196 TRAVELS IN 
ceed in penetrating into India, why not Buonaparte, fince mi- 
litary fkiil and tadics are now fo much fuperior among Euro- 
peans to what they were in his day, whilft they have remained 
nearly ftationary in the nations of the eafl: ? No fuflicient reafon 
can, perhaps, be affigned why the one, with the fame or with 
increafed means, and with talents, perhaps, not lefs fuited to 
apply thefe means to the beft advantage, fhould not be able to 
proceed to the fame length that the other did. 
That no part of his army would ever return Is extremely 
probable. When a confiderable proportion had perifhed by 
fatigue, by ficknefs, and by famine, the rell, in all human pro- 
bability, by change of climate, manner of living, and by inter- 
marrying with a new people, would produce a nev/ race, and 
that race would ceafe to be Frenchmen. An army for fuch an 
expedition muft, in the outfet, be immenfe, to afford a fufficient 
number of men to maintain the conquered countries through 
which they muft pafs. The farther they proceeded the more 
formidable would be the enemies left in their rear ; and on their 
approach to India, there are good grounds for fuppofing that 
the native powers would keep them in check, jealous, as they 
now muft be, of admitting new European vifitors, after the 
dearly bought experience they have already had of threir old 
friends from that quarter. Thefe, however, are contingencies 
that amount to no fecurity of a failure in the main object of the 
expedition, namely, the deftrudtion of our empire in the eaft. 
We fliall, perhaps, come neareft the mark by confidering the 
moft ferious, and probably the only, obftacle that would impede 
their progrefs in the countries that lie between Syria and India, 
3 to 
