doubt* for 3 iRQmeot, what the- fate e£ Egypt would be if England
lhould relinquiffi the poffeffion of Malta. The Firft Conful,
indeed, in an, unguarded moment of frenzy, has moft unequivocally
avowed, it. The dcftruCtioti of the Ottoman Government
is another- objeCt of French; ambition. One of the moft
intelligent, of the French officers, is his correfpondence with the
Executive Directory, obferves, “ The Ottoman Empire is ge-
« nerally regarded-as: an old edifice, tottering to its fall. The
“ European^ powers have long been preparing to divide its fcat-
« tpred fragment«,. and many politicians conceive that the cataf-
u trophe is clolk at hand, la this fuppofition, they think it but
& right-that France ihould have her ffiare of the fpoils y and the
“ ¿art allotted to her k Egypt ”
But let thofe profefled Gofinopolit.es, who, from principles of
pretended humanity, declare themfelves friends to the difmem-
berment of the Turkiih Empire, refieCt ferioufly on the confe-
qjiences that would inevitably enfue were France concerned in
th.e diffolution and partition of this government. However definable
it may feem to free the Greeks from the miferable yoke
vmder whieh they long have groaned, yet a-fudden tranfition
firpm flavery fo freedom would fcarcely be borne with more
moderation by the Greeks,, than by the French at home or the
negroes in the Weft India iftands. Nor would the horrors o f a
revolution be confined to the Turkifh provinces. The lfcen-
ftpus army who might effeCt it, trained andaecuftomed to rapine
and plunder, led, on by needy or ambitious officers, who, on
th,eir.part,. are fpurred by the aggrandizing views of their government*
would not be content to fit down with Egypt as their
ffiare
ffiare of the plunder. As Malta was the ftep that led them to
Egypt, fo would Egypt be to Syria, and Syria to the poffeffion
of India ; to the plunder of that wealth which, in their opinion,
is the great fupport of Britain. Thus would the fcourge of
their inordinate ambition be felt'from the Nile to the Ganges,
and from thence, in all probability, to, the Yellow Sea. And by
adverting to the geographical pofition of the fouthern extremity
of Africa, in relation to other countries, and to the advantages
it commands as a military ftation, we ffiall perceive with what
eaie might all the ports of South America be made fubfervient
to their ambitious views, and how lpeedily that great continent
from the ifthmus of Darien to Terra del Fuego would fall into
their infatiable grafp. The accornpliffiment of thefe objeifts,
chimerical as they may appear, are prevented only by the
tranfcendant and invincible ftrength of the Britiffi navy.
As it muft therefore obvioufly be the intereft of the whole
world that the reftlefs and aggrandizing fpirit of France ffiould
effectually be countered, and as the Cape of Good Hope and
JVlalta in her pofieffion would forward her views at univerlal
dominion, there can be no reafonable objections made on the
part of the other powers of Europe againft thefe two grand
points of fecurity being left, at a general peace, in the bands of
England, or, at all events, to be protected byEngliffi garriions,
as: fome guarantee againft the defigns o f the general enemy of
the human, race.
As the importance ®f every military ftation muft depend* in
a eonfiderable degree,, on. the ffifficiency of the works that either
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