Thus far it is true, that in revolutions the power remains with the worthless and the worst:

Buonaparte sailed from Toulon, having under his command even the admiral who commanded the fleet.

Admiral Brueys had been highly commended by Buonaparte when he was at Venice. Hé said, in one of his dispatches to the Directory, that Admiral Brueys was one of the best seaofficers in Europe. But the same admiral took care to prove, that he was a very bad sea-officer in Africa.

* It must be observed that Buonaparte, in the same dispatch, proved that he was as bad a judge about sea-officers as about artillery, which was however his line, since he had served in the Royal Artillery before the Revolution.

In the said dispatch from Venice he wrote to the Directo ry, that he had ordered brass guns to be put on board of the Venetian ships of war, as more advantageous to the sea-service. (See the Moniteur of the Spring, 1797.)

But professional men know that to be quite the reverse; for as soon as the brass guns are overheated in a long firing, they are rendered unserviceable on board of a ship, as the port-holes would be soon knocked to pieces by the violent starting of the brass guns, even with the precaution of con stantly sprinkling them with vinegar and water.

CHAPTER IV.

Buonaparte renders himself Master of Malta through the Treachery of the Knights.-He lands in Egypt, where he meets with very little Resistance. The French Fleet is destroyed by the British in the Bay of Aboukir.-Its Consequences.—Invasion of Switzerland.—Murder of the French Plenipotentiaries at the Con.gress of Rastadt. The Russians and the Austrians drive the French from Italy.—Buonaparte's reign in Egypt.

ON going out of Toulon, the ship Orient, of

120 guns, got aground, through the ignorance of her commander, Casabianca, a Corsican. But by the timely assistance of two frigates, and the good luck of Buonaparte, the ship got off, and sailed with the expedition, which was reinforced by a great number of transports with troops from Italy.

It is rather astonishing that the English, who must have certainly known what was going on at Toulon, had not sent a squadron to block up that port, or to be in readiness to attack the

E

French on their going out.

Their ships of war were so crowded with troops, that they could not have defended themselves, even when attacked by a much inferior force. They must unavoidably have proved an easy prey to a few English ships.

Malta and Egypt could not have been taken by the French; much blood would have been spared; immense expences would have been saved; and the blood-thirsty Corsican would not have found the way of raising himself to that monstrous power, which is the shameful scourge and the eternal disgrace of mankind.

The French armament did not reach Malta till near a month after their departure from Toulon; and yet during that long and tedious navigation, they were only molested by the calms!

That once famous island, which by art and nature was reputed impregnable, surrendered to Buonaparte in such an easy way, that one would have thought that the brave knights had all been thunderstruck at the voice of the Corsican plunderer.

But it is not difficult to guess by what means the chief knights were persuaded into compliance with the wishes of the generous Buonaparte, who, after having put French garrisons in all the forts, liberated all the Turkish slaves, strengthened his fleet with the Maltese ships and frigates,

and inlisted a great number of inhabitants to go

to Egypt.

They were even a fortnight on their passage from Malta to Alexandria; and yet they met no other obstacle but the winds!

The British fleet under Admiral Nelson had, however, appeared before Alexandria, three days before the arrival of the French. But it is evident that the British Admiral was, at that time, uncertain about the French expedition; otherwise he would, undoubtedly, have waited for them off the coast of Egypt.

Such seems to be the most rational opinion, however different from that of several enlightened men.

*

* The celebrated writer Richer Serizy says:

"If I wish to find out the utility of such an extravagant "undertaking, I only see the chimerical project of spreading "the revolution all over Asia.-Who can be ignorant that "the climate, the fanaticism, the customs and manners ren"der the eastern nations quite averse to our manners and "customs? That it would require an infinite time, im"mense sums of money, the philosopher's stone, to give “life again and to re-unite the dust of the wonderful Mem"phis, scattered and dispersed so many centuries ago? "What advantage can we reap from having Cairo, and be"ing deprived of forty thousand men in our armies ? But "they say that in time it will prove an excellent colony to Would it not then have been much better to have "taken care of ours, so valuable, so fruitful, so populous, " rather than to invade a country which we cannot keep

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us.

Buonaparte had prepared on board of the apmiral's ship several printed proclamations in the Arabian language, addressed to the inhabitants of Egypt.

As soon as he arrived, and learnt that a British fleet had already been there, he conjectured

"long, and instead of abandoning real comforts of life for "illusive hope? Who does not see that the British government has so well calculated upon the extravagance of such an enterprize, that it seems to have been their wish that <6 our army should land unmolested on those distant and "barren shores? Indeed, one would be apt to believe it, "when it is well known that Admiral Nelson was before "Alexandria three days before the arrival of Buonaparte. "And in fact, why has he not waited for him? How has "he missed him at sea? The landing of our army in Egypt "did it not offer to the enemy the considerable advantage "of removing the dangers which threatened England, of "lessening our strength upon the Continent, and of en

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gaging at last the Ottoman Porte, the dupe of her good faith, and too faithful to her engagements) to side with the "coalition against the destroyers of men.....?

"And what shall we think of the new fashioned General, "who, in order to succeed in his undertaking, acts the part "of Alexander, takes folly for heroism, puts gravely a con

26

juror's book in his pocket, provides himself with orvietan, "with phosphorus, with inflammable air, with stuffed serpents, taken from the cabinet of natural history, in order to put them under Pompey's Pillar, imitating thereby the serpent of Apollonius and Epidaurus; makes the Egyp "tians believe that he is a god, and persuades the Parisians "that the terrible and memorable battle of Chebreisse is "the battle of Abelles ?"