Leaving Kléber and Marmont to guard against any attempts by the English to further exploit Nelson’s victory, Napoleon and his staff mounted up and swiftly returned to Cairo. News of the battle had reached every corner of the city and there was a palpable tension in the streets of the capital as those who still opposed the French occupation openly rejoiced. The morale of the French troops was dangerously low now that their lifeline to their homeland was cut. Napoleon knew that the only cure for their malaise was to be kept occupied and fed a diet of rewards and propaganda. He immediately set out a list of public works and administrative measures to be carried out as soon as possible.

Chambers of commerce were set up in the largest towns of the delta, and register offices established to record land ownership and to issue birth certificates in an attempt to provide the basis of a new tax system. Napoleon was mindful that, despite the defeat at Aboukir Bay, Paris would still be anticipating fresh spoils from its army in Egypt. French engineers began projects to improve the economy of the new province by building roads and windmills, and work began on dredging the canal that linked Alexandria to Cairo. In the capital itself, Napoleon decreed that street lighting would be provided and a local police force set up. A hospital was established for the city’s poorest inhabitants and the French historians, artists and scientists who had accompanied the expedition were finally rewarded for all the discomfort and danger they had endured. The Institute of Egypt for Arts and Sciences was inaugurated in Cairo with Gaspard Monge as its president. Napoleon added his lustre to the proceedings by accepting the post of vice-president.

He commandeered the mansions of the Mameluke leaders and handed them over to his senior officers. The soldiers, distressed by the hot climate, and lacking the wine and bread they had been raised on back in France, were even more disgruntled by the lack of available women. In order to distract them from their grievances Napoleon set up a soldiers’ social club and two light-hearted newspapers. Gradually, the troops began to adjust to their new setting, discovering the pleasures of native chebouk pipes, steam baths and spiced native food enjoyed from the comfort of divans.

In order to impress upon the local worthies the technical superiority of the French regime, Napoleon ordered the officer in command of the hot air balloon detachment to mount a public demonstration and ride his balloon aloft for all of Cairo to see. On the appointed day the sheikhs and imams and their retinues were treated to a feast in shelters round an open square while Captain Conté and his men prepared their equipment.