7 JANUARY 1882, Page 9

The latest news from Cairo is that Arabi Bey, the

leader of the soldiers and the Nationalists, has been appointed Under- Secretary for War. This means that his demands are con- ceded, and exactly corresponds to Colonel Gordon's belief ex- plained in the Times of Friday, that Tewfik originally urged on Arabi, though he is now afraid of him. A long manifesto by Arabi Bey, published in the Times, is now de- nounced as "apocryphal," but it is stated in the same telegram that it was drawn by a European and accepted by the Bey. It exactly corresponds with Sir W. Gregory's report of his interview with Arabi, and Sir W. Gregory does not forge. The substance of the manifesto is that the Army must rule for the present, that the European agents of the Control mast go, that Egypt is to be for the Egyptians, and that Arabi holds all creeds equal. The vital question is whether Arabi is a secret agent of the Sultan, in which case he will get rid of the Control and the Notables ; or is still in alliance with Tewfik, in which case he will threaten the Control only ; or is fighting for his own hand, in which case nothing is certain, pretenders' lives in Asia and Africa not being good lives for insurance.