Lord Allenby, in a covering letter of December 3rd, reminded
the Sultan of the facts of the case. Great Britain, ho said, must keep troops in Egypt as a guarantee of order, though she did not want to continue the protectorate. "Nothing is gained by minimizing national obligations and exaggerating national rights." " The world is suffering in many places at the present time from the cult of a fanatical and purely disruptive typo of nationalism," against which the Govern- ment " would set their face as firmly in Egypt as elsewhere," though not, it seems, in Ireland. Lord Allenby's letter in itself is admirable. But it is surely an anti-climax to negotia- tions which began with Lord Milner's offer to give Egypt what appeared to be little short of absolute independence. It would have been far better if the Government had acted in Egypt as the American Government have acted in the Philippines— appointing a Commission to inquire into the progress made by the Filipinos and to decide whether or not they were fit for independence. We cheerfully acknowledge the Primo Minister's uncanny brilliancy in getting out of political messes. But we do not see why the Cabinet should create gratuitous messes in order that the Prime Minister may display his adroitness in escaping from them. The whole Egyptian imbroglio was a needless blunder. The Cabinet should never have raised among the self-seeking politicians of Cairo the expectations which it finds at long last that it cannot fulfil.
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