“As to the flag, I was the bearer of it to this place. I left Beyrout on Sunday evening. I called on Sir Charles Smith on the afternoon of that day, at his quarters on shore, when he asked me to take charge of despatches, and a flag, that I understood from him had been taken from the 2000 Egyptian troops that had surrendered the day before at Beyrout. This flag, with a parcel of red buntin flags, were sent by a sergeant of artillery to my boat, that was waiting to carry me to the Princess Charlotte. When I reached the ship the Admiral was on the quarter-deck; he asked me ‘What that flag was.’ I told him it was one that Sir Charles Smith had requested me to take to Lord Ponsonby. The Admiral replied, ‘It is I who ought to send that flag to Lord Ponsonby to present to the Sultan, and I shall write a despatch with it.’ This is all I know of the transaction.” This did not explain Lord Ponsonby’s speech, and to this day it is a mystery. Now the flag was either sent or not; if sent, the person has managed to conceal it, and if it was not sent, then some one has bamboozled the Ambassador or the Ambassador bamboozled the Sultan. Here I shall let it rest, and carry the reader at once to St. Jean D’Acre, a place well known in ancient and modern history. -------------- CHAPTER XVI. Former Sieges of Acre—Arrival of the Allied Squadron—Proposed mode of Attack—Objections—Survey of the North Channel—The Squadron under weigh—The Author attacks from the North—Conduct of the different Divisions—Explosion of the Grand Magazine—Close of the Action—Evacuation of the Town—Fate of the Sick and Wounded. When Bonaparte sat himself down before Acre, in 1799, the fortress was not strong enough to resist a regular siege; his heavy guns had been captured by Sir Sydney Smith’s cruisers, and field artillery was not sufficient to open a practicable breach in the walls; there is, however, no doubt but it must have fallen had it not been for the bravery and exertions of Sir Sydney Smith, and the gallant officers and crews of the Tigre and Theseus, who obliged Bonaparte to raise the siege after having been before it two months. Had Bonaparte succeeded in capturing Acre the Grand Prince of Lebanon would have immediately declared for him, and it is difficult to say what then would have stopped his enterprising career.