BETWEEN THE CZAli AND THE SULTAN. 53 in attendance, in order that Russia and the Ortho- chap. dox Church might know once for all whether the , . firman had been sent or not ; hut when the meet- ing was gathered, Hafiz Pasha only 'made a ' smooth speech on the well-known benevolence ' of His Majesty towards all classes of his sub- ' jects, and that was all that could be said.' * So the Greeks, though they had been soothed for a moment by the discomfiture of their Latin ad- versaries in the Church of the Virgin, could not any longer fail. to see that their rivals were in the ascendant ; and it soon turned out that the pro- mise to evade the delivery of the keys was not to be faithfully kept. The pressure of France was applied with in- Delivery of - 1 l L the key aud creasing force, and it produced its effect. In the thestar. month of December 1852, the silver star was brought with much pomp from the coast. Some of the Moslem Effendis went down to Jaffa to escort it, and others rode out a good way on the road that they might bring it into Jerusalem with triumph ; and on Wednesday the 22d of the same month, the Latin Patriarch, with joy and with a great ceremony, replaced the glitter- ing star in the sanctuary of Bethlehem; and at the same time the key of the great door of the church, together with the keys of the sacred manger, was handed over to the Latins.-f-
- Consul Finn to Earl of Malmesbury, Oct. 27, 1852. ' Cor-
' respondence,' part i. p. 44. + Consul Finn to Earl of Malmesbury, Dec. 28, 1852 ; but see Mr Pisani's note. p. 106.
