tible difference between the
Egyptian officer and private in 1879 consisted, according to one of the
Americans, in the fact that the first was the product of the harem, and
the second of the field. Marshal Marmont, writing in 1839, mentions the
capacity of the Egyptians for endurance; and it was tested in 1883,
especially in the 2nd Brigade, since its officers (Turks and Egyptians),
anxious to excel as drill-masters, worked their men not only from morn
till eve, but also by lamplight in the corridors of the barracks. On the
31st March 1883, ten weeks after the arrival of the first draft of
recruits, about 5600 men went through the ceremonial parade movements as
practised by the British guards in Hyde Park, with unusual precision.
The British officers had acquired the words of command in Turkish, as
used in the old army, an attempt to substitute Egyptian words having
failed owing to lack of crisp, sharp-sounding words. As the Egyptian
brigadier, who had spent some years in Berlin, spoke German fluently,
and it was also understood by the senior British officers, that language
was used for all commands given by the sirdar on that special parade.
The British drill-book, minus about one-third of the least serviceable
movements, was translated by an English officer, and by 1900 every
necessary British official book had been published in English and
Arabic, except the new Recruiting Law (1885) and a manufacturing manual,
for which French and Arabic editions are in use. The discipline of the
old army had been regulated by a translation of part of the Code
Napoleon, which was inadequate for an Eastern army, and the sirdar
replaced it by the British Army Act of 1881, slightly modified, and
printed in Arabic.

The task undertaken by the small body of British officers was difficult.
There was not one point in the former administration of the army
acceptable to English gentlemen. That there had been no adequate
auxiliary departments, without which an army cannot move or be
efficient, was comparatively a minor difficulty. To succeed, it was
essential that the fellah should be taught that discipline might be
strict without being oppressive, that pay and rations would be fairly
distributed, that brutal usage by superiors would be checked, that
complaints would be thoroughly investigated, and impartial justice meted
out to soldiers of all ranks. An epidemic of cholera in the summer of
1883 gave the British officers their first chance of