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The Suez Canal and the Outlook for Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Halford L. Hoskins
Halford L. Hoskins
Affiliation:
Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
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Extract

The Suez Canal has been regarded at times and uncritically as one of Egypt's great assets. It is so considered by many of the political leaders of Egypt, as their attitude on Canal issues bears witness. In the sense that the Suez waterway, both as a project and as an achievement, has brought the land of Egypt prominently into the world scene during the past century, it has been a factor in the trend of development of that country second in importance only to the Nile River itself. This is no indication, however, that the Canal has had a beneficent influence on Egyptian life. Actually, a careful estimate of the changes it has wrought, both economic and political, leads inescapably to the conclusion that, with respect to tangible effects, the waterway thus far has worked to the distinct disadvantage of Egypt. It is impossible to bring the intangible balance sheet to totals, but it is safe to say that an Egyptian patriot more concerned with his country's national security and a balanced budget than with its prominence in world affairs might well deplore the fact that the Canal ever progressed beyond the stage of discussion.

Type
International Affairs
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , February 1944 , pp. 110 - 119
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 1944

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References

1 Sabry, M., L'Empire Egyptien sous Ismaïl (Paris, 1933), p. 63.Google Scholar

2 Recueil de Firmans Impériaux Ottomans (Institute français d'archéologie orientale du Caire, 1934), p. 289; Lt.-Col. SirWilson, Arnold T., The Suez Canal (London, 1933), pp. 191–193.Google Scholar

3 Parliamentary Paper, 1876, c. 1391, pp. 6, 7.

4 Parliamentary Paper, op. cit., pp. 20, 21; d'Egypte, Royaume, Annuaire Statistique, 1914 (Cairo, 1915), p. 268.Google Scholar

5 Hoskins, H. L., British Routes to India (New York, 1928), pp. 367Google Scholar, passim.

6 Earl of Cromer, Modern Egypt (2 vols, New York, 1916), I, 11.Google Scholar Cromer says that a substantial part of the enormous debt contracted by Ismaïl before his deposition represented sums spent on the Suez Canal.

7 FO 78/3189, “Agreement between the British and Egyptian Governments, signed at Alexandria 7 September, 1877.”

8 See Hoskins, H. L., “British Policy in Africa, 1873–1877,” Geographical Review, Vol. 32 (Jan., 1942), pp. 147–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Parliamentary Paper, Egypt No. 16 (1885) and Egypt No. 19 (1885).

10 Hoskins, H. L., “The Suez Canal as an International Waterway,” American Journal of International Law, Vol. 37 (July, 1943), p. 384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

11 de Varennes-Bessuel, F. de St. Victor, Le Canal de Suez (Paris, 1939), p. 122Google Scholar; Compagnie Universelle du Canal Maritime de Suez, Bulletin décadaire, No. 2191 (15 Jan. 1937), p. 9044.Google Scholar

12 Royal Institute of International Affairs, Bulletin of International News, XV, 10.Google Scholar

13 Royaume d'Egypte, Ministère des Finances, Recueil de Documents (Cairo, 1911), p. 10.Google Scholar

14 Bulletin décadaire, 15 January, 1939; Italian Library of Information, Extra series No. 3 (Apr., 1939), p. 32n.

15 Parliamentary Paper, Treaty Series No. 6 (1939), Cmd. 5360, “Treaty of Alliance between His Majesty in respect of the United Kingdom, and His Majesty the King of Egypt.”

16 Parliamentary Paper, Treaty Series No. 31 (1938), Cmd. 5726: I, “Agreement between the United Kingdom and Italy,” p. 24; II, pp. 37, 38.

17 Die Grosse Politik der Europäischen Kabinette (40 vols, in 54, Berlin, 1922–27), III, No. 661; Documents diplomatiques français (23 vols., Paris, 1929–36), 1re Sér., II, Nos. 408, 430.

18 Based on a report for 1937 in d'Egypte, Royaume, Annuaire Statistique, 1937–1938 (Cairo, 1939), p. 13.Google Scholar

19 Cf. Foreign Relations of the United States (1898), p. 982.

20 For example, the European Danube Commission, reconstituted in 1920 to introduce a greater degree of efficiency into the navigation of the Lower Danube, functioned excellently until its character was altered in 1936 as a measure of “appeasement” to Rumania.

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