- 48 -The provinces and the Consultative Council, this is the idea of a man who governs the people and manages their affairs. But to bring it from theory to practice in Egypt requires the elected majority to possess qualities that have not yet been realized. In Egypt, the interest of the people in matters outside their immediate locality is very small, and it is natural that the people of each locality elect the Omda (1) or someone similar to him, and aspire to the position of Omda. The era of the country and its sheikhs is now under much closer scrutiny than it was in Lord Dufferin's time. The objection to their decisions, the country's delegates who are entrusted with their votes, has weakened compared to then, but I do not deny that there is still ample room for reform and improvement.

Mr. M. observed how this electoral system worked in specific, not widespread, instances and wrote: "However naive this system may appear compared to the ordinary system of government, I am convinced that it was established for a purpose and with foresight, and there is no point in challenging it. As for the fact that people complain about the way it is implemented, I have made great efforts to investigate their complaints. I agree with this statement to a large extent. Whatever the shortcomings and deficiencies of this system, the deficiency is not in the tools of the system itself, but in the underlying idea. For this European idea has not yet taken root in Egypt in the sense understood by Europeans. This deficiency will not be removed by changing the arrangement of the tools of which this system is composed, as the need is not for much change in the functions of the local councils or for a fundamental change in their composition, but rather for an increase in the application of the method of learning and training to which Lord Dufferin referred. This method has been in place for many years. The idea was that the best way to implement Lord Dufferin's original project of stimulating the two Egyptian projects (members of the Consultative Council of Laws) was to allow them to express their opinions with complete freedom, to show a willingness and readiness to accept their proposals as they were implemented, and to show sympathy and courtesy in explaining the reasons that necessitated the rejection of their proposals that could not be accepted. Since this was seen as the desired outcome. However, the idea that the newspapers claiming to be patriotic express on behalf of the Egyptian people is that the Consultative Council of Laws should not do what it is supposed to do unless it adopts the path of opposition and deliberation regarding the current system of governance. If it sees that the judgment of reason and correctness has been tested and has passed, there is no doubt that the Consultative Council of Laws, at one time, followed a path of deliberation and consideration, and perhaps this was not done intentionally. (1) The Omda now performs the function of the Sheikh of the village in the days when Lord Dufferin wrote his report.