Egyptian Campaign. LETTER WITH AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURE OF BONAPARTE, Chief General, GIVING INSTRUCTIONS TO BRIGADE GENERAL LECLERC. 18887-5

Egyptian Campaign. LETTER WITH AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURE OF BONAPARTE, Chief General, GIVING INSTRUCTIONS TO BRIGADE GENERAL LECLERC. 18887-5

Top part of the sheet cut out, without impact on the undated text:

"BONAPARTE, Chief General,
To the Brigade General Leclerc
Your troops, Citizen General, are not numerous enough to be separated. Always march together, always having with you the French agent and the Coptic Intendant as well as your small administrations. The goal of your mission is to procure thirty good horses to mount our cavalry, to make payments on the "Miré" (?) that have been requested by the General Intendant and whose note the particular Intendant of the province has. Coordinate with the Intendant of the province and the French agent to take measures to promptly recover said "Miré".
Start by making the villages that revolted on the side of Elmansoura pay. Go there with all your forces, make them pay the "miré" immediately, a contribution in horses, disarm them, take hostages, and if they behave poorly upon your approach, have the heads of the chief villagers cut off.
After spending a few days in this part of the province and collecting the "miré", return to Kelioube. Your payer will send the money he has collected to Cairo. Send the horses you have procured to Boulac, and then go to Mit-Kamar to demand the same levies and punishments in this part of the Province and punish the Arabs of (?) who are restarting their banditry in this part.
As the nights are cool, try wherever you go to gather your troops in a large house. Stay together, and do not allow a single man to stray from the battalion.
I was pleased to learn from your second letter that you had not carried out your plan. Under no pretext should you scatter."
Autographed signature: Bonaparte.

H 24.4 cm x 20 cm.
Fair condition, top of letter cut (missing), folds, small hole, and tears in the lower part (outside of text).

BIOGRAPHY:
Pierre Jean Baptiste Leclerc d'Ostein, born on November 25, 1741 in Marcellus (Lot-et-Garonne), died on November 12, 1800 in Cairo (Egypt), was a French general of the Revolution and the Empire.
He was promoted to Brigadier General on September 11, 1796.
... On June 14, 1797, he commanded the 2nd brigade of General Dugua's cavalry division. On September 21, 1797, he was sent to Lyon to take command of the cavalry brigade of General Dumas's division, and on November 9 of the same year, he joined the Army of England. Returning to Lyon on March 5, 1798, he was directed to Toulon and on April 14, 1798, he participated in the Egyptian campaign in General Dumas's division. In January 1799, he took command of the province of Khelioub, then on February 9 of the same year, the province of Gizeh.
On March 20, 1800, he participated in the Battle of Heliopolis, and he died of illness on November 12, 1800 in Cairo.