The Sun.
London, England, 1841-07-20 00:00:00

SETTLEMENT OF THE EASTERN

QUESTION.

REPLY OF MEHEMET ALI TO THE GRAND VIZIER, DATED

7 DJEMAMELEUXL, 1,257.(JurzE.25, 1841).

I have had the honour to receive the letter of your High..
ness, which announced to me the sending, by the Councillor
of State, Kiamil Effendi, to the Minister of Justice, Muhib
Effendi, in mission here, charged to remit it to me, of an Im-
perial hatti scheriff, containing the following clauses :-
4‘ The Government of Egypt is confirmed to me with the
power of transmitting it hereditarily to my male descendants
from eldest son to eldest son. For the future, in case of the
first becoming vacant the Government will pass to my male
descendants from eldest son to eldest son, and the Sublime
Porte will confirm their succession.

" In the event of the male line becoming extinct, the male
children of the daughters of my family will have no right to
the succession.

.4 The dispositions of the hatti scheriff of Gulhane, and of all
he treaties concluded and to be concluded with friendly
Powers, shall be fully executed in Egypt. The administrative
laws, established and to be established in the empire shall be
equally observed, with the modifications rendered necessary
by local circumstances. All taxes, tithes, and revenues raised
in Egypt shall be raised in the name of his Highness, and ac-
cording to the equitable system adopted by the Sublime Porte.
Care shall be taken to pay at the fixed periods the annual tri-
bute specified in another Imperial firman. The stock of grain
and pulse which the Egyptian Government has been in the
habit hitherto of sending annually to the two holy ,ities
(Mecca and Medina) shall be continued to be sent to them
punctually. The very important regulation of the specie cur •
rency being about to be fixed by the Sublime Porte so as to ad-
mit of no future variation in the standard, as well in ;respect to
the alloy as to the nominal value of the coin, the gold and silver
pieces which it permitted to me to be struck in Egypt in the
name of his Highness shall be similar to those coined in the
Imperial mint in every respect. As in time of peace 1t4,000
men suffice for the interior service of Egypt, that number shall
not be exceeded only as the land and naval forces being destined
for the services of the Sublime Porte they may be increased in
time of war in the proportion which may be thought proper.
With respect to the duration of military service, the habits of
the inhabitants of the country will be attended to as well as the
principles of equity. The distinctive decorations and flags of
the Egyptian .troops shall not differ from those of the other
troops of the empire, and the distinctive decorations of the
officers of the Egyptian navy, as well as the flags of their
vessels, shall also be the same as those of Constantinople.
" ' The nomination of theland and naval officers up to the
rank of Colonel, inclusively, shall appertain to the Governors of
Egypt, but these of a superior rank shall depend on the will of
his Highness, whose orders shall be taken on the subject. The
Government of Egypt will no longer build any ships of war
without an express permission of the Sublime Porte.'
" After having first rendered a thousand thanks for the sig-
nal benefit of which I was the object, I occupied myself to re-
ecive the hatti scheriff with marks of respect and suitable
honours. A numerous cortege were to fetch and accompany it
from the dwelling of Muhib Effendi to my palace. As soon as
1 perceived it I marched to meet it, filled with gratitude and
veneration, and 1 received it in my hands and touched it with
my lips respectfully. The above-named Minister having at-
tached to my breast the honourable decoration conferred upon
me, the hatti scheriff was opened and read publicly before all
the Ulemas, legal and religious chiefs, and all the servants of
the Sublime Porte, who testified their joy and expressed a
thousand thanks for the eternity of the empire and the dura-
tion of the glorious reign of his Highness. In order that all
the subjects of his Highness might partake in the satisfac-
tion caused by such happy news, and in order that the
prayers for the perpetuity of the empire might be general,
I ordered at Alexandria reiterated salvoes of artillery both by
land and by sea, and I ordered all the flags of the vessels to be
hoisted. Cannon was also fired at Cairo, and other cities as a
sign of rejoicing. Although my grateful efforts can never
equal the favour granted by his Highness to this feeble vassal
of his empire ; however happy and proud to consecrate the re-
mainder of my days to his august service, and certain, more-
over, to accomplish by that course a sacred duty, and to merit
happiness in this world and in the next, I shall earnestly and
honourably execute faithfully the conditions stipulated in the
Imperial firman mentioned above; as also, after me, my de-
scendants must find therein the universal rule of their conduct,
and to become in their turn the vassals submitted to the Sub-
lime Porte; their only wish, like mine, should be to be able, at
every time and place, to deserve the good graces of their
Sovereign.
"It is with these sentiments that this humble letter has
been written by the return of the Minister mentioned above,
who will have the honour to deliver it to your Highness.
When it has been received, I beg that you will deign to obtain
in my favour, however unworthy I may be of it, the continua-
tion of the ordinary goodness of his Highness and of yourself,
to preserve for me your great and precious kindness."

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.

CHRONICLE.--The Tories have been signally defeated
in Banffshire after a severe contest, in which the Liberal party
had to contend against the combined influences of the two
powerful houses of Richmond and Seafield. His Grace of
Richmond has played a very double part in this county, not by
any means calculated to add to his laurels, or to make him
more popular with his own tenantry or the independent
farmers of Banffshire. His Grace gave a written assurance to
Sir Alexander Duff that he would observe a strict neutrality
in Banffshire, being desirous that his tenantry should exercise
their franchise freely and conscientiously ' • but, notwithstanding
that pledge, his factors have canvassed for Lord Reidhaven,
the defeated Tory candidate, without intermission. The
tenants, however, would not be coerced, and stood out like
men, regardless of every effort to induce them to vote against
their principles. This honourable conduct excited the fierce
ire of the Tories, which they could not long conceal.
Their hopes received new vigour after the nomination, by the
tidings that the rising sun, the young heir of the Ducal coro-
net, my Lord March, was to come to the scene of action and
lead on his followers in person to the poll. The young scion
of the house of Richmond did accordingly appear at the Keith
station, and left no stone unturned to induce the Richmond
tenantry to vote for Lord Reidhaven ; but in spite of all his
exertions, personal entreaty, threats and cajolery, these ho-
nest men were immoveable, and the great majority came boldly
forward to his face and voted for Mr. Duff. Supported by the
strength of sound Liberal opinions and popular enthusiasm,
the house of Fife, single-handed, has defeated the two houses
of Richmond and Seafield united in this county, and es-
tablished a rallying beacon besides in the adjoining
county of Moray, which will enable the Liberals
of that district to free themselves from the yoke of
Toryism at the next election. The victory in Banff-
shire is of immense importance in this quarter. The sway of
monopoly extends from Aberdeenshire to Caithness, and Banff-
shire is like an oasis in this cheerless desert. Nothing can ex-
ceed the dismay and disappointment of the Tories. They cal-
culated on a certain victory, and the small fry of Tory lairds
were all at the polling-booth at Banff on the first day very early,
full of freshness, and flushed with the hopes of coming triumph.
As the expresses, however, arrived at intervals, from the two
stations of Keith and Cullen, their countenances drooped, and
bv four o'clock they had entirely vanished from the scene.
The Laird of Haddo, the beaten candidate for the Elgin
burghs, was an active partisan, and seemed to
expect a com-
pensation for his own defeat in the town of Banff in the better
luck of his friend in the county ; but he soon lowered his tone,
and disappeared with the rest. The farmers of Banffshire are
intelligent, shrewd agriculturists, and the family of Fife highly
esteemed and popular with them.
TIMES.—We are grieved to see, from various significant
symptoms, that the Conservatives of Scotland are by no means
in a good state of organization. Let us now tell them, if they
are anxious for the maintenance of their principles, that they
can do nothing to any purpose without the most systematic
concert and cordial co-operation. Had the garrisons of Wig-
tonshire and Renfrew been sustained by a fitting commissariat
and a proper complement of officers, they would never have
been lost. The Stranraer estate, apart from its political value,
was worth any man's purchase. In future, the Conservative
gentry of such Scotch counties as are nearly balanced
in party divisions, should keep a jealous eye and a
joint-stock purse for all the disposable properties of any im-
portance that may happen to be exposed for sale. The differ-
ence between Mr. Blair and Captain Dalrymple was, as near
as possible, thirteen votes ; the former counting upon 211 sup-
porters, leaving a majority of 20, or thereabouts. The latter
candidate, having only 198 available pledges, was obviously
sure of defeat. But in virtue of the desperate purchase of the
Stranraer domain, obtained at the eleventh hour, the Whigs
were put into a condition for commanding the votes of the pre-
cise number of electors necessary to insure their success.
They therefore bought the estate, and carried the election.
This is a salutary lesson to the Conservatives, which we trust
will not be thrown away.
ADVERTISER.—The more we reflect on the serious re-
verses which have recently befallen the Liberal cause, the
more satisfied do we feel that the people of England have
not, on the whole, any reason to regret those reverses.. Had
the doom of the Melbourne Ministry, instead of being sud-
denly and irrevocably sealed, as it has been by the result of
the late elections, been postponed for an indefinite, though in
the nature of things no very protracted period, by the return
of a small majority of Members in their favour, the pro-
bability is, judging from the past experience which the coun-
try bas had of that Ministry, that they would have persisted in
that timid, truckling, compromising course of policy which
has characterised their whole career, and thus have vir-
tually suffered the Tories, though sitting on the Opposition
benches, to carry on the executive government of the country
for several years to come. That such has been the anoma-
lous, and to the Whigs discreditable posture of affairs for three
or four years past, is too notorious to be denied. Hence, when
Sir Robert Peel, on several occasion 4 in the course of the