London Convention
LONDON CONVENTION
International agreement to keep warships out of the Bosporus.
On 15 July 1840, British Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston obtained the adherence of the Ottoman Empire, Prussia, Russia, and Austria to a treaty redefining the international status of the Straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Under its terms, no foreign warships, except small vessels on diplomatic missions, were to pass the straits while the Ottoman Empire was at peace.
In a separate protocol, a graduated series of penalties was laid out if Muhammad Ali, viceroy of Egypt, and his son, Ibrahim Pasha, refused to retreat from Syria. Consequently, Britain's navy bombarded Beirut and Acre, landing troops. This threat to cut off Egyptian supply lines forced the Egyptians to retreat south of the Sinai. On 13 July 1841, the 1840 London Convention was reaffirmed, this time with French adherence. As France had been Muhammad Ali's patron, this second London Convention was a clear defeat for France. Muhammad Ali lost everything for which he had gambled, retaining only the hereditary viceroyship of Egypt, south of the Sinai desert.
Bibliography
Webster, Sir Charles. The Foreign Policy of Palmerston, 1830–1841: Britain, the Liberal Movement, and the Eastern Question. 2 vols. New York: Humanities Press, 1969.
arnold blumberg