d sailed away in
search of him. Bonaparte demanded that he should be landed at some
distance from Alexandria, for preparations appeared for the defence of
the ancient city. As he and several thousand troops who followed him
reached the shore in boats, a vessel appeared in sight, and the cry went
forth that it was an English sail. "Fortune," he exclaimed, "dost thou
abandon me? Give me only five days!" A French frigate was the cause of
the momentary alarm. Nelson had returned to Sicily.

The Sultan was at peace with France; a French minister was at
Constantinople. Such trifling formalities in the laws of nations were
little respected by the man who told his soldiers that "the genius of
Liberty having rendered the Republic the arbiter of Europe, had assigned
to her the same power over the seas and over the most distant nations."
Four thousand of the French army were landed, and marched in three
columns to the attack of Alexandria. It was quickly taken by assault.
Bonaparte announced that he came neither to ravage the country nor to
question the authority of the Grand Seignior, but to put down the
domination of the Mamelukes, who tyrannized over the people by the
authority of the beys. He proclaimed to the population of Egypt, in
magnificent language that he caused to be translated into Arabic, that
he came not to destroy their religion. We Frenchmen are true Mussulmans.
Have not we destroyed the pope, who called upon Europe to make war upon
Mussulmans? Have not we destroyed the Knights of Malta, because these
madmen believed that God had called them to make war upon Mussulmans?

Leaving a garrison of three thousand men in Alexandria, the main army
commenced its march to Cairo. Bonaparte was anxious to arrive there
before the periodical inundation of the Nile. The fleet of Brueys
remained at anchor in the road of Abukir. Bonaparte chose the shorter
route to Cairo through the desert of Damanhour, leading thirty thousand
men--to each of whom he had promised to grant seven acres of fertile
land in the conquered territories--through plains of sand without a drop
of water. They murmured, and almost mutinied, but they endured, and at
length reached the banks of the Nile, at Rahmaniyeh, where a flotilla,
laden with provisions, baggage, and artillery, awaited them. The
Mamelukes, with Amurath Bey at their head, were around the French. The
invaders had to fight with enemies who came upon them in detachments,
gave a fierce assault,