'Before I left, Lord Granville showed me a letter from Hartington from Balmoral saying that the Queen had not named Kandahar to him, and had "agreed to the Smyrna seizure project," but was angry about Ireland. Hartington added that he had pledged Forster to put down Parnell. As to her not naming Kandahar, Lord Granville said that she never attacked the policy of a department to its chief.'
At Paris Sir Charles was warned by Lord Lyons that '"you will find the French Foreign Office in some confusion, as the new Under-Secretary of State is vigorously employed in 'purging' it of clericals and reactionaries."' On October 12th he went with Lord Lyons to see Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire, and also Jules Ferry, the Prime Minister, and Tirard, the Minister of Commerce, with whom he would be principally brought into touch.
Lord Granville was in London with Mr. Gladstone, bewailing the unhappy
fate of those who have to wait for an Eastern Power to make up its mind.
But at last the Porte's decision to surrender Dulcigno was announced, and
Lord Granville wrote:
"MY DEAR DILKE,
"I accept your felicitations d'avance—the Turkish Note has got us out of a great mess. My liver feels better already. I hope you will improve the occasion by impressing upon all that it only requires firm language from all, such as was used by them on Saturday, to make the Turk yield.
"I wonder whether they will be keen about Turkish finance. It is rather in their line.
"How are we to help our poor friends the Greeks?"
The letter closed by a warning not to write by the post, "unless to say something which it is desirable the French Government should know." Caution as to danger of gossip about his frequent meetings with Gambetta was also urged. [Footnote: Sir Charles notes on 11th November: 'Having had a telegram from Lord Granville to caution me, I told Gambetta that I did not want my visits talked about because of the German newspapers. The result of it was that the Agence Havas stated that I had not seen Gambetta, and this was copied by Blowitz next day, so that the Times repeated the untrue statement!']
Acting on these suggestions, Sir Charles Dilke during the next four days discussed with the French Foreign Office and with Gambetta (who had written on September 28th to say, "Je reviendrai exprès de Suisse pour vous vous en causer à fond"), not only commercial negotiations, but also Turkish finance and the affairs of Greece. According to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice, the interests of Greece were at this time suffering because Barthélemy Saint-Hilaire was anxious to reconcile the Porte to those designs "which France was executing at Tunis and contemplating at Tripoli"; [Footnote: Life of Granville, vol. ii., pp. 215, 436.] and in Sir Charles's notes of these interviews there is repeated mention of Gambetta's references to what Lord Salisbury had promised or suggested in regard to Tunis. Gambetta himself was strongly Philhellene, but said to his friend on October 17th: "Mr. Gladstone has spoilt our European affairs by putting Montenegro first." He held, and M. de Courcel agreed with him, that the Concert was for the moment "used up," and that Greece must wait until it could be reinvigorated. The conclusion which Sir Charles drew and conveyed to Lord Granville was that 'France waited on Germany, and Germany on Austria, in regard to the Eastern Question, and consequently that, Austria being absolutely mistress of the situation, a confidential exchange of opinions at Vienna was essential.'
The demonstration at Dulcigno was carried out in December, but no further progress was made then towards helping their "poor friends the Greeks."