N the middle of February, 1799, Bonaparte arrived before El-Arish. This fort capitulated on the 16th, after a complete route of the Mamelukes; and, six days after, Gaza opened her gates. When near Jerusalem, Bonaparte, on being asked if he did not wish to pass by that town, replied quickly, "Oh! no! Jerusalem is not in my line of operations; I do not wish to have any thing to do with the mountaineers in difficult passages; and, on the other hand, I should be assailed by a numerous cavalry. I am not ambitious of the fate of Cassius." On the 6th of March, Jaffa was carried by assault, and abandoned to pillage and massacre. Bonaparte sent his aides-de-camp, Beauharnais and Croisier, to appease the fury of the soldiers. They arrived in time to save the lives of four thousand Arnauts, or Albanians, who formed part of the garrison, and who had escaped the carnage by

taking refuge in the vast caravansaries.

of the

When the general

in-chief saw the number of prisoners, he exclaimed, “What am I to do with them? have I provisions to feed them, or ships to send them to France or Egypt? what is to become The aids-de-camp excused themselves on account of the danger they would have incurred by refusing to capitulate, and likewise reminding Bonaparte of the humane mission which he had confided to them. "Yes, undoubtedly," he replied, "for women, children, and old men, but not for armed soldiers; you should have killed these unfortunates, and not brought them to me. What would you have me do with them?" He deliberated for three days on the lot of these ill-fated people, in hope that the sea might bring him some vessels to get rid of his prisoners, without compelling him to shed more blood. But the murmurs of the army did not permit him to delay any longer a measure, which inspired him with the greatest repugnance. The order for shooting the Arnauts and Albanians was given on the 10th of March.

The French army had brought into Syria the germ of the plague; it developed itself at the siege of Jaffa, and became every day more ravaging. Bonaparte said of the adjutantgeneral, Grésieux, who would not touch any one, in order to guard himself from the contagion, "If he is afraid of the plague, he will die of it." His prediction was accomplished at the siege of Acre.

It was on the 16th of March that Bonaparte arrived before that place, where he met with a more vigorous resistance than he had expected.

During the siege of Acre, the celebrated battle of Mount Tabor was gained, where Kleber, attacked and surrounded by twelve thousand horsemen, and as many foot, made the most heroic resistance with three thousand foot soldiers. Bonaparte, informed of the strength of the enemy, set off with a division to support Kleber. Arrived at the field of battle, he disposed his division in two squares, so as to form an equilateral triangle with the square of Kleber; thus

placing the enemy between them. The terrible fire which then proceeded from the extremities of this triangle, made the Mamelukes fall back upon themselves, and dispersed them in all directions, leaving the plain covered with dead bodies. This army, which the inhabitants said was as numerous as the stars of the firmament, and the sands of the sea-shore, was destroyed by six thousand French.

After a siege of two months, Napoleon, seeing his little army enfeebled every day by the ravages of the plague, and by the frequent encounters which they were obliged to sustain against an intrepid garrison, commanded by Sir Sidney Smith, decided upon returning to Egypt. All his vast projects with respect to the East, which had carried his ambitious imagination, sometimes to the Indus, sometimes to the Bosphorus, abandoned him in this moment; it was this which caused him afterwards to say that, "If Acre had fallen, it would have changed the face of the globe :-the fate of the East depended on this little paltry town"

T length the great day arrived, when, according to the expression of Napoleon, "the sun of Austerlitz arose; all our forces were concentrated upon the same point at about forty leagues beyond Vienna. There remained only the wreck of the Austrian army; the division under Prince Charles having been kept at a distance by the skilful manoeuvres of Napoleon. The most extraordinary illusion prevailed in the enemy's camp. On the very eve of the battle the Emperor Alexander sent one of his aids-de-camp, Prince Dolgorowski, as a flag of truce to Napoleon. This prince conducted himself in such a self-sufficient manner in the presence of the emperor, that, on dismissing him, he said to him, "If you were on the heights of Montmartre, I would answer such impertinence only with cannon-balls." This observation was very remarkable, inasmuch as events occurred which rendered it a prophecy.

"When we arrived at Austerlitz," says Rapp, "the Russians, ignorant of the emperor's skilful dispositions to draw them to the ground which he had marked out, and seeing our ad

vanced guards give way before their columns, they conceived the victory won. According to their notions, the advanced guard would suffice to secure an easy triumph. But the battle began-they found what it was to fight, and on every point were repulsed. At one o'clock the victory was still uncertain; for they fought admirably. They resolved on a last effort, and directed close masses against our centre. The imperial guard deployed; artillery, cavalry, infantry, were marched against a bridge which the Russians attacked, and this movement, concealed from Napoleon by the inequality of the ground, was not observed by us. At this moment I was standing near him, waiting orders. We heard a wellmaintained fire of musketry; the Russians were repulsing one of our brigades. Hearing this sound, the emperor ordered me to take the Mamelukes, two squadrons of shasseurs, one of grenadiers of the guard, and to observe the state of things. I set off at full gallop, and, before advancing a cannonshot, perceived the disaster. The Russian cavalry had penetrated our squares, and were sabring our men. In the distance could be perceived masses of Russian cavalry and infantry in reserve. At this juncture the enemy advanced: four pieces of artillery arrived at a gallop, and were planted in position against us. On the left I had the brave Morland, on my right, General d'Allemagne. "Courage, my brave fellows!" cried I to my party; "behold your brothers, your friends, butchered; let us avenge them-avenge our standards! Forward!" These few words inspired my soldiers; we dashed at full speed upon the artillery, and took them. The enemy's horse, which awaited our attack, were overthrown by the same charge, and fled in confusion, galloping, like us, over the wrecks of our own squares. In the mean time the Russians rallied; but, a squadron of horse grenadiers coming to our assistance, I could then halt, and await the reserves of the Russian guard. Again we charged; and this charge was terrible. The brave Morland fell by my side. It was absolute butchery. We fought man to man, and so mingled together, that the infantry on neither side dared to fire, lest