The circumstances connected with his accession are indeed fitter matter for condolence than for congratulation, and he would probably be better pleased by the restoration of his fleet than by the arrival of Ambassadors Extraordinary.

Moreover, it has not been customary for the Sovereign of England to send such missions upon the accession of Sultans.
[Footnote 53: The first Earl Granville (1773-1846), formerly Ambassador Extraordinary to the Russian Court, at this time Ambassador at Paris.] [Footnote 54: Abdul Medjid, a lad of sixteen, succeeded the Sultan Mahmoud.

The majority of the Powers agreed to place him under the protection of Europe, and to warn Mehemet Ali that the matter was for Europe, not him, to decide.

France, however, wished to support Mehemet, and direct the Alliance against Russia.

But Nicholas I.of Russia was prepared to support England as far as regarded the affairs of Turkey and Egypt, and to close the Dardanelles and Bosphorus to warships of all nations, it being stipulated that Russian ships of war only were to pass the Bosphorus, as acting under the mandate of Europe in defence of the Turks.