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

THE FESTIVAL OF THE REPUBLIC169Catholic imagery and ritual in favor of civic celebrations. The revolutionaryweek consisted of ten days, with the tenth being a day of rest and a public festivalthat was increasingly poorly attended as the Directory limped along. 9At 6 A.M., three cannon salvos announced the beginning of the festival, andall the troops of the garrisons of Old Cairo and Bulaq were assembled “in fineform” at Azbakiya Square. Al-Jabarti remembered with evident distaste the arrivalof the newly wealthy and powerful local Christians. The Copt Jirjis al-Jawhari and the Greek Philotheos wore rich, gold-embroidered coats of fur,sported “Kashmir turbans,” and were mounted on “strong mules,” their joy evidentin their comportment, according to al-Jabarti. At 7 A.M. Bonaparte arrivedwith the generals, the heads of administration, the artists and scientists of theEgyptian Institute, the leader of the Meccan pilgrimage, and the members ofboth the Cairo and the provincial divans. One officer said it was “an almost Orientalprocession.” They were seated on a platform or reviewing stand. “All themusicians of the demi-brigades joined in to play warlike marches and patrioticairs, these melodies of victory so dear to all republicans.” The troops then executedtheir maneuvers and firing exercises with “astonishing precision,” afterwhich they gathered around the obelisk.An aide then read out Bonaparte’s proclamation to the troops. 10 “We celebratethe first day of the Year 7 of the Republic. Five years ago, the independenceof the French people was menaced, but you took Toulon. That presagedthe ruin of our enemies.” This was Bonaparte’s way of reminding his men of theBritish and Spanish occupation of Toulon, a toehold for enemies of the Revolutionon French soil, and of how his artillery techniques had defeated AdmiralNelson in 1793 and driven the foreigners from French soil. Given the recentrather dramatic victory that Nelson had gained over Bonaparte with the sinkingor capture of the French fleet, it was necessary for Bonaparte to reach back intime for a victory of his own against the admiral.The proclamation assured them of a good and honorable destiny in Egypt,like that of the men listed on the pyramids, because they were worthy of theirdeeds and the world’s high opinion of them. There is reason to believe that thatparticular passage of his speech was not well received. It is clear from his officers’memoirs that Bonaparte made a misstep in those lugubrious circumstances,in bringing up the possibility that they would all die there. He thenrecovered: “Or you will return to our fatherland covered in laurels and the admirationof all the people. For the five months that we have been gone from Europe,we have been the object of the solicitude of our countrymen. On this day,40 million citizens are celebrating the era of representative governments, 40