POST-CAPTAINS OF 1801.
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army, and covered its wings on the lake of Aboukir and the sea. Seven days afterwards a column of French infantry and cavalry entered Alexandria by the Cairo gate, and an Arab chief sent a letter to the commander of the naval battalion serving on shore, informing him of the arrival of General Menou, and that it was his intention to attack the British camp next morning. Although this intelligence did not receive much credit at head-quarters, it was soon amply confirmed, as will be seen by Sir W. Sidney Smith’s letter to Lord Keith, dated Mar. 22, a copy of which we here present to our readers:
“My Lord,– The menaced attack of our whole line, as announced by the friendly Arab, whose letter I transmitted to the commander-in-chief, and to your Lordship, took place just before day-light yesterday morning. The army was under arms to receive the enemy; the same order, steadiness, and courage, which gave victory to our excellent army on the two former occasions, have again given us a most complete one. The enemy have been repulsed with great loss, such as ought to make General Menou, who commanded in person, respect our troops too much to risk a second attempt of the kind; at all events we are prepared to receive him. I was in too much pain to enter into any details in writing last night, having received a violent contusion from a musket-ball, which glanced on my right shoulder. The pain has subsided, and I am enabled, by the surgeon’s report to say, that if the fever does not increase, I may still continue my duty, which I am particularly anxious to do at this crisis of our affairs, when either another battle, or a happy issue to the negotiation your Lordship has been pleased to authorise me to enter into in your name, conjointly with Sir Ralph Abercromby, must bring them to a speedy conclusion. I am apprehensive lest matters should be delayed by the absence of that excellent man, the wounds he has received having been found to be worse than he would at first admit. I met him in the field, in a most perilous situation, surrounded by French dragoons, with the sword of their commanding officer in his hand, which he had wrested from him, after having received a thrust, which glanced on his breast. I gave his excellency my horse, of course[1]. General Stewart’s brigade brought down most of the French horsemen singly, who were coming back through the interval in our line, and making off, having been roughly handled by the 42d regiment. The Swiftsure’s seamen secured me a horse among those of the French dragoons. The push was a most desperate one on the part of the enemy; but General Moore’s brigade, as usual, found itself equal to bearing the brunt of it. Enclosed are a series of letters from General Menou and the chief of the French staff, to General Roiz, together with
- ↑ Sir Ralph Abercromby’s mortal wound was occasioned by a musket-ball in the upper part of his thigh. See p. 88.
