Charles Napier

“ Suffice it to say, that the most distressing vexations, and the most cruel oppression, have driven us to despair, and have renewed in us the ardent desire of returning to the paternal government of our august Sovereign, Abdul Medjid. Is not this a legitimate desire from a loyal people? France, a nation so great, so magnanimous, that has extended liberty everywhere, that has for ages spilt so much blood to establish it in her own Government, refuses us to-day her powerful influence to obtain the enjoyment of the same good! ”

“ Boats of all sizes crowd the river, conveying to Alexandria, corn, chopped straw, cotton, and various other products of the upper country. Most of these boats were the property of the Pacha, for he monopolized the greater part of the trade, as well as most of the produce of the country; and if I may judge by their appearance, Mehemet Ali was as bad a ship’s husband, as he was an agriculturist; but he has a mania of doing every thing himself. He was rapidly making himself owner of all the land in Egypt, as well as of all the trade. ”

“ Abandoned by the world, we implore the protection of Great Britain. In the humanity of her 307Government, and in the generosity of one of the greatest and most powerful nations, rest all our hopes in this cruel crisis. All that we demand is, to be allowed to return to our legitimate Sovereign Abdul Medjid,—a natural desire coming from loyal subjects. Why should two millions and a-half of His Highness’ subjects be sacrificed to the personal ambition of one man, who himself, forgetful of the benefits conferred upon him, has turned his sword against the bosom of his own Sovereign? ”

“ If Ibrahim had taken back to Egypt his large army unharmed, Mehemet Ali would possess a force that might encourage him to resist, and might possibly make him stronger than ever. The energy of General Jochmus has rendered all doubt and delusion on the subject of the military question impossible, and has shown, that under able command the Turkish troops are more than a match for the Egyptian army and General; his energy has also taken from Mehemet Ali the best means he could have to support resistance, and therefore has afforded the best ground for hoping he will submit. ”

“ What crime have we committed to cause your Majesty’s resplendent face to be turned away from us, and thereby we should be left to be thrashed under the edges of an unbearable tyranny and of an insupportable iniquity and oppression, while our fathers and forefathers, ever since a period of four hundred years, have continually enjoyed the happiness and comfort of the protection of your Majesty’s Imperial Standard? ”

“ How far the Porte will keep their promise we shall see; but, I confess, with such a man as Izzet Pacha at the head of the Turkish Government, and who is only putting into execution what he planned when in Syria, and for which he was recalled, I confess I have no reliance upon him, or indeed upon any Turkish Pacha. They are all alike, and quite incapable of preventing the fate of the Ottoman empire, which is tottering to its base, and the sooner it goes the better; it is unworthy of preserving. ”

“ Wearied in waiting for an opportunity of practising his well-disciplined cavalry and artillery upon a detachment of Turkish infantry, Ibrahim, on the 21st instant, broke up from Zachle and Malaka in full retreat on Damascus, where he now is with 30,000 men, including 7000 cavalry and artillery. He has pushed a corps of 3000 irregular cavalry to El Mezereib, on the road towards Mecca,—the only route now open to him for a final retreat into Egypt,—whither I calculate on his going the moment he receives from Alexandria the political news brought by the Oriental. ”

“ Syria is divided, as before, into pachalics, and influential Turks are appointed, as usual, to govern them. There is neither law nor justice. The Turk sits all day smoking his pipe, and the people are plundered by their underlings as usual; and they now feel they were better off under the government of Mehemet Ali than they are now under their former masters. They pay the taxes they formerly did under the Porte; they pay Mehemet Ali’s taxes in addition, and are plundered into the bargain by their old rulers. ”

“ The Syrian and Egyptian question being now brought to a close, by the total evacuation of the former country, and Mehemet Ali’s establishment in the hereditary pachalic of Egypt almost on his own terms, it is time to inquire what has been gained by measures that had well nigh plunged Europe into a war, the end of which no man could have foreseen. ”

“ The humanity which so eminently distinguishes all the acts of the British Government,—the readiness with which it steps forward to the assistance of the oppressed,—the anxiety that it displays to make the people of the East share in the benefits enjoyed by that portion of their fellow-creatures that are blessed with happier Governments,—embolden the Syrians to appeal to England for her mediation to rescue them from the destruction with which Mehemet Ali threatens them now. ”

“ The letters given clearly show that Mehemet Ali could do no more. He promised to deliver up the fleet, Candia, Syria, and the Holy Cities. The Grand Vizier replied, as has been shown: “The fleet is ours; Alexandria is ours;” and when Captain Fanshawe talks to him about peace, he said, “Peace is made between two Governments; and not between a sovereign and one of his rebel subjects.” This indeed was talking big; the Grand Vizier forgot that Mehemet Ali had twice nearly knocked at the gates of Constantinople, and had he not been interfered with, would have dethroned his Master. ”

“ So long as you are satisfied that he is acting in good faith, and doing everything possible to maintain order and peace towards the Turkish troops and inhabitants of the neighbourhood, you will remain with him, taking occasion at all times to point out and to urge upon him the propriety of hastening, by any means in his power, the evacuation of Syria, in the terms of Mehemet Ali Pacha’s order to his son Ibrahim Pacha. ”

“ In my next interview with Boghos Bey he again spoke of the disappointment and dissatisfaction of the Pacha. He said he had done everything to gain the good will of England; that the interests of Great Britain and Egypt were identified; that at one time England had encouraged him, and even permitted Egyptians to enter her dockyards and ships to gain instruction, and that now she wanted to put him down altogether. All this he very naturally attributed to Lord Ponsonby, and Mehemet Ali often said, he was not at war with either Turkey or England, but with the English Ambassador. ”

“ Translation of a Petition (in Copy) from the Nations and Inhabitants of Mount Lebanon and Syria, to Sultan Abdul Medjid of Constantinople.
A Petition. We humbly supplicate, at the threshold of the Divan of the Mighty Sovereign, the Benevolent and Just, the Venerated Authority and Daring Lion, the Lord of the Sword and of the Pen— (viz. of Death and Mercy) —the Shadow of God over the Earth, our Honoured Sultan, Abdul Medjid Khan, may God perpetuate the days of his flourishing reign for ever and ever, Amen. ”

“ I hasten to reply to the despatch which your Excellency has done me the honour to address to me under date of the 27th November (9th Dec.) , and the arrival of which was almost immediately preceded by that of the reports which you entrusted to the Marquis of Clanricarde. Before entering further into detail upon the principal subject of that despatch, my first desire, M. le Baron, is to communicate to you the lively satisfaction with which the Emperor received the happy intelligence of the submission of Mehemet Ali. The Treaty of London has at last been executed in spite of all opposition. ”

“ I said, that in all affairs, one must be content with what is practicable, and not endanger what has been obtained by striving after that which is unattainable. I said, that it is clear that Mehemet Ali has made his submission in the expectation that he should obtain hereditary tenure in Egypt: now if, after all, this tenure were to be refused to him, what would probably be the consequence?—renewed revolt, or an attitude, at least, of passive resistance. ”

“ We therefore pray and supplicate your paternal benignity and clemency not to abandon us, and to let it be said that a vast and numerous population has been left to be immolated as a sacrifice to the selfish ambition and sordid avarice of a single man, a tyrant, totally void of feeling and humanity, who not only proved himself ungrateful to, and forgetful of, your Majesty’s great bounty to him, but dared, most perfidiously, to turn his sword towards your sacred person. ”

“ The march of Ibrahim on Gaza, by the south of the Dead Sea, shows very clearly that he never had the intention of entering Palestine, and that his crossing the Jordan was a manœuvre to mislead the Turks, in which he completely succeeded, and arrived safe at Gaza, without having encountered a single outpost of the Turkish army. ”

“ Beyrout, December 2, 1840. “I have received, by the Prometheus, your letter and the Convention which you have entered into with Boghos Bey, for the evacuation of Syria.
“I am sorry to say that I cannot ratify, or approve of this measure: setting aside the unauthorized manner and the unnecessary haste with which so important a document was executed, with the Commander-in-Chief within two days’ sail of you, the articles of that Convention, if carried into execution, in the present state of affairs in Syria, would be productive of much more evil than good, and occasion much embarrassment. ”

“ I saw the Pacha last night; he had a very long conversation with the Turkish Minister, who seems to be aware of the impossibility of imposing such terms on the Pacha, and he has sent his steamer to Constantinople for fresh instructions. I do hope they will be more reasonable at Constantinople. I do not think it would have been possible to have concocted a better plan to throw discord and confusion into a country, than the terms they have proposed to him. Egypt is making rapid strides to improvement, and is now beginning to feel the advantages of Mehemet Ali’s system. ”

“ I partake of the opinion of the Internuncio. Mehemet Ali’s proceeding appears to me in fact to be in conformity with the spirit of the Memorandum. I think besides, that Mehemet Ali having solicited his pardon of the Sultan, the Sublime Porte ought not to act with too great severity against him; that, on the contrary, it ought to lend itself to explanations, and to evince consideration and moderation, not only for the interest of the Porte itself, but also for the general interest of Europe. ”

“ The season of the year was very unpropitious for embarking troops on the coast of Syria, nevertheless Mehemet Ali, who had no idea of difficulties or the risk he ran of losing his ships at Gaza, which is at the very bottom of the Mediterranean, and from whence there is no escape should the wind blow on the land, sent three transports, two steamers, two corvettes, and a brig of war, from Alexandria, with directions to carry the troops to Damietta. The surf is generally so high on the coast that six days out of seven embarking troops is attended with great danger. ”

“ I have the honour of informing you that, according to the last despatches received from Gaza, almost all the Egyptian army is already assembled in that town; that it is believed there that Ibrahim Pacha will arrive to-day or to-morrow; that although the cavalry regiments are already on their way towards Egypt, the infantry being too much fatigued, it will be desirable on every account to transport it to Egypt by sea, and thus, according to the desire of both parties, to spare the loss of men ”

“ The Turks are not sailors, and never will be, and are therefore much better adapted to serve in vessels moved by steam than in line-of-battle ships, where seamanship cannot be dispensed with.
The Porte has regained Syria, and with it a most extensive kingdom and discontented population, and instead of keeping her army at home to defend her against Russia, her natural enemy, she is obliged to maintain a large force in Syria to keep down her justly irritated subjects, whom she has neither the talent nor inclination to govern either with prudence or decency. ”

“ During peace, Egypt can be protected by 18,000 soldiers; this number shall not be exceeded; and as the land and sea forces of Egypt are at the disposal of the empire, the Porte, in case of war, will fix the augmentation which it is requisite to give to them. In the other parts of the empire, the soldier, after a service of five years, is free; this rule shall be enforced in Egypt. Consequently, there shall be chosen from the existing army, and according to the periods of service, 20,000 men, of whom 18,000 shall serve in Egypt, and 2000 shall be sent to Constantinople. ”

“ France is as well aware as we are, that steam navigation having got to such perfection, Egypt has become almost necessary to England as the half-way house to India, and indeed ought to be an English colony. Now if we wished to weaken Mehemet Ali, with a view, in the event of the breakup of the Turkish empire, which is not far distant, to have seized Egypt as our share of the spoil, we were perfectly right in our policy ”