What aid France actually promised to the Pacha, or whether she ever decidedly promised him any, we do not know, but it is not to be supposed he would have resisted the wishes of the Allied Powers without some hope of assistance at the last moment. The fall of Acre opened the Pacha’s eyes; he turned his back on France, and listened to English counsels, which guided him for a while. But the hostile conduct of our Ambassador at Constantinople so disgusted him, that he again turned to France, who received him with open arms, and thus completely destroyed the English influence in Egypt.
I think I have shown that England had no immediate reason to clip the Pacha’s wings, and that France supported him because England was against him. To Prussia it must have been quite indifferent whether Mehemet Ali kept possession of Syria or not; nor do I see what interest Austria could possibly have in displacing him—quite the contrary. Russia cannot be a pleasant neighbour to Austria; and the Porte is a feeble ally. By raising Mehemet Ali the Porte would have been strengthened; and indeed, the Pacha, in possession of Syria and Egypt, would have been as much interested in controlling the power of Russia as the Sultan himself. Who then was to gain by reducing the power of Mehemet Ali? Russia! and Russia alone.
The Emperor of that great and powerful state saw clearly that the duration of the Ottoman empire was drawing to a close; and that, sooner or later, Russia would be the greatest gainer by its dissolution. It is not then to be wondered at that she should be content to wait her time, and accept the legacy that would fall in to her at its demise; and all she had to do was to prevent a skilful practitioner coming to her assistance. That practitioner was Mehemet Ali; and had he been supported by France, England, Austria, and Prussia, his independence, granted by the Porte and guaranteed by those Powers, would have been a far greater blow on Russia than she has received for many years; and which blow, I have no doubt, she would have used every effort to avert. We, however, fell into her views; the Treaty of the 15th of July was signed; Mehemet Ali has been sent back to Egypt; the Syrian provinces restored to the Porte, and she has become weaker than ever.
Various reasons have been given for Mehemet Ali’s obstinate refusal to listen to the advice of the Allies. At one time it was supposed he was backed by Russia, who wished for an excuse to come to Constantinople for the second time; and, indeed, after the battle of Nizib, and the defection of the Turkish fleet, that was my opinion. To check Russia, I always thought that the combined fleets should have proceeded at once to Constantinople, which was the thing, of all others, the Emperor wished to avoid; and Count Nesselrode distinctly stated to Count Medem, that if a French fleet appeared in the sea of Marmora, he would withdraw the Ambassador, and then take such measures as he saw necessary to re-establish the independence of the Porte[[133]].
When France began to take a different view of the question from the other Powers, and support Mehemet Ali, Russia at once came forward, and despatched Baron Brunnow to England with a letter from the Emperor to the Queen. Part of the proposal of Russia was that the French and English should appear off Alexandria, while the Russian fleet should anchor in the Bosphorus. This France most properly and most decidedly objected to. Lord Palmerston took the same view; and though he expressed himself perfectly satisfied with the good intentions of Russia, he was of opinion that if it was necessary for a Russian force to appear in the Bosphorus, a British force should be there also. To this, as might be expected, Baron Brunnow objected, and lamented that the British Government had not more reliance on the good faith of Russia. After various discussions, unnecessary to enter upon here, Russia gave up the point of being the sole protector of Constantinople, and consented to a small English force being sent there in the event of the Russian fleet appearing in the Bosphorus[[134]]. France in consequence withdrew from the alliance, and the Four Powers decided so far to fall into the views of Russia as to put down Mehemet Ali, who was the best supporter the Ottoman empire could have had, and give back Syria to the Porte, and thereby accelerate her fall.
The defection of France brought the other Powers closer together; and the insurrection breaking out in Lebanon hastened the signing of the Treaty of the 15th of July. We have seen that the movement was put down by the energy of the Pacha; and that he refused the conditions that were offered to him, and determined to defend himself; and, under all circumstances, I think he was right. He had good intelligence from Constantinople; he knew the Turkish Government could only spare a very small force; he knew we had only 1500 marines in the fleet; he was quite certain that Prussia would send no troops to Syria; and he did not think that Austria would; and he was sensible that Great Britain, Austria, and Prussia, would be very unwilling to call in the military assistance of Russia, which would also be disagreeable to the Porte. Besides this, he had a very large army in Syria, which had always been victorious, and was well commanded, and the season of the year was far advanced, and not a safe harbour or anchorage (with the exception of Scanderoun, which was too far distant) on the coast where our ships could take shelter in the winter. In addition to all this, he was backed by France, and was determined to put every thing to the hazard of a die; and had his views been properly followed up, he must have succeeded.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Errors of the Pacha—His proper course of Action—Mismanagement of Ibrahim Pacha in Syria—Gain or Loss of Turkey by the Acquisition of Syria—Conduct of the Turks in Lebanon—Quarrels of the Mountaineers—Ill treatment of the Prince—Consequent hatred of Turkish rule—Conclusion.
The first error Mehemet Ali committed was not immediately ordering Ibrahim to march on Scutari after the battle of Nizib. At that time the Allies had not come to a final arrangement, and the British and French fleets were not collected in Besika Bay. Had he done that at once, Russia would certainly have come down to Constantinople with a fleet and army; France would have got alarmed, and probably ordered her fleet up the Dardanelles; Great Britain would have done the same. Russia would have urged the Porte to prevent it, which she would have been obliged to have complied with, and the probability is that Europe would have been set by the ears, and in the struggle Mehemet Ali would most likely have retained the government of Syria; indeed, both France and England would have been obliged to have made use of Mehemet Ali against Russia, and the Porte, who must have joined with Russia in preventing the fleets from forcing the Dardanelles. His second error was, in not concentrating his army the moment he resolved on resisting the decision of the Allies.
At the time we landed in D’Jounie Bay, the Egyptian army in Syria could not have consisted of less than 80,000 men of all arms. They were distributed, it is true, in various parts of the country. Ibrahim Pacha ought to have divined our plan of operations the moment we landed; he ought also to have ascertained from his spies, (which we could not prevent,) the number of our troops, and the works we were throwing up, which of themselves showed our weakness. He must have also known how slow the mountaineers were in coming in in the first instance for arms. Seeing all this, had he acted with vigour, and set his troops in motion from Tripoli, he would first have saved D’Jebail, then occupied Gazir, and prevented the Emir Abdallah from joining our standard. Had Osman Pacha advanced at the same time from Balbeck, and occupied Antura and the strong ground in front of our advanced posts, while Souliman Pacha, strengthening himself at Beyrout with a couple of thousand men from Sidon, might have marched with his army from Beyrout, and occupied the convents and high grounds above the Nahr-el-Kelb, and threatened an advance at the same time at the mouth of the river, he would, in the first place, have prevented a single mountaineer from joining our standard, and the overwhelming force which he would have mustered almost within shot of us, would have been quite sufficient, without firing a gun, to have made us pack up our traps and carry the Turkish troops to Cyprus. By some strange fatality he remained inactive; we gained confidence; were successful in all our enterprises; desertion began in Ibrahim’s army, which was just as likely to have begun in our’s; and when at last Ibrahim made an effort, and advanced to Beckfaya and Boharsof, instead of collecting the whole of his forces, and driving us from Ornagacuan, he did not bring half his troops, and allowed himself to be attacked on both flanks, front and rear, and was defeated. Still the game was not up with him; withdrawing his troops from Tripoli, Aleppo, Adana, and concentrating the whole at Zachle, Malaka, and Damascus, and seeing we hesitated in following up our successes, he ought to have taken advantage of the absence of the squadron at Acre, and the weakening of the garrison at Beyrout, and pushed on the latter place, which he would have taken with ease, and found abundance of provisions. He should then have marched on Sidon, which probably would have shared the same fate.