THE BATTLE OF TEL-EL-KEBIR.

TRAITORS AMONGST THE BRITISH. Under tho heading, " A Battle Described from the Ranks," the current number of The Nineteenth Century coutains a paper on the battle of Tel-el-Kebir, signed by Arthur V. Palmer, late sergeant 79th Highlanders. After describing the landing and the march to the front, the writer conies to the night attack on the Egyptian position. He details the order, and gives the following little speech as having been delivered by the captain of his company

" Men, you are marching to-night to attack a strongly entrenched position called Tel-el-Kebir, mounting some sixty guns sweeping our line of approach. On the march from Nine Gun Hill there must be no smoking, the strictest silence must be kept, and, unless ordered to the contrary, you are to continue the march steadily, no matter if bullets and shells coma hailstone fashion into the ranks. No bayonets are to be fixed till the order is given, and no man is to charge until the last note of the bugle is finished. The bayonet alone is to do the work, and not a shot is to be fired until the trenches are carried. You are to fight on so long as a man stands up. Remember the country and the regiment you belong to ; and fight now as fought the Highlanders of old " !

Sergeant—then Corporal—Palmer narrates how Lieutenant Rawson, R.N., near whom he was marching, directed the way by the North Star, and gives the following incidents as having occurred in the preliminary encounters with the enemy : —

"Dawn was just breaking. I could dimly see some objects in front of us looking like a lot of kangaroos hopping backwards and forwards — they were Egyptian cavalry, we afterwards learned. I nudged my companion, and Rawson whispered, ' We are not far off now!' Suddenly a shot was heard, then two shots were fired from opposite our left front, and a man of F Company fell dead. No notice was taken of this, and the brigade marched on silently, every man now on the alert. All at once a whole sheet of musketry fire flashed out, lighting up the scene far to right and left. Above the crackle of the rifle fire sounded loud the roar of artillery. Regardless of these portents, our regiments marched steadily and silently on." The order to "Fix bayonets!" was given; when it had been obeyed and the men sloped arms, the rattle of the bullets on the bayonets was like the sound of hailstones striking against glass. Some men, but not many, fell wounded.

The 79th had marched quite 100 yards with their rifles at the slope, when the command ' Prepare to charge!' was given. Down came the rifles to tho front rank of the unbroken line, the ' Charge !' sounded, and, as the last note of the bugle died away, a tremendous cheer was raised, the pipers struck up the slogan, and with our gallant colonel in front shouting, ' Come on the Camerons !' the ranks broke into double time and atill cheering with all their power, swept forward on the enemy's position. One of the pipers, just as he began to play, had his bagpipes pierced by a bullet, and most discordant sounds escaped from the wounded instrument. ' Gude faith,' cried the piper philosophically, ' but the bullet's a deevilitch sicht better through her wame than through mine.

As to the charge itself, and the onward movement towards the second trench, the writer makes the subjoined remarkable statement :—

'• Cheering vigorously and clearing our way with the bayonet, we were soon up to and across that obstacle. Just as I got on my feet after clambering out of the trench, I was felled by a blow across the legs from the clubbed rifle of an Egyptain, and, as I fell, saw the cold steel coming at me ; but my comrades saved me, and in a moment I was up again, too exoited to feel any pain. Suddenly there were shouts to 1 Retire ! Retire !'—the word ran along the ragged front, causing an immediate and general check, and indeed a retirement on the part of many, who thought they were obeying a command. Fortunately a staff officer, in the nick of time, galloped forward, shouting, 1 No retirement, men ! Come on ! Come on !' There was a general rally, and then forward we went

again. "Those cries of 'Retire' had been treacherously raised by a couple of ' Glasgow Irishmen,' who had somewhat evaded the precautions that were in force since the days of Fenianißm to prevent the enlistment of disloyal characters. They had been proved coward*, or something worse, on two occasions when the regiment was before Kafr Dowar; and in virtue of instructions coming through the captain, the non • commissioned officers of the company appointed a sergeant and a corporal to watch the conduct of these two men in the battle. They were charged to use their own discretion, and if that step became necessary to put them summarily to death. When the treacherous dogs raised their shout to ' Retire,' the non-commissioned officers appointed to watch them promptly did their duty. I saw Sergeant kill one of them with a thrust of his sword bayonet; and also saw Corporal fire at the other, who fell dead, but whether he was killed by the corporal's bullet or by one from the enemy I cannot undertake to say. The regiment was unanimous that both richly deserved to die, in which conviction every honest soldier will concur."

Many remarkable incidents of the fight are graphically told as for exexample :— "Soon after the Highland Brigade had reaohed Tel-el-Kebir lock, Sir Gurnet galloped up with Sir Archibald Alison, called out to us, ' The battle is won men '! and sent the 42nd to clear the village. Just as we were cheering the general, the cavalry came galloping forward to take np the pursuit, and shouting -with many oaths, "You jooks haven't left us the chance of a fight'! shot past in a whirl of dust, above which flashed lanceheads and waving swords."

So fearfully did some of the men suffer from thirst that they drank the blood which was flowing from the wounded camels. One or two of the stories of hairbreadth 'scapes are marvellous to the verge of incredibility. Thus it is said of a colour-sergeant that 1 'he was looking at the army through a binocular, when a bullet came along, shivered the glass, nnd then dropped spent into his mouth, from which ho spat it with the loss only of a couple of teeth " ? Of the gruesome sights presented on the field after the battle was over, the writer has much to say. The following anecdotes may be taken as specimens " I remember one heap of twenty-four corpses, some blown absolutely into fragments, others headless, others with limbs lopped off. Some of the dead Egyptians were roasting slowly as they lay; their clothing had been ignited, and was still sraosldering. A man of the Rifles came along, drew his pipe from his pocket, and lit it at one of those bodies, remarking, somewhat brutally It struck me, " By *, I never thought I should lhre to use a dead Egyptian for a light to my pipe." ! " The first wounded man I attended to was an Egyptian whose moana wera piteous, and on examination I found him wounded severely in the belly. I poured some eau-de-cologne down his throat, and used my own surgical bandage to bind up his wound, so as to keep the flies from it. Then I lit a cigarette, put it in his month, placed moro beside him, and gave him a drink of water. He kissed my hand, and muttered something about 'Allah.' I had not left him far when I heard the crack of a rifle, and a bullet whizzed by my ear. Looking around I saw the smoke of the shot drifting away from where my wounded man lay, and noticed that he was quietly taking aim at me again. He had time to fire a seoond ihot, wfyiclj also missed me, before I

reached him, and I had no compunction in driving the life out of hiin with my bayonet, remarking to myself as I took the weapon out for the lust time, ' You won't como that frame any more, you ungrateful brute !' "