4°6 The Viceroy Bombed at Delhi [ l 9 12 



conceivable that the Ottoman Empire may some day recover strength. 

 The best thing about the terms of peace is that there is a prospect now 

 of a Bulgaro-Turkish Alliance, a solution which long ago seemed to 

 me the right one, and which I have more than once discussed with 

 Irene Noel as ' a general Balkan alliance, which should include Tur- 

 key.' " [Miss Noel's interest in Balkan politics rested on her intimacy 

 with the King and Queen of Greece, whose views she was well ac- 

 quainted with. King George of Greece at that time was anxious 

 to form an alliance of all the Balkan States against Austria and Russia, 

 and it was thought might include Turkey.] 



" i%th Dec. — Our final number of ' Egypt ' is out. It appears at an 

 opportune moment, for the Peace Conference met in London two days 

 ago, by a strange irony, under Grey's Presidency, the principal causer 

 of the war. 



" 24th Dec. — There is talk to-day of a renewal of the war, and of 

 Shefket Pasha being the Generalissimo (a word which shows that 

 'Egypt' has been read at Constantinople), also Poincare at Paris has 

 talked publicly of asserting 1 French rights of intervention in Syria. 

 The chief news, however, is that Hardinge has been wounded by a 

 bomb, dropped into the howdah of his state elephant while he was 

 riding in Viceregal procession to proclaim the new Indian capital at 

 Delhi. This is an event of supreme significance, and ought to be a 

 warning to our people against their alliance with despotic Russia in 

 Asia, but they will not take it so. 



" 31^ Dec. — The last day of 1912, a sad year for me, as it has seen 

 the downfall of my larger hopes in the East without bringing any new 

 absorbing interest, also I am growing older and more infirm. 



" 10th Jan, 1913. — The peace negotiations between the Turks and 

 the Bulgarians are hung up, as they will not agree to a frontier line, 

 and there is some chance of the Roumanians intervening. This of 

 course means indirect pressure put on King Ferdinand from Vienna, 

 counteracting the pressure put on the Turks by Grey and the rogues 

 he is allied with at Petersburg and Paris. It is really an all-important 

 point, because if the Bulgarians are to have access to the Sea of 

 Marmora, the Sultan's position at Constantinople will have been turned. 

 The Bulgarians could build a fleet on it and have it at their mercy, 

 so the Turks are right in standing out. It will probably end in their 

 keeping Adrianople and the whole Marmora Coast, in spite of our 

 Foreign Office's bluster. We hope now that ' Egypt ' may be continued, 

 if only for the Indian Moslem's sake. Syud Mahmud has written 

 me a most encouraging letter about the influence the paper is having 

 with them. 



" 16th Jan. — The deadlock continues at Constantinople, the Turks 



