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

196 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTmistress might well have been politically useful to him. He clearly tried his luckin that regard. The only women in Egypt of higher social station at that pointthan the Georgians of the Qazdaghli households were the few hundred Frenchwomen. Although most had a low standing in France itself (Pauline Fourès wasthe illegitimate daughter of a cook), in Egypt their rarity and their membershipin the ruling ethnicity elevated them to the top of the female social ladder. Once,for whatever reason, a liaison between Bonaparte and an Ottoman-Egyptian ladyhad been ruled out, he was impelled by status considerations to find a Frenchmistress. That his men were largely deprived of this possibility impelled them toform alliances with Egyptian women in various ways, whether by marrying them,taking them as mistresses, buying them as concubines, or resorting to prostitution.In a society that felt deeply about family and community honor, these thousandsof public liaisons stood as a constant affront to the manhood of EgyptianMuslims and were a source of their profound hostility to the French.In early October, Bonaparte convened in Cairo a national divan or “generalcouncil.” Al-Jabarti recalled that on Friday, 5 October, the delegations thatBonaparte had requested from each of thirteen provinces were called upon toconvene at the house of Qayed Aqa in Azbakiya, which was where the old Ottoman-Egyptiandivan had met. 28 Each delegation was made up of three clergymen,three merchants, a village headman, a peasant, and a Bedouin chief, andthey received a handsome monthly stipend. The French intended these provincialcaucuses, though not elective, to form a roughly representative body of 117persons, the first Egyptian parliament. The gathering was also attended by Ottomanregimental officers who had thrown in with the French, as well as byCopts and Syrian Christians. The French officer in charge had translators reada document that blamed the Mamluks for ruining Egypt, praised the French fortheir good intentions of making the Nile Valley flourish through renewed tradewith the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, and declared that the French “did notinterfere with any of the people.” Al-Jabarti had a good laugh at that one.The French then attempted to organize the election by the delegates of apresident of the assembly. Attendees began by wanting to select Sheikh Abdullahal-Sharqawi by acclamation, calling out his name. The translator exclaimed“Non, non!” in French, and had them instead vote on paper ballots. The resultwas the same, with al-Sharqawi elected. The first session went to sunset, and thedivan was supposed to convene every day thereafter until the twentieth. TheFrench insisted on the faithful attendance of the delegates (who were being paid