NEWS OF THE WEEK.
SIR H. KITCHENER returned to Omdurman from Fashoda on September 25th. He found Major Marchand, as had been reported, at Fashoda with eight French officers and one hundred and five Senegalese soldiers, and informed him of his intention to occupy the post on behalf of Egypt. Major Marchand offered no resistance, which was indeed 'hopeless as Sir Herbert had two thousand men with him, but positively refused to haul down his flag until he had received instructions from Paris. The Sirdar therefore took possession of Fashoda, placed garrisons at Sobat, a point further south, and at some place not named on the BahrIel-Ghazel, and left Major Marchand there to obtain supplies as he best can and await French orders. Some disappointment appears to be felt because Major _Marchand was not arrested, but he can do no harm where he is, and it is better that questions which might become international should be left to the Foreign Office. It is assumed by our Jingo friends that Lord Salisbury will ,prove squeezable ; but the command of the main waterway of the Nile is not the kind of thing that Lord Salisbury sur- renders. It is quite clear that Fashoda must be retained even at the cost of a war, but war is not a desirable thing in itself. There are men in England who forget that, and who would like to fight Russia for Pekin, France for Fashoda, and Germany for Delagoa Bay all at once. If people will keep calm we shall get quite enough, if not too much.
