It was not till Thursday morning, after a dreadful night in Alexandria, that the officers and seamen of the British squadron had any certain knowledge of the state of affairs, though flames had been seen rising from the city. Parties were then sent ashore; the first man who ventured into the burning town was Mr. Ross, Purveyor to the Fleet; but there were few people to be met, as the lurking thieves and incendiaries ran off out of sight. The conflagration went on several days, and the Grand Square, with all the adjacent streets, Exchange-street, Sherif Pasha-street, and others, in which were the Consulates, the Hotels and Clubs, and the chief houses of business, fine buildings of stone and marble, became one scene of ruin. The task of restoring order was intrusted to Lord Charles Beresford, Commander of the gun-boat Condor, whose gallantry in attacking the Marabout Fort on the Tuesday had been especially admired. He was now placed in charge of a small body of Marines and seamen, with the aid of some disarmed Egyptians, to form a temporary police force. Several of the scoundrels caught in the very act of setting fire to houses were summarily shot in the Grand Square, and those caught plundering were flogged. Dynamite was used to blow up some blocks of buildings, to stop the spread of the conflagration.

His highness Tewfik Pasha, the Khedive of Egypt, accompanied by Dervish Pasha, the Special Commissioner of his Imperial Majesty the Sultan, had remained at Ramleh, apparently in fear and danger of being murdered, since the bombardment on Tuesday. They came out, safe and sound, on Thursday afternoon, with an escort of soldiers who had been specially hired to protect the Khedive, and met the British Admiral on board a ship in the harbour, but the Khedive has since returned to his own Palace. Ragheb Pasha, who was Arabi Pasha's colleague, still holds the office of Prime Minister, and last Monday addressed to Admiral Seymour a formal communication, stating that the khedive has dismissed Arabi Pasha from the Ministry of War, and has ordered him to stop his military preparations. Arabi Pasha, in the mean time, is at a place named Kafr-i-Douar, fourteen miles from Alexandria on the railway towards Cairo, and near the Mahmoudieh Canal, with a regular military force, consisting of six thousand infantry, four hundred cavalry, and thirty-six field-guns, a rocket battery and a Gatling battery, and with an increasing number of irregulars, but very badly provided. He has attempted to get hold of the railway locomotives, and some trucks laden with corn and coals, which were at Alexandria; but this has been stopped, and the line had been cut near the city. A strong Naval Brigade, under command of Captain Fisher, of H.M.S. Inflexible, with a large force of Marines, landed on Saturday, but has since been relieved by the arrival of two or three regiments of British troops, rendering our possession of the city perfectly secure.

Source: The Illustrated London News, No.2255—Vol. LXXXI, Saturday, July 22, 1882, p.81