After thanking me for the favour I had done him, and assuring me that he had long wished to make my acquaintance, he desired to know if I would smoke a chibouk; and was much amused when I told him that if he desired I should return to my own country, to prove my gratitude to the Turks for all the kindness and courtesy which they had shewn to me, he must exempt me from the peril of such an encounter with “the scented weed.” He accepted the apology at once, assuring me that he was desirous only to give me pleasure; although, as I was the first Frank lady to whom he had ever spoken, he might probably not succeed in proving his sincerity. Sweetmeats were then handed to me by a slave; and subsequently coffee by the fair hands of Conjefèm Hanoum, but my poor young friend was still excluded from the courtesy. Water is never offered in the presence of a great personage.
I had not been half an hour with the Minister ere I was convinced that he was rather a good than a great man. There was a gentleness and benevolence about him that were delightful; and as he stroked down his white beard, and looked towards me with a smile of mingled amusement and curiosity, I thought that I had never seen a more “green old age;” but although he touched on a variety of subjects, and asked a variety of questions, they were of the most commonplace description; and he appeared infinitely more gratified by the admiration which I expressed of the magnificent marriage festivities of the Princess, than by the compliments that I paid to the rapid progress of civilization and improvement among the people.
The only subject in which he took a marked interest, was the degree of popularity enjoyed by the present Turkish Ambassador in London.
He asked if I had known Nourri Effendi, and I answered affirmatively: upon which he immediately inquired if he were popular in London.
I replied candidly that since he did me the honour to ask my opinion, I should say, judging from what had fallen under my own observation, decidedly not. That I believed Nourri Effendi to be a very good man; but that he was extremely ill-calculated to make his way in England; or to give so favourable an impression of the nation which he represented, as, since I had resided among the Turkish people, I felt anxious should be produced on the minds of my own countrymen. That he could not speak any European language, had forbidding manners, and made no attempt to identify himself with the feelings and habits of the people among whom he resided.
He next mentioned Namik Pasha, and said laughingly: “I know that the ladies of England preferred him; and I have heard that the ladies are very influential in your country—Yes, yes—the Pasha was young, well-looking, and gallant; and spoke French fluently. Nourri Effendi will never make his way among you as his predecessor did, but he is, nevertheless, a good man; and perhaps they were not aware in England that he was Secretary to the Porte.”
I observed that Namik Pasha lent himself willingly to European customs, and made himself acceptable to every society into which he entered; and that, in so far, he was consequently infinitely better fitted than his successor for the post of Ambassador at a foreign Court. The Minister looked steadily at me for a moment, and then said playfully; “You are half a diplomatist yourself. I had heard as much before—this is the first time in my life that I ever conversed with a Frank female; and since we have fallen upon this subject, I should like to ask you one more question before we abandon it. You have now been many months in the country; and were you at liberty to select the next Turkish Ambassador to England, tell me frankly whom should you choose?”
I could not forbear smiling in my turn: but I replied without hesitation; “Reschid Bey—the present Minister at Paris.—It is such individuals as Reschid Bey who prove to Europe what the Turks already are, and what they are capable of becoming—Men of fine mind and gentlemanlike manners, as well as of sound judgment and high character.—Had the Sublime Porte sent Reschid Bey to London, a year or two ago, the English would have had a more exalted opinion of its diplomacy than they now have.”
Little did I imagine when I thus undisguisedly gave my opinion of the Turkish Minister to Youssouf Pasha, that the Firman would be so soon despatched which contained his transfer to the Court of England; and I was not a little amused when I was told some time afterwards that the Reiss Effendi, in giving the information of Reschid Bey’s arrival in London to a friend of mine, added with a quiet smile: “You may as well tell your Frank friend that the new Ilchí is in England before her. She will perhaps be glad to hear that he is the individual whom she would have herself selected.”
From the Turkish Ambassador he digressed to the King of England, and assured me that there was no European Monarch for whom the Grand Seignior entertained a more affectionate regard. Indeed, he talked so long and so fondly, not only of our good Sovereign, but of his people also, that had I not previously known him to be deeply in the Russian interest, I should have believed him to be as sincere an Anglo-Turk as any individual throughout the Sultan’s dominions.