Page:Battles of the Nile and Alexandria.pdf/2



B proceeding to give an account of this splendid naval engagement, it becomes necessary to take a momentary view of the relative positions of the two contending powers, France and England, at the period when it was fought. Early in the year 1798, Britain was alarmed by reports of a threatened invasion from France, and by accounts of great naval preparations on the coast of that country, opposite to England. The idea of invading our shores, however, which had been actually contemplated, was abandoned, and the project of conquering Egypt substituted in its place. The principle object of Buonaparte, who suggested this expedition, was to invade our possessions in the East Indies, to gratify his own ambition, and to