It has been asserted that general Menou (who served in Egypt) contrived the death of the brave and meritorious Kleber, in compliance with the in- · structions of Bonaparte. Certain parts of the conduct of both Bonaparte and Menou, while they afford ground for suspicion, amount to no positive proof; nor is it likely that any farther light will be thrown on this diabolical affair. We know that Kleber fell by the hand of a fanatic Mussulman, while walking in his garden at Grand Cairo: this wretch had apparently been instigated to the atrocious deed by the exhortations of priests; but it was no credit to the French to impale him alive!

2

If we are to believe report, the murder of Kleber was not the only crime committed in Egypt by the order of Bonaparte :-he is accused of poisoning his own sick in the hospital at Jaffa, of putting to death

salutes from all the forts. The English and Turks, who had been previously informed of the intended honor, that the firing of the artillery might, in the circumstance of the armies, create no jealousies, joined in the funeral honors, and answered, by their cannon, the salutes of the French.' It is with regret, that we find his successor in command attempting to tarnish the reputation of Kleber, and to refuse that justice to his memory, which hardly ignorance and vanity could withhold. Such attempts must invariably recoil, with doubled indignity, on their authors. Far different are the natural indications of a great soul! Julius Cesar wept over the head of the deceased Pompey!" Kleber was upwards of six feet high, and possessed uncommon strength. His countenance was stern, his appearance majestic, his dress very plain and soldier like, and in his manners polite. He was near of age when he was assassinated.

fifty years

some hundreds of Turks, &c. yet while it is admitted, that his career has been marked with blood, and that the spirits of Enghien and Palm will plead against him at the bar of heaven, it must be allowed, that better authority, than the dogma of sir Robert Wilson, is necessary to fix these indelible marks of infamy on the character of Napoleon Bonaparte.

From the rupture of the treaty concluded between sir Sidney Smith and the French, it was evident that the English government entertained designs of attempting something in Egypt: a considerable force was therefore despatched from Great Britain, under the conduct of an experienced and gallant officersir Ralph Abercrombie-which arrived off Alexandria. on the 1st of March, 1801. The following day, the fleet made sail for the bay of Aboukir, and anchored there. Till the 7th, the sea ran high, and no disembarkation could be effected; but on that day, the first division made good their landing at ten o'clock in the morning, in the face of a body of French, who were evidently aware of their intention, and were posted in force with considerable advantages of position. The front of the disembarkation was narrow, and a hill, which commanded the whole, appeared almost inaccessible; yet the British troops ascended the hill, under the fire of grape-shot, with the most perfect intrepidity, and forced the French to retire, leaving behind them seven pieces of artillery, and a number of horses. The disembarkation was continued during that and the following day. The troops,

which landed on the 8th, advanced three miles the same day; and on the 12th, the whole army moved forward, and came within sight of the French, who were formed advantageously on a ridge, with their left to the canal of Alexandria, and their right towards the sea.

It was determined to commence the attack on the 13th; and with this view, the British army marched in two lines by the left, with an intention of turning the right flank of the enemy. The attack was in some measure anticipated by the French; and they descended from the heights on which they were formed, and attacked the leading brigades of both lines. The British troops were therefore compelled to change their position, which was done with the greatest precision; and the rest of the army immediately followed their example. After a severe conflict, victory declared in favor of the English, though not without considerable loss-that of above 2000 men in killed, wounded, and missing. The loss of the French we have never heard, but it must have been considerable.

The British army followed up their success with becoming spirit and vigor; and on the 21st of March (1801) a still more decisive battle was fought, with a similar event, at the distance of about four miles from Alexandria. It commenced before daylight in the morning, by a false attack on the left of the English, under major-general Craddock, in which the French were repulsed. But the most vigorous