pelled them to retire under the walls of Cairo; which we entered on the 21st of July, after having completely routed them. *

I had flattered myself that on our arrival at this city, so famous for its commerce with India, we should find every thing in abundance, and a more civilized people than we had hitherto met with; but I have been cruelly disappointed. With the exception of the Europeans who are settled here, the inhabitants are as barbarous and as ignorant as those of Alexandria.

From the slight sketch which I have' given you of Egypt, you may easily conceive that the army is by no means pleased with this expedition, to a country of which the usages, diet, and excessive heat, are totally. repugnant to our manner of living in Europe. The major part of the army is labouring under a diarrhoea; and ALTHOUGH VICTORIOUS, WILL TERMINATE ITS CAREER BY PERISHING MISERABLY, IF OUR

it has nothing to do with the point in dispute. Our surprize was occasioned, as the critics must have seen, by observing, that in a case where it imported them so greatly to collect the best information, not a man in the army, nor in the long train of Savans which followed it, should, as far as appears, have extended his inquiries beyond the jejune pages of Volney and Savary,-when, besides the earlier and fuller works of their own countrymen, the judicious histories of Sandys, Shaw, Pocock, Norden, Niebuhr (himself an host), and a number of others, lay, as it were, immediately under their hands!

Enough for the present. If we return to the Decade Philosophique, which is not improbable, we shall have ample opportunities of shewing, with what contempt of truth its conductors treat the "enlightened people of trance," and with what a daring disregard of reputation they wilfully misrepresent the most obvious facts,

GOVERNMENT PERSISTS IN ITS AMBITIOUS PROJECTS. Many officers are throwing up their commissions; and I freely confess to you, that I would also throw up mine, if I had the least prospect of obtaining any thing in France; but, deprived as I am of every resource, I must persevere, and patiently wait to see what change events may bring about in our present critical situation.

We do not know whether we shall stay in these new regions, or carry our conquests farther. To judge from appearances, this country will be kept; for our people are already engaged in organizing some municipalities. A part of the army is in pursuit of the Mameloucs. I imagine every possible effort will be made to come up with them before they effect their retreat into Syria ; BECAUSE they have got possession of the caravan from India, which they are carrying with them, and which is an object of the utmost importance and value,

Adieu, my friend. Let me hear from you, which I have not done since I left Genoa. I beg my compli ments to all our family, and remain,

Your's, most sincerely,

PISTRE.

We do not know Pistre's rank in the army. He writes extremely well, and his letter is one of the most interesting in the whole collection.

No. XVIII.

Au Caire, Capitale de l'Egypte, partie d'Afrique, le 29 Thermidor.

DUMAS, Brigadier de la Compagnie No. 1. à la Citoyenne DUMAS,

Chère Mère,

Je vous écris la présente pour vous informer de l'état de ma situation, qui n'est pas des meilleures. Nous sommes dans un pays extrémement chaud, où on ne trouve point de vin, pas même du pain, si nous n'eussions construit des fours, excepté des mauvaises galettes que nous ne pouvons manger et dont se nourrissent les habitans du pays.

Je vous dirai que dans ce pays, il-y-a dixsept ans qu'il n'y a pas tombé d'eau. L'Egypte serait inhabitable si ce n'etait le Nil qui est le nom du fleuve qui déborde tous les ans, et arrose tout ce vaste pays. La peste y est très-commune; le peuple y est barbare; leur dieu est Mahomet, ils n'en connoîssent pas d'autres. Dans cette ville, il y a soixante mille Chrétiens, et le nombre de ses habitans monte à un million qui sont très-tranquilles, et qui aiment assez les François.

Nous avons marché cinq jours sans trouver l'ennemi. Lorsque nous eumes joint le Nil, nous trouvames une

flotille armée, qui s'était détachée de notre escadre, dont une grande partie de la cavalerie à pied s'est embarquée dont j'en étois du nombre; c'etoit le 24 Messidor, que nous embarquâmes. Le Général Bonaparte, donna ordre au commandant de la flotille de prendre l'avance sur l'armée, ce que nous fimes.

Le 25 Messidor à cinq heures du matin, nous apperçumes les ennemis au nombre de dix milles, tous à cheval qui côtoyoient le Nil, et avoient cinq chaloupes cannonnières qui le suivoient pas-à-pas: à six heures le combat s'engagea. Aprés quatre heures de combat, les cinq chaloupes, qui avoilent fait un feu terrible sur nous vinrent à l'abordage nous fumes obligés d'abandonner nos chaloupes, et nous sauver du côté où l'ennemi avoit le moins des forces: une demi-heure après notre armée nous joignit, et chassa l'ennemi; nous reprimes nos chaloupes, et la victoire fut à nous.

De là nous allames près du Caire, où nous avons eu une bataille très-sanglante, dans laquelle les Mamelouks ont perdu trois mille hommes, et nous n'avons pas perdu cinquante hommes, ce qu'il ne vous sera pas aisé à croire. Autre chose de nouveau, nous sommes maîtres de toute la basse Egypte. On prétend que sous peu de jours nous retournerons en France.

Adieu, chère, mère, grande mère, sœurs et beaux frères; je finis en vous embrassant tous du profond de

TRANSLATION,

Cairo, the Capital of Egypt, in Africa, (29 Thermidor), August 16th.

DUMAS, Brigadier of the Company No. 1, to the female Citizen DUMAS.

Dear Mother,

THIS

HIS comes to inform you of the state of my situation, which is far from being of the best.-We are in a country extremely hot, where we find no wine, and what is more, no bread (if we had not built ovens

We should apologize for troubling the reader with the correspondence of Brigadier Dumas, were it not that his letter, absurd as it is in other respects, gives the fullest account of the defeat of the French flotilla on the Nile, which has yet come to our hands. There is no doubt of the fact, for Dumas could have no temptation, even though he might have the ability (which, poor man! was far from being the case), to describe a defeat that never happened; and, besides, as we have already remarked, it is the only possible way of accounting for the loss of the officers' baggage.

There is yet another circumstance in this letter worth mentioning; and that is, the report spread in the army of a speedy return to France. Since it had reached Dumas it must have been very general, for we do not give him credit for much active inquiry; and, in this case, it strikes us as a matter of singular importance.

Unlike Italy in every respect, Egypt presented no temptations to the cupidity and licentiousness of the troops, and the idea of a longer residence in it was therefore become intolerable to them. To allay this impatience, the General seems to have thrown out