Memorandum as to the Evacuation of Egypt 409 



with the fellahin, is disliked by every class in Cairo and the towns, and 

 would at once be the object of attack, open or secret. 



It is a mistake to suppose the Khedive attached to English influence, or 

 to be depended on in any way to support it. On the contrary, while lean- 

 ing on English support these last ten years he has deeply resented the 

 usurpation of his authority, and the many indignities he has been made to 

 accept. It is more than probable that seeing French influence in the as- 

 cendant, he would secretly favour the intrigues which would be begun 

 against the English commands in the Army and the English Civil officials. 

 A couple of years would thus see the downfall of the whole structure of 

 English influence so elaborately reared. In the absence of any native po- 

 litical organization in the country its government would then become prac- 

 tically French ; and this is doubtless what the French Foreign Office counts 

 upon. I deprecate such a result both for English interests, and especially 

 for the Egyptians for the reasons already given. 



Such, I take it, are the various lines on which evacuation could be ef- 

 fected. If the Liberal Party is prepared with a definite plan by which 

 Egypt could be provided with a satisfactory Government preparatory to 

 withdrawing our troops under settlement with the Sultan and Powers, I 

 think its leaders do well to press evacuation on public attention. But it is 

 idle for them to entertain the idea that any such Government has been al- 

 ready formed, or even that a first step in that direction has been already 

 taken. Sir Evelyn Baring's policy is entirely one of remaining in Egypt, 

 and each year sees more and more authority placed in English hands. Oth- 

 erwise I see no alternative but to re-establish the Sultan's military author- 

 ity, or to brave the danger of European complications, as Lord Salisbury 

 will doubtless do, and remain. An English protectorate would be a lesser 

 evil to the Egyptians than any form of European Joint Control. 



Wilfred Scawen Blunt. 



Paris, Nov. 5, 1891. 



N.B. This memorandum was written for Lytton while staying at the 

 Paris Embassy, but I am not sure whether he ever read it, for he was 

 lying on his death bed. Edwin Egerton, however, then first Secretary and 

 charge d'affaires of the Embassy, highly approved of it — so much so that 

 he gave a copy of it to Blowitz, who sent it to the " Times," where it may 

 be found, though not quite in its full text. 



W. S. B. 



