As soon as the boats were within a certain distance, a brisk fire
of shot and shells was opened upon them from fifteen pieces of
artillery, which the french had placed between the hillocks, beside
2500 musketry. Under this the english advanced, landed, formed
on the strand, and marched up the hill in the centre, with general
Moore at their head. The french could not withstand their attack,
but were driven from the summit, and down the back of
the hilh In the mean time the right of the french army, rushing
down to the beach, and even into the sea so as to kill some men
iti the boats, endeavoured in vain to oppose the disembarkation of
the troops. The soldiers formed with steadiness as they jumped
ashore, repelled the charge of a body of cavalry, and obliged the
french to give ground; who now perceiving the defeat of their
centre, and that they were consequently exposed to be taken in
the rear, deferred no longer their retreat.
The french having retired toward Alexandria, with the loss of
near 300 men, and eight pieces of cannon, the english took up
their ground, and the whole army was on shore before night. On
the 12th the british army moved forward, and came within sight
of the french, who were formed on an advantageous ridge, extending
from the sea to the canal of Alexandria. The next morning
an attack was ordered, the army marching in two lines to
turn the flank of the french, who soon came down from the
heights to charge the leading brigades commanded by major generals
Cradock and the earl of Cavan. They were soon repulsed
however, and compelled to retreat to a hill close to the walls of
Alexandria. In this position major general Moore with the reserve,
and major general Hutchinson, were preparing to attack
them on the right flank, while the rest of the troops assailed them
on their left; but it was found on reconnoitering O it', that,7 beinOg
commanded by a fortified hill within the walls, it could not be
tenable, and accordingly the french were left in quiet possession
of it: the british army encamping at a small distance between the
lake Mareotis and the sea.
On the 20th general Menou arrived at Alexandria with the
main body of his army, and the next morning, about an hour
before daybreak, he commenced a false attack on the left of the
british encampment, commanded by general Cradock, by whom
the french were repulsed. In the mean time Menou directed his
grand effort against the right, which Bonaparte’s invincible legion,
consisting of nine hundred men, volunteered to turn. They succeeded
so far as to pass between the battery that defended this
flank, and a large ruin near it. Three times they stormed the
battery, and three times every one that entered it was stretched
breathless on the ground. The reserve, consisting of the forty-
second and twenty-eighth regiments, finding the enemy in their
rear, had faced about, charged the french with the bayonet in
their turn, and drove them backward step by step into the ruin.
There two hundred and fifty called for quarter, and were made
prisoners. The rest were no more. Their standard, on which
were inscribed the many victories they had gained, was destined
to grace the triumph of their conquerors, remaining no longer to
those, by whom it had been so hardly earned in the plains of
Europe. While this was doing, the main body of the french
army in a heavy column broke through the british line into the
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