fcGltPff.- , 111 U 
Alexandria. Several of those balls were exhibited in the fleet* 
and some of them we afterward found in the sand where the 
action took place. An opinion then prevailed, that if the ac¬ 
tion of the thirteenth had been properly followed up, the English 
would have been the same day in possession of Alexandria. 
We had reason afterward to believe this would have been the 
case, by information from the people of the city; stating, that 
no reinforcement having arrived from Cairo, the merchants, 
tradesmen, and other inhabitants, were compelled to mount the 
ramparts, and attend the gates as sentinels; who would gladly 
have cast away their arms to receive the English, or would 
have turned them upon the French during their retreat. In¬ 
stead of this being done, the enemy were allowed to establish 
themselves, in a very advantageous position, upon some heights 
before the walls, whence it was found exceedingly difficult to 
dislodge them. To this place our army pursued them, and 
then retreated to an eminence near some ruins, rendered after 
ward renowned, as the theatre of the most dreadful carnage 
during the glorious battle of the twenty-first. 
About the nineteenth, Menou arrived in Alexandria, pour¬ 
ing forth a torrent of abuse upon the garrison and troops who' 
had opposed the landing of the English army. Delivering 
one of his turgid harangues, he reproached them,* “in allow* 
ing\ to their everlasting shame , an army of heroes to he chas¬ 
tised by a mob of English school boys” The fat figure of Me¬ 
nou, added to his blustering and gasconading manner, rendered 
him a pleasant object of ridicule to the natural vivacity of 
Frenchmen, who distinguished him by the appellation of 
£ Cochon General /” frequently retiring from the parade high¬ 
ly-diverted by his fanfaronnadcs. Having ended the speech 
he had prepared for the occasion of iiis arrival, immediate pre¬ 
parations were made for a general attack upon the English* 
with his whole force; “pour aneantir les Angloisf as he term¬ 
ed it, “tout (Tun coup” The day for this great event was 
fixed for the twenty-first, when our army was to be surprised 
before day light in its encampment, routed, and tumbled f into 
the lake of Aboukir. 
At the hour appointed, the attack was made. In the begin¬ 
ning of it, the French conducted themselves with admirable 
skill. It is certain our army did not then expect them; al- 
f The words were given to me by some French officers present upon that occasion. 
i The literal translation of culbuter, the word used by Menou in the orders given 
efr that attack; as found in the pocket of General Roise, whose head was taken off by . 
camion ball. See the original, in Sir Robert Wilson’s; Hist, of the Expedition.. 
