Since the mutiny of
the black division at Taka, in the year 1865, when they murdered their
officers, and committed many atrocities, the Egyptian officers had
always distrusted them.
I was told by the colonel, Raouf Bey, that if a black soldier were
punished, his comrades would probably mutiny, should he be a general
favourite. The extreme laxity of discipline was the result of a want of
vigour on the part of the officers.
At the commencement of the Bari war, the conduct of the troops, both
back and white, was disgraceful. I have seen them, in the presence of
the enemy, rush into a village and commence indiscriminate pillage: the
officers mingled with their men in a race for plunder. Several soldiers
had been killed by the natives upon such occasions, when separated from
the rest in search of spoil. The colonel had assured me that it was
impossible to prevent this sacking of villages, as it was the reward the
troops expected after a victory.
Fortunately my model corps, the "Forty Thieves," were always with me,
which enabled me to act decidedly. My lieutenant-colonel, Abd-el-Kader,
and the faithful Monsoor, were ready to carry out my orders on the spot.
