CHAPTER V 



THE VEILED PROTECTORATE 



Our winter in Egypt of that year, 1892-93, turned out to be full 

 of incident. I found on arriving there, that the trouble I had foreseen 

 between the new Khedive Abbas and Sir Evelyn Baring would speedily 

 come to a head if no attempt were made to carry out Lord Dufferin's 

 promises to the Egyptians of restoring to them their National Govern- 

 ment under a constitutional form, and a definite policy adopted for 

 preparing the country for evacuation. Owing to the pre-occupation 

 of our Liberal party in England with the affairs of Ireland and other 

 home politics, the question of Egypt had been allowed to stand over 

 and nothing had been done. Lord Rosebery at the Foreign Office 

 had been left to act, or not to act, as he pleased, and he in turn had left 

 the decision of a policy to Baring, whose idea of Egyptian Government 

 was to retain all power in his own hands, while acting in the Khedive's 

 name. 



It was the famous policy of " the Veiled Protectorate," the success- 

 ful carrying out of which needed two essential conditions, first, that 

 the Khedive should be a consenting party to the make-believe, and, 

 secondly, that its true nature should be concealed from the general 

 Egyptian public. The Khedive was expected to name his own ministers, 

 but the choice of them was to be privately dictated to him by the British 

 Agent. The Government officials were to wear the Ottoman Fez, but 

 the more important of them were to be Englishmen. These were to 

 give advice, not orders, but the advice was always to be obeyed. It 

 was an ingenius plan, adopted from the Government of British India, 

 in its dealing with the native states, while a third condition was equally 

 indispensable, that was the presence behind the British Agent of a 

 sufficient armed force to give emphasis to his advice and enforce his 

 will, the Army of Occupation. 



Although not a year had yet passed since Abbas' succession to the 

 Khedivial dignity, he had already rebelled against the position of a 

 mere puppet, and had managed to gather about him the nucleus of a 

 new National party, which consisted of what elements there were in 

 Egypt either of discontent or of such patriotism as was to be found 

 in the country, half political, half religious, which resented the presence 

 of foreign and Christian rule. The Khedive had been greatly aided 



84 



