Egyptian liberty, was chosen by an overwhelming majority. He led a bitter attack against Mohammed Said and indirectly against the British Agency in the early debates. The hostility of the new Assembly received encouragement from the Khedive, who now acted in complete understanding with the Nationalists. Egypt during the War. On the outbreak of the World War in 1914, and the change that was made in the status of Egypt, the sittings of the Assembly were suspended, and the term of its mandate expired without their having been renewed. Lord Kitchener was absent from Egypt on leave when Great Britain entered the war, and he never returned there, his services being demanded at home, where he was appointed War Minister. On Oct. i 1914 enemy subjects were ordered by the G.O.C. in chief, Sir John Maxwell, to register themselves, and German or Austro-Hungarian male subjects of military age, or under suspi- cion, were deported to Malta. A proclamation of Nov. 2 placed Egypt under martial law. This enabled administrative measures to be enforced without reference to the Legislative Assembly and, where foreign subjects were concerned, without the elab- orate procedure for obtaining the consent of foreign Powers. A further proclamation on Nov. 6 notifying a state of war with Turkey announced that Great Britain would take upon herself the sole burden of the war " without calling on the Egyptian people for aid therein." A number of Egyptian artillery never- theless volunteered for service in defending the canal and took part in the repulse of the German-Turkish offensive, which was not supported by any movement in Egypt itself. Volunteer labour battalions were also raised, which played an important part in the conduct of the war. From 1917 onwards an Egyptian force, enrolled under the Frontier Districts Administration with British officers, maintained security and suppressed con- traband in the Arabian and Libyan desert zone, hitherto patrolled by the coast-guards.
As the Egyptians were nominally subjects of the Sultan the entry of Turkey into the World War as the enemy of the occu- pying Power created an intolerable situation which demanded immediate settlement. Turkish suzerainty might have been determined by the annexation of Egypt to the British Empire. But it was decided rather to proceed along existing lines and to place Egypt under British protection. By a proclamation issued Dec. 18 the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs gave notice that, " in view of the state of war arising out of the action of Turkey, Egypt is placed under the protection of His Majesty, and will henceforth constitute a British Protectorate. The suzerainty of Turkey over Egypt is thus terminated and His Majesty's Government will adopt all measures necessary for the defence of Egypt and protect its inhabitants and interests." A second proclamation issued the following day announced the deposition of the Khedive, "Abbas Hilmi, who was in Constantinople, on the ground of his adherence to the King's enemies, and the acceptance of the succession by his uncle Prince Hussein Kamel, who was henceforth to bear the title of Sultan of Egypt. The arbitrary and corrupt methods of the deposed Khedive had rendered him generally unpopular with Egyptians, who had also little reason to regret the severance of the last link with Turkey. At the same time Mussulman feeling could not be indifferent to the danger which threatened the caliphate, and German agents had freely promised the even- tual liberation of Egypt from British control after the victory which they confidently predicted. Sultan Hussein's position was therefore no easy one, in spite of the personal respect which he commanded.
Sir H. McMahon, High Commissioner. The new status of Egypt was nevertheless introduced without disturbance, if without enthusiasm, under the direction of Sir Milne Cheetham as acting High Commissioner, pending the arrival early in 1915 of Sir Henry McMahon, who had been selected for that post. The British representative now took over the direction of foreign affairs and the Egyptian minister disappeared.
The complete failure of the Turkish attack on the Canal had its effect on public opinion, and as time went on the Sultan's personal popularity increased. On the other hand the Russian
retreat, the failure of the Dardanelles attack and the final with- drawal produced some reaction and confirmed the general impression of German invincibility. In April and again in July 1915 attempts were made on the life of the Sultan. In justice to the Egyptians, however, it should be recorded that, whatever anticipations had been raised among them as to the outcome of the war, they bore with patience and goodwill the unwelcome disabilities which it entailed, and laid Great Britain under obligations both moral and financial. Requisitions of cereals and of live stock, the control imposed on the price of cotton, recruiting for the labour and the camel transport corps, without which the Palestine campaign could not have been brought to a successful conclusion, and finally the assumption by the Egyptian Government of the whole liability for expendi- ture on services connected with the war, held over in a sus- pense account which reached 3,000,000, constituted a British obligation for which too little credit was given.
Nationalist Propaganda. The war had entailed the recall of a great number of British officials from Egypt for service elsewhere, and not only was much abusive action by uncon- trolled local agents ascribed to British pressure, but a free field was left open for Nationalist propaganda, which had grown ever-increasingly active as the generation died out which had experienced the pre-occupation regime. Nationalist sentiment, legitimate and worthy of sympathy in itself, might have as- sumed a moderate and healthy form had it not from the first received an anti-British impulse from rivalries and jealousies among the Western Powers, making use of the indeterminate position of Great Britain as a serviceable political weapon. The situation was considerably modified by the Anglo-French understanding of 1904. But the Nationalist movement founded by the late Mustafa Kemal and fanned by Sheikh Shawish and others, had assumed a definitely anti-British colour, which the ex-Khedive had at one time exploited for his own personal ends. The members of a dissatisfied civil service, who regarded the presence of an ever-growing number of British officials in the higher posts as a bar to their promotion and interest, swelled the ranks of the Nationalists, reinforced by the students, who felt that their prospect of obtaining State employment, to qualify for which they had often made real sacrifices, was diminished by the competition of the foreigner. The lawyers, a very numerous class, who anticipated that the protectorate would entail a modification of the judicial system prejudicial to their situation, were unanimously hostile, as indeed were the members of all the professional classes. Not only had British officials increased in a manner which seemed dispropor- tionate to the expanding activities of the departments and hardly consistent with the principle of training Egyptians to manage their own affairs, but, in contradiction of that very principle, they had tended to absorb administrative functions and not merely to advise. With increasing numbers they had become a community living their own lives, wholly aloof from the Egyp- tians and the other foreign communities, and with this loss of contact their influence and moral control had weakened. Finally, the war between Great Britain and Turkey, the seat of the caliphate, had emphasized the latent but always present impatience of the Moslem under Christian rule. The strength which the Nationalist movement continued to acquire during the earlier and middle phases of the war does not seem to have been sufficiently realized.
Sir R. Wingate, High Commissioner. In Dec. 1916 Gen. Sir Reginald Wingate, who had filled the posts of Sirdar of the Egyptian army and Governor-General of the Sudan since Dec. 1899, was called to Cairo as High Commissioner in suc- cession to Sir Henry McMahon. The health of Sultan Hussein, which had for some time caused anxiety, did not improve and it became urgent to settle the question of succession, left in abeyance in 1914. Prince Kamel ed Din, his only son, who had married the sister of the ex-Khedive, finally declined the posi- tion of heir-apparent, which was then offered to Prince Ahmad Fuad, the sixth son of the Khedive Isma'il. He had been educated at Turin, where he passed through the military school.
