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218
Recollections of
[Ch. XIX.

the latter report, which though "an old tale and often told," may not prove the less interesting on that account, when recorded, as far as my memory serves me, in the emperor's own words.

"Before leaving Jaffa," said Napoleon, "and when many of the sick had been embarked, I was informed that there were some in hospital wounded beyond recovery, dangerously ill, and unfit to be moved at any risk. I desired my medical men to hold a consultation as to what steps had best be taken with regard to the unfortunate sufferers, and to send in their opinions to me. The result of this consultation was, that seven-eighths of the soldiers were considered past recovery, and that in all probability few would be alive at the expiration of twenty hours. Moreover, some were afflicted with the plague, and to carry those onward would threaten the whole army with infection, and spread death wherever they appeared, without