The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
permit, written in English and in Arabic, to occupy a certain space,
duly pegged out, in which to put up their booths. This measure
restored confidence. One old lady, a stout person of Levantine origin,
thought that the permit entitled her to perpetual freehold; and she
subsequently attempted to sue the Egyptian Government for damages,
producing my permit as evidence.
Upon first going ashore to restore order, I found whole streets blocked
with smouldering ruins. Putting my horse at one such obstacle, I
scrambled over it; and I had scarce reached the other side when a wall
fell bodily behind me, cutting off my escort, who had to fetch a
compass round the side streets to rejoin me.
Without taking the smallest notice of me or of my escort, men were
shooting at one another, quarrelling over loot, and staggering along,
laden with great bundles, like walking balloons. The streets were
speedily cleared of these rioters by the use of machine guns. The
method adopted was to fire the gun over their heads, and as they fled,
to run the gun round turnings and head them off again, so that they
received the impression that the town was full of guns. On no occasion
did I fire the gun _at_ them. The principles upon which order was
restored were to punish disobedience, to enlist labour and to pay for
it fairly.
The prisoners taken were organised in separate gangs set to work, and
paid less than the rest of the labourers! The most critical part of
the business of extinguishing fires and preventing incendiarism
occurred at the Tribunal, which was stored with property worth many
thousands of pounds. A fire-engine was purchased for its protection at
a cost of £160, 18s. 1d. The total expenses of the restoration or
{197} order were, I think, under £2000. During the fortnight I was on
shore, every station and port was visited at least once a day and twice
a night.
On one such inspection I gave my horse to an Arab lad to hold. A few
minutes afterwards there was the crack of a pistol. I ran out, and
there was the boy lying on the ground a bullet-wound in his chest. To
satisfy his curiosity he had been fingering the 4-barrel Lancaster
pistol in the holster, and that was the end of _him_, poor lad.
Upon another occasion, when I was at work in one of my stations, a
sudden tumult arose in the street. I went put, to perceive a huge
Irish Marine Artilleryman engaged in furious conflict with five or six
men of the patrol. They had got handcuffs on him, and he was fighting
with manacled hands. I asked the sergeant what was the matter.
"He's drunk, sir. We are going to lock him up."
"Let him go," I said.
The men fell back; and the Irishman, seeing an iron railing, raised his
hands above his head and brought them down upon the iron, smashing the
handcuffs, and turned upon me like a wild beast at bay. The man was in
a frenzy. Standing directly in front of him, I spoke to him quietly.
"Now, my lad, listen to me. You're an Irishman." He looked down at
me. "You're an Irishman, and you've had a little too much to drink,
like many of us at times. But you are all right. Think a moment.
Irishmen don't behave like this in the presence of the enemy. Nor will
you. Why, we may be in a tight place to-morrow, and who's going to
back me then? You are. You're worth fifty of the enemy. You're the
man I want."
As I talked to him, the expression of his face changed from desperation
to a look of bewilderment, and from bewilderment to understanding; and
then he suddenly broke down. He turned his head aside and cried. I
told the sergeant to take him away and give him some tea.
Having heard from the Governor of Alexandria that a {198} quantity of
arms was concealed in a village lying a few miles outside the city, I
took thither a party of Egyptian military police and a guard of
Marines. On the way we were joined by some 800 British soldiers, who
surrounded the village, while the police conducted a house-to-house
search. A certain newspaper correspondent accompanied me. The police
knocked at the door of a house, and received no reply; whereupon the
correspondent drew his revolver and incontinently blew in the lock. I
told him that he had no right to do such a thing; that he might have
killed innocent persons; and that he must not do it again.
"Oh, but," says he, "you don't understand how to do these things."
I requested him to understand that I was provost-marshal, and that
unless he obeyed orders, he would be sent back to Alexandria.
"Oh, but," says he, "you can't do that. You don't understand----"
"Sergeant!" said I, "a file of Marines."
"Oh, but," protested the correspondent, "you can't----"
"Sergeant, take this gentleman back to Alexandria."
It was a long walk and a hot walk home.
On the 17th July, General Sir Archibald Alison took command of the land
forces. At the request of the general, the admiral ordered me to
remain in command of the police until 1st August, when I was relieved
by Major Gordon. It was about this time that Captain Fisher devised
his armoured train, which, carrying armed bluejackets, made daily
sorties. A bluejacket sitting on the rail was ordered to come down by
his officer.
"I can't see 'em from down below," he said. The next moment he was hit
by a bullet. "They've found the range, sir," said he, as he tumbled
over.
Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour was good enough to address to me a very
gratifying letter of commendation for my services. Among the many kind
congratulations I {199} received, I valued especially the letters from
the captains under whom I had served in various ships, and many
admirals with whom I had served. On 11th July I was promoted to the
rank of captain. In the following September the Admiralty forwarded to
Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour (raised in November to a peerage as Baron
Alcester) the expression of their satisfaction at the services of
Captain Fisher and of myself.
I overheard a lady finding great fault with my old chief, Sir Beauchamp
Seymour. I asked her what she had against Lord Alcester.
"Why," said she, "he is a Goth and a Vandal. Did he not burn the
Alexandrian Library?"
A sequel to the work in Alexandria was my conversation with Mr.
Gladstone on the subject, which took place upon my return home some
weeks later. Mr. Gladstone sent for me; and after most courteously
expressing his appreciation of my services, he discussed the question
of compensation to the inhabitants of Alexandria who had suffered loss
and damage. The information he required I had carefully collected in
Alexandria by means of an organised intelligence corps, upon each of
whom was impressed the fact that if he gave false information he would
most certainly be punished. My view was then, and is now, that the
whole of the claims might have been justly settled for a million
sterling, upon these conditions: that the question should be tackled at
once; that all palpably unwarranted claims should be repudiated from
the outset, because if they were recorded as claims there would
eventually be no way of rebutting them, and it would be found necessary
to pay them ultimately; that doubtful claims should be held over for
consideration; and that the proved claims should be paid immediately.
The important point was that in order to avoid difficulties in disputes
in the future, the matter should be dealt with at once.
I knew of a case (and of other similar cases) in which a jeweller who
had contrived to remove the whole of his stock {200} into safety after
the riot, put in a claim for the value of the whole of the said goods.
These considerations I laid before Mr. Gladstone, informing him also,
in the light of the special information which had come to my knowledge,
that if the matter were allowed to drift, the sum to be disbursed,
instead of being about a million, would probably amount to some four
millions.
In the event, the International Commission of Indemnities paid
£4,341,011.
{201}
CHAPTER XXI
THE EGYPTIAN WAR (_Continued_)
IV. GARRISON WORK
When I was relieved, on 1st August (1882), of the post of
provost-marshal and chief of police, the _Condor_ was ordered to keep
the Mex lines and citadel, which defended the south-western boundary of
Alexandria, forming a barrier across the long and narrow strip of land
which extends between the sea and Lake Mareotis, and upon which the
city is built. The fortifications of the sea front were continued,
with a brief interval, at right angles to the sea face, extending no
more than some three-quarters of the distance across the strip of land,
so that between one end of the fortifications and the sea, and between
the other end and the shore of Lake Mareotis, there were undefended
spaces. It was therefore necessary to frame a plan of defence with the
force and materials at command, sufficient to hold this left flank of
the city against the large bodies of rebel soldiery and Arabs hovering
in the vicinity. Thirty men from the _Condor_ were brought on shore,
with the band, which, consisting of one drum and one fife, was few and
humble but convincing.
The two forts on the earthwork were manned; a 40-pounder smooth-bore
taken from one of the Mex Forts was mounted on the roof of the fort
nearest to Lake Mareotis, whence it was fired at regular intervals at
the enemy occupying the earthworks on the farther shore of the Lake.
After five days they were knocked out of the place. {202} Charges were
made for the gun out of the miscellaneous ammunition found in the Mex
Forts.
The gun used to capsize almost every time it was fired. It was served
by a Maltese gunner, who became so superstitiously devoted to his
commanding officer, that when I was relieved by Colonel Earle, my
Maltese never received an order without observing that "Lord Charles
Beresford not do that, sare"; until Earle lost patience, as well he
might.
"D--n Lord Charles Beresford!" said he.
Wire entanglements were fixed along the face of the earthworks. In the
two open spaces at the ends of the line of fortifications, rockets were
buried, and a lanyard was led along from the firing tube to a peg in
the ground, so that anyone passing that way at night would trip over
the lanyard, thus firing the rocket, and causing a beautiful fountain
of fire to spring from the ground, lighting up the whole locality. The
device soon stopped nocturnal intrusions.
The open space at the Mareotis end was also commanded by a Gatling gun
mounted on the roof of the fort. In the forts and earthworks were
about twenty miscellaneous guns. These were all kept loaded; the
powder being taken from the vast amount of loose powder stored in the
Mex lines. The guns were connected with trigger lines to the forts, so
that the whole lot could be fired from one place. The railway lines
leading from Mex Harbour through the fortification, and, on the other
side of the strip of land, from the causeway leading across Lake
Mareotis into the city, were repaired. The railway bridge by Lake
Mareotis was repaired, and a torpedo was placed beneath it in case of
attack. A picquet of Marines occupied a truck placed on the bridge.
The train was set running. The two drawbridges leading to the forts
were repaired. The men garrisoning the works were housed in tents made
out of the sails of the Arab dhows lying in Mex camber. A tank was
obtained from Alexandria, and fresh water brought into it. On the sea
{203} side of the position, the _Condor_ commanded the flank of the
approaches.
Having thus secured this flank of the city against attack, so that it
could be held against a large force, it was necessary to make
reconnaissances into the surrounding country. The little landing-party
went ashore every evening at 5.30 (with the band, few and humble but