and in 1780 was appointed governor of Damascus. He ruled as virtual viceroy of Syria and arbiter of Lebanese affairs, with no major set-back until his natural death in 1804, a record almost unique in the annals of Ottoman Syria. The high-water mark in al-Jazzar 5 s career was attained in 1799, when he checked the advance of Napoleon. The French invader had conquered Egypt and marched triumph- antly along the Palestinian coast until he reached the gates of Acre. With the aid of the English fleet under Sir Sidney Smith, al-Jazzar successfully defended Acre from March 21 to May 20, when Napoleon was forced to retreat with an army decimated by plague. The lord of Acre ruthlessly cut down his enemies and rivals and terrorized Syria and Lebanon, where his name still lives as a synonym of cruelty. Yet he sponsored the election of Bashir II al-Shihabi (1788- 1840), one of the ablest and most constructive rulers of Ottoman Lebanon.
Bashir's position as governor-general of Lebanon was at first precarious. His predecessor's sons were actively con- spiring against him and his patron al-Jazzar was turning against him for failing to support him in the struggle against Napoleon. Forced to retire, he fled in 1799 to Cyprus on one of Sidney Smith's ships. The British then became his friends. After a few months' absence he returned to crush his domestic foes and consolidate his domain. The Biqa was re-attached to Lebanon, the desires of the Damascus governor notwithstanding. Bashir's policy towards the Turks was now one of firmness and friendliness. Early in 1810, when the Wahhabis of Nejd, emerging from the desert, burst through the Syrian frontier and were threatening the settled tracts, Bashir was there with 15,000 Lebanese to help to drive them back. He began to play an important role in Syrian affairs and even in disputes between rival governors of Damascus and Tripoli. This, however, forced another period of exile on him (1821-1822), which he this time spent in Egypt. There he struck up a friendship with Muhammad
