on prevailed, but
Desaix shouted to the soldiers to throw themselves down on the ground,
and then the next square opened so terrible a fire on the Mamelukes that
they were forced to retreat. Two days later Kleber marched with his
division for Damietta.

In the native quarter the agitation continued, but so far peace had not
been broken, and the French took little heed of what was passing, and
had no idea that there was any danger of a rising. Had it been their
object to provoke such movement, they could hardly have taken steps
better calculated to bring it about. They had, in the first place, after
their arrival proceeded to largely strengthen and increase the
fortifications, and in doing so had altogether disregarded the feelings
of the people, had pulled down houses and mosques, had desecrated tombs,
and cleared away all buildings on spaces of ground across which the guns
would play. This desecration of their sacred places had given rise to
the deepest feelings of exasperation among the people.

In the next place, many of the fortifications were converted so that the
guns menaced the town instead of the country round, and at the citadel
especially, which dominated the whole city, guns were placed to overawe
it. The next step was deeply resented by the people, for interfering
with their ancient usages. Cairo was divided into fifty quarters, each
of which had a wall and gate. These gates were closed at night, or
indeed at any time, by the orders of the chief of the quarter, and the
interruption caused by these breaks in the line of communication had
given rise to many quarrels between the soldiers and the townspeople.
The inconvenience was a distinct one, and the French, without giving
any notice of their intentions, sent a strong party of engineers,
supported by troops, to demolish all these gateways.

The taxes were onerous in the extreme. By means of a council that had
been appointed, consisting of notabilities who had, either by fear or
bribery, been brought over to the side of the French, a crushing
taxation was imposed, and this rendered the trading and upper classes,
upon whom the burden principally fell, as hostile to the French
domination as were the lower classes. Thus the French themselves had, by
their high-handed conduct and their absolute disregard for the feelings
and religious sentiments of the people, prepared a mine that was on the
point of exploding.

That afternoon a messenger arrived from the sh