Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-07-24

He Expresses Hts vIeu n R gard
20 the Present Outlook ia Egypt.
Jacksonville Times

Jacksonville Times
A representative of the Times met General
Lorine in st. Augustine day or two ago,
aud had a long and interesting conversation
with him ia regard to the stsbe of affairs IN
Egyps. The General, though he has been
several years absent from Egypt, exhibits
good deal Of feeling In regard to the recent
catastrophe. he holds England directly
responsible for the existing troubles and
impending anarchy; and be regards the
bOmbardment OF Alexandria as, under all
the circumstances, one of the most abomi.
nsble outrages OF which history has any
| record In the bOmbardment and the ex.
tensive fires which followed It, nearly
| everything that constituted the magnidcence
| of the modern city was destroyed, and be
says that capital will not easily be induced
to go in and build It up again, while the
| Khedive, under the European domination
which is sucking the life-blood of Egypt.
| does not command the necessary resources
The Notifications Of Alexandra were buill
| partly under Gen. Loring's supervision, and
he is confident that IL they had not beep
caught unprepared they would have given
the English fl 3et good deal m )re trouble
''It must be recollected," he said, "that the
/ fl set was inside the harbor, to which II
would have been obliged to force an eli
trance had its hostile purpose been avoWed
at the beginning. This placed some of the
| strongest defensive works at a decided dis
advantage. The worst difficulty, however,
under which the Egyptians labored In thet
defense was that their gunners had had nc
| experience In handling the great Armstrong
guns with which the forts were provided
Said the General ''I warned The late Kbe.
dive, Ismail, that these great guns would he
useless unless he had men who knew how
to work them. and that the enly wav r.
teach them efficiently was by actual prsc.
tice. But as it cost about hundred do
lars every time one of them was fred. the
Khedlve felt that the expense was more
than he could stand. The result was that
when the shock of battle actually came, the
firing was wild and ineffective I can
assure you that If the Egyptian gunners had
been as experienced as they were brave. the
English feet would have had a serious time
of It."
To the inquiry whether any effective re-
sistance could be made by Arab to the
march OF an army towards Cairo, the Gen
eral replied that there were no Notifications
between Alexandria and Cairo, but that
good deal of trouble and delay could be
caused by the destruction OF the bridges
across the Rosetta and Damietta branches
of the Nile, both of which have to be crossed
in going to Cairo.
Chow about Cairo itself? Does It afford
any opportunity for effective defense ?"
MOI Cairo is not fortified city. There
Is citadel which crowns a hill some three
hundred feet in height and dominates the
town, ouS II Is too high to be of much use,
nance" --'O''0iH L VI"
Then, General,' said his interlocutor
Il gather that you have no great amount of
faith in ArabPs ability to m aintain the con-
test which he has provoked " 'Ae
one" said the General, II fear he oorrot
fight regular European army, especsalIv
Nufth flNa had
loyalty OF the soldiers. Bat the strength of
Arabts cause lies not in his power to fight
an English fleet or an Angl0-Freneh army.
1t lies I'd the-sense OF wrong on the part of
an industrious and long suffering people.
who are the victims of slavery immeasurs-
bly, worse than any ever known at the South.
Arabfs revolt is but the symptom and ex-
preston of this sense of wrong, and even
though Arab may be defeated, the conflict
will never really end so long as the life
blood of the Egyptian people is drained to
satisfy the eXactiOns OF foreign bondhold-
ers'n
Here the conversation took another direc-
tion and the General remarked that he had
just written q letter correcting the mistakes
in the article which appeared the other daY
In the New York Herald, and which has been
widely reproduced.
"What wes the nature of the errors?n
"Why, the article was full of them. and #
now CuIiOuSiy men VIII 0iulder
matters which they really know
all about If they would take a little more
trouble to refresh their memories The
Herald is fully acquainted with my position
and career in Egypt, and has narrated It
correctly several times; yet, here in this
last article, they have got nearly everything
wrong"
"But what statements in particular are
"Why, the writer says that I commanded
,he Egyptian army in the disastrous Abvs-
sinian war. Now, Ratib Pasha was com
nsncer OF that army. l was chief of staff
and, by special instructions of the Khedive
Ratib was to conduct the campaign accord.
ng TO my advice and dIrections Once In
'he field, however, Rati5 took 1t into bis
lead that he was a great General, divided
ais army against my ADVICE and warnipO,
iuu was utterly routed before tho raIstake
could be rectfel."
"AnOther mistake" continued the Gen
eral, "was In saying that the Khedive gave
ne fifty thousand dollars which lost In I'm.
Ortunate speculations. Now ] will not say
What the Khedve did or did not give me at
late Khedive was in all respects
! gentleman-but 1 will say emphaticsly
hat never sDeculated dollar since my
eturn from Egypt"
1t was here suggested that the General
ought to write down the more picturesque
Of his wonderfully varied and
,ventful career, and especially the Egyptian
Incidents.
With twinkle Of the eye and an amused
smile the General said: "That is precisely
What am supposed to be doing now. When
left New York in January, l brought down
box full OF stationery such as writer's use,
md expected by this time to have thous-
md pages ready. It is now the middle OF
Iuiy, and with hearty laugh) / have not
written line '=s
The General has been enjoying the dolce
ar a'ente Tor several weeks in reposeful St.
Augustine. His step is less elastic, perhaps.
han Of old, but he is as ready as ever fof
N excursion or any rational form In amuse-
nent, and he is the most interesting talker
n Florida.