The diaries of his fellow-soldiers, the portraits painted or written by the artists in attendance are redolent of praise for Desaix. The general, however, was less of a consensus figure than is apparent. His relations with Bonaparte or Kleber, his equals and competitors, were stubbornly critical and blunt. His somewhat naive curiosity as an Egyptologist was allied to the roughness of a field officer who was not obviously a citizen-soldier. Certain that his 'civilizing mission' justified the sparse comfort of a harem and even more a reign of fear (hostage-taking, exemplary harsh sentences), Desaix was also keen to investigate the history, way of life and make-up of the tribes, and as he built up a thick file for police and diplomatic use, he took advantage of ancestral rivalries to bring the land to heel. Intent on mixing indigenous groups within the army, on developing the local economy and sanitation for the good of the locals and the home country, he tried to implement in the field the lessons of the Cairo Institute, while relying more on the Coptic minority that the Moslems. In building a colony he also built his own image, barely tarnished by the capitulation of al'Arish, which Kleber deliberately forced him to negotiate and which immediately led him to seek rehabilitation from Bonaparte.
