lish friends, all will be lost." The whole of the reinforcements being now landed, the Pasha, with some difficulty, so far subdued his jealousy as to admit the Chifflick regiment of one thousand men, into the garden of his seraglio; from whence a vigorous sally was made, with an intention to obtain possession of the enemy's third parallel, or nearest trench; but the Turks, unequal to such a movement, were driven back into the town with loss; and although the sortie did not succeed, it had the effect of obliging the enemy to expose themselves above their parapets, and the flanking fire of the garrison, aided by a few hand-grenades, dislodged them from the tower. At this moment, Buonaparte, surrounded by his generals and aids-de-camp, was conspicuously distinguished on a mount called Richard Cœur de Lion. His officers formed a semicircle, in the centre of which he stood. It was soon apparent, from his movements, that he had by no means abandoned the idea of gaining possession of Acre; another assault, if possible, more dreadful and determined than any of the former, was anticipated and prepared for. The enemy effected a new breach by an incessant fire directed to the southward, every shot knocking down whole sheets of a wall, much less solid than that of the tower, on which they had expended so much time and ammunition. At the suggestion of the Pasha, the breach was not this time defended, but a certain number was let in, and then closed upon, according to the Turkish mode of war. The French mounted the breach unmolested; couceiving that the garrison were incapable or unwilling to offer further resistance, they proceeded with too little caution: but scarcely had they descended into the bashaw's garden, when they were met and attacked by the Turks with a sabre in one hand and a dagger in the other; which proving more than a match for the bayonet, great numbers of the enemy fell, and the remainder were compelled to seek their safety in a precipitate retreat. Thus ended a contest, continued, with little intermission, for five-and-twenty hours, and in which nature, sinking under the exertion, demanded repose.

After this unfortunate assault, Buonaparte appeared to be afflicted at seeing the blood of so many brave men uselessly

shed, and said to one of his staff, “I see that this place has cost me a number of men, and wasted much time. But things are too far advanced not to attempt a last effort. If I succeed, as I expect, I shall find in the town the pasha's treasures, and arms for three hundred thousand men. I will stir up and arm the people of Syria, who are disgusted at the ferocity of Djezzar, and who pray for his destruction at every assault. I shall then march upon Damascus and Aleppo. On advancing into the country, the discontented will flock round my standard, and swell my army. I will announce to the people the abolition of servitude, and of the tyrannical governments of the pashas. I shall arrive at Constantinople with large masses of soldiery. I shall overturn the Turkish empire, and find in the east a new and grand empire, which will fix my place in the records of posterity. Perhaps I shall return to Paris by Adrianople, or by Vienna, after having annihilated the house of Austria." After some natural suggestions made to him on these grand projects, he replied, "What! do you not see that the Druses only wait for the fall of Acre, to rise in rebellion? Have not the keys of Damascus already been offered me? I only stay tili these walls fall, because, until then, I can derive no advantage from this large town. By the operation which I meditate, I cut off all kind of succour from the beys, and secure the conquest of Egypt. I will have Desaix nominated commander-in-chief; but if I do not succeed in the last assault I am about to attempt, I set off directly. Time presses. I shall not be at Cairo before the middle of June. The winds will then be favourable for ships bound to Egypt from the north. Constantinople will send troops to Alexandria and Rosetta. I must be there. As for the army, which will arrive afterwards by land, I do not fear it this year. I will cause every thing to be destroyed, all the way to the entrance of the desert. I will render the passage of an army impossible for two years. Troops cannot exist amidst ruins."

As the capture of Acre became dubious, chagrin began to be visible in the conduct of Buonaparte, who, for the first time in his life, beheld himself foiled, and that too by a town scarcely defen

sible according to the rules of art; while the surrounding hills were crowded with spectators, awaiting the result of the contest, to declare for the victor. The plague also found its way into the French camp, and seven hundred men had already fallen martyrs to that terrible malady. In this deplorable situation the commander-in-chief determined to make a last effort, and general Kleber's division was recalled from the fords of Jordan, to take its turn in the daily efforts to mount the breach at Acre, in which every other division in succession had failed, with the loss of their bravest men, and about three-fourths of their officers. Before this reinforcement could commence its operations, another sally was made, on the night of the 10th of May, by the Turkish Chifflick regiment, who succeeded in making themselves masters ofthe enemy's third parallel; but the impetuosity of a few of the Turks carried them on to the second trench, where they lost some of their standards, though they succeeded before their retreat in spiking four guns. Kleber's division, instead of mounting the breach, according to Buonaparte's intention, were thus obliged to spend their time and strength in recovering these works, in which they succeeded, after a conflict of three hours, leaving every thing in statu quo, except the loss of men, which was considerable on both sides. It was observed, with astonishment and vexation, that the walls, almost abandoned by their natural defenders, were left to the care of the English, while the Turks, by some strange want of judgment, mistake, or peculiarity of generalship, acted in the rear of the enemy, and thus presented themselves at the same moment with the besiegers, to the guns of the allies. Perplexed by the impossibility of sparing their friends while they poured destruction on their foes, the English refrained for some time from discharging their artillery. Distressing as the situation was, it very soon, however, became unavoidably necessary to fire indiscriminately. The French commenced an assault, advanced to the mouths of the cannon, and threw their ladders against the walls, while their companions fell in heaps beneath the stones hurled down upon them by the defenders. The daring intrepidity of the enemy made a sensible impression upon the garrison.

In this extremity recourse was had to stink-pots, combustible machines filled with sulphur and mealed powder, great numbers of which being thrown among the French, they were compelled to retire. Buonaparte led his men several times over piles of dead to a repetition of the fruitless attack; for, after the failure of the grand assault just mentioned it is well known that the hitherto victorious Corsican was compelled to relinquish his design.

Determined, at length, to raise the siege, Buonaparte first ordered his sick and wounded to be sent away. To keep the besieged in check, he made use of the rest of his ammunition, and increased the fire of his cannon and mortars. Djezzar remarking these dispositions for retreat, made frequent sallies, which were repulsed with vigour. The aspect of the field of carnage was horrible; the ditches and the reverses of the parapets were filled with the slain, the air was infected, and the proposition for a suspension of arms to bury the dead remained unanswered. After sixty days continuance, Buonaparte, in a proclamation, announced to his army the raising of the siege, and resolved to return to Egypt, to defend its approach in the season of landing, against the forces assembled at Rhodes. On the 20th of May, the very day on which the army began its march, General Le Grange repulsed two sallies, and forced the Turks back into the town. General Lannes' division led the march, Regnier's evacuated the trenches; Kleber formed a strong rear-guard; whilst Junot covered the left flank. Buonaparte threw into the sea the heavy artillery, which he could not carry back through the desert, and his battering train, amounting to twenty-three pieces, fell into the hands of the English. After blowing up the fortifications of Jaffa and Gaza, and inflicting a terrible vengeance on those who had defended their country against the invaders, the French passed over the desert, and were received by the inhabitants of Cairo, ignorant of recent events, as victors.

During the whole of this siege, Buonaparte discovered more impatience than is consistent with the idea of a truly great man; and his determination to conquer the town seemed to increase, in proportion as the probability of con

and if these animals had stood for some days in the stable, and been supplied with forage by the peasant, the rider had frequently the impudence to require his host to pay for the dung. Woe to the field of cabbages, turnips, or potatoes, that happened to lie near a bivouac! It was covered in a trice with men and cattle, and in twenty-four hours there was not a plant to be seen. Fruit-trees were cut down and used for fuel, or in the erection of sheds, which were left perhaps as soon as they were finished. Though Saxony is one of the richest and most fertile provinces of Germany, and the vicinity of Leipsic has been remarkable for abundance, yet it cannot appear surprising, that with such wanton waste, famine, the most dangerous foe to an army, should have at length found its way into all the French camps. Barns, stables, and lofts were emptied; the fields were laid bare; and the inhabitants fled into the woods and the towns. Bread and other provisions had not been sent into our markets for several days, and thus it was now our turn to endure the pressure of hunger. The bakers of this place (Leipsic) were obliged to work up the small stock of flour in their possession for the troops; and all other persons were driven from the doors by the French guards with the butt end of their muskets; though the citizen who came in quest of bread had perhaps twenty men quartered upon him, who all expected him to find wherewith to satisfy their craving appetites."

SIXTY-FOURS IN DISGUISE;

A LONG-BOAT STORY.

not we.

Our ship, the Le Sybille, you know, was a French frigate before we had her; and I believe she was taken by the Romney, 50, up the Mediterranean. Howsomever, she was what they call an eight-and-thirty, because she had fourteen ports of a side, besides the bridle-port ;-well, and the Guerriere, the Macedonian, and the Java, were just the same: they were all looked upon as a match for a French or Spanish 64, especially in any thing of a breeze, you know. But what's the use of talking about the size of a ship, the ship's company is every thing; and if there had not been so many English fighting, as it were, with halters about their necks, on board of the Yankee frigates, they would not have carried the swag as they did. No, no; look how we in the Sybille ripped up the Le Forte, and that, too, in a brace of shakes, although the Le Forte was laid down for an 84, on two decks, and mounted 56 guns, besides swivels, long French thirty-sixes on her main-deck, and forty-two pounder carronades on her quarter-deck and forecastle. Lord have mercy on us! there was smashing work! We got sight of her in the dog-watch, from four to six, and she lay-to for us, thinking we were an Indiaman; and we afterwards heard that her captain made cocksure of us; but he made a Scotch prize, as we shall presently see. Why, the d-d fool let his ship lay like a log upon the water, and never thought of filling to give her steerage-way, until it was too late; but then you know he thought it was an Indiaman he was about to deal with. Howsomever, he paid dearly enough for it, for the first broadside we gave her sent him to Glory!

"We expected tight work, and were prepared for it. It was dark before we got down to her; but not a light was to be seen on board of our ship. As soon as we got within hail she hailed us in French, and then in English; but we returned no answer. She fired a gun, but we heeded it not: and as she was laying-to on the larboard tack, we run down close under her stern, took the bags off our lanterns, and gave her a raking broadside, which, we afterwards heard, knocked out all her lights fore and aft. We then hauled to the wind on the starboard tack, crossed her stern