The Hocking sentinel. [volume] (Logan, Ohio) 1871-1906, 1884-06-26
THE EGYPTIAN SOLDIER.
A Course of Training Which Makes
Him n Coward.

A Course of Traiping Which Makes
Him n Coward:
How the Egyptian soldier acquired
his phenomenal non:fghting qualities
is we'll told by Mr.. Mackenzie Wallace
in his recent volume ON Egypt and the
Egyptian question. TO begin at the
beginning, the fellah is brought up On
kurbash (stick) in the same way that
some infants are. brought up on the
bottle, with the difference that the fel-
lah always renaips an ipfaat, and the
stick is always ipS near proximity to
his bare back or the soles of his feet
Whatever the Government wants of
him, whether taxes OF military service
and it never Manifests itself to- him
in any other light-the first indication
of its needs is disclosed to his appre-
hension by the kurbash:
The method of recruiting fp: the ar
my is simple. The village sheikh
gives the names of a number of men
to the local police. who go to the hoy
els of the luekless fellaheen snd drive
them into the street, put iron collars
or yokes around their necks, fasten
the several collars together by chain,
and drive them, as cattle are driven in
other countries, to the prison to be ex-
amined by the medical officers. "a
stranger, says Mr.. Wallace, .:when
stopping in quiet village, which he
naturally supposes to be the abode OF
perpetual undisturbed tranquility, may
be suddenly awakened at night by Q
violent alteration outside which be-
gins by a gruff. bass male voice, and
culminates in shrill, hysterical. falsctto
tones. resembling the unmusical. plain.
tive howlings of the professional wall
ers at native funeral. The first time
he is SO disturbed he probably assumes
that it is q case Of burglary or man
slaughter, and rushes out with the
laudable purpose of supporting vigor=
ously the party of law and order; but
he finds. to his disappointment, that it
is nothing more serious than the cap-
turing of recruit for the army; and
though it may be quite true, as the
women tremulously declare, that the
village sheikh, in making the choice of
his yictim, has been Influenced by
baksheesh, the arguments adduced pro
and con involve such contradictory
statements of fact and such complica-
ted considerations of law and morals,
that he will probably. as stranger,
not feel justified in interfering with the
action OF the legally constituted au-
thorities. The great minority of the
recruits endeayor to prove by wordy
arguments, solemn asseveratiops, eS-
pressive gestures and revolving contor-
tons that they are totally unfit for mill
tary seryi, Q; and, when arguments fail.
importunate entreaties, heart-rending
appeals or Indignant protests are en-
ployed. In vain the police, with the
aid of their sticks aud switches, en-
deavor to keep order and impose si-
lence; the more obstinate persisten1y
break from the ranks and have to be
kept in their place by force. Those
who have no glariqg corporeal defect,
and who have not succeeded in pri-
vately conciliating tho medica! officer
or the military authorities. are marclel
Once in the army the recruit is given
up for dead by all bis friends. His
term Of service is fixed up by the will
of the Government, and if he survives
the harsh treatment of his officers and
the casualties Of war until old age he
is turned out almost pensionlcss, to be
q buvden upon relatives who have for
gotten him and VINO have scarce
enough for their own support 1t is
no wonder, with such prospects before
them, that those liable to conscciption
mptilate themselves by cutting of The
right ,forcfinrer and putting out the
right eye. The practice was 50 com
mon in the time of Mehemet Ali that
that enlightened Prince formed bai-
talions of one-eyed men and sent them
into battle with Turkish .bashi-bazouks
and artillery behind them, with orders
to shoot down every man who attempt
ed to run away. Ibis plan for infus-
ing courage into the sol.i:lry has been
tried so often that it has ceased to have
any effect. Iae fellah would as lief be
shot BY the enemy in his rear as by
the one in front. BY nature the most
of all male creatures. the
fellah never shows signs of .disobe-
dience until brought into the neigh
borhood of the enemy. He then braves
any danger from his superiors in order
to get out Of bullet range. Whole rcgi-
ments have been known ito mutiny,
murder their officers and disband when
within a days march of the opposing
force. The naturally peaceful DISPOSE
ton of the Egyptian soldier has been
cultivated by the system which M::
Wallace describes until he has reached
the very pinnacle of timiditY. There
are no extremes of cowardice for him
to conquer. He has surmonnted them
York Evening Post.