tary commander, were there no other proof, this expedition, which proved fatal to his life, but which established his reputation, would be a sufficient evidence. The independence of his character was evinced by his conduct in Ireland. His modesty is generally allowed to have been equal to his talents; and while he was regarded as a strict disciplinarian, he had the singular felicity of still conciliating the esteem of his soldiers. Gen. Abercrombie received the wound of which he died, in the early part of the action. On the first alarm he mounted his horse, and perceiving that the right was seriously engaged proceeded thither. Having dispatched his aides-de-camp with orders, he was left for sonie minutes alone, when some French dragoons penetrated to the spot, and he was thrown from his horse. One of the dragoons, supposed to be an officer, rede up and attempted to cut him down; but the veteran general seized the sword and wrested it from the assailant's band, who was at that instant bayoneted by a soldier of the 42d regiment. Sir Sidney Smith arrived almost at the instant, and having broken his own sword, the aged general presented him with that which he had taken from the Frenchman. Sir Ralph Abercrombie did not at first perceive the wound in his thigh, which proved the cause of his death; but complained of a contusion in his breast, supposed to be received in wrestling with the Frenchman. continued on the field during the whole of the engagement, and gave his orders with the utmost composure; but as soon as the battle was over he complained of being faint, and was carried in a hammock on board lord Keith's He ship, where he died on the 28th, In the same action general Moore, brigadier general Oakes, and sir Sidney Smith, were also wounded. The French general Roize was left dead on the field, and generals Lanusse and Rodet afterwards died of their wounds. These actions were considered but fallaciously as decisive of the fate of Egypt. After the death of sir Ralph Abercrombie, general Hutchinson, the son of the cele brated Irish lawyer who was provost of Trinity-college, assumed the chief command of the British forces there. On the 23d the caravansary, of which the French made a post, was taken possession cf by captain Beavor of the navy and a few sailors and marines. The French, on the approach of the English boats, threw the two guns they had mounted off the battlements, and retreated. But this was a small success, and the diffi culties the new commander had to encounter were almost insuperable. An attack on Alexandria was an enterprise too hazardous to be undertaken, and to remain in, ert was impossible. A detachment, however, under Col. Spencer, supported by 4000 Turks, was dispatched towards Aboukir, and on the 9th of April the town and castle of Rosetta submitted to this division. The French garrison, amounting to 800 men, made but a feeble resistance, and retired to the right bank of the Nile, leaving a few men killed and prisoners. A letter had been found in the pocket of general Roize, who was killed in the battle of the 21st, from general Menou, expressing a fear that the English would cut the neck of land along which is the course of the canal of Alexandria, and which separated the lake of Aboukir Aboukir from lake Mareotis, and thus let the waters of the sea into the latter, by which an inundation would be produced, and perhaps the ruin of Alexandria. From that moment it became a favourite service with the troops; and the consent of general Hutchinson being obtained, the work was completed in one day, 13th of April. The castle of St. Julien, near Rosetta, submitted on the 19th; and the garrison, in number 268, were made prisoners of war. In the beginning of May a detachment of British advanced to Fouah, the ancient capital of Egypt, and took possession of it. On the 9th of May the army advanced to Rhamanich, near which a strong body of French had taken a position. After some skirmishing the French evacuated their intrenched camp, and the fort of Ramanich with a garrison of 110 men surrendered at discretion. As the plague raged in the village, an order was issued to prevent any of the soldiers entering it; but the order was ineffectual as to the Turks, a party of whom proceeded as usual to plunder, and even ransacked the hospitals. After this affair the army moved forward, though but ill provided, and with hopes not the most flattering. The grand vizier was expected to form a junction with them on one side, and the army which was ordered from the East Indies to co-operate with them could not be long in reaching their destination. On the 11th of May general Hutchinson found that the grand vizier had reached Belbeis, and admiral Blanket with 150 men of the S6th regiment had arrived at Suez. The admiral was separated from the rest of his squadron in the dangerous and difficult pass age of the Red Sea; and it was not till the end of July that the Indian army was completely assembled. In the mean time major (sir Robert) Wilson was dispatched to the vizier to apprize him of a movement of the French from the vicinity of Cairo, which was supposed to be directed against him. The vizier determined not to retreat, but dispatched one of his principal officers, Tahir Pacha, to keep the French in check. Оп the 17th a convoy, escorted by 569 men, surrendered to Gen. Hutchinson, who in the pursuit of it was accompanied by a very inadequate force. The 16th of May was a very memorable day, being the first, and, if we recollect rightly, the only occasion on which the French were defeated by the Turks. They had intended to surprise the vizier's camp, but were themselves spiritedly attacked on that morning by the corps under the command of Tahir and Mahommed Pacha. The French on this occasion amounted to 4,000 infantry and 900 cavalry, and were commanded by general Belliard. After a severe conflict, however, of seven hours, they were compelled to retreat back to Cairo with considerable loss. This affair was of great importance to the British army, as it se cured the co-operation of the grand vizier, whose force amounted at this time to about 16,000 men, increased, it is supposed, by a crowd of Arabs, who joined his standard in hopes of the pillage of Cairo. The Mamelukes also appeared in considerable force to forward the enterprize. On the 16th of June general Hutchinson sent a letter to general Belliard at Cairo, exhorting him not to expose the place to the miseries of an assault by the Turks; but the French general returned an absolute refusal to enter into a negotiation. It was the middle of June before the British army, under general Hutchinson, reached the vicinity of Cairo. He found the works very much extended, though the garrison did not exceed 4 or 5,000 in number *. The captain pacha at the same time invested Gizeh (which may be regarded as a suburb of Cairo), on the left bank of the Nile, and the grand vizier took a position within cannon-shot of the city. Thus invested on every side, the garrison, on the 22d, sent a flag of truce to the English general, offering to treat for the evacuation of Cairo upon certain conditions. After a negotiation of several days, the surrender was finally agreed upon in a convention of twenty-one articles-the substance of which was, that the French army at Cairo and its dependencies should be conveyed in ships of the allied powers, and at their expense, together with their baggage, arms, ammunition, and other effects, to the nearest French ports in the Mediterranean; and of this convention general Menon was to be at liberty to avail himself. Our readers will recollect that these terms are precisely the same as those which were agreed upon by sir Sidney Smith and general Kleber, which the late ministry most unaccountably rejected. The French evacuated Gizeh on the 15th of July, and the British army followed, under the command of general Moore; general Hutchinson remaining at Cairo to make further arrangements and re-in◄ state the Mamelukes, which by treaty he was bound to do. The British army, accompanied by the French who had surrendered, ar rived about the latter end of July at Rosetta; and on the 31st of that month the embarkation on board English transports commenced, and continued successively for ten days. In the mean time the siege of Alexandria was carried on by general Coote. On the 15th general Hutchinson arrived, being determined to besiege it on the eastern and western fronts, his army then amounting to 16,000 effective men. On the morning of the 16th some of the external works were taken, but the artillery had been previously removed. On the night of the 17th the first paralel was opened in the eastern front of the enemy's position, at about 1,200 yards distance from the English lines. On the 18th two batteries with mortars and three twentyfour pounders were completed and opened on fort Marabou, which is seated on an islet at the western extremity of the harbour. The tower of this fort fell on the 20th, and, in consequence of it, the fort capitulated; the garrison, 168 men, surrendering as prisoners. On the 22d general Coote carried an im portant position occupied by 1200 men, and the British advanced within 1400 yards of Alexandria. On the same day the besiegers took possession of Arab's Tower. On the 26th the English batteries on the eastern side opened with ten 24-pounders and six twelvepounders against the right of the French position, particularly playing on a small redoubt which co * Sir Robert Wilson, however, states them at 10,000; and this is corroborated by the embarkation return as given in to the commander in chief. vered the bridge. The French fire was soon silenced, and in the evening an aid-de-camp of general Menon arrived, desiring an armistice of three days to arrange the articles of capitulation. On the 29th the capitulation was signed, which extended to general Menou and his army the terms of the treaty of Cairo. On the 3d of Septeinber the British forces formally took possession of Alexandria. The return made by general Menou of the garrison amounted to 0,528, independent of 685 persons employed in the civil department. From these returns it will appear, that we were correct in stating that the official information of the late ministers did not estimate the French force at even half its amount; and it will appear further, that the conquest of Egypt was achieved by British valour, with a very inferior force indeed, scarcely half that of the enemy with whom they had to contend. The enmity between the Turks and the Mamelukes was but ill concealed during the whole of the campaign; and the conquest of Egypt was scarcely achieved before, by an act of treachery, four of the Mameluke beys were killed. They were allured on board a boat under pretence of paying a visit of ceremony to the English commander; but while on the water they perceived that the intention of the captain pacha was to get them on board a ship and convey them to Constantinople. The beys resisted, and in the contest four of them lust their lives. This affair was greatly resented by general (now lord) Hutchinson. He insisted that the beys should be immediately re-instated in all their rights and dignities. On the other hand, he stipulated that the Mamelukes should regularly pay their tribute to the porte; and this treaty he established as a kind of magna charta for the future regulation of the country. In Europe, the war was languidly carried on between Great Britain and France. Some naval engage ments took place, between single ships and frigates, of little consequence-the detail of which our readers will find under the head of Principal Occurrences. An action which happened off the coast of Spain, between Sir James Saumarez and a squadron of French and Spanis ships of war, is, however, more worthy of being recorded. On the morning of the 6th of July, the British admiral stood through the Straits of Gibraltar, with the intention of attacking three French line-of-battle ships, and a frigate, which were at anchor off Algesiras. On opening Cabrita Point, he found the ships lay at a considerable distance from the enemy's batteries and, having a leading wind up to them, he conceived he had every reasonable hope of success, had previously directed captain Hood, in the Venerable, to lead the squadron; but though it was not intended, the captain found himself under the necessity of cast ing anchor, from the wind failing. Captain Stirling, in the Pompée, at the same time anchored opposite to the inner ship of the enemy, and the action commenced. In the ardour for engaging, the Hannibal was unfortunately run aground: every effort was made by the admiral to cover her from the enemy, but, being only three cables' length from one of the batteries on shore, he was obliged to reti.e, and to leave her in the hands of the enemy. The loss on board the English squa dron was 79. He What Whatever disgrace might have unjustly attached to the British admiral on this occasion, it was very soon retrieved; and fortune, in the subsequent engagement, seems to have amply compensated for previous deficiencies. The admiral was scarcely in harbour before he was apprised that the three French lineof-battle ships, disabled in the ac tion of the 6th, were on the 8th reinforced by a squadron of five Spanish ships of the line, under the command of Don Juan de Moreno, and a French ship of seventy-four guns. He learned further, that they were all under sail on the morning of the 12th of July, together with his majesty's late ship Hannibal. "I had almost de spaired," says admiral Saumarez, of having a sufficient force in readiness to oppose such numbers;" but by unparalleled exertion he was able to warp out of the Mole with all the ships under his command, the Pompée excepted, which had not time to get in her masts. The object of the British admiral was to obstruct the passage of this powerful force to Cadiz. Late in the evening he observed the enemy's ships to have cleared Cabrita Point, and at eight he bore up to stand after them. At eleven the Superb was up with them, and opened her fire on the enemy's ships at not more than three cables' length. At this critical period a fatal mistake of the enemy decided the battle. The Spanish ships, in the darkness and confusion, fired upon each other; the Real Carlos took fire, and blew up; and the Hermenegildo, still mistaking her for an enemy, ran on board her, and shared her melancholy fate. The San Antonio, of seventy-four guns and 750 men, commanded by Le Rey, chief of division, being thus left unsupported, struck to the Superb. The remaining ships of the enemy now crowded all the sail they could carry, and stood out of the Straits. At day-break only one French ship appeared in sight, which was standing to the shoals of Corril At this juncture the wind failed her, and the Venerable was able to bring her to action, and had nearly silenced her, when the loss of the mainmast obliged the captain of the Venerable to desist; and this ship, which was an eightyfour, escaped along with the rest. In the course of the summer an expedition was fitted out, under the command of admiral lord Nelson, for the purpose of destroying the harbour and shipping of Boulogne; but, like all the other expeditions to the coast of France, it ended only in discomfiture and disgrace. On the 4th of August lord Nelson found the enemy's vessels (consisting of brigs and flats, lugger-rigged, and a schooner, twenty-four in nunber), anchored in a line in the front of Boulogne. The wind being favourable for the bombs to act, he made the signal for battle, and gave orders to direct their shells at the vessels, and not at the town. After a severe engagement, however, in which six of the enemy's gun-boats were essentially damaged, the noble admiral was com pelled to retreat. Lord Nelson imputes his failure to the darkness of the night, with the tide and half tide which separated the divisions of the British fleet. The loss in killed and wounded amounted to about 130. Why the British ministry engaged in no offensive operations of greater importance has since been explained to the complete satisfac tion of the nation. It was because they were occupied with a matter of |