123G193/6
The Agent and Consul General at Cairo (Gary) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 9.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of my note of January 25, 1918,2 to General Sir Reginald Wingate, British High Commissioner to Egypt, in which I officially informed His Excellency of my appointment as Diplomatic Agent and Consul-General to Egypt, and that I had on that day assumed the duties of my office. [Page 202] In conformity with the Department’s instructions I enclosed for His Excellency’s information a copy of the Department’s unnumbered Instruction to me of November 2, 1917, relative to my appointment, in which my status was defined.
I also have the honor to inform the Department that on January 26, 1918, the day after I assumed charge of the Agency, I called, by appointment, upon the High Commissioner who returned my call within an hour. I was very cordially received by His Excellency and during the conversation I had with him (both at the Residency and at the Agency) I was impressed by what appeared to be his genuine pro-American sympathies and I feel sure that I will receive his hearty co-operation in the performance of my duties as Diplomatic Agent and in my official relations with the Egyptian Authorities. It may be pertinent to inform the Department that on the 5th instant the High Commissioner gave an official dinner in our honor at the Residency.
I also have the honor to inform the Department that I was received in informal audience by His Highness Sultan Fuad I on February 7, 1918. In the course of the audience, which lasted some twenty-five minutes, the Sultan spoke appreciatively of the United States and mentioned that Egypt was indebted for valuable services rendered by former American army officers who held commissions here under his father, Ismail Pasha, the first Khedive of Egypt. His Highness spoke in most complimentary terms of President Wilson and Secretary Lansing. He remarked that he had read their state papers with the greatest interest. Before leaving he begged me to convey his expression of goodwill and friendship to the President. My reception by the Sultan was most cordial and he has since invited us to a state dinner at the Palace.
For the Department’s information I have the honor to explain that owing to the anomalous situation that has obtained in Egypt since the declaration of the British protectorate in 1914, the Department’s Instruction of November 2, 1917, was exhibited only to the High Commissioner, who is also “in charge “of the Egyptian Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
I have [etc.]
- Not printed.↩