I expressed a hope that I
might be permitted personally to superintend the settlement of these
debts, with whose every item the study of twenty-one months had made
me familiar, and another six months would have seen Syria swept clean
and set in order. On August 16, 1871, I was recalled suddenly, on
the ground that the Moslems were fanatical enough to want my life.
I have proved that to be like all the rest of Rashid Pasha's reports--
utterly false."[7]
With regard to the reasons given by Lord Granville for Burton's recall, I
may say that, in a letter which he sent under Flying Seal, dated July 22,
1871, and which reached Burton on the day of his recall, he recapitulated
the dispatch written to Burton by Lord Clarendon on his appointment to
Damascus, reminding him of the conditions under which he was appointed to
the post, and saying that the Turkish Government in regard to his recent
conduct and proceedings rendered it impossible that he should allow him
to continue to perform any Consular functions in Syria, and requesting
him to make his preparations for returning to England with as little
delay as possible.[8]
I think that the foregoing statements will fully explain the true reasons
which led to the recall of Burton from Damascus. It will be seen that in
the above charges against Burton the question of the Shazlis does not
enter; and in the face of all this evidence, how is it possible to
maintain that Isabel was the true cause of her husband's recall? The
converted Shazlis, whose cause she is supposed to have espoused with
fanatical zeal, hardly entered into the matter at all.
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