Perhaps I shall return to Paris by Adrianople, or by Vienna, after having annihilated the house of Austria.”  After I had made some observations which these grand projects naturally suggested, he replied, “What! do you not see that the Druses only wait for the fall of Acre 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 cutoff all kind of succour from the beys, and secure the conquest of Egypt.  I will have Desaix 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 favourable for ships bound to 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 render the passage of an army impossible for two years.  Troops cannot exist amoung ruins.”

As soon as I returned to my tent I committed 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 camp was, constantly filled with the inhabitants, who invoked Heaven to favour our arms, and prayed fervently at every assaualt 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 make him confident in his favourite plan.

The troops left St. Jean d’Acre on the 20th 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 Mount Carmel.  The removal of the wounded and sick commenced on the. 18th and 19th 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 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 which only excited the laughter of men of common sense.  In all Bonaparte’s correspondence there is an endeavour 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 15th of February, “I will bring you plenty of prisoners and flags!” One would almost be inclined to say that he had resolved, during his stay in the East, thus to pay a tribute to the country of fables.