“Nevertheless, as in the course of this affair we have already been exposed to see ourselves deceived in our expectations, I now direct you to invite your colleagues to a conference, and acquaint them that the Emperor enjoins you to insist on the Divan admitting the modifications which the other Courts desire, for the interest even of the Porte, to see introduced into certain articles of the Firman. And should your colleagues decline doing so, you are to take the step prescribed, either alone or with those who will join you; and should the Porte refuse to listen, the Emperor will consider himself as restored to entire liberty of position and action[116].” Lord Palmerston writes under date of the 10th of April[117]; that he conceives his former despatches and the Collective Notes are sufficient to guide Lord Ponsonby in the advice he shall give, and that it is important the dispute between the Porte and Mehemet Ali should be settled as soon as possible, and that the Government do not think the objection stated by the Ambassador, “that it would not be proper for the Sultan to negotiate with Mehemet Ali,” ought to weigh against the extreme urgency of coming to a final settlement, and that no settlement can be made without a direct communication. “On some points,” his Lordship adds, “Mehemet Ali has reason on his side, in others he is clearly and decidedly wrong.” The Sultan ought, therefore, without delay, to modify the Firman in the objectionable parts, and explain that other parts cannot be altered without a departure from the terms of the Treaty of the 15th of July. Lord Palmerston wrote to Lord Ponsonby more peremptorily on the 21st of April, inclosing a copy of Prince Metternich’s letter to Baron Stürmer, and acquainting his Lordship that Her Majesty’s Government concur in the view taken of the matter by the Austrian Government, and are prepared to take the same course[118]. M. Guizot in a conversation with Mr. Bulwer at Paris, took the same view of the 1st, 3rd, and 6th articles of the Firman I had done, and admitted he disapproved of some of Mehemet Ali’s pretensions, and had taken care to tell him so; and that the only way to settle the dispute was by the Allies pressing the Porte on one side, and France pressing Mehemet Ali on the other[119].