At first the mountaineers came in slowly, and the Admiral gave directions to re-embark the troops in a few days, but I succeeded in persuading him to allow them to remain. Our stay gave confidence to the inhabitants, who in two or three days began to flock in in great numbers, and the Emir Abdallah, nephew of the Grand Prince, and governor of the province, who had retired before a Turkish battalion, sent to his capital the day after we landed, came over in good style, bringing with him a considerable number of followers tolerably well mounted and armed. I now ordered Gazir, the capital of the province, to be occupied, and the road reconnoitred leading to Merouba, where Ibrahim and Osman Pacha had collected a considerable force; another detachment was sent to the neighbourhood of the convent of Harissa, on the right of Gazir, under Captain Loué, a Prussian officer attached to the Turkish army, both detachments having orders to retire to the camp should the enemy advance on their line. On the 15th of September the enemy pushed a reconnoitring party as far as Ackshout, on the road to Harissa, where they remained an hour, and then returned to Merouba; they seemed undecided, whether to advance on Gazir, Harissa, or Argentoun; their position gave them the choice of the three roads. On the 11th a flag of truce was sent into Beyrout by Sir Robert Stopford and Admiral Bandeira, with a summons to Souliman Pacha to withdraw his troops: subjoined are the summons and reply. “We, the Admirals of the British and Austrian squadrons, acting in obedience to the instructions of our respective Governments, and in the interests of his Highness the Sultan, consider our duty to represent to your Excellency our earnest desire to stop the effusion of blood, and to call upon your Excellency to withdraw your troops from Beyrout, and to deliver the town to our united forces, to be retained in the name of the Sultan. “Your Excellency will have observed, from the fire of the ships yesterday, a small specimen only of the course we shall be compelled to pursue. The fire has not been pressed this morning, that your Excellency may benefit by the pause, and upon reflection come to the decision in consonance with our benevolent views, to spare the innocent inhabitants from the inevitable horrors which a few hours would inflict upon them. “We request your Excellency will send an answer as soon as you can, or at the latest by half-past one. “(Signed) ROBERT STOPFORD, _Admiral_. BANDEIRA, _Admiral_. “His Excellency Souliman Pacha, Major-General of the Egyptian army at Beyrout.” In answer to the above the following was, after some time, forwarded: “Beyrout, September 11, 1840.