34-6 The French Invade Morocco t 1 !? 11 



propriation of his work, which is more flagrant than I thought. Also, I 

 fear, we may have trouble about the management of our paper, as 

 Keir Hardie wants to run it his own way. Dillon advises me to get 

 rid of the Committee. 



" 2&th April — It has been decided by the Committee that ' Egypt ' 

 is to remain under my sole political and financial direction with no other 

 interference than the advice of an Executive Committee, consisting of 

 myself, Ryan as Editor, Miss Howsin as Sub-Editor, Dr. Rutherford 

 and El Alaili. Ryan and Miss Howsin will be paid by me. This leaves 

 me in sole control. 



' 1st May. — Newbuildings. Belloc dined with us last night. He 

 has been in Germany and has come back more than ever certain that 

 in the next war the French will beat the Germans. His new paper is 

 to be called ' The Witness,' with £2,000 to start it, and much promised 

 help. 



" 6th May. — The event of the past week has been the invasion of 

 Morocco by the French, a scandalous affair, exactly on the same lines 

 of financial speculation and Colonial and Imperial intrigue which were 

 followed by us in Egypt thirty years ago. Belloc tells me that the 

 French Government has this time defied the German Government. He 

 has information that a few days ago Delcasse (who manages French 

 Foreign Policy, though not Minister of Foreign Affairs) had the Ger- 

 man Ambassador at Paris invited, a very unusual thing, to attend a 

 Cabinet meeting convened to discuss the Moroccan question, and that, 

 on the Ambassador's observing that the Algeciras Convention would 

 have to be respected and that the German Government's information 

 about Fez was that there was no danger for Europeans there, Delcasse 

 told him roundly that France was determined to march on Fez, and this 

 time would do so whether Germany liked it or no. Belloc declares the 

 French army to be better than the German, and that Germany will not 

 dare to go to war. 



" yth May (Sunday).— Chapel Street. Dillon and the Persian Con- 

 sul, Ghaffar Khan, came to luncheon, and we had a long talk on Eastern 

 affairs. Ghaffar would like England and Germany to compose their 

 differences and unite in an alliance with Turkey and Persia. Turkey 

 abandoning Egypt to England, a fanciful idea, which would only mean 

 an end of all things for Islam in Turkey as well as elsewhere. There 

 is but one chance for Islam, and that is Germany's friendship, not, of 

 course, a disinterested one, but still one that would protect them from 

 the other European Powers until Islam is strong enough to stand alone. 

 I explained the same thing to an intelligent young Egyptian from Ox- 

 ford, Abd el Ghaffar, who came to consult me. He is of St. John's 

 College. He tells me there are about eighty young Egyptians in Lon- 

 don, who are here studying. 



