"
And the pyramids of the great plain of Cairo beheld the glorious
deeds and victories of the French army, beheld the overthrow of the
Egyptian host. The Nile murmured with its blood-red waves the death-
song of the brave Mamelukes, and the "forty centuries" which looked
down from the pyramids were obliterated by the glorious victories
that Bonaparte gained at the foot of those sacred monuments. A new
epoch was to begin. The old epoch was buried for Egypt, and out of
the ruins of past centuries a new Egypt was to be born, an Egypt
which was to serve France and be tributary to it as a vassal.
This was Bonaparte's plan, and he did every thing to bring it to
completion. He passed from battle to battle, from victory to
victory, and after conquering Egypt and taking up his residence in
Cairo, he at once began to organize the newly-won country, and to
introduce to the idle and listless East the culture of the earnest
and progressive West. But Egypt would not accept the treasures of
culture at the hand of its conqueror. It rose again and again in
rebellion against the power that held it down, and hurled its
flaming torches of revenge against the hated enemy. A token of this
may be seen in the dreadful revolt at Cairo, which began in the
night of the 20th of October, and, after days of violence, ended
with the cruel cutting down of six thousand Mamelukes.
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