What the position of the Khedivial family is to be
is not stated, but, if we may judge from British traditions, the desire of the Government will be to alter the status quo as little as possible, provided always that the family proves worthy of trust, and that we have assurances that the true interests of the Egyptian people—for they, and they alone, must be our goal—will not suffer by the continuance of Khedivial rule. We could no more tolerate injury to Egypt and the Egyptian people in order to maintain a sentiment or a tradition than we could tolerate misrule in an Indian Feudatory State out of a mistaken devotion to the status quo. The ideal which we must put before us is the ideal which Lord Cromer always kept before him—how to govern Egypt in the interests of the governed. Of one thing we may be absolutely certain. The utmost care will be taken to respect the rights of the Mohammedan population. And by respecting Mohammedan rights we do not mean bare civio rights, but the title to the utmost consideration and respect.
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