The following troops assisted the British forces in restoring order: 125 Americans, about the American Consulate; 30 Germans, about the German Consulate and Hospital; and 140 Greeks about the Greek Consulate and Hospital. On the 16th July, Captain Briscoe (a son of an old Waterford man who hunted the Curraghmore hounds after the death of my uncle, Henry Lord Waterford) of the P. and O. Tanjore volunteered his services, and with 20 Italians of his crew, did excellent work. Other volunteers who assisted me were Mr. Towrest, a member of the Customs, and Mr. Wallace. Major Hemel, R.M.L.I., and Captain Creaghi, R.M.L.I., were appointed magistrates. These Marine officers performed invaluable services.
I had special reason to be grateful to Mr. John Ross, a British merchant of Alexandria, who gave me every assistance in his power. He knew every yard of the place. He gave me invaluable advice with regard to the organisation of the city, obtained interpreters, and helped to supply the troops, placing his stores at my disposal. He would have dispensed with receipts for articles supplied, had I not insisted upon his taking them. Mr. Ross supplied the whole Fleet with coal, fresh meat, and all necessaries; his help was quite inestimable, his energy and patriotism beyond praise; but although he must have suffered considerable losses, he received no recognition of any kind from the Governnment except the naval medal.
Mr. Ross gave me great assistance also in parcelling out Mehemet Ali Square among the country purveyors of produce, each of whom received a 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 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.