War by Revolution. Germany and Great Britain in the Middle East in the Era of World War I

118 WARBYREVOLUTION

properties,whichcouldprovidehimwithsubstantiallymoreincome.
BothBritainandGermanyexpandedtheirsurveillancenetworksin
thecountry,primarilyroobservetheex-khediveandotherOrientals
there.Berlin,forexample,appointedasitsprincipalagentHeinrich
Jacoby,thedirectorofthePersianCarpetCompanyinBerlinanda
memberofOppenheim'sInformationService fortheBast.vJacoby
andhissuperiorsin Berlinacceptedcompletelytheex-khedive'sclaims
ofhisinfluenceintheMiddleEastandwithBritain,inpartbecause
Berlincontinuouslyreceivedandunquestioninglyacceptedreports
fromEgyptofhispopularityrhere.?'
Nonetheless,theclaimsbyAbbasHilmiofBritain'sinterestinhim
wereuntrue;theBritishrepeatedlyrejectedhisapproaches.»On 4
NovemberKitchenerflatlyrejectedAbbasHilmias apotentialleader
oftheArabsandinsteadencouragedBritain'ssecretnegotiationsfrom
itsCairoresidencyfor anArabrevoltled bytheSharifofMecca."
NewsofAbbasHilmi'sactivitiesinSwitzerlandparticularlyalarmed
theYoungTurks.TheyfearedthathisremaininginSwitzerlandwould
enablehimtodealwithBritain;also,theycriticizedtheGermansfor
payingtheex-khedivesuchlargesumsofmoney,therebyallegedly
lesseninghisdependenceonthePorte.:"BritishsourcesinSwitzer-
landlearnednotonlyofsuchdifferencesintheenemycampbutalso
thattheex-khedivehadfallenintodisagreementwiththeGermans.s"
McMahonrecommendedthatBritainshouldexploitthesituation
toconcludeasettlementwiththeex-KhediveregardingtheEgyptian
propertiesAbbasowned.
At ameetingon 13 December,GrantDuff,Britain'sministerin
Bern,metwithAbbasHilmiandapro-Britishintermediary,Habib
Lutfullah.Abbasclaimedknowledgeof"aschemeafoot,"approved
bytheBritish,"bywhichactivesupportwas to begivento ageneral
risingagainstTurkishruleinSyriaandArabia."Duffinformedthe
ForeignOfficethattheex-khedive"expectedtoreplacetheSultanof
Turkeyassovereignoftheseregions"in returnfor AbbasHilmi's
agreementtoacceptthepresentregimeinEgypt.^99 TheForeignOf-
ficemistrustedtheex-khedivecompletelyanddiscouragedDufffrom
furthercontactwithhim.Moreover,bothKitchenerandGreyagreed
that"solongasthenegotiationswiththeSheriff[ofMecca] arepro-
ceedingitwouldbe apitytoundertakeothernegotiationsonoppo-