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Naval History of Great Britain - Vol III
1801 British and French Fleets - Mediterranean 106

about 5000l. sterling in specie, some heavy pieces of ordnance, and about 150 troops, from Cairo to Rahmanieh. Having entered the Nile by the canal of Menouf, which joins the Damietta and Rosetta branches, the French commanding officer knew nothing of the retreat of General Lagrange and the surrender of Rahmanieh. On the 17th a division of cavalry and infantry under Brigadier-general Doyle, from previous information furnished by the Arabs, intercepted a body of 550 camels escorted by 560 French under the command of chef de brigade Cavalier, going from Alexandria, which they had quitted on the 14th, towards the province of Bahireh, to procure provision, of which the garrison of Alexandria were now in great want. Finding himself likely to be overpowered, M. Cavalier very properly quitted his sluggish charge, and with his troops took to the desert. Here the French officer was overtaken by a party of British cavalry, and surrendered upon honourable terms.

On the same day on which this surrender took place, the small garrison, about 200, of the fort of Lesbeh, on the Damietta branch of the Nile, invested on the land-side by a Turkish force, and near the Bogaz of Damietta by a flotilla of British gunboats, abandoned the post and retired upon Bourlos. This post the two garrisons, numbering together about 700 men, also evacuated, and embarked on board five small vessels, in the hope to be able to reach the new or north-eastern port of Alexandria. Four of these vessels were captured and carried into Aboukir bay ; but the fifth, after being chased in vain by a Turkish corvette, succeeded in reaching the coast of Italy.

Owing to delays from various causes, among others perhaps the non-arrival of more than about 300 of the troops expected to join from the borders of the Red Sea, the allied British and Turkish forces marching towards Cairo, which is distant about 164 miles from Rosetta, did not until the 20th of June arrive at Embabeh, a village distant a mile and a half from the fortress of Giseh, on the banks of the Nile directly opposite to Cairo, and in which fortress General Belliard had stationed a garrison. On the 22d, while preparations were making to besiege Cairo and its different forts by the allied forces (of which a numerous army under the grand vizier, now formed a part), General Belliard sent a flag of truce to Lieutenant-general * Hutchinson, offering to capitulate upon honourable terms. These were soon settled and drawn up, and on the 27th were signed by the respective parties. By the terms of the treaty the French troops, of which there were, in effective men, 8000, besides 1000 sick, and about half as many in a convalescent state, were to be conveyed to a port of France.

Before we descend the Nile to bring the campaign to a conclusion

* Promoted some time before, but we are uncertain when

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