JOSEPH FOURIER. 153 



object of Lis most constant solicitude was to illustrate the memorable 

 expedition of wliicli he bad been one of the most active and most useful 

 members. The idea of collecting together the varied labors of all his 

 colleagues incontestably belongs to him. I find the proof of this in a 

 letter still unpublished, whicli he wrote to Kleber from Thebes on the 2()th 

 Vendemiaire, in the year VII. No public act in which mention is made 

 of this great literary monument is of an earlier date. The Institute of 

 Cairo having adopted the project of a Worh npon Egypt as early as the 

 month of Frimaire, in the year VIII, confided to Fourier the task of 

 uniting together the scattered elements of it, of mailing them consistent 

 with each other, and drawing up the general introduction. 



This introduction was published under the title of Historical rrcface. 

 Fontanes saw in it the graces of Athens and the wisdom of Egyi>t united 

 together. "What could I add to such an eulogium ? I shall say only 

 that there are to be found there, in a few pages, the principal features 

 of the government of the Pharaohs, and the results of the subjection 

 of ancient Egypt by the kings of Persia, the Ptolemies, the successors 

 of Augustus, the emperors of Byzantium, the first Caliphs, the cele- 

 brated Saladin, the Mamelukes, and the Ottoman princes. The different 

 phases of our adventurous expedition are there characterized with the 

 greatest care. Fourier carries his scruples to so great a lengtli as to 

 attempt to prove that it was just. I have said only so far as to attempt, 

 for in that case there might have been something to deduct from the 

 second part of the eulogium of Fontanes. If, in 1707, our countryman 

 experienced at Cairo or at Alexandria outrages and extortions which 

 the Grand Seignior either would not or could not repress, one may in all 

 rigor admit that France ought to have exacted justice to herself; that 

 she had the right to send a powerful army to bring the Turkish custom- 

 house officers to reason. But this is far from maintaining that the Divan 

 of Constantinople ought to have favored the French expedition ; that 

 our conquest was about to restore to him, in some sort, Egypt and Syria; 

 that the capture of Alexandria and the battle of the Pyramids tvould 

 enliance the luster of the Ottoman name ! However, the public hastened 

 to acquit Fourier of what appears hazarded in this small part of his 

 beautiful work. The origin of it has been sought for in iiolitical exi- 

 gencies. Let us be brief; behind certain sophisms the hand of the orig- 

 inal commander-in-chief of the army of the East was suspected to be 

 seen ! 



Napoleon then would appear to have participated,by his instructions, 

 by his counsels, or, if we choose, by his imperative orders, in the com- 

 position of the essay of Fourier. What was not long ago nothing more 

 than a plausible conjecture has now become an incontestable fact. 

 Thanks to the courtesy of M. Champollion-Figeac, I held in my hands, 

 within the last few days, some parts of the first proof-sheets of the his- 

 torical preface. These proofs were sent to the Emperor, who wished to 

 make himself acquainted with them at leisure before reading them with 



