Sir Archibald Alison, who commanded the Highland Brigade at Tel-el-Kebir,
received a sword of honour on Thursday from the citizens of Glasgow, and made a very brilliant speech, notable for this,—he entirely exonerated the Egyptian soldiers from the charge of cowardice. He says the Egyptians of the Guard fell back sullenly before the Highlanders, turning whenever they reached a defensible point. "Here, too, I must do justice to the Egyptian soldiers. I never saw men fight more steadily.. Retiring up a line of works which we had taken in flank, they rallied at every re-entering angle, at every battery, at every redoubt, and renewed the fight. Four or five times we had to close upon them with the bayonet, and I saw these men fighting hard when their officers were flying." We wish. Sir Archibald, had told us whether these men were fellaheen or negroes, a point of the highest importance to the future organisation of Egypt.
Sir Archibald also denies all stories as to the indiscipline of the English soldiers. He says they stopped in their night march to redress their formation, which had approached too nearly to a crescent, in perfect silence and without cone fusion. In a fine passage, he described that night march across the sands, in words which show how completely Mrs. Hemass is now forgotten. She used nearly the identical phrases "The Burial of the Cid " :-
" With a silent pace, as the pace of one,
" Was the still death-march of the host begun; With a silent step went the cuirassed bands, Like a lion's tread o'er the burning sands,— And they gave no battle-shoot"
Previous page
