NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE "Sirdar" or General in supreme command of the Egyptian Army, General Kitchener, has struck a heavy blow at the power of the Khalifs. The Sondanese tyrant, who, though now fat and indolent, was once a successful soldier, had despatched from Dongola to Firkeh a picked force esti- mated at seven thousand men, chiefly of his own tribe, the Baggaras, to bar the way of the Egyptians on the Nile. It was necessary to dielodgo them if the railway was to advance, and on Sunday they were attacked at dawn by two columns, of which one was infantry commanded by the Sirdar, which had made a long and difficult march by night along the river bank, while the other of cavalry commanded by Major Burn- Murdoch, had ridden through the desert by a route further from the Nile. Everything went well. The two columns found each other without a hitch at Firkeh, the Dervishes were taken by surprise, and in two hours they were flying in confusion, chiefly towards Suardeh. They had lost nearly one thousand men, and of fifty-four Emirs forty-five were dead, including the Emir Hammuda, who was in command, and who was the Khalifa's most trusted General. The Egyptian loss was only twenty killed and eighty wounded, and no white man fell. The Dervishes fought in groups with great courage, but they could not check either the black regiments or the conscript fellaheen regiments, the latter of whom charged with the greatest gallantry, or the cavalry and camel corps, who pur- sued the fugitives to Suardeh and captured their baggage, their boats, and a great number of prisoners. As we have shown elsewhere, the battle, though not of the first-class, was much more important than an ordinary engagement, and may change the whole position of the invaders.
