Chapter XI: Randolph Churchill and the Fourth Party (1)

“_14th April_, 1885.

“TO see Button. He tells me there will not now be war with Russia. Jemal-ed-Din told me the same thing yesterday and I believe it, for Russia is now in the position of a man who having had an altercation with another has boxed his ears. He can afford to apologize. Button tells me Randolph has returned from India quite in harmony with my ideas. Lord Ripon’s, Randolph thinks, was the only policy, though clumsily carried out, and if he had not made reforms when he did we should be now in the position of having them forced from us as the price of native loyalty. He is also wholly against the Soudan war. This accords with a letter from him I got last night.

“I asked Button his advice about my going into Parliament, and told him I was intending to ask Churchill to support me as a Fourth Party candidate. But he strongly advised me not to do so. He said, in the first place, it was doubtful whether I should get in; and, in the second, Churchill would be sure afterwards to throw it in my teeth. ‘Take his advice if you like,’ he said, ‘but don’t commit yourself as his supporter.’ I said: ‘Then there is nothing for me but to go to Parnell.’ This Button thought would be much better. He said: ‘As a Nationalist you will have a great position, and there will always be sixty or seventy members who will believe in you on Foreign affairs; I advise you to do this and have nothing to do with Randolph. Remember how O’Connell always threw it in Disraeli’s teeth that he had once applied to him to get him into Parliament. About my correspondence with Downing Street, he thought they would not give any written message to the Mahdi, but advised me to continue to treat their assurances as serious, and to express our readiness to send the messenger.

“At eleven I called on Randolph and found him very glad to see me, and I really like him better than any of them personally. He told me about India pretty much what Button had told me of his opinions, and he entirely took my view of the Hyderabad intrigue. He said if Lord Ripon had not appointed Salar Jung they would certainly have annexed the country, and there were still intrigues at work of the old sort. He also spoke strongly of the great intelligence and good sense of the ‘natives,’ especially of the Mohammedans and Mahrattas. He had seen Rajah Amir Hassan of Mahmudabad and shared my views about the Mohammedan university, and he had stayed with Lyall and talked about me with him.[112] The only thing he had disagreed with was my having said that Salar Jung had been poisoned; for he said that young Salar Jung had expressed his disbelief in anything of the sort, and he had talked to him very confidentially. He then asked me to write a poem for the Conservative party for Sir Arthur Sullivan to set to music. I asked: ‘With something about the primrose in it?’ He said: ‘Yes, if you like—but it does not matter so much what it is, so long as it is patriotic.’ I told him I would think about it, but feared I couldn’t manage the primrose.

“Then Wolff came in and we talked about Lepel Griffin. Churchill said that he, Griffin, had shown him his article against me in proof at Indore, and he had expostulated with him about publishing it, and Griffin would have stopped it if he could, but it was too late. We also talked about the Soudan. Churchill promised to write a letter to be read at the Birmingham meeting if I liked. Next about Zebehr’s arrest and Tewfik’s intrigues. ‘We must get Tewfik deposed,’ he said, ‘as soon as Abbas comes of age, and have Arabi back.’ Then I asked to talk with him in private and Wolff went away. I said I was going to consult him about getting into Parliament; I wanted to push my ideas, but hardly knew how to set about it. He said: ‘Oh! I can do that for you whenever you like. If you will come forward as my supporter you can’t do better, and I am asked almost every day to recommend candidates.’ I said: ‘What will this bind me to? You know my foreign politics, but at home I am a Catholic and a Tory as regards the land question and education, and in Ireland I am a Nationalist.’ He made a face at the word ‘Nationalist.’ He said: ‘You could not come forward as an avowed Nationalist, but you need not say much about that. If you say that you have wide opinions on the Irish question it will be enough, and when you are once in Parliament you can take your own line.’ ‘But what,’ I said, ‘is Tory democracy? Tell me in two words, for I don’t think I quite understand it.’ He said: ‘That is a question I am always in a fright lest some one should put it to me publicly. To tell the truth I don’t know myself what Tory democracy is. But I believe it is principally opportunism. But say you are a Tory democrat and that will do.’ I said: ‘You know me well enough to be sure that I would not be paid to be in Parliament if I was not free to take my own line. I had thought of standing as an Irish Home Ruler with Parnell, but I was in doubt, and thought I would consult you.’ He said: ‘You would lose your influence if you did this. Parnell would require you to join in his policy of obstruction and you would be discredited. You had better not commit yourself to that, though you might vote with him on purely Irish questions. But you should write me out a programme of your ideas, and I will see if there is a constituency that will accept them.’ I said: ‘I will think it over and let you know.’ Now I shall consult Mrs. Howard, who will advise me to go in as a Radical, but that I can’t and won’t do. I think perhaps, after all, I shall be freest with Randolph; and certainly his conversation to-day binds me to nothing.

“F. P. [a young lieutenant R.N. who had been serving with the Naval Brigade in the Nile campaign] gives me some good accounts of forced labourers courbashed and chained, under British officers. Four thousand forced labourers were supplied for the Nile Expedition, half from Dongola, half from Esneh. They were put to twelve and thirteen hours labour in the extreme heat of August, only allowed half an hour in the day to rest; they were small, weak men, and would work only under the whip. Colonel Grant, in command of the Dongolese, expostulated against their being so employed. F., who was with the naval contingent, did not have the men under his own command beaten by English sailors. His remark was: ‘They did not give it them so thoroughly, but they seemed to mind it more.’ Many ran away, but were brought back with chains round their necks. He had found five men one night lying flat with their mouths full of sand; they would have died if he had not kicked them up and made them eat. They were kept once five days without food. Colonel Inglefield, in command of the Esneh men, blew his brains out in a fever in the next tent to F. He says when Wolseley came up he was quite taken aback at sight of what the river was. Hammill had surveyed it all and told him of its being impracticable, and so had every one else who had seen it. He is very bitter against Wolseley.[113]

“_15th April._—Wrote draft letters to Mr. Gladstone and Eddy Hamilton in answer to Eddy’s last, and took them to Mrs. Howard, with whom and with whose daughter Mary I spent four hours talking. She thinks Gladstone is serious about negotiating with the Mahdi, and that it is paying me a great compliment to discuss affairs so delicate with me. I am not sure. She won’t hear of my having anything to do with Randolph, still less with Parnell, and says that I should be doing no good going into Parliament at all. If I should render some signal service to the Government by helping them to make peace or otherwise, they would give me a seat in the House of Lords; but I should only lose my influence by going into the House of Commons.

“_16th April._—There is a remarkable letter in to-day’s ‘Daily News,’ giving the account of an Egyptian soldier who had been with Gordon in Khartoum. According to this, the Mahdi distinctly offered Gordon to evacuate, and Gordon refused. There are also tales of the capture of women and children by General Graham, and of his having sent them prisoners to Massowa. F. P. tells me that, when he was at Suakin last June, rewards of £1 were offered for the right hands of Arabs brought by friendly ‘natives’ into the British camp.

“Went to see Stanley, and arranged with him to bring forward the case of the Massowa prisoners, and then to Labouchere about a series of questions to be put on Monday as to military barbarities, forced labour, etc. He tells me that Chamberlain has proposed to him, as representing the Radical opposition to the Soudan War, that the Radicals should not object to the Government’s making their railway as far as Sinkat on condition it goes no further. They would then hand it over to a company and retire, boasting that they had civilized Eastern Soudan. They want to be out of the thing, but must have something to show for the money they have spent.

“Hobart tells me that the arrangement being made with the Sultan is that there should be a joint English and Turkish occupation of Egypt; the Turkish general to be provided with an English staff.[114]

“F. tells me stories of how the English soldiers are insulted in the streets of Cairo. They all hate the Egyptians now, being hated by them. But the Egyptian soldiers are devoted to their English officers.

“_17th April._—A letter came last night from Downing Street which seems to ask for direct communication with the Mahdi’s agent. But Button assures me that an agreement was come to the day before yesterday with the Sultan of the kind spoken of by Hobart, and thinks the letter means that they want nothing more of me. It may very likely be so. George Howard thinks the whole correspondence merely humbug on Gladstone’s part, and that he has never had any really serious intentions. He has become an utter unbeliever in Gladstone, and speaks more bitterly against him than any one I know out of the Carlton Club. He was for annexation, but says I prevented it by stirring up the Radicals and I have not done any good to Egypt instead. Mrs. Howard is disgusted at the arrangement with the Sultan, and half agreed that I was justified now in making any arrangement I liked with Randolph. Button is angry with Buckle for not making full use of the news he brings him, and talks of leaving the ‘Times.’

“_19th April._—Had luncheon at the Carlton Club, where they were going through the absurdity of Primrose Day. I sat with Randolph, Wolff, and Borthwick; they wanted me to put one of these flowers in my buttonhole, but I said I must draw the line somewhere. This worship of an old Hebrew gentleman under the form of a primrose is certainly one of the most ridiculous ever imagined. Randolph talked about the arrangement just made with the Sultan for sending Turkish troops into Egypt, and was all for an attack on the Government. But I persuaded him not to make any move against the Sultan. He has made an excellent beginning with the Indian Mohammedans, and this would not be understood by them. He told me of his having taken up the cause of the native water carriers at Benares, who were being impressed for the Soudan campaign, an incident which shows he has a true instinct with Orientals. I am writing him a letter stating my political views, and asking him to what extent they are in harmony with Tory democracy. It will be the manifesto of my political opinions.

“Down to Crabbet.

“_21st April._—A telegram from Button in the evening saying that the Khartoum expedition is abandoned, and eleven millions asked for Russian and Soudan wars.

“_22nd April._—The eleven millions seem to have taken everybody’s breath away, and war with Russia is considered certain, the garrisons to be withdrawn from the Soudan.

“Finished a letter to Churchill, giving my political views, home and foreign, and proposing them as compatible with Tory democracy, and took it to London to show to Mrs. Howard. Of course she is much against my sending it; but as I left said: ‘Well, it will be amusing, anyhow, to see how you get on with him. But I call it an intrigue.’ Button, whom I saw afterwards, objected on other grounds. He said I could not count on Randolph that he would not throw me over, and he could not get me into Parliament. Nobody would believe me sincere in my Home Conservativism, and Conservatives would not support me. He strongly advised me again to join Parnell rather than Randolph, people would understand that; I should have more influence, and besides be quite certain of a seat in Parliament. He is to meet Randolph, however, on Friday, and will try to find out what he really means; and in the meanwhile I withhold my letter.

“_23rd April._—George Wyndham has written home accounts of the enormous number of the Hadendowas who have been killed. Some of these Hadendowas had shaved their heads and wore the Mahdi’s uniform, ‘a wonderful instance of fanaticism.’ They (the English officers) are all sick, however, of the war.

“Rode in the Park with Sullivan (Sir Edward Sullivan), who tells me Mr. Gladstone dined with Bertram Currie on Tuesday after the announcement of the eleven millions war vote. He was in high spirits, and said the announcement of eleven millions was received by the House ‘with solemnity.’ He is to give a breakfast to Miss Mary Anderson to-day. Pembroke was also riding, and came and talked about the Soudan. He could wish, he said, that after having killed the Arabs ‘we could leave them some substantial benefit in the shape of a railway.’ What fools the best of them are.

“A letter has come from Eddy, giving a new opening, it seems, for correspondence. Consulted Ibrahim about it; he tells me the French are sending a secret mission to the Mahdi, _via_ Tripoli, and thinks I might hint this to Downing Street.[115]

“_24th April._—It appears that a dynamite explosion took place yesterday morning during Mr. Gladstone’s breakfast party with Mary Anderson. Everybody talks now of war as certain, but Button says it will only be a withdrawal of Ambassadors for the present. The Turkish arrangement has fallen through, if it ever existed, through Bismarck’s prohibition to the Sultan of opening the Dardanelles to our fleet. This, perhaps, accounts for Eddy’s renewal of correspondence.

“To the House of Commons and saw John Morley and Leonard Courtney, and urged on them to press the Government to withdraw _immediately_ from the Soudan, as otherwise the Mahdi may again advance. They said they understood the Government was intending certainly to do so, but they would endeavour to get some assurance from them during the debate. Morley, however, would have nothing to do with urging negotiations with the Mahdi, whom the Government intended to leave to ‘stew in his juice.’

“Bertram, whom I called on later, tells me that Mr. Gladstone told him at dinner on Tuesday that his idea was still to neutralize Egypt under a government of its own, and that he counted on the French to aid in doing this. Bertram, who doubtless repeats Mr. Gladstone’s tone on these matters, complained of the _unfair_ conduct of the French. ‘If they go on much longer,’ he said, ‘Mr. Gladstone will throw the whole thing on their hands and clear bodily out of Egypt.’ He also talked of perhaps handing it over to the Sultan, who after all was the legal owner; things were in a deadlock all round.

“_25th April._—Lady Wentworth came to luncheon, and took me to the Grosvenor Gallery, private view. The exhibition is not nearly as good as last year, but there is a fine portrait of Gladstone by Millais, one of his best, with his eye fixing you like some bird of prey.

“_26th April._—To Mark Napier’s at Fulham for lawn tennis. He showed me a letter he had received from Sir Charles Wilson, saying it was Awwam who betrayed Gordon at Khartoum. This is a fine piece of retributive justice, for it was Awwam whom Colvin persecuted because he had complained of the rogueries in the Cadastral service. Colvin had him arrested and put in irons after the bombardment of Alexandria, and tried by a mock tribunal and exiled to Khartoum. I wrote, when the amnesty was promised, to Dufferin to complain especially of Awwam’s treatment, and he referred my letter to Wilson, who did nothing. So Awwam remained at Khartoum, and now this very Wilson writes complaining that he betrayed Gordon. Thus is injustice sometimes requited.[116]

“At dinner last night at the Denbighs’ Hobart was very warlike, and talked of commanding the Turkish Fleet in the Black Sea; the Turks might at first pretend neutrality, and refuse a passage to English ships, but would join later. I sat next to Lady Dorothy Nevill, certainly the pleasantest old woman in London. She is a friend, she tells me, of Chamberlain’s, who tells her the electors care nothing for foreign politics; she has also seen Gladstone lately, who is in the highest spirits at the prospect of a new war. On my other side was Lady Brett, Reginald Brett’s mother, who says she hears from Berlin that Bismarck treats Malet like a little boy. Of course he does, he has always known him as such. Lord Salisbury was also there, but I had no opportunity of speaking to him.

“The Prince of Wales has written to Lady C., saying he is delighted with his Irish tour, and is to be back, I think, on Tuesday. I hear, however, from others, that it has been in reality a fiasco.

“_27th April._—Called on Justin McCarthy, who has a small lodging with his son in Ebury Street, but he was not up. The Irish girl who opened the door told me he never got up till the middle of the day, but I could see him between two and three. Then to Percy Wyndham in Belgrave Square, who deplores all that is going on in public affairs. He is an upright, honest man, with ideas too—but just short of the power to lead, so he has achieved nothing, and will retire after this Parliament. Back to McCarthy in the afternoon, whom I found with his son. My object in calling was to propose an alliance with Parnell, but we talked first about the Mahdi, and I asked to be put in communication with O’Kelly. This they promised to do, and, as I found them sensible and sympathetic, I broached the real subject with them. Young Huntley was most cordial; the elder, Justin, however, had had some experience of English alliances, and said they had several times been disappointed, as notably with Lord Robert Montagu. He also was cordial but more cautious; he said my connection with Arabi was well known; Arabi was a great hero in Ireland; so was the Mahdi. He thought Mr. Parnell would be very glad to talk the matter over with me, and he would arrange a meeting. They asked had I property in Ireland, and they were glad to hear I had none. What did I think about coercion? Could they count on me to turn out the Government? I told him that I was quite prepared to follow Parnell’s lead on all Irish questions short of dynamite; that in England I should expect to be free. I was a friend of Churchill’s, and should probably support him. On foreign politics they knew my opinions, and those of course I could not give up. As a Nationalist I could take up the cause of Ireland with my heart in it. Also I was a Catholic and opposed to the present Government. On all these matters they expressed themselves satisfied, saying that I had given too many proofs of having the courage of my opinions for them to have any doubt about me. But the first thing would be to see Parnell.

“I am sure these two are very honest fellows, whatever the others may be, and they said they had no quarrel with England if they got self- government. They did not want separation; they did not ask me to be unloyal to my country. But they were sure to succeed. They would have a great addition of strength in the next Parliament, and counted on several English constituencies. They counted, too, on Churchill, who was in favour of Home Rule, and my being a friend of his would be a recommendation in Irish eyes. On the whole I think the thing will work, and I am highly satisfied with my visit. I feel more at home with these people than in the Carlton Club.

“Down to the House of Commons to hear Mr. Gladstone’s statement about the war, and on the Vote of Credit. There was a previous debate connected with it, in which Arthur O’Connor proposed an amendment, speaking moderately and well. Arthur Balfour, too, spoke with some eloquence, and there was a division which the Government won by a small majority. Then Gladstone spoke, a really fine speech, the first fine one I have heard him make. At the beginning he was not felicitous, as he involved himself in one of his hair-splitting arguments about his own consistency, and Harcourt had to pull him vigorously by the coat tails to get him in hand again. But afterwards he was very clear, to the point, and impressive. His speech was generally taken in the House as a declaration of war against Russia; but I think he will try to arbitrate first. About the Soudan he admitted everything I had been urging for the past year, and condemned himself most emphatically; the people at Khartoum had been really against Gordon, they really liked the Mahdi, and the Mahdi was really establishing a Government; why should they be disturbed? Why indeed! I am glad to have heard this speech, as I am sure it is one of the best he ever made—perhaps his last great speech. The delivery was very remarkable and so dramatic as to suggest the impression that he must have got it up carefully beforehand with Irving and Mary Anderson. The effect on the House was decisive, so that the eleven millions were voted without a dissentient voice. It was a scene to be remembered. But as a matter of fact, the unanimity was due, I hear, to the accident of Labouchere and Randolph Churchill being away at dinner. Both had intended to move amendments. The effect of the speech, however, was very apparent, for at the beginning the sense of the House, both on his own and the other side, had been distinctly against Mr. Gladstone. The triumph was due solely to his eloquence.

“Dined at the Carlton Club.

“_28th April._—Rode early. Then to Mrs. Howard, to tell her my ideas about Ireland. She does not much approve.

“_29th April._—Button tells me that Wolseley is very angry at the idea of abandoning the Soudan campaign, says the Mahdi will be up again shortly and wants to finish him off. To a party at Mrs. T.’s, where I met Lessar, the Russian agent. He looks his character all over, being a little, inquisitive, dark, furtive man; but in conversation he talks frankly enough. I had a few words with him about the collision between East and West. ‘But what are we to do,’ he asked, ‘when the East won’t be quiet and we come into collision?’ I said, ‘The West should retire.’

“_30th April._—Things already look more like peace with Russia, and I am inclined to think the whole thing has been got up by Gladstone in order to get himself out of the Soudan. I met that great man this afternoon in Pall Mall; he was nearly run over by a cab crossing in front of the Athenaeum, and I followed him down the steps, past the Duke of York’s Column, and along Whitehall to Downing Street. He did not see me, but walked on, black and gloomy, in black, ill-fitting clothes, like a schoolmaster or an undertaker. He was followed at a distance of twenty yards by a detective in plain clothes, who eyed me suspiciously, especially when I crossed between him and his charge, who, taking out his latchkey, let himself in at the garden gate and disappeared.

“_1st May._—Button says it is all off with the Turks now, and Hassan Fehmy wants to be away back to Constantinople. Two days ago I wrote a violent letter to the ‘Times’ about the atrocities in the Soudan, and I have arranged with Labouchere that when it appears he shall follow it up in the House of Commons. I alluded in my letter to the story of the reward offered at Suakin for human hands. F. P. tells me it was C. who paid the money for them.

“Button tells me that Mr. Gladstone writes every day to Stead refuting his advocacy of Russia. But I am not sure the Government has not put Stead up to it, so as to prepare for a withdrawal from the quarrel.

“_4th May._—My letter was printed in the ‘Times’ this morning. To the House of Commons, and saw Morley walking with Brett. I had begged him to put a question to Government about a plan which has been announced for surrounding and capturing Osman Digna. He told me he had not put the question publicly, but had received a private assurance that no attack on Osman Digna was intended; so I hope we have put a spoke in Wolseley’s wheel. Brett told me the same thing.

“_5th May._—It is announced that Wolseley’s expedition is postponed, and so my letter seems to have succeeded. Mr. Gladstone made a statement last night entirely backing out of his quarrel with Russia, and during the debate that followed Randolph made a remarkable speech, the most important I have heard him make. It was well prepared and considered, and was very well received; but it was not oratory of the first water. As to the matter, it was a violent attack on Russia, with jingo talk about India. I did not wholly sympathize with this, but it will certainly have put him on a higher platform with his party.

“Lady C. sees old Lucan very frequently, and he tells her all the War Office secrets, and she told me they intended a _coup_ at Suakin. But I hope we have put a stop to that. The Prince of Wales has been to see her, and she asked him about my going to the Levee and what uniform I should wear. He said that, as I had been five years in diplomacy, I was entitled to wear the diplomatic. So I shall go to it, as I am coming out as a Home Ruler. It seems he is quite pacified about me now, but is only urgent that I should attend a levee. Old Lucan is very warlike, would like—‘By God!’—to go at the Russians again himself. He is the last at the Horse Guards who was a general in the Crimean War. He is eighty.

“_6th May._—General Graham has bungled the whole campaign at Suakin. Alan Charteris, who has come home from there, says all the troops are disgusted and want the thing to end. There have been letters in the same sense from up the Nile, where the men are living, or rather dying, in bell tents. George Wyndham is enthusiastic about the Arabs, I am glad to hear. Wolseley keeps on board ship at Suakin, pretending he is unwell.

“Saw Labouchere, who was starting to lay the foundation stone of a Primitive Methodist Chapel. ‘To such things,’ he said, ‘we are reduced at election time.’

“Met Parnell by appointment at the House of Commons, and walked up and down the central lobby with him. He told me that it would not do my standing for an Irish constituency; there were too many jealousies, and an Englishman would be looked upon as an interloper, whoever he was. Everybody was wanting to be in Parliament, and he was afraid of giving a cause of disunion. ‘My countrymen,’ he said, ‘have the weakness of quarrelling with each other; it is their national defect.’ ‘Like the Arabs,’ I remarked. Then he corrected himself, as if he had said too much. ‘Besides,’ he said, ‘we have always been betrayed by all the English who have gone with us—every one. Sometimes by our own people, but always by the English.’ I said: ‘I think you need not fear that in my case.’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘I do not doubt you; but it would be difficult to make the others understand. For this reason I do not propose that you should come forward in Ireland. But if you choose an English constituency I can promise you, wherever it is, the solid Irish vote. You would vote with us on all Irish questions, but we should not ask what you thought on other matters. Get Lord Randolph to nominate you where there are Irish, and I will do all I can for you.’ I was struck by Parnell’s frankness and straightforwardness in this conversation, and he has a special charm of manner which doubtless gives him his power.

“_7th May._—An inordinately busy day, caused by the announcement of a new ‘victory’ of Graham’s at Suakin. It is a very bad case, the worst that has happened, for they have surrounded a Bedouin camp, with women and children and cattle, and have fired into the lot, killing a hundred and fifty, and intending to exterminate. This has made me so angry I have not been able to eat all day, and have been galloping over the town getting up an agitation. My first act was to write to Morley. I reminded him of his share in the Alexandrian Bombardment, and called upon him to behave like an honest man and join me. I took the letter to Courtney and showed it to him and his wife, who took the matter up warmly. And they sent me on to Burt, the working-man member; he, too, promised me all assistance. Then I went to Randolph, who was delighted to join in the fray, and who arranged with Northbrook to support any motion for adjournment the Radicals might move. And then to Labouchere and the House of Commons, where I talked to O’Shea[117] and others, so that I got some of all parties to join me. The upshot of it was that at question time Morley asked for explanations, and a nice little discussion followed, and Hartington promised a definite statement of military policy for Monday. This is very satisfactory, but from all I hear we shall have to work hard to stop the war, for Wolseley and Baring[118] are moving heaven and earth to get the campaign renewed, and Hartington and Northbrook are with them. They fancy they can still make something commercially profitable out of the Berber railway, and, what is more important, save their own precious bacon. Gladstone in one of his answers made a quibble which looks specially ominous. He acknowledged his statement of policy made last Monday week, but qualified it by explaining that it was made in connection with the Russian imbroglio. They certainly have it in their minds to renew the war, but Button assures me nothing is yet absolutely decided.

“Randolph, when I saw him, talked over the matter of my going into Parliament. I told him of my conversation yesterday with Parnell, and showed him the paper I drew up a little while ago, headed ‘Am I a Tory Democrat?[119] of which he approved as a possible basis of my joining his party, though he said of course he did not pledge himself to go with me on all points. He objected a little to my using the word Home Rule. ‘I know, of course,’ he said, ‘it must come to this, but we haven’t educated the Party up to it yet, and it would have been better to use some vaguer expression.’ Also he thought the allusion to Midlothian was unnecessary, or I might have said: ‘If there was anything good in the Midlothian doctrines.’ Nevertheless he was pleased with the paper as a whole, and promised me all his support and gave me Middleton’s[120] address at St. Stephen’s Chambers, and authorized me to tell him that he had sent me to arrange for a constituency, and that I should be of very great value to the Conservative Party. This is, perhaps, the very best combination I could have, for it leaves me absolutely free, and I come in as an independent Member on all points on which I care to be independent. The only question is, ‘Shall I come in?’ Randolph also showed me a letter he had received from Sir Frederic Roberts[121] about the state of the army in India, which was interesting. It urged, of course, a large increase of forces if we were to fight the Russians; but it was a sensible letter. It said that the native army was less good than it looked; some regiments were very good, but not by any means all. I feel confident I shall get on with Randolph; all his instincts are right ones, and he has courage and is absolutely the reverse of a prig.

“_8th May._—Morley has written a line, saying he will bring on the question of Graham’s victory [over the women and children] again to- night, and has appointed to meet me at one on Monday. I have decided to go to the Levee that day, as it will be necessary if I am to stand as a Conservative, especially as a Home Rule Conservative.

“Had some conversation with Frederic Harrison in the Park. At two I went to the Peace Association, and arranged for a special meeting to-morrow to protest against a renewal of the Soudan War. There I learned that there was to be a great meeting at the Town Hall, Birmingham, and I made up my mind to go down there and move a resolution. This I did. The meeting was a fairly large one, perhaps 2,000 people, nearly all enthusiastic Gladstonians, and the object was to congratulate Mr. Gladstone on his adhering to principle in settling the Russian quarrel by arbitration. I asked the Chairman to let me move my resolution against the Soudan War, and with some difficulty he consented, for it was not in the order of the day, and he thought it might disturb the harmony of the occasion. But my speech was a great success, and I carried my resolution almost unanimously. It was as follows: ‘That this Meeting deplores the renewal by Lord Wolseley of the war in the Soudan, and calls upon Mr. Gladstone to fulfil his promise of peace by recalling Lord Wolseley without delay, and opening friendly negotiations with the Soudanese leaders.’ It was a bold move, but it succeeded, and I was much congratulated after it; and several persons expressed to me their sympathy with Arabi and their desire to have him back in Egypt. I came back to London by the night train.

“_9th May._—Rode in the park, where Frederic Harrison introduced me to Lord Dalhousie, with whom I talked about the possibility of negotiating with the Mahdi. It seems he has Mr. Gladstone’s ear, and it may do some good. I forgot to say that yesterday I called on Middleton, the Conservative agent, and arranged with him that I should stand for one of the Liverpool wards, if he could arrange it with the Conservatives there. I told him my ideas freely, and he seemed quite reasonable; Randolph had seen him and explained the whole position to him. So that thing is settled. I don’t know whether I shall gain most or lose most by being in Parliament, but I am determined, if I do get there, to lead the Party in their foreign politics and about India.

“_10th May._—Randolph at the Carlton Club talked again about my parliamentary prospects, and suggested Southwark as a likely constituency. I hear, through John Pollen and Ripon, that it is settled to evacuate the Soudan.

“_11th May._—A great and memorable Monday. The ‘Daily News’ gave a hint this morning that things stood as John said yesterday, and that the Government had resolved on a surrender. I went early to Wentworth to arrange with him to move an amendment to a motion Lord Wemyss is bringing on in the Lords about the Berber Railway, and then to the Courtneys’. They seemed ignorant of any pacific intention on the Government’s part; as also was, or pretended to be, Morley, whom I met at half past twelve by appointment at the House of Commons. I coached him in the speech he was intending to make against a continuation of the war. But I think now he must have been prepared for what was coming, though probably not for all. Then at half-past four I went again to the House, and was fortunate enough to find Edward Ponsonby, who gave me the very best seat in the distinguished strangers’ gallery. From this point of vantage I listened to every word. We were all prepared for a surrender, but nobody dreamed of its being so complete. Hartington had written his speech out beforehand and delivered it plainly, even baldly, and I don’t know but what the effect was better than if he had used eloquence. At any rate we believed him, as we should not have believed Mr. Gladstone. They are to clear out of the Soudan, bag and baggage, at the very first rising of the Nile; they are to abandon the Berber Railway and everything, except just Suakin, till such times as they can make other arrangements with a ‘civilized Power.’ Percy Wyndham asked a question about this, and whether Suakin was not part of the Ottoman Empire; and Gladstone gave him one of his roundabout answers: he thought that Suakin was generally ‘conceived’ to belong to Turkey. However, Hartington’s declaration was a great ministerial success, and I went home feeling that at last I had won a real victory.

“Dined with Lady C., who told me that Mr. Gladstone had been to see her on Saturday, and she had attacked him on his wickedness in killing the Arabs, and told him a number of home truths. He took it all in good part however. She asked him what he thought of me, saying we were friends. He answered that I was ‘personally a charming person, but on politics mad.’ Mad people think others mad.

“_12th May._—What Lady C. told me yesterday gave me the fortunate inspiration to write to Downing Street to congratulate Mr. Gladstone on the abandonment of the war, and to add a copy of the new edition of my sonnets; and two hours later I got a reply from Eddy, evidently in great good humour, saying that the gift was appreciated, and Mr. Gladstone ‘would turn with pleasure from the Soudan to Proteus.’ These little interchanges of courtesy in war time are agreeable, and the Old Man appreciates them, looking on all politics as he does in the light of a debating club.

“Went to the Levee to-day for the first time for fifteen or sixteen years. When it was over Staal ran out after me and warmly entreated me to come and see him. Down to Crabbet in high spirits.

“_13th May._—Ibrahim informed me yesterday that he had received an invitation from the Sultan, conveyed to him through Jowdat, to go to Constantinople and be one of his secretaries, and he asked my advice about accepting. He said he was afraid of what might happen, it was such a very risky thing, Court favour. I said that, if he looked to his own interest he had better go and take the chance, but that if he really had ideas of patriotism he had better stay and be ready to carry a message when required to the Mahdi. I could not advise him: he must judge for himself. He says for the present he will stay.

“To London, and called on Mrs. Howard, who is very angry at my arrangement with Randolph. ‘You must expect no more sympathy,’ she said, ‘in this house.’ However, we parted friends. George, whom I met yesterday at the Levee, had told her about it. George says I am right and rejoices, and says I shall ruin the Tory Party.

“_15th May._—Went down with Percy Wyndham to Hampton Court to see the last day of the great tennis match between Lambert and Petitt. It was worth any trouble to see, being quite a unique occasion, and I suppose the tennis court at Hampton Court has not for a hundred years seen such an assembly. Not only were the dedans and side galleries filled, but the other galleries over the pent houses had been fitted up with double rows of seats, all crammed. The play, too, was probably the strongest, if not the best, ever seen since tennis was invented. Curiously enough the young man’s play, which has been described as more Lambertish than Lambert’s, struck me as the less unclassic of the two. I have never admired Lambert’s style, and Petitt has a really splendid stroke on the floor when he chooses. In return Lambert was throughout over-matched, Petitt having an astonishing judgement and precision. The game, however, to eyes used to the French style, is spoilt by the perpetual underhand service, which gives no scope to the first stroke; it consisted in a succession of these with a boasted return—boasted from the gallery wall. This is and must be ugly, but no other return is possible. Arthur Balfour, Alfred Lyttelton, Heathcote, and all the players and amateurs were there, and we came back in the train with the little American who brought Petitt over, and who told us Petitt’s history. He was a Sussex boy, perhaps Kent, and had been merely engaged at fifteen to sweep out the court under one Hulse at Boston. Hulse would not even let him play, and he taught himself at odd moments. He never played with any one who could take less than thirty from him till he came to England. All which makes his success more miraculous. He is now twenty-four.

“Dined with Settna and some Indians and Indian sympathisers, Clark, Digby, Wood, Foggo, etc., at the National Liberal Club, where we indulged in some rather wild talk about Indian reform.

“_16th May._—Button has come back from Ireland, and I am glad of it, as I find it difficult to get on without him. He tells me the Russian difficulty is not yet over. Randolph Churchill’s violent letter, published yesterday in the ‘Times,’ was not a mere hasty ebullition, but Randolph showed it about to his friends before sending it in. These advised him to cut out the offensive passages, but he deliberately left them in as he considered they would tell with the electors.

“Harrison tells me that Gladstone explains his rejection of my offers of negotiation by saying he does not believe those who made them through me are really in communication with the Mahdi. Called on Staal and talked the whole situation over with him. He tells me his Government seems to be making new difficulties, more than he himself thinks justified.

“_17th May, Sunday._—In my conversation with Staal yesterday we discussed the Egyptian situation. He was very curious to know if Mr. Gladstone was serious at last about evacuating the Soudan; and I told him that he was,—as serious, that is, as he ever is. ‘He is a great comedian,’ Staal said, ‘but I was shocked, when he made his speech on Monday week, at his extraordinary statement of the position on the Afghan frontier. And I don’t know what to believe now about his intentions in Egypt. There are the three questions of the Soudan, Egypt, and the Suez Canal. About Egypt, I understand that it will eventually be neutralized; and so will the Canal. But what will become of the Soudan?’ I said: ‘They will certainly end by coming to terms with the Mahdi; there is no other course.’ ‘But will not the Mahdi invade Egypt?’ ‘No, if you will establish a popular government.’ He said he believed the European Governments would be quite willing. About the Canal, he remarked, the principal difficulty was who should garrison it. The Sultan insisted upon doing this. I said it required no garrison more than the Canal Company’s police; and as for the Sultan, ‘_On pourrait passer outre_.’ This, to which he agreed, is certainly how it will be arranged sooner or later.

“Luncheon at Lady Dorothy Nevill’s. Drummond Wolff, Lord Haddington, Jeune, and Ford, just named Minister at Madrid. Randolph came in late. Afterwards I looked in on Lothian,[122] and tried to get him to take an interest in negotiations with the Mahdi. His mind, however, is all in a muddle, though he is well disposed on the main points; and as he is rather a close friend of Lord Salisbury’s we may perhaps get something from him in the debate in the Lords to-morrow. It seems odd to me to be talking seriously with him on serious political questions after all these years.

“_18th May._—Anne went to the Drawing Room. In the afternoon Lord Wemyss brought on his Soudan motion in the House of Lords, and Wentworth opposed it. Wentworth’s speech was good in substance, but it rather unnecessarily jarred in tone upon the noble Lords it was addressed to, and called down a thunderbolt from the Duke of Argyll who followed. The Duke’s oration was splendid as a work of art, well reasoned, eloquent in every mood, and most impassioned. Though I did not agree with a word of the argument, I could not help admiring him; but the whole discussion was, as Wentworth said, academical, and will have no effect whatever on public opinion. There is no possibility now of a conquest of Africa, in the interests of civilization, being undertaken by England; the only danger is from a commercial company, to support which a promoter called upon me this afternoon. He thought I might use my influence with Osman Digna to get him to help a railway to Berber as a commercial speculation, but I of course declined to have anything at all to do with it.

“I dined after the debate, which we had listened to together, with Percy Wyndham at the Travellers. He encourages me much to go into Parliament in support of Randolph, of whom he has a high opinion. ‘You two,’ he said, ‘if you will stick to your principle of telling the truth at all cost, may yet save England.’ Only can I get into Parliament really on my own terms? Philip Currie was dining at another table, and I had some conversation with him about Egypt and the Afghan question. He is very polite to me now, and urges me also to go into Parliament. He is very scornful about the Government, but I believe a good deal of the trouble has been due to his own mismanagement at the Foreign Office.

“_19th May._—George Wyndham, I am glad to say, is ordered home again from Suakin, and there is every reason to believe nothing more will be done against the Arabs. Down to Crabbet and dined with Locker at Rowfant. Harrison advises me to write what I have to say about negotiation to Mr. Gladstone—and publish it.

“_20th May._—Dined at Francis Buxton’s, a Radical I like particularly. He was very urgent I should stand for Parliament; Cyril Flower said he could put me into a safe seat as a Radical. I am like a donkey between two bundles of hay—very like the donkey.

“_21st May._—Yesterday we had an Indian meeting in my house to present Mr. Settna with an address on his return to India, and it was turned into an address to myself by the Indians present. I made them a speech in reply which was well received, and advised them to agitate continually till they got their rights, as there was no party in England which would do anything for them from any other motive than fear. Some of them complained that Randolph Churchill, whom I had been extolling as a sympathiser, had not said a word yet of his desire to help them. And I wrote to him this morning, _à propos_ of a speech he made last night declaring for freedom in Egypt and Ireland, and begged him to take an opportunity soon of saying a word for India; and I met him this afternoon at the Carlton Club, and he promised me to second Slagg’s motion for an inquiry into the Indian Government. This is capital, and encourages me to go on with him in earnest. Sir Robert Peel was there, very amusing, both of them cutting their jokes at the old Tories. ‘There won’t be half a dozen of them,’ Randolph said, ‘in the next Parliament.’ He also declared he would contest Birmingham at all hazards, and expressed his certainty of turning the Government out at the elections. Now he is off to Paris for a run and to find out what the new French policy is. The House adjourns to-morrow. Wagram has arrived from Paris, looking for a house for the summer. We dined together at St. James’s Club.

“Mr. Egmont Hake called to-day to consult me on various points connected with the ‘Gordon Diaries’ he is publishing. He admits that Gordon made great mistakes at Khartoum, both as to men and things. I have promised him a narrative of my efforts at negotiation for his book.

“_22nd May, and later._—Spent the day with Wagram looking for houses at Ascot and Windsor. We drove through Windsor Park, which is certainly the finest thing of its sort in the world. Then down with him to Crabbet, where he spent Whitsuntide with us. During the week there was absolutely no move on the political chess-board except that the evacuation of Dongola is being hurried on, and the evacuation of Suakin stayed—both in accordance with my programme. Randolph has gone to Paris, where Victor Hugo is dead; and Hartington and Dilke to Ireland, where Healy is very much alive. There is an absolute calm after the storm, and the only rock ahead is a threat by Chamberlain of resignation on the Crimes Act.

“_31st May._—To London to get news. Button was away, and London nearly empty, but by great luck I hit upon Gregory just returned from Ireland, and Churchill just returned from Paris. I met Gregory in the street, and we sat together for half an hour in Hyde Park. He has seen Morley lately, and finds him quite ready to go against Tewfik, and has put him in favour of Halim and Arabi’s return. Morley quite admits now that it would have been possible to get on with Arabi three years ago, and regrets the part he took against him, which he excuses on the ground of wanting information.

“Churchill, whom I found at the Carlton Club, approves of a move now in favour of Arabi, and advises me to make war on Ismaïl, whom the ‘Pall Mall’ is working for. He also tells me Middleton, the Conservative agent, is very keen about my joining the Party, and promises to see that the matter of my candidature is settled soon. He will come to Crabbet for a symposium I am proposing for one of the Sundays of June or July. The persons to be invited are Staal, Churchill, Morley, Lothian, Harrison, George Howard, Burt, Parnell, Pembroke, Gregory, Stanley of Alderley, Percy Wyndham, Hobart, and Morris. [This imagined party never came to anything on account of the political upset which immediately afterwards happened. If I remember rightly I did not even issue all the invitations.]

“_2nd June._—To London again for the day, but it is like a city of the dead. The only person I saw was Mrs. Howard. She is half inclined now to forgive me my political errors, and has invited me to Castle Howard for next month. She has been seeing something lately of Chamberlain, whom she attacked about his orchid mania. But he defends himself by saying he has had an horticultural passion all his life; when he was a little boy he used to spend his pennies in the market buying pots of daisies.