Note 26 — EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION.

“Whilst Sir Ralph Abercrombie reconnoitred, the army continued under the most terrible and destructive fire from the enemy’s guns to which troops were ever exposed.” This is Sir Robert Wilson’s statement. Surely, were it necessary to reconnoitre, the troops should have been sheltered from a fire to which, without any possible object, they were uselessly exposed. The truth is, the Peninsular campaign first taught England the art of modern war—and made her army, at its termination, officers and men, the first in Europe.