The Egyptian Government says, in effect, " We are quite
competent to protect foreigners and their property. You have nothing whatever to do with it and we shall interpret any attempt on your part to provide protection as a denial of independence to Egypt." The measures to which Sir Austen Chamberlain objected were a law making it easier to carry weapons, a law which would lessen the control of the central Government over public demonstrations, and a law which would make the Omdas, or local mayors, responsible instead. of the central Government for order in their own areas. Sir Austen, it is clear, would not have' objected to any of these laws if the Treaty had been accepted. But it is obvious that they have now to be considered in an entirely different light, for all the guarantees at the centre which Britain proposed have been rejected.
