Convention of El Arish
1800 treaty between France and the Ottoman Empire / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Convention of El Arish was signed on 24 January 1800 by representatives from France and the Ottoman Empire in the presence of a British representative. It was intended to bring to an end the French campaign in Egypt and Syria, with the repatriation of French troops to France and the return of all territory to the Ottomans.
In December 1799 the British government had issued orders that its commanders were not to allow a separate treaty to be agreed between the Ottomans and France in which their troops would be returned to Europe. However these instructions did not reach the British naval commander in Egypt, Sidney Smith, until after the convention had been signed. When Smith and his senior officer, Lord Keith, communicated this stipulation to the French forces the French commander Jean-Baptiste Kléber was outraged. He ordered his troops to attack the Ottomans and won the subsequent Battle of Heliopolis on 20 March. When it heard of the convention the British government agreed to honour it, but it came too late. Hostilities continued until the surrender of French forces at Alexandria in August 1801, after which the French troops were returned to France on board British ships, in accordance with the terms of the original convention.