Ii6 Harcourt on Colonial Wars [^93 



' 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 any- 

 thing 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 sur- 

 passed 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 Nolde 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 re- 

 fused 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 writ- 

 ten to the Committee of the Irish National League at Deptford, to say 



