9th. I have laid a number of proposals before the Directoire relating to the composition of the army of England.

11th. All goes well. We are working hard at the reorganization of our navy, and at the formation of the army of England. Kléber, Desaix, Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Lefebvre, Championnet, are to be of the army. Joubert has gone to Holland.

29th. I will not remain here; there is nothing to be done. They will listen to nothing. I realize that if I stay my reputation will soon be gone. All things fade here, and my reputation is almost forgotten; this little Europe affords too slight a scope; I must go to the Orient; all great reputations have been won there. If the success of an expedition to England should prove doubtful, as I fear, the army of England will become the army of the East, and I shall go to Egypt.

The Orient awaits a man!

February 7th. I leave to-morrow to inspect the Atlantic coast. I shall be back in twelve days.

12th, Dunkirk:
It is said that the Dutch have numbers of fast-sailing flatboats; we must obtain from 150 to 250, with as many gunboats as possible. We must then get these vessels to Dunkirk at once, so as to be able to leave that port a month hence, with 50,000 men, artillery, supplies, etc.

23d, Paris:
Whatever we do, we cannot command the sea for several years to come. To effect a landing in England without controlling the sea is the boldest and most difficult military operation ever attempted. It would seem, then, that the expedition to England is not feasible. We must therefore merely keep up the pretence of it, and concentrate our attention and our resources on the Rhine, or else undertake an expedition to the Levant so as to threaten the trade with India. And if none of these operations is feasible, I can see no other course than to make peace with England.

March 26th. (To the Minister of the Interior.) Please give positive orders that all the Arabic type we have be packed immediately, and that citoyen Langlès take charge of it. I also beg you to give orders that the Greek type be packed; I know we have some, as Xenophon is being printed; and it won’t matter so very much if Xenophon is held up for three months.

30th. I have just heard from Admiral Brueys; he left Corfu on the 25th of February with six French and five Venetian men of war. I hope these ships can start again two weeks after their arrival.

April 5th. (To Monge.) We shall take one third of the Institute and many scientific instruments with us. I place the Arabic printing-press under your special care.

14th. I should like to take with me citoyen Piveron, who was for many years the king’s agent at the court of Tippoo Sahib. We could try to get him through to India.

17th. (To Vice-Admiral Brueys.) I expect to join you during the first week of Floréal. Have a good bed for me, as I expect to be sick during the whole journey. Get good supplies.

18th. (To Eugène Beauharnais.) You will start at four o’clock on the 3d of Floréal. You should reach Lyons on the 4th before noon. Travel in mufti, and don’t let it be known that you are my aide-de-camp. You will give out everywhere that I am going to Brest.

(To General Kléber.) Orders for General Kléber and his staff to proceed at once to Toulon, where he will receive further instructions.

28th. Bonaparte, member of the National Institute, general-in-chief of the army of England, orders General Régnier to embark the men of his division at Marseilles on the 6th of May on the transports that will be there ready for him.

May 10th, Toulon:
Soldiers of the army of the Mediterranean!

You are a wing of the army of England! You have fought among mountains, in plains, before fortresses; but you had yet to carry out a naval campaign. The Roman legions that you have sometimes rivalled, but never equalled, fought Carthage on this very sea and on the plains of Zama. Victory never forsook them.

Soldiers! Europe is watching you!

11th. (To Admiral Brueys.) As the fleet is made up of 15 of the line, 12 frigates, and over 200 transports, you are to assume the rank and fly the flag of Admiral.

17th, on board the Orient:

We have been riding at anchor these last three days ready to start, but a strong wind continues to blow from the wrong quarter.

19th, 7 a. m.:
The frigates are at sea; the convoy is standing out; we are weighing anchor; the weather is lovely.

23d, between Corsica and Elba:
English ships have been reported cruising off Sicily. I cannot believe they are in sufficient force to interfere with our plans.

27th. We have been becalmed these two days, ten leagues from the strait of Bonifacio. Our dispatch boat, Le Coreyre, chased an English brig, which was run on to the Sardinian coast and burnt. The crew of this brig speak of an English fleet.

28th, 8 p. m.:
We are carrying full sail and heading for our goal.

June 13th, Malta:
(To the Directoire.) At dawn on the 10th we sighted the island of Gozzo. At night I sent one of my aides-de-camp to ask for the Grand Master’s leave to water in the bays of the island. Our consul at Malta brought me his answer, which was a flat refusal. The need of the army was pressing, and placed the duty on me of employing force. General Lannes and chef de brigade Marmont landed within cannon-shot of the works. At daybreak our troops had landed at all points, notwithstanding a brisk but ill-directed cannonade. On the 12th I began sending guns ashore. We have few fortresses in Europe so strong and scientifically planned as Malta. The Grand Master asked for a suspension of hostilities on the morning of the 12th. At midnight his representatives came aboard the Orient and concluded the convention, which I inclose you herewith.

16th, on board the Orient:
The fleet is working out of the harbour, and we expect to be on our way once more on the 19th.

22d, at sea:
(Proclamation to the army.) Soldiers! You are about to attempt a conquest, the effect of which will be incalculable on civilization and the commerce of the world! You are about to deal England the most certain and telling blow she can suffer, until the time comes when
you can strike her death-stroke. Not many days after our arrival, the Mameluk beys, who have exclusively favoured English commerce, who have injured our merchants and tyrannized over the wretched inhabitants of the Nile, will have ceased to exist.

The people among whom we are going are Mahometans; the chief article of their creed is: God is God, and Mahomet is his prophet. Do not contradict them; deal with them as we have dealt with the Jews, with the Italians; show respect for their muftis and their imams, as you have for rabbis and bishops. The legions of Rome protected all religions. You will meet with customs different from those of Europe; you must learn to accept them.

The first city we shall see was built by Alexander. Our every step will evoke memories of the past worthy of the emulation of Frenchmen.

30th. (To the Pasha of Egypt.) The Directoire of the French Republic has on several occasions requested the Sublime Porte to punish the beys of Egypt for the damage which they have caused to French merchants.

The French Republic has decided to send a powerful army to put a stop to the piracy of the beys of Egypt. You, who should be the master of the beys, but whom they hold powerless and without authority at Cairo, should greet my arrival with joy. Come and meet me, therefore, and join me in cursing the unholy race of the beys.

July 1st, off Alexandria:
The expedition was off Alexandria at dawn. An English fleet, described as very strong, was here three days ago, and left a packet for transmission to India.

Admiral, we have not one moment to lose. Fortune has given me three days; if I don't profit by it we are lost.

To-morrow I must be in Alexandria.

The wind was very strong and the sea very rough; I decided, however, to land at once. We spent the day in preparations.

The coast near Alexandria, 11 p. m.:
I disembarked with General Kléber and a part of the troops at 11 p. m. We immediately began our march on Alexandria.

July 2d. At daybreak we caught sight of Pompey’s column. The walls of the Arab city were lined with men.

General Kléber picked out the point of the wall at which his grenadiers were to scale it, but received a shot in the head that stretched him senseless. The grenadiers of his division, spurred by this event, fought their way into the town.

The old harbour of Alexandria can shelter a fleet, however large; but there is a place in the channel where there is no more than 15 feet of water, which makes the sailors doubt whether the 74’s can get in. This affects my plans very seriously.

(Proclamation.) Bonaparte, member of the National Institute, general-in-chief, —
People of Egypt: You will be told that I have come to destroy your faith; believe it not! Answer that I am here to maintain your rights, to punish usurpers, and that I respect even more than do the Mameluks, God, his Prophet, and the Koran!

Tell them that in the eyes of God all men are equal; wisdom, talent, and virtue alone make the inequality of mankind. And what wisdom, what talent, what virtue, distinguish the Mameluks and entitle them to the exclusive enjoyment of all that makes life lovely and pleasant?

To whom belong the great estates? To the Mameluks. To whom belong lovely slaves, splendid horses, fine houses? To the Mameluks. If Egypt, then, is their farm, let them display the lease that God has granted them. But God is just and merciful unto his people. All Egyptians will be called on to fill public stations; the most wise, the most virtuous, the best educated, will govern the country, and the people will be happy.

Is it not we who destroyed the Pope who urged war against all Mussulmans? Is it not we who destroyed the Knights of Malta because they foolishly believed that God had bidden them wage war against all Mussulmans? Is it not we who in centuries past have befriended the Grand Seignior,—may God fulfil his wishes,—and been the enemy of his enemies? Have not the Mameluks, on the contrary, always revolted against the authority of the Grand Seignior, which they still refuse to recognise? They act merely at their own pleasure.

Let those who arm on behalf of the Mameluks and fight against us beware, and three times beware! For them there is no hope: they will perish!

It is a bit quackish!

3d, Alexandria:
(To General Desaix.) You will probably not meet more than a few squadrons of cavalry; mask your cavalry; don’t use your fieldpieces. Save them for the day when we shall have to fight four or five thousand horse.

(To Admiral Brueys.) The general-in-chief feels certain that you have already had the channel sounded. He wants the fleet to be brought into port. It is essential that the fleet should be sheltered from the superior forces that the English may have in these seas. The Admiral is to notify the general-in-chief to-morrow whether the fleet could defend itself against a superior force of the enemy if it were anchored across the bay of Aboukir.

10th, El Ramanyeh:
Desaix had a skirmish with about a thousand mounted Mameluks this morning. The country is splendid.

12th. The general-in-chief's intention is to attack the enemy reported in Chobrakyt at daybreak.

15th, Châbour:
We met and defeated the enemy yesterday. Murad Bey with 3000 or 4000 mounted Mameluks, twenty guns, and a few gunboats attempted to hold the crossing at Chobrakyt. The army was drawn up with each division in battalion squares, baggage in the centre, the guns in the battalion intervals.

21st, The Pyramids:
At dawn we met their advance guard, which we drove back from village to village. At two in the afternoon we discovered the intrenchments and the enemy’s army.

Soldiers! Forty centuries behold you!

The instant Murad Bey perceived Desaix' movement he decided to attack. One of his bravest beys at the head of a picked body of cavalry charged down like lightning on our two divisions. We let them come to within fifty paces, and mowed them down with a hail of bullets and grape that stretched great numbers on the battlefield. They pushed right into the intervals between the two divisions, where they were caught by a crossfire that completed their defeat.

Our columns of attack, under the command of brave General Rampon, rushed on the intrenchments, in the face of a heavy artillery fire, with their usual dash, when the Mameluks (again) charged them. They came out of the earthworks at full gallop; our columns had just time to halt, face outwards, and receive them with their bayonets and a storm of bullets. In a flash the field was covered with their bodies. Our troops soon carried the intrenchments.

22d, Gyzeh:
(To the Sheiks and Notables of Cairo.) You will judge of my sentiments by the proclamation which I inclose. Yesterday the Mameluks were for the most part killed or made prisoners, and I am in pursuit of the few who survive. Send over to this bank what boats you have, and a deputation to announce your submission. Have bread, meat, straw, and forage collected for my army, and be without uneasiness, for no one could wish you better than I.

26th, Cairo:
No news from France since our departure.

(To Joseph.) Be kind to my wife. Go and see her occasionally. I am asking Louis to give her good advice. I wish Désirée all happiness if she marries Bernadotte. She deserves it. I embrace your wife and Lucien. I am sending a handsome shawl to Julie. Don’t be quite so unfaithful to her; she is an excellent woman; make her happy.

28th. Perrée should be sent out with three frigates, having on board: a company of actors; a corps de ballet; three or four marionette showmen for the people; a hundred or so French women; the wives of all who are employed here; 20 surgeons, 30 chemists, 10 physicians.

I will colonize this country. I am twenty-nine now, and shall then be thirty-five; that’s nothing; six years gives me long enough, if all goes well, to reach India.

31st. Severity is needed to govern the Turks; I order five or six heads to be sliced off every day in the streets of Cairo. Up till now we have had to behave mildly so as to counteract the reputation of terror that preceded us; at present it is, on the contrary, better to assume the tone that commands obedience with these people, for with them obedience signifies fear.

August 1st. Battle of the Nile; Nelson and Brueys.
Adjutant-General Bribes is to occupy Damanhour. He will disarm the city, and will have the heads of five of the chief inhabitants cut off; one chosen from the lawyers who have behaved worst, and the four others from the most influential people. He is specially enjoined to see to the clearing of the canal to Alexandria that begins at El Ramanyeh so that the Nile may enter it.

15th. (To Rear-Admiral Ganteaume.) The account of what you have been through is truly horrible. If you have come out alive, it is clearly that you are destined by fate to avenge our navy and our friends; on this I congratulate you. This is the only cheering thought that has occurred to me since I received your report day before yesterday, thirty leagues from Cairo. You are to assume command of all that is left of our naval forces in Egypt. You will do your utmost to withdraw from the Bay of Aboukir anything we may have left there. I imagine that by this time the English have moved their shattered ships away.

(To General Kléber.) I have just received the news of the battle of the 1st. I promptly returned to Cairo. Things are not quite settled yet in these parts; but every day there is a perceptible improvement, and I am justified in thinking that very soon we shall be really masters of the country. Our enterprise demands more than one sort of courage.

19th. (To the Directoire.) Fate has ordained, in this event as in so many others, that if we are given a great preponderance on the continent, to our rivals is given the dominion of the seas. However great our defeat, it is not attributable to the inconstancy of Fortune, for she
has not yet abandoned us; far from it, she has favoured us more than ever before in our present undertaking.

Collect all our ships from Toulon, Malta, Ancona, Corfu, Alexandria, to form a new fleet.

Had I been master of the sea, I should have been lord of the Orient.

22d, Cairo:
There shall be an Institute for Science and Art in Egypt, established in Cairo:

The chief object of this Society shall be, to develop and encourage learning in Egypt. All general officers of the French army shall be entitled to attend its sessions. The proceedings of the Society shall be printed.

23d. The Egyptian Institute held its first session on the 6th of Fructidor; citoyen Bonaparte propounded the following questions:

Can the ovens used for baking army bread be improved in regard to expense or fuel, and if so, how?

Does Egypt afford any substitute for hops in the brewing of beer?

How can Nile water best be filtered and sweetened?

What means are there in Egypt for manufacturing gunpowder?

How is Egypt situated in the matter of jurisprudence, of civil and criminal judges, of education?
What improvements, approved of by the people, can be introduced in these matters?

(To General Menou.) Don’t put the sailors forward. Try to inspirit them and to dispel their belief in the superiority of the English.

September 8th. (To the Directoire.) I await news from Constantinople. I cannot be back in Paris, as I had promised, in October; but it is only a matter of a few months. Everything here is going well. The country is quiet and getting used to us. For the rest, let time work. Since our departure I have not heard one word from you, nor from the ministers, nor from a single person who is related to me. My dispatches have, I expect, been more fortunate
than yours.

October 4th. No news from Europe.
(To General Kléber.) I regret to hear you are not well. Desaix has reached Syout. He drove the Mameluks into the desert, and part of them have reached the oases. Ibrahim Bey is at Gaza, and threatens invasion; it will not come to anything; but we, who are not threatening anybody, might very well dislodge him from where he is.

Believe me when I say that I hope for your speedy cure, and that I rate high your good-will and your friendship. I fear that we have had a little misunderstanding; you would be doing me an injustice if you doubted that this gives me much concern. In the land of Egypt, clouds, when we have any, pass away in six hours; if there should seem to be any between us, they will pass in three. My high regard for you is at least equal to that which you have on occasion manifested for me.

(To the French Commissioners to the Divan.) The object for which the Divan has been convened is tentative, the intention being to accustom the notables of Egypt to the idea of assemblies and legislation. You must tell them that I have convened them to obtain their advice, and to ascertain what can be done for the benefit of the people, and what they themselves would do had they the power which conquest has given us.

7th. (To the Directoire.) The Porte has appointed Djezzar pasha of Acre and general-in-chief of all Syria. He has taken no notice of the overtures I have made. Our consuls have been arrested everywhere, and the Ottoman Empire is full of martial sounds. You will not abandon your army in Egypt; you will send us help and news; and you will do all that I have urged to place a large fleet in this sea. When I know for certain what the Porte intends, when the country is more settled and our fortifications are completed, which will be before long, I may decide to return to Europe; especially if news reaches me that the continent is not at peace.

16th. (To General Manscourt.) Pray forward me the report that mentions the rumour of an insurrection in the garrison. If a demi-brigade under my orders mutinies, I will disband it, and I will have every officer who fails to maintain discipline shot.

18th. Not the least bit of news from France. Bourrienne! what am I thinking of?

(Bourrienne: In truth that’s rather difficult, you think of so many things!)

I don’t know whether I shall ever see France again, but if I do, my sole ambition is to fight one great campaign in Germany, in the plains of Bavaria, to win a great victory, and to avenge France for her defeat at Blenheim. After that I will retire to the country and live quietly.

21st. The Turkish army is concentrating at Damascus, and, it is reported, will amount to 60,000 men.

22d. (To General Bon.) It is essential for us to attack the insurgent quarters. Bombard the mosque. All armed men caught in the streets are to be killed at sight.

23d. Order for levelling the grand mosque in the course of the night by breaking down some of the pillars if possible.

(To General Berthier.) Please order the commandant of the town to have the heads of all prisoners caught in arms cut off. They are to be taken to-night to the bank of the Nile between Boulâq and old Cairo; the bodies can be thrown into the river.

(To Louis Bonaparte.) I inclose you an order for the commandant at Alexandria to send you off on a brig, the Vif or the Indépendant.

We have been busy these last two days appeasing a revolt in Cairo. I was compelled to throw shells into a quarter which the insurgents had barricaded. About a thousand Turks have been killed. To-day everything is calm and orderly again. Good-bye, good health; a prosperous journey.

November 20th. (To General Desaix.) We have got French and English gazettes to the 10th of August; up till then there was no new development in Europe; I am sending them on.

December 10th. (To General Dommartin.) The general-in-chief acknowledges receipt of the request of chef de brigade Grobert to return to France. The general-in-chief’s reply is that in view of the fact that citoyen Grobert got his step as chef de brigade in Paris, and without even having heard a shot fired, his intention is that you should keep this officer continuously on outpost duty.

21st. (Order.) At noon each day the regimental bands shall play in the public square, opposite the hospital, pieces of music that will cheer the patients and recall the great events of former campaigns.

23d. I leave to-morrow.

29th, Suez:
Order for the commanding officers of engineers and artillery to accompany the general-in-chief on a survey of the Suez Canal.