ign] Trouble in Albania 349 



to be separated from the Empire, where they were more at home than 

 they would be in any European hands. Only they insisted that in 

 their schools they should not be forced to learn to read out of the 

 Koran, and that they should have Sunday as their holiday in the public 

 offices, and should have a share in the provincial administration. I 

 promised to speak to the Nationalist leaders about this. The young 

 man is extremely intelligent, speaks English perfectly, and took a de- 

 gree in Oxford three or four years ago. His father is one of the 

 richest and most influential Christians in Upper Egypt. 



" nth June (Sunday) — There is more trouble brewing in Albania, 

 the Catholic Mirdites having joined the Rebellion, and the Austrian 

 Government having issued a warning of a moderating kind to Turkey. 

 It would alarm me more if there was not news from Berlin which 

 seems to show that the Turks are still backed by Germany. Goltz has 

 publicly expressed his entire confidence in the Ottoman army, and the 

 Emperor William is to receive a deputation from the Ottoman Parlia- 

 ment. But for this I should say the situation was very serious. The 

 Bellocs dined with us and Cecil Chesterton, with whom he is collaborat- 

 ing his paper, ' The Witness.' They have asked me for some verse, 

 and I have given them my ' Coronation Ode.' Belloc is delighted with 

 it, and will print it on the first page of his paper. 



" 14/// June. — There is a new complication in Morocco, the Spanish 

 Government having sent troops into the country in exact imitation 

 of the French. 



" 15th June. — Newbuildings. Yusuf Bey el Moelhi and a friend, 

 Doctor Rashad, arrived to consult me in Egyptian affairs. He is all 

 for alliance with Constantinople and Berlin, and is starting for Berlin 

 to-morrow. He complains of the inefficiency of Hatzfeldt, the Ger- 

 man Consul-General at Cairo, and of the little pains taken by him to 

 strengthen German influence. Yusuf Bey is intelligent and patriotic, 

 but, like most of them, looks to money as the main object in life. It 

 is only the younger generation which has larger ideas. He has my 

 ' Secret History ' translated at his own cost, but doubts whether it 

 will not be seized under the new Press laws. 



" lyth June. — The Albanian quarrel seems arranged, and the Sultan 

 recited the prayer yesterday at the tomb of Sultan Mourad at Kossovo, 

 80,000 Albanian clansmen praying with him. 



" lgth June. — Dr. Rifaat, a Nationalist exile, arrived from Paris; 

 he, too, to consult me. He is an extremist in his views, very hostile 

 to the Khedive, and without much confidence from any quarter in the 

 future. He looks upon the Ottoman connection as the best chance 

 for Egypt, but is gloomy about the Ottoman Empire. The Egyptians 

 are easily cast down, just as they are too ready to shout victory. 



" 20th June. — Drove over to Greatham to call on Meynell at his 



