Napoleon in Egypt (44 page)

Later, a second attempt would be made to impress the Egyptians with this example of superior French technology, and once again El-Djabarti came to Ezbekiyah Square to cast his eye on the proceedings: “At midday everyone was there and the balloon was launched. It rose and sailed towards the Barkiya Hills, where it fell out of the sky. If the wind had driven it just a bit further and out of sight, the ruse would have succeeded and the French would have maintained that the balloon had traveled to a faraway land, just as they pretended it could.”
¹⁶
Others remarked on how this time many of the Egyptians in the square paid no attention to the large tricolored apparition floating through the sky above them. They simply continued going about their business “without even raising their eyes, such was their indifference to this spectacle that was meant to impress them as a miracle.”
¹⁷
This lack of interest was apparently because the Egyptians believed that the multicolored spectacle floating in the sky was simply a commonplace manifestation of sorcery, which so excited the French because they had only just mastered this art, whereas for Egyptians it had long been an everyday part of their lives.

Whilst Napoleon was watching Conté supervise the preparations for the historic first French balloon ascent in Egypt, he happened to overhear his seventeen-year-old stepson Eugene Beauharnais remarking to one of his fellow aides about a strikingly pretty woman amongst the French spectators. In common with many of his officers and men, Napoleon appeared to have been without female company during the previous six months or so. Some have attributed this to his misogyny, never far below the surface, which had now been reinforced by his hatred and disgust for Josephine after learning of her infidelities. Bernoyer, in a letter home written at this time, reflects the general opinion amongst Napoleon’s officers: “Since he has been in Egypt he has had no particular liaison with a woman, and we are all surprised that in such a hot country he has never shown any desire to have one.”
¹⁸

This perception may not have been strictly accurate. Soon after Napoleon’s arrival in Cairo, Sheik El-Bekri had sought to ingratiate himself by offering him one of his daughters, a sixteen-year-old called Zenab, an offer Napoleon was said to have accepted. There is no actual evidence of this liaison, but Zenab’s subsequent fate would seem to confirm it. El-Djabarti records that three years later, long after the alleged
affaire
was over and Napoleon had departed the country, “the daughter of Sheik El-Bekri was arrested. She had been debauched by the French. The representatives of the authorities presented themselves after sunset at her mother’s house . . . and made her appear before them with her father. She was interrogated about her conduct, and replied that she repented of it. They asked the advice of her father, and he replied that he disowned his daughter. Then the unfortunate girl’s head was cut off.”
¹⁹
There is no actual proof that El-Bekri offered his daughter to Napoleon, yet it is unthinkable that she could have formed a liaison with him, or any Frenchman, under any other circumstances.

Napoleon’s relationship with a sixteen-year-old girl who spoke no French was unlikely to have prospered, given his sensibilities. Indeed there remains another piece of unverifiable gossip that during this period he embarked upon his sole homosexual adventure.
²⁰
He was seemingly encouraged in this by the exploits of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar, both of whom were bisexual, but this Egyptian adventure—if it ever took place—was certainly not to his taste. More likely the entire story was a reflection of the not uncommon homosexual practices amongst soldiers of all ranks in the Army of the Orient during this long period of heterosexual deprivation. Several French soldiers left on record how they found the available Egyptian women unattractive, not to say downright repulsive—though such remarks are not entirely trustworthy, for by the time these records came to be published, many of their authors were well-established family men, and wished to remain so.

There is also a plausible story in Bourrienne’s often implausible memoirs, where he claims: “Towards mid-September, Napoleon had half a dozen Asiatic women brought to him at the palace of Elfi-Bey, all of whom were acclaimed for their grace and beauty. But he did not care for this sort of thing, and was repelled by their obesity, so he immediately sent them back.”
²¹
Napoleon was easily put off women, particularly if he did not like their smell. Sophisticated French women of this period, especially Josephine, took great care in bathing themselves, even in their comparatively mild climate. The combination of Cairo’s heat, voluptuous physique, and the less subtle perfumes used by Egyptian women would have been enough to provoke Napoleon’s sensitive distaste.

The attractive young woman who came to Napoleon’s notice on November 30 at the first balloon launch in Ezbekiyah Square was Pauline Fourès, the twenty-year-old bride of junior infantry officer Lieutenant Fourès. A self-portrait of Pauline from around this period would indicate that she had a round face with rather insipid features, and tight dark curls falling down over her forehead. This is almost certainly a reflection of her meager artistic talents, rather than her actual appearance, which was said to be strikingly attractive. She was described by General Paulin and several other sources as having long blond tresses which when unloosed fell down to her waist, covering her entire upper body like a cloak—though whether this information was the result of sex-starved army gossip, or actual firsthand experience, is not mentioned in the memoirs. At any rate, she was certainly a striking woman, and evidence from her later life suggests that she was also a spirited and independent character: in other words, a worthy potential replacement for Napoleon’s errant wife.

Pauline had been born the illegitimate daughter of a cook, and had ended up working in a milliner’s shop at Carcassonne, in southern France, where she came to the attention of dashing young Lieutenant Fourès. They were married shortly before the Egyptian campaign, and he smuggled her aboard his ship at Toulon dressed in a cavalry uniform with her copious blond hair stuffed under a soldier’s cap. In Egypt, her beauty had soon attracted attention, and not a little speculation, amongst Fourès’ fellow officers. However, Napoleon appears to have been too busy to notice her, until the balloon launch at Ezbekiyah Square, whereupon he seems to have been smitten. That night, in the hope of seeing her again, he turned up at Le Tivoli, and according to those present could not take his eyes off her. Alas, this was not a euphemism for the lingering glances of a love-struck suitor. Despite his sensitivity about women, Napoleon had a tendency to boorishness in such matters, and on this occasion he simply stared at Pauline, and went on staring, a habit which many later objects of his attention would find rather more unsettling than romantic.

Having made his intentions plain, Napoleon took the same course as he had done with Josephine when she had delayed coming to Italy: he dispatched his loyal aide Junot to discreetly convey his master’s feelings. But Junot proved not up to this sensitive task, and his indelicate proposal to Pauline Fourès, couched in somewhat military language, was angrily rebuffed. This blunder was eventually overcome by the dispatch of one of Napoleon’s more diplomatic aides, in the form of General Duroc, together with the placatory gift of an expensive jewelencrusted bracelet. This appears to have had the desired effect. Yet what to do about Pauline’s husband? On December 17 Napoleon gave orders for Lieutenant Fourès to set out on an important mission to Malta. He was to convey a letter to Admiral Villeneuve, whom Napoleon assumed had sailed to Malta after fleeing from the Battle of the Nile. From Malta, Fourès was to take ship for Italy, where he was to travel by stagecoach to Paris carrying letters for the Directory. “You will remain eight to ten days in Paris, after which you will return post-haste [with their replies]. . . . I count on your initiative in overcoming all unforeseen events which might prevent you from accomplishing your mission.”
²²

If previous experience was anything to go by, this would see Lieutenant Fourès out of Cairo for at least three months, possibly much longer, but when he put in a request for his wife to travel with him, he was told that this was out of the question. No sooner had Fourès left Cairo on his mission than Madame Fourès and several other officers’ wives were invited to a dinner party at Elfi Bey’s palace, ostensibly given by the governor of Cairo, General Bon. Pauline duly attended, while once again Napoleon stared and stared. When coffee was served after dinner, the officer sitting next to her happened to upset his cup over her dress. This was undoubtedly no accident. Napoleon at once sprang to her rescue, offered her his services, and escorted her upstairs to repair the damage. Neither guest returned to the party.

Within days, Pauline had been established in a house in the grounds of Elfi Bey’s palace, and in the words of Bourrienne, “This liaison was soon known all over the headquarters, and became the subject of every conversation.”
²³
Such a choice piece of gossip quickly spread throughout the army in Cairo, and beyond: Pauline became known as Napoleon’s Cleopatra.

Yet all did not go quite according to plan. After Lieutenant Fourès set sail from Alexandria aboard
Le Chasseur
, it was intercepted, on December 29, by the British warship
Lion
. As a result, Fourès was relieved of his messages and dispatched back to Alexandria on parole. According to some sources, the British knew about Napoleon’s liaison with Fourès’ wife and sent him back in the hope of embarrassing the French commander-in-chief. The British certainly had an efficient spy network operating in Egypt, yet it is all but impossible to see how this know ledge could have reached
Lion
before Fourès was intercepted. A more likely explanation is that they sent him back to Alexandria on parole because this was their standard practice with junior officers at the time.

At any rate, Fourès eventually arrived back in Cairo some time early in January, where he soon learned of Pauline’s infidelity. In classic military fashion he then went in search of his wife with a horse whip. Bursting into her house in the palace grounds, he discovered her in the bath and began whipping her, drawing blood, until the servants rushed in and restrained him. As a result of this incident, Fourès would be reprimanded for conduct unbecoming an officer. Napoleon was almost certainly away at Suez when Fourès returned to Cairo, otherwise the lieutenant might have been dragged before his commander-in-chief and in the heat of the moment received a more severe and immediate punishment.

The feelings of Lieutenant Fourès are transparent, but those of Pauline are less clear. She appears simply to have lost her head in the face of Napoleon’s attentions, though there are indications that her marriage to Fourès may have been in difficulties. General Paulin implied that his information concerning the length and cloak-like qualities of Pauline’s hair was gained firsthand, and other sources suggest that she was sexually sophisticated. Junot’s wife, in her memoirs, insisted that before Fourès departed to Alexandria on his mission, Pauline went to bed with him “with one eye streaming tears and the other wet with laughter,” and then “buttered the bun” by leaving for Napoleon’s bed.
²⁴
Laure Junot claimed that she was told this story by her husband, and such idiomatic language would certainly seem to be an authentic echo of Junot’s voice.

Napoleon made no attempt to keep his liaison secret. From now on Pauline acted as hostess at his official dinners in Elfi Bey’s palace, and would sit beside him when he rode about Cairo in his open carriage. He was well aware that word of this would get back to Josephine in Paris sooner or later, and this was doubtless what he intended. When Eugene Beauharnais was required to escort Napoleon and Pauline in their open carriage, the young aide pointed out the anomaly of his situation, and was excused these duties. The affair was a cause of painfully divided loyalties for the seventeen-year-old Beauharnais, who felt a deep admiration for his stepfather, but also loved his mother—only his feelings towards Pauline would have been unambiguous. As for Napoleon’s feelings towards Pauline, these are more difficult to discern. At least to begin with, this appears to have been something more than just a fling, more than just revenge on Josephine over her affair with Hippolyte Charles. He certainly urged Pauline to divorce the disgraced Lieutenant Fourès, and according to Bourrienne:

Napoleon strongly wished to have a child with this beautiful woman. Often when just the two of us had dinner together, I would speak with him about it. “What’s to be done,” he would reply, “the silly girl . . . can’t do it.”

She, for her part, when I pointed out to her the advantage of having a child by Napoleon, replied to me: “Good God . . . it’s not my fault.”
²⁵

Pauline’s remark could have meant any one of several things, but at this point Bourrienne tactfully leaves us to draw our own conclusions.

XVII

A Suez Adventure

N
APOLEON’S
initial idyll with Pauline can only have lasted for a week or so, as on December 24 he embarked upon a long-planned expedition to Suez, and did not take her with him.

Suez, lying some eighty miles across the desert east of Cairo and the Nile valley, had not initially been taken by the French, but on December 4, just days after their full-dress march-past in Ezbekiyah Square, General Bon and his men set off for the port. The expeditionary force consisted of 1,200 infantry and 200 cavalry, accompanied by a camel convoy carrying provisions, water, firewood and the wooden sections of four gunboats, to be reassembled and launched on the Red Sea. Three days later Suez was taken without a shot being fired.