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

42 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTforcefully for leaving immediately for Italy, where there was unfinished businessin Sardinia and Naples. He wanted to adopt a longer-term plan to dominate theeastern Mediterranean, with a return to Egypt when the time was right.Mireur’s patriotism was not in question and, indeed, he had played a role inmaking the Marseillaise popular as the anthem of the Revolution. His impassionedspeech, however, gained no support. Bonaparte, Desvernois alleged,greeted this impassioned plea for a retreat coldly. He wanted to conquer Egyptimmediately. He rose and ended the session. Mireur, recognizing that his careerwas over, rode out to the desert and blew his brains out. Desvernois was in theparty that found him. A military funeral was held for him and he was interred inthe Muslim cemetery. 27The death of Mireur deeply affected the officers and soldiers who knewhim, and many preferred to believe the rumor that he had fallen victim to theBedouin than that he had lost his nerve. Morand wrote home in despair ofhow his friend Mireur had passed behind a sandy hillock and been ambushedby Bedouin hiding there. “Egypt, its campaigns, its ruins, its monuments—allof that is hideous to me. A veil of horror has enveloped me. My imagination,for so long abandoned to romantic dreams and agreeable illusions, is nowfilled only with ghastly images. It wanders among specters and searches forthe gory shadow of Mireur. He is no more. Barbarous assassins have rippedaway his life. Valiant, in the flower of his youth, good, sensible of glory andfriendship, surrounded by esteem, covered with laurels, he fell to the weaponsof cruel Bedouins.” 28At Damanhur, an Arab horse kicked Bonaparte in the right leg, which anarmy physician said “produced so severe a contusion that one had to fear subsequentaccidents. I was happy enough to prevent them, and to guide him in avery short time to healing, despite the pain when he walked and his natural activity,which kept him from resting.” 29 The commander in chief set up his headquartersin the whitewashed residence of Damanhur’s mayor, which, despite hiswealth, was poorly furnished. Bonaparte’s private secretary, Louis de Bourrienne,told the story of how the Corsican inquired of his involuntary host as towhy he chose to live in such penury. The mayor replied that once he had refurbishedhis home, and “when this became known at Cairo, a demand was madeupon me for the money, because it was said my expenses proved me rich. I refusedto pay the money, and in consequence I was ill-treated, and at length,forced to pay it.” Bourrienne professed himself shocked that any ruler wouldforce people to pay crushing taxes. In fact, Bonaparte was already working onappropriation schemes of his own. The engineer Villiers du Terrage recorded in