TO THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN. 



157 



life. They were almost all of them young, and apparently very 

 healthy. Their clothes, however, were made chiefly of the cotton of 

 the country, and many of them were in a ragged condition. I am 

 informed by Captain Lacey, the only British officer who accompanied 

 the Grand Vizier's army, that the troops of General Kleber were in 

 no respect inferior to those I had seen at Alexandria, all of them be- 

 ing in the highest state of discipline, and showing every mark of 

 activity. Against forces like these it is unnecessary to say to your 

 Lordship that Turkish troops and Turkish commanders can have 

 small chance of even making any head. The soldiers did not stand a 

 single fire ; and one trait will be sufficient to exemplify the ability of 

 the Ottoman General. When the artillery was to be used, it waa dis- 

 covered that the ammunition had been left behind at Arish ! ! Your 

 Lordship will perhaps think my account of the present situation of 

 the French very different from what is intimated in their own inter- 

 cepted letters : certainly every thing there is much exaggerated. 

 Poussielgue himself (whom I was with for ten days on board the 

 Tigre) declared that these accounts were meant to induce the French 

 Government to consent to the evacuation of Egypt ; but how far your 

 Lordship may judge such a testimony to be relied on, I pretend not 

 to say. Undoubtedly the French army is in a very formidable state ; 

 they have plenty of corn, poultry, mutton, and vegetables. They 

 now make very tolerable sugar, and of course they cannot be long at 

 a loss for rum. They already extract a spirit from dates, but it is 

 very indifferent. They told me, they had succeeded in making gun- 

 powder ; and they have set up manufactories of cloth, &c. Buonaparte's 

 wild manifesto, as well as his subsequent conduct, incensed all the 

 Christians of the country against him, without procuring him one 

 friend amongst the Mahomedans. I fear Kleber is pursuing a more 

 prudent line of conduct ; but I trust he will not have time to produce 

 any permanent effect upon the minds of the inhabitants. It is very 

 evident that he, as well as all the leaders, is beyond measure im- 

 patient to return to France, much more so, in my opinion, than any 

 inconveniences which they suffer in Egypt can possibly justify. 



