[1798 A.D.] little behind the advanced guard. The French had a moment to restore order, and used it. The combat then in some degree resembled that which, nearly twenty years afterwards, took place at Waterloo; the hostile cavalry furiously charging the squares of infantry, and trying, by the most undaunted efforts of courage, to break in upon them at every practicable point, while a tremendous fire of musketry, grape-shot, and shells, crossing in various directions, repaid their audacity. Nothing in war was ever seen. more desperate than the exertions of the mamelukes. Failing to force their horses through the French squares, individuals were seen to wheel them round, and rein them back on the ranks, that they might disorder them by kicking. As they became frantic with despair, they hurled at the immovable phalanxes, which they could not break, their pistols, their poniards, and their carbines. Those who fell wounded to the ground dragged themselves on, to cut at the legs of the French with their crooked sabres. But their efforts were all in vain. The mamelukes, after the most courageous efforts to accomplish their purpose, were finally beaten off with great slaughter; and as they could not form or act in squadron, their retreat became a confused flight. The greater part attempted to return to their camp, from that sort of instinct, as Napoleon termed it, which leads fugitives to retire in the same direction in which they advanced. By taking this route they placed themselves betwixt the French and the Nile; and the sustained and insupportable fire of the former soon obliged them to plunge into the river, in hopes to escape by swimming to the opposite bank-a desperate effort, in which few succeeded. Their infantry at the same time evacuated their camp without a show of resistance, precipitated themselves into the boats, and endeavoured to cross the Nile. Very many of these also were destroyed. The French soldiers long afterwards occupied themselves in fishing for the drowned mamelukes, and failed not to find money and valuables upon all whom they could recover. Murad Bey, with a part of his best mamelukes, escaped the slaughter by a more regular movement to the left, and retreated by Gizeh into Upper Egypt. Thus were in a great measure destroyed the finest cavalry, considered as individual horsemen, that were ever known to exist. "Could I have united the mameluke horse to the French infantry," said Bonaparte, "I should have reckoned myself master of the world." The destruction of a body hitherto regarded as invincible struck terror, not through Egypt only, but far into Africa and Asia, wherever the Moslem religion prevailed; and the rolling fire of musketry by which the victory was achieved procured for Bonaparte the oriental appellation of "Sultan of fire." After this combat, which, to render it more striking to the Parisians, Bonaparte termed the "battle of the Pyramids," Cairo surrendered without resistance. Lower Egypt was completely in the hands of the French, and thus far the expedition of Bonaparte had been perfectly successful.? FRENCH ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE OF THE NILE1 It was just as well that the general had, by his rapid victories, so firmly established himself in Egypt, for on returning to Cairo he learned through an aide-de-camp of General Kléber that all retirement from it was for the moment impossible. The French had just experienced a terrible naval [1A fuller account of this famous conflict will be given from English sources in the history of England.] H. W.-VOL. XII. 2 H [1798 A.D.] disaster. After the disembarkation of Bonaparte's troops, Admiral Brueys had brought up his fleet at the mouth of the Nile along the islet of Abukir. But instead of securing himself in the harbour, he was content to keep his fleet in the roadstead, not thinking that the enemy would dare to push his fleet in between him and the island. This however is what happened. On the evening of the 14th Thermidor (August 1st), Nelson's entire fleet hove in sight. By a daring manoeuvre a part of the English ships slipped in between Abukir and the French ships, which were thus taken between two fires. A furious and terrible engagement followed, during the night. Admiral Brueys in the Orient, a magnificent ship of one hundred and fifty guns, fought desperately. He was even on the point of taking the Bellerophon, one of the chief English ships, with which the Orient was engaged hand to hand, when he was cut in two by a shot and his vessel, burning with an inextinguishable fire, was blown up with a fearful noise. It was then a little after 10 o'clock at night. A division of the French fleet under the command of Vice-Admiral Villeneuve had not seen the signal to engage. If at this moment he had fallen into line with all his vessels intact, fortune might have decided in favour of the French, as the English fleet was severely mauled. But instead the viceadmiral slipped his cables and sailed into the open. The French were compelled to succumb to numbers. The Artemis, the Franklin, the Sovereign People, and the Tonnant fought to the last extremity. The captain of the Tonnant, Dupetit-Thouars, cut through both thighs, still urged his men to resist. The battle ended from exhaustion. All the French ships were taken, sunk, or put out of action. The victor was almost as roughly handled. Nelson, carrying off from seven to eight thousand French seamen as prisoners, was obliged to take refuge in a Neapolitan port to repair his fleet. That victory, so dearly bought, gave him an immense reputation. He was made Baron Nelson of the Nile. This was one of the most decisive results of the Egyptian expedition. - Bonaparte received the news with stoic fortitude. "Perhaps," he said, "the English will compel me to carry out greater undertakings than I contemplated." He confided to one of the savants accompanying him to Volney in fact a few of his great projected enterprises. Since Turkey had declared war on the French, it would be at Constantinople, which he would reach through Asia, that he would strike a blow at the English. Once there, he saw himself master of Europe, liberating Poland, holding Russia in check, subduing Austria, and forbidding England to enter the Mediterranean. At that time, and Volney must have known it, Bonaparte's ambition had grown into a mania. Seeing a probability of receiving no reinforcements from France for some time to come, he recruited soldiers in the country itself. In order to stand well with the inhabitants he adapted himself to their customs, while imposing some of his own on them. He modified their laws, established schools, repaired roads, desert tracks, and canals, besides marrying his soldiers to the young Egyptian women.1 His soldiers fell easily into [Compare the similar acts of Alexander the Great in Persia. Crowes says: "He was scrupulous in the distribution of justice-resistless. But he sought to obtain a still stronger hold on their imagination, by passing for a prophet, or heaven-sent conqueror. A similar idea had inspired Robespierre in France: that of Bonaparte proved as unsuccessful, and only served to mark his extravagant ambition, as well as that want or defiance of all principle which characterised his nation and age. "Madame de Staël called Napoleon a Robespierre on horseback. Never was truth more full and poignant: the utterance of it was more galling than all the despot's decrees of exile in return."] [1798 A.D.] the new circumstances; they led a free and easy life, and, amidst the pleasures offered by the city of Cairo, soon forgot the cares of the mother-country. Nevertheless a formidable sedition broke out in Cairo (October 21st). General Dupuy was the first victim. A number of Frenchmen perished with him. The suppression was horrible, savage, and merciless. Formed in column, the troops hurled themselves on the rebels and made a veritable butchery of them. Bonaparte gave orders that all armed inhabitants found in the streets should be killed. The insurgents did not delay in a speedy submission, though more than five thousand of their number were lost. The clemency of the conqueror has been much praised. Here we have a sample of it. For a fixed period, thirty prisoners were executed daily. The intention was to terrify the people. One morning, the French troops led a herd of donkeys heavily laden with sacks on to the place de Caire. There was an enormous crowd present, curious to know what the sacks contained. The soldiers opened them all simultaneously and hundreds of heads rolled out. Neither Fouché nor Carrier had ever conceived such a thing as this. And what had been the crime of these wretches? A wish to free their country, invaded and down-trodden by the foreigner. It is quite certain that the black inhabitants of the desert would form but an indifferent opinion of European civilisation." THIERS ON THE RESULTS OF THE EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION The celebrated naval battle of Abukir or the Nile was the most disastrous that the French navy had ever sustained and its military consequences threatened to be most fatal. Tidings of the misfortune rapidly circulated through Egypt, and caused a moment of despair to the army. Bonaparte received the intelligence with imperturbable calmness. "So be it!" he cried; "we must die here, or issue forth great as the ancients." Bonaparte sought to distract his soldiers by different expeditions, and soon taught them to forget the disaster. At the fête of the foundation of the republic, celebrated on the 1st Vendémiaire [September 22nd] he strove to exalt their imagination; he caused to be engraved on Pompey's pillar the names of the forty soldiers first killed in Egypt. These were the forty who had fallen in the assault of Alexandria. Their names, furnished from the obscure villages of France, were thus associated with the immortality of Pompey and Alexander. He likewise addressed to his army a grand and thrilling allocution, retracing its wondrous history. It ran thus : "SOLDIERS: "We celebrate the first day of the year VII of the republic. Five years ago the independence of the French people was menaced; but you took Toulon; it was the presage of the ruin of your enemies. A year after you beat the Austrians at Dego. The year subsequent you were on the summit of the Alps. Two years ago you fought against Mantua, and won the famous victory of San Giorgio. Last year you were at the sources of the Drave and the Isonzo, on your return from Germany. Who would then have said that you would this day be on the banks of the Nile, in the centre of the ancient world? From the English, renowned in arts and commerce, to the hideous and ferocious Bedouin, you attract the eyes of all nations. Soldiers, your destiny is glorious, because you are worthy of what you have done and of the opinion entertained of you. You will die with honour, like the brave men whose names are written on this column, or you will return to your country covered with laurels, and the admiration of the universe. During the five months we have been absent from Europe, we have been the constant object of solicitude to our countrymen. On this day forty millions of citizens celebrate the era of representative governments; forty millions of citizens think of you; all say, 'It is to their labours, to their blood, that we owe general peace, tranquillity, the prosperity of commerce, and the blessings of civil liberty.'"c |