Thus ended this unpleasant affair, and all the correspondence was cancelled and destroyed. I cannot say that I was satisfied with the Admiral’s letter: the affront was public, and the reparation should have been public also, but the opinion of my brother officers was, that I ought not to push the matter further, and I most unwillingly complied with their wishes. It is with reluctance that I have been obliged to treat on this subject, but to write an account of the campaign in Syria and the capture of Acre, without entering upon a point not properly understood, was impossible. I have endeavoured to state plainly everything that occurred, without casting censure upon any one; and the reader must judge whether I was right or wrong. I close this Chapter with Sir Charles Smith’s report to Lord Palmerston, and the Admiral’s letter to the Admiralty, in which he followed the example of Sir John Jervis, on the 14th of February, 1797, and made no mention of either the second in command, who led in one division, or of Captain Collier, who led in another, or any of the other officers engaged. Captains Boxer and Codrington were thanked for their exertions in sounding. In a second letter which he wrote, and where he had an opportunity of correcting this omission, he makes mention only of his own captain and flag-lieutenant. “Princess Charlotte, off St. Jean D’Acre, November 4, 1840. “Sir, “You will be pleased to acquaint the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty that the town and fortress of Acre were taken possession of by the allied forces under my command this morning in the name of the Sultan. “The circumstances which led to this result occurred on the 3rd, when a heavy cannonade from the ships and vessels, beginning at 2 P.M. and ending at 5, completely demolished the town, and materially damaged the fortifications, inducing the Egyptians to evacuate the place in the night. A tremendous explosion of a large magazine of powder took place about 4 P.M. on the 3rd. “The attacks were made upon the west lines and south face of the works, the former composed of the following ships:—viz., Princess Charlotte, Powerful, Bellerophon, Revenge, Thunderer, and Pique, under the immediate command of Commodore Napier (as I thought it advisable to accompany Colonel Sir Charles F. Smith in the Phœnix steamer, to be ready to take advantage of any breach that might be made in either of the two sea faces of the walls of the place for an immediate assault). The south face, being a more contracted anchorage, was occupied by the Edinburgh, Benbow, Castor, Carysfort, Talbot, Wasp, and Hazard: the destruction caused by the fire of the ships on both sides sufficiently proves its rapidity and precision.