osted on a ridge
between the canal of Alexandria and the sea. In point of numbers the
British were far inferior to the French, but Sir Ralph Abercrombie
proceeded to the attack next day. This failed; but on the 21st of March
a general battle took place, which resulted in the complete success of
the British arms. The triumph of our troops was dearly purchased by the
death of Abercrombie, who received his mortal wound by a musket-ball in
the thigh during the heat of the battle, but who sustained himself till
the victory was gained, when he died, universally lamented for his great
and good qualities, both of head and heart. The loss of the English in
killed, wounded, and missing was computed at two thousand, and that
of the French at double that number. The command of the British army
devolved on General Hutchinson, who perfected the work which his
predecessor had commenced; for although the French were defeated, they
were still powerful both at Alexandria and Cairo. Menou, the French
commander, had retired into Alexandria; and this was almost insulated by
General Hutchinson, by cutting through the embankments which served to
retain the waters of the Aboukir lake, and by inundating a dry bed
of the ancient lake Mareotis. Leaving General Coote with 6500 men to
maintain the lines before Alexandria, General Hutchinson proceeded to
Ramani Eh, and having driven the French from this post, he advanced
still further up the Nile, towards Cairo. He was joined near Cairo by
some Mamelukes, Turks, Arabs, Syrians, and Copts, who now all offered
their aid to expel the French from Egypt. Cairo was invested, and on the
27th of June, the French General, Belliarde, capitulated, on condition
that his troops should be embarked and conveyed to the French ports of
the Mediterranean at the expense of the allied powers. At this moment
Major General Baird was ascending the Red Sea with an army of British
and Sepoys, and some of the East India Company's artillery. But before
he could unite his forces at Cairo, Menou capitulated on the same
conditions as Belliarde, and Egypt was now cleared of the French. The
expedition which had been commenced with a series of victories, ended in
defeat and disgrace. With an inferior force, the British army wrested an
important country from the enemy, and restored it to their allies.

{GEORGE III. 1801-1806}

AFFAIRS ON THE CONTINENT.

In the month of March, the court of Madrid, hoping to stop a French
inv