1798 Agreeably with this declaration, the executive directory recommended the enterprise to the public approbation by representing it as undertaken to promote the welfare of the Ottoman Porte, as well as that of an injured people, by freeing that state from the tyranny of Murad and Ibrahim Beys; who, bidding defiance to the sultan, had oppressed the Egyptians, and had been guilty of extortion towards the French merchants, and had insulted their consul. "The authority of the Porte was totally disowned," said they in an address to the council of five hundred. "It will receive "from the hands of the victorious French the immense advantages of "which it has been long deprived. Finally, for the good of the whole world, Egypt will become the country in the whole universe richest in productions, the centre of immense trade, and, above all, a most for"midable post against the most odious power of the English in India, ." and their usurped commerce.” 1. This friendly and public spirited enterprise, it ought to be remarked, was entered upon without the knowledge and contrary to the wishes of the sultan whose interests it was intended to promote. Of the sincerity of the professions by which its authors would have justified it in the eyes of the world the subsequent events will enable us to judge; in the mean-time, we must attend to the progress of Buonaparte in his reduction of Egypt.* Having provided for the defence of his acquisitions on the coast, he advanced, with his army, commanded under himself, by generals Desaix and Rampon, towards Cairo, the capital, situated on the Nile, about one hundred miles from its mouths.-Murad Bey, after harassing him on his march, drew out his army, on the plains of the pyramids, consisting of about 20,000 mamelukes, mounted on the finest horses of the country, splendidly armed and accoutred.*-A battle ensued; in which the mamelukes made their first onset with their accustomed impetuosity, but were, in the result, obliged to retire with the loss of 2000 men.-In consequence of this victory, Buonaparte made himself master of Cairo; where he invited the people to support his cause by proclaiming peace and amity towards "Nothing," says Walsh, can equal the grand and splendid appearance of this cavalry. "Their horses are well made, strong, sleek, and plump, very sure footed, and stately in their attitudes, and having altogether the most beautiful appearance. The magnificence of the "trappings, towards them, with security in the enjoyment of their laws, their rights, and their religion.* b As soon as the commander had entered upon his purposed organization, by the appointment of a divan, or council, consisting of seven chief persons, for the administration of police, he marched against Ibrahim Bey, who was retiring towards Syria; and, overtaking him near the frontiers of that country, he attacked and defeated him, after a battle sustained with much bravery by the Bey. с During these operations of the French general, admiral lord St. Vincent, who was employed in the blockade of Cadiz, conformably with his instructions, on intelligence that the Toulon fleet had sailed, detached rearadmiral sir Horatio Nelson, with fourteen sail of the line, in pursuit of it. -That commander sailed with this fleet, commanded under himself by sir James Saumarez, in the month of july. Having received some vague intelligence respecting the enemy's course from the Maltese, he steered towards the Egyptian coast. Some days had been spent in the pursuit when de Bruey's fleet, consisting of thirteen ships of the line and four frigates, was descried, close-moored in Aboukir bay, near Alexandria, for the defence of that port and the protection of Buonaparte's army. ‡ To attack a superior fleet in such a position was an action of the boldest and most arduous nature. But the occasion was adequate to the hazard of it. The French fleet must be defeated, or the enemy would establish themselves in Egypt, and would prosecute their designs against the English settlements and commerce in India. What under other circumstances, 1798 August 1. trappings, with which they are covered, is amazing, and the saddles and housings glitter with gold and silver, almost dazzling the eyes of the astonished spectator. Indeed, a mameluke 66 may be said to carry all his wealth about him, his horse, his sword and pistols, beautifully "wrought and inlaid with silver; are worth very great sums, and constitute the chief part of ❝ his riches. 66 "These horses, as well as all those to be found in Egypt, have only two paces, the walk in which 1798 cumstances would, perhaps, have been rashness, became, under these, a warrantable act of bravery and patriotism.-Not a moment, therefore, was lost by the gallant commanders to prepare for action: and a more solemn and interesting sight cannot be imagined than was exhibited by the fleet bearing slowly down to the attack, in the evening of the ever memorable first of august. To preclude a possibility of the enemy's evading an action by approaching nearer the shore, it was determined, in defiance of the extreme danger of such an evolution, to break their line with part of our ships, and get between them and the coast.-The goliah led the way, and was followed by the zealous, the orion, the theseus, and the audacious; which, after piercing their line, shortened sail, and hauling round to the enemy, each chose his antagonist, raking the French ships which they passed in taking their respective stations. The admiral's ship, the vanguard, took its station on the outside of the enemy's line. Being followed by the remainder of his ships, a close engagement ensued, which lasted several hours after the day was closed.-In less than two hours, two of the French ships were taken and three were dismasted. The darkness was now interrupted only by the flashes of fire from the ships in action and from the enemy's batteries and gun-boats; and the stillness of night rendered the roar of artillery with which the shores resounded more tremendous. In the midst of this awful scene, the French admiral's ship, the l'orient, took fire, and blew up with a dreadful explosion.-After a short pause, which terror seemed to impose on the combatants, the firing was renewed, and continued till three o'clock in the morning.-The returning light displayed the havock which had been made during the night; at which time there were but four French ships of the line that had their colours flying.-The action, which had raged with the greatest fury with the enemy's van, then shifted towards the rear, and was faintly carried on by the crippled ships during the ensuing day. A detail of the incidents would be uninteresting: but it is deserving of notice, that the brave captain Trowbridge's ship, the culloden, which had run aground in the beginning of the engagement, was now, at length, disengaged. On the morning of the third day, the tonnant alone remained on the scene of action: and, being dismasted, she was obliged to strike to the theseus and leander.-Such was the event of a battle, the most decisive in itself, and the most important in its consequences, of any upon record. record. Of the whole French fleet, only two ships of the line and two frigates escaped. Of the remainder, nine ships of the line were taken, two ships and a frigate were burned, and one was sunk. -The fame of this victory, being instantly carried to the remotest parts of Europe, at the same time that it added to the renown of British valour and seamanship, had an immediate influence on the councils of several of its states. When the courts of Vienna and Naples saw that the French navy was again reduced to a wreck; and that Buonaparte's army was deprived of its protection, they no longer concealed their hostile intentions; the emperor of Russia was encouraged by it to enter into a treaty of alliance with Great Britain before the close of this year; and the grand seignior no longer repressed the indignation which he had felt when informed that the French, under a shew of friendship to him, were preparing to supplant him in his sovereignty in Egypt, and, with a view of restraining their progress, he concluded an alliance with the court of Petersburg, for their mutual defence.+f e In the autumn, the king of Naples, willing to avail himself of the present weakness of the French army in Italy, took the field at the head of an army commanded by the Austrian general Mack, and penetrated into the territories of the Roman republic; whilst a division of the British fleet made a diversion in his favour by taking possession of Leghorn. This movement had a fatal influence on the fortunes of his Sardinian majesty. Warm disputes had taken place between the French garrison in the citadel of Turin and the Piedmontese, who felt with indignation the pusillanimity of their sovereign: but the weak, disarmed monarch had given no just cause of offence to the great nation. Yet the directory, impressed with a persuasion of his enmity from a consciousness of the injuries they had done him, and sensible of the danger which threatened their newly-established power in Italy should he resume his arms and join the Austrians and Neapolitans, resolved to prevent such an event by at once making themselves masters of Piedmont. Unrestrained by the antiquated principle of public faith, they compelled the king to renounce the exercise of his sovereign power, and, ordering his subjects to obey the provi 1798 VOL. IV. 1798 sional government to be established by the French general, to repair to the island of Sardinia. * The events of this short campaign, in the mean-time, proved very disgraceful to the Neapolitans.-Mack had possessed himself of a considerable extent of country. But as soon as the French generals had collected their forces, they advanced to the encounter in defiance of their enemy's great superiority of number; confident that their own superior prowess would more than compensate this disadvantage. After defeating his detachments in several actions, generals Macdonald and Mathieu, attacking Mack himself in his intrenchments near Civita Castellana, gained a complete victory; and, having taken 5000 of his men, they forced him to retire to Naples, and put himself on the defensive for the protection of that capital. " h 1798 SPAIN. SPAIN was now in that distressed and abject state to which every kingdom may reasonably expect to be reduced which suffers itself to be degraded from the station in society which it has a right to fill. It had lost its strength by the united influence of despotism, superstition, and an influx of wealth without industry. A consciousness of weakness, and a diffidence in the affections of his subjects, had induced don Ferdinand to submit to a treaty which made him subservient to a power which he detested: and he was now destined to reap the fruits of his own pusillanimity and the demerit of those predecessors who had deprived the nation of its rights and brought the kingdom into its present state of decrepitude. Internal dissension contributed to the gloom which external disgrace had drawn over his realms. Whilst the French government was making him an unwilling agent in forwarding its schemes of ambition, its emissaries were continually employed in propagating republican principles in Spain. And so palpable were the defects of the whole system of government both civil and ecclesiastical, & State Papers. 274. Annual Register. 131. |