Chapter X: Gordon’s Death. Chaos (1)

“_13th Nov._ 1884.

“I HAVE been away from home just two months—it seems like six, and I shall be glad when it is over. I called to-day on Lord Lyons but found him uncommunicative. We talked a while about things at Constantinople, as to which he affected to know very little, and I told him I thought the Government would be well advised to make its peace with the Sultan. He thought this would be easy now that Dufferin had left Constantinople, and discussed possible or rather impossible appointments of a successor. Layard, he said, has been put out of all chance by the publication of his last despatch. He asked me about Goschen, though saying he certainly would not go back, as he wanted to remain in England. He also talked a little about Dufferin’s chances of success in India, but said nothing that was of the least importance.

“There is a report again to-day that Khartoum is taken, and this time it seems better founded.

“_14th Nov._—We breakfasted with the Wagrams at Voisin’s. They had come in on purpose from Gros Bois. Afterwards I called on Sheffield, who as usual told me a great deal. Northbrook and Baring have been concocting a report to please Gladstone. It will say that everything is going on for the best in Egypt, and propose some temporary financial arrangements, the reduction of the Egyptian army, a loan of eight millions, and a speedy evacuation; all the administration to be in Egyptian hands, and nothing at all in the shape of a protectorate. On the contrary, Egypt is to be put under international control as before proposed. This has throughout been Mr. Gladstone’s policy. Baring has insisted on all English employés in Egypt reporting in this sense, and refuses to forward their views if in contradiction. He only wants to flatter Gladstone and hopes to be transferred to an Embassy. He will very likely go to Constantinople. Hartington and Dilke, on the other hand, are determined on a Protectorate, and on pushing on to Khartoum and establishing a Government there with an English Governor—on staying in Egypt and treating the whole thing like an Indian principality. Sheffield says, however, that the Powers won’t stand this. Bismarck is now hand in glove with the French and will give our Government a slap in the face. He has given them one about the Congo, and he means to give another about Egypt. He will probably propose to settle the Egyptian question over the head of England. He was very angry at the stopping of the sinking fund having been done without consulting him. It was not Northbrook’s plan, who had no idea but that of conciliating the European Powers and the Europeans in Egypt. But when he telegraphed that money must be had, and proposed that the English Government should supply £300,000 for immediate necessities, Gladstone settled the matter the other way, saying that he had promised Parliament that no money should be expended without their leave. Granville, in all he does, only consults Mr. Gladstone’s fancies, knowing that his only hold on office is through him. He has no policy of any kind except to obey the Old Man; he likes office and he likes his pay, and hangs on. He knows he will never be in office again. Gladstone only consults the electors. Between them the whole thing is going to indescribable pot.

“Malet’s appointment to Berlin is simply Bismarck’s nomination. He refused Morier on the ground that he was an intriguer, and insisted on having Malet, and our Government, being on their knees to him, consented. Sheffield is of opinion that we shall have the whole of Europe on our back in a very short time.

“Now we start to-night for England.

“_15th Nov._—Arrived in London by the early train from Paris. My first visit as soon as it was light was to Button, who gave me all the news. Northbrook has come back from Egypt, a more complete failure than any of his predecessors. He was taken hold of there by the Greeks and other commercial residents, and wrote a report, recommending a policy of financial disinterestedness on the part of England. The coupons of the Suez Canal shares were to be cut, England was to pay the Army of Occupation, and finally to advance £20,000,000 without security. But none of his colleagues will hear of such an arrangement, and he has been made to suppress his Report—and there is some talk even of his retiring from the Cabinet. He is delighted with the Khedive and the whole gang, as was sure to be the case. Hartington and Dilke, when he came home, told him he was an ass, and Button thinks they will get their way in the end. This way is to guarantee three per cent. on all the debts, and assume a Protectorate. He says that Gladstone will certainly not listen to a word against Tewfik, but thinks I may as well write to him, and propose to bring my new evidence against him. The style of argument we may expect to be met with is that all Oriental evidence is worthless. At the time when Churchill was bringing on the case against the Khedive last year, he, Button, was staying with Northbrook in the country, and he told him how important it was that the matter should be hushed up. With regard to native evidence Northbrook said: ‘I have always made it a rule to listen to all that can be produced, but I do not let it influence me, I judge by the antecedent probabilities of the case.’ ‘You refer I suppose to the Baroda case,’ said Button maliciously. ‘Well, yes,’ he answered—‘that was my method, and I think it the safest one.’

“Then to Gregory’s. Sir William was at Dalmeny with Gladstone, and had a great deal of talk there with Eddy Hamilton about Egypt, and about me. Eddy talked nicely about me, but Gregory confirms what Button says, that Gladstone is as wrapped up in Tewfik as ever. This is our great difficulty. To Crabbet in the evening.

“_19th Nov._—Again to London. Wolseley is in a mess. The Nile Expedition can’t get on, and Gordon writes that he can only hold out to a certain date. Wolseley is going to make a rush for Khartoum with a few hundred men, but it is thought doubtful whether he will succeed. My letter offering to re-open the evidence against the Khedive in the matter of the Alexandrian riot has gone in to Gladstone, having been looked over by Gregory, and a sentence altered.[91]

“Dined at the Carlton, where I found the big-wigs of the Party very busy over the compromise of the Franchise Bill. I felt rather like a spy among them, though heaven knows I care nothing whatsoever about their politics. Only I fancy they look upon me as a damned Radical. Leconfield was there and we talked a little about horses.

“_20th Nov._—Called on Stanley of Alderley, who lives in a garret, leaving all the rooms of his house empty. He says the Ottoman Empire will outlive the British. _Inshallah!_

“Luncheon with Lady C., who assured me the Prince of Wales is coming round to my view of things in Egypt, but he is not Prime Minister and can do nothing. Dined at the Gregorys’, and sat between Layard and the Servian Minister. The latter assured me the Servian Government was doing all it could to retain the Mohammedan population, while orderly and law- abiding, but they would not stay.

“_21st Nov._—Amir Ali, who is in London and whom I saw to-day, tells me that Cordery is going on as ill as ever at Hyderabad. He talked of a dinner at the Northbrook Club, at which Dufferin had made a speech and explained to the Indian Mohammedans present what a great advantage it was for him, now he was to be Viceroy of India, to have resided so long at Constantinople, and to be in such cordial relations with the head of their religion! The Sultan was a most admirable man, and they were the greatest of friends! There never was a greater humbug than Dufferin.

“_22nd Nov._—Saw Button in the City. He tells me Gordon has sent word to say he can only hold out six weeks from the fourth of November. This not on account of provisions, which are plentiful, but of ammunition. Wolseley consequently intends to make a rush across the desert from Debbeh, and expects to be at Khartoum with the New Year. All the telegrams published about Gordon’s recent successes are military lies. The ‘Times’ is very angry with Northbrook for what he said yesterday in the House of Lords, and is seeking an occasion to waylay him.[92] Buckle is not a revengeful man, but it is the ‘Times’ tradition not to forgive. Chenery used generally to do this himself, waiting his occasion patiently, and then himself writing the article, which he could do better than anybody else.

“_25th Nov._—Wrote to Eddy to hasten on an answer from Mr. Gladstone. Called on Gregory to consult what was to be done. Churchill is going away to India and Ceylon next week, and I hardly know how to act in regard to him.

“_26th Nov._—Khartoum is again surrounded by twenty-five thousand men, and the Mahdi holds the passes between that and Debbeh. If so, Wolseley’s rush will be a dangerous proceeding. Button tells me he means to take three thousand men with him and artillery, but I doubt his getting through and back with so few.

“Mr. Gladstone’s answer has come: ‘In view of my inhibition to refer me to the Foreign Office, he can only acknowledge the receipt of my letter.’ My proposal had been that he should himself examine the fresh evidence against the Khedive Tewfik.

“_27th Nov._—To Robert Bourke’s. We talked over affairs at Constantinople, which he understands. He is all for coming to terms with the Sultan about Egypt. ‘If I had anything to do with it,’ he said, ‘it is the first thing I should do.’ About renewing the charges against the Khedive, Bourke was very adverse to anything being done. ‘If you proved the case to demonstration, it could only do harm, for Tewfik is necessary for English policy in Egypt. Besides, the case is dead now, and you could not get any one to take interest in it.’ About India he was curious to know whether Lord Ripon had really _promised_ Salar Jung to restore the Berar provinces, and seemed to think the Foreign Office at Calcutta quite right in resisting it.[93] There is little to choose between the two parties as to these things.

“Next to Randolph Churchill. He is going to India on Wednesday, and I found him in so open a frame of mind as to Indian politics, that I agreed to give him letters to some of my friends there so that he may hear the native side of the case. I think it quite possible he may take a right view, and if so he will be an invaluable ally. He has just published in the ‘Pall Mall Gazette,’ a sort of manifesto which is wildly democratic, and as popularity is his guide in politics it may well be that he will look to it in India also. He is fond of large and novel conceptions, and Tory democracy might easily be made a cry there, too. So I risk it. Nothing can be worse for India than the Whigs. Talking about Egypt, Randolph told me he had just seen Rothschild who had news from Berlin that Bismarck had declared his intention of supporting France in any answer she might give to the English finance proposals, and Randolph seemed to consider that all the fat would be in the fire. Button told me yesterday that Rothschild held an Egyptian bill for a million sterling, and had made up his mind to present it at date, that is to say about Christmas, and so make the Egyptian Government bankrupt. I said nothing to Randolph about our new evidence against Tewfik, as he is so imprudent. He is going to Ceylon, and I have promised to announce his arrival, and have warned him of the little split there is among the exiles. In spite of his faults it is impossible not to like Churchill. He has so much _bonhomie_ and so little pretension. This is the secret of his success. I am depressed all the same at the aspect of things. I see no prospect now of getting back to Egypt. Randolph told me even he dared not go there as the Government would make it too disagreeable for him, not to say dangerous. He had thought of spending the winter at Cairo, but he had decided not to risk it.

“_30th Nov._—Stead writes that he is ‘hungering and thirsting’ to see me, as he hears I have all the latest news of the Mahdi, and he has an idea of sending me to make peace with him, and asks for an interview.

“_1st Dec._—Stead came at one, and we had two hours of it. I told him peace could easily be made with the Mahdi, but it must be through the Sultan and not Tewfik. He understood, he said, that I was in constant communication with the Mahdi, and thought that when Wolseley got to Khartoum I might go and open negotiations, and a deal more which, as he is going to develop it into an interview for the ‘Pall Mall,’ I need not write. I heard later from Button that it was he who had suggested the thing through Reginald Brett, and it appears that he, Button, has all along been putting it about that I have communications with the Mahdi. He says that the French will accept the English financial proposals for Egypt. Malet has been a great success at Berlin. Bismarck has been pacified by concessions on the Congo. Lord Granville is to make peace with the Chinese for Mr. Ferry, who in return will accept the proposals. Italy is to be compensated in Tripoli, and the general portioning of plunder to begin. I don’t believe the French will accept, as their game in Egypt is too good a one. Button tells me the proposals were drafted by Hartington and only accepted by the Cabinet on the distinct understanding that if they broke down we were to clear bodily out of Egypt. It is a toss up which way it goes.

“_11th Dec._—(After several days’ shooting in the country, and a visit to the Wyndhams at Wilbury.) To London and saw Button. He tells me a deal of news. The French and other Governments, he is sure, will accept the financial proposals for Egypt. Should this fail there will be a split in the Cabinet, and Gladstone will go out of office. Hartington, Northbrook, Dilke and the rest are for guaranteeing the debt. Gladstone will not do this. They will try to carry things on by letting Egypt go bankrupt, then if Europe won’t stand this Mr. Gladstone will resign, Lord Salisbury will pass the Redistribution Bill, and Dissolution will follow at the end of the year. Button himself is off to Tunis for six weeks with his brother Mayo—a sporting trip.

“Dined with Bertram Currie. Bertram has the same idea as Button about the financial proposals; can’t understand the French being such damned fools as to refuse them. His only wish as an Englishman is to get out of Egypt; his only fear that we may be trapped into staying. We are the only thing that stands between Egypt and anarchy, etc., etc. He is not quite so confident, however, as he used to be, and talked of Northbrook as having made a fool of himself; Northbrook is so jealous of Dilke or anybody else going to Egypt that he had insisted on going himself.

“_15th Dec._—Dinner of the National Arbitration and Peace Association in honour of Hodgson Pratt. I was asked to return thanks on behalf of the visitors, and I brought forward the question of peace with the Mahdi, which was very well received. It is arranged I am to write a letter to Pratt, stating my views, and to have it published. There were about two hundred people at the dinner, which was given at the Criterion. Pratt is a most estimable man, and his Association has a laudable object, but I doubt its succeeding in the face of the growing brutality of the world, and I am not at all sure that if it did it would not be a bad thing for the East. The best chance for the East is, that the nations of Europe should destroy each other.

“_17th Dec._—Broadley called with a long story about presents made by Ismaïl Pasha to the King of Italy. He, Broadley, is in Ismaïl’s pay in respect to a lawsuit pending in Egypt. He talked also a good deal about Rochefort and the Communist party, with whom he is intimate in Paris. There is a scheme for annexing Morocco, and the Communists are doing all they can to prevent it.

“At the dinner to Pratt there was some talk of my standing for Greenwich as Home Ruler at next elections. This is the only platform I could stand on.

“_19th Dec._—Stead and Appleton (Secretary of the Peace and Arbitration Society) came to see me, and we had two hours’ discussion. Stead has just been staying with Auberon Herbert, and was in high feather—a man of genius in his way—very anxious to expound my whole plan in the ‘Pall Mall.’ But I would not let him do this if it was to have a chance of succeeding. It was a brilliant talk, and resulted in our deciding that a deputation should wait upon the G.O.M. with which I am to be smuggled in so as to get at him. My letter to Pratt about peace with the Mahdi is published in the ‘Times’ and ‘Daily News,’ so I am committed to action if called upon.

“Lunched at the Carlton with Wynford. That noble Lord has his own explanation of our failure in Egypt. ‘You may take my word for it,’ he said, ‘it all comes of our officials there working on Sundays, it is a breach of the decalogue which leads to other breaches.’

“_20th Dec._—Crabbet. Hunted in a snow storm on the Downs. On our return found a Mr. Wheeler come to interview me for the Press Association. I declined to let him print anything of my plans. He is an Irishman and an amusing fellow, and had some good stories about people he had interviewed. He had had to hunt officially with the Empress of Austria one season in Cheshire, the Press Association keeping three horses for him for the purpose. She rode well—but did not choose her own line. Lady Rock-Savage rode much better. If Middleton, Bay Middleton, who piloted the Empress, got a fall, the Empress always stopped.

“_22nd Dec._—The ‘Times’ has a leading article on my proposal of going to the Soudan, politer than is usual with them, but of course not favourable. Wrote an answer going up in the train, and went to the ‘Pall Mall’ office and gave Stead leave to write an interview, and then lunched at the Gregorys’. The only possible way to pull this thing through is by the press; not that I want at all to go to the Soudan. I have other things far more important to do. But the Soudan is the thin end of the wedge and we must drive it in if possible.

“At six o’clock to a meeting of the Arbitration and Peace Committee, where I found them quite prepared to let things alone. But Karl Blind backed me up, and it was voted ‘unanimously and enthusiastically,’ that Mr. Gladstone should be requested to employ my services. Afterwards I had an interview with a so-called agent of the Mahdi, whom Ismaïl Jowdat has brought to England. There is a kind of committee here in London of Oriental sympathizers with the Mahdi, consisting of thirty persons, who meet every night at a room they have hired for the purpose. Ibrahim Bey is not an attractive man, an Arabic speaking Egyptian, with the true Egyptian eyes, but with a curl in his hair and a very low forehead. In Oriental dress I daresay all this would be concealed, but he wears French clothes and has discarded even the fez. He is not attractive. His conversation was more interesting than his face: he assured me there would be no difficulty in my going to the Mahdi. The best route would be by Massowa, as the road that way would be open, and he promised to send word at once, that some of the Mahdi’s men should be on the look out that way for my coming. Mohammed Obeyd, he said, Arabi’s right-hand man, is now the Mahdi’s General, and of course would receive me well. He made his escape after Tel-el-Kebir to Tripoli, and thence to the Soudan.[94] The Mahdi also knows me well by name. I should have to go by Constantinople, but arrangements would be made so as to assure me a quick reception there. The whole thing would take just six weeks. Ibrahim Bey will go with us, if I like, on Wednesday as part of the Peace Deputation to Hawarden, but he is hardly a presentable man.

“_23rd Dec._—My ‘Times’ letter is published, and in the morning Stead sent me a proof of his interview to correct, a ridiculous thing which I had to rewrite. [The proof was brought by an office boy, with a message that it was to go to press in an hour, and it was a mere accident that I was at home and able to stop it. It contained, among other extravagances put into my mouth, that Egypt would be better annexed than continue ill- governed as it was, an idea which, if Stead’s, was certainly not mine. When I saw Stead later in the day and expostulated with him about this, his answer was characteristic. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘if you did not say it, it is just what you ought to have said.’]

“_24th Dec._—Christmas Eve. By the 10.10 train to Chester with the Peace Deputation to see Mr. Gladstone. It was to have consisted of three persons, but Karl Blind and Dr. Clark missed the train, so I had Martin Wood to myself. I never had much idea that Gladstone would see any of us, and I was certain he would not see me. So we first sent a telegram from Chester to say that ‘Mr. Wood had been deputed by the Arbitration Society to wait on Mr. Gladstone, and that he had brought two gentlemen conversant with Soudan affairs with him’—Jowdat, who had come with me, and me. I made Wood add something about Christmas Eve to give us a countenance, and, without waiting for an answer, we set off in a fly to Hawarden. The only chance was to rush Mr. Gladstone before he knew who we were, and we almost succeeded. We were evidently not expected, and were received at the door by a young footman new to his work, who said Mr. Gladstone was at home, and if Wood had had the presence of mind to go in all might have been well. But he fumbled about for a card, and the footman disappeared, only to be succeeded by the butler, an old hand, who promptly said ‘Deputation,’ and with very little ceremony turned us out. Wood weakly argued and appealed to the man’s feelings. But Mr. Gladstone was ‘finishing his letters for the post, and then would have his dinner,’ and we were shown the door. Going back to Chester we plucked up courage, and drafted a letter, in which we endeavoured to turn the tables, or at any rate to conceal our defeat. We consoled ourselves by thinking that we were fighting in a good cause, that Mr. Gladstone must feel ashamed of himself turning away a deputation of peace on Christmas Eve. It was the climax of all. Here he was making a senseless war for no object he dared avow, and afraid to look honest people in the face. Shade of Midlothian! We sat on at the Chester Hotel till two, and then took the Irish mail back to London—arriving in the gray of Christmas morning, and bitter cold.

“_25th Dec._—Down early to Crabbet, feeling ‘the satisfaction of a good conscience.’ The ‘Pall Mall’ has published my revised interview, but of course the Government won’t accept my offer.

“_26th Dec._—Martin Wood’s letter, the one we wrote to Mr. Gladstone at Chester, is in all the papers in the largest type, and the ‘Daily News’ has an inspired letter, placing all the blame of the situation on Bismarck.

“Hunted with Leconfield’s hounds, the meet at Drungwitch, and had a good old-fashioned run of two hours, through Plaistow into Sydney wood. Kars carried me capitally. Anne rode Queen of Sheba.

“_30th Dec._—Hunted with Leconfield at New Bridge, a run of an hour and twenty minutes, I on Rataplan, Anne on Proximo (two Arabs we had brought from India). It was a very rough bit of country, and it is really astonishing that these horses who have never been across half a dozen fences in their lives, should have gone as they did. Jowdat and Ibrahim Bey at Crabbet.

“_1st Jan._, 1885.—Jowdat and Ibrahim went away to London after I had shown Ibrahim the horses. Ibrahim is by way of being an Arab by birth—that is to say, his family was from Moeyla on the Red Sea, and he turns out to be no other than that Ibrahim Bey Moeylhy who was Ismaïl’s private secretary, and who was expelled from Paris by Ferry’s Government a month ago in deference to the Sultan’s wishes. He is an agreeable man, and extremely clever. It is arranged that we are to have a Conference with Jemal-ed-Din at Boulogne, and they explained to me the nature of the Franco-Russo-Indian Conspiracy, of which Jemal-ed-Din is the head. If the Sultan does not work with him, they say they can depose him. But he will work with them. They want to force terms of peace on England. Otherwise they say there will be a revolt in India. [N.B.—This Ibrahim El Moelhy, brother to Abd-el-Salam Pasha El Moelhy, was a well-known character who subsequently played a variety of parts in many notable intrigues both at Yildiz and Abdin. Besides his talent in this direction—and he used to remind me of Fakredin in Disraeli’s novel ‘Tancred’—he was acknowledged to be the finest chess player in the East. His pretence of being an ‘agent of the Mahdi’ had however very little reality, Jemal-ed-Din alone having influence in that direction.]

“_3rd Jan._—A letter from Selim Faris this morning which disquiets me. It says that Hassan Pasha Fehmy’s mission from the Sultan, which has been recently talked of, has for its object to make terms with the English Government, but that it is intended to support Tewfik, and that the only alternative is the restoration of Ismaïl, who is patronized now by Bismarck. Jowdat has got a letter from Halim Pasha’s son, ordering him back to Constantinople, and warning him against mixing himself up with Irishmen or Hindus, as such a course might compromise the Prince.

“_4th Jan._—Dined at the Club, where I had a long talk with Marlborough, who is writing an article on the evils wrought by Christianity. He is more intellectual than his brother Randolph, but less attractive.

“_6th Jan._—Wolseley’s column has reached Gakdul without accident, and people are again cock-a-hoop. Leonard Courtney tells me Gladstone is ill with anxiety about Egypt. The departure of Hassan Fehmy’s mission from Constantinople is announced.

“_11th Jan._—Button came back last night from Tunis, which he says the French have ruined,—trade gone, Arab peasantry gone, caravans gone, no new colonists, old ones in despair. Passing through Paris on his way home he had seen somebody belonging to the Embassy (Sheffield?), who had told him that Lord Lyons was furious at the want of policy in Egypt. He had a policy of his own which it would seem included Arabi’s return, for Button had been asked whether it would not be possible to get up some popular demonstration in favour of Arabi. From what he heard at Paris the difficulty in Egypt is that the rich people evade paying their taxes and are forty per cent short this year, the peasantry only five per cent. Lord Lyons’ idea is that Arabi could force the rich to disgorge. This is exactly in harmony with Knowles’s suggestion to me last year.

“_12th Jan._—A letter from me in the ‘Times,’ in the best place, and a leading article upon it.” This explained my position towards the Sultan.

“Saw Button. He says the Government has decided nothing. Gladstone does not mean to retire, or Granville, or Northbrook, or any of them. They have no policy, except to wait on events. They mean nothing by coquetting with the Sultan. Hassan Fehmy’s mission will lead to nothing. They look on the Khartoum expedition as a walk over. But my friends Ibrahim and Ismaïl are quite sure Khartoum has been taken long ago, and that the steamers at Shendy are in the Mahdi’s hands.[95]

“_15th Jan._—I have dispatched a letter to the Sultan through Halim Pasha.

“_17th Jan._—Button tells me the fate of Egypt will be settled this week. The French counter-proposals have arrived, and Gladstone means to clear bodily out of Egypt as well as the Soudan. He will not hear of resigning alone, and Dilke and Hartington have caved in. The ‘Times,’ however, does not give up its policy of staying on in Egypt for lost, and a campaign is being organized of defiance to Europe. ‘Dilke,’ said Button, ‘always said the only policy was a policy of bounce, and we are going to bounce it, at a risk of a war with France. But nobody will move a finger.’ ‘If you want to bounce,’ I said, ‘bounce behind the Sultan, and I will go with you.’ Certainly I do not want to see Egypt handed over to Europe. Mr. Gladstone must remain responsible, and must do justice before he goes. Met Wolff at the Club, who urged me to bring forward the case now against Tewfik.

“_18th Jan._—Prepared a memorandum about Tewfik, and tried to find Wolff to concert measures. Saw Stanley, who will put me in communication with Hassan Fehmy. Stanley tells me Musurus talks of Tewfik as ‘incapable but harmless.’

“Lady C. tells me the Prince of Wales is now well disposed towards me, but says I am to be attacked as soon as Parliament meets. She does not say by whom, or for what.

“_19th Jan._—There is a telegram in the ‘Daily Telegraph,’ explaining that Hassan Fehmy’s mission to England is to show an autograph letter written by the Czar to the Sultan, offering him an alliance. This is what I have suspected to be Russia’s game. Presided at a meeting of the East India Association at Exeter Hall, the thing discussed being the age of entrance to the Civil Service. The meeting was a small one; Stanley spoke, and Connell, and Tom Hughes, an old twaddler of the first water.

“_20th Jan._—Button’s bouncing article is in the ‘Times.’ He says the Government will reject the French proposals, at least of a multiple control in Egypt.

“_21st Jan._—Called on Hassan Fehmy, and found Stanley there. We had a long talk with the Sultan’s Envoy. Stanley explained who I was, and gave me every help, for he is entirely without that small jealousy which besets most men, and cares only for ‘the cause.’ We both urged on Hassan Fehmy to be firm in his dealing with Lord Granville, showing him in how much need the English Government stood of the Sultan’s help, as regarded both Egypt and India, and I promised to keep him informed of all that goes on. He seemed pleased at finding friends, for he is quite a stranger here, being a good Turk of the old-fashioned sort, knowing little French and no English, and never having played before at diplomacy. His face is most sympathetic, and I like him extremely. He seems honest and good, but without backbone enough for our Foreign Office rogues.

“To Bowles at the ‘Vanity Fair’ Office. He advises me to stand for Parliament, and has suggested Salford, where he says they want a Conservative Home Rule candidate. He has been nursing the constituency for two years, but now under the new regulations would not get in without the Irish vote. With it he says I should certainly be returned. It is perhaps worth thinking about.

“_22nd Jan._—News of the battle of Abu Klea—Burnaby killed, as it serves him right, for he was a mere butcher, and eight other officers including young De Lisle. Here the bloody work begins again. But this time the butchery will not be all on one side. They have been pretending for the last four months that the Mahdi had no men with him, and behold 10,000 at the first battle; that the Western Soudanese would not fight like those of the East, and behold the British square broken by their charge and 800 men throwing their lives away! They must be under good discipline too, or they would not have waited so long without attacking. Now Stewart’s[96] army will at any rate not attempt to reach Khartoum till Wolseley comes up, and then it will be too late.

“These English soldiers are mere murderers, and I confess I would rather see them all at perdition than that a single Arab more should die. What are they? A mongrel scum of thieves from Whitechapel and Seven Dials, commanded by young fellows whose ideal is the green room of the Gaiety—without beliefs, without traditions, without other principle of action than just to get their promotion and have a little fun. On the other side men with the memory of a thousand years of freedom, with chivalry inherited from the Saracens, the noblest of ancestors, with a creed the purest the world ever knew, worshipping God and serving him in arms like the heroes of the ancient world they are. It is over the death of these that we rejoice. No, I desire in my heart to see their blood avenged, and every man of Stewart’s butchering host butchered in their turn and sent to hell. Gladstone! Great God, is there no vengeance for this pitiful man of blood, who has not even the courage to be at the same time a man of iron? What is he that he should have cost the world a single life? A pedant, a babbler, an impotent old fool.

“Button tells me the idea at the War Office is that Stewart will send back his camels to Korti, and that then Wolseley will reinforce him with 2,000 men. Omdurman, Gordon’s outpost, is taken, and they will push on for Khartoum at all risks.

“My idea is that Khartoum has fallen already, and that the whole thing will end as it deserves in disaster.

“They seem to have come to terms with the Sultan, at any rate about the Soudan, which they will hand over to him—when they have got it. I hope Hassan Fehmy will stand firm. He was to see Lord Granville to-day.

“Dined again at Pembridge Crescent, where John Pollen has just returned from India. Lord Ripon seems fully to have enjoyed his triumph and John with him. Stanley called in the evening in James Street. He is a good friend and a good ally, and shares all my bitter feelings against Wolseley and his cut-throats.

“_23rd Jan._—A long list of killed and wounded published, but no more news of Stewart. Got down home to Crabbet where there is bright sun instead of the London fog. The ‘Pall Mall’ publishes ‘from an exalted source’ (Ismaïl’s?), a fanciful programme of Hassan Fehmy’s terms. I wish there was any chance of their being the true ones.

“I met Hardinge[97] yesterday at the Club, and talked with him about Constantinople. I said that Hugh Wyndham deserved great credit for having brought about a reconciliation between England and the Sultan, but he laughed at this. ‘Between ourselves,’ he said, ‘Wyndham had nothing at all to do with it. He had a quarrel with the Sultan two years ago, and has not been on speaking terms with the Palace since.’ I said: ‘I suppose our little friend Corti managed it for him.’ To this Hardinge did not answer. Of course it was Corti.

“_24th Jan._—There is no news from General Stewart, except a ‘bazaar rumour’ that he is surrounded, and the British public is beginning to get alarmed. Now we shall hear crying and lamentation. Great God! what a stupid dull beast the world is. It sends an army out to fight against an innocent people, and an innocent people destroy that army. One would think that not a single M.P. from Mr. Gladstone downwards had ever read a word of the history of Greece or heard of Marathon. This stupidity is more hideous even than their cruelty and lying. But if there is a God upon the earth He will this time do justice.

“The evening papers announce Hobart’s arrival in London.

“_25th Jan._—Went up to London by the early train to see Hobart. But first I saw Button, who detailed to me the military situation. It appears that on the 28th of last month [N.B.—There is a confusion here as to date. The dispatch referred to is doubtless that of 4th November] Gordon wrote to Wolseley a long dispatch, in which he said he could not hold out more than a certain number of days, and for this reason General Stewart’s expedition was sent. Wolseley would have made it more numerous than it was if he could have got transport, but he sent every camel he could lay his hands on. The dispatch was a long one, and stated that Gordon had steamers at a certain point, about fifteen miles above Shendy, and proposed that naval officers should be sent to man them. It particularly mentioned Charlie Beresford as the man to take charge of them, and for this reason the naval brigade was sent. Gordon had also written to explain that his reason for dispatching Colonel Stewart and the rest by river to Dongola was that he understood from Mr. Gladstone, or rather Lord Granville’s telegram, that no expedition would under any circumstances be sent to relieve him. All this will be published when Parliament meets. Button thinks, all the same, that it won’t turn out the Ministry. He said that the War Office were expecting news hourly, and that if it did not come to-day, they should consider things had gone wrong with Stewart. With regard to the diplomatic position, the Government had accepted the French proposals after all, only protesting against a Multiple Control; and the French Government had accepted the acceptance. This is unfortunate, as they may now think they can do without the Sultan’s help. But our position is still an immensely strong one, and Button promised to help all he could in the ‘Times’ if we attacked Tewfik. Buckle is fortunately away, and Button will have things much more in his own hands till Parliament meets. It won’t be my fault if we don’t play trumps.

“Luncheon with the Gregorys. Lady Gregory has arranged with Stead that Layard shall be interviewed in support of the Sultan. At the Clubs people are in a great state of excitement, waiting news from Metemmeh which does not come. I found Godfrey Webb among others. We went together to call on George Currie, who has just bought the little Gothic House in Park Lane, a really charming one, Gothic though it be, where we found Alfred Montgomery. Then to 27 Grosvenor Street, where Hobart has taken a house. With Hobart I had a long conversation; he had seen the Sultan before he left, and the Sultan’s idea was by hook or by crook to get a footing in Egypt. The English Government, he said, were ready to withdraw their troops to Alexandria and Port Said, and to admit Turkish troops to Cairo. And the Sultan was thinking of sending a contingent to help Wolseley in the Soudan, under the belief that half the Mahdi’s people would lay down their arms at the command of the Caliph. I exhorted Hobart not to let the Sultan do anything so foolish. I know the situation, and if the Sultan were to join the English the Sultan would become as Tewfik has become. They would pay no attention to him, and he would lose all his influence. With the stream he can ride on the top of the wave; against it he can only be drowned. I urged him to get Hassan Fehmy to play a strong game and insist as a preliminary to all assistance that Tewfik should be deposed. He then told me in confidence that the Sultan had told him in confidence, that he hated Tewfik, but that he considered it politic to get a foothold in Egypt first on any terms. Hobart thought that Hassan Fehmy would not be bold enough to depart from this plan, or propose Tewfik being replaced. However, he would try, and as he had a private cypher with the Sultan, he could telegraph to him all my ideas. I asked him how I was regarded at the Palace, and he said: ‘At first they could not understand what you were driving at, but now they see you are a friend and accept you as such.’

“Lady C. is making an active propaganda in my favour and in favour of my ideas. She tells me old Lucan[98] has been with her to-day, and has told her that the War Office has got news that Stewart is in fact surrounded, and he will have to capitulate. The news is not exactly official, but they seem to believe it.

“_26th Jan._—To see Button. He says the acceptance of the French proposals has stopped the negotiations for the present with the Sultan, but they will come on again, and he strongly advises that Hassan Fehmy should declare himself against Tewfik, and promises that if he does the ‘Times’ will bring the matter forward. Buckle is away on his honeymoon till the 19th February, and Button will have things pretty much his own way in Printing House Square, so I have drawn up a memorandum for Hassan Fehmy of the language he should use, and shall try and get him to send in a dispatch to Lord Granville without delay.

“_27th Jan._—Stanley came to me in the morning, and highly approves my draft memorandum, and we went together to call on Hassan Fehmy, but he was out, and I have left the memorandum with Stanley to read to him. Lady A. sent a message by him to say she wished to see me, and I had luncheon at her house in Grosvenor Street. She is very anxious about her son, who is with General Stewart, but I had little to say to comfort her. She would naturally, she told me, sympathize with the Arabs, and her son, too, had sympathized with them after the Suakin campaign. But such is the desire of military glory he had volunteered nevertheless. I also saw Pembroke yesterday, who has grown a beard, and is looking twice the man he was. He, too, is in a state of anxiety, for Reggie Talbot and Heale Phipps, both members of the Wilton Club, are with Stewart. Such are the glories of war.

“_28th Jan._—The evening papers announce Stewart’s arrival at last at Metemmeh after more slaughter, another hundred men or so killed and wounded on the English side, and two thousand they say on the side of the Arabs. This is infinitely disgusting, and the only thing which seems to mitigate the evil is, that being now in communication with Gordon by steamer they may be willing to rescue him, and retire as they said it was their intention to do. They can perfectly well do this by river, without any more battles, and the Mahdi has still a large army on the river bank, between Metemmeh and Khartoum. The Arbitration Association have elected me to their executive Committee, and have called a meeting for to-morrow.

“_29th Jan._—Had a long talk with Ibrahim Bey. I asked what could be done in the way of getting up a demonstration in Egypt against Tewfik. He said petitions might be addressed to the British Government asking for his deposition. The Ulema of the Azhar would sign it, except El Abbasi, the Sheykh el Islam, who is Tewfik’s creature. Some of the Notables might and a number of village Sheykhs, but not the Mudirs, as these are Government officials paid by Tewfik. If the English Government would give the least encouragement every man in Egypt would sign it. As to Arabi, he said all the poor are for him, but the rich won’t hear of him. He urged me to go to Paris and talk things over with Jemal-ed-Din.

“Hobart, Whittaker tells me, has just been staying at Sandringham. The Prince of Wales said to him: ‘I suppose we shall have to get rid of Tewfik.’ Hobart’s instructions from the Sultan are nothing but a programme of conciliatory language, and compliments to the Queen and Prince of Wales. He is only here to advise Hassan Fehmy. Hassan Fehmy’s audience at Osborne was not a success. The Queen would not talk on important matters, and was not particularly gracious. I am afraid his mission will lead to nothing. His only chance was to speak out loudly and firmly, and insist on Tewfik’s deposition. I have got the peace people to vote a resolution urging Gladstone to retire from Khartoum, and make peace with the Mahdi. I drafted a letter for them to Gladstone.

“_30th Jan._—Bowles has published my caricature in ‘Vanity Fair.’ Saw Brett with Button, he and his master, Hartington, are all for smashing the Mahdi and keeping Khartoum and Eastern Soudan. If I wanted evacuation he advised me to send in a memorandum to Chamberlain who has just been declaring that the Soudan is to be handed over ‘to its own noble savages.’ Brett is a clever, but unprincipled[99] young man, and manages all Hartington’s intrigues for him with the press. Button and Stead are the two he works through most, and their latest achievement has been getting Temple, who married Hartington’s first cousin (Lascelles’ sister) made Bishop of London. The ‘Pall Mall’ has been urging it for the last three weeks, and now it is done. The stupid public fancies that Stead is a wonderful prophet, when he insists on this and that policy, and when the policy is adopted. But Hartington pulls all the strings and gives him the information, and so the campaign against the Grand Old Man goes on. I am not sure whether Dilke is still in with them, but I fancy he is. Chamberlain has broken away. Brett, though of course an enemy to my ideas, sometimes gives useful hints. I asked him to-day what they were going to do in Lower Egypt. He said: ‘You are going to have English Administration.’

“_1st Feb._—Dined with George Currie in Park Lane; Alfred Seymour was there, and Newton, the Police magistrate, also Walter Seymour, who is just starting on another venture to Venezuela, this time with a cargo of arms to make a revolution. Alfred Seymour has a story of Sir Peter Lumsden having resigned his mission in Afghanistan rather than carry out the Government’s concessions on the frontier.

“_2nd Feb._—Wrote the draft of a letter to Chamberlain, urging an immediate evacuation of Khartoum, but shall keep it till Wilson returns from Metemmeh with news of Gordon.

“Old Lord Mark Kerr[100] called in the morning, ‘out of neighbourly feeling’ he said, as he lives almost next door (in James Street). I had correspondence with him two years ago about Arabi.

“Lunched with Button. He has told me more particulars of the Hartington intrigue. He says that not only was Gordon sent to Khartoum without a Cabinet Council, but Wolseley also was sent without one. The whole expedition has been an executive measure, which not all the members of the Cabinet have ever agreed to. Similarly the financial proposals for Egypt have never been agreed to by Lord Northbrook, and the Cabinet has been going on in this way for a year, each minister running his own hare. Now, however, Chamberlain will break off and leave the rest, hoping to come in on the top of the wave with the new elections.

“Letters have come from India showing that Randolph, thanks to my letters, has been well received, and there is one I am specially glad to get from Seyd Huseyn at Hyderabad.[101] Salar Jung has invited Randolph, and he has accepted the invitation.

“_4th Feb._—Button says there are great things brewing all over Europe. The French Government, although it promised an answer on the Egyptian finance question last Wednesday, has remained silent. There is a hitch somewhere in the negotiations. There is a row between Germany and Russia on account of the King of Bulgaria’s proposed marriage. The Portuguese have seized both banks of the Congo, being in league with France, etc. Bismarck is furious because the Congo Conference seems likely to break up as the London one did. If we have any luck, there may be a good general European war all round.

“Dinner at Lady C.’s, who is anxious I should go into Parliament as a follower of Churchill’s. She says the Prince of Wales is angry with me because I only care about the Arabs in this infernal war. Afterwards to a party at Lady Stanley of Alderley’s (Lord Stanley’s mother), where I had some talk with Frederic Harrison, and hope to get him to take part in a peace meeting. Lady Stanley talked about the war, as to which they are all very cock-a-hoop now. They can’t take any interest, they say, in the Arabs, because there are so many of them; when a thousand are killed, there are always thousands more to take their place. Dilke was there.

“_5th Feb._—Went to see Lord Mark Kerr, whom I found at breakfast, walking uneasily round, and eating a mouthful from time to time. He is a good, excellent man, but vague in his ideas to the verge of insanity. His instincts are admirable, and he has glimmerings of great thoughts about the East. He sympathizes with the Arabs as he does with the Indian natives, and is very angry just now at the Duke of Connaught being recalled from India instead of being made Commander-in-Chief. ‘The Duke is not clever,’ he said, ‘but he understands how to talk to a gentleman in the East—and they should have made him Commander-in-Chief.’ Lord Mark will help us at any meeting we may get up.

“Then to see Stanley, who urges me to call again on Hassan Fehmy and on Staal, the Russian Ambassador, who wants to see me. He, too, will help. On my return I found Mark Napier, who announced the unexpected and glorious news of the fall of Khartoum. This turns all our plans topsy- turvy, but to our great advantage, and I rushed off at once to see Hassan Fehmy, and had the pleasure of being the first to give him the news. There was another Englishman with him when I arrived, and the Ambassador put on a _figure de circonstance_ when he heard what had happened. But as soon as the Englishman was gone he took me by both hands, and a smile of pleasure broke out over all his face. He promised me to have nothing to do with ideas of helping with Turkish troops against the Mahdi, and seemed quite disposed to follow all my advice. I left him to seek Button, and fortunately found him just come from the War Office. It seems that Wilson[102] was delayed by the shallowness of the river, and took four days getting up to Khartoum from Metemmeh. On arrival he found the citadel dismantled, no flag flying, and the whole place full of Arabs, who opened fire on him, and then he turned tail, and by another accident all three steamers ran aground, and there they still are, Wilson planted on an island, and the news brought in a boat, as I understand, by Stuart-Wortley. Button says that Stewart’s force at Metemmeh runs no risk, as it has abundance of provisions, but I can’t believe this. In any case the expedition has come altogether to grief, and the outside of what there is to hope Button says, is that Stewart can be relieved, and the British Forces concentrated for the summer at Metemmeh. There is no question of an advance now on Khartoum. It is unknown what has become of Gordon. Indeed, the whole thing is conjecture, as Wilson did not land. Button tells me that the Rothschilds got a telegram this morning from their agents saying that there was no truth at all in the story. But this cannot be, as Button has seen Wolseley’s dispatches at the War Office.