248 



EGYPT. 



that afternoon. The Egyptian troops during 

 the day evacuated Alexandria, and retreated 

 into the interior. Their silent withdrawal 

 after opening negotiations was characterized 

 by the English as an act of treachery. 



LORD CHARLE9 BERE3FORD, COMMANDER, R. K. 



Most of the population had fled from Alex- 

 andria during the bombardment. When it was 

 deserted by the troops, shocking scenes of pil- 

 lage and destruction ensued. Some person in 

 authority, probably Mahmoud Samy, gave the 

 signal to plunder and fire the European quarter. 

 The ragamuffins who abound in the Levantine 

 cities reveled in the saturnalia of robbery and 

 vengeance. Stragglers from the armv set the 

 example. Finely-built streets in the European 

 quarter wore burned to the ground. The richly- 

 furnished shops were most of them gutted, and 

 most of the merchandise was destroyed by the 

 pillagers as soon as they reached the street. 

 The conflagration lit the sky the night after 

 Arabi's departure. Europeans who had re- 

 mained in charge of the banks and offices bar- 

 ricaded the houses, and kept the mob off with 

 their fire-arms. When the scenes of fury abated 

 they dashed down to the shore in bands, and 

 were taken on board the ships. Admiral Sey- 

 mour telegraphed that the town had been given 

 up to " Bedouins " to plunder, and in a second 

 dispatch that it was " convicts," who had been 

 set loose to loot the city. On the morning of 

 the following day the English ventured to dis- 

 embark and take possession of the deserted 

 town. The admiral on the 13th landed par- 

 ties of marines to stay the wild havoc. Lord 

 Charles Beresford was given the direction of 

 the police measures, assisted by Major Tulloch, 



the chief of the landing party at Fort Meks. 

 Commodore Nicholson, of the United States 

 Navy, sent a detachment of marines, who stood 

 guard at the American consulate, and assist- 

 ed in maintaining order. The Russian, Ger- 

 man, and Greek commanders followed the 

 example, and landed small parties. The in- 

 habitants soon flocked back to the city. Every 

 Arab waved a white handkerchief as a signal 

 of peace, or wore a red band in token of fidelity 

 to the Khedive. When there was any evidence 

 or appearance of their having joined in the 

 looting, they were shot with little formality. 

 The marines were particularly zealous in this 

 hasty justice. By the 17th 5,800 soldiers and 

 marines were ashore. The Tamar had arrived 

 with nearly a thousand marines on board, and 

 two regiments had been sent from Limasol, in 

 Cyprus. The British Government were se- 

 verely blamed, at home and abroad, for not 

 having troops ready to land in time to save 

 Alexandria from pillage and arson. Mr. Glad- 

 stone explained that they were precluded from 

 landing an army by the protocol of sole action. 

 The damage was taxed by the sufferers in their 

 claims, presented before the commission of in- 

 quiry subsequently appointed by the Khedive, 

 at a total of $30,000,000. * 



The Khedive remained during the bombard- 

 ment in the palace at Ramleh, with Dervish 

 Pasha. A force of 300 men was sent with 

 orders to murder the Khedive, but Arabi came 

 and countermanded the order, leaving the sol- 

 diers as a guard. The English, as soon as they 

 landed, sent a guard to Tevfik Pasha, who had 

 come down to the Ras-el-Tin Palace. Mahmoud 

 Baroudi, and all the ministers, except Arabi, 

 presented themselves at the palace. 



NEGOTIATIONS AT THE CONFERENCE. In the 

 diplomatic discussions between the joint pro- 

 tecting powers, England had the advantage of 

 an untranimeled position, while France was 

 fettered by difficulties on every side. England 

 insisted upon intervention and the suppression 

 of the national Government. This policy had 

 been marked out by Gambetta, and the French 

 Cabinet was in a situation where it could not 

 reverse it, although Egyptian independence 



* The ancient capital of the Ptolemies remained down to 

 the epoch of the Eastern Empire one of the largest and rich- 

 est, and was also distinguished as one of the most turbulent 

 cities in the world. After the Arab conquest it was eclipsed 

 by the newly-founded Cairo, and steadily declined during the 

 middle ages. It was entirely ruined by the Turkish conquest 

 in 1517, and at the time of the French expedition in 1798 there 

 was nothing but a cluster of Arab huts holding about 8,000 

 inhabitants. Mehemet Ali discerned the possibilities of the 

 site, and revived its commercial greatness by clearing out the 

 harbors and digging the Mahmoudieh Canal, which brings 

 fresh water from the Eosetta branch of the Nile. Already 

 prosperous as the sea-port for the overland commerce, the 

 commercial capital of the Nile Delta underwent a prodigious 

 expansion in wealth and magnificence when the American 

 war brought on the cotton famine. The European quarter is 

 in the eastern part of the city, near the sea. Around the Place 

 Mehemet Ali, and in the streets leading out of it, were the 

 consulates and other public buildings, huge blocks of offices, 

 and magnificent emporiums. Sumptuous mansions lined the 

 streets to the eastward in the direction of Ramleh. In this 

 cool and delightful suburb on the sea-shore, four miles from 

 the city, the English all resided, some of them in splendid 

 villas. 



