Bonaparte, after having reconquered Italy, had no sooner possessed himself of Egypt, than he turned his arms against the Holy Land, and invading Syria, com menced the siege of Acrc. At the head of a chosen band, exceeding twelve thousand, and with a staff of great military skill and experience, he arrived at that place, which was poorly fortified, and defended only by a small garrison orMussulmans. A gallant British of ficer, however, (Sir Sidney Smith,) who had been left on the coast, with a small flotilla, inspirited the gover nor and the garrison to make a vigorous resistance, and assisted him so effectually with a body of seamen and marines, that Bonaparte was baffled in eleven attempts to carry it by assault. The conqueror of Italy, after ex periencing, for the first time in his life, a defeat, was obliged to retire, having lost eight of his generals, eigh ty-five of his officers, and one half oFhis army. Re treating to Cairo, he proceeded from thence to Aboukir, to encounter a large body of the Turks who had effected a landing there, under the command of Mustapha He consoled himself for his late disgrace, by a signal victory over 18,000 of these undisciplined barbarians. Soon after this event, the affairs of Europe recalled him to France, to take that high share in the events of his country, which has so materially affected the face of Europe.
The British power was, in the mean time, preserved in India by the overthrow of its inveterate enemy Tip poo Saib. Since the event of the last war, which de prived that prince of half his dominions, lie had secretly meditated revenge, and cultivated the friendship of the French republic, with the same assiduity with which lie had formerly sought that of the monarchy. Already he had received a small force from the Mauritius, and was busily preparing for a new attack upon the English ; the Earl of Mornington, governor of Bengal, sent General Harris with an army of 18,000 men, including 6,000 natives, who took several forts on the frontiers of Mysore. A pitched battle was soon after fought, in which Tippoo was entirely defeated, and General Harris commenced the siege of Seringapatam, the capital of his dominions. 'Flic trenches being opened, the cannonading having lasted for three days, orders were given for carrying the place by storm ; about noon, on the 4th of May, at an hour when, according to custom, the Asiatic troops were resigned to repose. General Baird commanded the troops, who ascended the breaches in the fosse, and in the rampart of the fort. The capital was taken, and the sultan himself, who had shared the dangers of his troops, was found, after the engagement, among a heap of the slain. The greater part of his dominions was seized by the British East India company ; a small pail being allotted to our ally the Nizam of the Decan.
In the opposite quarter of the globe, the British arms were also successful. The flourishing settlement of Su rinam was this year wrested from the Dutch, by a body of troops collected from St Lucia and 'Martinique, and embarked on board a squadron commanded by Lord Hugh Seymour.
In the month of October 1799, all Europe was asto nished by the appearance of Bonaparte in Paris, after having returned from Egypt, like a spirit from another world. His return was quickly followed by his usurpa tion of the supreme power in France, under the title of First Consul ; and the first use he made of his sovereign ty, was to convey a direct offer of peace to this country, in a letter written with his own hand to the king of Great Britain. His Britannic majesty refusing to depart from
the accustomed forms of diplomacy, replied, through his secretary for foreign affairs, to the proposition, that he would seize the first favourable opportunity for a peace, but that at present there appeared to be none. The conduct of ministers in advising the king to this unfavourable answer, met with the severest censures of the opposition at the opening of the session of 1800. The emperor Paul, already tired of a war in which he had reaped neither benefit nor glory, had recalled Su warrow with the remnant of his army, which had been driven out of Switzerland from the scene of action ; and among the subsidiaries of Britain for the year 1800, he was no longer named. Negotiations were, however, concluded, by which the troops of the empire of Ger many, and of the elector of Bavaria, were taken into pay.
The Irish parliament having assembled on the 15th of January, the subject of the union was again brought forward ; and it was found, that the strength of the anti unionists was diminished in the Irish commons to 95 voices. On the 5th of February, the whole plan of the union was detailed by Lord Castlereagh, the principal Irish secretary of state, who, after displaying the gene ral principles of the measure, proposed eight articles as the foundation of the union. The 1st article imported, that from the first of January 1801, the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland should be for ever united under one kingdom. The 2d, That the succession to the im perial crown should continue limited and settled, ac cording to the act of union between England and Scot land. The Sd, that the united kingdom should have one parliament. The 4th, That four lords spiritual of Ireland, by rotation of sessions, and 28 lords temporal, should be the number of Irish poers who should sit in the united parliament. The 5th, That the churches of England and Ireland should be united into one Protes tant Episcopal church, the doctrines and discipline to remain for ever the same. The 6th article provided for a fair participation in commercial privileges ; for which end it was however thought necessary to impose certain countervailing duties. The 7th article left to each king dom the separate discharge of its public debt already incurred ; and ordained, that for 20 years from the time of the union, the national expense should be de frayed in the proportion of 15 parts out of 17 for Great Britain, and 2 for Ireland. The 8th article provided, that the laws and courts of both kingdoms, civil and ecclesiastical, should remain as they were now established, but sub ject to future alterations of the united parliament. These articles were voted by the peers and commons of Ire land, and on the 2d of April were submitted to the Bri tish legislature. In the British as in the Irish parlia ment, they again encountered the warmest opposition, but finally prevailed. Having been remitted to the lat ter parliament, they suffered a few immaterial altera tions, and, on the 2d of July, were ratified by the royal assent.