"Gloire au sultan!" he cries, "Gloire a l'armée francaise! Malediction aux Mamelukes et
bonheur au peuple d'Egypte!'

Glory to the Sultan!  Glory to the French army!  Wretched are the Mamaliyk and happiness to the people of Egypt!

He had come, he declared, as the friend and ally of the Sultan in Constantinople, and the Turkish and French flags were to fly together in every village once the usurping Mamaliyk had been ejected. Too long have the Mamaliyk beys who govern Egypt insulted the French nation, and loaded her merchants with vexations; the hour of their chastisement is arrived. Too long has this horde of slaves, purchased from the Caucasus (Abazah and Kirgstan), tyrannized over the fairest part of the world; but Allah, upon whom everything depends, has ordered its empire to end. People of Egypt! You will be told that I come to destroy your religion. Do not believe it. Reply that I come to restore your rights and punish the usurpers, and that I venerate more than the Mamaliyk, Allah, his Prophet and the Glorious Qur'an.

All men are equal before Allah; but it is wisdom, talents and virtues that make differences between men. Now what wisdom, what talents, what virtues distinguish the Mamaliyk that they exclusively should possess all that is lovely and sweet in life? Is there a beautiful j estate? It belongs to the Mamaliyk. Is there a beautiful slave, a beautiful horse, a beautiful house? They belong to the Mamaliyk. If Egypt be their private estate let them show the lease that Allah has granted.

But Allah is just and bountiful to all mankind. The Egyptians are now called upon to rule themselves: let the most wise, the best informed, the most virtuous govern and the people will be happy. There formerly existed in Egypt great cities, great canals, great commerce; by what means have they all been destroyed if not by the avarice, the injustice and the tyranny of the Mamaliyk? Quda'! Shiyuwkh! A'imah! Tell the people that we are the friends of true Muslims. Is it not we who have destroyed the Pope who preached that war must be made on Muslims? Is it not we who have destroyed the Knights of Malta because the madmen believed that Allah willed them to make war on Muslims? Is it not we who have long been the friends of the Sultan (whose wishes may Allah accomplish!) and the enemies of his enemies? Are not the Mamaliyk on the other hand in continual rebellion against the Sultan whom they still refuse to acknowledge? They execute only their own schemes.

Thrice happy those who are for us; they shall prosper in their rank and fortune. Happy are those who are neutral: they will have time to become acquainted with us and in the end they will come over to our side. But wretched, thrice wretched, are those that arm for the Mamaliyk and fight against us: there shall be no hope for them, they shall perish. May Allah redress the conditions of the Egypt nation. etc.

Proclaimed in Alexandria (at the 1st French military encampment) in the last of the month of Muharram in the year of 1213 A.H.
 
 

The Proclamation was concocted by a group of French intellectuals numbered about 150; the so-called: The famous "penseurs",  or the "living encyclopedia"  . These scholars were handpicked by Bonaparte. The text of the declaration was personally reviewed by him, and was later translated into Arabic and then printed in the press on board of the L'Orient; the first occurrence of a printed document in Egyptian history.