406 ALEXANDRIA TO COS. 
^vm ^^"^^^' "^^^^ greater than the aggregate of the 
V y ■' English combined forces when they were first 
landed dX Aboukir\ It was a contest against 
veteran troops, under every circumstance of 
privation; a species of warfare to which our 
soldiers were unaccustomed ; carried on against 
men who were in full possession of the terri- 
tory, were inured to the unhealthiness of the 
climate, and had all the advantages of position. 
Succeeding generations may indeed exult in 
.the triumph thus obtained for our country ; for, 
so long as the annals of our Empire endure, it 
shall be said, that " lance to lance, and horse 
to horse," the legions of France, who had 
boasted themselves to be invincible, fled, or fell, 
before the youth of Britain. 
From the British, we went to the Turkish 
camp ; and again had an audience of the Capu- 
dan Pasha. He had recovered his composure : 
and he gave us three letters ; one to the Cap- 
tain of his own ship, the Sultan Selim; a second 
(l) "When we lauded, the eflfective force of our army did not 
exceed 15,000 men. The French, an enemy well established in a 
country full of resources, embarked from Cairo 1.3,000; from *^fer- 
andriaimirubile dictul) 10,000. We must perhaps deduct 5000, for the 
civil tribe and the merchants, who followed the army : there will then 
remain 18,000 for their effective force." — Colonel Squire's MS. Cor- 
respondence, Letter dated Alexandria, Oct. 5, 1801- 
