On the 16th of June Captain Caillier, an aide-de-camp of Marshal Soult’s, arrived at Alexandria, with orders to call upon Mehemet Ali to suspend hostilities, whereupon the Pacha gave him a letter to Ibrahim, desiring him not to pass the frontier; and, if in the Turkish territory, to halt, unless Hafiz Pacha continued to advance; he was then to engage him. On the 16th of June the first division of the Egyptian squadron sailed, and the remainder on the following day. Captain Caillier left Alexandria on the 19th for Alexandretta. On the 25th and 26th of June, orders were sent by the English and French Governments to their naval Commanders-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, to proceed to the coast of Syria, and prevent a collision between the Turkish and Egyptian fleets, and urge them to return to their respective ports, in the event of their having sailed. They were also directed to open a communication with the Turkish and Egyptian Generals, and exert their influence to bring about a suspension of arms, and a wider separation between the hostile armies. Should the Turkish General refuse to agree to these propositions, it was to be pointed out to him that all communication by sea would be closed, and his supplies cut off. If the refusal, on the other hand, should proceed from Ibrahim Pacha, similar representations were to be made to him, and communication cut off between Alexandria and Syria. In some respects the English instructions differed from the French. The English Admiral had no orders to cut off the Turkish supplies by sea, in the event of their refusing the armistice; nor had he any orders to receive a Russian squadron should they tender their services; but the English Admiral was at liberty to force the Dardanelles should a Russian fleet arrive at Constantinople, which the French Admiral was not authorized to do without fresh instructions. On the 2nd of July a further instruction was sent to Sir Robert Stopford in accordance with the instructions of the French Admiral, to receive a Russian force should it offer its co-operation[6]. Footnote 6: See _Levant Papers_, Part I., pp. 90, 93, 101, 122. Lord Ponsonby having written to Sir Robert Stopford, that war was inevitable between the Turks and Egyptians, the Admiral, on the 7th of June, being then in Palermo Bay, despatched Sir Thomas Fellowes in the Vanguard, together with a brig, to the Levant, to watch the Turkish squadron, but with positive orders to observe the strictest neutrality. At this time the Commander-in-Chief had received no instructions how to act.