republic, had urged him to return to France. They perceived only
the forlorn state in which he had left the unfortunate army, which had
felt sufficient confidence in his genius to follow him.

Kleber was not fond of General Bonaparte, and endured his ascendency
with a sort of impatience, and now he was sorry that he had quitted the
banks of the Rhine for the banks of the Nile. The chief command did
not counterbalance the necessity of remaining in Egypt, for he took no
pleasure in commanding.

[Illustration: 124.jpg STATUE OF GENERAL KLEBER AT STRASBURG]

Kleber, however, was the most popular of the generals among the
soldiery. His name was hailed by them with entire confidence, and
somewhat cheered them for the loss of the illustrious commander who had
just left them. He returned to Cairo, assumed the command with a sort of
ostentation, and took possession of the fine Arabian mansion which his
predecessor had occupied in the Ezbekieh Place. But it was not long
before the solicitudes of the chief command, which were insupportable
to him, the new dangers with which the Turks and the English threatened
Egypt, and the grief of exile, which was general, filled his soul with
the most gloomy discouragement.

Kleber, together with Poussielgue, the administrator of the army, at
once prepared and addressed despatches to the Directory, placing the
condition of the troops, the finances, and the number of the enemy in
the most melancholy light. These despatches fell into the hands of the
English, and the duplicate reports found their way into the hands of
Bonaparte himself. Bonaparte had left instructions with Kleber to meet
every possible contingency during his absence, even to the necessity of
an evacuation of Egypt. "I am going to France," said he, "either as a
private man or as a public man; I will get reinforcement sent to you.
But if by next spring (he was writing in August, 1799) you have received
no supplies, no instructions; if the plague has carried off more than
fifteen hundred men, independently of losses by war; if a considerable
force, which you should be incapable of resisting, presses you hard,
negotiate with the vizier: consent even, if it must be so, to an
evacuation; subject to one condition, that of referring to the French
government; and meanwhile continue to occupy. You will thus have gained
time, and it is impossible that, during the interval, you should not
have received succour."

The instructions were