The Sun.
London, England, 1840-12-05 00:00:00

NAVAL INTELLIGENCE.

The Lucifer steam-vessel, Captain Icechey, sailed on
Sunday, to resume the survey on the coast of Ireland. She
will call at Liverpool, on her way to that part of the United
Kingdom.

Tile Locust steam-vessel, Lieutenant Ceinmander John
Luta), sailed from Woolwich on Monday, for Malta. She
will call at Portsmouth, and is expected to be at Plymouth
o►► Saturday, the sth instant.

'The Pluto steam-vessel Is to be commissioned by Lieu-
tenant-Commander W, S. Blount, formerly of the Hermes
steatr.,vesiel.

The Boxer steam-vessel, Captain Frederick Bullock,
arrived at Woolwich from Ramsgate, to be laid up for the
winter.

The Goodwill is loading at Woolwich for Portsmouth.
The Devastation, steam-vessel, at present building in
the Woolwich Dockyard, has been ordered to be completed
by task-work, and it is expected she will be ready for sea
by the 31st of March next. This vessel is 174 feet in
length of keel, and will be upwards of 200 feet in length
of deck. Were it not that the capabilities of British
workmen arc well known, it would appear incredible that
a vessel of this size cou:d be completed in so short a time
as specified in the engagemer.t. At present the whole of
her ribs have not yet been fixed to her keel, a space of
about 30 feet in the centre being still vacant of that poe.
tio■ of the skeleton of a vessel, and there is not a single
cross timber laid. There is every reason to believe, bow.
ever, that she will be completed and ready fur active service
by the time specified.
The new dock, contracted for by Mr. •Bolt, and in-
tended for the reception of the Trafalgar, of 120 guns, is
fast approaching to completion, as there arc now only two
courses of granite and the coping required to bring it' to
the intended height.
ROYAL ARSENAL.
The Heron, of Malta, a large brig belonging to Malta.
and manned by Maltese sailors, is at present loading at the
wharf of the Royal Arsenal with military stores. During
the whole of Wednesday and Thursday, three gangs of
convicts, consisting of 12 men each, were employed in
putting balls and shells on board. •
cririsa e sTt \ewer
as gromn s
th&e
destinationcevae,
Royalss
escie.sola AoGptrl
loadingiesbfetrone Gibraltar.
Another tl for2trio
The Strothcr, a large barge, received three 9.pounder
Sales was employed
gat huvenesp:suewrlpi toihns e fito:fled conveyingdcoa
Another large boat beloosnoxgeiisnutgeclotiodnetaNdilnfroinraSa
ptoo-udnatlyerinearrreolinioavaiensg,
also
the docks.

Cardinal Falzaeappa, Bishop of Porto, died at
Rome on the 18th ult., aged 75.
BULL'S LIBRARY.-- NOTICE. All new
subscriptions entered at this Library during the p, and
resent
month of December by Families, Reading Societies Book Clubs, entitle the parties to their full supplies of
books immediately ; and the terms of the subscription is
dated as commencing January 1,1841. " Bull's New Sr-
tem and Circular for December," comprising full descpp-
tions of all the newest publications, terms, &e., car_lrbe bad
gratis, and sent postage free, on application to e s
tßull.
o
English and Foreign Public Library, 19, Hil Mr.
Cavendish-square. Dec. 1, 1840.
up to two
CARLOW ELECTION.—PoIIing
o'clock on Wednesday :
Colonel Bruen
Mr. Ponsonby lO5
D o L.
Majority on the dpayr,

Colonel Bruen
Mr. Ponsonby 306
Gross Majority

WATERLOO BRIDGE.—On Thursday the half-
yearly assembly of the NAVnactheorlroosßtrraindd, thegeCornnpeavn.y
Jobe
teas
held at the Crown and ,
Rush in the chair. Mr. Bredell read the Report, which
stated t 1,8521. there ald,sb. deelni
~ b
receivedeingan increase during
t 7
over the
August 1,8521. ,
8
oat
same period of tho preceding year of 6211 16s. 2d., of
which increase 791. 10s. WAS derived from the footway, and
5421. 7s, 3d. from the hors* gate. This was attributable
Partly to Blackfriars Bridge being closed for
a portion of
the half year. Mr. Mills proposed that the foot tolls be
reduced, by way of experiment> hem a penny to a half-
penny, but the propositio4 had not a single supporter. The
assembly then seearalAd.

EVENIIS"G 141D1TION.

NAPOLEON'S UNSUCCESSFUL EN-
TERPRISE AGAINST ST. JEAN D'ACRE.

(From Sir Walter Scott's Life of the ex-Emperor.)
Meanwhile, determined to pent-ecute the conquest of
Syria, Bonaparte resolved advance to St. Jean d'Acre,
so celebrated in the v7-ers of Palestine. The Turkish Pa-
cha, or Goverr;„ or Syria, who, like others in his situa-
tion,acccented himself almost an independent sovereign,
was tchmet, who, by his unrelenting cruelties and execu-
'itons, had procured the terrible distinction of Djezzar, or
the Butcher. Bonaparte addressed this formidable chief
Se two letters, offering his alliance, and threatening him,
with his vengeance if it should be rejected. To neither
did the Pacha return any answer—in the second instance
he put to:death the messenger. The French General ad-
vanced against Acre, vowing revenge. There were, how.
ever, ebstacles to the success of his enterprise, on which
he had not calculated.
The Pacha had communicated the approach of Napo-
leon to Sir Sidney Smith, to whom had been committed
the charge of assisting the Turks in their proposed expe-
dition to Egypt, and who, for that purpose, was cruising
in the Levant. He hastened to sail for Acre with the
Tigre and Theseus, ships of the line ; and arriving there
ties: days ere the French made their appearance, contri
buted greatly to place the town, the fortifications of which
ware on the old Gothic plan, in a respectable state of
defence.
Sir Sidney Smith, who so highly distinguished himself
on this occasion, had been long celebrated for the most
intrepid courage and spirit of enterprise. His character
was, besides, marked by those traits of enthusiasm at which
cold and vulgar minds are apt to sneer, because incapable
of uneerstaeding them; yet without which great and ho-
nourable actions have rarely been achieved. Ile had also
a talent; uncommon among the English, that of acting
easily with foreign, and especially with barbarous troops,
and understanding how to make their efforts availing for
the service of the common cause, though exerted in a
Manner different from those of civilised nations. Th's
brave officer having been frequently entrusted with the
charge of alarming the French coast, had been taken
on one occasion, and, contrary to the law of nations,
and out of a mean spirit of revenge, was imprisoned
in the Temple, from which he was delivered by a dar-
ine stratagem, effected by the French Royalist party.
He had not been many hours at Acre when Provi-
dence afforded him a distinguishing mark of favour.
The Theseus, which had been detached to intercept any
Vrench vessels that might be attending on Bonaparte's
march, detected a small flotilla stealing under Mount
Carmel, and had the good fortune to make prize of
seven out of nine of them. They were a convoy from
Damietta, bound for Acre, having on board heavy
cannon, platforms, ammunition, and other necessary
a ti-leg. These cannon and military stores, destined to
form the siege of Acre, became eminently useful in its
defence, and the consequence of their capture was even-
tually decisive of the struggle. General Philippeaux, a
French Royalise and efficer of engineers, immediately ap-
plied himself to place the cannon thus acquired, to the
sonount of betwixt thirty and forty, upon the wails which
they had been intended to destroy. This officer, who had
been B mai arte's school-fellow, and the principal agent in
delivering Sir Sidney Smith from prison, possessed rare
talents in his profession. Thus strangely met under the
walls of Acre, an English c fficer, late a prisoner in the
Temple at Par's, and a French colonel of engineers, with
the late General of the Army of Italy, the ancient com-
panion of Philippeaux ( l), and about to become almost
the personal enemy of Smith,
On the lith of Marcie the French came in sight of
Acre, which is built on a peninsula advancing into the sea,
and so conveniently situated that vessels can lie near the
shore, awl. annoy with their tire whatever advances to as-
sault tae fortifications. Notwithstanding the presence of
British ships of war, and the disappointments concern-
Peg his battering cannon, which were now pointed against
him from the ramparts, Bonaparte, with a characterist'c
perseverance: which on sueli an occasion was pushed into
obstinacy, refused to abandon his purpose, aid proceed: d
to open trenches, although the guns which he had to place
in there were only twelve-poundera. The point of attack
was
.a large tower which predominated over the rest a the
fortetications. A mine at the same time was run under the
'extreme defences.
By the 28th of March a breach was effected, the mine
Wee sprung, and the French proceeded to the assault upon
that day. They advanced at the charging step, under a
Murderous fire from the walls, but had the mortification to
find a deep ditch betwixt them and the tower. They
crossed it, nevertheless, by the help of the scaling-ladders
which they carried with them, and forced their way as
far as the tower, from which it is said that the defenders,
impressed by the fate of Jaffe were beginning to fly.
They were checked by the example of Djizzar him-
self, who fired his own pistols at the French, and upbraided
the Moslems who were retreating from the walls. The
defences were again manned ; the French, unable to
support the renewed fire, were checked and forced back ;
and the Turks falling upon them in their retreat with sabre
in hand, killed a number of their best men, and Mailly,
Wile commanded the party. Sorties were made from the
place to destroy the French works; and although the cries
with which the Turks carry on their military manoeuvres
gave the alarm to the enemy, yet, assisted by a detach-
ment of British seamen, they did the French considerable
damage, reconnoitred the mine which they were forming
anew, and obtained the knowledge of its direction necessary
to prepare a counter mine.
While the strife was thus fiercely maintained en both
aides, with mutual loss and increased animosity, the be-
siegers were threatened with other dangers. An army of
Moslem troops of various nations, but all actuated by
..en had fnrim.d eneweeteee in the
enountsitis of Samaria, and uniting with them the
warlike inhabitants of that country, now called
Naplous, formed the plan of attacking the French army
lying before Acre en one side, while Djezzar
and his allies should assail them upon the other. Kleber,
with his division, was despatched by Bonaparte to
disperse this assemblage. But though he obtained consi-
derable advantages over detached parties of the Syrian
army, their strength was so disproportioncd, that at last,
while be held a position near Mount Tabor, with 2,000 or
3,000 men, he was surrounded by about ten times his own
number. But his General-in-Chief was hastening to his
assistance. Bonaparte left two divisions to keep the
trenches before Acre, and penetrated into the country in
three columns. Murat, at the head of a fourth, occupied
the pass called Jacob's Bridge. The attack, made on va-
rious points, was everywhere successful. The camp of
the Syrian army was taken ; their defeat, almost their dis.
persion, was accomplished, while their scattered remains
fled to Damascus. Bonaparte returned, crowned with
laurels, to the siege of Acre.
Here, too, the arrival of thirty heavy pieces of cannon
from Jaffa seemed to promise that success which the
French had as yet been unable to attain. It was about
this time that, walking on the mount which still retains
the name of Richard Coeur de Lion, Bonaparte expressed
himself to Murat in these terms, as he pointed to St. Jean
d'Acre The fate of the East depends upon yonder
petty town. Its conquest will insure the main object of
my expedition, and Damascus will be the first fruit of
it." (2.) Thus it would seem that, while engaged in the
enterprise, Bonaparte held the same language which he
did many years after its failure when at St. Helena.
Repeated and desperate assaults proved that the conse-
quence which he attached to taking Acre was as great as
his words expressed. The assailants suffered severely on
the occasion, for they were exposed to the fire of two rave-
libs, or external fortifieations, which had been constructed
under Philippeaux's directions, and at the same time en-
filaded by the fire of the British shipping. At length,
employing to the uttermost the heavy artillery now in his
possession, Bonaparte, in spite of a bloody and obstinate
opposition, forced his way to the disputed tower, and made
a lodgment on the second story. It afforded, however, no
access to the town ; and the troops remained there as in a
cul de-sac, the lodgment being covered from the English
and Turkish fire by a work constructed partly of packs of
cotton, and partly of the dead bodies of the slain built up
along with them.
At this critical moment, a fleet, bearing reinforcements
long hoped for and much needed, appeared in view of the
garrison. They contained Turkish troops, under the
command of Hassan Bey. Yet near as they were,
the danger was imminent that Acre might be taken ere
they could land. To prevent such a misfortune, Sir
Sidney Smith in person proceeded to the disputed tower,
at the head'of a body of British seamen, armed with pikes.
They united themselves to a corps of brave Turks, who
defended the breach rather with heavy stones than with
other weapons. The heap of runs which divided the con-
tending parties served as a breast-work to both. The
muzzles of the muskets touched each other, and the spear-
heads of the standards were locked together. At this
moment one of the Turkish regiments of Hessian's army,
which had by this time landed, made a sortie upon the
French ; and though they were driven back, yet the di-
version occasioned the besiegers to be forced from their
lodgment.
Abceding the ill-omened tower, which had cost the
besiegers so many men, Bonaparte row turned his efforts
towards a considerable breach that had been effected in
the curtain, and which promised a more easy entrance.
It proved, indeed, but too easy ; for Djezzar Pacha op-
posed to the assault on this occasion a new mode of tac-
tics. Confiding in his superior numbers, he suffered the
French, who were commanded by the intrepid General
La nnes, to surmount the breach without opposition, by
which they penetrated into the body of the place. They
had no sooner entered than a numerous body of Turks
mingled among them with loud shouts ; and ere they bad
time or room to avail themselves of theirdisc. e brought
them into that state of close fighting where)
nl' strengthanel agility are superior to every other-acquirer The
Turks, wielding the sabre in one hand, and the poniard
in the other, cut to pieces almost all the French who had
e itered. General Rambaud lay a headless corpse in the
breach—Lannes was with difficulty brought off, severely
wounded. The Turks gave no quarter; and instantly
cutting the heads off those whom they slew, carried them
to the Pachs, who sat in public distributing money to those
who brought him these bloody trophies, which now lay
piled in heaps around him. This was the sixth assault
upon these tottering and. blood-stained ramparts. " Vic..
tory" said Napoleon. ";s to the most persevering ;tt and,
contrary to the advice of Kleber, he resolved upon another
lad yet more desperate attack.
(Jo the 21st ut May the final effort was made. The
attack of the morning failed, and Colonel Veneux re.
mewed it at midday. f• Be a,sured," said he to Bonaparte,
" Acre shall be yours to night, or Vcneux
will die on the
breach." He kept his word at the cost of his life. Bon
was also slain, whose division had been the executioners
of the garrison of Jaffa. The French now retreated,
tisPirited and despairing of success. The contest had
carried on at half a musket- shot distance, and the bo-
dies
.4of the dead lying around putrified
tinder the burning
made to establish a suspension of arms for removing
this-horrible annnylatice. Miot says that the Pacha re-
turned no answer
proposal of the French. Ac-
t ei oc
lice,
d Forng
tiasSturidatuaneegt_Shernaith's official reports, the arrnis-
beoken off by the French firing
itYlrp se was actually agreed on, but
u on those who were en-
jaged in the melancholy °face, apnd then rushing on to
wake their last unsuccessful charge and upon the
breach. This would have beeu criAlsou useless, and