1893] Salisbury Angry with Cromer 109 



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 Conven- 

 tion 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 strenu- 

 ously 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'Estour- 

 nelles, 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 Com- 

 mons the other day.' We parted in all amity, he joking about the pos- 

 sibility of my having been seen in Downing Street at his door. ' Rose- 

 bery,' 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 mis- 

 management 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 



