Note 41 — Chapter IV

For example, in one of his minutes written about this time, he says: “It appears doubtful whether the partition of European Turkey will precede the French expedition to India. There appears to be reason, by the late advices, to suppose that the consent of the Porte may have been obtained to the passage of the French army. In this case, the approach of the army may be earlier than on the former supposition, and it will have less difficulty to encounter. The route of our divisions must in this event be through the territory of Bagdad.... I incline, under all the circumstances now known to me, to think that the force stationed at Karrack should be greater than we before looked to.”—[MS. Records.]