Among the letters which fell into Bonaparte’s hands, by reason of the abrupt change of government, was an official despatch (of the 4th Vendemiaire, year VIII.) from General Kleber at Cairo to the Executive Directory, in which that general spoke in very stringent terms of the sudden departure of Bonaparte and of the state in which the army in Egypt had been left.  General Kleber further accused him of having evaded, by his flight, the difficulties which he thus transferred to his successor’s shoulders, and also of leaving the army “without a sou in the chest,” with pay in arrear, and very little supply of munitions or clothing.

The other letters from Egypt were not less accusatory than Kleber’s; and it cannot be doubted that charges of so precise a nature, brought by the general who had now become commander-in-chief against his predecessor, would have had great weight, especially backed as they were by similar complaints from other quarters.  A trial would have been inevitable; and then, no 18th Brumaire, no Consulate, no Empire, no conquest of Europe—­but also, it may be added, no St. Helena.  None of these, events would have ensued had not the English squadron, when it appeared off Corsica, obliged the Huiron to scud about at hazard, and to touch at the first land she could reach.

The Egyptian expedition filled too important a place in the life of Bonaparte for him to neglect frequently reviving in the public mind the recollection of his conquests in the East.  It was not to be forgotten that the head of the Republic was the first of her generals.  While Moreau received the command of the armies of the Rhine, while Massena, as a reward for the victory of Zurich, was made Commander-in-Chief in Italy, and while Brune was at the head of the army of Batavia, Bonaparte, whose soul was in the camps, consoled himself for his temporary inactivity by a retrospective glance on his past triumphs.  He was unwilling that Fame should for a moment cease to blazon his name.  Accordingly, as soon as he was established at the head of the Government, he caused accounts of his Egyptian expedition to be from time to time published in the Moniteur.  He frequently expressed his satisfaction that the accusatory correspondence, and, above all, Kleber’s letter, had fallen into his own hands.’  Such was Bonaparte’s perfect self-command that immediately after perusing that letter he dictated to me the following proclamation, addressed to the army of the East: 

   Soldiers!—­The Consuls of the French Republic frequently direct
   their attention to the army of the East.

   France acknowledges all the influence of your conquests on the
   restoration of her trade and the civilisation of the world.

   The eyes of all Europe are upon you, and in thought I am often with
   you.

   In whatever situation the chances of war may place you, prove
   yourselves still the soldiers of Rivoli and Aboukir—­you will be
   invincible.