CON

(ONVINCED of the hopelessness of any direct attempt upon England, the French government, at the suggestion of Buonaparte, formed a bold and extensive plan of conquest which would ultimately menace the oriental possessions of Great Britain. The project was to subdue Malta, invade Egypt, and extend their sway to the shores of the Ganges. The pretended invasion of England was apparently prosecuted for a considerable time after the design had been abandoned, that their real purpose might be the more effectually concealed and accomplished. While bodies of troops and stores were drawn towards the coasts of Normandy and Brittany, other forces and supplies were collected at Toulon. This port was the rendezvous of the expedition which sailed under the orders of Buonaparte, on the 20th of May, 1798. It consisted of 13 ships of the line, seven frigates of 40 guns, and several smaller vessels, making together 44 sail. The transports amounted to nearly 200, carrying about 40 000 regular troops, with a proportionable number of horses and artillery, and immense quantities of provisions and military stores. Buonaparte, in all his expeditions and designs, included the advancement of knowledge. His fleet was crowded by artists and men of science; astronomers, mathematicians, chemists, mineralogists, botanists, physicians, and

many other classes of ingenious and learned men: certainly a much more rational assortment of attendants than the buffoons, parasites, and prostitutes, who formed the usual retinue of the former monarchs of France. A variety of conjectures were formed respecting the destination of this formidable armament. Malta and Egypt were generally conjectured, however, as the event confirmed to be its principal objects. The riches of the former were a sufficient temptation to the rapacity of France; the latter appeared to be an acquisition of the highest importance, as presenting the means of access to our possessions in India, and affording the most evident facilities to the interruption of our Indian trade. On the 9th of June, the fleet arrived of Malta. The admiral first solicited permission to water the fleet; and the grand master, refusing to comply with the request, Buonaparte determined to attack the place. At day-break, on the 11th, a languid fire was maintained : a bark came out from the port, and was conducted to the L'Orient; at eleven, a second, under a flag of truce, conveyed on board the fleet those knights who chose to abandon Malta. It appeared that the garrison was almost totally unprovided with stores and provisions, and at four in the afternoon there were fewer men than guns on the walls of the fort. It

was evident that the citizens and knights had disagreed; the gates of the forts being shut, and all intercourse between them and the town being at an end. The general sent his aid-de-camp Junot, with his ultimatum; soon after ten Maltese commissioners came on board the L'Orient, and on the 12th, at half past eleven, Malta was in the power of the French. The French troops took possession of the forts under a salute of 500 guns from the fleet, thus completing the conquest of the strongest post in the Mediterranean.

Within eight days Buonaparte organized a provisional government in the island of Malta, victualled the fleet, obtained a supply of water, and arranged all the dispositions. He quitted it on the 19th of June, leaving the command to general Vaubois.

On the 26th, the captain of the Juno received orders to make all sail for Alexandria, now sixty leagues distant, and there to learn from the French consul, whether the expedition had been heard of, and the disposition of the inhabitants with regard to the enterprise. He then issued general orders from on board the L'Orient, and shortly afterwards received a visit from the consul, to whom the Juno had been dispatched. That gentleman informed him that the appearance of the French frigate caused the immediate adoption of oppressive measures against the Christian inhabitants of the city, and that he had great difficulty in effecting his escape. He added, that fourteen English vessels appeared off Alexandria on the 28th of June, and that it was determined to defend the city and forts against any troops that should attempt to land.

The general-in-chief made on the same evening arrangements for landing, and fixed on the point at Marabou as the spot. He ordered the fleet to anchor as near the point as possible; but two ships of war, in preparing to execute his orders, ran foul of the enemy's ship, which caused the attempt to be abortive, and the armament remained at its then situation. They were at a distance of about three leagues.from the shore, the wind was northerly, and

blew with violence, and the debarkation was equally perilous and difficult; but nothing could retard the impetuosity of the French, who were eager to anticipate the hostile disposition of the inhabitants. The sea was covered with boats, which stemmed the impetuosity of the waves. The galley which conveyed Buonaparte approached the nearest breakers, from which the entrance to the creek of Marabou was discovered. He waited for those boats that were destined to join him, but they did not arrive till after sun-set, and he could not, during the night, penetrate the ledge of breakers. Early in the morning, however, he was enabled to land on the scene of new achievements, at the head of the foremost troops, who formed in the desert about three leagues from Alexandria.

It would be a waste of time to enter into a detail of all the military arrangements described by Denon and other French writers as preparatory to the attack on Alexandria. No such preparations were necessary. The fortresses were in ruins, and the people, unconscious of the enemy's approach, wholly unprepared for defence. As the narrative of Louis Buonaparte, afterwards king of Holland, exhibits at once the talents and character of the writer, and does not abound in extravagant assertion so much as the statements of his French comrades, I shall here in

sert it.

These people

"At break of day on the 2nd, we invested Alexandria, after driving into the town several small detachments of cavalry : the enemy defended themselves like men; the artillery which they planted on the walls was wretchedly served, but their musketry was excellent. have no idea of children's play; they either kill, or are killed. The first inclosure, however, that is to say, that of the city of the Arabs, was carried; and, soon after, the second, in spite of the fire from the houses. The forts, which are on the coast on the other side of the city, were then invested; and in the evening capitulated.

"Since the 2nd of July we have been engaged in disembarking the troops, the

artillery, and the baggage. General Desaix is at Demanhur, on the Nile; the rest of the army is to follow him.

"The place where we disembarked is about two leagues from hence, at the tower of Marabou, or the Isles des Arabes. The two first days we had a number of stragglers cut off by the Arab and Mameluke cavalry. I imagine that we have lost about 100 killed, and as many wounded. The generals Kleber, Menou, and Lascalle, are wounded.

"I send you the proclamation to the inhabitants of the country, which has produced an effect altogether astonishing. The Bedouins, enemies of the Mamelukes, and who, properly speaking, are neither more nor less than intrepid robbers, sent us back, as soon as they had read it, thirty of our people, whom they had made prisoners, with an offer of their services against the Mamelukes. We have treated them kindly: they are an invincible people, inhabiting a burning desart, mounted on the fleetest horses in the world, and full of courage they live with their wives and children in flying camps, which are never pitched two nights together in the same place. They are horrible savages, and yet they have some notion of gold and silver; a small quantity of it serves to excite their admiration. Yes, my dear brother, they love gold; they pass their lives in extorting it from such Europeans as fall into their hands; and for what purpose for continuing the course of lite which I have described, and for teaching it to their children. O Jean Jacques! why was it not thy fate to see those men, whom thou callest the men of nature?' thou wouldest sink with shame, thou wouldest startle with horror at the thought of having once admired them!

Adieu, my dear brother, let me hear from you soon. I suffered a great deal on our passage; this climate kills me; we shall be so altered that you will discover the change at a league's distance.

The remarkable objects here are, 'Pompey's column, the obelisks of Cleopatra, the spot where her baths once stood, VOL. I.

a number of ruins, a subterraneous temple, some catacombs, mosques, and a few churches. But what is still more remarkable, is the character and manners of the inhabitants: they are of a sang-froid absolutely astonishing: nothing agitates them; and death itself is to them, what a voyage to America is to the English.

"Their exterior is imposing: the most marked physiognomies amongst us are mere children's countenances compared to theirs. The women wrap themselves up in a piece of cloth, which passes over their heads, and descends in front to the eyebrows: the poorer sort cover the whole of their face with linen, leaving only two small apertures for the eyes; so that, if this strange veil happens to be a little shrivelled, or stained, they look like so many hobgoblins.

"Their forts and their artillery are the most ridiculous things in nature they have not even a lock, nor a window to their houses; in a word, they are still involved in all the blindness of the earliest ages..

"Oh! how many misantoropes would be converted, if chance should conduct them into the midst of the desarts of Arabia !"

Buonaparte, on establishing his head quarters at Alexandria, issued the fol lowing

PROCLAMATION

IN THE ARABIC LANGUAGE.

"In the name of God, gracious and merciful.-There is no God but God he has no son or associate in his kingdom.

"The present moment, which is destined for the punishment of the Beys, has been long anxiously expected. The Beys,. coming from the mountains of Georgia and Bajars, have desolated this beautiful country, long insulted and treated with contempt the French nation, and oppressed her merchants in various ways. Buonaparte, the general of the French republic,

2 R

according to the principles of liberty, is now arrived; and the Almighty, the Lord of both worlds, has sealed the destruction of the Beys.

"Inhabitants of Egypt! When the Beys tell you the French are come to destroy your religion, believe them not: it is an absolute falsehood. Answer those deceivers, that they are only come to rescue the rights of the poor from the hands of their tyrants, and that the French adore the Supreme Being, and honor the prophet and his holy Koran.

"All men are equal in the eyes of God: understanding, ingenuity, and science, alone make a difference between them: as the Beys, therefore, do not possess any of these qualities, they cannot be worthy to govern the country.

"Yet are they the only possessors of extensive tracts of lands, beautiful female slaves, excellent horses, magnificent palaces! Have they then received an exclusive privilege from the Almighty? if so, let them produce it. But the Supreme Being, who is just and merciful towards all mankind, wills, that in future, none of the inhabitants of Egypt shall be prevented from attaining to the first employments, and the highest honors.-The administration, which shall be conducted by persons of intelligence, talents, and foresight, will be productive of happiness and security. The tyranny and avarice of the Beys have laid waste Egypt, which was formerly so populous and well cultivated.

"The French are true Mussulmen! Not long since they marched to Rome, and overthrew the throne of the pope, who excited the Christians against the professors of Islamism (the Mahometan religion.) Afterwards they directed their course to Malta, and drove out the unbelievers, who imagined they were appointed by God to make war on the Mussulmen. The French have at all times been the true and sincere friends of the Ottoman emperors, and the enemies of their enemies. May the empire of the sultan, therefore, be eternal; but may the Beys of Egypt, our opposers, whose insatiable avarice has continually excited

disobedience and insubordination, trodden in the dust and annihilated!

le

"Our friendship shall be extended to those of the inhabitants of Egypt who shall join us, as also to those who shall remain in their dwellings, and observe a strict neutrality; and, when they have seen our conduct with their own eyes, hasten to submit to us; but the dreadful punishment of death awaits those who shall take up arms for the Beys, and against us for them there shall be no deliverance, nor shall any trace of them remain.

Article I. All places which shall be three leagues distant from the rout of the French army shall send one of their principal inhabitants to the French general, to declare that they submit, and will hoist the French flag, which is blue, white, and red.

II. Every village which shall oppose the French army shall be burned to the ground.

II. Every village which shall submit to the French, shall hoist the French flag, and that of the Sublime Porte, their ally, whose duration be eternal.

IV. The Cheiks and principal persons of each town and village, shall seal up the houses and effects of the Beys, and take care that not the smallest article shall be lost.

V. The Cheiks, Cadis, and Imans, shall continue to exercise their respective functions; and put up their prayers, and perform the exercise of religious worship in the mosques and houses of prayer. All the inhabitants of Egypt shall offer up thanks to the Supreme Being, and put up public prayers for the destruction of the Beys.

"May the Supreme God make the glory of the sultan of the Ottomans eternal! pour forth his wrath on the Mamelukes, and render glorious the destiny of the Egyp tian nation.'

It should seem, on first comparing this proclamation with the letter to the bishop of Malta, that the dissimulation was too

gross to have been read without disgust, even by those Frenchmen who were interested in its consequences: but such is the effect of power, that the crimes of men in authority not only pass unobserved, but even find apologists. The Bedouins

alluded to by Louis received some presents from this general at their departure; and the cheriff Coraim, when he saw himself surrounded by 30,000 Frenchmen and a formidable train of artillery, professed himself disinclined to make any resistance yet, when the Bedouins got away, they robbed every Frenchman they met with; and, after the cheriff had been honored by Buonaparte with a tri-colored scarf, he was traitor enough to keep up a correspondence with some of his old friends, the Mamelukes in the country, (although they had received no scarves) merely because they had been the companions of his childhood and he had no quarrel with them. Denon can trace no other motive for this conduct than the habitual dissimulation of a savage mind; and Berthier affects to regard it with so much astonishment, that he concludes this tale with an apostrophe: "Such are the Arabians !" Yet a very slight ac quaintance with the principles of justice, and a single moment's reflection, would have convinced both Denon and Berthier, that if dissimulation was an evidence of a savage mind, or if barbarity proved the existence of dissimulation, the cheriffs, the Arabians, the Beys, and the Mamelukes, had seen enough of both in the invasion of their country, without any cause of quarrel, to have given them the most utter contempt of Buonaparte and his followers, and to have left them no other exclamation than, "Such are Frenchmen!"

By the combined operation of fraud and force, Buonaparte established himself at Alexandria, as he had done before at Malta; and it will appear, by the following orders of the day, that the delicacy of his justice was precisely that of an insolent conqueror and an arrogant tyrant.

ORDERS.

307

BUONAPARTE, Member of the National In stitute, Commander-in-chief.

Head-quarters, Alexandria, July 3rd,

Article I. All the people of Alexandria, of what nation soever they may be, shall be obliged, twenty-four hours after the publication of the present order, to deposit, in a place marked out by the commander of the town, all their fire-arms. The Muftis, the Imans, and the Cheiks, alone shall be permitted to keep their arms, and to bear them.

II. All the inhabitants of Alexandria, of what nation soever they may be, shall be'obliged to wear the tri-coloured cockade. The Muftis alone shall have the privilege of wearing a of wearing a tri-colored shawl. The commander-in chief, however, reserves to himself the right of granting the same favor to such of the Cheiks as shall distinguish themselves by their knowledge, their prudence, and their virtue.

III. The troops shall pay military honor to every one who, in consequence of the preceding article, shall wear a tri-colored shawl; and whenever such persons shall visit the superior officer, or any of the constituted authorities, they shall be received with all the respect which is due to them.

IV. Foreign agents, to what power soever they may belong, are expressly prohibited from displaying their flags on their terraces. The consuls alone shall have the privilege of writing over their doors the nature of their employ: "Consul of

V. The present order shall be translated, without delay, into Arabic, and communicated to the most distinguished inhabitants. The cheriff shall have it proclaimed through the town, that every one may be obliged to conform to it.

(Signed) BUONAPARTE.

Having taken up the idea of the inhabitants and people being only barbarians