258 • 15 EGYPT'S STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCEimperial communications in Egypt, (2) Egypt's defense against foreign ag¬
gression, (3) protection of foreign interests and minorities in the country,
and (4) the administration of the Sudan.Egypt's Democratic Experiment
Despite these limits on Egypt's sovereignty, which became known as the
Four Reserved Points, the Egyptians took the half loaf and began to set up
their new government. Fuad changed his title from sultan to king and
watched nervously while a committee of Egyptian lawyers prepared a con¬
stitution modeled on that of Belgium. The British residency (Allenby kept
his title as high commissioner) encouraged this democratic experiment. It
was a time when Britain, weary of war and especially of negotiating Middle
East postwar arrangements, was willing to make concessions. Elsewhere,
this policy meant accepting nationalist leaders in Turkey and Iran and try¬
ing to move toward self-rule in Iraq and Palestine. Late in 1923 Egypt fi¬
nally held free elections. The Wafd, reorganized as a political party, won an
overwhelming majority of the seats in the parliament. King Fuad accord¬
ingly invited Sa'd to appoint a cabinet made up of Wafdist ministers.
The Short Reign of the Wafd
The high hopes of Egypt's liberal nationalists lasted only a few months. The
1919 revolution had unleashed violent forces that its leaders could no
longer contain. Even Sa'd himself was wounded by a would-be assassin in
June 1924. The attempt presaged the assassination that November of the
British commander of the Egyptian army. Later investigations revealed that
these and other terrorist acts were being perpetrated by a secret society
backed by some of Egypt's leading politicians. Meanwhile, Allenby handed
Sa'd an ultimatum stating that the murder "holds up Egypt as at present
governed to the contempt of civilized peoples" and demanding an indem¬
nity of 500,000 Egyptian pounds to the British government, the withdrawal
of all Egyptian officers from the Sudan, and an undefined increase in the
quantity of Nile water to be used—at Egypt's expense—to irrigate the Su¬
dan. The Wafd could not submit to such an ultimatum, and Sa'd's cabinet
resigned. King Fuad named a caretaker cabinet of palace politicians, who
called for new parliamentary elections and tried to fix their outcome.
When they failed to keep the Wafd out of power, the king dissolved Par¬
liament and suspended the constitution. Allenby, whose ultimatum had
been disowned by his home government, resigned and was replaced by a
sterner imperialist.