UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Persuasion’s Empire: French Imperial Reformism, 1763-1801 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science by Christian Donath Committee in charge: Professor Tracy Strong, Chair Professor Fonna Forman Professor Harvey Goldman Professor Marcel Hénaff Professor Alan Houston Professor Anthony Pagden 2012 Copyright Christian Donath, 2012 All rights reserved The dissertation of Christian Donath is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically: _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2012 iii For my father, who taught me to love political argument. For my mother, who taught me to wonder. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ................................................................................................................... iii Dedication.......................................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents.................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................... viii Vita.................................................................................................................................... xii Abstract............................................................................................................................ xiii Introduction Introduction....................................................................................................................1 1. The Promise of Persuasion .......................................................................................6 2. A Peculiar Imperial Vision .....................................................................................10 3. Empire and Liberalism Entangled ..........................................................................13 4. Persuasion and Power across Community Borders ................................................18 5. Outline of the Dissertation .....................................................................................22 Chapter 1 - An Empire of Eros: Colonizing through Desire in the Supplement to Bougainville’s Voyage Introduction .................................................................................................................26 1. The Old Man............................................................................................................29 2. Orou and the Eroto-economics of Colonization .....................................................42 2.1 The French role in the Tahitian System ..........................................................49 3. Setting the Supplement in its Imperial Context ......................................................54 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 61 Chapter 2 – The Mechanics of Frictionless Empire: Colonization without Coercion in Raynal’s Histoire des deux Indes Introduction..................................................................................................................64 v 1. Colonial Typologies and Reformism’s Institutional Underdevelopment ................69 2. Emulation.................................................................................................................75 2.1 Emulation in the Colonies................................................................................82 3. Consanguinity ..........................................................................................................97 4. Discursive Persuasion ............................................................................................108 5. Complications ........................................................................................................115 Conclusion .................................................................................................................119 Chapter 3 – The Histoire’s Reception, Colonial Debates, and the Turn to the Mediterranean Introduction................................................................................................................121 1. Rule over Native Peoples.......................................................................................124 1.1 The ‘Lull’ in Debates about Ruling Natives..................................................127 1.2 Rule in Africa.................................................................................................130 1.3 Rule in India...................................................................................................134 2. The Mediterranean Turn ........................................................................................139 2.1 Barbary...........................................................................................................140 3. Encounters with an Egyptian Future......................................................................148 3.1 Venture de Paradis .........................................................................................148 3.2 The Teenage Bonaparte .................................................................................152 Conclusion .................................................................................................................157 Chapter 4 – The Black Legend on the Banks of the Nile: French Colonial Reformism in the Occupation of Egypt Introduction................................................................................................................159 1. The Black Legend on the Banks of the Nile..........................................................168 2. Narrative of Principles ...........................................................................................172 3. French Strategies....................................................................................................177 3.1 “Cadis, sheikhs, imams…tell the people that we also are true Muslims!”....177 3.2 Festivities.......................................................................................................189 vi 3.3 Techne............................................................................................................193 4. Reformist Officials ................................................................................................201 4.1 General Jacques-Abdullah Menou and “the means of mildness and persuasion”...........................................................................................................201 4.2 A Last Ditch Effort ........................................................................................214 Conclusion .................................................................................................................216 Chapter 5 – The Failure of Reformism: The Locals Reply Introduction................................................................................................................220 1. French Governance ................................................................................................226 1.1 Origins of the masheikhat al-fransawiyya: Turk and Jabarti on the French Republic...............................................................................................................226 1.2 Jabarti (and Turk) on French Government in Egypt......................................231 2. Making Sense of Empire by Persuasion ................................................................240 2.1 Turk and Jabarti on French ‘Friendliness’: Weakness and Deceit ................241 2.2 Assessing French Mobilization of Islam .......................................................246 2.3 Eros and Wonder: the Lure of Techne…the Lure of Empire?.......................254 3. Jabarti’s Counter-Theory of Rule: Persuading with Justice ..................................267 Conclusion .................................................................................................................277 Conclusion 1. Persuasions of Empire ...........................................................................................280 2. A ‘Liberal’ Empire.................................................................................................288 3. Persuasion, Soft Power, and Modern Global Politics............................................289 Conclusion .................................................................................................................295 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................296 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project is the result of much traveling and I have been fortunate to have such excellent guides and companions along the way. I should like to begin by acknowledging my thesis committee. In so many ways, this project could not have been completed without Fonna Forman. Her willingness to treat me as a colleague from my earliest moments at UCSD allowed me to find my voice as a scholar. Her expressions