HE ADDRESSES THE ARMY. 401 



In effect, transport yourselves mentally back to the 

 year 1789, and consider what would be the future pros 

 pects of the humble convert of St. Benoit-sur-Loire. 

 No doubt a small share of literary glory ; the favour of 

 being heard occasionally in the churches of the metropo 

 lis ; the satisfaction of being appointed to eulogize such 

 or such a public personage. Well ! nine years have 

 hardly passed and you find him at the head of the Insti 

 tute of Egypt, and he is the oracle, the idol of a society 

 which counted among its members Bonaparte, Berthol- 

 let, Monge, Malus, Geoffrey Saint Hilaire, Conte, &c. ; 

 and the generals rely upon him for overcoming appar 

 ently insurmountable difficulties, and the army of the 

 East, itself so rich in adornments of all kinds, would 

 desire no other interpreter when it is necessary to re 

 count the lofty deeds of the hero which it had just lost. 



It was upon the breach of a bastion which our troops 

 had recently taken by assault, in sight of the most ma 

 jestic of rivers, of the magnificent valley which it ferti 

 lizes, of the frightful desert of Lybia, of the colossal 

 pyramids of Gizeh ; it was in presence of twenty 

 populations of different origins which Cairo unites to 

 gether in its vast basin ; in presence of the most valiant 

 soldiers that had ever set foot on a land, wherein, how 

 ever, the names of Alexander and of Cresar still resound ; 

 it was in the midst of every thing which could move the 

 heart, excite the ideas, or exalt the imagination, that 

 Fourier unfolded the noble life of Kleber. The orator 

 was listened to with religious silence ; but soon, address 

 ing himself with a gesture of his hand to the soldiers 

 ranged in battle array before him, he exclaims : &quot; Ah ! 

 how many of you would have aspired to the honour of 

 throwing yourselves between Kleber and his assassin ! 



