th of that month; I
ought to remember it, as I took its name in vain often enough in the
Greek affair.

This first Convention brought about the battle of Navarino and the
second campaign of the Russians, which ended with, in fact, the demise
of the poor old Porte, the _Treaty of Adrianople_.[30] Your Majesty
was then afflicted with the age of ten, in itself a good age, and may
not remember much about it except that in 1829 the affair about my
going to Greece began, and that your affectionate heart took some
interest in that. Lord Melbourne, however, you _must encourage to
speak about this matter_. Canning's intention was this: he said we
must remain with Russia, and by this means _prevent_ mischief. The
Duke of Wellington, who came to me shooting at Claremont in 1828,
really did cry, though he is not of a crying disposition, and said
"_by this Convention the Russians will have the power of doing all
they never would have dared to do single-handed_, and shielded by
this infernal Convention, it will not be in our power _to stop them_."
Russia is again in this very snug and comfortable position, that
_the special protection of the Porte_ is confided to its tender
mercies--_la chevre gardant le chou_, the wolf the sheep, as I suppose
I must not compare the Turcs to lambs. The Power which ruined the
Ottoman Empire, which since a hundred and forty years nearly _pared_
it all round nearly in every direction, is to be the protector and
guardian of that same empire; and we are told that it is the most
scandalous calumny to suspect the Russians to have any other than the
most humane and disinterested views! "_ainsi soit-il_," as the French
say at the end of their sermons. This part of the Convention of the
15th of July 1840 strikes impartial people as strange, the more so
as nothing lowers the Porte so much in the eyes of the few patriotic
Turks who remain than the protection of the arch-enemy of the concern,
Russia. I beg you to read this part of my letter to my good and dear
friend, Lord Melbourne, to whom I beg to be kindly remembered.

[Footnote 29: Princess Augusta, second daughter of George III.
_See_ p. 230. (Ch. IX, 26th September 1840)]

[Footnote 30: Under this treaty (14th September 1829) the
Danubian principalities were made virtually independent
States, the treaty rights of Russia in the navigation of the
Bosphorus and Dardanelles were confirmed, and Greek affairs
were arranged, by inc