A little farther, there is a tower of Arabic construction. It stands in the middle of a large plain; and overlooks, on the one side, a yellow desert, of vast extent, terminated by the sea. When, however, the mind is saddened by this prospect, it can sooth itself by turning to all that nature has to display, of verdure, riches and abundance; the plains of the Delta, covered with rice-fields, and sugar grounds, and intersected by innumerable canals, that terminate in the Nile, which river, at this part of its course, is always covered with barks, moving in every direction.

Arrived at this tower, they perceived, at the distance of seven leagues, twenty sail enter the bay of Aboukir. These vessels arrived, formed a line of battle, and attacked the fleet of the French, almost in the same moment. They heard the discharge of the first cannon at five o'clock. Soon after this, the smoke concealed the two fleets from their sight; but when it became dark they were able to distinguish better, though they were too far off to understand what was passing. The danger they ran of being made prisoners by the smallest party of Bedouins could not distract the anxious attention they paid to an event of so great interest. The rolling and redoubled noise of the cannon was continual; they saw that the battle was terrible; and that it was sustained on both sides with equal obstinacy. On returning to Raschid, they went on the roofs of their houses towards ten o'clock, a strong burst of light shewed a fire to have taken place in the fleet; at the same minute a dreadful explosion ensued, and then as profound a silence. At 11 o'clock, a slow fire recommenced; at midnight, the battle was completely renewed; but at two o'clock in the morning it again ceased. At daybreak, the cannonade began once more. At nine o'clock a second vessel blew up. At ten, four ships,1 the only ones that remained entire, which they recognised to be French, (and which at that moment they believed to be victors, because they were neither attacked nor followed) withdrew from the scene of action, under crowded sail.

M. Denon passed his time on the top of the tower of Aboo-mandhur, incessantly examining the bay with his telescope. Three days passed before he learned the real event of the first and second of August. The begaz shut up, and the communication with Alexandria intercepted, at length, however, made him fully aware, that circumstances had changed against the French; that, separated from the mother country, they were become colonists, who, till

Le Guillaume Tell, Le Généreux, La Diane, and La Justice. 2 Bar of the river.

peace should arrive, were to exist by their own exertions, and by their own resources; in a word, he learned that the English fleet had doubled the French line, not sufficiently supported by the island which should have defended it; that the enemy taking the vessels of the latter one by one, by means of his double line, had rendered half its strength useless, leaving it only a spectator of the destruction of the other; that it was L'Orient which had blown up at ten o'clock, on the night of the thirty-first of July, and the Hercules which had followed the next morning; that the commanders of the ships, the William Tell, and the Generous, and of the frigates, the Diana and the Justice, seeing the rest in the power of the enemy, had taken advantage of his weariness, and escaped. He learned, in short, that the first of August had broken the fabric of the power and glory of France; that, destroying her fleet, it had bestowed the empire of the Mediterranean on her enemies.

The situation of the French was now entirely changed. Under the possibility of being attacked, it was become necessary to prepare for defence.

Since the loss of the fleet, the troops that were at Raschid, had been scattered among castles and batteries in little garrisons; it had become necessary, in order to maintain a communication between the two cities, to establish a caravan between Alexandria and Raschid, by way of Aboukir, and soldiers were employed to protect these caravans from the Arabs; there remained, therefore, too small a number of troops at this latter place, to defend it in case of an attack. Under these circumstances, it was proposed to form a militia of the travellers, the speculators, the useless, fickle, wandering, and irresolute men who had arrived at Alexandria, or already returned from Cairo; a large list, including amphibia, who, corrupted by the campaigns of Italy, and having heard that the harvests of Egypt were the most abundant in the world, had thought that such a country must have fortunes ready made for the first possessors; epicures and debauchees who, with minds fascinated by Savary's account, had set out from Paris, in search of new pleasures at Cairo, speculators who came to supply the army, to feel the pulses of trade, and import and sell at high prices, whatever the colony could want: meanwhile, the Beys had withdrawn all their money and magnificence from Cairo; the populace had pillaged the houses; Buonaparte did not want contractors; and the merchant ships were blockaded by the English; misfortunes which, to the eyes of these travellers, threw a gloom over all Egypt.

Confounded at finding themselves prisoners, disappointed in their projects, and obliged to concur in the defence and improve

ment of a place which they found would only promote the prosperity of the whole empire of France, they sent home the most melancholy recitals. These recitals, intercepted by the English, contributed to deceive the nation with respect to our condition. The English pleased themselves with believing that we were dying with hunger; sent back our prisoners, that they might hasten the period of our destruction; printed in their Gazettes that half our army was in the hospitals; that half the others were employed in leading the blind remainder: and all this time, Upper Egypt was supplying us with abundance of the best wheat, and the Lower with the finest rice; the sugar of the country was sold for half the price of sugar in France; the numberless herds of buffaloes, oxen, sheep and goats, as well of the cultivators as of the Arab pastors, sufficiently supplied the great increase of consumption at the very moment of the invasion, and promised abundance, and superfluity for the future; and for the luxury of the table, we could add every kind of poultry, fish, game, vegetables, and fruits. Such then were the objects of the first necessity which offered to her detractors; detractors who wanted gold to supply the illusions they had indulged, and who not finding gold, saw nothing about them but burning sands, fleas, and gnats, dogs which disturbed their sleep, intractable husbands, and veiled women, who shewed nothing but the eternal neck!

The French Dispatches alluded to by M. Denon were those from Kléber, Poussielgue, &c. which were picked up by the British, and sent to England; a duplicate reached France. M. Thiers pictures the statements made in them as gross exaggerations, the General looking at every thing in the most unfavourable aspect, whilst General Menou, on the contrary, viewed every thing in the brightest colours, and held the French to be invincible in Egypt. (See "Histoire du Consulat et de l'Empire," Tom. ii. Liv. v. p. 15.)

No. II.

Articles of Capitulation of Malta.

ARTICLE I.-The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem shall give up the city and forts of Malta to the French army; at the same time renouncing in favour of the French Republic all right of property and sovereignty over that island, together with those of Goza and Cumino.

Article II.-The French Republic shall employ all its credit at the Congress of Rastadt, to procure a principality for the Grand Master equivalent to the one he gives up; and the said Republic engages to pay him in the mean time an annual pension of three hundred thousand French livres, besides two annats of the pension by way of indemnification for his personals. He shall also be treated with the usual military honours during the whole of his stay in Malta.

Article III.—The French Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem actually resident in Malta, if acknowledged as such by the Commander-in-chief, shall be permitted to return to their own country, and their residence in Malta shall be considered in the same light as if they inhabited France. The French Republic will likewise use its influence with the Cisalpine, Ligurian, Roman, and Helvetian Republics, that this third article may remain in force for the Knights of those several nations.

Article IV.-The French Republic shall make over an annual pension of seven hundred French livres to each Knight now resident in Malta; and one thousand livres to those whose ages exceed sixty years. It shall also endeavour to induce the Cisalpine, Ligurian, Roman, and Helvetian Republics, to grant the same pension to the Knights of their respective countries.

Article V.The French Republic shall employ its credit with the different powers, that the Knights of each nation may be allowed to exercise their right over the property of the Order of Malta situated in their dominions.

Article VI.-The Knights shall not be deprived of their private property either in Malta or in Goza.

Article VII.-The inhabitants of the islands of Malta and Goza shall be allowed, the same as before, the free exercise of the Catholic,

Apostolical, and Roman religion: their privileges and property shall likewise remain inviolate, and they shall not be subject to any extraordinary taxes.

Article VIII.-All civil acts passed during the government of the Order shall still remain valid.

Done and concluded on board the Orient, off Malta, the 24th Prairial, the 6th year of the French republic (12th June, 1798.) The Commander BOSREDON DE RANSIJAT (who had forsaken the order).

The Bailiff MARIE TESTA FERRATA,

Doctor JEAN NIES MUSCAT,

Doctor BENOIT SCHEMBRI,

Counsellor BONANI,

all Maltese.

The Bailiff DE TURIN FRISONI, without prejudice to the right of dominion which belongs to my Sovereign, the King of the Two Sicilies.

Chev. PHILIPPE AMAT, the Spanish Chargé-d'affaires.1

No. III.

TUNISIAN AFFAIRS.

IN reference to the Battle of the Nile and its effects at Tunis, Major Perkins Magra, the British Consul, addressed the following letter to Sir Horatio Nelson :

"Sir,

--

"TO SIR HORATIO NELSON, K.B.

"Tunis, October, 1798.

"After congratulating you on the very splendid victory you have obtained, and the very important service you have thereby rendered to your country at this critical period of its history, I beg to acquaint you, that Captain Nisbet, with part of the crew of L'Aigle sailed hence, in a neutral vessel the beginning of last month in quest of you, since which no accounts have been received of him, though it was expected the vessel would have returned here before this.

"This Government consider England as their saviour, from a full persuasion of the intentions of the French, in the progress of their 1 Boisgelin's History of Malta, Vol. ii. p. 94-96.