"Haga, January 17, 1790."
This showy offer overcame Sir Sidney's reluctance at once; but as he
could not enter into the Swedish service without leave from home, he
took advantage of the opportunity of bringing home despatches from the
minister in Stockholm, and thus became the bearer of his own request.
The Duke of Sudermania, the king's second in command, also wrote to
him a most friendly letter, entreating of him to return as speedily
as possible, and bidding him bring some of his brave English friends
along with him.
The offer to him had been the command of the light squadron. Sir
Sidney set out on the wings of hope accordingly, and expected to be
received with open arms by the ministers; but he was seriously
disappointed in the expected ardour of his reception. It was with
extreme difficulty that he could find any one to listen to him. At
last he obtained an audience of the Duke of Leeds, who, however, would
give no answer, until the whole matter had been laid before a cabinet
council. The gallant sailor now began to experience some of those
trials to which every man in public life is probably subjected, at one
time or another. He now determined to wait with patience, and his
patience was amply tried. In this state he remained for six weeks,
until at last he determined to write to the King of Sweden, proposing
to give up his appointment, but stating that he was determined to
return to join the Duke of Sudermania as a volunteer. Sir Sidney now
offered to be the bearer of despatches to Sweden, but the offer was
declined with official politeness. He immediately sailed for Sweden,
when the King placed him on board a yacht which followed the royal
galley in action.
We must now take leave of this war of row-boats, in which, however,
several desperate actions were fought; but though row-boats or galleys
were the chief warriors, both fleets exhibited a large number of heavy
frigates or line-of-battle ships. Those, however, were scarcely more
than buoys, among the narrow channels of the Baltic, obstructed as
they were by islands, headlands, and small defensible harbours. Sir
Sidney was active on all occasions. In one instance, where an attack
on the Russian fleet was proposed, and the objection made by the
captains was the difficulty of proceeding by night through an
intricate channel, he rode across a neck of land, took a peasant's
boat from the shore, sounded the channel during the night, and made
himself master of the landmarks, settling the signals with the
advanced post on shore.
He was soon after engaged in a desperate action, in which he, with his
little troop, having been abandoned by the divisions ordered to attack
on other points, was beaten, after a most gallant resistance.
But the King knew how to feel for brave men, however unlucky, and sent
him a complimentary letter, on the gallantry and zeal which "he had
the faculty of communicating to those who accompanied him." The King,
in several communications, remarks on this quality of exciting the
spirit of activity and enterprise in others, which seems to have been
Sir Sidney's characteristic in almost every period of his naval
career; and which doubtless proceeded from peculiar ardour and
animation in himself.
The war closed by an armistice and treaty, in 1792. But Sir Sidney
then received the reward of his gallant zeal, in his investiture with
the Grand Cross of the Swedish Order of the Sword, by George III.
himself; which we believe to have been an unusual distinction in the
instance of foreign orders, and to have been at the request of the
late King of Sweden.
Though Sir Sidney Smith had apparent reason to complain of the
coldness of his reception on his first return to England, it is
evident that his conduct in Sweden had attracted the attention of
ministers. As a simple English captain, attracting the notice of the
most warlike monarch of Europe, evidently holding a high place in his
confidence, offered a distinguished command, and receiving one of the
highest marks of honour that could be conferred by Gustavus, he was
regarded as having done honour to his country. But we have heard from
those who were intimate with him in early life, that he was also a
remarkably striking personage in person and manners; his countenance
singularly expressive, his manner full of life, and his language vivid
and intelligent. His person was then thin and active, which in
after-life changed into heaviness and corpulency--a most complete
transformation; but if the countenance had lost all its fire, it
retained its good sense and its good nature.
From an early period of the Revolutionary war, the eyes of France had
been turned on Egypt, a country which the extravagant descriptions of
Savary had represented as capable of "being turned into a terrestrial
paradise, if in possession of France." There her men of science were
to reveal all the mysteries of the Pyramids, her philosophers were to
investigate human nature in its most famous cradle, her soldiers were
to colonise in patriarchal ease and plenty; and even her belles and
beaux were to luxuriate in gilded galleys on the waters of the
inscrutable Nile, and revel in painted palaces in the shade of
tropical gardens, and bowers that knew no winter! Further collision
with England led to further objects; and in time, when the Republic
had assumed a shape of direct hostility with all Europe, with England
at its head, the seizure of Egypt tempted France in another form, as
the first step to the conquest of India.
But long before this period, the sagacity of the English cabinet had
seen the probable direction of French enterprise, and felt the
necessity of obtaining all possible information relative to the coasts
of Asiatic Turkey and Syria. For this important purpose Sir Sidney
Smith was chosen, and sent on a secret mission to Constantinople;
partly, perhaps, from the circumstance that his brother, Mr Spencer
Smith, who was then our ambassador there, would communicate with him
more advantageously than with a stranger; but undoubtedly much more
for his qualifications for a service of such interest and importance.
Nothing is left of those memorials, further than a few notes of the
expenses of his journeys; from which he appears to have examined the
coasts of the Black Sea, the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, the
Archipelago, and the Ionian Islands. But he was now to distinguish
himself on a higher scene of action.
In September 1793, the officers of the French navy at Toulon, and the
chief inhabitants, disgusted with the Revolution, and alarmed by the
cruelties of the Revolutionary tribunals; hoisted the white flag, and
proposed to Lord Hood, commanding the British squadron off the coast,
that he should take possession of the city and shipping, in the name
of Louis XVII.
It must be confessed, that there never was a great military prize,
more utterly thrown away, nor an effort of loyalty more unlucky. The
whole transaction only gives the lesson, that what the diplomatists
call "delicacy" is wholly misplaced when men come to blows, and that
in war promptitude is every thing. The first act of Lord Hood ought to
have been to remove the fleet, strip the arsenals, and send the whole
to England, there to be kept secure for its rightful king. The next
ought to have been, to give every inhabitant the means of escaping to
some safer quarter, with his property. The third ought to have been,
to garrison the forts with every soldier who could be sent from
Gibraltar and England; from which we could have sent 50,000 men within
three weeks. Toulon then might have been made the stronghold of a
loyal insurrection in the south, and the garrison of all the foreign
troops, which the French princes could muster.
Not one of these things was done. The ships were left until the last
moment, through "delicacy" to the people; the people were left to the
last moment, through a perilous confidence in the chances of war; and
Toulon was lost by an attack of ragamuffins, and the battery of
Lieutenant Buonaparte, which an English regiment would have flung into
the sea, and sent its commandant to an English prison.
But, even in the midst of these instances of ill-luck, Sir Sidney
Smith made himself conspicuous by his services. When returning from
his Mediterranean survey, he happened to stop at Smyrna; and there
observing a number of British sailors loitering about the streets, he
offered them service; and purchasing a small lateen-rigged vessel,
about forty feet long, which he manned with forty sailors, and
steering for Toulon, he turned over his little vessel and its crew to
Lord Hood.
This was another example of that activity of mind and ready attention
to circumstances, which characterised his career. A hundred other
officers might have seen those sailors wandering about Smyrna, without
thinking of the purchase of a vessel to make them useful to their
country; or might have been too impatient to return to England, for a
_detour_ to Toulon.
Lord Hood, though a brave man, was a dull one, and had all the
formality of a formal time. Sir Sidney's gallant volunteering was
forgotten, and the defence of Toulon was carried on under every
possible species of blundering. At length the enemies' guns began to
play from the heights, and the order was given for the fleet to
retire. Whether even this order was not premature may still be
doubted; for the French batteries, few and weak, could scarcely have
made an impression on so powerful a fleet; and the British broadsides
might have made it impossible for the enemy to hold the town,
especially after all its works had been dismantled. But the order was
given, and was about to be executed, when Sir Sidney asked the
question which seems to have occurred to no one else: "What do you
mean to do with all those fine ships: do you mean to leave them
behind?" Some one called out,--"Why, what do you mean to do with
them?" The prompt answer was,--"Burn them, to be sure." By some
chance, the answer reached Lord Hood's ears; he immediately sent for
Sir Sidney, and to him, though on half pay, and then irregularly
employed, was given this important duty.
The employment was highly perilous, not only from the hazards of being
blown up, or buried in the conflagration, but from the resistance of
the populace and galley-slaves, besides that of the troops, who, on
the retreat of the English, were ready to pour into the town. His
force, too, was trifling, consisting only of the little vessel which
he had purchased at Smyrna, three British gun-boats, and three
Spanish. But the operation was gallantly performed. The stores of the
arsenal were set on fire; a fireship was towed into the middle of the
French fleet, and all was soon one immense mass of flame: perhaps war
never exhibited a scene more terribly sublime. Thirteen sail of the
line, with all the storehouses, were blazing together. The French,
too, began to fire from the hills, and the English gun-boats returned
the fire with discharges of grapeshot on the troops as they came
rushing down to the gates of the arsenal. All was uproar and
explosion.
The most melancholy part of the whole narrative is the atrocious
vengeance of the Republicans on gaining possession. An anecdote of
this scene of horror, and of the especial treachery of Napoleon, is
given on the authority of Sir Sidney.
"The Royalist inhabitants, or the chief portion of them, had been
driven into the great square of the town, and compressed there into
one huge mass. Napoleon then discharged his artillery upon them, and
mowed them down. But as many had thrown themselves on the ground to
escape the grapeshot, and many were only wounded, this villain of
villains cried out aloud,--'The vengeance of the Republic is
satisfied, rise and go to your homes.' But the wretched people no
sooner stood up than they received another discharge of his guns, and
were all massacred. If any one act of man ever emulated the work of
the devil, this act, by its mingled perfidy and cruelty, was the one."
It is impossible to read the life of this intrepid and active officer,
without seeing the encouragement which it holds forth to enterprise.
In this sense it ought to have a part in the recollections of every
soldier and sailor of England. Sir Sidney had perhaps rivals by the
thousand in point of personal valour and personal intelligence; but
the source of all his distinctions was, his never losing sight of his
profession, and never losing an opportunity of service. On this
principle we may account for every step of his career, and on no
other. He appears to have had no parliamentary interest, no
ministerial favour, no connexion of any kind which could essentially
promote his interest, and even to have been somewhat neglected by
admirals under whom he served. But he never lost an opportunity of
being present where any thing was to be done, and of doing his best.
It was this which produced even from the formal English admiral a note
of this order, written on the evening of the conflagration,--
"My dear Sir Sidney,--You must burn every French ship you possibly
can, and consult the governor on the proper method of doing it, on
account of bringing off the troops.
"Very faithfully yours,
"HOOD."
This was written at three in the afternoon. It would appear that Sir
Sidney, in his answer, made some observation with reference to the
smallness of the force put under his command. His Lordship, in a note
dated at six in the evening, thus replied:--
"I am sorry you are so apprehensive of difficulty in the service you
volunteered for. It _must_ be undertaken; and if it does not succeed
to my wishes, it will very probably facilitate the getting off the
governor and the troops in safety, which is an object. The
conflagration may be advantageous to us. No enterprise of war is void
of danger and difficulty; both must be submitted to.
"Ever faithfully yours,
"HOOD."
The remonstrance of Sir Sidney must evidently have been with respect
to the inadequacy of preparation, for he remarks,--"I volunteered the
service under the disadvantage of there being no previous preparation
for it whatever;" and the only failure arose from the want of force;
for he was unable to burn the ships in the basin; while it argues
extraordinary skill and daring, to have effected the burning of the
rest with a few gun-boats and a felucca.
But this service, executed at the right time, and in the right spirit,
immediately fixed upon him the eyes of the fleet; and the admiral, on
sending home the despatches from Toulon, made Sir Sidney their bearer.
He was received with great attention by ministers; and Lord Spencer,
then at the head of the Admiralty, particularly complimented him on
the promptness and energy of his services at Toulon.
As it was now determined to fit out a light squadron for the purpose
of disturbing the enemy's coasts on the Channel, Sir Sidney Smith was
selected for the command; and he was appointed to the Diamond frigate,
with which he immediately made sail for the coast of Holland. This
little fleet consisted of thirty-two vessels of various sizes, from
the frigate to the gun-boat. With this fleet he kept watch on the
enemy's harbours, hunted privateers, made landings on the shore,
carried off signal-posts, and kept the whole coast in perpetual alarm.
One of those services shows the activity and intelligence required on
this duty. It being rumoured that a French expedition had sailed from
Brest, Sir Sidney was ordered to execute the difficult task of
ascertaining the state of the harbour. He disguised his ship so as to
look like a French vessel, hoisted French colours, and ran into the
road. Unluckily, a large French ship of war was working in at the same
time, but which took no notice of him, probably from the boldness of
his navigation. At sunset the Frenchman anchored, as the tide set
strong out of the harbour, and Sir Sidney was compelled to do the
same. He had hoped that, on the turning of the tide, she would have
gone up the harbour, but there she lay in the moonlight, a formidable
obstacle. The question was now whether to leave the attempt
incomplete, or to run the hazard of passing the French line-of-battle
ship. The latter course was determined on, and she was fortunately
passed. As they advanced up the road, two other ships, one of which
was a frigate, were seen at anchor. Those, too, must be passed, and
even the dawn must be waited for before a good view of the road could
be obtained. The crew were ordered to be silent: the French ships were
passed without notice. As morning broke, a full view of the road was
obtained, and it was evident that the enemy's fleet had put to sea.
The task was performed, but the difficulty was now to escape. On the
first attempt to move towards the sea, a corvette, which was steering
out in the same direction, began to give the alarm by making signals.
The two vessels at anchor immediately prepared to follow, and the
line-of-battle ship made a movement so as completely to obstruct the
course. There seemed to be now no alternative but to be sunk or taken.
These are the emergencies which try the abilities of men, and the
dexterity on this occasion was equal to the difficulty. As resistance
was hopeless, Sir Sidney tried stratagem. Running directly down to the
line-of-battle ship, which he now perceived to be in a disabled
state, pumping from leaks and under jury topmasts, he hailed the
captain in French, which he fortunately spoke like a native, offering
him assistance. The captain thanked him, but said that he required
none, as he had men enough; but on this occasion Sir Sidney exhibited
a feeling of humanity which did him still higher honour than his
skill. As he lay under the stern of the Frenchman he might have poured
in a raking fire, and, of course, committed great slaughter among the
crew, who were crowded on the gunwale and quarter, looking at his
ship. The guns were double loaded, and his crew were ready and
willing. But, considering that, even if the enemy's vessel had been
captured, it would be impossible to bring her off, and that the only
result could be the havoc of life; and, to use the language of his
despatch, "conceiving it both unmanly and treacherous to make such
havoc while speaking in friendly terms and offering our assistance, I
trusted that my country, though it might be benefited in a trifling
degree by it, would gladly relinquish an advantage to be purchased at
the expense of humanity and the national character; and I hope, for
these reasons, I shall stand justified in not having made use of the
accidental advantage in my power for the moment."
And even then this act of generosity may not have been without its
reward; for the other ships, seeing that he was spoken to by the
French vessel, discontinued the pursuit. The exploit was finished, and
the harbour was left behind. If he had fired a shot into the exposed
line-of-battle ship, he would inevitably have been chased by the
others and probably taken. From this period scarcely any of the
smaller convoys, conveying ammunition or provisions to the enemy's
ports, could escape.
Yet, in the midst of this warlike vigilance and vigour, humanity was
not overlooked; the British vessels were forbidden to fire at patrols
on shore, and were ordered to spare fishing-boats, villages, and
private dwellings.
The winter was spent in hunting along the shore every French flotilla
that ventured to peep out. But one action deserves peculiar
remembrance, from its mingled daring and _perseverance_. A convoy,
consisting of a corvette of 16 guns, four brigs, and two sloops, had
been chased into, Herqui. As they, of course, were likely to take the
first opportunity to escape, Sir Sidney determined not to wait for the
rest of his squadron, but to attempt their capture in the Diamond
frigate alone. While he was preparing for this adventure, two other
armed vessels joined him. The attempt was hazardous, for the bay was
fortified. Two batteries were placed on a high promontory, and the
coast troops were ready to oppose a landing.
The Diamond dashed into the bay, but the fire from the batteries began
to be heavy, and could be returned only with slight effect, from the
commanding nature of their position. It was, therefore, necessary to
try another style of attack. This was done by ordering the marines and
boarders into the boats, and sending them to attack the batteries in
the rear. This movement, however, was met by a heavy fire of musketry
on the boats, from the troops drawn up to oppose their landing. The
frigate, too, was suffering from the fire of the batteries, and the
navigation was intricate. At this critical moment Sir Sidney pointed
out to Lieutenant Pine, one of his officers, that it might be possible
to climb the precipice in front of the batteries! The gallant officer
and his men started immediately, landed under the enemy's cannon,
climbed the precipice, and made themselves masters of the guns, before
the troops on the beach could regain the heights. The frigate
continued her fire to check the advance of the troops. The guns were
spiked, and the re-embarkation was effected. It might have been
expected that this brilliant little assault could not have been
effected without serious loss; but such is the advantage of
promptitude and gallantry, that the whole party returned safe, with
the exception of one officer wounded.
But the enemy's vessels still remained. To get them out was
impossible, for the rocks around were covered with troops, who kept up
an incessant fire of musketry. It was, therefore, determined to burn
them. The corvette and a merchant ship were set on fire: but the tide
falling, the troops poured down close to the vessels, and the party in
possession of them returned on board.
Here Sir Sidney might have stopped. He had done enough to signalise
his own talent and the bravery of his people. But this success was not
enough for him. The convoy were still before him, though still under
the protection of the troops. He determined on attacking them again.
The boats were manned and rowed to the shore. The troops poured in a
heavy fire. But the vessels were finally all boarded and burnt, with
the exception of one armed lugger.
Enterprises of this order are the true school of the naval officer.
They may seem slight, but they call out all the talent and activity of
the profession. They might also have had an important influence on the
naval war, for these convoys generally carried naval stores to the
principal French dockyards, and the loss of a convoy might prevent the
sailing of a fleet.
Lieutenant Pine was sent to the Admiralty with the colours which he
had captured on the heights, and with a strong recommendation from his
gallant captain. The whole affair was regarded in England as
remarkably well conceived and well done. The exploits of the Diamond
were the popular theme, and Sir Sidney rose into high favour with the
Admiralty and the nation.
These are the opportunities which distinguish the frigate service. An
officer in a line-of-battle ship must wait for a general engagement.
An officer on land must wait for the lapse of twenty years at least
before he can expect the command of a regiment, or the chance of
seeing his name connected with any distinguished achievement. But the
youngest captain, in command of a frigate, may bring the eyes of the
nation upon him. The young lieutenant, even the boy midshipman, by
some independent display of intrepidity, may fix his name in the
annals of the empire.
But the caprices of fortune are doubly capricious in war. While the
captain of the Diamond was receiving plaudits from all sides, the
mortifying intelligence arrived, that he had fallen into the enemy's
hands.
The origin of this casualty was his zeal to capture a lugger, which
had done considerable damage among our Channel convoys. Its stratagem
was, to follow the convoys, until it could throw men on board, then to
let the prize continue her course, to avoid attracting the vigilance
of the escorting frigate, and, when night fell, to slip off to a
French port. Sir Sidney determined to cut short the lugger's career.
At length the opportunity seemed to have come. The vessel was
discovered at anchor in the inner fort of Havre under a ten-gun
battery. The Diamond's boats were instantly manned and armed; but, on
the inquiry who was to command, it was found that the first lieutenant
was ill and in bed, and the second and third lieutenants were on
shore. Sir Sidney then took the command himself. The attacking party
proceeded in four boats and a Thames wherry, in which was Sir Sidney,
to the pier of Havre, where the lugger lay. It was night, and the
vessel was gallantly boarded on both sides at once, the crew of the
wherry boarding over the stern. The Frenchmen on deck were beaten
after a short struggle. Sir Sidney, rushing down into the cabin, found
the four officers starting from their sleep and loading their pistols.
He coolly told them that the vessel was no longer theirs; ordered them
to surrender, and they gave up their arms.
But the flood-tide was running strong, and it drove the vessel above
the town, there being no wind. At day-light the lugger became the
centre of a general attack of the armed vessels of the port. The
Diamond could not move from want of wind; and, after a desperate
resistance of three quarters of an hour, Sir Sidney and his companions
were forced to surrender. Six officers and nineteen seamen were taken.
Sir Sidney's capture was a national triumph, and he was instantly
ordered to be sent to Paris. No exchange could be obtained; his name
was too well known. He was charged with incendiarism for the burning
of Toulon; and it was even hinted that his being found so close to
Havre was for the purpose of burning the town.
Sir Sidney's imprisonment was at first in the Abbaye, which had been
made so infamously memorable by the slaughters of September 1793. He
was afterwards placed in the prison of the Temple. In all probability,
the first object was to exhibit him to the Parisians. An English
captain as a prisoner was a rare exhibition, and his detention also
saved them from the most active disturber of their Norman and Breton
navigation. But his confinement was not strict, and he was even
suffered occasionally to walk about Paris on giving his parole to the
jailer. At length, after various British offers of exchange, which
were all rejected by the French, he escaped by a counterfeit order of
liberation; and, encountering several hair-breadth hazards, reached
Havre, seized a boat, put off, and was taken up at sea by the Argo
frigate, commanded by Captain Bowen, who landed him at Portsmouth, and
he arrived in London in April 1798, having been in France about two
years and a month.
It is sometimes difficult to know, respecting any event, peculiarly in
early life, whether it is a misfortune or the contrary. Sir Sidney's
capture must have been often felt by him as the severest of
calamities, by stopping a career which had already made him one of the
national favourites, and had given him promise of still higher
distinction. From the command of the Diamond to the dreary chambers of
the Temple was a formidable contrast; yet the event which placed him
there may have been an instance of something more than what the world
terms "good luck." If he had remained in command of his frigate, he
might have fallen in some of those fights with the batteries and
corvettes which he was constantly provoking. But in his French prison
he was safe for the time, and yet not less before the public eye. In
reality, the sympathy felt for him there, and the fruitless attempts
of the Admiralty to effect his exchange, kept him more the _Lion_ than
before; and he returned just in time, to be employed on a service of
the first importance, and which, by its novelty, adventure, and
romantic peril, seemed to have been expressly made for his genius.
The French expedition, under Napoleon, had taken possession of Egypt;
the Turks were a rabble, and were beaten at the first onset. The
Mamelukes, though the finest cavalry in the world as individual
horsemen, were beaten before the French infantry, as all irregular
troops will be beaten by regulars. At this period, the object of the
ministry was to excite the indolence of the Turkish government to
attempt the reconquest of Egypt, and Sir Sidney was appointed to the
command of _Le Tigre_, a French eighty gun-ship, which had been
captured by Lord Bridport three years before. If it be said that he
owed this command in any degree to his having been sent on a mission
to Turkey some years before, which is perfectly probable; let it be
remembered, that that mission itself was owing to the gallantry and
intelligence which he had displayed in his volunteer expedition to
Sweden. Sir Sidney's present appointment was a mixture of diplomacy
with a naval command; for he was appointed joint-plenipotentiary with
his brother Spencer Smith, then our minister at Constantinople. But
this junction of offices produced much dissatisfaction in both Lord St
Vincent and Nelson; and it required no slight address, on the part of
Sir Sidney, to reconcile, those distinguished officers to his
employment. However, his sword soon showed itself a more effectual
reconciler than his pen, and the siege of Acre proved him a warrior
worthy of their companionship. After the siege, Nelson, as impetuous
in his admiration as he was in his dislikes, wrote, to Sir Sidney the
following high acknowledgment:--
"MY DEAR SIR,--I have received, with the truest satisfaction, all your
very interesting letters, to July. The immense fatigue you have had in
defending _Acre_ against such a chosen army of French villains, headed
by that arch-villain Buonaparte, has never been exceeded; and the
bravery shown by you and your brave companions is such as to merit
every encomium which all the civilised world can bestow. As an
individual, and as an admiral, will you accept of my feeble tribute of
praise and admiration, and make them acceptable to all those under
your command?
"NELSON.
"Palermo, Aug. 20, 1799."
Sir Sidney found the Sultaun willing to exert all the force of his
dominions, but wretchedly provided with the means of exertion--a
disorganised army, an infant navy, empty arsenals, and all the
resources of the state in barbaric confusion. Two bomb-vessels and
seven gun-boats were all that he could procure for the coast service.
He ordered five more gun-boats to be laid down, waiting for guns from
England. But he was soon called from Constantinople. Advice had been
received by the governor of Acre, Achmet Pasha, that Buonaparte, at
the head of an army of twelve or thirteen thousand men, was about to
march on Acre. The position of this fortress renders it the key of the
chief commerce in corn at the head of the Levant, and its possessor
has always been powerful. Its possession by the French would have
given them the command of all the cities on the coast, and probably
made them masters of Syria, if not of Constantinople. Buonaparte,
utterly reckless in his cruelties, provided they gained his object,
had announced his approach by the following dashing epistle to the
Pasha:--"The provinces of Gaza, Ramleh, and Jaffa are in my power. I
have treated with generosity those of your troops who placed
themselves at my discretion. I have been severe towards those who have
violated the rights of war. I shall march in a few days against Acre."
His severity had already been exhibited on an unexampled scale. Having
taken Jaffa by assault, and put part of the garrison to the sword, he
marched his prisoners, to the number of three thousand seven hundred,
to an open space outside the town. As they were disarmed in the town,
they could make no resistance; and, as Turks, they submitted to the
will of Fate. There they were fired on, until they all fell! When this
act of horrid cruelty was reported in Europe by Sir Robert Wilson, its
very atrocity made the honourable feelings of England incredulous; but
it has since been acknowledged in the memoir by Napoleon's commissary,
M. Miot, and the massacre is denied no longer. The excuse which the
French general subsequently offered was, that many of the Turks had
been captured before, and liberated on parole; that having thus
violated the laws of war, he could neither take them with him, nor
leave them behind. But the hollowness of this excuse is evident. The
Turks knew nothing of our European parole; they felt that it was their
duty to fight for their Pasha; they might have been liberated with
perfect impunity, for, once deprived of arms, and stript of all means
of military movement, they must have lingered among the ruins of an
open town, or dispersed about the country. The stronger probability
is, that the massacre was meant for the purposes of intimidation, and
that on the blood of Jaffa the French flag was to float above the
gates of Acre.
It is satisfactory to our natural sense of justice, to believe that
this very act was the ruin of the expedition. Achmet Pasha was an
independent prince, and might have felt little difficulty in arranging
a treaty with the invader, or receiving a province in exchange for the
temporary use of his fortress. But the bloodshed of Jaffa must have
awakened at once his abhorrence and his fears. The massacre also
excited Sir Sidney's feelings so much, that he instantly weighed
anchor, and arrived at Acre two days before the French vanguard. They
were first discovered by _Le Tigre's_ gun-boats, as the heads of the
column moved round the foot of Mount Carmel. There they were stopt by
the fire of the boats, and driven in full flight up the mountains.
But another event of more importance occurred almost immediately
after. A flotilla was seen from the mast-head of _Le Tigre_,
consisting of a corvette and nine sail of gun-vessels. The flotilla
was instantly attacked, and seven struck, the other three escaped, it
being justly considered of most importance to secure the prizes, they
containing the whole battery of artillery, ammunition, &c., intended
for the siege. Previously to his arrival, Sir Sidney had sent Captain
Miller of the _Theseus_, a most gallant officer, and Colonel
Phelypeaux, to rebuild the walls, and altogether to put the place in a
better defensive order. Nothing could be more fortunate than this
capture, for it at once gave Sir Sidney a little fleet, supplied him
with guns and ammunition for the defence of the place, and, of
course, deprived the French of the means of attack in proportion. But
it is not to be supposed that Napoleon was destitute of guns. He had
already on shore four twelve-pounders, eight howitzers, a battery of
thirty-two pieces, and about thirty four-pounders. The siege commenced
on the 20th of March, and from that day, for sixty days, was a
constant repetition of assaults, the bursting of mines, and the
breaching of the old and crumbling walls.
At length Buonaparte, conscious that his character was sinking, that
he was hourly exposed to Egyptian insurrection, that the tribes of the
Desert were arriving, and that every day increased the peril of an
attack on his rear by an army from Constantinople, resolved to risk
all upon a final assault. After fifty days of open trenches, the
Turkish flotilla had been seen from the walls. The rest deserves to be
told only in the language of their gallant defender.
"The constant fire of the besiegers was suddenly increased tenfold.
Our flanking fire from afloat was, as usual, plied to the utmost, but
with less effect than heretofore, as the enemy had thrown up
epaulements of sufficient thickness to protect them from the fire. The
French advanced, and their standard was seen at daylight on the outer
angle of the town, which they had assaulted. Hassan Bey's troops were
preparing to land, but their boats were still only halfway to the
shore."
It was at this moment that the spirit and talents of Sir Sidney had
their full effect. If he had continued to depend on the fire of his
boats, the place would have been taken. The French were already
masters of a part of the works, and they would probably have rushed
into the town before the troops of Hassan Bey could have reached the
shore.
"This," says the despatch, "was a most critical point, and an effort
was necessary to preserve the place until their arrival. I accordingly
landed the boats at the mole, and took the crews up to the breach,
armed with pikes. The enthusiastic gratitude of the Turks, men, women,
and children, at the sight of such a reinforcement, at such a time, is
not to be described; many fugitives returned with us to the breach,
which we found defended by a few brave Turks, whose most destructive
weapons were heavy stones.
"Djezzar Pasha, hearing that the English were on the breach, quitted
his station, where, according to ancient Turkish custom, he was
sitting to reward such as should bring him the heads of the enemy, and
distributing musket cartridges with his own hands. The energetic old
man, coming behind us, pulled us down with violence, saying, that if
any thing happened to his English friends, all was lost.
"A _sortie_ was now proposed by Sir Sidney, but the Turkish regiment
which made it was repulsed. A new breach was made, and it was evident
that a new assault in superior force was intended.
"Buonaparte, with a group of generals, was seen on Cœur-de-Lion's
Mount, and by his gesticulation, and his despatching an aide-de-camp
to the camp, he showed that he only waited for a reinforcement. A
little before sunset, a massive column was seen advancing to the
breach with solemn step." The Pasha now reverted to his native style
of fighting, and with capital effect. "His idea was, _not_ to defend
the breach this time, but to let a certain number in, and then _close
with them_, according to the Turkish mode of war. The column thus
mounted the breach unmolested, and descended from the rampart into the
Pasha's garden, where, in a very few minutes, the most advanced among
them lay headless; the sabre, with the addition of a dagger in the
other hand, proving more than a match for the bayonet. In this attack,
General Lannes, commanding the assault, was wounded, and General
Rambaut, with a hundred and fifty men, were killed. The rest retreated
precipitately.
"Buonaparte will, no doubt, renew the attack, the breach being
perfectly practicable for fifty men abreast! Indeed, the town is not,
nor ever has been, defensible by the rules of art. But, _according to
every other rule, it must and shall be_ defended. Not that it is worth
defending, but we feel that it is by this breach Buonaparte means to
march to further conquest.
"'Tis on the issue of this conflict that depends the opinion of the
multitude of spectators on the surrounding hills, who wait only to see
how it ends, to join the victor. And with such a reinforcement for the
execution of his well-known projects, Constantinople, and even Vienna,
must feel the shock."
The siege continued, perhaps as no other siege ever continued before;
it was a succession of assaults, frequently by night. From the 2d of
May to the 9th, there were no less than nine of those assaults! In
another letter he writes:--
"Our labour is excessive; many of us, among whom is our active,
zealous friend, Phelypeaux, have died of _fatigue_. I am but half
dead; but Buonaparte brings fresh troops to the assault two or three
times in the night, while we are obliged to be always under arms. He
has lost the flower of his army in these desperate attempts to storm,
as appears by the certificates of service which they had in their
pockets, and eight generals."
From this period the desperation of Buonaparte was evident. Besides
the eight generals killed, he had lost eighty officers, all his
guides, carabineers, and most of his artillerymen,--in all, upwards of
four thousand soldiers. But the desperation was in vain. All the
assaults were repulsed with slaughter. The French grenadiers mounted
the breach, only to be shot or sabred. At length, the division of
Kleber was sent for. It had gone to the fords of the Jordan to watch
the movements of the Turkish army, and had acquired distinction in the
Egyptian campaign by the character of its general, and by its
successes against the irregular horse of the Desert. On its arrival,
it was instantly ordered to the assault. But the attempt was met with
the usual bravery of the garrison; and Kleber, after a struggle of
_three hours_, was repulsed. All was now hopeless on the part of the
enemy. The French grenadiers absolutely refused to mount to the
assault again. Buonaparte was furious at his failure, but where force
was useless, he still had a resource in treachery. He sent a flag of
truce into the town to propose an armistice for the burial of the
dead, whose remains were already poisoning the air. This might
naturally produce some relaxation of vigilance; and while the proposal
was under consideration, a volley of shot and shells was fired. This
was the preliminary to an assault. It, however, was repulsed; and the
Turks, indignant at the treachery, were about to sacrifice the
messenger who bore the flag. But Sir Sidney humanely interposed,
carried him to his ship, and sent him back to the French general with
a message of contempt and shame.
Retreat was now the only measure available, and it began on the night
of the 20th of May. The battering-train of twenty-three pieces was
left behind. The wounded and field-guns had been suddenly embarked in
country vessels, and sent towards Jaffa. Sir Sidney put to sea to
follow them, and the vessels containing the wounded, instead of
attempting to continue their flight, steered down at once to their
pursuers, and solicited water and provisions. They received both, and
were sent to Damietta. "Their expressions of gratitude were mingled
with execrations against their general, who had thus," they said,
"exposed them to perish."
As the garrison was without cavalry, the pursuit of the flying enemy
could not be followed with any decisive effect. But the gun-boats of
the English and Turks continued constantly discharging grapeshot on
them, so long as they moved within reach of the shore, and the Turkish
infantry fired on them when their march turned inland. Their loss was
formidable; the whole tract, between Acre and Gaza, was strewed with
the bodies of those who died either of fatigue or wounds. At length
two thousand cavalry were put in motion by the Turkish governor of
Jaffa, making prisoners all the French who were left on the road, with
their guns; and nothing but the want of a strong body of fresh troops
to fall on the enemy seems to have prevented the capture of every
battalion of that army, which, but two months before, had boasted of
marching to Constantinople.
It ought to be remembered, as the crowning honour to his human
honours, that the man who had gained those successes, was not
forgetful of the true source of all victories which deserve the name.
Sir Sidney had gone to Nazareth, and there made this expressive
memorandum:--
"I am just returned from the Cave of the Annunciation, where,
_secretly_ and _alone_, I have been returning thanks to the Almighty
for our late wonderful success. Well may we exclaim, 'the race is not
always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.' W. S. S."
It may naturally be presumed that the whole progress of the siege had
interested the fleet and army of England in the highest degree. There
had been nothing like the defence of Acre in all the history of
European war. A siege is pronounced, by military authorities, to be
the _most certain_ operation in war; with a fixed number of troops,
and a fixed number of guns in the trenches, the strongest place _must
fall_ within a prescribed time. But here was a town almost open, and
with no other garrison, for the first six weeks of the siege, than a
battalion of half-disciplined Mussulmans, headed by such men as could
be spared from two British ships of war.
The whole defence was justly regarded by the nation, less as a bold
military service, than as an _exploit_--one of those singular
achievements which are exhibited from time to time, as if to show _how
far_ intrepidity and talent combined can go; a splendid example and
encouragement to the brave never to doubt, and to the intelligent
never to suppose that the resources of a resolute heart can be
exhausted.
But the siege of Acre did more. It certainly relieved the Sultaun from
a pressure which might have endangered his throne. It _may_ have saved
India from an expedition down the Red Sea, for which the native
princes looked, with their habitual hatred of their British masters;
and above all, it told England that her people were as invincible on
shore as on the waves, and prepared her soldiery for those triumphs
which were to make the renown of the Peninsular war imperishable.
On the meeting of parliament in September 1799, George III. opened the
session with an energetic speech, in which the siege of Acre held a
prominent part. The speech said--"The French expedition to Egypt has
continued to be productive of calamity and disgrace to our enemies,
while its ultimate views against our Eastern possessions have been
utterly confounded. The desperate attempt which they have lately made
to extricate themselves from their difficulties, has been defeated by
the courage of the Turkish forces, directed by the skill, and animated
by the courage of the British officer, with the small portion of my
naval force under his command."
In the discussion, a few days after, the thanks of the Lords to Sir
Sidney Smith, and the seamen and officers under his command, were
moved by Lord Spencer, the first Lord of the Admiralty, in terms of
the highest compliment.
His lordship said, that he had now to take notice of an exploit which
had never been surpassed, and had scarcely ever been equalled;--he
meant the defence of St Jean d' Acre by Sir Sidney Smith. He had no
occasion to impress upon their lordships a higher sense than they
already entertained of the brilliancy, utility, and distinction of an
achievement, in which a general of great celebrity, and a veteran and
victorious army, were, after a desperate and obstinate engagement,
which lasted almost without intermission for sixty days, not only
repulsed, but totally defeated by the heroism of this British officer,
and the small number of troops under his command.
Lord Hood said, that he could not give a vote on the present occasion
without bearing his testimony to the skill and valour of Sir Sidney
Smith, which had been so conspicuously and brilliantly exerted, when
he had the honour and the benefit of having him under his command (at
Toulon).
Lord Grenville said, that the circumstance of so eminent a service
having been performed with so inconsiderable a force, was with him an
additional reason for affording this testimony of public gratitude,
and the highest honour which the House had it in its power to confer.
His Lordship then adverted to his imprisonment in the Temple. "In
defiance of every principle of humanity, and of all the acknowledged
rules of war, Sir Sidney Smith had been, with the most cold and cruel
inflexibility, confined in a dungeon of the Temple; but the French, by
making him an exception to the general usages of war, had only
manifested their sense of his value, and how much they were afraid of
him." In the House of Commons, Mr Dundas, the Secretary of State,
after alluding to the apprehensions of the country, the expedition to
Egypt, and the memorable victory of Aboukir, said, "that the conduct
of Sir Sidney Smith was so surprising to him, that he hardly knew how
to speak of it. He had not recovered from the astonishment which the
account of the action had thrown him into. However, so it was; and the
merit of Sir Sidney Smith was now the object of consideration, and to
praise or to esteem which sufficiently, was quite impossible."
The thanks of both Lords and Commons were voted unanimously; the
thanks of the Corporation of London and the thanks of the Levant
Company were voted, with a piece of plate. The king gave him a pension
of £1000 a-year for life; and the Sultaun sent him a rich pelisse and
diamond aigrette, both of the same quality as those which had been
sent to Nelson.
We now hasten over a great deal of anxious and complicated
correspondence, explanatory of a convention entered into with the
French for the evacuation of Egypt. Kleber, indignant at Buonaparte's
flight, and his army disgusted with defeat, proposed a capitulation,
by which they were to be sent to France. The distinction which Sir
Sidney had now attained even with the French army, had made him the
negotiator, and all was preparation to embark, when Lord Keith
informed him, by orders from home, that the French must surrender as
prisoners of war.
The armistice was instantly at an end. The Turks, who with their usual
indolence had remained loitering in sight of Cairo, were attacked in
force and broken, and all was war again. Sir Sidney's letters
deprecate the measure in the strongest terms. And nothing can be
clearer than that, though our expedition under Abercrombie was
glorious, Sir Sidney's treaty would have saved us the expenditure of a
couple of millions of money, and, what was more valuable, have spared
the lives of many brave men on both sides; while the result would have
been the same, as it was not our purpose to retain Egypt. Eventually,
the French army capitulated in Egypt to Lord Hutchinson, on nearly the
terms of the convention of the year before; and to the amount of about
twenty thousand men were sent home in British vessels.
Sir Sidney's reception in England was by acclamation. But we must
conclude. He was immediately employed in the defence of the coast, as
the threats of invasion came loudly from France. He afterwards sailed
to the defence of the Neapolitan territories. He was then sent to the
protection of the King of Portugal during the French invasion, and
conveyed him and his nobles to the Brazils. Where-ever any thing bold,
new, or active, was required, the public eyes were instantly fixed on
him, and they were never disappointed.
After the peace of 1815, he resided chiefly on the Continent, and died
in Paris on the 26th of May 1840, aged 76.
The essential merit of this distinguished officer's character was,
that his whole heart was in his profession; that all his views, his
acquirements, his leisure, and his active pursuits, were directed
towards it; and that he never lounged or lingered, or lay on his
laurels, or thought that "any thing was done while any thing remained
to be done."
It is observable, that all his successes arose out of his
indefatigable activity and sincere zeal. If he had stayed dancing or
gaming or feasting, a week longer, in Constantinople, he would have
only seen Acre in possession of the French. The same principle and the
same result existed in every instance of his career. He had his
oddities and his fantasies in later life, but all were covered by the
knightly spirit, romantic bravery, and public services of his early
days. He was the _chevalier_ of the noblest navy in the world!