&c., &c., &c.”
The Admiral only proceeded as far as Sidon, where he fell in with Admiral Walker and the Austrian squadron. The former went back to Acre for a day or two, and the two admirals returned to Beyrout.
The Turks had already began their old practices, of treating the mountaineers with the most perfect contempt; and they were beginning to doubt very much whether their condition would be changed for the better. Old Izzet Pacha did not conceal his desire to get rid of the Grand Prince, and place himself in his palace at Ibteddeen.
As active operations seemed now entirely at an end, notwithstanding the reinforcements which were constantly arriving, some of whom were sent to Sidon and Tyre, but none to the mountains, I obtained leave from the Admiral to pay a visit to the Grand Prince’s palace, and was accompanied by his nephew, a fine young man of about twenty-two, and next heir to the government of Lebanon. After a long ride of eight hours, through a most beautiful mountainous country, we arrived at Deir el Kammar, the capital of Lebanon, a tolerably well-built small town; as the plague was said to exist there, we passed on without entering it, and on rounding a projecting cliff the palace of the Prince opened to our view; it is situated half way up the mountain, and has a very grand appearance; above it stands another palace, smaller than the first, and the houses of two of the Emir’s sons,—they were all in an unfinished state; the large palace had been, originally constructed in wood, but the late Emir had been many years employed in converting it into a more solid shape. The entrance into the courtyard is very strong, and capable of resisting anything but artillery, which could not easily be brought against it; the court-yard is large, and surrounded by a high wall, and in the time of the late prince several hundred armed men were constantly kept in the barracks adjoining, and a body of horse, richly caparisoned in the Eastern style, were always ready in the yard. Some of the rooms are handsome, particularly those of the harem, but mostly unfurnished, the Emir having removed everything he could to Sidon, and from thence to Malta. The stables were large and capable of containing five hundred horses, the greater part of which were gone; the Emir’s stud had been magnificent, and although the whole of his property was guaranteed to him, many of the best horses fell into the hands of the Turks. We were well received by some of the family who remained, and tolerably well entertained, but even in the palace of the Grand Prince of Lebanon our slumbers were much disturbed by the occupants he had left behind. After dinner we visited the small palaces, which were also in an unfinished state, though built in a tasteful style. On looking at these palaces it was easy to account for the fidelity of the Emir Bechir to Mehemet Ali; the fact is, the old man plundered the inhabitants in the most atrocious manner, confiscated the estates, and put out the eyes of the Emirs he did not like; Mehemet Ali knew well the importance of keeping him faithful, and allowed him to do as he pleased in the mountain, and was content with a very small tribute, not exceeding 30,000 dollars a year.
After breakfast we took leave of our friends and proceeded to Beyrout, but a sad accident clouded our otherwise pleasant journey. The mountaineers are good horsemen, and fond of showing off whenever a little flat ground allows them to exhibit their dexterity in firing off their muskets and pistols and throwing the d’jerred at full gallop, reloading in an incredible short time. The young Prince and several of his attendants, seeing an opportunity for a display, set off at full gallop; one of his men, close behind him, amused himself by throwing his musket in the air, to show his dexterity in catching it; it unexpectedly went off, and shot out both the Prince’s eyes. The poor lad fell instantly from his horse, and when we came up he was, indeed, in a most pitiable condition: his eyes hanging out of their sockets, and streaming with blood; he himself, unconscious of what had happened, was pulling them out with his fingers, and it was with the greatest difficulty I could persuade him to desist, and allow them to be bandaged. What an awful visitation was this! a few minutes before, this youth was full of life and spirits, the heir to the ruling Prince, in one moment plunged into eternal darkness; it was a cruel sight. His poor attendant, who had accidentally done the deed, hung over him more dead than alive; the poor fellow seemed to suffer more than the Prince himself, who was nearly unconscious. We were three leagues from the first village, and with great difficulty succeeded in getting him there, carried in one of our cloaks. I rode on to Beyrout, and despatched an English surgeon to his assistance. His sight, as I expected, proved to be gone for ever; but youth, and the strength of his constitution, in a few months healed his wounds, and otherwise restored him to perfect health.
On my arrival at Beyrout, to my great astonishment, I found a steamer had arrived from England with orders to attack Acre. This was, indeed, a change for the better; there was now no further room for indecision. Orders were sent to Sidon to march 2000 Turks to the pass of the White Mountain, about eleven miles from Acre. Want of cavalry limited the operation of the land force to that movement, as it would not have been prudent to have exposed the Turkish troops to the Egyptian cavalry in a country where they could act. 3000 Turks, under Selim Pacha, small detachments of artillery, of sappers and miners, under Major Higgins and Lieutenant Aldrich, were embarked in the squadron. On the 30th the steamer started, and in the night, a breeze springing up, the squadron followed.
CHAPTER XV.
Letter of Congratulation from Lord Ponsonby to the 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.
Before leaving Beyrout, I received a letter from the Ambassador, dated October 22, congratulating me on the affair of Boharsof, and expressing a hope that we should follow up our successes. His Lordship was also very active in urging the Porte to send more arms and troops, and also to secure to the mountaineers all their rights and privileges, and remove that wicked and unprincipled old Turk, Izzet Pacha, which I had requested him to do.
By the same conveyance I received the Oriental Observer, in which paper it was stated that Colonel Hodges had arrived at Smyrna, with the green flag, under which I had seen Ibrahim Pacha reconnoitring our position, and which we took at Boharsof, and afterwards lost, as I was informed by General Jochmus; this rather puzzled me. I always thought there was a mystery about this flag, which never was in my possession, and which I never sent to Constantinople. How it got there demanded an explanation, and I accordingly wrote to Lord Ponsonby as follows: