"A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER IN EGYPT."

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 63, 16 August 1884, Page 4

"A CONFEDERATE SOLDIER IN EGYPT."

" A CONFEDEKATE SOLDIER IN EGYPT" is the rather peculiar title which General W. W. Loring has given to his record of ten years' , service under the ex-Khedive of Egypt. The title is its chief objectionable feature. It has never been regarded as any credit for a man who received four years' free education in the art of war from his Government to take up arms in order to destroy that Government. This is what the title of Confederate means when applied to an officer of the regular army who broke his faith to go with his State ; hence we fail to understand why a man should care to parade the title when there is no special call for it. Barring this blemish, however, the book gives a readable account of Egypt, the manners and customs of the people, the causes which led to the abdication of Ismail, the revolt of Arabi Pasha, the Abyssinian war in which the Khedive's forces were so badly beaten, with much information in regard to i the Soudan and the future of the Egyptian question. But this information forms only a small part of the book. The design has evidently been to make the volume popular, hence there is a great deal of historical padding which has no place in it, and the larger part of the illustrations are not interesting and have no bearing on the text. Thus, sandwiched between chapters on "The Kile Lands and Their Cultivation " and lt The Overthrow of Ismail" is a chapter on "Ancient Egypt," and a sketch of Arabi Pasha's disastrous revolt is followed by "A Journey to Mount Sinai." This hurts the book as a literary work, but will probably help its sale among people who desire a comprehensive sketch of Egypt. For a man whose trade is war, General Loring handles the pen skifully. Many of his descriptive passages are remarkably well done. We could call the reader's attention especially to the chapters describing the rise and rule of Mehemet Ali, the work and overthrow of Ismail Pasha, and the chapters which record the disastrous expedition against King John of Abyssinia. General Loring served under the ex- Khedive for ten years, beginning in 1869. He was brought into intimate personal relations with a large number of pashas of high rank. He seems to have got on well with the Egyptian officers and to have done much to improve the morale of the army, whose inspection for several years was his chief duty. He gives the best idea of the Egyptian character that we have seen, and he also affords the fairest means of judging the merits and defects of Ismail's system. Naturally, he is a warm admirer of the ex-Khedive, whom he represents as a liberal-minded ruler, crippled by British greed and rapacity, just as he was fairly emerging from the sea of debt with which his generosity and enterprise had almost overwhelmed him. The summary of the methods by which the British officials succeeded in forcing Ismail to abdicate will not furnish pleasant reading for the English; but all the facts bear thestamp of truth, and the exposure of the frauds by which the gigantic debt was piled up has been made before by British writers who did not share the national desire to spoil the Egyptian under the guise of civilisation. Of the $450,000,000 which the English and French bondholders claim to have loaned to Egypt there is nothing to show that more than §225,000,000 was ever received, and of this only £80,000,000— which went towards the digging of the Suez Canal — was ever expended for the improvement of Egypt. The Sultan protested against the last three loans, but a sop was given to him in the shape of the royal backsheesh of $4,500,000, and the unspeakable Turk held his tongue thenceforth. The British, after saddling the country with this enormous debt, quartered upon the land 1,325 imported office-holders, whose aggregate salaries amounted to 61,665,000. These men simply performed the work which was equally well done before this by a few Coptic clerks on small salaries. The war which resulted in so much suffering to the Arab population and so much misery to foreigners in Egypt is condemned in unmeasured terms by the author, who declares thati t was forced upon the country by the intrigues of the British, who hoped in this way to secure complete control of the revenues of Egypt. Of Arabi Pasha he says : "Though the ostensible reason for making war was to protect Tewfik, the ally of the bondholders, against the military, the real reason was that the notables claimed the right to legislate upon tho unassigned revenues of Egypt in the budget, which might interfere with the pay of the 1,325 foreign officers forced upon the country. The act of the controllers in ordering Tewfik to drive Arabi Pasha out of Cairo, for fear he might influence the notables in their legislation upon the pay of these officials, was an acknowledgment that he was a great political leader, and it influenced the entire people of Egypt to consider him as such. There can be no question that Arabi Pasha was opposed to the massacre of Christians, and did all he could to prevent it ; and it is certain that he was in no manner concerned in the burning of Alexandria. In a word, he was honest and humane, and carried on war as best he could, according to the usages of civilised nations— at least, so far as can be learned from any evidence that lias been published, and he is entitled to credit For saving the Suez Canal from injury under 9xtraordinary provocation, it matters not from what motive." The second part of the volume is a record Df "Military Experiences in Abyssinia." The author was chief of the foreign staff which accompanied Ratib Pasha in the campaign against King John in 1875. He had expected to have the chief command, but it was thought better for the esprit de iorps of the army to have an Egyptian at its [lead. So a fine body of men, well drilled and equipped, went forth into that rugged country under the leadership of as arrant a 3oward as ever disgraced a uniform. The result was that the men, seeing the polbroonery of their chief and of the other native officers, became demoralised, and in passing through a steep defile an entire regiment was stampeded by some of the arge baboons of the country, who threw stones down the hillside. When a decisive ingagement occurred, the warlike Abyssinans butchered the Egyptians like sheep, md a native officer, with 2,500 picked men n a fort overlooking the field of slaughter, lid not lift a hand to help his countrymen. Che author's account shows very clearly hat the Egyptian cannot be depended upon o fight unless he is behind solid breastworks and his retreat is cut off. Certainly he story of this campaign is the worst inlictment that could be brought against the Sgy ptian character, for it is a revolting ecord of almost incredible incompetency f officers and of cowardice among the rank ,nd file. Yet, when the commander had sd the largest part of his force into the [efile where they were butchered, he sent iack lying bulletins describing his great ictory, and on his return to Cairo he was aved from the punishment which he so ichly deserved through the harem influence hat he brought to bear upon the Khedive. [The book is issued in fine style by Dodd, lead & Co., of New York, with portraits nd many illustrations. For sale byHof* lann and by Bancroft : mice. &3.50.1