The British fleet was sent to Besika Bay, a step preparatory, as it seemed, to steaming up the Dardanelles to the Sea of Marmora.

At Adrianople crowds of Moslems fled away in wild confusion towards Constantinople.

There the frequent meetings of ministers at the Sultan's palace testified to the extent of the alarm; and that nervous despot wavered between the design of transferring the seat of government to Brussa in Asia Minor, and that of unfurling the standard of the Prophet and summoning all the faithful to rally to its defence against the infidels.

Finally he took courage from despair, and adopted the more manly course.

But first he disgraced his ministers.