We have entered into details in order to show how destitute of all
strategetical combinations was the whole plan of campaign in Syria.
Malte Brun estimates the population of the district of Sham at
two millions, but we are inclined to question the accuracy of this
calculation, since no two travellers are agreed as to the numbers of the
Druses, some estimating them at 120,000, others at a million. The Turks
form two-fifths of the population--they inhabit the large towns with the
Greeks; the remainder of the population is composed of Arab fellahs,
of Kurds, and of Turcomans, who wander in the valley of the Orontes;
of Bedouin Arabs, who pitch their tents on the banks of the Jordan and
along the edge of the desert of Ansarich, worshippers of the sun, the
descendants of the servants of the Old Man of the Mountain of Maronites,
who profess the Catholic ritual; of Druses, whose creed is doubtful;
of all the inhabitants of Mount Lebanon; of Mebualis, Mussulmans of the
sect of Ali; of Naplonsins and other tribes who have preserved a state
of independence. We shall not be astonished to know that amidst this
prodigious diversity of races Syria is more easy to conquer than to keep
possession of. With the exception of the Ansarich, who inhabit the north
of Syria, all of them obeyed, at the moment when the war broke out, the
Emir Bechir, a Druse, prince of the family of the celebrated Fakr el
Din, who revolted against Amurath the Fourth. The Emir Bechir, when
Abdallah raised the standard of revolt in 1822, sought the protection of
Mehemet Ali, who re-established him in his government.
Let us now follow Ibrahim in his march. At the head of 32,000 regular
troops, and four or five thousand Bedouin Arabs and Hassouras, he took
the same route as Bonaparte, and rapidly advanced against Saint Jean
d’Acre. Without firing a shot, he made himself master of Jaffa, Caipha,
Jerusalem, Naplonsia. Tabaneh and all the country between Gaza and
Acre submitted at his approach. Master of the sea, by which he expected
reinforcements both in men and material, he made haste to occupy the
whole line of coast as far as Ladikich, and set down on the 27th of
November, before Saint Jean d’Acre, with a corps of 15,000 regular
infantry, two regiments of lancers, 1,000 Bedouins, two companies of
sappers, one of cannoniers, one of bombardiers, and a train of field
and siege artillery. The place is situated on a promontory surrounded on
three sides by the sea, and defended on the fourth by a fort, crowned
by a tower, which serves as a citadel. This last fort, the bastions
of which, from their retiring flanks being too short, is the only one
accessible on the land side, but it was enfiladed from a neighbouring
height. Bonaparte, at the siege of Saint Jean d’Acre, was destitute of
siege artillery, and was not master of the sea. He had, therefore, many
more obstacles to encounter than Ibrahim.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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