The War in Syria, Volume 2 (of 2)

CHAPTER XXI.

Prince Metternich’s Orders to the Internuncio—Lord Ponsonby’s Correspondence with Baron StÜrmer—Hesitation of the Porte—Message from Lord Ponsonby to Rifat Pacha—The new Firman granted—Accepted by Mehemet Ali—Termination of the Eastern Question.

The peremptory orders of Prince Metternich to Baron StÜrmer, to settle the Egyptian question, arrived on the 12th of April at Constantinople, whereupon the Baron wrote to Lord Ponsonby to inform him that his colleagues of Russia and Prussia had agreed to hold to the Porte an uniform language, and requesting to know if he could count on his Lordship’s concurrence in this instance^[128].

I give his Lordship’s answer in full, that the reader may judge for himself: it is an exquisite piece of diplomacy, and judging from it, it would be extremely difficult to decide whether the Ambassador had followed his instructions or not.

“Therapia, April 14, 1841.

“Monsieur l’Internonce,

“I had the honour to receive this day at a few minutes before 4 o’clock your Excellency’s official Note dated the 13th instant, and I reply to it without a moment’s delay. Your Excellency has communicated to me a despatch you have received from Vienna, containing directions for the conduct your Excellency is to pursue, and your Excellency expresses your desire that I should act in co-operation with your Excellency and both our colleagues of Russia and Prussia, in furtherance of the measure you are directed to adopt. If I am not in error, the measure you are to take, is to make known to the Sublime Porte the opinions and views of the Conference at London, as that opinion, or those views, are stated and exposed in the Collective Note of the Representatives of the Four Powers addressed to Chekib Effendi, and dated 13th of March, 1841, and in Lord Palmerston’s instructions, dated 16th of March, 1841, and addressed to me.

“I have already had the honour to acquaint you, that I had not only made known to the Ottoman Minister the contents of those documents, stating at the same time the opinion I entertained of the anxiety of the Allies to bring the Egyptian Question to a termination at any rate; but I also communicated to the Minister for Foreign Affairs the Collective Note and Lord Palmerston’s instructions in original. Your Excellency will therefore be satisfied that I have already done in my individual capacity that which is so fervently urged in the despatch your Excellency has received.

“Your Excellency will, I am sure, have the goodness to acquaint me what you and our colleagues may desire to have done further for making known the opinion and views of the Conference to the Sublime Porte; I mean the mode of acting. Your Excellency is, no doubt, fully informed of the fact that the Ottoman Ministers have come to a decision to modify the Article of succession to the government of Egypt, with the view of rendering it agreeable to the wishes of the Conference; that the Ottoman Ministers have also modified, with a similar intention, the Article of the military rank to be conferred by the Pacha of Egypt; and that they are engaged in considering in what manner the Article of tribute may be modified so as to meet the views of the Conference.

“Your Excellency is also acquainted with the disposition manifested in the instructions sent by Rechid Pacha to Chekib Effendi, to arrange this last-mentioned point; and no doubt your Excellency will esteem that to be an evidence from which we may draw the conclusion, that the Sublime Porte is desirous to gratify the wishes of the High Allies of the Sultan, and may be supposed likely to act in the spirit of concession whenever the wishes of those Powers shall have been made known to the Sublime Porte.

“I have, &c.,
(Signed)“Ponsonby.”

“The Baron de StÜrmer.“

His Lordship, under the same date, writes to Lord Palmerston that the Porte had given way to the wish of the Allies, and come to the resolution that the government of Egypt should be inherited by the eldest son; that Mehemet Ali should have the right to appoint officers to the army below the rank of General of Brigade, and that the tribute should be fixed at a stated sum.

The Porte, still in doubt, or wishing for delay, asked Lord Ponsonby what were his precise notions relative to the execution in Egypt of the laws of the Sublime Porte as laid down in the Separate Act of the Treaty of Alliance, as it could not know what the Allied Powers would say should Mehemet Ali not fulfil that part of the Treaty. To which Lord Ponsonby replies, that he is quite ignorant what will be the opinion of the Allies on this point, and he therefore cannot give advice.

Baron StÜrmer, though an old diplomatist, seems to have been puzzled with Lord Ponsonby’s letter to him, and did not reply. This called forth another letter, which with the reply I give.

“Monsieur l’Internonce,

“Therapia, April 19, 1841.

“On the 14th instant I had the honour to receive an official Note from your Excellency desiring me to inform you if I was disposed to co-operate with your Excellency and our colleagues in carrying into effect the instructions received from our Courts, &c., &c.

“I had the honour to reply to your Excellency’s note the same day, and after having, at some length, explained what my conduct had been, (being desirous to concur with my colleagues,) I requested your Excellency to have the goodness to inform me in what way your Excellency and our colleagues desired that I should act, in furtherance of the instructions of our Governments.

“This is the fifth day since I sent my note, and not having had the honour to hear from you, I take the liberty to express my hope, that your Excellency will favour me with a reply, as it is necessary for me to state to my Government everything connected with this affair.

“I have, &c.,
(Signed)“Ponsonby.”

“The Baron de StÜrmer.”

“M. l’Ambassadeur,

“Constantinople, April 21, 1841.

“I received yesterday morning the letter which your Excellency did me the honour to address to me the day before yesterday.

“The Sultan having at length adopted with regard to the Pacha of Egypt resolutions in conformity with the advice and wishes of his august Allies, and those resolutions having yesterday been announced to us officially, our task, it appears to me, is accomplished. The question which you have the goodness to ask me, M. l’Ambassadeur, as to the kind of co-operation which my colleagues of Russia and Prussia and myself expected from you, becomes therefore unnecessary.

“If I have not replied to that same question which was already contained in your letter of the 13th of this month, it is because you had assured me therein that you had done everything which had depended upon you, by communicating to the Porte the acts of the Conference of London and Lord Palmerston’s instructions of the 16th of March, and in acquainting it at the same time with the strong desire of the Allied Powers to see the Egyptian affair terminated ‘at any rate.’ Now, that was precisely what we wished to propose to your Excellency to do, and there remained nothing more for us to ask you.

“Be pleased, &c.,
(Signed)“Sturmer.”

“Viscount Ponsonby.”

The Porte, though they expressed their satisfaction with the plan proposed by the Representatives of the Four Powers, were extremely slow in following it out, and the British Ambassador, who seemed now to be disciplined into obedience by Prince Metternich and Lord Palmerston’s peremptory instructions, on the 12th of May directed his dragoman to tell Rifat Pacha that if any further delay took place, he should feel it necessary to call upon his colleagues to support him in inquiring of the Sublime Porte the cause of the delay^[129]. This letter quickened the motions of the Divan; and on the 22nd of May the new Firman was laid before the Allied Ministers, and approved of by them^[130]. This Firman complied with Mehemet Ali’s demands; it left Constantinople on the 2nd of June, arrived at Alexandria on the 7th, was accepted by Mehemet Ali, and was publicly read on the 10th^[131].

Thus terminated this long protracted question, which might have been as easily settled after the signing of my Convention on the 28th November, 1840, as it was on the 10th June, 1841, and without at all compromising the honour or dignity of the Porte, who the reader has seen was, through the rejection of my arrangement, obliged to make concession to a conquered vassal. Who was the principal adviser of the Sultan the reader will be able to judge by what I have stated; and if that is not sufficiently satisfactory, he may turn over the Levant Correspondence, where he will find that the British Ambassador, even at the eleventh hour, lent a willing ear to every report which designing people were too happy to make to him, prejudicial to Mehemet Ali.

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