Chapter VI: Cromer’s Heavy Hand (1)

On my return to England after this eventful winter I found myself, a rare thing in my public life, almost popular. I was considered to have got the better of Cromer in our Egyptian battle, and that Cromer had blundered badly in his diplomacy. Labouchere, whom I called on first, promised help about getting up an Egyptian Committee, and that he would consult Dilke about it. “As to Gladstone,” he told me, “the question of evacuating Egypt is one merely of his parliamentary majority. ‘Can you show me a majority?’ the old man says, when questioned about it; he cares nothing any longer for any political question, even Ireland, only to stay in power. His answer to Dilke about Egypt was a mere juggling with words and meant nothing.”

I write the same day, _May 9_, “I found George Wyndham, with Henley, the hospital poet (a bitter talker, but a sayer of good things), much pleased with his own parliamentary success, now he is in opposition and free to talk as he pleases. He expressed only a modified disapproval of my doings in Egypt. I gather from him that even the Conservatives think Baring has made a mess of things.”

“_11th May._—To Downing Street, where Harcourt received me with a slight show of severity at first. ‘I hear,’ he said, ‘you have been raising up no end of trouble in Egypt. Cromer says you have been combining against him with Mukhtar Pasha and the Sultan, and the Khedive, to bring back Arabi, and that you are the instigator of all that happened four months ago.’ I said, ‘I was an accomplice after the fact, not its instigator,’ and gave him in brief what had happened. ‘Well,’ he said, laughing, ‘I suppose we shall have to put in force the old statute, _Ne exeat regno_, to keep you from mischief.’ While we were talking, Eddy Hamilton came in, but this did not interrupt the conversation. ‘The worst of it is,’ said Sir William, ‘that it puts your friends into a difficult position. Mr. Gladstone, Morley, and I, are strongly for evacuation, but while there is trouble in Egypt this is impossible.’ I asked him, ‘Can you really tell me that you would have negotiated for an evacuation if nothing of this had happened? Would you not have argued that while things are going on so well, and we were doing so much good in Egypt, it would be better to let well alone?’ ‘We should certainly have begun negotiations,’ he said. He then asked about the influence of the French in Egypt, and said that if the French were willing to negotiate on the basis of the Drummond Wolff Convention there would be no difficulty, but he had lately asked Waddington (the French Ambassador), and Waddington had answered that the French Government could hardly approve now what it had so strenuously opposed six years ago. Waddington had also maintained that France had been given definite rights in Egypt by England at the Congress of Berlin. Sir William wanted to know about this, and I told him of the terms made between Salisbury and Waddington for the seizure of Tunis, equal rights in Egypt and privileges in Syria. I told him, too, of my conversation with d’Estournelles whom I had met as I crossed over to England on the 5th, and had been introduced to by Alfred Lyall who happened to be on board. I had discussed the whole Egyptian question with him till half way across the Channel, when the sea stopped us, and had found him very sympathetic with my views. ‘Well,’ said Harcourt, ‘when you write to your friends in Egypt tell them to keep quiet, and we will in a very short time begin negotiations. The difficulty is in the country and in the House of Commons, where we should not have a majority in favour of evacuation, and also with the French Government.’ I repeated to him my talk with d’Estournelles, and that I was sure the French Government would agree easily enough after the General Elections. ‘Do you authorize me,’ I asked, ‘to say to my friends at Cairo that if they will work harmoniously with Cromer, we will enter on negotiations for a withdrawal of the troops, say in the autumn?’ He said, ‘Yes,’ But at this Eddy Hamilton made a grimace of dissent and he corrected himself. ‘I can authorize you to say what Mr. Gladstone said in the House of Commons the other day.’ We parted in all amity, he joking about the possibility of my having been seen in Downing Street at his door. ‘Rosebery,’ he said, ‘has doubtless got his touts on the look out for you, and I must beg you, when you come again, to put on a false nose. I will let you out through the garden gate.’ Eddy will, I feel sure, repeat all this to Rosebery, but I do not care if he does.

“Coming home to Wentworth House (where we were staying for the season), I found Lady Lytton, and took a walk with her. She tells me that Lord Salisbury is so angry with Cromer for his mismanagement of affairs at Cairo that he says he is unfit to succeed Lord Lansdowne in India, so no wonder Cromer is angry with me. I am quite satisfied with the way my action has been taken in the official world, and I think Lady Lytton sees that after all I was right.

“_12th May._—Lunched with George Wyndham, and again found Henley there, and with them a clever young man, Whibley, who writes for him in the ‘National Observer.’ George gave us some admirable descriptions of battle scenes he had been present at in the Soudan, and set before us the things he had seen and felt as one reads them in Kipling.

“_14th May (Sunday)._—Spent the morning writing to the Sheykh el Bekri. Then to see Loulou Harcourt who is in bed at a private hospital for some slight operation, but is able to receive friends. He says he expects the Government to win at the General Elections next year, as they will take other bills besides the Home Rule Bill and appeal to the country against the Lords.

“_21st May._—Lunched with d’Estournelles. He professes the greatest admiration for my politics, but that I suspect is because I oppose English policy in Egypt.

“_1st June._—Dined at Lady Galloway’s in Upper Grosvenor Street, Philip Currie being there with others. She is by birth a Cecil, half sister to Lord Salisbury, an altogether noble soul.”

This marks the beginning of a friendship which put me in connection with the Cecil section of the Conservative party and their ideas of foreign policy. Lady Galloway who spent much of her time travelling, was of considerable use to her brother in regard to what was passing on the Continent.

“_5th June._—Gave a dinner in Mount Street to Margot and Betty Balfour, Harry Cust and d’Estournelles; the latter, who came in full uniform on his way to a State Concert, was very amusing, giving us his ideas about English women and English men.

“_12th June._—I hear from Lefevre that the despatches exchanged between Rosebery and Cromer are ‘most curious.’ Cromer was for the wildest violence against the Khedive, but he was given a douche which has brought him to his senses. He is, however, quite out of favour.

“_17th June._—With Judith and Anne to a garden party at Kew, given by George Lefevre in his official capacity (as Commissioner of the Board of Works). The party was to meet at the pier of the House of Commons, and go up the river in two steamers. As we did not know precisely where the pier was we stopped outside the House of Lords to ask a policeman.

“Dialogue:

“_I._ ‘Can you tell me where I shall find the pier of the House of Commons?’

“_Policeman._ ‘What peer did you say?’

“_I._ ‘The pier of the House of Commons.’

“_Policeman._ ‘No, sir, indeed, we have plenty of peers of the House of Lords, but I never yet heard of a peer of the House of Commons.”

On the boat with us were old Maud Stanley, Carlisle, Maisie Stanley and her daughter, Lord and Lady Denbigh, T. P. O’Connor and his wife and the Mathew family, Justin McCarthy, Lord Acton and Lady Harcourt, a very pleasant party, and a day of tropical heat. The party had been invited to meet the Teck family, who arrived for tea, with the Duke of York and Princess May.

“_21st June._—To a party at Lady Salisbury’s, where I again met Prince George and Princess May.

“_27th June._—Lunched with Lady Galloway, where I met Mackenzie Wallace; then on to Grosvenor Square, where Margot was entertaining Princess Hélène and a dozen more ladies to see the performance of a Spanish dancer, Candida Lopez.

“_28th June._—To an open air play at Pope’s Villa at Twickenham, where Labouchere was our entertainer, a queer _omnium gatherum_, conspicuous among the guests being Sir William Harcourt, Monty Corry, and numerous Irish members. Most of these last I had not seen since my retirement from Home Rule politics. They were very cordial. ‘We treated you very badly,’ Healy said, ‘in not giving you an Irish seat, we ought to have made an exception in your favour.’ ‘Indeed,’ I said, ‘I am very glad you did not.’ Dr. Kenny and John Redmond spoke to me in the same sense. I was especially glad to meet Dillon, and had some talk with him about Egypt. He told me the last two years had been the hardest and most thankless work he had ever had to do.

“The play was ‘The Tempest,’ done with Sullivan’s music, pretty but quite inept. Certainly Shakespeare was here at his very worst. What can be stupider than Caliban and the drunken sailors? The other characters pompous and flat. But beautiful songs. Ariel was wonderfully well acted by Dora Labouchere, a child of ten.

“_30th June._—With Judith to lunch with Burne-Jones, where he had asked her to sit to him. His wife and son, and sister-in-law, Mrs. Kipling, were there. During the two hours’ sitting he had of Judith he was most entertaining, telling us stories of William Morris’s oddities. One of the chairs in the studio we observed was rickety. ‘Yes,’ he said, ‘Morris has sat in them all, and he has a muscular movement in his back peculiar to himself, which makes the rungs fly out.’ He and Morris are devoted friends, and Morris comes every Sunday to spend the morning with him, and has done so for, I think he said, thirty years. ‘I have never taken a fortnight’s holiday away from London,’ he went on, ‘for twenty- three years. That is because I am constitutionally idle. Millais used to say of me, when we were young men, that I was so lazy that when I began to work, I was too lazy to stop. And so it has always been. I have constantly wished to get away to Egypt and to Mount Sinai and to Jerusalem, but I am deterred by the thought that I can get to any of these places in a week. I should like it to take at least six months, travelling slowly through France and Italy, and arriving gradually, so as to be two years away. As this is impossible I stay on in North End Grove. The garden here is a constant pleasure to me, because I say to myself, my neighbours are calculating how much it is worth a foot for building.’ And so on and so on, always with a delightful humour and a voice of sweetest calibre. The drawing meanwhile got rapidly finished, though it seemed as if he had done nothing but talk. It was a lovely sketch in red chalk. [This drawing was to have been given to Judith, but somehow it never reached her, and must have been sold, we think, with the rest of his drawings after his death. We have been unable to trace it.] He was very complimentary about Judith, and was quite affectionate to me at parting. This put us in good spirits, and we rushed away down to Crabbet, Judith’s London season being over. She tells me she has enjoyed it immensely.

“_1st July._—Crabbet. Annual meeting of the Crabbet Club. We sat down over twenty to dinner, and did not leave the table till half-past one. The members present were:

George Curzon.

George Leveson Gore.

George Wyndham.

George Peel (the 4 Georges)

Morpeth.

Mark Napier.

Harry Cust.

Charles Gatty.

Hubert Howard.

Godfrey Webb.

Percy Wyndham.

Loulou Harcourt.

Theodore Fry.

Theobald Mathew.

Charles Laprimaudaye,

and Laurence Currie.

“St. George Lane Fox, and two new men, Esmé Howard and Eddy Tennant.

“George Curzon was, as usual, the most brilliant, he never flags for an instant either in speech or repartee; after him George Wyndham, Mark Napier, and Webber. The next day, Sunday, Harry Cust won the Tennis Cup, and the Laureateship was adjudged to Curzon.

“_16th July._—The French have been attacking Siam in a way dangerous to the general peace. We were giving a Saturday to Monday party at Crabbet, and George Curzon arrived full of the case. He was to have adjourned the House yesterday, but Rosebery begged him not, as Develle, the French Prime Minister, had explained that he was isolated in his Cabinet in favour of conciliatory measures, all the other Ministers backing up the French Admiral. George asked Rosebery point blank whether he could say that the English Government would resist all attempt on the part of the French to violate the independence of Siam west of the river Mekong, and Rosebery assured him that they would do so. I had some talk also with Philip Currie who is here, about it and about Egypt. He condemned Baring’s policy of the last few years, especially as to judicial reforms, and agreed with many of my own views on other points. He said of Dufferin that he had been a failure in Paris. Dufferin had left Paris in a huff at the continued attacks made on him in the French press. George Curzon was very amusing.

“_2nd Aug._—My news from Paris is (from a source within the Embassy) that Dufferin has been undoubtedly a failure there; he is too fond of paying little insincere compliments, and his wife is too ungenial. There is a very bitter feeling in all classes now against England, and just at this moment it is at fever heat about Siam. After a deal of swagger Rosebery has knuckled down. It is a robbers’ quarrel over their spoils.

“_17th Aug._—Osman Bey Ghaleb was here at luncheon, a very intelligent man. He left Egypt in the middle of June, and stayed a month or more at Constantinople, being there when the Khedive came to do homage. He tells me that great preparations had been made to receive Abbas, but at the last moment the Sultan was frightened and counterordered everything, so that Abbas was received meanly by half-a-dozen inferior officials, none above the rank of Bey. In public this attitude was maintained throughout towards him, but privately, Osman says, it was different, and the Sultan received the Khedive four or five times quite alone and had long talks with him. On going away Abbas declared openly to his suite that his journey had been a failure, but this he thinks was merely to throw dust in English eyes, for he said, ‘Abbas is a proud young man, and if he had really been ill received by the Sultan he would never have returned to Cairo, he would have thrown himself overboard first.’ It is difficult to understand the Sultan’s object in all this. Osman lays it entirely on his timidity. The English Ambassador, he says, bullied him (poor Ford!) on the Armenian question, and frightened him with threats of intervention, but what folly! Even Gladstone could hardly bombard Constantinople or seize the ports of the Hedjaz.[10]

“_23rd Aug._—We had a private performance this evening of my play, ‘The Bride of the Nile,’ the Lytton girls acting it, and Lady Clare Feilding and Judith.” [N.B. I had written this extravaganza while in Egypt as a relief to my feelings, and to make fun of Baring and the British Occupation, taking as my text an incident narrated by Abulfeda as having happened at the time of the Arab invasion by Amru, when the relations between Egypt and the Roman Empire were not unlike those now existing with the British Empire. The play with our home circle at Crabbet had a considerable success.]

I spent the month of September in Scotland making a family tour of visits; to the Glen, Lochnaw, and Cumloden, but there is nothing in my diary of any public interest. On our way back, I find:

“_10th Oct._—At Saighton. Spencer Lyttleton came to-day from Hawarden to luncheon and we had a great discussion about the Poet Laureateship. He declares that Gladstone will in all probability not make any appointment to the office. The general sense of the Government is in favour of Swinburne, and it has been ascertained that Swinburne would like to be appointed, but the Queen is opposed on account of the immorality of his early songs, and also on account of his having written against the Russian Emperor (he had suggested his assassination many years before, and the Queen, who regarded the Laureateship as an office in her personal household, considered that this made him absolutely impossible as a candidate). ‘The one thing we are afraid of,’ Lyttleton said, ‘is having Lewis Morris thrust on us. William Morris will not take it, and so no appointment will be made.”

“_23rd Oct._—Once more at Crabbet. Yesterday we had a visit from Baron de Nölde, a Russian traveller, who has just come back from Nejd, where he has seen Ibn Rashid. He carried a letter of introduction with him from the Sultan Abdul Hamid who, he said, made use of him as an informal envoy to bring him word of the exact state of affairs in Arabia. Mohammed Ibn Aruk (our old travelling companion in 1878) went with him, and they followed the same route as we did from Damascus to Haïl except that they crossed the Nefud at a point farther to the east. At Haïl Nölde found Hamoud Ibn Rashid acting as Regent, and was forwarded on by him to the Emir Ibn Rashid by way of Bereyda and Shaggra to his camp near Riad. The Emir entertained him there for ten days, then sent him back with a present of a mare and two deluls to Meshed Ali. Nölde says his journey cost him £6,000, ours cost us about £200. He is a very clever man with a very forbidding face, not unlike Burton’s. He stayed the whole day with us and showed some knowledge of Arab horses.

“_4th Nov._—I have been much occupied during this week about the Matabele War, which has at last come to fighting and much slaughter of black men by white. I took counsel on the subject with the good Evelyn, who was for two nights at Crabbet, and we agreed to make some demonstration of our disapproval. In the meanwhile I have written strongly to T. P. O’Connor on the subject, upbraiding him and the other Irish members for their silence.

“_5th Nov._—To London early, and called upon Lady Harcourt, with whom was Lord Spencer, a worthy, ponderous man, who complained of the calls made on him at the Admiralty from all parts of the Empire.

“Lady Lytton sends me a letter she received two months ago from Sir Henry Loch (the High Commissioner at the Cape) giving his view of the coming Matabele difficulty. ‘It began,’ he said, ‘by Lobengula, who has not abandoned his rights over the Mashonas, sending a regiment to collect taxes, kill the people, and take cattle.’ They did so to some extent in Fort Victoria; then Dr. Jameson ordered a small mounted force to charge—when two chiefs and thirty Matabeles were killed. ‘The situation,’ he says, ‘is somewhat complicated, for while the Company have administrative authority over Mashonaland, they are still, as regards political matters, under my control, and, moreover, the country under my direct administration must be affected by what the Company may do. Probably the Protectorate would be the first to be attacked by Lobengula, should there be war. I have some strong positions and a powerful police force supported, if necessary, by native levies, but still not strong enough to carry the war into the enemy’s country and force a battle away from supports. The danger is the Company, as soon as they are a little better prepared, may bring about fighting, as they can’t stand long armed and waiting for events with the possible view of committing H.M.’s Government in their quarrel. So I am obliged to watch both friend and enemy, and if fighting once begins, the conduct of it will fall entirely upon me, while if I do anything the Company can lay hold of as causing them commercial loss, either by checking their fighting or by encouraging them to do so, that will enable them to say to Her Majesty’s Government: “If it had not been for the action of the High Commissioner we should not have incurred these losses, and they might in consequence endeavour to obtain compensation for these alleged losses out of the Government.’”

“This is a good example of the way in which these Colonial wars are begun.

“_9th Nov._—To Westminster with intent to see Labouchere, who is bringing on the Matabele case in Parliament to-day, but he was out.

“Then to lunch by invitation of Loulou at 11, Downing Street. Sir William was there looking, I thought, older and less healthy than when I saw him last, in less good spirits, too, than is his wont, but he told us some good stories as the meal went on, the other guests being Mildmay and his wife, a sister of Lady Harcourt. When alone with me afterwards in his official room he began complaining of the brutality of the British public, which insisted upon the slaughter of the Matabeles to procure itself markets for its goods. ‘It used,’ he said, ‘to be slaughter for the glory of the thing, but they have given that up now, now it is slaughter for trade.’ I asked: ‘But why do you do it?’ ‘Oh,’ he said, ‘we are all burglars now.’ I said: ‘If you will allow me to say it, you are in the position of a bishop who burgles a church. Why do you not disapprove?’ ‘Bishops,’ he said, ‘are always the first to lay their hands on property when they can do it. I remember Bright telling me that he never knew a bishop express disapproval of a war but once, and that was a war to put down the slave trade.’ _I._—‘You complain of public opinion, but you let the official press, “The Daily News” and the rest, either preach up these wars or sit on silent till it is too late.’ _He._—‘The papers are in the hands of the financiers.’ I fancy he has done what he could to stop the raid on the Matabeles, but that Rosebery and the commercial Jingoes in the Cabinet have been too strong for him. I asked him whether they were going to do anything in the direction of evacuating Egypt. He said: ‘No, nothing at all. The young Khedive has behaved like an ass. He insisted upon going to Constantinople, to get the Sultan to take up his case against us, and the French Government, too, has been absurd. We shall do nothing.’ I said, ‘I do not see that these are reasons. I hold to my opinion that we shall get into trouble yet about Egypt.’ I asked him finally whether Cromer was going to stay on at Cairo. He said, ‘Yes, for anything I know to the contrary.’ Then he relapsed into his cigar and I went into the inner room to talk with Loulou about Harry Cust’s marriage.

“_10th Nov._—There has been a better debate upon the Matabele case in Parliament than I expected, though the Irish were dumb and the Government justified their Matabele slaughter. Gladstone surpassed himself in the use of his double tongue. He is a shameless old hypocrite as the world has ever seen. I have determined to oppose him what little I can at the next elections. The spectacle of Gladstone, Morley, and the Irish members supporting this anti-human policy in Africa is enough to make dynamiters of us all.

“Baron de Nölde came again in the evening with his cousin, Count de Kreutz. They are projecting a new journey in Central Africa, to start from Zanzibar and go to Khartoum. On their last journey (in Arabia) they took with them 300 bottles of Champagne, 100 of Madeira, and 100 of brandy, and drank them all their two selves.

“I have written to Labouchere offering to help him, if I can, about South Africa.

“_15th Nov._—Drove over to see Fred’k Locker at Rowfant, and wish him good-bye. He and Evelyn are the only two friends left me in Sussex. Our leave-taking was not a little pathetic for this reason.

“_16th Nov._—To London, and lunched at Hammersmith. Morris full of the coal war, and the proposed settlement of it by Rosebery. He said the miners had gone the wrong way to work by throwing themselves out of employment and starving. They ought to have refused to work and gone to the workhouse. This would have thrown the whole cost of the war on the masters, ‘but,’ he said, ‘they have an idea of honour in the matter, which I suppose had to be reckoned with.’ All I see in it is the strengthening of Rosebery’s position, and with it the final disappearance of the ideas of 1880. Evelyn has written to the Committee of the Irish National League at Deptford, to say that he can no longer support Gladstone at the elections. I have been writing to Redmond, but doubt if I shall send my letter. Dined with Lady Gregory.”

It was, I think, about this time that I severed my connection with the Arbitration and Peace Society, stating as my reason for doing so that I found the ideas of the Society would be of no profit if realized to the backward races of mankind, or to prevent wars by white men against them, whereas a general war in Europe might possibly give them a time of peace on the principle that when thieves fall out honest men come by their own. “There is talk of Philip Currie going as Ambassador to Constantinople.”

“_24th Nov._—My last visit before leaving London for the winter was to Frederic Harrison, whom I found preparing a lecture he is to deliver to- night. He was glad, however, to see me, and I had half an hour’s talk with him. We discussed the Matabele case, on which we are in accord, though neither of us having special knowledge we are unable to take action, nor does he propose to do so, considering that Labouchere has dealt with it as well as it can be dealt with. ‘The Government is afraid of Rhodes,’ is the whole history of the case. We then talked about Egypt, and I told him of my two conversations with Harcourt in May and again the other day. He told me that as late as June, Morley had told him that he and Gladstone and Asquith and Mundella, and Lefevre were of one mind for evacuation, and that he, Morley, had declared that he intended to have it out with Rosebery, and that if a contrary policy was persisted in one or other would have to leave the Cabinet. I gave him my opinion of the gravity of the Franco-Russian Alliance, of the ferment there was in India shown by the Anti Cow-killing league, and of the position at Cairo.

“He asked me if I knew anything of the reasons why Sir Henry Norman had refused the Viceroyalty of India after accepting it, and he told me a curious story of how Norman had come to him during the Afghan campaign, and while he was a member of the Indian Council, and had given him the most intimate and full information of all that was going on, and how he had come over and over again with details and documents avowedly to help him, Harrison, in his attack on the Indian Government. Norman’s appointment to the Viceroyalty would seem to be a late reward by Gladstone for the political service which was no doubt largely instrumental in bringing about Disraeli’s overthrow at the elections of 1880. I have agreed to let Harrison know how things stand in Egypt when I get there. I shall also write an article for the ‘Nineteenth Century.’

“We left in the evening for Brindisi.”

My winter in Egypt of 1893-94 was made noteworthy by a new political crisis, and a new battle between the Khedive and Lord Cromer, in which Kitchener played a first prominent part, what is known as the “Frontier Incident.” Here again, as in the former instance, though an accessory after the fact I was not an accomplice, my advice being taken about it by the Khedive when it was no longer of any use to him. The entries in my diary show how greatly the facts of the case differ from those recorded in the Blue Books, and are therefore of interest.

“_28th Nov._—On board the _Hydaspes_. The only fellow passengers I have made acquaintance with are Lady Waterford and Sir John Stokes, the latter on his way to the Suez Canal of which he is Director, to open a new railroad from Port Said to Ismaïlia. With Stokes I have had much talk about the Suez Canal, British trade and the Mediterranean route in time of war. He tells me three-quarters of the tonnage passing through the Canal is British, of which perhaps half is for English ports, the rest for other ports in Europe. In time of war with France, this could not continue. The Red Sea was quite safe, but the whole line of the Mediterranean would be blocked, and this would continue until the British had broken up the enemy’s forces and confined them to their ports, then convoys could be arranged and trade resumed. He considers that it would require sixty or seventy more men-of-war than we have at present to effect this as against the French navy. He is for making the increase, not for abandoning the control of the Mediterranean. He considers that the Canal will eventually be internationalized, though by the terms of the concession it will revert to Egypt in 1959, but ‘nobody looks so far as that ahead.’ Stokes reminded me that our first acquaintance dates from the time of Cave’s Mission in 1875, of which he was a member. He is a stolid old fellow of the out-of-date military type, being a General in the army.

“_5th Dec._—My first twenty-four hours at Sheykh Obeyd were a dream of light-hearted happiness, such as I do not remember since a child; it was a physical feeling of perfect pleasure, perfect health, and perfect powers of enjoyment without the least shadow of annoyance. We arrived at Alexandria on the 1st of December in time to catch the 9 o’clock train to Cairo, and then straight on home in brilliant sparkling weather with just a little freshness in the North wind, the thermometer at 72. Everything on the way was a pleasure, even the new houses built at Koubbah, and our little railway station at Ezbet el Nakl, lovely and familiar in its palm grove. Inside the garden all was paradise. No misadventure this year of any kind, but a blooming look of extravagant growth, trees, crops, and flowers, the house so shut in with green we can hardly any longer get a glimpse out into the desert, hardly even from the house top. Cows prosperous, mares in foal, every servant happy. Each year decides me more to spend the remnant of my days in the East, where old age is respected, and its repose respectable. Of news we have as yet heard little; poor Ahmed Bey Sennari (a neighbour) is dead; old Eid Diab, too, gathered to his fathers, and Prince Ibrahim, our neighbour on the other side, gone in an apoplectic fit, or as the fellahin round here say, ‘poisoned’ by his uncle Ismaïl, whose daughter he recently married, but left behind at Constantinople. ‘Ismaïl, I suppose, was angry,’ I suggested. ‘Oh no,’ they said, ‘it was on account of the inheritance, three twenty-fourths of which will have come to her. Ismaïl has poisoned very many people for their money’—such is the talk.

“_8th Dec._—_Visitors._ Mahmud Bey from Menoufieh, an old fox, formerly Arabist, his object to borrow £30, which he did not get. He tells me Riaz and Mukhtar are now working harmoniously with Cromer. Selim Bey Faraj, another neighbour, who has let his land at £5 the feddan, etc., etc.

“_9th Dec._—Mohammed Moelhi called. He tells me the Khedive’s reception at Constantinople was as bad as could be. He is now angry with the Sultan, and angry with Mukhtar, who persuaded him to go there; has quarrelled with Tigrane on a personal matter; cannot get Riaz to go fairly with him. Riaz lets things slide as when last in office, giving in to Cromer in all important matters, only from time to time making show of opposition. Nevertheless the English don’t like him, and want to get rid of him; so, he says, would the Khedive, too, but he has nobody but Mazlum to put in his place. The Khedive wished the Legislative Council to oppose the estimate for the extra regiments of Occupation this year, but Riaz has yielded the point and nothing will be done. Thus Abbas every day is losing prestige in the country, and the trimmers are making their peace with Cromer.

“The journey to Constantinople was a fatal move. Some strong influence must have been brought to bear on the Sultan, German probably, and Abdul Hamid was partly frightened, partly bought, Mohammed thinks, by financial promises. Edgar Vincent was probably the medium of these. The Khedive has no option now but to keep quiet, maintaining himself as he can at the head of the National party and waiting his opportunity. It would be rash for him to take up the strong position he held in the spring now that he can no longer count on the Sultan. The Sultan was always the dangerous card in his hand.

“_15th Dec._—Osman Ghaleb and Mohammed Moelhi to breakfast. Osman had an interview with Gladstone in England this autumn or summer. Gladstone asked him two questions: whether the English officials in Egypt were working hard and whether the late Khedive Tewfik was regretted. Osman’s answer to the second question was that ‘Death was always regretted, but the Egyptians were consoled by having his son Abbas.’ Gladstone hoped that Abbas would become friendly to England as his father had been. Gladstone did not ask whether the Egyptians wished the Occupation to be discontinued.

“Colbeck, director of the Bank of Egypt, on whom I called, 15th December, was quite as pessimistic on the English side. He said our position at Cairo was becoming daily more ridiculous. Cromer could get none of his reforms carried through; he was opposed constantly by the Ministry; the Khedive was irreconcilable. Much as he admired Cromer he thought a change was necessary, as Cromer was without power. Cromer was willing to take an Embassy, and wanted Portal named in his place, but Portal was not clever enough, etc., etc. He had heard nothing of a split between Tigrane and the Khedive or with Riaz.

“_17th Dec._—With Anne and Judith to call on Princesse Hélène and her brother, the Duc d’Orleans, at Shepherd’s. The Duke is a fresh-faced, blond young man, good humoured, and good mannered. He has travelled over much wild country, and I talked to him of his experiences, especially in Somaliland, finding him sympathetic as to the advantages of uncivilized life and a contempt of Europe. He and his sister are on very pleasant terms together. On their return from up the Nile in March they will come and see us at Sheykh Obeyd.

“_22nd Dec._—To Cairo and lunched with Tigrane. I found him very outspoken. He assured me that neither the Khedive nor anyone else at Cairo held me responsible for the use made of the Khedive’s name in connection with my ‘Nineteenth Century’ article of last summer, and he hoped I would write another. As to the Khedive’s visit to Constantinople, he declared it had not been otherwise than a success, that precisely the same ceremonial had been observed towards Abbas as formerly towards Ismaïl, that the Khedive had dined several times with the Sultan, who had been most kind to him. I asked him about the Khedive’s proposed visit to England, but he told me nothing was yet settled, and I strongly advised that the Khedive should not go, at least as long as Cromer was here, for he would only be paraded as a tame bear, and the thing be counted as a triumph for English policy. If he insisted upon going he should at least go straight from Paris, where he would be fêted, then possibly English people would be polite to him, but it was a risk. He denied there having been any split between him and the Khedive; Riaz and he were on the best of terms. We talked very openly about the prospects of evacuation, and I told him that in my opinion it had been mainly determined by the larger question of peace and war with France, and the military advisability or otherwise of having a garrison in a disaffected Egypt. Tigrane is a clever man and a good talker, modest withal.

“_26th Dec._—One Ibrahim Shafeï came with a complaint arising out of the Greek drink-shop established in the village of Merj. He was watering his land near the railway station, and had to construct a raised channel for the water across the footpath and the Greek objected to this, as hindering access to his shop, though the land did not belong to him and the fellah had a right to the waterway. The Greek cut the channel, the fellah protested, the Greek struck the fellah with a stick, the fellah took the stick from the Greek, then the Greek ran into his shop and got out a gun which he pointed at the fellah, and the fellah ran away but came back ten minutes later to reconstruct his channel, then the Greek fired at him, fired and struck him, the fellah showed me his legs and I found twenty-two shot marks in them, he had been three weeks in hospital and was still weak. The Greek, when arrested, avowed the deed, but nevertheless, after four days’ detention, was let out on bail, and is back at his shop.

“Nearly every day this month I have seen foxes in the garden when I have ridden out before sunrise. There are three which I know by sight, an old dog-fox, a vixen, and a year-old cub. They are very tame, and I have watched them sometimes within a few yards of me for ten minutes at a time. It is pretty to see them play and roll each other over. This month is the breeding season and they are barking very constantly in the garden (it is a peculiarity of a fox’s bark that whereas nearly all other wild cries seem to be nearer than they really are, that of the fox sounds at a distance even when close by). I have also seen one of the large cats called by Hassan Hashem, _kutt berri_ (desert cat). It is exactly like a small lioness, but higher on the leg, the ears tipped with black and the tail with three black rings, the quarters rather drooping. It is very powerfully built. The Arabs eat these cats when they can catch them and say they are very fat and good meat.

“_27th Dec._—To Cairo to see Riaz, who had asked me to come to him. I found the old man very affectionate and pleased to see me. He talked in just the same strain as last year about Cromer and the ill faith of the English government and Mr. Gladstone.

“About the Khedive’s visit to Constantinople, he told me most positively first that it had been decided before His Highness went, between him and his ministers, that he should not make any political proposals to the Sultan—he said, ‘I will swear this to you on the Koran.’ Secondly, that in fact His Highness had not made any, and that his talk with the palace officials had been confined to his personal complaint of Lord Cromer’s rudeness. Lastly, that the Sultan had been more than kind to him and had treated him more honourably than a Viceroy of Egypt had ever been treated, so that the Khedive was perfectly satisfied with all. I asked him whether the Sultan might not have been won over to the English policy in Egypt, and his face put on the most expressively incredulous smile. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘as well as I do that even if in his heart he had such a thought he would not dare express it.’ He told me, too, of an attempt Cromer had made to impose an English doctor on the Khedive’s party, which they had refused.

“We talked next about the action of the Legislative Council at Cairo which has refused to approve the expenses this year of the English Occupation, besides making a number of other objections, almost all to my mind very sensible ones. Riaz is clearly in sympathy with them, but he has rather weakly followed English dictation in rejecting most of them. He is doing, however, perhaps as much as is prudent in his opposition to Cromer. ‘At least,’ he said, ‘we have lost no ground this year, if we have not gained as much as we wished.’

“About the Merj case, which I set before him, he amused me immensely by saying in answer to my remark that the Greek would end by killing someone outright, ‘Would it not be better if _they_ killed _him_?’ He promised me to see justice done, and I am sure it will not be for want of his goodwill if nothing results, but Riaz is too old not to be timid in action. He introduced his son Mahmud to me, a little round Circassian whom he has made his under secretary of state [a piece of nepotism which was taken hold of effectively by Cromer, as the young man was quite incapable and was guilty of many stupidities]. He was most cordial in wanting to see me again. Riaz has a wonderful charm of manner, inspiring one with affection as well as respect, badly as he behaved in 1882. For this he is contrite now.

“_31st Dec._—In answer to a question by Labouchere, Gladstone has said in Parliament that negotiations for evacuating Egypt must be entered into, if at all, with the Sultan, not with the Khedive.

“Mohammed Abdu lunched with us on Friday. He is very well satisfied with the way things are going here; says that Riaz is working well with the Khedive, highly approves the action of the Legislative Council, but as to Constantinople, says the Sultan is mad and there is no doing anything with him. Talking about the Azhar University he tells me there is only one of the Sheykhs there fit to be made Sheykh El Azhar on a Liberal footing, namely, Hassan el Naawi.

“_2nd Jan._ 1894.—My audience of the Khedive. He received me with great cordiality, excusing himself for the mistake about last week’s audience, and assuring me that he was not in the smallest degree displeased at what had happened last year, when Knowles announced my article as authorized by him. I said, ‘After all it did good’; and he chuckled at the recollection. I found him just as frank and plain-spoken as last year, but more of a man. He is much sunburnt and looks in perfect health. He answered all my questions freely and without hesitation.

“The first was about Constantinople. I asked him whether it was true that he had gone there with the intention of starting an active anti- English campaign? _Abbas._ ‘There is no truth in it. I was obliged to go, as it was my duty to the Sultan, but from first to last we did not speak a word of politics.’ _I._ ‘Then it is not true that Your Highness asked for Turkish troops?’ _Abbas._ ‘The whole thing is nonsense. It was agreed beforehand that I should say nothing of these things, and nothing at all was said.’ _I._ ‘But Your Highness was satisfied with the general reception?’ _Abbas._ ‘Most satisfied. The Sultan showed me all possible kindness. But the question of evacuation was not touched on, nor, indeed, any international politics. I authorize you to repeat this on my part.’

“I told him that I had seen Sir William Harcourt, and what he had said to me about the Khedive’s having gone to Constantinople to raise up the Sultan against us. He begged me to contradict this, as nothing of the sort had taken place. I then asked about his intended visit to England. He said he was thinking of it in June. I urged him to decide on nothing in a hurry, as I should be sorry to see him go there without being certain of being received with all the honour due to his position. I feared the visit might be misinterpreted and made use of against him in the Press. He promised to think it over well before deciding. About Riaz he said he was on the best of terms with him, that he was quite satisfied of the sincerity of his opposition to Lord Cromer and that all was going on capitally. He was immensely pleased at the conduct of the Legislative Council, but told me he had had great difficulty in keeping up their courage. They were so timid. One member, Gait Bey Mustafa, had come one day to the Council in a great state of mind because he had been the day before to Kitchener to ask that his son might be received into the military school, and Kitchener had been very rude to him, asking him whether he was not one of those who were wanting to cut down the army estimates, and had shown him the door. This had frightened others, and they had all come to him, and he had made them a little speech on their duty as independent patriots, which had given them heart again.

“He then told me the story of the Sheykh el Bekri. He and the Sheykh had been great friends as boys, and he had had a high opinion of him, but latterly the Sheykh had had his head turned by the desire to play a great political part. He had gone about among the foreign consuls repeating this thing and that. On one occasion Lord Cromer had quoted something the Sheykh had told him which should not have been told, and he had sent for him and asked explanations, and advised him to keep quiet, but he would not be advised. Complaints had also been made to him as to the Sheykh having withheld the payment of certain sums passing through his hands, so that he had sent for the Azhar Sheykhs and warned them to be cautious with Sheykh el Bekri, and the Sheykhs had told Sheykh el Bekri what he had recommended. This had made further mischief. Finally, on the publication in the ‘Bosphore’ about the two members of the Council having been to Lord Cromer, the Sheykh had gone to Reverseaux, French Minister Resident at Cairo. I had insisted upon its being contradicted, or otherwise ‘he would go over to the English.’ This Reverseaux had repeated to him, the Khedive—and he had given Bekri a strong piece of his mind about his lack of patriotism. I told the Khedive that I regretted the disagreement, as I had had a high opinion of Sheykh el Bekri’s value both for intelligence and courage. But he said he himself was disappointed in him, and things were so.

“Of Lord Cromer he spoke with the same sort of boyish fun as last year. ‘When Lord Cromer came back from England,’ he said, ‘he began to talk to me once more about the details of Government, but I reminded him that last time we had talked of these things it was I who wanted to go into details, and he who found that “it was not my business to trouble myself about them.” Since then we only talk about the rain and the fine weather. He comes to see me, but we never talk politics.’ He asked me whether I had been to see Cromer, and I told him ‘No,’ as I did not think he had behaved well to His Highness, and I was unwilling, being opposed to him, to frequent his house. This pleased him very much. He came with me to the door, and on going out I asked him whether I might publish what he had told me, and he said ‘Certainly—these are the facts and my opinion, and there is no reason why they should not be made known.’ I am immensely impressed with the keenness of his intelligence, and his ready power of expressing himself, also with his frankness and directness. There was no beating at all about the bush, nor use of those vague generalities so common with Eastern statesmen.

“The same day I went to the Sheykh el Bekri, who gave me his own account of what had happened, and on 9th January to Tigrane, who told me more details of the Khedive’s reception at Constantinople. It had been most cordial, he said. He was himself in the Khedive’s suite on the occasion, as he had been many years before with Ismaïl, and the ceremonial was greater this time, greater than for Mohammed Ali or any of the Viceroys. The Sultan saw Abbas frequently alone. He does not think they talked politics except perhaps, the first time, all that was done by Mukhtar. I asked him if he had any doubt of the Sultan’s support if things came to a pinch. He said he had not, the only thing that could tempt the Sultan to intervene against Abbas would be if it were proposed to turn Egypt into a Vilayet of the Empire, but this the Powers would never consent to. His apprehension was not from that side; what he fears is that perhaps the British Government may intervene against the Ministry and appoint men of their own choice without reference to the Khedive. We talked also about the Legislative Council and its discussion of the Budget, and he told me amongst other things that both Havas and Reuter’s Telegraph Agencies get £1,000 a year each from the Egyptian Government.

“In a letter I wrote at this time to Sir William Harcourt, I gave him an account of how things were going in Egypt. ‘The ideas of the day,’ I wrote, ‘are Liberal and modern. The action of the Legislative Council (in discussing the Budget) is most useful, but everything that is done here is turned to the native disadvantage by the English officials, who are angry at having lost much of their power since last year. It is impossible that the country could be in a more favourable state for evacuation, but I suppose you will not do it.’ And so in truth it was, it needed a new quarrel and a new crisis at Cairo to prevent what these considered the danger of its taking place. Lady Gregory, writing to me on the 16th of January, said: ‘From what I hear the Government in England are most anxious to get out of Egypt, and might make a _volte face_ at any moment.’ This was the danger Cromer and the English officials at Cairo foresaw. Gladstone might at any moment take the bit between his teeth and keep his word. It will here be seen how the crisis was engineered, and Cromer got his way.”