Gorst and Mohamed Farid

09Gorst and Mohamed Farid

Gorst's policy

• Gorst came as Cromer's successor (1907–1911), and his policy differed: easing surveillance of the Khedive's conduct, widening the powers of the Council of Ministers, giving Egyptians some freedom in managing their affairs, gradually Egyptianising the administration, and halting the policy of Anglicisation.
• At the same time the distance between the nationalists and the Khedive grew, and hostility became open.

Mohamed Farid

• Mustafa Kamil died in February 1908, and Mohamed Farid succeeded him at the head of the National Party.
• He worked to widen the party's circle so that membership was not confined to the urban intelligentsia, and worked to bring the labour unions into it.
• He contributed to forming the Union of Manual Trades Workers (1909) and worked to educate the common people through night schools.
• After Gorst's death (1911) the policy returned to the iron fist, absolute rule, Anglicisation and the pursuit of nationalists.
• He wrote the preface to a collection of poems titled "My Nationalism" (Wataniyyati) and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment; the authorities dogged him until they decided to arrest him at the beginning of 1912, so he chose to leave Egypt of his own accord (March 1912) and continue his struggle in European arenas, until he died in 1919 in Germany.