The Sun.
London, England, 1801-10-01 00:00:00

ARMY OF 'EGYPT.,

COPT OP A LATTER PROM THE MARITIME PRE-
FECT of THE 6TH DIVISION TO THE MINISTER
OF THE MAF.iN E.

Tcl47t, Sept. 6.

c! I Have the h6nottr to -inform you, that an
English Cartel, dispatched after the capitulation of
General BELL/AED, and having on board the Citi-
zens D'HAVTPUULT, Chef de Brigade of Engi-
ricers ; 'REGNI ex, Commissary of War; and
PY, DireCtor.Zeneral of Ammunition, has arrived
in this Port. flittnex all the dispatches that were
delivered to me by Citizen D'HAtlrrouur. The
Cairo division, commanded by Genetiti BELL lARD,
was composed of tz,zoo men, of whom too° were
sick. The Lazaretto at Pcdon, or the establish-
ments depending on it, could not contain them. I
write in consequence to the Prete& of the Mouths
of the Rhone, requesting him to prepare the Mar-
seilles Lazaretto for their reception. This situa-
tion is perfeetly cOnvenirnt,- and sufficiently capa-
cious ; for, last year, when the return of the Ar-
my of the East was in contemplation, it was-.de-
:ermined to send an equal number of men there.

g( I have also written to the Commissary of the
Eighth Division, to make arrangements for the sub-
sistence of those ti,ooo men. I request that you
will apply to yoUr colleague, the Minister of War,
to write to his Agents in the Eighth Division for
all necessaries that may be required for this part of
the Army of the East."

P. S. " At the departure of the Cartel, Gene-
ral MrNov was shut up in Alexandria with the
rest of the Army. The City had a sufficiency. of
provisions, and the Commander in Chief was de-,
termined to defehd it to the last.
(Signed) " Vtuc E."

DELLfARD, CE•NERAL OF DIVISION, TO THE FIRST
CONSUL IiONAPARTE, DATED CAIRO, 30 JUNE
!SOL.

" GENERAL,

c, After the departure of the -Commander in
Chief, MENotT, and the Army of Aboukir, on the
12th of March, I remakedi in the centre of E.,-.ypt,
with a Corps of 2553 men, to defend that C'oun_
try, the city. of Cair,7, and its 'Suburbs, against
the Art=y of the VI zia,a,- when it should have
advaneiad by the Desarts of Syria, and against the
English Troops brought from India to Cesseir and
Suez, Intelligence had been received, that seve-
ral of their Vessels were in the Red Sea. A part
of the Troops under my command formed the Gar-
( riions of the Citadel, of the Towers in the neigh-
bourhood of Cairo, and also of Cisa, Old Cairo,
and Ro-u/ak. There remained then to me only a
disposeable force of 485 men, with which I was to
do the duty of the place, to coiled grain and sub-
sistence, and also to furnish escorts of military
convoys for provisions and ammunition for the Ar-
my ; besides, I had to srop the march of the Vl-
- ER'S Army, and, to manoeuvre before him so as
to give time to the Commander in Chief to come
up and attack him with all his forces, after having
beaten the English Army.
On the 15th I wrote to General bENZ!LOT,
who had been left at Slant, to come to Cairo with
his Troops by forced marches. I also wrote to
MOURAD BET, who always showed himself faith-
' fill to his Treaties, to come and occupy Siout and
Minith, to maintain the tranquillity of that Coun.
try, and to send us grain. I wrote also to the
Commanders of Niuich and Bentsoef,,to collet
Vessels, and send as much corn as they could colic&
to Cairo, as our Magazines were also empty.
" On the 25th of March I received intelligence
-of the unfortunate affair of the 2/sr. ' All hopes
were then lost of compelling the English to re-em-
bark : it only remained for us to endeavour to con-
fine them to the Sands of Aboukir.. The Com-
mander in Chief retired with his Army to Alex,
andria, formed an entrenched Camp, and put the
place in a state of defence. In compliance with the

Orders of the CoMmSnder in Chief; I ordered all tht
! Troops to leave Salahich and Bel6eys, who were
• not necessary for its .defence, and as there were corL.
siderable Magazines in those places, I caused
part of them to be brought to Cairo.
" On the 4th cf April I wrote, in conformity to
the orders I had xeceived from the Commander in
Chief, to the Commanders of Salahich and BelbeLys,
desiring them to evacuate those places as soon as
they should be assured that considerable forces were
in march from Syria for Egypt, to bring, with them
as much provision and ammunition as, they%could,
and to blow up the Ports, so as to render them tin&
serviceable to the Enemy, I was at that time in,
formed, by report, of the march of the Turkish ,
Army.
" On the 6th, 1 received a reinforcement of 570
men, which General PEN iEtot hid brought from
Upper Egypt; The plague at this time made con,
siderable ravages in the Garrison of Cairo, and'
among the inhabitants.

" On the tHt I received intelligence of the
Capture of Rcrette, and of the arrival of the Turk.:
ish Army at Salahich, the Garrisons of which place
and of Bellied,: and of Birket,.il-adge having retir-
ed to Cairo, where they arrived on the 14th: I
then gave orders to the Garrison of Sutz to return
to Cairo. I was then-informed of the surrender of
Damietta, and that there only remained zoo men
to occupy Esbe and the Forts on .Le Coast. Thus
Charlie was invaded, one of the branches of the
Nile laid open, and the other on the point of being
so. The fidelity of the Mamelukes being shaken
by the death of MOURAD BEY, I adopted the
only measure that was possible in this extrerni.y,
viz; of fortifying Cairo, and to take such an im-
posing attitude as might deter the Enemy from
advancing until they had colleted great Forces.—
Nevertheless the GRAND VIZIER. slackened his
march, and halted at Salahich and Belleyr to
organize his Army, form Magazines, and-to recruit
his Forces with Mantelukes, Arabs, and other in
habitants of the Country. I was informed that the
General of Division, LE GRANGE, with 3900 m&,
cdvered Rathmania ; my hopes and my efforts
increased. 'lt would have been advisable, perhaps,
for us to have formed a junaion for the purpose
of fighting the GRAND Vtzdtk as he was passing
the Desart, and before he could organize his Army,
and regain his influence in the Country. But Ge-
neral LE GRANGE had orders to cover Rathmania,
and it was not till after he had been attacked by
the English and the CApirAN PACHA, on the 9th
of May, that he was compelled, after a very severe
Action, to abandon it. On .the 13th he arrived at
Cairo with his Troops. I learnt also that the
Dike of the Lake Madit had been broken, and that
the waters had spread to the Lake Mareotis, -by
which the communications between /?•athmania and
Alexandria were rendered extremely, difficult. I
also received intelligence -that the English Army
had arrived at Suez. Immediately upon the june
tion of the Troops under General LE GRANGE, I
determined (before the English could arrive at -
Cairo) to mrch _to Belbgs to reconnoitre the
Enemy's Position, to engage him, and if possible,
to drive him hack to Sa/abicb.

" On the 14th, the srcrill Corps who were to deg
fend Cairo, were organized under. General ALNIE..
R AS, and on the next day I marched with the ►est
of my force, commanded by Generals Li,: c*--it ANG t
and Rors Liz. That night I slept at E/meiieyer•. We
met with some detachments of the Enemy., whom
we repulsed.

" On the 166, at day-break, I began my march
to Baby's; the Enemy, %yho were marching to meet
us with Artillery, soon came in sight. When I
attacked them, they occupied the heights of the De_
sart, to the East of Vine//ger: You will find the
Report of this affair, ,Which lasted till noon, an-,
flexed to this Lettere Perceiving that the Enemy
retreated as I advanced, and evacuated his pbsitions,
but seeing that they were at the same time deter-
mined not to -quit Egypt, knowing that by. this
kind of warfare, I should waste my ammunition,
and lose men without deriving any advantage from
it, fearing that a very large body of Cavalry, who
.had disappeared in the morning; after having charg-
ed us very vigorously, would advance to Cairo, and,
thinking that the English, and the Troops of the
CAP 'TAN PACHA would follow GCII.. LE GRANGE,
and, therefore, might be within one or two day
march of Cairn, I determined to return, to en-
deavour to shut tip the Passage of the Nile, to cied
batteries, to irtify and to render as pc fed
as possible the immense line I. had to defend.
" Upon my arrival at Cairo, General ALME RAS
informed me, that he had sent several Couriers to
acquaint me, that the. English and the 'TA?:
PACHA had arrived 'at Te' hand:. Pressed by three
considerable Armies, which every day received
fresh reinforcements by the desertion of the Ire.
habitants of Egypt, the Arabs and the Matnelooks,
(all these of Upper EDP joined the ITAN
citA), and even by the emigration of the lebabi-
tants of Asia, whom the hopes of plunder drew
into this fertile Country, I had to defend Cairo,
the population of which having become hostile to
us, could furnish 25,000 or 30,000 fighting men.
The line of our defence amounted to above 12,600
Toises. I was without money. The money which
had been paid into the Treasury after the depar,.
ture of the Army, arose from payments made by
Officers, or individuals who had furnished ;heat
money towards the expences of the Army, and also
from some Contributions. I had very little pro-
vision or ammunition fOr 'the Artillery. It was,
in fad, necessary to create almost every thing,
Magazines, Carriages, Powder, •Stc. Sec. ; besides,
Alexandria was now become almost an Island, and ii
had had no communication with it for 22 days.
I deliberated whether we should retire into Upper
Egypt, but it afforded no military position. I had
very few means of transporting Magazines, &e.
and I had no reason to believe that the Enemy would
give me • time to arrange my retreat. There was
tau City which afforded the means of creating art
Arsenal, or resources for those works whicit we
should- have been obliged to construl besides the
plague raged dreadfully in that Country. I night
have retired to Dantietta, but according to he
reports I had heard, that place and Letle. were
possession of the Enemy, and I lad not ammunition-1
enough to fight two Battles.; besides is wasiw-