SOUTHERN AFRICA. 217 
flie pbilosoplier Leibnitz presented to Louis XlVth was put 
into his hands, and that the grand objects held out therein 
took strong possession of his mind. " The sovereignty of the 
" seas — the Eastern Empire — the overthrow of the Porte — and 
" universal arbitration" were all to be accomplished by the con- 
quest of Egypt, a conquest that was reserved for his mighty 
arm. " Soldiers," says he, on the departure of the expedition, 
" you are about to undertake a conquest, the etibcts of which, 
" upon commerce and civilization, will be incalculable; and 
" the blow it will give to England will be followed up with 
" its destruction." 
But vain are often the hopes of man ! The brilliancy of such a 
conquest, however alluring at a distance, seems to have faded 
on the approach. Whether his unsuccessful attempt against 
Acre had damped his ardour, and thrown an insurmountable 
barrier to any views he might have entertained against India, 
or whether he meant to be satisfied with annexing Egypt to 
the colonies of France, is still matter of conjecture ; but it 
would seem from one of his letters, published in the inter- 
cepted correspondence, written at a time when he had not the 
least idea of being baffled in his schemes, and his army finally 
driven out by the English, that the acquisition of Egypt was 
the end of his design, and that his intention was to return to 
Paris as soon as the necessary arrangements could be made 
for its future government. His object, no doubt, as appears 
from his letters to the King of England and the Emperor of 
Germany, was to obtain a general peace, and by certain sa- 
crifices on the part of Erance or its allies, to retain possession 
■of this new colony, from whence, at some distant period, 
VOL. II. F i' 
