854 
FRANCE. 
environs and fortifications of the city. He ordered, im¬ 
mediately, that the guard which he had fent fhould ac¬ 
company me wherever I wilhed to go, informing me, that 
lie would ufe every means in his power to render my flay 
at Cairo agreeable. The fame day I commenced my vi- 
fits, beginning with the cheik Abdallah-el-Chefcanoi, of 
the great mofque. As I was expected by him, he had 
affembled a confiderable number of cheiks. The conver- 
fation turned upon the intereft which the firft conful took 
in Egypt, on his power, his glory, and on his efteem and 
benevolence for the learned cheiks of Cairo. Their an- 
fwers exprelfed their attachment to his perfon. He mud 
have been a witnefs like myfelf to the enthufiafm excited 
at the view of the portrait of the firft conful to form an 
idea of the exaltation of their fentiments. I have given 
it to all the principal cheiks of Cairo, and of the towns 
where I have travelled. On the 28th 1 invited the cheik 
Omar El-Berky, prince of the Shirifs- he was ill, and I 
faw only his foil. The cheik Suleiman Fargoumy re¬ 
ceived me with much friendfhip, and affured me of his 
boundlefs admiration for the firft conful. The citizens 
Joubert and Beye have certified to me, that the inhabit¬ 
ants of Cairo never teftified fo much attachment to France 
as on my arrival. When we pafs along the ftreets, every 
body falutes us. Their aftrologets make predictions 
every day as to what concerns the firft conful. On the 
29th, I went to vifit madame Murad Bey : her intendant 
had already prayed of me that I would grant her an inter¬ 
view. I informed her that the firft conful had charged 
me to interpofe my mediation, in order to make their 
peace with the Sublime Porte ; but that the pacha had 
ordered that no negociation fhould be entered into. I 
employed that day, and the following, in vifiting the cita¬ 
del, the llle of Ru da Gize, Boulak, and all the other 
little forts which furround the city. TheTurkifh foldiers 
murmured to fee me vifit their forts, but I feigned not to 
hear them, and continued mycourfe and my obfervations. 
On the 29th, inreturning to Fort Dupuy, a foldier me¬ 
naced me. with his attagan ; but as the inhabitants of the 
city teftified highly their indignation againft him, I did 
not flop at his menaces, and continued my route. A mo¬ 
ment afterwards Muftapha Oukil, one of the chiefs of the 
city, palfed before me on horfeback. In palling, he re¬ 
proached my guides with marching before a Cliriftian, 
and above all, before a Frenchman, and menaced them 
with the baftinado after my departure. I could not be 
filent under fuch an infult ; and, upon my return, I fent 
citizen Joubert to the pacha, to make my complaint, and 
demand a prompt redrefs. I declared to him that I ex¬ 
pected this man would come publicly to me to afk my 
pardon, place himfelf at my difpofal, and implore my 
pity. He found that Muftapha was greatly protected by 
the pacha, and wanted to arrange it otherwife ; but I per- 
fifted by declaring formally to the pacha, that if this repa¬ 
ration was not made in the manner in which 1 demanded 
it, I fhould inftantly depart, and immediately write to 
Paris and Conftantinople to ftate my complaint. This 
declaration produced all the eft'eCt which I expedted ; 
and Muftapha, alarmed, came on the following day to 
me, conducted by Roletti,and he publicly afked my par¬ 
don, and put himfelf at my difpofal. I told him that my 
firft intention had been to cut off his head, and that 1 only 
gave' him his life, at the folicitation of the pacha and M. 
Rofetti} but if in future he fhould ever infult the French, 
or thofe in their fuite, his deftruCtionwould be inevitable. 
This affair, which was inftantly fpread throughout the 
whole city, produced the beft effeCf. The fame day an 
attempt was made to excite the Albanefe againft me. Two 
letters from Rofetta, written by Englifh protegees, affured 
that there had been feen upon the coafts of Natolia a 
French fleet of three hundred fail; that we were march¬ 
ing againft Conftantinople, and that my vifit to Egypt had 
no other objeCt but to deceive them, and blind them to 
their danger. I made the merchant come to me who had 
received the letter 5 I made him give it me— I inftantly 
fent it to the pacha himfelf, telling him that this abfttrd 
news was fpread to occafion diforders-, and to endeavour 
to alter the good underftanding which exifted between 
France and the Sublime Porte: and I guaranteed the 
falfehood of it with my head. The pacha had difeover- 
ed the fnare, and did not fall into it. He even commu¬ 
nicated to me a letter from general Stuart, which he had 
juft received, and to which was joined an order of the 
day, of the firft conful, when he commanded the army of 
Egypt. This order of the day was dated in Auguft 
1799, and recalled to the recollection of the Egyptians, 
that Conftantinople was tributary to Arabia, and that the 
time was now come to reftore Cairo to its fupremacy, and 
to deftroy the eaftern empire of the Ottomans. General 
Stuart begged the pacha to confider the fpirit of that or¬ 
der, and to judge from it of our attachment, and of our 
peace with the Turks. I was indignant to find that a 
foldier of one of the mod polite nations of Europe fhould 
degrade himfelf fo far as to inftigate aflaflination, by 
means of fuch an infinuation. The pacha treated me with 
the greateft politenefs, and the Englifh at Cairo were wit- 
neftes of the attachment of that city to the French. I 
received a deputation from the monks of Mount Sinai, 
whom I recommended to the pacha : I wrote to their fu- 
perior, to allure them of the friendfhip and protection of 
the firft conful. The monks of the Propaganda at Cairo, 
whom I placed under the national protection which they 
enjoyed before the war, celebrated a Te Deum for the 
profperity of the firft conful. I afiifted at this ceremony, 
at which all the Chriftians of Cairo were prefent. The 
evening before my departure (the 2d of November) I had 
another interview with the pacha, and recommended all 
the Chriftians of Cairo to his protection, as well as the 
Turks, who, during the relidence of the French in Egypt, 
were connedted with them. He not only promifed to re- 
fpedt them, but even to treat them with bounty. On the 
3d, I fet out in a conveyance of the pacha’s, in order to 
repair to Damietta. The pacha ordered me to be efcort- 
ed to Boulak, with the fame honours that I received on 
the day of my arrival. I had written to captain Gour- 
din, to repair to Damietta with the frigate, in order to 
convey me to Syria. On the 5th I flopped a fhort time 
at Simenoud, and afterwards at Manfoura, where I faw 
the commandant of the city, and tiie cheik Efteid-Mu- 
hammed-El-Chenaoni, who came to fee me, as well as all 
the other cheiks. I fpoke to them in the fame manner as 
all the other cheiks of Egypt, and received the fame 
promifes of attachment. The tower of Manfoura is de- 
ftroyed. The fame day I arrived at Damietta. The next 
day I went to Ahmed.Pacha-Behil, a creature of the 
grand vizier’s; he returned my vifit the fame day. He 
conducted himfelf perfectly well to me during my ftay in 
that city. 
On the 7th I went to'vifit the fort of Lefbe and the 
towers of Bogaz. They have not continued the works of 
that fort, which is in a bad ftate : thofe of Bogaz are in a 
good condition. There is a garrifon of two hundred 
men in the fort and in the towers. On the 8th I re¬ 
ceived the vifit of HafTan Toubar : his influence over the 
inhabitants of Menfale is (fill the fame. On the 9th I 
went to Senenie, where I faw the cheik Ibrahim-El- 
Behlout, he who behaved fo well to the French under 
the orders of general Vial, when they were taken and im- 
prifoned. The firft conful had exempted his village from 
all contributions. I faw all the cheiks at Damietta, par¬ 
ticularly Ali Khafaki, whom the firft conful had inverted 
with a pelifle : he is polfefted of great credit, and is much 
attached to the French. There are at Damietta two 
Chriftians, who are men of merit, and may be very 
ufeful to us: they are M. Bazile and don Bazile. They 
are poffefled of good information, have very confiderable 
fortunes, and are very highly refpeCted. In Egypt, chiefs, 
merchants, people, all like to talk of the firft conful—all 
offer up prayers for his happinefs. All the news which 
concerns him fpread from Alexandria or Damietta to the 
% pyramids 
