JB/108/127/001

Click Here To Edit

Times 17 Jany 1803. Colonel Sir Robert Wilson, in his excellent
Account of the Expedition to Egypt, relates the following atrocious
action: We recommend it to the consideration of some travelling
Peers & Gentlemen: It may, perhaps, occur as a Levee,
& produce as good effects as going thither without epaulettes:

"Bonaparte", says Colonel Wilson, "finding that his Hospitals
at Jaffa were crowded with sick, sent for a Physician, whose name
should be inscribed in letters of gold, but which, from weighty reasons,
cannot be here inserted. On his arrival he entered into a long
conversation with him, respecting contagion, concluding, at last,
with the remark, that something must be done to remedy the evil;
& that the destruction of the sick, at present in the Hospital,
was the only measure which could be adopted. The Physician, alarmed
at the proposal, bold in the confidence of virtue, & the cause
of humanity, remonstrated vehemently, representing the cruelty,
as well as the atrocity, of such a murder (massacre);
but finding that Bonaparte persevered & menaced, he indignantly
left the tent, with this memorable observation – 'Neither
my principles, nor the character of my profession, will
allow me to become a human Butcher; and, General, if such
qualities as you insinuate, are necessary to form a great man,
I thank my God that I do not possess them.'

Bonaparte, continues Sir Robert, was not to be diverted
from his object by moral considerations; he found an Apothecary
who, (dreading the weight of power, but who since has made
an atonement to his mind by unequivocally confessing the fact)
consented to become his Agent, & to administer poison to the sick. Opium,
at night, was distributed in gratifying food, the wretched unsuspecting
victims banquetted; &, in a few hours, Two Hundred & Eighty Soldiers,
who had suffered so much for their country, perished thus
miserably by the order of its idol. P.72.

Identifier: | JB/108/127/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 108.
Date_1	1803-01-17	Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	108	Main Headings
Folio number	127	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles	times 17 jany 1803
Category	collectanea	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering
Penner	john herbert koe	Watermarks	1800
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year	1800
Notes public		ID Number	35630
Box Contents