THE BATTLE OF ALEXANDRIA.
On the afternoon following the capture of Aboukir Castle, an Arab was
seen riding at full speed towards the British left. He was pursued by
some French cavalry, and another party endeavoured to cut him off. The
general happened to be at the time watching the troops at work
completing the batteries on that flank.
"That Arab is well mounted," he said, as he and those around him watched
the chase. "I believe he will get through if he is not shot," for, at
this moment, the cavalry behind him, seeing that he was leaving them
fast, began to use their carbines. Waving his gun over his head, and
from time to time giving a yell of derision and defiance, the Arab swept
round towards his right, and so passed ahead of the troop that had
endeavoured to cut him off, then bore round again, until he reached the
bank of the canal, and galloped along it, slackening his pace as a
musketry fire was opened from the battery, and the French cavalry turned
and rode away. The Arab rode across the bridge over the canal, and then
cantered up to the battery. As he was crossing the bridge, the idea that
had for a minute or two previously been in Edgar's mind rose to a
certainty.
"It is Sidi!" he exclaimed.
The general turned and looked at him interrogatively.
"It is the young chief of the Beni Ouafy, the tribe I was with when I
was here, sir; we call each other brother, and indeed are that in
feeling. We have saved each other's life more than once."
"Go and meet him then, and bring him here," the general said. "You spoke
frequently of him when describing your journeys to and from Cairo."
Sidi had checked his horse as he approached the battery, not seeing any
entrance to it, and was pausing, irresolute which way to turn, when
Edgar leapt from an embrasure and ran towards him. The Arab did not in
the least recognize his friend in the naval officer who advanced to meet
him. He had supposed him to be in England, and, indeed, as it was now
some months over two years since they had parted, and Edgar had grown
and widened out into a fine manly figure, Sidi would hardly have
recognized him had he come across him suddenly in a civilian dress. He
was astounded, when, on coming close to him, Edgar held out both hands
and cried:
"Sidi, my brother!"
The voice was unchanged. Sidi, with the shout of "All praise be to
Allah!" flung himself from his saddle, grasped Edgar's hands, and stood
there speechless with joy and emotion, and with tears standing in his
eyes. Edgar himself was much moved.
"Is all well with you, Sidi?" he asked; "the chief and your mother?"
"It is well with us all," Sidi answered. "We talk of you always, but had
not hoped to see you so soon. Little did I dream that I should not know
you when we met, though, when we heard that your people had landed and
had beaten the French, we thought that the time might not be very far
off when the Franks would go, and you might return. So you are an
officer, one of the ship officers?"
"Yes, Sidi. We met a ship-of-war as I sailed from here, and since I
could speak Arabic and Turkish I was made an officer, and was at the
siege of Acre, where we beat off the French; but we will talk of all
that afterwards. Our general saw you coming, and thinking that you might
have news for us, requested me to bring you to him."
"I have news," Sidi said.
"Do not tell me now, it is best that you should tell him first."
Walking side by side, Sidi leading his horse, they went round to the
entrance to the battery. As they entered, Edgar told one of the
general's orderlies to hold the horse, and then took Sidi up to Sir
Ralph Abercrombie.
"This is the English general, Sidi," he said. Sir Ralph held out his
hand to the young sheik, who raised it to his forehead.
"Our hearts are rejoiced," he said, "that you have come at last to fight
for us against the Franks. I bring you news, my lord. Late yesterday
their general, Menou, with a large force, arrived at Damanhour. I have
been among them. There must be five thousand men. His intentions are to
march to-day and to attack with all his force to-morrow morning."
"This is important news, indeed!" the general said, as Edgar translated
the message. "Ask him if he speaks merely from report or from his own
knowledge."
Sidi then said that some of the tribe had early that morning started
with a number of sheep, intending to bring them round into the British
camp. They were surprised by a body of French cavalry coming from
Damanhour. Several of the tribesmen were killed, but two escaped, being
well mounted, and brought the news to their camp. On the way they met
him, he having started some hours later, knowing that he could easily
overtake them before they reached the British camp. Seeing the
importance of the matter, he told them to tell his father that he should
try and find out how many of the French were at Damanhour, and take the
news to the British. He had then ridden toward that place, and
remembering how he had passed unsuspected before, had left his horse
there, had obtained the loan of a peasant's dress, had bought half a
dozen sheep, and had driven them into the town.
He found it crowded with the French. Having sold his sheep, he had
wandered about among the soldiers, and had entered into conversation
with some of the natives who had been engaged at Cairo as drivers of the
baggage-carts. From them he had learned that the French
general-in-chief, Menou, who had succeeded Kleber on the latter's
assassination at Cairo, was himself there, and that he intended to
attack at once with the troops he had brought, and with those in the
city. As soon as he obtained this news he returned to the village,
changed his dress, mounted, and rode off at full speed.
The party that had been seen chasing him was a cavalry squadron, whom he
had come upon suddenly while they were dismounted and sitting down in
the shade of a grove, and who, judging that he was making for the
British camp, had started in pursuit. Knowing well enough that they
could not catch him, he had amused himself by keeping but a short
distance in advance, and had not put his horse to its full speed until
he saw the mounted party coming out from the French lines to cut him
off.
The general listened attentively to Edgar as he translated the story.
"Please to question him again, Lieutenant Blagrove, as to the report
that Menou intends to attack us as soon as he gets here. It is, as you
see, of the greatest importance. Late as it is this afternoon, and
formidable as are the French lines, I should endeavour to carry them as
soon as the troops can form up, for it would be hopeless to try to do so
to-morrow when Menou arrives. If, on the other hand, he really means to
take the offensive, I should prefer remaining in our present position,
for I think that we could maintain it against the whole of the French
army, and that more easily than we could carry their line of defences
held by only the troops at present in front of us."
Edgar questioned Sidi again. The latter said that he had heard the same
story from three different persons. The French had arrived late the
evening before, and when he left, the bugles were sounding and they
were beginning to fall in for their march, and would probably reach
Alexandria by ten at night. The men had said that it was the talk among
the soldiers that they should take the English by surprise at daybreak
and drive them into the sea.
"That certainly seems to decide it," the general said. "They have made a
mistake indeed, if they think that they will catch us napping."
Orders were at once issued for a number of the troops to set to work to
complete the defences. Another battery was, during the night, erected in
front of the Roman ruins. A redoubt in front of the position of the
Guards was strengthened, and other points seen to.
At three o'clock in the morning the army was, as usual, under arms. Half
an hour later there was a sudden outburst of firing on the extreme left.
The firing continued, but it did not increase in strength, as would have
been the case had a serious attack been made, and General Moore, who was
the general officer of the night, remained on the right, against which
portion of the line he believed the real attack would be delivered. It
was still dark, and all waited anxiously for some sign of the spot
against which the storm was to burst.
Suddenly loud shouts were heard in advance of the right. A roar of
musketry immediately broke out. Covered by the inequalities of the
ground, the French had crept up unobserved by the sentries until close
at hand, and the moment the alarm was given, sprang forward in great
force, and the advanced pickets fell back on the main position at once.
A heavy column of French advanced against a ruined wall, behind which
the 58th were lying. The wall was of considerable length, and in many
places had fallen and left wide openings. Here the 58th were posted.
Their colonel made his men hold their fire until the enemy were close to
them, when volley after volley was poured into them, so well aimed and
deadly that the enemy retired quickly into a hollow in their rear, then
wheeled round to the right, and while one column marched straight at the
newly-formed battery, another endeavoured to force its way round its
left and take it in rear.
The 28th Regiment stationed there opened a heavy fire on the force
attacking them in front, but the flanking column, now joined by a third,
forced its way in behind the battery. While some attacked it in the
rear, the rest penetrated into the ruins held by the 58th. Its colonel
wheeled back the left wing of the regiment, and after two or three
volleys, fell on the French with the bayonet. At this moment the 23rd
came up in support, and the 42nd advanced from the left, and, keeping on
the outside of the ruins, cut off the troops which had entered, and
after suffering heavy loss they were compelled to surrender.
The 28th had remained firmly at the front line of the redoubt, and they
and the 58th had hitherto been supporting simultaneously attacks in
front, flank, and rear. The arrival of the 42nd for a time relieved
them, but as the latter regiment approached the right of the redoubt,
the enemy's cavalry, which had passed round by its left, charged them
furiously and broke them. The Highlanders, however, gathered in groups,
and fought desperately until relieved by the fire of the flank companies
of the 40th, and the cavalry, passing on, were about to charge this
small force, when the foreign brigade came up from the second line and
poured such a heavy fire into the French cavalry that they fled.
[Illustration: GIVING A YELL OF DERISION AND DEFIANCE
_Page 323_]
As soon as the fire broke out, General Abercrombie, with his staff,
mounted and proceeded towards the point where the battle was raging.
On the way he detached his aides-de-camp with orders to different
brigades, and while thus alone with an escort of dragoons, some of the
French cavalry dashed at him and he was thrown from his horse. A French
officer rode up to cut him down, but he sprang at him, seized his sword,
and wrested it from his hand. At that instant the officer was bayoneted
by one of the 42nd.
[Illustration: Battle of ALEXANDRIA
arst. March 1801.]
While this incident was proceeding Sir Ralph received a musket-ball in
the thigh, and also a severe contusion on the breast, probably by a
splinter of stone struck by a cannon-ball. In the heat of the action he
was unconscious of the first wound, but felt much pain from the
contusion. At this moment Sir Sidney Smith rode up; he had accidentally
broken his sword, and the general discerning it, at once presented him
with the one that he had wrested from the French officer. He then took
up his station in the battery, from which he could obtain a view of the
whole scene of the battle, for by this time it was daylight. The contest
still raged. Another body of cavalry charged the foreign brigade, but
were received with so heavy a fire that they did not press the charge
home. The French infantry were now no longer in column, but spread out
everywhere in skirmishing order. The ammunition of the English on the
right was by this time totally exhausted, and but one cartridge remained
for each of the guns in the battery.
The chief point of attack was now the centre. Here a column of
grenadiers, supported by a heavy line of infantry, advanced to the
assault, but the Guards stoutly maintained themselves until General
Coote, with his brigade, came up, and the French were then driven back.
All this time the French guns kept up an incessant cannonade on the
British position. The attack on the British left, which had been but a
feint, was never seriously pursued, but was confined to a scattered fire
of musketry and a distant cannonade. General Hutchinson, who commanded
here, kept his force in hand; for, had he moved to the assistance of the
centre and right, a serious attack might have been made on him, and the
flank being thus turned, the position would have been taken in rear.
On the right the French as well as the British had exhausted their
ammunition, and the singular spectacle was presented of two hostile
forces pelting each other with stones, by which many heavy blows were
given on both sides, and some killed, among them a sergeant of the 28th.
The grenadiers and a company of the 40th presently moved out against the
assailants, and the French then fell back. General Menou, finding that
all his attacks had failed, now called off his troops. Fortunately for
them the artillery ammunition was now exhausted, but they lost a good
many men by the fire of some British cutters, which had during the whole
action maintained their position a short distance in advance of the
British right, and greatly aided the defenders of the redoubt by their
fire.
By ten o'clock the action was over. Until the firing ceased altogether
Sir Ralph Abercrombie remained in the battery paying no attention to his
wounds, and, indeed, the officers who came and went with orders were
ignorant that he had been hit. Now, however, faint with loss of blood,
he could maintain his position no longer, and was placed in a hammock
and carried down to the shore, and rowed off to the flagship. As soon as
the French had withdrawn, attention was paid to the wounded. The total
loss was 6 officers and 230 men killed, 60 officers and 1190 men
wounded. The French loss was heavier. 1700 French, killed and wounded,
were found on the battlefield, and 1040 of these were buried on the
field. Taking the general proportion of wounded and killed, the French
loss, including the prisoners, amounted to 4000 men; one French standard
and two guns were captured.
The total British force was under 10,000 men, of whom but half were
seriously engaged. The French were about 11,000 strong, of whom all,
save the 800 who made the feint on the British left, took part in the
fighting. On the 25th the Capitan Pasha, with 6000 men, arrived in the
bay, and landed and encamped. Three days later the army was saddened by
the news of the death of Sir Ralph Abercrombie. He was succeeded in his
command by General Hutchinson. For some time Edgar had an idle time of
it. The French had failed in their attack, but they had not been
defeated, and their position was too strong to be attacked. The Capitan
Pasha had with him an excellent interpreter, and therefore his services
were not required in that capacity.
The night before the battle he stopped up all night talking with Sidi,
relating all that had happened since he had left him, and hearing from
him what had taken place on land. This was little enough. A great number
of the Arabs had gathered in readiness to sweep down upon the French
when they attacked the Turkish army at Aboukir, but when the latter had,
with terrible slaughter, been driven into the castle, they had scattered
to their homes. The next day the young Arab witnessed with delight the
repulse of the French attack, and at the conclusion of the fight rode
away to tell his father of Edgar's return, and of the events that he had
witnessed. The sheik had come back with him on the following day,
accompanied by some of his followers, and their tents were pitched on a
sand-hill a short distance in the rear of the British lines.
Until April 13th nothing was done. The army was too small to undertake
any operations, and was forced to remain in its position, as it might at
any moment be again attacked.
In the pocket of General Roiz, who had been killed in the battle, was
found a letter from General Menou, expressing fear that the English
would cut the Canal of Alexandria and let the waters of it and Lake
Aboukir into the old bed of Lake Mareotis. It was evident that an
immense advantage would be gained by this. Our own left would be secure
against attack. The French would be nearly cut off from the interior,
and the British army be enabled to undertake fresh operations. General
Hutchinson, however, hesitated for a long time before taking the step. A
tract of rich country would be overwhelmed, and none of the Arabs could
say how far the inundations would reach. However, the step was evidently
so much to the advantage of the army that at last he gave the order,
and on the 13th of April the work began, and that evening the water
rushed out from Lake Aboukir through two cuts. Others were opened the
next day. The rush of water quickly widened these, and soon the
inundation spread over a large tract of country behind Alexandria.
A considerable force was at once detached to support Colonel Spencer,
who was menacing Rosetta, and marched to El Hamed. Sir Sidney Smith
ascended the Nile with an armed flotilla as far as El Aft, and on the
19th aided the Turks in capturing Fort St. Julian, a strong place
between Rosetta and the mouth of the Nile. After the fall of St. Julian,
Rosetta was taken possession of with but little difficulty. Soon after
this, to the deep regret of the navy, Sir Sidney Smith was recalled to
his ship. The Grand Vizier had a serious grudge against him. This arose
from a capitulation that had, shortly after the retreat of the French
from Acre, been agreed upon between the Turkish authorities and the
French, by which the latter were to be permitted to evacuate Egypt.
Sir Sidney Smith had not been consulted, but considering, and justly,
that the advantages were great, had signed it. Lord Keith, as
commander-in-chief, had refused to ratify the treaty, and the English
government, who were in high spirits at the blow struck at the French at
Acre, agreed with his action. Sir Sidney Smith, as soon as he received
Lord Keith's despatch, sent a mounted messenger to Cairo to inform
General Kleber that the terms of the convention were rejected. The
despatch reached the French just as they were preparing to evacuate
Cairo. Unfortunately, the Grand Vizier, who, with his army, was but a
short distance away from the town, did not receive a similar intimation,
and approaching the city with his troops, but without guns, was
attacked by the French, and suffered a disastrous defeat.
The Turks had not forgiven Sir Sidney Smith for this misfortune, but the
latter had not supposed for a moment that the Turks themselves would
have neglected to apprise the Grand Vizier of the news, and only thought
of warning the French. The Grand Vizier now demanded that Sir Sidney
Smith should not take part in any operations in which he and the Turkish
army were concerned, or retain the command of the naval flotilla that he
had created, and with which he had performed such excellent service in
opening the Nile for the ascent of the gun-boats and the native craft
laden with stores for the supply of the troops that were to advance
against Cairo. General Hutchinson, very weakly and unworthily, and to
the indignation and regret both of the army and fleet, at once gave way,
and Admiral Keith, instead of supporting his subordinate, who had gained
such renown and credit, and had shown such brilliant talent, acquiesced,
and appointed Captain Stevenson of the _Europa_ to succeed Sir Sidney in
command of the flotilla that was to ascend the Nile to Cairo.
This surrender of one of our most distinguished officers to the
prejudices of a Turkish commander was, in all respects, a disgraceful
one, but from Sir Sidney Smith's first appointment Admiral Keith had
exhibited a great jealousy of his obtaining a command that rendered him
to some extent independent, and had lost no opportunity of showing his
feeling. Indeed, there can be little doubt that the discourteous manner
in which he repudiated, without any authority from the English
government, the convention that would have saved all the effusion of
blood and cost of the British expedition was the result of his jealousy
of the fame acquired by Sir Sidney Smith. The latter, greatly hurt at
the unjust and humiliating manner in which he had been treated, at once
returned to the _Tigre_, where the delight of the crew at being again
under his command was at least some alleviation to the pain he felt.
Edgar, who had obtained leave of absence for a week, and who had ridden
with the sheik for a stay of a few days at his camp, had not heard of
the slight inflicted upon his kind friend until his return. He at once
went on board the _Tigre_ and sent in his name to his commander.
"I have come, Sir Sidney," he said when he was shown into the latter's
cabin, "to say that I desire to be recalled from service on shore. After
the manner in which you have been deprived of your command, I feel that
I could not remain for a day upon the staff of General Hutchinson."
Sir Sidney smiled.
"You are too impetuous, Blagrove. I have received too many assurances
from the officers of the fleet to doubt what their feelings are at the
course that has been taken, but that can make no difference in their
duty. It is to do their best in the various positions they occupy,
without allowing the question whether they consider that an individual
has been unjustly treated to influence them in any way. The service
comes before everything. It is distinctly for the benefit of the service
that General Hutchinson should have the advantage of your knowledge of
the country and of its languages, and, moreover, you really received
your promotion in no small degree owing to the fact that you were going
to act as a sort of interpreter and guide to the general commanding the
expedition, and although unhappily Sir Ralph Abercrombie's death has
caused a change in that command, that in no way alters the arrangements.
"In the next place I think that you would be foolish to resign, because
there can be no doubt that there will very shortly be an advance
against Cairo. The inundations and the strong defences that the troops
have been throwing up will enable a comparatively small number to hold
the garrison here in check. The Capitan Pasha's men have fought bravely
at Rosetta, and the Grand Vizier's army is making its way down to join
him. From what they say these are a mere rabble, but with five thousand
or six thousand of our troops and Capitan Pasha's force, we ought to be
able to make a good fight, even without the Vizier's people. At any
rate, you would like afterwards to have gone to Cairo with our troops,
and there is no doubt that your knowledge of the country will be very
valuable. It would be a pity not to see the thing through when you have
been in it from the very beginning.
"Lastly, Mr. Blagrove, I should be sorry, indeed, that any naval officer
should evince any feeling whatever with regard to a matter purely
personal to myself. I should therefore take it as a particular favour to
me that you should continue to hold the appointment to which you have
been posted."
"Thank you, Sir Sidney," Edgar said; "of course I will in that case
retain the appointment. Now that I think of it, indeed, I feel that it
was an impertinence to manifest in any way my feeling at General
Hutchinson's conduct; my excuse must be that I only returned from my
trip with the sheik half an hour since, and on hearing the news was so
stirred that I ran down to the landing-place and came off on the impulse
of the moment. You have shown me such extreme kindness, sir, that at the
time it seemed to me a matter almost personal to myself."
"Do not apologize," Sir Sidney Smith said kindly; "the feeling did you
credit as a man, though as an officer personal feelings cannot be
permitted to sway the actions. Now go ashore again and report yourself
as returned from leave."
The advance up the Nile did not take place for some little time, as
great preparations were necessary. Fortunately large numbers of native
craft had been captured from the French, and stores were landed and
placed on board these for the use of the troops. Colonel Stewart was in
command of the British advanced force which accompanied the Capitan
Pasha's division. A large force of gun-boats and rowing-boats were
furnished by the fleet, and following the river banks the expedition
proceeded up the river. The French resistance was very feeble. Detached
parties were taken or driven off, but there was no fighting of a serious
character. For a time Edgar remained with General Hutchinson before
Alexandria, then he accompanied him to Rosetta, and, joining the main
British division, came up with the Turkish army, that had now been
joined by that of the Vizier, and the whole advanced towards Cairo.
They met with no real resistance on the march. There can be little doubt
that the French generals were hampered by the intense longing among the
troops to return to France. Their disasters in Syria had to some extent
been retrieved by the defeat of the Turks at Aboukir, but the appearance
of the great fleet of men-of-war and transports on the coast, followed
by the failure of Menou to drive, as was confidently expected, his
assailants back to their ships, produced a profound effect. The report
that Alexandria had been almost cut off from the rest of Egypt by the
inundation of Lake Mareotis, and that to regain the city an army would
have to force its way along the narrow neck of land between the lakes
Mareotis and Aboukir, seemed to diminish still further their hope of
ever getting away.
The news, therefore, that a great force of British and Turks, supported
by gun-boats, and accompanied by an immense flotilla carrying stores,
was ascending the Nile, reduced them almost to despair, and so unwilling
were they to fight, that when, on the approach of the Vizier's army to
Cairo, it was met by four thousand French, these suffered themselves to
be repulsed by the rabble and fell back to Cairo.
They were well aware that if they surrendered they would be guaranteed a
passage back to France. Better terms than this they could not hope to
obtain after the most vigorous resistance, involving a great and useless
loss of life. Therefore as soon as the whole allied force approached
Cairo, negotiations were begun, and on the 28th of June (1801) these
were concluded, and one of the gates of the town occupied by the Capitan
Pasha's body-guards, and a fort by the 30th Regiment, and on the 10th
the French evacuated the city, and the next day the Turkish troops took
possession of it.
In the meantime fighting had been going on almost incessantly in front
of Alexandria. General Coote, who was in command of the besieging force,
gradually gained ground. The French lines were forced backward, and on
September 2nd, finding the contest altogether hopeless, and most of the
British troops from Cairo having returned, reinforced by a British
native Indian army, the garrison capitulated. The number of troops,
including the sick, who surrendered in Alexandria, were 10,528, while
the force that surrendered at Cairo, which, like the other, was embarked
in British ships and taken to France, was 13,672; included among them
were 1900 sailors who had for the most part been landed after the battle
of Aboukir, while some had been drawn from the French war-ships that had
succeeded in running the blockade.
The Indian force arrived in time to witness the surrender of Alexandria,
but the fact that the work was practically accomplished by the 12,000
men who landed under General Abercrombie, aided after their work was
half done by a Turkish force of no great value, renders the operation
one of the most brilliant in our military history, and redounds equal
credit upon the gallant soldier who died in the hour of victory, on his
successor whose operations were most skilfully conducted, and on the
British officers and soldiers who endured no ordinary amount of
privation and labour under a burning sun.
Upon the advance to Cairo Edgar had been accompanied by the sheik and
his son with a score of their followers. The information that they were
enabled to give the general was of the greatest importance and value.
The sheik was intimately acquainted with every foot of the ground, and
on the force halting in the afternoon he was able to inform the
quartermaster-general of the most likely spot for the next
camping-ground, and of the distance and nature of the country to be
traversed. At daybreak he would start ahead with his party, ascertain
from the inhabitants of the villages whether any bodies of the enemy
were in the neighbourhood, and arrange with them to forward such
supplies of food and vegetables as remained at their disposal for sale,
to the spot selected for the camping-ground that afternoon.
The supplies were but small, for the French had well-nigh made the whole
country below Cairo a desert. Nevertheless, such as could be produced
were gladly purchased by the commissariat for the use of the troops, and
owing to the custom prevalent throughout the East of storing grain in
covered pits, the supply obtained as forage for the horses largely
exceeded expectations, for the peasants regarded the British as
deliverers from their oppressors, and upon being assured by the sheik
that they paid well for everything that they required, the pits that had
escaped the French searchers were thrown open at once. General
Hutchinson, on his return to carry out the siege of Alexandria to a
conclusion, reported to Admiral Keith his very warm appreciation of the
services that Lieutenant Blagrove had rendered him. Long before that
time the admiral had received from England a confirmation of the acting
rank he had given Edgar. As soon as the capitulation was signed,
although it had been stipulated that the British troops were not to go
into the town until the French took their departure, many officers did
so, as General Menou freely gave permission to enter to anyone who
applied for it. Edgar was one of the first of these, and, riding in,
alighted at his father's house.