XXV. 1799. 1 Jom. xii. frigates, the Muiron and the Carrera, should be made CHAP. ready for sea, and Napoleon, preserving the utmost secrecy as to his intended departure, proceeded to Cairo, where he drew up long and minute instruc- 302. Th. x. tions for Kleber, to whom the command of the army 405. Bour. was intrusted, and immediately returned to Alexan- Dum. ii. dria.' ii. 305. 240. sets sail for On the 22d August he secretly set out from that 22d Aug. town, accompanied by Berthier, Lannes, Murat, Marmont, Andreossy, Berthollet, Monge, and Bourrienne, He secretly and, escorted only by a few of his faithful guides, the Europe from party embarked on a solitary part of the beach on board Alexandria. a few fishing boats, which conveyed them out to the frigates, which lay at a little distance from the shore. The joy which animated all these persons when they were told that they were to return to France can hardly be conceived. Desirous to avoid a personal altercation with Kleber, whose rude and fearless demeanour led him to apprehend some painful sally of passion on receiving the intelligence, Napoleon communicated to him his resolution by letter, which he was aware could not reach Cairo till several days after his departure. Kleber afterwards expressed the highest indignation at that circumstance, and in a long and impassioned report to the Directory, charged Napoleon with leaving the army in such a • Bour. ii. state of destitution, that the defence of the country for any length of time was impossible.* It was almost dark when the boats reached the frigates, and the distant lights of Alexandria were faintly descried by the glimmering of the stars on the verge of the horizon. How different from the pomp and circumstance of war which attended his arrival on the same shore,-in the midst of a splendid fleet, 313, 314. XXV. 1799. He steers along the coast of Africa. CHAP. surrounded by a powerful army, with the visions of hope glittering before his eyes, and dreams of Oriental conquest captivating his imagination! Napoleon directed that the ships should steer along the coast of Africa, in order that, if escape from the English cruizers became impossible, he might land on the deserts of Lybia, and force his way to Tunis, Oran, or some other port, declaring that he would run any danger rather than return to Egypt. For three-andtwenty days they beat against adverse winds along the coast of Africa, and at length, after passing the site of Carthage, a favourable wind from the southeast enabled them to stretch across to the western side of Sardinia, still keeping near the shore, in order to run aground, if necessary, to avoid the approach of an enemy. The sombre disquietude of this voyage afforded the most striking contrast to the brilliant anticipations of the former. His favourite aides-decamp were all killed; Caffarelli, Brueys, Casa-Bianca, were no more; the illusions of hope were dispelled, the visions of imagination extinguished; no more scientific conversations enlivened the weary hours of navigation, no more historical recollections gilded the headlands which they passed. One only apprehension occupied every mind, the dread of falling in with English cruizers; an object of rational disquietude to every one on board, but of mortal anxiety to Napoleon, from the destruction which it Bour. iii. Would occasion to the fresh ambitious projects which already filled his mind.' 5, 6, 7. He lands at Corsica. Contrary winds obliged the vessel which conveyed him to put into Ajaccio in Corsica, where he revisited for the first time, since his prodigious elevation, the house of his fathers and the scenes of his infancy. CHAP. XXV. 1799. and avoids He there learnt the result of the battle of Novi and the death of Joubert. This only increased the feverish anxiety of his mind; and he began to contemplate with horror the ennui of the quarantine at Toulon, where he proposed to land. His project at times was to make for Italy, take the command of Sets sail, the Italian army, and gain a victory, the intelligence the English of which he hoped would reach Paris as soon as that fleet. of his victory at Aboukir. At length, after a sojourn of eight days at the place of his nativity, he set sail with a fair wind. On the following evening, an English fleet of fourteen sail was descried in the midst of the rays of the setting sun. Admiral Gantheaume proposed to return to Corsica, but Napoleon replied, "No. Spread every sail; every man to his post; steer for the north-west." This order proved the salvation of the ships; the English saw the frigates, and made signals to them; but concluding, from the view they got with their glasses, that they were of Venetian construction, then at peace with Great Britain, they did not give chase. The night was spent in the utmost anxiety, during which Napoleon resolved, if escape was impossible, to throw himself into a boat, and trust for safety to his oars; but the morning sun dispelled these apprehensions; by disclosing the English fleet steering peaceably towards the north-east. All sail was now spread for France; and at length, on the 8th October, the 8th Oct, long wished for mountains of Provence appeared; and the frigates shortly after anchored in the bay of Frejus. The impatience and enthusiasm of the inhabitants when they heard of his arrival, knew no bounds; the sea was covered with boats eager to get a glimpse of the Conqueror of the East; the quaran Lands in France. Th. x. our.. 13, 16, 20. 430, 431. iii. XXV. CHAP. tine laws were, by common consent, disregarded; and Napoleon landed in a few hours, and set off the same day for Paris. 1799. expedition affords of superiority of civilized to savage arms. The expedition to Egypt demonstrates one fact of Proof which more importance to mankind than the transitory the Egyptian conquests of civilized nations over each other. It can no longer be doubted, from the constant triumphs of a small body of European troops over the whole forces of the East, that the invention of fire-arms and artillery, the improvement of discipline, and the establishment of regular soldiers as a separate profession, have given the European a decided superiority over the other nations of the world. Europe, in the words of Gibbon, may now contemplate without apprehension an irruption of the Tartar horse; barbarous nations, to overcome the civilized, must cease to be barbarous. The progress of this superiority since the era of the Crusades is extremely remarkable. On the same ground where the whole feudal array of France perished, under St Louis, from the arrows of the Egyptians, the Mameluke cavalry was dispersed by half the Italian army of the Republic; and ten thousand veterans could with ease have wrested that Holy Land from the hordes of Asia, which Saladin successfully defended against the united forces of France and England under Richard Coeur de Lion. Civilisation, therefore, has given Europe a decided superiority over barbaric valour; if it is a second time overwhelmed by savage violence, it will not be because the means of resistance are awanting, but because the courage to wield them has decayed. It is a curious speculation, what would have been the fate of Asia and the world if Napoleon had not XXV. 1799. flections on Eastern Em Napoleon. been arrested at Acre by Sir Sydney Smith, and had CHAP. accomplished his project of arming the Christian population of Syria and Asia Minor, against the Mussulman power. When it is recollected that, in General rethe parts of the Ottoman empire where the Turkish the probable population is most abundant, the number of Chris- fate of an tians is in general triple that of their oppressors, pire under there can be little doubt that, headed by that great general, and disciplined by the French veterans, a force could have been formed which would have subverted the tottering fabric of the Turkish power, and possibly secured for its ruler a name as terrible as Gengis Khan, or Tamerlane. But there seems no reason to believe that such a sudden apparition, how splendid soever, would have permanently altered the destinies of mankind, or that the Oriental empire of Napoleon would have been more lasting than that of Alexander or Nadir Shah. With the life of the hero who had formed, with the energy of the veterans who had cemented it, the vast dominion would have perished. The Crusades, though supported for above a century by the incessant tide of European enthusiasm, were unable to form a lasting establishment in Asia. It is in a different region, from the arms of another power, that we are to look for the permanent subjugation of the Asiatic powers, and the final establishment of the Christian religion in the regions from which it sprung. The north is the quarter from whence all the great settlements of mankind have come, and by its inhabitants all the lasting conquests of history have been effected. Napoleon indirectly paved the way for a permanent revolution in the East; but it was destined to be accomplished, not by the capture of Acre, but the |