ted from France, must be content to
rely on his own arms and the resources of Egypt.

[Footnote 24: At this period Egypt, though nominally governed by a pacha
appointed by the Grand Seignior, was in reality in the hands of the
Mamelukes; a singular body of men, who paid but little respect to any
authority but that of their own chiefs. Of these chiefs or beys there
were twenty-four; each one of whom ruled over a separate district; who
often warred with each other; and were as often in rebellion against
their nominal sovereign. According to the institutions of the Mamelukes
their body was recruited solely by boys, chiefly of European birth,
taken captive, and brought up from their earliest days in all military
exercises. These were promoted according to their merits; it being the
custom that when a bey died, the bravest of his band succeeded him. The
Mamelukes thus formed a separate _caste_; and they oppressed most
cruelly the population of the country which had fallen into their
keeping. The _fellahs_, or poor Arabs, who cultivate the soil, being
compelled to pay exorbitantly for permission to do so, suffered the
extreme of misery in the midst of great natural wealth. The _Cophts_,
supposed to be descended from the ancient Egyptian nation, discharged
most civil functions under the Mamelukes, and had the trades and
professions in their hands, but they also were oppressed intolerably by
those haughty and ferocious soldiers.

The Mamelukes were considered by Napoleon to be, individually, the
finest cavalry in the world. They rode the noblest horses of Arabia, and
were armed with the best weapons which the world could produce:
carbines, pistols, etc., from England, and sabres of the steel of
Damascus. Their skill in horsemanship was equal to their fiery valour.
With that cavalry and the French infantry, Buonaparte said, it would be
easy to conquer the world.]

[Footnote 25: This manoeuvre was first practised on the 12th of August,
1782, by Lord Rodney's fleet; and, as appears to be now settled, at the
suggestion of that admiral's captain of the fleet, the late Sir Charles
Douglas, Bart.]

[Footnote 26: See the admirable _Life of Nelson_, by Southey; which will
form one of the volumes of this Library.]

CHAPTER XII

Buonaparte's Administration in Egypt--Armaments of the
Porte--Buonaparte at Suez--At El-Arish--Gaza, Jaffa, Acre--Retreat
to Egypt--Defeat of the Turks at Aboukir--Napoleon embarks for