Democratic Sentinel, Volume 6, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 September 1882 — THE WAR IN EGYPT. [ARTICLE]

THE WAR IN EGYPT.

Dispatches from Alexandria of Aug. 20 state that four English regiments made a reoonnoissance along the Mahmoudieh canal, drawing out shells from Arabi Pasha’s force. British troops occupied Port Said and Ismalia and disarmed the native soldiers. Bear Admiral Hewitt stopped traffic on the Suez canal, at which De Lessens made a very strong protest At Tort Said the British troops threw up some earthworks between the European and Arab qiiirte r s, ani Admiral Seymour and Gen. Wolseley were on hand with seventeen transports and five men-of-war. The Directors of the Suez Canal Company held a meeting in Paris, at which resolutions were passed reaffi ming the neutrality of the highway, denouncing the warlike measures of the British, and reserving the right to claim compensation from England. e

The British Admiral Hewitt telegraphs from Suez that the men of the gunboats Sea Gull and Mosquito, aided by 200 Highlanders, carried the intrenchments at Shaluf at the point of the bayonet, killing 100 rebels and capturing fortyfive. ft was given out at Port Said that traffic on the Suez canal would be suspended only long enough to permit the British vessels to pass to Ismalia. Arabi Pasha was erecting extensive earthworks in the vicinity of Abouktr. The French Government sent to De Lesseps instructions to be more prudent in his language. The Porte refuses to permit the exportation of nan'pß for the British forces in Egvnt. A battalion of 600 Highlanders made a reconnoissance at Bamleh, and the guns at the water-works hill simultaneously opened fire, to which the Egyptians replied after the third round. The Seventy-second regiment engaged the Egyptians at Serapeum, killing 100 of them. The transports which went into the Suez canal debarked their troops at Ismalia. Gen. Wolseley had an interview with De Lessepa at Ismalia. After hearing the General’s explanation, the Count expressed himself as fully satisfied with it, and regretted that there had been any misunderstanding. The Khedive of Egypt has ordered the authorities to implicitly obey Gen. Wolseley. The French papers generally condemn England’s occupation of the Suez canal, the Gambettist organ asserting that it has been made a branch of St. George’s Channel.

The Austrian gunboat Nautilus, seeing a white flag flying on the forts at Aboukir, on Aug. 23, sent ashore an officer and twelve men, who were held as prisoners. The British police arrested nineteen Greeks who were pil'aging in the Arab quarter of Ismailia, and shot ten of them. The Egyptians cut the fresh-water canal near Ismailia. Constantinople dispatches of Aug. 23 stated that the interviews of Lord Dufferin and the Sheik-ul-Islam had. cleared away some oi the obstacles to the signing of the military convention, and it was believed it would soon be definitely eon eluded. The English were in full possession of the canal from Suez to Port Said. Arabi was hourly throwing up new intrenchments and otherwise fortifying his position. It was reported from Madrid that Spain had determined to join with Russia and Germany in protesting against the protection oLAhe Suez canal being confided to the British. Threatening letters from Syria, Arabia and Egypt, it was said, deterred the Sultan from signing the military convention with England. Beports of outrages on Christians in Asia Minor were current at Constantinople, many, it is alleged, having been assassinated at Beyrout. Advices from Alexandria of Aug. 25, were to the effect that the British commar£ rs were anxious to occupy Cairo, and would push toward that city rapidly. The Egyptians at Ismailia shelled the British cavalrv while on the march, wounding a few men and horses. Two Arabs were shot at Port Said for not answering the challenge of sentries. A large party of Bedouins entered Bimleh and commenced to plunder houses, but were driven away. Constantinople dispatches stated that the feeling among the better classes there was one of antipathy to Arabi, whom they considered an enemy to the Turkish empire. In Upper Egypt there also existed a strong feeling against Arabi. De Lesseps assured the Duke of Connaught that his sentiments were friendly to England. -From Verona comes the report that Bismarck had advised the Sultan that by treating with Great Britain was the only means of defeating the plans of Bussia.

Gen. Wolseley, with the First division of infantry, all the cavalry and sixteen guns, attacked the enemy near Mahalla on the 25th of August, and captured five Krupp guns and seventy-five ear-loads of provisions. Some of the leading Arab merchants of Port Said and Damietta contributed monev for the rebel cause and sent out 500 horses. The orders at Alexandria were not to permit Turkish troops to disembark without the signature of the military convention and the issuance of a proclamation by the Sultan denouncing Arabi Pasha as a rebel, but the Turks were unwilling to accept the latter condition. There were rumors that the rebel chieftain had set a price on De Lesseps’ head, charging deliberate deceit. Gen. Wolseley reports that at Magfar, on Aug. 24, with 2,000 men, he held his ground all day against 10,000 Egyptians. Melidoff, the Russian Ambassador at Constantinople, was making efforts to have the military convention of the Porte with England presented to the conference for examination, and, if possible, modification. He also wished a declaration from Lord Dufferin that his government would seek no exclusive advantage in Egypt. The Turkish delegates had made fresh demands on Great Britain touching the convention, viz: that the Sultan’s troops should land at Alexandria. and that, instead of proclaiming Arabi a rebel, he should simply be summoned to submit to the Khedive.