August 18, 2025 • 32 mins
Dive into the captivating world of Napoleon Bonaparte through the eyes of his private secretary. This remarkable memoir, forged from years of close friendship and professional collaboration, offers a unique glimpse into the life and mind of one of historys most enigmatic figures. - Summary by Gillian Hendrie and Wikipedia
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Chapter nineteen of Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume three by
Louis Antoine Foilet de Bouriennes. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain. Read by Gillian Henry, chapter nineteen, seventeen
ninety nine. The Siege of Acre raised attention to names
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in bulletins, gigantic project, the druses Mount Carmel, the wounded
and infected, order to march on foot, loss of urcannon
and Ablussian fires at Bonaparte return to Jaffa, Bonaparte visits
the plague hospital, a potion given to the sick. Bonaparte's
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statement at Saint Helena. The siege of Saint Jean Darques
was raised on the twentieth of May. It cost us
a loss of nearly three thousand men in killed, deaths
by the plague or wounds. A great number were wounded mortally.
In those voracious documents the bulletins, the French loss was
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made five hundred killed and one thousand wounded, and the
enemies more than fifteen thousand. Our bulletins may form curious
materials for history, but their values certainly will not depend
on the credit due to their details. Bonaparte attached the
greatest importance to those documents, generally drawing them up himself,
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or correcting them when written by another hand. If the
composition did not please him. It must be confessed that
at that time nothing so much flattered self love as
being mentioned in a bulletin. Bonaparte was well aware of this.
He knew that to insert a name in a bulletin
was conferring a great honor, and that its exclusion was
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a severe disappointment. General Bertier, to whom I had expressed
a strong desire to examine the works of the sea,
took me over them, but notwithstanding his promise of secrecy,
he mentioned the circumstance to the General in chief, who
had desired me not to approach the works. What did
you go there for? Said Buonaparte to me, with some severity,
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That is not your place. I replied that Bertie told
me that no assault would take place that day, and
he believed there would be no sortie, as the garrison
had made one the preceding evening. What matters that there
might have been another. Those who have nothing to do
in such places are always the first victims. That every
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man mind his own business wounded or killed. I would
not even have noticed you in the bulletin. You could
have been laughed at, and that justly. Bonaparte, not having
at this time experienced reverses, having continually proceeded from triumph
to triumph, confidently anticipate the taking of Saint Jean dark.
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In his letters to the generals in Egypt, he fixed
the twenty fifth of April for the accomplishment of that event.
He reckoned that the grand assault against the tower could
not be made before that day. It took place, however,
twenty four hours sooner. He wrote to Desay on the
nineteenth of April. Quote, I count on being master of
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Acre in six days. End quote. On the second of
May he told Juno, quote, our eighteen and twenty four
pounders have arrived. We hope to enter Acre in a
few days. The fire of their artillery is completely extinguished.
End quote. Letters have been printed dated thirtieth Florial note
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nineteenth of May. End note, in which he announces to
Duga and to PUSSIERK that they can rely on his
being in Acre on the sixth Floriel note twenty fifth
of April. End note. Some mistake has evidently been made.
The slightest circumstances produced the greatest events, said Napoleon. According
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to the Memorial of Saint Helena, had Saint Jean dac Pollen,
I should have changed the face of the world and
again the fate of the East lay in that small town.
This idea is not one which he first began to
entertain at Saint Helena. He often repeated the very same
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words at Saint Jean dark on the shore of Ptolemy's
gigantic projects agitated him, as doubtless regret for not having
carried them into execution tormented him at Saint Helena almost
every evening. Bonaparte and myself used to walk together at
a little distance from the seashore. The day after the
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unfortunate assault of the Eighth of May, Bonaparte, afflicted at
seeing the blood of so many brave men uselessly shed,
said to me quote Burienne, I see that this wretched
place has cost me a number of men and wasted
much time. But things are far too advanced not to
attempt a last effort. If I succeed as I expect,
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I shall find in the town the Passa's treasures and
arms for three hundred thousand men. I will stir up
and arm the people of Syria, who are disgusted at
the ferocity of Jisar, and who, as you know, pray
for his destruction at every assault. I shall then march
upon Damascus and Aleppo. On advancing into the country, the
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discontented will flock round my standard and swell my army.
I will announce to the people the abolition of servitude
and of the tyrannical governments of the Pashas. I shall
arrive at Constantinople with large masses of soldiers. I shall
overturn the Turkish Empire and found in the East a
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new and grand empire, which will fix my place in
the records of posterity. Perhaps I shall return to Paris
by Adrianopol or by Vienna, after having annihilated the House
of Austria. End quote. After I had made some observations
which these grand projects naturally suggested, he replied, Quote, what
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do you not see that the Druses only wait for
the fall of Acro to rise in rebellion. Have not
the keys of Damascus already been offered me. I only
stay till these walls fall, because until then I can
derive no advantage from this large town by the operation
which I meditate, I cut off all kind of succor
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from the base and secure the conquest of Egypt. I
will have the say nominated commander in chief. But if
I do not succeed in the last assault I am
about to attempt, I set off directly time presses. I
shall not be at Cairo before the middle of June.
The winds will then lie favorable for ships bound to
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Egypt from the north. Constantinople will send troops to Alexandria
and Rosetta. I must be there. As for the army
which will arrive afterwards by land, I do not fear it.
This year I will cause everything to be destroyed all
the way to the entrance of the desert. I will
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render the passage of an army impossible. For two years.
Troops cannot exist among ruins. End quote. As soon as
I return to my tent, I committee to paper this conversation,
which was then quite fresh in my memory, and I
may venture to say that every word I put down
is correct. I may add that during the siege our
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camp was constantly filled with the inhabitants who invoked Heaven
to favor our arms and prayed fervently at every assault
for our success, many of them on their knees with
their faces to the city. The people of Damascus, too,
had offered the keys to Bonaparte. Thus everything contributed to
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make him confident in his favorite plan. The troops left
Saint Jean Darque on the twentieth of May, taking advantage
of the night, to avoid a sortie from the besieged,
and to conceal the retreat of the army, which had
to march three leagues along the shore exposed to the
fire of the English vessels lying in the roads of
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Mount Carmel. The removal of the wounded and sick commenced
on the eighteenth and nineteenth of May. Bonaparte then made
a proclamation which, from one end to the other, offends
against truth. It has been published in many works. The
season of the year for hostile landing is there very
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dexterously placed in the foreground. All the rest is a
deceitful exaggeration. It must be observed that the proclamations which
Bonaparte regarded as calculated to dazzle an ever too credulous public,
were amplifications, often ridiculous and incomprehensible. Upon the spot, and
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which only excited the laughter of men of common sense.
In all Bonaparte's correspondence there is an endeavor to disguise
his reverses and impose on the public and even on
his own generals. For example, he wrote to General Dugua,
commandant of Cairo, on the fifteenth of February, quote, I
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will bring you plenty of prisoners and flags end quote.
One would almost be inclined to say that he had
resolved during his stay in the East, thus to pay
a tribute to the Count of Fables footnote. The prisoners
and flags were sent. The Turkish flags were entrusted by
Bertier to the Adjutant Commandant Boyer, who conducted a convoy
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of sick and wounded to Egypt. Sidney Smith acknowledges the
loss of some flags by the Turks. The Turkish prisoners
were used as carriers of the litters for the wounded,
and were for the most part brought into Egypt. Note
erre tom I, pages forty seven and one hundred and
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sixty end footnote. Thus terminated this disastrous expedition. I read
somewhere that during this immortal campaign the two heroes Murah
and Murad had often been in face of one another.
There is only a little difficulty. Murad Bay never put
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his foot in Syria. We proceeded along the coast and
past Mount Carmel. Some of the wounded were carried on litters,
the remainder on horses, mules and camels. At a short
distance from Mount Carmel, we were informed that three soldiers
ill of the plague, who were left in a convent
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which served for a hospital and abandoned too confidently to
the generosity of the Turks, had been barbarously put to death.
A most intolerable thirst, the total want of water, an
excessive heat, and a fatiguing march over burning sand hills
quite disheartened the men and made every generous sentiment give
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way to feelings of the grossest selfishness and most shocking indifference.
I saw officers with their limbs amputated, thrown off the litters,
whose removal in that way had been ordered, and who
had themselves given money to recompense the bearers. I saw
the amputated, the wounded, they infected, or those only suspected
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of infection, deserted and left to themselves. The march was
illumined by torches lighted for the purpose of setting fire
to the little towns, villages, and hamlets which lay in
the route, and the rich crops with which the land
was then covered. The whole country was in a blaze.
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Those who were ordered to preside at this work of
destruction seemed eager to spread desolation on every side, as
if they could thereby avenge themselves for their reverses and
find in such dreadful havoc an alleviation of their sufferings.
We were constantly surrounded by plunderers, incendiaries, and the dying,
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who stretched on the sides of the road, implored assistance
in a feeble voice, saying, I am not infected, I
am only wounded. And to convince those whom they addressed,
they reopened their old wounds or inflicted on themselves fresh ones.
Still nobody attended to them. It is all over with him,
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was the observation applied to the unfortunate beings in succession.
While everyone pressed onward, the sun, which shone in an
unclouded sky in all its brightness, was often darkened by
our conflagrations. On our right lay the sea on our left,
and behind us the desert made by ourselves. Before were
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the privations and sufferings which awaited us. Such was our
true situation. We reached Tintura on the twentieth of May,
when a most oppressive heat prevailed and produced general dejection.
We had nothing to sleep on but the parched and
burning sand. On our right lay a hostile sea, and
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wounded and sick were already considerable since leaving Acro, and
there was nothing consolidatory in the future. The truly afflicting
condition in which the remains of an army called triumphant
were plunged, produced, as might well be expected, a corresponding
impression on the mind of the General in chief. Scarcely
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had he arrived at Tintura when he ordered his tent
to be pitched. He then called me, and, with a
mind occupied by the calamities of our situation, dictated an
order that everyone should march on foot, and that all
the horses, mules and camels should be given up to
the wounded, the sick and infected, who had been removed
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and who still showed signs of life. Carry that to Bertie,
said he, and the order was instantly dispatched. Scarcely had
I returned to the tent when the elder Vigoyne, the
General in chiefs grew entered, and, raising his hand to
his cap, said General, what horse do you reserve for yourself?
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In the state of excitement in which Bonaparte was, this
question irritated him so violently that, raising his whip, he
gave the man a severe blow on the head, saying,
in a terrible voice, everyone must go on foot, Your
rascal I the first. Do you not know? The order?
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Be off? Everyone in parting with his horse was now
anxious to avoid giving it to any unfortunate individual supposed
to be suffering from plague. Much pains were taken to
ascertain the nature of the diseases of the sick, and
no difficulty was made in accommodating the wounded or amputated.
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For my part, I had an excellent horse, a mule,
and two camels, all which I gave up with the
greatest pleasure. But I confess that I directed my servant
to do all he could to prevent an infected person
from getting my horse. It was returned to me in
a very short time. The same thing happened to many others.
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The cause may be easily conjectured. The remains of our
heavy artillery were lost in the moving sands of Tintura
from the want of horses, the small number that remained
being employed in more indispensable services. The soldiers seemed to
forget their own sufferings, plunged in grief at the loss
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of their bronze guns, often the instruments of their triumphs,
and which had made Europe tremble. We halted at Caesarea
on the twenty second of May, and we marched all
the following night. Towards daybreak, a man, concealed in a
bush upon the left of the road, the sea was
two paces from us. On the right, fired a musket
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almost close to the head of the General in chief,
who was sleeping on his horse. I was beside him,
the wood being searched. The Nablusian was taken without difficulty
and ordered to be shot on the spot. Four guides
pushed him towards the sea by thrusting their carbines against
his back. When close to the water's edge, they drew
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the triggers, but all the four muskets hung fire, a
circumstance which was accounted for by the great humidity of
the night. The Noblucian threw himself into the water, and,
swimming with great agility and rapidity, gained a ridge of
rocks so far off that not a shot from the
whole troop, which fired as it passed, reached him. Buonaparte,
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who continued his march, desired me to wait for Claybur
whose division formed the rear guard, and to tell him
not to forget the Neblusian he was, I believe shot.
At last. We returned to Japha on the twenty fourth
of May, and stopped there during the twenty fifth, twenty six,
twenty seventh, and twenty eighth. This town had lately been
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the scene of a horrible transaction dictated by necessity, and
it was again destined to witness the exercise of the
same dire law. Here. I have a painful duty to perform.
I will perform it. I will state what I know,
what I saw. I have seen the following passage in
a certain work. Quote. Bonaparte, having arrived at Jaffa, ordered
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three removals of the infected, one by sea to Damietta
and also by land, the second to Gaza, and the
third to el Arish end quote. So many words, so
many errors. Some tents were pitched on an eminence near
the gardens east of Jaffa. Orders were given directly to
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undermine the fortifications and build them up, and on the
twenty seventh of May, upon the signaling given, the town
was in a moment laid bare. An hour afterwards, the
General in chief left his tent and repaired to the town,
accompanied by Bertier, some physicians and surgeons, and his usual staff.
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I was also one of the party. A long and
sad deliberation took place on the question which now arose
relative to the men who were incurably ill of the plague,
or who were at the point of death. After a
discussion of the most serious and conscientious kind, it was
decided to accelerate a few moments by a potion, a
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death which was inevitable and which would otherwise be painful
and cruel. Buaparte took a rapid view of the destroyed
ramparts of the town and returned to the hospital, where
there were men whose limbs had been amputated, many wounded,
many afflicted with ophthalmia, whose lamentations were distressing, and some
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infected with the plague. The beds of the last discos
of patients were to the right on entering the first ward,
I walked by the General's side, and I assert that
I never saw him touch any one of the infected,
and why should he have done so. They were in
the last stage of the disease. Not one of them
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spoke a word to him, and Bonaparte well knew that
he possessed no protection against the plague. His fortune to
be again brought forward here She had, in truth little
favored him during the last few months, when he had
trusted to her favors. I ask, why should he have
exposed himself to certain death and left his army in
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the midst of a desert created by our ravages, in
a desolate town, without succor, and without the hope of
ever receiving any Would he have acted rightly in doing so?
He who was evidently so necessary, so indispensable to his army,
He on whom depended at that moment the live of
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all who had survived the last disaster, and who had
proved their attachment to him by their sufferings, their privations,
and their unshaken courage, and who had done all that
he could have required of men, and whose only trust
was in him. Waparte walked quickly through the rooms, tapping
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the yellow top of his boot with a whip he
held in his hand. As he passed along with hasty steps,
he repeated these words quote. The fortifications are destroyed. Fortune
was against me at Saint Jean Dark. I must return
to Egypt to preserve it from the enemy, who will
soon be there. In a few hours, the Turks will
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be here. Let all those who have strength enough rise
and come along with us. They shall be carried on
litters and horses. End quote. There were scarcely sixty cases
of plague in the hospital, and all accounts stating a
greater number are exactger The perfect silence, complete dejection, and
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general stupor of the patients announced their approaching. End. To
carry them away in the state in which they were
would evidently have been doing nothing else than inoculating the
rest of the army with the plague. I have it
is true learned since my return to Europe that some
persons touched they infected with impunity. Nay, that others went
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so far as to inoculate themselves with the plague in
order to learn how to cure those whom it might attack.
It certainly was a special protection from heaven to be
preserved from it. But to cover in some degree the
absurdity of such a story, it is added that they
knew how to elude the danger, and that anyone else
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who braved it without using precautions met with death for
their temerity. This is, in fact the whole point of
the question. Either of those proved persons took indispensable precautions,
and in that case their boasted heroism is a mere
juggler's trick. Or they touched the infected without using precautions
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and inoculated themselves with the plague, thus voluntarily encountering death,
and then the story is really a good one. The
infected were confided. It has been stated to the head
apothecary of the army, Roye, who dieing egy Out three
years after, carried the secret with him to the grave.
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But on a moment's reflection, it will be evident that
the leaving of Roye alone in Jaffa would have been
to devote to certain death, and that a prompt and
cruel one a man who was extremely useful to the army,
and who was at the time in perfect health. It
must be remembered that no guard could be left with him,
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and that the Turks were close at our heels. Bonaparte
truly said, while walking through the rooms of the hospital
that the Turks would be at Jaffa in a few hours.
With this conviction would he have left the head apothecary
in that town. Recourse has been had to suppositions to
support the contrary belief to what I state. For example,
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it is said that the infected patients were embarked in
ships of war. There were no such ships. Where had
they disembarked, Who had received them, what had been done
with them? No one speaks of them. Others, not doubting
that the infected men died at Jaffa, say that the
rear Guard under Klaber, by order of Bonaparte, delayed its
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departure for three days and only began its march when
death had put an end to the sufferings of these
unfortunate beings, unshortened by any sacrifice. All this is incorrect.
No rear guard was left. They could not be done.
Pretense is made of forgetting that the ramparts were destroyed,
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that the town was as open and as defenseless as
any village. So this small rear guard would have been
left for certain destruction. The dates themselves tell against these suppositions.
It is certain, as can be seen by the official account,
that we arrived at Jaffa on twenty fourth of May
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and stayed there the twenty fifth, twenty sixth, and twenty seventh.
We left it on the twenty eighth. Thus, the rear guard,
which according to these writers left on the twenty ninth,
did not remain even according to their own hypothesis, three
days after the army to see the sick die. In reality,
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it left on the twenty ninth of May, the day
after we did. Here are the very words of the
Major General Bertier, in his official account, written under the
eye and under the dictation of the Commander in chief. Quote.
The army arrived at Jaffa fifth Prairial twenty fourth of May,
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and remained there the sixth, seventh and eighth, twenty fifth
to twenty seventh of May. This time was employed in
punishing the village, which had behaved badly. The fortifications of
Jaffa were blown up, All the iron guns of the
place were thrown into the sea. The wounded were removed
by sea and by land. There were only a few
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ships and to give time to complete the evacuation by land.
The departure of the army had to be deferred until
the ninth, twenty eighth of May. Klabour's division formed the
rear Guard and only left Jaffa on the tenth, twenty
ninth of May. End quote. The official report of what
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passed at Jaffa was drawn up by Bertier under the
eye of Bonaparte. It has been published, but it may
be remarked that not a word about the infected, not
a word of the visit to the hospital, or the
touching of the plague patients with impunity is there mentioned.
In no official report is anything said about the matter.
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Why this silence? But Aparte was not the man to
conceal a fact which would have afforded him so excellent
and so allowable a text for talking about his fortune.
If the infected were removed, why not mention it? Why
be silent on so important an event? But it would
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have been necessary to confess that being obliged to have
recourse to so painful a measure was the unavoidable consequence
of this unfortunate expedition. Very disagreeable details must have been
entered into, and it was thought more advisable to be
silent on the subject. But what did Napoleon himself say
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on the subject at Saint Helena. His statement there was
to the following effect quote. I ordered a consultation as
to what was best to be done. The report which
was made stated that there were seven or eight men.
The question is not about the number, so dangerously ill
that they could not live beyond twenty four hours, and would,
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besides infect the rest of the army with the plague.
It was thought it would be an act of charity
to anticipate their death a few hours end. Quote then
comes the fable of the five hundred men of the
rear Guard, who it is pretended saw them die. I
make no doubt that the story of the poisoning was
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the invention of den Blank. He was a babbler who
understood a story badly and repeated it worse. I do
not think it would have been a crime to have
given opium to the infected. On the contrary, it would
have been obedience to the dictates of reason. Where is
the man who would not, in such a situation have
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preferred a prompt death to being exposed to the lingering
tortures inflicted by barbarians. If my child, and I believe
I love him as much as any father does his
had been in such a state, my advice would have
been the same. If I had been among the infected myself,
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I should have demanded to be so treated. Such was
the reasoning at Saint Helena, and such was the view
which he and everyone else took of the case twenty
years ago at Jaffa. Her little army arrived at Cairo
on the fourteenth of June, after a painful and harassing
march of twenty five days. The heats during the passage
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of the desert between Arish and Bilbais exceeded thirty three degrees.
On placing the bulb of the thermometer in the sand,
the mercury rose to forty five degrees. The deceitful mirage
was even more vexatious than in the plains of Bahahide.
In spite of our experience, an excessive thirst, added to
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a perfect illusion, made us goad on our wearied horses
towards lakes, which vanished at our approach and left nothing
but salt and arid sand. In two days, my cloak
was completely covered with salt, left on it after the
evaporation of the moisture which held it in solution, Our horses,
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who ran eagerly to the brackish springs of the desert,
perished in numbers after traveling about a quarter of a
league from the spot where they drank the deleterious fluid.
Bonaparte proceeded his entry into the capital of Egypt by
one of those lying bulletins which only imposed on fools.
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I will bring with me, said he, many prisoners and flags.
I have raised the palace of the Jisart and the
ramparts of Accre. Not a stone remains upon another. All
the inhabitants have left the city by sea. Jesi is
severely wounded. End quote. I confess that I experienced a
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painful sensation in writing by his dictation these official words,
every one of which was an imposition. Excited by all
I had just witnessed. It was difficult for me to
refrain from making the observation. But his constant reply was, quote,
my dear fellow, you are a simpleton. You do not
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understand this business. End quote. And he observed, when signing
the bulletin that he would yet fill the world with
admiration and inspire historians and poets. Our return to Cairo
has been attributed to the insurrections which broke out during
the unfortunate expedition into Syria. Nothing is more incorrect that
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insurrection cannot be properly applied to the foolish enterprises of
the Angel el Mahdi in the Bohahire or to the
less important disturbances in the Cherkie. The reverses experienced before
Saint Jean Dark the fear, or rather the prudent anticipation
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of a hostile landing, where sufficient motives and the only
ones for our return to Egypt. What more could we
do in Syria but lose men and time, neither of
which the General had to spare. End of Chapter nineteen
Chapter nineteen of Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, Volume three by
Louis Antoine Foilet de Bouriennes. This LibriVox recording is in
the public domain. Read by Gillian Henry, chapter nineteen, seventeen
ninety nine. The Siege of Acre raised attention to names
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in bulletins, gigantic project, the druses Mount Carmel, the wounded
and infected, order to march on foot, loss of urcannon
and Ablussian fires at Bonaparte return to Jaffa, Bonaparte visits
the plague hospital, a potion given to the sick. Bonaparte's
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statement at Saint Helena. The siege of Saint Jean Darques
was raised on the twentieth of May. It cost us
a loss of nearly three thousand men in killed, deaths
by the plague or wounds. A great number were wounded mortally.
In those voracious documents the bulletins, the French loss was
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made five hundred killed and one thousand wounded, and the
enemies more than fifteen thousand. Our bulletins may form curious
materials for history, but their values certainly will not depend
on the credit due to their details. Bonaparte attached the
greatest importance to those documents, generally drawing them up himself,
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or correcting them when written by another hand. If the
composition did not please him. It must be confessed that
at that time nothing so much flattered self love as
being mentioned in a bulletin. Bonaparte was well aware of this.
He knew that to insert a name in a bulletin
was conferring a great honor, and that its exclusion was
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a severe disappointment. General Bertier, to whom I had expressed
a strong desire to examine the works of the sea,
took me over them, but notwithstanding his promise of secrecy,
he mentioned the circumstance to the General in chief, who
had desired me not to approach the works. What did
you go there for? Said Buonaparte to me, with some severity,
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That is not your place. I replied that Bertie told
me that no assault would take place that day, and
he believed there would be no sortie, as the garrison
had made one the preceding evening. What matters that there
might have been another. Those who have nothing to do
in such places are always the first victims. That every
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man mind his own business wounded or killed. I would
not even have noticed you in the bulletin. You could
have been laughed at, and that justly. Bonaparte, not having
at this time experienced reverses, having continually proceeded from triumph
to triumph, confidently anticipate the taking of Saint Jean dark.
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In his letters to the generals in Egypt, he fixed
the twenty fifth of April for the accomplishment of that event.
He reckoned that the grand assault against the tower could
not be made before that day. It took place, however,
twenty four hours sooner. He wrote to Desay on the
nineteenth of April. Quote, I count on being master of
(03:25):
Acre in six days. End quote. On the second of
May he told Juno, quote, our eighteen and twenty four
pounders have arrived. We hope to enter Acre in a
few days. The fire of their artillery is completely extinguished.
End quote. Letters have been printed dated thirtieth Florial note
(03:49):
nineteenth of May. End note, in which he announces to
Duga and to PUSSIERK that they can rely on his
being in Acre on the sixth Floriel note twenty fifth
of April. End note. Some mistake has evidently been made.
The slightest circumstances produced the greatest events, said Napoleon. According
(04:14):
to the Memorial of Saint Helena, had Saint Jean dac Pollen,
I should have changed the face of the world and
again the fate of the East lay in that small town.
This idea is not one which he first began to
entertain at Saint Helena. He often repeated the very same
(04:34):
words at Saint Jean dark on the shore of Ptolemy's
gigantic projects agitated him, as doubtless regret for not having
carried them into execution tormented him at Saint Helena almost
every evening. Bonaparte and myself used to walk together at
a little distance from the seashore. The day after the
(04:56):
unfortunate assault of the Eighth of May, Bonaparte, afflicted at
seeing the blood of so many brave men uselessly shed,
said to me quote Burienne, I see that this wretched
place has cost me a number of men and wasted
much time. But things are far too advanced not to
attempt a last effort. If I succeed as I expect,
(05:21):
I shall find in the town the Passa's treasures and
arms for three hundred thousand men. I will stir up
and arm the people of Syria, who are disgusted at
the ferocity of Jisar, and who, as you know, pray
for his destruction at every assault. I shall then march
upon Damascus and Aleppo. On advancing into the country, the
(05:44):
discontented will flock round my standard and swell my army.
I will announce to the people the abolition of servitude
and of the tyrannical governments of the Pashas. I shall
arrive at Constantinople with large masses of soldiers. I shall
overturn the Turkish Empire and found in the East a
(06:06):
new and grand empire, which will fix my place in
the records of posterity. Perhaps I shall return to Paris
by Adrianopol or by Vienna, after having annihilated the House
of Austria. End quote. After I had made some observations
which these grand projects naturally suggested, he replied, Quote, what
(06:31):
do you not see that the Druses only wait for
the fall of Acro to rise in rebellion. Have not
the keys of Damascus already been offered me. I only
stay till these walls fall, because until then I can
derive no advantage from this large town by the operation
which I meditate, I cut off all kind of succor
(06:53):
from the base and secure the conquest of Egypt. I
will have the say nominated commander in chief. But if
I do not succeed in the last assault I am
about to attempt, I set off directly time presses. I
shall not be at Cairo before the middle of June.
The winds will then lie favorable for ships bound to
(07:15):
Egypt from the north. Constantinople will send troops to Alexandria
and Rosetta. I must be there. As for the army
which will arrive afterwards by land, I do not fear it.
This year I will cause everything to be destroyed all
the way to the entrance of the desert. I will
(07:35):
render the passage of an army impossible. For two years.
Troops cannot exist among ruins. End quote. As soon as
I return to my tent, I committee to paper this conversation,
which was then quite fresh in my memory, and I
may venture to say that every word I put down
is correct. I may add that during the siege our
(07:59):
camp was constantly filled with the inhabitants who invoked Heaven
to favor our arms and prayed fervently at every assault
for our success, many of them on their knees with
their faces to the city. The people of Damascus, too,
had offered the keys to Bonaparte. Thus everything contributed to
(08:21):
make him confident in his favorite plan. The troops left
Saint Jean Darque on the twentieth of May, taking advantage
of the night, to avoid a sortie from the besieged,
and to conceal the retreat of the army, which had
to march three leagues along the shore exposed to the
fire of the English vessels lying in the roads of
(08:43):
Mount Carmel. The removal of the wounded and sick commenced
on the eighteenth and nineteenth of May. Bonaparte then made
a proclamation which, from one end to the other, offends
against truth. It has been published in many works. The
season of the year for hostile landing is there very
(09:05):
dexterously placed in the foreground. All the rest is a
deceitful exaggeration. It must be observed that the proclamations which
Bonaparte regarded as calculated to dazzle an ever too credulous public,
were amplifications, often ridiculous and incomprehensible. Upon the spot, and
(09:26):
which only excited the laughter of men of common sense.
In all Bonaparte's correspondence there is an endeavor to disguise
his reverses and impose on the public and even on
his own generals. For example, he wrote to General Dugua,
commandant of Cairo, on the fifteenth of February, quote, I
(09:48):
will bring you plenty of prisoners and flags end quote.
One would almost be inclined to say that he had
resolved during his stay in the East, thus to pay
a tribute to the Count of Fables footnote. The prisoners
and flags were sent. The Turkish flags were entrusted by
Bertier to the Adjutant Commandant Boyer, who conducted a convoy
(10:13):
of sick and wounded to Egypt. Sidney Smith acknowledges the
loss of some flags by the Turks. The Turkish prisoners
were used as carriers of the litters for the wounded,
and were for the most part brought into Egypt. Note
erre tom I, pages forty seven and one hundred and
(10:33):
sixty end footnote. Thus terminated this disastrous expedition. I read
somewhere that during this immortal campaign the two heroes Murah
and Murad had often been in face of one another.
There is only a little difficulty. Murad Bay never put
(10:56):
his foot in Syria. We proceeded along the coast and
past Mount Carmel. Some of the wounded were carried on litters,
the remainder on horses, mules and camels. At a short
distance from Mount Carmel, we were informed that three soldiers
ill of the plague, who were left in a convent
(11:18):
which served for a hospital and abandoned too confidently to
the generosity of the Turks, had been barbarously put to death.
A most intolerable thirst, the total want of water, an
excessive heat, and a fatiguing march over burning sand hills
quite disheartened the men and made every generous sentiment give
(11:40):
way to feelings of the grossest selfishness and most shocking indifference.
I saw officers with their limbs amputated, thrown off the litters,
whose removal in that way had been ordered, and who
had themselves given money to recompense the bearers. I saw
the amputated, the wounded, they infected, or those only suspected
(12:05):
of infection, deserted and left to themselves. The march was
illumined by torches lighted for the purpose of setting fire
to the little towns, villages, and hamlets which lay in
the route, and the rich crops with which the land
was then covered. The whole country was in a blaze.
(12:26):
Those who were ordered to preside at this work of
destruction seemed eager to spread desolation on every side, as
if they could thereby avenge themselves for their reverses and
find in such dreadful havoc an alleviation of their sufferings.
We were constantly surrounded by plunderers, incendiaries, and the dying,
(12:48):
who stretched on the sides of the road, implored assistance
in a feeble voice, saying, I am not infected, I
am only wounded. And to convince those whom they addressed,
they reopened their old wounds or inflicted on themselves fresh ones.
Still nobody attended to them. It is all over with him,
(13:12):
was the observation applied to the unfortunate beings in succession.
While everyone pressed onward, the sun, which shone in an
unclouded sky in all its brightness, was often darkened by
our conflagrations. On our right lay the sea on our left,
and behind us the desert made by ourselves. Before were
(13:37):
the privations and sufferings which awaited us. Such was our
true situation. We reached Tintura on the twentieth of May,
when a most oppressive heat prevailed and produced general dejection.
We had nothing to sleep on but the parched and
burning sand. On our right lay a hostile sea, and
(14:00):
wounded and sick were already considerable since leaving Acro, and
there was nothing consolidatory in the future. The truly afflicting
condition in which the remains of an army called triumphant
were plunged, produced, as might well be expected, a corresponding
impression on the mind of the General in chief. Scarcely
(14:23):
had he arrived at Tintura when he ordered his tent
to be pitched. He then called me, and, with a
mind occupied by the calamities of our situation, dictated an
order that everyone should march on foot, and that all
the horses, mules and camels should be given up to
the wounded, the sick and infected, who had been removed
(14:45):
and who still showed signs of life. Carry that to Bertie,
said he, and the order was instantly dispatched. Scarcely had
I returned to the tent when the elder Vigoyne, the
General in chiefs grew entered, and, raising his hand to
his cap, said General, what horse do you reserve for yourself?
(15:08):
In the state of excitement in which Bonaparte was, this
question irritated him so violently that, raising his whip, he
gave the man a severe blow on the head, saying,
in a terrible voice, everyone must go on foot, Your
rascal I the first. Do you not know? The order?
(15:29):
Be off? Everyone in parting with his horse was now
anxious to avoid giving it to any unfortunate individual supposed
to be suffering from plague. Much pains were taken to
ascertain the nature of the diseases of the sick, and
no difficulty was made in accommodating the wounded or amputated.
(15:50):
For my part, I had an excellent horse, a mule,
and two camels, all which I gave up with the
greatest pleasure. But I confess that I directed my servant
to do all he could to prevent an infected person
from getting my horse. It was returned to me in
a very short time. The same thing happened to many others.
(16:11):
The cause may be easily conjectured. The remains of our
heavy artillery were lost in the moving sands of Tintura
from the want of horses, the small number that remained
being employed in more indispensable services. The soldiers seemed to
forget their own sufferings, plunged in grief at the loss
(16:32):
of their bronze guns, often the instruments of their triumphs,
and which had made Europe tremble. We halted at Caesarea
on the twenty second of May, and we marched all
the following night. Towards daybreak, a man, concealed in a
bush upon the left of the road, the sea was
two paces from us. On the right, fired a musket
(16:55):
almost close to the head of the General in chief,
who was sleeping on his horse. I was beside him,
the wood being searched. The Nablusian was taken without difficulty
and ordered to be shot on the spot. Four guides
pushed him towards the sea by thrusting their carbines against
his back. When close to the water's edge, they drew
(17:16):
the triggers, but all the four muskets hung fire, a
circumstance which was accounted for by the great humidity of
the night. The Noblucian threw himself into the water, and,
swimming with great agility and rapidity, gained a ridge of
rocks so far off that not a shot from the
whole troop, which fired as it passed, reached him. Buonaparte,
(17:40):
who continued his march, desired me to wait for Claybur
whose division formed the rear guard, and to tell him
not to forget the Neblusian he was, I believe shot.
At last. We returned to Japha on the twenty fourth
of May, and stopped there during the twenty fifth, twenty six,
twenty seventh, and twenty eighth. This town had lately been
(18:04):
the scene of a horrible transaction dictated by necessity, and
it was again destined to witness the exercise of the
same dire law. Here. I have a painful duty to perform.
I will perform it. I will state what I know,
what I saw. I have seen the following passage in
a certain work. Quote. Bonaparte, having arrived at Jaffa, ordered
(18:28):
three removals of the infected, one by sea to Damietta
and also by land, the second to Gaza, and the
third to el Arish end quote. So many words, so
many errors. Some tents were pitched on an eminence near
the gardens east of Jaffa. Orders were given directly to
(18:51):
undermine the fortifications and build them up, and on the
twenty seventh of May, upon the signaling given, the town
was in a moment laid bare. An hour afterwards, the
General in chief left his tent and repaired to the town,
accompanied by Bertier, some physicians and surgeons, and his usual staff.
(19:11):
I was also one of the party. A long and
sad deliberation took place on the question which now arose
relative to the men who were incurably ill of the plague,
or who were at the point of death. After a
discussion of the most serious and conscientious kind, it was
decided to accelerate a few moments by a potion, a
(19:34):
death which was inevitable and which would otherwise be painful
and cruel. Buaparte took a rapid view of the destroyed
ramparts of the town and returned to the hospital, where
there were men whose limbs had been amputated, many wounded,
many afflicted with ophthalmia, whose lamentations were distressing, and some
(19:56):
infected with the plague. The beds of the last discos
of patients were to the right on entering the first ward,
I walked by the General's side, and I assert that
I never saw him touch any one of the infected,
and why should he have done so. They were in
the last stage of the disease. Not one of them
(20:17):
spoke a word to him, and Bonaparte well knew that
he possessed no protection against the plague. His fortune to
be again brought forward here She had, in truth little
favored him during the last few months, when he had
trusted to her favors. I ask, why should he have
exposed himself to certain death and left his army in
(20:39):
the midst of a desert created by our ravages, in
a desolate town, without succor, and without the hope of
ever receiving any Would he have acted rightly in doing so?
He who was evidently so necessary, so indispensable to his army,
He on whom depended at that moment the live of
(21:00):
all who had survived the last disaster, and who had
proved their attachment to him by their sufferings, their privations,
and their unshaken courage, and who had done all that
he could have required of men, and whose only trust
was in him. Waparte walked quickly through the rooms, tapping
(21:21):
the yellow top of his boot with a whip he
held in his hand. As he passed along with hasty steps,
he repeated these words quote. The fortifications are destroyed. Fortune
was against me at Saint Jean Dark. I must return
to Egypt to preserve it from the enemy, who will
soon be there. In a few hours, the Turks will
(21:42):
be here. Let all those who have strength enough rise
and come along with us. They shall be carried on
litters and horses. End quote. There were scarcely sixty cases
of plague in the hospital, and all accounts stating a
greater number are exactger The perfect silence, complete dejection, and
(22:04):
general stupor of the patients announced their approaching. End. To
carry them away in the state in which they were
would evidently have been doing nothing else than inoculating the
rest of the army with the plague. I have it
is true learned since my return to Europe that some
persons touched they infected with impunity. Nay, that others went
(22:28):
so far as to inoculate themselves with the plague in
order to learn how to cure those whom it might attack.
It certainly was a special protection from heaven to be
preserved from it. But to cover in some degree the
absurdity of such a story, it is added that they
knew how to elude the danger, and that anyone else
(22:49):
who braved it without using precautions met with death for
their temerity. This is, in fact the whole point of
the question. Either of those proved persons took indispensable precautions,
and in that case their boasted heroism is a mere
juggler's trick. Or they touched the infected without using precautions
(23:11):
and inoculated themselves with the plague, thus voluntarily encountering death,
and then the story is really a good one. The
infected were confided. It has been stated to the head
apothecary of the army, Roye, who dieing egy Out three
years after, carried the secret with him to the grave.
(23:33):
But on a moment's reflection, it will be evident that
the leaving of Roye alone in Jaffa would have been
to devote to certain death, and that a prompt and
cruel one a man who was extremely useful to the army,
and who was at the time in perfect health. It
must be remembered that no guard could be left with him,
(23:56):
and that the Turks were close at our heels. Bonaparte
truly said, while walking through the rooms of the hospital
that the Turks would be at Jaffa in a few hours.
With this conviction would he have left the head apothecary
in that town. Recourse has been had to suppositions to
support the contrary belief to what I state. For example,
(24:19):
it is said that the infected patients were embarked in
ships of war. There were no such ships. Where had
they disembarked, Who had received them, what had been done
with them? No one speaks of them. Others, not doubting
that the infected men died at Jaffa, say that the
rear Guard under Klaber, by order of Bonaparte, delayed its
(24:42):
departure for three days and only began its march when
death had put an end to the sufferings of these
unfortunate beings, unshortened by any sacrifice. All this is incorrect.
No rear guard was left. They could not be done.
Pretense is made of forgetting that the ramparts were destroyed,
(25:03):
that the town was as open and as defenseless as
any village. So this small rear guard would have been
left for certain destruction. The dates themselves tell against these suppositions.
It is certain, as can be seen by the official account,
that we arrived at Jaffa on twenty fourth of May
(25:25):
and stayed there the twenty fifth, twenty sixth, and twenty seventh.
We left it on the twenty eighth. Thus, the rear guard,
which according to these writers left on the twenty ninth,
did not remain even according to their own hypothesis, three
days after the army to see the sick die. In reality,
(25:46):
it left on the twenty ninth of May, the day
after we did. Here are the very words of the
Major General Bertier, in his official account, written under the
eye and under the dictation of the Commander in chief. Quote.
The army arrived at Jaffa fifth Prairial twenty fourth of May,
(26:08):
and remained there the sixth, seventh and eighth, twenty fifth
to twenty seventh of May. This time was employed in
punishing the village, which had behaved badly. The fortifications of
Jaffa were blown up, All the iron guns of the
place were thrown into the sea. The wounded were removed
by sea and by land. There were only a few
(26:29):
ships and to give time to complete the evacuation by land.
The departure of the army had to be deferred until
the ninth, twenty eighth of May. Klabour's division formed the
rear Guard and only left Jaffa on the tenth, twenty
ninth of May. End quote. The official report of what
(26:49):
passed at Jaffa was drawn up by Bertier under the
eye of Bonaparte. It has been published, but it may
be remarked that not a word about the infected, not
a word of the visit to the hospital, or the
touching of the plague patients with impunity is there mentioned.
In no official report is anything said about the matter.
(27:11):
Why this silence? But Aparte was not the man to
conceal a fact which would have afforded him so excellent
and so allowable a text for talking about his fortune.
If the infected were removed, why not mention it? Why
be silent on so important an event? But it would
(27:32):
have been necessary to confess that being obliged to have
recourse to so painful a measure was the unavoidable consequence
of this unfortunate expedition. Very disagreeable details must have been
entered into, and it was thought more advisable to be
silent on the subject. But what did Napoleon himself say
(27:54):
on the subject at Saint Helena. His statement there was
to the following effect quote. I ordered a consultation as
to what was best to be done. The report which
was made stated that there were seven or eight men.
The question is not about the number, so dangerously ill
that they could not live beyond twenty four hours, and would,
(28:17):
besides infect the rest of the army with the plague.
It was thought it would be an act of charity
to anticipate their death a few hours end. Quote then
comes the fable of the five hundred men of the
rear Guard, who it is pretended saw them die. I
make no doubt that the story of the poisoning was
(28:39):
the invention of den Blank. He was a babbler who
understood a story badly and repeated it worse. I do
not think it would have been a crime to have
given opium to the infected. On the contrary, it would
have been obedience to the dictates of reason. Where is
the man who would not, in such a situation have
(29:02):
preferred a prompt death to being exposed to the lingering
tortures inflicted by barbarians. If my child, and I believe
I love him as much as any father does his
had been in such a state, my advice would have
been the same. If I had been among the infected myself,
(29:24):
I should have demanded to be so treated. Such was
the reasoning at Saint Helena, and such was the view
which he and everyone else took of the case twenty
years ago at Jaffa. Her little army arrived at Cairo
on the fourteenth of June, after a painful and harassing
march of twenty five days. The heats during the passage
(29:47):
of the desert between Arish and Bilbais exceeded thirty three degrees.
On placing the bulb of the thermometer in the sand,
the mercury rose to forty five degrees. The deceitful mirage
was even more vexatious than in the plains of Bahahide.
In spite of our experience, an excessive thirst, added to
(30:10):
a perfect illusion, made us goad on our wearied horses
towards lakes, which vanished at our approach and left nothing
but salt and arid sand. In two days, my cloak
was completely covered with salt, left on it after the
evaporation of the moisture which held it in solution, Our horses,
(30:32):
who ran eagerly to the brackish springs of the desert,
perished in numbers after traveling about a quarter of a
league from the spot where they drank the deleterious fluid.
Bonaparte proceeded his entry into the capital of Egypt by
one of those lying bulletins which only imposed on fools.
(30:53):
I will bring with me, said he, many prisoners and flags.
I have raised the palace of the Jisart and the
ramparts of Accre. Not a stone remains upon another. All
the inhabitants have left the city by sea. Jesi is
severely wounded. End quote. I confess that I experienced a
(31:14):
painful sensation in writing by his dictation these official words,
every one of which was an imposition. Excited by all
I had just witnessed. It was difficult for me to
refrain from making the observation. But his constant reply was, quote,
my dear fellow, you are a simpleton. You do not
(31:36):
understand this business. End quote. And he observed, when signing
the bulletin that he would yet fill the world with
admiration and inspire historians and poets. Our return to Cairo
has been attributed to the insurrections which broke out during
the unfortunate expedition into Syria. Nothing is more incorrect that
(32:00):
insurrection cannot be properly applied to the foolish enterprises of
the Angel el Mahdi in the Bohahire or to the
less important disturbances in the Cherkie. The reverses experienced before
Saint Jean Dark the fear, or rather the prudent anticipation
(32:20):
of a hostile landing, where sufficient motives and the only
ones for our return to Egypt. What more could we
do in Syria but lose men and time, neither of
which the General had to spare. End of Chapter nineteen
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