Buonaparte, imitating Alexander, with a view of clearing a passage from
Egypt to the possession of India, embarked with a large force, and
after having treacherously obtained Malta, appeared off Alexandria.
It is rather a singular circumstance, that more than a century before
this expedition took place, Leibnitz, a German philosopher, addressed
a long and interesting document to Louis XIV., pointing out to him
the great advantages that would result to France from the conquest of
Egypt. This document was still in existence, and it is believed that
it assisted in inducing Buonaparte to leave his European conquests and
achieve something extraordinary in the East. His career in Egypt was
successful, and, among other places, he took Alexandria, our present
subject; but there was nothing in the details of the short siege of it
interesting enough to stop us. Nelson’s defeat of his fleet, and his
check by Sir Sidney Smith, at Acre, sent the great conqueror of the age
back again to his country, with a far smaller crop of laurels than he
had anticipated.