The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-09-16
The Egyptian Army.

| country. Inc IdSJ lWO IuulhCio VI
the Reyue 1[ihtdire de PEtrdnger, a
paper which represents the views OF
the French staff, contain an account
of the past history and the present
condition of the army which is by
far the best we have seen. To under
stand the present condition Of the
army we must understand the his
tory of its development. That his
tory is in brief as follow:
Upon the accession of AbbaS Ibn
TOnssoun in 1913 the old army, which
does not now concern US, was organ
lied. In the new system the colonies
J " ere a superior class, well Ssie 'ea
as a rule, well paid, having "a fair
knowledge of their profession and
the habit of authority. Beneath
them, the inferior officers were i'll
paid, il-educated and hardly to be
distinguished from the nOn-cOmmiS-
stoned officers and men by their hab-
its or power of rule. The colonies
obtained their places generally by
the services which they had rendered
to the State. From their ranks were
chosen not only the general, but
most of the high civil functionaries.
To become a colonel in the army was
therefore a title to all high employ
ment, and the best spirits in the
country sought TO obtain the COM
mand of a regiment. The lower
ranks of the army were i'll clad and
fed and hardly paid at all, but the
men had the virtues of poverty-sob-
riety, patience and great steadiness
for labor.
The superior officers were almost
all Turks. who were thus, as they
have remained to this day, practi-
cally masters of the country. The
Feiiafs were taken from their agri.
cultural pursuits by the rudest form
of conscriptOn according to the good
pleasure of the ruler for the time be-
ing. They, the mass of the inhabi-
tantS of the country, have been and
are the material Of the army. The
superior races commanded, but the
inferior (if, indeed, their peculiar
virtues are inferior to the power Of
cOmmand) did the fighting. The
! Christian Dopts seldom entered the
army except in quasi-civil positions
and the BedOuins maintained always
and until this day The position of
auXiIiaries fighting how and when
they pleased.
When Said succeeded his nephew
AbbaS, he set to work to form an eX-
cIusively short service army, which
was, however, thoroughly well drill
ed, and made mobile to an extent
hitherto unknown. The young sold
iers were well dressed, we'll fed, ad
mirably alert in their duties, and
followed their master like his Shad.
ow. Having begun with body
guard of couple of companies of in
fantry, a squadron Of cavalry and
two guns, he made successive addi-
tiOns to this small force, adding to it
by selection from the army. As
soon as his body guard reached a to-
tai of $1,000 men he packed off the
rest of the army on furlOugh, and i'm
pressed new recruits, from whom in
their turn he again selected additions
for his guard, which thus became the
Army. He did not actually organize
a reserve, but he had, in fact, a small
army of extremely short service,
backed by a force OfsOme 300, 900 men
in the country, who had all passed
some time in the ranks and been
thoroughly drilled. The vice of it
all was that law, order, command,
and even organization centred in
Said himself. The subordinate Of
ficers lost the habit of command, and
were of no executive use.
lsmail, on his accession, set him
self to the task of reversing Said's
policy and OF returning to the ways
of Abbas. He accumulated an i'm.
mense supply of arms. He placed
the system of forts in good order.
He introduced European methods of
instruction for both officers and men.
Primary and preparatory schools led
up to the military school, properly
so called, through which commits
sions were obtained, and even a staff
school was formed. with French Of
ficers as instructors. Thus the army
was greatly improved, but the ex-
pense was not calculated, and a col
lapse, financial and political, resulted
from the extravaganza OF Ismail
Tewtik succeeded to the throne,
which had become more detached
from dependence on Constantinople,
but depended for it's very life on
economy. The army had to be
= reduced again, but by this time a
!