The Kingdom of Egypt 267
Congress. From all of which it will be observed that the
Crown comes down into the political arena in a way that
is not unlikely to bring it into collision with popular move-
ments.
The State religion is Islam, the official language
Arabic, and the capital Cairo (Arts. 149-150). The Con-
stitution does not prevail as against treaty rights (Art.
154), an important provision in a State where international
servitudes " still survive as they do in Egypt. The
Constitution is applicable to the Kingdom of Egypt only,
but this without prejudice to Egyptian rights over the
Sudan ; and the Royal title is to be c< established after the
authorised delegations have fixed the final status of
the Sudan " (Arts. 159 and 160).
The Constitution was followed by the Act of Indemnity,
required under the Declaration of Independence as a
condition for the abolition of martial law, and which rati-
fied the legislation imposed under martial law. This was
followed by an electoral law that was to be a field of future
battles. A mixed commission arranged for concluding and
compensating the employment of British officials on
liberal lines (July 22, 11923). And this law was given the
force of an international contract by an exchange of
Notes. So swiftly and, on the whole, smoothly did the
constituent work proceed that the old order was
liquidated and the new laid down by the end of 1923.
But it was not realised outside Egypt how very weak was
the popular mandate with which the moderate Nationalists
were working. Egypt, in fact, owes as great a debt to
Yehia and his colleagues as does England to Lord Allenby
and the British moderates for restoring co-operation long
enough to set the new kingdom on a solid constitutional
basis and to establish a sound relationship between Egypt
and the Empire. For this work was done under a rain of