The Fielding Star. SATURDAY, SEPT. 10, 1882. THE WAR IN EGYPT.

Feilding Star, Volume III, Issue 27, 16 September 1882, Page 2

The Fielding Star. SATURDAY, SEPT. 10, 1882. THE WAR IN EGYPT.

being 1 brought to a speedy termination. Up to the present time no d«>cißi've engagement has taken place, and although a pitched battle has been imminent for 5-o me weeks past, ARabi Bey has so far man aped to OTade x tlift attempts of General Wolselky to ' bring- him to account. A'eanrinfre : our troops, while in a state of partial inactivity, are suffering; from the illeffects of a bad climate Alreudy ! some hundreds of British lives hiive fallen victims to sunstroke and dvaen- * try. Indeed it is greatly to bo feared, ; ' unless more prompt action be taken, lour troops will become' decimated' in a manner not dissimilar to that which i befel the British force** in the Crimea What snow and privation did with our forces on the bleak and dreary wastes of the Crimea, sunstroke and cholera are now doing on the burning sands of Egypt. . We are afraid the same bungling and want of unity on ! the part ot our leaders that characterised the Crimean campaign are being I repeated in the present war. Arabi j Bey, who was at first looked upon as a military up-start, has hitherto held ; his own, and proved himself to be a strategist of no mean order. Sir : Garnet Wolsbley is certainly not i displaying the same energy and brill- . liant generalship that distinguished him in the Ashantee and Zulu j wars. Although he has. defeated [ j portions of Arabi Bet's forces j .; in several minor eugagemeuts, his ! >. victories have been utterly useless j to him in gaining any material ad- j vantage over the enemy. On each ; occasion the British forces have held .; their own, but were unable to follow up the eueiny, and, in the words of . almost every telegram received : — " They are still waiting for reinforcements "— a truly MACAWBER-like policy! The campaign, so far, has taught us one or tnv lest.ons, the first of which is that Ahabi Bky has been greatly under-rated by bis opponents-, and held altogether too cheap. We Lave no fear of the ultimate Jesuit of ] the present campaign ; yet it is hard to conceive why, so much valuable time should be wasted, lives sacrificed by disease, and an enormous expenditure of money incurred, when the whole of these evils-could i>e greatly lessened by the exercise of prompt and j 'decisive acticn on the part of General Wolskley. We observe by a late telegram that the Anglo-Turkish Convention is still unse*tled, and that the British Government have objected to Turkish "trnops r landing at Port ■Said. The action of Turkey in the •present crisis is quite in keeping with .her past history. Indeed, there are some English journals which assert that the Sultan is secretly abetting Ababi Bey in his efforts to ob--iain absolute control in Egypt. What modicum of truth there may be in this view it is bard; to say. This much is certain, that the present action ofj Turkey is extremely suspicious, and calculated to create Fome degree of alarm. Sir Garnet Wolseley has now 17,000 men under his comn and, and with this something of a decisive character, should - eventuate during the next few days. In conclu sion, we hope to be able before long to chronicle the termination of the present campaign, and the complete triumph of the British arms over the i legions of Ababi Bk«*. ■ [Since*the ' above was in J>ype, w» haves received later news, to the effect that Sir Garnet Woiseley has at last engaged Arabi Bey, defeating him I with great loss, and capturing 40 guns and a large number of prisoners. Arabi's force is also stated to be in full retreat. This is certainly the most encouraging news we nave yet received from the seat of war.] _

The latest news from the land of the Pharoaim it far from encouraging-.' It was confident^ hoped, and even predicted by many, that the warw.oqld be short, sharp, and decisive. Accent telegrams to hii«d (<rhich were issued as an Extra from tbtl office on Tbu^day last) little hope of tha war