This was the position into which the Pasha had desired to draw the Cretans. Their Assembly was perfectly legal, they having a firman which permitted them to meet unarmed, the Porte having long before seen the impolicy of depriving them of a custom which was of so great antiquity and reverence; but the Pasha hoped to give an illegal color to their refusal to obey his order, and, according to his habit of making his will the supreme law, determined to make use of their persistence in their rights to precipitate the collision which he knew they were unprepared for; and, having once excited armed resistance, even against an illegal use of authority, he confidently counted on the support not only of his own government, but of the consuls. To this end, he called a conference of the consular corps, at which, having stated the measures he had taken, he declared his intention to use the military force at his disposal to disperse the Assembly. In this conference, a division was shown as to the advisability of using force. The French consul (a Levantine[C] of the lowest order, a bastard of one of the De Lesseps family by a Jewish adventuress, and an intense hater of the Greeks ever since the society of Syra, where he was once _Chancelier de Consulat_, refused to recognize his mistress, a retired saltimbanque from a café chantant of the Champs Elysées) supported the Pasha in everything, and even urged him to greater arbitrariness. The English consul, Mr. Dickson, a man of the most humane character and entire honesty, had an unfortunate weakness before constituted authorities, and the greatest possible respect for the Turks, coupled with an Englishman's innate dislike for a Greek. He had his orders, moreover, to co-operate with his French colleague, and, with his good faith and unsuspecting nature, he was no match for his intriguing and mendacious yoke-fellow, who led him wherever he wished. It was like coupling a faithful mastiff to a dirty bazaar dog. These two supported the Pasha from very different motives, but with the same result. All the others opposed any violence as inexpedient and unjustifiable, being entirely assured of the peaceful intentions of the committee. Ismael opened the discussion by rehearsing his labors with the Assembly to induce them to submit and disperse, and declared that, having exhausted persuasion, he should employ force if the committee did not at once dissolve. Mr. Dickson said that his Excellency deserved great credit for his moderation, and hoped that he would continue to show the same quality, adding that thus far the Assembly had behaved in a strictly legal manner, being convoked in accordance with their privileges, but admitted that, if they refused to disperse on order, they rendered themselves amenable to force. M. Derché, the French consul, urged their immediate violent dispersal, but the others all declared their opinion that, the Assembly having met for a legal purpose, and having so far