I overheard a lady finding great fault with my old chief, Sir Beauchamp Seymour. I asked her what she had against Lord Alcester.
"Why," said she, "he is a Goth and a Vandal. Did he not burn the Alexandrian Library?"
A sequel to the work in Alexandria was my conversation with Mr. Gladstone on the subject, which took place upon my return home some weeks later. Mr. Gladstone sent for me; and after most courteously expressing his appreciation of my services, he discussed the question of compensation to the inhabitants of Alexandria who had suffered loss and damage. The information he required I had carefully collected in Alexandria by means of an organised intelligence corps, upon each of whom was impressed the fact that if he gave false information he would most certainly be punished. My view was then, and is now, that the whole of the claims might have been justly settled for a million sterling, upon these conditions: that the question should be tackled at once; that all palpably unwarranted claims should be repudiated from the outset, because if they were recorded as claims there would eventually be no way of rebutting them, and it would be found necessary to pay them ultimately; that doubtful claims should be held over for consideration; and that the proved claims should be paid immediately. The important point was that in order to avoid difficulties in disputes in the future, the matter should be dealt with at once.
I knew of a case (and of other similar cases) in which a jeweller who had contrived to remove the whole of his stock { 200} into safety after the riot, put in a claim for the value of the whole of the said goods.
These considerations I laid before Mr. Gladstone, informing him also, in the light of the special information which had come to my knowledge, that if the matter were allowed to drift, the sum to be disbursed, instead of being about a million, would probably amount to some four millions.
In the event, the International Commission of Indemnities paid £4,341,011.
When I was relieved, on 1st August (1882), of the post of provost-marshal and chief of police, the _Condor_ was ordered to keep the Mex lines and citadel, which defended the south-western boundary of Alexandria, forming a barrier across the long and narrow strip of land which extends between the sea and Lake Mareotis, and upon which the city is built. The fortifications of the sea front were continued, with a brief interval, at right angles to the sea face, extending no more than some three-quarters of the distance across the strip of land, so that between one end of the fortifications and the sea, and between the other end and the shore of Lake Mareotis, there were undefended spaces. It was therefore necessary to frame a plan of defence with the force and materials at command, sufficient to hold this left flank of the city against the large bodies of rebel soldiery and Arabs hovering in the vicinity. Thirty men from the _Condor_ were brought on shore, with the band, which, consisting of one drum and one fife, was few and humble but convincing.
