During the three centuries following the Turkish conquest of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, France, like most other Christian nations in the Mediterranean, suffered greatly at the hands of Moorish corsairs—suffered so much that, not being able to defend her own coasts sufficiently, it probably never entered into her head to conquer and possess the corsairs’ country; though under Francis I she tried, in rivalry with the Genoese, to obtain a trading and fishing station off the east Algerian coast, “Bastion de France,” near La Calle (about 1544). So far as political aspirations went, her eyes were turned fitfully towards Egypt. At the end of the 17th century Louis XIV not only attempted to enter into political relations with Abyssinia (his envoy was murdered in Sennar, 1704), but was advised by Leibnitz to make a descent on Egypt, and to hold it as a station on the way to India. The idea was not adopted, yet it lay dormant in the French archives, and was probably discovered there by the ministers of the Directory after the French Revolution. Either it was communicated to Napoleon Bonaparte with the idea of sending him off on a fool’s errand, or the notion had occurred to him independently as a means of striking a blow at the English. At any rate, with a suddenness that startled incredulous Europe, the Corsican General, fresh from the triumphs of his first Italian campaign, eluded the British fleet, and landed in Alexandria in 1798 with a force of 40,000 men. He met and defeated the Mamluk Beys, who ruled Egypt under Turkish suzerainty, and eventually chased them into Upper Egypt. He then established himself at Cairo, and sought to win over the Muhammadan population by professing more or less Muhammadan views of religion. But Nelson destroyed his fleet at Abukir Bay. A Turkish army landed in Egypt, but was cut to pieces and driven into the sea by the infuriated Napoleon, who then endeavoured to conquer Syria, with the stupendous idea that he might carry his arms to Constantinople, and possibly proclaim a revival in his own person of the Eastern Empire. He was foiled again by the British, who assisted the Turks to hold Acre. Napoleon, though victorious elsewhere in Syria, eventually drew back shattered by the unsuccessful siege of this fortress. He then abandoned his eastern conquests with disgust, and sailed for France. His able lieutenant, Kleber, was assassinated. A British and Turkish army settled the fate of the remaining French forces in Egypt, which after a capitulation were sent back to France. But this daring inroad on the East by Napoleon had far-reaching effects. It brought Egypt violently into contact with European civilization, and prepared the way for its detachment from the Turkish Empire. Moreover, it caused