of his lordship to carry off the stores, artillery, and vessels in the harbor. Buonaparte left Milan on the 25th of June, ten days after the victory of Marengo, and travelling by Turin, mount Cenis, Lyons, and Dijon, arrived at Paris on the 2nd of July. He was received by the unthinking people with the most enthusiastic demonstrations of applause. In their

their country had acquired, they were blind to the danger that threatened their domestic liberty. They exulted in the occurrence of an event which, while it decided the fate of Italy, and apparently of Europe, tended, by increasing the consul's power, to confirm the foundations of tyranny, and gild with deceitful splendor, the chains of despotism.

escaping from a scene of inglorious misery, at a moment so propitious to the gratification of his ambitious designs, was strikingly contrasted by the fate of Kleber, whom he had entrusted with the chief command of an army exhausted by fatigue, reduced in numbers by a series of sanguinary conflicts, afflicted by all the privations and diseases peculiar to the climate, and deprived by a concurrence of mortifying events of the last consolatory hope that they might yet return to their native country. The soldiers were destined to endure the torments of the Egyptian ophthalmia, and were exposed to the effects of the sultry and destructive Siroc, of which the following pathetic and impressive account is given by an intelligent eye-witness. "I had often heard speak of the Kamsin, which may be termed the hurricane of Egypt and the desert. It is equally terrible by the frightful spectacle which it exhibits when present, and by the consequences which follow its ravages. We had already passed in security one 1799. half of the season in which it appears, when, in the evening of the 18th of May, I felt myself entirely overcome by a suffocating heat it seemed as if the fluctuation of the air was suddenly suspended. I went out to bathe, in order to overcome

VOL. I.

on my arrival at the bank of the Nile with a new appearance of nature around me. The sun without being concealed, had lost its rays; it had even less lustre to the eye than the moon, and gave a pale light without shade: the water no longer reflected its rays, but appeared in agitation; every thing had changed its usual aspect; it was now the flat shore that seemed luminous, and the air dull and opaque; the yellow horizon shewed the trees on its surface of a dirty blue; flocks of birds were flying off before the cloud; the affrighted animals ran loose in the country, followed by the shouting inhabitants, who vainly attempted to collect them together again; the wind, which had raised this immense mass of vapor, and was urging it forward, had not yet reached us; we thought that by plunging our bodies in the water, which was then calm, we could prevent the baneful effects of this mass of dust, which was advancing from the south-west; but we had hardly entered the river when it began to swell all at once, as if it would overflow its channel; the waves passed over our heads, and we felt the bottom heave up under our feet. Our clothes were conveyed away along with the shore itself, which seemed to be carried off by the whirlwind, which

30

now reached us. We were compelled to leave the water and our wet and naked bodies being beat upon by a storm of sand were soon encrusted by a black mud, which prevented us from dressing ourselves. Enlightened only by a red and gloomy sun, with our eyes smarting, our noses stuffed up, and our throats clogged with dust so that we could scarcely breathe, we lost each other on our way home, and arrived at our lodgings one by one, groping our way, and guided only by the walls which marked our track. The next day the same mass of dust, attended with similar appearances, travelled along the desert of Lybia; it followed the chain of mountains and when we flattered ourselves that we were entirely rid of this pestilence, the west wind brought it back and entirely overwhelmed us with its scorching torrent; the flashes of lightning appeared to pierce with difficulty through its dense vapor; all the elements were still in disorder; the rain was mixed with whirlwinds of fire, wind, and dust, and the trees and all the other productions of nature seemed to be plunged into all the horrors of chaos."

It was not long before the commencement of actual operations afforded Kleber an opportunity of appreciating the skill and spirit of his troops. The grand vizier had been already dispatched with a numerous army to Asia Minor, from whence he was to proceed through Syria towards Egypt. He spent six months in marching from Scutari to Damascus, and in his rout levied enormous contributions on the people of Anatolia. At Ervan he learned the issue of the battle of Aboukir. The intelligence produced so powerful a sensation among his troops that more than one half of them deserted and on his arrival in Syria his army had dwindled to an inconsiderable number. His efforts to obtain the assistanec of the janissaries were partially and reluctantly acceded to, and Djezzar Pacha influenced by jealousy, prudence, or caprice, refused him a passage through his dominions. Informed of the vizier's movements, Kleber in the month of October, left ElArisch with 2000 dragoons, and a regiment of 1000 men mounted on dromedaries

each with a foot soldier behind him: and making a circuit in the desert, arrived at day-break in the rear of the enemy's camp. At the same time a body of 10,000 of his infantry reached the wells of Sebabiah, at the distance of a league and a half from the Turkish army. The vizier alarmed at his own critical situation made little resistance, but precipitately abandoned his camp, the greater part of his baggage, and several thousand prisoners retreating with the wreck of his army towards Damascus, Kleber imposed upon the prisoners the task of completing, under the superintendence of able engineers, the fortifications of El-Arisch, where he left a garrison and returned with the rest of his forces to Egypt.

Previous to abandoning Egypt Buonahad opened a negotiation with the vizier, and with the view of gaining time directed Kleber to continue it. The dissatisfaction of the troops impressed Kleber with the necessity of entering with sincerity into negotiations, which had been at first intended to relax the vizier's preparations for war. General Desaix and citizen Poussielgue, on the proposal therefore of sir Sidney Smith, went on board the Tigre, and proceeded to the camp of his highness, who had again advanced from Gaza with a new army of 45,000 men and fifty pieces of cannon all directed by European officers. The fort of El-Arisch was given up to him by the cowardly and deluded garrison, who, as the reward of their treachery and fatuity, were beheaded by the Turks.

The forces of general Kleber did not amount to more than 15,000 men, and of these a considerable number were employed in the defence of Rosetta, Aboukir, and Alexandria, were stationed at Lesbe, to collect provisions and keep the country in subjection, or were scattered along a line of 150 leagues in Upper Egypt, to oppose the desultory attacks, and repress the insolence of the beys and partisans. A ware of his own inferiority of force, alarmed and distressed by the clamors, the priva tions, and the afflictions of his soldiers, he concluded on the 24th of January 1800, the memorable treaty of El-Arisch, of which the subjoined is an authentic copy.

Convention for the evacuation of Egypt, agreed upon by citizens Desaix, general of division, and Poussielgue, administratorgeneral of finances, plenipotentiaries of the commander-in-chief Kleber, and their excellencies Moustapha Raschid Effendi Tefterdar, and Moustapha Rassiche Effendi Riessul Knitar, ministers-plenipotentiaries of his highness the supreme izier.

The French army in Egypt, wishing to give a proof of its desire to stop the effusion of blood, and to put an end to the unfortunate disagreements which have taken place between the French republic and the Sublime Porte, consents to evacuate Egypt on the stipulations of the present convention, hoping that this concession will pave the way for the general pacification of Europe.

I. The French army will retire with its arms, baggage, and effects, to Alexandria, Rosetta, and Aboukir, there to be embarked and transported to France, both in its own vessels and in those with which it will be necessary for the Sublime Porte to furnish it; and in order that the aforesaid vessels may be the more speedily prepared, it is agreed, that a month after the ratification of the present convention, there shall be sent to the fort of Alexandria a commissary, with fifty purses, on the part of the Sublime Porte.

II. There shall be an armistice of three months in Egypt, reckoning from the time of the signature of the present convention; and in case the truce shall expire, before the aforesaid vessels to be furnished by the Sublime Porte shall be ready, the said truce shall be prolonged till the embarkation can be completely effected, it being understood on both sides, that all possible means will be employed to secure the tranquillity of the armies and of the inhabitants, which is the object of the truce.

III. The transport of the French army shall take place, according to the regulations of commissaries appointed for this purpose by the Sublime Porte and general Kleber; and if any difference of opinion shall take place between the aforesaid commissaries respecting the embarkation, one

shall be appointed by commodore sir Sidney Smith, who shall decide the difference according to the maritime regulations of England.

IV. The forts of Catchich and Salachich shall be evacuated by the French troops on the eighth day, or, at the least, on the tenth day, after the ratification of this convention. The town of Mansoura shall be evacuated on the fifteenth day; Damietta and Belbeys on the twentieth day; and Suez shall be evacuated six days before Cairo. The other places on the east bank of the Nile shall be evacuated on the tenth day. The Delta shall be evacuated fifteen days after the evacuation of Cairo. The west banks of the Nile and its dependencies shali remain in the hands of the French till the evacuation of Cairo: and in the mean time, as they must be occupied by the French army till all the troops shall have descended from Upper Egypt, the said western bank and its dependencies will not be evacuated till the expiration of the truce, if it is impossible to evacuate them sooner. sooner. The places evacuated shall be given to the Sublime Porte in the situation in which they are at present.

V. The city of Cairo shall be evacuated after forty days, if that is possible, or at the latest after forty-five days, reckoning from the ratification of the treaty. I

VI. It is expressly agreed, that the Sublime Porte shall use every effort that the French troops may fall back, through the different places on the left bauk of the Nile, with their arms and baggage towards the head-quarters, without being disturbed or molested on their march in their persons, property, or honor, either by the inhabitants of Egypt or the troops of the imperial Ottoman army.

VII. In consequence of the former article, and in order to prevent all differences and hostilities, measures shall be taken to keep the Turkish always at a sufficient distance from the French army.

VIII. Immediately after the ratification of the present convention, all the. Turks, and other nations without distinction, subjects of the Sublime Porte, imprisoned or retained in France, or in the power of the French in Egypt, shall be set at liberty;