Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Volume II

"Pour toute harangue, Buonaparte leur addresse ces mots, qu'on peut regarder comme le sublime de l'éloquence militaire. – 'Soldats! vous allez combattre aujourdhui les dominateurs de l'Egypte; songez que du haut de ces Pyramides, quarante siècles vous contemplent!'" – Lacretelle, tom. xiv., p. 267.

382

Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 245; Miot, p. 50; Jomini, tom. x., p. 408; Thibaudeau, tom. iv., p. 184; Larrey, p. 13.

383

"About nine in the evening, Napoleon entered the country house of Murad Bey at Gizeh. Such habitations bear no resemblance to our chateaux. We found it difficult to make it serve for our lodging, and to understand the distribution of the different apartments. But what struck the officers, was a great quantity of cushions and divans covered with the finest damasks and silks of Lyons, and ornamented with gold fringe. The gardens were full of magnificent trees, but without alleys. What most delighted the soldiers (for every one came to see the place,) were great arbours of vines covered with the finest grapes in the world. The vintage was soon over." – Napoleon, Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 249.

384

Buonaparte made his entry into Cairo on the 26th of July. On the 22d, he issued from Gizeh the following proclamation: —

"People of Cairo! I am satisfied with your conduct. You have done right not to take any part against me: I am come to destroy the race of the Mamelukes, and to protect the trade and the natives of the country. Let all those who are under any fear be composed; and let those who have quitted their houses return to them. Let prayers be offered up to-day, as usual, for I wish that they may be always continued. Entertain no fear for your families, your houses, your property, and, above all, the religion of your Prophet, whom I love."

385

In a letter published in the Moniteur, No. 90, December 20, 1797, Buonaparte expresses the highest sense of Admiral Brueyes' firmness and talent, as well as of the high order in which he kept the squadron under his command; and concludes by saying, he had bestowed on him, in the name of the directory, a spy-glass of the best construction which Italy afforded. – S.

386

Intercepted Letters, part i., p. 219.

387

Mr. Southey's "Life of Admiral Nelson;" in which one of the most distinguished men of genius and learning whom our age has produced, has recorded the actions of the greatest naval hero that ever existed. – S.

388

Buonaparte, on the 19th of August, addressed, from Cairo, the following letter to the widow of the unfortunate admiral:

"Your husband has been killed by a cannon-shot, while fighting on his deck. He died without pain, and by the best death, and that which is thought by soldiers most enviable. I am keenly sensible to your grief. The moment which severs us from the object we love is terrible; it insulates us from all the earth; it inflicts on the body the agonies of death; the faculties of the soul are annihilated, and its relations with the universe subsist only through the medium of a horrible dream, which alters every thing. Mankind appear colder and more selfish than they really are. In this situation we feel that, if nothing obliged us to live, it would be much best to die; but when, after this first thought, we press our children to our hearts, tears and tender feelings revive the sentiments of our nature, and we live for our offspring; yes, madam, see in this very moment, how they open your heart to melancholy: you will weep with them, you will bring them up from infancy – you will talk to them of their father, of your sorrow, of the loss which you and the Republic have sustained. After having once more attached your mind to the world by filial and maternal love, set some value on the friendship and lively regard which I shall always feel for the wife of my friend. Believe that there are a few men who deserve to be the hope of the afflicted, because they understand the poignancy of mental sufferings."

389

"At ten o'clock a vessel which was burning, blew up with a tremendous noise, which was heard as plainly at Rosetta as the explosion of Grenelle at Paris. This accident was succeeded by a pitchy darkness, and a most profound silence, which continued for about ten minutes." – Poussielque to his Wife; Intercepted Letters, part i., p. 208.

"L'Orient blew up about eleven in the evening. The whole horizon seemed on fire, the earth shook, and the smoke which proceeded from the vessel ascended heavily in a mass, like an immense black balloon. It then brightened up, and exhibited the objects of all descriptions, which had been precipitated on the scene of conflict. What a terrible moment of fear and desolation for the French, who witnessed this awful catastrophe!" – Louis Buonaparte.

390

"I know not whether the Archbishop of Malines did or did not apply the term Jupiter Scapin to Napoleon; but to me it appears incontestable, that the name of Scapin would be much more aptly bestowed on the writer, a bishop and an ambassador, who could be capable of such impertinence towards the sovereign he represented." – Louis Buonaparte, p. 32.

391

"It is not true that in Egypt Napoleon showed himself almost persuaded of the truth of the mission of Mahomet. Doubtless, deceit and falsehood should be banished from the language of true policy, since as government ought to be, as much as is in the power of men, the image of God upon earth, its language ought to be that of truth and justice. This, however, does not preclude the right of respecting the religious worship and opinions of a conquered nation, and it was in this sense that the proclamations addressed by my brother to the Mussulmen should be regarded. They would not have been understood by these people, if they had not spoken their language. Whilst I was in Holland, I rejected at first the title of Emperor given to the King of Holland by the Sublime Porte; but upon expressing my astonishment I was assured that the Porte gave this title to the sovereigns of other countries, and that that of king would not be understood." – Louis Buonaparte, p. 34.

392

This conversation appeared officially in the Moniteur. Bourrienne, notwithstanding, asserts that Buonaparte never set foot in the pyramid. He acknowledges, indeed, that "with the heads of the Mahometan priesthood he held frequent conversations on these subjects;" but adds, "in all this there was nothing serious; it was rather an amusement. If he ever spoke as a Mussulman, he did so in the capacity of a military and political chief in a Mahometan country. On this depended his success, the safety of the army, and consequently his glory. It is true, he had a Turkish dress made for him, but only as a joke. One morning he desired me to begin breakfast without waiting; a quarter of an hour after, he entered in his new costume. Scarcely was he recognised, when we received him with bursts of laughter. He took his place with a gravity which heightened the effect, but found himself so ill at ease as an Oriental, that he soon went to undress, and never gave a second exhibition of this masquerade." – Bourrienne, tom. ii., p. 164.

393

Alluding to the capture of the island of Malta, and subjection of the Pope, on which he was wont to found as services rendered to the religion of Mahomet. – S.

394

Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 261.

395

Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 363.

396

"The night overtook us, the waters began to rise around us, when the horsemen ahead cried out that their horses were swimming. General Buonaparte rescued the whole party by one of those simple expedients which occur to an imperturbable mind. Placing himself in the centre, he bade all the rest form a circle round him, and then ride out each man in a separate direction, and each to halt as soon as he found his horse swimming. The man whose horse continued to march the last, was sure, he said, to be in the right direction; him, accordingly we all followed, and reached Suez, at midnight in safety; though so rapidly had the tide advanced, that the horses were more than breast-high in the water." —Memoirs of Savary, vol. i., p. 97.

397

Las Cases, tom. i., p. 211.

398

"While the army was passing through Syria, there was scarcely a soldier but was heard to repeat these lines from Zaire: —

'Les Français sont las de chercher désormais Des climats que pour eux le destin n'a point faits, Ils n'abandonnent point leur fertile patrie Pour languir aux deserts de l'aride Arabie.'

When the men found themselves in the midst of the Desert, surrounded by the boundless ocean of sand, they began to question the generosity of their general; they thought he had observed singular moderation in having promised each of them only seven acres – 'The rogue,' said they, 'might with safety give us as much as he pleases; we should not abuse his good-nature.'" – Las Cases, tom. i., p. 210.

399

See his despatch to the Directory, on the Syrian campaign. – Gourgaud, tom. ii., p. 374.

400

Expédition en Egypte et Syrie, p. 148.

401

"I asked him about the massacre of the Turks at Jaffa: he answered, 'C'est vrai; J'en fis fusiller à peu près deux mille.'" – Memorandum of Two Conversations between the Emperor Napoleon and Viscount Ebrington at Porto-Ferraio, p. 12.

"I observed, that Miot asserted that he (Napoleon) had caused between three and four thousand Turks to be shot, some days after the capture of Jaffa. He answered, 'It is not true that there were so many; I ordered about a thousand or twelve hundred to be shot, which was done.'" – O'Meara vol. i., p. 328.

402

See Jomini, tom. xi., p. 403; Thibaudeau, tom. ii., p. 172; Savary, tom. i., p. 100; Bourrienne, tom. ii., p. 226; Martin, Hist. de l'Expédition d'Egypte, tom. i., p. 289.

403