he whole army; and as very few of those once attacked by the plague
ever recovered, but few would have benefited by the operation, while the
condition of the great majority would have been rendered still more
hopeless and painful by the journey. Upon the other hand, had they been
left behind they would assuredly have been massacred by the inhabitants,
who had suffered so terribly at the hands of the French. Rather than be
so left, the unfortunate men would assuredly have vastly preferred some
painless form of death at the hands of their friends. The probabilities
are that all the sick, whose final recovery was considered by the
surgeons as within the limits of probability, were taken on, and that
those whose cases were absolutely hopeless were not allowed to fall
alive into the hands of their foes.

Napoleon's position was an extremely difficult one. He had shown much
solicitude for the wounded. When the whole army were panic-stricken at
the outbreak, he had himself visited the hospitals, been present at
operations, talked encouragingly to the sick, and had done all in his
power to relieve their condition. But he could keep the army no longer
in the tainted air of Jaffa. He could not take men at the point of death
away with him to communicate the malady to those who had so far escaped,
nor could he leave them to be murdered in their beds by the infuriated
population. It is uncertain really what course was taken; but it must
be assumed that Napoleon, who was always anxious to win the affection
and regard of his troops, would, putting all other matters aside, not
have perpetrated any act that would have been condemned by the soldiers
of his army.

CHAPTER XI.

ACRE.

At last all was satisfactorily arranged. By the terms of the convention,
Sir Sidney Smith was appointed to the command, not only of the Turkish
fleet, but of the Turkish army in Syria, a most important point, as the
Porte had no confidence whatever in Djezzar, who, like many others of
the pashas of the outlying possessions of Turkey, almost openly defied
the authority of the sovereign. Djezzar was already at Acre, and some
Turkish gun-boats, under Hassan Bey, had also been despatched thither
towards the end of February. The welcome order was issued for the
_Tigre_ to sail on the 1st of March. Her destination was Alexandria,
which, as forming part of the Sultan's possessions, came under the terms
of the convention; under the terms of which it had b