334 
EGYPT. 
immediately employed to batter in breach, after which a 
fourth attempt was made to enter by aflault; but by this 
time the Thefeus was moored on oneTide and the Tigre 
on the other, fo as to flank the town walls, while two ad¬ 
vanced ravelins, occupied by their marines, precluded the 
advance of the aflailants, by'pouring in fuch a tremendous 
fire as to render their defperate valour unavailing. 
Bonaparte now gave orders*to change the plan of ope¬ 
rations, and efteff a new breach in the eaftern curtain', by 
means tfa fap and a mine, which was to blow up the 
counterfcarp ; but the enemy not only difeovered his in¬ 
tentions, but, by making approaches ‘under ground, en¬ 
tered the gallery, deftroyed the frame-work, and counter¬ 
acted all the operations. It therefore became necelfary 
to direct the attack once more again ft the tower, and a 
freflr attempt to effedt a lodgement in the glacis proved 
as ineffectual as before. Even gunpowder began to fail, 
and the.troops, hitherto always victorious, began to lofe 
their confidence and audacity. In the midff of thefe dif- 
afters, about forty fail of TurkifTi veflels from Rhodes 
ana the neighbouring iflands, under the command of 
Haffan Bey, made their appearance, with a fupply of 
provifions, ammunition, and a reinforcement of foldiers. 
Knowing that the landing of frefh troops would be pro¬ 
ductive of great difadvantages to the befiegers,.the French 
general determined to anticipate that event, by a new and 
flill more defperate attempt to ftorm the place. The ne- 
cellary orders were accordingly given, and at ten o’clock 
at night the two places of arms and the approach to the 
glacis were carried, and a lodgement completely effe&ed. 
The generals Bon, Vial, and Rampon, advanced upon this 
occafion at the head of their demi-brigades; and fo great 
was the number of the (lain, that the dead ferved as a 
cover to the living. A fupply of gunpowder having ar¬ 
rived at the fame time from Ghazah, the tower and cur¬ 
tain were battered once more; and the latter having fallen, 
Bonaparte repaired, thither and ordered an affault: on 
which the general of brigade Rambaud, fupported by 
general Lafnes, ruffled forward with the grenadiers, two 
hundred of whom actually entered the town through 
the breach. But their progrefs was foon arretted by the 
fire from the houfes, the barricadoes, and the palace of 
Djezz&r; the fabre and poniard of the Turks were alfo 
employed with effeCt; and fuch inceffant difeharges were 
poured in upon them in front, flank, and rear, that they 
were obliged not only to abandon two pieces of cannon 
and a couple of mortars which they had feized, but to 
withdraw as faff as poflible. The conduCt of the Engliih 
upon this occafion fully entitled them to the gratitude of 
their allies. While Djezzar was fitting in a confpicuous 
place, furrounded by the mutilated members -of the ai- 
failants, and by turns rewarding fuch as brought him 
heads and diftributing mufket-cartridges, they were bufily 
employed in preferving his refidence and himfelf from 
deftruefion. One petty officer did great execution with 
an eighteen-pounder, mounted in the light-lioufe caftle ; 
another fuperintended a twenty-four-pounder, placed on 
the north ravelin ; and both, by reiterated difeharges of 
grape, fwept away the head of the attacking column, 
which, like that of the hydra, was renewed only to be 
cut off again. In the mean time the center was affailed 
by a couple of fixty-eiglit-ponnd carronades, mounted in 
two germes near the mole, whence fliells were thrown 
with fuch precifion, as to annoy the advancing foe, and 
render a nearer approach fatal. Nor was this all; for fir 
Sidney Smith, after battening the arrival of the boats, 
placed himfelf at the head of Haffan Bey’s troops, and 
ruffled on with them to the breach; he alfo found means 
to overcome the moll ftubborn maxims of oriental jea- 
loufy, and actually obtained permiffion to introduce the 
Chiftlik regiment, difciplined under fultan Selim’s own 
eye, into the garden of the feragiio, whence they (allied 
out and took the aflailants in flank. 
Bonaparte, burning with rage and fliame, had now 
placed himfelf on an eminence, called Richard Cceur de 
Lion’s mount, where he was feen furrounded by his ge¬ 
nerals, to whom he appeared to indicate by his gefficuia- 
tions the neceffity of renewing the attack. Accordingly, 
a little before fun-fet, a maffive column was deferied de- 
feending to the breach, which was now wide enough to 
admit fifty men abreaft. On this occafion a ftratagem of 
war, adopted at the inftance of the pacha, proved emi¬ 
nently fuecefsful ; for a certain number of the enemy 
having been allowed to approach, they were immediately 
attacked on their entering Djezzar’s garden ; and on this 
occafion the fword and dagger of the befieged appears to 
have proved more than a match for the ferewed bayonet 
of the aflailants. It was in vain that general Lafnes at¬ 
tempted to rally the fugitives, for he himfelf was wounded 
by a mufket-fhot near the wall; while Rambaud peri (lied 
in the city, of which he vainly imagined that he had ob¬ 
tained pofleflion. A few days after this, with a zeal ex- 
preflive of temerity rather than of true courage, the 
French commander ordered a new affault to be given; 
but the troops feledted for the occafion refufed to mount 
the fatal breach over the putrid bodies of their unburied 
countrymen. On hearing this, the grenadiers of the 
twenty-firft demi-brigade folicited and obtained the ho¬ 
nour of (forming the place : on advancing for this pur- 
pofe it was dilcovered, however, that the enemy had 
completed three lines of defence, which it became im- 
poffible to carry; fo that after an ufelefs maffacre, in the 
courfe of which general Bon, adjutant-general Fowler, 
and one of Bonaparte’s aides-de-camp, were killed, and 
feveral officers feverely wounded, a retreat was beaten, 
and the difeomfited volunteers returned to the camp. 
In proportion as the troops relaxed in their zeal, and 
the capture of Acre became dubious, chagrin and defpaif 
began to be vifible in the face and actions of Bonaparte, 
who for the firft time in his life beheld himfelf foiled, 
and that too by a town fcarcely defenfible according to 
the rules of art; while the furrounding hills were crowned 
by a multitude of armed fpebtators, who waited the re- 
fult of the conteff on purpofe to declare for the vibtor. 
Nor was this all; for the intelligence received from Cairo 
was far from being confolatory. Although the capital 
and the principal cities had remained tranquil, the ma- 
malukes began to give uneafinefs ; and the provinces of 
Benifouef, Charkie, and Bahire, had been in a (late of 
infurrebtion. A wandering Arabian tribe, from the heart 
of Africa, had at the fame time made inroads into Gizeh; 
the kiaya of Egypt, although elevated by the French to 
the important ffation of emir hadjy, or commander of 
the caravan to Mecca, had declared againft them; while, 
to complete the whole, an impoftor, who gave himfel'f 
out to be the angel El Mahdi, announced in the Koran, 
had collefled a number of followers, and carried feveral 
pods. The plague, too, had by this time got into the. 
F'rench camp, and feven hundred men had already fallen 
martyrs to that terrible malady in (Lort, an immediate 
retreat was now become tieceffary ; and Bonaparte, after 
having befieged Acre during fixty days, and fent notice 
to Cairo that he would return a conqueror, was forced 
to evacuate his lines and retire like a fugitive, on the 
20th of May. 
The laft moments of his flay were dedicated to revenge: 
for, not content as formerly to direct his artillery againft 
the fortifications, he .gave orders to deftroy an aquedudt, 
bombarded all the principal edifices in the city, and en¬ 
deavoured to reduce the palace of Djezzar to a heap of 
ruins. But, on the ether hand, Bonaparte, although dif¬ 
eomfited and overwhelmed with calamities, never ap¬ 
peared greater than upon this critical occafion. He began 
by publifhing a proclamation to his troops, in which he 
Hated the exploits performed by them during this fhort 
campaign. Flaving traverfed the deferts which feparate 
Africa from Afia with greater rapidity than an Arab tribe, 
they deffroyed, he faid, on mount Tabor, the army in¬ 
tended for the invafion of Egypt ; while the Turkifh 
fquadron, which failed for the defence of the capital of 
Djezzar^ 
