In Lady Wantage's memoir of her husband she says that " they reached Port Said on New Year's Day, accompanied by Lady Jane Lindsay and General Sir Frederick Stephenson, Lord Wantage's old friend and brother Guardsman, who gladly embraced this opportunity of revisiting a country where ten years before he had played a conspicuous part as Commander-in- Chief of the forces in Egypt during the early part of the campaign of 1886. He was received at Cairo with open arms by his old comrades, anxious to do homage to the gallant soldier who in days past had won the admiration and affection of all who served with him."
They went up the Nile in a steamer, and, says Lady Wantage, " on board the Toski the little partie carrie spent two happy months, steaming leisurely along, and landing at every place of interest."
With some difficulty they got permission to go as far as Wady Haifa, where Sir Archibald Hunter, who was then in command, received them and gave a review in their honour, and " on the morning of their departure a salute was fired by troops drawn up on the river bank, a parting homage to the veteran soldier who stood on deck as the vessel steamed northwards, bidding farewell to the land he loved and to the last scenes of his bygone military career."
Lady Jane Lindsay, who was of the party, writes as follows: —
" In the close companionship of a journey to and through Egj^'pt we got to know the General very intimately. To us his expressive face, so quick to betray amusement, disagreement, or enthusiasm, became an open book. His sense of the ludicrous and hearty laugh made him as delightful to live with as did his painstaking kindliness endear him as a fellow-traveller. His nature held a very charming mixture of boyish diffidence with the conscious dignity of high position, so that the honours frankly accorded him by the younger generation of military men in Egypt gave him a pleasure delightful to witness. Indeed, he possessed that generous type of character sometimes seen in the old, which regards the succeeding generations with an almost tender interest and admiration, believing in its value, its wisdom, honesty of purpose, and capacity to achieve, never chary of giving homage. And in Egypt during this journey he was reading the last chapter in a volume of history to which much of his own best work had contributed. He knew and remembered every aspect of the problems which had now, so many of them, been solved or were in process of being so; consequently it may well be imagined how interesting was his companionship.
" The reception accorded him by all in authority must and did warm his heart, for its spontaneity — evincing affection from those personally known to him, and recognition of his past work for the country from those of more recent arrival — came like a concluding Amen on a life of dedication."
The journey up the Nile was not unattended by certain possibilities of attack from native tribes on the banks, and there was a strong military escort on board. After his return to England Lord Wantage wrote a letter to the Times calling attention to the state of affairs, and his statements were called in question by Lord Farrer, who had made a similar journey earlier in the year. This drew forth a rejoinder from Sir Frederick, who on April 7, 1898, wrote: —
" To the Editor of the Times.
" Sir, — With reference to the recent correspondence which has appeared in the Times upon the Soudan advance, I should like to endorse every word contained in the admirable letter of Lord Wantage concerning the present insecurity of Egyptian territory. The statement in that letter quoted by Lord Farrer is strictly correct, and as I was myself upon the Nile between Assouan and Wady Haifa at the time when the insecure condition of the Upper Nile as stated by Lord Wantage existed, I can vouch for such having been the case.
" Lord Farrer in his comments upon that letter refers to his own experience between the 12th and 19th of January; but dates are sometimes misleading, and such is the case in the present instance. Up to the latter date travellers were no doubt allowed to proceed on their journey between Assouan and Wady Haifa, but subsequently to that date, and in consequence of the assembly of a force of Dervishes, and their advance as far as Sarras, the banks of the Upper Nile were considered by the military authorities so insecure that travellers were forbidden to advance beyond Philae, a restriction which remained in force until the intended movements of the Dervishes were more clearly ascertained.