The details:  of the siege of Acre are well known.  Although surrounded by a wall, flanked with strong towers, and having, besides, a broad-and deep ditch defended by works this little fortress did not appear likely to hold out against French valour and the skill of our corps of engineers and artillery; but the ease and rapidity with which Jaffa had been taken occasioned us to overlook in some degree the comparative strength of the two places, and the difference of their respective situations.  At Jaffa we had sufficient artillery:  at St. Jean d’Acre we had not.  At Jaffa we had to deal only with a garrison left to itself:  at St. Jean d’Acre we were opposed by a garrison strengthened by reinforcements of men and supplies of provisions, supported by the English fleet, and assisted by European Science.  Sir Sidney Smith was, beyond doubt, the man who did us the greatest injury.

—­[Sir Sidney Smith was the only Englishman besides the Duke of Wellington who defeated Napoleon in military operations.  The third Englishman opposed to him, Sir John Moore, was compelled to make a precipitate retreat through the weakness of his force]—­

Much has been said respecting his communications with the General-in-Chief.  The reproaches which the latter cast upon him for endeavouring to seduce the soldiers and officers of the army by tempting offers were the more singular, even if they were well founded, inasmuch as these means are frequently employed by leaders in war.

—­[At one time the French General was so disturbed by them as to endeavour to put a stop to them; which object he effected by interdicting all communication with the English, and signifying, in an order of the day, that their Commodore was a madman.  This, being believed in the army, so enraged Sir Sidney Smith, that in his wrath he sent a challenge to Napoleon.  The latter replied, that he had too many weighty affairs on his hands to trouble himself in so trifling a matter.  Had it, indeed, been the great Marlborough, it might have been worthy his attention.  Still, if the English sailor was absolutely bent upon fighting, he would send him a bravo from the army, and show them a smell portion of neutral ground, where the mad Commodore might land, and satisfy his humour to the full.—­ (Editor of 1836 edition.)]—­

As to the embarking of French prisoners on board a vessel in which the plague existed, the improbability of the circumstance alone, but especially the notorious facts of the case, repell this odious accusation.  I observed the conduct of Sir Sidney Smith closely at the time, and I remarked in him a chivalric spirit, which sometimes hurried him into trifling eccentricities; but I affirm that his behaviour towards the French was that of a gallant enemy.  I have seen many letters, in which the writers informed him that they “were very sensible of the good treatment which the French experienced when they fell into his hands.”  Let any one examine Sir Sidney’s conduct before the capitulation of El-Arish, and after its rupture, and then they can judge of his character.