Still the impending storm grew blacker round Kleber’s diminished
forces. A detachment from the grand vizier’s army,
which was encamped at Gaza, had besieged and taken el Arisch;
and in thegrand vizier’s camp before this place a convention was
signed on the 24th of january, 1800, by which Kleber agreed to
evacuate Egypt. Sir W . Sidney Smith had acceded to this convention,
the terms of which indeed we may presume to have
been framed under his direction; and certainly they were honourable
to all parties, the french, yet unsubdued, being allowed
to depart with their arms and baggage, while, as far as the interests
of Great Britain were concerned, they rendered her secure,
from any danger, that the possession of Egypt by the french might
threaten; a security doomed not to be purchased without the ef-.
fusion of much blood.
Unfortunately lord Keith, who commanded in the Mediterranean,
found it inconsistent with his orders, to suffer the french to
depart, unless as prisoners of war. Indignant at this unexpected
breach of the convention, Kleber notified to the grand vizier, to
whom several places had already been delivered up, and who was
now encamped at Matarea, his determination to recommence hostilities.
On the 20th of march, at daybreak, he began to cannonade
the advanced posts of the ottoman army, and at length
the engagement became general. I t ended in the total defeat of
the turks, who lost about 8000 men killed and wounded, nineteen
pieces of cannon, and part of their camp equipage.
While the french were pursuing the grand vizier, Nasouf
bashaw and Mourad bey entered Cairo, where they massacred
whatever ffenchmen they found, as well as numbers of the greeks
and copts. As soon as Kleber returned, he invested the city,
which was obstinately defended for some time; but at length he
obtained possession of it, and punished in an exemplary manner
the cruelties, that had been committed on the french and their
partisans.
Thus a total change in the face of affairs was produced; and
the french, instead of relinquishing Egypt, appeared to be confirmed
in the possession o f the country. Kleber, indeed, was
assassinated at Cairo, on the ] 4 th of june, by a fanatic, at the
instigation of the aga of the janissaries, and with the privity of a
few sheicks; but this event was attended with no farther consequence;
and his successor, Menou, for several months experienced
no molestation from without, no revolt or disturbance within.
This calm, however, was the precursor of their final ruin. On
the 2d of march, 1801, the fleet under the command of lord
Keith, having on board general Abercrombie with an army of
16000 men, arrived in the bay of Aboukeer; but the wind blew
too hard to allow any attempt to land. On the 7th the gale had
subsided, and at two o’clock in the morning of the 8th about a
hundred and fifty boats were filled with near six thousand men.
By break of day they had all arrived at the place of rendezvous,
and having made all the necessary preparations and arrangements,
at eight they pushed on toward the land. On the sand hills
rising in gradation from the shore four thousand french were
posted, their left flanked by the castle of Aboukeer, and their
centre strengthened by a hill much higher than any of the rest.