“Had I not received a letter from the Admiralty direct, together with private ones from Lords Minto and Palmerston, approving of the Convention I entered into with Mehemet Ali, which Convention was based on the Treaty of the 15th of July, and approved of by the great Powers of Europe, who are now carrying it out, I should have considered your letter of the 15th of March, communicating their Lordships’ opinion, as intended to convey a sort of censure. “I am quite aware, when an officer takes upon himself the responsibility I did, there must be strong reasons to justify him; I took the same responsibility at Sidon and Boharsof, and had I been defeated I incurred the same risk of censure, and I trust, as long as I can benefit my country by incurring responsibility, I shall always possess strength of mind to do it. “I take this opportunity of observing how much I regret that you should have found it necessary, in disapproving of my Convention, to have expressed yourself in such harsh terms of me to Mehemet Ali, which placed me in a most unpleasant situation at Alexandria. “I have, &c., “CHAS. NAPIER, “To Admiral the Hon. Sir Robert Stopford, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., Malta.” * * * * * “Princess Charlotte, at Malta, March 23, 1841. “Sir, “I do not intend to enter into the political merits of your Convention with Mehemet Ali, which has been subsequently sanctioned by Her Majesty’s Government, but as Commander-in-Chief upon this station I think I should have signally failed in my duty if I had not represented to the Admiralty any act of an officer under my command which I considered to be contrary to the rules and customs of the naval service. “I am not aware of any harsh expression towards your proceedings, in my letter to Mehemet Ali, as I consider the words ‘hasty and unauthorized’ perfectly justifiable under the circumstances of the case, and which accounted for my refusing to ratify the Convention. “I am, &c., “ROBERT STOPFORD, _Admiral_. “Commodore Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B., H.M.S. Powerful.” On the 31st of the same month, having obtained a month’s leave of absence, I hauled down my broad pennant, and proceeded to England in the Oriental steamer, and arrived at Liverpool in the middle of April. Footnote 103: _The Grand Vizier to Mazloum Bey._ 19 Zilkadé, 1256. (12 January, 1841.)