Dans cette vue, désirant accélérer le plus possible le moment où ces démarches pourront avoir lieu à Constantinople, les Plénipotentiaires des Quatre Cours ont jugé opportun de faire signaler sans le moindre délai à Méhémet Ali, la voie qui lui est encore ouverte pour rentrer en grace auprès de son Souverain, et obtenir sa réintégration dans le Pachalic de l'Egypte, nonobstant les événemens décisifs qui se sont déclarés contre lui. En conséquence il a été convenu en outre de communiquer à l'Ambassadeur de la Sublime Porte, Chékib Effendi, le présent Mémorandum ainsi que l'instructon qui s'y trouve annexée. THE instruction addressed to Lord Ponsonby on the 15th of October last, in consequence of a deliberation which had taken place between the Plenipotentiaries of Austria, Great Britain, Prussia, and Russia, recorded the propriety of the Representatives of the Four Courts at Constantinople being authorised to announce to the Sublime Porte, "that their respective Governments, in conformity with the stipulations of the seventh paragraph_of_the Separate Act annexed to the Convention of July 15, deem it their duty strongly to recommend to the Government of His Highness, that, in case Mehemet Ali should submit without delay, and should consent to restore the Ottoman fleet, to withdraw his troops from the whole of Syria, from Adana, Candia, Arabia, and the Holy Cities, His Highness should be pleased not only to reinstate Mehemet Ali in his functions as Pasha of Egypt, but at the same time to grant him the hereditary investiture of the said Pashalic, according to the conditions laid down in the Convention of July 15, it being well understood that this hereditary title should be liable to revocation, if Mehemet Ali, or one of his successors, should infringe the aforesaid conditions." The advantage of addressing to the Sublime Porte a communication couched in the sense above-mentioned, was unanimously admitted by the Four Courts. Nevertheless, in order to make still more apparent the just respect which is due to the rights of His Highness, the Cabinet of Vienna was of opinion that the advice which the Representatives of the Four Powers should be called upon to address to the Divan, relative to the reinstatement of Mehemet Ali in the Pashalic of Egypt, ought not to be put forth at Constantinople, until after Mehemet Ali should have taken the preliminary step of applying to his Sovereign for pardon, submitting himself to the determinations of His Highness. Taking into consideration that this opinion of the Cabinet of Vienna serves as a fresh proof of the respect which the Courts, parties to the Convention of July 15, entertain for the inviolability of the Sultan's rights of Sovereignty and independence; considering, moreover, the necessity of speedily bringing the existing crisis in the Levant to a pacific solution, in conformity with the true interests, as likewise with the dignity of the Porte; the Plenipotentiaries of the said Courts have unanimously resolved to adopt the course above pointed out, in order that Mehemet Ali's application for pardon and his submission should precede the friendly measures which the Allied Representatives will be instructed to adopt, in order to incline the 1 Porte to grant its pardon to Mehemet Ali. With this view, the Plenipotentiaries of the Four Powers being desirous of hastening as much as possible the moment when it will be possible for those measures to take place at Constantinople, have judged it fitting to cause to be pointed out without the least delay to Mehemet Ali, the way which is still open to him to regain the pardon of his Sovereign, and to obtain his reinstatement in the Pashalic of Egypt, notwithstanding the decisive events which have declared themselves against him. In consequence it was further agreed to communicate to the Ambassador of the Sublime Porte, Chekib Effendi, the present Memorandum, as likewise the instruction thereunto annexed. My Lords, Viscount Palmerston to the Lords of the Admiralty. Foreign Office, November 14, 1840. THE Four Powers which, together with the Porte, are parties to the Treaty of the 15th of July, have resolved to recommend to the Porte, through their Representatives at Constantinople, that if Mehemet Ali shall at an early moment make his submission to the Sultan, and agree to restore immediately the Turkish fleet, and to cause his troops to evacuate the whole of Syria, the district of Adana, the Island of Candia, Arabia, and the Holy Cities, the Sultan should, notwithstanding the decree by which he has deprived Mehemet Ali of the Government of Egypt, reinstate Mehemet Ali in that Pashalic. In furtherance of_that_resolution, it has been determined by the Representatives of the Four Powers at London, that the intentions of the Four Powers, in this respect, should be made known to Mehemet Ali through the Admiral commanding in the Mediterranean. I have, therefore, to signify to your Lordships Her Majesty's pleasure that instructions be given to Sir Robert Stopford, directing him to send immediately a competent officer to Alexandria, in order to make the following communication to Mehemet Ali. The officer so to be sent, will, on his arrival at Alexandria, demand to have an interview with Mehemet Ali, in the presence of Boghos Bey, in order to make to Mehemet Ali a communication from Her Majesty's Government. When admitted, he should state to Mehemet Ali that he is ordered by the British Government to inform him, that if he will make immediate submission to the Sultan, and will deliver into the hands of the officer so sent a written engagement to restore, without further delay, the Turkish fleet, and to cause his troops immediately to evacuate the whole of Syria, the district of Adana, the Island of Candia, Arabia, and the Holy Cities, the Four Powers will recommend to the Sultan to reinstate Mehemet Ali in the Pashalic of Egypt. But the officer will state that this recommendation will be given by the Four Powers, only in the event of the prompt submission of Mehemet Ali, and that the officer is directed to remain three days at Alexandria, to know the decision of Mehemet Ali, and to convey it to Constantinople. The officer employed should put down the foregoing communication in writing, and after having read it to Mehemet Ali, he should deliver to him the paper on which it is written. If, at the end of the three days, Mehemet Ali should not have determined to make his submission to the Sultan, the officer should re-embark, and should proceed to Constantinople to make his report to Her Majesty's Ambassador at that Court. If Mehemet Ali should at any time during the three days deliver to the officer the written engagement above mentioned, the officer should immediately proceed with it to Constantinople. But the officer should require that the written document to be given to him by Mehemet Ali, should be placed in his hands open, so that he may be able to inform himself of its contents; and he will decline to convey it to Constantinople, if he should find that it does not contain the above-mentioned engagement. I am, &c., (Signed) PALMERSTON. No. 23. Viscount Palmerston to the Lords of the Admiralty. My Lords, Foreign Office, November 14, 1840. WITH reference to my other letter of this day's date, I have to signify to your Lordships the Queen's pleasure that the officer who may be sent by Sir Robert Stopford to Alexandria, should be instructed, that if the written document which Mehemet Ali may deliver to him for the purpose of its being transmitted to Constantinople, should contain the expression of a desire on the part of Mehemet Ali to obtain hereditary tenure of the Pashalic of Egypt, the officer shall not on that account decline to receive and to convey the document, provided it shall also contain the engagement mentioned in my other letter of this day. I am, &c., (Signed) No. 24. PALMERSTON. My Lords, Viscount Palmerston to the Lords of the Admiralty. Foreign Office, November 14, 1840. WITH further reference to my other 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. Earl Granville to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received November 15.) My Lord, Paris, November 13, 1840. IN my despatch of the 6th instant, I stated that M. Guizot had read to me a despatch which he had written to Baron Bourqueney, and which the French Chargé d'Affaires had received instructions to communicate to your Lordship. I have to express my regret at having led your Lordship into error in regard to the nature of that communication. M. Guizot has since shown to me the paper he read. It was a private letter, and not an official despatch, which he addressed to Baron Bourqueney; and the French Minister had no intention, in directing the Baron to put your Lordship in possession of the contents of this private letter, to make an official proposition to Her Majesty's Government. M. Guizot was desirous, before he made any official proposition to your Lordship with regard to France becoming a party to the settlement of the Eastern Question, to ascertain whether it were likely that such proposition would be favourably received, and with this view he wrote his private letter to the Baron de Bourqueney. Baron Bourqueney having collected from your Lordship's conversation, that the proposal of any arrangement more favourable to Mehemet Ali than the Treaty of July would not be listened to by the Allies of the Sultan, abstained from entering into any explanation of different projects of peace between the Porte and the Pasha, founded upon that basis, to which the French Government was ready to agree. M. Guizot has told me, unofficially, that according to the first of those projects, the hereditary government of the Pashalic of Acre, as well as that of Egypt, would be conceded to Mehemet Ali; that, according to the second, the Pashalics of Acre and of Tripoli for life, with the hereditary government of Egypt; and, according to a third project, the hereditary government of Egypt, with the Pashalic of Acre and the government of Candia for life. With respect to the suspension of hostilities on a future day to be fixed, and the opening a negotiation for peace, on the basis of the actual state of military occupation at the time of the armistice, as suggested by M. Guizot in the conversation I held with him on Friday last, he said to me this day, that he does not consider that suggestion, which he made only with reference to another of a similar kind made by Baron Bulow to M. Bourqueney, as an official proposition addressed to Her Majesty's Government, but merely as an intimation that in case the Allied Powers should desire the concurrence of France in the settlement of the affairs of the East, the French Government would be ready to enter into negotiation upon that basis. (Signed) I have, &c., GRANVILLE. No. 26. Earl Granville to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received November 15.) (Extract.) Paris, November 13, 1840. THE publication of your Lordship's despatch of the 2nd of this month, in which you reply to M. Thiers' despatch of the 8th of October, relative to the deposition of Mehemet Ali, has made great sensation in the political society of Paris. It was nearly the sole subject of conversation at the hotels of the Ministers who received company last night; and M. Guizot was closely questioned by some of his supporters who are the advocates of a pacific policy, as to the construction he put upon your Lordship's despatch, and had some difficulty in satisfying his interrogators that your Lordship, in asserting the right of the Sultan to appoint whom he pleased to govern particular portions of his dominions, did not mean to declare the intention of expelling Mehemet Ali from Egypt. M. Guizot expressed to me his belief, a belief, he said, founded on his reliance on your word, that it was not the intention of the Allies, if they succeeded in driving the Egyptians out of Syria, to attack Egypt. My Lord, No. 27. Viscount Palmerston to Earl Granville. Foreign Office, November 16, 1840. I HAVE received your Excellency's despatch of the 13th instant, explaining an error in the statement made in your despatch of the 6th instant, relative to the nature of the communication which M. Guizot had desired to make to me, through M. de Bourqueney, before he made any official proposition to me with regard to France becoming a party to the settlement of the Eastern Question. With reference to this explanation, I have to state to your Excellency, that it must be apparent that the rapid progress of events in Syria has put all contingent suggestions of an earlier date out of the question, even if in any case such suggestions could, as being departures from the Treaty of the 15th July, have been subjects for discussion. (Signed) I am, &c., PALMERSTON. E My Lord, No. 28. Viscount Palmerston to Earl Granville. Foreign Office, November 16, 1840. I INCLOSE for your Excellency's information, copies of three letters which I addressed on the 14th instant to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, signifying to their Lordships the Queen's commands as to instructions to be sent to Admiral Sir Robert Stopford to make a communication to Mehemet Ali, in the name of the Four Powers who concluded with the Porte the Treaty of the 15th of July. My Lord, Viscount Palmerston to Earl Granville. Foreign Office, November 16, 1840. IN answer to your Excellency's despatch of the 13th instant, I have to instruct you to state to M. Guizot, that he is quite right in stating, that I said to him before he left England that it is not the intention or wish of the Allies to expel Mehemet Ali from Egypt, and that the object of the operations now in progress is to restore Syria to the direct authority of the Sultan; and the instructions to Sir Robert Stopford, of which I send you copies, and which you will read confidentially to M. Guizot, are a proof of the sincerity of the statement which I made to him. But M. Guizot must himself see, that the Sultan and his Allies would be in an embarrassing situation, if, after they had expelled the Egyptians from Syria, Mehemet Ali should still refuse to make his submission to the Sultan, should persist in retaining the Turkish fleet, and should remain in a posture of armed rebellion. It may be hoped, however, that there is little chance of such a state of things; and it is probable that the communication which Sir Robert Stopford has been instructed to make to Mehemet Ali, may bring about a satisfactory settlement of these affairs. PALMERSTON. I am, &c., (Signed) No. 30. Colonel Sir Charles F. Smith to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received October 6.) (Extract.) H. M. S." Princess Charlotte," THE orders I had the honour of receiving from the Master-General of the Ordnance, as to stores and detachments, prior to my sailing from Gibraltar, have all been duly executed by me. Considerations of some importance with Sir Robert Stopford, and a belief that immediate advantages, on certain local questions, must result from an interview with Lord Ponsonby, led to an arrangement for my going to Constantinople with despatches; but, I believe, quarantine regulations are likely to put a stop to it. In which case, I will venture to send his Excellency an extract from this communication, in the expectation that his powers may enable him, in part, to anticipate your Lordship's commands, and do much towards guiding us in our present duties and future proceedings with the Turks. No. 31. Colonel Sir Charles F. Smith to Viscount Palmerston.-(Received October 21.) My Lord, Therapia, Constantinople, October 2, 1840. AFTER despatching the letter I had the honour of addressing to your Lordship on the 19th ultimo, it was ascertained that, by passing Constan |