The Kingdom of Egypt 277
quirements would none the less be put in force, and that
in view of their rejection the Alexandria Customs would
be occupied.
Zaglul thereupon resigned (November 24). Ziwar
Pasha took office, and accepted the demands as to the
Sudan. The Zaglulists, Ahmed Maher, Minister of
Education, Mahmoud Nekrashi, Secretary of the In-
terior, and Abdul Rahman Fahmy were arrested. The
Egyptian Parliament, by a unanimous vote, appealed to
the League of Nations against "the exploitation of a
tragic incident for imperialist purposes." Therewith the
crisis was closed and co-operation was to some extent
restored. But it was no longer co-operation with the
Egyptian national representatives. For Parliament was
dissolved (December 24) and Egypt reverted to the con-
ditions of 1923, being again governed by the King and a
nominated Premier legislating by decree.
It may be questioned whether it was either justifiable
or judicious to enforce, as to points at issue, an ex parte
settlement that was purely provisional and unlikely to be
ever constitutionally ratified as a penalty for a public
crime. Both the Sudan and the Capitulations were, of
course, indirectly involved in the crime, but Sir Lee
Stack was murdered in Cairo as Sirdar, not as Governor-
General in the Sudan ; and the crime was a political coup
that had no real connection with the general safety of
foreigners in Egypt. Nor was the final settlement of the
reserved points, a settlement that had to be by mutual
consent, in any way furthered by being made part of the
penalty for this abominable crime. That crime was
clearly due to a conspiracy to injure Anglo-Egyptian
relations, and we played the conspirators' game by in-
volving in it all the unsettled issues of this relationship.
That it was a mistake was, indeed, practically acknow-