On the 19th of July we lunched with Lord Houghton, and little thought we should not see him again. On the 11th of August we had the misfortune to lose him. Richard paid several visits to Oxford, but returned in time for Lord Houghton's funeral service at St. Margaret's, Westminster Abbey, on the 18th of August, and his sorrow for this good friend occupies a whole page of his journal. We also had the pleasure of seeing an old friend, Sir Edwin Arnold, one of the most delightful of Eastern poets, who gave me his "Light of Asia." Carlo Pellegrini came several times to lunch with us, in reality wishing to caricature Richard in Vanity Fair, which he did—but it was one of his few great failures.
The first volume of the "Arabian Nights" came out on the 12th of September, 1885, and the sixteenth volume, the last of the supplementals, on the 13th of November, 1888; thus in a period of three years we had produced twenty-two volumes—the ten originals, the six supplementals, and my six volumes, i.e. so-called mine. We paid several visits to Richard's sister and niece, Lady and Miss Stisted, at Norwood, and we went to Mr. and Mrs. Arbuthnot at Upper House, Guildford, where we met some very pleasant people; then we went to Wardour, to Lord Arundell's. About this time Mr. H. H. Johnson, Artist, Consul, African traveller, and universal favourite with everybody, was occupying his beautiful little flat in Victoria Street, and gave us some pleasant teas. We brought out our little translation from the Brazilian of "Iraçema" and "Manoel de Moraes, the Convert," at our own expense. The Punch and Vanity Fair caricatures came out on the 22nd, Thursday.
Richard's Programme for Egypt.
On the 28th of October we went down to Hatfield, where there was a large party in the house. On this occasion Lord Salisbury wanted privately to know what Richard's programme would be for Egypt, and he wrote out the following for him:—
"First and far away, annex Egypt and all its territory entirely; but if the Government does not decide on this bold stroke, at least have no half-measures.
"Secondly, if not annexation, recall Ismail, ex-Khedive, Arábi Pasha, and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt, and, if they take an oath of allegiance to your Government, make Ismail your English Viceroy, with a guard of honour only. Send Arábi as the Governor of Sudan, and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt to Darfur.
"Oblige the Sudanese to give up their arms, and abolish the useless expense of the Egyptian Army and Navy.
"Garrison with English troops Alexandria, Cairo, Suez, Ismailíyyeh, Port Said, Suákin, Masáwwah, one fortress at Perim, one at Rossier (the point between Suez and Akabah), and one fortress on the Akabah side.
"Put the bulk of the army (say five thousand men) in Khartum. Make Valentine Baker Military Governor of Khartum (it should, of course, have been Gordon, if he had not unfortunately been killed last January).
"Station one Man-of-War at each of the following posts:—Alexandria, Port Said, Suez, Suákin, Masáwwah; a gunboat at Perim, Rossier, Ismailíyyeh, and one close to Akabah; say two gunboats in the Suez Canal, and two in the Red Sea to look after the Slave-trade.
"Banish Ismail's sons for ten years; the only one of his family worth anything is Hossein, not Hassan. Hossein is too clever, Hassan is a fool, but Tewfik is the worst. If anything happens to Ismail, replace him by Hossein. Do not do things bit by bit, or the Egyptians and Sudanese will destroy them bit by bit.
"Collect all your material, and put the whole régime in action the same day.
"Forbid Slave-trade, and hang at the next tree or nearest yardarm all Slave-dealers caught red-handed after date of proclamation. All cases of treachery should be dealt with in the same summary way, whether Pasha or Fellah. Two hangings would suffice to stop the whole, and would be the true, short, and only merciful way to exterminate slavery.
"Teach Ismail and Arábi and Mr. Wilfrid Blunt what their conduct and that of every official in the country would have to be, and make them take their oath before appointing them.
"Exempt five years' taxes to the whole land, save a small nominal tax to keep up your right. Order your employés to make the natives understand that these five years are conceded that they may have time to recover and improve and prosper, but that after five years the taxes will again be put on.
"When you begin to take your taxes again, allow them to be collected by the natives, with only sufficient superintendence from your own men to avoid being cheated, but do not interfere as to the manner of it, as no European could ever extract a piastre from a Native.
"But spend the first five years' collection on the country. Help them to improve themselves; give them full religious liberty. Instil humanity to man and beast by preaching, example, and schools.
"Give them the freedom of Foreign Trade; foster National Industries; build yourselves harbours and docks and fortresses in the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and especially lighthouses in the Red Sea.
"You should make roads and railways, encourage irrigation, form wells every six hours' march throughout the country, employ native labour.
"Form Sudanese troops (as in India), officered by English.
"Give waste lands to settlers (our Emigrants) intermarrying with natives. Provide them with looms, and encourage all manufacture, native and foreign.
"After seven years, give them a free press; they are not fit to have any press just now.
"The first five years you would have to spend your own money largely.
"The second five years spend their own upon these improvements.
"The third five years it would not only be self-paying, but give you large returns.
"This programme should be the 'labour of love' of your Governors and employés, besides their appointed duty.
"If England has still backbone enough to do this, in ten years' time you will not only possess a flourishing country, and your road to India, but the money you will have spent, as well as that which has been lost through the past three years' blundering and weakness, will come back to you a hundred-fold, and the Souls of all our best, bravest, and noblest men, who have been uselessly murdered, and who lie buried in the sands, will be at rest, and bless God that at last they have died for a holy end.
"I wish I were exhorting in favour of Syria, instead of Egypt; but I feel convinced that such a grand and startling policy would be so appreciated in England that the Government who had courage to do it might defy anything."
In the course of the preparation of the "Arabian Nights," we became acquainted with Dr. Steingass, who afterwards brought out a Persian and Arabic dictionary, and who I strongly recommend to anybody wanting honest Eastern literary assistance. He assisted in correcting the proofs.
On the 20th of June Richard deplores the death of Mr. Vaux, M.A., F.R.S. We made acquaintance with Mr. C. Heron Allen, who was then very much engaged on Palmistry. Richard notices seeing Schapira several times. We also had a visit from Mr. C. Doughty, the African traveller.
On the 27th of July he dined with the Gentlemen-at-Arms. For a while he took up Volapük, but that he did not stick to, as he did not believe it would be of any use.
On the 13th of September he notices the death of General Sir A. Horsford, an old friend.
On the 9th of October his friend Mr. Bernard Quaritch gave a large dinner in Richard's honour, with all the principal literati (masculine) to meet him, and it appears to have been very enjoyable. Richard made a speech, and read out the story of "Ali the Persian" from the "Nights." (We also had a very pleasant dinner with Mr. and Mrs. Bancroft, where we met a great many charming people.)