Whether Mehemet Ali was sincere in his desire to avoid hostilities with the Porte or not, is not very easy to divine; but his actions certainly seem in his favour. He not only remitted the tribute to the Porte, but he declared to M. Cochelet, the Consul-General of France, that if the troops of the Sultan were withdrawn on the other side of the Euphrates, he would order his army to retrograde, and direct Ibrahim to return to Damascus; nay more, if the Turks would retire still further, he would recall Ibrahim into Egypt; and if the Four Powers would guarantee peace, and procure him the hereditary succession, he would withdraw a great part of his army from Syria[4]. Footnote 4: See _Levant Papers_, Part I., p. 54. Notwithstanding all this, Lord Ponsonby, so early as the 20th of May, 1839, declared the Pacha the aggressor, and sided with Russia. He finishes a long despatch to Lord Palmerston with these remarkable words, “Russia has declared a truth—a limited truth—the Great Powers cannot deny it; their repeated declarations engage them to oppose the aggressor[5].” Footnote 5: Ibid., p. 29. In the beginning of May, Ibrahim seeing all prospect of peace at an end, left his agricultural pursuits at Khan Jouman, distant five hours from Aleppo, and immediately gave orders for the assembling of his army at the latter place. The army of Ibrahim was said to consist of 55,000 infantry, 10,000 cavalry, and 196 guns, besides 6000 irregular cavalry. That of the Sultan was supposed to amount to 80,000 men of all arms, and 170 guns. On the 7th of June Mehemet Ali received intelligence from Ibrahim that the Turks had driven back a detachment of Egyptian cavalry. He immediately invited the Consuls to a conference, and asked their advice as to his future conduct. They unanimously advised him to act on the defensive; and above all, not to send his fleet to sea, which he had determined on doing. This advice he decided for the present to follow, but a circumstance soon occurred to alter his determination. On the 9th of June the Turkish fleet sailed for the Dardanelles, under the command of the Capudan Pacha; Captain Walker of the British Navy embarked with him as his adviser; and the Capudan Pacha intended to remain six or eight days in the Dardanelles. On the same day, Mehemet Ali, having received letters from Ibrahim, giving an account that the advanced guard of the Turkish army had attacked some of his troops on the territory under his government, lost all patience, and, in spite of the remonstrance of the Consuls at Alexandria, sent orders to Ibrahim to drive the Turks out of his territory, and then march on the main body; and, if victorious, occupy Malatiyeh, Kharput, Urfah, and Diyarbekr.