NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE trend of affairs is, we believe, towards an uneasy peace. The French Ministry has still to make its declaration, and Lord Salisbury's speech of Friday night, delivered too late for us to notice, may create farther dis- cussion, but the broad facts can hardly change. The French are unwilling to fight without an ally, and as Russia is debarred from moving by her Emperor's Rescript, the Ministry have determined to direct Major Marchand to evacuate Fasboda and continue his explorations outside Anglo-Egyptian territory. They threaten to reopen the whole Egyptian question, but as the British people would be very glad if they did, they will think better of that unwise course. They are, however, greatly mortified, having expected to make a good bargain, and they will put stumbling-blocks in our way at every turn. The dispute is greatly to be regretted, but it has not arisen from any fault of ours, and we must wait the effect of time, keeping up meanwhile a sleepless watch, and taking any opportunity we can find to do France a dramatic service. She is a Power with feminine impulses and a man's strength, and infinitely difficult to deal with, but we have kept peace with her for eighty-three years. We suppose we must fight in the end, but let her begin it.
