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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.’

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 8½d. for the year, and by the three per cent. Consols., which were 49–⅝ in January, and 52–⅝ in December; but in this, as in other stocks, there was much fluctuation: for instance, in September Consols. were 49–⅞; 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 57–⅝, fell again to 52–⅛, and rose in December to 56.