Read Ebook: The War in Syria Volume 2 (of 2) by Napier Charles

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Ebook has 1028 lines and 91420 words, and 21 pages

"Sir,

"Had I unfortunately abstained from writing to you, and the Admiral had quited the coast, you would have had just cause to have complained of my want of courtesy.

"When I left Beyrout, Sir Robert Stopford was Commander-in-Chief of the allied forces by sea and land, it was therefore unnecessary for me to communicate to you what my powers were, as on him alone devolved the duty of approving or disapproving of my Convention. He disapproved of it, and Ibrahim Pacha returned to Damascus. I quite disagree with you that the Convention was prejudicial to the interests of the Porte, and I am happy to say it has been approved of by Her Majesty's Government, and I am now going to Alexandria to see it carried into execution.

"To Sir Charles Smith, &c., &c., Gibraltar."

"Sir, "Therapia, December 7, 1840.

"I had the honour last night to receive your communication of a Convention, dated Medea steamer, Alexandria, 27th November, 1840, signed Charles Napier, Commodore, and Boghos Bey.

"I immediately laid that Convention before the Sublime Porte, and acquainted my colleagues, the Austrian Internuncio, the Prussian Envoy, and the Russian Charg? d'Affaires, with it. It is my duty to acquaint you that the Sublime Porte has made a formal protest against your acts, declaring you have no power or authority whatever to justify what you have done, and that the Convention is null and void.

"It is my duty to call upon you to abstain from every attempt to carry your Convention into execution, in any degree whatever, and to state that you are bound by your duty to Her Majesty, to continue to act with the ships under your command, as you did act before you assumed the right to make the aforesaid Convention, and as you would have acted in conformity with your orders, if that Convention had never been made by you.

"I have sent a copy of this dispatch to Admiral the Hon. Sir Robert Stopford, and also to Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

"I have, &c., "PONSONBY."

"To Commodore Napier."

"H.M.S. Powerful, Marmorice Bay, Dec. 14, 1840.

"My Lord,

"The Commander-in-Chief has sent me a copy of a letter addressed to me by your Lordship, the original of which I presume has been sent to Alexandria; this letter states that the Porte has made a formal protest against my acts, and that the Convention is null and void, in which your Lordship and your colleagues entirely concur, and you call upon me to abstain from carrying it into execution.

"In reply to which I beg leave to acquaint your Lordship that I never had the least idea that the Convention could be carried into execution without the authority of the Porte and the Commander-in-Chief, to whom the whole correspondence was addressed; therefore I cannot see the necessity of the formal protest of the Porte against my acts. The Convention simply tied down Mehemet Ali to abandon Syria immediately, and give up the Turkish fleet when the Porte acknowledged his hereditary title to govern Egypt; and on these conditions I agreed to suspend hostilities.

"I further knew that the French Consul-General, and other French agents at Alexandria, were doing all they could to prevent Mehemet Ali from submitting, still holding out hopes of assistance from France.

"Under all these circumstances I thought I was serving my country, and the cause of the Sultan, in tying down Mehemet Ali to immediately evacuate Syria, and give up the Turkish fleet when acknowledged, and I knew perfectly well that the Convention did not tie down the Sultan; and I firmly believe that if Thiers' ministry had not fallen, all I have done would have been approved, and I think it still will be approved. I have thought it necessary to make these explanations to your Lordship, and I beg at the same time to observe, that it appears to me that your Lordship has assumed a tone, in the latter part of your letter, that you are by no means authorized to do. I know my duty to Her Majesty full as well as your Lordship, and I have always done it, and it is the Commander-in-Chief alone who has the right to point out to me how I am to act, and I trust, should your Lordship have any further occasion to address me, it will be done in a different style.

"I have sent a copy of this to Admiral Sir Robert Stopford, and I trust your Lordship will send a copy to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.

"The Right Hon. Lord Ponsonby."

I also insert the Admiral's letter to Mehemet Ali, acquainting him that he had disapproved the Convention, couched in no very measured terms. An admiral may disapprove of the acts of a junior officer, even with severity if he pleases, but I believe it is not usual in addressing a foreign prince, to convey to him the opinion he has formed of his second in command.

"Princess Charlotte, St. George's Bay, Beyrout, December 2, 1840.

"Highness,

"I am sorry to find that Commodore Napier should have entered into a Convention with your Highness for the evacuation of Syria by the Egyptian troops, which he had no authority to do, and which I cannot approve of, or ratify.

"Your Highness's Envoy, Abdel Amen Bey, has consulted with the General, commanding the troops, as to his best manner of proceeding to Ibrahim Pacha. The General having good reason to suppose that Ibrahim Pacha had left Damascus, could not guarantee a safe conduct for your Highness's Envoy further than Damascus. He therefore returns to Alexandria, having done all in his power to execute your Highness's instructions.

"I hope this letter will reach your Highness in time to stop the transports which Commodore Napier writes me are coming to the coast of Syria for the purpose of embarking part of the Egyptian army. Should any of them arrive here, they will be ordered to return to Alexandria.

"I hope this hasty and unauthorized Convention will not occasion any embarrassment to your Highness. It was no doubt done from an amicable motive, though under a limited view of the state of affairs in Syria; but it will not lessen my earnest desire most readily to adopt any measure which may tend to a renewal of that amity and good feeling which I trust hereafter may subsist between England and your Highness, the terms of which I am happy to hear are now in a state of progress with the Allied Powers.

"To his Highness Mehemet Ali Pacha."

The Ambassador wrote also to the Admiral and to the different authorities in Syria and Egypt, calling upon them to repudiate my Convention, and in fact no means were neglected by him to prevent the settlement of the Eastern Question, and do as much mischief to Mehemet Ali as possible.

The reader will allow this was tremendous odds against me: the Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Forces, the General commanding in Syria, Lord Ponsonby, and the four Ambassadors, the Sultan and all the Divan, against an Old Commodore. The whole corps diplomatique, were up in arms--they thought their trade was gone--nevertheless I was not dismayed. I felt satisfied at Alexandria I was right, and I felt still more satisfied at Marmorice, when I found our squadron, with the exception of the steamers, had abandoned the coast, and left Ibrahim to himself. Why he did not take advantage of it is not my affair--he ought to have done it. In the fleet we had conventionalists and non-conventionalists: the Captains who were off Alexandria were satisfied I was right; those who were not, with few exceptions, were satisfied I was wrong. For my part I had only to wait patiently the first arrival from England, to announce either that I was a blockhead, or that I had taken a more correct view of the affairs of the East, than either Admirals, Generals, Ambassadors, Sultans, or Divans.

The letter of Sir Robert Stopford to the Admiralty, acquainting their Lordships that he had rejected my Convention, clearly shows that he was not aware of Ibrahim's movements. The Admiral writes under date of the 1st of December, from Beyrout.

"Sir,

"I beg to transmit for their Lordships' information the copy of a Convention which Commodore Napier has entered into with Mehemet Ali, the correspondence leading thereto having been transmitted by him from Alexandria.

I beg you will further acquaint their Lordships that I do not feel myself authorized to enter into this Convention; and the Egyptian troops being already on their retreat by the Mecca road to Egypt, I cannot consider this as a concession from Mehemet, but the consequence of their late discomfitures, and the inimical state of the country towards them.

"I have, &c., "ROBERT STOPFORD."

"R. More O'Ferrall, Esq."

Now, it is well known that Ibrahim did not finally leave Damascus till the 29th of December; so that it appears by the Admiral's letter, that nothing was known at Beyrout of Ibrahim's movements; and, after the squadron left the coast, there was nothing to hinder him falling upon Beyrout; I know that there were strong fears there that he would do so, and General Michell, as will hereafter appear, requested the Admiral would send some ships of war back.

Before the Admiral arrived at Marmorice, he fell in with the Megaera, bringing the Instruction of the 14th of November, which was given to satisfy Austrian etiquette, Prince Metternich not entirely approving of the instruction of the 15th of October, his reasons for which he afterwards explained.

"Foreign Office, Nov. 14, 1840.

"The instruction addressed to Lord Ponsonby on the 15th of October last, in consequence of a deliberation which had taken place between the Plenipotentiaries of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, recorded the propriety of the Representatives of the Four Courts at Constantinople being authorized to announce to the Sublime Porte, 'that their respective Governments, in conformity with the stipulations of the seventh paragraph of the Separate Act annexed to the Convention of July 15, deem it their duty strongly to recommend to the Government of his Highness, that, in case Mehemet Ali should submit without delay, and should consent to restore the Ottoman fleet, to withdraw his troops from the whole of Syria, from Adana, Candia, Arabia, and the Holy Cities, his Highness should be pleased not only to reinstate Mehemet Ali in his functions as Pacha of Egypt, but at the same time to grant him the hereditary investiture of the said pachalic, according to the conditions laid down in the Convention of July 15, it being well understood that this hereditary title should be liable to revocation, if Mehemet Ali, or one of his successors, should infringe the aforesaid conditions.'

"The advantage of addressing the Sublime Porte a communication couched in the sense above-mentioned, was unanimously admitted by the Four Courts.

"Nevertheless, in order to make still more apparent the just respect which is due to the rights of his Highness, the Cabinet of Vienna was of opinion that the advice which the Representatives of the Four Powers should be called upon to address to the Divan, relative to the reinstatement of Mehemet Ali in the pachalic of Egypt, ought not to be put forth at Constantinople, until after Mehemet Ali should have taken the preliminary step of applying to his Sovereign for pardon, submitting himself to the determination of his Highness.

"Taking into consideration that this opinion of the Cabinet of Vienna serves as a fresh proof of the respect which the Courts, parties to the Convention of July 15, entertain for the inviolability of the Sultan's rights of sovereignty and independence; considering, moreover, the necessity of speedily bringing the existing crisis in the Levant to a pacific solution, in conformity with the true interests, as likewise with the dignity of the Porte; the Plenipotentiaries of the said Courts have unanimously resolved to adopt the course above pointed out, in order that Mehemet Air's application for pardon and his submission should precede the friendly measures which the Allied Representatives will be instructed to adopt, in order to incline the Porte to grant its pardon to Mehemet Ali.

"With this view, the Plenipotentiaries of the Four Powers being desirous of hastening as much as possible the moment when it will be possible for those measures to take place at Constantinople, have judged it fitting to cause to be pointed out without the least delay to Mehemet Ali, the way which is still open to him to regain the pardon of his Sovereign, and to obtain his reinstatement in the pachalic of Egypt, notwithstanding the decisive events which have declared themselves against him.

"In consequence it was further agreed to communicate to the Ambassador of the Sublime Porte, Chekib Effendi, the present Memorandum, as likewise the instruction thereunto annexed.

N. P. B. B.

Upon the receipt of this document, and a special instruction of the same date, the Admiral immediately dispatched Captain Fanshawe, with the following letter, to communicate with the Pacha. His orders were, to proceed to Alexandria and demand an interview with Mehemet Ali, in the presence of Boghos Bey, and communicate the instructions of Her Majesty's Government. He was not to refuse Mehemet Ali's answer even if he expressed a desire to obtain the hereditary government of Egypt.

"Princess Charlotte, at Sea, off Cyprus, December 6, 1840.

"Highness,

"I have now the honour to transmit to your Highness, by Captain Fanshawe, the Captain of my flag-ship, the official authority from the British Government, in the name of the four Allied Powers, to maintain your Highness in the pachalic of Egypt, upon condition, that within three days after the communication made to you by Captain Fanshawe, you agree to restore the Turkish fleet to the Sultan, and finally evacuate Syria.

"Let me beseech your Highness to take these terms into your serious consideration; and I implore the Almighty God to impress upon your mind the benefit you will bestow on a distracted country by an early compliance with the decision of the four Allied Powers.

"Captain Fanshawe is fully authorized to receive your Highness's final decision.

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