The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-12-01 00:00:00

lon took place in the town, which, for atime, wholly co

, its appearance
and I can compare it to nothing but as if a
.uge yew tree had suddenly been conjured up from the de-
voted town—it hung for many minutes a mighty unit over

from vic

ruly awl

those hundreds it had hurled into eternity, and then slowly,
owing to the lightness of the wind, drifted to the southward.
It proved to be the explosion of the principal magazine of
the place, one-third of which it has destroyed, and, from a
whole regiment having been quartered in a khan immediately
adjoining, it is supposed from 1,500 to 1,700 soldiers perished
in its ruins, besides a number of camels, horses, bullocks and
donkeys. After this fearful event the fire from the southern
batteries nearly ceased, but the western one still kept it alp
animation, and was answered broadside after broadside with
redoubled vigour and tremendous effect. Shortlyibefore five
the admiral made the signal to discontinue the engagement,
but from the smoke it could not be seen for some time by the
Powerful's division, who'continued until half-past five to fire
at the few guns that still maintained the action, after which
not a shot was fired from the town or fleet. This sudden
silence immediately succeeding such a dinning uproar had a
very peculiar effect. In the early part of the night the
,Princess Charlotte and Revenge shifted further out, and the
Benbow, Edinburgh, and Castor were hauled further in, for
the purpose of breaching the south face in the morning ; the

steamers anchored as convenient. Admiral Walker Made
one or two unsuccessful attempts to land some spies ; but
happily about 30 minutes after 1 a,m. a small boat came off
from the captain of the port, to say that the Egyptians were
leaving the town, and that if a party was landed at the water-
gate it would be found open ; this was of course immediately
done, and 300 Turks and a party of Austrian marines took
unopposed possession at daylight ; the remainder of the Turk-
ish troops and a considerable number of marines were landed
and quietly marched into the place. Thus has fallen the far-
famed fortress of Acre ! after a bombardment of only about
three hours' duration ! Any attempt to describe the awfulscene
of carnage and destruction that presented itself would be
impossible. I shall therefore not even attempt the task, but
confine myself by giving you the numbers supposed to have
perished, and the damage done. From 1,500 to 1,700 are
supposed to have perished by the explosion of the magazine,
and about 300 were killed in the batteries. 3,000 prisoners
were taken ; 700 of one regiment, who had evacuated the
town in the night, marched down to the beach with drums
beating. and quietly laid down their arms. The batteries are
awfully knocked about, many guns upset, and several burst.
Correct returns of the number of guns mounted have not
been received, but 1 should suppose that there are about 120
on the sea faces, and about 20 mortars, chiefly brass, 13
inch. Vast quantities of munitions of war and provisions,
together with specie to the amount of £5,000, were found
in the town. Youssouf Aga (Colonel Schultz, a Pole), the
chief engineer of the army of Syria, was taken prisoner and
seriously wounded in the arm—the defence of the place had
been intrusted to him. Mahmoud Bey, the governor, effected
his escape, but has since been taken by the mountaineers.
It now only remains for me to state the less sustained by the
attacking force, which amounts in all to 14 English and 4
Turks killed, and 48 wounded ! the only officers who suffered
were Lieutenant Le Mcsurier, of the Talbot, who received a
severe contusion, of which he died the following day, and
Commander Hastings, Mr. Davis, master, an assistant-sur-
geon, and a midshipman, all of the Edinburgh, wounded by
the bursting of a shell on the quarter-deck before she
aochored, which also killed three seamen and one ma-
rine. Some of the ships are a good deal cut up about the
rigging and spars. The Edinburgh's mizen-mast shot
through, the Castor's bowsprit, the Hazard's mizen mast,
and the wasp's foremast all severely struck, are the principal
spars that suffered. The Benbow was struck by al4 pound
shot in the hull, but, strange to say, not a man was touched.
The Austrians sustained but little if any injury. The won-
derful precision and rapidity of the fire are best appreciated
by Youssouf Aga (the Pole) declaring that no men could
possibly have stood to their guns in the batteries—the
Princess Charlotte alone fired 4.400 shots. Little damage
has been sustained by the works on the land side, which are
even now very strong, but which a few months more would
have rendered almost impregnable. Some hundreds of sick
and a number of dead were found in the hospital, many hav-
ing been killed in their beds during the bombardment, and
all appear to have been sadly neglected. Ibrahim Pasha is
reported to be at a place called Zehle, between Lebanon and
Anti-Lebanon, with a force of from 15,000 to 20,000 men.
The prisoners taken at Acre are embarking on, board the
English ships, which are shortly to proceed to Marmorica
for the winter, leaving a squadron of frigates and steamers
under Cagtain Collier of the Castor on the coast of Syria.
The Phoenix, with the despatches for England, will leave
this morning. Reinforcements from Constantinople continue
to arrive, but the campaign is supposed to have finished for
fhe winter. Mr. Gennys, mate of the Carysfort, is promoted
into the Talbot, vice Le Mesurier, dead. Admiral Walker
is to leave in the Vesuvius with the despatches for Constan-
tinople; he has been made a Pasha.

COLONIAL INTELLIGENCE

NEW SOUTH WALES

We have been favoured with the following extract of a
letter by Mr. William Gardiner, shipping-master, of this
town, whose brother resides near Windsor, in New South
Wales, and who writes as follows _ _ _

" I have been here eighteen months, and I have twelve
months' more of this inn and farm ; and I cannot say but I
have done some good. I, had an excellent crop last year, and
I have also a very good appearance for this year ; but unless
I buy this place I shall not stop in it, as the house is too
small for my family and the business I do in it. An addi-
tional reason is, that I have rented another farm of fifty
acres of good land, a mile from here, for four years, to which
I intend to go in case I do not purchase this place. In case
I do purchase, I shall build some addition to the house, to
make it more respectable for travellers. The farm that I
have a mile off is all in crop, and it looks very well. It is
very convenient for my children to go to school here : they
are coming on well with their education, and will soon be a
great help to me. There are a great many of our country
people (Scotch) here, and we are about to build a church, as
the money is collected for it. We have a settled minister,
Mr. Adams, from Paisley, and the schoolmaster comes from
Glasgow.

" From the accounts by Jane's letter you all think that
this is a dangerous place to live in. So it is in some parts up
the country, but not so here, as we have every protection
from the laws, which are very strict as regards depredations.
I consider I am as safe here as at home, and I have a better
chance of doing for my family. I should mention that we
are subject to many changes in the weather, such as want of
rain, hot winds, and hail storms, which, with caterpillars,
sometimes do great injury to the crops. There is, however,
a very fine appearance of the crop this year, if it can be got
safely in. We are at a great loss for labourers in harvest to
cut down the crops, which ripen very quickly ; and we have
to pay as high as one pound per acre for reaping. lam very
contented to live here, as it is a pleasant situation, and I
think I can realize a little money. This is a great country
for cattle, pigs, sheep, horses, and all kinds of poultry.
Good mares are valuable here, as they bring as high as £BO.
A few weeks ago I sold a horse for £7O, which cost me £5O
eighteen months ago ; but I expect horses will soon be
cheaper, as they are rearing so many. Since I came here
wheat has been as high as 30s. per bushel, but it is now only
9s. per bushel, and likely to be lower.
" I thought some of my friends would come here, but I
suppose they are afraid of bushrangers and black men, though
I find no such annoyance. This climate agrees well with me,
as I am healthier here than at home, and my family enjoys
good health. We have had no cold weather this winter, and
we never have any snow. Indeed I have no desire to see
home, as I like this country uncommonly well."