29 OCTOBER 1898, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

ILL the rumours of Thursday and Friday were pacific, the idea being that the French Government would withdraw Marchand from his "pestilential swamp," and then raise the question of the right to the Bahr-el-Ghazel in serious negotiation. That arrangement will do ; but our readers must remember, first, that there is at this moment no Government in France, and secondly, that the French claim as now put forward is entirely inadmissible. We should grant any commercial privileges asked for with readiness, brit sovereignty within a certain distance of the main stream of the Nile cannot be conceded to any Power or combination of Powers.