160 Sir Anthony Macdonnell [1906 



a satisfactory Irish Bill through the House of Commons. Personally 

 he liked him much, and has taken great pains to instruct him on Irish 

 affairs, but without much effect. I asked him about Anthony Mac- 

 donnell. He told me he had never himself believed in him as a Na- 

 tionalist, and now nobody believed in him. Macdonnell's idea of 

 Nationalism was that he, Macdonnell, should be able, with the help 

 of an Irish Council, a consultative body, to manage Irish affairs with- 

 out interference from Downing Street, the sort of independence that 

 the Government of Madras has, or of Bombay. ' He would like to 

 treat us like Indians,' he said. ' I have told him frankly that we won't 

 put up with that.' Dillon thinks the present Government will break 

 up in two years' time. Every Liberal member is hunting his own 

 hare, there is no cohesion among them. Then we went on to Fenian- 

 ism and Devoy, who was a personal friend of Dillon, though they 

 differed on many points, for Devoy is quite opposed to the Parlia- 

 mentary party. Dillon himself, of course, began by being a Fenian. 



" 12th Dec. — Dillon has put his question to Grey about Denshawai, 

 and has got from him only negative answers. He will not give a 

 day for discussion, he will not give Cromer instructions, he will not 

 say whether any reform in the criminal law in Egypt will be recom- 

 mended. Robertson and the rest of the Radicals have been mute as 

 fishes. I have no doubt in my mind that Robertson has been secured 

 by some promise of a place in the Government, a junior lordship or 

 even less." [This is precisely what happened some months later.] 

 " The ' Times ' correspondent telegraphed a fortnight ago that the 

 Khedive had supplied the money for Mohammed Kamel's new English 

 paper, ' The Egyptian Standard,' and when this was telegraphed back 

 to Cairo Cromer would not let Reuter publish the telegram. Then 

 Cromer went, so it is said, to the Khedive, and threatened him with 

 deposition ; and the Khedive denied, and Kamel denied ; now Kamel 

 is on his way back to England and has telegraphed his arrival to 

 me at Brindisi. 



" Meanwhile we have the French Government sending a fleet to 

 Tangier for the 'protection of French subjects, a state of anarchy 

 having been shown to exist there,' and a bogus communication has 

 been published by Reuter from Raisuli to the Governor of Tangier 

 announcing ' a Jehad and massacre of Christians.' Just the old story 

 of Tunis in 1881 and Alexandria in 1882, supported once more by 

 the ' Times.' " 



This was the first step taken by the French Government in their 

 aggression on Morocco in accordance with the Anglo-French entente 

 of 1904, an act which, as will be seen, entailed on them a renewal 

 of their quarrel with Germany, and for a while with Spain. 



" War seems to have been declared at last between the Pope and 



