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03 - Story of Napoleon by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall · Story of Napoleon

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  Speaker 1: Chapter three of the Story of Napoleon by Henrietta Elizabeth Marshall.
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  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain recording by
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  Speaker 1: Patrick Seville. Chapter three, Napoleon in Egypt. After the Treaty
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  Speaker 1: of Campoformio was quite settled, Napoleon said good bye to
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  Speaker 1: his army and set out for Paris. When he arrived,
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  Speaker 1: the people greeted him eagerly and thronged to see him.
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  Speaker 1: They changed the name of the street in which he
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  Speaker 1: lived to Victory Street. But the rulers the directory had
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  Speaker 1: begun to be afraid of this imperious soldier, who looked
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  Speaker 1: so small and delicate, and who had yet a will
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  Speaker 1: of iron, and seemed to hold the fate of nations
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  Speaker 1: in his hand. They were jealous of him, too, for
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  Speaker 1: wherever he went it was the conqueror of Italy who
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  Speaker 1: was cheered, not the rulers of France. Every soldier declared
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  Speaker 1: that it was high time to be done with lawyers
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  Speaker 1: and make the little corporal king. France and Britain were
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  Speaker 1: at this time bitter enemies, and the French were eager
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  Speaker 1: to conquer Britain. So Napoleon decided to carry out a
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  Speaker 1: plan which he had long thought of, that was to
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  Speaker 1: conquer Egypt, to found a colony there, and thus in
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  Speaker 1: some way injured Britain's trade with India and the East.
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  Speaker 1: Egypt at this time was claimed by the Turks and
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  Speaker 1: formed part of the Ottoman Empire. France and Turkey were
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  Speaker 1: at peace, but that made a little difference to Napoleon.
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  Speaker 1: The Directory agreed to Napoleon's plan for conquering Egypt. They
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  Speaker 1: were very anxious to get the better of Britain in
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  Speaker 1: some way, and they were not a little anxious to
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  Speaker 1: get rid of Napoleon and keep him busy at something
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  Speaker 1: away from France. For this expedition into Egypt, Napoleon gathered
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  Speaker 1: together about twenty thousand of his finest soldiers and cleverest officers,
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  Speaker 1: And although the preparations were made with great secrecy, the
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  Speaker 1: British government learned that something was going on. So Nelson
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  Speaker 1: was sent with some ships to watch the Mediterranean. But
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  Speaker 1: in May, when the French fleet was ready to sail,
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  Speaker 1: a great storm arose. It did such damage to the
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  Speaker 1: British ships that Nelson was obliged to put into a
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  Speaker 1: port in the island of Sardinia to repair them. As
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  Speaker 1: soon as Napoleon knew that the way was clear, he
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  Speaker 1: gave orders to sail. On a beautiful May morning, just
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  Speaker 1: as the sun was rising, the great fleet sailed out
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  Speaker 1: on the waters of the Mediterranean. Soldiers said Napoleon to
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  Speaker 1: them as they set out, you are one of the
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  Speaker 1: wings of the army of England. All eyes of Europe
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  Speaker 1: are upon you. You were going to do more than you
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  Speaker 1: have ever done, for the prosperity of your fatherland, for
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  Speaker 1: the good of man, and for your own glory. Besides
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  Speaker 1: speaking to them in this grand way, Napoleon promised each
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  Speaker 1: man that he should come home rich enough to buy
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  Speaker 1: six acres of land. When Nelson found that Napoleon had
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  Speaker 1: left Toulon, he sailed up and down the Mediterranean looking
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  Speaker 1: for him, but he could not find him. Meanwhile, Napoleon
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  Speaker 1: reached Malta, took possession of the island, left to garrison
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  Speaker 1: a Frenchman there, and sailed on his way to Egypt.
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  Speaker 1: On the thirtieth of June, just as the sun was setting,
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon arrived at Alexandria. A storm was blowing and such
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  Speaker 1: waves were beating upon the shore that it was dangerous
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  Speaker 1: to land. By seeing a strange sail in the distance.
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon would not wait. He feared that the British were
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  Speaker 1: at last upon his heels fortune. He cried, I ask,
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  Speaker 1: but five hours will you deny them? And so, in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness and the storm, the troops were landed, but
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  Speaker 1: the waves were so fierce that many of the men
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  Speaker 1: were drowned. Then through the night the French march to Alexandria,
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  Speaker 1: and wearied and hungry as they were attacked it in
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  Speaker 1: the dawning of the day. The Turks and Arabs shout
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  Speaker 1: their gates and fought with all their might against this
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  Speaker 1: unsuspected enemy. But the ancient walls could not stand the
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  Speaker 1: onslaught of Napoleon and his legions, and soon the flag
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  Speaker 1: of France was floating from the battlements. In July, Napoleon
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  Speaker 1: left Alexandria to march against Cairo. Many of his soldiers
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  Speaker 1: were old and tried men. They had endured the heat
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  Speaker 1: of Italy cheerfully for there, although the sun was hot,
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  Speaker 1: they had marched through fertile lands, well watered and pleasant.
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  Speaker 1: At the end of the day's march, food and wine
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  Speaker 1: were always to be had. But now day by day
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  Speaker 1: they marched over burning sand under a brazen sky, to
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  Speaker 1: a land barren and empty, whether neither man nor beast
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  Speaker 1: was to be seen, And where there are scarce a
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  Speaker 1: growing thing but thorny shrubs, with feet burned and blistered,
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  Speaker 1: with parched tongues and cracked lips, blinded by the glare
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  Speaker 1: of the sun upon the sand, met by swarms of
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  Speaker 1: flies and insects. The marsh became a torture to the men.
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  Speaker 1: Gasping in the intolerable heat, they threw off their clothes,
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  Speaker 1: trying to find relief. Was this where the general had
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  Speaker 1: promised them six acres of land, they angrily demanded. Even
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  Speaker 1: the officers could hardly bear the fiery torment. They pulled
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  Speaker 1: off their cockades and trod them in the sand, and
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  Speaker 1: murmured of rebellion. Napoleon alone seemed cool and calm. He
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  Speaker 1: wore his heavy uniform buttoned up to the throat as usual.
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  Speaker 1: When the men were throwing away almost every garment, and
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  Speaker 1: when they were gasping and perspiring, he seemed as cool
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  Speaker 1: in body as in mind. As the army wound along
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  Speaker 1: the weary way, many men two worn out to keep
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  Speaker 1: up with the others, fell behind, then out of the
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  Speaker 1: dust of the desert. Through the glare of the dazzling sun.
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  Speaker 1: A company of fleet mounted Arabs would dash upon the stragglers.
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  Speaker 1: Muskets cracked, bright steel flashed, and the blood of Frenchmen
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  Speaker 1: stained the yellow desert sand. And for a fortnight the
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  Speaker 1: toilsome march dragged on through the seemingly endless wilds, until
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  Speaker 1: the men began to believe that there was no such
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  Speaker 1: place as Cairo. For the first time they had lost
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  Speaker 1: their faith in their leader. Then, at last, one day,
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  Speaker 1: over the unbroken waste of desert, there arose enormous masses
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  Speaker 1: and straight lines and angles. They were the Pyramids. Here
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  Speaker 1: the Mamelukes, as the Egyptian soldiers were called, awaited their enemy,
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  Speaker 1: drawn out in glittering lines, with cannon pointed and camp entrenched.
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  Speaker 1: They waited through a telescope. Napoleon carefully examined the lines
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  Speaker 1: of the foe. He was a great general, but he
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  Speaker 1: noticed the smallest details. He now saw something which none
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  Speaker 1: of his officers had seen. The enemy's cannon were not
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  Speaker 1: on wheels. They were fixed and could only be fired
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  Speaker 1: in one direction. That decided the day. Napoleon drew up
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  Speaker 1: his men so that that they should be out of
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  Speaker 1: range of the cannon, then pointing to the Pyramids. As
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  Speaker 1: the bell began, soldiers, he cried, forty centuries looked down
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  Speaker 1: upon you, And there in the sandy desert, under the
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  Speaker 1: burning sun, Mameluke and frenchmen fought, flashing in the sunlight.
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  Speaker 1: The brilliant cavalcade came, spurring on again and again it
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  Speaker 1: broke against a solid wall of glittering bayonets. The fight
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  Speaker 1: was fearful. When the Mamelukes could no longer shoot, they
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  Speaker 1: dashed their pistols and the faces of their enemies. When wounded,
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  Speaker 1: they crawled on the sand, hewing, hacking, and stabbing all
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  Speaker 1: that they could reach. But at last, scattered and thinned
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  Speaker 1: by the fearful charge of the French, the Mamelukes fled.
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  Speaker 1: Many threw themselves into the nile, and the panic of
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  Speaker 1: flight many were cut down by the pursuing French. Those
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  Speaker 1: who escaped carried to all parts of Egypt the fame
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  Speaker 1: and terror of Sultan Keber, the King of Fire, as
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  Speaker 1: they called Napoleon. Four days after the Battle of the Pyramids,
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon entered Cairo, and here for some months he made
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  Speaker 1: his headquarters, ruling and commanding, fighting and punishing making new
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  Speaker 1: laws for Egypt, much as a few months before he
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  Speaker 1: had done in Italy. But meanwhile Napoleon's conquests in Egypt
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  Speaker 1: had been made useless, for the French fleet had been destroyed.
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  Speaker 1: Soon after the French soldiers had been landed, Nelson at
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  Speaker 1: last found the enemy he had been seeking so long,
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  Speaker 1: although Napoleon had escaped him. When the French and British
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  Speaker 1: fleets met, the Battle of the Nile was fought, in
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  Speaker 1: which the French were utterly defeated. Of that battle, it
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  Speaker 1: would read in the life of Nelson. When the news
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  Speaker 1: of the battle was brought to Napoleon, he was filled
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  Speaker 1: with grief. Not only had the British, whom he had
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  Speaker 1: hoped to crush, been victorious once more, but by that
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  Speaker 1: victory he and his soldiers were cut off from France.
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  Speaker 1: Then the Turks, no longer having the French fleet to fear,
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  Speaker 1: declared war against France and made ready an army to
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  Speaker 1: attack Napoleon in Egypt. This army was expected to land
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  Speaker 1: in Syria, and Napoleon decided to meet him there. So
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  Speaker 1: once more, the weary tramp through the burning desert began
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  Speaker 1: fighting and taking towns on the way. The army at
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  Speaker 1: length reached Acre. This time a cruel ruler called Jasar
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  Speaker 1: Pasha the Butcher, lived there. Napoleon sent a message to
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  Speaker 1: this chief, hoping to win him to his side, but
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  Speaker 1: the butcher cut off the messenger's head and threw his
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  Speaker 1: body into the sea in a sack. So Napoleon began
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  Speaker 1: to besiege Acre. But now he had more than Turks
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  Speaker 1: against him. For Sir Sidney Smith, a British captain, was
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  Speaker 1: anchored in the bay with two British ships, and he
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  Speaker 1: helped the Turks with men and guns. For two months
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  Speaker 1: the siege went on. Napoleon had no battering guns with
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  Speaker 1: which to break down the wall, for Sir Sidney Smith
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  Speaker 1: had seized his ships as they were coming from Alexandria
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  Speaker 1: with them, so he could make little impression. Then the
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  Speaker 1: plague broke out among his men, and at last, sorely
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  Speaker 1: against his will, Napoleon was forced to give up the
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  Speaker 1: siege and march back. In the darkness and silence of
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  Speaker 1: a May night, the French army crept away. Thus ended
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  Speaker 1: Napoleon's dreams of power in the East. He had been
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  Speaker 1: beaten by the one enemy who was always to beat
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  Speaker 1: him the British, for had no British ships been in
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  Speaker 1: the Bay of Acre, the town might have fallen. Had
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  Speaker 1: Saint John de Acre fallen, I would have changed the
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  Speaker 1: face of the world, said Napoleon. The retreat from Acre
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  Speaker 1: was one long agony. The sun blazed down upon the
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  Speaker 1: weary and now disheartened soldiers, many of whom were wounded
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  Speaker 1: and ill. Those who were too ill to walk were
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  Speaker 1: born in litters. But sometimes the men, tired of carrying
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  Speaker 1: their wounded cos and themselves scarcely able to drag along,
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  Speaker 1: would throw them down and leave them to die by
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  Speaker 1: the wayside or fall into the hands of the terrible Turks.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes the thirsting troops would see in the distance a
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  Speaker 1: cool oasis with waving palm trees and pools of sparkling water.
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  Speaker 1: Eagerly they would press forward, only to find a few
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  Speaker 1: moments later that what they had seen was a mirage,
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  Speaker 1: a deceitful picture of the desert. Sometimes, when they did
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  Speaker 1: not find water, it was so foul or salt that
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  Speaker 1: their thirst was made worse rather than better. And all
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  Speaker 1: the way they were beset by pursuing Turks and wild
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  Speaker 1: desert arabs, so that many more died on the march
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  Speaker 1: than in the battle. But at last the miseries were ended,
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  Speaker 1: and the worn out army reached Cairo again. Here Napoleon
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  Speaker 1: set himself once more to the ruling of Egypt, and
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  Speaker 1: by a great victory over the Turks at Aberker Bay,
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  Speaker 1: he blotted out the memory of his defeat at Acre All.
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  Speaker 1: During the time of the Syrian campaign, Napoleon had no
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  Speaker 1: news from France. Now some old newspapers came into his hands.
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  Speaker 1: From them, he learned that things were indeed going ill
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  Speaker 1: at home. Italy was lost, and all his great conquests
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  Speaker 1: were wiped out, as if they had never been. The
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  Speaker 1: fools have lost Italy, he exclaimed, all the fruits of
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  Speaker 1: my victories have disappeared, and must leave Egypt. But he
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  Speaker 1: had no ships in which to carry his army home,
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  Speaker 1: so he resolved to go alone, taking only about five
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  Speaker 1: hundred men with him, and leaving one of his generals
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  Speaker 1: in charge of the campaign, which from the beginning had
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  Speaker 1: been utterly useless. Napoleon had made all his preparations with
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  Speaker 1: great secrecy. He dared not tell his soldiers that he
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  Speaker 1: was going to desert them. One dark August night, under
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  Speaker 1: the pale light of the twinkling stars. As silently as possible,
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  Speaker 1: the company rode down to the harbor of Alexandria. Quickly
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  Speaker 1: and stealthily. The men went on board two wading vessels,
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  Speaker 1: which instantly set sail for home. End of Chapter three.