46 / Suggest a Fellah Ministry [^i 



was a doubtful question whether it was possible to put Mohammedans 

 on any road of reform. I said: ' If you give up that hope you give 

 up everything, but you have not tried the Liberal party to help you in 

 reforms.' He said he ' was quite willing. If the National party in 

 1882 had not allied itself with the army it might have been supported.' 

 ' That was the fault,' I said, ' of the Joint Note.' He agreed that ' the 

 Joint Note was a mistake,' and, I think, was impressed with what I 

 said, and we parted on the understanding that I was to give him the 

 names of persons I thought able to afford him political help, but he 

 enjoined on me complete secrecy. ' I will take some opportunity,' he 

 said, ' of making their acquaintance, but there is a difficulty sometimes 

 in my seeing the people.' I shall wait until Hassan Pasha Sherei re- 

 turns from Upper Egypt, and then see if we cannot make out a fellah 

 Cabinet together." I have a few letters which passed between me and 

 Baring at this time. They are of importance as showing that the policy 

 of introducing reforms through native Egyptians of the Mohommedan 

 Reform Party was laid before Sir Evelyn Baring, and its advantages 

 more or less acknowledged by him full fifteen years before he, as Lord 

 Cromer, adopted it as the only one which could give a hope of making 

 self-government in Egypt possible. (See his Reports for the year 



I905- ) 



Our life at Sheykh Obeyd that Spring was not without incident, as 



our immediate neighbourhood was disturbed almost nightly by gangs 

 of robbers, who visited the country houses round, breaking into them 

 in the night time and coming in armed conflict with such of the owners 

 as resisted them. The bands were composed principally of Bedouins, 

 with whom were associated certain refugees from Upper Egypt and a 

 few broken men escaped from the prisons at Toura, but the direction 

 of them was in Bedouin hands. For this reason we, who were on 

 good terms with the tribes, were left unmolested, though every one 

 of our near neighbours suffered. This is from my diary : 



" yth March. — Last night at half-past twelve I heard a great noise 

 of dogs barking, and occasional shots. I went out on to the balcony 

 and listened, and was about to go to bed again, for the guards have a 

 habit of firing without reason in the night to show they are awake, when 

 I heard cries, and I called to Deyf Allah, our head ghaffir, and asked 

 him what it was. He answered, ' there are robbers at Selim Bey's.' 

 I consequently dressed hastily and ran down, having first awakened 

 Anne, and taking my Winchester rifle and a revolver sallied forth, fol- 

 lowed by Deyf Allah and Mahmud the Berberin. It was a dark night 

 and I held my rifle ready to fire as we went through the palm grove 

 where I thought I saw one or two people moving. As we got near to 

 Selim Faraj's house (a quarter of a mile from ours) the noise of the 



