Napoleon I | Letter signed, ordering payments to scientists and artists on the Egyptian Campaign, 1798

Napoleon I

Letter signed ("Bonaparte"), to the "Payeur de l'armée" , 10 August 1798

in French, ordering the treasury official responsible for payments to the Army, to pay the members of the Commission of Sciences and Arts their agreed stipend for the months of floréal and messidor [April/May and June/July], in accordance with the orders he will be sent by the paymaster general

"...Vous voudrez bien, Citoyen, solder aux membres de la Commission de Sciences et arts les appointemens de floréal et messidor, sur l’Etat qui vous sera remis par l'ordonnateur en chef..."

1 page, 4to, Army Headquarters, Cairo, 20 thermidor an 6 [10 August 1798]

A remarkable feature of Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign was the provision for scholars and artists, described as "a masterstroke of propaganda obfuscating the true motives of the invasion". Nevertheless, great discoveries were made, resulting in a tremendous increase in knowledge about ancient Egypt, and the enrichment of the great museums in Paris and London. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone by Pierre-François Bouchard occurred by chance the following year, in 1799. 

The "payeurs de l'armée" were "payments specialists", subordinate to the "Ordonnateur-en-chef", the head of the Treasury. The "payeur" was responsible for directing and auditing the movement of Treasury funds to the army.

LITERATURE:

P.-F. Pinaud, "Guerre et Finances de 1792 à 1815 : Le service de la Trésorerie aux Armées La France" in Revue Historique, vol. 283 (1990), 53-69