give merely a reluctant consent to the conditions agreed upon by them
and then to throw the onus of failure on the others.

I deeply regret the schism between the different schools of Nationalists
in Egypt. As we have seen in Ireland, Nationalism is threatened from
within as well as from without, and it is a great misfortune that in
settling the Egyptian problem we missed the moment in 1920 when the
different Nationalist parties were all but united on a common platform.
Extremist leaders have the power of compelling even their friends to
deport them and treat them as enemies, and I assume that Zaghlul put
Lord Allenby under this compulsion, when he decided that his deportation
was necessary. But Zaghlul was one of the few Nationalist leaders who
were of peasant origin, and his followers stand for something that needs
to be strongly represented in the Government if it is not to take its
complexion merely from the towns and the wealthy interests. The fellah
is a very different man from what he was in the days of Ismail, and it
is improbable that he will again submit to oppression as his forefathers
did but it is eminently desirable that there should be in the Government
men whom he would accept as leaders and whom he could trust to speak for
him.

Above all, it is to be hoped that, having conceded the independence of
Egypt, we shall not slip back into governing the country by martial law
with the aid of one party among the Egyptians. That would be merely an
evasion of the difficulty and a postponement of troubles. There are a
good many difficulties yet to be overcome, and the progress of events
will need careful watching by Liberals in and out of the House of
Commons, but if at length we steer a straight course and bring political
good sense to the details of the problem, there is no reason why we
should not satisfy the Egyptians and put Anglo-Egyptian relations on a