of severe regulation calculated to revive under another form, the system of terror were resorted to, in consequence of the attempt to destroy the first consul by means of the machine termed infernale, and of another plot said to have been formed in the month of October 1800 for his assassination with a poniard. The persons accused of this last offence were Dominic Demerville, Joseph Ceracchi, Joseph Areno, a Corsican, late member of the council of Five Hundred, John Francis Baptist, Topino Lebrun the celebrated historical painter, Joseph Diana, Magdalen Charlotte Claudine Fumey, Armen Deiteg, and Dennis Lavigne. The accused defended themselves with equal spirit and ability, and produced many witnesses to character, among whom was David the painter. The jury found Demerville, Ceracchi, Areno, and Topino Lebrun, guilty. Diana, Fumey, Deiteg, and Lavigne, were declared not guilty, and discharged. Those who were convicted appealed to the proper court, but the judgment against them was confirmed, and they were shot on the place de la Gréve.. most inquisitorial power over the liberty of the subject, and the government was authorised to remove from any town or city, any person whose presence might become injurious. As a justification of these proceedings, the minister of police published (January 31st) a report, containing a long narrative of the origin of the attempt on Buonaparte, which was now ascribed to the Chouan Georges, who, it was stated, had returned from England with new projects of assassination, and with guineas to embolden and pay his accomplices. In addition to the individuals already sentenced to departation, sixteen persons, of whom ten were women, were tried at Paris, and two men named Carbon, and St. Regent, were condemned and executed. The emigrants who had been allured by specious proclamations and delusive promises, to revisit their native land, were treated with great harshness and injustice. To remunerate the French people for these violations of humanity, and to divert their attention from the atrocities of his government, Buonaparte endeavoured to astonish and to amuse them by the splendor of his plans, and the Before this process began, an attempt number of his public processions, and enhad been made to destroy Buonaparte by tertainments. But the arts of himself and means of the infernale, a machine, which his dependents were only partially effectual. placed at the side of the street through The poverty of the lower classes was so exwhich the consul proceeded to the theatre, treme, that even fear could not repress exploded as he past, and but for the fidelity their outcries: the officers of the army of of his coachman, who, suspecting his danger, Germany loudly complained, that their lashed his horses into a gallop, would have services were slighted, while every favor terminated the first consul's career. Under was conferred on those who had acted, in pretext of this conspiracy, a law was im- Italy and Egypt; and even Moreau himmediately enacted, by which 133 persons, self was regarded with jealousy and suswithout a charge, and without a hearing, picion. The consular guard was augmenwere sentenced to be placed under a watcted to 16,000 men, and in the midst of ful inspection, in places out of the European triumph, flattery, and uncontrolled domiterritory of the republic. A tribunal of nion, the chief was distrustful, and the safety was appointed, which possessed the nation dissatisfied. CHAP. XXXII. The British Expedition to Egypt-Disasters of the Voyage A Landing is Effected -Storming of the Heights of Nicopolis-Battle of Nicopolis-Death of Sir Ralph Abercrombie Memoirs of his Successor, General Hutchinson-Progress and Termination of the Campaign in Egypt-Capture of Alexandria-Treaty with Menon. and disgust 200 were selected for the cavalry, and fifty for the artillery. The rest were shot as unfit for service, and unsaleable. The assistance derived from the Turks was limited to a few gun-boats, and the reports from the camp of the grand vizier, and the non-arrival of the capitan pacha, rendered it more than doubtful whether any serious co-operation was intended. Notwithstanding these discouragements, sir Ralph Abercrombie assembled all the general officers on board the Kent, explained his intentions, and communicated his final instructions. The embarkation was performed with the greatest speed, the horses were placed on board of several vessels arrived from Smyrna; and the fleet and transports amounted to 175. The weather during the voyage was extremely boisterous; the Greek vessels on board of which the horses were stowed, badly manned, and unprepared for sea, separated from each other, and from the fleet, carrying with them the greatest part of the artillery, and of the cavalry horses. ON after the surrender of Malta to some hundred horses of a feeble race, and for the armies of sir Ralph Abercrombie, and sir James Pulteney, to separate, the larger force remaining under the former officer, and being destined for an expedition then undisclosed, but which the opinions and hopes of the army directed to Egypt. At the time of receiving their orders the British troops were at Gibraltar, indisposed by a long continuance at sea, and dejected in mind, by a series of disappointments and unexpected failures. While part of the force proceeded to Minorca, where they were to meet lord Keith; the residue with sir Ralph Abercrombie went directly to Malta, where they were soon rejoined by the party who had been at Minorca, and by the noble admiral. The combined force then proceeded to the coast of Asia Minor, and anchored in the beautiful and spacious bay of Marmorice. At this place the sick were landed and encamped; regiments were successively brought on shore, and practised the manœuvres requisite in their next attempt, the ships were cleared, and the officers employed themselves in purchasing horses, expecting from Constantinople, those on which the men were to be mounted. These animals at length arrived, and severe was the disappointment of the troops, when instead of those admirable breeds peculiar to Turkey, they received After enduring these calamities a week, the ships came in sight of Alexandria, but the weather did not permit an attempt to land. The troops also received the discouraging intelligence of the disastrous fate of two brave officers. Majors Mackarris and Fletcher, of the engineers, had been sent in the Penelope before the fleet sailed from Marmorice, to reconnoitre the coast; but the coast; but when off Alexandria, they left the Penelope for the Peterell, and in the boat of the latter ship proceeded (February 27th,) into Aboukir bay, in order to discover the proper point of landing. In vain was major Mackarris advised not to penetrate too far into the bay. He advanced, and landed; but, at the dawn of day, as he was returning, a French gun-boat, full of soldiers from lake Maadie, appeared to windward, and bore down, firing a volley of carronade and small arms. A shot disabled the English boat from continuing sail, and a musketball having killed major Mackarris, the master of the boat surrendered.. For another week continual tempests prevented every attempt to land the troops. Excellent general orders for their conduct on approaching the shore, had been issued by sir Ralph Abercrombie before he left Marmorice. The troops were instructed to enter the flat-bottomed boats with the utmost expedition, and in good order, to sit in profound silence while they were rowed to land, to reserve the loading of their pieces till they should have formed for landing, and to pay the most scrupulous, respect to the manners, customs, and re ligious opinions of the people of Egypt., While the British expedition was thus struggling with adverse circumstances, the divisions in the French army, raged with unrestrained fury, and the turbulence of faction, as well as his own indiscretion, prevented Menou, from turning to the best account, the many advantages he possessed By his harshness, insolence, and suspicious temper, he disgusted and offended many of the beys, whom he might have retained in bonds of friendship.or: of neutrality: a plague broke forth at Cairo, yet he refused to adopt the necessary precautions for: securing his troops from its contagion: his extravagance was boundless; and th magazines were neglected, and inadequately supplied. Yet the French force was more than amply sufficient, had it been prudently directed, to resist every attempt which could be made against it; VOL. I. and at the very moment when the English fleet appeared, Menou's army was cheered by the prosperous arrival of La Regenerée and the Lodi. La Regenerée, which had accidentally fallen into the midst of the British fleet before it reached the shores. of Egypt, by the admirable dexterity of the commander, sailed with it undetected, till the moment arrived when, without the fear of pursuit, he could gain the port of Alexandria. The appearance of the English fleet was known at Cairo on the 4th of March, and the general officers importuned Menou to concentrate his troops.. But the commander-in-chief, alarmed at dangers which his brother officers overlooked; and jealous of their interference, refused even to dispatch a vessel to watch the movements of: the English, and assigned to the various generals scenes of service far distant from those which they judged most elligible.. At the same time he addressed a proclamation to the inhabitants of Egypt, in which, after ja bombastic boast that the sword of the angel of God always shone before the French troops, he threatened that if the English set foot on shore, they should be thrown into the sea. The force on which he relied, to prevent the landing, amounted to upwards of 2000 men, under. general Friant; they had 15 pieces of cannon, and, while the English were prevented from landing, were diligently employed i in throwing up works on the sand-hills. It was not till the 6th of March. that the wind abated; but even then, the swell of the sea, and the fierceness of the surf, prevented all attempts to land: but sir Sidney. Smith, always anxious to be ac tively employed, went on shore with two armed launches to attack a French gunboat which had stationed itself at the entrance of lake Maadie, or Aboukir, and was soon abandoned. after the first fire of, the English. A On the 8th of March, the wind continuing favorable, the first division of the army under major-general Coote, proceeded in a their boats about three. o clock, to the rendezvous near the brig Mondovi, at the distance of gun-shot from the shore. Their 3 U right flank was protected by the Cruelle cutter, the Dangereuse and Janissary gunvessels, and two launches; the left by the Entreprenant cutter, the Malta schooner, the Negresse gun-vessel, and the other launches. The Tartarces and Fury bombvessels, were so stationed, as in some measure to cover their landing with their fire; The Peterell, Camelion, and Minorca, were moored with their broadsides towards the shore. Sir Sidney Smith, with a detachment of 350 seamen, captains Bibeleau, Guion, Saville, Burn, and Hilliar, were directed to co-operate with the troops on shore, and 112 artillery-men had charge of the launches which carried their fieldpieces and ammunition. At nine o'clock, the signal was made for the boats to advance. They sprung forwards at the same instant, and the whole scene became one of animation. The French, to the number of 2000 men, posted on the top of the sand-hills, formed a concave arch of a circle, of about a mile on the front; in the centre of which arch was a perpendicular elevation of sixty yards, apparently inaccessible. They had beheld with wonder the preparations of the English, and have since confessed that they did not believe the attempt would be persisted in. But when they observed the boats moving with rapidity towards the shore, and the armed vessels opening their guns, they could no longer doubt the seriousness of the intention, and directly poured all the fire which the artillery on the heights and the castle of Aboukir could discharge. The quantity of shot and shells, and, as the boats approached, the shower of grape and musketry, ploughed the surface of the water in such a manner, that nothing on it could live. For a moment, the fire even checked some of the boats, and compelled them to close upon the left; but the impulse returned with increased ardor, and, pressing through the storm, the rowers forced to the beach. The reserve leaped out of the boats on shore; the 23rd and 40th regiments rushed up the heights with almost preternatural vigor, never firing a shot, but charging with the bayonet the two battalions which crowned it, breaking them, and pursuing till they carried the two nole-hills in the rear, which commanded the plain to the left, taking, at the same time, three pieces of cannon. The 42nd regiment had landed; and formed as on a parade, and then mounted the position, notwithstanding the fire from two pieces of cannon and a battalion of infantry. The moment they gained the height, 200 French dragoons attempted to charge them, but were as quickly repulsed. The boats of the guards had scarcely felt the beach, and the men began to jump out, before the same body of cavalry which had rallied behind the sand-hills, charged suddenly upon them. This unexpected attack occasioned a momentary disorder; but the 58th regiment checked the eneiny by their fire, and gave time for the guards to present a front, when the cavalry again retreated with considerable loss. The 54th, and royals and royals being in transport boats, did not reach the shore so soon as the others, but landed at the instant a column of 600 infantry was advancing with fixed bayonets through a hollow against the left flank of the guards. The French observed them for awhile, fired a volley, and leisurely retreated. The enemy observing the English to be in possession of the heights, and general Coote advancing with the guards and his brigade, quitted every point of their position, but kept up for some time a scattered fire; after which the greater portion retired to Alexandria, the rest taking refuge in Aboukir. The number of English soldiers engaged in the enterprise, amounted te 4800, of whom 102 were killed, 515 wounded, and 35 drowned by the oversetting of the boats. The British army, at the commencement of the debarkation, amounted to 15,336 men, of whom 999 were invalids. A great portion of this force being landed, sir Ralph Abercrombie proceeded to a position nearly three miles distant, which he occupied with his right flank to the sea, and his left to the lake Aboukir, called by the French, Maadie, and Mahadie. He also left a party to reduce the fort of Aboukir, which, on being summoned, refused to surrender The day after the landing, the position of the army was advanced a short way to an outpost of the enemy, which they abandoned, spiking and throwing over the work, a twelve pounder, and destroying a large quantity of biscuit and barley, which they had not time to carry away. During the whole day the wind prevented the landing of stores and provisions, but the troops carried with them three days' allowance, and the fear of wanting water was agreeably relieved. Sir Sidney Smith had asserted, and it was confirmed by experiment, that where date-trees grew, that necessary element could not be wanting; nor was the date-tree useful alone, as it indicated where water might be found, for the troops were tolerably sheltered in huts made from its branches. In the course In the course of the 10th, the rest of the troops came on shore. The Greek vessels having rejoined the fleet, the horses were landed, and provisions, stores, and forage in abundance were brought up from the ships with the greatest facility by the lake of Aboukir, which likewise afforded a harbor to the gunboats, and added great security to the left flank of the army. Several skirmishes occurred between the outposts of the British and French armies, but no regular engagement ensued till the 13th of March. Upon the preceding day the forces of sir Ralph Abercrombie marched forward beyond the redoubt of Mandara, and notwithstanding the opposition which they experienced from the augmented cavalry of the enemy, they continued to advance while the French retreated. The army of general Menou was at length discovered on a range of sand-hills. Their right was stretched towards the canal of Alexandria, and their left supported by a ruined palace. The British army halted during the night upon the plain, and formed in two lines, from the sea on the right, to the lake of Aboukir on the left. The situation of the enemy was certainly strong, but in proportion to its importance it was necessary for the British to possess it. The army received orders to be in readiness, for marching at five o'clock in the morning, but owing to some unavoidable arrangements and delays, it was past six before they were ready to advance. The whole were required to form into columns, and they began their march in the following order. Major-general lord Cavan's brigade was on the left, supported by the brigades of brigadier-general Stuart, and general Doyle, and by the dismounted cavalry. The forces commanded by major-general Cradock were on the right, and were supported in the rear by general Coote's brigade. The reserve marched in twocolumns along the sea-shore, parallel with the forces of major-general Coote, and the guards in the rear of general Cradock were opposite to the dismounted guards, in the line of columns led forward by lord Cavan. The 90th regiment formed the advanced guard of major-general Cradock, and the 92nd had a similar appointment in the front of lord Cavan. Thus the whole army was placed in columns with the left companies of every regiment in front. As the English troops approached within gun-shot of the enemy's lines, a tremendous fire was opened upon them, and they formed by dexterous movements into two lines, continuing the same advanced guards and having the same troops in rear, the dismounted cavalry and reserve remaining in columns throughout the action. The French advanced with rapidity, determined if possible, to attack the British army before it recovered its firmness, after having altered its form, and changed its position. Sir Ralph Abercrombie had given it as the leading order of the day that his men should endeavour to turn the right of the French army, for the left was so placed that it could not be approached without enduring a destructive fire from the other parts of the line. But the army of Menou having advanced from the heights varied their position, and rendered it easy to attack them in a different manner. The 90th regiment was rapidly advancing towards the heights, when the 22nd French chasseurs darted upon them with all the swiftness of the best mounted cavalry, but a well directed fire from the English ranks, |