German claims if all went well. In fact, he could
either be greeted as a _Mehrer des Reichs_, or be disowned as an
unauthorised busybody.

We may here cite passages from the Diary of Dr. Busch, Bismarck's
secretary, which prove that the State took a lively interest in
Einwold's adventure. On February 25, 1885, Busch had a conversation with
Herr Andrae, in the course of which they "rejoiced at England's
difficulties in the Sudan, and I expressed the hope that Wolseley's head
would soon arrive in Cairo, nicely pickled and packed." Busch then
referred to British friction with Russia in Afghanistan and with France
in Burmah, and then put the question to Andrae, "'Have we given up South
Africa; or is the Lucia Bay affair still open?' He said that the matter
was still under consideration[442]."

[Footnote 442: _Bismarck: Some Secret Pages of his History_, vol. iii.
p. 132.]

It has since transpired that the British Government might have yielded
to pressure from Berlin, had not greater pressure been exercised from
Natal and from British merchants and shipowners interested in the South
African trade. Sir Donald Currie, in the paper already referred to,
stated that he could easily have given particulars of the means which
had to be used in order to spur on the British Government to decisive
action. Unfortunately he was discreetly reticent, and merely stated that
not only St. Lucia Bay, but the whole of the coast between Natal and the
Delagoa Bay district was then in question, and that the Gladstone
Ministry was finally induced to telegraph instructions to Cape Town for
the despatch of a cruiser to assert British claims to St. Lucia Bay.
H.M.S. _Goshawk_ at once steamed thither, and hoisted the British flag,
by virtue of a treaty made with a Zulu chief in 1842. Then ensued the
usual interchange of angry notes between Berlin and London; Bismarck and
Count Herbert sought to win over, or browbeat, Lord Rosebery, then
Colonial Minister. In this, however, he failed; and the explanation of
the failure given to Busch was that Lord Rosebery was too clever for him
and "quite mesmerised him." On May 7, 1885, Germany gave up her claims
to that important position, in consideration of gaining at the expense
of England in the Cameroons[443]. Here again a passage from Busch's
record deserves quotation. In a conversation which he had with Bismarck
on January 5, 1886, he put the question:--

"Why have we not been able to secure the Sant