Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

THE CONSTANT TRIUMPH OF REASON1491797–1798 the Directory had reaffirmed the necessity that it be worn by all Frenchcitizens and imposed short jail sentences on women who neglected it. Debates hadthen broken out at the Council of 500 and in the press about who should wear thecockade. The Jacobin answer had been “everybody,” even visitors on French soil.But some Directory-era politicians and intellectuals argued that wearing it shouldbe linked to military service, and so be a prerogative of male citizens. Others insistedthat it signified not full military or political participation, but “Frenchness,”so that it should encompass women and children, even resident foreigners.In the summer of 1798, Bonaparte ordered all Egyptians to wear one. Theengineer Prosper Jollois recorded in his journal that on 29 July in Rosetta, “Wecelebrated the taking of Cairo, and the new muftis or commandants named bythe people were decorated with the tricolor scarf.” After the festival, a civicmarch into the center of the city was staged, with band and drums. At the end,French dispatch boats anchored in the Nile off Rosetta discharged their cannon.Thereafter, Villiers du Terrage recorded in his journal for 30 July at Rosetta,“The inhabitants began wearing French cockades.”Rosetta, a cosmopolitan port, had a substantial Christian population, but inCairo the Muslim divan objected. Bonaparte conducted two long meetings withthe divan and in the end won the members over. “He even,” Say reported, “enteredinto theological arguments that astonished and convinced the Muslims.”The members of the divan began wearing cockades, and soon “everyone in Egyptwas wearing them.” The Syrian chronicler Nicola al-Turk confirmed that bothEgyptian men and women wore the cockade. In Egypt, the tricolor knot of clothwas required of all Egyptians because it symbolized the incorporation of Egypt asone of “the countries of France.” In essence, it was a symbol of submission.Al-Jabarti said that on 5 September, Bonaparte summoned the clergymen ofal-Azhar. When they arrived and were seated, he attempted to drape a tricolorshawl over the shoulder of Sheikh Sharqawi. The latter threw it to the ground andbegged to be excused, his face flushed. The Corsican’s translator addressed them,“Clerics, you have become the friends of the commander in chief, and his intentionis to honor you through these shawls. If you are distinguished by them, thepeople and the soldiers will exalt you and you will have a place in their hearts.”The clerics, al-Jabarti said, responded, “But our place with God and ourbrothers the Muslims will collapse.”Bonaparte, he wrote, was angered and let loose some curses. His translatorslater admitted that he had brought into question Sheikh Sharqawi’s suitability tobe head of the divan. The other clerics attempted to butter him up, and theysought permission not to have to wear the shawls.