CHAPTER X!
EGYPT AND THE SUDAN
" Behold, I am against thee Pharaoh, king of Egypt, which
hath said, My river is mine own and I have made it for myself."-—
EZEK. xxix, 3,
THE respective rights of the British Empire and of the
Egyptian Nation in the wastes of the Sudan and in the
waters of the Nile would require a whole book for their
proper consideration. Here the question can^only be
treated as an appendix—but as an appendix that has
already given much trouble, and that unless adequately
dealt with will certainly give more.
The last of the reserved points which covers discreetly
the claim of the British Empire to sole sovereignty over
the Sudan comprises a dispute with Egypt that differs
altogether in character from the differences contained
in the preceding points. It is not, as they are, a conflict
between British Imperialism and Egyptian Nationalism,
but a collision between two rival imperialisms. For
though Egyptian national interests are vitally concerned
in respect of rights in Nile water, yet issue has not so
far been joined on this count, but on the Egyptian claim
to sole sovereignty over the Sudan. This claim was
first put forward twenty years ago by Mustapha Kamil
in the Lewa; it led to the conflict in 1923 over the
King's title; and was last strongly pressed by Zaglul
Pasha in his negotiations with Mr. MacDonald in 1924.
It was this claim that prevented any approach even to
a negotiation, and it was a strategic blunder on the part
of the Wafd to have so insisted on it. On our side it
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