§20 
TRAVELS IN 
that those powers, who have yet the means of rescuing Eu- 
rope from universal miserj', can remain inactive, and insensi- 
ble of their own impending danger, when it is visible to all 
the world that the system rooted in the mind of the usurper 
is nothing short of universal and arbitrary dominion ? an am- 
bitioLvs desire of" reducing all Europe into Gallic provinces, ai 
Asia fell under the yoke of Rome. 
Nor would the dreadful effects of French aggrandizement 
be confined to Europe, were they not completely checked by 
the maritime power of Great Britain. Asia, Africa, and South 
America would soon be overrun with Frenchmen. No one 
can doubt, for a moment, what the fate of Egypt would be 
if England should relinquish the possession of Malta. The 
First Consul, indeed, in an unguarded moment of frenzy, has 
most unequivocally avowed it. The destruction of the Ot- 
toman Government is another object of French ambition. 
One of the most intelligent of the French officers, in his cor- 
respondence with the Executive Directory, observes, " The 
" Ottoman Empire is generally regarded as an old edifice, tot- 
" tering to its fall. The European powers have long beeu 
" preparing to divide its scattered fragments, and many poli- 
" ticians conceive that the catastrophe is close at hand. la 
" this supposition, they think it but right that France should 
" have her share of the spoils ; and the part allotted to her 
is Egypt:' 
But let those professed Cosmopolites, who, from principles 
of pretended humanity, declare themselves friends to the disy 
memberment of the Turkish Empire, reflect seriously on the 
