News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1883-04-12
EDUCATING AN ARMY.
WHY EGYPTIANS MAKE GOOD SOL.
DIERS.
What Gen. Stone Did for the Eayptians-A
Great Work.


What Gen. stone Did for the Egyptians-A
Great Work.
Gen. Stone, III speaking of his connec-
ton with the Egyptian army, said:
81 saw at once that the great neces-
sity for the army, i'll order to make it
good and capable, and the great neces-
sity for the mass of the people who
would have to furnish the material, was
instruction and education. A large num-
Der Of the officers could neither read nor
write, but quite q number of the Junior
officers, who had come from the military
schools re-established by Ismail Pacha,
were fairly Instructed. His Highness,
the Khedive, during several months
made no demands ON me as to what was
necessary for great improvements in the
army, leaving me full time to study the
subject carefully. But in the month Of
August or September, 1870, he suddenly
asked me General, what is the worst
thing you see in the Egyptian army?
[ told him that the worst thing [ saw
was that it was commanded entirely by
civilians.
cat this he was greatly astonished.
You say that? Have no generals or
colonies or majors in the regiments . l
told him yes; but at the same time along
side each captain there was a civilian
clerk who prepared all the papers Of the
company, and alongside each chief of
| battalion there were one or two civilian
| clerks who did for the battalion what the
company civilian clerk did for the COM
/ PAM, and thus the whole administration
CO the regiments, the control OF the pay,
| the clothing ana the ratiOns, were III the
hands of civilians. He then asked me
how it was in America. [ told him. 'Ah,
| then he said, your nOn-cOmmlssiOned
officers and privates can read and write y
| That, Your Highness, was exactly what
l was trying to get at. That is the great
necessity for your army
"After thinking moment the Khedive
said General, you are right, and he
sent Immediately to the Minister of War
and ordered that thenceforth no man
should be promoted i'll the Egyptian
army unless he could read and write
Thus private soldier could not become
a corporal and a corporal could not
become a sergeant, a lieutenant could
not become a captain unless he could
at least read and write Then [ said
Your Highness, you make Il require.
nent but Your Highness must give the
means for meeting this requirement. and
[ must be allowed to establish a school
in every battalion of your army This
was Immediately done, and the effect of
this can be very easily conceived. The
whole Egyptian army became imme-
diately great school, giving an hour and
a half each day outside of their regular
duties to education.
80 great was the effect of this that
four years afterward seventv-six per
cent. Of the whole Egyptian army could
read and write. This carried instruction
throughout the whole country i'll the
class of peasants, because the soldiers
finding the advantage of instruction de
sired the same advantages for their chill
dren. At the same time the khedive
gave me carte blanche for the establish
ment of a good staff college. The cIcces
of this school were chosen from the best
scholars OF the best schools in the coun-
try. Advantages of pay were given to
them, and it is from this college that
have come the excellent staff officers
now found in the Egyptian army.
''TAe staff college having been estab-
Iished, and the artillery, infantry and
proposed the establishment of Il non
commissioned officers school, drawing
sergeant and corporal from each COM
pany. This made a school of l, 800 non
commissioned officers, forming two
model battalions. 1t had two great adj
vantages-frst, it instructed her COM
missioned officers in reading, writing
and arithmetic, ETC., and having we'll
selected officers for these two battaions
it unified the details of drill; for these
men returned to their companies and
We're replaced by others, and carried
with it to all regiments the same detail
of instruction and drill. Pursuing the
same idea [ found that the non-commis-
stoned officers brought their Young sons
to the school to learn in the hours of
their recreation what they themselves
were learning.
~ then proposed to His Highness
that, as they had themselves learned the
value of education, the time had come
for the establishment of soldiers chill
dren's school. He was very much de-
lighted with the idea, and ordered the
immediate erection of a school for sol
diers' children in each division of his
army. These schools Established in
1873 We're so successful that in 1873,
when the great financial difficulties fell
upon the Khediye, there were 2, 500 sons
of soldiers receiving good education in
these schools, and some of them had
reached the higher branches of geomc-
try and drawing. This school was es-
tablished not as a charity, but expressly
as the right of a soldier bearing arms for
the Khedive to have his son educated"