Chapter XI: Randolph Churchill and the Fourth Party (2)

“_4th June._—Randolph has made a capital speech, with a declaration of Conservative policy, including an inquiry into the Government of India and a sort of Home Rule for Ireland. As regards Egypt, he is for arranging matters with the Sultan, and retaining with his consent the protection of Egypt. He is educating the Tory Party, and I am educating him.

“_5th June._—Called on Middleton, the Conservative agent, and told him I could accept Randolph’s programme almost as it stood, and would write in that sense. He tells me there is a difficulty about finding me a Conservative seat with my views on Irish Home Rule. But he asked me to give him a little longer to make inquiries. He still thinks there may be an opening at Liverpool, or he might find me a place where I could stand as an independent candidate with a Tory vote.

“Dined with Whittaker at the Salisbury Club in St. James’s Square. Hobart and his wife were there, and Villiers the correspondent of the ‘Illustrated London News,’ just back from the Nile campaign. Villiers gave me much interesting information. He considers the campaign redounds greatly to Wolseley’s credit, and the credit of all concerned. Like most correspondents he is more warlike than any soldier, would have eaten the Arabs’ livers if he could, and has been in all the battles. At the same time he says the power of the Mahdi is quite unbroken. The Mahdi is a man of genius and has never made a mistake, and his movement is the most important there has ever been in Africa. I asked him about the reported losses of Arabs in battle, and he said they had been absurdly exaggerated. He knew how generals liked to make big things out of small ones, and he was quite sure, from first to last and including both campaigns at Suakin and the Nile, the total Arab loss was under 5,000. This has consoled me much. He was at Tamaï last year when the British square was broken, and he is sure there were not above 600 Arabs who made the charge, nor more than 5,000 altogether opposed to Graham.

“About Sir Charles Wilson’s delay in reaching Khartoum, he said that Wilson’s fault, if any, was in not pushing home the attack on Metemmeh. He had attacked Metemmeh, meaning to take it, but found the place too strong, and after the repulse it would have been very imprudent to send the steamers away directly, as it would have invited attack on the camp. Metemmeh, therefore, and Shendi had to be shelled; Khartoum could have been taken by the Arabs at any time. The Intelligence Department had been wrong throughout. Villiers seems an intelligent fellow, and, as I have said, a fire-eating warrior. So his evidence goes for much. He told me it was certainly true that a reward of £50 had been offered for Olivier Pain, dead or alive. It was Wolseley issued it, ‘and quite right too, the man being a soldier of fortune.’ He himself would have been ‘delighted to put a bullet through him, and drag him into camp by the heels.’ Such are the amenities of ‘war which is not war.’

“_6th June._—Luncheon in Belgrave Square. George Wyndham has written from Suakin, very angry with me for saying in the ‘Times’ that money had been paid for dead Arabs’ hands. Only one hand had been brought in, and it was not of a dead but of a live Arab whom they had gone out and brought in alive to camp, and nothing was paid for the hand. But that does not prevent C. from having done the thing last year. Met Harry Brand in Piccadilly and walked with him up Bond Street. I told him I thought Randolph the only man who would push reform. But he said the Government would be in for ever, they would get a majority of fifty more than they had now after the elections. To a great party at the Foreign Office for the Queen’s birthday.

“_8th June._—Crabbet. I have finished my letter to Randolph (the one intended for publication as a manifesto of my opinions), and have written to him to say I will bring it him to-morrow. He has made another wonderful speech at Cambridge. I am convinced he will carry the Tory Party through at the elections.

“_9th June._—This morning the astonishing news came of the Government’s defeat on the Budget. Nobody at all expected it, and it looks very like a put-up business. People in London, however, say the reason is that the Whigs and Radicals have got rusty about voting, having been sent for so often to defend motions of censure, and now they did not believe in the danger. Anyhow, the Government are out, and the Carlton Club is agog with delight.

“I went up by the early train to London, and my first visit was to Randolph, the hero of the moment (whom I found still in bed). I must say there never was a man with his head turned less by success than he. We talked for half an hour, and he read me a very curious letter which arrived while I was with him from Lepel Griffin. It contained a scheme of policy for Afghanistan which was briefly this: The Amir’s reception at Rawal Pindi has been a failure and a mistake; too much fuss had been made with him, and it had offended the other native princes. Scindia had said it was ridiculous, and the Maharajah of Cashmere had refused to come. None of the princes of India were really loyal, except the Punjabis. The rest disliked us, ‘though,’ said Griffin, ‘I made the most of their loyalty in my article to encourage them.’ His article was one about the native army. His scheme for Afghanistan was this: he would come to an understanding with Russia for its partition, making over to her the Turcoman provinces and keeping Candahar and Kabul with the Hindoo Kush for a frontier. This was, I remember, exactly Lytton’s scheme of securing a ‘scientific frontier.’ Griffin, however, would give Constantinople to Russia. To this Randolph objected, but he approved of keeping Candahar, or rather of taking it. I dissuaded him, however, strongly from meddling with the Afghans, and offered to find out from Jemal-ed-Din in what way we could make friends with them, and who would be the most popular Amir to succeed Abd-el-Rahman, if, as Randolph said was likely soon, he should die.

“We then talked about the prospects of a change of Government, and he told me the Conservatives would take office and that all had been arranged. But they did not wish it known, and had sent word to the ‘Pall Mall’ that they did not mean to come in. Randolph counts on having a voice in Foreign Affairs, and he asked me whether I would go on a mission to the Mahdi. I said I would if sent as a regular envoy. Also there will be no coercion in Ireland. He read my letter, which I had brought with me, and approved of it all. ‘I agree with it all,’ he said; but he asked me to leave out the words ‘Home Rule’ in what I said about Ireland, and insert the words ‘than you _apparently_ are _yet_ prepared for.’ He also assured me he was keeping Middleton up to the mark about my candidature, and again recommended Southwark. We agreed that I should send my letter to the ‘Times’ to-night for publication.

“Then to Button in the City, and arranged about publishing the letter; and then to Mrs. Howard. She dined last night with Hartington and Granville and Bright, and assured me they had been all as merry and unconscious of danger as men could be. Bright told her he was at the Cabinet which decided on the bombardment of Alexandria; but Lord Granville had assured him that it would not really take place, and it had long ago been settled that he was to leave the Cabinet on the first shot fired in any war. It had been a cause of grief and tears with him to watch the slaughter which had since occurred, but he had not had the heart to stand up and denounce his former friends. He had, however, written to Mr. Gladstone after the war to say that if he allowed Arabi to be tried by the Egyptian Government it would be a ‘lasting infamy.’ I am asked to Castle Howard for 21st July.

“Back to Crabbet. We have arranged two parties: one for Staal on the 27th, the other for Randolph on the 4th. Staal did not fancy meeting Randolph, so we have asked them for separate days. Also a third for the Club on the 11th of July.

“_11th June._—Anniversary of the Alexandria riots. Arabi is very nearly now avenged. I shall send a copy of my letter to Randolph to Lothian, that he may show it to Lord Salisbury, who will probably have the Foreign Office. Barring accidents, we must win now; at least we have gained this—Granville will _never_ be in office again till time shall be no more.

“To London. Harry Brand professes himself in high delight at being out of office, and I fancy there was a little hocus-pocus in the Government defeat. To Coombe, where we saw ‘As You Like It’ acted in the open air. I cannot call it a success; I dislike Shakespeare on the stage, and especially his comedies. His long-winded Elizabethan jokes after these three hundred years are inexpressibly flat, and this ‘As You Like It’ is full of them. Then the open-air representation gave only the forest scenes, and was a bit monotonous. I doubt if anything is gained by its being out of doors. The _coup d’œil_ was pretty enough, but in no way reminded one of a forest, and the actors looked even less real than on a regular stage. The place chosen was no part of Coombe Wood, but a suburban garden with lime trees, pretty but tame. The ground, littered with dry fern, looked like a farmyard, and the actors, wading about in it, out of place and a trifle absurd. The acting was ordinary English acting, that is to say bad—mostly professional. Lady Archie’s[123] was certainly the best; she is a tall, graceful woman, with a good stage voice, and made herself well heard. These are my criticisms, but the day was perfect—chequered sunlight and shade, with birds singing, and I enjoyed it very much.

“Dined with Anne at the Russian Embassy. A pleasant family dinner, nobody there but ourselves, a secretary, and Monsieur de Lessar. We talked the political situation over freely, and my impression is that Lord Salisbury will have trouble in finishing the Afghan frontier dispute. Staal is evidently much roughed up, especially against Randolph; and when I asked him whether he would like to meet him at Crabbet he said he would rather not. He would, however, like to meet some Conservatives of position; so I have asked Lothian and Pembroke. We talked about Madame de Novikof, and he acknowledged that she had been very useful to Russian diplomacy. There was talk also about Ismaïl in a tone which convinces me that Ismaïl is the Russian candidate. There is a Christian conspiracy against Islam here in England, consisting of Madame de Novikof, Stead, and Ismaïl as the Sultan’s chief enemy. Staal said to me: ‘What they reproach you with is that having been against the Sultan you have now gone over to him.’ He must have got this from these three.

“_12th June._—My letter to Randolph is in the ‘Times.’ I have sent copies of it to Lucknow, Bombay, Colombo, and Constantinople; also to Sanua and Jemal-ed-Din.[124]

“_14th June, Sunday._—Crabbet. The ‘Observer’ has a list of the new Cabinet, which, if true, would suit me well. Randolph at the India Office, Northcote, Foreign Affairs; no mention of Pembroke, however, whom I met on Friday looking very mysterious, as people do who have been talked to about a place but are not sure of getting it.

“_16th June._—Randolph has made a new row, voting against Northcote with Beach and others. I suppose Lord Salisbury has not recognized the claims and policy of the Fourth Party; it is unfortunate, as it seems to jeopardize the Conservative chance. But I daresay Randolph is right; he is the only man capable of leading the Tories to victory. Lady C. writes that the Prince of Wales is highly pleased with my letter to Randolph.

“_17th June._—Randolph was right and he has won, and nothing he has done yet has given me so high an idea of his genius as a leader. He has brought Lord Salisbury to his own terms. Stafford Northcote is to go to the Lords, and Beach is to lead the Commons as Randolph’s lieutenant. All the old generals are to be put on the pension list, and the young fellows to command the battle. This will give the Tory Party a chance at the elections: it would have had none under Northcote. With Randolph at the India Office and, who knows, Drummond Wolff Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, I ought to be able to pull through my programme. At the Radical meeting last night, at St. James’s Hall, Vernon Harcourt incautiously mentioned Arabi’s name, and it was received with vociferous cheering.

“_18th June._—In London. Just saw Randolph at the Carlton Club and congratulated him. But he said: ‘It is not a case for congratulations yet. Nothing is settled.’ The old fogies at the Carlton are in a great taking about Lord Salisbury having accepted office, and are putting pressure on him to back out of it. It seems there are negotiations going on with Gladstone to know whether he will support the Conservatives on the Budget and other matters, and it is doubtful which way it will go. I had a long talk with Leconfield, who expressed the usual idea—rather frightened at Randolph—would sooner not come into office. Pembroke the same. I am all for a bold course, the only one to win the elections.

“Back to Crabbet; I shall stay here till the crisis is over.

“_22nd June._—Had a talk with Ferid Bey, first secretary of the Turkish Embassy, who came down to Crabbet. He is very anxious to find out what Lord Salisbury’s policy is likely to be. I sketched to him my idea of a settlement for Egypt; but it is clear the Turks have but one notion, to get Egypt back ‘after the manner of Syria,’ which, Ferid says, is ‘so well governed.’ I explained to him, however, that, unless they could get rid of the debt, they could not get rid of European influence, and for that reason the Sultan must act in concert with some solvent Power, which could guarantee the interest of the loans, and so undertake a joint protection. This could only be England. Acting together, peace could easily be restored in Egypt by the Sultan’s appointment of a new Viceroy.

“Lord Salisbury is to come into office. Lothian, whom I met at the Carlton Club, told me it was settled this afternoon. I talked to him about Eastern policy and Lord Salisbury’s foreign policy. He tells me the great difficulty with Lord Salisbury is that he is a very shy man, and hardly ever mixes with people out of his own set, so that he does not know the real turn opinion is taking. Also, with regard to Egypt, it will be difficult to get him to go against his words. He was strongly against Arabi before the war, and has always taken the line that the Government’s fault was that it did not put him down soon enough. There will be the difficulty. Lothian is coming down to Crabbet next Sunday and we shall then know more about it. In the meanwhile I have written to Jemal-ed-Din, begging him to hold himself in readiness to come over here should he be wanted. The Wagrams have arrived in London.

“_23rd June._—Sure enough Lord Salisbury is in office. There is talk of Drummond Wolff going to Egypt in Evelyn Baring’s place. At the Carlton I found Middleton, who tells me the Conservatives of Southwark will probably ask me to stand for their division at the elections, and if I can make sure of the Irish vote I shall certainly be elected. This sounds well. To a party at Lady Ripon’s, where I met divers Radicals—Lyulph Stanley, the Courtneys, Sir George Campbell, and others, all very angry at Randolph’s success. There were Indians there too, but these were quite willing to take him as an acquisition; he would be better in any case than Kimberley. The great advantage Randolph has as a reformer is that he has no respect at all for any one older than himself; and I expect when he gets strong in his seat after the elections he will turn the old Indian Council into the street. They say now at the India Office that they know how to manage him, but we shall see. Amongst others at the party was the Duke of Argyll, to whom I was introduced. I began at once with him about his Soudan speech in the House of Lords, and we had a quarter of an hour’s argument, during the course of which I told him that the only civilization he was likely to bring to the Arabs was brandy and venereal diseases. It is difficult to keep one’s temper with the Duke of Argyll, he is so dictatorial and _cassant_ in his manner—the very rudest man I ever talked to. Forster joined us, and I went away without finishing the conversation.

“_25th June._—Robert Bourke is appointed Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs, and I have written to congratulate him. This is a very distinct gain. Also Drummond Wolff goes to Egypt, and Baring is to be recalled. Thus I have many friends in office, for Arthur Balfour also gets a place and Sidney Herbert.

“Called on Button in his new rooms in Northumberland Avenue. He is standing for Clapham. He tells me the Conservatives mean now to pay no attention at all to votes in the House, to be silent in face of resolutions, and if supply is refused to carry on the Government without it till the elections. They will keep quiet about their foreign policy till the recess, and then they will act vigorously. Drummond Wolff is being sent out as a stop-gap, ‘to report.’ Baring will certainly be recalled. Eventually the Egyptian question will be settled in accord with the Sultan. Bismarck will support England. They are talking of Lytton for Constantinople, but I advised his going to Vienna and sending Paget to Constantinople. Called also on Percy Wyndham, who is much interested in the way things are turning and my election prospects. I regret immensely that he should be leaving Parliament at the very moment when the outlook is brighter and he likely to be appreciated.

“Lunched at the Alfred Lytteltons—George Curzon, Godfrey Webb, and others there. Met Eddy Hamilton in fine feather coming out of Lord Granville’s. He has been made a C. B., which he acknowledges, and given Welby’s place at the Treasury, which he does not acknowledge.

“To Drummond Wolff’s daughter’s wedding; the bridesmaids in yellow, representing the Primrose League. Then to Fulham Palace, where Bee Lascelles, now Mrs. Bishop Temple, was holding a clerical levee, the garden ‘crawling alive’ with parsons like an ant’s nest. I escaped to a side alley, feeling out of my element, and ran up against Frederick Leveson, who had fled there from the same motive. We had not met since the bombardment of Alexandria, but he was glad to find any one to say ‘How do you do’ to. ‘You are the first layman I have met here,’ he said; ‘it is like a scene out of Trollope.’

“Dined at Frederic Harrison’s and sat next Lord Justice Bowen, and talked over Lord Randolph’s character. I think I can see the Radicals are getting a bit uneasy at Randolph’s leadership. If he can succeed in striking terror in the enemy, confidence will come to our people and we shall carry the day. Randolph has written, asking me to call on him at the India Office early next week, which is a sign of good things. They all say he will change now he is in office, but we shall see. His note was in answer to one of mine, telling him that Godley was a friend, and asking him to look up the cases of the Civil Service examinations and Holkar’s claim. Both these requests were suggested to me by Pollen on Lord Ripon’s behalf. Lord Ripon supported both cases, but was thrown over by Lord Kimberley.

“Gordon’s Diaries are out. They are excellent reading, and he pitches into Malet and Colvin and Dilke to my heart’s content.

“_27th June._—A party at Crabbet—the Staals and Wagrams, Harry Brand, Stanley of Alderley, and Lothian. I have had much talk with Lothian about the new Conservative policy in Egypt, and have urged him to press on Lord Salisbury the necessity of very careful dealing with the matter, as it is one which might very easily be bungled. It is curious having Lothian down here for the first time after so many years that we have known each other intimately. I find Staal much more peaceably inclined towards the present Ministry. He quite understands Churchill’s irresponsibility. He seems to distrust Salisbury the more of the two. ‘Now they are in office,’ he said, ‘I shall have to be friends with them.’

“_28th June, Sunday._—Button came down, riding from London, and we played lawn tennis. Button rather disquiets me in what he says of Lord Salisbury’s intention in Egypt. He has counter-ordered the evacuation of Dongola, and Harry Brand talks of an expedition to Khartoum as an easy matter. I am afraid they may be tempted to humour Wolseley.

“I have been reading Gordon’s journals, and find him perpetually calling for Turkish troops. To the last he seems to have underrated his enemy, both physically and morally. What strikes me most in these journals is Gordon’s inability to see the far higher moral standing ground of his opponents. I doubt if he understood the letters sent him; they were probably not translated to him fairly, and he never would see any of the Mahdi’s men himself. If he had gone to the Mahdi he could not have blinded himself to the elevation of the position the Mahdi claimed as socialistic reformer, and he is content to repeat tales, told him by Greeks and other scoundrels, of the Mahdi putting pepper under his nails to promote tears, and other like absurdities. If ever right triumphed in the world it was at the fall of Khartoum. At the same time the journals make out a far stronger case for Gordon as against the Government than I could have expected.

“_30th June._—To London, to see Randolph at the India Office. He had just been attending his first council and seemed a little oppressed at the weight of work before him. But he soon cheered up, and talked with his old frankness and fun about his plans: ‘I am doing all I can now,’ he said, ‘of course to humour the people in the Office and get them friendly. But they are very slow, and I can see will prove obstructive. The Secretary of State, however, can always insist, if he chooses, on having his own way; and I mean to have mine. We must do things by degrees. If I was to offer to re-open the question of the Civil Service examinations straight off there would be a howl all over the Office. But I mean to carry the Queen’s Proclamation into practice, and see that the natives get admitted into the services. I can tell them that through you, but can do no more for the present.’

“I asked him about Holkar’s claim. This he professed himself quite ready to support. ‘Dufferin has promised me,’ he said, ‘not to put the settlement of this matter into Durand’s hands. All my sympathies are with Holkar.’ I told him about Staal’s visit and the prospects of peace with Russia, and advised him to have as little to do with the Afghans as he could help. But we did not discuss the subject at length. Then we went on to Egypt, and he said: ‘I am very anxious you should see Drummond Wolff without delay. Drummond Wolff is very keen to work in the way we want, and I am beginning to get Lord Salisbury round to our ideas. Lord Salisbury and I are on the best possible terms; like father and son,’ he said with a queer smile. Also he went on: ‘I told Lord Salisbury we should have to get rid of Tewfik the other day, and it quite startled him. He never seems to have thought of it before, but I think he will come to it; we must do it little by little. My idea about Egypt is—only you must promise me you will not repeat it, for if it was to get about it would spoil everything—that Tewfik should be deposed by the Sultan, and his son put up under English guardianship. We would then recall Arabi, at first as a simple citizen,—afterwards, when we saw how it did, as Minister. But there must be a protectorate.’ I said: ‘Why not call it something else, an alliance?’ ‘No,’ he said, ‘I think it best to call a spade a spade. We will call it what it is, a protectorate.’ I said: ‘You will require very delicate handling to get the Sultan to do exactly what you want. He is difficult to deal with and a little mad; and whatever is done should be through his initiative.’ To this he entirely agreed.

“He then asked about Dongola and Suakin, whether it would not be best to get the Sultan to occupy them with his troops. With regard to Suakin, I said: ‘Certainly, yes; but not Dongola. Any troops left at Dongola would certainly be attacked.’ And I strongly advise him to accept Lord Granville’s line of Wady Halfa as the boundary of Egypt. If he did so there was very little chance of Egypt being invaded this year. A joint occupation with the Turks in Lower Egypt would be a smaller risk, but I would not advise it. The Sultan’s intervention should be a moral one. Randolph is keen also to make peace with the Mahdi, which he said would be a feather in their caps before the election. And he approved the idea of Ibrahim going as forerunner to prepare my way before me. I am to talk all this over, however, with Drummond Wolff when he returns from Woodstock on Saturday, and afterwards see Lord Salisbury. ‘You need not mind,’ he said, ‘putting yourself forward in this matter; you are an authority on Egypt and have a right to be heard.’ Nothing could have been more satisfactory than all this conversation. With regard to Ismaïl, Randolph spoke very strongly: ‘I will never consent,’ he said, ‘to his restoration. I should consider it a personal disgrace to be connected with the restoration of such a scoundrel. As to Halim I know nothing, and I prefer Tewfik’s boy with a Regency.’ I promised to be secret on all he had told me, and to act in concert with him and Drummond Wolff, and I have written to Wolff to propose seeing him Monday or Tuesday.

“_1st July._—The ‘Times’ opens fire at Drummond Wolff, and I fear may spoil our sport, so I have written a short letter about the charges against the Khedive, and have sent it to Churchill to know whether he approves its publication. I am for attacking Tewfik now; if they commit themselves with him they will never get rid of him. The ‘Morning Post’ has an article in favour of Ismaïl. Randolph has sent back word, through Hope (my private secretary), that if I had written my letter a fortnight ago he would have approved it; now he cannot approve it. So I have kept back the letter; it is useless fighting the battle by myself.

“To Argyll Lodge, where I had another talk with the Duke, but in more amicable terms. All the same, it is an uncomfortable house to visit, through the absurd pride of its inhabitants.

“_3rd July._—Wrote to Robert Bourke giving an account of my correspondence with Downing Street about the Mahdi.

“_4th and 5th July, Sunday._—Our annual Lawn Tennis meeting; those present were Eddy Hamilton, Wentworth, Frederic Harrison, Elcho, Jack Napier, Mark Napier, Kingscote, Sandys, Seymour, Mallock, Farquhar, Button, and George Dallas.

“Button tells me Randolph has been a great success at the India Office; he has also won his election at Woodstock most triumphantly, and the party prospects are good. Not so I fear those of Egypt. Button talks of their keeping on Tewfik there ‘for a year.’ If so, he will be kept on altogether.

“_6th July._—Saw Drummond Wolff at the Carlton Club. He tells me he is going to Constantinople before he goes to Cairo, which is as it should be. He is annoyed at the set made at him in the ‘Times,’ and I explained to him that ‘a Twenty Years’ Resident’ was none other than our friend Moberly Bell. He asked me about the possibility of treating with the Mahdi, and I have agreed to bring Jemal-ed-Din from Paris to talk things over with him. We are to have another and more serious discussion of the Egyptian business as soon as he has seen Lord Salisbury.

“Saw Middleton, the Tory agent, who tells me my name is the only one before the Conservatives of Southwark, and they will probably choose me as their candidate. But there are certain ‘fossilized Tories’ who are suspicious of me.

“Down to Coombe Wood to see Mrs. Batten act Amaryllis in ‘The Faithful Shepherdess.’ As a _féerie_ it was pretty, much prettier than ‘As You Like It.’ Mrs. Batten looked very well, but the best was a little Indian lady, calling herself the Princess Helen of Kappartalla, very pretty, very graceful, and clever. The piece, like the other, was spoilt by the professionals. When it was over I stopped to dine with Bertram Currie [N.B.—He was member of the Indian Council], whose house was close by. Bertram gave me an account of Randolph’s first council at the India Office, which took place on Tuesday just before I saw him. Bertram’s account was that he was much frightened and said nothing, absolutely nothing. To him, Bertram, he was very humble in a private interview afterwards: ‘There is one thing,’ Randolph had said, ‘of which I am profoundly ignorant, and that is finance.’ And so he will be humble till the day he feels his legs and can strike them. According to Button, he has held the same language with Ashley Eden and Rawlinson and all of them.

“_7th July._—Lord Salisbury has made his statement about Egypt, which is far from satisfactory, inasmuch as he engages himself to support Tewfik. It makes a true settlement once more impossible. Nothing, however, can be done but to accept the position, and I shall not move further in the matter till I am in Parliament. There are difficulties at Southwark, which wants a ‘fossilized Tory’; still, Middleton thinks it all right. If I don’t get in this time I shall leave English politics alone, as I am too old to wait for another chance. Perhaps it will be better so, and in any case I leave it to God’s providence for good or for evil.

“_8th July._—To a political meeting at East Grinstead, where I made my maiden speech as a Conservative. This commits me to party politics, a thing I have avoided all my life.

“_9th July._—Ibrahim has received a letter from Jemal-ed-Din hinting that, if nothing is done in Egypt in the sense we hope for from Randolph, he will go off to Afghanistan to raise up trouble against England. I have consequently written to Wolff, urging him to get Lord Salisbury to commence negotiations with the Mahdi and sending him my correspondence with Downing Street.[125]

“Dined at the Gaskells with Anne, and took in Lady Iddesleigh, late Lady Northcote,[126] and she questioned me closely about the Mahdi and the Sultan and Arabi; and afterwards I had some conversation, and Anne had more, with her husband, who is now Foreign Secretary. Lady Iddesleigh professed great sympathy with Arabi, and with my ideas generally of a settlement. She also said she thought it would be a good thing to get Tewfik to retire on an honourable pension. She is a chatty old woman of the old-fashioned sort, and talked nicely and simply of her pleasure in Sir Stafford’s being made an earl. His relations had always looked for a peerage for him, and an earldom of Iddesleigh had long been an extreme ambition. His lordship seems to have talked in much the same strain to Anne about Egypt, and I augur well of their willingness to converse. My taking Lady Iddesleigh in to dinner was evidently pre-arranged, as it was not properly my place.

“The Mahdi’s death is reported, and the arrival of Huseyn Khalifa at Alexandria to tender submission to Tewfik. But Ibrahim says he must have brought a summons to the Khedive to become a Moslem.

“_13th July._—Went to see Wolseley arrive from Egypt at Victoria Station. There was no great crowd, perhaps two hundred persons on the platform and three hundred outside. There was a feeble attempt at cheering from his friends, and I heard a few hoots, certainly no enthusiasm. Wolseley looked older than when he went away, and rather careworn. Last time he came back from Egypt it was for a ridiculous triumph down Pall Mall, with the Grand Old Man waving his handkerchief like a madman from a window, fresh from Tel-el-Kebir. Now he drives away from the station with half a dozen little boys running after his carriage. I like him better as he is. I should like best of all to see him hanged.

“_14th July._—To Middleton’s at twelve o’clock to hear my fate at Southwark. I don’t think it has been Middleton’s fault, but the Southwark electors at a meeting last night were told I was an out and out Home Ruler, and that frightened them out of their wits, and they have selected another candidate. I see nothing for it but to put up with the disappointment. My failure to get into Parliament will put an end to my political career, as I have pretty well exhausted the good I can do with letter writing in the ‘Times,’ and require a new weapon.

“_16th July._—A deputation has come to me from Camberwell, which has been offered to me instead of Southwark. I told them very frankly what my position and views were: that I was a Roman Catholic and Home Ruler in Ireland, but a devout believer in Randolph and Church and State in England. They asked me whether I was in favour of Fair Trade and duties on imported manufactures. And I said that if the Conservative Government proposed such duties I would support them; but I was not clear how Fair Trade would work. They asked next about Sir Wilfrid Lawson’s Local Option. I said I had no intention of voting for it. This is the only point on which I have had a doubt, but I think I am not called upon to vote for this particular Bill. After all, England is a Christian country and must have its beer.

“On Ireland they were at first a little staggered by my using the word ‘Home Rule,’ but I said I preferred to call a spade a spade; and I believed the Irish were right in asking a separate Parliament; they did not wish for a complete separation. But I was an advocate for the right of nations to govern themselves, and I could make no exception about Ireland. On the School Board quarrel I was entirely with them; and I think it a real good fortune for me to have this particular cause to defend of religious education, for it is one I wholly sympathize with, and it is of a piece with my Mohammedan teaching in India. Finally, after an hour and a half’s talk, we parted mutually satisfied, and I am to attend a local meeting this day week and give my final answer. I am to pay my own expenses, but they have promised me an easy time of it in the way of work.

“This settled, I went at once to Randolph at the India Office and told him all, and agreed with him that he should write a letter to the Camberwell Committee congratulating them on their choice of me as candidate. I found Randolph very cheerful: ‘They will never make an official of _me_,’ he said, with a funny smile. We talked about Egypt: ‘Tewfik,’ I said, ‘will be a terrible handicap to Lord Salisbury’s programme; but I suppose you are obliged to keep him.’ ‘We shall see about that,’ he answered; ‘only we must have patience. Drummond Wolff is the man to get it done through.’ Then he asked about Arabi, whether I would answer for him as honest, and he would work with us in an honest way; and I said ‘he would for the good of the country, but not to prepare the way for annexation.’ About his own department he told me he was in great trouble to know what sort of game the Amir was playing in Afghanistan, and he asked me to try and get him information. And I offered to bring Jemal-ed-Din from Paris, and talk that matter and Egypt over with him. He was much pleased at this, and said he would see him at my house. I expect the India Office people are a bit frightened at my coming to see Randolph, but they are extremely polite to me.

“Later I met Wolff at the Carlton Club. He wanted to know whether Arabi would come back to serve under Tewfik, and whether he would serve with Sherif or Nubar. I said I would find out, and I have written to Arabi asking him, and begging him to telegraph ‘Yes’ or ‘No.’ Wolff also wanted to hear about the Mahdi. ‘Lord Salisbury will hear what Wolseley and Baring have to say,’ he said, ‘but he won’t necessarily do what they advise; and if he wishes, he will make peace with the Mahdi in spite of them.’ I promised Wolff to introduce some people at Constantinople who could be of use there. All this sounds well. Then I saw Huntley McCarthy and arranged with him about the Camberwell Irish, of whom there seem to be a thousand or so. [N.B.—This was a great exaggeration.] And then to Cardinal Manning, who gave me his best wishes and promised to write to the Camberwell priest.

“_18th July._—To Castle Howard, travelling in company with Mrs. Morris. In the carriage with us were the Speaker, his wife, and daughter. We arrived at Castle Howard in floods of rain, which made it look gloomy enough. But the site of the house is good, the chief block quite perfect, and the inside a gem. Since the house has been built, however, I suppose it has never been treated in such a way as it is now; everything is cut down to the barest necessity of existence: no one to open the gates at the lodges, not a servant to be seen except at meals, and no footman with the carriage. The gardens are neglected—they look the better for it; and the park has been railed off and is being mown for hay. On the other hand, I doubt if the house ever was cheerfuller. There were some twenty children and young persons under twenty in it, and there was a deal of boating on the large pond and tennis on the lawns. The only person to receive us at the door was Mrs. Howard. She has made up some rooms for herself in one of the wings, but the whole house is occupied from one end to the other. The men staying here are tutors or undergraduates, friends of Charley’s, and all is essentially _bourgeois_ and communistic. I like it the better.

“_19th July, Sunday._—George took me round the house and showed me the pictures. They are an admirable collection, good specimens of every school. The Velasquez of two children, an Infanta and a Dwarf, is, I think, the most remarkable; and there is a very interesting picture of Newmarket in the reign of Queen Anne, which shows the horses of the day to have been big sixteen hand horses, with heads of the Spanish type. There are some good marbles too, and the rooms are finely decorated. Mrs. Howard talks of doing away with the formal parterres in front of the house, but I have persuaded her that this would be sacrilege. She is very angry with me for having put on Tory armour for the election, or rather Radical armour for the Tory cause, and especially for going against the School Board, of which she and her mother and brother Lyulph are fierce champions.

“_20th July._—Mary Howard’s birthday, and I wrote her a sonnet. She is a wonderful child with her philanthropies, and has been founding a society of girls in the neighbouring villages for their mutual good and the furtherance of virtue. She preaches to them for an hour and an hour and a half at the time, and has got together about a hundred of them. She has genius and beauty and a blameless heart, and is of the sort which might convert a world. The sonnet has pleased the child, who is ready for all martyrdom. In the afternoon she entertained her village friends with a concert, and made them a little speech afterwards, very simply and nicely. I know nobody else who could do this without ridicule.

“I have been avenging myself for the political anger I have aroused in the house by writing my Tory democratic electoral address, and by threatening to date it from Castle Howard.

“_21st July._—A bright day at last, and the place has changed as if by magic, for it is dependent on the sun for its charms. Mrs. Howard took me for a drive of four hours, visiting village parsons, in pursuance of a scheme she has for giving holidays in the country to three or four hundred girls from Leeds. While in the carriage I read her my address, and she was so angry I thought she would have stopped the carriage and put me down to walk home. Old Lady Stanley, her mother, came in the evening; she is a valiant old lady, and fought the cause of the School Board at dinner and the cause of Gladstone and her party, which she loves above principle.

“_22nd July._—Back to London. Sheykh Jemal-ed-Din is expected in James Street, and I went down at once to the India Office where I was fortunate enough to find Randolph just coming from the House. I met him at the door of the Office and walked with him up to his room. He looked fagged and ill and complained of the stairs, though in truth it was only one flight and not a steep one. He promised to meet Jemal-ed-Din at my house to-morrow at half-past ten, and I explained to him exactly who he was, with the history of his doings in Egypt and India. ‘He is in the black book,’ I said, ‘of every one here, and an enemy of England. But if he was not he would be of no use to us.’ I asked him about the Civil Service examinations for India in reference to a report in yesterday’s ‘Pall Mall’ of his having decided to take the matter up. But he told me this was not true; he intended to meddle very little with details, but to push on a general inquiry into the state of the Indian Government. ‘Everything here,’ he said, ‘is at a deadlock, owing to the uncertainty of Afghanistan and Egypt.’ I did not stay with him for more than a few minutes for he seemed quite exhausted.

“_23rd July._—Jemal-ed-Din arrived in the night, and at half-past ten punctually Randolph came to James Street; he was all right again and in his usual spirits. Before introducing the Afghan I read Randolph over my Electoral Address, of which he highly approved, correcting only a few words, that is to say, making me leave out the qualifications about the _South_ of England in speaking of my belief in Tory popularity, and the allusion to Lord Salisbury having made ‘an alliance with the Irish leaders.’ He was also doubtful about my saying anything regarding an Irish Parliament. All the rest he approved, and said it was original and good. He said he was in favour of import duties on manufactured goods. I asked him whether he had any special scheme himself for ameliorating the condition of the poor, and he said ‘No, but Lord Salisbury has.’

“Then I showed him Pollen’s letter, communicating Lord Ripon’s message about agricultural banks in India and the Oxford examinations. He said that I might tell Lord Ripon that he was favourable about both matters, and especially about the agricultural banks, and that if he would draw him up a scheme on paper he would support it. But he had not the necessary knowledge on either subject to push it without assistance, nor the time to get the questions up. He seemed pleased at Lord Ripon’s having communicated with him. I also mentioned the case of Suchait Singh and the Pundit of Vizianagram, and he told me to send the details to Moore, his secretary. About Lepel Griffin he said he could not quarrel with him, but he was writing to him by this mail, and would suggest to him that he should make me some apology.

“Then we sent for Jemal-ed-Din, whom Randolph received with great politeness and made him sit by him on the sofa. They talked in French, but I soon perceived that Randolph knew very little of the language, and I had to translate for them. Randolph first asked about the Mahdi’s death, whether it was true, and Jemal-ed-Din said he thought not, but even if true it would make little difference, as the Soudanese would choose a successor. Randolph asked who that would be. _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘It would not be Osman Digna, but one of the Mahdi’s companions, a man of religion; Osman Digna would be the General but not the Khalifa. All would be done as on the occasion of Mohammed’s death, when the most religious man was chosen.’ Randolph then asked about Afghanistan, what the Amir’s position was. And Jemal-ed-Din’s account was briefly this: Abd-el-Rahman, he said, was a good general but he was not a great politician, though neither was he a fool. He had the majority of the Afghans with him, but nothing would be easier than to get up revolts against him. The Afghans were simple-minded people—_peuple naïf_—ignorant of politics and always ready to fight. The Russians might make a revolt through Ishak Khan or a dozen others of the sons of Shere Ali and the princely house. Nothing would be easier. The Russians had no intention of fighting the Afghans this year, but would make friends with some of these princes and raise disturbances. They would represent themselves as allies against the English and would promise the provinces of Cashmere and Peshawar if India revolted. The Afghans would believe them. _Randolph_: ‘Do the Afghans hate us more than the Russians?’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘The Russians have done no harm to the Afghans. The English have made three wars on them.’ _Randolph_: ‘But do not you consider that the Russians have done more harm to Islam than we have done?’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘The Russians have swallowed up a few principalities, the Crimea, Circassia, and among the Turcomans, but England has destroyed the great empire at Delhi, it has invaded Egypt, the Soudan.’ _Randolph_: ‘It was the Mahrattas that destroyed the Mogul Empire.’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘The Mahrattas came and went. Nadir Shah invaded India, but he was a Moslem. You remained and you destroyed the Empire. There are three reasons why the Mohammedans of India have hated you more than the Russians: Firstly, because you destroyed the Empire of Delhi; secondly, because you give no salaries to the _imams_ and _muezzins_ and keepers of the mosques, which the Russians are careful to do; and you have resigned the Wakaf property and do not repair the sacred buildings.’ _Randolph_: ‘We repair some of the mosques.’ _Jemal- ed-Din_: ‘Only when they are works of art, not for the sake of religion. And, thirdly, because you give no high offices of rank in the army to Mohammedans. The Russians do this.’ _Randolph_: ‘There are many Mohammedans in the highest offices in the Native States of India.’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘The Native States are not British India. What the belly has not swallowed it does not digest.’ (Here we laughed.) _Randolph_: ‘Then you think England a greater danger to Mohammedans than Russia?’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘I do not say so; I have spoken of the past. England has done more harm to us than Russia, but Russia is now more dangerous. If the Russians remain, I do not say at Penjdeh or Tulfikar or Merushak, but at Merv still five years, there will be no more Afghanistan and no more Persia and no more Anatolia and no more India. All will have been swallowed. They will leave Penjdeh and the rest, but it will matter nothing; they will remain in Merv.’ _Randolph_: ‘This is true. But what would you have us do?’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘You must make an alliance with Islam, with the Afghans, the Persians, the Turks, the Egyptians, the Arabs; you must drive the Russians back out of Merv to the Caspian Sea. To make friends with the Mohammedans you must leave Egypt. There is no danger for Egypt from foreign nations. You hold Cyprus, you hold Aden, what do you fear? Nor from the Mahdi. With a Mohammedan government in Egypt the Mahdi is not a danger. Then you must make alliance with the Mohammedans, who would believe you their friend.’ _Randolph_: ‘Could we send troops or officers to Afghanistan to help the Afghans against Russia?’ _Jemal-ed-Din_: ‘If you send troops, as for instance to Candahar, even with the Amir’s consent, it will be the right of any Moslem to go to the top of a hill and raise a revolt against you. He would say you were come under pretence of a friendship to take possession; and all would believe him. You might, however, send officers, a few officers, for these could not take possession. They would be servants of the Amir. But remember, if the Russians stay five years at Merv it will be too late; you should attack them not through Afghanistan but by the other side; then the Mollahs would preach a _jehad_ to join you against the Russians.’

“The conversation lasted about three-quarters of an hour, and Randolph then went away. He did not say much to Jemal-ed-Din, but to me he expressed himself, as I went with him to the door, much pleased with the Seyyid’s frankness and the justness of his views. He promised to send Wolff to see him. Also he recommended me to write to Lord Salisbury, asking to be supported in my claim to return to Egypt this autumn. I am cited to appear before a Court there (in connection with my property) in October, and this gives me a good excuse.

“I then saw Justin McCarthy at the House of Commons, and asked him about that portion of my Electoral Address which related to Ireland. He approved. Thence I went to Cardinal Manning, who warmly approved my address which I read to him. But he objected to my declaration in favour of an Irish Parliament, assuring me that the Irish did not want one. He had just seen six Irish bishops, who all declared this to be the case; he, the Cardinal, had written to Rome in this sense. He wanted local self government for Ireland,—not a Parliament which he considered would be a prelude to separation. He has given me a card of introduction to Canon McGrath of Camberwell, who will tell me what it is the Irish of Camberwell want.