“I have two flags taken at Sidon, one by Corporal James Symons; some mark of favour to him would do good. I hope, in the course of the winter, to be at Constantinople if operations cease here, which I hope will not be the case till the coast becomes dangerous. “I have the honour to remain, “Your Lordship’s obedient servant, “CHARLES NAPIER.” “To the Right Hon. Lord Ponsonby.” I also very naturally applied to Colonel Hodges: “My dear Hodges, * * * * * “In the Oriental Observer the following paragraph appears: “‘Colonel Hodges, Her Britannic Majesty’s Consul General at Alexandria, is on board, and has the flag of Ibrahim Pacha, taken in the last engagement, which, on his arrival at Constantinople, he will present to the Sultan.’ “If this is true, this flag must have been sent to you in a surreptitious manner, for I feel assured you never would have lent yourself to such a transaction.” A few days after this I received another letter from the Ambassador, acquainting me that he had presented the standard in question to the Sultan, in form, and made the following speech: “Sire, I solicited the honour of an audience of your Imperial Majesty, that I might lay at the foot of your Majesty’s throne the standard taken in battle by your Majesty’s valiant troops, and sent to me from the officer who had the happiness to direct the action of those brave men in the glorious combat of the 10th of October. “A few weeks since, some rebellious subjects of your Majesty boasted that the standard should be displayed before the capital of your empire. The standard is now here, a monument of the triumph of your Majesty’s arms, and an evidence of the error of those who proclaimed the weakness of the Sublime Porte, and the power of the Pacha of Egypt.” His Lordship’s letter and his Lordship’s speech puzzled me more than the Oriental Observer. I began to doubt whether I had commanded the Turkish army, or had ever been on the heights of Boharsof at all, as I most certainly never sent this flag to Lord Ponsonby, and I again wrote to his Lordship for an explanation. “My Lord, “I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, the 25th of September, inclosing the copy of a speech your Lordship made to the Sultan on presenting the standard of Ibrahim Pacha to His Majesty, taken by the Sultan’s troops under my command, at the battle of Boharsof. “Your Lordship says it was sent to you by the officer who had the happiness to direct the action of those brave men in the glorious contest of the 10th of October. I fear some deception has been practised on your Lordship. I never sent the standard, nor did I ever see it. General Jochmus reported to me it was taken, and when I desired it might be produced, he made inquiry, and found it had been lost.