33 2 Russian Troops in Persia [1910 



was foolish of Amigo to ask her to sign her approval of them. The 

 demand was quite unprecedented. 



' igth Nov. — Asquith has declared that Parliament will be dissolved 

 on the 28th. This can hardly not mean that the King has given the 

 guarantees, and if so and Asquith does not cheat, Home Rule is certain. 

 I am not sure of Asquith, but Dillon says he can be relied on. 



"20th Nov. (Sunday). — More Russian troops are being marched 

 into Persia, and it is telegraphed from Teheran that at a great public 

 meeting there appeal has been made to the Sultan for an alliance and 

 also to the Kaiser. It is the Persians' only chance. Riza Bey writes to 

 me that he has shown my letter to Talaat Bey, the Minister of the In- 

 terior, and others, and that my work for them is fully appreciated. He 

 also says that when Churchill was at Constantinople he created an ex- 

 cellent impression. 



"21st Nov. — A loan of £20,000,000 is announced and put forward 

 with much pomp in ' The Times ' for an Anglo-Russian railway to be 

 run through Persia to Baloochistan. It is to pass through Kirman, the 

 intended capital of the British sphere of influence. Belloc is of opinion 

 that Asquith will trick the Irish after all. 



" 23rd Nov. — Chapel Street. Asquith, Birrell, and other Ministers 

 have been mauled by the Suffragettes and their windows broken. They 

 are enraged because Winston will not prosecute them. I entertained 

 my political allies' to-day at luncheon, Dillon, Browne, Mackarness. 

 O'Malley and Cunninghame Graham were also to have been of the 

 party, but they did not appear. We got the question, however, of our 

 Egyptian Committee settled on a basis of evacuation, though no action 

 can be taken by it till the new Parliament has met. Keir Hardie is an 

 honest old fellow, with a Scotch terrier's face, rugged and plain spoken. 

 I took much to him. Besides the Committee here in London, we are to 

 get up a proper English paper for Egypt. 



" I have been reading a very interesting new book, called ' The Con- 

 flict of Colour,' by one Puttenham Weir, but Beauclerk tells me his 

 real name is Robinson, son of an English resident in China, and nephew 

 of Hart, the Director of Customs. His book is an excellent one, and I 

 agree with most of what is said in it. 



" 5th Dec. — Parliament was dissolved on the 28th, and the General 

 Election is in full swing. I have five votes, at Horsham, East Grin- 

 stead, Reigate, the New Forest of Hampshire, and Westminster. 



"15^/1 Dec. — Lunched with Eversley. We talked about Egypt, as 

 to which he is sympathetic. He says there is talk of a reconstruction 

 of the Cabinet, of Loreburn's retirement, and Haldane's appointment 

 as Lord Chancellor, with Birrell at the War Office and Churchill in 

 Ireland. Eversley has the highest opinion of Churchill as a much abler 

 man than his father. 



