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continued, the full extent of his intentions gradually became clearer: having conquered Egypt, he would then mount an expedition to India, where he would attack the British. This force would require 60,000 men, 30,000 of whom would be recruited and trained from amongst the Egyptians; it would take 10,000 horses and 50,000 camels, sufficient to carry supplies for sixty days and water for six. Other provisions would be sequestered on the march, which would take four months to reach the Indus. In India he would link up with the forces of Tippoo Sahib, the ruler of Mysore who had risen against the British and sworn allegiance to French revolutionary ideals. Napoleon concluded by announcing that the entire expedition would cost between eight and nine million francs.
    The Directory was aghast: they simply did not have such money. Similarly, they could not afford to lose as many as 30,000 experienced men from the Army of Italy, who might be called upon to defend the territory they had occupied. On the other hand, the Directory knew that if they were to remain in power it was imperative to get rid of Napoleon. So they struck a bargain: Napoleon could have 25,000 men in total, but he would have to raise the money to pay for the expedition himself. Also, there was no question of him marching on to India: his expedition was to be limited solely to the conquest of Egypt, and he was expected to return in six months. Meanwhile Talleyrand would be dispatched to Constantinople to reassure their Turkish allies that the French harbored no aggressive intent against the Ottoman Empire. Napoleon would merely overthrow the Mamelukes and restore order to the country, so that French traders could go about their business unmolested. Afterwards the Directory and the Porte would come to an arrangement about how the country should best be governed.
    Napoleon accepted the Directory’s terms with a suspicious rapidity and lack of bargaining, but the Directory were not worried. He was agreeing to leave France and mount an expedition at no cost to themselves; what he might or might not decide to do after he reached Egypt was another matter altogether. When he once more brought up the benefits of marching on India, the Directory gave the impression that they acquiesced, leaving the matter up to him.
    The Italian campaign, followed by Napoleon’s protracted treaty negotiations and his marital problems, had left him exhausted. Even before his return to France he had written to his brother: “My health is ruined. . . . I can barely get into the saddle and need two years rest.” Yet no sooner had the Directory agreed to his invasion on March 5, 1798, than he launched himself into a delirium of activity, prompting even Bourrienne to comment: “He worked night and day on this project. I never saw him so active.” 15 The first requirement was money, and Napoleon knew that the only way to raise this was by looting from the exchequers of the countries France had “liberated” for the Revolution. Here he proved as ruthless as in his military campaigning: nothing would stand in the way of his “glory.” He dispatched his chief of staff Berthier to Rome to ransack the Vatican; General Joubert, whose military prowess had proved vital to the success of the Italian campaign, was sent to Holland; and General Brune, who had already established himself as a notorious looter in Italy, was ordered to Berne, where he sent back to Napoleon what amounted to the entire Swiss exchequer, a sum equivalent to three million gold francs.
    Napoleon soon had more than enough to finance his expedition to Egypt, though an indication of his further ambitions is seen in the fact that he had also covertly budgeted to take on further assets. Around this time he received a report from his former financial administrator Poussielgue about his spying mission to Malta, where according to intelligence sources the treasury of the resident Knights of St. John contained relics, valuables and