1896] Kaiser Wilhelm and the King of Italy 221 



vicariously to his ally the King of Italy. I notice already an announce- 

 ment that Germany does not intend to be otherwise than friendly to 

 Japan, which is also probably part of the arrangement. It means in 

 any case that we are to have a new lease of occupation here. About the 

 advantage or disadvantage to Egypt nobody seems to have thought or 

 cared. I have written to John Morley, giving him my view of what 

 is going on, as I see he has brought the matter forward in Parliament. 

 It was through him that we stopped the Soudan war eleven years ago. 



" 24th March. — Sheykh Mohammed Abdu called to tell me what is 

 going on at the palace. He sees the Khedive now twice a week, and 

 leads the prayer on Fridays at Koubbah, omitting the Sultan's name. 

 He was with the Khedive some little time ago, and while he was there, 

 a letter came from Lord Cromer, complaining of the Khedive's having 

 privately expressed disapproval of the Dongola campaign. The 

 Khedive was very angry at this, and afterwards saw Lord Cromer, 

 who repeated the complaint. The Khedive answered 'that upon this 

 point he was in agreement with his Lordship, to which Lord Cromer 

 did not dissent, but said that now that the thing was resolved on, it 

 was necessary to put a good face on it, and hoped 'that the Khedive 

 would speak in that sense to the soldiers. The Khedive has done so 

 since. Lord Cromer, too, has brought him a message from Lord Salis- 

 bury, apologizing for an ' error of form ' on the part of the English 

 Government in ordering an advance on Dongola without first informing 

 His Highness. Lord Salisbury explained that the advance was de- 

 cided on ' to sa'tisfy Egyptian opinion.' The Khedive narrated all this 

 to Mohammed Abdu, and I have no doubt it is true. 



" 25th March. — The English papers of the 17th and 18th came to- 

 day. Lord Salisbury's statement in the House of Lords is amazing. 

 He has made no such deliberate misstatement of an important 'truth 

 since the Congress of Berlin. 



" A large party to spend the afternoon, brought over by Lady Gallo- 

 way ; Lord Yarborough, Benson, the author of ' Dodo,' and others. She 

 brought with her Arthur Balfour's speech and Lord Salisbury's declara- 

 tion. 



" 26th March. — Sheykh Hassan Abu Towil called 'to tell me that 

 the Government had assembled the Sheykhs of the tribes between As- 

 souan and the Mediterranean Sea, to confer with them as to the raising 

 of 7,000 horsemen for the Soudan war. Their answer so far has been 

 that they have neither horses nor arms. He asked my advice. I ad- 

 vised him strongly 'to get out of the matter if he could, as the war will 

 prove a bad business for Bedouins engaged in it. I doubted if one in 

 five would return. He told me that in former wars the Bedouins had 

 never been called to go out of their own district where they had acted 



