rigid discipline, their commanders ought to be better informed, and a stronger responsibility attaches to them, than to that motley race of adventurers who are found in privateers and letters-of-marque. Indeed, every restriction that can be laid upon these legal pirates must be salutary to commerce, and conducive to the welfare of mankind. -The manner in which this right of search is to be exercised is also well calculated for the prevention of contest and dispute. Every merchant-ship of a neutral power, which sails under convoy, is to be furnished with a passport, or sealetter, containing a true description of the cargo with which it is freighted; and this is to be subjected to the inspection of the offcer who superintends the convoy. Under these circumstances the convoy is to pass unmolested by the ships of war of the other contracting party, that party being in a state of war with another nation. All that can be demanded is to inspect the papers, and to ascertain that the commander is properly authorised to convoy such vessels, laden with articles not contraband, to a certain port. It is only upon good ground of suspicion that the commander of any ship of war can detain any merchant-ship under these circumstances; and should he detain any without just and sufficient cause appearing, he must then make full compensation to the owners of such vessel for any loss, detriment, cost, or damages, which may be incurred by such detention. The number of articles which are to be in future considered as contraband is also reduced; and among the exemptions are iron, copper, timber, pitch, tar, hemp, and sailcloth, which were formerly regarded as prohibited articles.

Thus, by the dissolution of this famous confederacy, one of the great obstacles to a peace between Great-Britain and the French republic was happily removed. How far the possession of Egypt by the French may be regarded in the same light, we shall not pretend to determine. It is, however, not probable that the possession of Egypt was an object on which the cabinet of the Tuilleries had founded any sanguine hopes; since the capitulation of El-Arish, negotiated with general Kleber by sir Sydney Smith, was a proof that the ultimate view of the French was a safe return to their native country. Posterity will regard with indignation the violation of this treaty; and the authors of that rash act are certainly responsible for the blood which was afterwards shed in accomplishing what sir Sydney had achieved without contest or expense. To remedy, however, this error, a considerable force had been dispatched from Great-Britain, under the conduct of an experienced and gallant officer-sir Ralph Abercrombie. The British forces, under the command of lord Keith and general Abercrombie, after unexpected delays on the coast of Asia Minor, arrived off Alexandria on the 1st of March. The following day the fleet made sail for the bay of Aboukir, and anchored there. Till the 7th, the sea ran high, and no disembarkation could be effected; but on that day the first division made good their landing at ten o'clock in the morning in the face of a body of French, who were evidently aware of their intention, and were posted in force with considerable advantages of position. The front of the disembarkation was narrow, and a hill which commanded the

whole

whole appeared almost inaccessible; yet the British troops ascended the hill, under the fire of grapeshot, with the most perfect intrepidity, and forced the French to retire, leaving behind them seven pieces of artillery and a number of horses. The disembarkation was continued during that and the following day. The troops which landed on the 8th advanced three miles the same day; and on the 12th the whole army moved forward, and came within sight of the French, who were formed advantageously on a ridge, with their left to the Canal of Alexandria, and their right towards the

sea.

It was determined to commence the attack on the 13th; and with this view the British army marched in two lines by the left, with an intention of turning the right flank of the enemy. The attack was in some measure anticipated by the French; and they descended from the heights on which they were formed, and attacked the leading brigades of both lines. The British troops were therefore compelled to change their position, which was done with the greatest precision; and the rest of the army immediately followed their example. After a severe conflict, victory declared in favour of the English, though not without considerable loss-that of above two thousand men in killed, wounded, and missing. The loss of the French we have never heard, but it must have been considerable.

It is but candid to add, that, with some advantages of position on the side of the French, the advantage of numbers was undoubtedly on the side of the English. Sir Ralph Abercrombie took with him from England upwards of

15,000 infantry and cavalry; and with the seamen, who from the official returns appear to have been engaged, the troops, in the whole, could not be much less than that number. The battle was fought with only a division of the French army under general Lanusse; which, according to the French accounts, amounted only to 4,600. But this must be a misrepresentation, as no rational person would risk an engagement with such an inferiority of numbers; and it is evident the French accounts take no notice of the native troops which were engaged on their side.

The British army followed up their success with becoming spirit and vigour; and on the 21st of March a still more decisive battle was fought, with a similar event, at the distance of about four miles from Alexandria. It commenced before daylighs in the morning, by a false attack on the left of the English, under major-general Craddock, in which the French were. repulsed. But the most vigorous efforts of the enemy were directed to the right of the English army, which they endeavoured by every possible means to turn. The attack on that point was begun with great impetuosity by the French infantry, sustained by a strong body of cavalry, who charged in column. The contest was unusually obstinate. The French were twice repulsed, and their cavalry were repeatedly mixed with the English infantry; but at length gave way altogether. While this was pass ing on the right, the French attempted to penetrate the centre of the British army with a column of infantry, who were also repulsed, and obliged to retreat. A corps of light troops however was advanced, supported by infantry and R 4

cavalry,

cavalry, to keep in check the left of the English, which was certainly the weakest of the whole line; but all their efforts were fruitless, and the British remained masters of the field. The loss on our side was great, being in killed, wounded, and missing, upwards of 1,500. The loss of the French was vaguely calculated in the English accounts at 3,000.

Amidst such a prodigal expenditure of human life, it may seem trifling to fix the attention of the reader on a single death; yet we must remark, that one of the severest losses the British nation experienced on that day must be accounted their gallant and accomplished commander-sir Ralph Abercrombie. This gentleman was a North Briton by birth, of a respectable though not opulent family. Being destined to the profession of arms, the first commission he bore, was that of a cornet in the third regiment of dragoon guards. He rose by successive gradations to the rank of lieutenant-colonel; and, about the commencement of the American war, was made colonel of a new-raised regiment-the one hundred and third, or king's Irish infantry. Of his services during that contest we are unable to speak; nor was it till the year 1787 that he was promoted to the rank of major-general. Early in the late war sir Ralph Abercrombie was employed upon the continent. He commanded the advanced guard in the action on the heights of Cateau, and conducted the march of the guards from Deventer to Oldensaal in the retreat of the British trops in 1794. In the following years, till 1797, he tyas engaged as commander-inchief in most of the successful enterprises of the British in the West

Indies. On his return to Europe he was invested with the rank of lieutenant-general, and appointed to the command of the forces in Ireland. In this station his conduct was truly meritorious: to preserve the people from military oppression, and to restore discipline to an army, who, according to his own forcible expression, were formidable to every one but the enemy," occupied his most arduous endeavours. But the public are already in full possession of these facts. In the famous expedition to Holland, he displayed his great military talents in such a manner as even to be distinguished by the reluctant praises of the hostile generals. In the battle which we have just described, which was won chiefly by the excellent dispositions which he planned previous to the action, he received a wound, of which he died on the 28th of March. Of his ability as a mili 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 inde, pendence 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. In the same action general Moore was also dangerously wounded. The French general Roize was left dead-on the field, and generals Lanusse and Rodet afterwards died of their wounds.

These actions may be considered as decisive of the fate of Egypt. After the death of sir Ralph Abercrombie, general Hutchinson, the son of the celebrated Irish lawyer,

who

who was provost of Trinity college, assumed the chief command of the British forces there. The British general lost no time in proceeding towards Alexandria, where the principal force of the enemy was yet concentred. In the mean time, the town and castle of Rosetta was taken by a division of the British army under colonel Spencer, aided by a body of Turks. 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.

While such was the state of affairs in the neighbourhood of Alexandria, admiral Blanket, with a considerable force from the EastIndies, effected a landing at Suez. The admiral was separated from the rest of his squadron in the dangerous and difficult passage of the Red Sea; but, before the end of April, was joined by large re-inforcements under the command of general Baird, colonels Wellesley and Murray, &c.

As Cairo, next to Alexandria, was a capital object with the allies, a force was detached early in May for its reduction. On the 9th of that month general Hutchinson, with 4,000 British, and an equal number of Turks, attacked the French near Rhamanieh. The French were driven in, and in the night retreated towards Cairo, leaving a small garrison at Rahmanieh, which, on the following day, surrendered to the victors. The loss of the English on this occasion did not exceed thirty men. About the same time, a body of French and Copts, who had moved forward from Cairo to attack the Turks, were defeated by the grand vizier, who was essentially assisted by colonel Murray and other Bri

tish officers. The French are said to have lost fifty men, and the Turks about thirty, in this action. The whole number of French, &c. engaged, was said to amount to 4,600, and the Turkish army to 9,000.

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 twentyone 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 Menou was to be at liberty to avail himself. Our reader will recollect that these terms are precisely the same those which were agreed upon by sir Sydney Smith and general Kleber, which the late ministry most unaccountably rejected.

as

The final conquest of Egypt soon after succeeded; and general Menou accepted the conditions of the convention of Cairo for himself and the rest of the army under his command,

In

In Europe, the war was languidly carried on between Great-Britain and France. Some naval engagements 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 Spanish 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 infention 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. He 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 casting 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 retire, and to leave her in the hands of the enemy. The loss on board the English squadron was 375.

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 action 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 Mozen, 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 despaired," says admiral Saumarez, "of having a sufficient force in readiness to oppose such numbers;" but by · great 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 730 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