Napoleon Bonaparte reached Alexandria with some 30,000 men on the 1st of July 1798. Next day he was in possession of the town. On the 13th he fought a bloody battle at Ramanieh with the Mameluks. On the 21st he became master of the country by the total defeat of Murad Bey, with 6000 horsemen and 20,000 foot, in the battle of the Pyramids. On the 23d he entered Cairo.
When Nelson arrived on 1st August at Alexandria, notwithstanding his total destruction of tho French fleet in Aboukir Bay, he could not shake the position of Napoleon, now firmly planted in possession of the country. A year afterwards, notwithstanding his loss at Acre, on the llth of .luly, Napoleon totally defeated the Turks at Aboukir. Repeated British bombardments of Alexandria had no effect, and on the 2d of March 1801, Abereromby, with 17,000 men, cast anchor in Aboukir Bay. On the 8th lie effected a landing, and on the 21st hd wou the battle of Alexandria against 27,000 French, and lost his own life. Rosetta was taken, but the British troops hesitated to advance for two months. At length, in May, when soine paltry reinforcements bad arrived, they moved onwards, and again defeated the enemy, and took Ramanieh on the 7th, and Cairo capitulated on the 20t1i.
Meanwhile General Baird had started from Bom bay in the end of December 1800, but only arrived at Kossir, on the coast of Upper Egypt, on the 8th of June. In nine days, with a force of G400 British and native troops, he traversed 140 miles of desert to the Nile, and reached Cairo on 10th August with hardly any loss. The united force then marched down on Alexandria, and on 31st August Menou capitulated, and the whole French army evacuated Egypt.
The next British expedition to Egypt was in 1807. The Turks had declared war, and in March a force of 5000 j men was despatched under General Fraser to Egypt. They arrived off Alexandria on the 15th, landed on the 18th, and took it on the 21st. On the 22d a fruitless attempt with a stnall force was made on Rosetta. Next month, General Stewart besieged Rosetta for thirteen days, and on 22d April he fought his way back to Alexandria, with a loss of 1000 out of 2500. On 22d September Alexandria was surrendered to the Turks, and Egypt evacuated. As on this occasion the Maineluks and the country wore in our favour, the failure can only be attributed t,o the want of vigour in the attack.
In 1882 the British for the third time invaded Egypt,. Their army disembarked at Alexandria, and occupied the line of the Suez Canal, .and a contingent of British and Native Indian soldiers from the armies of India embarked at Bombay for Suez, and Ismailia and Alexandria were the head quarters. The Egyptian army was checked by General Wolseley at Kassassin ; utterly defeated, on the 13th September 1882, at Tel-ul-Kabir ; Cairo was occupied by the British and Indian troops on the 14th, and Egypt won. The army and leading civilians had combined against the Khedive, because all posts of value were being given to foreigners. The numbers were--Ger mans, 41, with salaries amounting (monthly) to 1E1248; Americans, 8, 1E508; Englishmen, 174, ŁE6788 ; other British subjects, 94, ŁE1208 ; Austrians, 101, 1E2369 ; Belgians, 12, /E352 ; Dane, 1, ŁE9G ; Spaniards, 12, 1E252; French, 32G, 1E9812 ; Greeks, 115, 1E1489 ; Dutch, 9, ŁE340 ; Italians, 348, 1E6011 ; Norwegians, 2, ŁE106 ; Roumanians, 3, 1E34 ; Russians, 5, 1E341; Swede, 1, ŁE9G ; Swiss, 14, 1E210 ; European policemen, 59, 1E308 ;—total, 1325 persona, with monthly salaries amounting in tho aggregate .to 1E31,588. . This list comprises both the adminis trations which exist in virtue of special conventions, such as the Public Debt Department, Domains, Daira, Sanieli, and international courts, and alao the State Adminiatrations properly so called. The latter employ 970 foreigners. Altogether, 3,114,241 piastres per month, equal to Ł373,701. a year, were spent in salaries to foreign officials, or 1264,000 a year, if the Domains, Dairaa, and international courts are excluded.
The population of Egypt proper is 5,250,000, or about 463 to the square mile. The total popu lation under the sway of the Khedive is between 16 and 17 millions.
Felloheen (peasants) form the bulk of the popu lation of Egypt proper. They are Mahomedans.
Copts amount to about 300,000. They aro mostly dwellers in towns. They profess Christianity.
Turks in Egypt form an aristoeniey. They number barely 100,000 souls, and are supposed to be diminishing.
In 1881-2, Eg,ypt sent to India merchandise to the value of Rs. 4,81,984, and took Its. 1,68,42,831 of Indian produce. The E. coast of Africa sent to the value of Rs. 30,51,623, and received Rs. 23,54,898 of Indian produce, and Rs. 22,95,396 of re-exported foreign goods. .