CHAPTER IX
THE KINGDOM OF EGYPT
FUAD—ZAGLUL
" They did cry there, Pharaoh, king of Egypt, is but a noise;
he hath passed the time appointed."—JER. xlvi. 17.
THE day that Egypt was declared a sovereign and inde-
pendent State, Sultan Fuad took the title of King, and
a Commission was set up by the Sarwat Government to
draft a democratic constitution. At once a pretty sharp
conflict arose between the King and the Constitution-
alists, But for the concentration of most of the latter in
combating the English, it might have led to such a
deposition of the dynasty as was considered necessary
by Turkish Nationalists.
King Fuad came into power at the age of fifty, with-
out any sort of previous experience in government, or
even any acquaintance with Egypt. As a son of the exiled
Ismail, he had no especial claim on the affections of his
subjects, while he was in speech and outlook an Italian.
He came to the throne in circumstances of great
difficulty, when his patrons, the British, were practically
at war with his subjects. Conscious, probably, of his false
position and of the prejudice against him as a foreigner,
he at first made no attempt to canvass for popularity or
to get contacts with his people. He reduced to a minimum
his relations with the public and his Ministers, while he
worked hard to post himself in affairs and to make personal
friends with anyone who might be useful At last the tide
turned in his favour. The change of the Royal title from
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