Rebellion and Independence 255
Saad Zaglul and the Wafd honestly believed them-
selves to be the only possible saviours of Egypt, and
their intransigence the only possible policy for establish-
ing an Egyptian nation. They had, indeed, initiated this
policy of intransigent insistence on a full programme of
complete independence (Istiklal el tarn] and of meeting
every fresh concession with a fresh claim. It was later
followed with complete success by Turkish nationalists
and with considerable success by those of Iraq. They
now advertised that they were in control of Egypt by a
renewal of agitation that culminated in *' Red Monday ''
at Alexandria (May 23, 1921). There the mob ran
amok, killing many Greeks and Italians, while alarming
preparations were made for more serious disorders. An
eye-witness (Travers Symonds, Britain and Egypt,
1918, p. 128) speaks of seeing Cf municipal dustcarts
and waggons borrowed for the occasion filled with huge
stones and cans of petroleum." But if the intention was
to provoke European intervention it failed of its purpose.
On the contrary, it so alarmed those foreign colonies who
had sympathised with or even supported the rising of
1919 that they now detached themselves from the
Nationalists.
This attitude and action of the Wafd had, however,
the result of making it impossible for Adli to accept the
Treaty terms proposed by Lord Curzon after several
weeks' negotiation. Yet these terms went further even
than the Milner proposals. For they provided that the
Protectorate should be abolished on signature of the
Treaty, and this concession was further emphasised in
a letter addressed to the Sultan by Lord AHenby
(December 3, 1921), which declared that there was
no Intention involving "the continuance of an actual or
virtual Protectorate. On the contrary, the ideal was that