[261] Extract: Sir E. Malet to Earl Granville:—
“Cairo, 11th August 1883.
“I cannot forward Sir Evelyn’s report on the cholera Epidemic among the Egyptian troops at Cairo, without adding a word to record the high admiration which the conduct of the English officers towards their men has elicited. Sir Evelyn Wood and his Staff, and all the officers, have worked night and day at the measures necessary to ward off and mitigate the disease, and their efforts have met with an almost unhoped-for success. Beyond the immediate benefit of the saving of life which they have obtained, an example has been given of Self-devotion which may have lasting consequences for good in the promotion of respect and regard of the men towards the officers.”
[262] Now Lord Cromer.
[263] Vide [page 474].
[264] Telegram—Evelyn Wood to Gordon Pasha, Khartoum:—
“April 19th, 1884.
(Extract): “Fifthly: I would give anything to be allowed to go up to Khartoum by river with British and Egyptian troops when the Nile rises, but I fear I may not be so fortunate as to get the chance, and, I gather from your telegrams in March, you think Egyptians are useless. I think that, considering about two-thirds have four months’ service, and one-third three months only, they would do fairly well with British troops, or in fighting defensive actions. I could not recommend they should take the field without British support.”
The gradual restoration of confidence, coupled with the brilliant example of the Sudanese Battalions, so encouraged the Fellaheen that General Sir Herbert Kitchener wrote to me: “Cairo, 17th February 1888.—I hope my wound will soon be healed up. The Egyptian troops with me behaved splendidly, and were quite steady under fire, which was pretty hot at one time. If I had had more of them I could have cleared out the Dervishes. The Irregulars got quite out of hand.”
Ten years later there were some remarkable instances of the change effected in the spirit of the Fellaheen.
On the 9th April 1898, Captain Hickman, with two troops of Cavalry, intercepted, near the Southern end of the Second Cataract (Wadi Haifa), a raiding party of Dervishes, mostly mounted on horses and camels, under the command of Emir Wad Rahma, driving off a number of looted cattle. Hickman charged home in the centre, his men fighting hand to hand, killing all except two horsemen, who escaped, and eight prisoners whose lives were spared. The Emir resisted with desperate courage, until a trooper, dismounting, literally jumped on and slew him.
Half a Battalion 16th Regiment, 300 men (Fellaheen), in September 1898, in a force under Colonel Parsons, near Gedareff, repeated the manœuvre for which the 28th Gloucester Regiment wears a double fore and hind peak to its head-dress, and alone successfully resisted a determined simultaneous attack in Front and Rear. As the Dervishes came on the Rear Rank faced about, and both attacks were repulsed.