ALEXANDRIA. 333 
Frenchmen in general by the sample which their ^yj^^* 
army in Egypt aftbrded; collected as it had *"' - v -^ 
been, from the refuse not only of the French 
Republic, but of all the rovers and banditti of 
the Levant \ So desirous were the French sol- 
diers of abandoning Alexandria, notwithstanding 
the obstinacy of their General, Menou, whom 
they detested, that they had been seen to seize 
Arabs by the beard, who arrived by stealth with 
provisions, and beat them, in order that sup- 
plies of food might not be the means of pro- 
tracting the surrender of the place. 
We had scarcely reached the house in which 
we were to reside, when a party of the mer- 
chants, who had heard of our arrival from the 
Imperial Consul, came to congratulate us upon 
the successes of our army, and to offer any 
assistance in their power, for expediting the 
entry of the English into Alexandria. Some of 
these waited until the room was cleared of 
other visitants, brought by curiosity, before 
whom they did not think proper to make fur- 
ther communication. But when they were gone, 
(l) The subsequent conduct, however, of the French armies, in 
their treatment of the inhabitants of the countries through which their 
armies have passed, has been invariably such as to degrade the name 
of a soldier iutQ that of a robber. 
