NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Mahdists are naturally elated with their conquest of the Equatorial Provinces, and are determined to conquer Abyssinia, and drive the English, if not out of Egypt, at least out of Wady Haifa and Suakim. In both cases their object is the same,—to clear away all obstacles to their free communication with Arabia, and so enable themselves to receive armies of efficient recruits, all Arabia being stirred with the idea of a Holy War for the conquest of the African Continent, which Arabs regard as their natural heritage. As the Dervishes have already defeated and killed King John, their advance upon King Menelek would be a serious affair, but that this time they will be faced by Italian troops and a regular artillery. The force advancing northward will follow the old lines, the necessity of water compelling it to approach the Nile too soon, and Sir Francis Grenfell will doubtless give a good account of the invaders. But how long is this kind of thing to go on? As we have repeatedly pointed out, the Dervishes cannot alter their policy, which is to reach the Red Sea, if they would ; and they can afford to spend two or three thousand men in an annual attack. They will at last, it may be believed, get weary, but the last may be a long way off. They make great conquests in the interior, and as long as they conquer, they will believe that God is with them, and in his own time will enable them to conquer the infidel General and his black soldiery, every man of whom, if once defeated, would, as the Mahdists believe, eagerly swell their ranks. That is what happened at Wadelai.
