Mustapha Pasha Nahas, the new Wafd Prime Minister in Egypt,
is in an exceptionally illogical position, and he makes the task of those who are striving for a very friendly settlement proportionately difficult. For the Constitution which he is administering, and by virtue of which he wishes to pass on authority and responsibility to persons who are notoriously unfit to exercise it, exists only by agreement with Great Britain. It is a bilateral instrument, and yet he speaks as though all co-operation offered by Great Britain were an impertinence. Even if Britain were willing to disinterest herself in the Constitution she would not be able to do so in the way Nahas proposes because of her pledges to other Powers. The chief reason for hopefulness in face of the extremist challenge from Egypt—a reason which is also a call to and a justification of patience—is that the vast majority of Egyptians by no means desire the collapse of the. Constitution which would be involved if the British Government yielded.
