“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.
| “I have, &c., (Signed) “Robert Stopford, Admiral.” |
“To his Highness Mehemet Ali Pacha.”
The further conduct of the Admiral was to be guided by the following instruction, of November 14, from Lord Palmerston to the Admiralty.
“With further reference to my letters of this day, I am to signify to your Lordships the Queen’s commands that Admiral Sir Robert Stopford should be informed that he is not in any degree to suspend his operations, or to relax his efforts, on account of the communication which he is instructed to make to Mehemet Ali; but, on the contrary, he should continue to push on with vigour his operations for the purpose of expelling the Egyptians from the whole of Syria, and he should not slacken in his exertions, till he learns from Constantinople that an arrangement has been made with Mehemet Ali.”
The reader must bear in mind that, at the date of these instructions, the capture of Acre was not known at the Foreign Office, nor was my Convention signed.
CHAPTER II.
Captain Fanshawe’s proceedings at Alexandria—Letter from Mehemet Ali to the Admiral—Official Report of Captain Fanshawe—Letter of Mehemet Ali to the Grand Vizier—English Ships again ordered to the Coast of Syria—Part of the Convention carried into effect by the Admiral.