<P> The discovery was reported in September in Courrier de l'Égypte, the official newspaper of the French expedition . The anonymous reporter expressed a hope that the stone might one day be the key to deciphering hieroglyphs . In 1800, three of the Commission's technical experts devised ways to make copies of the texts on the stone . One of these experts was Jean - Joseph Marcel, a printer and gifted linguist, who is credited as the first to recognise that the middle text was written in the Egyptian Demotic script, rarely used for stone inscriptions and seldom seen by scholars at that time, rather than Syriac as had originally been thought . It was artist and inventor Nicolas - Jacques Conté who found a way to use the stone itself as a printing block to reproduce the inscription . A slightly different method was adopted by Antoine Galland . The prints that resulted were taken to Paris by General Charles Dugua . Scholars in Europe were now able to see the inscriptions and attempt to read them . </P> <P> After Napoleon's departure, French troops held off British and Ottoman attacks for another 18 months . In March 1801, the British landed at Aboukir Bay . Menou was now in command of the French expedition . His troops, including the Commission, marched north towards the Mediterranean coast to meet the enemy, transporting the stone along with many other antiquities . He was defeated in battle, and the remnant of his army retreated to Alexandria where they were surrounded and besieged, the stone now inside the city . Menou surrendered on August 30 . </P> <P> After the surrender, a dispute arose over the fate of the French archaeological and scientific discoveries in Egypt, including the artefacts, biological specimens, notes, plans, and drawings collected by the members of the commission . Menou refused to hand them over, claiming that they belonged to the Institute . British General John Hely - Hutchinson refused to relieve the city until Menou gave in . Scholars Edward Daniel Clarke and William Richard Hamilton, newly arrived from England, agreed to examine the collections in Alexandria and claimed to have found many artefacts that the French had not revealed . In a letter home, Clarke said that "we found much more in their possession than was represented or imagined". </P> <P> Hutchinson claimed that all materials were property of the British Crown, but French scholar Étienne Geoffroy Saint - Hilaire told Clarke and Hamilton that the French would rather burn all their discoveries than turn them over, referring ominously to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria . Clarke and Hamilton pleaded the French scholars' case to Hutchinson, who finally agreed that items such as natural history specimens would be the scholars' private property . Menou quickly claimed the stone, too, as his private property . Hutchinson was equally aware of the stone's unique value and rejected Menou's claim . Eventually an agreement was reached, and the transfer of the objects was incorporated into the Capitulation of Alexandria signed by representatives of the British, French, and Ottoman forces . </P>

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