It was at this period that Napoleon published, in the Moniteur, a long memorial, drawn up by General Sebastiani, who had just returned from a mission to the Levant, abounding in statements, and clothed in language, such as could have had no other object but to inflame the government of England to extremity.  Sebastiani detailed the incidents of his journey at great length, representing himself as having been everywhere received with honour, and even with enthusiasm, as the envoy of Napoleon.  Such, he said, were the dispositions of the Mussulmans, that 6000 French would now suffice to restore Egypt to the republic; and it was in vain that General Stuart, who represented the English king in that country, had endeavoured to excite the Turkish government to assassinate him, Sebastiani.  Lastly, the report asserted, that the Ionian Islands would, on the first favourable occasion, declare themselves French.

The English government reclaimed against this publication, as at once a confession of the dangerous ambition of Buonaparte, and a studied insult to them, whose representative’s character and honour one of its chief statements must have been designed to destroy, at a wilful sacrifice of truth.  The French minister replied, that the Chief Consul had as much right to complain of the recent publication of Sir Robert Wilson’s Narrative of the English Expedition to Egypt, which contained statements in the highest degree injurious to his character and honour;[46] and had, nevertheless, been dedicated by permission to the Duke of York.  The obvious answer, namely, that Sir Robert Wilson’s book was the work of a private individual, and published solely on his own responsibility, whereas Sebastiani’s was a public document set forth by an official organ, was treated as a wanton and insolent evasion.  Meanwhile the language of the press on either side became from day to day more virulently offensive; and various members of the British Parliament, of opposite parties, and of the highest eminence, did not hesitate to rival the newspapers in their broad denunciations of the restless and insatiable ambition of the Chief Consul.—­“Buonaparte,” said Mr. Wyndham, “is the Hannibal who has sworn to devote his life to the destruction of England.  War cannot be far off, and I believe it would be much safer to anticipate the blow than to expect it.  I would advise ministers to appeal to the high-minded and proud of heart—­whether they succeed or not, we shall not then go down like the Augustuli.”  “The destruction of this country,” said Mr. Sheridan, “is the first vision that breaks on the French Consul through the gleam of the morning:  this is his last prayer at night, to whatever deity he may address it, whether to Jupiter or to Mahomet, to the Goddess of Battles or the Goddess of Reason.  Look at the map of Europe, from which France was said to be expunged, and now see nothing but France.  If the ambition of Buonaparte be immeasurable, there are abundant reasons why it should be progressive.”