'Italian Proceedings on the African Coast of the Red Sea.' [‎37r] (25/32)

• From
No. 627.
t See ante, p. 5.
25
“ recognize any authority there hut that of the
“ Khedive under the Sultan, in order to avoid by
its presence or intervention any complication
which may arise if the Italian Commander per-
“ sists in his attitude.”
Hie papers upon which this telegram were based
were sent home by Mr. Cookson in a Despatch
Foreign Office, 31st August ; dated the 24th August, No. 222.* These were two
notes, addressed by Takhry Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the Egyptian
Foreign Minister, to the Italian and British Agents
m Egypt respectively. The note to the Italian
Agent (23rd August), recited what had passed
between Captain Frigerio, commandant of the
Italian corvette “Ettore Fieramosca,” and the
Egyptian Commissioners at Beilul; expressed the
astonishment of the Egyptian Government, bearing
in mind the fact that, so far back as the 16th May
1871, the Italian Government had officially ad
mitted that in 1863 the Porte had nominated an
official to the Dankali coast, and had caused the
Turkish flag to be planted along it as far as
Raheita; and added that, since the cession of the
coast to Egypt, the Khedive’s Government had
never failed to maintain in those parts a Sheikh,
nominated and paid by it, “pour la garde du
“ drapeau et la surveillance du territoire qui ddpend
“ de cette locality.”
Fakhry Pasha’s note to Mr. Cookson (23rd
August) enclosed a copy of this communication,
called attention to the facts cited in it, and pressed
for the despatch of a British ship to Raheita. In
giving Mr. Cookson the note, the Minister ob
served, that as Her Majesty’s Government recently
consented, at the request of the Italian Govern
ment, to send a vessel to Beilul, f he hoped they
would not refuse a similar request on the part of
the Government of the Khedive, made under cir
cumstances of much more urgency, and involving
much more seriously the common interests of Egypt
and England.
f From Foreign
No. 607.
Office, 25th August;
§ From Foreign
Home; No.614.
Office, 26th August,
A second telegram from Mr. Cookson (25th
August) J reported the reply of the Italian Agent
to the Egyptian note, which was that any attempt
to disembark troops at Raheita would injure the
good relations between Italy and Egypt, and that
the latter was disturbing the status quo as to Assab
and its dependencies.
Upon receipt of Mr. Cookson’s telegrams Lord
Granville requested to be favoured with Lord
Hartington’s views in the matter at his earliest
convenience^
These were given in a letter from Sir L. Mallet,
dated the 29th August, as follows :—“ Lord Hart-
“ ington is unwilling to recommend any action
“ Avhich may possibly lead to serious consequences,
“ the responsibility for which would rest principally
“ with the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs;
“ but as an expression of His Lordship’s views is
“ desired, I am to state that his opinions on the
“ subject of the Italian occupation of Assab, in
“ relation to the rights of sovereignty of the Porte
6005. G