The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1882-07-20
The Egyptian Army.

ALEXANDRIA, July 10.
The Egyptian army, as at present organized,
consists of nine regiments of infantry, two
regiments of artillery, three regiments of
coastguard, three regiments of cavalry, and
four regiments of gendarmerie. Every
Egyptian between the ages of nineteen and
forty, and regardless of religion race, is
liable to military service. The term of service
in the active army is three years for the in
fantry and four years for the cavalry and ar
tillery. After leaving the active army the
soldiers retire to their villages and for a
period of six years are inscribed in the first
serve; after the expiration of the six years
they are inscribed in the second reserve, which
can only be called out in case of invasion.
This organization was introduced in 1872, so
that the troops of the second reserve are just
beginning to be inscribed
The infantry regiments are composed of
three battalons of eight companies each In
time of peace only two and sometimes four of
these eight companies are present with the
colors. The cavalry regiments have six
squadrons each. The artillery regiments are
each composed of six batteries of four guns
each in time of peace and eight guns in time
of war. Two of the six batteries are mount
ed and four are foot batteries. The infantry
are armed with Remington rifles, of which
there are about 100000 in Egypt. The cavalry
are armed with sabers, revolvers and Reming-
ton carbines. The field artillery are supplied
with rified breech-loading Krupp guns, of
which there are about 100 in the magazines.
The garrison and sea-coast artillery are pro-
vided with heavy Krupp and with Wahren-
drof guns of eight-inch and ten-inch caliber
The powder-mills and cartridge factory at
Tourah, near Cairo, render Egypt practically
independent of foreign supply of ammuni-
tion. The Quartermasters Department and
Commissariat are in sad state of chaos, and
are the weak points in the organization. a
firman of the Sultan limits the number of
troops to 1000. At the present moment there
are, perhaps, 1900 or $1,000 men with the col
ors, but the regimental cadres of commits
stoned and non-commissioned officers are so
maintained that in five weeks the effective
strength of the army could be increased to
5000 men by calling in the first reserve. In
case of invasion the Bedaween contingents,
who furnish their own arms and horses, and
the second reserve would enable Egypt to
place in the field 120, 600 fighting men.
A Brief Review.
The crisis in Egypt has rapidly come to a
head, and as it bids fair to occupy the atten-
ton of the world for some time a brief review
OF the circumstances leading up to it will be
of interest. Its origin may be traced back az
Tar as February, 1881, when the troops of Cairo
forced the Khedive to release some of their
officers who were on trial for various offenses.
In conceding to their demand the Khedive
really surrendered his power to the army, and
1t has remained with it ever since. Last Sep
tember Arabi Bey, who was Colonel and the
leader of the outbreak in February, seized the
command of the army and demanded of the
khedive that he should dismiss the Ministry,
increase the pay of the army, and grant a con-