Smith found him late in the day when he had just won the Battle of Waterloo. Smith started making arrangements for the collecting and treatment of the many wounded soldiers on both sides. He was then asked to take the surrender of the French garrisons at Arras and Amiens and to ensure that the Allied armies could enter Paris without a fight and that it would be safe for King Louis XVIII to return to his capital. For these and other services, he was finally awarded a British knighthood, the KCB, so he was not just "the Swedish Knight" any more. Smith then took up the anti-slavery cause. The Barbary pirates had operated for centuries out of a number of North African ports. They had enslaved captured sailors and even made raids to kidnap people from European coasts, including England and Ireland. Smith attended the Congress of Vienna to campaign for funds and military action to end the practice of slave taking. Smith had managed to run up significant debts through his diplomatic expenses, which the British government proved to be very slow in reimbursing. He also lived high lifestyle and his efforts to mobilise opinion against the slave trade had cost a good deal of money. In Britain, at that time debtors were often imprisoned until their debts were paid, so Smith moved his family to France, settling in Paris. Eventually the government did reimburse his expenditures and increased his pension, allowing him to live in some style. Despite frequent attempts to obtain a seagoing position, he was never to hold a command again. He died on 26 May 1840 following a stroke. He is buried with his wife in Père Lachaise Cemetery. On 7 April 1801 Sidney, New York (Delaware County) was named in Sir Sidney Smith's honour. In June 1811 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 1838 he was promoted to GCB in the Coronation Honours. Sidney Smith Barracks, in Mandate Palestine, were named in his honour. Now it is the site of Bustan Ha-Galil in northern Israel. On 14 July 1941 the French forces in Syria and Lebanon signed their surrender to the British. See also Barrow, John (1848): The life and correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, Volume 1 Barrow, John (1848): The life and correspondence of Admiral Sir William Sidney Smith, Volume 2 (from 1800 onwards.) References . External