The Commander-in-Chief, however, may have had other instructions, which do not appear in the _Levant Papers_, for the guidance of his conduct, or he might have thought that the force under his orders, without the co-operation of the French squadron, was not sufficient to have enforced his demand on the Capudan Pacha to return to his allegiance if supported in his treason by the Egyptian fleet. But, nevertheless, I think the experiment might have been tried, and probably would have succeeded to a certain extent, because the entrance into the harbour of Alexandria is so difficult and so shallow that large ships must be considerably lightened before they can enter, and neither the Egyptian nor Turkish Admiral would have ventured to weaken their squadron by either entering in detail or lightening the ships in the presence of a British squadron hostile to their measures. The Commander-in-Chief, however, as I have before said, may have had other instructions, or he took a different view of the case, for instead of going off Alexandria he repaired to Besika Bay, where he was joined the same evening by the Powerful, Ganges, and Implacable. At this point, then, my history of the War in Syria commences. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE WAR IN SYRIA. ------------------------- CHAPTER I. State of Affairs in the Levant in August, 1839—The Author’s Interview with Hosrew Pacha—Sir Robert Stopford at Constantinople; his Interview with the Sultan—Impolitic Junction of the English and French Fleets—Sir John Louis takes the command of the English Squadron—The Author tenders his Resignation. The loss of the battle of Nizib, the death of the Sultan Mahmoud, and the defection of the Turkish fleet, threatened to place Turkey at the mercy of Mehemet Ali, or under the protection of Russia. At the earnest desire of France Ibrahim Pacha halted, and in the beginning of August, 1839, the combined squadrons of England and France assembled in Besika Bay, ready to proceed to Constantinople, should Ibrahim march, or should the Russians leave Sebastapol. The allied ministers, however, do not appear to have considered how the squadrons were to pass the Dardanelles; the current runs constantly to the southward, and the prevailing winds are generally from the opposite direction. It rarely happens that a favourable breeze sufficiently strong springs up to enable ships to pass the Hellespont; and we had not an adequate number of steam vessels to take the ships in tow. Russia had a strong fleet and army at Sebastapol, and could approach the Sultan’s capital at pleasure, whereas we were powerless, and as for being able to protect the Porte from a sudden attack, either from Russia or Ibrahim Pacha, we might just as well have been in Malta Harbour.