some 2,000 Arabs. Among the French casualties were General Dupuy
and Napoleon's favourite aide-de-camp Captain Sulkowski. Despite the
propaganda picture later painted by Guerin, Napoleon did not pardon
the rebel ringleaders but executed them out of hand. What he did do, out
of purely prudential motives, was to refrain from burning down the
Mosque of El Azhar, lest the entire country rise against him. But even
this act of political judgement evoked complaints from the Army, who
had wanted to put Cairo to the torch in reprisal.
Napoleon's position in Egypt was precarious and, cut off as he was in
Egypt with no news of the outside world, worse than he knew. Having
intended to be absent from France for just a few months, he was now in
limbo, not knowing how soon or if ever he could be reinforced. The
recent revolt in Cairo showed how uncertain was the temper of the
people, and he intuited that Nelson's naval victory would already have
tempted the Turks to a declaration of war. He was not to know that the
Directory had already effectively written him off and were concentrating
on grave crises in Europe. The new confederations in Italy collapsed like
a house of cards under a fresh Austrian assault. The indigenous rebellion
in Ireland failed to coordinate with the French and ended ingloriously;
Humbert eventually landed and won a string of small victories but he was
forced to capitulate. On 4 November Talleyrand wrote to Napoleon to
tell him he was on his own and that if he could maintain himself there he
had carte blanche; but this letter was not received until 25 March the
following year.
The last two months of 1798 were an ordeal for Bonaparte even
without the depressing news from Europe. The British blockade was
tight and morale in the ranks was crumbling. Battle, suicide and disease
had already drastically reduced manpower and in addition by the end of
October rs% of the Army was on the sick list. In December bubonic
plague broke out in Cairo, Alexandria and Damietta, claiming seventeen
victims a day on average and leaving behind a further 2,ooo dead. It was
not surprising that spirits were low even among the of ficers: Menou,
Kleber, Dumas and even Berthier put in their resignations only to have
them rejected.
Reversing Sir Walter Scott's polarity, Napoleon's dreams of honour
and of arms gave place to dreams of love and lady's charms. Since he said
farewell to Josephine in Toulon in May, he had been largely sexually
inactive. An eleven-year-old daughter of a sheikh, named Zenab el Bekri,
had been presented to him as a virgin prize but he did not find the
experience satisfactory, and this is in line with the sexual profile we have
adumbrated above. Napoleon liked his women experienced and in
marcin
(Marcin)
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