350 EGYPT. 
CHAP. 40 attack; and a consequence so inseparable 
V .-v ./ from human nature must bring along with it 
thoughtless havoc, and indiscriminate slaugh- 
ter. Our loss in killed and wounded upon 
this occasion amounted to five hundred and 
sixty. 
General - When our troops landed, Jaques Ahd'allah 
Menou. ^ 
Menou, Commander-in-chief of the French forces 
in Egypt, was in Cairo. Intelligence had been 
repeatedly sent to him, accompanied by entreaty, 
that he would hasten to the relief of Alexandria. 
The French described him as a pompous, 
obstinate, corpulent man, entirely absorbed in 
composing or in delivering harangues to his 
soldiers. No persuasion could induce him to 
move. He considered the affair of our invasion 
as of little importance. Until our army had 
actually gained footing in the country, and 
twice defeated the French troops, he took no 
measures to interrupt their progress. According 
to the French statement. General Friavt, with a 
body of cavalry, amounting to fifteen hundred 
men, was the only force upon the spot to 
oppose the landing of the English army. Had 
the resistance been greater, and Menou present, 
it is believed, that, with all the advantages 
possessed by the French, a descent upon the 
coast would have been impracticable. 
