From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 96-98.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo, July 27.
Dear Mother,
I TAKE the earliest opportunity of acquainting you with the arrival of the French army, in which I have the honour to serve, at Alexandria in Egypt. On our passage we took possession of the island, port, and city of Malta, which is 1100 leagues from Toulon; and now we are at Grand Cairo, the capital city of Egypt, which is 1000 leagues from France(1).
I suffered a vast deal during two months that our voyage lasted. During the whole time, I was sea-sick, without intermission, and brought up blood all day long. When we set foot upon land, however, under the walls of Alexandria, I was cured of my sea-sickness, but my sufferings were by no means at an end.
We lost 300 men in scaling the ramparts of the city. After a halt of four days, we set out in pursuit of the Arabs, who had retreated and encamped in the Desert: but the first night of our march was a very terrible one for me. I was with the advanced guard: we came suddenly upon a corps of the enemy’s cavalry; and my horse, which you know was always a very hot one, was the unfortunate cause of all my trouble. He sprung forward like a lion, upon the horses and horsemen of the enemy; but unluckily, in rearing, he fell quite backwards, and to avoid being crushed to death, I was obliged to fling myself on one side of him. As it was night, I had not time to seize him again: he got up, and set off like lightning after the enemy’s cavalry, which was quitting the field.
I had put on all my old clothes, for the sake of preserving my new ones, which were packed up in my portmanteau; so that I lost my horse completely bridled and saddled, my pistols, my cloak, my portmanteau, every thing that was in it, my clothes, twenty-four louis d’ors which I received at Marseilles to fit me out; and, what is still worse, my port-folio, which contained all my papers.
Thus I found myself in an instant stript of every thing, and obliged to march barefoot for nineteen days on the burning sand and gravel of the Desert; for the very day after this unhappy affair, I lost the soles of my old boots which I happened to have on my legs: my coat and my old breeches were very soon torn to a thousand tatters:--not having a bit of bread to eat, nor a drop of water to moisten my mouth, all the comfort I had was in cursing and damning the trade of war, more than hundred times a day.
At last, on the 22d of this month, we arrived at the gates of Cairo, where all the enemy’s army was intrenched, and waiting for us with great boldness; but without our usual impetuosity we marched to attack them in their intrenchments; in about three quarters of an hour, they had 3000 killed outright; the rest not being able to save themselves, plunged into the Nile, which is a river as large as the Rhine—consequently they were all drowned, or shot under water. After such a victory, we entered, with drums beating, into the city of Cairo; consequently masters of all Egypt.
I do not know, my dear mother, when I shall have the pleasure of seeing you. I repent much and much of ever coming here; but it is now too late: in a word, I resign myself to the Supreme will. In spite of the seas which separate us, your memory will be always graven on my heart, and the moment circumstances permit, I will break through all obstacles to return to my country.
Adieu—take care of yourself—a thousand things to my relations.
Your son,
GUILLOT.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)The French are poor geographers in general, but the ridiculous miscalculations above, is probably a mistake; it is, however, correctly translated. We have several other letters from this unhappy youth, from which it appears that he is a Captain in the 25th half-Brigade. As he afterwards relates that the enemy’s cavalry were all killed or taken, we hope we may congratulate him on the recovery of his charger, and his new clothes.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Napoleon's Brother is Told Victory over the Mameloucs was "Complete"
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 93.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Gizeh, July 27th.
To Citizen LOUIS BONAPARTE, Aid de Camp to the Commander in Chief, at Alexandria.
THE Commander in Chief charges me, my dear Louis, to announce to thee the victory which he gained on the 24th of this month, over the Mameloucs. It was complete. It took place at Embabet, nearly opposite Boulac. We reckon the loss of the enemy in killed and wounded at about 2000 men; 40 pieces of cannon, and a number of horses. Our loss was moderate. The Beys are fled to Upper Egypt. The General marches this evening to Cairo.
He charges me also to bid thee set out immediately with all his baggage, (his carriages, and his horses from Malta, and his carriage from Civita Vecchia) for Rosetta, where thou wilt find some boats of the country, a battalion of the 89th, and the Adjutant-General Almeyras, with whom thou wilt ascend the Nile, and join us at Cairo. Leave nothing of all thy brother's baggage at Alexandria, but his handsome travelling carriage.
Do not forget, my friend, the baggage which we left at Alexandria: we are all in the greatest want of it imaginable; nor yet the wine, the books, nor the two packages of paper, one marked with the General's name, and the other with Collot's. I embrace thee.
BOURSIENNE.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Gizeh, July 27th.
To Citizen LOUIS BONAPARTE, Aid de Camp to the Commander in Chief, at Alexandria.
THE Commander in Chief charges me, my dear Louis, to announce to thee the victory which he gained on the 24th of this month, over the Mameloucs. It was complete. It took place at Embabet, nearly opposite Boulac. We reckon the loss of the enemy in killed and wounded at about 2000 men; 40 pieces of cannon, and a number of horses. Our loss was moderate. The Beys are fled to Upper Egypt. The General marches this evening to Cairo.
He charges me also to bid thee set out immediately with all his baggage, (his carriages, and his horses from Malta, and his carriage from Civita Vecchia) for Rosetta, where thou wilt find some boats of the country, a battalion of the 89th, and the Adjutant-General Almeyras, with whom thou wilt ascend the Nile, and join us at Cairo. Leave nothing of all thy brother's baggage at Alexandria, but his handsome travelling carriage.
Do not forget, my friend, the baggage which we left at Alexandria: we are all in the greatest want of it imaginable; nor yet the wine, the books, nor the two packages of paper, one marked with the General's name, and the other with Collot's. I embrace thee.
BOURSIENNE.
Monday, October 29, 2007
General Claims the French Conquered the "Largest City in the World"
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 90-91.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Grand Cairo, July.
RAMPON, General of Brigade, commanding the 18th and 32d Demi-Brigades of Battle.
Dear Brother,
I PROMISED in my last to write you from the largest(1) city in the world; and I hasten to prove to you how desirous I am of keeping my word.
It is impossible for me to enter into any details on our present situation, or on the privations we underwent in our march; the immediate departure of the vessel will not allow it—but the dispatches of the Commander in Chief, which you will be sure to see in the papers, will fully inform you of every thing that has passed. Milhot, and the eldest Rampon distinguished themselves in the battle of the Pyramids. Milhot was made Lieutenant on the field, and Rampon second Lieutenant, of the 7th regiment of hussars. I have now only the youngest on my hands; and in the next action that occurs, I doubt not but that I shall find an opportunity of providing for him—to tell you the truth, I am extremely well pleased with them all.
Adieu, my dear brother; may you as well as my sister, continue to enjoy your health: with respect to my own, it is not yet to be complained of; but I am fatigued to death, and the heats of this country take away all my strength. In a word, we must have patience, and courage; with these, we shall one day or other, perhaps, have the happiness of returning to our dear country.
Adieu, I embrace you with the utmost affection—a thousand and a thousand kind things to my sister, and to all our family; to all our friends, male and female, and to my sister Trappier, to whom I have not time to write.
RAMPON.
Souillier, Milhot, and our two nephews, beg me to say every thing kind to you.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is much for a Frenchman to say, but so he was told as Paris, and so he will continue to repeat. Cairo is far enough from being the largest city in the world, or even in Europe: London itself is twice as large.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Grand Cairo, July.
RAMPON, General of Brigade, commanding the 18th and 32d Demi-Brigades of Battle.
Dear Brother,
I PROMISED in my last to write you from the largest(1) city in the world; and I hasten to prove to you how desirous I am of keeping my word.
It is impossible for me to enter into any details on our present situation, or on the privations we underwent in our march; the immediate departure of the vessel will not allow it—but the dispatches of the Commander in Chief, which you will be sure to see in the papers, will fully inform you of every thing that has passed. Milhot, and the eldest Rampon distinguished themselves in the battle of the Pyramids. Milhot was made Lieutenant on the field, and Rampon second Lieutenant, of the 7th regiment of hussars. I have now only the youngest on my hands; and in the next action that occurs, I doubt not but that I shall find an opportunity of providing for him—to tell you the truth, I am extremely well pleased with them all.
Adieu, my dear brother; may you as well as my sister, continue to enjoy your health: with respect to my own, it is not yet to be complained of; but I am fatigued to death, and the heats of this country take away all my strength. In a word, we must have patience, and courage; with these, we shall one day or other, perhaps, have the happiness of returning to our dear country.
Adieu, I embrace you with the utmost affection—a thousand and a thousand kind things to my sister, and to all our family; to all our friends, male and female, and to my sister Trappier, to whom I have not time to write.
RAMPON.
Souillier, Milhot, and our two nephews, beg me to say every thing kind to you.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is much for a Frenchman to say, but so he was told as Paris, and so he will continue to repeat. Cairo is far enough from being the largest city in the world, or even in Europe: London itself is twice as large.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
French Commissary Demands Provisions of Wine, Brandy, Rum
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 83-88.
TRANSLATION.
Grand Cairo, July 27.
GENERAL Desaix enjoins me, my dear Douzelot, to request thee not to forget his baggage; and we are persuaded that it is unnecessary to put thee in mind of our own. We look for it as anxiously as for the coming of the Messiah—leave nothing behind, positively nothing.
Belonging to General Desaix.
4 Trunks.
1 Portmanteau.
1 Forme(1) with curtains, and a small box.
1 Writing desk.
2 Mattresses, 1 white coverlet, 1 pair of sheets.
1 Horse cloth, 1 chaise seat, and a chaise on board the transport, No. 54.
16 Deal cases, marked with the General’s name, containing wine.
1 Tun pitched at both ends, and containing wine.
1 Barrel of vinegar.
5 Bottles of wine in a coffer in Citizen Le Roi’s closet.
All which you will find in the bread-room of the ship.
To Clement.
1 Trunk—his direction is on it.
1 Portmanteau, and his hammock.
To Rap.
1 Large leather case, 1 trunk, and his hammock.
To Savary
1 Black square trunk.
1 Ditto, long.
1 Blue portmanteau.
1 Case containing saddles—it is a flat square one, and shuts with a lock.
[Sick or not, I must have my servant]
My hammock if possible, and if not, my mattress, my coverlet, my sheets, and my bolster.
It thou hast an opportunity of purchasing a few bottles of good rum, do it.
We have no cook here; if thou can’st find one, bring him with thee.
Tell thy servant to go on board the transport where the horses are, and fetch Joli-coeur’s baggage; tell him too, to ask Citizen Martin, quarter-master of the 20th dragoons, for the portmanteau of the dragoon.
Alex. Timber, who is with me at present, and looks after my horse.
If thou find’st any difficulty in embarking Desaix’s carriage, the General wishes thee to take it on shore, have it put together, and then lay it up in some safe place in Alexandria.
Thy brother charges me to tell thee to bring every thing that belongs to him, as well as to thyself, and to forget nothing—positively nothing.
Do not forget Bourdon’s things.
If thou can’st not embark thy horse, sell him, or turn him over to the artillery, and take receipt for him. We will find thee one here; thy brother has three.
We wish thee to pay a little attention to what follows: In crossing the Desert one night, we had our quarters beat up, and during the confusion, lost a mare of General Desaix’s, saddled and bridled (of the 7th hussars), thy brother’s two horses, my own, saddled (of the 20th dragoons), a black mare, one of Rap’s (of the 7th hussars), and one of Clement’s, dock-tailed; they all galloped off, and, as we hear, were stopped at Rosetta, and sent to the depot of the artillery. If thou canst discover them in passing that way, take receipts for them, and we shall be paid the money here.
I write what follows, at the request, and, indeed, in the words of thy brother; “We live here more wretchedly than ever we lived in our lives; we have not one drop of wine, nor even brandy.” Thy brother intreats thee to take measures for bringing on shore as much of both as possible (not less than a tun of each) from the transports of Civita Vecchia. Remember to get all though canst from Collasse(2).
Do not forget; wine, brandy, and rum; it is an age since we have been in the utmost need of them all. There is very little here, and that little is extremely bad, above all price, and not to be procured.
Another thing which thou art desired to do, is to embark the packages of shoes and shirts for the division, as well as the baggage of General Desaix. The men are absolutely without either, and we fear they will be given to others.
If thou art in want of money, take some of mine, and set it down.
Adieu; we expect thee; do the best thou canst; above all, do not forget that we shall have no wine nor brandy but what thou bringest with thee; remember too, that of the sixteen deal cases, fourteen belong to General Bonaparte. In the name of God, bring us our baggage and our brandy; the whole army is ill of a diarrhea, with drinking water. In the name of God, WINE, BRANDY, AND RUM(3). Don’t forget the baggage of General Beliard; leave nothing at Alexandria, at least as little as possible: as for Miereur(4), thou knowst that he is killed.
Adieu.
SAVARY.
We are going to send you sixty of the country barks; there is possibility of your finding some tartans at Alexandria, in that case I would have you endeavour to come in one of them. Bring my servant with you, sick or well; I will cure him here.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) Kind of settee, or stuffed cushion, to sleep on.
(2) Commissary at war, and superintendant of the port, & of Alexandria.
(3) Anxiety cannot be expressed in stronger words than these before us; it marks the distresses to which the French were reduced, and the urgent want of those indispensable articles of health and convenience which were left at Alexandria, in the most striking manner.
It is proper in this place, to inform such of our readers as may not be well acquainted with the topical history of Egypt, that Alexandria, where all the baggage and all the stores were left when the army marched to Cairo, is situated in the Desert, properly speaking, and has no communication whatever with Egypt (at least in its present circumstances) but by that branch of the Nile which throws itself into the sea below Rosetta.
It follows, therefore, that while the coast is in our possession (which it now completely is, by the glorious victory of the first of August), nothing of consequence can pass; and the correspondence between the two parts of the French army (that of Alexandria and that of Cairo) is nearly as impracticable (at least as to any purpose of relief) as if the Atlantic rolled between them.
An army, indeed, might cross the Deserts, as Bonaparte’s did, but the French have not now any armies to spare; and if they had, it is not sure that they would attempt it, after the experience they have had of its difficulties and dangers. And even if they should, nothing would be gained by it, for they could carry nothing with them; no, not a day’s provisions, and if they ever reached Cairo, it would be only to perish under the same wants as those who preceded them.
One word more—it appears from some of these letters, that the transports and troops at Alexandria were in the greatest need of water and provisions; the latter, Bonaparte was sending them from Cairo, in sixty schermes, or country boats, which, when the latest of these dispatches were made up, had not reached Rosetta; and most certainly will never get to Alexandria.
What the wants of the grand army at Cairo are, our readers have seen: we will take upon us confidently to predict, that they will never be supplied; for if the little skiff that was creeping along shore to Alexandria with these letters, could not escape the vigilance of our indefatigable tars, how can larger vessels hope to do it? Add to this, that the mouth of the Nile is exceedingly difficult to be passed, on account of the surf that always prevails upon the bar, and asks a thousand precautions which can only be taken in a time of full security.
What the effect of this want of communication may be at Alexandria, we know not; at Cairo it must be dreadful. “In the name of God,” says Savary, “bring us our brandy and our rum, for the whole army is ill of a diarrhea.” Observe, this is the army which Bonaparte and Berthier represent, in their official dispatches, as in perfect health! We want no better test of their veracity!
(4)”Mireur,” says Bonaparte, in his official letter to the Directory, dated July 24th, “and several other aid-du-camps, and officers of the staff, have been killed by these wretches” (the Arabs, who, if killing makes them wretches, are certainly not greater wretches than the French; some people may think not so great); “the Republic has sustained a loss in Mireur; he was “the Bravest General I ever knew;” and then follows some impious rant about destiny, &c. We gather from the correspondence, that the army are all turned decided fatalists. We do not wonder at it, for, if we must speak our minds, we will venture to pronounce, that prudence or forecast had very little to do with the expedition.
TRANSLATION.
Grand Cairo, July 27.
GENERAL Desaix enjoins me, my dear Douzelot, to request thee not to forget his baggage; and we are persuaded that it is unnecessary to put thee in mind of our own. We look for it as anxiously as for the coming of the Messiah—leave nothing behind, positively nothing.
Belonging to General Desaix.
4 Trunks.
1 Portmanteau.
1 Forme(1) with curtains, and a small box.
1 Writing desk.
2 Mattresses, 1 white coverlet, 1 pair of sheets.
1 Horse cloth, 1 chaise seat, and a chaise on board the transport, No. 54.
16 Deal cases, marked with the General’s name, containing wine.
1 Tun pitched at both ends, and containing wine.
1 Barrel of vinegar.
5 Bottles of wine in a coffer in Citizen Le Roi’s closet.
All which you will find in the bread-room of the ship.
To Clement.
1 Trunk—his direction is on it.
1 Portmanteau, and his hammock.
To Rap.
1 Large leather case, 1 trunk, and his hammock.
To Savary
1 Black square trunk.
1 Ditto, long.
1 Blue portmanteau.
1 Case containing saddles—it is a flat square one, and shuts with a lock.
[Sick or not, I must have my servant]
My hammock if possible, and if not, my mattress, my coverlet, my sheets, and my bolster.
It thou hast an opportunity of purchasing a few bottles of good rum, do it.
We have no cook here; if thou can’st find one, bring him with thee.
Tell thy servant to go on board the transport where the horses are, and fetch Joli-coeur’s baggage; tell him too, to ask Citizen Martin, quarter-master of the 20th dragoons, for the portmanteau of the dragoon.
Alex. Timber, who is with me at present, and looks after my horse.
If thou find’st any difficulty in embarking Desaix’s carriage, the General wishes thee to take it on shore, have it put together, and then lay it up in some safe place in Alexandria.
Thy brother charges me to tell thee to bring every thing that belongs to him, as well as to thyself, and to forget nothing—positively nothing.
Do not forget Bourdon’s things.
If thou can’st not embark thy horse, sell him, or turn him over to the artillery, and take receipt for him. We will find thee one here; thy brother has three.
We wish thee to pay a little attention to what follows: In crossing the Desert one night, we had our quarters beat up, and during the confusion, lost a mare of General Desaix’s, saddled and bridled (of the 7th hussars), thy brother’s two horses, my own, saddled (of the 20th dragoons), a black mare, one of Rap’s (of the 7th hussars), and one of Clement’s, dock-tailed; they all galloped off, and, as we hear, were stopped at Rosetta, and sent to the depot of the artillery. If thou canst discover them in passing that way, take receipts for them, and we shall be paid the money here.
I write what follows, at the request, and, indeed, in the words of thy brother; “We live here more wretchedly than ever we lived in our lives; we have not one drop of wine, nor even brandy.” Thy brother intreats thee to take measures for bringing on shore as much of both as possible (not less than a tun of each) from the transports of Civita Vecchia. Remember to get all though canst from Collasse(2).
Do not forget; wine, brandy, and rum; it is an age since we have been in the utmost need of them all. There is very little here, and that little is extremely bad, above all price, and not to be procured.
Another thing which thou art desired to do, is to embark the packages of shoes and shirts for the division, as well as the baggage of General Desaix. The men are absolutely without either, and we fear they will be given to others.
If thou art in want of money, take some of mine, and set it down.
Adieu; we expect thee; do the best thou canst; above all, do not forget that we shall have no wine nor brandy but what thou bringest with thee; remember too, that of the sixteen deal cases, fourteen belong to General Bonaparte. In the name of God, bring us our baggage and our brandy; the whole army is ill of a diarrhea, with drinking water. In the name of God, WINE, BRANDY, AND RUM(3). Don’t forget the baggage of General Beliard; leave nothing at Alexandria, at least as little as possible: as for Miereur(4), thou knowst that he is killed.
Adieu.
SAVARY.
We are going to send you sixty of the country barks; there is possibility of your finding some tartans at Alexandria, in that case I would have you endeavour to come in one of them. Bring my servant with you, sick or well; I will cure him here.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) Kind of settee, or stuffed cushion, to sleep on.
(2) Commissary at war, and superintendant of the port, & of Alexandria.
(3) Anxiety cannot be expressed in stronger words than these before us; it marks the distresses to which the French were reduced, and the urgent want of those indispensable articles of health and convenience which were left at Alexandria, in the most striking manner.
It is proper in this place, to inform such of our readers as may not be well acquainted with the topical history of Egypt, that Alexandria, where all the baggage and all the stores were left when the army marched to Cairo, is situated in the Desert, properly speaking, and has no communication whatever with Egypt (at least in its present circumstances) but by that branch of the Nile which throws itself into the sea below Rosetta.
It follows, therefore, that while the coast is in our possession (which it now completely is, by the glorious victory of the first of August), nothing of consequence can pass; and the correspondence between the two parts of the French army (that of Alexandria and that of Cairo) is nearly as impracticable (at least as to any purpose of relief) as if the Atlantic rolled between them.
An army, indeed, might cross the Deserts, as Bonaparte’s did, but the French have not now any armies to spare; and if they had, it is not sure that they would attempt it, after the experience they have had of its difficulties and dangers. And even if they should, nothing would be gained by it, for they could carry nothing with them; no, not a day’s provisions, and if they ever reached Cairo, it would be only to perish under the same wants as those who preceded them.
One word more—it appears from some of these letters, that the transports and troops at Alexandria were in the greatest need of water and provisions; the latter, Bonaparte was sending them from Cairo, in sixty schermes, or country boats, which, when the latest of these dispatches were made up, had not reached Rosetta; and most certainly will never get to Alexandria.
What the wants of the grand army at Cairo are, our readers have seen: we will take upon us confidently to predict, that they will never be supplied; for if the little skiff that was creeping along shore to Alexandria with these letters, could not escape the vigilance of our indefatigable tars, how can larger vessels hope to do it? Add to this, that the mouth of the Nile is exceedingly difficult to be passed, on account of the surf that always prevails upon the bar, and asks a thousand precautions which can only be taken in a time of full security.
What the effect of this want of communication may be at Alexandria, we know not; at Cairo it must be dreadful. “In the name of God,” says Savary, “bring us our brandy and our rum, for the whole army is ill of a diarrhea.” Observe, this is the army which Bonaparte and Berthier represent, in their official dispatches, as in perfect health! We want no better test of their veracity!
(4)”Mireur,” says Bonaparte, in his official letter to the Directory, dated July 24th, “and several other aid-du-camps, and officers of the staff, have been killed by these wretches” (the Arabs, who, if killing makes them wretches, are certainly not greater wretches than the French; some people may think not so great); “the Republic has sustained a loss in Mireur; he was “the Bravest General I ever knew;” and then follows some impious rant about destiny, &c. We gather from the correspondence, that the army are all turned decided fatalists. We do not wonder at it, for, if we must speak our minds, we will venture to pronounce, that prudence or forecast had very little to do with the expedition.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Officer Recalls Arrival at Cairo
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 76-79.
TRANSLATION.
Boulac, near Cairo, July 27th.
TO KLEBER(1).
WE are arrived at length, my friend, at the spot so much and so eagerly desired! How different is it from what the most cool and temperate imagination had figured it to be! This execrable doghole of a city is inhabited by a lazy set of wretches, who squat all day before their filthy huts, smoking, and taking coffee, or eating pumpions, and drinking water.
It is easy enough to lose ones-self for a whole day in the stinking and narrow streets of this illustrious capital. The quarter of the Mameloucs [Mamluks] is the only one which is habitable; the Commander in Chief resides there in a tolerable and handsome house, which belonged to one of the Beys. I have written to the Chief of Brigade, Dupuis(2), at present General and Governor of Cairo, to reserve a house for thee. I have not yet received his answer.
The division is quartered in a kind of town, called Boulac, upon the Nile, about half a league from Cairo. We are all lodged in houses deserted by the owners, and wretched enough in all conscience. Dugua’s is the only one which is tolerable.
General Lannes has just received an order to take the command of Menou’s division, in the room of the Vial, who is going to Damietta with a battalion. He assures me that he will not accept it. The 2d light battalion, and General Verdier, are stationed near the Pyramids, on the left bank of the Nile, till the position which he occupies can be fortified, so as to receive a garrison of a hundred men.
A bridge is intended to be thrown over the river, nearly opposite Gizeh. The spot is at present occupied by the reserve of the artillery and engineers. Regnier’s division is stationed two or three leagues in front of Cairo; Desaix’s is about to occupy Old Cairo; Bon’s is stationed in the citadel, and Menou’s in the city.
Thou hast not an idea of the fatiguing marches we made to get to Cairo; never halting till three or four o’clock in the afternoon, after broiling in the sun all day; the greatest part of the time without food; obliged to glean what the divisions which preceded us had left in those detestable villages, which they had frequently pillaged; and harassed during the whole march by those hordes of robbers called Bedouins, who killed not only our men, but our officers, at five-and-twenty paces from the main body. The Aid-de-camp of General Dugua, called Geroret, was shot in this manner as he was carrying an order to a file of grenadiers, not a musket shot from the camp. It is a more destructive war, on my soul! Than that of La Vendee.
We had an engagement the day we arrived in the neighbourhood of Cairo. The Mameloucs, who had the good sense(3) to place themselves on the left bank of the Nile, offered us battle, and got a good beating. We call it the Battle of the Pyramidsl they lost (to speak without exaggeration) seven or eight hundred men; of these, a great portion perished in attempting to swim across the Nile.
I wish very much to know how thou art, and when thou think’st thou shalt be able to come and take the command of the division, which is in very feeble hands(4).
Every body is desirous of having thee here. There is a general relaxation in the service: I do all I can to preserve unity among the different parties; but all goes very ill. The troops are neither paid nor fed; and thou may’st easily guess what murmurs this occasions:--they are loudest perhaps among the officers. We are cajoled with promises, that in a week’s time the administrations will be sufficiently organizes to enable them to make their distributions regularly—but a week is still too long.
If thou com’st soon, which I most ardently wish, take care to be escorted even on board, by a party of fusiliers, capable of securing thee from the attacks of the Arabs, who will most assuredly make their appearance on the banks of the Nile, and endeavour to destroy thee in thy bark.
The first Commissary, Sucy, had his arm fractured on board the flotilla, in his passage to Cairo. Thou may’st perhaps come to us in the gun-boats, lighters, &c. which have been dispatched to bring round the baggage of the army from Alexandria.—come, come, prithee come!
Thine entirely.
DAMAS.
My regards to Augustus and his Colleagues.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This well written letter is from one of the best officers in the French service; it is another proof of what we observed in a former page, that Kleber had no attempts made on his credulity; every thing is represented to him in its true light.
(2)See a letter from him, No. XXIII.
(3)L’Esprit in the original; Damas speaks ironically. It is evident that if those brave and unfortunate men had not entered into a pitched battle, but retired before the enemy to the right bank of the Nile, and contended themselves with harassing them, and disputing the passage, the whole army must in this case have been destroyed. Nothing, in short, but a blind reliance on their own courage, and a total ignorance of the European manner of fighting, could have induced between three and four thousand men (for this was their utmost number) to attack 24,000 of the best troops of France, furnished with artillery, and bristled with an impenetrable force of bayonets. That they should be defeated, is not so wonderful as that they should be able to do any injury at all to the French—which we yet find they did.
Bonaparte reckons his loss, in his letter to the Directory, at 150 killed and wounded; in another letter (not to the Directory) he states the number to be 210; most probably it was the greater still. We are glad, however, to find from the authentic statement before us, that the loss of the Mameloucs was not so great. Damas reckons it at 700 or 800 men, and even so, he is apprehensive that he shall be suspected of exaggeration. This is more than was necessary to teach us to read the rhapsodies of the Commander in Chief cum grano.—
(4)These feeble hands are Dugua’s; the division was intrusted to him, in consequence of Kleber’s wound, which detained that General at Alexandria. The remainder of this letter is highly important.
TRANSLATION.
Boulac, near Cairo, July 27th.
TO KLEBER(1).
WE are arrived at length, my friend, at the spot so much and so eagerly desired! How different is it from what the most cool and temperate imagination had figured it to be! This execrable doghole of a city is inhabited by a lazy set of wretches, who squat all day before their filthy huts, smoking, and taking coffee, or eating pumpions, and drinking water.
It is easy enough to lose ones-self for a whole day in the stinking and narrow streets of this illustrious capital. The quarter of the Mameloucs [Mamluks] is the only one which is habitable; the Commander in Chief resides there in a tolerable and handsome house, which belonged to one of the Beys. I have written to the Chief of Brigade, Dupuis(2), at present General and Governor of Cairo, to reserve a house for thee. I have not yet received his answer.
The division is quartered in a kind of town, called Boulac, upon the Nile, about half a league from Cairo. We are all lodged in houses deserted by the owners, and wretched enough in all conscience. Dugua’s is the only one which is tolerable.
General Lannes has just received an order to take the command of Menou’s division, in the room of the Vial, who is going to Damietta with a battalion. He assures me that he will not accept it. The 2d light battalion, and General Verdier, are stationed near the Pyramids, on the left bank of the Nile, till the position which he occupies can be fortified, so as to receive a garrison of a hundred men.
A bridge is intended to be thrown over the river, nearly opposite Gizeh. The spot is at present occupied by the reserve of the artillery and engineers. Regnier’s division is stationed two or three leagues in front of Cairo; Desaix’s is about to occupy Old Cairo; Bon’s is stationed in the citadel, and Menou’s in the city.
Thou hast not an idea of the fatiguing marches we made to get to Cairo; never halting till three or four o’clock in the afternoon, after broiling in the sun all day; the greatest part of the time without food; obliged to glean what the divisions which preceded us had left in those detestable villages, which they had frequently pillaged; and harassed during the whole march by those hordes of robbers called Bedouins, who killed not only our men, but our officers, at five-and-twenty paces from the main body. The Aid-de-camp of General Dugua, called Geroret, was shot in this manner as he was carrying an order to a file of grenadiers, not a musket shot from the camp. It is a more destructive war, on my soul! Than that of La Vendee.
We had an engagement the day we arrived in the neighbourhood of Cairo. The Mameloucs, who had the good sense(3) to place themselves on the left bank of the Nile, offered us battle, and got a good beating. We call it the Battle of the Pyramidsl they lost (to speak without exaggeration) seven or eight hundred men; of these, a great portion perished in attempting to swim across the Nile.
I wish very much to know how thou art, and when thou think’st thou shalt be able to come and take the command of the division, which is in very feeble hands(4).
Every body is desirous of having thee here. There is a general relaxation in the service: I do all I can to preserve unity among the different parties; but all goes very ill. The troops are neither paid nor fed; and thou may’st easily guess what murmurs this occasions:--they are loudest perhaps among the officers. We are cajoled with promises, that in a week’s time the administrations will be sufficiently organizes to enable them to make their distributions regularly—but a week is still too long.
If thou com’st soon, which I most ardently wish, take care to be escorted even on board, by a party of fusiliers, capable of securing thee from the attacks of the Arabs, who will most assuredly make their appearance on the banks of the Nile, and endeavour to destroy thee in thy bark.
The first Commissary, Sucy, had his arm fractured on board the flotilla, in his passage to Cairo. Thou may’st perhaps come to us in the gun-boats, lighters, &c. which have been dispatched to bring round the baggage of the army from Alexandria.—come, come, prithee come!
Thine entirely.
DAMAS.
My regards to Augustus and his Colleagues.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This well written letter is from one of the best officers in the French service; it is another proof of what we observed in a former page, that Kleber had no attempts made on his credulity; every thing is represented to him in its true light.
(2)See a letter from him, No. XXIII.
(3)L’Esprit in the original; Damas speaks ironically. It is evident that if those brave and unfortunate men had not entered into a pitched battle, but retired before the enemy to the right bank of the Nile, and contended themselves with harassing them, and disputing the passage, the whole army must in this case have been destroyed. Nothing, in short, but a blind reliance on their own courage, and a total ignorance of the European manner of fighting, could have induced between three and four thousand men (for this was their utmost number) to attack 24,000 of the best troops of France, furnished with artillery, and bristled with an impenetrable force of bayonets. That they should be defeated, is not so wonderful as that they should be able to do any injury at all to the French—which we yet find they did.
Bonaparte reckons his loss, in his letter to the Directory, at 150 killed and wounded; in another letter (not to the Directory) he states the number to be 210; most probably it was the greater still. We are glad, however, to find from the authentic statement before us, that the loss of the Mameloucs was not so great. Damas reckons it at 700 or 800 men, and even so, he is apprehensive that he shall be suspected of exaggeration. This is more than was necessary to teach us to read the rhapsodies of the Commander in Chief cum grano.—
(4)These feeble hands are Dugua’s; the division was intrusted to him, in consequence of Kleber’s wound, which detained that General at Alexandria. The remainder of this letter is highly important.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Bonaparte Issues Orders for Provincial Government of Egypt
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 69-72.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief, to the General of Division, KLEBER.
Annexed to this, Citizen General, you will find a copy of the provisional organization of Egypt(1).
You will name the Divan, the Aga, and the company of sixty men which he is to have with him.
You will cause an inventory to be taken of all the goods, moveables, and immoveables, which belonged to the Mameloucs. The Intendant, and the French Agent are on the point of repairing their posts.
You will order a general levy of horses to be made, to remount the cavalry.
I entreat you to take every precaution to preserve tranquility and good order in the province of Alexandria.
Health.
BONAPARTE.
[Bonaparte’s Attached Orders]
Head Quarters, Cairo, July 27.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief.
ORDERS.
Article I.
There shall be in each province of Egypt, a Divan composed of seven persons, charged to watch over the interests of the province, to inform me of every grievance, to prevent the contests which arise between the different villages, to keep a steady eye over the turbulent and seditious, to punish them by calling in the military force under the French Commander, and to enlighten the people as often as it shall be found requisite.
Article 2.
There shall be in each province an Aga of the Janizaries, who shall constantly reside with the French Commandant. He shall have with him a company of armed men, natives of the country; with whom he shall proceed wherever his services may be necessary to maintain good order, and to keep every one in tranquility and obedience.
Article 3.
There shall be every province an Intendant, charged with the collection of the Miri and the Feddam; and generally of all the revenues which belonged heretofore to the Mameloucs, and which appertain at present to the Republic. He shall have with him the necessary number of agents.
Article 4.
There shall always be with the said Intendant, a French Agent; for the purpose of corresponding with the Administrator of the Finances, for insuring the execution of such orders as he may receive, and for acquiring a perfect knowledge of the system of administration.
BONAPARTE
(Signed)
A true copy,
BONAPARTE.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)We scarce know whether this famous code, which we do not yet despair of hearing some enlightened senator call “a masterpiece of human wisdom and integrity,” be most distinguished for its folly or atrocity. The people whom Bonaparte loudly professes he came to relieve, are to have the liberty of paying the taxes which they paid to the Mameloucs, to an Intendant assisted by a company of fusiliers, in the shape of agents, who, if they (the people) do not appear fully sensible of the blessing thus thrust upon them (As, God knows, may very innocently be the case!) are, in the words of this great constitution-monger, “to enlighten them!”
The reader will find more on this head in our Introductions, to which we willingly refer him. To say the truth we are glad to escape from the subject, as we contemplate with no agreeable feelings, the spectacle of a man (though that man be Bonaparte), thus ignorantly and wantonly, and barbarously playing with the happiness of a nation, which never injured, perhaps never heard of him, or his rapacious masters. One consolation yet remains, and we honestly confess that we have not Stoicism enough, to deny ourselves the gratification of enjoying it by anticipation. Egypt is the last country that Bonaparte will ever insult with the mockery of liberty: he has run his career of impiety and deceit, of pillage and desolation:--
“The sun sets on his fortunes red and bloody,
And everlasting night begins to close him.”
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief, to the General of Division, KLEBER.
Annexed to this, Citizen General, you will find a copy of the provisional organization of Egypt(1).
You will name the Divan, the Aga, and the company of sixty men which he is to have with him.
You will cause an inventory to be taken of all the goods, moveables, and immoveables, which belonged to the Mameloucs. The Intendant, and the French Agent are on the point of repairing their posts.
You will order a general levy of horses to be made, to remount the cavalry.
I entreat you to take every precaution to preserve tranquility and good order in the province of Alexandria.
Health.
BONAPARTE.
[Bonaparte’s Attached Orders]
Head Quarters, Cairo, July 27.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief.
ORDERS.
Article I.
There shall be in each province of Egypt, a Divan composed of seven persons, charged to watch over the interests of the province, to inform me of every grievance, to prevent the contests which arise between the different villages, to keep a steady eye over the turbulent and seditious, to punish them by calling in the military force under the French Commander, and to enlighten the people as often as it shall be found requisite.
Article 2.
There shall be in each province an Aga of the Janizaries, who shall constantly reside with the French Commandant. He shall have with him a company of armed men, natives of the country; with whom he shall proceed wherever his services may be necessary to maintain good order, and to keep every one in tranquility and obedience.
Article 3.
There shall be every province an Intendant, charged with the collection of the Miri and the Feddam; and generally of all the revenues which belonged heretofore to the Mameloucs, and which appertain at present to the Republic. He shall have with him the necessary number of agents.
Article 4.
There shall always be with the said Intendant, a French Agent; for the purpose of corresponding with the Administrator of the Finances, for insuring the execution of such orders as he may receive, and for acquiring a perfect knowledge of the system of administration.
BONAPARTE
(Signed)
A true copy,
BONAPARTE.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)We scarce know whether this famous code, which we do not yet despair of hearing some enlightened senator call “a masterpiece of human wisdom and integrity,” be most distinguished for its folly or atrocity. The people whom Bonaparte loudly professes he came to relieve, are to have the liberty of paying the taxes which they paid to the Mameloucs, to an Intendant assisted by a company of fusiliers, in the shape of agents, who, if they (the people) do not appear fully sensible of the blessing thus thrust upon them (As, God knows, may very innocently be the case!) are, in the words of this great constitution-monger, “to enlighten them!”
The reader will find more on this head in our Introductions, to which we willingly refer him. To say the truth we are glad to escape from the subject, as we contemplate with no agreeable feelings, the spectacle of a man (though that man be Bonaparte), thus ignorantly and wantonly, and barbarously playing with the happiness of a nation, which never injured, perhaps never heard of him, or his rapacious masters. One consolation yet remains, and we honestly confess that we have not Stoicism enough, to deny ourselves the gratification of enjoying it by anticipation. Egypt is the last country that Bonaparte will ever insult with the mockery of liberty: he has run his career of impiety and deceit, of pillage and desolation:--
“The sun sets on his fortunes red and bloody,
And everlasting night begins to close him.”
Napoleon Orders General to Retake Maltese Riches
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 63-66.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo July 27.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief, to the General of Division, KLEBER.
Citizen General,
THERE is here a very excellent mint. We shall again have occasion for all the ingots(1) which we left with the merchants of Alexandria, in exchange for the specie of the country; I request you, therefore, to call together all the merchants with whom the said ingots were exchanged, and to re-demand them. I will give them in lieu of the bullion, wheat and rice, of which we have immense quantities.
Our poverty in specie is equal to our riches in commodities: this circumstance absolutely compels me to take as many ingots as possible from the merchants, and to give them corn, &c. in exchange(2).
I have heard nothing from you since I left Alexandria. You have doubtless heard many idle rumours, and alarms. I have sent you several letters by the people of the country, which I fear have been intercepted by the Arabs, as has most probably been the case with those which you have sent me. I am now all impatience to hear from you; as you have undoubtedly by this time received intelligence from France.
We have undergone more hardships than many among us had courage to support: at present, we are recovering ourselves a little at Cairo, which is not deficient in supplies. All our troops have joined.
The Officers of the Staff will have acquainted you with the military transaction which preceded our entry into this place. It was tolerably brilliant. Two thousand of the best mounted Mameloucs were driven into the Nile.
The army is in the greatest want of its baggage. I have dispatched the Adjutant-General Almeyras with a battalion of the 85th, and an immense quantity of provisions for the fleet, to Rosetta. He is commissioned on his return to take on board his flotilla, all the baggage, &c. of the army, and to escort it to the Cairo.
Order the Staff Officers of the different corps, charged with the care of the magazines, to send them all to Rosetta.
Send us our Arabic and French printing-presses. See that they embark all the wine, brandy, tents, shoes(3), &c. Send round all these articles by sea to Rosetta: and as the Nile is now upon its increase, they will find no difficulty in passing up that river to Cairo.
I am anxious to hear of your health. I hope it will be speedily re-established, and that you will be soon in a condition to come and join us.
I have written to Louis(4) to set out for Rosetta immediately, with all my baggage.
Since I wrote this, I have found in a garden belonging to one of the Mameloucs, a letter from Louis—this convinces me that one of your couriers has been intercepted by these people.
Health.
BONAPARTE.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)These ingots were formed from the gold and silver previously stolen by this rapacious freebooter from the church of St. John, where the Maltese kept their public treasury. See the Letter of the Bailly of Teigna, and the Manifestoes of the different commanders.
(2)To force one kind of plunder on the merchants, by way of payment, and then to take it from them again in exchange for some other which can be more conveniently spared, is a proceeding so perfectly consonant to the French ideas of justice, and has been so frequently employed by them, wherever they have had power to put it in practice, as their good friends and allies can testify, that it scarce deserves notice.
But we could fain ask the General how the country can be poor in specie, when it appears from his letter to the Directory, written only three days before the present, that every Mamelouc had three or four hundred pounds in his pocket. “The Mameloucs,” says he, (see all the papers of the 31st of October) “shewed great bravery. They defended their fortunes, for there we not one of them on whom our soldiers did not find three, four, and five hundred louis”!!!
Now it appears from the same account, that the number of Mameloucs engaged was 6000. It is but fair to suppose that those who escaped were as rich as those who fell: 6000, therefore, multiplied by 400, the average of their fortunes, gives a total of 2,400,000 louis—no despicable sum for a country so poor in specie; and probably not a great deal less than what might be found in the pockets, or even in the possession, of the same number of people in any army in France—a country, as we all know, so rich in specie!
Further; the soldiers must have found on the 2000 Mameloucs, who, as the general says in his letter to the Directory, were killed, 800,000 louis, by the fairest calculation: now we think that some method might have been found to persuade them to resign their plunder for a time (especially as they seem to enjoy few opportunities of wasting it); and thus to have spared Bonaparte the mortification, and Kleber the infamy, of compelling the merchants of Alexandria to take what they do not want, in exchange for what they cannot spare!
Shall we now be serious? We do not believe that the Mameloucs had a single louis about them: rich arms and clothing they certainly had; and if the French should ever return home (as, if it please God, they never will), they may probably turn them to some account: at present, all these fine things are mere incumbrances to them.
We do not know the reason of it, but we constantly observe that none of the army attempt to cajole Kleber. He is almost the only one to whom things are represented as they really are—And Bonaparte, whose letter to the Cockneys of Paris, representing Egypt as almost paved with gold, was scarce dry; sits down to tell this, sagacious and penetrating General, that there is none to be found in it; and that he has no resource but the plundered ingots of Malta!
(3)We have already observed that not one of these articles can reach Cairo. The port of Alexandria is hermetically sealed, and however urgent the wants of the army may be, they must learn to bear them.
(4)His brother. He alludes to Boursienne’s letter, see No. XIV.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo July 27.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief, to the General of Division, KLEBER.
Citizen General,
THERE is here a very excellent mint. We shall again have occasion for all the ingots(1) which we left with the merchants of Alexandria, in exchange for the specie of the country; I request you, therefore, to call together all the merchants with whom the said ingots were exchanged, and to re-demand them. I will give them in lieu of the bullion, wheat and rice, of which we have immense quantities.
Our poverty in specie is equal to our riches in commodities: this circumstance absolutely compels me to take as many ingots as possible from the merchants, and to give them corn, &c. in exchange(2).
I have heard nothing from you since I left Alexandria. You have doubtless heard many idle rumours, and alarms. I have sent you several letters by the people of the country, which I fear have been intercepted by the Arabs, as has most probably been the case with those which you have sent me. I am now all impatience to hear from you; as you have undoubtedly by this time received intelligence from France.
We have undergone more hardships than many among us had courage to support: at present, we are recovering ourselves a little at Cairo, which is not deficient in supplies. All our troops have joined.
The Officers of the Staff will have acquainted you with the military transaction which preceded our entry into this place. It was tolerably brilliant. Two thousand of the best mounted Mameloucs were driven into the Nile.
The army is in the greatest want of its baggage. I have dispatched the Adjutant-General Almeyras with a battalion of the 85th, and an immense quantity of provisions for the fleet, to Rosetta. He is commissioned on his return to take on board his flotilla, all the baggage, &c. of the army, and to escort it to the Cairo.
Order the Staff Officers of the different corps, charged with the care of the magazines, to send them all to Rosetta.
Send us our Arabic and French printing-presses. See that they embark all the wine, brandy, tents, shoes(3), &c. Send round all these articles by sea to Rosetta: and as the Nile is now upon its increase, they will find no difficulty in passing up that river to Cairo.
I am anxious to hear of your health. I hope it will be speedily re-established, and that you will be soon in a condition to come and join us.
I have written to Louis(4) to set out for Rosetta immediately, with all my baggage.
Since I wrote this, I have found in a garden belonging to one of the Mameloucs, a letter from Louis—this convinces me that one of your couriers has been intercepted by these people.
Health.
BONAPARTE.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)These ingots were formed from the gold and silver previously stolen by this rapacious freebooter from the church of St. John, where the Maltese kept their public treasury. See the Letter of the Bailly of Teigna, and the Manifestoes of the different commanders.
(2)To force one kind of plunder on the merchants, by way of payment, and then to take it from them again in exchange for some other which can be more conveniently spared, is a proceeding so perfectly consonant to the French ideas of justice, and has been so frequently employed by them, wherever they have had power to put it in practice, as their good friends and allies can testify, that it scarce deserves notice.
But we could fain ask the General how the country can be poor in specie, when it appears from his letter to the Directory, written only three days before the present, that every Mamelouc had three or four hundred pounds in his pocket. “The Mameloucs,” says he, (see all the papers of the 31st of October) “shewed great bravery. They defended their fortunes, for there we not one of them on whom our soldiers did not find three, four, and five hundred louis”!!!
Now it appears from the same account, that the number of Mameloucs engaged was 6000. It is but fair to suppose that those who escaped were as rich as those who fell: 6000, therefore, multiplied by 400, the average of their fortunes, gives a total of 2,400,000 louis—no despicable sum for a country so poor in specie; and probably not a great deal less than what might be found in the pockets, or even in the possession, of the same number of people in any army in France—a country, as we all know, so rich in specie!
Further; the soldiers must have found on the 2000 Mameloucs, who, as the general says in his letter to the Directory, were killed, 800,000 louis, by the fairest calculation: now we think that some method might have been found to persuade them to resign their plunder for a time (especially as they seem to enjoy few opportunities of wasting it); and thus to have spared Bonaparte the mortification, and Kleber the infamy, of compelling the merchants of Alexandria to take what they do not want, in exchange for what they cannot spare!
Shall we now be serious? We do not believe that the Mameloucs had a single louis about them: rich arms and clothing they certainly had; and if the French should ever return home (as, if it please God, they never will), they may probably turn them to some account: at present, all these fine things are mere incumbrances to them.
We do not know the reason of it, but we constantly observe that none of the army attempt to cajole Kleber. He is almost the only one to whom things are represented as they really are—And Bonaparte, whose letter to the Cockneys of Paris, representing Egypt as almost paved with gold, was scarce dry; sits down to tell this, sagacious and penetrating General, that there is none to be found in it; and that he has no resource but the plundered ingots of Malta!
(3)We have already observed that not one of these articles can reach Cairo. The port of Alexandria is hermetically sealed, and however urgent the wants of the army may be, they must learn to bear them.
(4)His brother. He alludes to Boursienne’s letter, see No. XIV.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Bonaparte Sends Orders to his Admiral
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 58-60.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo, July 27.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief, to Admiral BRUEYS.
AFTER a number of very fatiguing marches, and some fighting, we are at length arrived in Cairo. I am extremely well satisfied with the conduct of the Chief of Division, Perree, and I have therefore promoted him to the rank of Rear Admiral.
I hear from Alexandria(1) that a channel, such as we could wish, has been discovered; and by this time, I flatter myself, you are already in the port with all your fleet.
There is no occasion for you to be under any uneasiness with respect to the subsistence of your men. This country is rich in wheat, pulse, rice, and cattle, almost beyond imagination.
I persuade myself, that to-morrow, or the day after at the farthest, I shall hear from you,--which I have not yet done since my departure from Alexandria.
The instant you inform me what you have done, and in what situation you are, you shall receive further orders from me respecting what we have yet to do.
Some of the staff-officers have undoubtedly given you an account of our late victory.
I take it for granted, that you have a frigate cruising off Damietta. As I am sending troops to take possession of that town, I must request you to order the captain of the frigate to keep as near the land as possible, and to open a communication with our forces: who will be in possession of the place by the time this reaches you.
Send off the courier whom I have dispatched to you immediately: put him on shore wherever you think it best.—In this, you will of course be guided by what you hear of the enemy’s fleet, and by the winds which prevail at this season.
I could wish that you would send him in a frigate, which should have positive orders to stay no longer than eight-and-forty hours in any port where she might land him (whether Malta or Ancona)—in this case, you might charge the captain to bring us back all the journals, and all the information which our agents may have collected.
I have dispatched by the Nile, a prodigious quantity of provisions to Alexandria, to pay for the freight of the transports there(2).
Say a thousand kind things to Ganteaume and Casabianca.
I salute you.
BONAPARTE(3).
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) We shall not remark on the general strain of coldness that runs through this letter; but merely call the reader’s attention for a moment to the passage we have marked: “I hear,” he says, “from Alexandria,” &c. It looks as if the General’s anxiety to detain the fleet he induced him to depart from the line of fair conduct, and tamper, unknown to the Admiral, with some of the officers at Alexandria. Brueys (see his letter to the minister of marine, No. IV.) had already employed two persons very well qualified (as he writes) to examine the ground, and their report had not yet been made; so that there is something extremely suspicious in the premature information thus obtained by Bonaparte.
(2) See the next letter.
(3) This is the letter of which Bonaparte speaks in his dispatches of the 19th of August. If the reader has gone through it attentively, which we hope he has, we will beg leave to ask him two questions;--first, whether he finds any mention of returning to Corfou in it, which the General says there was?—and secondly, whether the whole tenour of it does not militate against his (Bonaparte’s) having the smallest idea of such a thing? When he has answered these two questions, as we think he must, we will not trouble him for his opinion of the General’s veracity.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo, July 27.
BONAPARTE, Member of the National Institute, Commander in Chief, to Admiral BRUEYS.
AFTER a number of very fatiguing marches, and some fighting, we are at length arrived in Cairo. I am extremely well satisfied with the conduct of the Chief of Division, Perree, and I have therefore promoted him to the rank of Rear Admiral.
I hear from Alexandria(1) that a channel, such as we could wish, has been discovered; and by this time, I flatter myself, you are already in the port with all your fleet.
There is no occasion for you to be under any uneasiness with respect to the subsistence of your men. This country is rich in wheat, pulse, rice, and cattle, almost beyond imagination.
I persuade myself, that to-morrow, or the day after at the farthest, I shall hear from you,--which I have not yet done since my departure from Alexandria.
The instant you inform me what you have done, and in what situation you are, you shall receive further orders from me respecting what we have yet to do.
Some of the staff-officers have undoubtedly given you an account of our late victory.
I take it for granted, that you have a frigate cruising off Damietta. As I am sending troops to take possession of that town, I must request you to order the captain of the frigate to keep as near the land as possible, and to open a communication with our forces: who will be in possession of the place by the time this reaches you.
Send off the courier whom I have dispatched to you immediately: put him on shore wherever you think it best.—In this, you will of course be guided by what you hear of the enemy’s fleet, and by the winds which prevail at this season.
I could wish that you would send him in a frigate, which should have positive orders to stay no longer than eight-and-forty hours in any port where she might land him (whether Malta or Ancona)—in this case, you might charge the captain to bring us back all the journals, and all the information which our agents may have collected.
I have dispatched by the Nile, a prodigious quantity of provisions to Alexandria, to pay for the freight of the transports there(2).
Say a thousand kind things to Ganteaume and Casabianca.
I salute you.
BONAPARTE(3).
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) We shall not remark on the general strain of coldness that runs through this letter; but merely call the reader’s attention for a moment to the passage we have marked: “I hear,” he says, “from Alexandria,” &c. It looks as if the General’s anxiety to detain the fleet he induced him to depart from the line of fair conduct, and tamper, unknown to the Admiral, with some of the officers at Alexandria. Brueys (see his letter to the minister of marine, No. IV.) had already employed two persons very well qualified (as he writes) to examine the ground, and their report had not yet been made; so that there is something extremely suspicious in the premature information thus obtained by Bonaparte.
(2) See the next letter.
(3) This is the letter of which Bonaparte speaks in his dispatches of the 19th of August. If the reader has gone through it attentively, which we hope he has, we will beg leave to ask him two questions;--first, whether he finds any mention of returning to Corfou in it, which the General says there was?—and secondly, whether the whole tenour of it does not militate against his (Bonaparte’s) having the smallest idea of such a thing? When he has answered these two questions, as we think he must, we will not trouble him for his opinion of the General’s veracity.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Confidential Letter Tells of Arrival in Cairo
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 55-56.
TRANSLATION.
Grand Cairo, July 26th.
To General BOURNONVILLE(1), No. 6t, Rue de Fauxbourg-Honore, at Paris.
WE have been at Cairo four days, my dear General; our march was of the most distressing kind, under a burning sky, over sands, and arid deserts, without water, and without bread! Alexandria was taken by storm, and Cairo fell into our hands after a brisk but short engagement.
I am as well as it is possible to be, in a climate so different from our own as this, and which by no means agrees with me, we shall probably recruit ourselves a little here; we shall then be enabled to ascertain what effects fatigue, and the influence of the climate will have on our constitutions, and thus to decide if we can live here for any length of time.
I have not written to you, my dear General, so much at large as I could have wished; but if we desire to have our letters reach their place of destination, we must make them short: mine is, perhaps, already too long. May I venture to request you to let my family know that you have heard from me.
Believe, my dear General, in my entire attachment; no distance, however great, can weaken it.
D(2).
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is a confidential letter, and seems to shew that Bournonville was a little in the secret of the expedition, hence the bin about the period that a Frenchman might live in Egypt, &c. The remark on the danger of writing long letters we are not quite certain we understand. It is probable (but this is a mere guess) that it was feared they might excite the suspicions of the Commander in Chief, or of the Directory. We have proofs before us, however, that all which were destined to be put into the post officer in France, are single letters, while most of those which were trusted to private conveyance (by far the most numerous are doubled, treble, and sometimes more).
(2) This is the only letter which appears with a single signature. The author had undoubtedly his reasons for it.
TRANSLATION.
Grand Cairo, July 26th.
To General BOURNONVILLE(1), No. 6t, Rue de Fauxbourg-Honore, at Paris.
WE have been at Cairo four days, my dear General; our march was of the most distressing kind, under a burning sky, over sands, and arid deserts, without water, and without bread! Alexandria was taken by storm, and Cairo fell into our hands after a brisk but short engagement.
I am as well as it is possible to be, in a climate so different from our own as this, and which by no means agrees with me, we shall probably recruit ourselves a little here; we shall then be enabled to ascertain what effects fatigue, and the influence of the climate will have on our constitutions, and thus to decide if we can live here for any length of time.
I have not written to you, my dear General, so much at large as I could have wished; but if we desire to have our letters reach their place of destination, we must make them short: mine is, perhaps, already too long. May I venture to request you to let my family know that you have heard from me.
Believe, my dear General, in my entire attachment; no distance, however great, can weaken it.
D(2).
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is a confidential letter, and seems to shew that Bournonville was a little in the secret of the expedition, hence the bin about the period that a Frenchman might live in Egypt, &c. The remark on the danger of writing long letters we are not quite certain we understand. It is probable (but this is a mere guess) that it was feared they might excite the suspicions of the Commander in Chief, or of the Directory. We have proofs before us, however, that all which were destined to be put into the post officer in France, are single letters, while most of those which were trusted to private conveyance (by far the most numerous are doubled, treble, and sometimes more).
(2) This is the only letter which appears with a single signature. The author had undoubtedly his reasons for it.
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
French Voyage Characterized by Hunger, Despair
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 52-53.
TRANSLATION
Terzi, July 25th.
COLBERT to his Friend COLLASSE.
I HASTEN, my dear friend, to give thee some account of myself, and to say a few words to thee on the hardships and dangers we have experienced.
The uncertainty in which I still remain respecting the fate of my baggage, gives me from time to time the greatest uneasiness. I am almost in a state of nakedness, having nothing to cover me but my shirt, and the clothes I had on when I left Alexandria. I beg thee, therefore, to send me my trunks by Douzelot(1), if he will have the goodness to take charge of them; if not, by one of the officers commissioned to bring up the baggage of the demi-brigade. Do, pritheee, contrive to let me know what is become of Daure, of my money, and my jewels: I cannot hear one syllable about them.
So much for my private affairs; I must now tell thee that is hardly possible to form an idea of what we have gone through: sufferings upon sufferings, privations, mortifications, fatigues, we have exhausted them all! Three-fourths of the time we have been dying with hunger! Such is the correct, but rapid sketch of my life, since we parted.
At present, indeed, our means are more ample, but our condition is not therefore more happy. Remote from all our friends, I shall not enter into the details of our military successes, thou wilt hear enough of them from other quarters.
Adieu, my dear friend: think of my request: consider that I am absolutely naked, and that thou wilt render me the most essential service.
Thine,
COLBERT.
P.S. Remember me to Tellier.
To the Commissary at War,
COLLASSE, Superintendent of the town, &c. of Alexandria.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)Douzelot’s rank is not mentioned. He is the person to whom Savary’s Letter is addressed (see No. XII.), and appears to be in some office of consequence.
TRANSLATION
Terzi, July 25th.
COLBERT to his Friend COLLASSE.
I HASTEN, my dear friend, to give thee some account of myself, and to say a few words to thee on the hardships and dangers we have experienced.
The uncertainty in which I still remain respecting the fate of my baggage, gives me from time to time the greatest uneasiness. I am almost in a state of nakedness, having nothing to cover me but my shirt, and the clothes I had on when I left Alexandria. I beg thee, therefore, to send me my trunks by Douzelot(1), if he will have the goodness to take charge of them; if not, by one of the officers commissioned to bring up the baggage of the demi-brigade. Do, pritheee, contrive to let me know what is become of Daure, of my money, and my jewels: I cannot hear one syllable about them.
So much for my private affairs; I must now tell thee that is hardly possible to form an idea of what we have gone through: sufferings upon sufferings, privations, mortifications, fatigues, we have exhausted them all! Three-fourths of the time we have been dying with hunger! Such is the correct, but rapid sketch of my life, since we parted.
At present, indeed, our means are more ample, but our condition is not therefore more happy. Remote from all our friends, I shall not enter into the details of our military successes, thou wilt hear enough of them from other quarters.
Adieu, my dear friend: think of my request: consider that I am absolutely naked, and that thou wilt render me the most essential service.
Thine,
COLBERT.
P.S. Remember me to Tellier.
To the Commissary at War,
COLLASSE, Superintendent of the town, &c. of Alexandria.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)Douzelot’s rank is not mentioned. He is the person to whom Savary’s Letter is addressed (see No. XII.), and appears to be in some office of consequence.
Monday, October 22, 2007
General Describes Battle with Mameloucs
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 48-51.
TRANSLATION.
Gizeh, July 24.
EMMANUEL PERRE’E, General of Division, to Vice Admiral BRUEYS, Commander in Chief of the Naval Force stationed before Alexandria.
Citizen General,
SINCE our separation, I have lost no opportunity of recalling to the mind of the Commander in Chief, the situation in which I left you. He takes a lively interest in it, and has seized the first opportunity which offered, of sending you 58 vessels laden with different articles.
As for us, our position has not been the most agreeable since we parted. On the 13th of July we fell in with the enemy’s army, at break of day. I had then with me 3 gun boats, the galley, and the Cerf. The enemy had 7 gun boats, carrying from 24 to 36 pounders. The action began at nine; two of my gun boats, and the galley were run on shore, and quitted by the crews, on account of the terrible fire which the enemy opened upon us from their boats, and from the banks of the river.
The enemy were already in possession of them, but the brisk fire from the Cerf, and the remaining gun boats obliged them to abandon their prey.
I sunk the vessel which carried their flag; confusion immediately took place, and they had only time to make their escape. Had not three of my best vessels been obliged to give way, I should certainly have destroyed the whole of their flotilla(1).
I had twenty of my men wounded and several killed. A ball struck my sword out of my hand, and carried away a piece of my left arm. I do not think, however, that it will be attended with any bad consequences; indeed, it is already nearly well.
I cannot describe to you what we suffered in this expedition. We were reduced for several days to subsist entirely on water-melons; during which we were constantly exposed to the fire of the Arabs, although, with the exception of a few killed and wounded, we always came off victorious.
The Nile is very far from answering the description I had received of it. It winds incessantly, and is withal so shallow, that I was compelled to leave the chebeck, the galley, and two of my gun boats, thirteen leagues below Cairo, which I reached yesterday evening.
The little time I have to spare prevents me from entering into farther particulars. Our army has had a smart action with the Mamelouks, who lost more than 1200 men. Our loss is very trifling; it amounts, I understand, to about 20 killed, and 150 wounded.
Health and respect.
EMMANUEL PERRE’E.
P.S. Pray send me immediately five or six intelligent officers, and about forty men. You will oblige me very much, as well as the Commander in Chief.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is admirable. Had he not been beaten and lost half his fleet, he would have been victorious! The plan truth, however, appears from several letters, particularly from one of Adjutant General Boyer’s (see No. XXII.), who commanded the land forces on board, is, that he was defeated, and only saved from absolute destruction by the appearance of the van of the army. Notwithstanding this foolish gasconade, General Perree seems to be a man of courage and abilities.
TRANSLATION.
Gizeh, July 24.
EMMANUEL PERRE’E, General of Division, to Vice Admiral BRUEYS, Commander in Chief of the Naval Force stationed before Alexandria.
Citizen General,
SINCE our separation, I have lost no opportunity of recalling to the mind of the Commander in Chief, the situation in which I left you. He takes a lively interest in it, and has seized the first opportunity which offered, of sending you 58 vessels laden with different articles.
As for us, our position has not been the most agreeable since we parted. On the 13th of July we fell in with the enemy’s army, at break of day. I had then with me 3 gun boats, the galley, and the Cerf. The enemy had 7 gun boats, carrying from 24 to 36 pounders. The action began at nine; two of my gun boats, and the galley were run on shore, and quitted by the crews, on account of the terrible fire which the enemy opened upon us from their boats, and from the banks of the river.
The enemy were already in possession of them, but the brisk fire from the Cerf, and the remaining gun boats obliged them to abandon their prey.
I sunk the vessel which carried their flag; confusion immediately took place, and they had only time to make their escape. Had not three of my best vessels been obliged to give way, I should certainly have destroyed the whole of their flotilla(1).
I had twenty of my men wounded and several killed. A ball struck my sword out of my hand, and carried away a piece of my left arm. I do not think, however, that it will be attended with any bad consequences; indeed, it is already nearly well.
I cannot describe to you what we suffered in this expedition. We were reduced for several days to subsist entirely on water-melons; during which we were constantly exposed to the fire of the Arabs, although, with the exception of a few killed and wounded, we always came off victorious.
The Nile is very far from answering the description I had received of it. It winds incessantly, and is withal so shallow, that I was compelled to leave the chebeck, the galley, and two of my gun boats, thirteen leagues below Cairo, which I reached yesterday evening.
The little time I have to spare prevents me from entering into farther particulars. Our army has had a smart action with the Mamelouks, who lost more than 1200 men. Our loss is very trifling; it amounts, I understand, to about 20 killed, and 150 wounded.
Health and respect.
EMMANUEL PERRE’E.
P.S. Pray send me immediately five or six intelligent officers, and about forty men. You will oblige me very much, as well as the Commander in Chief.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is admirable. Had he not been beaten and lost half his fleet, he would have been victorious! The plan truth, however, appears from several letters, particularly from one of Adjutant General Boyer’s (see No. XXII.), who commanded the land forces on board, is, that he was defeated, and only saved from absolute destruction by the appearance of the van of the army. Notwithstanding this foolish gasconade, General Perree seems to be a man of courage and abilities.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
French Admiral Gives Account of Voyage to Egypt
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 40-45.
Admiral BRUEYS, commanding the Naval Forces of the Republic in the Mediterranean, to the Minister of the Marine, and of the Colonies.
Citizen Minister,
I WROTE to you from Malta on the 14th of June; in that letter I gave you an account of the arrival of the fleet at Malta, and of the capture of that island. The ships of the line, and the transports were all under sail on the 19th, and on the 1st of July we were off the old port of Alexandria.
I had previously dispatched the Juno to bring the Consul on board. Citizen Magallon (the nephew) arrived on the 1st, and informed us that an English squadron had appeared in the line of battle off the port of Alexandria, on the 28th of June, that they had made sail to the north-east. The squadron was supposed to consist of fourteen ships of the line.
The Consul also told us that our arrival had been daily looked for, for some time; that there was a great fermentation in the country, and no inconsiderable degree of uneasiness and apprehension.
The Commander in Chief desired to be put on shore immediately; I therefore came to anchor on the coast, and during the night succeeded in landing 6000 men in a creak to the west of the Old Port, near a castle called Marabou, about two leagues from the city: not the slightest opposition was made to our descent.
The 2d, at noon, our troops were in the city, and in three hours afterwards the fort surrendered. There was some resistance attempted at the wall which surrounds the city, but it was immediately scaled. A few shot were fired into the streets from the windows of the houses; the fort too, fired a few cannon: but every thing was soon in our possession.
I disembarked all the troops, and the baggage belonging to them, and on the 7th, having satisfied myself that our ships of war could not get into the port for want of a sufficient depth of water at the entrance, I ordered the Venetian ships(1), and the transports, to come to anchor here, and stood off with the thirteen sail of the line and three frigates, with an intent of mooring in the Bay of Bequiers.
I arrived there in the afternoon, and formed a line of battle at two-thirds of a cable-length, the headmost vessel being as close as possible(2) to a shoal to the north-west of us, and the rest of the fleet forming a kind of curve along the line of deep water, so as not to be turned, by any means, in the south-west. This position is the strongest we could possibly take in an open road, where we cannot approach sufficiently near the land to be protected by batteries, and where the enemy has it in his power to choose his own distance.
Our troops entered Rosetta yesterday, and the army is not in full march for Cairo.
We have pushed into this branch of the Nile as many of our light vessels as possible; and the Commander in Chief has asked me for the Chief of Division, Perree, to command them. The flotilla sailed this morning to try if it be possible to get over the bar of Rosetta. You see that we are marching to the conquest of Egypt with the steps of a giant.
It is vexatious that there is not a port where a fleet can enter; but the Old Port, of which we have heard so much, is shut up by a reef of rocks, some under, and some above, water, forming a number of narrow channels, where the depth is only from 23 to 25 and 30 feet. The sea, too, is commonly very high: thus you see, that one of our seventy-fours would be in no small danger there, especially as she would inevitably go to pieces in a few minutes after touching the ground.
To gratify the wishes of the Commander in Chief(3), I have offered a reward of ten thousand livres to any pilot of the country who will undertake to carry the squadron in; but none of them will venture to take charge of a single vessel that draws more than twenty feet. I hope, however, that we shall succeed in finding a channel by which our seventy-fours may enter; but this can only be the result of many laborious and painful experiments.
I have already engaged two intelligent officers in this business; Captain Barre, commanding at present the Alceste, and Citizen Vidal, first Lieutenant. If they find a channel, they will buoy it for us; and then we may enter without much danger. The depth within the reefs increases to fifteen fathoms, but the getting out of the harbour will, in all cases, be very difficult, and very tedious; so that a squadron would engage to a vast disadvantage.
I have heard nothing further of the English. They are gone, perhaps, to look for us on the coast of Syria or rather (and this is my private opinion) they have not so many as fourteen sail of the line; and finding themselves not superior in numbers, do not think it quite so prudent to try their strength with us(4).
We look forward with the greatest anxiety to the time when the conquest of Egypt shall furnish us with provisions. We are now obliged to supply the troops continually—every hour new rains are made upon us. We have now only fifteen days biscuit on board; and we are in this anchorage just as if we were on the high seas—consuming every thing, and replacing nothing.
Our crews are weak both in number and quality. Our rigging, in general, out of repair; and I am sure that it requires no little courage to undertake the management of a fleet, furnished with such tools!
I do not think it necessary to enter into any further details on our present situation. You are a seamen, and will therefore conceive it better than I can describe it to you.
Before I conclude, I will transcribe a paragraph from a letter which I have just received from the Commander in Chief.
“I have asked of the Executive Directory, the rank of Rear Admiral for your Chief of the Staff, Ganteaume. I beseech you to appoint him. I have sought by this to give proof of my gratitude and esteem for the essential services, the activity, and the zeal manifested by your staff officers, and, generally speaking, the whole squadron, in executing the orders of the Government.
“BONAPARTE”
Health and respect.
BRUEYS.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) Le Dubois and Le Causse, of the 64 Guns each, and two or three frigates.
(2) Never was there a more glorious testimony to the intrepidity and skill of the British seamen, than this letter furnishes. The French Admiral, a man of no common abilities in his profession, and anxious, above all things, to secure his fleet from being headed by an enemy, places his van ship as near the shoal as possible, and reposes in the most perfect confidence, that nothing can molest him in that quarter; and yet it was between this very shoal and ship, and through this very passage, which, after an examination of the twenty-four days (from the 7th to the 31st of July), the French Admiral conceived impracticable, that the gallant NELSON led his BRITONS (the men whom the Morning Chronicle pronounced to be “without courage, and ready to resign their swords to every puny whipster”) to victory, and everlasting fame!
(3) Here is positive proof of the falsehood of Bonaparte’s assertions respecting the sailing of the fleet. We beseech the reader to bear this passage in mind, for we shall by and by return to it.
(4) We were sorry to find such a passage as this in Bruey’s letter. He was evidently a man of courage and capacity, and ought to have known his enemy better. Such flights of vanity and imbecility are things of course in the dispatches of the Directory; but this is not an official letter; it is evidently meant for the private information of Bruix, and seems drawn up as a kind of defence against the probable remonstrances of Bonaparte.
It is needless to observe how much the unfortunate Admiral was deceived. His fate will not be altogether useless to his countrymen, if it gives them juster notions of our “prudence,” with equal, or even inferior numbers.
Admiral BRUEYS, commanding the Naval Forces of the Republic in the Mediterranean, to the Minister of the Marine, and of the Colonies.
Citizen Minister,
I WROTE to you from Malta on the 14th of June; in that letter I gave you an account of the arrival of the fleet at Malta, and of the capture of that island. The ships of the line, and the transports were all under sail on the 19th, and on the 1st of July we were off the old port of Alexandria.
I had previously dispatched the Juno to bring the Consul on board. Citizen Magallon (the nephew) arrived on the 1st, and informed us that an English squadron had appeared in the line of battle off the port of Alexandria, on the 28th of June, that they had made sail to the north-east. The squadron was supposed to consist of fourteen ships of the line.
The Consul also told us that our arrival had been daily looked for, for some time; that there was a great fermentation in the country, and no inconsiderable degree of uneasiness and apprehension.
The Commander in Chief desired to be put on shore immediately; I therefore came to anchor on the coast, and during the night succeeded in landing 6000 men in a creak to the west of the Old Port, near a castle called Marabou, about two leagues from the city: not the slightest opposition was made to our descent.
The 2d, at noon, our troops were in the city, and in three hours afterwards the fort surrendered. There was some resistance attempted at the wall which surrounds the city, but it was immediately scaled. A few shot were fired into the streets from the windows of the houses; the fort too, fired a few cannon: but every thing was soon in our possession.
I disembarked all the troops, and the baggage belonging to them, and on the 7th, having satisfied myself that our ships of war could not get into the port for want of a sufficient depth of water at the entrance, I ordered the Venetian ships(1), and the transports, to come to anchor here, and stood off with the thirteen sail of the line and three frigates, with an intent of mooring in the Bay of Bequiers.
I arrived there in the afternoon, and formed a line of battle at two-thirds of a cable-length, the headmost vessel being as close as possible(2) to a shoal to the north-west of us, and the rest of the fleet forming a kind of curve along the line of deep water, so as not to be turned, by any means, in the south-west. This position is the strongest we could possibly take in an open road, where we cannot approach sufficiently near the land to be protected by batteries, and where the enemy has it in his power to choose his own distance.
Our troops entered Rosetta yesterday, and the army is not in full march for Cairo.
We have pushed into this branch of the Nile as many of our light vessels as possible; and the Commander in Chief has asked me for the Chief of Division, Perree, to command them. The flotilla sailed this morning to try if it be possible to get over the bar of Rosetta. You see that we are marching to the conquest of Egypt with the steps of a giant.
It is vexatious that there is not a port where a fleet can enter; but the Old Port, of which we have heard so much, is shut up by a reef of rocks, some under, and some above, water, forming a number of narrow channels, where the depth is only from 23 to 25 and 30 feet. The sea, too, is commonly very high: thus you see, that one of our seventy-fours would be in no small danger there, especially as she would inevitably go to pieces in a few minutes after touching the ground.
To gratify the wishes of the Commander in Chief(3), I have offered a reward of ten thousand livres to any pilot of the country who will undertake to carry the squadron in; but none of them will venture to take charge of a single vessel that draws more than twenty feet. I hope, however, that we shall succeed in finding a channel by which our seventy-fours may enter; but this can only be the result of many laborious and painful experiments.
I have already engaged two intelligent officers in this business; Captain Barre, commanding at present the Alceste, and Citizen Vidal, first Lieutenant. If they find a channel, they will buoy it for us; and then we may enter without much danger. The depth within the reefs increases to fifteen fathoms, but the getting out of the harbour will, in all cases, be very difficult, and very tedious; so that a squadron would engage to a vast disadvantage.
I have heard nothing further of the English. They are gone, perhaps, to look for us on the coast of Syria or rather (and this is my private opinion) they have not so many as fourteen sail of the line; and finding themselves not superior in numbers, do not think it quite so prudent to try their strength with us(4).
We look forward with the greatest anxiety to the time when the conquest of Egypt shall furnish us with provisions. We are now obliged to supply the troops continually—every hour new rains are made upon us. We have now only fifteen days biscuit on board; and we are in this anchorage just as if we were on the high seas—consuming every thing, and replacing nothing.
Our crews are weak both in number and quality. Our rigging, in general, out of repair; and I am sure that it requires no little courage to undertake the management of a fleet, furnished with such tools!
I do not think it necessary to enter into any further details on our present situation. You are a seamen, and will therefore conceive it better than I can describe it to you.
Before I conclude, I will transcribe a paragraph from a letter which I have just received from the Commander in Chief.
“I have asked of the Executive Directory, the rank of Rear Admiral for your Chief of the Staff, Ganteaume. I beseech you to appoint him. I have sought by this to give proof of my gratitude and esteem for the essential services, the activity, and the zeal manifested by your staff officers, and, generally speaking, the whole squadron, in executing the orders of the Government.
“BONAPARTE”
Health and respect.
BRUEYS.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) Le Dubois and Le Causse, of the 64 Guns each, and two or three frigates.
(2) Never was there a more glorious testimony to the intrepidity and skill of the British seamen, than this letter furnishes. The French Admiral, a man of no common abilities in his profession, and anxious, above all things, to secure his fleet from being headed by an enemy, places his van ship as near the shoal as possible, and reposes in the most perfect confidence, that nothing can molest him in that quarter; and yet it was between this very shoal and ship, and through this very passage, which, after an examination of the twenty-four days (from the 7th to the 31st of July), the French Admiral conceived impracticable, that the gallant NELSON led his BRITONS (the men whom the Morning Chronicle pronounced to be “without courage, and ready to resign their swords to every puny whipster”) to victory, and everlasting fame!
(3) Here is positive proof of the falsehood of Bonaparte’s assertions respecting the sailing of the fleet. We beseech the reader to bear this passage in mind, for we shall by and by return to it.
(4) We were sorry to find such a passage as this in Bruey’s letter. He was evidently a man of courage and capacity, and ought to have known his enemy better. Such flights of vanity and imbecility are things of course in the dispatches of the Directory; but this is not an official letter; it is evidently meant for the private information of Bruix, and seems drawn up as a kind of defence against the probable remonstrances of Bonaparte.
It is needless to observe how much the unfortunate Admiral was deceived. His fate will not be altogether useless to his countrymen, if it gives them juster notions of our “prudence,” with equal, or even inferior numbers.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Letter Critical of Bonaparte Written in Secrecy to Minister of the Marine
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 28-36.
TRANSLATION.
(For your own private reading.)
At anchor off Aboukir, July 9
To General BRUIX, minister of the Marine, &c.
IN my letter of this day’s date, my dear Bruix, you will find my official accompts. In this I shall venture to lay aside my commissarial caution, and speak to you unreservedly on our real situation in this country. There will be no connection in my letter; first, because I have my attention called off every moment by the repeated applications which, as you well know, are never sparingly made by a fleet at anchor; and secondly, because the vessel which carries the dispatches is under weigh.
Generally speaking, the land and sea officers took their leaves of each other in a very cold manner. The way in which they were all crowded together for want of room, and the scanty allowance to which they were confined, account for it naturally enough(1).
All orders of any consequence were at first given out by the Commander in Chief; latterly the Admiral has received them from Berthier, the head of the staff(2). That for our landing at Malta was issued on the very day of our disembarkation. Two days only were allowed at Alexandria. The immense difference between land and sea operations can be no secret to you; but such is the General’s way of doing things! As it is, every thing has completely succeeded.
Malta without a supply of provisions—with very little money—a sale of national property that cannot possibly take place for some time—and an immense population, which was wholly supported by the Order(3). The supplies from France will not, I imagine, be very abundant; those from Egypt are not yet in a state of forwardness:--and yet the possession of the island, in a military point of view, is of the utmost importance.
The plague ceased at Alexandria only five or six days before our arrival. There was, however, in the New Port, a vessel that had it on board: some of the crew had landed and gone into the city; but we heard of no accident that had happened from it; and besides, it is well known, that in the great heats, the plague is no longer infectious. You will laugh outright, perhaps you witlings of Paris, at the Mahometan proclamation(4) to the Commander in Chief. He is proof, however, against all your raillery; and the thing itself will certainly produce a most surprising effect. You recollect that produced by the magic cry of GUERRE AUX CHATEAUX, PAIX AUX CASANES(5).
The Commander in Chief will march to the attack of Cairo with the grand army; the divisions will do the rest. When the army first got sight of Alexandria, and the deserts which surround it, both officers and men were struck with consternation. Bonaparte has revised their spirits. The port of Alexandria is absolutely destitute of means, either for victualling or refitting a single ship. But the conquest will soon enable us to draw immense advantages from it. Alexander did every thing in a year!
The Arabs and the Mameloucs have treated some of our prisoners as Socrates is said to have treated Alcibiades. There was no alternative to death or submission;--one of our grenadiers chose the former. They took some of our women too: but they only beat them!
It is not yet certain whether our seventy-fours can get into the port. The two Venetian sixty-fours can get into the port. The two Venetian sixty-fours are already there. There was talk of getting out our guns to enable us to enter. But in that case, what should we do there, and when and how should we get out again?
We are now moored at Aboukir, about five leagues to the East of Alexandria—the road is well enough in summer; but in winter quite untenable. The English are in our neighbourhood. They have fourteen sail, and we thirteen, of which three are rather out of condition. We are in expectation of them. The general opinion (but this might be influenced in some degree by personal considerations) was, that as soon as the debarkation was effected, we should have sailed for Corfou; where we were to be reinforced by the ships from Malta, Toulon, and Ancona, and thus prepared for all events. THE GENERAL HAS DECIDED IT OTHERWISE(6). The good fortune which attends all his operations, will not fail to follow this:--for the rest—we are under the gale of fatalism, and its breath shakes my principles a little.
How deficient in foresight are we all in the wishes which we form! I had half an inclination to remain Commissary for some time at Malta; but when I saw that, for the first year at least, that port could neither receive from France nor from Egypt such supplies as would render a residence there tolerable, and that a numerous population would suffer, at least, for a time, the agonies of passing from an organization, imperfect without doubt, but long established, to one differing from it in every respect:--When I saw all this, I said to myself, “let somebody else be a witness to these dreadful distresses, and let me try my fortune at Alexandria.” There I had every thing to do, and every thing to suffer, both from the climate and the troops—and I clung more closely than ever to the fleet, determined to follow its destiny. I have often turned my eyes towards France, towards my friends, but have never regretted the sacrifices I made in quitting Malta.
Adieu, my dear Bruix, be happy, and realize your wishes for the re-establishment of the marine. Accept these assurances of my affectionate and unceasing attachment.
JAUBERT.
Allow me to present my respectful services to Madame Bruix, and Mademoiselle Theresa.
I say nothing to you of the capture of Alexandria. I shall request Forestier to read his letter to you.
As I have been rather too open in this letter, you will oblige me by throwing it into the fire as soon as you have read it.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is letter to which we particularly wished to call the reader’s attention. It owes, as he will see, its superior interest to the great degree of intimacy subsisting between Jaubert and the first minister of the marine, and which allowed him to speak out, without hazarding a voyage to Cayenne.
(2)We have before us an official letter from Jaubert to Bruix, dated on board the l’Orient the 4th of July. The letter in general is not sufficiently interesting to be laid before the public, but the concluding paragraph throws some light on this passage.
“The transports from Toulon, Marseilles, Genoa, Ajaccio, and Civita Vecchia amounted in all to 293 sail; they were manned with about 4,500 men; and had on board, besides the artillery, 22,000 land forces, and 1,200 horses.”
Now it appears from a variety of documents that the number embarked from France and Italy, was about 40,000 (not picked regiments and companies, but) picked men. If we now allow 5000 for the garrison of Malta, and for casualties on the voyage, we shall find the number of troops distributed on board the ships of war, to be something above 11,000-if to these we add the staff of the whole army, we shall be able, as Jaubert says, to account naturally enough, for the coldness between the land and sea officers, who had been thus packed together for near three months.
It appears from Boyer’s list (No. 22.), which we know to be perfectly correct, that the ships of war consisted of 15 sail of the line, 14 frigates, and several Corvettes, and smaller vessels. It may not be improper in this place to mention their fate—Of the 15 sail of the line, 11 were taken and destroyed by Lord Nelson, two made their escape to Corfou and Malta, and two are still in the Old Port of Alexandria.—Of the 14 frigates, two were destroyed in the great engagement, one taken by the Turks, another (the Sensible) by our cruisers, nine are at this moment in the port of Alexandria, and one is unaccounted for,--most probably it is stopped in one of the Turkish ports.—Of the smaller vessels, some have been destroyed, and some taken.
It is a pleasing circumstance, however, to consider, that of all this vast armament, the greatest, as Boyer says, that ever appeared in the Mediterranean (see his Letter, No. 22) not one has yet reached France; and we shall be much mistaken indeed if ONE EVER DOES!!! The French may amuse themselves as much as they please, and the Jacobins of this country may follow them, in speculating to what fortunate empire the fleet will next convey the blessings of liberty.—The blessings we know to be immense; but—the fleet will never leave Alexandria!
(3)This seems to shew a kind of contempt for Brueys. How it originated we know not, but most probably in the ignorance and presumption of Bonaparte, who, accustomed to have his commands carried into instant execution, could not always book the delays occasioned by the nature of the sea service, and which his inexperience in these matters might sometimes lead him to attribute a want of zeal or knowledge in the Admiral.
The influence of Bonaparte in France is strongly marked in this paragraph. Jaubert undoubtedly thinks him wrong, and yet in a confidential letter written to the Minister of Marine, the friend and patron of Brueys, he scarcely dares to breathe a doubt of his infallibility.
(4)Here is a pretty specimen of the favours conferred by these propagandists of liberty, &c. on the poor of Malta—the constant objects, as we all know, and as we have all been told a thousand times, of their peculiar protection and regard! They were wholly supported, as Jaubert truly says, by the Order; yet the French abolish that order, seize all its property to themselves, and leave the poor inhabitants, like the cannons of Boileau, “eperdus et benis,” free, as they are pleased to call it, and starving! It is some consolation, however, to find that the Maltese are not wholly insensible of the kindness.
(5) The witlings of London (The Morning Chronicle, the Courier, and the other Jacobin papers) did better; they denied its authenticity, and substituted in its place a proclamation fabricated for the purpose by the Directory.
(6)”WAR TO PALACES! PEACE TO COTTAGES!”—It is fortunate for mankind that the French in the wantonness of success sometimes put off the mask, and discover the features of the Revolution in all their deformity! This “magic cry” (as it is truly called) has set one part of Europe against the other. It has furnished a topic for declamation to the cold-blooded philosophists of every country; who, from their closets, have propagated the destructive war-hoop from nation to nation, with all the enthusiasim of demons. It was in vain to tell the people that the fall of one involved that of the other. They were long governed more by words than by facts; and it was not till they saw themselves surrounded by the ruins of their smoking “cottages,” while “palaces” frequently remained uninjured, and curse at once the authors of their delusion, and the agents of their destruction.
The poor in every country which the French have reached, have been the chief sufferers; and, in consequence of it, among the foremost to retaliate on their oppressors. Jordan’s grand army was nearly annihilated by them in its flight, and Belguim and Italy, and Switzerland which has no “palaces,” are at this moment filled with an injured peasantry, breathing “curses not loud but deep,” and cutting off in the secrecy and silence, whole armies of their wanton and hypocritical destroyers.
The “magic cry” thank Heaven! Has lost its power to charm, and now remains a mere vox et praterra nihil, serving only to remind its profligate employers of the mischief it once wrought, and, as in the instance before us, to furnish an unfeeling allusion, or a witticism.
TRANSLATION.
(For your own private reading.)
At anchor off Aboukir, July 9
To General BRUIX, minister of the Marine, &c.
IN my letter of this day’s date, my dear Bruix, you will find my official accompts. In this I shall venture to lay aside my commissarial caution, and speak to you unreservedly on our real situation in this country. There will be no connection in my letter; first, because I have my attention called off every moment by the repeated applications which, as you well know, are never sparingly made by a fleet at anchor; and secondly, because the vessel which carries the dispatches is under weigh.
Generally speaking, the land and sea officers took their leaves of each other in a very cold manner. The way in which they were all crowded together for want of room, and the scanty allowance to which they were confined, account for it naturally enough(1).
All orders of any consequence were at first given out by the Commander in Chief; latterly the Admiral has received them from Berthier, the head of the staff(2). That for our landing at Malta was issued on the very day of our disembarkation. Two days only were allowed at Alexandria. The immense difference between land and sea operations can be no secret to you; but such is the General’s way of doing things! As it is, every thing has completely succeeded.
Malta without a supply of provisions—with very little money—a sale of national property that cannot possibly take place for some time—and an immense population, which was wholly supported by the Order(3). The supplies from France will not, I imagine, be very abundant; those from Egypt are not yet in a state of forwardness:--and yet the possession of the island, in a military point of view, is of the utmost importance.
The plague ceased at Alexandria only five or six days before our arrival. There was, however, in the New Port, a vessel that had it on board: some of the crew had landed and gone into the city; but we heard of no accident that had happened from it; and besides, it is well known, that in the great heats, the plague is no longer infectious. You will laugh outright, perhaps you witlings of Paris, at the Mahometan proclamation(4) to the Commander in Chief. He is proof, however, against all your raillery; and the thing itself will certainly produce a most surprising effect. You recollect that produced by the magic cry of GUERRE AUX CHATEAUX, PAIX AUX CASANES(5).
The Commander in Chief will march to the attack of Cairo with the grand army; the divisions will do the rest. When the army first got sight of Alexandria, and the deserts which surround it, both officers and men were struck with consternation. Bonaparte has revised their spirits. The port of Alexandria is absolutely destitute of means, either for victualling or refitting a single ship. But the conquest will soon enable us to draw immense advantages from it. Alexander did every thing in a year!
The Arabs and the Mameloucs have treated some of our prisoners as Socrates is said to have treated Alcibiades. There was no alternative to death or submission;--one of our grenadiers chose the former. They took some of our women too: but they only beat them!
It is not yet certain whether our seventy-fours can get into the port. The two Venetian sixty-fours can get into the port. The two Venetian sixty-fours are already there. There was talk of getting out our guns to enable us to enter. But in that case, what should we do there, and when and how should we get out again?
We are now moored at Aboukir, about five leagues to the East of Alexandria—the road is well enough in summer; but in winter quite untenable. The English are in our neighbourhood. They have fourteen sail, and we thirteen, of which three are rather out of condition. We are in expectation of them. The general opinion (but this might be influenced in some degree by personal considerations) was, that as soon as the debarkation was effected, we should have sailed for Corfou; where we were to be reinforced by the ships from Malta, Toulon, and Ancona, and thus prepared for all events. THE GENERAL HAS DECIDED IT OTHERWISE(6). The good fortune which attends all his operations, will not fail to follow this:--for the rest—we are under the gale of fatalism, and its breath shakes my principles a little.
How deficient in foresight are we all in the wishes which we form! I had half an inclination to remain Commissary for some time at Malta; but when I saw that, for the first year at least, that port could neither receive from France nor from Egypt such supplies as would render a residence there tolerable, and that a numerous population would suffer, at least, for a time, the agonies of passing from an organization, imperfect without doubt, but long established, to one differing from it in every respect:--When I saw all this, I said to myself, “let somebody else be a witness to these dreadful distresses, and let me try my fortune at Alexandria.” There I had every thing to do, and every thing to suffer, both from the climate and the troops—and I clung more closely than ever to the fleet, determined to follow its destiny. I have often turned my eyes towards France, towards my friends, but have never regretted the sacrifices I made in quitting Malta.
Adieu, my dear Bruix, be happy, and realize your wishes for the re-establishment of the marine. Accept these assurances of my affectionate and unceasing attachment.
JAUBERT.
Allow me to present my respectful services to Madame Bruix, and Mademoiselle Theresa.
I say nothing to you of the capture of Alexandria. I shall request Forestier to read his letter to you.
As I have been rather too open in this letter, you will oblige me by throwing it into the fire as soon as you have read it.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1)This is letter to which we particularly wished to call the reader’s attention. It owes, as he will see, its superior interest to the great degree of intimacy subsisting between Jaubert and the first minister of the marine, and which allowed him to speak out, without hazarding a voyage to Cayenne.
(2)We have before us an official letter from Jaubert to Bruix, dated on board the l’Orient the 4th of July. The letter in general is not sufficiently interesting to be laid before the public, but the concluding paragraph throws some light on this passage.
“The transports from Toulon, Marseilles, Genoa, Ajaccio, and Civita Vecchia amounted in all to 293 sail; they were manned with about 4,500 men; and had on board, besides the artillery, 22,000 land forces, and 1,200 horses.”
Now it appears from a variety of documents that the number embarked from France and Italy, was about 40,000 (not picked regiments and companies, but) picked men. If we now allow 5000 for the garrison of Malta, and for casualties on the voyage, we shall find the number of troops distributed on board the ships of war, to be something above 11,000-if to these we add the staff of the whole army, we shall be able, as Jaubert says, to account naturally enough, for the coldness between the land and sea officers, who had been thus packed together for near three months.
It appears from Boyer’s list (No. 22.), which we know to be perfectly correct, that the ships of war consisted of 15 sail of the line, 14 frigates, and several Corvettes, and smaller vessels. It may not be improper in this place to mention their fate—Of the 15 sail of the line, 11 were taken and destroyed by Lord Nelson, two made their escape to Corfou and Malta, and two are still in the Old Port of Alexandria.—Of the 14 frigates, two were destroyed in the great engagement, one taken by the Turks, another (the Sensible) by our cruisers, nine are at this moment in the port of Alexandria, and one is unaccounted for,--most probably it is stopped in one of the Turkish ports.—Of the smaller vessels, some have been destroyed, and some taken.
It is a pleasing circumstance, however, to consider, that of all this vast armament, the greatest, as Boyer says, that ever appeared in the Mediterranean (see his Letter, No. 22) not one has yet reached France; and we shall be much mistaken indeed if ONE EVER DOES!!! The French may amuse themselves as much as they please, and the Jacobins of this country may follow them, in speculating to what fortunate empire the fleet will next convey the blessings of liberty.—The blessings we know to be immense; but—the fleet will never leave Alexandria!
(3)This seems to shew a kind of contempt for Brueys. How it originated we know not, but most probably in the ignorance and presumption of Bonaparte, who, accustomed to have his commands carried into instant execution, could not always book the delays occasioned by the nature of the sea service, and which his inexperience in these matters might sometimes lead him to attribute a want of zeal or knowledge in the Admiral.
The influence of Bonaparte in France is strongly marked in this paragraph. Jaubert undoubtedly thinks him wrong, and yet in a confidential letter written to the Minister of Marine, the friend and patron of Brueys, he scarcely dares to breathe a doubt of his infallibility.
(4)Here is a pretty specimen of the favours conferred by these propagandists of liberty, &c. on the poor of Malta—the constant objects, as we all know, and as we have all been told a thousand times, of their peculiar protection and regard! They were wholly supported, as Jaubert truly says, by the Order; yet the French abolish that order, seize all its property to themselves, and leave the poor inhabitants, like the cannons of Boileau, “eperdus et benis,” free, as they are pleased to call it, and starving! It is some consolation, however, to find that the Maltese are not wholly insensible of the kindness.
(5) The witlings of London (The Morning Chronicle, the Courier, and the other Jacobin papers) did better; they denied its authenticity, and substituted in its place a proclamation fabricated for the purpose by the Directory.
(6)”WAR TO PALACES! PEACE TO COTTAGES!”—It is fortunate for mankind that the French in the wantonness of success sometimes put off the mask, and discover the features of the Revolution in all their deformity! This “magic cry” (as it is truly called) has set one part of Europe against the other. It has furnished a topic for declamation to the cold-blooded philosophists of every country; who, from their closets, have propagated the destructive war-hoop from nation to nation, with all the enthusiasim of demons. It was in vain to tell the people that the fall of one involved that of the other. They were long governed more by words than by facts; and it was not till they saw themselves surrounded by the ruins of their smoking “cottages,” while “palaces” frequently remained uninjured, and curse at once the authors of their delusion, and the agents of their destruction.
The poor in every country which the French have reached, have been the chief sufferers; and, in consequence of it, among the foremost to retaliate on their oppressors. Jordan’s grand army was nearly annihilated by them in its flight, and Belguim and Italy, and Switzerland which has no “palaces,” are at this moment filled with an injured peasantry, breathing “curses not loud but deep,” and cutting off in the secrecy and silence, whole armies of their wanton and hypocritical destroyers.
The “magic cry” thank Heaven! Has lost its power to charm, and now remains a mere vox et praterra nihil, serving only to remind its profligate employers of the mischief it once wrought, and, as in the instance before us, to furnish an unfeeling allusion, or a witticism.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
"War with the Mameloucs, peace with the Arabs!"
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 16-24.
TRANSLATION.
L’Orient, off Aboukir, July 8th.
From JAUBERT(1), Commissary, &c.
HERE we are, my dear Jaubert, on the coasts of Egypt. Our brave troops have already got footing in its territories, and every thing announces that ere long the improvident despotism of the Mameloucs, and the apathy of the Egyptians, will be succeeded by a creative government, and by a spirit of emulation hitherto unknown to its inhabitants.
We are masters of Alexandria. On our march we seized on Aboukir and Rosetta, and are consequently in possession of one of the principal mouths of the Nile. Thou mayst trace our route on the chart to Savary’s Voyage(2), which I suppose thou hast before thee.
At six in the morning of the first instant, we were within six leagues of Alexandria. The Juno was dispatched to the port with a letter to the French Consul.—This was the ostensible motive, but her secret orders were, at all events, to bring him and all the French in the city on board the fleet. Every thing there was in confusion. A French invasion had been openly talked of for the last two months, and measures taken (as measures usually are taken by the Turks) to prevent it. The appearance of an English squadron of fourteen sail on the 28th of June, and which the Governor obstinately maintained to be ours, had redoubled the terrors of the city, and rendered the situation of the French residents there, more and more critical. The Consul, however, obtained permission to go on board the Juno, on his promise to return in three hours; and the frigate directly put to sea with him. On his arrival on board the l’Orient, the necessity of the immediate measures became apparent, not only to anticipate the English in getting possession of Alexandria, but to shelter our fleet from an engagement, which must be evidently on unequal terms, in the confusion of a first anchorage on unknown ground.
The English fleet has played with ill luck on its side—first, it missed us on the coast of Sardinia; next, it missed a convoy of fifty-seven sail coming from Civita Vecchia, with seven thousand troops of the army of Italy on board. It did not arrive at Malta till five days after we left it; and it arrived at Alexandria two days before we reached it! It is to be presumed that it is gone to Alexandretta, under an idea that the army is to be disembarked there for the conquest of India. We shall certainly see it at last, but we are now moored in such a manner as to bid defiance to a force more than double our own.
Such, however, was our critical situation on the morning of the 1st, that in spite of the promptitude with which we disembarked, we might have been surprised by the English in the midst of our operations. Apprehensive of this, the Commander in Chief, with his Staff, was in his galley by four in the afternoon, surrounded by the boats and shallops of the different vessels, all full of troops, and ready for the descent.
On the morning of the 2d, a landing was effected at Marabou, two leagues to the west of Alexandria—not the slightest resistance! Not even a piece of cannon at Marabou! The army then advanced in platoons towards the city; the stragglers, and those who marched at any distance from the main body, were attacked by parties of Arabs, and a few scattered Mameloucs, who hovered about us. There were also a few partial engagements, in which we lost men. On our arrival, the entrance of our brave troops was opposed. A few three or four-pounders, (observer, that we had no artillery with us) carabines, stones &c. announced a resolution to defend the city. General Kleber was wounded in the head, and General Menou in divers places; but by eleven o’clock we were in possession of Alexandria. The aukward musquetry which attempted a defence by firing from the windows, all hid themselves, or were killed. The Mameloucs, and a vast number of Arabs, took refuge in the desert. The few inhabitants who remained were exceedingly astonished(3) at finding we did not cut their throats, and read with transports of joy, the proclamation (4) which the Commander in Chief had previously printed in Arabic, and which you must long before this have seen in the public papers.
This proclamation has given birth to two very singular circumstances. The evening before, we had seized a few Turks and Arabs, and carried them on board the fleet. The question was to clam their apprehensions, and make them our apostles. A Maronite priest from Damascus (a Christian like ourselves) was ordered to read it to them, and to comment on it as he proceeded. When you consider the proclamation(5), you will judge how well the part he played became him!
The day we landed, the Turkish Vice Admiral, who was in the port of Alexandria, with the Caraval (a large vessel belonging to the Grand Seignior), destined to collect the tribute of the army, sent his flag officer on board the l’Orient with a present of two sheep, and an order to inquire into the destination of our armament. We gave him the proclamation to read, he excused himself on his ignorance, and it was read to him: every paragraph that touched on the insolence of the Mameloucs made him leap with joy. He asked for some proclamations to disperse, and assured us, that the Vice Admiral, who represented the person of the Grand Seignior, would give a general order for the friendly reception of the French. At length, after drinking a cup of coffee and eating some sweetmeats, he retired extremely well satisfied(6). The Caraval is still in the port with the Admiral’s flag flying.
I landed at Alexandria on the 4th with the Admiral. Those of the inhabitants who had remained, as well as the Arabs of the neighbourhood, appeared to be tolerably well recovered from their fright, and in a way of acquiring a little confidence. There were in the Bazar (market-place) sheep, pigeons, tobacco, and a number of barbers; who place the head of their customers between their knees; and who, at first, seem rather preparing to twist their necks off than to shave them; they have, however, a very light hand, and go through their business skillfully. I saw also some women: they were muffled up in long vestments, which left nothing to be seen but the eyes; a mode of dress which put me in mind of the penitents of our southern provinces.
This city, which is still said to contain 10,000 inhabitants, has nothing of the ancient Alexandria but the name—the Arabs, indeed, call it Scanderia. The ruins of its former circuit announce that it was once a most extensive place, and might well contain the 300,000 people which historians have given it. But the despotism and stupor which followed that period, and the discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, have successively reduced it to the miserable state in which it now lies.
It is a mere heap of ruins, where you see a paltry hovel of mud and straw stuck against the magnificent fragments of a granite column! The streets are not paved. This image of desolation is rendered the more striking by being within view of two objects, which have passed uninjured through the lapse of ages that has devoured every thing around them. One is what is called Pompey’s Column, but which was raised by Severus; this I have only seen at a distance: the other, which is called Cleopatra’s Needle, I have examined closely. It is an obelisk formed of a single piece of granite, exceedingly well preserved. As far as I could judge from my eye, it is about 72 of our feet in height, and 7 feet square at the base, and 4 towards the summit; it is covered with hieroglyphics on every side. A few date-trees are scattered here and there about the country. It is a melancholy looking tree, which, at a distance, bears some resemblance to a fir that has been stript of all its branches to the top.
Such is the coast of this country, so fertile in the interior! And which, under an enlightened government, might see once more revived the age of Alexander and the Ptolemites.
Arrived at head quarters, which are fixed near the northern extremity of the city, we found an activity, an appearance of life which we had not been used to for a long time: some of the troops disembarking, others repairing for their march across the desert to Rosetta—Generals, soldiers, Turks, Arabs, camels—all together formed a contrast which presented a very lively picture of the Revolution(7) which was about to change the face of the country.
In the midst of this confusion appeared the Commander in Chief, regulating the march of the army, the police of the city, and the precautions to be taken against the plague;--tracing out new fortifications, combining the operations of the fleet with those of the army, and expediting, in conjunction with the Arabs who had submitted, proclamations to the tribes who had taken the alarm. A most striking example was made at this instant: a soldier was brought in, who had stolen a poignard from a friendly Arab; the face was ascertained, and the culprit was instantly shot on the spot.
In consequence of this, an entire tribe of Arabs, consisting of 3000, sent deputies the next day to the Commander in Chief, to swear a lasting friendship between the two nations, under pain of damnation! They brought with them some prisoners, among whom was one of our women, whom they had beaten. This tribe will furnish us with armed soldiers; others will assuredly imitate their example. War with the Mameloucs, peace with the Arabs! Such is the cry which will swell our armies, and sweep before us the oppressors of this part of the world.
I am obliged to break off—the vessel is going. I have not time to read it over, to see if it be correctly copied; this must be my excuse.
Adieu.
JAUBERT.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) It appears from the next letter, which is under the same signature, and which the reader will find well worthy of his serious attention, that Jaubert was first Commissary to the fleet. The cover of this letter is either lost or mislaid, but it was probably addressed to his brother, one of the Generals of the French army in Italy.
(2) In the original it is “Savary’s, or some other,”—what other Jaubert might allude to we know not, nor, perhaps, the writer himself; but certainly Savary’s is good for nothing.
It is this man’s rhapsodical and delusive panegyric on Egypt which appears to have increased, in a considerable degree, the old bias of the French government towards the seizure of that country; it also seems to be the only Vade-Mecum of the Savans, and leaders of the expedition, who appear to have placed an implicit confidence in it. The former, at least as far as we know, have not made any advances towards a recantation of their credulity; for, as the great Pangloss well observed, when he spat out his last tooth in the hospital, “it does not become a philosopher to change his opinions;” but the latter have loudly and frequently declared their sorrow and indignation at having been so miserably misled.
(3)The astonishment of the remaining Alexandrines, at finding the French did not cut their throats, may be tolerably well accounted for (no offence to Mons. Jaubert’s sagacity!) by a slight perusal of Citizen Boyer’s long letter to his father, (see No. XXII.) After an indiscriminate massacre of these unoffending people (unless it be an offence to dispute the possession of their lives and properties, with a rapacious and blood-thirsty horde of strangers) “for a space of four hours;” the trembling survivors might reasonably wonder at their being spared, and read with pleasure (or, if Mons. Jaubert will have it so, “with transports of joy,”) any thing that promised a temporary cessation of the wanton cruelties of their invaders.
(4)See the APPENDIX, No. I.
(5)Jaubert would have made no bad coadjutor to Hebert, the original Pere du Chene. The same impiety, the same disregard of decency, and the same readiness to adopt every prejudice of the people for the sake of turning them to the purposes of pillage and proscription!
Hypocrisy of every kind is bad; but the hypocrisy of Atheism is monstrous! It adds cowardice to guilt.
Now we are on this subject, it may not be amiss to mention that the passage before us puts the authenticity of Bonaparte’s proclamation out of dispute. Our readers cannot have forgotten with what sturdiness the Opposition writers (out of a tender regard, we suppose, for the pious memory of their favourite Chief) first maintained that it was fabricated in this country, and then, when it appeared in France mutilated and disguised—(as, on account of Spain, an open profession of Mahometanism is not yet, perhaps thought prudent)—with what versatility they veered round, and allowed that Bonaparte had, indeed, published a proclamation, but that it was only to be found in its genuine state in the French papers.
We enter into no cavils with these gentlemen. Our translation is made from faithful rendering of the original Arabic, by the Dragoman of our Embassy at the Port, and the reader who turns to it, will perfectly comprehend the sneer of Jaubert at the part played by the Maronite, or Christian priest!
(6)We have given Bonaparte’s address to the vice Admiral in the Appendix; it is in his unusual style of insolence. With respect to the farce played on board the l’Orient, by the Turkish messenger, we do not believe a word of it; this, however, is certain at all events, that if any such mummery took place, it was not the Turk that was duped by it!
(7)This is no bad picture of the restless spirit of these people. Whether abroad or at home, their expectations are the same. In every chance-medley they discover the destruction of empires; and a confusion of any kind (though but of men and camels,) is to them the certain pledge of approaching revolutions!
TRANSLATION.
L’Orient, off Aboukir, July 8th.
From JAUBERT(1), Commissary, &c.
HERE we are, my dear Jaubert, on the coasts of Egypt. Our brave troops have already got footing in its territories, and every thing announces that ere long the improvident despotism of the Mameloucs, and the apathy of the Egyptians, will be succeeded by a creative government, and by a spirit of emulation hitherto unknown to its inhabitants.
We are masters of Alexandria. On our march we seized on Aboukir and Rosetta, and are consequently in possession of one of the principal mouths of the Nile. Thou mayst trace our route on the chart to Savary’s Voyage(2), which I suppose thou hast before thee.
At six in the morning of the first instant, we were within six leagues of Alexandria. The Juno was dispatched to the port with a letter to the French Consul.—This was the ostensible motive, but her secret orders were, at all events, to bring him and all the French in the city on board the fleet. Every thing there was in confusion. A French invasion had been openly talked of for the last two months, and measures taken (as measures usually are taken by the Turks) to prevent it. The appearance of an English squadron of fourteen sail on the 28th of June, and which the Governor obstinately maintained to be ours, had redoubled the terrors of the city, and rendered the situation of the French residents there, more and more critical. The Consul, however, obtained permission to go on board the Juno, on his promise to return in three hours; and the frigate directly put to sea with him. On his arrival on board the l’Orient, the necessity of the immediate measures became apparent, not only to anticipate the English in getting possession of Alexandria, but to shelter our fleet from an engagement, which must be evidently on unequal terms, in the confusion of a first anchorage on unknown ground.
The English fleet has played with ill luck on its side—first, it missed us on the coast of Sardinia; next, it missed a convoy of fifty-seven sail coming from Civita Vecchia, with seven thousand troops of the army of Italy on board. It did not arrive at Malta till five days after we left it; and it arrived at Alexandria two days before we reached it! It is to be presumed that it is gone to Alexandretta, under an idea that the army is to be disembarked there for the conquest of India. We shall certainly see it at last, but we are now moored in such a manner as to bid defiance to a force more than double our own.
Such, however, was our critical situation on the morning of the 1st, that in spite of the promptitude with which we disembarked, we might have been surprised by the English in the midst of our operations. Apprehensive of this, the Commander in Chief, with his Staff, was in his galley by four in the afternoon, surrounded by the boats and shallops of the different vessels, all full of troops, and ready for the descent.
On the morning of the 2d, a landing was effected at Marabou, two leagues to the west of Alexandria—not the slightest resistance! Not even a piece of cannon at Marabou! The army then advanced in platoons towards the city; the stragglers, and those who marched at any distance from the main body, were attacked by parties of Arabs, and a few scattered Mameloucs, who hovered about us. There were also a few partial engagements, in which we lost men. On our arrival, the entrance of our brave troops was opposed. A few three or four-pounders, (observer, that we had no artillery with us) carabines, stones &c. announced a resolution to defend the city. General Kleber was wounded in the head, and General Menou in divers places; but by eleven o’clock we were in possession of Alexandria. The aukward musquetry which attempted a defence by firing from the windows, all hid themselves, or were killed. The Mameloucs, and a vast number of Arabs, took refuge in the desert. The few inhabitants who remained were exceedingly astonished(3) at finding we did not cut their throats, and read with transports of joy, the proclamation (4) which the Commander in Chief had previously printed in Arabic, and which you must long before this have seen in the public papers.
This proclamation has given birth to two very singular circumstances. The evening before, we had seized a few Turks and Arabs, and carried them on board the fleet. The question was to clam their apprehensions, and make them our apostles. A Maronite priest from Damascus (a Christian like ourselves) was ordered to read it to them, and to comment on it as he proceeded. When you consider the proclamation(5), you will judge how well the part he played became him!
The day we landed, the Turkish Vice Admiral, who was in the port of Alexandria, with the Caraval (a large vessel belonging to the Grand Seignior), destined to collect the tribute of the army, sent his flag officer on board the l’Orient with a present of two sheep, and an order to inquire into the destination of our armament. We gave him the proclamation to read, he excused himself on his ignorance, and it was read to him: every paragraph that touched on the insolence of the Mameloucs made him leap with joy. He asked for some proclamations to disperse, and assured us, that the Vice Admiral, who represented the person of the Grand Seignior, would give a general order for the friendly reception of the French. At length, after drinking a cup of coffee and eating some sweetmeats, he retired extremely well satisfied(6). The Caraval is still in the port with the Admiral’s flag flying.
I landed at Alexandria on the 4th with the Admiral. Those of the inhabitants who had remained, as well as the Arabs of the neighbourhood, appeared to be tolerably well recovered from their fright, and in a way of acquiring a little confidence. There were in the Bazar (market-place) sheep, pigeons, tobacco, and a number of barbers; who place the head of their customers between their knees; and who, at first, seem rather preparing to twist their necks off than to shave them; they have, however, a very light hand, and go through their business skillfully. I saw also some women: they were muffled up in long vestments, which left nothing to be seen but the eyes; a mode of dress which put me in mind of the penitents of our southern provinces.
This city, which is still said to contain 10,000 inhabitants, has nothing of the ancient Alexandria but the name—the Arabs, indeed, call it Scanderia. The ruins of its former circuit announce that it was once a most extensive place, and might well contain the 300,000 people which historians have given it. But the despotism and stupor which followed that period, and the discovery of the route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, have successively reduced it to the miserable state in which it now lies.
It is a mere heap of ruins, where you see a paltry hovel of mud and straw stuck against the magnificent fragments of a granite column! The streets are not paved. This image of desolation is rendered the more striking by being within view of two objects, which have passed uninjured through the lapse of ages that has devoured every thing around them. One is what is called Pompey’s Column, but which was raised by Severus; this I have only seen at a distance: the other, which is called Cleopatra’s Needle, I have examined closely. It is an obelisk formed of a single piece of granite, exceedingly well preserved. As far as I could judge from my eye, it is about 72 of our feet in height, and 7 feet square at the base, and 4 towards the summit; it is covered with hieroglyphics on every side. A few date-trees are scattered here and there about the country. It is a melancholy looking tree, which, at a distance, bears some resemblance to a fir that has been stript of all its branches to the top.
Such is the coast of this country, so fertile in the interior! And which, under an enlightened government, might see once more revived the age of Alexander and the Ptolemites.
Arrived at head quarters, which are fixed near the northern extremity of the city, we found an activity, an appearance of life which we had not been used to for a long time: some of the troops disembarking, others repairing for their march across the desert to Rosetta—Generals, soldiers, Turks, Arabs, camels—all together formed a contrast which presented a very lively picture of the Revolution(7) which was about to change the face of the country.
In the midst of this confusion appeared the Commander in Chief, regulating the march of the army, the police of the city, and the precautions to be taken against the plague;--tracing out new fortifications, combining the operations of the fleet with those of the army, and expediting, in conjunction with the Arabs who had submitted, proclamations to the tribes who had taken the alarm. A most striking example was made at this instant: a soldier was brought in, who had stolen a poignard from a friendly Arab; the face was ascertained, and the culprit was instantly shot on the spot.
In consequence of this, an entire tribe of Arabs, consisting of 3000, sent deputies the next day to the Commander in Chief, to swear a lasting friendship between the two nations, under pain of damnation! They brought with them some prisoners, among whom was one of our women, whom they had beaten. This tribe will furnish us with armed soldiers; others will assuredly imitate their example. War with the Mameloucs, peace with the Arabs! Such is the cry which will swell our armies, and sweep before us the oppressors of this part of the world.
I am obliged to break off—the vessel is going. I have not time to read it over, to see if it be correctly copied; this must be my excuse.
Adieu.
JAUBERT.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) It appears from the next letter, which is under the same signature, and which the reader will find well worthy of his serious attention, that Jaubert was first Commissary to the fleet. The cover of this letter is either lost or mislaid, but it was probably addressed to his brother, one of the Generals of the French army in Italy.
(2) In the original it is “Savary’s, or some other,”—what other Jaubert might allude to we know not, nor, perhaps, the writer himself; but certainly Savary’s is good for nothing.
It is this man’s rhapsodical and delusive panegyric on Egypt which appears to have increased, in a considerable degree, the old bias of the French government towards the seizure of that country; it also seems to be the only Vade-Mecum of the Savans, and leaders of the expedition, who appear to have placed an implicit confidence in it. The former, at least as far as we know, have not made any advances towards a recantation of their credulity; for, as the great Pangloss well observed, when he spat out his last tooth in the hospital, “it does not become a philosopher to change his opinions;” but the latter have loudly and frequently declared their sorrow and indignation at having been so miserably misled.
(3)The astonishment of the remaining Alexandrines, at finding the French did not cut their throats, may be tolerably well accounted for (no offence to Mons. Jaubert’s sagacity!) by a slight perusal of Citizen Boyer’s long letter to his father, (see No. XXII.) After an indiscriminate massacre of these unoffending people (unless it be an offence to dispute the possession of their lives and properties, with a rapacious and blood-thirsty horde of strangers) “for a space of four hours;” the trembling survivors might reasonably wonder at their being spared, and read with pleasure (or, if Mons. Jaubert will have it so, “with transports of joy,”) any thing that promised a temporary cessation of the wanton cruelties of their invaders.
(4)See the APPENDIX, No. I.
(5)Jaubert would have made no bad coadjutor to Hebert, the original Pere du Chene. The same impiety, the same disregard of decency, and the same readiness to adopt every prejudice of the people for the sake of turning them to the purposes of pillage and proscription!
Hypocrisy of every kind is bad; but the hypocrisy of Atheism is monstrous! It adds cowardice to guilt.
Now we are on this subject, it may not be amiss to mention that the passage before us puts the authenticity of Bonaparte’s proclamation out of dispute. Our readers cannot have forgotten with what sturdiness the Opposition writers (out of a tender regard, we suppose, for the pious memory of their favourite Chief) first maintained that it was fabricated in this country, and then, when it appeared in France mutilated and disguised—(as, on account of Spain, an open profession of Mahometanism is not yet, perhaps thought prudent)—with what versatility they veered round, and allowed that Bonaparte had, indeed, published a proclamation, but that it was only to be found in its genuine state in the French papers.
We enter into no cavils with these gentlemen. Our translation is made from faithful rendering of the original Arabic, by the Dragoman of our Embassy at the Port, and the reader who turns to it, will perfectly comprehend the sneer of Jaubert at the part played by the Maronite, or Christian priest!
(6)We have given Bonaparte’s address to the vice Admiral in the Appendix; it is in his unusual style of insolence. With respect to the farce played on board the l’Orient, by the Turkish messenger, we do not believe a word of it; this, however, is certain at all events, that if any such mummery took place, it was not the Turk that was duped by it!
(7)This is no bad picture of the restless spirit of these people. Whether abroad or at home, their expectations are the same. In every chance-medley they discover the destruction of empires; and a confusion of any kind (though but of men and camels,) is to them the certain pledge of approaching revolutions!
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Bonaparte Writes his Brother from Alexandria
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 5-10.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria, July 6th, 1798.
To Citizen JOSEPH BONAPARTE, Deputy to the Council of Five Hundred, &c.
We have been in this city, my dear Brother, now four days; it was taken by assault. I will attempt to give you some account of our operations; not as a professional man, but as they appeared to me.
At daybreak, on the 1st of July, we discovered the coast of Africa; which had been seen, and announced to us the evening before by signals. We were presently off the Isles des Arabes, about two leagues from Alexandria, where the Juno frigate, which had been dispatched to bring the French Consul on board, rejoined us.
We learnt from the Consul that an English Squadron of fourteen sail of the line (of which to were three deckers,) had appcared off Alexandria, sent letters on shore to the English Consul, and informed the merchants there of the capture of Malta; that is had then made sail for Alexandretta, concluding, as it was supposed, that we had gone there to disembark our forces, and proceed to India by the way of Bassora.
This squadron had indeed been seen by the Justice, after our departure from Malta; and yet it had the aukwardness, or the stupidity to miss us! The English must be quite furious. It required, I think, no common degree of courage and good fortune, to run through a numerous fleet, with inferior forces, a convoy of four hundred transports; and to capture on our passage, partly by force, and partly by negotiation, such a place as Malta.
Till this day I had always a fancy that fortune might one time or other turn her back upon my brother: now I am persuaded, that she will never desert him, provided the troops retain but a little of that national spirit which has hitherto animated them.
The Mameloucs had been informed three weeks before, by some merchant vessels belonging to Marseilles, of the embarkation of our troops;--when, therefore, they saw the English fleet, they concluded it was ours, so that when we actually appeared, they were prepared for us. The sea ran so high that day that the officers of the marine would not permit the troops to disembark. The vessels therefore came to an anchor about two leagues from the shore: the day was spent in preparations; and at length, about eleven at night, we were put on board the boats of the fleet, with a rough sea, and a very blowing wind.
We marched that night with two thousand (1) infantry, and at break of day invested Alexandria, after driving into the town several small detachments of cavalry. The enemy defended themselves like men; tho artillery which they had planted on the walls was wretchedly served, but their musquetry was excellent. These people 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 2d 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 thence, at the tower of Marabout, or Isles des Arabes. The two first days we had a number of straglers cut off by the Arab and Mamelouc cavalry. I imagine that we have lost about one hundred killed, and as many wounded. The Generals Kleber, Menou, and Lescalle are wounded.
I send you the proclamation (2) to the inhabitants of the country, and three others to the army. The first has produced an effect altogether astonishing. The Bedouins, enemies of the Mameloucs, and who, properly speaking, are neither more nor less 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 Mameloucs. We have treated them kindly. They are an invincible people, inhabiting a burning desert, 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 live 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 life 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 call’st “the men of nature?” thou would’st sink with shame, thou would’st 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.
I am not well at present, and shall be obliged to stay here a few days longer(3): every body else goes to-morrow. Adieu, I embrace you with the sincerest affection. Remember me to Julia, Caroline, &c. and to the legislator(4) Lucien. He might have sailed with us to advantage: we see more in two days than common travelers in two years.
The remarkable objects here are Pompey’s column, the obelisks of Cleopatra, the spot where her baths once stood, and 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 sangfroid absolutely astonishing. Nothing agitates them; and death itself is to them, what a voyage to America is to the English(5).
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 head, 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 shriveled, or stained, they look like so many hob-goblins.
Their forts and their artillery are the most ridiculous thins in nature: they have not even a lock or a window to their houses; in a word, they are still involved in all the blindness of the earliest ages.
Oh! How many misanthropes would be converted if chance should conduct them into the midst of the deserts of Arabia.
Adieu, my dear brother.
Your’s entirely,
L. Bonaparte.
P.S. I beg, my dear brother, that will let the female citizen Coupry, my good old landlady, Rue St. Honore, No. 27, pres le passage des Feuillans, know how and where I am: tell her that I have not yet had time to write her, and that I desired to be remembered to her.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) This is inaccurate. It appears from several of the letters, that a great portion of the army was engaged in the attack on Alexandria.
(2) See the APPENDIX
(3) It appears from Boursienne’s letter (see No. 14.) that he was still there on the 27th of July.
(4) This word is marked in the original, and evidently alludes to a piece of private history.
(5) Meaning, probably, a matter of little importance:--but an expression nearly resembling this, is proverbial amongst them.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria, July 6th, 1798.
To Citizen JOSEPH BONAPARTE, Deputy to the Council of Five Hundred, &c.
We have been in this city, my dear Brother, now four days; it was taken by assault. I will attempt to give you some account of our operations; not as a professional man, but as they appeared to me.
At daybreak, on the 1st of July, we discovered the coast of Africa; which had been seen, and announced to us the evening before by signals. We were presently off the Isles des Arabes, about two leagues from Alexandria, where the Juno frigate, which had been dispatched to bring the French Consul on board, rejoined us.
We learnt from the Consul that an English Squadron of fourteen sail of the line (of which to were three deckers,) had appcared off Alexandria, sent letters on shore to the English Consul, and informed the merchants there of the capture of Malta; that is had then made sail for Alexandretta, concluding, as it was supposed, that we had gone there to disembark our forces, and proceed to India by the way of Bassora.
This squadron had indeed been seen by the Justice, after our departure from Malta; and yet it had the aukwardness, or the stupidity to miss us! The English must be quite furious. It required, I think, no common degree of courage and good fortune, to run through a numerous fleet, with inferior forces, a convoy of four hundred transports; and to capture on our passage, partly by force, and partly by negotiation, such a place as Malta.
Till this day I had always a fancy that fortune might one time or other turn her back upon my brother: now I am persuaded, that she will never desert him, provided the troops retain but a little of that national spirit which has hitherto animated them.
The Mameloucs had been informed three weeks before, by some merchant vessels belonging to Marseilles, of the embarkation of our troops;--when, therefore, they saw the English fleet, they concluded it was ours, so that when we actually appeared, they were prepared for us. The sea ran so high that day that the officers of the marine would not permit the troops to disembark. The vessels therefore came to an anchor about two leagues from the shore: the day was spent in preparations; and at length, about eleven at night, we were put on board the boats of the fleet, with a rough sea, and a very blowing wind.
We marched that night with two thousand (1) infantry, and at break of day invested Alexandria, after driving into the town several small detachments of cavalry. The enemy defended themselves like men; tho artillery which they had planted on the walls was wretchedly served, but their musquetry was excellent. These people 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 2d 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 thence, at the tower of Marabout, or Isles des Arabes. The two first days we had a number of straglers cut off by the Arab and Mamelouc cavalry. I imagine that we have lost about one hundred killed, and as many wounded. The Generals Kleber, Menou, and Lescalle are wounded.
I send you the proclamation (2) to the inhabitants of the country, and three others to the army. The first has produced an effect altogether astonishing. The Bedouins, enemies of the Mameloucs, and who, properly speaking, are neither more nor less 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 Mameloucs. We have treated them kindly. They are an invincible people, inhabiting a burning desert, 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 live 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 life 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 call’st “the men of nature?” thou would’st sink with shame, thou would’st 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.
I am not well at present, and shall be obliged to stay here a few days longer(3): every body else goes to-morrow. Adieu, I embrace you with the sincerest affection. Remember me to Julia, Caroline, &c. and to the legislator(4) Lucien. He might have sailed with us to advantage: we see more in two days than common travelers in two years.
The remarkable objects here are Pompey’s column, the obelisks of Cleopatra, the spot where her baths once stood, and 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 sangfroid absolutely astonishing. Nothing agitates them; and death itself is to them, what a voyage to America is to the English(5).
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 head, 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 shriveled, or stained, they look like so many hob-goblins.
Their forts and their artillery are the most ridiculous thins in nature: they have not even a lock or a window to their houses; in a word, they are still involved in all the blindness of the earliest ages.
Oh! How many misanthropes would be converted if chance should conduct them into the midst of the deserts of Arabia.
Adieu, my dear brother.
Your’s entirely,
L. Bonaparte.
P.S. I beg, my dear brother, that will let the female citizen Coupry, my good old landlady, Rue St. Honore, No. 27, pres le passage des Feuillans, know how and where I am: tell her that I have not yet had time to write her, and that I desired to be remembered to her.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) This is inaccurate. It appears from several of the letters, that a great portion of the army was engaged in the attack on Alexandria.
(2) See the APPENDIX
(3) It appears from Boursienne’s letter (see No. 14.) that he was still there on the 27th of July.
(4) This word is marked in the original, and evidently alludes to a piece of private history.
(5) Meaning, probably, a matter of little importance:--but an expression nearly resembling this, is proverbial amongst them.
Monday, October 15, 2007
French Soldier tells Heroic Story of the Battle for Alexandria
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 15-24.
TRANSLATON.
Alexandria, (19 Messidor)(1),July 7th.
SHECHY [Bernard MacSheehy], Captain Adjutant, &c. &c. to Citizen DOULCET(2), Rue St. Fiacre, at Paris.
I AVAIL myself of the only leisure moment I have had since the capture of this city to acquit myself of the engagement I entered into with you.
Our voyage from Toulon to Malta had scarce any thing in it worth mentioning. You are already acquainted with every particular respecting the capture of that important island. We quitted it on the evening of the 18th of June, and a north-west wind, which constantly prevails in those latitudes during the present season, carried us in twelve days to Alexandria.
On the evening of the 1st instant, after issuing the necessary orders for effecting an immediate landing, the Commander in Chief threw himself into a Maltese galley, to get nearer the shore; and in spite of the prudent(3) advice of the seamen, who insinuated that a debarkation was impracticable, on account of the violence of the wind, and of the reefs which fill the Bay of Marabout, General Bonaparte persisted in his determination to land, and actually did land in this very bay. I was one of the Staff that accompanied him. Marabout is about three leagues from Alexandria.
When we got on shore, we found the Generals Menou, Kleber, Bon, and Regnier; the three former with their divisions, the latter with only a few of his men about him(4); he as therefore left to secure the landingplace, while the others marched in three columns for Alexandria.
The Commander in Chief and his Staff, after sleeping for about two hours on the sand, got up, and put themselves at the head of the divisions. Kleber’s occupied the centre, and marched toward’s Pompey’s Column; Menou’s was drawn up on its left, and coasted along the sea; Bon’s on its right, and directed its march to the gate of Rosetta. I and my party put ourselves at the head of Kleber’s division.
At daybreak we discovered a few horse, who advanced upon us, and, seeing that we had no cavalry, discharged their carabines at us within pistol-shot; but some of our riflemen having rapidly gained the sand hills on our flank, soon forced them to retire. We continued our march till we got within two miles of the city. Here we found a mosque, with a cistern in it. We drank with delight of the water, which the fatigues(5) of the march made us think the sweetest we had ever tasted!
Arrived at Pompey’s Column, we made another short halt. Our riflemen, meanwhile, had advanced close to the walls, and were skirmishing with the Alexandrines, who lined them in every part. The Commander in Chief sent me forward to reconnoitre their situation, strength, &c. I advanced alone, till I came within pistol-shot—but had scarce begun to examine the forts with my glass, ere I heard a sudden scream from the women and children, that appeared in great numbers on the ramparts; at the same moment a brisk discharge of musquetry was made upon me. A volunteer who stood about thirty or forty paces behind me was shot in the left shoulder, and fell.
Having executed the business entrusted to me by the General, I went back to collect some volunteers who were scattered about the plain; and having by their assistance removed the wounded man, I had him conveyed to Pompey’s Column, where all the Staff Officers were assembled.
The General ordered the charge to be beat, and an attack to be made upon all points. Our troops flew to the ramparts, and got over them in an instant(6), in spite of a shower of bullets and stones, which killed and wounded a great number of them; he then dispatched me back to order the generale to be beat, and the troops who were in the city, and engaged with the inhabitants, to evacuate it immediately, and arrange themselves in order of battle under the eminence on which he then stood.
Having re-entered the city, and observed the desperate conduct of the Alexandrines, who continued to assail our troops with stones and musquetry from the roofs and windows of their houses, I found myself reduced to the necessity of lining the streets which I passed with small bodies of men, to prevent those hostile measures. In spite of all my precautions, however, several of my people were wounded by the stones.
I came up to a small fort, which was garrisoned by about thirty Turks; they discharged several muskets at me; but seeing that my numbers were continually increasing, they made signs of capitulating, by grounding their arms, and uttering the most dreadful cries.
As the General had ordered me not to attack any of the forts, but merely to block up such as lay in my way, by the troops of the different divisions, I judged it proper to accept of this capitulation; but at the very instant that I ordered the troops to cease firing on the fort, a musket-ball from an adjoining house killed a grenadier close to my side. He fell across my knees, without uttering a single word, and had nearly thrown me down by his fall. As I could not precisely point out the house from whence the shot was fired, and had before me a fort, of which I was scarcely yet the master, I was obliged to continue my route without taking VENGEANCE(7) for the death of the brave grenadier. Soon after I found myself before the principal fort of the city; it was already blockaded by Menou’s division; and in a few minutes after, the Captain of a Turkish ship of war, dispatched by the Commander in Chief, put it into our hands, as well as all the others which yet remained to be taken.
We had a vast number of men killed and wounded in our attack upon the city, and during our march, by the Bedouins, whom we fell in with soon after our landing; they hung on our rear, and killed and took a great number of stragglers. These Arabs resemble the ancient Scythians: the world is their country, they live on rapine(8), &c.
These Arabs are divided into different tribes, which are frequently at war with each other. They are very formidable, never associate with the rest of the world, nor can ever be persuaded to adopt their customs, or their manner of living. This, perhaps, is the true secret of their power.
The Proclamation of General Bonaparte, (of which you will, undoubtedly, see a copy), having been communicated to them, they instantly demanded permission to become our friends, and even to make war in conjunction with us, against the Mameloucs, the oppressors of the country! They brought the General about thirty of our people whom they had made prisoner. Before they heard of the Proclamation, they had treated these unfortunate men in the harshest mannor; their women especially, made them suffer the most cruel torments; and even the children at the breast amused themselves with tearing their hair, and scratching their face with their nails; all which they were obliged to endure with patience, for fear of worse treatment from the men. As soon, however, as the Proclamation was made known to them, the French were treated with kindness.
I have snatched a few instants from my duty, to give you these details. We are so busy that we have not time to lie down, or to take a morsel of wretched food.
It is impossible for you to conceive the misery of our present situation; which, yet, is infinitely preferable to that which we are about to experience in the course of three or four days, in the midst of the Desert. We shall march the 6th or 7th.
I am indebted to the activity and good sense of my servant, for a camel, which I am already preparing to load with two goat-skin bags; one for water, and the other for vinegar; happy if I find it sufficient for the journey! This camel will also carry a part of my baggage, and that of my comrades, and five days provisions, consisting merely of hard biscuit, which we have been obliged to procure from the ships.
Desaix’s division is already on its march; Regnier’s is to follow it; Kleber’s will proceed on the morning, and Menou’s on the evening of the 6th. We shall speedily see the unraveling of all these projects; at present, Cairo is the mark to which we tend. The Mameloucs once beaten, I know not if we shall carry our views farther.
I am asleep with the pen in my hand. I am absolutely worn out with fatigue. As soon as I can find a few moments of tranquility, I will take the liberty of sending you a more circumstantial and a more satisfactory account of what we have seen and done.
Have the goodness to present my respects to Madame Dumuy, and pray let me hear from you. You cannot form an idea of the fatigues we have undergone. If we ever return from this expedition, we shall richly deserve Paradise. On board the fleet, we regretted France; in Egypt, I fear, we shall have to regret the fleet! In spite, however, of all the obstacles which we experience, success will crown our enterprise—nay, obstacles themselves are, with us, infallible indications of victory(9)!
I am so pressed for the regulations, &c. of the army, that I cannot add another word. The nephew of Lannes, who is at my side, desires to be remembered to you.
MAR. SHECHY.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) This and the foregoing letter appear to be post-dated by two or three days: the mistake arose probably from haste, and is, indeed, scarce worth noticing.
(2) We know nothing more of Shechy than what his letters tell us. His correspondent Doulcet de Pontecoulant was formerly an officer in the Gardes-du-corps. He followed the general example, deserted his benevolent master, and actively promoted the Revolution which brought him to the scaffold.
He repented, we suppose, when it was too late; for we find him in the list of the proscribed of the 18th Fructidor: he was, however, so far pardoned, on account of his former services, as to be permitted to withdraw to Switzerland. He is now, we see, returned to France; on what terms we know not—probably he has repented of his repentance, and is ready to begin anew. In the Convention he was looked on as Modere!
(3) Shechy uses this word with a sneer, but without reason. The landing was evidently dangerous; many of the troops were drowned in the attempt, and, according to several of the letters, the General himself was in the most imminent danger of being lost. But the fears of the English fleet prevailed over every other consideration
—“such a sight he dreaded worse than hell;”
and, if he had, with a precipitation and want of forecast, which must for ever destroy his reputation as a General, fled from Malta, without waiting to supply that important post with a sufficient quantity of troops or stores, and without taking in water for his own squadron (notwithstanding the remonstrances of Brueys), from a dread of being overtaken by Nelson; it cannot be supposed that any circumstances could easily occur powerful enough to detain him on board, when his escape now appeared to depend on the exertions of a few hours, and was, moreover, favoured by the night.
We have yet a few words to say on this subject.
The Morning Chronicle, with a disregard to truth and decency, highly worth of the cause which it espouses, after insinuating that this Correspondence is a forgery (not having heard, it should see, that is friends abroad allow it to be genuine), observes, with a rancorous smile—
--toujours Le ris sur son visage est en mauvaise humeur.
--that “it is to be deposited in the British Museum—together with the body of Bonaparte, to enable the English, who did not dare to face him alive, to look at him dead!!!” Where did this degraded and despicable paper learn, that the English feared to Bonaparte alive? Was it in the “AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE” of Captain Berry, which describes, in plain yet forcible language, the gallant Nelson, with an inferior fleet, pursuing this “dreaded hero,” with an eagerness that could only be surpassed by that with which Bonaparte fled from him!
But the unnatural rage of the Morning Chronicle to sacrifice the honour of this country to France, is too notorious to be farther dwelt upon. Callous alike to shame and detection, it blunders on, through universal hatred and contempt, from one ignorant and atrocious falsehood to another. The reader of the former part of this work cannot have forgotten with what consummate baseness it misrepresented the tendency of the publication, and, under the fulsome pretence of reprehending scandal, (which has no where to be found in it), gave a loose to its own darling licentiousness and impurity!
(4) Each of these divisions consisted of from five to seven thousand men; the reader may therefore form a tolerable estimate of the forces that attacked Alexandria. Boyer reckons them at twenty thousand; and this, if we include the unattached volunteers of the army, who were pretty numerous, was, we doubt not, the amount.
(5) This “fatiguing march” was one of little more than a league. The remark is of no farther importance than as it serves towards elucidating the history of this “terrestrial paradise,” where to “travel but four foot by the square a-foot,” as Falstaff says, “is to break one’s wind!”
(6) As, Heaven knows! They might well do; for we can assure our readers, from the testimony of persons well acquainted with those famous “ramparts” that many a park wall in this country presents a more formidable aspect. The only danger to be apprehended in this terrible escalade was, lest the assailants should pull down the old wall upon themselves—and this, we find, they actually did do; for General Menou, and several others, were wounded by the fall of the stones which gave way beneath their grasp!
If the catastrophe had been less tragical, we should have indulged a smile at the parade of arrangements made by Bonaparte for getting possession of this defenceless place. “It would have surrendered,” says Boyer “at the first summons;” and so it undoubtedly would—but then how scurvily would this have sounded in the pages of the Morning Chronicle, and the Redacteur! Hence the reconnoitering “within pistol-shot.” The beating of the generale, the scrambling over the wall, &c. Unparalleled achievements, and, in the judgment of the aforesaid papers, worthy of everlasting renown! Be it so: and yet, we trust, very few of our readers will be so dazzled by their splendour, as not to see that the instantaneous capture of the city renders the subsequent massacre of its inhabitants altogether inexcusable. Something may be allowed to rage, when success is at length obtained after an obstinate and destructive resistance. But Mr. Wakefeld himself must excuse us, if we do not feel inclined to make much allowance for a man, or more properly a monster, who, at one and the same moment, invests and carries in an open place (for such in fact it is), and then deliberately murders men, women, and children, in their very mosques!
(7) This was a great pity—but be of good heart, citizen; Bonaparte will enter the town as soon as it is completely in the power of his troops, then you, and they, and all, will have full leisure to take “VENGEANCE,” not only on the man who killed the grenadier that would have killed him, but on his wife and child, who are calling on heaven and earth for mercy!
(8) Here follows a short account of the Arabs, which, as it is merely a repetition of what is said respecting them in the former letter, we have omitted. Poor Shechy is a miserable historian; instead of comparing these people to the ancient Scythians, of whom he knows nothing, and who had very little in common with the Arabs, he should have looked out for a resemblance nearer home. If the sentence had run thus—“These Arabs resemble the modern French: the world is their country, they live on rapine, &c.” few, we believe, would have thought of disputing its accuracy.
(9) Excellent. To augur success from the very circumstances which oppose it, is, we believe, peculiar to the French.
TRANSLATON.
Alexandria, (19 Messidor)(1),July 7th.
SHECHY [Bernard MacSheehy], Captain Adjutant, &c. &c. to Citizen DOULCET(2), Rue St. Fiacre, at Paris.
I AVAIL myself of the only leisure moment I have had since the capture of this city to acquit myself of the engagement I entered into with you.
Our voyage from Toulon to Malta had scarce any thing in it worth mentioning. You are already acquainted with every particular respecting the capture of that important island. We quitted it on the evening of the 18th of June, and a north-west wind, which constantly prevails in those latitudes during the present season, carried us in twelve days to Alexandria.
On the evening of the 1st instant, after issuing the necessary orders for effecting an immediate landing, the Commander in Chief threw himself into a Maltese galley, to get nearer the shore; and in spite of the prudent(3) advice of the seamen, who insinuated that a debarkation was impracticable, on account of the violence of the wind, and of the reefs which fill the Bay of Marabout, General Bonaparte persisted in his determination to land, and actually did land in this very bay. I was one of the Staff that accompanied him. Marabout is about three leagues from Alexandria.
When we got on shore, we found the Generals Menou, Kleber, Bon, and Regnier; the three former with their divisions, the latter with only a few of his men about him(4); he as therefore left to secure the landingplace, while the others marched in three columns for Alexandria.
The Commander in Chief and his Staff, after sleeping for about two hours on the sand, got up, and put themselves at the head of the divisions. Kleber’s occupied the centre, and marched toward’s Pompey’s Column; Menou’s was drawn up on its left, and coasted along the sea; Bon’s on its right, and directed its march to the gate of Rosetta. I and my party put ourselves at the head of Kleber’s division.
At daybreak we discovered a few horse, who advanced upon us, and, seeing that we had no cavalry, discharged their carabines at us within pistol-shot; but some of our riflemen having rapidly gained the sand hills on our flank, soon forced them to retire. We continued our march till we got within two miles of the city. Here we found a mosque, with a cistern in it. We drank with delight of the water, which the fatigues(5) of the march made us think the sweetest we had ever tasted!
Arrived at Pompey’s Column, we made another short halt. Our riflemen, meanwhile, had advanced close to the walls, and were skirmishing with the Alexandrines, who lined them in every part. The Commander in Chief sent me forward to reconnoitre their situation, strength, &c. I advanced alone, till I came within pistol-shot—but had scarce begun to examine the forts with my glass, ere I heard a sudden scream from the women and children, that appeared in great numbers on the ramparts; at the same moment a brisk discharge of musquetry was made upon me. A volunteer who stood about thirty or forty paces behind me was shot in the left shoulder, and fell.
Having executed the business entrusted to me by the General, I went back to collect some volunteers who were scattered about the plain; and having by their assistance removed the wounded man, I had him conveyed to Pompey’s Column, where all the Staff Officers were assembled.
The General ordered the charge to be beat, and an attack to be made upon all points. Our troops flew to the ramparts, and got over them in an instant(6), in spite of a shower of bullets and stones, which killed and wounded a great number of them; he then dispatched me back to order the generale to be beat, and the troops who were in the city, and engaged with the inhabitants, to evacuate it immediately, and arrange themselves in order of battle under the eminence on which he then stood.
Having re-entered the city, and observed the desperate conduct of the Alexandrines, who continued to assail our troops with stones and musquetry from the roofs and windows of their houses, I found myself reduced to the necessity of lining the streets which I passed with small bodies of men, to prevent those hostile measures. In spite of all my precautions, however, several of my people were wounded by the stones.
I came up to a small fort, which was garrisoned by about thirty Turks; they discharged several muskets at me; but seeing that my numbers were continually increasing, they made signs of capitulating, by grounding their arms, and uttering the most dreadful cries.
As the General had ordered me not to attack any of the forts, but merely to block up such as lay in my way, by the troops of the different divisions, I judged it proper to accept of this capitulation; but at the very instant that I ordered the troops to cease firing on the fort, a musket-ball from an adjoining house killed a grenadier close to my side. He fell across my knees, without uttering a single word, and had nearly thrown me down by his fall. As I could not precisely point out the house from whence the shot was fired, and had before me a fort, of which I was scarcely yet the master, I was obliged to continue my route without taking VENGEANCE(7) for the death of the brave grenadier. Soon after I found myself before the principal fort of the city; it was already blockaded by Menou’s division; and in a few minutes after, the Captain of a Turkish ship of war, dispatched by the Commander in Chief, put it into our hands, as well as all the others which yet remained to be taken.
We had a vast number of men killed and wounded in our attack upon the city, and during our march, by the Bedouins, whom we fell in with soon after our landing; they hung on our rear, and killed and took a great number of stragglers. These Arabs resemble the ancient Scythians: the world is their country, they live on rapine(8), &c.
These Arabs are divided into different tribes, which are frequently at war with each other. They are very formidable, never associate with the rest of the world, nor can ever be persuaded to adopt their customs, or their manner of living. This, perhaps, is the true secret of their power.
The Proclamation of General Bonaparte, (of which you will, undoubtedly, see a copy), having been communicated to them, they instantly demanded permission to become our friends, and even to make war in conjunction with us, against the Mameloucs, the oppressors of the country! They brought the General about thirty of our people whom they had made prisoner. Before they heard of the Proclamation, they had treated these unfortunate men in the harshest mannor; their women especially, made them suffer the most cruel torments; and even the children at the breast amused themselves with tearing their hair, and scratching their face with their nails; all which they were obliged to endure with patience, for fear of worse treatment from the men. As soon, however, as the Proclamation was made known to them, the French were treated with kindness.
I have snatched a few instants from my duty, to give you these details. We are so busy that we have not time to lie down, or to take a morsel of wretched food.
It is impossible for you to conceive the misery of our present situation; which, yet, is infinitely preferable to that which we are about to experience in the course of three or four days, in the midst of the Desert. We shall march the 6th or 7th.
I am indebted to the activity and good sense of my servant, for a camel, which I am already preparing to load with two goat-skin bags; one for water, and the other for vinegar; happy if I find it sufficient for the journey! This camel will also carry a part of my baggage, and that of my comrades, and five days provisions, consisting merely of hard biscuit, which we have been obliged to procure from the ships.
Desaix’s division is already on its march; Regnier’s is to follow it; Kleber’s will proceed on the morning, and Menou’s on the evening of the 6th. We shall speedily see the unraveling of all these projects; at present, Cairo is the mark to which we tend. The Mameloucs once beaten, I know not if we shall carry our views farther.
I am asleep with the pen in my hand. I am absolutely worn out with fatigue. As soon as I can find a few moments of tranquility, I will take the liberty of sending you a more circumstantial and a more satisfactory account of what we have seen and done.
Have the goodness to present my respects to Madame Dumuy, and pray let me hear from you. You cannot form an idea of the fatigues we have undergone. If we ever return from this expedition, we shall richly deserve Paradise. On board the fleet, we regretted France; in Egypt, I fear, we shall have to regret the fleet! In spite, however, of all the obstacles which we experience, success will crown our enterprise—nay, obstacles themselves are, with us, infallible indications of victory(9)!
I am so pressed for the regulations, &c. of the army, that I cannot add another word. The nephew of Lannes, who is at my side, desires to be remembered to you.
MAR. SHECHY.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) This and the foregoing letter appear to be post-dated by two or three days: the mistake arose probably from haste, and is, indeed, scarce worth noticing.
(2) We know nothing more of Shechy than what his letters tell us. His correspondent Doulcet de Pontecoulant was formerly an officer in the Gardes-du-corps. He followed the general example, deserted his benevolent master, and actively promoted the Revolution which brought him to the scaffold.
He repented, we suppose, when it was too late; for we find him in the list of the proscribed of the 18th Fructidor: he was, however, so far pardoned, on account of his former services, as to be permitted to withdraw to Switzerland. He is now, we see, returned to France; on what terms we know not—probably he has repented of his repentance, and is ready to begin anew. In the Convention he was looked on as Modere!
(3) Shechy uses this word with a sneer, but without reason. The landing was evidently dangerous; many of the troops were drowned in the attempt, and, according to several of the letters, the General himself was in the most imminent danger of being lost. But the fears of the English fleet prevailed over every other consideration
—“such a sight he dreaded worse than hell;”
and, if he had, with a precipitation and want of forecast, which must for ever destroy his reputation as a General, fled from Malta, without waiting to supply that important post with a sufficient quantity of troops or stores, and without taking in water for his own squadron (notwithstanding the remonstrances of Brueys), from a dread of being overtaken by Nelson; it cannot be supposed that any circumstances could easily occur powerful enough to detain him on board, when his escape now appeared to depend on the exertions of a few hours, and was, moreover, favoured by the night.
We have yet a few words to say on this subject.
The Morning Chronicle, with a disregard to truth and decency, highly worth of the cause which it espouses, after insinuating that this Correspondence is a forgery (not having heard, it should see, that is friends abroad allow it to be genuine), observes, with a rancorous smile—
--toujours Le ris sur son visage est en mauvaise humeur.
--that “it is to be deposited in the British Museum—together with the body of Bonaparte, to enable the English, who did not dare to face him alive, to look at him dead!!!” Where did this degraded and despicable paper learn, that the English feared to Bonaparte alive? Was it in the “AUTHENTIC NARRATIVE” of Captain Berry, which describes, in plain yet forcible language, the gallant Nelson, with an inferior fleet, pursuing this “dreaded hero,” with an eagerness that could only be surpassed by that with which Bonaparte fled from him!
But the unnatural rage of the Morning Chronicle to sacrifice the honour of this country to France, is too notorious to be farther dwelt upon. Callous alike to shame and detection, it blunders on, through universal hatred and contempt, from one ignorant and atrocious falsehood to another. The reader of the former part of this work cannot have forgotten with what consummate baseness it misrepresented the tendency of the publication, and, under the fulsome pretence of reprehending scandal, (which has no where to be found in it), gave a loose to its own darling licentiousness and impurity!
(4) Each of these divisions consisted of from five to seven thousand men; the reader may therefore form a tolerable estimate of the forces that attacked Alexandria. Boyer reckons them at twenty thousand; and this, if we include the unattached volunteers of the army, who were pretty numerous, was, we doubt not, the amount.
(5) This “fatiguing march” was one of little more than a league. The remark is of no farther importance than as it serves towards elucidating the history of this “terrestrial paradise,” where to “travel but four foot by the square a-foot,” as Falstaff says, “is to break one’s wind!”
(6) As, Heaven knows! They might well do; for we can assure our readers, from the testimony of persons well acquainted with those famous “ramparts” that many a park wall in this country presents a more formidable aspect. The only danger to be apprehended in this terrible escalade was, lest the assailants should pull down the old wall upon themselves—and this, we find, they actually did do; for General Menou, and several others, were wounded by the fall of the stones which gave way beneath their grasp!
If the catastrophe had been less tragical, we should have indulged a smile at the parade of arrangements made by Bonaparte for getting possession of this defenceless place. “It would have surrendered,” says Boyer “at the first summons;” and so it undoubtedly would—but then how scurvily would this have sounded in the pages of the Morning Chronicle, and the Redacteur! Hence the reconnoitering “within pistol-shot.” The beating of the generale, the scrambling over the wall, &c. Unparalleled achievements, and, in the judgment of the aforesaid papers, worthy of everlasting renown! Be it so: and yet, we trust, very few of our readers will be so dazzled by their splendour, as not to see that the instantaneous capture of the city renders the subsequent massacre of its inhabitants altogether inexcusable. Something may be allowed to rage, when success is at length obtained after an obstinate and destructive resistance. But Mr. Wakefeld himself must excuse us, if we do not feel inclined to make much allowance for a man, or more properly a monster, who, at one and the same moment, invests and carries in an open place (for such in fact it is), and then deliberately murders men, women, and children, in their very mosques!
(7) This was a great pity—but be of good heart, citizen; Bonaparte will enter the town as soon as it is completely in the power of his troops, then you, and they, and all, will have full leisure to take “VENGEANCE,” not only on the man who killed the grenadier that would have killed him, but on his wife and child, who are calling on heaven and earth for mercy!
(8) Here follows a short account of the Arabs, which, as it is merely a repetition of what is said respecting them in the former letter, we have omitted. Poor Shechy is a miserable historian; instead of comparing these people to the ancient Scythians, of whom he knows nothing, and who had very little in common with the Arabs, he should have looked out for a resemblance nearer home. If the sentence had run thus—“These Arabs resemble the modern French: the world is their country, they live on rapine, &c.” few, we believe, would have thought of disputing its accuracy.
(9) Excellent. To augur success from the very circumstances which oppose it, is, we believe, peculiar to the French.
Friday, October 12, 2007
French Captain Marvels at the Bedouin
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 4-8.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria, (19 Messidor) July 7th, 1798.
SHECHY, Captain-Adjunct to the Staff of General BONAPARTE, to Citizen LE MAIRE, at Paris.
I WISHED to write you, my dear Le Maire, a long letter--Read the inclosed(1); it will inform you where we are at present. Say every thing for me to Madame Dumuy; and above all, assure her that I will take care to send her an ample account of all our transactions, from Cairo, where I hope to arrive soon, with General Bonaparte. Dumuy(2) is here; he stays behind to organize the troops that remain, to treat with the Bedouin Arabs, of whom you will find some account below, and to open a communication with the capital.
We are engaged here, my dear Le Maire, in a most fatiguing business. The wars of Europe have nothing in common with this of Egypt. We reckon ourselves fortunate in the extreme, if we can procure biscuit and water. We are now preparing for a march of five days across the Desert.
Put a wafer in Citizen Doulcet's letter; and pray be kind enough to give the subjoined note respecting the Arabs, to my uncle. I wrote a very long letter to Madame Dumuy, from Malta: I wrote also to you, informing you, that the memorial relative to my promotion had been transmitted to the Minister of War, by Berthier. Call on Tallien and Bruix; give my remembrances to them, and intreat them to accelerate an affair which may be easily arranged: try yourself too, what can be done in it. Write me a long letter, and accept the assurances of my friendship.
MAR. SHECHY.
Note.
THE Bedouin Arabs constantly rise at a very early hour, drop on their knees, and kiss the ground twice, with their eyes turned towards the heavens. At sunrise, and at the first appearance of the moon, they repeat the same ceremony three times, directing their face towards that planet. They are commanded by chiefs, whom they respect; they salute them whenever they approach of pass them, pay the greatest attention to every thing they say, and punctually execute all their commands.
Their usual dress is a piece of white woollen, which they fasten around their necks, throwing the corners over their shoulders. Their arms are quite naked. They have also a kind of pantaloon, reaching to the knee, where it is fastened; the legs, like the arms, are naked: they have all yellow slippers.
The dress of women differs very little from that of the men. They carry their children on their backs. They are in good estimation with their husbands, though they do not eat with them. Like the Scythians, the Bedouins dwell in camps, which they move at pleasure, and as circumstances require. They carry with them all their household on camels, of which they possess a far greater number than of horses. The women and children are placed on the back of one of these animals, in a kind of circular cot, which affords them all a sufficient space to lie down.
They visit frequently, and live in a state of great familiarity and kindness one with another; but it is observable, that one family never eats with another. They exchange one kind of merchandize, or one object of general utility for another, without the intervention of specie, of which they have no need. Every thing that is taken belongs to the taker: nay, a man may be made prisoner, and even sold by him who made him so, without any other person's pretending to interfere. Their general practice(3) is not to put any one to death, but only to rob him; unless he should be rash enough to make resistance.
Their manner of living is very hard. They feed on a species of bread extremely black, and baked on the dung of their camels. Their water, kept for a long while in bottles made of goats' skin, and constantly exposed to the heat of the sun, is extremely offensive. They dip their bread in a kind of oil of a most disagreeable smell, which they procure in the midst of the sands of the Desert, from springs known only to themselves, and not less than fifty or sixty miles from each other(4).
Every family has a tent to itself. It is under the command of a chief, and it is he only who makes war. Their horses, which are exclusively reserved for their excursions, are inconceivably active; they are all wild, and ascend the steepest mountains with the same rapidity they run on even ground. They are never shod.
All these details were given me by the officers who had been made prisoners by the Bedouins on our landing. I collected them at the instant that the chiefs of the Arabs were with Bonaparte, arranging the terms of the treaty.
I have no paper to spare for covers. You will, therefore, inclose Citizen Doulcet's letter, and direct it to him.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) See the next letter.
(2) This seems to be the person mentioned by General Menou (Part I. p. 98.);his name, indeed, is spelt differently; but we observe a great inaccuracy with respect to names, throughout the whole of this Correspondence.
(3) Cependant, in the original; this word must have escaped Schechy through inadvertence; he could not surely have thought it strange, that those who were at liberty to sell their prisoners, did not kill them.
(4)It is hardly necessary to caution the reader to receive as little as possible of what the French pretend to give from the information of Arabs, Copts, &c. As far as the senses are concerned, they may generally be trusted, but no farther. What the prisoners saw, we are willing to believe they related with fidelity; but when they proceed to tell us (from conversations, of which they certainly understood not a single word) of wonderful springs of oil found in the Desert, and kept secret from all the world, but the French; we can only say, cras credimus, hodie nihil. Bituminous and unctuous substances are sometimes, indeed, found floating on the surface of small pools or lakes, and--but 'tis needless to enter upon further into the subject, on such authorities as those before us.
The little picture of the domestic economy of the Arabs, though rudely sketched, is far from being uninteresting. Their simple expressions of pious dependence, their respectful attachment to their hereditary chiefs, and their familiar and affectionate intercourse with one another, cannot fail to prepossess the reader a little in their favour; and raise them in his mind as far above the atheistical, turbulent, and unsocial horde, who, under the guidance of a ferocious Corsican, have traversed a thousand leagues of sea, for the "consolatory" purpose of exterminating them!
When one considers, too, the poverty of these people, their black bread, stinking water, and rancid oil, their burning sands, and interminable desserts, one would imagine that they, at least, would be secure from the rapacity and cruelty of France. Delusive thought! that nation has the eternal fever of the tiger; and presses forward with blind and inconsiderate fury, to slake its thirst in the blood of all it can reach, and overcome.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria, (19 Messidor) July 7th, 1798.
SHECHY, Captain-Adjunct to the Staff of General BONAPARTE, to Citizen LE MAIRE, at Paris.
I WISHED to write you, my dear Le Maire, a long letter--Read the inclosed(1); it will inform you where we are at present. Say every thing for me to Madame Dumuy; and above all, assure her that I will take care to send her an ample account of all our transactions, from Cairo, where I hope to arrive soon, with General Bonaparte. Dumuy(2) is here; he stays behind to organize the troops that remain, to treat with the Bedouin Arabs, of whom you will find some account below, and to open a communication with the capital.
We are engaged here, my dear Le Maire, in a most fatiguing business. The wars of Europe have nothing in common with this of Egypt. We reckon ourselves fortunate in the extreme, if we can procure biscuit and water. We are now preparing for a march of five days across the Desert.
Put a wafer in Citizen Doulcet's letter; and pray be kind enough to give the subjoined note respecting the Arabs, to my uncle. I wrote a very long letter to Madame Dumuy, from Malta: I wrote also to you, informing you, that the memorial relative to my promotion had been transmitted to the Minister of War, by Berthier. Call on Tallien and Bruix; give my remembrances to them, and intreat them to accelerate an affair which may be easily arranged: try yourself too, what can be done in it. Write me a long letter, and accept the assurances of my friendship.
MAR. SHECHY.
Note.
THE Bedouin Arabs constantly rise at a very early hour, drop on their knees, and kiss the ground twice, with their eyes turned towards the heavens. At sunrise, and at the first appearance of the moon, they repeat the same ceremony three times, directing their face towards that planet. They are commanded by chiefs, whom they respect; they salute them whenever they approach of pass them, pay the greatest attention to every thing they say, and punctually execute all their commands.
Their usual dress is a piece of white woollen, which they fasten around their necks, throwing the corners over their shoulders. Their arms are quite naked. They have also a kind of pantaloon, reaching to the knee, where it is fastened; the legs, like the arms, are naked: they have all yellow slippers.
The dress of women differs very little from that of the men. They carry their children on their backs. They are in good estimation with their husbands, though they do not eat with them. Like the Scythians, the Bedouins dwell in camps, which they move at pleasure, and as circumstances require. They carry with them all their household on camels, of which they possess a far greater number than of horses. The women and children are placed on the back of one of these animals, in a kind of circular cot, which affords them all a sufficient space to lie down.
They visit frequently, and live in a state of great familiarity and kindness one with another; but it is observable, that one family never eats with another. They exchange one kind of merchandize, or one object of general utility for another, without the intervention of specie, of which they have no need. Every thing that is taken belongs to the taker: nay, a man may be made prisoner, and even sold by him who made him so, without any other person's pretending to interfere. Their general practice(3) is not to put any one to death, but only to rob him; unless he should be rash enough to make resistance.
Their manner of living is very hard. They feed on a species of bread extremely black, and baked on the dung of their camels. Their water, kept for a long while in bottles made of goats' skin, and constantly exposed to the heat of the sun, is extremely offensive. They dip their bread in a kind of oil of a most disagreeable smell, which they procure in the midst of the sands of the Desert, from springs known only to themselves, and not less than fifty or sixty miles from each other(4).
Every family has a tent to itself. It is under the command of a chief, and it is he only who makes war. Their horses, which are exclusively reserved for their excursions, are inconceivably active; they are all wild, and ascend the steepest mountains with the same rapidity they run on even ground. They are never shod.
All these details were given me by the officers who had been made prisoners by the Bedouins on our landing. I collected them at the instant that the chiefs of the Arabs were with Bonaparte, arranging the terms of the treaty.
I have no paper to spare for covers. You will, therefore, inclose Citizen Doulcet's letter, and direct it to him.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) See the next letter.
(2) This seems to be the person mentioned by General Menou (Part I. p. 98.);his name, indeed, is spelt differently; but we observe a great inaccuracy with respect to names, throughout the whole of this Correspondence.
(3) Cependant, in the original; this word must have escaped Schechy through inadvertence; he could not surely have thought it strange, that those who were at liberty to sell their prisoners, did not kill them.
(4)It is hardly necessary to caution the reader to receive as little as possible of what the French pretend to give from the information of Arabs, Copts, &c. As far as the senses are concerned, they may generally be trusted, but no farther. What the prisoners saw, we are willing to believe they related with fidelity; but when they proceed to tell us (from conversations, of which they certainly understood not a single word) of wonderful springs of oil found in the Desert, and kept secret from all the world, but the French; we can only say, cras credimus, hodie nihil. Bituminous and unctuous substances are sometimes, indeed, found floating on the surface of small pools or lakes, and--but 'tis needless to enter upon further into the subject, on such authorities as those before us.
The little picture of the domestic economy of the Arabs, though rudely sketched, is far from being uninteresting. Their simple expressions of pious dependence, their respectful attachment to their hereditary chiefs, and their familiar and affectionate intercourse with one another, cannot fail to prepossess the reader a little in their favour; and raise them in his mind as far above the atheistical, turbulent, and unsocial horde, who, under the guidance of a ferocious Corsican, have traversed a thousand leagues of sea, for the "consolatory" purpose of exterminating them!
When one considers, too, the poverty of these people, their black bread, stinking water, and rancid oil, their burning sands, and interminable desserts, one would imagine that they, at least, would be secure from the rapacity and cruelty of France. Delusive thought! that nation has the eternal fever of the tiger; and presses forward with blind and inconsiderate fury, to slake its thirst in the blood of all it can reach, and overcome.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Patriarch of Constantinople Condemns French Invasion
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 232-236.
TRANSLATION.
GREGORY, by the Grace of God Metropolitan of Constantinople (New Rome), and the Ecumenical Patriarch.
MOST dear and honoured Clergy and Nobility, and summarily, all ye Christians of Corfou, Cephalonia, Zante, Cerigo, Ithaca, Saint Maure, &c. our beloved children in the Lord! Grace be unto you all, and peace and mercy from the Lord God Almighty; and from us prayer, blessing, and indulgence.
The serpent, the origin of all ill, who first beguiled mankind by various frauds and illusions, that he might draw them to perdition, perceiving in these latter days, that the French nation was more capable of wickedness than any other, has poured without measure into their souls the poison of apostacy; and having first instigated them to civil war, the barbarous regicide, has finally plunged them into every species of impiety and ungodliness. This mischief he has effected, notwithstanding the supreme wisdom of God, and his love to mankind, had never left them unprotected by his providence, but had regulated them by spiritual laws, in order to keep them in obedience to God (as he spoke by the mouth of the Royal Prophet; “Thy law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path”); and had also bound them by political institutions, and kingly governments, that they might be preserved from a two-fold evil,--spiritually, by the divine laws of religious worship; and temporally, by the institutes of regal authorities.
For since the Divine Mercy foresaw that human nature was prone to remissness of duty, and forgetful of the light of divine knowledge, he appointed earthly monarchs to keep them (according to David) in the paths of virtue and good order. Kings, therefore, as the representatives of God, are distributed through this lower world, to exercise men in the practice of obedience, and to preserve them from the paths of error, through the authority intrusted to them by HIM “through whom kings reign.” The holy Apostle Paul declares, “that THEY do not bear the sword in vain, but for the praise of well-doers, and the punishment of such as do evil; so that if kingly power were taken away, mankind falling precipitately into wickedness (“for the thought of man is prone to evil from his youth”), would rise up one against another, and the world would become a chaos of misery.
Knowing this, the wicked one, that he might bring mankind to that state of confusion which always follows a want of government (as right philosophy also teaches), stirred up the French to murder their king; then was made manifest his purpose, in seducing their minds from obedience to God. But these French, that they might draw all the world to their own impiety, concealed their revolt from God under the specious bait of Liberty, and the pretext of a perfect Equality. And when they afterwards proceeded to trample under foot all the duties of their religion, they set at nought all the treaties of alliance, as we clearly see by their ungrateful conduct to the Ottoman Porte, which, in the time of their necessity had never deserted them. They, on the contrary, shewed themselves openly hostile, and with subtle and designing publications, craftily attempted to trouble this empire, and force its subjects into anarchy and rebellion, of which the consequences are, civil war, murder, pillage, &c.:--and finally, after all these artifices, they have made, in the face of the world, a piratical attempt upon Egypt; on account if which, this mighty empire has justly declared war against them by land and by sea, that by the Divine Assistance, it may punish these destroyers of mankind, these aliens from God, and these perturbators and pests of the general peace and good order of the world.
And for this purpose, our mighty Emperor has called in his powerful allies, the Monarchs of Russia and Great Britain, who having the same righteous end in view with himself, will co-operate with him in freeing mankind from the impending evils, and preserving the administrations of regal power, with all its constituted authorities.
WHEREFORE, the fleets of three allied powers will speedily come into your parts, not against the Islands and their inhabitants, to subdue them, but rather to strengthen them in true liberty, to break the yoke of tyranny under which they have unwillingly fallen, and to redeem them from the impending impiety and atheism with which the contagious example of the French threatens speedily, very speedily, to infect them and their posterity.
Finally, since the Church of Christ watches for the salvation of mankind, and prays without ceasing for all, but particularly for Kings, and for those who are in authority under them (according to the Apostle). WE, therefore, by the command of this government, declare to all the orthodox inhabitants of the Islands of Corfou, Cephalonia, Zante, Ithaca, Cerigo, St. Maure, &c. that the sole will, intent, and purpose, of the allied powers is to extend the shield of their protection over the boundaries of truth and good order, and peace; and to punish those hostile and insidious French, who, with the poisonous streams of their pretended Liberty, endeavour, by speaking and writing, to deceive mankind, and to precipitate them into the abyss of Wickedness and apostacy. And WE exhort you all, as true members of the Church of Christ, and zealous for the pure doctrine of faith, and harmony, and obedience, on the receipt of this our Patriarchal Epistle, to drive forthwith from your Islands, those apostates from God, those pernicious tyrants of manking; and co-operating with the Allied Powers, to assist personally, with the promptitude and zeal in the discomfiture of those faithless French; that so ye may render yourselves worthy of the Divine Mercy, and obtain from the Sublime Porte a liberty surpassing even that of your ancient polity; for we promise that ye shall henceforth enjoy more freedom than at any former time. WE therefore declare unto you, by the command and unchangeable will of our Monarch, that ye shall have full power to select whatever form of government ye shall judge most conducive to the benefit of your country,--either the aristocratical constitution of Ragusa, or any other that may please you better. For OURSELVES, knowing, and being fully unequivocally convinced, that the present declaration of war against the French is most just; and farther, that the scope and design of the Allied Powers is truly the deliverance of mankind; and that their intention, with respect to these Islands, which have fallen into the hands of the French by treachety, is to rescue them from the curse of Gallic craftiness, or, to speak more truly, impiety, and nothing else; WE do, therefore, in our fatherly care, earnestly beseech and exhort you all, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, to concur personally, and with one accord, in the laudable design of the aforesaid Powers; that so ye may be firmly and immoveably possessed of the desired liberty; and that ye may henceforth abide in that political harmony, and good government, which will be pleasing to God, salutary to your posterity, and finally lead to eternal life, and a happy futurity. This is the sum of OUR wishes. The Grace of God, and the prayers and blessings of our spiritual jurisdiction, be upon you all!
TRANSLATION.
GREGORY, by the Grace of God Metropolitan of Constantinople (New Rome), and the Ecumenical Patriarch.
MOST dear and honoured Clergy and Nobility, and summarily, all ye Christians of Corfou, Cephalonia, Zante, Cerigo, Ithaca, Saint Maure, &c. our beloved children in the Lord! Grace be unto you all, and peace and mercy from the Lord God Almighty; and from us prayer, blessing, and indulgence.
The serpent, the origin of all ill, who first beguiled mankind by various frauds and illusions, that he might draw them to perdition, perceiving in these latter days, that the French nation was more capable of wickedness than any other, has poured without measure into their souls the poison of apostacy; and having first instigated them to civil war, the barbarous regicide, has finally plunged them into every species of impiety and ungodliness. This mischief he has effected, notwithstanding the supreme wisdom of God, and his love to mankind, had never left them unprotected by his providence, but had regulated them by spiritual laws, in order to keep them in obedience to God (as he spoke by the mouth of the Royal Prophet; “Thy law is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path”); and had also bound them by political institutions, and kingly governments, that they might be preserved from a two-fold evil,--spiritually, by the divine laws of religious worship; and temporally, by the institutes of regal authorities.
For since the Divine Mercy foresaw that human nature was prone to remissness of duty, and forgetful of the light of divine knowledge, he appointed earthly monarchs to keep them (according to David) in the paths of virtue and good order. Kings, therefore, as the representatives of God, are distributed through this lower world, to exercise men in the practice of obedience, and to preserve them from the paths of error, through the authority intrusted to them by HIM “through whom kings reign.” The holy Apostle Paul declares, “that THEY do not bear the sword in vain, but for the praise of well-doers, and the punishment of such as do evil; so that if kingly power were taken away, mankind falling precipitately into wickedness (“for the thought of man is prone to evil from his youth”), would rise up one against another, and the world would become a chaos of misery.
Knowing this, the wicked one, that he might bring mankind to that state of confusion which always follows a want of government (as right philosophy also teaches), stirred up the French to murder their king; then was made manifest his purpose, in seducing their minds from obedience to God. But these French, that they might draw all the world to their own impiety, concealed their revolt from God under the specious bait of Liberty, and the pretext of a perfect Equality. And when they afterwards proceeded to trample under foot all the duties of their religion, they set at nought all the treaties of alliance, as we clearly see by their ungrateful conduct to the Ottoman Porte, which, in the time of their necessity had never deserted them. They, on the contrary, shewed themselves openly hostile, and with subtle and designing publications, craftily attempted to trouble this empire, and force its subjects into anarchy and rebellion, of which the consequences are, civil war, murder, pillage, &c.:--and finally, after all these artifices, they have made, in the face of the world, a piratical attempt upon Egypt; on account if which, this mighty empire has justly declared war against them by land and by sea, that by the Divine Assistance, it may punish these destroyers of mankind, these aliens from God, and these perturbators and pests of the general peace and good order of the world.
And for this purpose, our mighty Emperor has called in his powerful allies, the Monarchs of Russia and Great Britain, who having the same righteous end in view with himself, will co-operate with him in freeing mankind from the impending evils, and preserving the administrations of regal power, with all its constituted authorities.
WHEREFORE, the fleets of three allied powers will speedily come into your parts, not against the Islands and their inhabitants, to subdue them, but rather to strengthen them in true liberty, to break the yoke of tyranny under which they have unwillingly fallen, and to redeem them from the impending impiety and atheism with which the contagious example of the French threatens speedily, very speedily, to infect them and their posterity.
Finally, since the Church of Christ watches for the salvation of mankind, and prays without ceasing for all, but particularly for Kings, and for those who are in authority under them (according to the Apostle). WE, therefore, by the command of this government, declare to all the orthodox inhabitants of the Islands of Corfou, Cephalonia, Zante, Ithaca, Cerigo, St. Maure, &c. that the sole will, intent, and purpose, of the allied powers is to extend the shield of their protection over the boundaries of truth and good order, and peace; and to punish those hostile and insidious French, who, with the poisonous streams of their pretended Liberty, endeavour, by speaking and writing, to deceive mankind, and to precipitate them into the abyss of Wickedness and apostacy. And WE exhort you all, as true members of the Church of Christ, and zealous for the pure doctrine of faith, and harmony, and obedience, on the receipt of this our Patriarchal Epistle, to drive forthwith from your Islands, those apostates from God, those pernicious tyrants of manking; and co-operating with the Allied Powers, to assist personally, with the promptitude and zeal in the discomfiture of those faithless French; that so ye may render yourselves worthy of the Divine Mercy, and obtain from the Sublime Porte a liberty surpassing even that of your ancient polity; for we promise that ye shall henceforth enjoy more freedom than at any former time. WE therefore declare unto you, by the command and unchangeable will of our Monarch, that ye shall have full power to select whatever form of government ye shall judge most conducive to the benefit of your country,--either the aristocratical constitution of Ragusa, or any other that may please you better. For OURSELVES, knowing, and being fully unequivocally convinced, that the present declaration of war against the French is most just; and farther, that the scope and design of the Allied Powers is truly the deliverance of mankind; and that their intention, with respect to these Islands, which have fallen into the hands of the French by treachety, is to rescue them from the curse of Gallic craftiness, or, to speak more truly, impiety, and nothing else; WE do, therefore, in our fatherly care, earnestly beseech and exhort you all, by the Grace of the Holy Spirit, to concur personally, and with one accord, in the laudable design of the aforesaid Powers; that so ye may be firmly and immoveably possessed of the desired liberty; and that ye may henceforth abide in that political harmony, and good government, which will be pleasing to God, salutary to your posterity, and finally lead to eternal life, and a happy futurity. This is the sum of OUR wishes. The Grace of God, and the prayers and blessings of our spiritual jurisdiction, be upon you all!
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Captain Tells of Voyage from Rome, to Malta, to Alexandria
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 225-227.
TRANSLATION
‘TIS with great pleasure, my dear brother, that I write you the present; hoping it will have the good fortune to reach you, in spite of the prodigious difficulties we find in sending or receiving a letter by sea, on account of the total destruction of our fleet.
The English are at this moment complete masters of the Mediterranean; we are reduced, therefore, to the disagreeable necessity of trusting all our correspondence with France to neutral vessels: even these can only hope to convey it, by escaping the vigilance of the English; for if they are taken they are burnt.
We were marched from Rome, as I wrote to you in my last letter from Civita Vecchia at the moment we were going on board the transports. You must have discovered the state of my mind from that letter. I have had misfortunes enough in my life, but never any, I can assure you, like that which I then experienced. I was forced to quit a charming girl, with a very pretty fortune, when I was on the point of being made happy.—Yes, obliged to leave her without any hope of ever seeing her again! I shall never find such another match! But what can be said?—‘tis my hard fortune!
We went on board without knowing whither we were going. When we reached Malta we were told that our destination was to besiege that place, and in three days we made ourselves masters of it. We staid there five or six days to recruit ourselves, and then put to sea, without the least information being given to the army with respect to the place of its future destination. We sailed for eighteen days, when we fell in with the land, and found ourselves before the city of Alexandria, the metropolis of Turkey, and in a state of open rebellion against the Grand Seignior(1)!
As soon as we were put on shore we began to fight against certain nations, known by the name of Bedouins: nations of the most barbarous kind. At first they made no prisoners. When General Bonaparte saw this, he sent them a Manifesto in their own language, informing them, that if they put their prisoners to death, he should be obliged to retaliate.—Notwithstanding this, they have not altered their conduct.
At present we are victorious. In one action alone we [Illegible Word] or killed near ten thousand, and having put the remainder to flight, pursued them into Upper Egypt, on the side of Jerusalem!!! I have not yet heard what will be our next expedition.
I must now inform you, my dear brother, that I have a trunk in the hands of one of my friends, a master tailor in the demi-brigade. I shall send to him by this conveyance that you may have no difficulty in executing my commission. Write a letter, therefore, and direct it to Citizen Grivet, master-tailor to the depot of the 88th brigade, Fort Bareau, near Chambery. He will send the trunk wherever you order it. I would have you repair to Auch, call upon Dumont’s eldest son (a merchant there) remember me kindly to him, and request him, in my name, to assist you in facilitating its arrival.—Be assured that he will render me this service—be assured, my dear brother, that the trunk is worth looking after. There is rare booty in it—You will find, among other things, six louis-d’ors, a pair of silver buckles, a number of shirts, two new coats, some waistcoats and breeches of white cloth, some white under-waistcoats, two pair of boots, several pair of thread and cotton stockings, some silk ones, a number of pocket handkerchiefs, and many other articles. These you will take charge of till my return to France; if I am ever happy enough to return there,--if not, apply them to your own use.
If you ever happen to hear that the demi-brigade is returned home, and, after a competent time, receive no letter from me, you may then write to the Council of Administration of the Brigade, for whatever belonged to me; and if it reaches you in safety, I would wish you to give for louis to Henriette, and four to Joseph,--the rest keep for yourself.
Present my love to your dear wife, to my brothers and sisters, and to all the family, not forgetting your secretary.
I remain, ever yours affectionately,
ROZIS, capt.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) We are almost weary of remarking on the gross ignorance of the officers of the French army; and yet it is impossible not to notice such passages as the above. Calling Alexandria the capital of Turkey is what we should have some difficulty in excusing in a follower of the camp; but when we find a Captain asserting that Alexandria was in a state of rebellion against the Porte, and in consequence of it actually destroying the Turks under the idea that he was obliging the Grand Seignior,--nous y perdous notre latin, and, indeed, our patience. Bonaparte seems to have formed a just estimate of the capacity of his officers, and to have made their unparalleled credulity the foundation of his own unparalleled assurance!
TRANSLATION
‘TIS with great pleasure, my dear brother, that I write you the present; hoping it will have the good fortune to reach you, in spite of the prodigious difficulties we find in sending or receiving a letter by sea, on account of the total destruction of our fleet.
The English are at this moment complete masters of the Mediterranean; we are reduced, therefore, to the disagreeable necessity of trusting all our correspondence with France to neutral vessels: even these can only hope to convey it, by escaping the vigilance of the English; for if they are taken they are burnt.
We were marched from Rome, as I wrote to you in my last letter from Civita Vecchia at the moment we were going on board the transports. You must have discovered the state of my mind from that letter. I have had misfortunes enough in my life, but never any, I can assure you, like that which I then experienced. I was forced to quit a charming girl, with a very pretty fortune, when I was on the point of being made happy.—Yes, obliged to leave her without any hope of ever seeing her again! I shall never find such another match! But what can be said?—‘tis my hard fortune!
We went on board without knowing whither we were going. When we reached Malta we were told that our destination was to besiege that place, and in three days we made ourselves masters of it. We staid there five or six days to recruit ourselves, and then put to sea, without the least information being given to the army with respect to the place of its future destination. We sailed for eighteen days, when we fell in with the land, and found ourselves before the city of Alexandria, the metropolis of Turkey, and in a state of open rebellion against the Grand Seignior(1)!
As soon as we were put on shore we began to fight against certain nations, known by the name of Bedouins: nations of the most barbarous kind. At first they made no prisoners. When General Bonaparte saw this, he sent them a Manifesto in their own language, informing them, that if they put their prisoners to death, he should be obliged to retaliate.—Notwithstanding this, they have not altered their conduct.
At present we are victorious. In one action alone we [Illegible Word] or killed near ten thousand, and having put the remainder to flight, pursued them into Upper Egypt, on the side of Jerusalem!!! I have not yet heard what will be our next expedition.
I must now inform you, my dear brother, that I have a trunk in the hands of one of my friends, a master tailor in the demi-brigade. I shall send to him by this conveyance that you may have no difficulty in executing my commission. Write a letter, therefore, and direct it to Citizen Grivet, master-tailor to the depot of the 88th brigade, Fort Bareau, near Chambery. He will send the trunk wherever you order it. I would have you repair to Auch, call upon Dumont’s eldest son (a merchant there) remember me kindly to him, and request him, in my name, to assist you in facilitating its arrival.—Be assured that he will render me this service—be assured, my dear brother, that the trunk is worth looking after. There is rare booty in it—You will find, among other things, six louis-d’ors, a pair of silver buckles, a number of shirts, two new coats, some waistcoats and breeches of white cloth, some white under-waistcoats, two pair of boots, several pair of thread and cotton stockings, some silk ones, a number of pocket handkerchiefs, and many other articles. These you will take charge of till my return to France; if I am ever happy enough to return there,--if not, apply them to your own use.
If you ever happen to hear that the demi-brigade is returned home, and, after a competent time, receive no letter from me, you may then write to the Council of Administration of the Brigade, for whatever belonged to me; and if it reaches you in safety, I would wish you to give for louis to Henriette, and four to Joseph,--the rest keep for yourself.
Present my love to your dear wife, to my brothers and sisters, and to all the family, not forgetting your secretary.
I remain, ever yours affectionately,
ROZIS, capt.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) We are almost weary of remarking on the gross ignorance of the officers of the French army; and yet it is impossible not to notice such passages as the above. Calling Alexandria the capital of Turkey is what we should have some difficulty in excusing in a follower of the camp; but when we find a Captain asserting that Alexandria was in a state of rebellion against the Porte, and in consequence of it actually destroying the Turks under the idea that he was obliging the Grand Seignior,--nous y perdous notre latin, and, indeed, our patience. Bonaparte seems to have formed a just estimate of the capacity of his officers, and to have made their unparalleled credulity the foundation of his own unparalleled assurance!
Monday, October 8, 2007
French Captain Describes Sailors as Traitors
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 216-221.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria (23 Fructidor) September 9th.
ROZIS to his Friend GRIVET.
TIS with great pleasure, my dear friend, that I send you the present, hoping that it will have the good fortune to reach you, notwithstanding the prodigious difficulties we have been subjected to, since the unfortunate moment of the total destruction of our fleet.
While the land forces fight like so many lions, those of the fleet behaved like cowards! We ought not, indeed, by any means to blame the subaltern officers, the cannoneers, and some of the seamen; but the major part, together with the superior officers, certainly fought like traitors(1) to their country!
We inhabit a country with which we are all dissatisfied, to a degree not to be conceived. IF THE TROOPS HAD BUT KNOWN WHAT IT WAS, BEFORE THEY QUITTED FRANCE, THEY WOULD HAVE PREFERRED DEATH A THOUSAND TIMES TO THE MISERY WHICH THEY NOW FIND THEMSELVES REDUCED. We have the enemy every where, before, behind, and on each side of us; it is an exact counterpart of La Vendee. Happily, we have defeated the most formidable of them: 1, the Arabs; 2, the Mameloucs; 3, the Bedouins; almost all cavalry, all mounted on active little horses, that run as swiftly up the mountains as long as the plains. The troops fought like Caesars, and, indeed, nothing less than French soldiers could have defeated such an enemy!
We were almost always obliged to engage, formed into squares. In this inconvenient order of battle we made three days forced march; and, indeed, to have changed it would have been fatal to us all. The enemy made but few prisoners at first; if they saved any from death, it was only to render them subservient to their brutal passions.
The country of Alexandria is merely a country of sand, devoid of all cultivation; where the inhabitants would perish with hunger if they were not supplied with necessaries from the neighbouring districts. The natives who are called Arabs, are a sort of wild beasts, who pillage their own people as readily as strangers. They are always armed, live entirely on rapine, dwell constantly in tents, and carry their whole household with them. When they wish to incamp, they just trace out a few lines on the sand; they are here to day, and there to-morrow.
The Grand Turk is their sworn enemy: he has never been able to subdue them; that was reserved for the French to accomplish. They are not in the least afraid of our cavalry: to say the truth, we have not much of it; they are only intimidated by our artillery: they rush upon our bayonets, as the wild boar does upon the hunters when he is wounded. They have no cannon; if they had, no nation on earth would be able to subdue them.
We were many days without water or bread, or victuals of any kind; and even without means of procuring any. In five or six days, I speak without exaggeration, we lost six or seven hundred men by thirst alone!!! Having passed the Desert, we reached the neighbourhood of the city called Grand Cairo, a country extremely rich by its commerce, and very fertile in grain. It was here that the great battle was fought; we killed or drowned a part of them; while those who escaped, fled into the Desert; some of them with the intent of reaching Egypt, others the neighbourhood of Jerusalem! We pursued them as far as Upper Egypt, where we, in some measure, completed their destruction(2); as many as could escape, crossed the Desert with an intent of getting to Barbary. I have not yet learned whether we shall pursue them thither.
We are exceedingly reduced in our numbers. Besides all this, there exists a general discontent in the army. Despondency was never at such a height before: we have had several soldiers who blew out their brains in the presence of the Commander in Chief, exclaiming to him, “Voila ton ouvrage;” “THIS IS YOUR WORK!” I can go no farther, time will acquaint you with the rest.
I take the liberty, my good friend, of requesting you, as soon as you shall receive a letter from my brother, to forward my trunk to the place he shall direct; it will be, perhaps, to Dumoin’s at Auch; but that is a matter of no consequence.
You will, perhaps, have retired from the army before our return; and, in that case, I shall not know who will have the charge of the depot. It may thus happen that my property may be lost; judge what a loss for me! The best thing we can venture to look forward to, is to quit this country like so many little St. Johns(3). We are already four months pay in arrear; and we all fear that we shall be obliged to make a forced patriotic gift of it, towards re-establishing the thirteen sail of the line, and the twenty other vessels, frigates, &c. which we have unfortunately lost. Such is the recompence we expect, and such will be the fruit of all our labours!
You may take for yourself, my friend, from the trunk, a new coat, which was made for me at Liege, and a louis d’or in money. This, I think, is about what I owe you; if it be not sufficient, take what will make it so; then put the rest of the money in the trunk, cord it well, put a seal upon the lock, and see it sage in the diligence. Act for me in this case, I beseech you, like a friend.
If Durand and Jenot are with you, remember me kindly to them, and tell them how happy they are to be in their native country.
My respects to your wife: embrace your family for me a thousand times, and believe yourself the most fortunate of men, in not coming to join us in Italy.
Ever yours most sincerely,
ROZIS, Capitaine.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) A plain statement of the fact will shew with what justice the crews of the French ships are accused by their countrymen of acting like traitors on the first of August.
The following is a correct copy of the certificate given in by the surviving commissaries and officers of the French fleet, and recognized as authentic by the Government.
Number of men on board the thirteen vessels captured of
destroyed in the engagement of the 1st of August 8930
(exclusive of the Hercules gun-boat)
Sent on shore by Lord Nelson in consequence of a
cartel established between him and the Commandant
of Alexandria, and acknowledged in the receipt
of Capt. Barry, Commander of the Alceste. 1605------------------
Wounded, in said cartel: 1500----------------------------------------
Escaped from the Timoleon while she lay on shore --------- 350
(these were murdered by the Arabs)
Escaped from the Hercules (gun boat)---------------------- 50
Officers, carpenters, caulkers, &c. detained by----------- 200
Lord Nelson
Total destroyed -------------------------------------------------------5225
If to these we add the wounded, we shall find, that of 8930, of which the whole consisted, 6725, more than three-fourths, were killed and wounded in an action in which they are said, by this bloody minded Captain, to have “behaved like traitors!” Rozis might (if he had pleased) have discovered a juster and much more reasonable cause of their defeat, in the superior skill and intrepidity of their enemies; but, except in the affair of his trunk, he does not appear to have exerted any great portion of positive inquiry.
(2) Unless Rozis be in correspondence with Sir John Macpherson, who hoped the House would be in “some degree unanimous,” we cannot account for his stumbling upon this expression. The precious traits of geographical knowledge which precede it, we leave without comment, to the admiration of our readers, contenting ourselves with recommending to their most serious notice, the paragraphs which follow, and which, as they merely relate to the objects of sense and feeling, we would as readily receive from Rozis as from any philosopher in the army.
(3) Meaning, we believe, NAKED; such being the manner in which the French had been accustomed, under the “old superstition, to see the infant saint represented in their churches.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria (23 Fructidor) September 9th.
ROZIS to his Friend GRIVET.
TIS with great pleasure, my dear friend, that I send you the present, hoping that it will have the good fortune to reach you, notwithstanding the prodigious difficulties we have been subjected to, since the unfortunate moment of the total destruction of our fleet.
While the land forces fight like so many lions, those of the fleet behaved like cowards! We ought not, indeed, by any means to blame the subaltern officers, the cannoneers, and some of the seamen; but the major part, together with the superior officers, certainly fought like traitors(1) to their country!
We inhabit a country with which we are all dissatisfied, to a degree not to be conceived. IF THE TROOPS HAD BUT KNOWN WHAT IT WAS, BEFORE THEY QUITTED FRANCE, THEY WOULD HAVE PREFERRED DEATH A THOUSAND TIMES TO THE MISERY WHICH THEY NOW FIND THEMSELVES REDUCED. We have the enemy every where, before, behind, and on each side of us; it is an exact counterpart of La Vendee. Happily, we have defeated the most formidable of them: 1, the Arabs; 2, the Mameloucs; 3, the Bedouins; almost all cavalry, all mounted on active little horses, that run as swiftly up the mountains as long as the plains. The troops fought like Caesars, and, indeed, nothing less than French soldiers could have defeated such an enemy!
We were almost always obliged to engage, formed into squares. In this inconvenient order of battle we made three days forced march; and, indeed, to have changed it would have been fatal to us all. The enemy made but few prisoners at first; if they saved any from death, it was only to render them subservient to their brutal passions.
The country of Alexandria is merely a country of sand, devoid of all cultivation; where the inhabitants would perish with hunger if they were not supplied with necessaries from the neighbouring districts. The natives who are called Arabs, are a sort of wild beasts, who pillage their own people as readily as strangers. They are always armed, live entirely on rapine, dwell constantly in tents, and carry their whole household with them. When they wish to incamp, they just trace out a few lines on the sand; they are here to day, and there to-morrow.
The Grand Turk is their sworn enemy: he has never been able to subdue them; that was reserved for the French to accomplish. They are not in the least afraid of our cavalry: to say the truth, we have not much of it; they are only intimidated by our artillery: they rush upon our bayonets, as the wild boar does upon the hunters when he is wounded. They have no cannon; if they had, no nation on earth would be able to subdue them.
We were many days without water or bread, or victuals of any kind; and even without means of procuring any. In five or six days, I speak without exaggeration, we lost six or seven hundred men by thirst alone!!! Having passed the Desert, we reached the neighbourhood of the city called Grand Cairo, a country extremely rich by its commerce, and very fertile in grain. It was here that the great battle was fought; we killed or drowned a part of them; while those who escaped, fled into the Desert; some of them with the intent of reaching Egypt, others the neighbourhood of Jerusalem! We pursued them as far as Upper Egypt, where we, in some measure, completed their destruction(2); as many as could escape, crossed the Desert with an intent of getting to Barbary. I have not yet learned whether we shall pursue them thither.
We are exceedingly reduced in our numbers. Besides all this, there exists a general discontent in the army. Despondency was never at such a height before: we have had several soldiers who blew out their brains in the presence of the Commander in Chief, exclaiming to him, “Voila ton ouvrage;” “THIS IS YOUR WORK!” I can go no farther, time will acquaint you with the rest.
I take the liberty, my good friend, of requesting you, as soon as you shall receive a letter from my brother, to forward my trunk to the place he shall direct; it will be, perhaps, to Dumoin’s at Auch; but that is a matter of no consequence.
You will, perhaps, have retired from the army before our return; and, in that case, I shall not know who will have the charge of the depot. It may thus happen that my property may be lost; judge what a loss for me! The best thing we can venture to look forward to, is to quit this country like so many little St. Johns(3). We are already four months pay in arrear; and we all fear that we shall be obliged to make a forced patriotic gift of it, towards re-establishing the thirteen sail of the line, and the twenty other vessels, frigates, &c. which we have unfortunately lost. Such is the recompence we expect, and such will be the fruit of all our labours!
You may take for yourself, my friend, from the trunk, a new coat, which was made for me at Liege, and a louis d’or in money. This, I think, is about what I owe you; if it be not sufficient, take what will make it so; then put the rest of the money in the trunk, cord it well, put a seal upon the lock, and see it sage in the diligence. Act for me in this case, I beseech you, like a friend.
If Durand and Jenot are with you, remember me kindly to them, and tell them how happy they are to be in their native country.
My respects to your wife: embrace your family for me a thousand times, and believe yourself the most fortunate of men, in not coming to join us in Italy.
Ever yours most sincerely,
ROZIS, Capitaine.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) A plain statement of the fact will shew with what justice the crews of the French ships are accused by their countrymen of acting like traitors on the first of August.
The following is a correct copy of the certificate given in by the surviving commissaries and officers of the French fleet, and recognized as authentic by the Government.
Number of men on board the thirteen vessels captured of
destroyed in the engagement of the 1st of August 8930
(exclusive of the Hercules gun-boat)
Sent on shore by Lord Nelson in consequence of a
cartel established between him and the Commandant
of Alexandria, and acknowledged in the receipt
of Capt. Barry, Commander of the Alceste. 1605------------------
Wounded, in said cartel: 1500----------------------------------------
Escaped from the Timoleon while she lay on shore --------- 350
(these were murdered by the Arabs)
Escaped from the Hercules (gun boat)---------------------- 50
Officers, carpenters, caulkers, &c. detained by----------- 200
Lord Nelson
Total destroyed -------------------------------------------------------5225
If to these we add the wounded, we shall find, that of 8930, of which the whole consisted, 6725, more than three-fourths, were killed and wounded in an action in which they are said, by this bloody minded Captain, to have “behaved like traitors!” Rozis might (if he had pleased) have discovered a juster and much more reasonable cause of their defeat, in the superior skill and intrepidity of their enemies; but, except in the affair of his trunk, he does not appear to have exerted any great portion of positive inquiry.
(2) Unless Rozis be in correspondence with Sir John Macpherson, who hoped the House would be in “some degree unanimous,” we cannot account for his stumbling upon this expression. The precious traits of geographical knowledge which precede it, we leave without comment, to the admiration of our readers, contenting ourselves with recommending to their most serious notice, the paragraphs which follow, and which, as they merely relate to the objects of sense and feeling, we would as readily receive from Rozis as from any philosopher in the army.
(3) Meaning, we believe, NAKED; such being the manner in which the French had been accustomed, under the “old superstition, to see the infant saint represented in their churches.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Missionary Writes Directors from Palestine
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 210-212
TRANSLATION.
St. Jean d'Aere (19 Fructidor), September 5th.
JH. ENG. CALONES BEAUVOISIN, Adjutant-General, employed in the French Army, in Egypt, to the Citizens, Members of the Executive Directory in France.
Citizen Directors,
CHARGED by General Bonaparte with an important mission in Palestine, I received orders from him, on my departure from Egypt, to transmit to you by every mode of conveyance that appeared to me most safe, the printed papers which you will find inclosed(1). Perhaps they have already reached you; but as our communications with France are becoming every day more and more difficult, I embrace, with the greatest pleasure, the present opportunity of sending you the news of the army.
Our situation in Egypt is, to the present moment, highly brilliant: and if the success of my negociation had answered the expectations of the Commander in Chief, I should have been enabled before my return to him, to give you, in advance, some unquestionable assurances of the future, more brilliant still,--the business, however, is not yet decidedly given up, and, perhaps, it may be in my power to recover the ground which I have lost(2).
I am obliged to be laconic. I entrust my letter to the Captain of a Ragusan ship, which will sail in a few days. I most anxiously hope that it will reach you. May you, while you read it, be convinced, Citizen Directors, that at 800 leagues from our country our hearts are more strongly attached to it than ever.
Accept, in the name of all my comrades, and of the brave Commander of the French army, the expression of all our sentiments, and the assurance of our sincere and respectful devotion.
JH. ENG. BEAUVOISIN.
The only Frenchman at this moment in Palestine(3).
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) See the INTRODUCTION.
(2) We lament that it is not in our power to give the reader any satisfactory account of the purport of this most curious letter. The writer seems to be one of those revolutionary missionaries who have always preceded the march of the French armies, and served the double purpose of corrupters and spies. His particular object, as has been observed, we have no means of knowing. It is some consolation, however, to be assured, that let it have been what it may, it is completely frustrated; for soon after the date of this dispatch, Beauvoisin was thrown into prison by the Governor of Acre.
His brother (such, at least, we conclude him to be) has experienced a very different fate. "He has been condemned )in the words of the honest Dogberry) to everlasting redemption." Le Citoyen Beauvoisin, (says Bonaparte) adjoint, ayant quitte le poste qu'il avoit a l'avancee, et tenu des propos popres a decourager le solat, sera destitute, et renoye en France par la premiere occasion!!!
(3) It is worth observing, that this line was written at the very instant that the Jacobins of this and other countries were assuring the world, that the French troops were masters of the whole of Palestine! Sic transit, &c. &c.
TRANSLATION.
St. Jean d'Aere (19 Fructidor), September 5th.
JH. ENG. CALONES BEAUVOISIN, Adjutant-General, employed in the French Army, in Egypt, to the Citizens, Members of the Executive Directory in France.
Citizen Directors,
CHARGED by General Bonaparte with an important mission in Palestine, I received orders from him, on my departure from Egypt, to transmit to you by every mode of conveyance that appeared to me most safe, the printed papers which you will find inclosed(1). Perhaps they have already reached you; but as our communications with France are becoming every day more and more difficult, I embrace, with the greatest pleasure, the present opportunity of sending you the news of the army.
Our situation in Egypt is, to the present moment, highly brilliant: and if the success of my negociation had answered the expectations of the Commander in Chief, I should have been enabled before my return to him, to give you, in advance, some unquestionable assurances of the future, more brilliant still,--the business, however, is not yet decidedly given up, and, perhaps, it may be in my power to recover the ground which I have lost(2).
I am obliged to be laconic. I entrust my letter to the Captain of a Ragusan ship, which will sail in a few days. I most anxiously hope that it will reach you. May you, while you read it, be convinced, Citizen Directors, that at 800 leagues from our country our hearts are more strongly attached to it than ever.
Accept, in the name of all my comrades, and of the brave Commander of the French army, the expression of all our sentiments, and the assurance of our sincere and respectful devotion.
JH. ENG. BEAUVOISIN.
The only Frenchman at this moment in Palestine(3).
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) See the INTRODUCTION.
(2) We lament that it is not in our power to give the reader any satisfactory account of the purport of this most curious letter. The writer seems to be one of those revolutionary missionaries who have always preceded the march of the French armies, and served the double purpose of corrupters and spies. His particular object, as has been observed, we have no means of knowing. It is some consolation, however, to be assured, that let it have been what it may, it is completely frustrated; for soon after the date of this dispatch, Beauvoisin was thrown into prison by the Governor of Acre.
His brother (such, at least, we conclude him to be) has experienced a very different fate. "He has been condemned )in the words of the honest Dogberry) to everlasting redemption." Le Citoyen Beauvoisin, (says Bonaparte) adjoint, ayant quitte le poste qu'il avoit a l'avancee, et tenu des propos popres a decourager le solat, sera destitute, et renoye en France par la premiere occasion!!!
(3) It is worth observing, that this line was written at the very instant that the Jacobins of this and other countries were assuring the world, that the French troops were masters of the whole of Palestine! Sic transit, &c. &c.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
French Soldiers Taken Prisoner and Executed
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 202-208
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria (18 Fructidor), September 4th.
The Inspector of the Marine, to Vice-admiral THEVENARD
Citizen General,
I DO not know whether any of my letters have reached you, but 'tis now a very long time since any of yours have reached me; which I attribute entirely to the interception, or rather to the difficulty of our communications. Of all the vessels which you have dispatched, the Corsican brig Egalite, the Vif, and the Lodi, are the only ones which have been fortunate enough to arrive here. The Leger was taken within sight of the port, on the 22nd ult.; and the Anemone, chased by the English, was forced(1) to run aground the day before yesterday. Some of the unhappy passengers and crew were murdered by the Arabs, others were made prisoners by them, and have since been ransomed, ad the rest, we presume, were taken by the English.
General Ganteaume has undoubtedly sent you, Citizen General, a detailed account of the fatal event of the first of August. Suffer me to join my heartfelt sorrow to that which you must so poignantly experience, both as a lover of your country, and as a father. Your youngest son has had the happiness to escape(2): he is now on board the vessel of Captain Capousique.
Let me intreat you, Citizen General, to Remember me to Citizen Giraudi. It will not be amiss, I think, to stop the sailing of the papers which you have undertaken to send us, till it can be done with less hazard. Accept the assurances of my respectful attachment.
LE ROY.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)No, Mr. Inspector, the Anemone was not forced to run aground,--but as we probably know more of this circumstance than you do, and as it touches upon a matter which we have very much at heart, we will take the opportunity of enlarging upon it. On the 2d of September (the day mentioned by Le Roy) two of our frigates chased the Anemone, of four guns, and sixty men, into shallow water, in the road of Marabout. As escape was impossible, and resistance totally out of the question, the boats were sent to take possession of her, as a matter of course. On their approach, she first fired at them, and then, dreading their resentment for such an unauthorized display of hostility, cut her cable, and ran ashore. Here her crew was immediately seized by the Arabs; all who attempted resistance were cut down on the spot, and the rest stripped entirely naked. In this condition, seven of them, among whom was the captain, contrived to slip from their hands, and ran down to the beach, where, falling on their knees in the water, the begged to be taken on board by the men, whom, with a degree of insolence and rancour to be found only in the modern French, they had just before wantonly attempted to destroy! To say that those men were English, is sufficient. “I AM HAPPY,” says the brave commander of the Zealous, “to add, that the humanity of our people extended so far as to swim on shore with lines and small casks to save them. One young gentleman (midshipman of the Emerald) particularly distinguished himself: he brought off the commander, Gardon, at the hazard of his own life!” Gazette, Nov. 13th.
This was great, this was noble, this was truly English! Gardon deserved to be run up to the yard-arm for a murderer; yet we see the very youth, whose life he had treacherously endangered, risking it again to save him!
And the men who could do this, are termed, by the Morning Chronicle, “disgraced cowards!”
We proceed without apology. We feel, we confess, an inexpressible pleasure in dwelling on the merits of our brace tars; and think, that whenever we have an opportunity of thwarting the base attempts of the Jacobin prints to sacrifice their honour to France, it is an indispensable duty to seize it with avidity.
Every one knows the cruelties inflicted upon such of our countrymen as had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the French. They were confined (See the Report of the House of Commons) in pestilent dungeons, starved, and sometimes poisoned. This the Morning Chronicle (for the other Jacobin prints are beneath notice) denied, as long as denial was possible; and when it was no longer so, insinuated, as the last piece of service it could render the Directory, that “if the truth could be fairly come at, we should find we had no great reason to complain!!!”
The TRUTH, happily, may be fairly come at; and we earnestly intreat the reader to follow us with care through the important documents we are about to lay on him; after which we will trust him to form his own conclusions on the “reason we have to complain.”
We have just seen the conduct of the English to the French. Let us now see that of the French to the English; when, not as in the former case, after an unjustifiable assault,--but after gallantly and honourably contending for victory, they were at length obliged to yield superiority of force and numbers.
“When the French” (we quote from the letter of Captain Berry, which we mentioned above) “took possession of the leander, they plundered the officers of all their clothes, even the surgeon’s instruments did not escape them. My sword was torn out of my hand; but I recovered it, by insisting that I would deliver it to Le Joille myself. He said to Captain Thomson and me, you have fought well, I will only take care of your swords till you quit the Genereux: but in this instance, as in every other, he broke his word with me.”
“I did not save a coat but the one I had on, nor any other article,--when I remonstrated, he said he would lend me one.” &c. &c.
But this, the Morning Chronicle will say, was immediately after the heat of action:--let us see then how these “generous” victors conducted themselves after their arrival at Corfou, where they had leisure to deliberate coolly on the conduct of the men whom they had captured, and whose unprecedented gallantry would have extorted pity and respect from the wildest savages. Here, again, “the TRUTH may be fairly come at,” as our readers will readily allow, we believe, after perusing the following dispatch.
Trieste, 3d Dec. 1798.
My Lords,
THIRTY seamen of the Leander which was taken and carried into Corfou, arrived here from that island, the 20th ultimo; these poor men were forced away in three small inconvenient vessels, 10 in each, some more of them badly wounded, and in a very weak state, being obliged to lie on the decks, exposed to the inclemency of the season 17 days. On Friday, 10 more arrived from the same place. The first 30, having finished their quarantine of 13 days, came out this morning, much recovered, from the attentions to their health and food. The last 10, have suffered more than the others, being 23 days on their passage, and so short of provisions, that, had not some passengers taken compassion on them, they must have perished. I am sorry to observe, the French behaved very badly to them in the shortness of provision. I hope, by proper care, to restore these valuable meritorious men to their country and families.
I have the honour to be, &c.
EDWARD STANLEY
British Council at Trieste.
Right Hon. Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
If the perusal of this dispatch awakes the same feelings in our readers that it did in the breast of those to whom it is addressed, our gallant countrymen will not have suffered in vain.
But while the French were thus exposing their prisoners, with their wounds yet open, to the almost certain hazard of perishing by shipwreck, or hunger, what was the conduct of the English to theirs! It fortunately happens, that here too “the TRUTH may be fairly come at;”—and when we say that it proceeds from the mouth of Mons. NIOU, we presume that the Morning Chronicle itself will acquiesce in the testimony.
London, November 12th, 1798. (O.S.)
NIOU, Commissary of the French Government in England, for every thing which relates to the Exchange, and the Maintenance of the Prisoners of War.
To Messrs. The Commissioners of the Board of Transports.
Gentlemen,
I AM arrived this morning after a long and troublesome journey which I have just made to the different depots of the French prisoners of war in England.
I have the honour to return you the passport which was forwarded to me at Edinburgh, to enable me to proceed to Norman Cross, and from thence to London. Be pleased to accept my thanks for the punctuality with which you transmitted me this paper.
A slight indisposition prevents my coming abroad this morning; I cannot, therefore, wait on you at this instant,--but I beg of you to allow me to call on you to-morrow morning, at any hour which may suit you, as I want to have some conversation on a variety of objects of the first importance.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BE BETTER PLEASED THAN I HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE WHOLE OF THIS JOURNEY, WITH THE SENTIMENTS OF HUMANITY, AND JUSTICE, WHICH REGULATE EVERY PART OF THE CONDUCT OF THE AGENTS, WHO DIRECT, UNDER YOUR ORDERS, THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRISONS IN WHICH THE FRENCH ARE KEPT. IT IS A SATISFACTION, MOST DEAR TO MY HEART, TO HAVE AN HOMAGE OF THIS KIND TO PAY TO TRUTH!
I have the honour to be, &c.
Niou.
We make no apology; as we have already observed, for the length of this note; indeed, it does not need it. If there be an Englishman whose breast does not glow at reading such testimonies to the unwearied humanity of this country, contrasted, as it here is, with the insolence, the rapacity, the rancour, and the cruelty of France, he is unworthy of it,--and we resign him, with ineffable contempt, to the friendship of the M.C. With that paper he may turn with a malignant scowl from conviction, and exclaim, with equal baseness and stupidity, that “if the TRUTH could be fairly come at, we should find we had no great reason to complain.”
(2)Admiral Thevenard’s eldest son commanded the Aquilon, of 74 guns (one of the captured ships) and was killed in the engagement.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria (18 Fructidor), September 4th.
The Inspector of the Marine, to Vice-admiral THEVENARD
Citizen General,
I DO not know whether any of my letters have reached you, but 'tis now a very long time since any of yours have reached me; which I attribute entirely to the interception, or rather to the difficulty of our communications. Of all the vessels which you have dispatched, the Corsican brig Egalite, the Vif, and the Lodi, are the only ones which have been fortunate enough to arrive here. The Leger was taken within sight of the port, on the 22nd ult.; and the Anemone, chased by the English, was forced(1) to run aground the day before yesterday. Some of the unhappy passengers and crew were murdered by the Arabs, others were made prisoners by them, and have since been ransomed, ad the rest, we presume, were taken by the English.
General Ganteaume has undoubtedly sent you, Citizen General, a detailed account of the fatal event of the first of August. Suffer me to join my heartfelt sorrow to that which you must so poignantly experience, both as a lover of your country, and as a father. Your youngest son has had the happiness to escape(2): he is now on board the vessel of Captain Capousique.
Let me intreat you, Citizen General, to Remember me to Citizen Giraudi. It will not be amiss, I think, to stop the sailing of the papers which you have undertaken to send us, till it can be done with less hazard. Accept the assurances of my respectful attachment.
LE ROY.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)No, Mr. Inspector, the Anemone was not forced to run aground,--but as we probably know more of this circumstance than you do, and as it touches upon a matter which we have very much at heart, we will take the opportunity of enlarging upon it. On the 2d of September (the day mentioned by Le Roy) two of our frigates chased the Anemone, of four guns, and sixty men, into shallow water, in the road of Marabout. As escape was impossible, and resistance totally out of the question, the boats were sent to take possession of her, as a matter of course. On their approach, she first fired at them, and then, dreading their resentment for such an unauthorized display of hostility, cut her cable, and ran ashore. Here her crew was immediately seized by the Arabs; all who attempted resistance were cut down on the spot, and the rest stripped entirely naked. In this condition, seven of them, among whom was the captain, contrived to slip from their hands, and ran down to the beach, where, falling on their knees in the water, the begged to be taken on board by the men, whom, with a degree of insolence and rancour to be found only in the modern French, they had just before wantonly attempted to destroy! To say that those men were English, is sufficient. “I AM HAPPY,” says the brave commander of the Zealous, “to add, that the humanity of our people extended so far as to swim on shore with lines and small casks to save them. One young gentleman (midshipman of the Emerald) particularly distinguished himself: he brought off the commander, Gardon, at the hazard of his own life!” Gazette, Nov. 13th.
This was great, this was noble, this was truly English! Gardon deserved to be run up to the yard-arm for a murderer; yet we see the very youth, whose life he had treacherously endangered, risking it again to save him!
And the men who could do this, are termed, by the Morning Chronicle, “disgraced cowards!”
We proceed without apology. We feel, we confess, an inexpressible pleasure in dwelling on the merits of our brace tars; and think, that whenever we have an opportunity of thwarting the base attempts of the Jacobin prints to sacrifice their honour to France, it is an indispensable duty to seize it with avidity.
Every one knows the cruelties inflicted upon such of our countrymen as had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the French. They were confined (See the Report of the House of Commons) in pestilent dungeons, starved, and sometimes poisoned. This the Morning Chronicle (for the other Jacobin prints are beneath notice) denied, as long as denial was possible; and when it was no longer so, insinuated, as the last piece of service it could render the Directory, that “if the truth could be fairly come at, we should find we had no great reason to complain!!!”
The TRUTH, happily, may be fairly come at; and we earnestly intreat the reader to follow us with care through the important documents we are about to lay on him; after which we will trust him to form his own conclusions on the “reason we have to complain.”
We have just seen the conduct of the English to the French. Let us now see that of the French to the English; when, not as in the former case, after an unjustifiable assault,--but after gallantly and honourably contending for victory, they were at length obliged to yield superiority of force and numbers.
“When the French” (we quote from the letter of Captain Berry, which we mentioned above) “took possession of the leander, they plundered the officers of all their clothes, even the surgeon’s instruments did not escape them. My sword was torn out of my hand; but I recovered it, by insisting that I would deliver it to Le Joille myself. He said to Captain Thomson and me, you have fought well, I will only take care of your swords till you quit the Genereux: but in this instance, as in every other, he broke his word with me.”
“I did not save a coat but the one I had on, nor any other article,--when I remonstrated, he said he would lend me one.” &c. &c.
But this, the Morning Chronicle will say, was immediately after the heat of action:--let us see then how these “generous” victors conducted themselves after their arrival at Corfou, where they had leisure to deliberate coolly on the conduct of the men whom they had captured, and whose unprecedented gallantry would have extorted pity and respect from the wildest savages. Here, again, “the TRUTH may be fairly come at,” as our readers will readily allow, we believe, after perusing the following dispatch.
Trieste, 3d Dec. 1798.
My Lords,
THIRTY seamen of the Leander which was taken and carried into Corfou, arrived here from that island, the 20th ultimo; these poor men were forced away in three small inconvenient vessels, 10 in each, some more of them badly wounded, and in a very weak state, being obliged to lie on the decks, exposed to the inclemency of the season 17 days. On Friday, 10 more arrived from the same place. The first 30, having finished their quarantine of 13 days, came out this morning, much recovered, from the attentions to their health and food. The last 10, have suffered more than the others, being 23 days on their passage, and so short of provisions, that, had not some passengers taken compassion on them, they must have perished. I am sorry to observe, the French behaved very badly to them in the shortness of provision. I hope, by proper care, to restore these valuable meritorious men to their country and families.
I have the honour to be, &c.
EDWARD STANLEY
British Council at Trieste.
Right Hon. Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
If the perusal of this dispatch awakes the same feelings in our readers that it did in the breast of those to whom it is addressed, our gallant countrymen will not have suffered in vain.
But while the French were thus exposing their prisoners, with their wounds yet open, to the almost certain hazard of perishing by shipwreck, or hunger, what was the conduct of the English to theirs! It fortunately happens, that here too “the TRUTH may be fairly come at;”—and when we say that it proceeds from the mouth of Mons. NIOU, we presume that the Morning Chronicle itself will acquiesce in the testimony.
London, November 12th, 1798. (O.S.)
NIOU, Commissary of the French Government in England, for every thing which relates to the Exchange, and the Maintenance of the Prisoners of War.
To Messrs. The Commissioners of the Board of Transports.
Gentlemen,
I AM arrived this morning after a long and troublesome journey which I have just made to the different depots of the French prisoners of war in England.
I have the honour to return you the passport which was forwarded to me at Edinburgh, to enable me to proceed to Norman Cross, and from thence to London. Be pleased to accept my thanks for the punctuality with which you transmitted me this paper.
A slight indisposition prevents my coming abroad this morning; I cannot, therefore, wait on you at this instant,--but I beg of you to allow me to call on you to-morrow morning, at any hour which may suit you, as I want to have some conversation on a variety of objects of the first importance.
IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO BE BETTER PLEASED THAN I HAVE BEEN THROUGH THE WHOLE OF THIS JOURNEY, WITH THE SENTIMENTS OF HUMANITY, AND JUSTICE, WHICH REGULATE EVERY PART OF THE CONDUCT OF THE AGENTS, WHO DIRECT, UNDER YOUR ORDERS, THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE PRISONS IN WHICH THE FRENCH ARE KEPT. IT IS A SATISFACTION, MOST DEAR TO MY HEART, TO HAVE AN HOMAGE OF THIS KIND TO PAY TO TRUTH!
I have the honour to be, &c.
Niou.
We make no apology; as we have already observed, for the length of this note; indeed, it does not need it. If there be an Englishman whose breast does not glow at reading such testimonies to the unwearied humanity of this country, contrasted, as it here is, with the insolence, the rapacity, the rancour, and the cruelty of France, he is unworthy of it,--and we resign him, with ineffable contempt, to the friendship of the M.C. With that paper he may turn with a malignant scowl from conviction, and exclaim, with equal baseness and stupidity, that “if the TRUTH could be fairly come at, we should find we had no great reason to complain.”
(2)Admiral Thevenard’s eldest son commanded the Aquilon, of 74 guns (one of the captured ships) and was killed in the engagement.
Friday, October 5, 2007
Bonaparte Executes Uncooperative Local Leader
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 199-200
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria (18 Fructidor), September 4th.
The inspector of the Marine, to Citizen PUPET, Commissary of the Marine, at Havre.
HAVE any of my former letters reached you, my dear comrade?--I am afraid not; and unfortunately I have received none of yours. If you are sinking under the weight of business, I am no less so.--Without means, without resources, I have every thing to create as it were,-- and under what circumstances?--under those of having been almost an eye-witness of the dreadful catastrophe of the 1st of August.
Allow me to put you in mind of your promises respecting my family; I look for the execution of them from your friendship, and your readiness to oblige. Have the goodness, my dear comrade, to present my compliments to your fellow labourers, and accept, for yourself, the assurance of my inviolable attachment.
LE ROY.
P.S. We have lost our comrades Jaubert(1), Peret, and the first physician to the fleet, Citizen Renard. The other distressing events you will hear of, before my letter reaches you.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)Our conjecture then was right(Part I. p. 36.) and Jaubert perished in the explosion of the L'Orient.
How many of the writers of the First Part of this Correspondence, and of those who are mentioned by them, have perished since their letters reached us! For the French themselves we feel little regret.
--'tis the sport to see the engineer
Hois'd with his own petar.
They came to destroy, and they have been destroyed!--But we deeply lament the fate of the innocent victims of their barbarity. The Cheriff Coraim (of whom the reader will find some mention in the First Part, p. 193) has, we see, been barbarously put to death at Cairo, and had his hoary head paraded round the streets, in the true style of Parisian expeditions.
When it is considered that the crime of this man (according to the French themselves) consisted in his not being seduced by a "tricoloured scarf," to assist in the destruction of his brethren; and that he was only removed from Alexandria, as a temporary measure of security,--his being dragged to Cairo, and murdered by Bonaparte, without evidence, (for that, Loyer says, was left behind) must furnish the admirers of the General's justice and humanity, and, above all, the Reverend Mr. Wakefield, with fresh topics of "consolation and triumph!"
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria (18 Fructidor), September 4th.
The inspector of the Marine, to Citizen PUPET, Commissary of the Marine, at Havre.
HAVE any of my former letters reached you, my dear comrade?--I am afraid not; and unfortunately I have received none of yours. If you are sinking under the weight of business, I am no less so.--Without means, without resources, I have every thing to create as it were,-- and under what circumstances?--under those of having been almost an eye-witness of the dreadful catastrophe of the 1st of August.
Allow me to put you in mind of your promises respecting my family; I look for the execution of them from your friendship, and your readiness to oblige. Have the goodness, my dear comrade, to present my compliments to your fellow labourers, and accept, for yourself, the assurance of my inviolable attachment.
LE ROY.
P.S. We have lost our comrades Jaubert(1), Peret, and the first physician to the fleet, Citizen Renard. The other distressing events you will hear of, before my letter reaches you.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)Our conjecture then was right(Part I. p. 36.) and Jaubert perished in the explosion of the L'Orient.
How many of the writers of the First Part of this Correspondence, and of those who are mentioned by them, have perished since their letters reached us! For the French themselves we feel little regret.
--'tis the sport to see the engineer
Hois'd with his own petar.
They came to destroy, and they have been destroyed!--But we deeply lament the fate of the innocent victims of their barbarity. The Cheriff Coraim (of whom the reader will find some mention in the First Part, p. 193) has, we see, been barbarously put to death at Cairo, and had his hoary head paraded round the streets, in the true style of Parisian expeditions.
When it is considered that the crime of this man (according to the French themselves) consisted in his not being seduced by a "tricoloured scarf," to assist in the destruction of his brethren; and that he was only removed from Alexandria, as a temporary measure of security,--his being dragged to Cairo, and murdered by Bonaparte, without evidence, (for that, Loyer says, was left behind) must furnish the admirers of the General's justice and humanity, and, above all, the Reverend Mr. Wakefield, with fresh topics of "consolation and triumph!"
British Intercept Detailed Data on Size of French Force
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 192-197.
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, inclosed in Rear Admiral GANTEAUME’S Dispatches to the Generals commanding the Land and Sea Forces, at Malta.
No. 1
Muster-Roll of the Crews on board the Vessels, composing the divison in the Port of Alexandria, taken on the 26th of August, 1798.
SHIPS OF THE LINE, AND FRIGATES.
Number of Men.
Le Causse - - 608
Le Dubois - - 581
La Courageuse - - 334
La Junon - - 368
Le Meuiron - - 293
Le Cazzero - - 228
L’Alceste - - 278
Le Montenotte - - 304
Le Leoben - - 258
La Mantoue - - 201
----------
3453
SMALLER VESSELS.
Number of Men
Corvettes.—Le Rivoly - 81
Salamine - 126
Alerte - 82
Lody - 102
Gun-Boats.—La Portugaise 103
Oranger 88
Aglae 102
Packets, or La Foudre 69
Sloops Of War
Negresse 75
Chasseur 94
Independent 48
Vif 60
Chien de Chasse 65
Galley.—La Victorie 400
-----
1495
Alexandria (14 Fructidor),
August 31st, 1798
Rear Admiral
GANTEAUME.
List of Vessels composing the Flotilla of the Nile, under the Command of Rear Admiral PERRE’E.
Le Chebec, Le Cerf.
Le Demi Chebec, La Revanche.
SMALL SLOOPS OF WAR.
La Capricieuse
Sans Quartier.
Pluvier.
Etoile.
Éclair.
Demi Galley. (Name not known.)
La Coquette.
L’Amoureuse.
GUN-BOATS.
L’Helene
La Victoire.
L’Esperance.
The muster-rolls of the crews of the vessels above mentioned are not come to hand.
H.G.
Number of Seamen composing the Crews of the Transports, now at Anchor in the Port of Alexandria, under the Command of the Chief of Division, DUMANOIR LE PELLEY.
Number of Men
Toulon Transports - - 533
Marseilles - do. - - 569
Ajaccio - do. - - 185
Genes - do - - 995
Civita Vechia - - 735
------
3017
Copied at the Office of the Majority of Rear-admiral Ganteame, September 2d 1798.
Examined, H. GANTEAUME.
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[British Translators' Notes]
These DOCUMENTS are of a most curious and important nature. They enable us to complete, in some measure, the estimate of the numbers sacrificed in this insane and wicked expedition.
In the First Part we reckoned the land forces at 42,000; and this, we are persuaded, was rather under than over the amount. In the French papers we find them estimated differently, i.e. “Desaix’s division, composed of three demi-brigades; Kleber’s id. ; Menou’s, id; Bon’s, id.; and Regnier’s of two; forming in all fourteen demi-brigades; of which four of light infantry, and ten of the line. Each demi-brigade consists of 2400 men; total of infantry, therefore, 33,600. The cavalry, commanded by Damas, consists of one regiment of hussars, one of chasseurs, and three of dragoons; total 3,000,--making altogether 36,600.” But this is evidently under-rater, we shall, therefore, adopt our first number, 42,000.
The sea forces, as appears from the certificate of the French Commissaries, delivered to Admiral Lord Nelson, on the fifth of August, amounted to 10,710. In this the crews of the gunboats are not included, we shall, therefore, take them at 300.
On board the ships of the line, frigates, and smaller vessels of war, in the port of Alexandria, there are, according to the Schedule (No. 1.), 4,948. On the flotilla of the Nile (No. 2.), averaging the crews at a hundred each, 1,500,--and in the different trans ports in the port of Alexandria (No. 3.), 3,017. If then we recapitulate those numbers,--
Land forces 42,000
Sea ditto 21,010
Ships, &c. at Alexandria 4,948
Flotilla on the Nile 1,500
Transports 3,017
-------
62,475
We shall have a sum which, we believe, will not be far from the truth.
There are yet, however, to be added, the swarms of speculators, purchasers of plunder, robbers, as Avrieury justly calls them (see the preceding letter) which, like vultures, always follow the desolating track of a French army; before the reader can accurately appreciate the whole number vomited forth by France on this unhappy country.
Disburthened Europe, while she condoles with Egypt on the visitation of this eleventh, and worst plague, may yet congratulate herself on its having at length removed from her wasted and bleeding realms.—Nor need she fear its return. Scarce and individual of those numerous thousands has yet reached France; and few indeed, and scanty, will be their future arrivals!—The directory have obtained their end: they are happy usque ad delicias votorum; and we sincerely [facilitate] them, and the civilized world in general, on the probably extinction of a horde of turbulent and cruel assassins!
OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, inclosed in Rear Admiral GANTEAUME’S Dispatches to the Generals commanding the Land and Sea Forces, at Malta.
No. 1
Muster-Roll of the Crews on board the Vessels, composing the divison in the Port of Alexandria, taken on the 26th of August, 1798.
SHIPS OF THE LINE, AND FRIGATES.
Number of Men.
Le Causse - - 608
Le Dubois - - 581
La Courageuse - - 334
La Junon - - 368
Le Meuiron - - 293
Le Cazzero - - 228
L’Alceste - - 278
Le Montenotte - - 304
Le Leoben - - 258
La Mantoue - - 201
----------
3453
SMALLER VESSELS.
Number of Men
Corvettes.—Le Rivoly - 81
Salamine - 126
Alerte - 82
Lody - 102
Gun-Boats.—La Portugaise 103
Oranger 88
Aglae 102
Packets, or La Foudre 69
Sloops Of War
Negresse 75
Chasseur 94
Independent 48
Vif 60
Chien de Chasse 65
Galley.—La Victorie 400
-----
1495
Alexandria (14 Fructidor),
August 31st, 1798
Rear Admiral
GANTEAUME.
List of Vessels composing the Flotilla of the Nile, under the Command of Rear Admiral PERRE’E.
Le Chebec, Le Cerf.
Le Demi Chebec, La Revanche.
SMALL SLOOPS OF WAR.
La Capricieuse
Sans Quartier.
Pluvier.
Etoile.
Éclair.
Demi Galley. (Name not known.)
La Coquette.
L’Amoureuse.
GUN-BOATS.
L’Helene
La Victoire.
L’Esperance.
The muster-rolls of the crews of the vessels above mentioned are not come to hand.
H.G.
Number of Seamen composing the Crews of the Transports, now at Anchor in the Port of Alexandria, under the Command of the Chief of Division, DUMANOIR LE PELLEY.
Number of Men
Toulon Transports - - 533
Marseilles - do. - - 569
Ajaccio - do. - - 185
Genes - do - - 995
Civita Vechia - - 735
------
3017
Copied at the Office of the Majority of Rear-admiral Ganteame, September 2d 1798.
Examined, H. GANTEAUME.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
These DOCUMENTS are of a most curious and important nature. They enable us to complete, in some measure, the estimate of the numbers sacrificed in this insane and wicked expedition.
In the First Part we reckoned the land forces at 42,000; and this, we are persuaded, was rather under than over the amount. In the French papers we find them estimated differently, i.e. “Desaix’s division, composed of three demi-brigades; Kleber’s id. ; Menou’s, id; Bon’s, id.; and Regnier’s of two; forming in all fourteen demi-brigades; of which four of light infantry, and ten of the line. Each demi-brigade consists of 2400 men; total of infantry, therefore, 33,600. The cavalry, commanded by Damas, consists of one regiment of hussars, one of chasseurs, and three of dragoons; total 3,000,--making altogether 36,600.” But this is evidently under-rater, we shall, therefore, adopt our first number, 42,000.
The sea forces, as appears from the certificate of the French Commissaries, delivered to Admiral Lord Nelson, on the fifth of August, amounted to 10,710. In this the crews of the gunboats are not included, we shall, therefore, take them at 300.
On board the ships of the line, frigates, and smaller vessels of war, in the port of Alexandria, there are, according to the Schedule (No. 1.), 4,948. On the flotilla of the Nile (No. 2.), averaging the crews at a hundred each, 1,500,--and in the different trans ports in the port of Alexandria (No. 3.), 3,017. If then we recapitulate those numbers,--
Land forces 42,000
Sea ditto 21,010
Ships, &c. at Alexandria 4,948
Flotilla on the Nile 1,500
Transports 3,017
-------
62,475
We shall have a sum which, we believe, will not be far from the truth.
There are yet, however, to be added, the swarms of speculators, purchasers of plunder, robbers, as Avrieury justly calls them (see the preceding letter) which, like vultures, always follow the desolating track of a French army; before the reader can accurately appreciate the whole number vomited forth by France on this unhappy country.
Disburthened Europe, while she condoles with Egypt on the visitation of this eleventh, and worst plague, may yet congratulate herself on its having at length removed from her wasted and bleeding realms.—Nor need she fear its return. Scarce and individual of those numerous thousands has yet reached France; and few indeed, and scanty, will be their future arrivals!—The directory have obtained their end: they are happy usque ad delicias votorum; and we sincerely [facilitate] them, and the civilized world in general, on the probably extinction of a horde of turbulent and cruel assassins!
Thursday, October 4, 2007
French Fleet Defeated by Admiral Nelson
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2,
TRANSLATION. pp.189-191.
Alexandria, September 2d.
Rear Admiral GANTEAUME, to the Generals commanding the Land and Sea Forces, at Malta.
Citizens,
TIS with anguish of soul I inform you, that on the first of last month, the fleet of the Republic was attacked and defeated by that of Great Britain, under the command of Admiral Nelson. The action began at six in the evening, and did not finish till the forenoon on the next day. After a most vigorous struggle, force prevailed, and our fleet, inferior(1) both in number of vessels, and in the composition of their crews, yielded the day.
We had the misfortune, in this fatal contest, to lose eleven sail of the line. Almost all the superior officers were killed or wounded. Since this calamitous event, the enemy is the master of the coast, and intercepts all our communications, with a small division of four sail of the line, and a few frigates. The rest of their fleet has sailed, with the prizes, for Sicily.
Our position in the interior is, however, satisfactory. We are in possession of all Lower Egypt. The Commander in Chief is at Cairo. The Mameloucs have been defeated, destroyed in part, and dispersed. A body of them, under the command of Ibrahim Bey, has taken shelter in Syria, and Murad Bey has passed into Said. General Desaix is in pursuit of him, and no one here entertains a doubt but that we shall speedily hear of his defeat. In that case, masters of the whole of Egypt, we shall be able to maintain ourselves in the country, PROVIDED that we receive a little assistance from France during the winter.
I send you, with this letter, my dispatches for Government. Have the goodness to forward them without delay.
Health and fraternity.
H. GANTEAUME.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)How could Ganteaume (evidently a man of sense) set down this absurd and contemptible falsehood! He states the English force correctly enough in the First Part (p.130), and he must have known, while he was writing, that the “superiority,” in every thing (courage and capacity excepted) was on the side of the French.
The number of vessels, it is true, was equal: yet if we consider that the largest line of battle ship in the English squadron was probably inferior in size to the smallest in that of the French; that the latter had one ship of 120 guns, three of 80, four frigates, several gun-boats, and a “battery of guns and mortars on an island in their van,” to which we had nothing to oppose; we can have little hesitation in deciding the question of superiority.
In stating the number of vessels to be equal, it should be observed, that we count the Leander in the line. How fit she was for this, may be seen my comparing her size and force to any one of the French seventy-fours opposed to her; to the Genereux, for example, by whom she was afterwards captured.
We have now before us a letter written by Sir Edward Berry; from this we shall take the liberty of extracting the relative statement of the force, &c. of the two ships.
“The Genereux, of 74 guns, is 193 feet 7 inches in length, and 23 feet in depth; burden 2144 tons; carries thirty 36 pounders; thirty 18 ditto; and four 42-pound carronades; complement 700 men (when she fell in with the Leander she had 900).
“The Leander, of 50 guns, is 146 feet 6 inches in length; and 17 feet, 5 inches in depth; burden 1052 tons: carries twenty two 24-pounders, twenty-two 12 ditto, and six 6 ditto; complement 343 men (when captured, she had only 282, boys included) her mast, yards, and sails, those of a thirty-two gun frigate.”
Thus far Captain Berry. Whether the Morning Chronicle, which denies this brace man courage in common with the rest of his countrymen, will have the temerity to question his veracity, we know not,--should that paper, however, feel inclined to do so, we think it lies in our power to assist it; we can furnish it with a counter-testimony from a quarter which it has never yet had the uncandidness to doubt; we mean from the French themselves.
Extract of an official letter from the Captain of the Genereux.
Corfou, Sept. 1st.
“I have the pleasure of informing you that I am arrived at this place with the English ship, the Leander, of SEVENTY-FOUR funs, which I fell in with near Candria.”—Here follow some absurd lies concerning the action of the 1st of August, which we omit.
“With respect to the Leander, I was obliged to engage her for near five hours. She mounts SEVENTY-FOUR GUNS; 30, 24, and 12 pounders! I ought to have carried here in less than an hour,” (this is true enough)”for we fought broadside and broadside: during the action we fell aboard each other, and if my crew had been a little more alert I should then have taken her!!!”
LE JOILLE, jun.
TRANSLATION. pp.189-191.
Alexandria, September 2d.
Rear Admiral GANTEAUME, to the Generals commanding the Land and Sea Forces, at Malta.
Citizens,
TIS with anguish of soul I inform you, that on the first of last month, the fleet of the Republic was attacked and defeated by that of Great Britain, under the command of Admiral Nelson. The action began at six in the evening, and did not finish till the forenoon on the next day. After a most vigorous struggle, force prevailed, and our fleet, inferior(1) both in number of vessels, and in the composition of their crews, yielded the day.
We had the misfortune, in this fatal contest, to lose eleven sail of the line. Almost all the superior officers were killed or wounded. Since this calamitous event, the enemy is the master of the coast, and intercepts all our communications, with a small division of four sail of the line, and a few frigates. The rest of their fleet has sailed, with the prizes, for Sicily.
Our position in the interior is, however, satisfactory. We are in possession of all Lower Egypt. The Commander in Chief is at Cairo. The Mameloucs have been defeated, destroyed in part, and dispersed. A body of them, under the command of Ibrahim Bey, has taken shelter in Syria, and Murad Bey has passed into Said. General Desaix is in pursuit of him, and no one here entertains a doubt but that we shall speedily hear of his defeat. In that case, masters of the whole of Egypt, we shall be able to maintain ourselves in the country, PROVIDED that we receive a little assistance from France during the winter.
I send you, with this letter, my dispatches for Government. Have the goodness to forward them without delay.
Health and fraternity.
H. GANTEAUME.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)How could Ganteaume (evidently a man of sense) set down this absurd and contemptible falsehood! He states the English force correctly enough in the First Part (p.130), and he must have known, while he was writing, that the “superiority,” in every thing (courage and capacity excepted) was on the side of the French.
The number of vessels, it is true, was equal: yet if we consider that the largest line of battle ship in the English squadron was probably inferior in size to the smallest in that of the French; that the latter had one ship of 120 guns, three of 80, four frigates, several gun-boats, and a “battery of guns and mortars on an island in their van,” to which we had nothing to oppose; we can have little hesitation in deciding the question of superiority.
In stating the number of vessels to be equal, it should be observed, that we count the Leander in the line. How fit she was for this, may be seen my comparing her size and force to any one of the French seventy-fours opposed to her; to the Genereux, for example, by whom she was afterwards captured.
We have now before us a letter written by Sir Edward Berry; from this we shall take the liberty of extracting the relative statement of the force, &c. of the two ships.
“The Genereux, of 74 guns, is 193 feet 7 inches in length, and 23 feet in depth; burden 2144 tons; carries thirty 36 pounders; thirty 18 ditto; and four 42-pound carronades; complement 700 men (when she fell in with the Leander she had 900).
“The Leander, of 50 guns, is 146 feet 6 inches in length; and 17 feet, 5 inches in depth; burden 1052 tons: carries twenty two 24-pounders, twenty-two 12 ditto, and six 6 ditto; complement 343 men (when captured, she had only 282, boys included) her mast, yards, and sails, those of a thirty-two gun frigate.”
Thus far Captain Berry. Whether the Morning Chronicle, which denies this brace man courage in common with the rest of his countrymen, will have the temerity to question his veracity, we know not,--should that paper, however, feel inclined to do so, we think it lies in our power to assist it; we can furnish it with a counter-testimony from a quarter which it has never yet had the uncandidness to doubt; we mean from the French themselves.
Extract of an official letter from the Captain of the Genereux.
Corfou, Sept. 1st.
“I have the pleasure of informing you that I am arrived at this place with the English ship, the Leander, of SEVENTY-FOUR funs, which I fell in with near Candria.”—Here follow some absurd lies concerning the action of the 1st of August, which we omit.
“With respect to the Leander, I was obliged to engage her for near five hours. She mounts SEVENTY-FOUR GUNS; 30, 24, and 12 pounders! I ought to have carried here in less than an hour,” (this is true enough)”for we fought broadside and broadside: during the action we fell aboard each other, and if my crew had been a little more alert I should then have taken her!!!”
LE JOILLE, jun.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
French Descriptions of Poverty in Egypt
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 180-186.
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria(12 Fructidor), August 29th.
To the female Citizen DESCORCHES, Rue d'Anjou, No. 929, Fauxbourg Honore, a Paris.
YET another letter. You may probably, my love, be more happy than me: some of my letters chance to reach you; but I receive none of yours; that which I wrote from Malta was taken in the Sensible; but on our arrival here I wrote you one, which I think must have come to hand. I sent you one, too, by Guillaume Tell, after our defeat, and another by the English fleet.
These are all the opportunities I have had; the present letter is hazarded, for the port of Alexandria is blocked up by three sail of the line, and three frigates: the Zealous, the flag-ship; the Goliah, and the Swiftsure; the Alcmena, the Emerald, and the Bonne Citoyenne. Another ship of the line, whose name I do not recollect, is cruizing before Damietta, with two frigates, the corvette La Fortune, which they took from us, and two advice boats, La Torride and Le Leger. This last was coming from France when it was taken; judge then, how wretched it made us; all our letters fell into the hands of the enemy, the official ones expected(1), which were thrown over-board.
Amongst the letters, the English found a miniature, which some fair one had apparently sent to her lover. The ladies need not be much alarmed, for their swains have not the power, if they had the will, to be unfaithful. We have a few, and but a few, European women here; but the best of them are inferior in attractions to the veriest dowdies of our dear native land. As for those of the country, the handsome ones I fancy, keep themselves concealed; for those that we see absolutely frighten us(2).
Every person that comes from the interior of the country tells us that Alexandria is the finest city in Egypt. Good gods! what must the rest be then? figure to yourself a confused mass of ill built houses of one story, the best of them with a terrace; a little door with a wooden lock, no windows but a lattice of wood, of which the bars are so close that it is almost impossible to distinguish any object through them; and little narrow streets, except what they call "the Quarter of the Francs," and the "Residence of the Grandees." The poor inhabitants, infinitely the greater number, in a state of nature, with the exception of a blue shirt, which reaches half way down their thighs, and which is tucked up more than half their time, a girdle, and a turban dropping to rags. This is their whole wardrobe!
I hope we shall soon go to Cairo; we shall then see if the people of that city are like these; if so, I shall have had my belly-full of this blessed country. I could tear myself to pieces for coming here, so could my dear friend(3).
We wish vehemently--ay, and very vehemently to return to France; but since we are here it is as well to see as much as we can(4). The remains of this famous Alexandria are poor enough; we shall see if Memphis has any thing better to shew. This infernal Egypt! nothing but a waste of sand. The mud which the Nile leaves upon the ground constitutes all its wealth. A man who has a tract of land in the Desert, may cultivate as much sand as he can find constant water for. My courage is sustained by the hope of a speedy return. [(5)]
It may still be sent: in that case I shall fly to your arms, and from thence to my department. I am anxious to be there this winter; time passes away unhappily, too rapidly. It is not unlikely but that some attempt may be made, and I should be sorry not to be on the spot.
We shall perhaps, shew the world that the Bretons and the Normands are rather superior to the Provencials. This unfortunate defeat arises in a great measure, from their bad conduct(6). All the officers who came from Brest, one only expected, are either killed or dangerously wounded. I see with pain that the Admiral will be made the pack-horse. He cannot help himself, and therefore every body is loading him. He may have committed errors, but certainly not all that are charged, and that will continue to be charged, upon him. Gantheaume, his chief of the staff, who was made a Rear Admiral by the Commander in Chief, will assume, as it seems, on his return from Cairo, the command of the miserable force we have here. We are all desirous of it, and anxiously expect his arrival; this will console us a little, and we shall then see what steps to take next; for to form any plan here, in out present circumstances, is impossible. Our destination must be ultimately directed by the situation of affairs at Cairo.
What a number of people have been taken in, my dear girl! All those sudden acquirers of fortunes, or rather all those robbers(7), are pitifully down in the mouth, and would, I believe, be very happy to return from whence they came. It gives me a deal of pleasure to see, that the majority of them will rather have lost than gained by their speculations. Some, indeed, have done tolerably well, but they are very few; and few as they are, have sweated pretty handsomely for what they have got. The Arabs of the Desert have sent a good many of them to the other world. These people infest the towns and villages in such a manner, that at two hundred paces from the walls, one is always in the most imminent danger of being shot. Several of our men have been destroyed in this way.
Murad Bey is retired into Upper Egypt, where he has been pursued without success; Ibrahim Bey into Syria; and he too has been pursued to no purpose. Our troops, indeed, came up with his rear-guard, which fought in a most gallant manner: and as we could make no impression on it with all our efforts, we were obliged to let it proceed tranquilly to its destination. The rich caravan was almost all secured by Ibrahim; what we obtained was scarcely worth taking. I am afraid that we shall want money soon: I am certain we shall, if we pretend to execute those fine projects, which will undoubtedly be useful, but which will cost an immense sum! the people of the country are poor; nothing, therefore, can be expected from them.--There is not a single Mamelouc in the country. Their bravery is astonishing: well armed, and intrepid to excess, they rushed upon our ranks to be butchered. Not one of them would accept quarter.
This is all that I can say at present. I have talked to you in this letter only of business; but in another which I shall send at the same time, by what I conceive to be a safer mode of conveyance, I shall open all my heart to my dearest and best beloved wife.
AVRIEURY.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)There was luckily no "exception," as the reader will see by the following extract from Captain Hope's Letter to the Admirality.
"Though every preparation was made from boarding the Leger, to save any dispatches she might have for Bonaparte, we could not prevent their being thrown overboard; which was, however, perceived by John Taylor, and James Harding, belonging to the Alcmene, who, at the risk of their lives, dashed overboard, and saved the whole of them." Gazette, Sept. 30th, 1798.
It is pleasant to add, that these intrepid men have been gratefully remembered by their country.
(2)Another letter says,"I never saw any thing so disgusting as their women. A traveller called Savary" (this is a most scurvy designation of the man on whose accuracy all of France relied)"he had, I scarce know how, the stupidity to compare these filthy objects to the Princess Nausicaa! I could forgive him if his design was merely to laugh at the princess; but he is quite serious."
(3)Avrieury seems to have thought of the old adage, tantum valet quantum somat; or perhaps he never thought at all of the matter. His journey to Memphis was probably postponed. He may therefore comfort himself(supposing these remarks should ever fall in his way) by hearing that he has lost nothing by the delay; for we can confidently assure him that Memphis has even less "to shew" than Alexandria. Etiam periere ruinae; its very ruins have disappeared.
(4)Here are two lines obliterated by a fold; it is impossible to restore them, but their purport may be guessed at from what follows. Avrieury, it should seem, flattered himself that if a certain expedition took place, he should be recalled to engage in it. The allusion is evidently to the projected invasion of Ireland.
One would think the Citizen had almost had enough of INVASIONS. It appears from his own account, that the one he is at present engaged in, is not very consoling to his feelings; and we can take upon us to assure him, that he would have found the other productive of no extraordinary amusement. Alexandria, we allow, has little to gratify his curiosity, but Mill-prison has still less; as the envied partakers of the expedition in question may one day let him know.
(5)There is something extremely unjust(but when was a Frenchman just to the unfortunate?) in attributing the defeat of the 1st of August to the Provencials. They fought at least as well as the Bretons and Normands, who if we may judge from the fate of the Brest squadron on the coast of Ireland (which we suppose was manned with them), have very little reason, whatever Avrieury may fancy, to boast of their superiority either of conduct or courage.
(6)As all the expeditions of France have been undertaken with a view to plunder, their armies have been constantly followed by large bodies of people of this description, prepared to treat for such STOLEN GOODS as were of too unwieldy a nature to be put up with the baggage.
Bonaparte never moved without a legion of these convenient RECEIVERS in his train, who were always ready to purchase, at a low rate, whatever he and his harpies could seize in the houses of individuals, from the cottager to the prince. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say, that this Chief of Brokers has sold, for his own share, more furniture, plate, wine, pictures, busts, &c. than half the auctioneers in Europe.
Notwithstanding the swarms of "robbers" which, by Avrieury's account, followed him into Egypt, we do not find that the number in Italy was at all lessened. We have before us the JOURNAL of what took place to the seizure of Rome, written by a man of integrity and observation, who was himself a witness of what he relates. From THIS, we borrow the following passage:
"As soon as the Pope was removed, the Vatican and Quirinal palaces were opened, and an inventory made of every article. The company of brokers that followed the army were then permitted to purchase, upon their own terms, whatever they chose, and afterwards the Jews of the Getta were called in to take the rest."
"These brokers" adds the writer (Mr. Richard Duppa), "were a number of monied men from France, particularly from Lyons and Marseilles, who joined together a considerable capital towards supporting the army of Italy, when Bonaparte first crossed the Alps, with one express condition, of their having the refusal of any spoils that might be made, at a certain percentage, for their own profit, upon a fair valuation, which valuation was to be made by themselves!"
TRANSLATION.
Alexandria(12 Fructidor), August 29th.
To the female Citizen DESCORCHES, Rue d'Anjou, No. 929, Fauxbourg Honore, a Paris.
YET another letter. You may probably, my love, be more happy than me: some of my letters chance to reach you; but I receive none of yours; that which I wrote from Malta was taken in the Sensible; but on our arrival here I wrote you one, which I think must have come to hand. I sent you one, too, by Guillaume Tell, after our defeat, and another by the English fleet.
These are all the opportunities I have had; the present letter is hazarded, for the port of Alexandria is blocked up by three sail of the line, and three frigates: the Zealous, the flag-ship; the Goliah, and the Swiftsure; the Alcmena, the Emerald, and the Bonne Citoyenne. Another ship of the line, whose name I do not recollect, is cruizing before Damietta, with two frigates, the corvette La Fortune, which they took from us, and two advice boats, La Torride and Le Leger. This last was coming from France when it was taken; judge then, how wretched it made us; all our letters fell into the hands of the enemy, the official ones expected(1), which were thrown over-board.
Amongst the letters, the English found a miniature, which some fair one had apparently sent to her lover. The ladies need not be much alarmed, for their swains have not the power, if they had the will, to be unfaithful. We have a few, and but a few, European women here; but the best of them are inferior in attractions to the veriest dowdies of our dear native land. As for those of the country, the handsome ones I fancy, keep themselves concealed; for those that we see absolutely frighten us(2).
Every person that comes from the interior of the country tells us that Alexandria is the finest city in Egypt. Good gods! what must the rest be then? figure to yourself a confused mass of ill built houses of one story, the best of them with a terrace; a little door with a wooden lock, no windows but a lattice of wood, of which the bars are so close that it is almost impossible to distinguish any object through them; and little narrow streets, except what they call "the Quarter of the Francs," and the "Residence of the Grandees." The poor inhabitants, infinitely the greater number, in a state of nature, with the exception of a blue shirt, which reaches half way down their thighs, and which is tucked up more than half their time, a girdle, and a turban dropping to rags. This is their whole wardrobe!
I hope we shall soon go to Cairo; we shall then see if the people of that city are like these; if so, I shall have had my belly-full of this blessed country. I could tear myself to pieces for coming here, so could my dear friend(3).
We wish vehemently--ay, and very vehemently to return to France; but since we are here it is as well to see as much as we can(4). The remains of this famous Alexandria are poor enough; we shall see if Memphis has any thing better to shew. This infernal Egypt! nothing but a waste of sand. The mud which the Nile leaves upon the ground constitutes all its wealth. A man who has a tract of land in the Desert, may cultivate as much sand as he can find constant water for. My courage is sustained by the hope of a speedy return. [(5)]
It may still be sent: in that case I shall fly to your arms, and from thence to my department. I am anxious to be there this winter; time passes away unhappily, too rapidly. It is not unlikely but that some attempt may be made, and I should be sorry not to be on the spot.
We shall perhaps, shew the world that the Bretons and the Normands are rather superior to the Provencials. This unfortunate defeat arises in a great measure, from their bad conduct(6). All the officers who came from Brest, one only expected, are either killed or dangerously wounded. I see with pain that the Admiral will be made the pack-horse. He cannot help himself, and therefore every body is loading him. He may have committed errors, but certainly not all that are charged, and that will continue to be charged, upon him. Gantheaume, his chief of the staff, who was made a Rear Admiral by the Commander in Chief, will assume, as it seems, on his return from Cairo, the command of the miserable force we have here. We are all desirous of it, and anxiously expect his arrival; this will console us a little, and we shall then see what steps to take next; for to form any plan here, in out present circumstances, is impossible. Our destination must be ultimately directed by the situation of affairs at Cairo.
What a number of people have been taken in, my dear girl! All those sudden acquirers of fortunes, or rather all those robbers(7), are pitifully down in the mouth, and would, I believe, be very happy to return from whence they came. It gives me a deal of pleasure to see, that the majority of them will rather have lost than gained by their speculations. Some, indeed, have done tolerably well, but they are very few; and few as they are, have sweated pretty handsomely for what they have got. The Arabs of the Desert have sent a good many of them to the other world. These people infest the towns and villages in such a manner, that at two hundred paces from the walls, one is always in the most imminent danger of being shot. Several of our men have been destroyed in this way.
Murad Bey is retired into Upper Egypt, where he has been pursued without success; Ibrahim Bey into Syria; and he too has been pursued to no purpose. Our troops, indeed, came up with his rear-guard, which fought in a most gallant manner: and as we could make no impression on it with all our efforts, we were obliged to let it proceed tranquilly to its destination. The rich caravan was almost all secured by Ibrahim; what we obtained was scarcely worth taking. I am afraid that we shall want money soon: I am certain we shall, if we pretend to execute those fine projects, which will undoubtedly be useful, but which will cost an immense sum! the people of the country are poor; nothing, therefore, can be expected from them.--There is not a single Mamelouc in the country. Their bravery is astonishing: well armed, and intrepid to excess, they rushed upon our ranks to be butchered. Not one of them would accept quarter.
This is all that I can say at present. I have talked to you in this letter only of business; but in another which I shall send at the same time, by what I conceive to be a safer mode of conveyance, I shall open all my heart to my dearest and best beloved wife.
AVRIEURY.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)There was luckily no "exception," as the reader will see by the following extract from Captain Hope's Letter to the Admirality.
"Though every preparation was made from boarding the Leger, to save any dispatches she might have for Bonaparte, we could not prevent their being thrown overboard; which was, however, perceived by John Taylor, and James Harding, belonging to the Alcmene, who, at the risk of their lives, dashed overboard, and saved the whole of them." Gazette, Sept. 30th, 1798.
It is pleasant to add, that these intrepid men have been gratefully remembered by their country.
(2)Another letter says,"I never saw any thing so disgusting as their women. A traveller called Savary" (this is a most scurvy designation of the man on whose accuracy all of France relied)"he had, I scarce know how, the stupidity to compare these filthy objects to the Princess Nausicaa! I could forgive him if his design was merely to laugh at the princess; but he is quite serious."
(3)Avrieury seems to have thought of the old adage, tantum valet quantum somat; or perhaps he never thought at all of the matter. His journey to Memphis was probably postponed. He may therefore comfort himself(supposing these remarks should ever fall in his way) by hearing that he has lost nothing by the delay; for we can confidently assure him that Memphis has even less "to shew" than Alexandria. Etiam periere ruinae; its very ruins have disappeared.
(4)Here are two lines obliterated by a fold; it is impossible to restore them, but their purport may be guessed at from what follows. Avrieury, it should seem, flattered himself that if a certain expedition took place, he should be recalled to engage in it. The allusion is evidently to the projected invasion of Ireland.
One would think the Citizen had almost had enough of INVASIONS. It appears from his own account, that the one he is at present engaged in, is not very consoling to his feelings; and we can take upon us to assure him, that he would have found the other productive of no extraordinary amusement. Alexandria, we allow, has little to gratify his curiosity, but Mill-prison has still less; as the envied partakers of the expedition in question may one day let him know.
(5)There is something extremely unjust(but when was a Frenchman just to the unfortunate?) in attributing the defeat of the 1st of August to the Provencials. They fought at least as well as the Bretons and Normands, who if we may judge from the fate of the Brest squadron on the coast of Ireland (which we suppose was manned with them), have very little reason, whatever Avrieury may fancy, to boast of their superiority either of conduct or courage.
(6)As all the expeditions of France have been undertaken with a view to plunder, their armies have been constantly followed by large bodies of people of this description, prepared to treat for such STOLEN GOODS as were of too unwieldy a nature to be put up with the baggage.
Bonaparte never moved without a legion of these convenient RECEIVERS in his train, who were always ready to purchase, at a low rate, whatever he and his harpies could seize in the houses of individuals, from the cottager to the prince. It is perhaps no exaggeration to say, that this Chief of Brokers has sold, for his own share, more furniture, plate, wine, pictures, busts, &c. than half the auctioneers in Europe.
Notwithstanding the swarms of "robbers" which, by Avrieury's account, followed him into Egypt, we do not find that the number in Italy was at all lessened. We have before us the JOURNAL of what took place to the seizure of Rome, written by a man of integrity and observation, who was himself a witness of what he relates. From THIS, we borrow the following passage:
"As soon as the Pope was removed, the Vatican and Quirinal palaces were opened, and an inventory made of every article. The company of brokers that followed the army were then permitted to purchase, upon their own terms, whatever they chose, and afterwards the Jews of the Getta were called in to take the rest."
"These brokers" adds the writer (Mr. Richard Duppa), "were a number of monied men from France, particularly from Lyons and Marseilles, who joined together a considerable capital towards supporting the army of Italy, when Bonaparte first crossed the Alps, with one express condition, of their having the refusal of any spoils that might be made, at a certain percentage, for their own profit, upon a fair valuation, which valuation was to be made by themselves!"
Monday, October 1, 2007
Napoleon Wishes to "Attach the People" of Malta to the French
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 1, pp. 175-176.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo (4th Fructidor), August 21.
BONAPARTE, Commander in Chief, to the General of Division, VAUBOIS, at Malta.
THERE is an absolute necessity, Citizen General, for your supplying Admiral Villeneuve with every thing necessary (Whether provisions, troops, or seamen), to enable him to fit out the two sail of the line, and the two frigates which he has with him.
Our communications are extremely difficult. I have received no letters from you. I have too much confidence in your zeal, however, to doubt for a moment that the fortifications of Malta are in the best condition, or that you will not make use of all the means in your power to attach the people(1) to us, and to expedite all the intelligence which may reach you from France.
BONAPARTE.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)In the original, captiver le peuple. Sweet, says the poet, are the uses of adversity! the insatiate spoiler who spared nothing, human or divine, at Malta; who stripped the poor of every resource, plundered granaries, emptied the magazines, seized the public treasures, nay, the public curiosities,
Pocula adorandae rubignis, et populorum
Dona, vel antiquo positas a Rege coronas--
Who stripped the churches of their ornaments, the houses of individuals of their little plate, and who carried the wantonness of insult and outrage so far as to steal the archives of the island; (useless to him in every respect) the insatiate spoiler, we say, since his reverse of fortune, is become tender and humane. His thoughts turn to the people whom he injured in the full tide of prosperity, and, trembling for the consequences of his perfidy and his guilt, he writes a whining admonition to his officers to "attach them to him by every means in their power!"
Hypocrite! what MEANS OF ATTACHMENT did you leave to the troops, whom your advice exposed to the just vengeance of an injured nation? every thing which the Maltese regarded with reverence or love, you took with you, or sent to France; nay, such was your unbounded rapacity, that of the treasure you found in the Church of St. John, you did not leave Vaubois a single day's pay for the garrison, who, to this hour, have had no other resource than public and private plunder!
ATTACH THE PEOPLE!--No, the people are not stocks and stones; they will not always be robbed with impunity; nor will they, unless by compulsion, kiss the hands yet reeking with the blood of their wives and children.--ATTACH THEM!--No, your repentance and your insidious kindness come too late. Before your fleet had well lost sight of the coast, THE PEOPLE, stung to madness by their wrongs, rose up as one man, cut off hundreds of their oppressors, and are at this moment waging fierce and inexorable war against those who, protected by numerous fortresses, have hitherto found means to retard the sure approaches of captivity or death!
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo (4th Fructidor), August 21.
BONAPARTE, Commander in Chief, to the General of Division, VAUBOIS, at Malta.
THERE is an absolute necessity, Citizen General, for your supplying Admiral Villeneuve with every thing necessary (Whether provisions, troops, or seamen), to enable him to fit out the two sail of the line, and the two frigates which he has with him.
Our communications are extremely difficult. I have received no letters from you. I have too much confidence in your zeal, however, to doubt for a moment that the fortifications of Malta are in the best condition, or that you will not make use of all the means in your power to attach the people(1) to us, and to expedite all the intelligence which may reach you from France.
BONAPARTE.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1)In the original, captiver le peuple. Sweet, says the poet, are the uses of adversity! the insatiate spoiler who spared nothing, human or divine, at Malta; who stripped the poor of every resource, plundered granaries, emptied the magazines, seized the public treasures, nay, the public curiosities,
Pocula adorandae rubignis, et populorum
Dona, vel antiquo positas a Rege coronas--
Who stripped the churches of their ornaments, the houses of individuals of their little plate, and who carried the wantonness of insult and outrage so far as to steal the archives of the island; (useless to him in every respect) the insatiate spoiler, we say, since his reverse of fortune, is become tender and humane. His thoughts turn to the people whom he injured in the full tide of prosperity, and, trembling for the consequences of his perfidy and his guilt, he writes a whining admonition to his officers to "attach them to him by every means in their power!"
Hypocrite! what MEANS OF ATTACHMENT did you leave to the troops, whom your advice exposed to the just vengeance of an injured nation? every thing which the Maltese regarded with reverence or love, you took with you, or sent to France; nay, such was your unbounded rapacity, that of the treasure you found in the Church of St. John, you did not leave Vaubois a single day's pay for the garrison, who, to this hour, have had no other resource than public and private plunder!
ATTACH THE PEOPLE!--No, the people are not stocks and stones; they will not always be robbed with impunity; nor will they, unless by compulsion, kiss the hands yet reeking with the blood of their wives and children.--ATTACH THEM!--No, your repentance and your insidious kindness come too late. Before your fleet had well lost sight of the coast, THE PEOPLE, stung to madness by their wrongs, rose up as one man, cut off hundreds of their oppressors, and are at this moment waging fierce and inexorable war against those who, protected by numerous fortresses, have hitherto found means to retard the sure approaches of captivity or death!
Bonaparte Orders Preparations for Commandeered Maltese Ships
From: Copies of original letters from the army of General Bonaparte in Egypt, intercepted by the fleet under the command of Admiral Lord Nelson. With an English translation (London, J. Wright, 1798-1800, 3 vols.), vol. 2, pp. 172-173.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo (4 Fructidor), August 21.
BONAPARTE, Commander in Chief, to Citizen MENARD, Commissary of the Marine, at Malta.
I SEE with pleasure, Citizen Commissary, by your letter of the 2d instant, that the Dego(1), and the Carthaginoise, are ready for sea. By this time, Rear Admiral Villeneuve will have anchored with his squadron in the port of Malta. I flatter myself too, that you will apply yourself to the equipment of the third vessel, and that before the expiration of a month, it will be in a condition to augment the squadron of Admiral Villeneuve. I intreat you to use more zeal and alacrity in this instance, than in any other.
I have written to France for an hundred thousand livres for you; and I am now writing to General Vaubios to exhort him to assist you with every thing in his power. I hope that you will soon be re-inforced by the ships at Toulon.
Let slip no opportunity of sending us news from France. The small vessels which ply along the coast of Africa might reach us, I should think, without difficulty.
I salute you,
Bonaparte.
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[British Translators' Notes]
(1) Two sixty-fours, belonging to the Maltese, which the French, as Rear Admiral Peree says, have confiscated to the profit of the Great Nation. The latter vessel seems to have retained its original name, but the former, we see, has been nicknamed by the modest "hero of Italy," after one of his early victories.
TRANSLATION.
Head Quarters, Cairo (4 Fructidor), August 21.
BONAPARTE, Commander in Chief, to Citizen MENARD, Commissary of the Marine, at Malta.
I SEE with pleasure, Citizen Commissary, by your letter of the 2d instant, that the Dego(1), and the Carthaginoise, are ready for sea. By this time, Rear Admiral Villeneuve will have anchored with his squadron in the port of Malta. I flatter myself too, that you will apply yourself to the equipment of the third vessel, and that before the expiration of a month, it will be in a condition to augment the squadron of Admiral Villeneuve. I intreat you to use more zeal and alacrity in this instance, than in any other.
I have written to France for an hundred thousand livres for you; and I am now writing to General Vaubios to exhort him to assist you with every thing in his power. I hope that you will soon be re-inforced by the ships at Toulon.
Let slip no opportunity of sending us news from France. The small vessels which ply along the coast of Africa might reach us, I should think, without difficulty.
I salute you,
Bonaparte.
----------------------------------------------
[British Translators' Notes]
(1) Two sixty-fours, belonging to the Maltese, which the French, as Rear Admiral Peree says, have confiscated to the profit of the Great Nation. The latter vessel seems to have retained its original name, but the former, we see, has been nicknamed by the modest "hero of Italy," after one of his early victories.
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