EGYPT. 
160 
tars strain every sinew. Several boats were sunk by the burst* 
I?)g of the shells, and about two hundred and seventy men were 
killed before they reached the shore. At length, with all their 
prows touching the beach at the same instant, the boats ground¬ 
ed. Then a spectacle was presented that will be ever memo¬ 
rable. Two hundred of the French cavalry actually charged 
into the sea, and were seen fora few seconds hacking the men in 
the boats : these assailants were every one killed. It was now 
about ten o’clock; and within the space of six minutes, from 
this important crisis, the contest was decided. The 42 d regi¬ 
ment, leaping up to their middle in water, formed rapidly upon 
the shore ; and with a degree of impatience nothing could re¬ 
strain, without waiting to load their muskets, broke from the 
main line before it could be formed, and ran gallantly up the 
hill, sinking deep in the sand at every step thqy took.* In this 
perilous situation a body of French cavalry pushed down upon 
them ; but instead of being thrown into any disorder, they cook 
ly received the charge upon the points of their bayonets; and 
the rest of the army coming up, routed the enemy on all sides. 
The French fled with the greatest precipitation. Our troops 
had been taught to expect no quarter, and therefore none was 
given. The wounded and the dying neither claimed nor ob¬ 
tained mercy; all was blood, and death, and victory. It is in 
the midst of the glory this day’s success reflected upon the Bri¬ 
tish arms, that humanity remembers some things she may wish 
to forget, but never will record. The cool and patient valour 
with which our soldiers had sustained the torrent of French 
artillery, and beheld the streaming wounds of their companions, 
previous to their landing, could but prove a prelude to the fury 
they would manifest, when it became their turn to attack; and 
a consequence so inseparable from human nature must bring 
along with it thoughtless havoc, and indiscriminate slaughter. 
Our loss iu killed and wounded upon this occasion amounted 
to five hundred and sixty. 
=*Sir R. Wilson relates, that the 23d and 40th fan first up the hill, and, charging 
with the bayonet the two battalions which crowned it, carried the two Wole hills in 
the rear, and took three pieGes of cannon. “ The 42d,’ 5 says he,“ had landed , and 
formed as on a parade .” Hist, of Exped. p. 14. Where “ almost preternatural energy^ 
was everywhere displayed, it is of little moment to ascertain the most impetuous. 
Sir Robert had every opportunity of ascertaining the truth ; but a ditlerence in his 
statement wotild not justify the author iu altering notes made from testimony upon 
the spot, in order to copy the narrative evfen of a more accurate writer. Having af¬ 
terward an occasion to examine the place of landing, the author visited the hill here 
alluded to; and was at a loss to conceive, how troops could charge rapidly with fixed 
bayonets against a heavy fire, where, unimpeded by any other difficulty than the sink¬ 
ing of his feet in the loose sand, he found it almost impracticable to ascend. The 
fact, however, only proves what ardent valour may accomplish; for that this nm 
really done, it would be absurd to doubt. 
Q, 
