Sir Evelyn Wood on Wednesday gave the Fishmongers' Company a
most gratifying account of the progress made in forming an Egyptian Army. He had drilled and organised 6,000 natives, with whom, it is said—he did not say, it—he is willing to answer for order without British troops ; and in the whole force, from the time he took the command, corporal punishment has not been inflicted once. The men were ruled mainly by their confidence in their European officers. That is excellent, though it shows that Europeans are the proper and not the improper class to entrust with power, but it seeds to be farther supplemented. That Egyptian sepoys will be orderly and obedient in peace-time under lenient treatment will be believed by all who know them, but will a discipline without terrors • hold under shells and bullets ? Will not the men, who respect and like, but do not dread their officers, try to save themselves ? They may not, for officers who are never struck do not run away ; but this, and not order in cantonments, is the main point. The object of drill is to repress the natural human fear of shells and bayonets, by inspiring a greater fear of the consequences of skulking. Have the Egyptians got that, as well as a liking for order ?
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