Roger was seasick, as he usually was in bad weather; but even his miserable condition did not prevent his constantly coming up on deck to gaze anxiously in all directions, fearing at any time that Nelson's ships would appear on the horizon, heralding for him the horrible possibility of being killed or drowned within the next few hours.
When, after some days, the weather improved he was able to distract his mind from his fears somewhat by mingling with his fellow-passengers, and rarely can such a galaxy of brains, talent and gallantry have been assembled for a long voyage in one ship. Bonaparte was taking to Egypt Kleber, Desaix, Bon, Menou and Reynier as his Divisional Commanders; Alexandre Dumas to command the cavalry, Dommartin the artillery and Caffarelli the engineers; Lannes as Quartermaster-General, Berthier as Chief-of-Staff and fourteen other Generals, including Marmont and Pauline's husband Leclerc. Murat, Junot, Davoust, Bessieres, Rapp, Savary, Duroc and Eugene de Beauharnais were also included. All of them were to win glory and ten of them were destined to become Princes, Dukes and Marshals of the Empire.
Many of these beaux sabreurs sailed with Bonaparte in the mighty L'Orient. Also on board were Monge, Berthollet, Denon and a number of other distinguished intellectuals. Even Bonaparte's triumphs in Italy had given him scarcely more pleasure than having been elected to the Institute on his return to Paris. So proud was he of the honour that he even signed his letters, ' Member of the Institute and General-in-Chief'. His interest in science was hardly less than that in military affairs, and his intention was that, while he conquered Egypt, these civilian members of his entourage should delve into the secrets of the past and bring France honour by revealing to the world much that was still unknown about the ancient civilizations of the East.
To assist them in their labours and for employment with the Army, Bonaparte had enrolled a considerable number of interpreters who spoke Arabic, Turkish or Greek; and in the hold of L'Orient there lay several printing presses, with founts of type in these languages, so that declarations and propaganda could be printed without delay.
Roger had a flair for languages and on his long voyage to India in '96 he had learned Persian—the diplomatic language of the East—from one of the India Company's officials. Then, on his return to Europe, via the Red Sea, he had mastered colloquial Arabic. Now he took the opportunity to brush up his Arabic by spending an hour or two each day with one of the interpreters, and also learned from him a few phrases of Turkish.
The main convoy from Toulon and Marseilles sailed first to Genoa then to Corsica, to pick up its other contingents, but it failed to make contact with the fourth flotilla which had assembled at Civitavecchia. It was not until they were off Malta that Desaix succeeded in reporting with it.
Owing partly to contrary winds, and partly to the difficulty of keeping together such a great number of ships, the speed of the armada averaged only fifty miles a day; so it was nearly three weeks later, and June 9th, before they sighted the island stronghold that had for centuries been held by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.
Bonaparte had declared when he was in Italy that any Power holding Corfu and Malta could control the Mediterranean. Already nurturing secret designs against the East, he had robbed Venice of the Ionian Isles, after installing a French garrison in Corfu by a shabby trick. For Malta then being beyond his military orbit, he had resorted to other methods. A certain M. Poussielgue, who w2s Secretary of the French Legation in Genoa, had relatives living in Malta. Learning this, Bonaparte sent for him and despatched him on a mission to the island, ostensibly to increase its trade with France, but secretly to undermine the discipline of the Knights and bribe a number of them.
The Knights' original function had been to protect pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land; but with the ending of the Crusades this duty fell into abeyance, so the Knights had undertaken that of protecting Christian shipping in the Mediterranean from the Barbary pirates who infested the coast of North Africa. However, for more than a century past they had become decadent, leading a life of luxurious ease and licentiousness. The only vessels they now possessed were a few half-rotten warships that never put to sea and some gaily painted galleys that they used for water festivals.
On arriving before Valetta, Bonaparte asked permission for his Feet to enter the great harbour to take on water. The Grand Master replied that by custom only two warships of any nation were allowed into the harbour at one time. Bonaparte then summoned the island to surrender and ordered Admiral Brueys to begin bombarding the forts.
These were immensely strong and Valetta had long been regarded as impregnable. It could certainly have withstood a siege for many weeks. But Poussielgue had done his work well. Only a few cannon were fired in reply. The French Knights betrayed their Order and led the native Maltese, who were little better than their slaves, in a revolt which put an end to further resistance. So in a single day the Conqueror of Italy became the master of one of the greatest strongholds in Europe.
Yet he and France were soon to pay dearly for this cheaply bought victory. Fearing an aggression that they were too supine to resist on their own, the Knights had recently offered the Grand Mastership of their Order to Paul I of Russia. The Czar, in due course, joyfully accepted, as he saw in Malta a naval base which would be invaluable to him in his ambition to dismember the Empire of Russia's hereditary enemies, the Turks. With childish vanity he began preening himself in the colourful robes of a Grand Master as the champion of Christendom. When he learned that Bonaparte had robbed him of the romantic role which he had expected to play his anger knew no bounds and from that moment he became one of France's most deadly enemies.
Bonaparte stayed only seven days in Malta, but during that time he carried out as many reforms as would have taken most administrators a long term of office. He abolished the Order, compensated the French Knights, gave the people a Constitution, revised the taxes, customs and octroi dues, ordered certain streets to be broadened and public fountains to be installed, decreed a new curriculum for the university and reorganized the hospitals and the post-office. In addition, he naturally suppressed the religious houses, stole their funds and made off with all the bullion, jewelled chalices, crucifixes and other treasure he could lay his hands on. Only the solid silver gates at the Church of St. John escaped him because they happened to have been painted over.
With a Republican Government installed under a French military dictator, and the pillaging of Valetta completed, the armada sailed again, this time for Egypt. Life in LOrient was resumed on the lines it had taken soon after the departure from Toulon. On Bonaparte's instructions Bourrienne had selected a considerable library of books for him to read on the voyage. Knowing his master's tastes, the Chef de Cabinet had included a hundred and twenty-five volumes of history both ancient and modern, the best of the Roman poets, the masterpieces of the French theatre, a few books of travel and some forty novels, most of which were translations from the English. To complete this comprehensive assortment he had added a Bible, a Koran, the Vedas and several other books dealing with Eastern customs and religions.
Bonaparte showed particular interest in these last, as he was anxious to familiarize himself with the ways of the people in the countries he intended to conquer. For the greater part of each day he lay on the bed in his big cabin engrossed in these books or in accounts of the campaigns of Caesar, Hannibal, Marlborough and Louis XIV. But every evening he summoned to his cabin a selected company with whom he carried on animated discussions far into the night. In his insatiable thirst for knowledge he bombarded the savants with an endless stream of questions on an immense variety of subjects, and often propounded some debatable philosophical or religious belief for the pleasure of seeing them argue hotly about it.