ected breaches at several points. The French, in spite of
opposition, burst into the town, which was given up to sack, and a large
number of the inhabitants, as well as the soldiers, were massacred.
Between 3000 and 4000 prisoners were taken, among these doubtless were
some of those who had been allowed to march away from El-A'rich. The
difficulties in the way of provisioning the army were great. Many were
ill from the effects of the change of climate, and the position was
becoming serious.

To feed 3000 or 4000 prisoners added greatly to the difficulties, and
Napoleon took a step which has been a foul blot on his reputation. They
were marched into a vast square formed of French troops; as soon as all
had entered the fatal square the troops opened fire upon them, and the
whole were massacred. The terrible slaughter occupied a considerable
time; and when their cartridge-boxes were emptied, the French soldiers
had to complete the massacre with their bayonets. Of the whole of these
victims one only, a mere youth, asked for mercy; the rest met their fate
with heroic calmness and resolution. Napoleon's excuse for this hideous
massacre was that the soldiers had broken the engagement they took at El
A'rich, but this applied to only a very small proportion of the
garrison, and the massacre was wholly indefensible, for if unable to
feed his prisoners, they should have been allowed to depart unarmed to
seek subsistence for themselves.

The effects of this horrible massacre recoiled upon those who
perpetrated it. The great number of dead bodies speedily tainted the
air, and the maladies from which the troops suffered became vastly more
serious, and the plague broke out among them and carried off a
considerable number. Kleber's division made a reconnaissance towards
Jerusalem, but the people of Nablous and the mountaineers assailed them
with so terrible a fire, as they endeavoured to make their way up the
narrow valleys, that they were forced to retire and join the main body
of the army. When the French marched from Jaffa there were still many of
their men stricken with the plague in hospital. Napoleon has been
accused of having had these poisoned.

The statement has been repeated over and over again, and has been as
often vehemently denied, among others by Bonaparte himself. It still
remains, and always will remain, doubtful. There can be no doubt that
the transport of plague-stricken men would have been a source of danger
to t