allenby had to give unconditionally
the recognition of sovereignty which the Mission intended to be part of
the treaty, putting the Egyptians under an honourable pledge to respect
British rights and interests. In the circumstances there was nothing
else to do, but it is greatly to be desired that when the constitution
has been completed and the new Assembly convened, an effort should be
made to revert to the method of the treaty which particularly suited the
Egyptian character and would be regarded as a binding obligation by
Egyptians.