NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE long-dreaded catastrophe in Egypt has occurred, though its proportions have not been cataclysmal. On Sunday, the lower Arab population of Alexandria took advantage of a chance encounter between an Arab and a Maltese to rise against the Europeans. The soldiers did not interfere, the police, as we judge upon the balance of evidence, assisted the rioters, and, before order was restored, four Englishmen had been killed, the British Consul, Mr. Cookson, and the Italian and Greek Con- suls severely wounded with clubs, and about 250 " Europeans," chiefly Maltese and Greeks, murdered, and either carried to hospital or thrown into the water. Order was at last restored by the soldiers, under orders from Cairo, and Alexandria has been heavily garrisoned ; but the soldiers have in- formed the European Admirals that they must not land armed parties, even to bury the dead, who were accordingly buried at sea. Order has not since been disturbed, but all confidence is gone, and the wealthier Europeans in Cairo and Alexandria have fled to the steamers, which carry away many hundreds a day. The remaining Europeans are concen- trating in Alexandria, all business is suspended, and the whole foreign population awaits in sickening fear the action of the Powers, who, under the circumstances detailed elsewhere, have
wisely given no sign.
