The French on their return to Egypt obtained at Aboukir another signal victory over the Turks; and the day after this decisive battle Bonaparte returned to Alexandria, where he learnt the capture of Corfu by the Russians and Turks, and tho close blockade of Malta by the same powers. These circumstances, combined with the loss of his fleet at the battle of the Nile, determined him upon leaving Egypt. On the 22nd of August 1799 he secretly embarked, accompanied by several of his generals, his secretary Bourrienne, with 13erthollet and Mouge, who had joined tho expedition for the furtherance of science. Before leaving he signified his resolution to Kldber in a letter, by which he appointed him his successor In the chief command of the Egyptian army, and authorised him to conclude a convention for the evacuation of the country in tho event of no succour arriving from Franco during the following spring, and if the mortality from the plague among his soldiers should amount to fifteen hundred men.
The sudden departure of Bonaparte spread anxiety and distrust throughout the camp ; the reputation of his successor however, who enjoyed the highest confidence of the army, tended greatly to dissipate their fears. But the talents of 1il6ber did not at first appear to be equal to the difficult circumstances in which he was placed. He not only permitted himself to be swayed by feelings of indignation at what he deemed the abandonment of the army by its former chief, but he committed the fault, which iu his position became a crime, of openly declaring his opinions to his dissatisfied colleagues in command; he thus caused the seeds of discontent and desire of home, which had been previously sown among the troops, to ripen to a maturity which soon threatened the ruin of the expedition. A letter addressed by him to the Directory contains many erroneous and exagavrated statements which had been furnished by Poussielgue the army administrator, and presents a most gloomy picture of the state of affairs in Egypt. A copy of it is iu the `Memoirs' dictated by Napoleon at St. Helena to the Count de Montholon, and is reudered the more valuable on account of the copious comments which accompany it, and which, though written iu no friendly spirit, are for the most part borne out by contemporary testimony. In this letter Kleber complains that his army is reduced to one-half ; that it is destitute of the necessary stores and munitions, and that the greatest discontent prevails. He further asserts that the Mamelukes were dispersed but not destroyed, and that the Grand Vizier was marching from Acre at the head of thirty thousand men. Two copies of this letter were sent, one of which fell into the hands of the Eoglish, and was the immediate cause of the expedition under Sir Ralph Abercromby, by which the French were compelled to abandon Egypt.
Kldber, under the influeace of these despondent feelings, addressed proposals of accommodation to the Grand Vizier; though at the same time he made vigorous preparations to repel the Turkish army. An unexpected reverse moreover iocreased the necessity of a negotiation. The Grand Vizier with upwards of forty thousand men had crossed the desert, and, assisted by some British officers, had captured the fort of El Arish, justly deemed one of the keys of Egypt. General Dessaix was, against his will and contrary to his judgment, appointed negotiator on the part of the French, and, after many debates and frequent delays, a oonvention was signed at El Arish on the 28th of January 1800, by which it was agreed that the whole of Maces army should return to Europe, with its arms and baggage, either on board their own vessels or some furnished by the Turks ; that all the fortresses of Egypt, with the exception of Alexandria, Rosetta, and Aboukir, should be surrendered within forty-five days from the time that the convention was ratified ; and finally, that the vizier should pay a sum equivalent to about 120,000/. during the time that the
evacuation was taking place. The English admiral, Sir Sidney Smith, though not vested with full authority from his government to conclude such a convention, had entered willingly into it, and was honourably preparing to see it carried into effect. Three months however before these events the British government had despatched orders to Lord Keith, who had the command of the Mediterranean fleet, to refuse his consent to any treaty iu which it was not stipulated that the French army should be considered prisoners of war; and a letter from this admiral reached General Kldber, warning him of his intention to detain any vessel returning to Europe by virtue of a capitulation.
The French commander made a noble use of the opportunity which was now presented to him of retrieving his military character. Danger revived his energies and roused his courage. He immediately ordered tho evacuation of the strongholds to be stopped, and prepared to resume hostilities. In one of those animating proclamations so com mon in modern French warfare, he indignantly declared to his soldiers that victory was the only answer to such insolence, and bade them be ready to fight. This appeal to their courage was received by the shouts of the army. On the night of the 19th of March 1800, Kleber formed his army, which was 12,000 strong, into four squares, with the artillery at the angles and the cavalry between the intervals; the two squares ou the left were commanded by General liegnier, and those on the right by General Friant; the whole army was drawn up on the plain fronting the ruins of Heliopolis. Before them was the Ottoman army, amounting to upwards of forty thousand men ; in their rear was Cairo with its three hundred thousand inhabitants, waiting only the signal of success to join the standard of their faith. The formation of the French had taken place by moonlight ; perfect order and deep silence prevailed throughout tho ranks, and every soldier felt that the fate of Mau and of Egypt hung on the issue of the contest. A largo body of Turkish troops had been stationed in the village of Matarieb, and a movement was made by the division of Regnier to cut it off before the remainder of the army could come up to its support. No sooner did the Janizaries perceive the approach of the hostile columns than, sallying forth from their entrenchments, they attacked them with des perate courage. But Regnier drove the Turks back to their entrench ments, while the grenadiers, pressing on over masses of the dead and dying, scaled the works, and became masters of the camp. This com bat was but the prelude to a general attack, for the vizier's army was marching to avenge the destruction of its advanced guard. Vast masses of Turkish cavalry soon enveloped the compact squares, by whose murderous fire they fell so rapidly that a barrier of bodies was formed around them, and impeded the renewed attacks of the impetuous horsemen. Asiatic valour could not long withstand European discip line, and the Turks at last fled in confusion towards the desert. Kleber, following up his success, hastened to El Kangah, where was posted the remainder of the enemy's army, who seeing themselves so closely pressed, hastily retired, leaving behind them the whole of their baggage and munitions. Thus ended the battle of Heliopolis, important in its results, and attended by little loss to the French, who numbered only two or three hundred killed and wounded.