STATE PAPERS. 



223 



cessary to examine maturely the 

 danger of breaking them ofF, to lay 

 aside all motives of personal vanity, 

 and not to expose the lives of all 

 the Frenchmen intrusted to me, to 

 the terrible consequences which 

 farther delay would render ine- 

 vitable. 



The most recent accounts stated 

 the Turkish army to amount to 

 80,000 men, and it must still have 

 increased : there were in it twelve 

 pachas, six of whom were of the 

 first rank. Forty-five thousand men 

 were before El-Arisch, having fifty 

 pieces of cannon, and waggons in 

 proportion : this artillery was drawn 

 by mules. Twenty other pieces of 

 cannon were at Gaza with the 

 corps of reserve : the remainder of 

 the troops were at Jaffa, and in the 

 neighbourhood of Rarali. Active 

 foragingparties supplied the vizier's 

 camp with provisions: all the tribes 

 of the Arabs were emulous of assist- 

 ing this army, and furnished it with 

 more than 15,000 camels. I am 

 assured that the distributions were 

 regularly made. All these forces 

 were directed by European officers, 

 and from 5000 to 6000 Russians 

 were every moment expected. 



To this army I had to oppose 

 8500 men, divided on the three 

 points, Katich, Salachich, and Bel- 

 beys. This division was necessary, 

 in order to facilitate our communi- 

 cations with Cairo, and in order to 

 enable us to grant assistance spee- 

 dily to the post which should be 

 first attacked : in fact, it is certain 

 that they all might have been turned 

 or avoided. This is what Elli Bey 

 has recently done, who, duriiig the 

 negociations, entered with his Ma- 

 malukes into the Charkic, in order 

 to join the Billis Arabs, and to re- 



join Mourad in Upper Egypt. The 

 remainer of the army was distri- 

 buted as follows: 1000 men, under 

 the command of general Verdier, 

 formed the garrison of Lesbe, and 

 were employed to raise contributions 

 of money and provisions, and to 

 keep in obedience the country be- 

 tween the canal of Achmoun and 

 that of Moes, blindly directed by 

 the sheik Leskam. Eighteen hun- 

 dred men were under the command 

 of General Launsee, to supply with 

 provisions the garrisons of Alexan- 

 dria, Aboukir, and Rosetta, to re- 

 strain the Delta and the Batrira. 

 Twelve hundred men remained at 

 Cairo and Gaza, and they were 

 obliged to furnish escorts for the 

 convoys of the army; and, finally, 

 2500 men were in Upper Egypt on 

 a chain of more than 150 leagues in 

 extent: they had daily to fight the 

 beys and their partisans. The whole 

 formed 1 5,000 men. Such, in fact, 

 estimating them at the highest, may 

 be reckoned the number of the dis- 

 posable combatants in the army. 



Notwithstanding this dispropor- 

 tion of forces, I would have hazard- 

 ed a battle, if I had had the cer- 

 tainty of the arrival of succours be- 

 fore the season of a debarkation. 

 But this season having once arrived 

 without my receiving reinforce- 

 ments, I should have been obliged 

 to send 5000 men to the coasts. 

 There would have remained to me 

 3000 men to defend a country open 

 on all parts, against an invasion of 

 30,000 cavalry, seconded by the 

 Arabs and the inhabitants, without 

 a fortified place, without provisions, 

 money, or ships. It behoved rae 

 to foresee this period, and to ask 

 myself what I could then do for the 

 preservation of the army. Nomeans 



