“‘Commodore, mark my words! three days hence, by this very hour, the French tricolour shall be flying on the remains of that miserable town.’
“Sir Sidney very quickly replied: ‘My good general, before you shall have that town, I will blow it and you to Jericho.’
“‘Bien obligé,’ observed Kleber, ‘very much obliged, indeed; it will be all in our way to India.’
“‘With all my heart!’ rejoined Sir Sidney; ‘I shall be most happy to assist you, Buonaparte, and your whole army, forward in that style; and we will commence as soon as you please.’
“The offer, though so kindly made, was neither accepted nor replied to.”[12]
Buonaparte had been absent for a time on a successful excursion against some of the small neighbouring cities. He learnt, on his return, that Contre-amiral Pérée had landed at Jaffa three pieces of twenty-four pounds, and six of eighteen, with munitions, which was the first siege artillery he had received. He hoped with this to advance this so unexpectedly difficult attack. On the 24th of April, the mine destined to blow up the tower of attack was finished, and the batteries began to batter Acre: fire was set to the mine, but a souterrain, which was near the tower, diminishing the resistance, a part of the effect was lost, and only a single side of the tower was blown up, leaving it as difficult to climb as before. Buonaparte, however, ordered thirty picked men to effect a lodgment. The grenadiers gained the ruins of the first stage, but the enemy, who occupied the superior stages, poured upon them such showers of combustible matter as compelled them to retreat. A second attack, made the next day, had no better success. The French lost General Cafarelli, one of their most distinguished leaders.
The ardour of the besieged and the besiegers was equal; and the Turks prudently and gratefully availed themselves of the intelligence of the English engineers, to augment their means of defence. They every day received provisions and ammunition from the English ships, and, on all trying occasions, were materially assisted by bands of sailors, led by enterprising officers.
The inhabitants, likewise, were willing and useful accessories in carrying on the works. The French, on the contrary, were obliged to husband the lives of their men, whose numbers were daily lessened by the plague, that cruel scourge of the East, and the burning sun of the climate.
Almost all the front pieces of attack of the besieged were dismounted; to defend himself, Djezzar built a place of arms in front of his right, and a second was established on his left, opposite to his palace. By favour of their fire and of the musketry, these works flanked the breach and the tower advantageously. Four pieces of eighteen were placed en batterie. On the 2nd of April, their fire was directed against the breach, to extend the demolition of it. That evening, twenty grenadiers were commanded to gain a lodgment there; but the enemy, profiting by the boyau established in the fosse, fusilladed the breach crosswise. Want of powder by the 5th of April began to relax the fire of the French, which, of course, redoubled the courage and efforts of the besieged: they worked incessantly at the sapping, their object being to cut off the communication of the besiegers with a new mine. Buonaparte ordered four companies of grenadiers, at ten o’clock in the evening, to throw themselves into the outworks of Acre. The besieged were surprised, and many were slaughtered; the French gained possession of the works, and three of the cannon were spiked; but the incessant, well-directed fire from the ramparts rendered it impossible for them to stay long enough to entirely destroy them. The garrison regained the works immediately afterwards. At the end of two days, the Turks succeeded in giving vent to a fresh mine, destined to blow up the counterscarp established upon a breach of the curtain. Two assaults given on the 5th and 6th of May were equally fruitless. On the 7th, the French heard of the arrival of a convoy of powder at Gaza. Buonaparte gave orders to batter in breach the curtain on the right of the tower of breach, and the breach itself. The curtain fell, and offered a practicable opening. Buonaparte seized the advantage, and ordered an immediate assault. Lannes’ division rushed to the breach and gained possession of it; two hundred men were already in the place; but the general’s orders were not executed with sufficient ensemble: the besieged, issuing from their outer places of arms, filed into the fosses right and left, and succeeded in establishing a cross-fire upon the breach. Not having been dislodged from the second tower dominating the left, they kept up a warm fusillade, and launched all sorts of inflammable matter upon the French. The troops who were scaling began to hesitate; they stopped; indecision appeared in their ranks; and they ceased to rush into the streets with the impetuosity they evinced after gaining the breach. The fire of the houses, of the barricades, of the streets, of Djezzar’s palace, which took in front and crosswise those who descended from the breach and those who entered the city, occasioned a retrograde movement among the troops that had entered the place and did not find themselves supported. They abandoned, behind the rampart, two pieces of cannon and two mortars, of which they had gained possession: the retrograde movement was soon communicated to the whole column. General Lannes succeeded in stopping it, and bringing the column forward again. The guides à pied, who were in reserve, rushed to the breach, where both parties fought hand to hand, with reciprocal animosity. The Turks and English regained their position at the crown of the breach. The effect of the first impulse, the French soldiers’ principal chance of victory, was gone; General Lannes was severely wounded, and General Rambaud had been killed in the city: the Turks had had time to rally. At this moment, the besieged received a considerable reinforcement of troops from the isle of Rhodes: they were landed, and at once joined in the contest: they fought from dawn till night; and all the advantage being on the side of the besieged, the French found it necessary to retreat.
The next day, the fire from the batteries continued. Buonaparte repaired, at two o’clock in the morning, to the breach, and ordered a fresh attack. The éclaireurs, the grenadiers, and the carbiniers mounted to the breach, surprised the enemy’s posts, and slaughtered numbers; but they were stopped by fresh interior intrenchments, and forced to retire. The fire from the batteries continued all the day. At four o’clock in the afternoon, the grenadiers of the twenty-fourth solicited and obtained the honour of mounting first to the assault. These brave men marched coolly to the wall; but a first, second, and third line of defence had been established, which could not be forced without fresh dispositions. Retreat was again sounded. The French had in these assaults two hundred killed and five hundred wounded; they greatly regretted the brave General Bon, who was killed at the head of the grenadiers. This is principally the French account of these two important days: let us hear what Sir Sidney Smith says of them in his well-written despatch to Lord Nelson:—