The terms of the convention being arranged, there was nothing more to be done but sign it.  Kleber, who had a vague feeling of his fault, determined, in order to cover it, to assemble a council of war, to which all the generals of the army were summoned.  The council met on the 21st of January, 1800.  The minutes of it still exist.  Desaix, although deeply grieved, was swept along by the torrent of popular opinion, gave way to it himself, and affixed his signature on the 28th of January to the convention of El Arish.

Meanwhile preparations were being made for departure; Sir Sidney Smith had returned to his ship.  The vizier advanced and took possession, consecutively, of the entrenched positions of Katieh, Salahieh, and Belbeys, which Kleber, in haste to execute the convention, faithfully delivered up to him.  Kleber returned to Cairo to make his preparations for departure, to call in the troops that were guarding Upper Egypt, to concentrate his army, and then to direct it upon Alexandria and Rosetta at the time stipulated for embarkation.

While these events were occurring in Egypt, the English cabinet had received advice of the overtures made by General Kleber to the grand vizier and to Sir Sidney Smith.  Believing that the French army was reduced to the last extremity, it lost no time in sending off an express order not to grant any capitulation unless they surrendered themselves prisoners of war.  These orders, despatched from London on the 17th of December, reached Admiral Keith in the island of Minorca in the first days of January, 1800; and, on the 8th of the same month, the admiral hastened to forward to Sir Sidney Smith the instructions which he had just received from the government.  He lost no time in writing to Kleber, to express his mortification, to apprise him honestly of what was passing, to advise him to suspend immediately the delivery of the Egyptian fortresses to the grand vizier, and to conjure him to wait for fresh orders from England before he took any definite resolutions.  Unfortunately, when these advices from Sir Sidney arrived at Cairo, the French army had already executed in part the treaty of El Arish.

Kleber instantly countermanded all the orders previously given to the army.  He brought back from Lower Egypt to Cairo part of the troops that had already descended the Nile; he ordered his stores to be sent up again; he urged the division of Upper Egypt to make haste to rejoin him, and gave notice to the grand vizier to suspend his march towards Cairo, otherwise he should immediately commence hostilities.  The grand vizier replied that the convention of El Arish was signed; that it must be executed; that, in consequence, he should advance towards the capital.  At the same instant, an officer sent from Minorca with a letter from Lord Keith to Kleber, arrived at the headquarters.  Kleber, fired with indignation at the demand for surrender, caused Lord Keith’s letter to be inserted in the order of the day, adding to it these few words:  “Soldiers, to such insults there is no other answer than victory.  Prepare for action.”