A new and rather unexpected danger has appeared in Egypt.
The Army has suddenly discovered that it is the only force in the country, and is using its knowledge. The officers have hitherto been Arabs or Egyptian Turks, but the Minister of War, Osman Pasha, recently appointed a Circassian, and arrested a colonel who remonstrated. The regiment thereupon marched with fixed bayonets to the prison, released the colonel, and demanded from the Khedive in perSon the dismissal of the Minister of War. The Khedive was compelled to comply, and since then the Arab troops, according to the cor- respondent of the Times, have been in a chronic state of
mutiny, pleading grievances about pay, which are probably true. Further disturbances are feared, and if the soldiers should find an able leader, or choose another member of Mehemet Ali's family, the existing strange organisation of Egypt, under which the Sovereign is absolute, but must obey English and French clerks, may come suddenly to an end. The correspondent evidently hopes that the two Powers will inter- fere, but they are too jealous of each other's designs.
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