The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-10-18
THE EGYPTIAN ARMY.

THE EGYPTIAN ARMY.
The Unwarltke Character Of tho Eel.
lahoen-scenes at tho Conscrip
ti0h
IA correspondent Of the London Times
in Egypt writes: ':'There eSists tonsid.
cradle diversity of opinion about tie
character of the fellaheen, but on one
point all authorities have been hitherto
agreed-that the fellah is one of the
most unwarlike types Of mankind and
heartily dete-ts military service. Any,
body who travels in E :ypt during the
time of the CONSUMPTION must be pain-
fully impressed with the fact. In the
villages he may be often reused at night
by violent alteration outside, which
begins with gruff, bass male voices and
culminatesln shrill, hy3terical. falsetto
tones. Tho first time lie is so disturbed
he probably assumes that It is a case Of
burglary or narslau 5hter, and rushes
out with the intention of supporting Wig
orous'y the party OF law and order, but
he finds to his dis appointment that it is
nothi' more seriously than the captur-
ing ola recruit for the khedivial army and
thou b it may be quite true as tn. women
declare, that he village stleikh IN making
the choice of his victim, has been in
huenced by considerations of baksheesh
tue arguments produced pro and con i'll
yolye contradictory statements OF fact
aud such complicated c9llslaera ions of
IL and morals that as a stranger be can
hardly feel justified in interfering with
the acti ~ Of the authorities. In the
pri, cipal towns, where the results are
collected. similar scenes take ulace on a
larger scale. The cons..rlpls are brought
into the public square under al es.ort
of kavasses, armed with sticks and
switches, to be examined by the medical
officer and the mlllle:y a'thor't'es'
Among them are a good many repre-,
:ntatives OF the halt, the manned, q a
the blind, and these, alter being separa-
ted from the Others are allowed to re-
turn to their homes. u the remainder
a few conduct themselves with the
apathetic, dign,fird air Of the true Mus
su1nan, but the majority endeavor to
prove by wordy arguments, solemn as
serVati,'lls, expressive gestures, or re-
voting contOrtlons that they are totally
untitled for military s rvice; and, when
arguments TAIL, importul,ate intrealies,
heartren.ling appeals, or indignant pro-
tests are employed. In Vain the
kavasscs, with the aid of their sticks
and switches, endeavur to keep order
and imposed silence; the ob~tnately i'm.
FORTUNATE perslstently break from the
ranks and have to be put back into their
places by force, :ill ut last rough as
sortu ent has been made. Those who
have no glazing corporal defect and who
have not succeeded in privately concil
iating the authorities are then marched
OH to prison, to be ke,t there until the
arrival of the train or steamer which IL
to transport them to Cairo. When the
moment Of departure arrives the most
extraO, binary heartrtn,l,ng scenes are
to he Witnessed. Here /: is not the con.
scripts, who appear reslvned to thei,
fa'e, hut the women, young and old,
that play the Chief part. Each conscrip1
has an iron collar, they are bound to.
getf,er in ,roups Of ten or dozen
Around them stand their female rela
tives, weeping and wall ne. AS the mo-
ment Of separation p!rOacheS the ex.
element OF the women. increases their
means become lou or ana their Shrek:
more shril!, until, as the train or steam
er moves OFT, there is 4 terrible moment
of climax. The wives, mothers, and sis
tiers sit down on the or und, throw dus
upon their heads, eja. II ate, shrek, an.
gesticuldte like manlarS. while the more
excitable, if not restraiI,:i, literally rent
| their garments and show al
the symptoms of the wi!des
despair. A spectator i.nt rant of the
cause OF all this excitement AMI gre
would naturally suppose that the mel
in chains had b en- condemned to dealt
and were being taken to Cairo to be ex.
ecuted.
This repugnance to serve in the arm,
is not thing OF yesterday. When Me
hamet ALI, in order to get rid of dts tur
bulant Abanjans by whom ne had de
s,royed the Mame''ukes first endcav
Ored to create a naive army he cncoun
tered in the resistance OF the Fellaheel
the chief obstacle 10 the real z ,lion o
his plans. With the assistance of Col
Seves, better known as olyn,an Pasha
AM considerable number uf Turks all,
Circassians, he succeeded in forming
and drilling several regiments, but a
soon as they were required tor activ
| service the men begun to muiny an,
desert. One regiment When ordered t.
Arabia to act against the Waha.ee
| openly revolteu, killed its officers, an,
| bad to be decimated and dishanded, tn
survivors being Incorporated IN othe
reglm, nts. When the expedition lia'
reached the Hedj,z and tas in face o
the enemy second regiment mutinied
massacred the officers, and after bein,
brought to reason by Turkish troops
was sent back to Cairo. Mean
while many of the conscripts sought t
escape the conscri ption by cutting OF
their forefingcr " putting out thei
right, until they found that the pasta
with view to checkmating such expe
dlents, formed companies of one.eyet
recruits, and made those who had mu
tilated their right hand pull the trigge
with the fingers that renamed. Grad
ually, however, the fe'lals submitted t,
their fate, and showed in the He'll q
tho Morea, the Soudan, Syria, and ASH
Minor, that they coa!u, when properl.
handled, fight well and even gain vic
tories; but in all these victorious cam
! paigns they were led by Turkish an
! Circ,ssian officers and behind them wer
placed bands Of Bashi-Bazooks, VIII
shot down any one who attempted t
run awav. The first to employ lien G
| fellah extraction as officers was Sal
Pasha, who made the army playthiny
and imagined that his picked troops, b,
being pampered, had come so al
tachcd to the service that they wonl
not le We it if they had the choice. Thi
illusion of his was DESTROY ed in a way &
once comical and characteristic On
day when encamped on the borders {
the desert. near Lake Mareotis, he Wa
relating tn his friends how devoted hi
troops were, and, noticing an expressio
Of Incredibly on the face Of one OF hi
hearers, he proposed to supply All ur
answerable proof Of what he had sai'
by giving the troops an opportunity c
disbandlny if they chose. Immehlatel
genera order was issued intormin
the soldiers that his hik'ness had III
cided TO allow all those who were hesi,
Gus Of leaving the service to return {
once to their homes The khedive, a,
colnpanied by his friends AMI arme
with tie .d.glass. took his stand on
position overlooking the camp an
awaited confidently the result Of the e,