Note 28 — CHAP. IV.

The following anecdote of Sir Sidney Smith may not be inappropriate here, as relating to a Soldier of the Cross:—

After the signal defeat of Buonaparte at Acre, the tyrant Djezzar, to avenge himself upon the Franks, inflicted severe punishment on the Jewish and Christian inhabitants of Saphet, and, it is said, had resolved to massacre all the believers in Moses and Jesus Christ, who might be found within his dominions. But Sir Sidney Smith, on being apprized of his intention, instantly caused the Turk to be informed, that if a single Christian head should fall, he would bombard Acre, and burn it about his ears. This decisive interposition of the gallant Admiral is still remembered in the hearts of the inhabitants.

Such was the confidence placed by them in their deliverer, that Burckhardt, alluding to Sir Sidney, says,—"His word, I have often heard both Turks and Christians exclaim, was like God's word—it never failed;" and Professor Loěwe, recently returned from Palestine, affirmed, that the Firmaun of Sir Sidney at once procured for him, both from the Sultan and the Pacha of Egypt, every assistance and facility in pursuing his learned hieroglyphical and mythological researches.

In connection with our subject, it may be mentioned as a singular fact, that Sir Sidney Smith was the first Christian ever permitted to enter the Holy City of Jerusalem armed, since the days of the Crusaders, which he was allowed to do as a special compliment, after the surrender of the French army in Egypt. By his means, also, his followers were granted the like privilege.

Several official documents, relating to Sir Sidney as a Knight Templar, are inserted in the Appendix.