Luckily the time had come for me to bring the cotillon to a close; so, bowing to the meddling old gentleman, I carried off my partner to her father, telling her how vexed I felt; for she must have suffered great annoyance from the foolish language held by the Pasha. The fair Armenian replied, very shyly and prettily, that she did not think he had said anything from malice, so she hoped I would forgive, as she had done, his remarks. To this I readily agreed, and leading her back to where her father the banker was standing I took my leave, and never met again the pretty Armenian.
CHAPTER V.
CONSTANTINOPLE WITH SIR STRATFORD CANNING. 1841.
Sir Stratford Canning succeeded Lord Ponsonby as Ambassador in 1841. He arrived at Constantinople on board a Government steamer, and all the members of the Embassy presented themselves on the arrival of his Excellency. These were Charles Bankhead, Secretary of Embassy, Percy Doyle, Charles Alison, and myself; Lord Napier and Ettrick, William Maule, Mactavish, and Count Pisani, keeper of the archives, besides the elder Pisani (Etienne). Robert Curzon, afterwards Lord Zouche, accompanied his Excellency as private secretary.
The fame of Sir Stratford for severity towards his subordinates had preceded him, and we all felt sad at the loss of our late chief, the kind and courteous Lord Ponsonby, and at the prospect of being ruled with an iron hand.
Sir Stratford inquired of Doyle as to the method employed in the conduct of business at the Chancery. He replied that office hours were from eleven till half-past three, but that Lord Ponsonby allowed the gentlemen of the Embassy to attend at, or leave, the Chancery when they pleased, so long as the work was done efficiently. Sir Stratford said that such an irregular way of conducting business would not suit him and that he should appoint one of the gentlemen to hold the key of the archives, to receive the dispatches and letters and come to him for orders every morning. Then, turning towards us, he added, ‘I am not acquainted personally with any one of you, and therefore have no ground for selection, but I choose Mr. Hay.’
Gladness flashed across the faces of the other attachés, and, when out of hearing of the great Elchi, they chaffed me by saying, ‘You are the smallest, so his Excellency thinks he can get the better of you if there is a row!’
When we arrived at the Embassy, which was at that time at Buyukdere, I was summoned, and was directed by the Ambassador to take possession of the key of the archives and not to allow any one to have access to, or to see, the dispatches which might be received from, or written to, the Secretary of State on political subjects, and that I should be held responsible if anything of importance transpired. Sir Stratford told me his reason for making this arrangement was that an attaché, at one of the Missions he had held, had by foolish indiscretion betrayed the contents of an important dispatch to a member of a foreign Legation. He directed that I should myself copy all dispatches of importance to the Secretary of State and give out the rest of the work to the other attachés.
I made known to the Secretary of Embassy, Bankhead, and to the attachés, the instructions I had received. They were indignant—it appeared to me with good reason—that they were not to be trusted; especially Bankhead, who remonstrated and said he considered he had a right to see all the dispatches to and from the Foreign Office, and therefore should pay no attention to the Ambassador’s directions. I replied that, having told them the orders I had received, they were free to act as they thought fit and that I was not going to be a Cerberus, but suggested that they should remonstrate with Sir Stratford and not with me.
Sir Stratford seems to have been satisfied with his selection of Mr. Hay as his confidential attaché, for shortly after he writes in a note dated from Buyukdere to Mr. Hay at the Embassy, ‘I have welcomed your first communication to me in writing. All quite clear. Everything necessary, nothing superfluous.’