1829.) De Bourrienne’s Memoirs. 511 
wmusual took place; the same customs were observed as on ordinary occa- 
sions ; the Turks invited Bonaparte to be present, and he from complaisance to 
them, took his place as a mere spectator. -But the idea of ordering any. parti- 
cular solemnity never entered into his imagination ; he contented himself with 
outwardly conforming to established customs. He never learned, repeated, or 
recited any of the prayers of the Koran, as some have ridiculously asserted. 
We know not on what grounds certain writers have represented him as dis- 
perk to admit doctrines so subversive of the interests of society, as those of 
atalism, polygamy, and the absurd tenets of the Koran. The Scottish novelist 
may have thought proper to adorn his tale with the episode of Napoleon on 
the point of embracing the religion of Islamism; but such embellishments 
should be rejected from the sober narrative of history. Bonaparte had more 
serious occupations than the discussion of the theological tenets of the sons of 
Ismael ;—his time was too precious to be wasted in their ridiculous and mani- 
fold ablutions. These ceremonies, at which policy alone required his presence, 
amused him and his companions in arms with the novelty of an oriental spec- 
tacle. The tact of Bonaparte enabled him to turn the stupidity of the Mus- 
sulmans to the advancement of his own purposes, but he never set foot within 
a mosque ; and whatever may be asserted to the contrary, he never, but on 
one single occasion, dressed himself in the Mahometan costume. The whole 
of the absurd imputations of apostacy that some poetical historians have 
laboured to establish against him, amounts to this simple fact—that he was 
present at the festivals to which the green turbans invited him. The religious 
toleration of Bonaparté was a natural consequence of his philosophic mind. 
“ Without doubt Bonaparte shewed, and with reason, considerable defer-. 
ence to the religion of the country. Policy required that he should play the 
Mussulman rather than the rigid Catholic. An experienced conqueror should 
ever consolidate his triumphs by protecting, by upholding, and even by distin 
guishing with peculiar favour the religion of a conquered people. Bonaparte 
has often assured me, that he held it asa principle to consider all religions as 
established by man, but that he respected them all as powerful auxiliaries to 
the art of government. I am not, however, prepared to say, that he would not 
have changed his faith, had the conquest of the East been proposed to him as 
the price of his apostacy. When we were alone, he himself was the first to 
laugh at every thing he might previously have said before the grandees of the 
country, on the subject of Mahomet, Islamism, or the Koran; but he desired 
that his religious rhapsodies might be repeated, and even translated into har- 
monious verse, or sounding Arabic prose, in order to conciliate the good will 
of the natives. The soldiers were highly amused with this farce; and if we 
recollect the religious complexion of the era at which the French troops 
entered Egypt, the slightest reflection will suffice to convince us that an ha-~ 
rangue on Christianity or on Islamism, pronounced by a Bishop or a Muphti, 
was to them a matter of equal indifference. 
“< If Bonaparte ever adopted the tone of the Mahometan religion, it should 
be recollected that he spoke as a military and political chieftain in a Mahome~ 
tan country. The safety of his army, the success of his arms, and consequently 
his own personal glory, depended on his momentary adoption of such a lan. 
age. In any other country, he would have framed his proclamations, and 
modelled his harangues on the same principle. In India, Ali would have 
been his deity ;—in Thibet, Dalai-Lama would have been his idol ;—in China, 
Confucius would have been his prophet. 
“With respect to the charge of his having adopted the Mahometan cos~ 
tume—it is true that Bonaparte for amusement ordered a Turkish dress to be, 
made for him. He desired me one day to breakfast without waiting for him, 
intending, as he said, to rise a little later than usual. In about a quarter of an 
hour afterwards he made his appearance dressed in his new costume. He had 
scarcely been recognised, when he was received with a universal shout of 
laughter. He took his seat with gravity and composure, but felt so awkward 
and so ill at ease in the turban and oriental garb, that he speedily retired to, 
