TAA i.2.1.129

                                                III                                                      129                                           

 

in the proposed concession made by Mr. Lacau June last. Our conver-
sation, prompted by Foucart, drifted towards the unfairness of the 
recent new Rules and Regulations which were to be brought to bear 
on the excavator. Foucart said that they practically prohibited 
further scientific investigations and research in this Country. 
Ziwar Pasha agreed, and he was most emphatic that both the excava-
tor or discoverer should be fairly treated and he evem/<n> went so far 
as to point out that the Civil Laws of Egypt dictated no other than 
that attitude. I then asked if he would kindly call a meeting 
between the Minster of Public Works, Merzbach and myself for us to 
discuss and arrange a final settlement. He said "No", but asked 
me to write him a letter embodying my request, when he would at once 
take the matter in hand. This terminated the interview, and I saw 
Merzbach that evening at his home when he drafted the letter (dated 
December 29th.) attached.

          On January 4th., having received no advice, though apparently the 
Cabinet had had a special sitting on the Tut.ankh.amen question, and 
the Press reported the meeting as being favourable, Merzbach agreed 
to phone to Sidky Pasha (Minister of Interior) asking him to kindly 
expedite the matter and to appoint an r/<e>arly meeting for settlement. 
5pm. the same day at Merzbach's request I called at hu/<i>s house, when 
he told me that we were shortly to meet Sidky Pasha, Abd el Hamid 
Bedawy Pasha (Conseiller Royale) and Lacau at the Ministry to dis-
cuss the Tut.ankh.amen settlement on the lines of Sir John Maxwell's 
letter of March 11th. 1924. (see copy attached).

          This introduced a somewhat upsetting element in the present nego-
tiations. It appeared that the new Ziwar Ministry being necessarily 
ignorant of the facts connected with the Tut.ankh.amen question, were 
obliged to resort to our past enemies, Badawy Pasha and Lacau. This 
was unfortunate for us. We were thus brought into contact with the 
hostile feelings of the past, a fact which became apparent during a 
private conversation that I had with Ziwar Pasha at the Mohamed Aly 
Club the following evening. Ziwar Pasha informed me that the whole 
matter could be easily settled with the exception of the last para-
graph in my letter – the question of division. He said that they 
wanted that point renounced, but that the Egyptian Government would 
in the end be generous towards Almina, Countess Carnarvon, in the 
matter of duplicates which would not interfere with "le grand en-
semble". He also asked me to withdraw the law suit.

          January 5th. discussed with Merzbach Sir John Maxwell's letter of 
March 11th. 1924 and various details in the clauses of the proposed 
concession of June last.

          At noon January 7th. Merzbach and I went to the office of the 
Conséiller Royale at the Ministry of Public Works, where we met 
Bedawy Pasha and Lacau, and opened the negotiations based upon Sir 
John's letter. I much regret to say that there was a decided anti 
undercurrent throughout the whole discussion, but notwithstanding 
this Merzbach brilliantly carried many points through: we were to 
renounce all rights to a division but we were to receive a letter 
wherein the Egyptian Government would undertake to give Almina, 
Countess Carnarvon, some duplicates after the completion of the 
work. The vital point now rests on the wording of that letter – 

to be discussed in our next interview 11 am. Sunday January 12th.

          I must say I was astonished how our request "not to oblige me 
to remove the royal mummy from its tomb" was opposed.
 

          The summary of this interview was reported to you in the follow-
ing cable of January 7th;-