(“Dictionary of National Biography.” Art., C. Arbuthnot.)
W. P. Courtney states Arbuthnot was instructed to “demand from the
Porte the dismissal (among other things) of the French ambassador,”
the rejection of which led to the forcing of the Dardanelles—“it was
mainly owing to his firmness that whatever success attended the
operations was achieved.”
It has been made clear in Chapter XIII of this essay that the demand
for the dismissal of Sebastiani was not intended to be insisted on,
that whatever qualities were displayed by Arbuthnot, firmness was not
among them, and that, considering the object of the fleet to be the
elimination of French influence, no success attended its operations.