The fate of the French army in Egypt was sealed about a fortnight before the battle of Copenhagen. The British troops destined against Egypt in the preceding year were sent to Marmorica, on the coast of Caramania, under an expectation of receiving assistance from the Turks. This expectation was not realized; but Sir Ralph Abercrombie resolved at all hazards to attempt the dislodgement of the French from Egypt. He landed in Aboutir Bay on the 8th of March, in the very face of the French, and under a heavy fire of grape-shot from artillery, as well as from the cannon of Aboukir castle. The French, however, were dispersed at the point of the bayonet; and on the 12th the British army moved forward, and came within sight of the enemy, advantageously posted on a ridge between the canal of Alexandria and the sea. In point of numbers the British were far inferior to the French, but Sir Ralph Abercrombie proceeded to the attack next day. This failed; but on the 21st of March a general battle took place, which resulted in the complete success of the British arms. The triumph of our troops was dearly purchased by the death of Abercrombie, who received his mortal wound by a musket-ball in the thigh during the heat of the battle, but who sustained himself till the victory was gained, when he died, universally lamented for his great and good qualities, both of head and heart. The loss of the English in killed, wounded, and missing was computed at two thousand, and that of the French at double that number. The command of the British army devolved on General Hutchinson, who perfected the work which his predecessor had commenced; for although the French were defeated, they were still powerful both at Alexandria and Cairo. Menou, the French commander, had retired into Alexandria; and this was almost insulated by General Hutchinson, by cutting through the embankments which served to retain the waters of the Aboukir lake, and by inundating a dry bed of the ancient lake Mareotis. Leaving General Coote with 6500 men to maintain the lines before Alexandria, General Hutchinson proceeded to Ramani Eh, and having driven the French from this post, he advanced still further up the Nile, towards Cairo. He was joined near Cairo by some Mamelukes, Turks, Arabs, Syrians, and Copts, who now all offered their aid to expel the French from Egypt. Cairo was invested, and on the 27th of June, the French General, Belliarde, capitulated, on condition that his troops should be embarked and conveyed to the French ports of the Mediterranean at the expense of the allied powers. At this moment Major General Baird was ascending the Red Sea with an army of British and Sepoys, and some of the East India Company’s artillery. But before he could unite his forces at Cairo, Menou capitulated on the same conditions as Belliarde, and Egypt was now cleared of the French. The expedition which had been commenced with a series of victories, ended in defeat and disgrace. With an inferior force, the British army wrested an important country from the enemy, and restored it to their allies.
GEORGE III. 1801-1806
AFFAIRS ON THE CONTINENT.
In the month of March, the court of Madrid, hoping to stop a French invasion of Spain by submission to the will of the first consul, declared war against Portugal. A Spanish army invaded the Portuguese provinces in April; and in the month of June Lisbon purchased peace by yielding some territory to Spain, and by engaging to shut their ports against the English. In this treaty, however, Napoleon refused to concur; and he sent a French army through Spain to attack Portugal. Almeida was invested, and Lisbon and Oporto menaced, when the court of Lisbon consented to a treaty, by which Buonaparte agreed to withdraw his troops, and respect the integrity and independence of Portugal, on condition that they, on their part, should confirm to Spain all the territory which had recently been ceded; should make one-half of Portuguese Guiana over to the French; should shut all the ports and roads of Portugal in Europe against all English vessels, until peace was concluded with England; should nullify all preceding treaties and conventions with England; should treat France in all matters of commerce as the most favoured nation; and should admit all French commodities and merchandise whatsoever. The Portuguese court likewise paid twenty millions of francs to the French republic. In their distress, the Portuguese court had solicited the aid of England; but our government could do nothing more than to send an expedition to take possession of the island of Madeira, in order to secure it for Portugal.
NAVAL OPERATIONS.
The naval war this year was very languid. The French and Spanish fleets did not venture out of port, and their detached squadrons put to sea only in the absence of the English. On the 6th of July a French squadron was attacked by Sir James Saumerez in the road of Algeiras; but after a hard struggle he was induced to retire. This disappointment, however, only served to stimulate the British to another action. The ships which had been damaged in the late contest were repaired with all possible expedition, and when the French, joined by a Spanish squadron, were sailing towards Cadiz, he attacked them, and one line-of-battle ship, of seventy-four guns, was captured, and two others blew up with the loss of about two thousand men. On the 1st of August Admiral Lord Nelson, with a flotilla of gun-boats and other vessels, stood over to the coast of France to reconnoitre the preparations said to be making for the invasion of England. On the 4th of the same month he sunk two floating batteries and destroyed some gun-boats; but a subsequent attack on the flotilla in the harbour failed. During this year the islands of St. Martin and St. Eustatius were reduced; while in the east, the Batavian settlement of Ternate, the principal of the Molucca islands, surrendered to the British, under Captain Haynes.