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in their way, but seemingly not looking for one. All this, too, happened in a confined space immediately in rear of the 42d and of the redoubt of the 28th. * A fine opportunity was thus afforded those two regiments, and it was not lost; for (as I have observed already) very few of those who penetrated to the rear through the 42d were permitted to return; and on this sandy spot, which had been so keenly contested, and had formed an arena for a display of personal prowess, it was not easy to determine whether men or horses were more thickly strewed, although, from the larger size of the latter, they occupied more space. It has seldom happened that so many men have fallen on so limited an extent of ground.

The death of their veteran and heroic commander was felt by the British as a heavy calamity. Besides him there

Although this redoubt was elevated in front, and covered the men breast high, it was open to the rear, having a low and narrow platform running round the inside of the parapet on which the men stood. The 23d and 40th flank companies, and the 58th, were likewise partly covered by the immense masses of ruinous walls. This circumstance will account for the small loss of those corps of the same brigade, in comparison of that of the Highlanders, as the difference has given rise to a belief among many, that the heavy loss of the latter was owing to their allowing themselves to be overpowered and broken by the enemy. In the 23d regiment, the number of officers and soldiers killed and wounded was 20; in the 28th, the number was 70; in the 40th flank companies, 7; in the 58th, 24; and in the 42d, 316, nearly three times the aggregate amount of the loss of all the other regiments of the reserve. Such a contrast as this might occasion a supposition that they showed less promptitude in repelling the enemy than those who had fewer killed. But, fortunately for the honour of the corps, there was in this case an evident cause in the confidence reposed by the Commander-in-Chief in their firmness, when he posted them on a smooth level piece of ground, fully exposed to the attacks of cavalry, infantry, and every arm which the enemy could bring forward. He gave another proof of this confidence by putting himself at their head during the hottest hours of the battle, and never leaving them till the hardest part of the contest was decided. The corps had thus an opportunity, which, otherwise situated, they could not have had, of evincing whether they still retained any part of the intrepidity which characterised their predecessors in the regiment, and their countrymen in other national corps.

were killed, 10 officers, 9 serjeants, and 224 rank and file; and wounded, 60 officers, 48 serjeants, 3 drummers, and 1082 rank and file. The Highlanders lost Brevet-Major Robert Bisset, Lieutenants Colin Campbell, Robert Anderson, Alexander Stewart, Alexander Donaldson, and Archibald M'Nicol,* and 48 rank and file, killed; and had Major James Stirling, Captain David Stewart, Lieutenants Hamilton Rose, J. Milford Sutherland, A. M. Cuningham, Frederick Campbell, Maxwell Grant, † Ensign William Mackenzie, 6 serjeants, and 247 rank and file, wounded.

• These six officers were promising young men, and their death was a sensible loss to the regiment. Lieutenants Campbell and Donaldson had had the advantage of an education suited to their profession. Few officers equalled Major Bisset in every professional accomplishment. With a keen and penetrating mind, great application in his youth, and a retentive memory, his information was general and extensive, and equally fitted him to support the character of the soldier, the gentleman, and the man of the world. He was son of Robert Bisset of Glenelbert, in Athole, who had been, at an early period, an officer in Lord Loudon's and Lord John Murray's Highlanders, and afterwards on Lord George Sackville's Staff. He was aide-de-camp to that general at the battle of Minden, and an evidence of importance to his Lordship's defence at his trial. He was also many years Commissary-General for Great Britain, and was succeeded in 1793 by Alderman Brook Watson. Lieutenant Campbell was son of Captain Patrick Campbell, of Campbell's Highlanders, in the Seven Years' War. This respectable veteran possessed apparently an inexhaustible store of Ossian's and other ancient and modern Gaelic poetry, which he used to repeat with the ease and fluency common in the Highlands in his youth. This veteran soldier, poet, and bard, died at Inverlochy, in December 1816, in his 80th year.

+ This officer, now colonel in the Portuguese service, was wounded by a bayonet, which entered one side of his stomach, a little below the navel, and came out at the other. Lieutenant Stewart, son of Mr Stewart of Foss, was wounded in the same part of the body by a musket ball, which passed through in like manner. After the action, they lay together in the same tent. Mr Grant vomiting and throwing up blood was considered in immediate danger. Mr Stewart complained of nothing but a degree of tension and dull pain in the lower part of the abdomen, and the wound was consequently thought trifling. The result was quite unexpected. Lieutenant Stewart died at four o'clock the same evening, and Lieutenant Grant was quite well within a fortnight. Lieutenant Sutherland, now Major of the 91st regiment, was wounded in the belly by the push of a

The conquest of Egypt might now be considered as complete. Such, indeed, was the opinion of the French army, at least of that part of it which had been engaged on the 21st, and were now in Alexandria. They readily acknowledged that all future resistance was merely for the honour of France, and the glory of her arms. Succeeding events proved this, and that they only waited to be attacked in order to surrender.

Rhamanieh, an important post, commanding the passage of the Nile, preserving the communication between Alexandria and Cairo, and defended by 4000 infantry, 800 cavalry, and 32 pieces of cannon, was, on the approach of the British, evacuated in the course of the night. One hundred and fifty men were left in the place to keep up fires and lights, the better to conceal the retreat of the French. During the advance, there was a good deal of skirmishing and cannonading, by which the British lost 30 killed and wounded, including 6 officers.

General Hutchinson proceeded to Cairo. The French general, Belliard, waited until the approaches of the British were so far completed as to enable him to capitulate with honour; and, on the 22d of June, he offered to surrender, on condition of being sent to France, and of his army retaining their arms and baggage. Thus all Egypt was conquered at Alexandria; but, notwithstanding the ease with which (except the sufferings from fatigue and climate) this conquest was accomplished, General Hutchinson experienced great difficulties and perplexities when he succeeded to the command.

With an army much reduced by three successive battles, and possessing little more than the ground on which the troops were encamped, while the enemy, though beaten, was still numerous, and occupied every strong place in the

bayonet, which entered four inches, and with such violence as to throw him on his back; but such was the yielding nature of the inner membrane of the stomach, that it was not pierced; and within three weeks Mr Sutherland was able to join his regiment.

country, the Commander-in-Chief had only a choice of difficulties. Whether to commence hostilities against Alexandria, or leaving it to the last, proceed up the country to attack the army there, was a question of much moment, and anxious consideration. Although the result demonstrated how easy it was to conquer Upper Egypt, that was not known to General Hutchinson, who had to oppose a greater force than he expected. In his dispatches previously to his immediate approach to Cairo, he states his belief that there were not more than 6000 troops of all kinds in the town, whereas the numbers exceeded 13,000, of whom 10,850 were French. But, as I have already said, Cairo was taken on the 21st of March, and so was Alexandria: as it was found that nothing was required for the completion of every object for which the expedition had been originally undertaken but to make such an attack as would, by its boldness, and the strength of the force brought forward, enable General Menou to make an honourable defence, and to show that his surrender would not sully the glory of the French arms.*

Early in July, the British army was reinforced from England and Minorca by the 22d dragoons, a detachment of Guards, two battalions of the 20th foot, the 24th, 25th, 26th, and 27th regiments, the Ancient Irish Fencibles, and the foreign regiments of Watteville's and Chasseurs Britanniques. The Irish Fencibles were enlisted for European service only, and were ordered from Ireland to Minorca, where they were quartered in 1801. When more troops were required in Egypt, this regiment was treated in the same manner as at different times the Highland regiments had been, and, without regard to their terms of service, was ordered to embark for Africa. The men complained, and stated the nature of their engagement, but to no purpose; and, being less refractory than the Highlanders had showed themselves in similar circumstances, they embarked, though reluctantly. However, when they found themselves fairly landed in Egypt, and were ordered to march forward from the beach to join the army before Alexandria, making a virtue of necessity, and with characteristic good humour, they pulled off their hats, and, with three cheers, cried out, "We will volunteer now." My countrymen, in the days of their spirited independence, would not have yielded so readily, and would have been in no humour to sport their jokes on such an occasion.

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When the army had returned from Cairo, and the necessary preparations had been made, General Hutchinson proceeded to the investment of Alexandria; and detaching General Coote, with nearly half the army, to the westward of the town, he himself advanced from the eastward. In this manner, General Menou, finding himself surrounded on two sides by an enemy 14,500 strong, by the sea on the north, cut off from the country by the newly-formed lake+ on the south, and already forced to subsist his troops on horse flesh, could delay a surrender only for the sake of effect. In the meantime, the French general played his part well, and every advance was disputed, until the evening of the 26th of August, when he demanded an armistice for three days, to afford time to form conditions of capitulation. The armistice was agreed to; and, on the 2d of September, the capitulation was signed, and ratified by the respective commanders.

In these short but conclusive movements, little occurred

The whole proceeded from a mistake in the nature of the engagement on which these men were to serve. The order to embark them from Minorca must, however, have been clear and positive; otherwise General Fox, who commanded there, and whose mildness of disposition, and high sense of honour and probity, are so well known, would never have countenanced any breach of engagement.

• The army from India had not yet descended the Nile.

+ When General Hutchinson marched for Cairo, leaving General Coote to blockade Alexandria, the latter officer, wishing to strengthen his position, and lessen the line of blockade, availed himself of the natural formation of the country, and of a valley running upwards of forty miles to the westward. The bottom was under the level of the sea, which, as I have already stated, was only prevented running into it by the dike, on which the water was carried by a canal from the Nile to Alexandria. He directed four cuts of six yards in breadth, to be made in the dike, and the cut ten yards asunder. When the fascines which protected the workmen were removed, the water rushed in with a fall of nearly seven feet, and with such force, that all the cuts were soon washed away; and although the whole breach widened to the extent of 300 feet, it was nearly a month before the valley was filled, and the water found its level. Indeed, there was always a considerable current running westward, the evaporation in that scorching climate requiring a constant supply.

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