the Levant]
Unable to secure the consent of Great Britain to its protégé's possession of the whole of Syria, the French Government suggested that he might retain the territory up to Acre; but Palmerston cut short the discussion with the emphatic words, "Egypt only, and the desert for a frontier." In January 1840 Guizot was sent to London to convert the Foreign Secretary; but his efforts were unavailing.
"France would like to see in Egypt and Syria," Palmerston remarked with his usual bluntness, "a new and nominally independent Power, which would owe its existence to her and consequently be her ally. You already have Algeria. Between Algeria and your Egyptian ally what remains? Nothing except the poor little states of Tunis and Tripoli. The whole African shore and a part of the Mediterranean shore from Morocco to the Gulf of Alexandretta would be under your influence. That will not suit us."
The prize was too great to forgo without further efforts, and Thiers, who became Prime Minister in February, spent the first half of 1840 in naval and military preparations. On July 15 Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria concluded the Convention of London, pledging themselves to force Mehemet Ali to accept the terms arranged by them with the Sultan. A British fleet captured Beirut and Acre, and the Egyptians were swept out of Syria.
France had not been invited to discuss or to sign the Convention, for her support of Mehemet Ali was notorious. But Palmerston was convinced that Louis Philippe, whose throne was none too secure, was "not the man to run amok." The King, though angry, was wise enough to recognize facts; and in October Thiers was succeeded by the pacific Guizot. France now entered the Concert, and a second Treaty of London was signed in 1841. It was agreed that Mehemet Ali should receive the hereditary Viceroyalty of Egypt which he had sought, and renounce Crete, Syria and Palestine.
