191 1 ] Italian Atrocities at Tripoli 369 



England and France, who are supporting them. I ought to say, per- 

 haps, the English and French Governments, for public opinion both 

 here and in Paris condemns them. The Catholic bishops in Italy have 

 declared themselves in favour of the war as a crusade, and it is said the 

 Pope supports it, though Patrick Butler, who is staying with me, 

 strenuously denies this. If true, I can only say what I have never in 

 my life said, or thought to say, ' To Hell with the Pope.' 



" These abominable doings have been overshadowed by a still more 

 important event in the world, a revolution in China, which is being 

 entirely successful on the lines of the Turkish revolution of 1908. 



" yd Nov. — Poor Lady Colin Campbell is dead. 



" 4th Nov. — The news from Tripoli is sickening. A young English 

 officer serving with the Turkish army as volunteer has telegraphed how 

 he and another Englishman, a correspondent of the ' Daily Mirror,' 

 were with the Turkish troops when they reoccupied the oasis outside 

 Tripoli, and how they found hundreds of women's corpses mutilated in 

 the mosque with children's corpses, the work of these cowardly Italian 

 ruffians. It is the most hideous story ever told about any war, and 

 must I think force our infamous Foreign Office to intervene, although 

 Grey and Asquith have both been excusing the Italian Government in 

 Parliament, and refusing all information. The Turks now have re- 

 occupied the outer forts of Tripoli, and are summoning the Italians to 

 surrender. The Italian fleet has sailed away, it is said, to do new 

 murder in the ^Egean, but I cannot think that this will be allowed. 

 Good may yet come out of this monstrous evil, for there will be a 

 revulsion of feeling, and the world will see how hideous Christianity has 

 become divorced from its beliefs, a mere religion of rapine. 



" Stead has written again asking me to attend a meeting he is getting 

 up at Whitehead's Tabernacle against the Italians. The November 

 number of ' Egypt ' is out, and will probably be suppressed at Cairo. 

 I have promised Stead to get him a handsome subscription if he adopts 

 my programme of coercing Italy, but I do not trust the man. One 

 never knows whether there may not be some Russian intrigue at the 

 back of his philanthropic agitations. 



" 8th Nov. — The Italian horror gets worse and worse as more news 

 comes in. Grey, in order to distract attention from Tripoli has come 

 forward with a statement in explanation of our relations with Germany, 

 and the newspapers are away after this new hare. It is an old trick he 

 has played more than once, for though an ignoramus in foreign politics 

 he knows exactly how to deal with the House of Commons. I am 

 preparing my letter to Stead as a pamphlet, and shall call it ' The Italian 

 Horror.' 



" gth Nov. — Half-a-dozen foolish Major Generals have written to 

 the ' Pall Mall Gazette,' outraged at my ' Gordon at Khartoum,' saying 



