ntrusted to Kleber,
had, at length, been combined and set in motion, in opposition to the
sentiments both of the King and Mr. Pitt, by the bold spirit of Lord
Melville, then at the head of the Indian Board of Control. The fleet of
Lord Keith, carrying Sir Ralph Abercrombie and his army, were already in
possession of Malta; another army of 7000, composed partly of English
troops and partly of sepoys, had been dispatched from India, and
approached Egypt by the way of the Red Sea; and, lastly, the Ottoman
Porte was prepared to co-operate with General Abercrombie, whenever he
should effect a landing in the neighbourhood of Alexandria. That event
occurred on the 13th of March, the British troops disembarking in the
face of the French, who were very strongly posted; and, at length,
driving them from the shore. On the 21st a general engagement took place
in front of Alexandria; and Sir Ralph Abercrombie fell, mortally
wounded, in the moment of victory. General Hutchinson (afterwards Earl
of Donoughmore), on whom the command devolved, pursued the advantage.
Kleber, who by his excellent administration had earned the title of the
_Just Sultan_, had been assassinated by an obscure fanatic on the same
day when Dessaix died gloriously at Marengo; and Menou, who succeeded to
the command of the French army in Egypt, was found wholly incapable of
conducting either the civil or the military business of the colony to
advantage. He shut himself up in Alexandria with the relics of the army
defeated on the 21st. The English, forthwith, let the sea into the lake
Mareotis: the capital was thus made an island, and all communication
with the country cut off. Hutchinson was now joined by the Turkish
Capitan-pasha and 6000 men; and intelligence reached him that the Indian
reinforcement, under General Baird, had landed at Cossire. Rosetta was
soon captured; and, after various skirmishes, Cairo was invested. On the
28th of June General Belliard and a garrison of 13,000 surrendered, on
condition that they should be transported in safety to France: and
Menou, perceiving that defence was hopeless and famine at hand,
followed, ere long, the same example. Thus, in one brief campaign, was
Egypt entirely rescued from the arms of France. But even that great
advantage was a trifle, when compared with the stimulus afforded to
national confidence at home, by this timely re-assertion of the
character of the English army. At sea we had never feared an enemy; but