The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1880-07-30

three hundred miles 1kN& Cairo, and wal
the seat of the eighteea 3 and nineteenth
dynastiea Il u about . way to the frs,
cataract, and ID, perha2 the most inter
esting place in the couRt5y. Thotmes III.
was rather Jealous Of his sister. Hatsou
who reigned during his minority. and
when he came to the thgone, punched hel
name out Of all the monnments she erect
ed, except the one at Thebes. He may
be called the great
INDEPENDENT scRATCHER
of antiquity"
"You met Gen. Graat in Egypt?' in.
quired the interviewer.
"Yes," replied Gen. Loring, laugh
ingly, Our meeting was rather odd. We
had both served in Mexico as young men.
When he came to Cairo all was excite
ment for his reception. The government
brought In all the Arab chiefs and pashas
50 as to make the afa:s more imposing.
Consul General Farman, very fine gentle
man, took charge of the entertainments
l allowed the pashas-I was then, blythe
way, pasha myself-to meet General
Grant first. When came up, among the
crowd, wearing my Egyptian uniform, the
General turned his eve on me, and with
out moments hesitation, extended his
hand and called me by name. 1t was
thirty-two years since he had last seen
me. That was at the taking of the City
OF Mexico-at the Gorita (gate) de Be
len. There / lost this arm. Grant and
were IN the charge together. When was
wounded they carried me up to the castle
OF Chapultepec, which we had captured,
and there, with the battle for the gates
and the citadel going on before my eyes,
my arm was amputated The excitement
OF the spectacle drove away all sense of
pain, and, like Moreau, l smoked a cigar
while they were saving into my poor
bones. 1t is not often l talk of this, but
vivid recollections are upon me now, and
meeting Grant under such different cir
cumstances renewed everything in my
memory. The matchless valley of Mex
leo comes back to me like
BRILLIANT DREAM.
1t is lovely land, there where we fought
in the prime of youth, and things of that
kind impress us more when we are young.
hope to revisit Mexico yet, and renew
my acquaintance with the walls battered
by the bullets Of our heroic little army.
None but an army of heroes could have
accomplished the conquest of Mexico"
The eyes of the veteran sparkled with
pride as he summoned back the glorious
scenes of his young manhood.
"But / must tell you more about that
meeting with Grant in Egypt" he con-
tinued. ave took him out to Heliopolis
and sat down to rest under the tree which
is said to have sheltered the Holy Family
when they fed from Egypt. The spot is
half mile from On, of the Bible, and is
called Materia Across the Nile, short
distance, we could see the spot where Bo-
tie Pyramids,' and where he made hisr
nowned forty centuries behold your &C
tions address to the army. Every foot
of the ground was pregnant with some
historical remembrance.
"The Consul General played trick on
me, though. / had speech prepared to
deliver in honor of Grant The Consul
General stole my speech, absolutely stole
it, and got left, of course. Well, next
day we took our guests to the great pyra-
mids, which are, as you know some eight
miles from Cairo. did not know at
first that they were going to have our
pictures taken. Gen. Grant was placed
in an excellent position, facing Bona
parties battlefield and with the pyramids
for background. A number of Bedou-
ins in their picturesque garbs got up on
the structure to add to the effect. My
friend, the Consul General, placed himself
near the ladies to good advantage. l
was talking to some Bedouins when l
noticed the operator fixing the camera.
Immediately I rushed between the Con-
sui General and the instrument. The pic
ture was taken, and / had completely
blotted him out. That is how I got my
revenge out of him for stealing my speech.
Grant was very much amused at the incl
dent. Let me say that would not be 80
free in telling you this only that the Gen
eral is out of politics, and (laughing) L
cannot expect any Office from him."
"Have you any objection, General, to
telling me something about
THE ABYssINIAN WAR,
in which you were second in command ?"
asked the 1Smes emissary.
II ID bOO 1Ofut01Ut0 buDjCCt W CAeOa
into the details of just now . said the Gen
eral. MY respect for the Khedive, who
treated me well, demands my silence on
the political aspect of that struggle. /
can only speak, therefore, a. . soldier. It
was a sad affair, although we had fine
army, which, if handled properly, would
have given us victory.
"The commander-in-cfief was Ratib
Pasha, . man Of no enterprise and little
skill in warfare. he was my superior in
rank, but the viceroy, when we started,
put his hand in mine, and told him to be
guided by me. Be both of one mind,
was his parting injunction. Ratib Pasha
promised, bat he did not keep his word.
This was, ~ the world now knows, unfor-
tunate for the Egyptian army. We had
some excellent American officers, and
some other white officers who were Euro
pean, but the Egyptian commanders had
no idea of the kind of foe they were going
to fight, and were welded to their own
OpinionA
al should say, by way Of prelude, that
the war began inauspiciously with dis
aster to column Of four thousand men,
under Colonel AArendorp, Dane, in 1875.
Arendorp had. been educated soldier,
but had seen no service. Least Of all was
he fitted 20 encounter King John, Of Abys-
sinia, the ablest and bravest chief in all
Africa This King was friendly with the
English when they banished Theodore
and captured MagdAla. Had be not been,