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

156 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTreforming, liberalizing court of Sultan Selim III, which had even greeted the tumultuousFrench Revolution with equanimity, had suddenly been thrown intothe arms of reaction, with a Russian alliance and a resurgent influence for revanchistMuslim clerics in the capital. The Istanbul conservatives had long beenalarmed at the implications of the French Revolution, but the sultan’s reformingzeal had deflected them. Now their sentiments came to dominate public discourse.Darendeli recalled that the installation of Yusuf Ziya Pasha met no oppositionat all among the Ottoman officials. Selim had the right team in place for anew, conservative foreign policy based on alliances against the French Republic.On 2 September, Russian Tsar Paul I signaled his firm support by sendinghis fleet from Sevastopol on the Black Sea to Istanbul. Selim III abruptly hadRuffin and all the personnel in the French embassy taken into captivity and sentto the Prison of the Seven Towers. At the same time, reprisals were orderedagainst all French capital in the empire, with merchants arrested and their propertyconfiscated. Bonaparte had, in a second, undone centuries of successfulFrench mercantile policy in the Ottoman Empire.That same day, the sultan formally requested a legal ruling from the chief Islamicjurisconsult on declaring war against France. On 9 September a draft of thedeclaration of war was produced, and it was formally issued on 12 September. Itcomplained of French perfidy after the sultan had stood with the French earlier inthe decade and underlined that “Egypt being the gate to the two holy cities, Meccaand Medina, this affair is of the greatest importance for all Muslims.” 24 In fact,however, there had been many such firmans, or imperial decrees, already, beginningin late August. In a firman typical of September 1798, the sultan condemnedBonaparte by name for having conquered Cairo “and having made war against theMuslims of this country and having spread various lies and false reports.” Hewarned that the perfidious actions of the French, which were contrary to internationallaw (bigayr-i kaide-i düvel), demonstrated that they intended to subjugate andspread chaos in all the other Muslim territories as well. The firman thundered thatmarching against the French infidels had become a “personal religious obligation”(farz-i ‘ayn).” Only thus, it said, could the Muslims hope to “accomplish the task ofpurifying Cairo and its environs” from the “corrupting presence of the French”and “to liberate the servants of God.” 25 Note that the Ottoman decree accuses theFrench in the first instance of violating the laws and norms of nations. Since thiswas an Ottoman document directed to Ottoman authorities, it is remarkable inshowing the reformist, civil mind-set of Selim III. He did not depict the actions ofParis as simply infidel depredations against Muslims, though they were that, but asin the first instance an act of international criminality.