page_title: Convention of El Arish
section_title: Aftermath and repudiation
hierarchical_section_title: Convention of El Arish / Aftermath and repudiation
context_page_description: The Convention of El Arish was signed on 24 January 1800 by representatives from France and the Ottoman Empire in the presence of a British representative. It was intended to bring to an end the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, with the repatriation of French troops to France and the return of all territory to the Ottomans.
  In December 1799 the British government had issued orders that its commanders were not to allow a separate treaty to be agreed between the Ottomans and France in which their troops would be returned to Europe. However these instructions did not reach the British naval commander in Egypt, Sidney Smith, until after the convention had been signed. When Smith and his senior officer, Lord Keith, communicated this stipulation to the French forces the French commander Jean-Baptiste Kléber was outraged. He ordered his troops to attack the Ottomans and won the subsequent Battle of Heliopolis on 20 March. When it heard of the convention the British government agreed to honour it, but it came too late.
context_section_description: Kléber personally ratified a copy of the convention on 26 January and copies signed by Yusef and Kléber were formally exchanged on 30 January.  French garrisons were withdrawn to Alexandria, Aboukir and Rosetta to await transport.  However Smith's commander Lord Keith had received orders from London, dated 15 December 1799, that he was not to allow any separate treaties to be agreed between the Ottomans and France nor "to consent to any capitulation with the French troops at least unless they lay down their arms, surrender themselves prisoners of war, and deliver up all the ships and stores of the port of Alexandria to the Allied Powers".  He was further ordered to intercept any ships carrying out an evacuation of French troops from Egypt.  Keith sent a letter conveying this information to Smith from his headquarters at Minorca on 8 January but this did not reach him until after the convention was signed.
  Smith communicated that the convention, as it was agreed only between the Ottomans and France, was invalid in a letter of 21 February but stated that he was hopeful that the British government would reconsider upon reading the details of the convention.  Keith, when he heard the details was supportive of the convention but also sent a letter to Kléber with details of his orders that demanded nothing less than an unconditional surrender.  This letter reached Kléber at Cairo on 18 March, by which time Yusef had moved an army of 40,000 men to nearby Heliopolis.  Kléber was outraged and led his troops against Yusuf.  He inflicted a heavy defeat upon the Ottoman forces in the 20 March Battle of Heliopolis.
  Kléber was assassinated in Cairo on 14 June by Suleiman al-Halabi, a Syrian student supportive of the Ottoman cause.  Kléber's successor was General Jacques-François Menou.  In the meantime the British government, led by William Pitt the Younger, had received a copy of the convention and agreed to its acceptance.  However a British envoy, Lieutenant Wright of HMS Tigre, did not reach the French troops until 22 August at which point he was refused admission to Alexandria - General Menou being optimistic of French fortunes in a renewed campaign.  Wright endeavoured to communicate the acceptance to the French rank and file and induce them to revolt against their generals who refused to allow them to go home, but was turned away.  Upon hearing of this rejection the British government decided upon a fresh offensive to evict the French from Egypt.  This was successfully carried out resulting in the surrender of French forces at Alexandria in August 1801 and the subsequent repatriation of French troops on British ships.
caption: Admiral Lord Keith
exif: {}