anniversary of the Prophet.  The Turks invited him to these merely as a spectator; and the presence of their new master was gratifying to the people.  But he never committed the folly of ordering any solemnity.  He neither learned nor repeated any prayer of the Koran, as many persons have asserted; neither did he advocate fatalism, polygamy, or any other doctrine of the Koran.  Bonaparte employed himself better than in discussing with the Imaums the theology of the children of Ismael.  The ceremonies, at which policy induced him to be present, were to him, and to all who accompanied him, mere matters of curiosity.  He never set foot in a mosque; and only on one occasion, which I shall hereafter mention, dressed himself in the Mahometan costume.  He attended the festivals to which the green turbans invited him.  His religious tolerance was the natural consequence of his philosophic spirit.

—­[From this Sir Walter Scott infers that he did not scruple to join the Musselmans in the external ceremonies of their religion.  He embellishes his romance with the ridiculous farce of the sepulchral chamber of the grand pyramid, and the speeches which were addressed to the General as well as to the muftis and Imaums; and he adds that Bonaparte was on the point of embracing Islamism.  All that Sir Walter says on this subject is the height of absurdity, and does not even deserve to be seriously refuted.  Bonaparte never entered a mosque except from motives of curiosity,(see contradiction in previous paragraph.  D.W.) and he never for one moment afforded any ground for supposing that he believed in the mission of Mahomet.—­ Bourrienne.]—­

Doubtless Bonaparte did, as he was bound to do, show respect for the religion of the country; and he found it necessary to act more like a Mussulman than a Catholic.  A wise conqueror supports his triumphs by protecting and even elevating the religion of the conquered people.  Bonaparte’s principle was, as he himself has often told me, to look upon religions as the work of men, but to respect them everywhere as a powerful engine of government.  However, I will not go so far as to say that he would not have changed his religion had the conquest of the East been the price of that change.  All that he said about Mahomet, Islamism, and the Koran to the, great men of the country he laughed at himself.  He enjoyed the gratification of having all his fine sayings on the subject of religion translated into Arabic poetry, and repeated from mouth to mouth.  This of course tended to conciliate the people.

I confess that Bonaparte frequently conversed with the chiefs of the Mussulman religion on the subject of his conversion; but only for the sake of amusement.  The priests of the Koran, who would probably have been delighted to convert us, offered us the most ample concessions.  But these conversations were merely started by way of entertainment, and never could have warranted a supposition of their leading to any serious result.  If Bonaparte spoke as a Mussulman, it was merely in his character of a military and political chief in a Mussulman country.  To do so was essential to his success, to the safety of his army, and, consequently; to his glory.  In every country he would have drawn up proclamations and delivered addresses on the same principle.  In India he would have been for Ali, at Thibet for the Dalai-lama, and in China for Confucius.