The Washington herald., 1914-02-15

On the Road 10 Acre.
1 first looked on Acre from Haifa
which sits at the foot of Mount Carmel,
across the Bay of Acre. Haifa is one
Of the two ports of the Holy Land. Jaf-
IA being the more southerly port and IL
Is a'terminus of one of the two railroads
Of Palestine. that which runs up from
the Mediterranean to Damascus.
Like JANA, too, Haifa is receiving the
stimulus Of progress from a prosperous
German religious colony. The colonists
live by themselves in modern houses and
broad. shady streets. To step from their
leafy. howery quarteu into the stony
squalid. noisy old town Is like passing In
La minute from Europe to Asia, from
IChristendqn to Islam. from the year 1914
to the year 914
The road from Haifa to Acre probably
Is the best example Of road building In
the Turkish empire. Not the Sultan.
however, but old Neptune was the build
err and he sees to IL that II Is kept in
good repair II lies in the hard beach
which borders the curving bay. and after
the horses had splashed through the ford
across the brook Kishon. by which Elijah
slew the prophets Of BaaL we saw the
Arab fishermen drawing in the nets that
held their morning catch. murmuring
tthanks to Allah for their good luck.
May there be a bounty" cried one OF
| the two good friends from the American
colony at Jerusalem. who for the time
oeins were my fellow-pilgrims in ''The
Path OF Napoleon May Allah bring the
bounty through your presence the long
bearded elder among the fishermen re-
Isponded.
The carriage wheels grated on the
shells where the Phoenicians used To
| gather the material for their Tyrian DUR
pie, and as ! drew near my destination
the horses waded kneedeep through an
| other little stream. whose waters trickle
across the beach roas where according
to Pliny, glass was discovered. There
some sailors while cooking their dinner
many centuries gone. saw the sand melt
into little transparent Jumps. and I sup
pose We are indebted to then for every
window pane that lets in the sunshine
The Gate of Acre.
After-a delightful nine-nile drive I va.
before the gate of Acre. at which Napo-
leon pounded for two months Through
| all recorded time this has been the toll
gate on the highway between Africa and
Asia, between Egypt and ConstantinopIe
! between the Holy Land and Syria-and
blood has been its toll. h theibones OF
the multitude who have been slain at
that cruel portal could be gathered in a
7 heap, Acre would sit in the shadow of a
mountain of dead.
In the Crusades. TO go back no far
ther. II was the gate to the Holy Land.
and hundreds of thousands of Crusad-
ers and Saracenz are said TO have per-
ished before IT, Behind IT the hosts of
the Cross made their last stand. and
when Acre fell (St- Jean d'Acre 1t was
called, the Crusaders lay buried beneath
its ruined walls. never again to rise and
battle for the rescue Of the Holy Sepul-
! cher.
, And this bIood-drenched threshold of
| 10 tha nf IL
. looks out upon the hills where only TWEEN
ty miles away dweIt the meek and for
, bearing Nazerene who taught the lesson
So hard for men to learn: "Whosoever
shall srnite thee on thy right cheek. turn
to him the other also"
1t had been fifty years and more since
I an army from Christendom had. present
j ed itself before the gate of Acre when
5 Napoleon came to challenge this strong
v hold OF Turkish power. Before him
: stretched the classic highway of empire
, TO the famous Ladder of Tyre leaning
y against a white, rocky promontory. Be-
v hind that headland lies the city OF Hiram.
n whose capture is counted among the
n most celebrated exploits of Alexander
! the Great.
Lion In the Path.
:, Surely this new Alexander would make
a short work of Acre, the savage den of a
, title of Dejezz1r. which means the
butcner." the beheader." the cut
throat or something equally terrible.
But this barbarian did not stand alone at
= the Acre gate. The British lion was
!. crouching there in the path of Napo-
: Leon
By a dramatic combination of circum-
: stances which the playwright and the
novelist might hesitate to employ and
$ which makes history seem theatrical; Ma
Dejezzar two men who had crossed his
path in other years and other lands One
n of them was a daring young English
: sailor of fortune. who. after serving with
the British navy and was at Toulon
|. when ii fell under the fire of Napoleon 8
I batteries 1t was he who stayed to blow
= up the magazines and cheat the victors
r OF their spoils.
In later daredevil adventure he was
captured as as suspected SPY and nd G ,o
n years. After appealing in vain to TIE
e members of the government to be ex-
changed as a prisoner Of war ne ad-
. leon on his return from Italy. but re-
: ceived no reply. The prisoner in the
temple was Sidney Smith.
The other ally of Dejezzar was 4
: Frenchman and a graduate of the Ecole
A Militaire in Paris He and Napoleon
: quarreled and kicked each others Sims
black and blue under the desks in the
: classroom. This was Phelippeaux.
PhelippeauX was an aristrocrat and an
e enemy of the republic Being in Paris
o and ready for plots he aided Smith to
: escape from the temple just one week
I to a day before Napoleons departure for
Toulon and the East. They fled to Eng
land and when Smith was sent TO Egypt
to watch and thwart Napoleon, Phelip-
peaux eagerly Joined him in the eXpedi-
o ton against his old schoolroom foe.
s While the army was slowly laboring
e across the desert. Smith. racing on ahead
8 with his little fleet, pounced upon the
French notilla having on board the siege
, train and ammunition. Napoleon thus
), left without the necessary means of be-
d sieging the town. saw his guns mounted
:. on the walls by PhelippeauX and turned
: against him.
Three Foes to Face.
Y Forty times in two months he hurled
his little force in vain against the gate
y of Acre under the fire from the town.
$ and often under another stream of fire
from the British ships. In the midst OF
7 the siege an army of Turks from Dam
! ascus, boasting themselves innumerable
d as the sands of the sea or as the stars
$ of heaven, bore down upon the French
s rear. To meet the Turks and British in
e front and beat of the Turks that were
lswarming behind him, Napoleon had now
an army of only 5000 men. IL caught be-
!. tween the two forces, his little band
: would certainly be smashed to pieces.
As he stood before the gate of Acre.
: the foothills close at his back rose into
d the mountains OF Galilee. He must d.