challenge, not only to idealists, but to
German potentates. It nearly precipitated a rupture with Vienna, where
the French tricolour had recently been torn down by an angry crowd.
But Bonaparte did his utmost to prevent a renewal of war that would
blight his eastern prospects; and he succeeded. One last trouble
remained. At his final visit to the Directory, when crossed about some
detail, he passionately threw up his command. Thereupon Rewbell, noted
for his incisive speech, drew up the form of resignation, and
presenting it to Bonaparte, firmly said, "Sign, citizen general." The
general did not sign, but retired from the meeting apparently
crestfallen, but really meditating a _coup d'etat_. This last
statement rests on the evidence of Mathieu Dumas, who heard it
through General Desaix, a close friend of Bonaparte; and it is clear
from the narratives of Bourrienne, Barras, and Madame Junot that,
during his last days in Paris, the general was moody, preoccupied, and
fearful of being poisoned.

At last the time of preparation and suspense was at an end. The aims
of the expedition as officially defined by a secret decree on April
12th included the capture of Egypt and the exclusion of the English
from "all their possessions in the East to which the general can
come"; Bonaparte was also to have the isthmus of Suez cut through; to
"assure the _free and exclusive_ possession of the Red Sea to the
French Republic"; to improve the condition of the natives of Egypt,
and to cultivate good relations with the Grand Signior. Another secret
decree empowered Bonaparte to seize Malta. To these schemes he added
another of truly colossal dimensions. After conquering the East, he
would rouse the Greeks and other Christians of the East, overthrow the
Turks, seize Constantinople, and "take Europe in the rear."

Generous support was accorded to the _savants_ who were desirous of
exploring the artistic and literary treasures of Egypt and
Mesopotamia. It has been affirmed by the biographer of Monge that the
enthusiasm of this celebrated physicist first awakened Bonaparte's
desire for the eastern expedition; but this seems to have been
aroused earlier by Volney, who saw a good deal of Bonaparte in 1791.
In truth, the desire to wrest the secrets of learning from the
mysterious East seems always to have spurred on his keenly inquisitive
nature. During the winter months of 1797-8 he attended the chemical
lectures of the renowned Berthollet; and