191 1 ] Revolution in China 367 



asked Mark what his opinion of Grey was. He said he had seen much 

 of him formerly on political platforms, and that he used to be a stupid 

 fellow and a dull speaker, but had ' greatly improved,' he was ignorant 

 and a second-rate man, though personally charming and most distin- 

 guished. 



" 16th Oct. — The most important news of the last few days has 

 been the revolution in China. It seems to be much on the lines of the 

 Tai Ping rebellion which Gordon suppressed fifty years ago, a rising 

 of the true Chinese against their Manchu rulers, only the present move- 

 ment is led by a highly civilized and Europeanized young man, the 

 same who was not long ago arrested and held captive at the Chinese 

 Embassy in London and liberated in deference to English protests. 

 The revolt has already affected a third of the Empire, with all the 

 Central part, including Hankau. 



"17th Oct. — Worth Forest. Terence was here this afternoon. 

 Talking of Tripoli he tells me that there is little prospect of any de- 

 termined opposition being made to the Italians by the native Tripolitans. 

 The Turks were so unpopular that they would have welcomed strangers 

 against these only they would rather it had been any other than the 

 Italians. Fanaticism, he says, is dead in North Africa, it being rec- 

 ognized that resistance to Christendom is useless. The Senussia may 

 show some fight in the desert but not the people of Fezzan, who are 

 traders and care little for anything except money. The Italians are 

 less liked than any other of the Europeans. Terence is more likely to 

 know about these things than any Englishman I know, and he is prob- 

 ably right. If so the case is a very hopeless one. Terence does not 

 believe in the rumoured intention of our Government annexing Egypt. 

 Annexation is not in the English programme, as it is found much more 

 advantageous to govern Mohammedan lands indirectly through a Mos- 

 lem prince. It is not any scruple of morality that prevents annexation, 

 only a calculation of interest. My book, ' Gordon at Khartoum,' is 

 being well reviewed. 



" igth Oct. — There is a scare at Berlin and Vienna that Egypt was 

 to be annexed, but it is denied officially here and seems really to have 

 had no foundation. I had a letter from Winston yesterday saying 

 that he wanted to come here for a night and have a talk. He says in 

 it, ' I am glad to find that my belonging to a Government wicked enough 

 to send Lord Kitchener to Egypt has not altered our relations.' 



" People in Egypt are subscribing to the war in Tripoli, and the In- 

 dian Mohammedans have taken it up. 



" 23rd Oct. — Ryan came, and with him Malony, fresh from Persia. 

 Malony is engaged to marry a daughter of Sir Francis Elliot, our 

 Minister at Athens. About Persia he is very hopeless, not on account 

 of the Persians themselves, but because of Grey, who has sold them 



