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opened, the country was still under the extra-Parliamentary Government of Ziwar, but the opposition was visibly growing in strength, and the situation was obviously provisional. Before the year was two months old, the Government's electoral law of the previous December had been abandoned, and that favoured by Zaghloul, universal male suffrage by direct voting, accepted in its place. The Opposition Parties went into the contest as a Coalition, over which, however, the influence of Zaghloul was supreme, to such an extent that no candidate to whom he had any objection could be nominated by any one of the Coalition. parties. Their success was a foregone conclusion, and the announcement of the result of the elections in May-14 Government members, 164 Zaghloulists, and 36 other Opposition candidates— hardly caused surprise. The personality of the new Prime Minister was more in doubt. It was originally Zaghloul's intention not to accept office, but to support a Wafd Cabinet under the former Liberal minister, Adly Pasha, instead, but, as usual, Zaghloul became intoxicated with his own success and the acclaim of his followers, and the intervention of the British High Commissioner was necessary before he could be induced to renounce office. In doing so, he nominated Adly Pasha for the Premiership. The Cabinet which he formed consisted of three Liberals, including himself, an Independent, and six Wafdists, including Morcos Hanna Pasha, the successful defender of the two men charged with political murder, whose recent trial had caused a sensation both within and without Egypt.

In the previous February seven men who were accused of being implicated in the series of political murders that culminated in that of the Sirdar, Sir Lee Stack, were committed for trial. They included Ahmed Pasha Maher, Minister of Education in Zaghloul's two 1924 Cabinets and Mahmud Effendi Nekrashi, who held office at the same time. Of the seven prisoners only one was convicted, both ex-ministers being declared innocent, and on their release they immediately proceeded to the house of Zaghloul Pasha. This decision seemed to the onlookers to be contrary to the evidence, and that this view was shared in well-informed quarters was shown by the resignation of his office by Judge J. F. Kershaw, the one British judge who participated in the trial.

Parliament was opened on June 10. The King's Speech was, on the whole, moderate in tone. One passage dealt with the relations with Britain :

The Government particularly concerns itself to establish between the British and Egyptian nations and their respective Governments mutual confidence and cordial relations, and to prepare an atmosphere of good understanding which will permit Egypt to enjoy complete independence. The Government considers that the measures taken in the Sudan cannot impair Egypt's legitimate claims, which remain what they were, and will do all that is possible to reach, in this connexion, a solution giving Egypt satisfaction.

Almost the first business of the new Parliament was the consideration of certain of the extra-Parliamentary acts of its predecessor. A Committee was appointed to consider the legality of its decree laws, and this recommended that they all be declared null and void, but that a selection of them be presented to Parliament for approval. The Committee further recommended that the enactment of laws without the approval of Parliament in future be made a penal offence. These recommendations were acted on. Another proposal of the Government was a reform of local government whereby the omdas or headmen and village sheiks should be subject to election; that is to say, should become political nominees instead of civil servants as hitherto.

At the opening of the November Session it was announced that special measures would be taken to deal with the cotton crisis. These included the devotion of four million pounds of the reserve for the assistance in the form of loans to cultivators and the limiting of the cotton acreage to one-third of the land available. The fall in the price of cotton affecting, directly or indirectly, every resident in Egypt, was the principal topic of interest in the autumn. Great pressure was brought to bear on the Government to enter the market as a purchaser of cotton, but although at first it resisted the pressure, it had ultimately to give way. Zaghloul, on his part, set an example to his fellowlandowners in making very generous reductions in the rents charged to his tenants.

In the Speech from the Throne satisfaction was again expressed that the understanding between Great Britain and Egypt was daily becoming stronger and more solid, and that mutual confidence was increasing and was manifesting itself on every occasion. This reference was received with applause in the Chamber. But the actions that accompanied this pious expression of opinion were not equally appreciated outside of Government circles. In the first place, the two ex-ministers whose trial on the charge of political murder had resulted in acquittal had not only been elected without opposition as members of the Government Party in the Chamber, but they had been appointed by the Government members of some of the most influential committees, and through one of them, that of Education, were once again encouraging the students in that unruly and aggressive political action which had, on a previous occasion, led to dire consequences. At the same time, the students who had, under the previous Government, been dismissed for political insubordination, were reinstated. Moreover, an anti-British agitation recommenced in the Government Press, and a petty persecution of officials approved by their British superiors set in.

Finance was the cause of some worry to the Government of Egypt in the course of the year. The prosperous state of the public finances during the period in which British control was

tighter diminished in vigour as that control slackened. This deterioration was, to some extent, to be attributed to the increase in expenditure which may be measured by the growth of the total expended in salaries, from six million pounds to thirteen and a half millions, between the years 1914 and 1925. During the same period the Royal expenditure rose from E.82,000l. to E.867,000l. The conclusion reached was a prospective deficit of one and a half million pounds in the Budget of the year. Part of this deficit was, perhaps, due to the decision of the Mixed Court of Appeal in April that the Government was liable for the payment of the Tribute Loans of 1891 and 1894, a liability which it had endeavoured to escape.

The delimitation of the boundary between Egypt and Cyrenaica had been settled in principle the previous year, but several of the details proving impossible of decision had to be referred to arbitration. The decision that was subsequently given practically satisfied both parties, only the nationality of the Senussi inhabitants of Jarabub being left to diplomatic negotiation.

The Khalifate Congress, which had been long previously heralded, was held in Cairo, May 13-19. It was, however, by no means representative of Islam. The delegates came from the Arab countries, the East Indies, India, South Africa, and Poland only. The Congress resolved that the institution of the Khalifate was necessary to Islam, but that the occasion was not suitable for filling the vacant office. This Congress was held in advance of the similar one convened by Ibn Saud at Mecca, whose deliberations it was doubtless intended to influence. At the same time, a vacancy in the Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria was filled by the election of Mgr. Meletios Metaxakis, formerly Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, who had been forced by the Turkish Government to resign. This result was, however, attained only after great excitement in the Hellenic communities in Egypt, aroused by the interference of the Egyptian Government in the election.

Another matter that aroused considerable controversy at the time was the generous offer of Mr. J. D. Rockefeller, jun., to the Egyptian Government and people of a sum of two million pounds for the erection and endowment of a museum and an archæological institute in Cairo. The Egyptian Government, however, was impatient of the condition attached to the gift, that for the earlier years of the existence of the endowment representatives of Mr. Rockefeller should share with those of the Egyptian Government the trusteeship of the funds and other property, and the offer was ultimately declined.

The Sudan was fortunate throughout the year in being devoid of history. The Governor-General, Sir Geoffrey Archer, was forced by ill-health to resign, and was succeeded, after some delay, by Sir John Maffey, a successful Anglo-Indian adminis

trator. The problem of the Nile waters, which had, in the past, caused much trouble, and at times alarm, proceeded further towards solution by the unanimous agreement of the British and Egyptian members of the Nile Waters Commission regarding the amount of water that can be taken by the Sudan without risk of injury to Egypt. Related to this subject was the opening of another great dam, the Makwar Dam, in January, whereby great irrigation schemes in the Sudan will be rendered possible; and the negotiations between Britain and Italy, to which the Government of Abyssinia took exception, for the utilisation of the waters of Lake Tsana, which is in Abyssinian territory, for irrigation purposes in the Sudan.

CHAPTER X.

AMERICA: THE UNITED STATES

CANADA-ARGENTINA-BRAZIL

CHILE-MEXICO-OTHER LATIN-AMERICAN COUNTRIES.

THE UNITED STATES.

THE year 1926 was one of dazzling prosperity for the United States. All previous records were broken in building construction, in automobile production, in steel, bituminous coal, copper, oil, cotton, newsprint, silk goods, and cement, while in the volume of dealings on the New York Stock Exchange as well as in bank clearings, business profits, income tax returns, life insurance sales, and savings deposits, new high points were reached. Some fear was manifested in conservative quarters lest the new and fastgrowing system of instalment selling might prove to be a false basis for the general prosperity, but President Coolidge reassured the country by pointing out that the total income of the American people for the year was 77,000,000,000 dollars, and that the total sales based on the instalment system amounted to only 2,000,000,000 dollars-not a very formidable percentage of their whole income. The Government itself shared in the wealth. The national debt, which amounted to over 24,000,000,000 dollars when Mr. Coolidge took office in March, 1921, was reduced during his tenure of office by more than 4,500,000,000 dollars. Reduction during 1926 amounted to 1,173,000,000 dollars, one of the largest on record.

Although public opinion seemed distinctly indifferent, the war debt question continued to oceupy considerable official attention. The debt settlement with Italy, embracing the payment of 2,042,000,000 dollars over a period of sixty-two years, was ratified by the House of Representatives on January 15, by a vote of 257 to 133, and by the Senate on April 20 by a vote of 54 to 33. The large vote polled against the settlement was unexpected and, on

the whole, significant of the opposition aroused in the United States against the present régime in Italy.

On January 16 the House ratified the debt agreements with Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Estonia, and Latvia; this was followed by similar action in the Senate on April 26 and 27. The House approved the agreement with Yugoslavia on June 4, but the Senate failed to reach this business before the end of the year.

But a distinct hitch developed over the agreement as to the French debt reached on April 29 between the Debt Funding Commission and Ambassador Berenger, an agreement which was formally approved by President Coolidge and Premier Briand. This agreement funded into bonds a total indebtedness, principal and accrued interest, estimated at 4,025,000,000 dollars, which was to be paid off in sixty-two years, beginning with interest at 1 per cent. and increasing to a maximum of 3 per cent., total payments of principal and interest amounting to 6,847,674,104 dollars.

The House ratified this on June 2 by a vote of 236 to 112, but the administration, perceiving that feeling against the settlement was running high in France, decided not to press for its ratification by the Senate until the French Parliament had approved. The President must have congratulated himself on this prudent decision when, on July 11, some 20,000 World War veterans in Paris-many of them blind and crippled-paraded in a vehement protest against the ratification of the settlement which was denounced on the grounds that it would "enslave " France for sixty-two years. The American newspapers carried lengthy accounts of the parade, generally without much editorial comment, but Clemenceau's "open letter "to President Coolidge on August 8 in which he said some extremely sharp things about America's "hardness" on the debt question, provoked instant and widespread resentment. Neither Mr. Coolidge nor his intimate shadow, the White House spokesman," would discuss the letter, but Senator Borah, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, on August 12 vigorously denounced the Clemenceau letter as "cruelly misleading" and "dishonest in purpose." He probably voiced at the moment a widespread sentiment when he added: "If they want to cancel debts, let them cancel reparations as well, and show us that the benefits of cancellation will go to humanity and to the betterment of the masses of Europe, and not to bolster up imperialistic schemes which are now crushing the life out of people who were in no sense responsible for the war." Certain it is that the minority which advocated cancellation of the debts found itself, on the whole, handicapped rather than helped by the French attitude.

In June Mr. F. W. Peabody, a distinguished New England lawyer, directed a lengthy and almost impassioned appeal to Mr. Coolidge and the country to heed the strong anti-American

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