HISTORY

OF THE

EXPEDITION TO EGYPT.

T is not my intention to enter into a discussion whether the

IT

a

direction of a British force to Egypt, under the circumstances Europe then presented, was the most judicious disposal of it. That question would involve too large a sphere of politics; but certain it is, that any positive object was preferable to indeterminate counsels and feebly executed plans, which waste the soldier's health and spirit, compromise the honour of the army, and so materially prejudice the interest of a country.

After the attempt on Cadiz was abandoned, it became absolutely necessary to employ more advantageously an army which might justly be regarded as the corps élit of England, and which had been kept as a disposable force at so great an expence.

The troops, from so long a continuance at sea, in weather as violent as the oldest sailor ever remembered,* began to sink in mind and strength, and their unmerited failures tended still more to depress them.

Sir Ralph Abercrombie sympathised in the gallant feelings of the soldiery, was sensible to the expectations of his country, and did not shrink from the responsibility of his situation.

* It will be sufficient to mention, as a proof of the bad weather, that the fleet lost 80 anchors in Tetuan bay.

B

Italy

Italy again and Spanish America for some time occupied his attention. But the news of the convention at Hohenlinden annihilated the first project, and the surrender of Malta directed his views to Egypt, rather than to the second.

At length, on the 25th of October, orders from England arriving to undertake that expedition, part of the fleet sailed on the 3d of November for Minorca, and the remainder, with Sir Ralph Abercrombie, direct for Malta, where it arrived on the 30th; and Lord Keith, with the division from Minorca, joined on the 14th of December.

At Malta the troops partially disembarked, while the ships were cleaning, in order to undergo the inspection of the Commander in Chief, a duty which this excellent officer never omitted. The abundance of fresh provisions, the comforts which the beautiful city of La Valette afforded, the luxury of the scenery, soon reanimated the troops, and rendered them completely fit for service. An addition was here also in fact made to the army, by the enlisting of Maltese to the number of five hundred, who engaged to act as pioneers; and officers were encouraged to hire others for servants, government allowing each one shilling per day; but being then unacquainted with the fidelity and honesty of these people, few chose to engage them.* Requisite stores, &c. having been collected, orders were issued for the re-embarkation of the army; and on the 20th of December the first division sailed for Marmorice,

* An arrangement which on all services would be advantageous, as supernumerary men of inferior stature with less pay might always be enlisted as bat men. Officers on their present allowance cannot afford to keep hired servants. An anecdote which occurred to one of the best and most gallant cavalry officers in the service may confirm this. A man asked of him eighty pounds per annum wages. "Do you know, my friend," said the major, " that you ask more than is given to a subaltern officer, who must live like a gentleman, and expose himself also to all the severities and dangers of the service?" "Ah, Sir," was his ingenuous reply, "I do indeed know their distress, and I pity the poor gentlemen from my heart."

where

where it arrived on the 28th. The second division followed on the 21st of December, and arrived on the 1st of January. It may be a question why the army did not sail direct for Egypt, and the event justifies the supposition that it would have experienced less resistance, since the L'Egyptienne, Justice, Regenerée, and Lodi, which carried out the important succours of troops and ammunition, had not at that time escaped into Alexandria. But it is to be answered, that the co-operation of the Turks, from the influence of their religion on the inhabitants, was highly essential, and that they had moreover promised to furnish gun-boats, horses to mount the cavalry, and troops under the immediate command of the Captain Pacha, provided the British fleet rendezvoused in Asia Minor. The result indeed proved that dependance on these succours to effect a landing was not advantageous.

Lord Keith's division in going to Marmorice fell in with some polacres coming from Alexandria, laden with rice, and on board of one of which was the celebrated Talien. No particular information was obtained from them, or rather the estimate they gave of the French force in Egypt was considered as grossly exaggerated.

It had been the intention of Lord Keith to rendezvous in the Bay of Macri, but finding that port was too open, and that Rhodes did not admit of the entrance of large ships of war, he reconnoitred the coast, and discovered Marmorice Bay, one of the finest harbours in the world, the entrance of which was so narrow and retired, that it could not be perceived till within a cable's length of the coast. The surprize, the pleasure of the soldiers can scarce be described, when they found themselves in a moment embayed by mountains, which formed the grandest scenery imaginable, and sailing in smooth water, although the instant before the fleet was labouring in a heavy gale

of wind, and rolling about in a tremendous sea.

Even ships,

which could not carry outside a top gallant sail, were now suddenly becalmed, and obliged to be towed up the harbour by the boats of the fleet.

The sick were immediately landed and encamped; for the little town at Marmorice, at the head of the harbour, afforded no accommodation. Regiments were also successively disembarked, whilst the ships were cleaning, and the whole army frequently exercised to that manoeuvre they were shortly to practise before the enemy in landing. The cavalry were kept on shore to receive the horses expected from Constantinople, and officers were partially employed in the purchase of others.* The quarter-master general of the army, Colonel Anstruther, who had been sent from Minorca to prepare the Turks for the reception of the English, had not been able to procure a sufficient supply of fresh provisions to save the issue of the salted stores; but goat-flesh was yet obtained in sufficient abundance by individuals, and poultry was also plentiful†. The English, however, found that their character had preceded them from Europe, for every article was advanced in price four hundred per cent.

The horses for the cavalry at length arrived, and expectation was raised with eager hope to receive some of that species Turkey is so celebrated for; but the mortification was exces

* One of the expeditions had nearly proved disastrous to some officers sent to the rebel Aga of Cudjas, whose attendants wished to take liberties, which though not unnatural to them, were highly repugnant to British ideas. Another was more advantageous, since Major Moore, of the 26th dragoons, at Macri, an ancient city of the Greeks, obtained as a present from the Aga three gold coins found there, and in the most perfect preservation. Two of them are of Pyrrhus, and one of Lysimachus.

† A Turkish market-place is sufficient to generate a plague. It is never cleaned, and blood flows on blood until a consistency of corruption is formed. The scene at Marmorice, where the butchery was so considerable, is indescribable.

sive, to see animals naturally so bad, and in such a shocking state, as to make the dragoons feel humiliation in being ordered to take charge of them. Every commanding officer solicited rather to serve with his corps as infantry; but the nature of the service the army was about to be employed on, rendered even such more desirable than none. However, out of several hundred horses, finally only two hundred were left for the cavalry, about fifty for the artillery, and the remainder shot, or sold for a dollar apiece. Miserable indeed would have been the state of the cavalry, had it not been amended by the horses purchased in the neighbourhood; but this supply was small, since it was a measure not pressed vigorously till too late; if previously adopted, it would have rendered the whole of the dragoons an effective force, and saved an enormous expence.

On the 8th of February commenced the most violent thunder and hail storm ever remembered, and which continued two days and nights intermittingly. The hail, or rather the ice stones were as big as large walnuts. The camps were deluged with a torrent of them, two feet deep, which, pouring from the mountains, swept every thing before it. The scene of confusion on shore by the horses breaking loose, and the men being unable to face the storm, or remain still in the freezing deluge, surpasses description. The ships in the harbour were in no less disorder from driving, loss of masts, &c. and the Swiftsure was struck by lightning. At night the firmament was, from the increasing flashes, in a state of constant and vivid illumination. To add to the terrific grandeur of this concussion of elements, signal guns of distress were frequently heard, and the howlings of wolves, jackalls, &c. re-echoed through the mountains at the back of the camp in the intervals, whenever the thunder ceased. It is not in the power of language to convey an adequate idea of such a tempest.

On