A Study on the Work of the Last Egyptian Khedive Abbas Hilmi Pasha II (1874-1944) Against Evelyn Cromer’s Claims and Britain’s Egyptian Policies

Abstract

This study is about the translation and evaluation of the book titled “A few words on the Anglo-Egyptian Settlement” published in 1929 by Abbas Hilmi Pasha II. At the same time this study related on the book “Modern Egypt” published in 1908 by Evelyng Baring Cromer or Lord Cromer, who was appointed as the British consul general and British representative in Egypt in 1883 and continued this duty uninterruptedly until 1907. He also published a book titled “Abbas II” in 1915. This article is about the translation and evaluation of the book titled “A few words on the Anglo-Egyptian settlement”, published by Abbas Hilmi Pasha in 1929, against the allegations in the book “Abbas II”, written by Cromer about Abbas Hilmi.

In the face of Lord Cromer’s attitude that emphasized his policies and actions with his books, as well as his approach that criticized the office of the Khedive, Egyptian bureaucrats and the Egyptian people and disparaged those working in the Egyptian government other than the British, Abbas Hilmi Pasha II wrote a work from his own perspective and almost defended himself. At the same time, Abbas Hilmi Pasha II wanted to draw attention to himself with this work, which he wrote at a time when London was giving new signals in the international arena that she would implement a new policy in Egypt. With this attempt, the author, on the one hand, made a defense of his own era, and on the other hand, he revealed his hopes of playing a role in Egypt’s new process.

One of the main purposes of Abbas Hilmi Pasha’s writing this work was to express that he had rights in the administration of Egypt. His work “A few words on the Anglo-Egyptian Settlement”, which he wrote when Egypt’s self-determination agreements were on the agenda, was translated into Turkish by us under the title “İngiliz-Mısır Antlaşması Üzerine Birkaç Söz”. With this work, Abbas Hilmi tried to send indirect messages to both London and Cairo. With this understanding, the author, who wrote without using the Ottoman era title of Pasha, recorded his title in the work as “Abbas Hilmi II, the 23- year Khedive of Egypt”.