Napoleon in Egypt (31 page)

During the following days the river continued to rise, with the promise of a good season ahead. According to El-Djabarti, “This year the flooding of the Nile was exceptional; all the country was flooded and communications came to a halt. The whole of Egypt was reduced to a vast swamp.”
¹⁶
Goods imported from Syria and Libya shot up in price, whilst there was a glut of local produce and prices at the Cairo markets fell accordingly. Such instabilities were endemic, but inevitably the local population turned its irritation on the French. Ironically, Napoleon was already searching for ways to overcome such financial fluctuations, though by this stage his own financial plight was hardly a model of stability.

The Nile ceremony also marked the beginning of the Egyptian tax year. It meant that the
miry
could now be assessed for each farmer, on the likely size of his crop—a welcome prospect of some much-needed income for Napoleon’s administration. The
miry
was theoretically the tribute paid to the Ottoman authorities in Constantinople, but a heavy percentage of this had always found its way into the pockets of the local Mameluke beys and the tax collectors themselves. The French intended to use this money to finance their administration and its reforms of Mameluke practices. However, all this income remained very much a prospect, for the
miry
was not collected until after the harvest, when many of the smallholders paid in kind, involving further transactions before this could be converted into actual financial assets. So far the chief financial administrator Poussielgue and his paymaster-general Estève had managed to keep the finances of the French administration afloat by creating a “Compagnie de Commerce,” which sold and auctioned off all requisitioned Mameluke property and treasures. But this could only be a temporary measure, and in an attempt to raise further cash they issued bonds on the mint, in exchange for gold and silver. These bonds were rendered all the more attractive by making them redeemable with interest in the exceptionally short period of three months, an indication of how strapped the French administration was for cash. Even so, they were still regarded with suspicion, and in many cases wealthy merchants were virtually compelled to buy them, turning the bond issue into something of an enforced loan. This was particularly the case amongst the Coptic, Jewish and Greek communities, which were largely sympathetic towards the French, and had benefited from their presence through the cessation of discriminatory practices. Poussielgue maintained a tight hold on the finances whilst the administration’s income remained low, and this meant that Estève was only able to pay the army with token handouts, which nonetheless served to stimulate the economy in the bazaars.
¹⁷

An indication of the French administration’s situation can be gleaned from the accounts that Poussielgue was even now drawing up for the end of the year (that is, the revolutionary year, which ended in September). These showed that the total expenditure of the expedition so far had been 8 million francs; meanwhile assets for the same period—which included spoils from Malta and the remnant assets of the Berne bank—stood at 9.3 million.
^*
This left a theoretical balance of just 1.3 million. Although this was no mean sum, it was not large compared with the Egyptian agricultural economy as a whole, for which Poussielgue drew up some general figures. According to these, the total tax revenue gathered from the
fellahin
in previous years had amounted to the equivalent of around 63 million francs per annum. Out of this:

8 million was retained by the Coptic tax collectors

12 million went towards local administration of one form or another

6 million was sent to local landlords by way of the local mayors (who also took their cut)

4 million went direct to the local Mameluke governors

9 million was paid to the Bedouin as protection money

6.4 million was dispatched as
miry
to Constantinople

In practice, this left a figure of around 17.3 million for the authorities in Cairo (the fact that these figures do not add up is very much in keeping with the Egyptian economy of the period); but all these figures (such as they were) meant nothing until the taxes could be collected. For the time being the French administration had to soldier on as best it could, on the hunt for cash whenever and wherever it could be found. At times, this would even enter the realms of the comic: the new fiscal year would open with Napoleon dispatching the following advice to Poussielgue: “General Dumas has news of a bey’s mansion where there is hidden treasure. See that you join forces with him in the necessary digging hunt for this treasure.”
¹⁸

Napoleon now noticed that no preparations were being made to celebrate the Birth of the Prophet, the major event of the Muslim year. This was due to take place a few days after the Nile ceremony, and was customarily marked by festivities stretching over a four-day period. When Napoleon summoned Sheik El-Bekri and asked him why nothing was being done about the celebrations, the sheik prevaricated, suggesting that it was not right for Egyptians to celebrate during such difficult times. In fact, the main reason for suspending these celebrations was because the Egyptians were in no mood to rejoice, filled as they were with increasing resentment against the French. According to El-Djabarti: “The sheik wished to invoke as an excuse the crisis which was affecting the country. But the general would not accept this reason, and gave the order to celebrate the feast. He also gave the sheik 300 ecus to help pay for the expenses.”
¹⁹

Despite such heavy-handedness, Napoleon was determined to show that he came as an understanding friend of Islam. He promised El-Bekri that he would attend the holy ceremonies and celebrations in person, and he sent word to Kléber in Alexandria and Menou in Rosetta, ordering that they should organize and take part in their own local celebrations for the Birth of the Prophet. On the appointed day, Napoleon duly attended the ceremonies at the residence of El-Bekri, where prayers were said and the family tree of the Prophet was read out: a seemingly endless list of his genealogy extending from the seventh century to the present. According to some sources, Napoleon even went so far as to attend these ceremonies in Arabic dress. He himself makes no mention of this, and neither does El-Djabarti, who would have been present. However, the story of Napoleon adopting Arabic dress is not entirely mythical: he certainly wished to do so, and Bourrienne describes how one day he turned up at dinner with his staff wearing some kind of Oriental dress: “he entered in his new costume; scarcely was he recognized than he was greated with great bursts of laughter. He took his place calmly: but he cut such a poor figure in his turban and oriental robe, looked so gauche in his unsuitable costume, that he very soon retired to take it off, and never since did he feel tempted to make a second appearance in this masquerade.”
²⁰

No matter how he was dressed, Napoleon certainly attended the great banquet held at El-Bekri’s residence, later recalling “that it was served on fifty small tables, each set with five places. In the midst of this was Sultan El-Kebir and Sheik El-Bekri.” If not dressed in the native style, Sultan El-Kebir at least dined in the same manner as his hosts, seated on a cushion and eating with his hand. Afterwards he discovered the joys of smoking a
nargileh
(oriental water pipe) and sipping sweet muddy Turkish coffee.

A French military band was ordered to play outside El-Bekri’s residence day and night throughout the celebrations, and at night “each mosque, each palace, each bazaar, each market was picked out in illuminations.” Napoleon also recalled how “the army played its part in the rejoicing and happiness of the inhabitants,”
²¹
yet how far this extended beyond the inevitable fireworks, which one officer at least found “a pathetic display,” and the “military exercises which took place at Ezbekiyah Square” mentioned by El-Djabarti, remains a moot point. The Egyptians were quite capable of enjoying themselves without French military assistance, although their manner of doing so often left the French somewhat bewildered. The prickly Major Detroye once more manifested his astonishment and prejudice at “men bearing aloft flaming torches or vast chandeliers containing more than forty lamps, others singing ornate outlandish songs, accompanied by even more ornate outlandish music, such was the procession which paraded throughout the town the whole night through, crying out, howling, making an infernal din.” Things reached their climax on the fourth day when “the public places were filled with little sideshows, featuring dancing bears, trained monkeys, male and female singers enacting tableaux, women chanting poems, jugglers who made live snakes disappear in containers, children performing the most lascivious dances, wrestlers taking part in single combat. Toward evening the fakirs appear: the people regard with the utmost veneration these fanatics, who have long hair and are dressed in the most skimpy garb.”
²²
These holy men greatly intrigued the French, who studied their habits in some detail. According to Malus: “These are the saints of Egypt: their life is lived in a state of perpetual ecstasy and they are permitted to do anything they want. At various times of year, several of them run through the streets, naked as monkeys.”
²³
Malus cites a study of them made by the savants, which viewed such “holy men” with a distinctly jaundiced scientific eye: “It seems that nothing is beyond the cynical behavior of these so-called saints, above all on the days of religious festivals. They are granted complete license. The women esteem it a great blessing when any amongst them are chosen by a fakir for the exercise of his sexual desires, and they form around the couple a protective circle.”
²⁴

In Alexandria, Kléber dutifully mounted his own festival for the Birth of the Prophet, but his heart was not in it. According to one of his officers he was “sullen and upset [and] only reluctantly took part in this religious farce.”
²⁵
On the occasion when he was invited to dine with the local
divan
he appeared distinctly unimpressed by the fact that the rice had been dyed red, white and blue in honor of the French. Later, when the local dignitaries came in turn to receive hospitality at his headquarters, he made sure that he and his officers were seated at a separate table where they were served wine. On the other hand, in Rosetta Menou entered into the spirit of things with some zeal, transforming the main street into a large reception hall, complete with tents, carpets and lanterns, where dancers accompanied by musicians entertained the guests until dawn.

Napoleon had grasped that the Islamic world was in many ways a cohesive whole, which extended across national borders; the key to this lay in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. He now sought to capitalize on his pro-Islamic policy in Egypt by writing to three of the leading Islamic figures in the Arabic world: the Bey of Tripoli, the Pasha of Damascus and the Sherif of Mecca, all of whom had responsibility for the Mecca pilgrimage.
^*
He reminded them how he had gone to the rescue of the returning pilgrims who had been attacked by Ibrahim Bey, and promised that “the journey through Egypt of the pilgrims to Mecca and Medina will continue to be protected as in the past,” adding, as if by constant repetition it would come to be believed: “We are friends of Muslims and of the Prophet and we desire to do all we can to please you and be favorable to your religion.”
²⁶
Napoleon’s aim was to gain pan-Islamic acceptance of his rule, but in this he was to be disappointed. The Pasha of Damascus and the Bey of Tripoli did not even deign to reply.

Word had spread throughout the Levant and North Africa of Nelson’s destruction of the French fleet, and it was now widely assumed that the French were a spent force, who would soon be gone. In fact, Napoleon seems to have been one of the last in the region to hear the news of the British victory, which had spread far more quickly through the desert network of Bedouin tribes than it had via the French couriers with their armed escorts. Ibrahim Bey almost certainly knew what had happened by the time he raided the Mecca pilgrims and Napoleon set out after him, and even Murad Bey in Upper Egypt knew of these events by the time the Austrian consul Rosetti arrived with Napoleon’s peace deal, in which he had generously offered Murad Bey the governorship of an entire province. After greeting his old friend Rosetti, Murad Bey dispatched him back to Cairo with a contemptuous message, indicating that he now felt he had the upper hand and could afford to be generous: “Tell the commander-in-chief to assemble all his troops and return to Alexandria. I shall pay him 10,000 purses of gold coins to cover the expenses of his army. By doing this, he will spare the lives of his soldiers and save me the trouble of fighting him.”
²⁷
On receiving this message, Napoleon immediately ordered Desaix to prepare to march into Upper Egypt, with the aim of hunting down Murad Bey and his Mamelukes until they were finally eliminated. On August 25 Desaix and his division began heading south up the Nile.

Napoleon knew that Ibrahim Bey had taken refuge across the Sinai in Syria,
^*
and in order to head off any threat from this eastern quarter he dispatched one of his staff officers, Major Beauvoisin, with a letter to Ahmed Pasha, the governor of Acre. In this, Napoleon informed him: