254 



EGYPT. 



9th of September he led up a force consisting 

 of eighteen battalions of his choicest infantry, 

 a considerable body of cavalry, and thirty guns. 

 He occupied a rising ground commanding the 

 British right, but his guns were badly served, 

 and were silenced by the accurate aim of the 

 English cannoneers. The cavalry were checked 

 and rendered useless by the British cavalry. 

 The infantry advanced boldly and steadily to 

 within eight hundred yards of the English line, 

 when a flank movement of Drury Lowe's cav- 

 alry division caused them to hesitate, and the 

 destructive infantry-fire of the English brought 

 them to a stop. 



On the night of the 12th, the British camp 

 broke up and the baggage was removed to the 

 railway. A force of about 14,000 of all arms 

 left Kassassin and marched in the dark and in 

 silence toward Tel-el-Kebir. The horse-artil- 

 lery and cavalry kept well to the right, so that 

 they might in the engagement sweep around 

 the left flank of the enemy and gain his rear in 

 order to cut off retreat. The army halted be- 

 fore dawn within a thousand yards of the forti- 

 fications without having encountered a single 

 vedette. The battle -line was formed in a semi- 

 circle, threatening the front and both flanks of 

 the enemy. They then marched upon the in- 

 trenchments. The Highland brigade on the 

 left was ordered to carry the first line of in- 

 trenchments with the bayonet before firing. 

 When eight hundred yards away they received 

 a volley of musketry, the first sign of life within 

 the fortifications, upon which they rushed for- 

 ward, cleared the wall, and bayoneted the 

 Egyptians. They encountered a severer fire 

 from the next line of intrenchments, which 

 they returned for a couple of minutes, and then 

 ran forward and carried the works. From be- 

 tween the redoubts they poured a flanking fire 

 into the enemy which withered their ranks and 

 paralyzed their action. The intrenchments on 

 the right were forced with more difficulty by 

 the Irish regiments of Graham's brigade. The 

 outer work was in like manner won with the 

 bayonet. The Egyptians stood their ground 

 and fought well for a time, but at the repeated 

 onsets of relays of fresh troops threw down 

 their arms and fled in confusion. The artillery 

 broke up the fleeing ranks, and the cavalry fol- 

 lowed them up and completed their disorder. 

 The British soldiery were merciless in their use 

 of the victory, slaughtering the wounded in 

 the trenches and the unarmed fugitives with 

 frightful barbarity. 



The defeat of the Egyptians was very com- 

 plete. The army was scattered, thousands were 

 killed and about 3,000 made prisoners. The 

 guns and camp equipments and vast stores of 

 forage and provisions fell into the hands of the 

 English. The English general acted promptly 

 so as not to give Arabi any time to re-collect 

 his forces. In a few hours Zagazig, where 

 large quantities of locomotives and rolling 

 stock were found, was occupied by Macpher- 

 son, and Belbeis by Lowe, and on the 15th 



both generals entered Cairo. Here Arabi and 

 several of his principal officers and associates 

 were made prisoners. 



After Arabi's formidable power was thus 

 crushed at a single blow, many voices in Eng- 

 land called upon the Government to secure the 

 fruits of victory notwithstanding ministerial 

 pledges and protestations of "clean hands." 

 If there were powers who would not begrudge 

 some modification of the status quo ante by the 

 right of conquest, Russia, who had been held 

 by Great Britain under threats of war to the 

 strictest interpretation of the Treaty of Paris, 

 was not one. M. de Giers promptly reminded 

 the English Cabinet of the terms of Lord Salis- 

 bury's circular, and wrote: u The status quo, 

 territorial and political, must be maintained in 

 Egypt as it has been established by treaties ; 

 and if, as a result of the late events, changes 

 are recognized as necessary, Europe alone is 

 competent to decree and enforce them. The 

 conference has never been contested by the 

 English Government." The position of the 

 Control was according to the promises of Eng- 

 land stronger than ever, since the war had been 

 undertaken to establish the rights which it 

 claimed over the Government of Egypt. France 

 protested when the British Government pro- 

 posed to abolish the Control and rejected the 

 substitute proffered of a debt commission. The 

 Controllers sat in the councils of the ministers 

 at first the same as before. After a while the 

 English Controller absented himself, and was at 

 last recalled. The Control was thus practically 

 abolished. The actual administration fell again 

 into the hands of the old official class, the 

 Turks and Circassians, and exhibited the old 

 vices of bribery and extortion, which were 

 remedied under the Control. 



The reorganization of the military establish- 

 ment of Egypt was claimed as the right of the 

 victors, and it was understood that the English 

 should settle upon a scheme for a gendarmerie 

 to suit themselves, and which they could keep 

 under their influence. Baker Pasha, a British 

 officer, who was serving the Sultan as chief of 

 the engineer department, was summoned to 

 organize the new army. Although the Sultan 

 refused to give him his discharge, he came and 

 matured schemes for the replacement of the 

 national army with foreign mercenaries. 



The Khedive called to himself a ministry, of 

 which Sherif Pasha was chief. He took the 

 portfolio of Minister for Foreign Affairs ; Riaz 

 Pasha that of Minister of the Interior; Omar 

 Pasha Lufti became Minister of War and Ma- 

 rine ; Ali-Mubarek Pasha, Minister of Public 

 Works ; Haidar Pasha, Minister of Finance ; 

 Khairy Pasha, Minister of Public Instruction ; 

 Fakhri Pasha, Minister of Justice ; Zeki Pasha, 

 Minister of Wakfs ; Ismail Eyoub Pasha, Min- 

 ister for the Soodan. The first act of the 

 Government, on the advice of the Controllers, 

 was to create an international commission to 

 adjudicate upon the claims of foreigners for 

 compensation on account of losses sustained 



