The life of Napoleon Buonaparte, emperor of the French. By Sir Walter Scott.

LIFE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. 257
derived his christian name from two Greek words, Revolution, were dispatched with the bayonet.
signifying the Lion of the Desert. Their bodies were heaped together, and formed a
Upon his entering tile Holy Land, Bonaparte again pyramid which is still visible, consisting now of
drove before him a body of Mamelukes, belonging human bones as originally of bloody corpses.
to thofre who, after the battles of the Pyramids and The cruelty of this execution occasioned the fact
of Salahieh, had retreated into Syria; and his army itself to be doubted, though coming with strong
occupied without resistance Gaza, anciently a city evidence, and never denied by the French themof the Philistines, in which they found supplies of selves. Napoleon, however, frankly admitted the
provisions. Jaffa, a celebrated city during the time truth of the statement, both to Lord Eblington and
of the Crusades, was the next object of attack. It to Dr O'Meara. Well might the author of this
-was bravely assaulted, and fiercely defended. But cruelty write to the Directory, that the storm of Jaffi
the French valour and discipline prevailed-the was marked by horrors which he had never elsewhere
place was carried by storm-three thousand Turks witnessed. Bonaparte's defence was, that the
were put to the sword, and the town was abandoned massacre was justified by the laws of war-that the
to the license of the soldiery, which, by Bonaparte's head of his messenger had been cut off by the goown admission, never assumed a shape more fright- vernor of Jaffa, when sent to summon him to
finl.* Such, it may be said, is the stern rule of war; surrender-that these Turks were a part of the garand if so, most of our readers will acquiesce in the rison of E1 Arish, who had engaged not to serve
natural exclamation of the Marshal de Montluc, against the French, and were found immediately
" Certes, we soldiers stand in more need of the afterwards defending Jaffa, in breach of the terms
Divine mercy than other men, seeing that our pro- of their capitulation. They had incurred the doom
fession compels us to command and to witness deeds of death, therefore, by the rules of war-Wellington,
of such cruelty." Itwas not, however, to the ordi- he said, would have in his place acted in the same
nary horrors attending the storm of a town, that the manner.
charge against Bonaparte is on this occasion limited. To this plea the following obvious answers apply.
He is accused of having been guilty of an action of If the Turkish governor had behaved like a barbagreat injustice, as well as of especial barbarity. rian, for which his country, and the religion which
Concerning this we shall endeavour to state, stripped Napoleon meditated to embrace, might be some
of colouring and exaggeration, first the charge, and excuse, the French general hadavenged himself by
then the reply, by Napoleon himself. the storm and plunder of the town, with which his
After the breach had been stormed, a large part of revenge ought in all reason to have been satisfied.
tfie garrison, estimated by Bonaparte himself at If some of these unhappy Turks had broken their
twelve hundred men, which Miot raises to betwixt faith to Bonaparte, and were found again in the
two and three thousand, and others exaggerate still ranks which they had sworn to abandon, it could not,
inore, remained on the defensive, and held out in according to the most severe construction of the
the mosques, and a sort of citadel to which they had rules of war, authorize the dreadfidl retaliation of
retreated, till, at length, despairing of succour, indiscriminate massacre upon a multitude of pri.
they surrendered their arms, and were in appearance soners, without inquiring whether they had been all
admitted to quarter. Of this body, the Egyptians equally guilty. Lastly, and admitting them all to
were carefully separated fi'om the Turks, Mau- stand in the same degree of criminality, although
grabins, and Arnaouts; and while the first were their breach of faith might have entitled Bonaparte
restored to liberty, and sent back to their country, to refuse these men quarter while they had arms in
these last were placed under a strong guard. Pro- their hands, that right was ended when the French
visions were distributed to them, and they were general received their submission, and when they
permitted to go by detachments in quest of water. had given up the means of defence, on condition of
According to all appearance, they were considered safety for life at least.
and treated as prisoners of war. This was on the This bloody deed must always remain a deep
7th of March. On the 9th, two dabs afterwards, stain on tllecharacter ofNapoleon. Yet we do not
this body of prisoners were marched out of Jaffa, in view it as the indulgence of an innate love of cruelty;
tile centre of a large square battalion, commanded for nothing in Bonaparte's history shows the existby General Boa. Idiot assures us that lie himself ence of that vice, and there are many things which
mounted his horse, accompanied the melancholy intimate his disposition to have been naturally hucolumnn. and witnessed the event. The Turks mane. But he was ambitious, aimed atimmense
foresaw their fate, but used neither entreaties nor and gigantic undertakings, and easily learned to
complaints to avert it. They marched oil, silent and overlook the waste of human life, which the execucomposed. Sonme of them, of higher rank, seemned cution of his projects necessarily involved.. He
to exhort the others to submit, like ser- ants of the seems to have argued, not on the character of the
Prophet, to thle decree which, according to their action, but solely on the effect which itwas to-produce
belief, was written on their forehead. They were upon his own combinations. His army was small;
escorted to the sand-hills to the south-east of Jaffi, it was his business to strike terror into his numerousdivided there into small bodies, and put to death by enemies, and the measure to be adoptedl seemed
musketry. The executio n lasted a considerable capable of making a deep impression on all whos
timne, and the wounded, as in the fusillades of the should hear of it. Besides, these men, if-dismissed,
would imnmediately rejoin his enemies. He had' Seehis dispatch to the Directory, on the Syrian cam- experienced their courage, and to disarm them,.
paign. would have been almost an unavailing- precaution,s
VOL. Yr. 33