'Italian proceedings on the African coast of the Red Sea' [‎127r] (9/32)

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friendly relations which Italy desired to maintain
with every Power, and that Lord Granville would
assist in putting an end to the opposition by which
it seemed desired to obstruct “ the modest Italian
“ establishment at Assab.”
The reference above quoted to “ arbitrary acts
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* Memorandum, 14th May 1880, pp. 19 and
20.
t Her Majesty’s Ambassador at Constanti
nople reported the issue of this, in a Despatch,
No. 24, dated 8th June 1880. (From Foreign
Office, No. 498.)
J From Foreign Office, 10th June 1880 ;
No. 426.
'
was understood to apply particularly to the appoint
ment of Mr. Zohrab as Consul at Assab,* under an
exequatur from the Porte, f This measure, it may
here be remarked, did not commend itself to
Mr. Zohrab himself. He, writing on the 24th April
1880, observed with regard to it:—|
“ The wording of my appointment to Assab Bay
“ leads me to believe that Her Majesty’s Govern-
“ ment suppose that Egyptian authorities are
“ resident there. Such, however, not being the
“ case, could the presence, temporary or otherwise,
<c of a locally unrecognized British Consul oppose
“ any barrier to the intentions of Italy ? I ap-
<c prebend not; for, with the Italians to support
“ him, Sultan Burban would turn a deaf ear to
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“ advice, protests, or threats, and the Consul would
“ find himself nothing more nor less than a
“ nonentity, houseless, unheeded, uncared for, but
“ suspected and disliked. Hid his presence produce
“ no further baneful results the harm would not be
“ great and might be overcome, but I apprehend
“ the issue would be much more serious. Armed
“ with the credentials of an unacknowledged and
“ hated authority, he would be regarded as charged
“ to compel submission to that authority, and that
“ England was determined to place the people
“ under the hated yoke ; the result would probably
“ be the creation of an intensely hostile feeling
“ towards England, which would culminate, I fear,
“ in raising at an inopportune moment grave
“ political questions between England, Italy, and
“ Egypt. These difficulties and dangers can, I
(i venture to suggest, only be obviated by the
« Khedive sending a force to Assab Bay and
u establishing his supremacy there. Till this is
“ done, nothing, I believe, can result from the
t( presence of a British Consul but intrigue and
“ mischief; for, as the question now stands, it
Cf would be the Consul who would have to show,
C( in a country where there is not a shadow of
“ Egyptian authority, that the Khedive is master.”
§ From Foreign Office, 26th May 1880;
No. 382.
General Menabrea’s Note was not at once replied
to, Lord Granville, who had assumed office only
a few weeks before, desiring to inform himself
more fully of the facts of the case and their different
bearings. §
Concurrently there was correspondence on the
subject between the Italian and Egyptian Govern-
t
|| From Foreign Office, 27th August 1881 ;
No. 622.
ments.
On the 25th April 1880, || Moustapha Eehmy
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , Acting Minister for Eoreign Affairs, ad-
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in Egypt, referring to what had passed in 1870 in
respect to the Ruhattmo purchase of land at .A.ssah,
6005. C