Chapter 377： Discreet Mediterranean Fleet

The British Embassy in the Ottomans, 30 March 1853.

"Your Excellency Ross, now the Ottoman Empire needs the support of you and the British Kingdom behind you! If you are unwilling to support us, then which country in the entire Europe can call the shots for the Ottoman Empire!"

On this day, the former foreign minister of the Ottoman Empire, Fuad Effendi, came to the British embassy in the Ottoman embassy to discuss countermeasures with Colonel Ross, the British Chargé d'affaires. During the deliberations, Fuad Effendi conveyed the status of the Ottoman cabinet to the Chargé d'Affaires Ross "with tears in his eyes".

"Prime Minister Muhammad Ali has planned to move closer to the Russian Empire. All cabinet members in the cabinet who are close to Britain and France will be swept out by Prime Minister Ali, and then replaced by ministers who are close to the Russian Empire..."

The deputy military attache Colonel Ross, who was sitting on the side of the sofa, listened to Fuad Effendi's description without saying a word, and couldn't help but weigh the current situation of the Ottoman Empire over and over again in his heart.

Since December 18, 1852, the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, Canning, left the Ottoman Empire and returned to Britain to report his duties. All British affairs in the Ottoman Empire have been entrusted to Colonel Ross, the acting attaché.

Three months passed in a flash, and Colonel Ross also served as the chargé d'affaires for three months.

During his time as a part-time chargé d'affaires, Colonel Ross dutifully sent the latest news of the Ottoman Empire by telegraph to London, thousands of miles away, and sidelined the candidates for the new British ambassador.

However, the British center, which is thousands of miles away, never gave a reasonable response to the news he passed on in the past, nor did he send a new British ambassador.

This made Colonel Ross fall into a certain degree of passivity. Although he served as the plenipotentiary envoy, although he had the right to handle diplomatic affairs with the plenipotentiary envoy and to make decisions on behalf of the plenipotentiary envoy during his departure, he always lacked the most important aspect of the plenipotentiary envoy. This is the right to deploy the Mediterranean Fleet for support.

This power was specially approved by the cabinet in order to prevent the delay of news from damaging the interests of Britain in the Ottoman Empire during Canning's tenure as ambassador.

Administratively, the commander of the British fleet in the Mediterranean had to obey Canning unconditionally.

After Canning left the Ottoman Empire and returned to Britain, the position of ambassador was vacant, and the right to dispatch the support of the Mediterranean Fleet was naturally taken back by the British cabinet.

As a colonel, Ross has no right to point fingers at the lieutenant-general commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, whether in terms of administrative system or rank.

No matter how Colonel Ross hopes that Britain can intervene as soon as possible, he has no right to order the fleet to defend the Dardanelles.

Colonel Ross, who could not force the support of the Mediterranean Fleet, could only choose after repeated weighing, and then decide whether to go to the Mediterranean Fleet Command Malta to present his interests to Sir James Dundas, and then act after obtaining the support of Sir James Dundas.

"Your prime minister really wants to submit to Menshkov? To the Russian Empire?" Colonel Ross asked the former foreign minister, Fuad Effendi, and he emphasized again: "Excuse me! If you If your government surrenders to the Russian Empire, then you are likely to completely lose the most important thing as a country-sovereignty!"

"Mr. Ross, the Ottoman Empire has no chance of defeating the Russian Empire! Instead of letting us face the humiliation of defeat, it is better to agree to the conditions of the Russian Empire in advance! Let the Empire suffer less humiliation and retain a trace of vitality!" Fuad . Eddie Fen spread his hands and said helplessly.

"Don't you worry that the lions of the Russian Empire will take Constantinople as their own?" Colonel Ross frowned slightly and asked in a hurried tone.

For Colonel Ross, the issue of the sovereignty of the Ottoman Empire is not only a problem of the Ottoman Empire itself, but a problem of the whole of Europe.

Once Constantinople was occupied by Russia, the door of the Mediterranean Sea was opened to the Russian Empire, and the "London Straits Convention" of 1841 became a dead letter. The small Mediterranean Sea has already occupied the first and second navies in Europe. The third naval power can no longer be accommodated. After the Russian Empire enters the Mediterranean, it will inevitably lead to the risk of damage to the balance of power in the entire Mediterranean.

The Ottoman Empire was the British yoke that restricted the entry of the Imperial Russian fleet into the Mediterranean, which is why Colonel Ross seemed more eager than Fuad.

"The Ottoman Empire is no longer able to resist the invasion of the Russian Empire alone!" Fuad still put on a sloppy posture and said to Colonel Ross: "The Balkans are now full of voices against the Ottoman Empire, it is like a powder keg. As long as a little spark ignites, there will be an instant explosion and the Ottoman Empire sitting on the powder keg will be smashed!"

"You still want to evacuate the Balkans!!!! No! No! Absolutely not! You can't do that!" Colonel Ross couldn't sit still anymore, he said to Fuad in a commanding tone.

Once the Ottoman Empire completely abandons the Balkans and Constantinople, it will inevitably leave a power vacuum in this region.

At that time, as the Tsar Nicholas I only need to eat hot pot and sing songs and lead his army to fill the power vacuum left by the Ottoman Empire, then the Russian Empire will be able to stretch its bear paws to the Mediterranean Sea from all directions, and Greece will also will completely fall to the Russian Empire.

Britain's hegemony in the Mediterranean will also be shaken, as Constantinople is closer to Cairo than Malta.

"Mr. Ross, what I'm talking about is what can happen under the most extreme requests! I believe that Menshkov will not be too harsh on the Ottoman Empire!" Fuad responded lightly, "I know that I will hope It is an irrational thing to rely on the kindness of the enemy, but the Ottoman Empire has no way to avoid humiliation."

"Where's France?" Colonel Ross asked Fuad word for word: "You shouldn't just ask the British family for help!"

"You are right! We did ask France for help!" Fuad nodded and admitted: "The French envoy told me that their fleet needs to be prepared for a long time! It is very likely that the Ottoman Empire will make some changes during this time. An irrational choice!"

Sly French!

Colonel Ross cursed fiercely in his heart, he understood that the French were testing their attitude towards the Ottoman Empire.

However, Colonel Ross did not know that there was a certain deviation between the information he got from Fuad and the real information, and the information obtained by the Russian side also had a lot of errors from the real information.

Under the premise of information errors, the conclusions obtained are bound to be different from the real conclusions.

Just as Menshkov believed that the French Empire would not hesitate to fight for the Ottoman Empire, Colonel Ross came to the conclusion that France should move in line with Britain, or make a choice after Britain.

But the truth is: France, after being fully prepared, immediately launched an attack on the Russian Empire. At that time, the Kingdom of Great Britain will inevitably be involved in the war.

Of course, if Ross and Menshkov could turn their attention away from the Near East and turn to the interior of the French Empire, they could easily guess the war intentions of the French Empire.

Or, if Colonel Ross and Prince Menshkov were able to exchange information with each other, they could come to a very different true conclusion.

However, no one is paying attention to the movements of the French Empire now.

How can the two countries of Britain and Russia communicate heart-to-heart!

Two countries that are in a state of quasi-hostility to each other will only think that the other is deliberately leading them to misunderstandings, and they are only willing to believe the intelligence they "know".

This is also the confidence that Fuad dared to use means to deceive Britain.

Fuad's tactical fraud was obviously successful, and Colonel Ross immediately assured the Ottoman Empire that he would try his best to persuade the Mediterranean Fleet to provide assistance to the Ottoman Empire to the best of its ability and maintain the relationship between Britain and the Ottomans built during the reign of Ambassador Canning.

"I hope Your Excellency Ross doesn't keep us waiting too long, otherwise I really don't know how much pressure the Prime Minister can withstand!" Fuad said to Colonel Ross.

On March 31, Colonel Ross, Chargé d'Affaires of the United Kingdom in the Ottoman Empire, left Constantinople by steamship and arrived at Malta, the Mediterranean Fleet Command, on the same night.

In Malta Colonel Ross met Lieutenant General James Dundas in command of the Mediterranean Fleet.

Colonel Ross, who had just met, said straight to James Weight: "Your Excellency Lieutenant General, I hope your fleet can send a squadron to the Urda Sea near Izmir!"

"I'm very sorry! The Mediterranean Fleet cannot act on its own without an order from the Cabinet or Ambassador Canning!" Sir James Dundas was not as reasonable as Colonel Ross imagined.

"Your Excellency, the Ottoman Empire needs our help! The Russian Imperial fleet is gathering in the Black Sea, and their troops are making final preparations in the Principality of Wallachia! If we don't take action, Britain's interests in the Ottoman Empire will be lost. Exactly! Isn't the purpose of the Mediterranean fleet to protect Britain's interests in the Mediterranean?" Colonel Ross tried to make James Dundas understand the importance of safeguarding the Ottoman Empire.

"It's a pity! Colonel Ross, although what you said is very reasonable, but I can't implement it! The Mediterranean Fleet can only act after receiving the accurate orders from Ambassador Canning and the cabinet!"

James Dundas still rejected Rose's suggestion.