Political conditions

01Political conditions

The Fundamental Law of 1883

• Egypt lost its independence after the entry of the British army; the Egyptian army was dissolved and a new army formed under British supervision.
• Lord Dufferin, Britain's ambassador at Istanbul, drew the lines of British administration of Egypt after the occupation — what became known as the Fundamental Law of 1883.

The ideas of the law

• England should not govern Egypt directly: authority was to remain in the hands of the Khedive and his ministers under British supervision — that is, a nominal power represented by the Khedive and a real power represented by the occupation.
• Egypt's continuing dependence on the Ottoman State was preserved, so as not to provoke the sultan.
• Work was to be done to give the Egyptian administration the British stamp — the policy known as "Anglicisation" (al-najlaza).
• Certain administrations of an international character were abolished, headed by the system of dual control, so that England might rule alone. This caused France's lasting hostility to England, which continued until the Entente Cordiale of 1904.
• The Chamber of Deputies, formed against the wishes of England and France, was abolished, and a nominal council was created in its place — the Council of the Making of Laws (Shura al-Qawanin) — beside a nominal general assembly and councils of the mdiriyahs composed principally of notables.

The British Agent

• Sir Evelyn Baring (later Lord Cromer) was appointed the first British Agent in Egypt (September 1883).
• Cromer remained the symbol of the English presence in Egypt until he left in 1907.