e hands of the English,
unless they were anticipated.

Bonaparte made great efforts to join the division from Civita Vecchia;
but this he could not accomplish until he was off Malta. The five
hundred French sail came in sight of the island on June 9th, twenty-two
days after leaving Toulon. This sight filled the city of Malta with
consternation. The following day (June 10th) the French troops landed
on the island, and completely invested Valetta, which contained a
population of nearly thirty thousand souls, and was even then one of
the strongest fortresses in Europe. The inhabitants were dismayed and
clamoured for surrender, and the grand master, who possessed little
energy, and recollected the generosity of the conqueror of Rivoli at
Mantua, hoping to save his interest from shipwreck, released one of
the French knights, whom he had thrown into prison when they refused to
fight against their countrymen, and sent him to Bonaparte to negotiate.
A treaty was soon concluded, by which the Knights of Malta gave up to
France the sovereignty of Malta and the dependent islands. Thus France
gained possession of the best harbour in the Mediterranean, and one of
the strongest in the world. It required the ascendency of Bonaparte to
obtain it without fighting; and it necessitated also the risk of losing
some precious days, with the English in pursuit of him.

The French fleet weighed anchor on the 19th of June, after a stay of
ten days. The essential point now was not to fall in with the English.
Nelson, having refitted at the islands of St. Pierre, had returned on
June 1st to Toulon, but the French squadron had been gone twelve days.
He had run from Toulon to the roads of Taglia-mon, and from the roads
of Tagliamon to Naples, where he had arrived on June 20th, at the very
moment when Bonaparte was leaving Malta. Learning that the French had
been seen off Malta, he followed, determined to attack them, if he
could overtake them. At one moment, the English squadron was only a few
leagues distant from the immense French convoy, and neither party was
aware of it. Nelson, supposing that the French were bound for Egypt,
made sail for Alexandria, and arrived there before them; at not finding
them, he flew to the Dardanelles to seek them there. By a singular fate,
it was not till two days afterwards that the French expedition came in
sight of Alexandria, on the 1st of July, which was very nearly six weeks
since it sailed from Toulon. Bonapa