The Austrian Internuncio saw through this intrigue; and on the 7th of January, in an interview with Rechid Pacha, announced to him that the four Powers had decided on applying for the hereditary succession for Mehemet Ali. This produced a correspondence—far too long for me to give here, but which may be seen in the Government volume of Levant Papers.
From this correspondence it appears that the Austrian, Russian, and Prussian Ministers decided to act without Lord Ponsonby, in consequence of directions from the Ministers in London, based upon the Convention they had previously rejected. The English Ambassador does not appear to have received his instructions till the 10th of January, though they were dated the 17th of December. I should like to see the reply Lord Palmerston made to the Ambassador on learning that he had rejected the Convention; why it is suppressed, is easily accounted for. It ought to be explained how, on the 7th of January, the Internuncio received his dispatches which must have passed through the hands of Prince Metternich at Vienna, whilst the English Ambassador only received his on the 10th. The delay might have caused great embarrassment, and indeed at such a critical moment it was not desirable that a disagreement even for three days should have existed between Lord Ponsonby and the other Ministers.
The Governments of Austria, Russia, and Prussia, as well as their Ambassadors at Constantinople, saw how things were going on in the East. They wrote peremptorily to those personages to settle the question; and Prince Metternich requested Lord Beauvale to state to Lord Palmerston that, in case the Porte should hesitate to accede to the recommendation of the Allied Powers to confer the hereditary government on Mehemet Ali, his court could not be compromised by such hesitation[[5]].
Lord Beauvale also wrote to Lord Palmerston on the 17th of January[[6]], that the Turkish Commissioners going to Alexandria were not empowered to grant the hereditary pachalic, and in consequence, Austria would withdraw her support from the Sultan, and would disavow any attack on Ibrahim Pacha.
Lord Palmerston, in a letter to the Ambassador, of the 26th of January[[7]], does not exactly find fault with his Excellency for not taking Mehemet Ali’s offer as a complete submission, but he tells him the advice in his Lordship’s instructions of the 15th of October[[8]] might have been given. This appears a pretty broad hint, and I suppose diplomatic etiquette did not admit of any thing stronger.
On the 17th of December despatches were received in Marmorice Bay from England. The Commander-in-Chief was appointed Governor of Greenwich Hospital; I was directed to hoist a red broad pennant, and was made a Commander of the Bath; the Captains commanding ships at Acre were made Companions; and a large promotion went through all classes of officers who were fortunately present at the bombardment. On the 27th a new Pacha arrived from Constantinople on his way to Syria, with orders to send to Adrianople Izzet Pacha, who had created so much discontent throughout the country, and to report on the state and condition of Ibrahim’s army. This Pacha was the bearer of letters of thanks to the Admiral and others employed in Syria, with the exception of myself, who have never received any acknowledgment from the Turkish Government up to the present day. The Admiral strongly recommended this new Pacha to suspend hostilities, and I also advised him to control General Jochmus, who was a young man ambitious of military glory, and more likely to make war than peace.
On the 5th of January, 1841, the Megæra arrived from England. I was aware she must either bring my sentence of acquittal or condemnation, and having been already denounced by the wise men of the East, I felt it was not impossible that their opinion might have influenced the judgment of the Ministers of the West, if unfortunately their protests had arrived in London before my despatches from Alexandria. I had, however, taken precautions to prevent this, which fortunately succeeded, and they were left to their own calm judgment, which decided in my favour.
I had a party dining with me that day, when numerous letters, public and private, were put into my hand by the officer of the watch. I laid them on the table, determined not to run the risk of spoiling my dinner by bad news, and not requiring good to give me an appetite. After the inward man had been well fortified, I ventured to open a letter from Lord Minto, which, to my great satisfaction, announced to me that the Government were satisfied with what I had done, with the exception of the Guarantee. I received also letters from various members of the Government, and an official one from the Admiral, inclosing an instruction from Lord Palmerston to the Admiralty, bearing date Dec. 15, 1840, some extracts from which I subjoin[[9]]:
“I have to request your Lordships to convey to Commodore Napier the approval of Her Majesty’s Government of the steps taken by him on this occasion, though without any instructions to that effect, and upon his own responsibility, to carry into execution the arrangements contemplated by the Treaty of the 15th of July, and to put an end to the contest in the Levant.
“But the instruction given by your Lordships to Sir Robert Stopford in pursuance of my letter of the 14th of November[[10]], will have reached Sir Robert Stopford a few days after he received from Commodore Napier a report of the result of his negociation at Alexandria; and it is uncertain whether Sir Robert Stopford will have considered the instruction of the 14th of November as superseding Commodore Napier’s arrangement, or whether he will have looked upon Commodore Napier’s arrangement as superseding that instruction.