Any plan which Bonaparte may have entertained for the use of fleets to transport himself or his armies either on the Mediterranean or on the Atlantic during the expected Continental convulsion had to be abandoned. As was explained in a despatch from the Directory, which he did not receive until long after, he must either make Egypt self-sufficient without aid from France, or march on Constantinople to intimidate or wheedle the Grand Turk, or invade India, collect all the elements hostile to British rule, and establish himself there. Any thought of immediate return to France must be abandoned, however disposed he might be to pluck his "pear." On the other hand, France without Bonaparte was a different subject for European consideration, military or political. The wild schemes of her government for aiding the Irish rebels or invading British soil were necessarily either futile in their inception or never tried; the coalition was shaping itself, and with Bonaparte and Hoche both removed from the scene, the statesmen and generals of the other great powers were only too ready to try conclusions with France. CHAPTER VII THE DISASTER AT ACRE[8] [Footnote 8: References as before. Add Masson: Napoléon et les femmes, Josephine. Ernouf: Le Général Kléber. Larrey: Relation historique. Belliard: Bourrienne et ses erreurs. Guitry: L'Armée en Égypte. Memoirs of Lavalette, Bourrienne, Miot de Melito, and Lucien de Bonaparte.] Islam and the French -- Plans to Revolutionize the East -- The News from Europe -- Bonaparte's Recommendations to the Directory -- The Invasion of Syria -- Murder of Turkish Prisoners -- Importance of Acre -- The Battle of Mount Tabor -- The Siege of Acre -- Desperate Courage of Besiegers and Besieged -- Defeat of Bonaparte -- His Estimate of Human Life -- The Retreat to Egypt. [Sidenote: 1798--99]