May 10.
Mr. Arthur Henderson, in hi Cairo of Sir Lee Stack, the Governor-General of the Sudan, compelled the British Gove ment to dispense for the covering note to Mohamed Pas Mahmud, the then Prime Mi ter of Egypt, described the pr posals of August 3 last for an Anglo-Eyyptian settlement "the extreme limit" to which he tion in the when the opportuni suming that ea-ope offered the Eyyptians could recommend the British Government to go "in their de-they sive to achieve a lasting and honourable settlement of out standing questions." In London, where some of these proposals evoked an anxiety which was nat confined to Mr. Henderson's their ow account to assert. the facts a: the popu-political opponents, the literal truth of the statement was fully appreciated. The difficulty of inducing Cairo to be reasonable was immediately recognized by students of the history of Anglo-Egyptian negotiations since 1922, to say nothing of earlier experiences and of the difference in the respective atmos plieres of the two capitals Egyptian comment soon showed that even the unvarnished astion of the Labour Foreign Secretary was not enough to dissipate the notion that there was still room for the display of self-deform grossly violated if the Government for one moment ad mitted the validity of such a proposal. Yet the Exyptiaa delegates have thought ft to wreck the negotiations on that issue. Mr, Henderson statox that the status quo remains. Thus the generous offer made ast August in agreement with Mohamed Pasha Mahmut not be at present fulfilled. The cabled messages indicate a chef in London that the Exyp jan Government will revise its of that skill in bargaining on9 attitude when the full which Egyptian politicians have set such store, Luter, the defeat of the Prime Minister who had assisted in framing—the proposals and the return of a Wafdist to power made it clour that the Egyptian electorate the same notion, It was not surprising therefore that the delegation sent to London under the Prime Minister Nahas Pasha to bring about the final settlement—the fourth attempt at such a feat {in the Inst seven years—atartled the British Foreign Office with proposals which differed in a marked degree from those which they had ostensibly come to discuss. Mr, Henderson was patient and hopeful. He had behind him the goodwill of his own colleagues and the agreeable knowledge that neither of the two parties in opposition in the House of Commons was strong enough even if it had the will to hamper him, So, in the occupation of convincing the Egyptian negotiators that the bargaining spirit, must be strictly confined within the terms the August proposals, he had a task on which he could expend all his energy and persuasive. ness, But the skill which enabled him to engineer an agreement with Moscow has failed now.
There is to his evedit the ereation of a bond of mutual admire ation between him and Nahas Pasha, whatever that may be worth. The negotiations have nevertheless broken down, With admirable bluntness Mr.
Henderson tells the House of Commons that the failure was due to the Egyptians' insistence on discussing the Sudan whoa Egypt was the subject at issue. Thus the delegation returns Cairo without having gained for Egypt the very far-reaching and material advantages offered under the August memorandum. In the matter of the Sudan, indeed, Egypt loses. The memorandum laid down a reversion to the condominium of 1899 whereby the Sudan was placed under the joint administration of the two countries. This is rejected because the Egyptians desire to press the preposterous claim of Egypt to a dominant control of the Sudan. The claim is based on the slender theory of original Egyptian sovereignty. The facts are that Egypt never ruled the the failure of the delegation ix appreciated. That might be in accordance with the customary ability of the bargaining mind if it had no more reputable inspiration. "The evident readi ness of his left wing back benehers to condemn Mr. Henderson for the failure should not blind him to the need for adhering to his present firmness. The manner in which the Egyptian nego-fiaters have interpreted the facts of the situation makes it all the more imperative that the phrase "extreme limit" from the British side should be maintained in its fullest integrity.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.