8o Dufferin on Egypt [1892 



and feelings he was very eloquent. ' J'aime la mer comme on aime 

 tout etre capricieux et qui vous fait souffrir.' He regretted his ' vingt- 

 cinq ans,' and would have nothing to do with ascetically avoiding pleas- 

 ure. At the same time he assured us that he now made no more 

 declarations of love, seeing that he was fifty-four. ' You do this,' Lady 

 Castletown said, 'out of timidity?' ' Non,' he answered, ' c'est par 

 pudeur.' That seemed to me a pretty mot. On the whole an interest- 



ing man. 



" igtJi Oct. — To Paris and called on Lord Dufferin at the Embassy, 

 who was in the same room that Lytton used to work in. He was very 

 charming to me, asked me to give him a copy of my new book for 

 his ' Helen's Tower,' a library where he has got together 400 volumes 

 presented by authors, and which is named after his mother. I asked 

 him to help me about Arabi's release, and he spoke nicely of him, 

 and promised to say a word in his favour next time he should have 

 an opportunity. On the general question of Egypt he also volunteered 

 some remarks. He said that on the whole policy of retaining or aban- 

 doning a Mediterranean influence no responsible person would be will- 

 ing to give an opinion uncalled for; but that, if Egypt was to be evacu- 

 ated, there was only one way, namely, to build up some sort of self- 

 government. He was especially opposed to Turkish rule, and had 

 always intended, in the settlement he made, that the Government should 

 be in the hands of the native Egyptians, not the Turks. He had de- 

 vised his ' Constitution ' for Egypt with that idea. He was not one 

 of those who thought popular government foreign to Eastern ideas. 

 On the contrary the East has been the home of Councils and Mejlisses ; 

 and he had always been of opinion that, if you could put Egypt to work 

 in vacuo, there was nothing to prevent success. He had been glad to 

 see that Baring recognized the help rendered him by the Councils, and 

 he had written to tell him so. We then discussed how the power of 

 the Councils might be increased, and also the safeguards against inter- 

 ference from Constantinople. He talked with so much interest that 

 his servant had to come in and remind him that he had an appointment 

 to breakfast somewhere, and so it ended. I have written a sonnet for 

 his book, ' Helen's Tower.' Back to London in the evening. 



"24th Oct. — Lunched with Amir Ali and his English wife. They 

 seem happy together, and have two children. He gave me much Indian 

 news, said that the Hindoos, especially of Patna, were in communication 

 with Russia, and that if Russia took possession of Persia, Asia Minor 

 and Afghanistan, there would certainly be a rising in India; the Mo- 

 hammedans have separated themselves entirely from the Congress party. 

 " Dined with Sheffield at the Travellers'. Talking about old times, 

 when he first went with Lyons as private secretary to Paris, the people 



