ped in his progrefs by the unexpected refiftance of Acre; he immediately laid fiege to it in the moft regular manner, and ordered his troops to make repeated and desperate affaults; he was conftantly repulfed with great lofs; he saw himself defeated by Sir Sydney Smith and a handful of men, and wearied out by his daily loffes, he was reluctantly compelled to fly, although he had deemed the conqueft of Acre so easy, that, in his dispatches, he had vauntingly faid, "Tomorrow I fhall be at Acre, in three days be affured, that, Dgezzar Pacha is no more!" Buonaparte could not experience a more degrading mortification. Defeated for the first time, he was obliged to traverse again the defert, without accomplishing the conqueft of Syria; yet, his hiftorian tells us unblushingly, "That the end of his expedition was fulfilled."

"He had furmounted every obftacle," is an affertion equally true! If Buonaparte had fucceeded in his attempt; if he had deftroyed the English forces, taken Sir Sydney prifoner, and captured Acre, we wonder what expreffion his hiftorian would have used, fince, when his hero fails in every point, he fays, that he furmounted every obftacle!

"Buonaparte thought it would be improper to prolong "his ftay before Acre, though he had the hope, in a

66

few days, of feizing the Pacha himself in his pa"lace." This is truly ludicrous! It is a common thing for an enemy, who is obliged to fly before his victorious adverfary, to deem his fay improper! But that Buonaparte, after his numerous defeats, fhould express a hope of taking the Pacha prifoner, reminds us ftrongly of a paffage, in a letter written by oneTM

of

•

of his generals to his father at Paris; fpeaking of Egypt, he fays, "It is a moft dreadful country; our army fuffers unparallelled hardships and miferies, yet "it is a colony productive of the highest advantages!!"

"As they would be accompanied with the loss of "Some brave men!" It will not eafily be believed, that, Buonaparte, who fent his foldiers to certain death at Lodi, Arcola, and Alexandria, who caufed the death of hundreds of his best troops in croffing the defert, who poisoned several hundreds of his warriors, raifed the fiege of Acre from the wish of Sparing the lives of fome brave men!

"The Turks have no faith in capitulations, and know of no law but that of murdering their enemies!" The latter affertion is an infamous falfehood, and were it true, it would come with a very ill grace from the panegyrift of Buonaparte, who, two months before, had murdered four thousand Turks! As to the Turks having no faith in capitulations, "we can eafily believe that;" after the maffacres at Alexandria, Jaffa, &c. it was not natural, that they should place much reliance on Buonaparte's capitulations!

"-Buonaparte ordered, that the remainder of the "ammunition of the fiege, fhould be employed in razing the palace of Dgezzar, THE FORTIFICATIONS, and the buildings!!" This is excellent: Buonaparte repulsed in every point, was compelled to raise the fiege; yet, he ordered, that, the remainder of the ammunition fhould be employed in deftroying the fortifications! we would ask the French gafconader, what prevented Buonaparte from taking the town, while he was so fure of razing the fortifications? Were we to credit his

affertion,

affertion, we fhould pay no great compliment to Buonaparte's courage, for it would be tacitly owning that he was afraid of engaging the English and Turkish troops, it being very evident, that when the fortifications were razed, the garrifon would remain exposed to the attack of the French army, nearly treble their number! With due deference to the French writer's opinion, we fhall hazard our own, and take upon ourselves to affert, that, Buonaparte had but one reason for raifing the fiege of Acre; but, we must allow that was a very cogent one" he could not take the place."

On the 21st of May, in the evening, Buonaparte retreated from Acre, after a fiege of more than two months! Thus, did the gallantry of Sir Sydney Smith, compel his vaunting foe to abandon a place, which, he had pompously declared, he was to take in thres days! Englishmen, do not your hearts beat high with patriotic emulation? Is there one among you who is not defirous of rivalling Sir Sydney Smith, and of exclaiming with martial pride, "Buonaparte fled before "me."

T

CHAP. XV.

Buonaparte arrives again at Cairo,-Aboukir taken by the Turks, retaken again by the French, after a most obftinate battle the HERO Buonaparte deferts from the Army-His farewell letter to General Kleber, with fome obfervations thereon &c.

ON

N the fifteenth of June, Buonaparte reached Caire
with the remains of his army which had been con-
ftantly

ftantly harraffed by the Arabs. In his route, fay the French accounts, he punished all the villages which had revolted. Our readers are perfectly acquainted with Buonaparte's method of punishing the wretched inhabitants in fimilar cafes; therefore, we will not enter into a detail of the atrocities which were committed.

In the beginning of July, a Turkish fleet anchored at Aboukir, and landed two thousand men, who took the town and redoubt of Aboukir by affault. Their behaviour to the French foldiers, proved the impudent falfehood of the affertion, "that the Turks knew "no law but that of murdering their enemies;" for though they had every reafon to execrate the French, they treated the garrifon in the moft honourable

manner.

Buonaparte having been informed of thefe events, departed from Gizeh, on the feventeenth of July, and arrived on the twentieth at Rahmanie, where he was joined by the other divifions of his army. The Turks, having received fome reinforcements, endeavoured to fortify themselves in the peninsula of Aboukir; but, they were attacked by the whole of the French army, and completely defeated. This victory has been exaggerated more than any one of Buonaparte's exploits in Egypt: "The Ottoman "army," faid Buonaparte in his difpatches, "confifted "of more than Seventeen thousand men: the whole "of it was killed, wounded, or drowned!! Every thing fell into our poffeffion, and ten thousand "Turks were driven into the fea!!!" The truth is,

they were not

that instead of seventeen thoufand, eight thousand, out of which about four thousand

were

were killed and wounded in the action; two thoufand were carried off by the boats, and the remainder capitulated in the fort! This flight miftake being rectified, the victory of Aboukir will not appear in fuch dazzling colours.

Eight days after the battle, Aboukir caftle furrendered to Buonaparte. It is worthy of remark, that the engineer who directed the fiege, prided himfelf greatly on having compelled the Turks to furrender in eight days, adding, that the fituation of Aboukir caftle was fo ftrong, that he would defend it against any army. He was appointed by Buonaparte, commander of Aboukir, but he kept his promife very badly, for when the English forces attacked it in 1801, he furrendered it in five days!!

Notwithstanding the victory over the Turks, the affairs of the French became every day more precarious. The Sublime Porte determined to fend another army, more powerful than the firft: the Mamalukes and the Arabs, irritated at Buonaparte's repeated inftances of cruelty and perfidy, conftantly harraffed his troops, and, though they avoided regular engagements, they killed a great number of the invaders--to render the fituation of the French more alarming, they received certain intelligence, that, the English intended to affift the Turks, and even to fend a numerous army to expel them from Egypt.

Hitherto our tafk has been to enumerate Buonaparte's crimes and victories, with the exception of his defeat at Acre. We have feen the hero of Italy directing the maffacre at Toulon, commanding his foldiers to fire upon the miferable inhabitants of Paris,

ordering