Edw’d Thornton to Hamilton Fish, May 31, 1873

No. 188. Sir Edward Thornton to Mr. Fish.

Sir: In my note of the 1st instant, I had the honor to transmit to you a copy of a dispatch which Earl Granville had addressed to Sir H. Elliot, instructing his excellency to communicate to the Porte the conclusions at which Her Majesty’s government had arrived in regard to the forms in which the assent of the Porte, of the Khedive, and of the powers represented in the International Commission on Judicial Reforms in Egypt, should be recorded in regard to the new system of judicature to be established in that country.

Since that dispatch was written, hovever, Lord Granville has received a dispatch from Sir H. Elliot, of which I have the honor to inclose two copies, stating his reasons for considering that, in lieu of the course suggested in the above-mentioned dispatch, it would be desirable to follow that proposed in Lord Granville’s note to M. de Lavalette, of the 22d of July, 1870, a copy of which was transmitted to you in my note of August 18, 1870, namely, “that it shall rest with the Viceroy of Egypt to obtain the assent of the Sultan to the proposed reforms, and with the Sultan to make known to the different powers that these reforms are sanctioned by him.” Lord Granville has now instructed me to inform you that, after consultation with the law-officers of the Crown, he has concurred in Sir H. Elliot’s suggestion.

His lordship also instructed me to forward to you two copies, herewith inclosed, of a dispatch which he has addressed to Sir H. Elliot, by which you will perceive that Her Majesty’s government lays down as a condition of its final acceptance of the new judicial system the maintenance of the principle that no preponderance should be accorded to one nationality over another in the appointment of the judges for the new tribunals or in filling up vacancies whenever they may arise.

I have, &c.,