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and you will desire him without delay, to declare to the Peishwa and to Dowlut Rao Scindiah, in the most explicit and public manner, that the political relations subsisting between the Company and his Highness the Nizam, remain on the basis of the treaty of 1798, and have suffered no alteration whatever.

I am, Sir,

Your obedient Servant,

WELLESLEY.

MY LORD,

No. LXXX.

Sir Sidney Smith to the Marquess Wellesley.

Ottoman Camp, Jaffa, June 27th, 1800. I have considered it my duty, as the military commander, immediately opposed to the French force, whose progress, it was expected, would affect the British possessions in India to keep your Lordship constantly well informed of their motions and powers, but Mr. Morier, Secretary to his Majesty's Ambassador at the Porte, having informed me that it was in his instructions to correspond with your Lordship, and his situation in the camp of his Highness the Vizier enabling him to inform you of those details which were more immediately interesting to you to know, I have not thought it necessary to extend my correspondence with India of late, beyond my communication with the Admiral commanding his Majesty's ships in the Red Sea, and Colonel Murray, whom I have placed in correspondence with such of the Ottoman officers as are immediately near him. Mr. Morier will have written to your Lordship on the projected operations, but observing that he expresses more confidence in the military means of the Turks than in my opinion they are entitled to; I hope I may be allowed, without presumption, considering my experience of them to differ with that gentleman, having no sort of confidence that they can ever prevail against the French, or indeed that, after the checks they have met with, they can ever be brought to face the French army again, even if the Turkish Ministry should recover from the impression of French superiority, which has succeeded the misplaced con

tempt they had, or pretended to have, for their opponents, so as to venture to give an order to that effect. The Turkish troops may do real service as light troops on the flanks of regular European battalions, supported by European artillery; but alone they can do nothing; and the repeated defeats they have met with so discourages the country that the Government may be induced to close with the friendly overtures of the French from a sense of inability to do otherwise, particularly if the combined fleets again make their appearance in the Mediterranean. We may thus see the little they can do turned against us, and improved by the French, unless we expel the latter from Egypt, before they take fresh root, and make new establishments and connections under their present leader, Abdalla Menou, the successor of General Kleber, whose public profession of the Mahommedan religion gives him the same right of command over the Turks as the Beys of Egypt, or indeed any of those who fill the first offices of the empire, and who have risen to them from being Christian slaves. General Kleber had made a fresh offer to carry through his measure of evacuation the moment it should become practicable; but the atrocious assassination of that liberal man, and the succession of a renegado, the chief of the Colonist party, at the moment of the notification being made that the convention was ratified by our Government, throws things back into a worse state than they were at first, and the only chance we now have of the evacuation taking place is, the aversion of the majority of the army to remain in a climate so little congenial to the temperament and habits of Frenchmen, merely to realize the speculation of the Colonists or the gigantic projects of Buonaparte, who they know would rather sacrifice the whole of them thereto than see them return to France, to increase the number of the discontented there. Their present leader, Abdalla Menou, has not their confidence, therefore it is not likely he will be able to realize what it appears, however, probable he will attempt; he is the only officer who has embraced the Mahommedan religion; and the soldiers (whether those who have no religion at all, or the bon paysan, who has not forgot what the curate of his village taught him) look with contempt or indignation on their General going barefoot into a mosque to kiss the pavement, among the stupid herd they despise as ene

mies, and care not to court as friends; still, however, the worst is to be guarded against, and I watch closely for any symptoms of a movement to the eastward, of which I have none as yet; it is the facility alone which awakens my attention, and induces me to call your Lordship's to it; and, perhaps, the best bar to any such project would be to give them so much occupation in Egypt, on all sides, as to render such a movement, should they make it the appearance of a flight before a superior force, rather than a pursuit of the Vizier. To this end I have written to Murad Bey, in concert with his Highness, to prevent that indefatigable Chief from prolonging his truce with the French till it becomes a peace, or till they have brought over his remaining Mamelukes to them. I have met the advances of the other Beys in the Ottoman camp, who look to English liberality to interpose in case the usual policy of the Osmanlis should intend to sacrifice them; and I must say, in justice to the Vizier, that I have found his Highness well disposed to listen to the suggestion of European policy; admitting that all who are not against us in this question of the recovery of Egypt are for us, and should be encouraged to become active agents. I have written to Lord Keith, who at present holds Genoa closely blockaded by sea, while the Austrians do the same by land, to point out the necessity which has arisen for the British troops originally destined for Egypt coming up before the winter, his Lordship having informed me there are 6,000 at Mahon. This situation of things may decide your Lordship to reinforce Colonel Murray, and thus the French may be completely surrounded, and an efficient protection afforded to such of them as may be inclined to surrender, which no circumstances can induce them to do to Turks, whose cruelty and perfidy are a bar to all capitulations on any other terms than those of the convention. Neither could I have required them to lay down their arms, had we been the superior force, without the power or the means of affording them such protection, at a time when I knew that a most perfidious and atrocious plan existed of "inflicting punishment and exercising the most consummate vengeance on them," as was officially notified to me at the same time that all right of interference to prevent the execution of such a cruel and faithless project was withdrawn from me. Thanks to the liberality

of our Government, I am now authorized to secure the faithful observance of the engagements contracted with the enemy, and to avert the execution of that design. Kleber, in the offer he made soon after the battle, to abide by this convention whenever the obstacles to its execution were removed, said, he should require some "modifications," dictated by the change of circumstances. General Menou, who does not feel himself firmly seated in the command which has devolved to him, has answered my letter, announcing the ratification of our Government by a reference to the Consuls at Paris, while he talks of advantages for the republic, which, in my mind, amounts to a refusal to execute the conditions Kleber was satisfied with. The impatience of his army may oblige him to close with my second overture, which was on its way to Cairo when his letter, dated the 20th of June, came to me, meanwhile I am going off to Alexandria, there to continue the blockade, and keep up a demonstration of attack on that quarter till one can really be effected. It is necessary for us, at the same time, to keep a sharp look out to the northward, lest the French and Spanish fleets combined should again slip by ours, and go direct to the Dardanelles, which afford no very formidable defence to that passage, in which case the ferment in the capital would paralyze every effort of Government, and Constantinople would become the fulcrum of a new revolutionary lever, which Buonaparte, I know, projects to employ against your Lordship's Government. Lord Keith writes me word this combined fleet in Brest is thirty-six sail of the line, independent of what Cadiz and Carthagena may furnish; it has 17,000 troops on board, and its destination is said to be Ireland, Portugal, or Alexandria. Ireland is too tranquil since the union has gone through both houses there, for it to be worth Buonaparte's while to sacrifice a fleet to that object. Portugal does not afford any great temptation, and Alexandria has no harbour for a fleet. While the of Turkey, the realization of a favourite scheme, and the indirect relief of the Egyptian army, offer him an increase of power, a gratification to his pride, and a justification of his desertion, all which are become of such absolute necessity to him, that he must turn his views where these advantages are to be found. The season will suit such an operation in September, when the Equinoctial gales drive our fleets in, and

navy

offer a fair N. W. wind to Gibraltar, and from thence a fair S. W. one, all the way up to Constantinople. This is a project which just suits the genius of Buonaparte, and I propose great pleasure to myself, in thwarting his views by anticipation, and by opposing the means of resistance when the time may come. The evil is as yet far removed from your Lordship. I look, however, with confidence to your meeting it more than half way, as you did in the Mysore, thereby enabling us to keep the minds of the people of this country awake to our power, to protect or punish them as they may deserve; at present they need our protection, they look to us for it, and they ought not to be disappointed, lest they should look elsewhere. The opinion of the inhabitants is, as may well be supposed, from all circumstances of tradition, as well as recent events, much more in our favour than in that of the Atheistical French. The appearance of a British force in the Red Sea has had every good effect already, but Colonel Murray does not appear to have more than force enough to keep Cosseir; I wish he may be able to do that, for then the Sheriff of Mecca will be on our side, to keep the corn trade open, which is necessary to the existence of Arabia; and we have an entrance into Egypt by which we may get hold of the Nile, and render Cairo equally dependent without striking a stroke more than we chuse. The difficulties of a second expedition to the Cataracts being such as past experience will prevent the French army ever attempting, in any force, even if they could spare the men. One of the greatest difficulties is the climate, which is very unfavourable to Europeans; I should hope, however, less so to those who have been seasoned by an Indian campaign. General Desaix assured me that, of 3,000 men he had with him, 800 (himself, for the time, among the number) became blind in a three days' march, and the depôt being attacked, the hospital was obliged to defend itself by one man that could see, being placed to direct the fire of a squad, who could not; this is such a serious evil, that I think it necessary to send your Lordship what has been written on it by the Physician of the army of Egypt, who, by so much as he was ever the decided and open opponent of Buonaparte, I must consider as the friend of mankind. This man and I, as your Lordship sees by his note on the title page, are agreed to prevent useless evil and make war,

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