The Allied Troops landed in D’Jounie
Bay—Encampment—Reconnoissances—Submission of the Emir
Abdallah—Beyrout summoned to Surrender—Reply of Souliman
Pacha—Impolicy of the Attack on Beyrout—Forbearance of Souliman
Pacha—Capture of D’Jebail—Captain Martin’s Report—Reconnoissance to
Merouba—Report to the Admiral.
As Beyrout was surrounded by a slight wall without a ditch, it did not
appear to me advisable to make our first impression there, because had
we succeeded in obtaining possession of the town, we should have been
penned in by a very superior force, and had no opportunity of
communicating with and arming the mountaineers, without whose assistance
it would have been quite impossible to have made any impression on
Souliman Pacha’s army. Under these circumstances, I suggested to the
Admiral, who was commander-in-chief of the allied forces by sea and
land, that we should put the troops ashore in D’Jounie Bay, in the
province of Kesrouan, there intrench ourselves, and arm the
mountaineers, who, we had reason to suppose, would flock down and join
the Sultan’s standard. This province is separated from El-Kata by a deep
gorge, through which runs the Nahr-el-Kelb; a stream only passable at
its mouth, a few miles higher up at Argentoun, four or five leagues from
the sea, and at Basquinta, where it rises. A road leads from Beyrout
along the sea-shore to its mouth, passing round a precipitous promontory
jutting into the sea; on this promontory stands a convent of monks.
Another road leads further inland to a village, and from that village
you may descend by a very rugged path across Nahr-el-Kelb (or Dog
River), and ascend to another convent, on the top of the hills which
look down on D’Jounie Bay. To the northward a road leads from Tripoli
along shore, and crosses a bridge over another gorge; besides which,
there are several roads which can be traversed by troops from Balbeck,
leading to Antoura and Gazir, the capital of the province.
After dark on the 9th of September, the Turkish troops and marines
were moved into the steamboats, which was accomplished by two in the
morning; soon after eight they weighed, and proceeded off Beyrout
Point to draw the enemy’s troops in that direction, and there wait
till the sea breeze set in. This had the desired effect, and a few
shot and shell were pitched into their columns to keep them in play.
At ten the Powerful weighed, accompanied by Admiral Walker, in the
Turkish line-of-battle-ship, a frigate, and corvette, the Pique,
Castor, Carysfort, Daphne, and Wasp, and stood towards D’Jounie. The
Castor and one steamer were directed to anchor off Nahr-el-Kelb,
enfilade the pass, and land a Turkish battalion to the north of the
river, and occupy the high ground over it, to prevent the advance of
the Egyptians when they discovered our real attack. The rest of the
squadron proceeded towards D’Jounie, where they anchored at two in the
afternoon, and the whole of the troops, under the judicious direction
of Admiral Walker and Captain Reynolds, were landed by four o’clock.
The heights were immediately occupied, a couple of companies of
marines, commanded by Captain Childs, were detached to reinforce the
Turks at Nahr-el-Kelb, and a battalion was posted in the village of
Zug, about a league distant from the camp; beyond them, a couple of
battalions of Turks occupied a strong position, having their left
flank protected by an impassable gorge[13]. I took up my quarters in a
Maronite chapel, in which we placed a gun; this chapel served for
dining-room, bed-room, and powder magazine. My establishment was
landed from the Powerful, and I look back to the month I passed there
as one of the happiest of my life. Provisions were abundant, wine not
bad, and Archdukes, Princes, Pachas, and Emirs were entertained; and I
fear the laws of the prophet were frequently infringed by our Turkish
allies.
Footnote 13:
See Letter to the Admiral, in the Appendix.
The Carysfort and Daphne were despatched to D’Jebail to drive the
Albanians out of a strong château, and impede the sudden advance of
troops from Tripoli. The Wasp flanked the bridge I have before pointed
out. After the troops were landed, the ships and steamers took up
positions to protect the flanks of the camp in the event of an attack,
and those in advance, if hard pressed, were ordered to retire, disputing
the ground, but not to risk a severe loss. The Admiral, with the
Princess Charlotte, Bellerophon, Ganges, Thunderer, Edinburgh, Hastings,
Benbow, and the Austrian squadron, remained at Beyrout; the Zebra, and
the Austrian frigate Guerriera, commanded by the Archduke, covered the
bridge near the quarantine ground, and the Revenge was stationed in the
bay between it and Dog River, to harass the enemy (should they advance,)
and give us timely notice of their approach. At midnight the Revenge
made the signal the enemy were advancing; I immediately landed and
turned out the troops, and the Powerful was warped closer in; but it
proved a false alarm. The following morning we began throwing up
intrenchments, which were finished on the fourth day; and much praise is
due to the exertions of both officers and men; Captain Reynolds,
Berkeley, and indeed all the Captains and Commanders, were
indefatigable. The defences were much too confined to secure our whole
force; and I wished them enlarged, but the Engineer officer differed
with me, and the Admiral ordered them not to be changed. During the time
they were in progress, I occupied myself in gaining a knowledge of the
country, and of the roads leading to our position, and I soon
ascertained that there was little danger of being disturbed, even had we
to contend with a more powerful army.
At first the mountaineers came in slowly, and the Admiral gave
directions to re-embark the troops in a few days, but I succeeded in
persuading him to allow them to remain. Our stay gave confidence to the
inhabitants, who in two or three days began to flock in in great
numbers, and the Emir Abdallah, nephew of the Grand Prince, and governor
of the province, who had retired before a Turkish battalion, sent to his
capital the day after we landed, came over in good style, bringing with
him a considerable number of followers tolerably well mounted and armed.
I now ordered Gazir, the capital of the province, to be occupied, and
the road reconnoitred leading to Merouba, where Ibrahim and Osman Pacha
had collected a considerable force; another detachment was sent to the
neighbourhood of the convent of Harissa, on the right of Gazir, under
Captain Loué, a Prussian officer attached to the Turkish army, both
detachments having orders to retire to the camp should the enemy advance
on their line. On the 15th of September the enemy pushed a reconnoitring
party as far as Ackshout, on the road to Harissa, where they remained an
hour, and then returned to Merouba; they seemed undecided, whether to
advance on Gazir, Harissa, or Argentoun; their position gave them the
choice of the three roads.
On the 11th a flag of truce was sent into Beyrout by Sir Robert Stopford
and Admiral Bandeira, with a summons to Souliman Pacha to withdraw his
troops: subjoined are the summons and reply.
“We, the Admirals of the British and Austrian squadrons, acting in
obedience to the instructions of our respective Governments, and in the
interests of his Highness the Sultan, consider our duty to represent to
your Excellency our earnest desire to stop the effusion of blood, and to
call upon your Excellency to withdraw your troops from Beyrout, and to
deliver the town to our united forces, to be retained in the name of the
Sultan.
“Your Excellency will have observed, from the fire of the ships
yesterday, a small specimen only of the course we shall be compelled to
pursue. The fire has not been pressed this morning, that your Excellency
may benefit by the pause, and upon reflection come to the decision in
consonance with our benevolent views, to spare the innocent inhabitants
from the inevitable horrors which a few hours would inflict upon them.
“We request your Excellency will send an answer as soon as you can, or
at the latest by half-past one.
“(Signed) ROBERT STOPFORD, _Admiral_.
BANDEIRA, _Admiral_.
“His Excellency Souliman Pacha,
Major-General of the Egyptian army at Beyrout.”
In answer to the above the following was, after some time, forwarded:
“Beyrout, September 11, 1840.
“General Souliman Pacha has the honour to present his compliments to the
Admirals of the English and Austrian squadrons, and to inform them, that
not being acquainted with the language, it is impossible for him to
return an answer unless the Admirals will be good enough to translate
their communication into French, Turkish, or Arabic.
“(Signed) SOULIMAN.”
“To the Admirals commanding the English and
Austrian squadrons before Beyrout.”
I should have thought that the Egyptian general could have found some
one in Beyrout to have translated the summons, and it did appear that he
treated the admirals rather cavalierly; nevertheless, the summons was
sent in French, to which he replied that, he was engaged in a council of
war, and that the reply would be ready in the morning. A heavy fire was
immediately opened on the two forts, but the town was spared as much as
possible, and the following morning a letter was brought off from
Souliman, as follows:—
“Admirals,—You are acquainted with my orders, and after the refusal
which, as was my duty, I returned to the proposals made me in the name
of your Governments to betray my master and benefactor, it was
impossible that I should act in opposition to his wishes.
“As you observe, I was enabled yesterday fully to appreciate all the
extent of evil it was in your power to bring down on innocent families,
strangers to the present misunderstanding.
“For the sake of killing five of my soldiers, you have ruined and
brought families into desolation, you have killed women, a tender infant
and its mother, an old man, two unfortunate peasants, and doubtless,
many others whose names have not yet reached me; and, far from
slackening the fire of your ships, when my soldiers (who during that
deplorable day did not once fire) fell back on the town across the
inhabited country of Beyrout, your fire, I say, became more vigorous and
destructive for the unfortunate peasants rather than for my soldiers.
You appear decided to make yourselves masters of the town,
notwithstanding that, in any event, the question will remain as before.
If the fortune of war prove adverse to me, Beyrout shall only fall into
your power when reduced to cinders. This town has not ceased being
inhabited, and moreover, it contains merchandise imported from Europe,
the value of which is considerable. Under these circumstances I have
constantly endeavoured to justify throughout, the grateful thanks which
I have received from Europeans. Guards have been posted to secure
respect to their habitations and their magazines. They will find them
untouched on their return. It lies not in my power to deliver the town;
my orders are for its defence, and I shall defend it come what may. I,
therefore, am not the person to address if you are really desirous of
sparing innocent persons from the inevitable horrors of warfare, which
in a few hours you have power to bring down on them.
“Mehemet Ali alone can give you an answer on this question. If, then,
you attack Beyrout, and if its inhabitants are buried in the ruins, let
me not be responsible for the blood that is shed.
“I have the honour to remain,
“Your humble and obedient servant,
“SOULIMAN.”
“Beyrout, Saturday, two hours after sunrise.”
I thought at the time it was impolitic opening a fire on Beyrout unless
it was determined to follow it up by an attack. The mountaineers had
before witnessed the little damage done at D’Jounie and along the coast
by the Egyptian squadron, when they fired on the armed mountaineers, in
various parts along shore; and when they saw that a powerful British
squadron could not drive the Egyptian troops out of a defenceless town,
it did not give them a very high opinion of our power. Souliman well
knew the moral effect keeping possession of Beyrout would have on the
mountaineers, and determined not to abandon it till forced; we ought to
have taken the same view, and either not have opened a fire at all, or
persevered until they were driven out, whatever mischief was done to the
town. Had the same measures been taken at Beyrout that were taken at
Sidon, there is no doubt but we should have got possession of it. We
should have lost men, it is true, but in war that must be expected, when
a great point is to be gained; and gaining the principal sea port on the
coast of Syria, in view of the mountains, was a great point, and would
have had an immense moral effect. Withdrawing the squadron, which we did
on the 16th, with the exception of the Edinburgh and Hastings, which
ships occasionally kept up a fire on the town, gave Souliman the
opportunity of telling the mountaineers that he had beaten off the
British squadron.
The Pacha, though much annoyed, no doubt, at our proceedings, yet showed
himself a man of great forbearance. During the time the cannonading was
going on, the Indian mail arrived; our intercepting despatches from
Alexandria furnished him with a fair excuse for stopping this mail, but
as its detention had nothing to do with hostilities then going on, he
hoisted a flag of truce, and delivered the mail, with a very civil
message that all letters to and from India should be religiously
forwarded. The Admiral, not to be outdone in civility, wrote a letter of
thanks, and sent Souliman, who I have since learnt was a jolly and
hospitable old soldier, a package of wine, that had been detained in an
Egyptian vessel.
At this time the Admiral arrived at D’Jounie Bay, and the Castor and
Pique having embarked their marines, went off Acre, Caiffa, and Tyre;
and the Bellerophon took her station, with the Revenge, off the
Nahr-el-Kelb, and covered that most important pass; the road was broken
up, and at night an officer was stationed on shore with blue lights to
burn, should the enemy attempt to advance in that direction.
The Albanians at D’Jebail did not seem disposed to give up their castle.
On the 12th I sent 220 marines and 150 armed mountaineers, with orders
to Captain Martin to turn them out: his report will show that it was not
easily done; the officer in command rather incautiously advanced to the
castle, and met with a severe loss. The mountaineers in this district
came in also for arms in great numbers. Captain Martin, with great zeal,
pushed on to Batroun, a little to the northward of D’Jebail, and drove
the Albanians from that neighbourhood, which gave him an opportunity of
distributing more arms to the warlike inhabitants.
“H.M.S. Carysfort, D’Jebail,
September 13, 1840.
“Sir,
“I have the honour to inform you that, pursuant to your directions, I
anchored yesterday off D’Jebail. The enemy have evacuated the town; the
mountaineers are coming in fast for arms, and, as far as I can judge
from their words and professions, the most enthusiastic feeling prevails
among them. I trust that the results will, in some degree, excuse the
loss we have sustained. I shall now proceed to detail the circumstances
of the attack.
“At noon I anchored, with springs, within musket-shot of D’Jebail. The
Dido took a good position ahead of the Carysfort, and the Cyclops
astern; groups of mountaineers immediately came down to the beach, and
many were brought off by the boats. Having given a sufficient time for
the marines to prepare for landing, and for their commanding officer to
reconnoitre the place of disembarkation, at 1 P.M. the ships opened
their fire upon the castle and upon the points which the mountaineers
designated to us as occupied by the Albanians. This was returned by
occasional musket shots.
“When the fire had been continued with great precision, and apparently
some effect, for about an hour, the marines, accompanied by a large
party of armed mountaineers, pushed off from the Cyclops, and to cover
their landing the ships re-opened upon the castle. About half-past 3
P.M., observing the detachment formed upon the beach to the south of the
town, and believing all the effect likely to be produced by our shot was
already done, and that the gardens had been swept by the launch’s
caronnades, I made the signal to push on. The marines advanced briskly
to the assault, but the cliff soon obstructed my view of their progress
through the gardens in front of the castle. They reached within thirty
yards of the tower, when a destructive fire was opened upon them from a
crenelled outwork, having a deep ditch in front, which was completely
masked from the fire of the ships. Finding his men were falling fast,
that the wall of the castle was impracticable, that there was no gate
accessible, and nothing but the muzzles of the enemy’s muskets visible
through the loopholes, Captain Robinson very judiciously drew his men
off. The marines retired to the beach steadily and in good order.
Captain Austin, who superintended the landing, and accompanied the
marines, having sent to me to say that nothing could be done unless the
tower was levelled, the ships again commenced firing upon it. Finding,
however, that the immense solidity of the building prevented our making
a sufficient impression upon it, at half-past 5 I ordered the marines to
be re-embarked and the firing to cease.
“An English flag, which had been planted on the garden wall as a signal
to the ships, was accidentally left there by the pilot of the Cyclops
after the marines had retired; Lieutenant Grenfell and — Macdonald, a
seaman of the Cyclops, volunteered to recover it, and brought it off
most gallantly amidst the cheers of the ships.
“At night a party of the mountaineers, whom we had armed, were
established in the town; and at daylight this morning I found that the
Albanians had evacuated the castle during the night, leaving three
behind, one of them badly wounded, and since dead. The conduct of a
Turkish soldier, who was sent up in the Cyclops, has been admirable in
organizing and keeping together parties of the mountaineers.
“Having distributed all the arms, I now send the Cyclops for a fresh
supply. I think we may dispose of more; and I take the liberty of
suggesting that they should be sent immediately, before the present
enthusiasm has time to subside.
“The painful part of my duty is, to inclose the list of killed and
wounded in the attack on D’Jebail; I deeply lament that it has been so
severe.
_Benbow._—2 marines killed, 4 wounded severely.
_Hastings._—2 marines killed, Lieut. C.W. Adair slightly, 7 marines
severely, 3 slightly, wounded.
_Castor._—1 marine wounded severely.
_Zebra._—1 marine killed.
_Cyclops._—Lieut. George Gifford wounded severely, 1 seaman severely.
Total killed, 5. Total wounded, 18.
“(Signed) HENRY MARTIN.”
“To Commodore Napier.”
On the 22nd I marched, with a Turkish battalion and a battalion of
marines, by the road of Antoura and Argentoun toward Merouba, through
the strongest and most difficult country I ever beheld, over roads
hardly passable, and under a fiery sun; the marine battalion,
unaccustomed to marching, were sorely pressed, and arrived with
difficulty at Argentoun; there they halted, and I went on with a couple
of companies of Turks, who were good marchers, holding a party of
marines, the least fatigued, ready to advance should we be pressed.
About two hours before sunset we came in sight of Osman Pacha’s camp and
the Albanian standards; they appeared intrenched in a very strong
position. The marines were now ordered to move on and show themselves,
and we continued to advance through a most difficult but beautifully
romantic country. In an hour we joined the mountaineers, under the
Scheik Francis (the person who had been designated the Seraskier by Mr.
Wood), in position in a small village, a little distance from very
precipitous rocks, through which an execrable road led to Merouba, where
Osman was intrenched. I desired the mountaineers to throw themselves
amongst the rocks, to see whether they were occupied or not, which they
did with considerable reluctance, till assured all was safe; they then
went on with great alacrity: this enabled me to reconnoitre Osman’s
position; he appeared well fortified, and from that I augured he was as
much afraid of being attacked by us as we were of being attacked by him.
In the evening we returned to Argentoun, where we attempted to get some
rest, but from the numerous bedfellows in the shape of monstrous fleas,
our slumbers were anything but sound. At dawn of day we were again on
the move, and returned to the camp, after a very hot and fatiguing
march. The following is my report of this reconnoissance to the
Admiral:—
“Sir,
“I last night reconnoitred the enemy’s position at Merouba, a long march
from here; they seemed more afraid of us than we were of them, as they
had fortified their position. Very few men showed themselves, which
inclines me to believe that a great part have retired; it is certain the
Druses are gone to their homes. This morning I reconnoitred the enemy’s
position on our right; we have had a communication with their chief, who
promises to come over: if he does not I shall beat up his quarters
to-morrow, open the province between the Nahr-el-Kelb (Dog River) and
Beyrout, and arm it; that done, we ought to make a reconnoissance on
Beyrout, our left covered by the mountaineers, and our right by the
steamers, gun-boats, and small craft. The proposal of Selim Pacha to
advance on Ibrahim is out of the question; we have no means of
transport, nor have the troops shoes. I am satisfied, were the Turks
left to themselves, in one week they would be prisoners. I am glad the
Emir Hanjar is come; he is a host in himself. I should have come off to
you this afternoon, but I was on horseback yesterday from day-light till
half-past six, and again to-day from day-light till sunset, with the
exception of an hour and a half, added to which I have a devil of a ——,
which requires a few hours to put to rights.
“Believe me yours very truly,
“CHAS. NAPIER.”