Prestige, prudence and public opinion in the 1882 british occupation of Egypt

Australian Journal of Politics and History

Volumn 56, Issue 3, 2010, Pages 423-440

  Halvorson, Dan ^a  

^a GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 77955992405     PISSN: 00049522     EISSN: 14678497     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8497.2010.01563.x     Document Type: Article

References (126)

1. D. Acheson, Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department (New York, 1969), p. 405.
2. A.S. Thompson, Imperial Britain: The Empire in British Politics, c. 1880-1932 (London, 2000), pp. 23-24
3. P. Kennedy, The Realities Behind Diplomacy: Background Influences on British External Policy, 1865-1980 (London and Boston, 1981), pp. 69-70.
4. See W. Baumgart, Imperialism: The Idea and Reality of British and French Colonial Expansion 1880-1914 (Oxford, 1982), pp. 48-49
5. P.J. Durrans, "A Two-Edged Sword: The Liberal Attack on Disraelian Imperialism", The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 10, 3 (1982), pp.275-278.
6. R. Robinson and J. Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians (London and Basingstoke, 1961), p. 85.
7. See, for example, W.E. Gladstone, Aggression on Egypt and Freedom in the East (London, 1877)
8. R.D. Osborn, "The Value of Egypt to Great Britain", The Contemporary Review, January, Vol. 41 (1882), pp. 30-31.
9. See survey in A.G. Hopkins, "The Victorians and Africa: A Reconsideration of the Occupation of Egypt, 1882", The Journal of African History, Vol. 27, 2 (1986), pp. 364-370.
10. This is, of course, a very brief treatment of Cain and Hopkins' theory of economic imperialism; see P.J. Cain and A.G. Hopkins, British Imperialism, 1688-2000, 2nd ed. (London, 2002).
11. Hopkins, "The Victorians and Africa", p. 13.
12. Robinson and Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians, pp. 94-121.
13. D.A. Farnie, East and West of Suez: The Suez Canal in History 1854-1956 (Oxford, 1969), pp. 291-294.
14. See W.E. Gladstone, Midlothian Speeches 1879 (Leicester, 123., 1971), pp. 115-117
15. The conceptual foundations for the argument developed here are suggested in R. Hyam, "The Primacy of Geopolitics: The Dynamics of British Imperial Policy, 1763-1963", The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, Vol. 27, 2 (1999), pp. 27-52. Other scholars such as David Steele and M.E. Yapp have previously noted the theme of prestige with respect to India in the Egyptian Crisis, although it has not been developed in the context of the events and decision-making examined in this article; see D. Steele, "Britain and Egypt 1882-1914: The Containment of Islamic Nationalism", in K.M. Wilson, ed., Imperialism and Nationalism in the Middle East (London, 1983), pp. 1-3; and M.E. Yapp, The Making of the Modern Near East 1792-1923 (London, 1987), pp. 81-82, 227-228. Robert T. Harrison has also made the connection between public opinion and imperial prestige, and argued that the main purpose of the Egypt occupation was to safeguard India. This article also shares Harrison's view that the Liberal Cabinet's attitude toward the ineffectual Conference of the Powers (17 June - 14 August 1882) was disingenuous, but for different reasons than those claimed by Harrison. See R.T. Harrison, Gladstone's Imperialism in Egypt: Techniques of Domination (Westport, CT, 1995), pp. 3-4, 77, 97-102 and 113-115.
16. H.J. Morgenthau, Politics among Nations: the Struggle for Power and Peace, 5th rev. ed. (New York, 1978), pp. 77-88.
17. Robinson and Gallagher, Africa and the Victorians, p. 23.
18. Hopkins, "The Victorians and Africa", p. 385.
19. See R. Owen, The Middle East in the World Economy 1800-1914 (London and New York, 1981), pp. 122-152.
20. See, for example, Mr. Wyndham (St. Petersburg) to Earl Granville, 28 September 1881, F[oreign] O[ffice] 407/18/87; Sir H. Elliot (Vienna) to Granville, 11 January 1882, FO 407/19/58.
21. The "Khedive" was the title of the Ottoman Viceroy of Egypt. The Khedivate was made hereditary within the Muhammad Ali dynasty in 1866.
22. Salisbury to Malet, 19 September 1879, Parliamentary Papers, Egypt, 14 (1884).
23. The Law of Liquidation (1880) was negotiated between nine European creditor states, and could only be altered by their consent.
24. Farnie, East and West of Suez, p. 292.
25. Mr. Cookson (Cairo) to Granville, 9 September 1881, FO 407/18/1; FO 407/18/3; 14 September 1881, FO 407/18/58. The Chamber of Notables was a deliberative Assembly established in 1866.
26. Memorandum by Mr. Colvin, 10 September 1881, in Cookson to Granville, 12 September 1881, FO 407/18/50.
27. The Times, 27 September 1881, p. 8. British correspondents in Egypt were far from disinterested and impartial observers. Sir John Scott, for instance, was also a judge in the "Mixed Tribunals" established in 1875 to hear cases involving European residents in Egypt; see, "British Public Opinion and the Invasion of Egypt, 1882", Trivium M.E. Chamberlain, Vol. 16 (1981), pp. 14-15.
28. See, for example, Malet to Granville, 25 September 1881, FO 407/18/85; "Précis of Seven Articles from the Newspaper 'El Hejaz' of Sept. 26, 1881", in Malet to Granville, 6 October 1881, FO 407/18/195.
29. Moberley Bell, later a Managing Director of The Times, was a prominent figure in the English business community in Alexandria; see Chamberlain, "British Public Opinion and the Invasion of Egypt, 1882", p. 15.
30. The Times, 6 October 1881, p. 4.
31. Mr. Gladstone to Granville (private), 13 September 1881, Granville Papers, P[ublic] R[ecords] O[ffice] (now The National Archives, Kew, U.K.) 30/29/124.
32. C.J. Lowe, The Reluctant Imperialists: British Foreign Policy 1878-1902 (New York, 1969), p. 40.
33. Mr. Adams (Paris) to Granville, 11 September 1881, FO 407/18/10.
34. Adams to Granville, 13 September 1881, FO 407/18/22.
35. Steele, "Britain and Egypt 1882-1914", p. 2.
36. Mr Zohrab (British Consul at Jeddah) to Salisbury, 12 March 1879, CAB 31/1/8.
37. The Times, 23 September 1881, p. 8.
38. Granville to Mr MacDonell (Rome), 18 September 1881, FO 407/18/44.
39. Quoted in The Times, 20 September 1881, p. 3.
40. The Earl of Dufferin (Constantinople) to Granville, 28 September 1881, FO 407/18/69.
41. Granville to Lord Lyons (Paris), 30 September 1881, FO 407/18/72. The "Sublime Porte" referred to the court of the Sultan. The term "Porte" was also used to denote the Ottoman Foreign Ministry. The 1840 Treaty of London between Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and the Ottoman Empire recognised the hereditary rule in Egypt of Muhammad Ali and his heirs, while also confirming Egypt as integral to the Ottoman Empire. By the 1878 Treaty of Berlin between all European Powers and Constantinople, the Ottoman Empire ceded Cyprus to Britain, Bosnia-Herzegovina to Austria, and various territories in Asia Minor to Russia. The 1878 Treaty also partitioned the Ottoman province of Bulgaria into three parts: an independent Bulgaria north of the Balkan Mountains, the semi-autonomous Eastern Rumelia in the centre, with the southern portion remaining as an Ottoman dependency.
42. Lord Ampthill (Berlin) to Granville, 3 October 1881, FO 407/18/89.
43. Ampthill to Granville, 3 October 1881, FO 407/18/141.
44. "Despatch from H.M. Agent and Consul-General at Cairo forwarding a Copy of the Note presented to the Khedive by the English and French Agents", Parliamentary Papers, Egypt, 2 (1882).
45. Malet to Granville, 10 January 1882, FO 407/19/75.
46. Memorandum by Colvin, inclosure in Malet to Granville, 11 January 1882, FO 407/19/78.
47. Granville to Gladstone (private), 15 January 1882, PRO 30/29/125. The treaty engagements referred to here were the provisions of the abovementioned Law of Liquidation (1880).
48. Malet to Granville, 20 January 1882, FO 407/19/87.
49. Memorandum by Colvin, in Malet to Granville, 23 January 1882, FO 407/19/127.
50. Gladstone to Granville (private), 31 January 1882, PRO 30/29/125.
51. See Malet to Granville, 1, 4 and 5 February 1882, FO 407/19/139, 162, 166; Memorandum by Colvin, 11 February 1882, in Malet to Granville, 13 February 1882, FO 407/19/273.
52. Thompson, Imperial Britain, p. 52
53. Marvin Swartz, The Politics of Foreign Policy in the Era of Disraeli and Gladstone (New York, 1985), p. 1.
54. Kennedy, The Realities Behind Diplomacy, p. 52
55. Thompson, Imperial Britain, p. 62.
56. Kennedy, The Realities Behind Diplomacy, p. 51.
57. Lowe, The Reluctant Imperialists, p. 12.
58. See Chamberlain, "British Public Opinion and the Invasion of Egypt, 1882, pp. 14-16; see A.G. Hopkins, "The Victorians and Africa: A Reconsideration of the Occupation of Egypt, 1882", The Journal of African History, Vol. 27, 2 (1986), p. 383.
59. Morgenthau, Politics among Nations, pp. 8, 11.
60. The Pall Mall Gazette, 2 February 1882, p. 1.
61. Quoted in The Daily News, 28 January 1882, p. 5.
62. Dufferin to Granville, 2 February 1882, FO 407/19/149.
63. Ampthill to Granville, 15 February 1882, FO 407/19/249.
64. Quoted in The Pall Mall Gazette, 24 February 1882, p. 12.
65. The Pall Mall Gazette, 25 February 1882, p. 2.
66. Ibid., 13 March 1882, p. 1.
67. Lyons to Granville, 21 February 1882, FO 407/19/292.
68. See, for example, "Programme of the National Party of Egypt", The Times, 3 January 1882, p. 4.
69. Malet to Granville, 17 February 1882, FO 407/19/259.
70. Ibid., 10 May 1882, FO 407/20/159.
71. Ibid., 11 May 1882, FO 407/20/173.
72. Granville to Malet, 15 May 1882, FO 407/20/344.
73. Malet to Granville, 25 May 1882, FO 407/20/537.
74. See reports in The Standard, 29 May 1882, p. 5; 30 May 1882, p. 5.
75. Malet to Granville, 28 May 1882, FO 407/20/624.
76. The Morning Post, 27 May 1882, p. 5; Lyons to Granville, 29 May 1882, FO 407/20/633.
77. Granville to Mr H. Childers (private), 29 May 1882, PRO 30/29/118.
78. See exchange of letters between Childers and the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief British Army, recorded in Spencer Childers, The Life and Correspondence of the Right Hon. Hugh C.E. Childers 1827-1896, Vol. II (London, 1901), pp. 88-89; and Northbrook to Granville (private), 13 June 1882, PRO 30/29/138.
79. The Daily Telegraph, 2 June 1882, p. 5.
80. Ibid., 31 May 1882, p. 5.
81. Gladstone to Queen Victoria, 31 May 1882, CAB 41/16/27.
82. Vice-Consul Calvert (Alexandria) to Granville, 11 June 1882, FO 407/20/885. A number of studies using Egyptian archival material have subsequently cast doubt on the seriousness of the Alexandria riots and Urabi's involvement. In their despatches to London, Britain's "men on the spot" may have exaggerated the disorder to encourage a forward policy; see J.S. Galbraith and A.L. Al-Sayyid-Marsot, "The British Occupation of Egypt: Another View", International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 9, 4 (1978), p. 483; J.R.I. Cole, "Of Crowds and Empires: Afro-Asian Riots and European Expansion, 1857-1882", Comparative Studies in Society and History, Vol. 31, 1 (1989), pp.121-128. For the "men on the spot" interpretation, see A. Schölch, "The 'Men on the Spot' and the English Occupation of Egypt in 1882", The Historical Journal, Vol. 19, 3 (1976), pp. 3-785.
83. See The Daily Telegraph, 13 June 1882, p. 5; 14 June 1882, p. 5; The Pall Mall Gazette, 14 June 1882, p. 11.
84. The Marquis of Hartington to Granville (private), 16 June 1882, PRO 30/29/132; Dilke quoted in S. Gwynn and G.M. Tuckwell, The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Vol. I (London, 1917), p.460.
85. The Standard, 15 June 1882, p. 5.
86. Granville to Ampthill, 13 June 1882, FO 407/20/955.
87. Northbrook to Granville (private), 13 June 1882, PRO 30/29/138.
88. Ampthill to Granville, 16 June 1882, FO 407/20/1096.
89. Ibid., 16 June 1882, FO 407/20/1212.
90. Malet to Granville, 16 June 1882, FO 407/20/1121.
91. Dufferin to Granville, 17 June 1882, FO 407/20/1171.
92. See Hartington to Granville (private), 18 June 1882, PRO 30/29/132.
93. Granville to Dufferin, 21 June 1882, FO 407/20/1339.
94. Gladstone, Cabinet minutes, 21 June 1882, H.C.G. Matthew, ed., The Gladstone Diaries, Vol. X (Oxford, 1990), p. 284.
95. Secretary to the Admiralty to Lord Tenterden (Foreign Office), 22 June 1882, FO 407/20/1350.
96. The Pall Mall Gazette, 24 June 1882, p. 8.
97. The Daily Telegraph, 26 June 1882, p. 4.
98. The Times, 28 June 1882, p. 7.
99. Lyons to Granville, 30 June 1882, FO 407/21/1.
100. Quoted in The Pall Mall Gazette, 3 July 1882, p. 11.
101. Quoted in ibid., p. 10.
102. The Pall Mall Gazette, 4 July 1882, p. 11; Farnie, East and West of Suez, pp. 284-285.
103. See Gladstone to Granville (private), 1 and 5 July 1882, PRO 30/29/126.
104. Telegrams received, July 11, from Mr Moore, Secretary to the Commander-in-chief, off Alexandria, 11 July 1882, FO 407/21/394.
105. R.T. Harrison convincingly makes the case that the wholesale destruction of large sections of the city and up to 2,000 casualties was the result of the ten-hour, 3,000-shell British naval barrage, not of any local rioting; see Gladstone's Imperialism in Egypt, chapter 1 and photo essay.
106. See, for example, The Times, 12 June 1882, p. 5; The Daily News, 12 June 1882, p. 5; The Evening News, 12 June 1882, p. 3; The Daily Telegraph, 12 June 1882, p. 5; The Standard, 12 June 1882, p. 5; The News of the World, 18 June 1882, p. 2.
107. Quoted in The Pall Mall Gazette, 6 July 1882, p. 11.
108. The Times, 10 July 1882, p. 7.
109. Hansard, 12 July 1882, Vol. 272, Commons, 177.
110. See "Copy of a Despatch from Earl Granville to the Earl of Dufferin respecting the Affairs of Egypt", 11 July 1882, Parliamentary Papers, Egypt. 10 (1882).
111. Lyons to Granville, 22 July 1882, FO 407/21/804.
112. Granville to Paget, 22 July 1882, FO 407/21/817.
113. See The Pall Mall Gazette, 13 July 1882, p. 8; The Evening News, 13 July 1882, p. 3; The Morning Post, 14 July 1882, p. 5.
114. The Daily Telegraph, 14 July 1882, p. 5.
115. See The Daily News, 14 July 1882, p. 5; The Evening News, 14 July 1882, p. 3; The News of the World, 16 July 1882, p. 2.
116. The Evening News, 21 July 1882, p. 3.
117. The News of the World, 23 July 1882, p. 2
118. The Daily News, 24 July 1882, p. 5.
119. Hansard, 24 July 1882, Vol. 272, Lords, 1493-1494.
120. Ibid., Commons, 1582-1586.
121. Hansard, 25 July 1882, Vol. 272, Commons, 1721.
122. Hansard, 27 July 1882, Vol. 272, Commons, 2010.
123. Ibid., 2097-2100.
124. Lyons to Granville, 29 July 1882, FO 407/21/1075.
125. For example, Granville to Sir J. Walsham (Berlin), 18 July 1882, FO 407/21/654; Dufferin to Granville, 20 July 1882, FO 407/21/746.
126. Sir E. Thornton (St. Petersburg) to Granville, 2 August 1882, FO 407/22/180.