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hous y sacrifions ses revenus, il deviendra la plus belle Colonie de l'Europe, et produira de grands changements dans le commerce du monde.

Où sont-ils ces administrateurs? nous avons ici l'homme capable de donner au goût d'Egypte la première et grande impulsion, mais pas un capable d'administrer, quoiqu'en ait dit la bavarde déesse. ... Oh combien de fausses réputations se sont faites en Italie, et que de piédestaux qui resteront sans statues! d'ailleurs le Français dont l'impétuosité convenoit pour cette conquête, seroit-il assez patient pour attendre. Toujours pressé de recueillir, laissera-til mûrir dix ans, et comme le sauvage de Montesquieu, ne coupera-til pas l'arbre pour avoir le fruit? les premières mesures me donnent le droit de le craindre.

Gurietix se porte à merveille à cette heure; il n'a éprouvé d'autre maladie qu'une forte diarrhée; on le surcharge d'ouvrage, et d'un ouvrage blen indigne de lui. On ne sait pas tirer parti de son talent, et l'on utilise son activité en la profanant. Il philosophe d'un bout dujour à l'autre que c'est ici le cas de mettre en pratique ce qu'il a lu jadis et pensé depuis !

J'ai jusqu'au bout de ma lettre différé de vous parler du malheureux Desna ****. Il est pris par les Bedouins depuis plus d'un mois, et depuis cette époque on ignore ce qu'il est devenu; ces voleurs ne l'auront pas tué, mais s'il a été présenté aux Mamelouks il est perdu; sinon, et qu'il ait pu résister aux fatigues et aux mauvais traitements, nous l'aurons peut-être. Nous nous accrochons tous à ce brin d'espérance; mais il est bien foible. La perte d'un camarade est ici bien sensible, mais surtout la siennc. Sa franchise, son cœur, et ses

sentiments m'avoient inspiré pour lui une amitié qu'il partageait. C'etoit le seul ami de mon age que j'eusse ici. Je ne tiens plus maintenant qu'à Gurieux. La guerre a été bien funeste à l'état major; il n'y avoit plus avant-hier que l'adjoint en état de faire le service, tout a été pris et tué, quatre ou cinq blessés. Jamais hussards ne firent un service pareil au nôtre, même lorsque leurs combats étoient en Gênes. Je me rapelle d'une vive partie de plaisir que nous fimes cinq sur la plus haute montagne de Toulon; des cinq je reste seul !

Le camarade qui se charge de vous remettre ou de vous faire parvenir ma lettre, est le citoyen Veyssiere chef-d'escadron au 18°; il a trente ans de service effectif, et sept campagnes. Il auroit, par conséquent, droit à une retraite, mais blessé ici et rongé par la pierre, il a voulu rentrer en France. On lui a sottement conseillé de donner sa démission, il l'a fait, elle a été acceptée. Ne seroit-il pas possible cependant de lui faire avoir ou sa retraite, ou une compagnie d'invalides? je vous prie d'y employer tous vos efforts et votre crédit; vous rendrez service à un des plus braves et des plus vaillants militaires de la République, qui sort, le cœur pur et les mains nettes, de la révolution et de la guerre.

Adieu; je vous embrasse de tout mon cœur ; j'embrasse ma tante; il me tarde bien fort de vous revoir l'un et l'autre je voulois acheter des schals pour elle; mais la caravanne a été détournée par les Beys et le peu qu'il restoit ici, ont été enlevés à un prix fou; on les achetoit vingt-cinq à trente livres, et ils étoient assez communs. Je serai donc réduit à lui porter du caffé Mocka.

Adieu; mes respects au citoyen et à la citoyenne La Cépède, au Général Clarke, à Brostaut, au Général Servan, &c. Rappellez-moi au souvenir de Davignan, Desages, Decok, Charles Maroit, Marecheski, &c. &c.

LACUE'E:

TRANSLATION.

Cairo (27th Thermidor), August 14:

Adjutant-General LACUEE, to his Uncle.

I HAVE received no letter from you, my dear uncle, since I sailed from Toulon, and I am very much afraid that you have received none from me. I judge of your anxiety respecting me, by the benefits which you have heaped upon me; you may judge of mine respecting you, by the gratitude they demand in return.

This letter, perhaps, will reach you. One of my comrades is about to embark in a neutral ship, and will

He was,

This uncle of Lacuée is a very respectable man. we believe, a member of the National Convention, and is at present in the Counsel of Elders. He was an officer under the Monarchy, and, during the legislative Assembly, President of the Military Committee. We know nothing of his nephew. It appears that he is a man of abilities; and we recommend his letter, which is not only admirably written, but full of important matter, to the serious consideration of our readers.

take charge of it. Besides, the English, though victorious, are too much disabled to keep the sea, and will for some time, I flatter myself, leave our communications open. With what ardour do we all wish it! for four months we have now been ignorant of what is become of our relations and friends. We left the Republic surrounded with factions, and all that has since reached us has been now and then a paltry gazette! every packet has been taken: a melancholy presage of our fate! that which brought Tallient is the only one which has had the good fortune to escape.

* The fate of this letter is the best refutation of this assertion; which would not indeed been worth noticing, were it not for the opportunity it gives us of making a short remark on the ignorance in which the army were kept respecting the engagement of the first of August. That we had conquered could not well be denied, as the French fleet was annihilated: all that remained, therefore, for Bonaparte, was to represent the English fleet as nearly in the same state. This he did not fail to do; and this checked, for some days, the murmurs and despondency of the army. There is a letter from one of these deluded people, which, after mentioning their defeat, concludes with assuring his friend, upon the authority we have given, that the English ships were unable to stir,-" or," says he, " reste à scavoir, &c.” Now it remains to be seen what can be done against them, by the vessels in the port of Alexandria, (the frigates and transports)-and the writer actually buoys himself up with hopes of capturing or destroying them!!!

+ The Lodi, which had nearly shared the fate of the rest. In the original it is," the packet was respected;" and just below we find that Lacuée's tongue was "respected." This is sad cant; but it is not altogether new, for we find a curious instance of its application in Vaillant. "A tiger, and myself," says he, “met each other in the Desert. The noble creature surveyed me, while I gazed at him in my turn. We mutually respected each other,

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*

If the General's dispatches have reached France, you will see that I am wounded, though to all appearance not very dangerously. The ball spared my tongue, throat, blood vessels, and left jaw: the fractured, or rather shivered a good deal;

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only was but, happily,

The wound

not in such a manner as to disfigure me. is healing fast. I can speak, and in another fortnight hope to be able to eat something besides broths: I should have said, able to eat at all; for, in truth, during the last month, I have only been able to swallow. The surgeons say that the waters of Barege will be necessary, if not indispensable for me. I think myself that they will be proper, and feel a strong inclination to go there; but as it is probable that the unfortunate action of Aboukir will render the situation of the army rather critical, and as there is an immediate prospect of my wound's cicatrizing, I will stay. My fate shall be linked to that of the army, although I serve with little, indeed very little, satisfaction to myself, and although I am perfectly sure that no one will feel obliged to me for the sacrifice.

The campaign which we have just finished, is indisputably the severest in which the French have ever been engaged. Our forced marches in the Desert, under a burning sky, and over still more burning sands, our want of water during five days, of bread during fifteen,

I acuée is not mentioned as far as we can see by Bonaparte; but Berthier speaks of him as having been wounded at the same time with the first Commissary Sucy, in whose galley he was. "L'adjoint Lacuée a reçu une balle dans la machoire, &c." Probably right jaw; but the word is obliterated.

The original is illegible in this place; but we have endeavoured to complete the sentence.

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