The Vizier inquired why an English army could not be spared to attack Alexandria. To this I replied, we had already too much on our hands; what with the troubles in Canada, the war in India, the prospect of an outbreak in China, and the Chartists at home, it was impossible to spare troops, and that I was sure Parliament would not grant supplies for such an expedition. This ended our conversation. Hosrew was strongly suspected of being in the interest, if not the pay of Russia; how far that is true, is hard to say. The Admiral obtained firmans to see the mosques and other curiosities at Constantinople, which have been so often described that I shall not torment the reader with a repetition of an often told tale. After passing ten days pleasantly enough between Constantinople and Therapia, and being entertained by the ambassadors, we embarked on board the Carysfort, which bore the Admiral’s flag, and, in tow of a steamer, left Therapia, and shortly after anchored abreast of the Sultan’s Asiatic palace. A royal salute was then fired, and returned by the batteries in the vicinity of the Imperial residence. Nothing can be more beautiful than the passage down the Bosphorus, and nothing more magnificent than the Sultan’s palaces and the country-houses situated on its banks. Mahmoud was fond of building, and just before his death had finished a new palace on the European shore. With Colonel Napier’s permission, I give the account of an interview with the Sultan in nearly his own words. “The household troops, such as they were, received the Admiral and his suite on landing, and we proceeded into a handsome apartment on the ground floor, where we were received by the Sultan’s brother-in-law, the Seraskier, Halil Pacha. Pipes were in this instance dispensed with, and after partaking of coffee and sweetmeats, handed round in gold filagree cups and saucers, richly studded with diamonds, a very common-place conversation took place, through the medium of the interpreter, between Sir Robert and the commander-in-chief of the Turkish forces. “In about a quarter of an hour his ‘Highness’ sent word that he was ready to receive us, whereupon the whole suite, consisting of about a dozen British officers, proceeded, ‘booted‘ as we were, up a magnificent staircase, and through numerous apartments, the floors of which shone forth in all the splendour of the rarest and most highly-polished woods; and whilst the Turkish courtiers glided noiselessly along, in their purple slippers of thin morocco leather, a most martial tramp proclaimed our entrance into the presence chamber, where, on a sofa, sat the effeminate-looking Sultan, girded with the Sword of Osman. “Abdul Medjid, the youthful Sultan, far from being A man of solemn port, Shawled to the nose and bearded to the eyes,