LON 
proved them to have been doubly formidable. Bullets, or 
blocks of marble, of immenfe weight and fize, were fired 
at our fhips, from huge mortars. One of thefe, weighing 
Soo pounds, cut the mainmaft of the Windfor man-of-war 
in two 5 and it was not without much trouble and pains that 
the fhip w'?.s laved. Our lots of men in this unfortunate 
expedition, amounted, in killed and wounded, to about 250. 
Sir John Duckworth appears to have done every thing 
that was-poflibie, to effect the object of the expedition ; 
but the expedition itfelf was fo ill contrived, that fuccefs 
was not to be expected. It was generally condemned, not 
only as being injudicious and weak, but filly and child ifh. 
Indeed one may fay of this expedition, what the Turkifh 
envoy to Charles VII. of France faid of a grand tourna¬ 
ment, exhibited for his amufement ; “ that, if it was in 
good earned, there was not enough done; but, if it was 
in je(i, too much.” 
The failure of our attempt on the capital of the Turkifh 
empire feemed for fome little time to have been, in no 
final! degree, compenfated by the pofleflion of Alexandria. 
—On the 6th of March, a military force of about 5000 
men, including three companies.of artillery, with two en¬ 
gineers, was fent againlt that city, by general Fox, from 
Medina, under the command of major-general Mackenzie. 
On the night of the 17th, the Apollo frigate, with nine¬ 
teen tranlports out of thirty-three which conveyed the 
troops, parted company; and the other fourteen, with the 
Tigre, came to an anchor, to the weftward of Alexandria, 
on the 16th. When our fqtiadron approached the land, 
a vell'el was difpatched by major MiiTet, (who appears to 
have redded at Alexandria in the character of Britifh con- 
fill, and with whom the general was directed by his in- 
ftruCtions to conl'ult as to the belt plan of operations,) with a 
letter to him, earnelily recommending him to land the troops 
immediately, as the inhabitants were well affeCted to the 
Englifh ; and exprefled his hopes that they fliould be able 
to get pofleflion of the city, without firing a (hot; The 
general (fated the diminution of his force, in confequence 
of the reparation of the nineteen tranlports. The major 
ftili urged his immediate landing. The troops were landed, 
part on the 17th, part on the 28th. The general, finding 
liis fituation, from the increafed height of the find and ap¬ 
pearance of.the weather, to be very precarious, both with 
rel'pect to getting provifions or (lores on-fliore, or having 
any communication with the tranlports, determined, at all 
hazards, to force his way to the wefiern fide of the.city, 
where he could receive fupplies from Aboukir-bay, at the 
fame time to advance into the town with the fmall force 
he had, and pufti his w'ay, if poffible, into the forts that 
commanded it. He therefore moved forward, about eight 
o’clock in the evening of the 18th. In their way, the 
Britifh forced a pallifadoed entrenchment, with a deep 
ditch in front of it, that had been thrown up as a defence 
againlt the Mamalukes and Arabs, on the weftern fide, 
ftretching from Fort des Bains, on its right flank, mount¬ 
ing thirteen guns. This they effected with very little 
lofs, though under a heavy fire of cannon and mufquetry ; 
and proceeded within a few yards of Pompev’s Gate, where 
they found the garrifon prepared to receive them, the gate 
barricadoed, and the walls lined with troops and armed 
inhabitants. This, added to the fmallnefs of the Britifh 
force, not much exceeding 1000, determined the general 
to proceed to the weftward. In the morning of the 19th, 
he took up his pofition on the ground which the Britifh 
troops had occupied in the action of the 21ft of March, 
1801 ; and immediately fent detachments to take poflef- 
fion of Aboukir-caftle, and the cut between the lakes Ma- 
hadie and Mareotis, by which communication a reinforce¬ 
ment of Albanians was expected in Alexandria. In both 
thefe defigns they fucceeded.—The next day, the 20th, 
the general fent in by a friendly Arab, that had ftolen out 
of the town, and joined the Englifh, a manifeflo addrefied 
to the inhabitants, warning them of the danger of an af- 
fault, in the horrors of which friends would be involved 
with foes, and urging them to force the government to 
Vcl. XIII. No. 897. 
DON. 161 
capitulate. This had the defifed' effeCP. A flag of truce 
was agreed to and figned. The religioq, the laws, and 
the property, of the inhabitants were refpeCted. The vef- 
fels belonging to governmenr, and all public property, to 
be given up to the Britifh forces. The crews to be fent 
to a port of Turkey, with the arms and baggage of indi¬ 
viduals; but to confider themfelves as priloners of war, 
and not to take up arms againlt the Britifh forces or their 
allies, until exchanged. The garrifon of Alexandria, be¬ 
fore its furrender, confided of 4.67 men ; foldiers, gun¬ 
ners, failors, and marines. The lofs of the Britifh, in this 
reduction of Alexandria, was no more than one officer, 
fix rank and file, killed ; one officer, one ferjeant, eight rank, 
and file, wounded. The Apollo, with the nineteen miffing 
tranfports, came to anchor in Aboukir-bay on the morn¬ 
ing of the 20th ; and fir John Duckworth’s fquadron ar¬ 
rived there on the 22d. 
In confequence of a ftrong reprefentation, by major 
Miflet, our refident at Alexandria, as juIt mentioned, that 
the inhabitants of Alexandria ran a rifk of being ftarved, 
unlefs Rol’etta and Rhamanie were occupied by Britifh 
troops, general Frafer, with the concurrence of admiral 
Duckworth, March 27th, detached the 32ft regiment, and 
the chafieurs Britanniques, amounting together to about 
1500, under major-general Wauchope and brigadier-gene¬ 
ral Meade, for that purpofe. Our troops took pofleflion 
of the heights of Abennandour, which command the town 
of Rofetta, without any lofs. But the general, in (lead off 
keeping his poft there, penetrated, with his whole force, 
into the town, without any previous examination of it; 
w hen our men were fo brilkly fired on, and otherwife an¬ 
noyed, from the windows and tops of iioules, without 
ever feeing their enemy, that, after a lofs of about 300 men 
in killed anil wounded, they retired, in good order, to 
Aboukir, without moleftation ; from whence they were di¬ 
rected to return to Alexandria. Apprehenfions of famine 
being (till ltrongly declared both by our refident, major 
Millet, and the Jorbagi, or chief magistrate, in the name of 
the people, without the occupation of Rofetta, another 
corps, about 2500 ltrong, was fent for the reduction of 
this important place, under the command of the honour¬ 
able brigadier-general Stewart and colonel Ofwald. This 
force took poll oppolite the Alexandrian gate of Rofetta 
on the 9th of April, and, after a fummons to the town to 
furrender was treated with defiance, began to form their 
batteries. Great ltrefs had been laid by the Britifh com¬ 
mander on affillance promifed by the Mamalukes; and 
their appearance was now daily, or even hourly, expected. 
Lieutenant-colonel Macleod, with a detachment from the 
main body of our little army, was fent to feize an impor¬ 
tant poft, at che village of El Hammed, for the purpofe of 
facilitating a junction with the expeCted fuccour. No 
iuccotir, after an anxious expectation of many days, nor 
intelligence of any fuccour, was received. Early on the 
morning of the 22d of April, fixty or feventy velfeis were 
feen failing down the Nile ; and there could not be a doube 
that this was. a reinforcement lent to the enemy from 
Cairo. Orders were immediately difpatched to colonel 
Macleod to retreat from his pofition to the main body ; 
but thefe orders were unfortunately intercepted. The 
detachment at El Hammed was completely cut off; and 
general Stewart, overpowered by fo large a force, retreat¬ 
ed, fighting all the way, to Alexandria.—Our lofs in this 
unfortunate expedition was not lefs than 1000 men, in 
killed, wounded, and miffing. This ra/h enterprife was. 
deeply regretted, when it was afterwards found that the 
apprehenfions of famine were altogether groundlefs. There 
was no fcarcity of provifions a: Alexandria : great quan¬ 
tities of rice, io great was the plenty, had been lately ex¬ 
ported ; while, at the fame time, a quantity equal to a 
year’s confumption of rice, and fix months of wheat for 
the inhabitants, fix months for the army, and four for the 
navy, remained on hand. Indeed, while the Britifh gar- 
rifon remained in Alexandria, provifions of ail kinds be¬ 
came every day more and more plentiful. 
T ; 
