ABSTRACT
The ‘winged ministers of England’s vengeance’ were at last at Ponsonby’s orders. Supreme in power and unequalled in prestige, he persuaded the Sultan unreservedly to ratify the Convention, and determine on strong measures against Edhem Pasha Ibrahim. Ibrahim himself, reconnoitring too near the shore, was scared by a shell from a British ship and hastily rode off. The time had come to profit from the manoeuvres which had thus dispersed and separated Ibrahim’s army into fragments. Charles Napier had decided the night before to send parties up on each flank through the gorges to take Ibrahim in the rear. Ibrahim’s power crumbled at its extremities. His troops evacuated Adana, Tarsus, Alexandretta, Aleppo, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. Before the end of November Ibrahim had abandoned his rock-fortress of Zahle and taken refuge in Damascus itself. Napier’s abortive convention did harm on the purely military side, and made it more difficult to harass the retreating army of Ibrahim.
