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Let's Talk Python MEAP V02
1. MEAP_VERSION_2
2. Welcome
3. 1_Coffee_for_friends:_first_steps
4. 2_Lists:_What’s_on_the_menu?
5. 3_Functions:_Don’t_repeat_yourself!
6. 4_User_errors:_Everybody_makes_mistakes
7. 5_Working_with_files:_Being_a_shop_manager
8. 6_Main_menu:_Next_customer!
9. 7_Creating_functions:_Get_the_order_and_print_it
10. 8_Working_with_JSON:_Save_the_order
11. 9_Complete_the_menu:_A_real_program
12. 10_Learning_Flask:_Your_first_web_application
13. Appendix_A._Ideas_for_your_first_application
14. Appendix_B._How_to_install_Mu_Editor_and_Python_environment
MEAP VERSION 2
Welcome
Thank you for purchasing the MEAP for Let’s Talk Python.

This book is based on a real story. My son Erik liked to go to Starbucks and
try drinks with different flavors and toppings. One day he decided to prepare
drinks himself and treat his friends. He took his tablet to collect orders from
them, but I suggested create a simple program for that. He tried to learn
programming before but most of the exercises were boring for him. This time
he saw a real problem he could solve with programming and he got
interested. This is how this book was started. I hope you, dear reader, will
find your own problem that can be solved with programming. And I hope this
book will help you.

A couple pieces of advice.

Don’t rush. I understand your desire to go directly to the last chapter,

download the code of the final version of the program, and run it. Don’t do it.
Go step by step, write the code yourself (don’t copy and paste, please!), try it,
and move forward. Sometimes you will have to return and re-read the
chapter. Sometimes you will need a break. Don’t worry, take a break, repeat
the chapter. Just don’t drop out.

Make mistakes. You don’t learn when everything goes perfectly well. The
only way to learn is to make mistakes. Don’t be afraid of mistakes.
Experiment with the code, change things, get error messages, read them.
Search for the error message on the Internet and discover thousands of other
people who made the same mistake. Learn how they fix it and fix yours.
Move ahead and don’t drop out.

Ask questions. Ask your friends, ask parents and grandparents, ask Internet.
Explain your problem to somebody – sometimes that’s enough to find the
answer yourself. There is no such thing as “stupid questions”, don’t be shy.
Ask questions and don’t drop out.
Go further. Modify the application you create with this book. Change
something to make it look more like your own app. Think about other
applications you can create. Look around you: what can be automated? Can
you create an app that is similar to the app or website you know? Tell your
friends about your ideas – maybe you will create something together?
Programming is cool. Don’t drop out.

Speak out. Please let me know your thoughts in the liveBook discussion
forum. on what’s been written so far and what you’d like to see in the restof
the book. Your feedback will be invaluable in improving Let’s Talk Python.

—Pavel Anni

In this book

MEAP VERSION 2 About this MEAP Welcome Brief Table of Contents 1

Coffee for friends: first steps 2 Lists: What’s on the menu? 3 Functions:
Don’t repeat yourself! 4 User errors: Everybody makes mistakes 5 Working
with files: Being a shop manager 6 Main menu: Next customer! 7 Creating
functions: Get the order and print it 8 Working with JSON: Save the order 9
Complete the menu: A real program 10 Learning Flask: Your first web
application
Appendix A. Ideas for your first application Appendix B. How to install Mu
Editor and Python environment
1 Coffee for friends: first steps
In this chapter
Erik gets an idea
Erik and Simon discuss the future application
Erik installs a code editor and tries to run his first program in Python
Simon explains how to use variables
Erik writes his first dialogue in Python

1.1 A Great Idea

It all started on a sunny summer day. Erik came home with an idea: he
wanted to prepare coffee drinks for his friends. Who knew that he would
create his own online application for that?

"I will make it just like at Starbucks, with many flavors and toppings," he
thought. "I think I have everything I need: coffee, three or four flavors to add,
and some chocolate cream for toppings. Great!"

"Where is my iPad?" he asked his older brother Simon.

"Where you left it. Why?"

"I need it to collect orders for my coffee shop!"

He came back several minutes later with notes on his iPad, prepared four
drinks for his friends, and left again.

"Wasn’t it a good idea?" he asked Simon when he came home with four
empty plastic cups.

"Yes, great idea," Simon said. "But…"

"What 'BUT'??" Erik asked. He felt that his older brother wanted to ruin his
day. As he usually did.

"You used your iPad to take orders, but you used it just as a plain paper
notepad. You could create a simple application for your coffee shop and use
it to take orders."

"You mean—like in an online shop? With menus and all that?" Erik already
imagined his own web store with a huge title at the top: "Erik’s Coffee Shop."

"Yes, of course. You know a bit of Python from that online course you’ve
taken, don’t you?"

"Yes, but I don’t remember much. We did some exercises… I think it will be
difficult—to make it look like a real online shop."

"Don’t worry," Simon said. "We’ll do it step by step. I did several projects
like this for my robotics team at school."

Note

Don’t worry if you didn’t have any programming experience before. Erik
didn’t remember much from his classes anyway so we’ll start from the very
beginning.

Simon was in his last year in high school. He learned Python several years
ago and used it in the school’s Computer Science club and, more recently, in
his Robotics team.

"So you are saying we can build a real online application?" Erik was not
convinced.

"Yes, sure. If you don’t drop out from my class," Simon smiled, "you will
build it in a couple of weeks. Then, your customers will be able to choose
whatever drink they want, add flavors…"

"And toppings!" Erik added.

"Yes, and toppings. And after they confirm the order, you’ll see it on the
orders page. And you will know what to prepare and for whom. Something
like this," and Simon took a piece of paper and started to draw a simple web
page.

"This will be your order page."

"And this will be your list of orders."

"Cool! Do you think we can do it??" Erik still couldn’t believe his brother.

"Of course! As I said: just don’t drop out. You have plenty of time to finish it
during your summer break."

Note

We have several other project ideas that you can use if you don’t like the
coffee shop idea. Some of them will be discussed when Erik’s friends join
him in the following chapters. Look for more details in the Appendix A.
1.2 First things first: installation
"Let’s start with some simple things. You will remember Python very
quickly. Do you have it installed on your laptop?" Simon asked.

"No, I don’t think so."

"Here is a great Python editor, designed specifically for beginners like you.
It’s called Mu Editor. Try to find it and install it. You can do it, I’m sure."

Erik found the website: https://codewith.mu/, where he could download it.

He downloaded the installation program from this page:
https://codewith.mu/en/download.
He clicked Instructions and found an instructions page with all the steps for
his computer (at that time he was using a Macbook, but the site contains
instructions for all three operating systems: Windows, macOS, and Linux.)

You can find all necessary links and instructions in Appendix B.

"Don’t worry, it’s not a toy. It’s a perfect editor," Simon said. "We use it in
our robotics team to work with microcontrollers. As you see, there are
versions for Windows, macOS, and Linux. I use the Linux version in my
team."

"Are there other editors for Python?" Erik didn’t want just to follow his
brother’s directions.

"Yes, of course, many of them. Another good option for beginners is Thonny.
Look here: https://thonny.org/ "
"I like it!" said Erik. "And the name is funny."

"And, of course, there are other code editors that work on every platform:

VS Code (https://code.visualstudio.com/),
Sublime Text (http://www.sublimetext.com/").

"They all work perfectly with Python. Even the very old editors like Vim
(https://www.vim.org/) and Emacs (https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/)
support Python, but you have to be a very serious programmer to use them,"
and Simon winked at his brother.

"Mu Editor and Thonny," Simon continued, "both include Python when you
install them. To use Python with other editors, you have to install it first. On
some systems, like Linux and macOS, Python is already installed from the
beginning. On Windows, you should install it. I can show you later if you
want."

Install your Python environment

Now it’s your turn. Open your laptop or desktop, and install Mu Editor. You
can find the complete instructions for different platforms in Appendix B (it is
available on Windows, macOS, Linux).

If you prefer some other editor, feel free to install it instead of Mu. Don’t be
afraid to experiment!

1.3 How to talk to a computer

"Let’s start Mu Editor and begin writing your coffee shop program," Simon
said.

Erik launched Mu and saw its first window:

"Select Python 3 from the menu and click OK," Simon suggested.

Erik did what Simon said. "From now on," Simon continued, "Mu Editor will
remember that you prefer to use Python 3. Maybe you noticed that there are
some other modes that can be used to work with microcontrollers, build web
applications, and others. We will learn about them later."

Now Erik had the editor window in front of him.

"What should I write here?" Erik asked.

"What do you want your program to do first?"

"It should say 'Welcome to Erik’s Coffee Shop!'"

"Great! Let’s write it. Remember the function print() in Python?"

Erik started to write. This first step was easy.

"Now what?"

"Now you run it. Click Run ."

Erik clicked the button, and suddenly another window appeared asking if he
wanted to save the program. That was easy. Erik typed the name of the file:
"coffeeshop" and was ready to press Enter to save the file when Simon said:

"Wait, wait… Don’t forget to add .py to the file name. You have to let your
text editor know that it’s a Python program. Mu Editor will add it
automatically, but other editors won’t. So make sure all your Python files are
named with .py at the end."

Erik added .py to the file name and saved the file. Immediately after, he
noticed another window at the bottom of the editor’s window. There was the
coffee shop greeting—precisely as he wanted it!
"It works!" Erik was delighted.

"Of course, it works. Why shouldn’t it?" Simon answered. "But you wanted
to collect orders, didn’t you?"
"Yes, I would ask my client’s name and what they want…"

"And then?…" Simon obviously knew the answer, but he wanted Erik to find
it himself.

"And then I would print 'Hello! Here is your order:' and show their name,
flavor and topping. Like on a real receipt."

"Good idea," Simon said. "But look: when you are writing your program, you
don’t know what your friend wants to order, right? So you can’t write in your
program 'You ordered caramel.' Also, different clients order different things.
It will be caramel for Alex and strawberry for Emily. So you see: your flavor
varies from order to order, as well as the client’s name. Remember what this
thing is called in programming?"

"It’s a variable!" Erik was glad he remembered it from the Python course he
took several months ago.

"Right!" Simon was glad too. "Variable is like a box: you can put something
into it, and then open and see what’s in the box. You can replace what’s in
the box with something else."

"In our case," Simon continued, "let’s start with a box called 'answer' and
store whatever you hear from your client in that box. You ask your client
their name and they answer 'Alex,' for example. You put this answer in the
box called 'answer' and keep it there. When you want to print it out, you tell
Python: 'please print whatever is now in the box called 'answer'. The next
client’s name is Emily, and now you put 'Emily' in the box. And next time,
Python will print 'Emily' not 'Alex' because it is what is now in the box called
'answer.' Let’s write the code for this."

"Right here, in the same file?" Erik asked.

"Sure, go ahead and continue in the same file. To get something from the
client, we use the function called input(). When you call it, it waits for the
user to enter something. So the user types something on the keyboard and
presses Enter. And then the function returns whatever the user entered."
"Wait, wait," Erik stopped Simon. "What does it mean--'returns'? And also,
you are talking about functions. Of course, I know what they are, but can you
tell me what you mean by 'functions'?" Erik didn’t want to show that he
barely remembered something about functions from his previous class.

"A function is a piece of code that does something. Almost any piece of code
does something, but some pieces of code we use more often than the others.
Later, you will create your own functions, but for now, we will use the
functions written by somebody else. There are operations that people use
very often, such as print something. You didn’t notice it, but you already
used a function when you wrote print() in your previous program. In
programming we say that you call a function."

"A-ha, I see," Erik said. "Something with parentheses is called a 'function'."

"Right. And you can put something inside those parentheses, and the function
will do something with it. For example, it will print your message. What you
pass into a function is called arguments. Sometimes it’s a string, sometimes
it’s a number, sometimes there are several arguments."

"We call it 'to pass arguments' to a function," Simon continued. "The function
will do something with the arguments and get something as a result. For
example, it can calculate something, or do something with the string that you
passed, like converting it to ALL CAPS or encrypting it. And then it returns
that result to your main program."

"But how do I see the result?" Erik asked. "Will the function print it?"

"No, it won’t. Here is where we need variables. We tell Python: 'please call
this function with these arguments and please put whatever it returns into this
box, sorry, this variable'. And all that is done using a simple 'equal' sign, like
this =. For example, if you want to call the function input() and put what it
returns to the variable answer, you simply write:"
answer = input()

"And after you save the client’s answer, you can print it. You call the
print() function and pass your variable as an argument."
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
incomparable as tugs to a fleet, as conveying troops, as outlying
vessels, as every thing but men-of-war. A shot would break up their
whole machinery, and leave them at the mercy of the first frigate
that brought its broadside to bear upon them in their helpless
condition. In all the trials of the fleet during the last two years, the
heavy armed steamers were invariably left behind in a gale, while
one of the light steamers ran before every frigate.
We have now two fleets on service, one in the Tagus, and another at
Malta; but both are weak in point of numbers, though in a high state
of equipment. A few rasee guardships are scattered round the coast.
Some large steamers remain at Portsmouth and Plymouth ready for
service; but, from all accounts, there is nothing of that active and
vigorous preparation which ought to be the essential object of the
country, while France is menacing us from day to day, while she has
an immense naval conscription, is building powerful ships, is talking
of invasion, and hates us with all the hatred of Frenchmen. In such
emergencies, to think of sparing expense is almost a public crime;
and no public execration could be too deep, as no public punishment
could be too severe, if neglect of preparation should ever leave us at
the mercy of the most mischievous of mankind. But no time is to be
thrown away.
Whether we shall be prepared to meet and punish aggression, ought
no longer to be left dependent on the will of individuals. The nation
must bestir itself. It must have meetings, and subscriptions, and
musters. We must be ready to give up a part of our superfluities to
save the rest. Whether France intends to attack us, without
provocation, and through a mere rage of aggression, we know not;
but the language of her journals is malignant, and it is the part of
wise and brave men to be prepared.
We shall now give an outline of the gallant career of one of those
remarkable men, who, uniting courage and conduct, achieved an
imperishable name in our naval annals.
William Sidney Smith was born on the 21st of June 1764. He began
his naval career before he was twelve years old. All his family, for
four generations, had been naval or military. His great-grandfather
was Captain Cornelius Smith. His grandfather was Captain Edward
Smith, who commanded a frigate, in which he was severely
wounded in an attack on one of the Spanish settlements in the West
Indies, where he died shortly after. His father was the Captain Smith
of the Guards, whose name became so conspicuous on the trial of
Lord George Germaine, to whom he was aide-de-camp at the battle
of Minden, and who after that trial retired from the army in disgust.
Sir Sidney's uncle was a general, and his two brothers were Lieut.-
Colonel Douglas Smith, governor of Prince Edward's Island, and John
Spencer Smith, who held a commission in the Guards, but
afterwards exchanged the service for diplomacy, in which his name
became distinguished as an envoy to several Continental courts
during the war of the Revolution. Sir Sidney's mother was the
daughter of a Mr Wilkinson, an opulent London merchant, who,
however, seems to have disinherited his daughter from discontent at
her match, and left the chief part, if not the entire, of his property to
her sister, who was married to Lord Camelford. Sir Sidney was for a
few years at Tunbridge School, from which, however, he was
withdrawn at an age so early that nothing but strong natural talent
could have enabled him to exhibit in after-life the fluency, and even
the occasional eloquence, which distinguished his pen. His first
rating on the books of the Admiralty was in the Tortoise, in June
1777. In the beginning of the next year he was appointed to the
Unicorn, and began his career by a gallant action, in which his ship
captured an American frigate. He was then but fourteen. In 1779 he
joined the Sandwich, the flag-ship of Rodney, in which he was
present at the victory obtained over the Spaniards in the next year.
Those were stirring times. In the same year he was appointed
lieutenant of the Alcide. And in this ship he was present at Graves'
action with the French, off the Chesapeake.
In the following year he was in the greatest naval action of the war
—the famous battle of the 12th of April 1782, off the Leeward
Islands, when Rodney defeated the French fleet, commanded by the
Comte de Grasse. In the following May, he was appointed to the
command of the Fury sloop, by Rodney; and in the October following
was promoted to the rank of captain into the Alcmene, having been
on the list of commanders only five months.
Thus he was a captain at the age of eighteen! The war was now at
an end; his ship was paid off, and he went to reside at Caen, for the
purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the French language. There he
spent a well-employed and agreeable time. Many of the French
families of condition resided in the neighbourhood; and the young
captain, having brought letters to the Duc de Harcourt, governor of
the province, was hospitably received. The French were then a
polished people; they knew nothing of republicanism, and were not
proud of their ferocity; they had none of that frantic hatred of
England which is the folly and the fashion of our day, and might be
regarded as a civilised people. The duke invited him to his country-
seat, and there showed him the improvements in his grounds, and
introduced him to his visitors.
Like most men destined to distinction, Sir Sidney Smith was
constantly preparing himself for useful service, by the acquisition of
knowledge. The Mediterranean is naturally presumed to be the great
theatre of naval exploits. He obtained leave of absence, and went to
the Mediterranean. While at Gibraltar, thinking, from the violent
language of the Emperor of Morocco, that there might be a Moorish
war, he made a journey along the coast of Morocco, for the purpose
of acquainting himself with the condition of its naval force and
harbours. Having obtained the necessary information, which
obviously required considerable exertion and no slight expense, he
stated its results in a manly and intelligent letter to the Admiralty,
offering his services in case of hostilities, and suggesting the
appointment of a squadron to be stationed outside the Straits, for
the prevention of any naval enterprise on the part of the Moors.
Among the most accessible ports, he mentions Mogadore, which, as
not being a bar harbour, is easily approachable by ships of force;
and though the works contained many guns, yet they were so ill-
placed, that in all probability they could not resist an attack. We
recollect that the cannonade of this town was one of the exploits on
which the Prince de Joinville plumed his heroism, and of which all
France talked as if it were the capture of a second Gibraltar.
The same spirit of inquiry and preparation for probable service led
him to Sweden, during the war of the brave and unfortunate
Gustavus with the Empress Catherine.
We may pause a moment on the memory of one of the most
remarkable princes of his time. Gustavus, born in 1746, in 1771
ascended the throne of Sweden, on the death of his father Frederic.
The Swedish nobility were poor, and affected a singular habit of
following the fashions of France, of whose government, probably,
the chiefs of their body were pensioners. The lower orders were
ignorant, and probably not less corrupted by the gold of Russia.
Gustavus found his throne utterly powerless between both,—a
States-General possessing the actual power of the throne, and even
that assembly itself under the control of a Russian and a French
faction, designated as the hats and caps. Gustavus, a man of
remarkable talent, great ardour of character, and much personal
pride, naturally found this usurpation an insult, and took immediate
means for its overthrow. He lost no time; his first efforts were
exerted to attach the national militia to his cause. When all was
ready, the explosion came. The governor of one of the towns
suddenly issued a violent diatribe against the States-General. The
king was applied to to punish the contumacious rebel. He instantly
sent a large military force, with his brother at its head, to punish the
governor. By secret instructions it joined him. The plan was now
ripening. In all that follows, we are partly reminded of Charles I., of
Cromwell, and of Napoleon. Like Charles, the king entered the
assembly of the States and demanded some of the members. Like
Napoleon, he had the regiments of the garrison ready on parade,
and rushing out of the assembly, he was received by the troops with
shouts. The oath of allegiance was renewed to him with boundless
acclamation. Several of the chiefs of the States-General were
immediately put under arrest, and the whole body were completely
intimidated. On the next day, the States-General were once more
invited to assemble. The king, at the head of his military staff, like
Cromwell, entered the hall, and presented them with the "new
constitution." The troops had already settled the question. On its
being put to the vote of the assembly, a majority appeared in its
favour. The States-General sank into a cipher, and the revolution was
triumphant.
The new constitution had given great joy to the people, long
disgusted with the arrogance of the States-General. But the nobles,
whose powers had been curtailed, nourished a passion for
vengeance. The war of 1788 with Russia, in which the finances of
the kingdom began to be severely pressed, gave them the
opportunity. The States still existed; and the disaffected nobles,
influenced their votes, to the extent of refusing the supplies, though
the Danes were in the Swedish territory, and actually besieging
Gothenburg at the moment. The king must have been undone, but
for the patriotism of the mountaineers of Dalecarlia; who, if they
could not give him money, gave him men. Gustavus, indignant at his
palpable injuries, now determined on extinguishing the power which
had thus thwarted him in his career. In 1788, he suddenly arrested
the chiefs of the opposition, and introduced a law, still more
controlling the power of the nobles. But this act was regarded as
doubly tyrannical, and deserving of double vengeance.
On the conclusion of the war within two years after, the malcontents,
fearful that the leisure of peace would produce further assaults on
their privileges, resolved to take the decision into their own hands.
The period began to be troubled. The French revolution had just
broken out, and it had at once filled all the Continental sovereigns
with alarm, and all the population with vague theories of wealth,
enjoyment, and freedom. The king of Sweden, known for his talents,
distinguished in war, and loud in his hatred of France and her furies,
had been chosen by the allied monarchs to head the invasion of the
republic. Whether the councils of the nobles partook more of fear, or
hatred, or the hope of political overthrow, can now be scarcely
ascertained; but they issued in an atrocious conspiracy against the
royal life.
It is remarkable that there is scarcely an instance of conspiracy
against the lives of eminent personages, in which the design was not
previously discovered, and was successful only through an unwise
and contemptuous disregard of the intelligence. This seems to have
been the course of things, from the days of Cæsar. The King of
Sweden was informed of his danger; and even that the attempt was
deferred only until the period of some fêtes, to be given at court.
But the king, accustomed to danger, and probably refusing to believe
in the existence of a crime rare among his countrymen, disdained all
measures of precaution, and even appears not to have taken any
further notice of the conspiracy. This might have been the conduct
of a brave man, but the consequence showed that it was not the
conduct of a wise one.
On the 16th of March 1792, the ball was given: the king appeared
among the maskers: he was evidently careless of all hazard, and
was conversing with a group, when, Ankerstrom, the intended
assassin, entered the Salle. This traitor had been a captain in the
service, but had been dismissed, or had conceived himself to be
insulted by the king. Gustavus was pointed out to him by one of the
conspirators: he stole behind the king, and fired at his back a pistol
loaded with slugs and nails. Gustavus fell mortally wounded, and
was carried to his chamber in agony. The assassin coolly walked out
of the Salle, unobserved in the confusion, but was arrested next day.
He was brought to trial, and died the death of a regicide. The chief
conspirators were banished. The king languished until the end of the
month, when he died, with great firmness and resignation.
On the pistol of Ankerstrom may have turned the fortunes of the
French Revolution. Gustavus, a king, a man of military genius, and
ardent in all that he undertook, would have escaped all the errors of
the Duke of Brunswick. His personal rank would have rendered him
independent of the wavering politics of the allies; his talent would
have rectified the obsolete notions of their statesmen; and his spirit
of enterprise would have rescued his army from the most fatal of all
dangers to an invader—delay. He would have overruled the
prejudices of the Aulic Council, and the artifices of the Prussian
cabinet; and hoisted the allied flag in Paris, before the first levy of
the Republic could have taken the field.
France can scarcely be regarded as having an army until 1795. The
old royal army, though consisting of 180,000 men, was scattered in
position and doubtful in principle. The Republican levies were yet but
peasantry. The King of Sweden, at the head of 150,000 Prussians
and Austrians, then the first troops in Europe in point of equipment
and discipline, would have walked over all resistance; and France
would have been spared the most miserable, and Europe the
bloodiest, page of its annals.
The fall of Gustavus was also fatal to his dynasty. His son, Gustavus
IV., inheriting his passions without his talents, and quarrelling with
his allies without being able to repel his enemies, was expelled from
the throne, after a series of eccentricities almost amounting to
frenzy. He was arrested in the streets by General Alderkreutz, by
order of the Diet. His uncle, the Duke of Sudermania, was appointed
regent; and, on the king's subsequent abdication, was proclaimed
king, by the title of Charles XIII.
On his death, Bernadotte was elected to the throne, which he
retained through life;—the solitary instance of permanent power
among all the generals of the French empire; but an instance
justified by high character, by his acquirement of the throne without
crime, and by its possession without tyranny.
There may be no royal road to fame, but there are some habits
which naturally lead to it; one of those, activity of spirit, Sir Sidney
Smith possessed in a remarkable degree. Wherever any thing new or
exciting in his profession was to be seen, there he was certain to be.
In 1789, the Swedish and Russian fleets were fighting in the Baltic.
England was at peace,—his ship had been paid off; relaxation, the
London balls, the Parisian theatres, rambles through the German
watering-places, were before him. Ten thousand idlers of the navy
would have enjoyed them all without delay. But the young captain
was determined to rise in his profession; and, as the time might
come when a Swedish or a Russian war might be on the hands of
England herself, he felt that it might be advantageous for an English
officer to have some knowledge of the Baltic.
Unluckily, the chief portion of his correspondence in Sweden has
been lost. It was very voluminous; but, with all his documents on
the subject of his Swedish service, it had been left in Camelford
House, to the care of its proprietor, Lord Grenville. The house was
subsequently let for the residence of the Princess Charlotte, and the
papers were removed to the care of a tradesman near Cavendish
Square, whose premises were destroyed by fire, and the MSS. were
almost wholly consumed. If there is no other moral in the story, it
should at least be a warning to diplomatic and warlike authorship, to
apply to the press as speedily as possible.
But, from his Swedish expedition is certainly to be dated the whole
distinction of his subsequent career. He might otherwise have
lingered through life on half-pay, or have been suffered merely to
follow the routine of his profession, and been known only by the
Navy List.
In 1789, he applied for six months' leave of absence to go to the
Baltic, but without any intention to serve. There he was introduced
to the King of Sweden, and attracted so much interest by his evident
ability and animation of manner, that the king was desirous of fixing
him in his service, and of giving him an important command. The
temptation was strong, but we need scarcely say, that even if leave
were given, it ought not to have been accepted. No man has a right
to shed the blood of man but in defence of his own country, or by
command of his own sovereign. But in the next year he received the
following flattering request from the king.
"Captain Sidney Smith,—The great reputation you have acquired in
serving your own country with equal success and valour, and the
profound calm which England enjoys not affording you any
opportunity to display your talents at present, induce me to propose
to you to enter into my service during the war, and principally for the
approaching campaign.
"To offer you the same rank and appointments which you enjoy in
your own country, is only to offer you what you have a right to
expect; but to offer you opportunities of distinguishing yourself
anew, and of augmenting your reputation, by making yourself
known in these northern seas as the élève of Rodney, Pigot, Howe,
and Hood, is, I believe, to offer you a situation worthy of them and
yourself, which you will not resist; and the means of acquitting
yourself towards your masters in the art of war, by extending their
reputation, and the estimate in which they are held already here.
"I have destined a particular command for you, if you accept my
offer, concerning which I will explain myself more in detail when I
have your definitive answer. I pray God to have you in his holy
keeping. Your very affectionate
Gustavus.
"Haga, January 17, 1790."
This showy offer overcame Sir Sidney's reluctance at once; but as he
could not enter into the Swedish service without leave from home,
he took advantage of the opportunity of bringing home despatches
from the minister in Stockholm, and thus became the bearer of his
own request. The Duke of Sudermania, the king's second in
command, also wrote to him a most friendly letter, entreating of him
to return as speedily as possible, and bidding him bring some of his
brave English friends along with him.
The offer to him had been the command of the light squadron. Sir
Sidney set out on the wings of hope accordingly, and expected to be
received with open arms by the ministers; but he was seriously
disappointed in the expected ardour of his reception. It was with
extreme difficulty that he could find any one to listen to him. At last
he obtained an audience of the Duke of Leeds, who, however, would
give no answer, until the whole matter had been laid before a
cabinet council. The gallant sailor now began to experience some of
those trials to which every man in public life is probably subjected,
at one time or another. He now determined to wait with patience,
and his patience was amply tried. In this state he remained for six
weeks, until at last he determined to write to the King of Sweden,
proposing to give up his appointment, but stating that he was
determined to return to join the Duke of Sudermania as a volunteer.
Sir Sidney now offered to be the bearer of despatches to Sweden,
but the offer was declined with official politeness. He immediately
sailed for Sweden, when the King placed him on board a yacht which
followed the royal galley in action.
We must now take leave of this war of row-boats, in which, however,
several desperate actions were fought; but though row-boats or
galleys were the chief warriors, both fleets exhibited a large number
of heavy frigates or line-of-battle ships. Those, however, were
scarcely more than buoys, among the narrow channels of the Baltic,
obstructed as they were by islands, headlands, and small defensible
harbours. Sir Sidney was active on all occasions. In one instance,
where an attack on the Russian fleet was proposed, and the
objection made by the captains was the difficulty of proceeding by
night through an intricate channel, he rode across a neck of land,
took a peasant's boat from the shore, sounded the channel during
the night, and made himself master of the landmarks, settling the
signals with the advanced post on shore.
He was soon after engaged in a desperate action, in which he, with
his little troop, having been abandoned by the divisions ordered to
attack on other points, was beaten, after a most gallant resistance.
But the King knew how to feel for brave men, however unlucky, and
sent him a complimentary letter, on the gallantry and zeal which "he
had the faculty of communicating to those who accompanied him."
The King, in several communications, remarks on this quality of
exciting the spirit of activity and enterprise in others, which seems to
have been Sir Sidney's characteristic in almost every period of his
naval career; and which doubtless proceeded from peculiar ardour
and animation in himself.
The war closed by an armistice and treaty, in 1792. But Sir Sidney
then received the reward of his gallant zeal, in his investiture with
the Grand Cross of the Swedish Order of the Sword, by George III.
himself; which we believe to have been an unusual distinction in the
instance of foreign orders, and to have been at the request of the
late King of Sweden.
Though Sir Sidney Smith had apparent reason to complain of the
coldness of his reception on his first return to England, it is evident
that his conduct in Sweden had attracted the attention of ministers.
As a simple English captain, attracting the notice of the most warlike
monarch of Europe, evidently holding a high place in his confidence,
offered a distinguished command, and receiving one of the highest
marks of honour that could be conferred by Gustavus, he was
regarded as having done honour to his country. But we have heard
from those who were intimate with him in early life, that he was also
a remarkably striking personage in person and manners; his
countenance singularly expressive, his manner full of life, and his
language vivid and intelligent. His person was then thin and active,
which in after-life changed into heaviness and corpulency—a most
complete transformation; but if the countenance had lost all its fire,
it retained its good sense and its good nature.
From an early period of the Revolutionary war, the eyes of France
had been turned on Egypt, a country which the extravagant
descriptions of Savary had represented as capable of "being turned
into a terrestrial paradise, if in possession of France." There her men
of science were to reveal all the mysteries of the Pyramids, her
philosophers were to investigate human nature in its most famous
cradle, her soldiers were to colonise in patriarchal ease and plenty;
and even her belles and beaux were to luxuriate in gilded galleys on
the waters of the inscrutable Nile, and revel in painted palaces in the
shade of tropical gardens, and bowers that knew no winter! Further
collision with England led to further objects; and in time, when the
Republic had assumed a shape of direct hostility with all Europe,
with England at its head, the seizure of Egypt tempted France in
another form, as the first step to the conquest of India.
But long before this period, the sagacity of the English cabinet had
seen the probable direction of French enterprise, and felt the
necessity of obtaining all possible information relative to the coasts
of Asiatic Turkey and Syria. For this important purpose Sir Sidney
Smith was chosen, and sent on a secret mission to Constantinople;
partly, perhaps, from the circumstance that his brother, Mr Spencer
Smith, who was then our ambassador there, would communicate
with him more advantageously than with a stranger; but
undoubtedly much more for his qualifications for a service of such
interest and importance.
Nothing is left of those memorials, further than a few notes of the
expenses of his journeys; from which he appears to have examined
the coasts of the Black Sea, the Bosphorus, the Dardanelles, the
Archipelago, and the Ionian Islands. But he was now to distinguish
himself on a higher scene of action.
In September 1793, the officers of the French navy at Toulon, and
the chief inhabitants, disgusted with the Revolution, and alarmed by
the cruelties of the Revolutionary tribunals; hoisted the white flag,
and proposed to Lord Hood, commanding the British squadron off
the coast, that he should take possession of the city and shipping, in
the name of Louis XVII.
It must be confessed, that there never was a great military prize,
more utterly thrown away, nor an effort of loyalty more unlucky. The
whole transaction only gives the lesson, that what the diplomatists
call "delicacy" is wholly misplaced when men come to blows, and
that in war promptitude is every thing. The first act of Lord Hood
ought to have been to remove the fleet, strip the arsenals, and send
the whole to England, there to be kept secure for its rightful king.
The next ought to have been, to give every inhabitant the means of
escaping to some safer quarter, with his property. The third ought to
have been, to garrison the forts with every soldier who could be sent
from Gibraltar and England; from which we could have sent 50,000
men within three weeks. Toulon then might have been made the
stronghold of a loyal insurrection in the south, and the garrison of all
the foreign troops, which the French princes could muster.
Not one of these things was done. The ships were left until the last
moment, through "delicacy" to the people; the people were left to
the last moment, through a perilous confidence in the chances of
war; and Toulon was lost by an attack of ragamuffins, and the
battery of Lieutenant Buonaparte, which an English regiment would
have flung into the sea, and sent its commandant to an English
prison.
But, even in the midst of these instances of ill-luck, Sir Sidney Smith
made himself conspicuous by his services. When returning from his
Mediterranean survey, he happened to stop at Smyrna; and there
observing a number of British sailors loitering about the streets, he
offered them service; and purchasing a small lateen-rigged vessel,
about forty feet long, which he manned with forty sailors, and
steering for Toulon, he turned over his little vessel and its crew to
Lord Hood.
This was another example of that activity of mind and ready
attention to circumstances, which characterised his career. A
hundred other officers might have seen those sailors wandering
about Smyrna, without thinking of the purchase of a vessel to make
them useful to their country; or might have been too impatient to
return to England, for a detour to Toulon.
Lord Hood, though a brave man, was a dull one, and had all the
formality of a formal time. Sir Sidney's gallant volunteering was
forgotten, and the defence of Toulon was carried on under every
possible species of blundering. At length the enemies' guns began to
play from the heights, and the order was given for the fleet to retire.
Whether even this order was not premature may still be doubted; for
the French batteries, few and weak, could scarcely have made an
impression on so powerful a fleet; and the British broadsides might
have made it impossible for the enemy to hold the town, especially
after all its works had been dismantled. But the order was given, and
was about to be executed, when Sir Sidney asked the question
which seems to have occurred to no one else: "What do you mean
to do with all those fine ships: do you mean to leave them behind?"
Some one called out,—"Why, what do you mean to do with them?"
The prompt answer was,—"Burn them, to be sure." By some chance,
the answer reached Lord Hood's ears; he immediately sent for Sir
Sidney, and to him, though on half pay, and then irregularly
employed, was given this important duty.
The employment was highly perilous, not only from the hazards of
being blown up, or buried in the conflagration, but from the
resistance of the populace and galley-slaves, besides that of the
troops, who, on the retreat of the English, were ready to pour into
the town. His force, too, was trifling, consisting only of the little
vessel which he had purchased at Smyrna, three British gun-boats,
and three Spanish. But the operation was gallantly performed. The
stores of the arsenal were set on fire; a fireship was towed into the
middle of the French fleet, and all was soon one immense mass of
flame: perhaps war never exhibited a scene more terribly sublime.
Thirteen sail of the line, with all the storehouses, were blazing
together. The French, too, began to fire from the hills, and the
English gun-boats returned the fire with discharges of grapeshot on
the troops as they came rushing down to the gates of the arsenal.
All was uproar and explosion.
The most melancholy part of the whole narrative is the atrocious
vengeance of the Republicans on gaining possession. An anecdote of
this scene of horror, and of the especial treachery of Napoleon, is
given on the authority of Sir Sidney.
"The Royalist inhabitants, or the chief portion of them, had been
driven into the great square of the town, and compressed there into
one huge mass. Napoleon then discharged his artillery upon them,
and mowed them down. But as many had thrown themselves on the
ground to escape the grapeshot, and many were only wounded, this
villain of villains cried out aloud,—'The vengeance of the Republic is
satisfied, rise and go to your homes.' But the wretched people no
sooner stood up than they received another discharge of his guns,
and were all massacred. If any one act of man ever emulated the
work of the devil, this act, by its mingled perfidy and cruelty, was the
one."
It is impossible to read the life of this intrepid and active officer,
without seeing the encouragement which it holds forth to enterprise.
In this sense it ought to have a part in the recollections of every
soldier and sailor of England. Sir Sidney had perhaps rivals by the
thousand in point of personal valour and personal intelligence; but
the source of all his distinctions was, his never losing sight of his
profession, and never losing an opportunity of service. On this
principle we may account for every step of his career, and on no
other. He appears to have had no parliamentary interest, no
ministerial favour, no connexion of any kind which could essentially
promote his interest, and even to have been somewhat neglected by
admirals under whom he served. But he never lost an opportunity of
being present where any thing was to be done, and of doing his
best. It was this which produced even from the formal English
admiral a note of this order, written on the evening of the
conflagration,—

"My dear Sir Sidney,—You must burn every French ship you
possibly can, and consult the governor on the proper method of
 doing it, on account of bringing off the troops.
"Very faithfully yours,
"Hood."

This was written at three in the afternoon. It would appear that Sir
Sidney, in his answer, made some observation with reference to the
smallness of the force put under his command. His Lordship, in a
note dated at six in the evening, thus replied:—

"I am sorry you are so apprehensive of difficulty in the service

you volunteered for. It must be undertaken; and if it does not
succeed to my wishes, it will very probably facilitate the getting
off the governor and the troops in safety, which is an object.
The conflagration may be advantageous to us. No enterprise of
war is void of danger and difficulty; both must be submitted to.
"Ever faithfully yours,
"Hood."

The remonstrance of Sir Sidney must evidently have been with

respect to the inadequacy of preparation, for he remarks,—"I
volunteered the service under the disadvantage of there being no
previous preparation for it whatever;" and the only failure arose from
the want of force; for he was unable to burn the ships in the basin;
while it argues extraordinary skill and daring, to have effected the
burning of the rest with a few gun-boats and a felucca.
But this service, executed at the right time, and in the right spirit,
immediately fixed upon him the eyes of the fleet; and the admiral,
on sending home the despatches from Toulon, made Sir Sidney their
bearer. He was received with great attention by ministers; and Lord
Spencer, then at the head of the Admiralty, particularly
complimented him on the promptness and energy of his services at
Toulon.
As it was now determined to fit out a light squadron for the purpose
of disturbing the enemy's coasts on the Channel, Sir Sidney Smith
was selected for the command; and he was appointed to the
Diamond frigate, with which he immediately made sail for the coast
of Holland. This little fleet consisted of thirty-two vessels of various
sizes, from the frigate to the gun-boat. With this fleet he kept watch
on the enemy's harbours, hunted privateers, made landings on the
shore, carried off signal-posts, and kept the whole coast in perpetual
alarm. One of those services shows the activity and intelligence
required on this duty. It being rumoured that a French expedition
had sailed from Brest, Sir Sidney was ordered to execute the difficult
task of ascertaining the state of the harbour. He disguised his ship so
as to look like a French vessel, hoisted French colours, and ran into
the road. Unluckily, a large French ship of war was working in at the
same time, but which took no notice of him, probably from the
boldness of his navigation. At sunset the Frenchman anchored, as
the tide set strong out of the harbour, and Sir Sidney was compelled
to do the same. He had hoped that, on the turning of the tide, she
would have gone up the harbour, but there she lay in the moonlight,
a formidable obstacle. The question was now whether to leave the
attempt incomplete, or to run the hazard of passing the French line-
of-battle ship. The latter course was determined on, and she was
fortunately passed. As they advanced up the road, two other ships,
one of which was a frigate, were seen at anchor. Those, too, must
be passed, and even the dawn must be waited for before a good
view of the road could be obtained. The crew were ordered to be
silent: the French ships were passed without notice. As morning
broke, a full view of the road was obtained, and it was evident that
the enemy's fleet had put to sea. The task was performed, but the
difficulty was now to escape. On the first attempt to move towards
the sea, a corvette, which was steering out in the same direction,
began to give the alarm by making signals. The two vessels at
anchor immediately prepared to follow, and the line-of-battle ship
made a movement so as completely to obstruct the course. There
seemed to be now no alternative but to be sunk or taken. These are
the emergencies which try the abilities of men, and the dexterity on
this occasion was equal to the difficulty. As resistance was hopeless,
Sir Sidney tried stratagem. Running directly down to the line-of-
battle ship, which he now perceived to be in a disabled state,
pumping from leaks and under jury topmasts, he hailed the captain
in French, which he fortunately spoke like a native, offering him
assistance. The captain thanked him, but said that he required none,
as he had men enough; but on this occasion Sir Sidney exhibited a
feeling of humanity which did him still higher honour than his skill.
As he lay under the stern of the Frenchman he might have poured in
a raking fire, and, of course, committed great slaughter among the
crew, who were crowded on the gunwale and quarter, looking at his
ship. The guns were double loaded, and his crew were ready and
willing. But, considering that, even if the enemy's vessel had been
captured, it would be impossible to bring her off, and that the only
result could be the havoc of life; and, to use the language of his
despatch, "conceiving it both unmanly and treacherous to make such
havoc while speaking in friendly terms and offering our assistance, I
trusted that my country, though it might be benefited in a trifling
degree by it, would gladly relinquish an advantage to be purchased
at the expense of humanity and the national character; and I hope,
for these reasons, I shall stand justified in not having made use of
the accidental advantage in my power for the moment."
And even then this act of generosity may not have been without its
reward; for the other ships, seeing that he was spoken to by the
French vessel, discontinued the pursuit. The exploit was finished,
and the harbour was left behind. If he had fired a shot into the
exposed line-of-battle ship, he would inevitably have been chased by
the others and probably taken. From this period scarcely any of the
smaller convoys, conveying ammunition or provisions to the enemy's
ports, could escape.
Yet, in the midst of this warlike vigilance and vigour, humanity was
not overlooked; the British vessels were forbidden to fire at patrols
on shore, and were ordered to spare fishing-boats, villages, and
private dwellings.
The winter was spent in hunting along the shore every French flotilla
that ventured to peep out. But one action deserves peculiar
remembrance, from its mingled daring and perseverance. A convoy,
consisting of a corvette of 16 guns, four brigs, and two sloops, had
been chased into, Herqui. As they, of course, were likely to take the
first opportunity to escape, Sir Sidney determined not to wait for the
rest of his squadron, but to attempt their capture in the Diamond
frigate alone. While he was preparing for this adventure, two other
armed vessels joined him. The attempt was hazardous, for the bay
was fortified. Two batteries were placed on a high promontory, and
the coast troops were ready to oppose a landing.
The Diamond dashed into the bay, but the fire from the batteries
began to be heavy, and could be returned only with slight effect,
from the commanding nature of their position. It was, therefore,
necessary to try another style of attack. This was done by ordering
the marines and boarders into the boats, and sending them to attack
the batteries in the rear. This movement, however, was met by a
heavy fire of musketry on the boats, from the troops drawn up to
oppose their landing. The frigate, too, was suffering from the fire of
the batteries, and the navigation was intricate. At this critical
moment Sir Sidney pointed out to Lieutenant Pine, one of his
officers, that it might be possible to climb the precipice in front of
the batteries! The gallant officer and his men started immediately,
landed under the enemy's cannon, climbed the precipice, and made
themselves masters of the guns, before the troops on the beach
could regain the heights. The frigate continued her fire to check the
advance of the troops. The guns were spiked, and the re-
embarkation was effected. It might have been expected that this
brilliant little assault could not have been effected without serious
loss; but such is the advantage of promptitude and gallantry, that
the whole party returned safe, with the exception of one officer
wounded.
But the enemy's vessels still remained. To get them out was
impossible, for the rocks around were covered with troops, who kept
up an incessant fire of musketry. It was, therefore, determined to
burn them. The corvette and a merchant ship were set on fire: but
the tide falling, the troops poured down close to the vessels, and the
party in possession of them returned on board.
Here Sir Sidney might have stopped. He had done enough to
signalise his own talent and the bravery of his people. But this
success was not enough for him. The convoy were still before him,
though still under the protection of the troops. He determined on
attacking them again. The boats were manned and rowed to the
shore. The troops poured in a heavy fire. But the vessels were finally
all boarded and burnt, with the exception of one armed lugger.
Enterprises of this order are the true school of the naval officer. They
may seem slight, but they call out all the talent and activity of the
profession. They might also have had an important influence on the
naval war, for these convoys generally carried naval stores to the
principal French dockyards, and the loss of a convoy might prevent
the sailing of a fleet.
Lieutenant Pine was sent to the Admiralty with the colours which he
had captured on the heights, and with a strong recommendation
from his gallant captain. The whole affair was regarded in England
as remarkably well conceived and well done. The exploits of the
Diamond were the popular theme, and Sir Sidney rose into high
favour with the Admiralty and the nation.
These are the opportunities which distinguish the frigate service. An
officer in a line-of-battle ship must wait for a general engagement.
An officer on land must wait for the lapse of twenty years at least
before he can expect the command of a regiment, or the chance of
seeing his name connected with any distinguished achievement. But
the youngest captain, in command of a frigate, may bring the eyes
of the nation upon him. The young lieutenant, even the boy
midshipman, by some independent display of intrepidity, may fix his
name in the annals of the empire.
But the caprices of fortune are doubly capricious in war. While the
captain of the Diamond was receiving plaudits from all sides, the
mortifying intelligence arrived, that he had fallen into the enemy's
hands.
The origin of this casualty was his zeal to capture a lugger, which
had done considerable damage among our Channel convoys. Its
stratagem was, to follow the convoys, until it could throw men on
board, then to let the prize continue her course, to avoid attracting
the vigilance of the escorting frigate, and, when night fell, to slip off
to a French port. Sir Sidney determined to cut short the lugger's
career. At length the opportunity seemed to have come. The vessel
was discovered at anchor in the inner fort of Havre under a ten-gun
battery. The Diamond's boats were instantly manned and armed;
but, on the inquiry who was to command, it was found that the first
lieutenant was ill and in bed, and the second and third lieutenants
were on shore. Sir Sidney then took the command himself. The
attacking party proceeded in four boats and a Thames wherry, in
which was Sir Sidney, to the pier of Havre, where the lugger lay. It
was night, and the vessel was gallantly boarded on both sides at
once, the crew of the wherry boarding over the stern. The
Frenchmen on deck were beaten after a short struggle. Sir Sidney,
rushing down into the cabin, found the four officers starting from
their sleep and loading their pistols. He coolly told them that the
vessel was no longer theirs; ordered them to surrender, and they
gave up their arms.
But the flood-tide was running strong, and it drove the vessel above
the town, there being no wind. At day-light the lugger became the
centre of a general attack of the armed vessels of the port. The
Diamond could not move from want of wind; and, after a desperate
resistance of three quarters of an hour, Sir Sidney and his
companions were forced to surrender. Six officers and nineteen
seamen were taken.
Sir Sidney's capture was a national triumph, and he was instantly
ordered to be sent to Paris. No exchange could be obtained; his
name was too well known. He was charged with incendiarism for the
burning of Toulon; and it was even hinted that his being found so
close to Havre was for the purpose of burning the town.
Sir Sidney's imprisonment was at first in the Abbaye, which had been
made so infamously memorable by the slaughters of September
1793. He was afterwards placed in the prison of the Temple. In all
probability, the first object was to exhibit him to the Parisians. An
English captain as a prisoner was a rare exhibition, and his detention
also saved them from the most active disturber of their Norman and
Breton navigation. But his confinement was not strict, and he was
even suffered occasionally to walk about Paris on giving his parole to
the jailer. At length, after various British offers of exchange, which
were all rejected by the French, he escaped by a counterfeit order of
liberation; and, encountering several hair-breadth hazards, reached
Havre, seized a boat, put off, and was taken up at sea by the Argo
frigate, commanded by Captain Bowen, who landed him at
Portsmouth, and he arrived in London in April 1798, having been in
France about two years and a month.
It is sometimes difficult to know, respecting any event, peculiarly in
early life, whether it is a misfortune or the contrary. Sir Sidney's
capture must have been often felt by him as the severest of
calamities, by stopping a career which had already made him one of
the national favourites, and had given him promise of still higher
distinction. From the command of the Diamond to the dreary
chambers of the Temple was a formidable contrast; yet the event
which placed him there may have been an instance of something
more than what the world terms "good luck." If he had remained in
command of his frigate, he might have fallen in some of those fights
with the batteries and corvettes which he was constantly provoking.
But in his French prison he was safe for the time, and yet not less
before the public eye. In reality, the sympathy felt for him there, and
the fruitless attempts of the Admiralty to effect his exchange, kept
him more the Lion than before; and he returned just in time, to be
employed on a service of the first importance, and which, by its
novelty, adventure, and romantic peril, seemed to have been
expressly made for his genius.
The French expedition, under Napoleon, had taken possession of
Egypt; the Turks were a rabble, and were beaten at the first onset.
The Mamelukes, though the finest cavalry in the world as individual
horsemen, were beaten before the French infantry, as all irregular
troops will be beaten by regulars. At this period, the object of the
ministry was to excite the indolence of the Turkish government to
attempt the reconquest of Egypt, and Sir Sidney was appointed to
the command of Le Tigre, a French eighty gun-ship, which had been
captured by Lord Bridport three years before. If it be said that he
owed this command in any degree to his having been sent on a
mission to Turkey some years before, which is perfectly probable; let
it be remembered, that that mission itself was owing to the gallantry
and intelligence which he had displayed in his volunteer expedition
to Sweden. Sir Sidney's present appointment was a mixture of
diplomacy with a naval command; for he was appointed joint-
plenipotentiary with his brother Spencer Smith, then our minister at
Constantinople. But this junction of offices produced much
dissatisfaction in both Lord St Vincent and Nelson; and it required no
slight address, on the part of Sir Sidney, to reconcile, those
distinguished officers to his employment. However, his sword soon
showed itself a more effectual reconciler than his pen, and the siege
of Acre proved him a warrior worthy of their companionship. After
the siege, Nelson, as impetuous in his admiration as he was in his
dislikes, wrote, to Sir Sidney the following high acknowledgment:—

"My dear Sir,—I have received, with the truest satisfaction, all
your very interesting letters, to July. The immense fatigue you
have had in defending Acre against such a chosen army of
French villains, headed by that arch-villain Buonaparte, has
never been exceeded; and the bravery shown by you and your
brave companions is such as to merit every encomium which all
the civilised world can bestow. As an individual, and as an
admiral, will you accept of my feeble tribute of praise and
 admiration, and make them acceptable to all those under your
command?
"Nelson.
"Palermo, Aug. 20, 1799."

Sir Sidney found the Sultaun willing to exert all the force of his
dominions, but wretchedly provided with the means of exertion—a
disorganised army, an infant navy, empty arsenals, and all the
resources of the state in barbaric confusion. Two bomb-vessels and
seven gun-boats were all that he could procure for the coast service.
He ordered five more gun-boats to be laid down, waiting for guns
from England. But he was soon called from Constantinople. Advice
had been received by the governor of Acre, Achmet Pasha, that
Buonaparte, at the head of an army of twelve or thirteen thousand
men, was about to march on Acre. The position of this fortress
renders it the key of the chief commerce in corn at the head of the
Levant, and its possessor has always been powerful. Its possession
by the French would have given them the command of all the cities
on the coast, and probably made them masters of Syria, if not of
Constantinople. Buonaparte, utterly reckless in his cruelties, provided
they gained his object, had announced his approach by the following
dashing epistle to the Pasha:—"The provinces of Gaza, Ramleh, and
Jaffa are in my power. I have treated with generosity those of your
troops who placed themselves at my discretion. I have been severe
towards those who have violated the rights of war. I shall march in a
few days against Acre." His severity had already been exhibited on
an unexampled scale. Having taken Jaffa by assault, and put part of
the garrison to the sword, he marched his prisoners, to the number
of three thousand seven hundred, to an open space outside the
town. As they were disarmed in the town, they could make no
resistance; and, as Turks, they submitted to the will of Fate. There
they were fired on, until they all fell! When this act of horrid cruelty
was reported in Europe by Sir Robert Wilson, its very atrocity made
the honourable feelings of England incredulous; but it has since
been acknowledged in the memoir by Napoleon's commissary, M.
Miot, and the massacre is denied no longer. The excuse which the
French general subsequently offered was, that many of the Turks
had been captured before, and liberated on parole; that having thus
violated the laws of war, he could neither take them with him, nor
leave them behind. But the hollowness of this excuse is evident. The
Turks knew nothing of our European parole; they felt that it was
their duty to fight for their Pasha; they might have been liberated
with perfect impunity, for, once deprived of arms, and stript of all
means of military movement, they must have lingered among the
ruins of an open town, or dispersed about the country. The stronger
probability is, that the massacre was meant for the purposes of
intimidation, and that on the blood of Jaffa the French flag was to
float above the gates of Acre.
It is satisfactory to our natural sense of justice, to believe that this
very act was the ruin of the expedition. Achmet Pasha was an
independent prince, and might have felt little difficulty in arranging a
treaty with the invader, or receiving a province in exchange for the
temporary use of his fortress. But the bloodshed of Jaffa must have
awakened at once his abhorrence and his fears. The massacre also
excited Sir Sidney's feelings so much, that he instantly weighed
anchor, and arrived at Acre two days before the French vanguard.
They were first discovered by Le Tigre's gun-boats, as the heads of
the column moved round the foot of Mount Carmel. There they were
stopt by the fire of the boats, and driven in full flight up the
mountains.
But another event of more importance occurred almost immediately
after. A flotilla was seen from the mast-head of Le Tigre, consisting
of a corvette and nine sail of gun-vessels. The flotilla was instantly
attacked, and seven struck, the other three escaped, it being justly
considered of most importance to secure the prizes, they containing
the whole battery of artillery, ammunition, &c., intended for the
siege. Previously to his arrival, Sir Sidney had sent Captain Miller of
the Theseus, a most gallant officer, and Colonel Phelypeaux, to
rebuild the walls, and altogether to put the place in a better
defensive order. Nothing could be more fortunate than this capture,
for it at once gave Sir Sidney a little fleet, supplied him with guns
and ammunition for the defence of the place, and, of course,
deprived the French of the means of attack in proportion. But it is
not to be supposed that Napoleon was destitute of guns. He had
already on shore four twelve-pounders, eight howitzers, a battery of
thirty-two pieces, and about thirty four-pounders. The siege
commenced on the 20th of March, and from that day, for sixty days,
was a constant repetition of assaults, the bursting of mines, and the
breaching of the old and crumbling walls.
At length Buonaparte, conscious that his character was sinking, that
he was hourly exposed to Egyptian insurrection, that the tribes of
the Desert were arriving, and that every day increased the peril of
an attack on his rear by an army from Constantinople, resolved to
risk all upon a final assault. After fifty days of open trenches, the
Turkish flotilla had been seen from the walls. The rest deserves to be
told only in the language of their gallant defender.
"The constant fire of the besiegers was suddenly increased tenfold.
Our flanking fire from afloat was, as usual, plied to the utmost, but
with less effect than heretofore, as the enemy had thrown up
epaulements of sufficient thickness to protect them from the fire.
The French advanced, and their standard was seen at daylight on
the outer angle of the town, which they had assaulted. Hassan Bey's
troops were preparing to land, but their boats were still only halfway
to the shore."
It was at this moment that the spirit and talents of Sir Sidney had
their full effect. If he had continued to depend on the fire of his
boats, the place would have been taken. The French were already
masters of a part of the works, and they would probably have
rushed into the town before the troops of Hassan Bey could have
reached the shore.
"This," says the despatch, "was a most critical point, and an effort
was necessary to preserve the place until their arrival. I accordingly
landed the boats at the mole, and took the crews up to the breach,
armed with pikes. The enthusiastic gratitude of the Turks, men,
women, and children, at the sight of such a reinforcement, at such a
time, is not to be described; many fugitives returned with us to the
breach, which we found defended by a few brave Turks, whose most
destructive weapons were heavy stones.
"Djezzar Pasha, hearing that the English were on the breach, quitted
his station, where, according to ancient Turkish custom, he was
sitting to reward such as should bring him the heads of the enemy,
and distributing musket cartridges with his own hands. The
energetic old man, coming behind us, pulled us down with violence,
saying, that if any thing happened to his English friends, all was lost.
"A sortie was now proposed by Sir Sidney, but the Turkish regiment
which made it was repulsed. A new breach was made, and it was
evident that a new assault in superior force was intended.
"Buonaparte, with a group of generals, was seen on Cœur-de-Lion's
Mount, and by his gesticulation, and his despatching an aide-de-
camp to the camp, he showed that he only waited for a
reinforcement. A little before sunset, a massive column was seen
advancing to the breach with solemn step." The Pasha now reverted
to his native style of fighting, and with capital effect. "His idea was,
not to defend the breach this time, but to let a certain number in,
and then close with them, according to the Turkish mode of war. The
column thus mounted the breach unmolested, and descended from
the rampart into the Pasha's garden, where, in a very few minutes,
the most advanced among them lay headless; the sabre, with the
addition of a dagger in the other hand, proving more than a match
for the bayonet. In this attack, General Lannes, commanding the
assault, was wounded, and General Rambaut, with a hundred and
fifty men, were killed. The rest retreated precipitately.
"Buonaparte will, no doubt, renew the attack, the breach being
perfectly practicable for fifty men abreast! Indeed, the town is not,
nor ever has been, defensible by the rules of art. But, according to
every other rule, it must and shall be defended. Not that it is worth
defending, but we feel that it is by this breach Buonaparte means to
march to further conquest.
"'Tis on the issue of this conflict that depends the opinion of the
multitude of spectators on the surrounding hills, who wait only to
see how it ends, to join the victor. And with such a reinforcement for
the execution of his well-known projects, Constantinople, and even
Vienna, must feel the shock."
The siege continued, perhaps as no other siege ever continued
before; it was a succession of assaults, frequently by night. From the
2d of May to the 9th, there were no less than nine of those assaults!
In another letter he writes:—
"Our labour is excessive; many of us, among whom is our active,
zealous friend, Phelypeaux, have died of fatigue. I am but half dead;
but Buonaparte brings fresh troops to the assault two or three times
in the night, while we are obliged to be always under arms. He has
lost the flower of his army in these desperate attempts to storm, as
appears by the certificates of service which they had in their
pockets, and eight generals."
From this period the desperation of Buonaparte was evident. Besides
the eight generals killed, he had lost eighty officers, all his guides,
carabineers, and most of his artillerymen,—in all, upwards of four
thousand soldiers. But the desperation was in vain. All the assaults
were repulsed with slaughter. The French grenadiers mounted the
breach, only to be shot or sabred. At length, the division of Kleber
was sent for. It had gone to the fords of the Jordan to watch the
movements of the Turkish army, and had acquired distinction in the
Egyptian campaign by the character of its general, and by its
successes against the irregular horse of the Desert. On its arrival, it
was instantly ordered to the assault. But the attempt was met with
the usual bravery of the garrison; and Kleber, after a struggle of
three hours, was repulsed. All was now hopeless on the part of the
enemy. The French grenadiers absolutely refused to mount to the
assault again. Buonaparte was furious at his failure, but where force
was useless, he still had a resource in treachery. He sent a flag of
truce into the town to propose an armistice for the burial of the
dead, whose remains were already poisoning the air. This might
naturally produce some relaxation of vigilance; and while the
proposal was under consideration, a volley of shot and shells was
fired. This was the preliminary to an assault. It, however, was
repulsed; and the Turks, indignant at the treachery, were about to
sacrifice the messenger who bore the flag. But Sir Sidney humanely
interposed, carried him to his ship, and sent him back to the French
general with a message of contempt and shame.
Retreat was now the only measure available, and it began on the
night of the 20th of May. The battering-train of twenty-three pieces
was left behind. The wounded and field-guns had been suddenly
embarked in country vessels, and sent towards Jaffa. Sir Sidney put
to sea to follow them, and the vessels containing the wounded,
instead of attempting to continue their flight, steered down at once
to their pursuers, and solicited water and provisions. They received
both, and were sent to Damietta. "Their expressions of gratitude
were mingled with execrations against their general, who had thus,"
they said, "exposed them to perish."
As the garrison was without cavalry, the pursuit of the flying enemy
could not be followed with any decisive effect. But the gun-boats of
the English and Turks continued constantly discharging grapeshot on
them, so long as they moved within reach of the shore, and the
Turkish infantry fired on them when their march turned inland. Their
loss was formidable; the whole tract, between Acre and Gaza, was
strewed with the bodies of those who died either of fatigue or
wounds. At length two thousand cavalry were put in motion by the
Turkish governor of Jaffa, making prisoners all the French who were
left on the road, with their guns; and nothing but the want of a
strong body of fresh troops to fall on the enemy seems to have
prevented the capture of every battalion of that army, which, but
two months before, had boasted of marching to Constantinople.
It ought to be remembered, as the crowning honour to his human
honours, that the man who had gained those successes, was not
forgetful of the true source of all victories which deserve the name.
Sir Sidney had gone to Nazareth, and there made this expressive
memorandum:—
"I am just returned from the Cave of the Annunciation, where,
secretly and alone, I have been returning thanks to the Almighty for
our late wonderful success. Well may we exclaim, 'the race is not
always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong.' W. S. S."
It may naturally be presumed that the whole progress of the siege
had interested the fleet and army of England in the highest degree.
There had been nothing like the defence of Acre in all the history of
European war. A siege is pronounced, by military authorities, to be
the most certain operation in war; with a fixed number of troops,
and a fixed number of guns in the trenches, the strongest place
must fall within a prescribed time. But here was a town almost open,
and with no other garrison, for the first six weeks of the siege, than
a battalion of half-disciplined Mussulmans, headed by such men as
could be spared from two British ships of war.
The whole defence was justly regarded by the nation, less as a bold
military service, than as an exploit—one of those singular
achievements which are exhibited from time to time, as if to show
how far intrepidity and talent combined can go; a splendid example
and encouragement to the brave never to doubt, and to the
intelligent never to suppose that the resources of a resolute heart
can be exhausted.
But the siege of Acre did more. It certainly relieved the Sultaun from
a pressure which might have endangered his throne. It may have
saved India from an expedition down the Red Sea, for which the
native princes looked, with their habitual hatred of their British
masters; and above all, it told England that her people were as
invincible on shore as on the waves, and prepared her soldiery for
those triumphs which were to make the renown of the Peninsular
war imperishable.
On the meeting of parliament in September 1799, George III.
opened the session with an energetic speech, in which the siege of
Acre held a prominent part. The speech said—"The French
expedition to Egypt has continued to be productive of calamity and
disgrace to our enemies, while its ultimate views against our Eastern
possessions have been utterly confounded. The desperate attempt
which they have lately made to extricate themselves from their
difficulties, has been defeated by the courage of the Turkish forces,
directed by the skill, and animated by the courage of the British
officer, with the small portion of my naval force under his command."
In the discussion, a few days after, the thanks of the Lords to Sir
Sidney Smith, and the seamen and officers under his command,
were moved by Lord Spencer, the first Lord of the Admiralty, in
terms of the highest compliment.
His lordship said, that he had now to take notice of an exploit which
had never been surpassed, and had scarcely ever been equalled;—
he meant the defence of St Jean d' Acre by Sir Sidney Smith. He had
no occasion to impress upon their lordships a higher sense than they
already entertained of the brilliancy, utility, and distinction of an
achievement, in which a general of great celebrity, and a veteran
and victorious army, were, after a desperate and obstinate
engagement, which lasted almost without intermission for sixty days,
not only repulsed, but totally defeated by the heroism of this British
officer, and the small number of troops under his command.
Lord Hood said, that he could not give a vote on the present
occasion without bearing his testimony to the skill and valour of Sir
Sidney Smith, which had been so conspicuously and brilliantly
exerted, when he had the honour and the benefit of having him
under his command (at Toulon).
Lord Grenville said, that the circumstance of so eminent a service
having been performed with so inconsiderable a force, was with him
an additional reason for affording this testimony of public gratitude,
and the highest honour which the House had it in its power to
confer.
His Lordship then adverted to his imprisonment in the Temple. "In
defiance of every principle of humanity, and of all the acknowledged
rules of war, Sir Sidney Smith had been, with the most cold and cruel
inflexibility, confined in a dungeon of the Temple; but the French, by
making him an exception to the general usages of war, had only
manifested their sense of his value, and how much they were afraid
of him." In the House of Commons, Mr Dundas, the Secretary of
State, after alluding to the apprehensions of the country, the
expedition to Egypt, and the memorable victory of Aboukir, said,
"that the conduct of Sir Sidney Smith was so surprising to him, that
he hardly knew how to speak of it. He had not recovered from the
astonishment which the account of the action had thrown him into.
However, so it was; and the merit of Sir Sidney Smith was now the
object of consideration, and to praise or to esteem which sufficiently,
was quite impossible."
The thanks of both Lords and Commons were voted unanimously;
the thanks of the Corporation of London and the thanks of the
Levant Company were voted, with a piece of plate. The king gave
him a pension of £1000 a-year for life; and the Sultaun sent him a
rich pelisse and diamond aigrette, both of the same quality as those
which had been sent to Nelson.
We now hasten over a great deal of anxious and complicated
correspondence, explanatory of a convention entered into with the
French for the evacuation of Egypt. Kleber, indignant at Buonaparte's
flight, and his army disgusted with defeat, proposed a capitulation,
by which they were to be sent to France. The distinction which Sir
Sidney had now attained even with the French army, had made him
the negotiator, and all was preparation to embark, when Lord Keith
informed him, by orders from home, that the French must surrender
as prisoners of war.
The armistice was instantly at an end. The Turks, who with their
usual indolence had remained loitering in sight of Cairo, were
attacked in force and broken, and all was war again. Sir Sidney's
letters deprecate the measure in the strongest terms. And nothing
can be clearer than that, though our expedition under Abercrombie
was glorious, Sir Sidney's treaty would have saved us the
expenditure of a couple of millions of money, and, what was more
valuable, have spared the lives of many brave men on both sides;
while the result would have been the same, as it was not our
purpose to retain Egypt. Eventually, the French army capitulated in
Egypt to Lord Hutchinson, on nearly the terms of the convention of
the year before; and to the amount of about twenty thousand men
were sent home in British vessels.
Sir Sidney's reception in England was by acclamation. But we must
conclude. He was immediately employed in the defence of the coast,
as the threats of invasion came loudly from France. He afterwards
sailed to the defence of the Neapolitan territories. He was then sent
to the protection of the King of Portugal during the French invasion,
and conveyed him and his nobles to the Brazils. Where-ever any
thing bold, new, or active, was required, the public eyes were
instantly fixed on him, and they were never disappointed.
After the peace of 1815, he resided chiefly on the Continent, and
died in Paris on the 26th of May 1840, aged 76.
The essential merit of this distinguished officer's character was, that
his whole heart was in his profession; that all his views, his
acquirements, his leisure, and his active pursuits, were directed
towards it; and that he never lounged or lingered, or lay on his
laurels, or thought that "any thing was done while any thing
remained to be done."
It is observable, that all his successes arose out of his indefatigable
activity and sincere zeal. If he had stayed dancing or gaming or
feasting, a week longer, in Constantinople, he would have only seen
Acre in possession of the French. The same principle and the same
result existed in every instance of his career. He had his oddities and
his fantasies in later life, but all were covered by the knightly spirit,
romantic bravery, and public services of his early days. He was the
chevalier of the noblest navy in the world!
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