16s Egypt
both subsequently called to play political parts of the first
importance in Egypt. But the possible political risk of
the new army was not overlooked. The capital was
garrisoned by the British force of some two to four
thousand men—only one Egyptian battalion being kept
there for parade purposes. While munitions and material
were kept in British charge, and the bulk of the troops
were stationed in the Sudan.
The reform of the corvee, of conscription, and of tax-
collection reduced that worst stratum of corruption
where the official structure came into contact with the
peasantry. But the whole system of Egyptian adminis-
tration as taken over from Ismail was a mixture of
Oriental and Occidental corruption. Nor was there any
general realisation or reprobation of this evil by public
opinion such as would have brought about reform in this
respect in the case of a native Government inspired by
nationalist idealism. To the Oriental of the Ottoman
Empire public funds are fair game, and the taking of
refreshers by a judge, whose living it was, need be no
more immoral than their acceptance by an advocate.
But, in the end, the introduction by the British of proper
accounts and audits, of proper payment of salaries, and,
not least, of British moral standards did materially reduce
this cancer.
With another "C," and that not the least of the
plagues of Egypt, Cromerism was less successful. The
extra-territorial Capitulations, judicial and commercial,
have been the first obstacle encountered by any reformed
regime in the East. Wherever a new Oriental State has
established itself on Occidental lines, these privileges of
the foreign communities and of foreign commerce have
had to be encountered and ended. It makes no difference
to this difficulty whether the new regime is Imperialist