348 TRAVELS IN UPPER 



" which is filling up from day to day : We de- 

 " cree, in order to save the trouble and expense of 

 " several goings and comings express to and from 

 *' Alexandria to Bequiers, which have cost the 

 u nation large sums ; and likewise that we may 

 " have a person properly qualified, who will pay 

 " attention to every thing embarked there; that 

 '•' a Jew drogman shall be established in that 

 " place, at the rate of four medinas of wages a 

 *' day, including every thing, which shall be 

 " passed in the accounts of Alexandria." 



Another inspector-general, M. Tott, wished* in 

 1777, to deprive the French nation of those ser- 

 vices which had appeared to them of so much im- 

 portance in 1706. He had announced that a drog- 

 man would no longer be maintained at Aboukir. 

 These are what may be called ruinous economies, 

 and they were not uncommon. Whilst the useful 

 servant of the public was stripped of his subsistence, 

 the pockets of the powerful man, to whom obliga* 

 tion was felt, provided he did not do mischief, were 

 filled with gold. Giving himself very little trouble 

 about the public interest, the object of the warmest 

 wishes of the useful citizen, but almost always put 

 to one side, his eyes were but too frequently open 

 only to that which could flatter his ambition, and 

 satisfy his love of money. However, the represent- 

 ations and the solicitations of the merchants of 

 Alexandria triumphed over the whims of ignorance 



4 of 





