The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, AUGUST 31, 1841.

LORD PONSONBY AND •ti THE
SUN.", ••":
(From the Morning Chronicle.)
CONSTAXTIIIOPLE, AuClifsT 7.
(From OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
The Sun has ian article (quoted in Galignani's Mes-
senger, July 13), in which, after observing that the cor-
respondent of the Chronicle at this place had repeatedly
asserted that all The Sun had stated relative to Lord
Ponsonby's enmity to Mehemet Ali was false, it declares
that it is better informed upon this subject than other
journals, and that the " semi-official" contradictions of
these journals can have no value. It then seeks to esta-
blish the truth of its declaration, by-re-publishing two
letters extracted from the correspondence laid before
Parliament. - •

Now, the correspondent of the Chronif /.3 begs ,most
respectfully to assure The Sun that, in • ended l miring to
refute the attacks so unfoundedly and unjustly levelled
against Lord Ponsonby, he alluded much more to the
diatribes of foreign journals than to the observations, no
matter how acrimonious, of those of his own country,
and above all those of The Sun. For, as The S (even
in the very article in question) had always lauded the
policy of Lord Palmerston, whose agent, Lord Pon-
senby, acted under his orders ; who was, from the very
nature of circumstances, identified with his em-
ployer, and who devoted hiMself to carry out the mea-
sures of his employer, the correspondent of the Chronicle
was not prepared to find The Sun praising the one and
condemning the other.
Had the British Ainbassador at Constantinople neglected
to execute his chief's instructions, And had failure ensued,
then the agent might have been separated from the em-
ployer, and visited with sevetwensure ; but when mea-
sures applauded by almost all'parties were recommended
by government, and successfully carried into effect by.
the Ambassador, it it more than unjust and incon-
sistent to ascribe praise to the former, and to cast blame
upon the latter. If The Sun's authority 'be as- good as
he asserts, he need not be told that, whatever might
have been Lord Ponsonby's motives, it is an unques-
tionable fact that Syria would not have been restored
to its lawful sovereign, at 'all events without a doubtful
and sanguinary campaign, had not Lord Ponsonby
dsiplayed the most timely decision and promptitude ;
consequently, if praise be due to any one for the issue,
no man is more deservedly entitled to a large portion
of this praise than he with whom the suggestion ori-
ginated, and ,by whom the operations were urged to a
speedy and successful crisis.
_ _

- As' relates to ;the charge i.;'-f' personal enmity against
Mehemet Ali, ascribelf-tel P,,i,-,0n14- no officiaLor
semi-official communication, no Foreign-office language,
is required to prove its want of foundation. The whole
secret of Lord Ponsonby's hostility to Mehemet Ali
may be comprehended and explained in a few words.
The Egyptian Pacha's plans, and those of his foreign
supporters, were long known to the British Ambassador.
The latter saw in this Pacha the indefatigable and
artful representative or instrument of a system diametri-
• cally opposed to the general interests and long esta-
blished policy of England—a system inimical to the peace
of Europe, and utterly subversive of that balance of power
which even France herself has recently come forward to
maintain. Lord Ponsonby saw in Mehemet Ali—and
he must have been blind not to see—a man who, from
motives of insatiable ambition and personal aggrandize-
ment, would have plunged all Europe into war, reckless,
as he himself (the Pacha) declared, whether he rose or
sunk in the attempt. -Consequently Lord Ponsonby
thought, and hundreds thought with him, that to pursue
half measures with such a man was merely to quench the
flame for a moment, that it might produce a more dan-
gerous combustion at some future period. But this is no
more a proof of Lord Ponsonby's personal enmity to
Mehemet Ali than the attack upon .Canton, too long
delayed, is a proof of Lord Auckland's hatred to Lin, the
doughty- Pacha of that place.
The object of the French government, and of M. Thier,,,
was to ruin British interests in the East—to assume a
protectorate over Egypt—to strengthen the Pacha at the
expense of the Porte, and to obtain such a supremacy at
Constantinople, as would control all the Sultan's actions,
and exclude the influence of all other powers. This end
was to be obtained through the agency of Mehemet Ali,
and if foiled in the attempt, the compensation for diplo-
matic failure was to have been war—war at least with
Englund, at the will and time of France.
It was, therefore, the bounden duty of Lord Ponsonby,
as. it would have been that of any other British EnVoy,
to counteract this scheme, and to seek by every means,
in his power to weaken the agency to be employed. It
was his Lordship's duty to prevent the instrument from
being rendered serviceable in the hands of those whose
object it was to direct its point towards Great Britain. It
was his duty to impede all attempts to establish a protec-
torate in Egypt, and to resist all efforts on the part of
France, to assume undue preponderance at the Porte.
At all events, it behoves Lord Ponsonby to be before-
hand with France, and to urge the striking of such
a blow against Mehemet Ali, the instrument, as might
anticipate M. Thicrs's avowed intention of making war
at his own convenience. In fact, whilst M. Thiers
and his party were chuckling over their vernal pro-
jects of supremacy and war, Lord Ponsonby acted
as became the Envoy. of the greet nation he repre-
sented. Acre fell ;
,M. Thiers ; and Mehemet Ali
fell ; and the influence of Great Britain rose in an in-
yen° ratio. _ _

Politicians may differ as to the lengths to which it
might have been expedient to carry coercive measures
against Mehemet rlli, But to do less than did Lord Pon-
sonby would have been a dereliction' of duty, and it yet
ramains to be proved whether it was politic to prevent
his doing more. Here, again, there is no evidence of•
personal enmity to the man, however decided might haye
been his Lordship't hostility to thy- system represented
by the man.
The Sun has re-published two letters, which it considers
as conclusive proofs of the soundness of its opinion. It
calls Lord Ponsonby's despatch " furious." Now, the
forcible arguments developed in that letter are as far from
being passionate as the reply from Lord Palmerston is far
even from attempting to refute these arguments. The
British Government and its allies did not disapprove of
the reasoning, or deny the truth of Lord Ponsonby's
doctrines. But M. Guizot's Administration required fi)s-
tering, and in order to support that Administration, the
Four Powers made concessions that would not,.perhaps,
have been yielded under any other circumstances. But
this concession was not produced by the Four Powers
questioning the justness of Lord Ponsonby's provisions,
or because they considered his hostility to Mehemet Ali's
system as too strongly pronounced, but because they
wished to strengthen M. Guizot and to conciliate France.
This concession was, in plain terms, a sacrifice made to
France, but not a confirmation of Lord Ponsonby's
mity to the Egyptian Pacha.
Supposing any other man to have been in Mehemet
Ali's place, and to have followed the same course, Lord
Ponsonby must have pursued a similar line of conduct.
And supposing Mehemet Ali or his successor to renew
this system, any Ambassador at this Court must act as did
Lord Ponsonby, or he will betray his duty to his coun-
try. But this, again, will only show that he studiesothe
real interests of Great Britain and those of Europe ge-
rally' and not that he is actuated by sentiments of per-
sonal animosity to the existing Pacha of Egypt.
Speaking abstractedly, it must be a matter of indif-
ference whether Lora Ponsonby entertains personal
likings or dislikings towards Mehemet Ali ; but when
these personal feelings are declared to be prejudicial to
the public service, and to influence political combina•
tions, then it becomes the duty of every impartial writer
to endeavour to prove that such personal feelings do not,
and never did exist. This is the only motive that the
Correspondent of the Chronicle has for venturing to reply
to the talented journal abovenamed.

WOOLWICH.
li9l(At4 AATILLERYI-
Y.llll:Wil.i. i INN it o Ifl itiltirtie-GENERAL.
On Saturday evening Lieut.-General the Right Hon.
Lord Vivian, G.C.B. and Q.CIL; arrived at the gar-
rison at Woolivith tlt Sek-qi Vbibtitt by
.Coritalit J. 11. Aiclas,.• 0.14,; Royal NaVy; recently
Clerk of the Orditahee, COlonel C. Fbx; Seeretary
to the bf ,thb.l th
Missril% o.l.Hti the officers ot toe
16Y•ps, as being the last time he would meet them as
head of the Ordnance departintht: The Officers who
sat down to dintihr iii the tplefidid it3es4-fom of the
Roptl Artillery Were all belonging to the Oft.ti4nce de-
pattnient, acid to the tittniber ot 100: _
Liettt4=o-etiOral lkorti.OlOondleldo 41W/ Ad 0$0:1I:
etAtinikmiaht of the Garrison; Was in -the Chair, and
passed a high encomium on the merits of Lictiti.General
Lord Vivian: The Afttster.Geinbrali iii rethiliing thanks,
expressed himself in the highest terms Of the efficiency
O r the Ordnante corps; mid added; that fof the last six
years he hit'!had the htintitir of being plittbfl fit the
head Of the departffieht he had found the officers every-
thrng he could desire, and it was with feelings of no
ordinary, hind he appeared amongst them for the last
time iii that capaeity:
The doffing was speht in the greatest hatmohy, miXed
with regret; as the riiaster.Clentral, from his uniform
kindtieSS and yttteiltioh to the ihterest of the corps, was.
a great fat ilfith with the officers,
It is said. to be the intention of Lord Vivian to retire
to his seat in CornWaltott vacating the various offices he
holds as Mastet•Gentral of the Ordnance, Amongst
ethos his :Ala as Choir's-fah of the Board of Ordnance,
Colonel bt the Royal Artillery, Colonel of the corps of
Royal and Captain of the Gentlemen Cadets
at the Royal Military AcAdefily at Woolwich.

Oehtiat daScoyne, whose death we announced
on Saturday, entered the army early, and-was appointed En-
sip in the :oth Foot on the Bth of February, 1779. He had
not been long in this Regiment before he hefting Ertslgn in
tht6 COldstreaiti•GUards. Oh the 18th of Mow, 1784; he
tkas (*titled Lieutenant and Captain ; on the 3d of May, 1796,
he because Culanel by brevet and after t 4 iavr of about
tiCe 4ta‘..t r the 7th ftiti promdte.tt
aut., by the title of Lietit.:Colonel: On the 20th of
April, 1802, he was made a General; , three fears aft& he
became Colonel Of the 7ih iiM, oh the
2.stit bc,Ap,r3:l2 443, pot,: thb 12th of August,
ti.M; invested. with the title of General. General
'3.,coyne served With,. ihe- Guards .in Flanders: He was
reviel Ipurideallin
.air et,.Lipeellei,, an
,schrserittntiy,
,the tlib Ati+ttt
14!k;ll! Jlliillt3 Abelevoinby.s division from Alouvaix to Rou•
"mix, Emit the eff•!Ct.§ Qf this wound in his head he frequently
suffered very acutely hi his We; days.
THEATRICAL Gossip.—Covent-Garden opens
on the 6 of September. It is reported that a lady of rank,
in whose family genius seems to be hereditary, will make her
debut at this theatre early in the season.— On dit that Miss
Ellen Tree has objected to take the part assigned to her in
Sheridan Knowles's new drama.—The VandenhotTs are at,
Southampton, where a Miss Montgomery has made a mot
successfut debut as Juliana, in the Horeymoon. A provincial
critic says, " Miss Alontgomery possesses great advantages of
person, is an excetent study, and acts with gracefulness and
confidence:"

LIGHT HquEs.--,pxperiments wcre making
on the p'rciduction of carburetted hydrogen gas, from the bark
of white birch, for the purpose of gaining a good and cheap
light for the light houses en the coast of the United States....
Nova Scotia Gazette.