S-10 E G 
Dedouine Arabs, mamalukes, and inhabitants of tlie 
country, allured to his ftandard by the hope of plunder. 
-In this polition he entrenched himfelf, and avowed his 
fixed determination of waiting for the French under ge¬ 
neral Beliard, who, it was fuppoled, would march out 
of Cairo, to force him back into the defert, before the 
arrival of the Britilh forces to fupport him! (hi the 
30th, the vizier boldly lent major Hope of the Britilh 
artillery to fummon the town of Cairo to furrender, pre¬ 
vious to which fome mamalukes and Turkilh cavalry, 
forming his advanced patroles, had'been (lightly engaged 
in a fkirmifh with a party of French dragoons, near the 
.village of Menayer. 
General Beliard had been reinforced fucceffively at 
-Cairo by general Donzelot from Upper Egypt, the garri- 
fons of Salahieh, Belbeis, and Birket-el'-Hadge, and ge¬ 
neral Lagrange’s divifton, which joined him on the 12th 
of May. Thefe troops, united with his own garrifon, 
-made a body of upwards of eight thoufund men, cxclu- 
five of Greeks .and Copts. With this force general Be- 
iiard determined to proceed to Belbeis, there to attack, 
the grand vizier, and drive him back to Salahieh, before 
■general Hutchinfon fiiould approach nearer Cairo. For 
-tills pttrpofe he marched out on the 15th, with four thou- 
fand infantry, one thoufand cavalry, and near thirty pieces 
of cannon. At night he halted at El-Menayer, after 
having repulfed the advanced patroles of the Turks. 
The grand vizier, informed of his approach, and wifhing 
-to anticipate his attack, fent the Tahir Pacha, with about 
two thoufand cavalry, and a few pieces of cannon, to ob- 
ferve the enemy’s motions. Before daybreak the Tahir 
Pacha’s troops came up with the French advanced guard 
in a wood of date-trees. .Both parties halted, and re¬ 
mained on their arms till daylight, ■when the Turks kept 
the French at bay till the main body of the vizior’s army 
came uyf. A (harp firing then enfued, the Turks firmly 
maintained their ground, and after an aCtion, which 
faffed near eight hours, and during which the Ottoman 
cayalry greatly annoyed the French, general Beliard 
thought proper to retreat, but was not purfued. Such 
■was the battle of El-Hunka, in which the lofs of the 
French did not amount to more than fifty killed and left 
.on the ground j with perhaps two or three hundred 
wounded. That of the Turks mud have b.een more 
condderable, on account of the great fuperiority of the 
enemy in artillery. This vidlory, trifling as it may ap¬ 
pear, was of great confequence to future profpefts ; it 
was the fird the Turks had gained over the French ; and 
it happened to be on the very fpot where the fame grand 
vizier had been defeated by general Kleber, in confe¬ 
quence of relcinding the- treaty of ELArifli. On the 
,20th of May, the vizier's army was reinforced by the 
thirtieth and eighty-ninth regiments, and detachments of 
cavalry and artillery. 
On the 2id of May, major-general Cootc edabliflied a 
pod of two hundred infantry, twenty cavalry, and two 
field pieces, upon the canal of Alexandria, near Bedah. 
The brigade of guards furnifhed the detachment, which 
was commanded by colonel Turner of the third regiment 
The object of this pod was to maintain ah uninterrupted 
communication with Rahmanieh, Demanhour, and the 
interior of the country. By thefe means the camp-mar¬ 
ket was extremely well fupplied ; and the operations 
went on profperoufly before Alexandria. 
On the 24-th, major-general Hutchinfon, with the,capi¬ 
tal! pacha, proceeded to wait on the grand vizier. At 
the didance of about five miles from Birchamps, he pair¬ 
ed the Nile on a bridge of pontoons, thrown acrofs for 
the pttrpofe of eflablilhing an eafy communication be¬ 
tween the two armies. Five miles further north brought 
him to the advanced Turkilh camp, commanded by Ta¬ 
hir Pacha, who fo gallantly oppofed the French in the 
wood of date-trees at the ,battle of El-Hanka. They 
proceeded in a long procellion to the vizier’s tent. Here, 
in the midd of oriental magnificence, and feated upon the 
[ r P T. 
mod beautiful embrbidered cudiions, they found his htgh- 
nefs. Around him were all the principal commanders o.f 
his army. The venerable mamaluke chief, Ibrahim Bey, 
the Reis Effendi, Mahomet Pacha of Jerufalem, Tahir 
Pacha, and the Beer Bacliis, were prefent. Chair^ were 
provided for the Englilh officers, who alone were per¬ 
mitted to (it in the prefen^e of the grand vizier. Af¬ 
ter tlte itfual routine of civility and (alutations, codec, 
fweetmeats, the never-omitted pipes, &c. the general 
took his leave, and retired to a very fuperb tent provided 
for him ; and a guard of honour, compofed of janiflaries, 
and one of the vizier’s chief men, were dationed about 
his perfon. This was followed by a grand dinner, in the 
Turkilh llile, .at which the principal characters of tlte 
Ottoman empire were affcmbled. The vizier, about fixty- 
dx years of age, had the misfortune to lofe an eye, but has 
retained his dtuation ever fince the year 1799, hotwith- 
danding the unfortunate battle of Heliopolis. The capi- 
tan Pacha difplayed high military qualifications, which 
obtained him great renown in this campaign. The Reis 
Effendi, or principal fecretary of the Turkifh empire, is 
well known in England, where he was fecretary to tire 
Turkilh embalfy. His knowledge of European manners 1 
and politenefs procured him the greated advantages in the 
intercourfe with the Englifii army. The reafon of tlte 
• chief officers of the Ottoman empire, civil as well as mi¬ 
litary, accompanying the army, is, that the Porte, or 
court, is always fuppofed to be with it; and all orders 
of the fultan are deemed to be iffued by him from his 
dirrup. Such was the cafe in former wars, when the 
high-fpirited fultans commanded their armies in perfon. 
On the 1 25th of May, major-general Hutchinfon at¬ 
tended a meeting of the divan, or council, in^the vi¬ 
zier’s tent; and,, on June the -id, Ofman Bey Tambourgi 
arrived with his mamalukes, and joined the main army- 
They appeared to be about twelve hundred in number; 
every individual fuperbly mounted, and richly dreffed. 
But the magnificence of the beys, and kiachefs or officers, 
was beyond any thing that can be conceived. They were 
lodged in fpacious tents, divided in feveral apartments, 
the in tides lined witli rich dufis, and the floors covered 
with beautiful Turkey carpets. 
On the 6th of June, a French veffel, mounting ten 
guns, having on-board general Damas, and the chief of 
ordnance Daure, was brought into Aboukir bay. I11 the 
night of the 3d of May, generals Reynier and Damas, 
the chef Daure, with feveral other officers of rank, had 
been feized by force in their houfes at Alexandria, and 
conducted on-board two veflfels in the harbour. They 
failed on the 19th of that month ; general Reynier, in 
the fad failing brig Lodi, eluded the vigilance of the 
Englilh cruizers ; but the Good Union, having on-board 
the other officers above-pamed, was taken near Cundia. 
What might have been general Menou’s reafon for this 
violent meafure was not known, but it was fuppofed to 
have originated in a difunion-between him and thofe of¬ 
ficers, in confequence of fome circunidances which took 
place in the battle of the 2id of March. The French 
fquadrpn under Gantheaume, confiding of four fail of the 
line, one frigate, one corvette, and five tranfports, had 
been off the coad for fonre days. The men of v\ar had 
between three and four thoufand troops on-board, all 
very fickly. This fleet had anchored, by miltake, in La- 
cude bay, greatly to tlie wedward of Alexandria; but 
Gantheaume, fearing the approach of lord Keith’s fleet, 
which was in fearch of him, cut his cables, and again 
dood oft' to fea. The five tranfports were taken on the 
7th, and brought into Aboukir bay. They had no troops 
on-board, but artids of all kinds, beddes florids, gar¬ 
deners, (e.edfmen, &c. in a word, quite a fmall colony. 
There was alfo a company of comedians for the Cairo 
theatre. The tranfports (aid they had parted with the 
deet at the didance of near eighty leagues from Alexan¬ 
dria, and came under convoy of the corvette l’Heliopolis- 
This lhip fucceeded ip getting into the harbour of Alex, 
andna. 
