Bonaparte, he said, behaved like a coward; he ought to have
sought for death, rather than expose himself in a cage to the laughter
of the universe. The Europeans, he said, are as treacherous as the
Osmanlys; all Bonaparte's confidants abandoned him - all his generals, who
owed to him their fortunes.
He was eager in his inquiries about the political relations between
Great Britain and Russia, and whether it was not likely that war might
break out between them, on account of the hostile
[p.79] intentions of the latter towards the Porte. (On this point he had
received false intelligence.) His only fear seemed to be that the
English army, which had been employed in the south of France, and in
Spain, would now be at liberty to invade Egypt. "The great fish swallow
the small," he said; "and Egypt is necessary to England, in supplying
corn to Malta and Gibraltar." I reasoned with him in vain on this
subject, and perceived that the dragoman did not always interpret my
answers correctly, from the fear of contradicting the well-known
opinions of his master. These opinions, indeed, were deeply rooted, and
had been fostered by the French mission in Egypt.
