544 
E G Y P T. 
Lieutenant-colonel Wilfon, in'his Hiftory of the Britifli 
Expedition to Egypt, publiflied in 1802, dates as follows : 
“ Bonaparte having carried the town of Jaffa by aflault, 
many of the .garrifon were put-to the fword ; but the 
greater part flying into the mofques, and imploring mer¬ 
cy from their purifiers, were granted their lives ; and let 
it be well remembered, that an exafperated army in the 
moment of revenge, when the laws of war judified the 
rage, yet heard the voice of pity, received its impreflion 
and proudly refufed to be any longer the executioners of 
an unrefiding enemy. Soldiers of the Italian army, this 
is a laurel wreath worthy of your fame, a trophy of which 
the fubfequent treafon of an individual ilrall not deprive 
you! 
“ Three days afterwards, Bonaparte, who had ex- 
prelfed much refentment at the compaflion manifefted by 
"his troops,, and determined to relieve himfelf from the 
maintenance and care of 3800 prifoners, ordered them to 
be marched to a riflng ground near Jaffa; where a divi-' 
■lion of French infantry was- formed againft this defence- 
lefs multitude. When the .Turks had entered into their 
fatal alignement, and the mournful preparations were com¬ 
pleted, the fignal-gun fired. Vollies of nmfquetry and 
grape inftantly played againft them ; and Bonaparte, who 
had been regarding the lcene through a telefcope, when 
he faw the fmoke afcending, could not reftrain his joy, 
but broke out into exclamations of approval ; indeed, he 
had juft reafon to dread the refufal of his troops thus to 
difhonour themfelves. Kleber had remonltrated in the 
moft ftrenuous manner, and tlie officer who commanded 
{for the general to whom the division belonged was ab- 
fent) even refufed to execute the order without a written 
inftrutlion ; but Bonaparte was too cautious, and fent 
Berthier to enforce obedience. 
“ When the Turks had all fallen, the French troops 
humanely endeavoured to put a period to the fufferings 
of the wounded, but fonte time elapfed before the bayonet 
could finifh what the fire had not deftroyed, and probably 
many languifhed days in agony. Several French officers, 
by whom thefe details are partly furniffied, declared, that 
this was a feene, the retrofpedl of which tormented their 
recollection, and that they could not refled: on it without 
horror, accuftomed as they had been to fights of cruelty. 
“ Thefe were the prifoners whom Affalini, in his very 
able work on the Plague, alludes to, when lie fays that 
for three days the Turks fhew.ed no fymptoms of that 
difeafe, and it was their putrifying remains which con¬ 
tributed to produce the peflilential malady which he de- 
feribes as afterwards making fuch ravages in the French 
army. 
“Their bones flill lie in heaps, and are ffievvn to every 
traveller who arrives ; nor can they be confounded with 
thofe who perifhed in the aflault, fince this field of but¬ 
chery lies mo/e than a mile from the town. 
“ Such a fad fhould not, however, be alleged without 
fome proof, or leading circumftance flronger than afler- 
tion, being produced to fupport it; but there would be 
a want of generotity in naming individuals, and branding 
them to the lateft pofterity with infamy for obeying a 
command when their fubmiffion became an ad of necef- 
iity, fince the whole army did not mutiny againft the exe¬ 
cution ; therefore to eftablifti further the authenticity of 
the relation, this only can at prefent be mentioned, that 
it was Bonn’s divijion which fired, and thus every one is 
afforded the opportunity of fatisfying themfelves refped- 
ing the truth, by enquiring of officers ferving in the dif¬ 
ferent brigades compoling this divifion. 
“The next circumftance is of a nature which requires, 
indeed, the moft particular details to eftablifti, fince the 
idea can fcarce be entertained that the commander of an 
army fhould order his own countrymen (or if not imme¬ 
diately fuch, thofe amongft whom he had been natura¬ 
lized) to be deprived of exiftence, when in a ftate which 
required the kindeft confideratibn. But the annals of 
France record the frightful crimes of a Robefpierre, a 
Carriere; and hiftovical truth mud now recite one equal 
to any which has blackened its page. 
“ Bonaparte, finding that his hofpitals at Jaffa were 
crowded with fick, fent fur a phyfician, wliofe name 
fhould be inferibed in letters of gold, but which, from 
important reafons, cannot be here inferted j on his arri¬ 
val he entered into a long converfation with him refipeft- 
ing the danger of contagion, concluding at laft with the 
remark, ‘that fomething, muft be done to remedy the 
evil, and that the deftrmflion of the fick at prefent in the 
hofpital, was the only meafure which could be adopted. -1 
The phyfician, alarmed at-tlic propofal, bold in the con¬ 
fidence of virtue and the caufe of humanity, remon- 
ftrated vehemently, reprefenting the cruelty as well as 
the atrocity of fuch a murder; but, finding that Bona¬ 
parte perfevered and menaced, he indignantly left the 
tent, with this memorable o'ofervation : ‘ Neither my 
principles, nor the character of my profeftion, will allow 
me to become a murderer ; and, general if fuch quali¬ 
ties as you infinuate are neccftary to form a great man, 
I thank my God that I do not poffefs them.’ 
“ Bonaparte was not to be diverted from his objefl by 
moral confiderations ; he perfevered, and found an apo¬ 
thecary, who (dreading the weight of power, but who 
finte has made fome atonement to his mind by unequi¬ 
vocally confeffing the faft) ccnfented to become his 
agent, and to adminifter poifon to the fick. Opium at 
night was diftributed in gratifying food ; the wretched 
unfufpecling victims banqueted ; and, in a few hours, 
five hundred and eighty foldiers, who had fuffered fo 
much for their country, perifhed, thus miferably by the 
order of its idol. 
“ If a doubt fhould (till exift as to the veracity of this 
ftatement, let the members of the inftitute at Cairo be 
afked what paffed in their fitting after the return of Bo¬ 
naparte from Syria; they will relate, that the fame vir¬ 
tuous phyfician who refufed to become the deftroyer of 
thofe committed to his protection, accufed Bonaparte of 
high treafon, in the full affembly, againft the honour of 
France, her children, and humanity ; that he entered into 
the full details of the poifonin.g of the fick, and the mai- 
facre of the garrifon, aggravating thefe crimes by charg¬ 
ing Bonaparte with ftrangling, previoufly at Rofetta, a 
number of FYench and Copts, who were ill of the 
plague ; thus proving that this difpofal of his fick was a 
premeditated plan, which he wiflied to introduce into 
general praftice. In vain Bonapartelittempted to juftify 
himfelf; the members fat petrified with terror, and al- 
moft doubted whether the feene paffing before their eyes 
was not allnfion. Bonaparte pleaded that he ordered die 
garrifon to be deftroyed, becaufe he had not provifions to 
maintain them, or ftrength enough to guard them ; and 
that it was evident if they efcaped, they would ail againft 
the French, fince amongft the prifoners were five hundred 
of the garrifon of El-Ari(h, who had promifed not to 
ferve again ; and that he deftroyed the fick to prevent 
contagion, and fave themfelves from falling into the hands 
of the Turks!” 
“ To thofe who may imagine that my reprefentations 
of general Bonaparte’s conduit, are improper at this mo¬ 
ment to be brought forward, I muft premife, that if they 
are concerned only for the character of that general, I am 
happy to afford them an occafion to be better acquainted 
with this celebrated man, who, by his great fortune and 
uninterrupted career of victory, (with one exception of 
Acre, that glorious monument of Britifli conduct,) has 
dazzled the underftanding.s of the mafs of mankind, and 
prevented the refults of thofe enquiries having proper in¬ 
fluence, which thofe, with whom the opinions of the day 
do not pafs current, have inftituted on his pretenfions 
to the admiration of pofterity. 
“To thofe whole motives of difapprobation proceed 
from a regard for tranquillity, exciting the vyifh that a 
general amnefty of oblivion might be extended to the 
paft, firft I will fay, that the dilfiemination of this prin- 
t ciple 
