f these professions. After
the battle of Ambabah, at which the forces of both Murad Bey and Ibrahim
Bey were dispersed, the populace readily plundered the houses of the
beys, and a deputation was sent from al-Azhar to Bonaparte to ascertain
his intentions; these proved to be a repetition of the terms of his
proclamation, and, though the combination of loyalty to the French with
loyalty to the sultan was unintelligible, a good understanding was at
first established between the invaders and the Egyptians. A municipal
council was established in Cairo, consisting of persons taken from the
ranks of the sheiks, the Mamelukes and the French; and presently
delegates from Alexandria and other important towns were added. This
council did little more than register the decrees of the French
commander, who continued to exercise dictatorial power. The destruction
of the French fleet at the battle of the Nile, and the failure of the
French forces sent to Upper Egypt (where they reached the first
cataract) to obtain possession of the person of Murad Bey, shook the
faith of the Egyptians in their invincibility; and in consequence of a
series of unwelcome innovations the relations between conquerors and
conquered grew daily more strained, till at last, on the occasion of the
introduction of a house tax, an insurrection broke out in Cairo on the
22nd of October 1798, of which the headquarters were in the Moslem
university of Azhar. On this occasion the French general Dupuy,
lieutenant-governor of Cairo, was killed. The prompt measures of
Bonaparte, aided by the arrival from Alexandria of General J. B. Kleber,
quickly suppressed this rising; but the stabling of the French cavalry
in the mosque of Azhar gave great and permanent offence. In consequence
of this affair, the deliberative council was suppressed, but on the 25th
of December a fresh proclamation was issued, reconstituting the two
divans which had been created by the Turks; the special divan was to
consist of 14 persons chosen by lot out of 60 government nominees, and
was to meet daily. The general divan was to consist of functionaries,
and to meet on emergencies.

In consequence of despatches which reached Bonaparte on the 3rd of
January 1799, announcing the intention of the Porte to invade the
country with the object of recovering it by force, Bonaparte resolved on
his Syrian expedition, and appointed governors for Cairo, Alexandria,
and Upper Egypt, to govern during his absence.