My dear Susy, — I have been indulging in a little holiday myself. There were three or four occasions which called for my going to Alexandria, so I went for the first, which was that of the visit of the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince George ^^ with the fleet, and stayed till after the last, which was that of the Duke and Duchess of Connaught passing through the Canal on their way to India. This embraced, from first to last, about six weeks, and a very pleasant time I had, which did me a great deal of good. I was staying with a wealthy Greek merchant of Ramleh, about 6 miles out of Alexandria. He gave his house and carriages entirely up to me, and was more kind and hospitable than I can say.
The fleet, which consisted of eleven vessels in all, would have made a good show if it could have come into harbour, but the draught of water of the ironclads compelled them to remain outside the breakwater; so that hardly anybody saw them. Young Prince George is a promising officer; he has simple, unpretending manners, and made himself much liked. In fact, all the Royalty who have been here have left very agreeable impressions. The Duke and Duchess of Connaught ^^ dined with us on board our steamer at Port Said, and we had a very pleasant evening. They will pass through the Canal again next May on their return to England for the Jubilee. Our friends the Dervishes are collecting at Dongola with the view of an advance upon Egypt, but I believe their numbers to be much exaggerated, and I don't as yet anticipate anything very serious. If we can tide over this winter without any serious trouble with the Soudanese, the English force here will be reduced, and the defence of the frontier left to the Egyptian army; but I don't think, for all that, that there is any chance of our giving up our occupation of Egypt. I think we shall have a great number of visitors out here this winter, and Messrs. Cook & Son are bringing out four new and very comfortable steamers for the benefit of travellers up the Nile.
To his Brother
Assouan, October 13, 1886.
My dear William, — I have come up the Nile again, as you will see by above; this seems likely to be an annual occupation, to which I see no immediate end, though I suppose one will come in due time. I am now making an inspection tour, and shall leave in about three days for Korosko and Haifa, returning to Cairo for the present, should I find the Dervishes are not making an immediate advance; but I shall probably have to come up here again, for there is a fair prospect of another winter campaign. In making the
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necessary preparations my hands are tied to no small extent by considerations both political and financial, for the Government at home are very averse to my sending any English troops at all beyond Assouan. They fear public opinion, which may interpret such a move as implying an intention to go on ultimately to Dongola. I am therefore restricted, except in a case of extreme urgency, to garrisoning both Haifa and Korosko with nothing but Egyptian troops, and these will have to stand the attack of the Dervishes without the immediate support of British troops: it is to be hoped that they will but be steady, for we have made Haifa very strong, and they ought to find no difficulty in holding it. In the meantime the English force in Egypt has been reduced very low, and a large portion of the Egyptian army are newly raised corps; but I have an excellent set of officers, and we shall do very well. The defence of this frontier is, however, a task of some little anxiety, because if the enemy should penetrate it, there is not only the fear of alarm spreading amongst a timid and helpless population, but also there are the foreign communities to be taken into account, who would be up in arms at the very idea that they were running any risk, and some of whom would only be too glad of an excuse to still further abuse the English. The weather has now become very bearable even up here, and the health of the troops is improving accordingly. The financial difficulties of the Government in connection with Egypt are very great; for they will have to pay all excess over the military budget for the Egyptian army for this year; and as our own has also been exceeded, the fear is that unless the army estimates for the next year are very moderate, there may be an outcry in Parliament for our withdrawal from Egypt altogether. Then, again, the Egyptian Government will have to satisfy the International Commission by the ist April next that their army budget can be met by Egyptian resources. Their army has had to be considerably increased of late
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