d on board the ships of war, and sailed on the 12th of September,
and two days later the first division of French marched to Aboukir, and
embarked on board transports.

Keith was in command of the fleet, and on the way fell in with a ship
bringing despatches which had been sent out in anticipation of an early
fall of Alexandria. The fleet was ordered to rendezvous at Malta.
General Coote, with 6000 of the troops, were to be taken to Gibraltar.
General Moore was ordered to England. General Hutchinson had leave to
return home, and Lord Cavan was to remain in command in Egypt. Edgar
had, two days after his visit to the city, been appointed as third
lieutenant to one of the frigates that sailed with the first division of
the army, and convoyed it to Gibraltar. It arrived there at the end of
September, but as no orders had been received as to the destination of
the force, the sick were landed, to be cared for in the hospitals, and
the rest of the troops remained on board ship until the middle of
November, when a vessel brought the news that a general peace had been
virtually concluded.

England gave up all her conquests with the exception of Ceylon and
Trinadad, while France was permitted to retain all hers. The treaty of
Amiens, which was finally signed in the following March, was one of the
most humiliating ever made by England. With it came an order for the
ships at Gibraltar to carry the greater portion of the troops retained
on board, to England. The wind was favourable, and on the last day of
the month the fleet cast anchor in Spithead. It was soon known that
almost the whole fleet were to be paid off and the ships laid up at
once. The men were pleased at the news, for most of the vessels had been
engaged in arduous service in the Mediterranean for years, and the men
were glad at the prospect of an opportunity of a turn ashore, until they
had got rid of the prize-money that had accrued to them.

The officers, on the other hand, were depressed at the news. To them it
meant that they might be years before they again obtained employment,
that all chances of gaining distinction or promotion were at an end, and
that they would be reduced to live on their scanty half-pay for an
indefinite time. Mr. Addington indeed, who was now in power, thought
only of retrenchment, and although it was evident to every thinking
person that such a peace could only be of short duration, he crippled
the country by paying off the greater port