THE REOCCUPATION OF NORTHERN AFRICA 387
of the treaty powers.! Indeed, without such consent no
legislation affecting foreigners could be enacted. Lord
Salsbury compared the system to the liberum veto of the
old Polish Diet, but the Government was not able “to have
recourse to the alternative of striking off the head of any
recalcitrant voter.” 2 In 1911, legislation for foreigners was
made somewhat less difficult by the establishment of a
legislative assembly, composed of the judges of the Mixed
Courts, with power to make laws for foreigners, provided a
two-thirds majority is obtained, and even then any one of
the treaty powers may within three months require that the
matter be reconsidered by the assembly.? The breakdown
of negotiations led to such firm protests from Lord Allenby
and other British officials in Egypt that Lloyd George
announced on February 28, 1922, that the British Protec-
torate was terminated, and Egypt was an independent sov-
ereign State; and, that pending a friendly agreement with
Egypt thereon, the status quo remained intact in regard
to four points: the security of the communications of the
British Empire, the defense of Egypt against foreign inter-
ference, the protection of foreign interests and of minorities
in Egypt, and — possibly the most important — the Sudan.
The next day Sarwat Pasha formed the first cabinet that had
heen organized for three months, and on March 15, Fuad
assumed the title of King.
A year elapsed before the new constitution was proclaimed
on April 80, 1923. Under this document the King retains
1 That is, the nationals of any power which had not consented would be
exempt from the tax and would constitute a privileged class.
2 Quoted by Beer, op. eif., 364.
$ Consuls of the treaty powers and the Mixed Courts established in 1876
have jurisdiction over foreigners and over cases between natives and
foreigners, including cases of bankruptcy where one of the creditors is a
foreigner. Nationals of the treaty powers likewise enjoy freedom from
greet by the local authorities and an almost unlimited inviolability of domi
cue,
