The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-01-23
Interesting Conversation with
General COlStOn. Of Virginia,
an Ex-Of1cor OF the Egyptian
ArnV.


an Ex-Omcer OF the Egyptian
Army.
During the past ten years a mum Der
| of American officers have been en-
gagged IN the service Of the Khedive of
| Egypt, where they have held various
| positions on the staff, and on the 30th
| of last june their services were dis
pensed with, as the Khedive came to
the conclusion that it was necessary to
retrench the ge erai expenditure of
| the government and commenced opera
tionS by an immediate reduction of
the army. The fl st batch of officers
from the United States went to Egypt
in 1869, and since then they arrived in
that country by twos ard threes until
at one time the Khedive had about
fifty American officers in his service.
General r. f. Colston, of Virginia,
who served with Lee Jackson and
Beauregard during the rebellion,
joined the Khedive's service in 1878,
and has recently returned to this city
| after five or six years active service in
| Egypt. A reporter of the Herald called
| yesterday upon the General at his
| hotel and had talk over the present
condition of affairs in Egypt, as fol-
| lows:
| How do you account, General. for
the action of the khedive in reducing
the army ?''
1t was mainly owing to financial
| difficulties that entailed certain
| amount of retrenchment in expendi-
lures, and the army was considered
the most availa bic branch Of the gov
eminent Sc vice in which to begin to
! eCOnOmiZ4.
'.What does the p,esent standing
| army amount to-:
| About six or seven thousand men.
! Quite sufficient for household and gar
| rlson duty. | do not see any necessity
for Egypt maintaining an army, as
| they are themselves SO feeble chat all
| they could really do would amount to
nothing without the assistance of some
other Power
| ''How would it be if they wee to get
| in another waJ with Abyss MIA -
They have had a great many men
| that have served in the army, and If
necessary they could call out thirty or
| forty thousand men from the reserves
| that they could arm at very short
notice. They are well supplied with
Remington rifles and have number
Of Krupp batteries in excellent work.
ing order"
| DUTIES OF THE AMERICANS.
s'What were the duties Of American
| officers in the Khedive's Sc, vice 2?
| ''They were almost all on staff duty
| There have been about fifty American
| officers on the staff since 1868 | was.
like most OF tire others Colonel on
| generally devoted to explorations.
| started in May, 1873, up the east side
of the Nile, between the Nile and he
Red Sea, through the Ara bian deser
| of Egypt. [ went there in search of
| the ancient gold mines Of Derehb.
| My second expedition started in De
cember, 1874. We went up the Nile
about t~o thousand miles to a place
called Debbe. We went by water as
| far as the second cataract, and then
used camels for the balance of the
journey to Debbe. At the latter place
we got fl. sh supply Of camels and
started In a south west direction to Eli
Oberyad, the capital of Koriofan, a
point about four hundred miles from
Debbe. l then received a severe sun
stroke and was very i'll, and was Car
rled back on a Camefs litter / 200
miles through the desert to Suakin, on
the Red Sea, where | found steamer
WdllIUS, WHICH tIle hleUIfe ndu SenC
from Cairo.
"How many people did you have
with you ?''
"About one hundred soldiers and the
necessary amount Of camel drivers,
cooks and camp followers
care there no American officers
in the service of the Khedive at pres
ent?''
General Stone still retains the
nominal position Of cnef of the gen
eral staff. | call it nominal position,
as there is at present no staff"
''How did you manage to give your
orders TO the trOops?'
Being on staff duty we gave our
orders to the Arabian officers, gradu-
ates of the Military College. These
orders were given in Fsench.'
''Were the lives of many of the
American officers lost during the cam
1aign:"
"A few died from natural causes. |
think the death roll contains the names
of General Reynolds, Colonel Rey-
nolds, Major Hunt, Major Campbell
Major Paris, Major Lawson, Capt lin
Irguins and Major Losche, who died at
Suakin about eight months ago. Col
Onel Jenniter, formerly of the Khe-
dives service, died in Baltimore shortly