ty and an independent revenue to
support his position. This was the situation when on February 13, 1832,
a protocol was signed at London, offering the Greek crown to Otto, the
second son of King Lewis of Bavaria, a boy of seventeen. The boundary
was to be fixed where Palmerston, while still a member of the Wellington
administration, had wished to fix it, along a line running from the Gulf
of Arta to that of Volo. King Lewis would not, however, agree to accept
the crown for his son unless he should be granted the title of king,
instead of prince, and should be guaranteed a loan to enable him to meet
the expenses of his position. On May 7, 1832, the London protocol was
embodied in a treaty of London; the crown was definitely conferred on
Otto, who was given the title of king, guaranteed a loan, not exceeding
L2,400,000, and allowed to take out 3,500 Bavarian troops with him. The
Turkish consent to the proposed boundary was given on July 21; Greece
accepted the treaty in August, and the new king left for his kingdom in
December.[137]

[Pageheading: _VICTORIES OF IBRAHIM._]

Greece now disappears from the eastern question. But Ibrahim Pasha,
whose successes in Greece had induced Canning to interfere, had already
disclosed a new phase of that question by successes gained in another
quarter. Mehemet Ali had quickly repaired the losses which his fleet and
army had sustained in the Peloponnese. Meanwhile he demanded from
Sultan Mahmud that Ibrahim should be compensated with a part of Syria
for the loss of the Morea, which had been promised him as a reward for
his services in Greece. The sultan refused to grant this insolent
demand, and Mehemet Ali determined to conquer the province for himself.
Abdallah, Pasha of Acre, had taken under his protection some fugitive
peasants, and Mehemet Ali, in spite of the sultan's prohibition, sent
Ibrahim with an army of 30,000 men against him. He laid siege to Acre on
December 9, 1831, and took it on May 27, 1832. On July 8 he routed a
Turkish army at Homs; on the 29th he routed a larger army at the pass of
Beilan, and on the 31st he entered Antioch. In November he was at
Konieh. The Tsar Nicholas had, with Palmerston's approval, already sent
Lieutenant-General Muraviov on a mission to Constantinople, offering
military and naval support; but the sultan preferred to seek British
assistance first.

Unfortunately the message came at a time when the British fleet was
preparing to blockade the