It would be rather presumptuous for any one to attempt at this time
to give the real causes of the bombardment of Alexandria, and of the
subsequent operations of the British army in Egypt. The Egyptian
leader, Arabi Pasha, has been tried, and the tribunal, while sparing
his life, sentenced him to be banished to Ceylon, where he is now.
Nothing definite was made public, however, as to the assurances of
support and sympathy which he is supposed to have had, not only from
the Sublime Porte, but from other nations.
Egyptian politics may be symbolized by a tangled skein which time alone
can unravel. Some day it may be known whether the ostensible reasons
brought a great calamity about, or whether secret and less worthy
motives caused the action of the British ministry, and controlled their
fleet and army.
In the summer of 1882 Arabi Pasha, who had complete control of the
military force of Egypt, although the Khedive had not been formally
deposed, was strengthening the forts about Alexandria, and increasing
their armament. As he was opposed to English or any foreign control
in Egypt, England naturally felt alarm for the safety of the Suez
Canal, which is so vitally important for her communications with her
great Eastern empire, as well as for her general commerce. Admiral
Sir Beauchamp Seymour, with a powerful squadron of the largest
ironclads and a number of gun-boats, had been ordered to Alexandria, in
observation.
The city of Alexandria, named from its founder, Alexander the Great,
has experienced many vicissitudes. The modern city is built on a
peninsula, which was formerly the Island of Pharos, and on the isthmus
connecting it with the mainland. The ancient city was on the mainland,
where its ruins cover a vast extent of surface.
Founded nearly three and a half centuries before the Christian era, it
rose, under the liberal and beneficent sway of the Ptolemies, to great
eminence as a seat of learning, as well as of commerce. Under the Roman
Empire it continued to be a very splendid and influential city, second
only to Rome herself, and engrossing the lucrative traffic with India.
Its library was one of the wonders of the world--400,000 volumes being
in the Museum, and 300,000 in the temple of Serapis. The former was
accidentally destroyed by fire during the war with Julius Cæsar; and
the latter was burnt by command of Caliph Omar, upon the Mohammedan
conquest, in the year 640. After the discovery by the Portuguese of the
route to India by the Cape of Good Hope, its commerce fell off, and its
population dwindled to a few thousands. Gradually it revived again,
and for a long time has been the most important commercial city of the
Levant, with a very large foreign as well as native population. But,
to return: On July 6th, 1882, Admiral Seymour sent an _ultimatum_ to
Arabi and his council, which had the effect of stopping work upon the
fortifications for a short time, and produced a promise that such work
should not be renewed.
But on the following night a powerful electric light, on board the
ironclad Alexandra, of the English squadron, disclosed the fact that,
under cover of the darkness, guns were being mounted on the forts
commanding the entrance to the great port, or western harbor--there
being two harbors, one east and one west of the isthmus. New guns were
placed in position on the north side, also, on the peninsula where the
Harem, or residence of the Khedive is situated, and which forms the
protection to the main anchorage. Earthworks were also being thrown up
there by a very large force.
Seymour telegraphed these facts to the British government, summoned a
council of his officers, and made preparations for battle. He then sent
a demand to the Egyptian authorities for the surrender of the forts to
him within twenty-four hours, with a view to disarmament, under penalty
of bombardment.
There was a French fleet in the port, which had been ordered to take no
part in any aggressive measures; and there were also naval vessels of
several other nations, among which were some of our own, the commanders
of which had been very active in affording refuge to Americans resident
in Egypt, as well as to citizens of other countries who were not
represented by men-of-war.
The French fleet, seeing hostilities imminent, got under way, and
steamed out into the offing, followed by the other foreign men-of-war
and merchant vessels. Many of these were crowded with refugees, but
there were left in the city a large number of Greeks, Italians,
Maltese, and Syrians.
The British ships then proceeded to take up their stations before the
forts, and a panic ensued among the inhabitants, who quitted the city,
as did most of the Europeans who had remained. This they effected
with great difficulty, and there was a prospect of the renewal of the
massacre which had taken place some weeks before. The cash chest of the
European Director of Customs, which were managed for the benefit of the
foreign bondholders, was seized by Arabi, but the officials managed to
get away.
On the 10th of July a deputation of Egyptian notables came off to the
English flag-ship, to know the meaning of these warlike preparations.
They had not heard of the _ultimatum_, which had not reached them, by
some blunder, whether on the part of the English or the natives does
not appear; and, indeed, the document was brought off to them while
they were still on board the ship, by messengers who had been searching
for them. They then went on shore, to consider it.
Very early next morning, the 11th of July, a deputation of Egyptian
officials came off to say that they were willing to dismount the guns
of the forts themselves. This would appear to be all that the English
Admiral had originally demanded; but whether he suspected a ruse, or
whether he was determined to take offensive measures at any rate, he
refused to entertain the proposal, saying that the time for negotiation
had expired.
At seven in the morning the first shot was fired from the Alexandra,
and eight English ironclads, of the heaviest description, with five
heavy gun-boats, opened upon the different forts. These were the
heaviest guns and the thickest armor, by far, that had ever been in
action. To mention only one, the Inflexible had four 81-ton guns, and
armor from sixteen to twenty-four inches thick, and measures 11,400
tons.
The Egyptian forts constituted two distinct systems of defence. The
first consisted of those which protected the new port and eastern town;
and the second those which covered the entrances to the outer western
harbor. Seymour divided his fleet so as to simultaneously bombard the
whole. His ironclads and wooden gun-boats were fitted, in addition to
heavy guns, with torpedoes, and Nordenfelt and Gatling machine guns.
The Invincible (flag-ship), Monarch and Penelope, with the Téméraire
outside, took up a position at the entrance of the western harbor,
about opposite Fort Meks, and about twelve hundred yards from another
important work, Fort Marsa-el-Kanat.
They attacked these forts, on the shore of the mainland, while the
Superb, Sultan, and Alexandra attacked and totally destroyed the
lighthouse fort, and another near it on the peninsula. The Inflexible
took up a position between the two divisions, and with her enormous
guns, assisted in the work of both.
The gun-boats attacked the “Marabout” batteries, at the entrance of the
harbor, running close in, and soon silencing them. One of the gun-boats
afterwards covered a landing party, which blew up the heavy guns in
Fort Meks.
The Egyptian artillerists surprised the English by the determination
with which they fought their guns; but they were all silenced by four
o’clock in the afternoon--rather a long time, it would seem, for
vessels carrying guns of such power, if they were properly pointed. By
this time four of the forts had been blown up, and the Khedive’s palace
and harem was in flames. The English fire ceased about half-past five
in the afternoon.
The casualties of the English were five killed and twenty-eight
wounded. This is rather a high number, considering the character of the
vessels employed. The Egyptians seemed to have fired only solid shot,
and these, in some cases, entered the ships, and caused most of the
injuries by splinters.
The Egyptian loss was great, but will probably never be known. It is
said that the gunners in the forts were mostly blacks--Soudanese--who
are as remarkable for their bravery and bull-dog tenacity, as they are
for the very dark color of their skin.
The English are reported to have burst the guns in the ruined forts
with dynamite.
Fort Napoleon, a very strong work, somewhat inland, and dating from
the French occupation, and Fort Gabarrie, had not been thoroughly
bombarded on the first day, and still held out; and arrangements were
made to have the Invincible, Monarch and Penelope go in the next day
to attack them. In the meantime the Invincible had silenced some
outlying batteries, and had sent on shore a party which had burst nine
large guns. During the night the Egyptians had repaired an outside
battery, but when the Inflexible and the Téméraire opened on it, it
did not reply, and was found to be abandoned. On the morning after the
bombardment the Khedive’s palace was still burning, and there were
other fires in the town.
The wind had risen, and a swell was coming in, which prevented accurate
firing, and at one P. M. all fire ceased, on both sides, having not,
of course, been so sustained and continuous as on the preceding day. A
white flag was now shown in the town, and a gun-boat was sent up the
inner harbor to the Arsenal, with a flag of truce flying. The Arsenal
is the official residence of the Ministers of War and Marine, but the
gun-boat found no one there, in authority, and no one, in consequence,
able to tell the meaning of the white flag flying in the city. The
officer sent up, therefore returned to Seymour. Night now drew on, and
the fires in the town were evidently extending.
At daybreak, next morning, the whole of the forts were found to be
abandoned, and the English Admiral telegraphed to the fleet not to
open fire. Half the city appeared to be in flames, with a dense cloud
of smoke hanging over it. The conflagration was, in fact, tremendous,
and involved the whole European quarter and the Grand Square. The
Egyptian army had retreated.
Towards morning a body of about one hundred Europeans fought their way
down to the beach, and were taken off by armed boats from the fleet.
They had spent a terrible night, defending themselves in the building
of the Ottoman Bank, and other buildings adjacent. During the night
hundreds of people were massacred, mostly Christians, and for the two
succeeding days Alexandria was the scene of horrors hardly equalled by
Paris during the Commune.
An uncontrolled soldiery, released convicts and the scum of the
population were let loose, and murder and pillage went on. Petroleum
was used to fire many buildings in the best part of this fine and
flourishing city.
The Khedive was helpless, and really in great danger of his life, in
his palace at Ramleh.
Seymour and his officers and men looked on at “this sad spectacle of
awful and unexpected catastrophe, which they had no power to prevent.”
It is hard to tell whether to blame most the want of statesmanlike
forethought, or the want of military perception in the English naval
Commander, who precipitated this dreadful state of affairs, without
having the means, in the shape of troops, to land and seize the town.
To disinterested observers it was an indefensible act, to bombard a
city with such a mixed population, many of whom were prone to rapine
and murder, without having the power promptly to put things in order.
[Illustration:
{Section of the Alexandra,
{showing working of Guns.