In France the great ally of the Sultan's Fabian policy had fallen. M. de
Freycinet found himself forced to resign on September 19th:
'On September 9th I recorded that Gambetta means to turn out Freycinet. He foretold all this when Freycinet took office, and said to me at that time: "He will do well enough until he tries to fly. But one of these days he will set off flying." Gambetta turned out Freycinet on this occasion, but the day was to come when Freycinet would turn out Gambetta.'
On the 23rd Sir Charles 'heard from Paris that the fallen Minister "had been discovered to have been negotiating with the Vatican for months, without the knowledge even of his own colleagues."'
In the new Ministry, with Jules Ferry as Prime Minister, the Foreign Office fell to Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, [Footnote: M. Barthélemy Saint- Hilaire, born in 1805, the well-known philosophical writer and translator of Aristotle, was now seventy-five years of age. He entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1848 as a member of the Left, and became a member of the Senate in 1876. He was the first Secrétaire-Général de la Présidence de la République.] and Lord Houghton said: "Think of the old Aristotelian Barthélemy having the F.O.! Without pretension, I think at my age I am just as fit for the English one." This was a view in which Sir Charles inclined to agree, although M. Barrère wrote: "Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire's tendencies are excellent. He is in complete accord with us, and his views are wholly ours."
Lord Houghton also spoke of an interview with Moltke, who had told him that 'Russia was the cause of the necessity for the immense arming of Europe, not France, which at present might be trusted to keep quiet.'
'On September 28th I noted: "Cabinet suddenly and most unexpectedly summoned for Thursday to sit on Parnell, the Sultan, and the Queen, about Ireland, Dulcigno, and Kandahar respectively."… [Footnote: The decisions as to the Irish difficulties are dealt with in the first portion of Chapter XXII., pp. 343-348.]
'On September 30th Chamberlain, who was staying at Sloane Street, gave me a note of what passed at the Cabinet. With regard to Kandahar, the Generals whose names had been suggested by the Queen had been consulted, and had, of course, pronounced against giving it up. So the Queen had got her own way sufficiently for the matter to be left over till after Christmas. The Cabinet were evidently sorry that they had not more fully and more early adopted my suggestion of British coercion of the Turks at Smyrna. And on this occasion they agreed to try to induce the other Powers to agree upon (1) local action, or (2) the seizure of a material guarantee: (1) meaning a demonstration at the Dardanelles, and (2) meaning Crete.'
But the Eastern, unlike the Irish, trouble was now nearing a close, though—
'On October 1st Lord Granville came to sit with me, and was very gloomy. He thought that Mr. Gladstone was inclined to give in to the Turks rather than resort to coercion. Harcourt came in also—at one moment, "Whatever we do, we must not be snubbed," and the next, "After all, it will be no worse than Palmerston and Denmark."'
Sir Charles's plan for the seizure of Smyrna was now agreed to in principle by the Ministers in London, but while it still remained uncertain whether they could carry other Powers with them in this coup, Lord Lyons, British Ambassador at Paris, had written expressing a wish to see, Dilke concerning negotiations for a commercial treaty, 'and the Foreign Office also desired that I should deal with the Danube question later.' Sir Charles left London on October 11th.