Letter of Congratulation from Lord Ponsonby to the 187 Author—Ibrahim Pacha’s Standard, missing from the Field of Boharsof—Letters to Lord Ponsonby, Colonel Hodges, and the Admiral respecting it—Lord Ponsonby’s Speech to the Sultan, and Letter to the Author—Colonel Hodges’ Explanation—The Affair never satisfactorily cleared up CHAPTER XVI. Former Sieges of Acre—Arrival of the Allied 196 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 CHAPTER XVII. Difference between the Admiral and the Author—The Author’s 212 Orders—Captain Berkeley’s Orders—The Author applies for a Court Martial, but is refused—Correspondence with the Admiral—The Admiral’s Dispatches CHAPTER XVIII. Second Explosion at Acre—Prisoners sent to Beyrout—The 232 Author ordered to Alexandria with a Squadron—Letter from the Emir—Neglected State of his Troops—English Commissary-General appointed—Excursion to the Mountains—Padre Ryllo—French Priests in Lebanon—Visit to the Wife of an Emir—Bad conduct of the Turks—Letters to Lords Ponsonby, Palmerston, and Minto on the subject CHAPTER XIX. The Author sent to Alexandria—Defences of the Town—Lord 248 Palmerston’s Instructions to Lord Ponsonby—Lord Ponsonby’s dislike to Mehemet Ali—The Author’s Correspondence with Boghos Bey—Interview with the Pacha—His Arsenal—Further Correspondence—Signature of the Convention APPENDIX. Treaty of 15th July, 1840, for the Pacification of the 285 Levant Separate Act and Protocols 293 INTRODUCTION. In writing the history of the War in Syria, I began after the battle of Nizib, and the defection of the Turkish fleet, which had well nigh laid Turkey prostrate at the feet of her powerful vassal; but it is necessary that the uninformed reader should be acquainted how Mehemet Ali, who began a simple soldier, should have risen to such a height of power as to attract the attention of the nations of Europe, and cause them to come forward, at the imminent risk of a European war, to interfere between the vassal and the master.