Martin, the Abyssinian minister, told me at a party given by the lord mayor’s wife that a month ago Mussolini suggested to the Negus that he return to Abyssinia as a vassal monarch. The Negus flatly refused. Then Mussolini began to cajole the crown prince, who was in Jerusalem. As a precautionary measure, the Negus hastened to summon his son to London, where he currently resides. According to Martin, the total number of refugees from Abyssinia has now reached seven to eight thousand, scattered over various countries (Kenya, Palestine, Egypt and elsewhere). Their material status is very grave. Money is being collected for them everywhere. The Negus’s coffers have been greatly depleted (he gave abundantly to support the Abyssinians’ struggle against Italy), but newspaper reports about his ‘destitution’ are unfounded.

I saw Collier. He told me a piece of quite pleasing news. In the opinion of the Foreign Office, the project of a German airline to fly via Afghanistan to China and Japan has been set aside for a long time, if not forever. The reasons are the war between Japan and China, the failure of two maiden flights to Xinjiang, flown by German pilots, and British pressure. The British were particularly unhappy about German planes flying frequently near the Indian border this summer, allegedly in connection with the quests for the lost German pilots. If there really is no way of avoiding it, the British might let the German line to the Far East pass through India along the route currently used by British and Dutch planes, but the border between Afghanistan and India must be free of German intrigues.