ABSTRACT
With the flag of truce flying over Rahmanieh, Hutchinson had gained the object of his offensive, the key to the enemy's communications; and gained it at a cost of only thirty casualties. Small gratitude had he earned from his army, however. There had been much impatience at the delay in starting the advance from Rosetta, an agitation which took no account of the transport problems which had to be surmounted. 'We are sadly in want of a Sir Charles Stuart', Colonel Paget had complained on the day before the start of the advance, comparing Hutchinson's delay after the fall of Fort Julien with General Stuart's bold and swift capture of Minorca three years earlier. Many officers were now beside themselves with frustration at Lagrange's escape. They held that if Hutchinson had begun his march earlier in the day, or had pushed on when he met the enemy, he would have had time to wheel his army to the left and_pin Lagrange's force against the Nile.!
