The Italian government had no intention of sending an
expedition through Zeila to attack Harrar in any contingency foreseen,
but the possibility of such a movement compelled Menelek to keep
a strong force in Harrar and prevented the concentration which
ultimately proved so disastrous at Adowah. The French government
protested against the concession, but the English ministry refused to
recognize the right of France to protest. Lord Salisbury withdrew the
privilege, enabling the French agents to convince Menelek that England
was hostile to Italy, and thus decided the question of peace or war
between Abyssinia and Italy.
That the occupation of Abyssinia had been a folly had always been the
opinion of Crispi, who, in the outset, opposed it in a speech which
proved a prophecy of all the disasters which followed; and on his
return to power I very strongly, in one of the two cases in which I
attempted to exercise any influence on him, urged him to withdraw from
Africa, but the old man's patriotic pride was too intense for him to
consent to an abandonment of an undertaking in which Italian blood
had been shed. "The flag cannot retreat," he said, and in fact public
opinion was at that moment so strongly in favor of the maintenance of
the colony that no ministry could have carried a proposal to abandon
it. It has been the habit of the Italians since the disaster to throw
the blame for it on Crispi, but I, who was always opposed to the
undertaking, can testify that at the outbreak of war, and especially
after the brilliant if slight victories won by the Italian troops
in Africa, Crispi would have been defeated in the Chamber if he had
proposed withdrawing.
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