REVOLT AND MASSACRE AT CAIRO--CARICATURES OF THE CAPTURE OF
FRENCH SHIPS--FIGHTING FOR THE DUNGHILL, ETC.--PRICE OF BREAD
AND CONSOLS IN 1798.
I have omitted an episode which, to be chronologically correct,
should have been introduced earlier; and here, as usual, we find a
French authority for what might seem an English slander: Émile de la
Bédoliére, in his ‘Tableau Chronologique de l’Histoire de Napoléon,’
gives the story of the revolt at Cairo very tersely:--
October 21.--‘During two months the Mussulmans patiently supported the
yoke of the conquerors; but the establishment of a registration of
landed property became the cause of a violent insurrection.
‘On the 30th Vendemaire, year VII. (October 21, 1798), a multitude ran
through the streets, and massacred all the French they met. Bonaparte
repaired to the scene, and took measures to cut the communications
between the different quarters of the city, which were in the hands
of the insurgents. Fifteen thousand of them took refuge in the great
mosque, and refused to surrender. A hail of bombs, shells, and
bullets, threatened to engulph them under the débris of their last
asylum. Soon they uttered lamentable cries, implored the mercy of the
general-in-chief, and surrendered at discretion.’
Combe thus versifies this event:--
Mock liberty caus’d disaffection,
And soon commenc’d an insurrection.
According to our hero’s plan
Of course a massacre began:
The streets were clear’d, and all the men
Ran to the mosques for refuge then.
The troops, tho’, having forc’d the doors,
Strew’d with combustibles the floors,
And such indeed the conflagration,
It was a grand illumination;
With screams and groans the air was fill’d,
For some were burn’d and some were kill’d--
All indiscriminately slain,
Who had for quarter begg’d in vain.
At length our hero was inclin’d
Tho’ somewhat slowly, to be kind;
He granted quarter, and he trusted
All would be quietly adjusted.
He knew, which certainly was verified,
They had sufficiently been terrified.
Cruikshank, of course, grossly exaggerates the fact, and represents the
French soldiery savagely attacking, even with pickaxes, the Egyptians
who are endeavouring to escape from the mosque.
In November (12th) of this year, Rowlandson produced a plate called
‘High fun for John Bull, or the Republicans put to their last shift.’
This represents him as being in great glee at having captured so many
ships, whilst the French are hard at work making fresh ones, which they
are baking by batches in a _Dutch Oven_ (an allusion to their being
built in Holland). A Frenchman, with a large trayful of ships, calls
out, ‘Sacre dieu, Citoyens, make a Haste wit one autre Fleet, den we
will shew you how to make one grande Invasion.’ Another, a Spaniard,
with a tray of cannon on his head, says, ‘How! That Nelson, wit one
Arm and Eye can take our Ships by Dozens, then vat shall we do against
the autres, wid two Arms and Eyes, dey will have two dozen at a time.’
A stolid Dutchman is baking a batch, grumbling the while, ‘Donder
and Blaxam to dis Fraternization; instead of smoaking mine Pipes and
sacking De Gold, dis French Broders make me build ships dat Mynheer Jan
Bull may have de Fun to take dem.’ Another Frenchman adds, ‘Well you
may talk, make haste, when dat English Nelson take our ships by the
Douzaine.’
[Illustration]
John Bull, who holds a whip in his hand, says, ‘What! you could not
find that out before, you stupid Dupes; but since you began the fun,
you shall keep on. So work away, Damn ye, else Jack Tar will soon be
idle.’ A sailor carrying a trayful of ships on his head, calls out,
‘Push on, keep moving, I’ll soon come for another cargo. Old England
for ever. Huzza!’
‘Fighting for the Dunghill--or--Jack Tar settling Buonaparte,’ is by
Gillray, November 20, 1798. Napoleon is terribly punished, his body
being a mass of bruises and wounds, the worst being a large one in
the breast, and labelled _Nelson_. Blood is streaming from his nose,
and Jack is driving him out of the world altogether, having his foot
upon Malta, whilst Napoleon is insecure in Turkey. This engraving is
an extremely typical one of the burly, beef-fed Englishman, and the
‘skinny Frenchman,’ the ‘Johnny Crapaud’ of the time, any number of
whom an Englishman was supposed to be a match for--
One skinny Frenchman, two Portugee,
One jolly Englishman beat ’em all three.
Napoleon is depicted by Gillray (December 8, 1798) as being in a
fearful rage--and an extremely diverting sketch it is. It is called
‘Buonaparte hearing of Nelson’s Victory, swears by his sword to
extirpate the English from off the Earth. See Buonaparte’s Speech to
the French Army at Cairo, published by authority of the Directory in
Volney’s Letters.’ His melodramatic pose, and costume, are superb.
A huge cocked hat and feathers, the hat adorned with a crescent (to
show his supposed Mahometan proclivities), as well as a tricoloured
cockade, surmounts his head, which bears a most ferocious expression,
somewhat heightened by the formidable pigtail which he wears. A huge
green necktie is round his neck, and he wears a tricoloured scarf, in
which are stuck a pistol and dagger; boots, with huge spurs, add to
the dignity of the costume. He is waving his bloody sword, and stamps
upon a paper, ‘Nelson’s Victory over the Fleet of the Republic,’ while
he shouts out: ‘What? our Fleet captured and destroyed by the slaves
of Britain? by my sword and by holy Mahomet I swear eternal Vengeance!
yes, when I have subjected Egypt, subdued the Arabs, the Druses,
and the Maronites; become master of Syria; turn’d the great river
Euphrates, and sailed upon it through the sandy deserts; compelled to
my assistance the Bedouins, Turcomans, Kurds, Armenians, and Persians;
formed a million of cavalry, and pass’d them upon rafts, six or seven
hundred miles over the Bosphorus, I shall enter Constantinople. Now
I enter the Theatre of Europe, I establish the republic of Greece, I
raise Poland from its ruins, I make Prussia bend y^e knee to France, I
chain up y^e Russian bear, I cut the head from y^e Imperial Eagle, I
drive the ferocious English from the Archipelago, I hunt them from the
Mediterranean, and blot them out from the catalogue of Nations. Then
shall the conquer’d Earth sue for Peace, and an Obelisk be erected at
Constantinople, inscribed “To Buonaparte, conqueror of the World, and
extirpator of the ENGLISH NATION.”’
This brings the year 1798 to a close of the prosperity, or otherwise,
of which we may judge by the price of the quartern loaf, which averaged
8½_d._ for the year, and by the three per cent. Consols., which were
49-5/8 in January, and 52-5/8 in December; but in this, as in other
stocks, there was much fluctuation: for instance, in September Consols.
were 49-7/8; then came the news of the victory of the Nile, and up they
went to 56½, only, however, to fall to 50½. But they rose again in
November to 57-5/8, fell again to 52-1/8, and rose in December to 56.