rom Paris--to impress upon Kleber the necessity of always
considering the possession of Egypt as a point of the highest importance
to France; and, nevertheless, of negotiating, as long as possible, with
the Porte, on the basis that the French Republic neither had now, nor
ever had had, the smallest wish to be permanently mistress of that
country. He finally authorised Kleber, if not released or recruited by
May following, to make a peace with the Porte, even if the first of its
conditions should be the total evacuation of Egypt.

Then follow directions for the internal administration of Egypt, in
which, among other sufficiently characteristic hints, Kleber is desired
to cultivate the good will of _the Christians_, but, nevertheless, to
avoid carefully giving the Mussulmans any reason to confound _the
Christians_ with _the French_. "Above all," says Napoleon, "gain the
Sheiks, who are timid, who cannot fight, and who, like all priests,
inspire fanaticism without being fanatics."

The conclusion is in these words. "The army which I confide to you is
composed of my children; in all times, even in the midst of the greatest
sufferings, I have received the marks of their attachment: keep alive in
them these sentiments. You owe this to the particular esteem and true
attachment which I bear towards yourself."

[Footnote 27: Djezzar means _butcher_: he had well earned this title by
the mercilessness of his administration.]

[Footnote 28: Sir Sydney Smith, having been taken prisoner and most
unjustifiably confined by the French government in the dungeons of the
Temple, had made his escape through the zeal of certain of the royalist
party, and chiefly of Philippeaux.]

[Footnote 29: The handsome swordsman--_i.e._ Murat.]

[Footnote 30: De Bourienne, whose curious work has appeared since the
first edition of this narrative was published, confirms this statement
of Napoleon: but Napoleon, it is obvious, _might_ have received letters
which he did not choose to communicate to his secretary.]

CHAPTER XIII

Retrospect--Buonaparte arrives in France--The Revolution of the
18th Brumaire--The Provisional Consulate.

We must now pause for a moment to indicate, however briefly and
imperfectly, the course of events which had determined Napoleon to
abandon the army of Egypt.

While the negotiations at Rastadt were still in progress, the Directory,
on the most flimsy of pretences, marched an army into Switzerland; a