298 SYRIA ; ITS IMPORTANCE TO GREAT BRITAIN. 



overtook the legions of Crassus, and of the emperor Julian, in these 

 same regions, centuries ago. 



Such is the strategic importance of Syria ; and, since the Ottoman 

 Porte has, with a blind infatuation that seemingly courts destruction, 

 thrown itself into the arms of its hereditary foe, the obvious policy 

 of our Cabinet is to draw closer our relations with Mahomet Ali. 



But it is not solely in a military and political point of view, that 

 we are led to consider the importance of Syria possessing, as she 

 does, in the most eminent degree, all the capabilities of nature and 

 circumstance for a very advantageous commerce with this country, 

 producing rice and corn of a very superior quality ; luxuriant pas- 

 turages, supporting innumerable flocks and herds, which furnish 

 large quantities of the finest wool and mohair, white raw silk, cotton, 

 gums, madder-roots, galls, tobacco, drugs, hides, sponge, fruits, 

 pearls, coffee, and copper ore ; most of which are in extensive de- 

 mand for manufacture and consumption in this country, and through- 

 out Europe, and which constitute valuable returns for those exports 

 of manufactured goods and colonial produce, which they require, 

 and we can advantageously supply. Again, accessible of communi- 

 cation from all parts of the Mediterranean separated from Gibraltar 

 only by a distance of nine hundred leagues presenting a long and 

 bold line of coast, with good harbours and roadsteads possessing a 

 population of about three millions, spread through a long and nar- 

 row country, whose extensive shore constitutes the eastern boundary 

 of the Mediterranean, and is the centre of a very considerable inland 

 traffic, which extends to the Indian Ocean, the Indus, and the Cas- 

 pian, this vast range of country offers a wide field to our commer- 

 cial intercourse, which our insular possessions in the Mediterranean 

 are so obviously calculated to maintain. At a moment, too, when the 

 operation of the Prussian tariff is closing Germany to our manufac- 

 tures when our field of operation on the Continent, and throughout 

 the world, is daily becoming more circumscribed by the rivalry and 

 competition of foreign nations, the necessity of seeking for new outlets 

 for our commercial industry, and that excess of vitality produced upon 

 our population by our high- wrought civilization and wide-spreading 

 intelligence, must be felt by every one ; and it is gratifying to find 

 that government, by the recent appointment of a consul-general 

 in Syria, are determined to afford our commercial relations with that 

 country the protection so essential to their development. 



On the northern line of Syria, and forming trie centre of communi- 

 cation with the eastern parts of Asia-Minor and Armenia, is Aleppo ; 

 one of the second cities in the Turkish empire in point of rank, 

 wealth, commerce, and population. Towards the south, and situated 

 in the centre of Syria, is Damascus, which is of equal rank, character, 

 and importance ; and along the coast, and through the interior, are 

 the capital cities of the pachalics of Akka and Tripoli, and numerous 

 other towns and villages. Aleppo has a population of 200,000, and 

 is one of the most refined and opulent cities in the Turkish dominions. 

 The population and character of this city ; the extent and value of the 

 produce of those countries which surround it ; its contiguity to the 

 coast ; its favourable position as a centre of communication, and as an 



