i60 L O N 
fquadron within the inner caflles was attacked by fir 
Sidney Smith, driven on-fhore, and burnt; and the guns 
of a formidable battery, to the number of more than 
thirty, on a point of land which our fquadron had yet to 
pafs, called Point Pefquiez, were 1'piked by a detachment 
of marines. 
On the 2.0th of February, in the evening, the Englilh 
Fquadron came to anchor near the Ifies of Princes, at the 
tlillance of eight miles from Confiantinople. A flag of 
truce was-immediately lent to the feraglio, with a letter 
from Mr. Arbuthnot to the Turkifh government, recapi¬ 
tulating the efforts that he had made, by an amicable ne¬ 
gotiation, to preferve the relations of peace and friendly 
intercourfe between the Sublime Porte and G reat Britain 5 
and various conflderations of intereft, and former habits 
of mutual good-will and confidence, that were calculated 
to reftore the fame good underlhmding between the two 
powers, that had been unfortunately interrupted through 
the intrigues of a party inimical to both. At the fame 
time, a letter in the fame fpirit was fent by the admiral 
■fir Thomas Duckworth, to the reis effendi. After many 
■conciliatory obfervatiens, he faid, that, perceiving the 
change that had taken place in the difpofition of the 
Sublime Porte, and having it in his power to deftroy both 
the capital and ffiips of all deferiptions, the line of con- 
ducl tc be purfued in th tfe circumflances lay clearly be¬ 
fore him. Neverthelefs, as he was convinced that the 
prince he had the honour to ferve was far from being dif- 
pofed to punifh any others than the guilty ; and being 
alfo perfuaded that neither the fultan, nor his people, 
were difpofed by any means to go to war with Great Bri- 
■tain, and that the meafures complained of were to be af- 
cribed folely to the bafe and pernicious intrigues and fug- 
-ge 11 ions of the French ; he would feel the_ utmoft reluc¬ 
tance to involve fo many innocent perfons in the miferies 
.and horrors of war, and the ruin and deflruftion of every 
objeft that was valuable and dear to them in life. The 
vice-admiral, moved by thefe conflderations, propofed to 
the Turkifh government, as a condition of peace and amity, 
to deliver into his hands all the Jhips and vejfels of war, belong, 
'trig to-the Sublime Porte, with all nccejfary Jlores and provijions ; 
in* which cafe the Britilh fquadron would not, in any lhape 
or degree, molefi the city, but immediately retire beyond 
the Dardanelles^ He allowed the fpace of half an hour, 
after his note mould be tranflated into the Turkifh lan¬ 
guage, for the divan to deliberate and decide upon his 
propofition ; protelling that, if he (hould be reduced to 
the hard necelTity ol feizing the fliips by force, and pro¬ 
ceeding to the work of deifruflion, for the accomplifh- 
‘ment of which, he poffeffed ample means, the blame 
•would lie on the Sublime Porte, not on the king, his mailer. 
The veflel, bearing the flag of truce, was difpatched with 
thefe notes by break of day, on the morning of the 21ft. 
But the officer who had charge of them, was not permitted 
to land ; wherefore Mr. Arbuthnot fent back the flag of 
truce, with a ffiort additional note, Hating that, from an 
anxious defire of peace, it had been thought proper to 
make a fecond effort for the delivery of thole fent before 
to the reis effendi, and expreffing, in a few words, the fub- 
Itance of thofe notes, which was, to give the Sublime Porte 
the option of declaring itfelf either on the fide of the 
French or the Englilh f and that, if it lliould prefer the 
former alternative, Hill the Britilh admiral would fpare the 
city, on the condition of furrendering to him the whole Turkifh 
fleet, with lufficient naval itores. In the middle,of the 
night, between the 21ft and zzd of February, Mr. Arbuth¬ 
not Wrote another note to the reis effendi, Hating that the 
Eivlifh officers had difcovered,by means of tekfeopes, how 
the^time was employed that had been allowed the Sublime 
Porte for coming toadecifion on the fubjecl of the former 
notes, from himfelf and the Britilh admiral. It had been 
obferved, that the fubjefts of the Porte were bulily engaged 
in withdrawing the (hips of war from their ufual Hatiohs, 
to places more capable of defence, and conflrucling bat¬ 
teries all along the coaft. If thole defenfive meafures 
1 
D o n; 
were not immediately Hopped, the Britiffi ffiips of war would 
a (51 in fuch a manner, as might be moH conducive to Bri¬ 
tilh interefls. His highnefs, the fultan, might give an afi- 
furance in two wolds, written with his own hand, that 
the good underHanding. between the Porte on the one part, 
and Great Britain and Raffia on the other, would be re¬ 
newed. The celerity with which the Britilh fleet had 
paffed the Dardanelles, v?as a proof that the determina¬ 
tion announced would be carried into execution. 
Early on the morning of the 24.th, the Englilh admiral 
received a letter from the reis effendi, fignifying the dif- 
polirion of the Porte to enter into a negotiation for a de¬ 
finitive treaty of peace immediately ; and requeiled that a 
perfon, invefted with full powers of treating on the part 
of the Englilh, might be fent to meet the plenipotentiary 
who had been cholen by the Sublime Porte.—A corre- 
fpondence now enfued, concerning the place where the 
conference fnould be held. The Turks propofed Dadi- 
koi, on the coaft of Afia. The Englilh admiral, either one 
of the Hies of Princes, or his own thip, the Royal George, 
or the Endymion frigate, which had been fent forward, 
bearing a flag of truce, and lay at anchor before Conftan- 
tinople, while the fliips of the line and ppmb-fliips kept 
at the diftanpe already mentioned. The admiral, having 
previonfly apprifed the Turkifh government, moved the 
fquadron four miles nearer the city, but Itili kept without 
cannon-fhot. 
Threats were Hill intermixed with profeffions and to¬ 
kens of amity ; but in the mean time the fortifications of 
which the Englilh complained were not interrupted, but 
continued night and day, with unrerhitted aftivity and 
vigour, at many different points, and on both the Eu¬ 
ropean and Afiatic. fides of the canal of Conllantinople. 
The flames of the fmall Turkifh fquadron, deflroyed on 
the 19th of February by fir Sidney Smith, did not inti¬ 
midate the Turks, but roofed and united them in a deter¬ 
mination to refitt aggreffion, and to preferve the city from 
deflruftion, and the contamination of infidels. The grand 
iigtiior himfelf, conducted by the French anibaffador, Se- 
bafiiani, appeared at the places mofl proper for the con- 
flruftion of redoubts and batteries. Men, women, and 
children, Turks, Armenians, Greeks, Ulemas, Sheiks, and 
Dervifes, lent their aid. The Greek patriarch, and a 
number of his clergy, put their hands to the pick-axe and 
wheel-barrow. Thoufands of workmen flocked from dif¬ 
ferent quarters. The works were carried on under the 
direction of certain officers of the corps of engineers, and 
of artillery that had arrived opportunely from Dalmatia. 
The members of the divan, and other grandees, remained 
on the bufy feene night and day, each of them at one~ bat¬ 
tery, for encouraging the labouring people, and forward¬ 
ing the work. They took the neceffary repofe in fmall 
tents. The grand fignior too flept in a tent; and every 
day made the round of all the batteries, encouraging the 
workmen by kind looks and words, and the difiributiots 
of money. At the end of four days, batteries, with ex¬ 
cellent bread-works, were mounted with 500 pieces of 
cannon and joo mortars.—Such are the effects th3t may 
be produced by unanimity and zeal, among the inha¬ 
bitants of a great city, in the public fervice ! 
Sir Thomas Duckworth was of opinion that, notwitft- 
flanding this enthufiafm of the populace, there was a fin- 
cere difpofition to negotiate for peace, on the part of tilt 
Turkifh government, up to February 27th ; but, had there 
been no hopes of fuccefsrul negotiation, it was not in hi9 
power to aft otherwife than he did ; for, from the mo¬ 
ment of the iquadron’s calling anchor, till that of its 
weighing anchor to repafs the Dardanelles, which it did 
on the morning of the 1 it of March, fuch was the unfor¬ 
tunate date of the weather, that it was not at any time in 
the power of the admiral to have occupied a flation that 
would have enabled the fquadron to commence offentivc 
operations again It Conllantinople. The fire of the two 
inner cattles on our fliips in their inward paffage had been 
fevers 5 but the effect they had on them in their return 
proved 
