Star.
London, England, 1829-01-02 00:00:00

EG Y-P-1 • .

11ISSIOIR PR EGYPT. BY AN AUSTRIAN OPTICS'.
(Conducted from Tau Swot of Thursday. Dec. 5.)
I have already spoken of Egypt, and the extraor-
dinary man who governs that country. Let us now
examine the nature of her commerce, and particularly
chat which she carries on with the Indies.
•The war with the Wecchabites inflicted an unpa►al-
leled injury upon that commerce; for before they ob-
tained possessi,,n of most of the ports on the Red Sea,
those in t' e Stigiar and part of Yemen, which mete
afterwards regained by the troops of the I'acha, regular
caravans used to depaut for Egypt at the commence.
ment of June. The Egyrtian fleet also sailed at th.,t
period for Arabia, whence it returnedat the commence-
ment of October.

The navigation was thus regulated because of the
winds. which at certain seasons of the year resider C.e
Red Sea so boisvrou, as to retired commerce.

At present many obstacles embarrass the regular
course and security of this commerce, and have ten-
dered the great designs of the Pacha respecting it
tory. The increase of the imposts—pillages and este
tions cf all kinds--an embargo scarcely ever irate:.
:flitted, upon vessels seized for the purpose of transport-
ing troops from one place to another; but above all,
the extraordinary depreciation in the intrinsic value of
the Terkish and Egyi tian money, are the causes which
have forced this commerce into a different direction.—
Cordage, bars of iron, &c. are among the few articles
which Egypt still exchanges with the leidiet. The re-
lations between Egypt and Arabia have not suffered ;
and that circumstance is to be attributed to the con
tinued submission of the P.cha to the Sublime Porte, to
the tribute of coffee which he is obliged to pay an.
Dually, and also to his religious obligations with respect
to Mecca, which he regards of the highest importance.
Ceremonies of great solemnity mark the departure
of the Grand Caravan from Cairo in the month of June.
A religious fete is then celebrated with the greatest
asagnihcence, and a grand fair is held, w hide lasts from
ice to twenty days. B,fore affairs were disturbed by
the enterprises rf the Yacht' in the interior of Afric I, it
was not an unusual sight to see .5 ),000 or 60.000 pil-
grims c •llected round the city, living in 8.000 or
10,000 tent., under tie protection of many thousands
of soldiers, rurnished by the Government as much for '
its own security as fur that of commerce. The activity
and importance of this commerce have singularly di.
minished since the commencement VI the military en-
terprises of the Pacha. The great advantages it is cal-
culated to confer on Cairo may easily be estimated from
the following considerations and details—
The thousands of pilgrims who leave Morocco and
other western countries for Mecca. make Cairo their
point of rendezvous. They bang with them from the r
:minty provisions sufficient to last only during their
tourney to that city, where their co.ssumprion is exceed-
ingly great, partly iu consequence of the fete, but
chiefly because they are obliged to lay in stores for the
route to Mecca. On the return of the pilgrimage the
same thing t..kes place.
There are, besides, other advantages which counter.
balance the inconveniences before adverted to. s
• From the time that Mehemet Ali, by the force of
arms, reduced under the dominion of Egypt a part o.
Nubia, and the whole ef Senaar, the commerce t f those
provinces has been made subordinate to that of their
mistress. It may now be considered as an integral part
of that active trade, which exists among the different
provinces, cities, and town•:, of which Egypt is corn.
posed. It extends to the nearest parts of the country
on the east and the west, ani depends less upon the ca-
price and arbitrary whims of the Government, than
upon the physical wants of tire people, the vat iattons of
the soil and localities, and tele reciprocal relations co
the inhabitants. Nothing can ever disturb this tick
.vlitle the people continue to possess the same manners
:ustoms, and usages.
In the course cf the year 1823, merchandise to the
amount of 6 976,400 piastres was exported from Egl pt.
On the other hand, the total amount of the importation
cannot be calculated, as the greater parts f tic impor.
tation introduced passing to the acc..unt of the Govern.
ment, pays no duty, and therefore undergoes no super.
vision by the Curtomsbouse (Ace's. The Government,
hoWever, takes great pains to inJuce the btlier that the
importation is less in value by one-lialf than the ex.,

The inerersing want of coin , f good alloy (the Spa.
Dish pia ters havin4 been a long time nut of circulation.),
a mild also prove that the ext•ens.s of the Government
a•e eq r:►l to its income, unless we should be inclined to
adopt the general opinion, that the Pattie hoards the
good silver in his own treasury, and thus straitens the
c►rculation at the country.
The Government also sustains great loss in the pur-
chase of goods of foreign manufacture. wl ieh retch a
high price, while the tottons„ corn, and indigo of Egypt
are received in exchange at a very l•sw rate.
The Petite is bound towards the Grand Seignor in
an annual tribute, partly payable in merchandise and
partly in current money. Thus a great deal of ma.
chandise, which might otherwise enter into the account
of the exchange with other nations, is lost to him.
The payment of this tribute may be traced back to
very remote times.
8u far back as in 1507, a treaty was concluded be-
twe• n Selim 11. and the 24 Heys nho then governed
lEgypt, by which they were bound to pay to the Sublime
IPorte an annual tribute of about 4,000,000 of franc•,
of which one half was for Mecca. By the second a .
tide, the Porte has the right, in case of war, of de-
manding 12.000 Egyptians for the Tu►ki►h army; and
in the present war akriost the Greeks, the Grand
Seignor has required the fulfilment rf this stipulation.
Of late years, the agio between Egypt and Constanti.
nople has been very high, in consequence of the depre.
ciation of the country, compared with Spanish piasters.
Notwithstanding this, the commem with Europe
will always be the most advantageous for E.typt, if
she new commercial system adopted in that part of
the world produces no change. o[Bl9 vessels which
left the port of Alexandria in 1825, 444 were destined
for Europe.
Mehen►et Ali has done much to assist trade in the
Mks inr. He has made navigable the canal called
Machmudie, which unites the Nile with 0 e a'•cirr.t rt
f A:exanill lA. This canal commences a: the city of
Pisa, and tiavertes an el ',rely desolate and deserted
crlisntry. Since its of e•ring in 1820, it has been nevi.
Viable by tl e vessels a the Nile. It is eight or ten n►ites
in length ; its depth, which varies with the height of
the river, is sometimes a; low as six, at other ti nes as
much as taenty lent. In May Bird June, a h it the Nile
is at its lowest, th-r canal is very shadow, and the trans-
port of merchandise thereby riper ences intents! ti n.
The breadth of the canal also changes with the rise and
tall 4 f the Ns:e. When 0 e river is low, its breadth is
not more than :JO Stet, but generally it extends from
GO to 80.

It this were art the case—if the water experienced no
fluctuation, aad its depth c •ntinued always the tame,
merchandise ci aid at all times be tiansperted from
Cairo to Alexandria ; for although the distance is
not very great, yet the violence of the winds ai•cl the
calms its bummer sometimes delay for wicks and
months together the vessels crim.ng f tofu Ito,e.ta. Be.
.ides which, the watt of skill in the Arab sailors, and
the defective constructir n r f the coasting vesels. eno-
uihute no slight degree t•i increase the difficulty of
the transport by water to Alezthdri r.•
So long as the new canal continues navigable, tl e
pas•age of ins els is regular and certain; but ever
since the third year trepans of every kind have bec-nie
necessary. The Government has pu.chased. at great es.
petite, a steam engine for clearing this can .1. 'Die
machine was tn.& in England, but its parts were pit
together in Egypt. These has also been con-oucted at
Alexandria, and upon the shore of the Nile, large
prams. It has likewise been thought necessary to order
a large quantity of coals from England. All expense
Was. however, really unnecessary. Egypt has ple• ty
of oxen and inhabitants to supply the place of steam, in
a less expensive and less complicated style. The steam
engine, when put to work, was food to be defective;
its power was not sufficient, and another one was obliged
to be made, bo that it was discovered that 2,000 000 if
piastres, and the subsistence of a great number of men,
had been needlessly expended.
Wen the French were for a while masters of Egypt.
they were anxious to render navigable the ancient canal
which tuns from Hemania to Alexandria; but it was
fou 4,60 t by the plans proposed, the work would last
five years and cost a million of francs, and the idea was
theiefo.e abandoned. The engineers of Mehemet Ali,
departing from tlio•e plans, have made the canal tun
iii a straight line, and at the spot where the canal of
Machn.ndie flows into tl•e port of AI sat& ia, be Pacha
has established a large magazine for the reception of
the coin and other merchandise destined to be shipped
on board of vessels in the port or upon the canal,--
Merchandise of all kinds is c -rsied every day by thou-
sands of Arab pouters from barges on the canal to this
edifice, while as many others are employed at the same
time in relieving the magazine from its hoards.
This continual Aux and reflux—ahis great activity
confined tss one spot—the melange of so many indivi-
duals, ci stumes, languages, and habits, of various sects
of men, some half naked. some black, others tawny—
wads spoken in twenty idioms—the numerous flocks of
camels and mulestlie cote houses filled at all hours
with rich and idle Mussulatans—brilliant flags floating
in the midst of a hunched vessels—the towering cupola.
of the.m• sques surmounted with bright crescent,—the
immense ocean, abuse waves wash distant and solitsirey
shores--the pillar of Pompey, so justly celebrated—suck
is the adn.irable panorama which Alexandria, the me-
dium of the commerce of half the world, affords.
When the present Pacha received the reins of Govern-
ment, hardly more than eigl ty or one hundred small •
ships visited this you, while at present one thousand
large vessels ate riot sufficent to west the demands of
its commerce. . . . •
'Egypt ban not any sepias army, though she has

44it`

thirty thousand soldiers and a fleet of fifty sail, at least
before the battle of Navarin. Her revenues have within'
a short time increased to twenty-five millions of piastres
Such is the piesent condition of Egypt—such is the,
preach wor It of Mehemet Ali !

SKETCH OF THE STORMING OF CIUDAD
RODRIGO,
BY AN OFFICER ENGAGED.

• PROM 'MR tornizt MUNI JOURNAL von JANUARY. 1829.
DEA It I have from recollection given you a
few circumstances which took place during the siege or
Ciudad Rodrigo; but, as I have not kept a journal, I
only relate that whichis still fresh in my memory.
A few days previous to the siege, the Duke of Wel-
lington reviewed the light division on the plains of
Guinaldo. He was dressed in lull uniform, and merely
rode down the line, looking at the troops in a cheerful
manner. Just as bis Grace was leaving the ground,
which was covered with snow, General Craufurd ap-
pester', and so in after the troops returned to their
quarters. Tlle second brigade acme from Martino,
and returned that night—an immense march. I heard
that they were benighted on their way home, and you
know what a charming road led to that part of the
country. A few days subsequent to this review the
wh Ile division was concentrated, the first brigade being
at Li Encina, the second at El Bodon.
On the Bth of January, 1812, the light division crossed
the AgueJa, sonsculoile, a cooler! at a ford about seven
miles from the town. The day was fine, and, indeed,1
during the operations of the siege. the atmosphere was
mild, although sometimes a little frosty of a morning.
The division bivouacked for some hours two miles
from the lown ; but when the darkness had set in, six
companies, drawn tram the 431, 52.1, and 95th. moved
under the command of Colonel Colborne (now Sir John
Colboi or). to assault the fort of Fralrcisco. The enemy.
fired about two rounds; out good troops did not allow
more time, and the fort was taken. It was situated on
a rising ground, about 600 yards from the town. It was
of a square lam, with two small howi:z rs 4g en bar-
, bate, had a garrison of one officer and 40 men, and
was neither strong nor weak.
The parallels were immediately commenced, the earth
*being thrown on the town side. The land Was arab e;
no particular military science; all plain honest digging.
Oh ! I forgot—we did sop over a gutter nearer to the
town ; but the reason f r so doing I never could make
out, and at the time! trembled, believing we were about
to go under ground and blow up the covered way.
The great convent in the suburb was carried a few
days befr,re the storming of the town; I believe by the
first division. The firing lasted a very long time. The
divisions empliled in the siege moved by turns from
their cantonments, each taking a twenty-four hours'
si ell—but all this. of course, you know. I have never
read any book of this siege; all the better ! I might
have got bewildeted by so doing, and made more
prima kes.

thi the 19:h of January the light division was or-
dered t s the a intik, out ki its turn. At fret it was
reported that they • ere to take both breathes, but as
the tliirJ d vision were also thin•ing up earth, thtit
Get e:4l remonstrated. The truth of this' you v.ill have
opporrunitirs if finding out. During the greater part
et this day the light division remained behind a con-
vent rhi u: four miles horn the town. At four o'clock
they moved toss ards the ground occupied Ly the first
division, onemile and a half fluor the suburbs of Ciu
dad Rodrigo. Whether Vie first division remained in
reserve during the night I know not, although I should
rathrr imagine it did. The third division occupying
the ttei ehes, the ga, t isms must have observed the march
of the light division from the ramparts, ex ra troops!
The G vernm should have pondered on it The third
division had relieved the first as usual in the morning,
bu. 41d not return as usual to its quarters. If the Go-
s etn r had kept a sharp look out he must have been
expec ing the assault; but I, I guess* he was no great
things. I will give you my reasons anon.
There were two breaches effected in the walls of this
toss n ; the small one was made in twenty-four hours.
By this breach the large one was taken in the rear, and.
without doing injustice to the gallant third division, I
fear that4he attack en the great breach would have
laded. had the small breach not been carried.

At half past, six o'clock the light dovition was formed
behind the convent in the suburb, arid almost exactly
oppos to to the small breach, and, as I should guess,
about three hundred yards from it. AU was silent
mid gill, four or five shells excepted, which were thrown
by the enemy into our left battery, and fell not 4 great
distance from our column. Now, if the Governor
thr•u&ht that the assault was preparing, he ought not
to have fired at all from the ramparts, as it prevented
the approach of the troops from being discovered by
the ear.

heard the town clock strik- seven, and at the same
time iaw a match lighted in one oi the embrasures—
ve y awful j..and at that moment the lot lot n hope and
the storming party moved on; in two minutes they were
on the brink of the ditch, and the fi. e of the town opened
briskly on them. Them was a short check, but no
hinge, than might be expected, as they had to scramble
in and out of the covered way. The storming party
carried a number of bags filled with dried grass. And
how the troops contrived to torte the breach I know
not. I can only say td, it was well done. The bias( h
N as exceedingly steep. about five yards v ide at tt e top,
hiving a '24-poundsr placed sideways to block up the
passage; however, there was a clear yard form the
mitizzte of the gun to the wall, a sufficiei t space for out
or two men to enter at a time, besi,ies those who could
pass underneath the nuzzle of the gun.
The moment the division entered, a number of men
sashed along the ramparls to the large breach (o. e hun-
dred and fifty yards I should say), and then engaged
those of the French who were still firing on the third
division. At this period a anode* spare magazine,
placed on the rampart, exploded, and blew op many
grenadiers and many of the light division. Pattenwii,
of the 43d, and Uniacke, of the 9Sth, %vele of the num-
ber. Titus occurred ju-t behind the traverse, which, on
the enemy's right.confined and guarded the great breach.
On meting the small breach, I found myself with
the crowd. Colonel hi'Leod was collecting on the
ramparts about two hundred men of the 43d, and was
exhorting them to keep together. At this time there
was not ally firing on us, but sharp musketry still at
the great breach. While the 43d were forming I saw
no other regiment doing-the like.
I went towards the large breach. and met Unia aka
of the 95th; he was walking between two men. One
of his eyes was blown out, and the flesh was tern off
his arms mod legs. I asked who it was? be replied
Uniacke, and walked on. He had taken chocolate with
cur mess an hour before I returned to the regiment,
which was now formed, and Colonel Al4Leod instriedi-
mely detached officers with guards to take possession of
sill the stores they could find, and to pewee order.
These parties ultimately dissolved themselves. If they
bad not done in they would have been engaged in the,

streets with oar own troops. I will explain why here.
alter.

Colonel M'Leod caused Lieutenant Madden, of the
45d, to descend the small breach with twenty-five men,
ordering him to continue at the foot of it during the
night. and to prevent soldiers leaving the town with
plunder. At eleven o'clock I went to see him. I assure
you he had no sinecure. He had very judiciously made
a large fire, which, of course, :showed the delinquents
to perfection. He told me that no masquerade could, in
point of costume and grotesque figures, rival the cha-
racters he stripped that night.
Ihe fire was large, and surrounded by the dead bodies
of those who fell in the first onset at' the foot of the
breach. The troops must have rushed up, and taken it
without hesitation. Had the Governor of the town only
tied a few baskets together, he must have stopped the
entrance of the light division altogether. He had time,
as tLe firing from our batteries ceased two hours
before the assault, and then from the ramp rrt there
was only a gentle slope into the town. He was
most culpable I There was no musketry from any
part of the ramparts until the head of the light divi-
sion column was close to the small breach. This I
note down to convince you that we were the first who got
into the town,where,when the troops had sipped the wine
and brandy in the store., the extreme disorders coni-
menced.To restore order was i mpossible—a whole division
could not have done it. Three or four large houses were
on fire, two of them were in the market place, and the
town was illuminated by the flames. The soldiers were
drunk, and many of them, for amusement, were firing
from the windows into the streets. I was myself talking
to the barber Evans in the square, when a ball passed
through his head. This was at one o'clock in the morn-
ing. He tell at my feet dead, and his brains lay on the
pavement. I thed sought shelter, and found Colonel
M.Lethi, with a few officers, in a large house, where we
remained until the morning. I did not enter any other
house in Ciudad Rodrigo; and if I had not seen, I never
could have suppnied that British soldiers would become
so wild and !warms. It was quite alarming to meet
groups of them in the streets, flushed as they were with
drink and desperate in mischief.
In the morning the scene was dreary: the fires just
going out; and absut the streets were lying the corpses
of many men who had met their death hours after the
town had been taken. At eleven o'clock I went to look
at the great breach. The ascent was not so steep as
'that of the small one, but there was a traverse thrown
up at each side of it on the rampart : hence there was
no way into the town, as t' se wall was quite perpendi-
cular behind the breach. When the third division gained
the sop of the rampart they were in a manner enclosed
and hemmed in, and had nowhere to go, while the
enemy continued to fire upon them from some old
ruined houses only twenty yards distant. lam confi-
dent a plan would convince any person that the light
division extricated the third division from this disagree
able situation. The very nature of the ground and the
defences speak in plain language.
I counted either 63 or 93 men of the third division
lying dead on the rampart exactly between the traverses
I have already described. I did not see one dead man
of that division on the French side of those traverses ;
but I saw sonic of the light division.
I saw General M Kinnon lying dead; he was on his
back, joist tinier the rampart, on the inside; that is,
the town side. He had, I think, rushed forward and
fallen down the perpendicular wall before spoken of,
probably at the moment of receiving his mortal wound.
HI was stripped of every thing. except his shirt and
blue pantaloons; even his boots were taken off. He was
a tall thin man. There were nn others dead near him,
and he was not on the French side of the traverse neither.

It is said that he was blown up. I bhnu I d say de-
cided'y not. There was no appearance indicating that
such had been his fate. Neither his stin nor the posture
in which he was lying led me to think it. When a
man is blown up his bands and face, I should think,
coul.l not ir.eape. I never saw airy whose f.sce was not
scor. bed. M.Kinnon's was pale and free from the
marks of fire. How strange, but, with the exception'
of the General, I did not see a man of the third divi-
sion who had been stripped! Neither was there any
officer among the dead, or else they had been carried
away. I should not wonder, if it is nut uncharitable,
that the General had been killed with all the others
between the traverses, and that some tender heated
soldier bad taken his clothes off, and then just given
him a hand over the wall, and so placed him in the
position described. _ _ _

Oa the 20th the light division returned to their quar-
ters by regiment!, having been relieved by the fifth
divi ion, which came horn the rear and took charge of
the town. A few day, after the assault most of the
011ic. rs of the light division attended Gen. Ciaufurd's
funeral. He was buried under the snail breach.
may probably have made a mistake about the pum-
mel-As of the first and third division on the day of the
storming. I rather think, on reflection, the third divi-
sion must have I.ft the trenches just Infirm the assault,
to take up their posi,ion behind some old houses, and
within a bundled yards of the great breach. Most likely
the first division supp'ied their place in tile trench.

T Hl4; PW 14% N ING S'l'Aß.

IMA IflIN.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 2, 1829

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