STRICTURES ON SEBASTIANI'S ACCOUNT. 467 
in the country, by reporting that numbers had deserted into Upper 
Egypt: General Dongelet with the 22d and 85th demi-brigades 
had, in fact, retired thither without any intention of departing, 
and a whole train of artillery was buried in the sands of the Faiume, 
to be employed on a future occasion. The victorious army of 
Abercrombie secured a faithful evacuation of the country, but 
though their troops were driven aw^ay, their arts and intrigues re- 
mained. Sebastiani was first sent there, and the report he made of 
his success is so curious, that I have inserted it in the Appendix ; but 
as it is nearly one tissue of falsehood, I have thought it right also 
to give a true account of his ad ventures, and I request the reader 
will compare them together. 
Towards the latter end of October, 1805, the French frigate La 
Corneille, in company with a brig, entered the old port of Alexan- 
dria, and shortly afterwards Major General Stuart, the commander in 
chief of the British forces, received a letter from Sebastiani, expressing 
a wish to have an interview with him, in order to deliver a message 
from the First Consul. The General returned no written answer, 
but sent Major Missett, his secretary, to congratulate Colonel Sebas- 
tiani on his arrival, and to know at what time it would be conve- 
nient to him to land, as, in compliment to him, the quarantine regula- 
tions should not be enforced. The hour having been fixed, Major 
Missett, with an escort of dragoons, waited at the landing place for 
the Colonel, whom he conducted to head quarters. The customary 
honors were paid to him at every post near which he passed. 
The message from the First Consul to the British commander in 
chief was a demand that, in compliance with the treaty of Amiens, 
he should evacuate Alexandria : to which General Stuart replied, 
