“Things are going on here just as bad as possible. I do not mean as to military affairs, for I know nothing about them, except that the troops are divided between Beyrout, Sidon, Tyre, and Acre; but the Pacha is disgusting everybody. The troops of the Grand Prince are left sometimes without provisions, or any thing else, for days. I send you the last letter I had from him. The appointments to the different places are made without judgment; and I verily believe, if the war lasts, Ibrahim Pacha will get a party in his favour. I understand Izzet openly says when Ibrahim is put down, the next thing to do is to disarm the mountaineers. This, I suspect, will be no easy matter; and I see no prospect of any good coming out of all this to the Sultan; he ought at once to give them the same government they have at Samos. “I before mentioned to your Lordship that Sidon, Beyrout, and Tripoli should be added to the government of the Grand Prince; and as the mountaineers have land in the Bekaa, if that and Anti-Lebanon could be also added to their government, they would be quite content, and be the best supporters the Sultan could have. If Mehemet Ali was to offer it, even now, and they could depend upon him, I verily believe he would be supported. “The Turks in Beyrout treat the mountaineers very ill, and they are beginning to find they will not be a bit better off than they were. At present I have great influence over them, and can make them do just what I like, but I am unfortunately going to Alexandria, where I do not believe anything can be done without troops, and there will be no one here to look after their interests. My son is come out to join me; he is Major in the 46th. I have some idea of sending him to the Emir, but he ought to have Turkish rank; he has great talent, great application, and knows a little Arabic, and will soon know more. If you could get him Turkish rank, as Major-General, he would be most useful. There is another thing that ought to be done immediately, viz., to send one who could be _trusted_, with a sum of money, say 5000_l._, to distribute amongst the mountaineers whose houses have been burnt. I was yesterday at Bechfaya; there is a town near it entirely destroyed, and the inhabitants without shelter or provisions, and the winter coming on; they cannot go into the plain to cultivate their lands, and there will certainly be a famine if magazines are not formed to provide against it.