In 1840, England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, having formed an alliance to rescue Syria from Mehemet Ali, the Pacha of Egypt, who had revolted against the Sultan, it was deemed proper, for various reasons connected with the general policy of Europe, to send a strong force to Syria for that purpose. The British Mediterranean fleet under the command of Sir Robert Stopford, was accordingly ordered on this important service, and along with him were a small Austrian squadron, and a Turkish ship with troops on board. Passing over the earlier proceedings, which will be noticed hereafter in our sketch of commodore Napier, we proceed to the siege of Acre, then strongly fortified and garrisoned by the Egyptians, the capture of which immediately settled the whole question, and proved triumphantly that the naval arm of England had lost none of its power.

The following account we quote from the journals of the day, as given by an eye-witness :—

On 30th October, a general order was issued by command of the lords commissioners of the admiralty, thanking the fleet for their zeal and exertions; and on the same day a council of war was held, at which an immediate attack of Acre was decided on; the same evening the supernumerary marines were embarked, and on the following day about 3000 Turkish troops, each ship taking a portion according to her size; General Sir C. F. Smith accompanying them. In the afternoon the steamers Gorgon, Vesuvius, Stromboli, and Phoenix started for their destination.

Shortly before sunset the whole anchored off the town, the forces then assembled consisting of the following vessels: Princess Charlotte (flag ship), Powerful (broad pendant), Thunderer, Bellerophon, Revenge, Edinburgh, and Benbow of the line, Castor, Pique, Carysfort, and Talbot frigates, Hazard, corvette, Wasp, brig, and the steam frigates Gorgon, Vesuvius, Stromboli, and Phoenix; the Austrian frigates, Guerriere, and Medea, and a corvette, and the Turkish Admiral and cutter tender. Sunday and Monday, the 1st and 2d of November, were occupied in making preparation on both sides. At fifty minutes past one, on Tuesday the 3d, the Phoenix opened her fire; the Powerful, closely followed by the Princess Charlotte, Thunderer, Bellerophon, and Pique, stood to the northward (it is necessary to state, here, that the town presents two faces to the sea-one to the west and the other to the south), and then bore up and anchored off the north-west angle of the town,

in the order named before. The Castor, the Carysfort, Talbot, Benbow, Edinburgh, Turkish Admiral, Hazard, Wasp, and the Austrian frigate, stood in for the south face. The Revenge was ordered to keep under weigh as a reserve. At a quarter past two o'clock, the batteries to the south opened on the Castor, as she most gallantly, and to the admiration of the whole fleet, took up her station within about 700 yards of the batteries, where she and her consorts opened their fire, as had also by this time the northern division. The steamers were placed between the two divisions under weigh, and thus the action became general, the Egyptian troops who manned the batteries, standing to their guns, with heroic valour and perseverance. About three o'clock the Revenge was ordered in by commodore Napier to support the Powerful's division, and took up an admirable position ahead of that ship. At twenty minutes past four, the action being at its height, a terrific explosion took place in the town, which for a time wholly concealed it and the southern division from view. Its appearance was truly awful, and "I can compare it to nothing," says an eye-witness," but as if a huge yew-tree had suddenly been conjured up from the devoted town; it hung for many minutes a mighty pall over those hundreds it had hurled into eternity; and then slowly, owing to the lightness of the wind, drifted to the southward."

This proved to be the explosion of the principal magazine of the place, one-third of which it destroyed; and from a whole regiment having been quartered in a khan immediately adjoining, it is supposed that from 1500 to 1700 soldiers perished in the ruins, besides a number of camels, horses, bullocks, and donkeys. Immediately afterwards, the fire from the southern batteries nearly ceased; but the western one still kept it up with animation, and was answered broadside after broadside with redoubled vigour and tremendous effect from the fleet. About five o'clock 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, which continued until half-past five to fire at the few remaining guns which still maintained the action. Shortly after a boat pushed 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 Turkish troops and a considerable number of marines were landed, and quietly marched into the place.

Thus fell the far-famed fortress of Acre. Mahmoud Bey, the governor, effected his escape, but was afterwards taken by the mountaineers.

The result of this splendid achievement, was three thousand prisoners, an immense quantity of warlike stores, £5000 in specie, found in the town, and possession of the entire coast of Syria.

Admiral Stopford returned to England, after completing a treaty with Mehemet Ali, which finally settled the Eastern question, and as a reward for his long and meritorious services, he received the important appointment of Governor of

SIR CHARLES NAPIER.-We shall now proceed to give a sketch of the brilliant career of Commodore Napier, the second in command in the expedition against Acre, whose fame for intrepidity has passed into a proverb. It is partly founded on matter extracted from his electioneering speeches, and certainly not the less interesting on that account. Charles Napier is the eldest son of the Hon. Charles Napier of Merchiston-hall, Stirlingshire, and was born at Falkirk in 1787. His family trace their descent from the ancient Earls of Lennox, who were so created in the reign of Malcolm the Third, in 1057. On taking a retrospective view of their genealogy, we find that many of them were distinguished in the service of their country. Sir Alexander Napier, of Merchison, knight, was made comptroller of Scotland, by James the Second, in 1450, and viceadmiral, by James the Third, in 1463. He was one of the ambassadors to England in 1451, and in 1468 was sent with the lord chancellor to negociate the marriage of his royal master with the daughter of the king of Denmark. Šir Alexander Napier, the grandson of the former, was master of the mint to James the Sixth. He was succeeded by John, the celebrated mathematician, whose attachment to the study of astronomy and spherical geometry, enabled him to work out that admirable system of logarithms which has

gained him immortality. This eminent man was succeeded by his son, Sir Archibald, the first lord who accompanied James the Sixth to England, when he was created one of the privy council, deputy treasurer, lord chief clerk, and one of the senators of the college of Justice in Scotland. In the reign of Charles the First, he was continued in the treasurer's office, and also made one of the extraordinary lords of session. On the 2d of March, 1627, he was created a baronet, and on the 4th of May following, he was advanced to the peerage. Archibald, the second lord, continued in the service of the crown, and was found faithful through the whole of the feuds that occurred in that reign. He finally retired to the continent, where he died in 1660. The title is still held by the family, and the subject of this sketch is the grandson of Francis, the eighth baron Napier.

Charles Napier entered the navy when very young, and gave early proof of the spirit which has distinguished him in after life. The first action which brought him into public notice, is thus described in characteristic language by himself, during the election at Portsmouth in 1833, when it had been asked by his opponents, who he was? "In the course of my canvass I have been asked who I am. I'll tell you. I am captain Charles Napier, who 25 years ago commanded the Recruit brig in the West Indies, and who had the honour of being 24 hours under the guns of three French line-of-battle ships flying from a British squadron, the nearest of which, with the exception of the Hawk brig, was from five to six miles astern the greatest part of the time. I kept flying double-shotted broadsides into them. One of the ships (the Hautpoult) was captured by the Pompey and Castor, the other two escaped by superior sailing. Sir Alexander Cochrane, my commander-in-chief, promoted me on the spot into her. At the siege of Martinique, the Eolus, Cleopatra, and Recruit, were ordered to beat up in the night between Pigeon Island and the main, and anchor close to Fort Edward; the enemy, fearing an attack, burnt their shipping. At daylight in the morning it appeared to me that Fort Edward was abandoned; this, however, was doubted. I offered to ascertain the fact, and with five men I landed in open day, scaled the walls, and planted the union jack on the ramparts. Fortunately I was undiscovered from Fort Bourbon, which stood about a hundred yards off, and commanded it. On this being reported to Sir Alexander Cochrane, a regiment was landed in the night. Fort