THE MASSACRE AT JAFFA (_continued_)--ENGLISH EVIDENCE
THEREON--SIEGE OF ST. JEAN D’ACRE--CAPTURE OF NAPOLEON’S
BATTERING TRAIN--FAILURE OF THE SIEGE, AND RETREAT TO JAFFA.
It is a singular thing, that, even in the very meagre accounts, of
transactions in Egypt no mention of this should have got into the
English newspapers; but I have searched, and can find none. But when,
in 1803, this country was in fear of invasion, it was brought up,
and used with great effect, in stimulating patriotism. Take, as an
instance, one[47] out of the thousands of broadsides which then flooded
the country, and we shall find that the fact, although broadly stated,
has not been exaggerated.
‘On the 7th that town was taken by assault. This affair is on all hands
allowed to have been bloody in the extreme; but a tale has been brought
to light, and attested by persons of undoubted credit, so bloody, so
diabolical, as to outstrip everything which such an expression is
calculated to describe.
‘It is asserted that three days after the capture of the town, three
thousand eight hundred prisoners were marched to a rising ground, and
there massacred by means of musquetry, grape shot, and the bayonet.
This fact was first made known in Europe by Sir Sidney Smith, and Mr.
Morier, Secretary to Lord Elgin, now a prisoner in Paris; its history
has been minutely given by Colonel Sir Robert Wilson, of Hompesch’s
hussars, and its truth has been attested by Dr. Wittman who accompanied
the army of the Grand Vizir.’
This Dr. Wittman was the physician to the British Military Mission,
which went with that army through Turkey, Syria, and Egypt, and who
wrote a narrative of his travels, in which, at p. 128, he says the
unfortunates were dragged ‘to the sand hills, about a league distant,
in the way to Gaza, and there most inhumanly put to death. I have seen
_the Skeletons of those unfortunate victims_, which lie scattered over
the hills; a modern Golgotha, which remains a lasting disgrace to a
Nation calling itself civilised.’
Sir Robert Wilson says: ‘Vollies of musquetry and grape instantly
played against them; and Buonaparte, who had been regarding the scene
through a telescope, when he saw the smoke ascending, could not
restrain his joy, but broke out into exclamations of approval; indeed,
he had just reason to dread the refusal of his troops thus to dishonour
themselves. Kleber had remonstrated in the most strenuous manner,
and the officer of the Etat-Major, who commanded (for the general to
whom the division belonged, was absent) even refused to execute the
order without a written instruction; but Buonaparte was too cautious,
and sent Berthier to enforce obedience.... The bones still lie in
heaps, and are shown to every traveller who arrives; nor can they be
confounded with those who perished in the assault, since this field of
butchery lies a mile from the town.’
Combe, of course, does not forget this incident.
Another bloody work ensued
Which the brave Nap with rapture view’d--
He near four thousand prisoners had,
The number almost drove him mad;
Because so many men to feed,
Required a deal of food indeed.
He chid his troops for being so good,
And said such mercy was of no good.
Resolv’d to get rid of his burthen,
(Tho’ Kleber ventur’d to demur then,)
He bade his troops the men surround,
And march them to a rising ground;
The soldiers did as he directed,
And they by Boney were inspected;
It seems our hero was inclin’d
If _’twas his interest_, to be kind;
Now Nap, among these Captives rude,
An aged Janizary view’d;
And, with a contumacious sneer,
Said he ‘Old man, what brought you here!’
The Janizary, no way frighten’d,
Although unconscious how it might end,
Replied ‘That question soon I can, Sir,
By asking you a like one, answer,
To serve your Sultan, you’ll rejoin--
And the same answer now is mine.’
This frankness all around delighted,
And admiration, too, excited.
Behold--our very hero smiled,
As if he had been reconciled.
That smile, some whispered, is a gracious one,
This guess was not, tho’, a sagacious one;
The Janizary was not spared,
His fellow-prisoners’ fate he shared;
But previously brave Nap withdrew,
And at a distance had a view;
The signal given--none dared to stop--
The musquetry went pop--pop--pop.
Nap thro’ his spy glass marked the fun,
And cried out ‘bravo’ when ’twas done--
His soldiers, who the dead surrounded,
Humanely stabbed and killed the wounded.
Napoleon now turned his attention to the siege of St. Jean d’Acre,
where the garrison had the advantage of European aid, besides
which, Sir Sydney Smith cruised about the fort, and Napoleon’s
battering-train, which had been captured, was duly pointed at the
besiegers. He was, besides, called off to help Kleber, who was in
an awkward situation at Mount Thabor, and had been fighting Achmet
Pasha, who had a considerably superior force, from six in the morning
till one in the afternoon. Not one moment too soon did Napoleon make
his appearance; but he turned the tide of battle, and the Turks were
defeated with the loss of 5,000 or 6,000 men, and all their stores, &c.
Back they went to St. Jean d’Acre, and did their best at the siege; but
it was not to be. Reinforcements were thrown into the town, Napoleon’s
army grew smaller, provisions got scarcer, the plague was in their
midst; so, sending his sick and wounded to Jaffa, he raised the siege
and began to retreat on May 20.
O’Meara tells us Napoleon’s version of the causes which led to
this.[48] ‘“The chief cause of the failure there was that Sir Sydney
Smith took all my battering-train, which was on board of several small
vessels. Had it not been for that, I would have taken Acre in spite of
him. He behaved very bravely, and was well seconded by Phillipeaux, a
Frenchman of talent, who had studied with me as an engineer.... The
acquisition of five or six hundred seamen as cannoniers, was a great
advantage to the Turks, whose spirits they revived, and whom they
showed how to defend the fortress.
‘“But he committed a great fault in making sorties, which cost the
lives of two or three hundred brave fellows, without the possibility
of success. For it was impossible he could succeed against the number
of the French who were before Acre. I would lay a wager, he lost
half of his crew in them. He dispersed proclamations among my troops
which certainly shook some of them, and I, in consequence, published
an order, stating that he was _mad_, and forbidding all communication
with him. Some days after, he sent, by means of a flag of truce, a
lieutenant, or a midshipman, with a letter containing a challenge to
me, to meet him at some place he pointed out, in order to fight a duel.
I laughed at this, and sent him back an intimation that when he brought
Marlborough to fight me I would meet him. Notwithstanding this, I like
the character of the man.”’
The French reached Jaffa on May 24, and found the hospitals full of
wounded and those sick of the plague. Compelled still to retreat, it
was necessary to remove the sick; and, to encourage his soldiers in the
task, and to show them how little was the risk, Napoleon is said to
have handled several of the infected.