“You wish me to give you some information as to the retreat of Ibrahim Pacha from Damascus. All the notes I took at the time being with my baggage at Gibraltar, I cannot be very accurate in dates; but will furnish whatever I remember on the subject from the time you left me at Beyrout in November 1840, until my embarkation at Gaza for Egypt, in January 1841.

“When the Powerful left St. George’s Bay, I think the Princess Charlotte, the Benbow, and Bellerophon remained off Beyrout, with a steamer and a couple of Austrian vessels.

“From the time of your driving back Ibrahim,—in the action of the 10th of October,—from the heights of Boharsof, nothing certain had been known at Beyrout relative to his movements, and we,—to all appearance,—remained in a state of complete inactivity.

“We continued quietly in our quarters all November, which leisure I employed in learning Arabic, in visiting the neighbouring parts of Lebanon, and keeping up the acquaintance I had been enabled to form,—through your introductions,—with the principal Emirs and Sheikhs of the mountain, with several of whom I became very intimate.

“About the latter end of November, I was sent with Colonel Bridgeman to make a reconnoissance on the enemy, who was supposed to be still at Zachle. On arriving there we found he had retired across the Boccah two days before. Next morning, Colonel Bridgeman and myself, each accompanied by some fifty or sixty irregular horse, pushed on in different directions towards them. The Colonel fell in with a body of 300 or 400 cavalry deserters from the Egyptian army, whom he brought back to Zachle;—whilst I traversed the range of the Anti-Lebanon, and descending into the plain of Damascus reached the village of Zebdeni,—a few hours’ distant from that city,—on which the Egyptians had fallen back; the last of their rear-guard having left that place on the previous day.

“It was now certain that Ibrahim occupied Damascus, but whether or not he intended to make it his winter quarters was still unknown. However, the good people of Beyrout considered his presence even at the holy city of ‘El Sham,’ as much too near to be pleasant; and when the gale of wind of the 2nd of December drove all our vessels from the coast, serious apprehensions were entertained, that some fine morning he would walk quietly into the town;—which undertaking he might have accomplished with little or no opposition.

“Things continued in this state at Beyrout, till the beginning of December, at which period I received written instructions to the following effect from Sir Charles Smith: ‘That I was in the first instance to proceed to the head-quarters of the Emir Bechir with certain communications, and then to go, without loss of time, to Naplouse; that Selim Pacha would have orders notifying my official employment within his pachalic, and requiring him to attend to any requisition I might make (with the exception of troops,) on the garrison of Acre.

“Having“Having arrived at Naplouse, I was to order Soulyman Abdul Hadi, the Governor of that place, to levy 1500 men within his district, and with these I was to do my best to guard the passes of Agiloun, Djebail Khalil (Hebron), or Khan Younus^[47]; directing my movements according to the intelligence I should receive of the enemy.

“I was further instructed to ‘investigate and inquire into the conduct of the said Governor of Naplouse;—he being suspected of adhering to the Egyptian interests,—and to ascertain whether there was any foundation for the numerous complaints preferred against him from different quarters.’

“In the execution of this ‘important trust^[48],’ I was left to the guidance of my own military judgment. In fact, I had a sort of independent roving commission, which pleased me much, and I lost no time in proceeding to take up my command.

“It was evident, from the nature of these instructions, that we were still completely in the dark as to the line of retreat which Ibrahim Pacha might eventually fix on.

“I was surprised to find, on arriving at my destination, that,—contrary to the tenor of my instructions,—no notification had been received by the authorities, as to the nature of the mission on which I was about to be employed; and had it not been for the kindness of Selim Pacha, I should have found myself placed in an extremely awkward predicament.

“Not to lose time, whilst my ‘forces’ were being assembled, I went to Jerusalem, to ascertain the state of the Turkish garrison there,—and had an interview with Sheikh Abderrahman, the chief of the Bedouin tribes about Hebron, who was said to be able to bring into the field 10,000 men. After strongly urging on him the necessity of assembling his people to be ready to strike a blow,—as I had still some days to spare,—I determined, with 100 horsemen, to push across the river Jordan and the Agiloun hills, in order to gain some positive intelligence of the enemy, about whom the most contradictory reports were now afloat.

“Amongst other things, it was however positively said that he was making El Mezerib his head-quarters, preparatory to passing the Jordan at the bridge of MoÏadjumah^[49], a few miles south of Lake Tiberias; for this point, I therefore, in the first instance proceeded, and having carefully reconnoitred the neighbouring ground, I sent from thence a report to General Michell^[50], and also to Selim Pacha, requesting that some barrels of gunpowder might be immediately forwarded from Acre for the destruction of the old Roman arch, which here singly spanned the river.

“Crossing the Jordan on the 31st December,—accompanied by Captain LauÉ, Count Tchezeni, and Mr. Hunter,—the following day we pushed on to Hareemi, a small village on the elevated plateau overlooking the fortress of El Mezerib. The greatest consternation prevailed here amongst the inhabitants, who were flying in every direction, as it was reported the Egyptian advanced guard was already at Mezerib, and would push on the next day to Hareemi, which was only a few miles distant.

“Having come thus far, I was determined to obtain all the information in my power,—and accordingly, at daylight on the morning of the 2nd January 1841, I got my troop in their saddles, with the design of making a forward movement,—but, as soon as I had expressed my intention of proceeding direct to El Mezerib, the greater part positively refused to advance, and the remainder only followed with the utmost reluctance. After proceeding thus for two or three miles, we observed, on the opposite side of a ravine, a number of horsemen,—probably a vidette of the enemy, whom we could easily have driven in;—but this sight was quite enough for my brave troops; with the exception of the European party and my dragoman, one and all took to their heels; I returned alone to Naplouse; nor did I ever again behold my valiant cavalry^[51]!

“However, appearances strongly leading to the supposition that the MoÏadjumah bridge was the point on which Ibrahim was directing his army, I lost no time in hurrying thither the mountaineers who had been already assembled at Naplouse; and, on the 5th of January, I marched off my first detachment of a few hundreds,—certainly not the most soldierlike-looking fellows in the world,—to Jennin, which I had fixed on as the point of assembly.

“After despatching as many of these ragamuffins as could be gathered together, I myself proceeded to Jennin, and arriving there late at night, found General Jochmus and his aide-de-camp, Captain De l’Or; the latter very much elated at the wonderful exploits he said he had recently been performing on the rear of the Egyptian army.

“To my surprise, however, I learnt that the General had given orders for my Naplousians to return, in consequence, as he said, of the positive intelligence received, that Ibrahim no longer intended taking the route of Jennin. This was all very well; but having been placed in command by the British General, I did not at all consider myself under the orders of Jochmus Pasha; and accordingly told him, that since he had divested me of my command, he might do what he pleased with the mountaineers, of whom I washed my hands; and immediately mounting my horse, I made the best of my way to Jaffa, not sorry at having an opportunity of going to what was now likely to become the scene of active operations before Gaza.

“Shortly after reaching Jaffa, I was sent by General Michell, along with Reschid Pacha, to accompany and advise the movements of the left column of the Turkish army, consisting of twelve battalions, and a dozen field-pieces. This body was then concentrated at Jerusalem, and instructed to join the main force in a contemplated advance on Gaza. The whole Turkish army, including 3000 of the Emir Beschir’s cavalry, might have amounted to between 22,000 and 25,000 men, distributed as follows:

“At Jerusalem, near Jaffa and Ramlah, 21 battalions of regular infantry,—each battalion consisting of about 500 men,—with 18 field pieces.—At Medjdel (to the south of Jaffa) 3500 regular cavalry.—At Hebron 3000 irregular cavalry, composed of the Desert tribes. These, together with the Emir Beschir’s people, were now to the number of 20,000 men concentrated on the southern frontier of Syria. The garrisons of Beyrout and Acre being added, will make up the Turkish force to the above amount.

“On the 13th of January, the column moved from Jerusalem, but had scarcely proceeded half a dozen miles when intelligence arrived that Ibrahim had crossed the Jordan at Jericho, and was advancing in our rear on Jerusalem.

“It was resolved to halt for the night at Abou Hosh, and should this intelligence be confirmed, to return at daybreak to Jerusalem. The news proved correct; and we accordingly fell back on the Holy City, which we re-occupied on the following day.

“Ibrahim Pacha had positively crossed the river; but from the incessant rain, which for the last three days had fallen,—as I concluded he could not possibly have got over a larger number than our own force,—as his men were, moreover, wearied and starved, whilst our’s were fresh,—I proposed, that after giving our people a few hours’ rest, we should immediately advance and strike a blow, whilst his army was yet separated by a deep and rapid torrent; and I wrote as follows to Reschid Pacha, who, from having been educated in France, spoke and wrote the French language with the greatest fluency:

“Cette pluie continue aura tellement grossi le Jourdan, qu’il sera maintenant impossible d’y faire passer des troupes. Il n’est pas probable que le nombre de l’ennemi qui si trouve maintenant sur la rive droite, excÈde de beaucoup nos propres forces.

“Marchons demain matin une heure avant le jour, avec dix battaillons, et fions nous À la fortune de la guerre et de nos bonnes ÉpeÉs. Il me sera superflu d’obsÉrver que nous ne pouvons pas ÉspÉrer que cette pluie dure beaucoup plus long temps.

“Reschid Pasha’s reply was:

“'Mon cher Napier,

“‘AprÈs que vous m’avez quittÉ j’ai vu un Arabe qui a ÉtÉ À Reyha (Jericho) qui a causÉ avec Ibrahim, cet Arabe m’a dit qu’il pouvait avoir À peu prÈs trois mille hommes d’infantÉrie; et qu’il n’avoit point de canons; cet homme pretend qu’ Ibrahim est parti de Reyha ce matin de bonne heure en prenant le chemin de Chalil, ce qui indiquerait de la part de l’ennemi l’intention de se rendu À Gaza; si cette nouvelle est rÉelle, il ne faudrait pas hÉsiter un instant d’attaquer l’ennemi; puisque nous avons plus d’infantÉrie que lui, nous avons des canons, et si cette coquette qu’on appelle la ‘Fortune’ n’est pas avec nous: c’est le Diable.

“Now, although the feasibleness of an attack on the Egyptians was hereby fully allowed;—although Reschid Pasha at the time imagined that Ibrahim was exposing his right flank in this rumoured advance on Hebron (Chalil);—and although I not only urged, but entreated them to make the attempt, the Turks were afraid to try the experiment; and it was decided that the following day we should make a reconnoissance, which accordingly took place, when we found Jericho in flames, and that Ibrahim, after its destruction, had just recrossed the Jordan, and thus slipped through our fingers!

“His object had evidently been to delay our junction with head-quarters, and having effected this purpose, he was at present retiring unmolested by the south of the Dead Sea.

“I now proposed to make a diagonal movement by Mount Hebron to try and cut him off in that direction, as we heard that General Jochmus had already advanced on Gaza, which, ere this, we concluded must have been captured.

“Notwithstanding my urgent entreaties for expedition, two days elapsed ere we reached Hebron, a distance of about twenty-two miles!

“The Osmanlis, I plainly saw, still feared their old conqueror; and, on our arrival at Hebron,—meeting there Major Wilbraham and Lieutenant Loring, R.N., the bearers of your Convention to Ibrahim Pacha,—the exuberant joy of the Turkish Chiefs, at the termination of hostilities, led them, in some slight degree, to infringe the injunction of the Prophet.