NEWS OF THE WEEK.

• SOMETHING has occurred in the Soudan, the whole mean. ing of which is not yet accurately known. Sir Redvers Buller, with the Royal Irish, had scarcely arrived at Gubat when he decided that the position was untenable, the Mandi's garrison in Metemmeh having been too largely reinforced. He, therefore, forwarded all the wounded to Abon Klea, and ordered the two steamers under Lord Charles Beresford to be dismantled and made useless. Then, after burning all useless stores, he, on February 14th, evacuated Gubat, and being unperceived by the enemy, marched his whole force in safety to Abou Klea. There is no object in staying there, and the water-supply is small, and General Buller will, therefore, march on to the Gakdul Wells, whence, Lord Hartington stated on Thursday, he will further retreat either upon Korti, where General Wolseley is, or upon Merawi, a few miles further up the river. Three or four men were lost in a slight attack upon the convoy which protected the wounded ; but the Light Camel Corps came out of Abon Klea, and the Arabs, though believed to have been in force. retreated. The movement appears to have been well executed, and must, of course, have been rendered necessary by new conditions, as otherwise the painful march of the Royal Irish on foot from Korti to Gubat would not have been made.

The retreat created a painful impression in London, where sensational paragraphs found a ready sale; but the correspondent of the Chronicle, who was present, affirms distinctly that it was carried out "under express orders from Lord Wolseley ;" and we state elsewhere a theory under which Lord Wolseley will require every available man at Merawi, his object being to secure Berber before the Mandi can reinforce it. In any case, it appears to be clear that the Mandi was either himself marching upon Gubat—which is the statement of the Telegraph correspondent—or had ordered so large a body of men to Metemmeh, that Sir Redvers Buller considered his position dangerous. The Sondanese are .not men who can be defeated at any odds ; nor if Metemmeh could not be taken, was there any use in locking-up 2,000 men in Gubat any longer. As to the impression on the Arab mind, it is probably one of acute disappointment that a small force which they hoped to overwhelm, should have so completely escaped them.

We haVe pointed out elsewhere reasons for believing that Lord Wolseley may intend to seize Berber at once ; but, of course, his plan is still in his own breast. It is hardly to be doubted, however, that the Mandi, if he can, will enter Berber, if only because he can from thence strongly support Osman Digna, and perhaps open communications with Mecca, of which he is ardently desirous. Now that he is in movement Northward, his numbers become important ; but there is no moans of accurately reckoning them. A rumour, so long continued and so constantly repeated, that it must have some foundation, fixes the Mandes regular force at 40,000 men ; and this is the number said to be advancing. There is, however, no proof of this, the only facts certain being that the Mandi now controls large forces, and that he found in Khartoum the means to arm them well, securing General Gordon's guns, besides his rifles and ammunition. It should be remembered also that his own followers have never been defeated,—and, indeed, the tendency in telegrams from the front to describe the Arabs as " demoralised " must be watched with some distrust. They would be demoralised to a certain degree if they were soldiers ; but they are untrained men, fighting under the hope of Divine assistance, and as Divine assistance would alter all conditions, they fight one day as well as another. The Moplahs of Madras seldom break out in parties of more than twenty, who will rush on a British regiment just as readily as on a British serjeant's guard. If Heaven is with you, what do numbers matter ?

The Italian force which has taken possession of Massowah now amounts to 4,000 men, and General Ricci is to be despatched to arrange a plan upon which they can operate, their first object being to disperse and punish certain tribes around Um town. A further expedition is being held ready at Naples to be despatched if circumstances require, or rather if opportunity offers. The Departments in Rome profess an entire readiness to relieve Kassala, and on a signal from the British Government—of which, by the latest telegrams, they still entertain hope—would commence a march from the Southward against Khartoum.

In the House of Lords, on Thursday, Lord Granville made a statement to the effect that, as regards the financial problem in Egypt, he expected " in a very short time to lay before Parliament papers which will show that we have come to a settlement advantageous, and even necessary, to Egypt, consistent with public engagements and honourable to this country,—an arrangement which, we trust, will find favour with Parliament, without whose sanction it cannot be carried out." Lord Granville related the circumstances of General Gordon's mission, and paid a warm tribute to that noble soldier, explaining also the general course of the subsequent negotiations with him. Last year, General Gordon had been asked whether the sending of an armed force to Suakim would be of use, and his reply was that "he valued much more the rumour of the force than the force itself." It seems clear that General Gordon bad undervalued the power of the Mandi, and the whole force of the religions fanaticism engaged in the Malli's favour. As to the future, Lord Granville pointed out that for us to retire in consequence of the successful act of treachery at Khartoum, would be false to our obligations to Egypt, and would render our negotiations with the Mandi, in case the Mandi were to show himself in any way inclined to negotiation,—quite hopeless.

Lord Salisbury commented in brief and sarcastic language on this speech, deferring any censure (of which, however, he indicated the probability) until the Egyptian papers should be presented to Parliament. Lord Salisbury argued that because an expedition up the Nile was undertaken in September, it would have been possible to have undertaken it in March,— though then the Government did not know that General

Gordon would not succeed without it, as he certainly expected to do,—and he taunted the Government with having excited in the breasts of the people of this country "bitter and burning indignation." The soldiers whose live had been sacrificed "to the squabbles of a Cabinet and the necessities of Parliamentary tactics" would demand a terrible reckoning, "if they had been sacrificed to the imbecility of a Ministry, or to the necessity of keeping a party in power." Finally, Lord Salisbury indicated, as we have elsewhere shown, that the further military operations to be undertaken must yield fruit in securing "British interests," and must not be incurred merely for the benefit of any foreign country.

In the House of Commons, Sir Stafford Northeote at once gave notice of a Vote of Censure on the Government in relation to their Egyptian policy, the exact terms of which,—somewhat ambiguous by the way,—we have quoted elsewhere, and asked for a day for the vote. Mr. Gladstone declined giving an immediate reply as to the day, since lie wished the new Egyptian papers to be distributed before the debate comes on ; but it seems to be expected that the debate on the Vote of Censure will commence next Thursday, and probably last some four nights.

Mr. Gladstone's statement had more reference to the military policy of the Government than Lord Granville's. He declared that the Government held the retirement of the British forces before the Mandi to be most dangerous to the safety of Egypt. That retirement would have involved, too, the complete abandonment of any organisation of a settled government for the Soudan,—one of General Gordon's chief objects in going to Khartoum ; it would have involved the abandonment of any hope of checking the Soudanese slavetrade ; and it would have involved the final abandonment of the Egyptian garrisons in the Soudan. The chief consideration, however, was the safety of Egypt itself, which would be greatly endangered by the unresisted progress of the Mandi, while even in India and Arabia that nnresisted progress might well lead to very serious results. Should the Mandi choose to negotiate, his proposals would, of course, be considered by the Government ; but the way to lead him to offer terms, if he had any idea of doing so, was not to run away from him after his great success through treachery at Khartoum.

Canada, New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia have been vying with each other in offers of military help to be rendered to the Government, the equipment being in all cases, we believe, offered by the Colonies themselves. The offer of New South Wales has already been accepted ; and it seems probable that the other offers will be accepted likewise. The Queen has sent her special thanks to all the Colonial Governments which have tendered their aid through Lord Derby ; and in this the Queen, as usual, is representing the cordial and the universal feeling of the country at large.

In one case,—the case of Victoria,—the offer is not only generous, but something more, forgiving. It is, in fact, what St. Paul called " heaping coals of fire " on Lord Derby's head ; and, indeed, so many of them, that we hardly expect Lord Derby ever to feel his brain cool again. It is not six months since we recorded and commented on that peculiarly ungracious proceeding, the order telegraphed by the Admiralty to Gibraltar to the two Victorian ships,—which were even then under orders to go out of their way to offer their services to the British Admiral at Suakim,—to haul down the white flag. To this flag, under a recent Act of Parliament, the Colonial ships had a complete right, if Lord Derby had but chosen to accord them that right and to insist that the Admiralty should not intervene with its ungrateful and blundering formalism. The Admiralty bureaucrats, however, did intervene, and the Colonial Office made no protest. The consequence was a rude snub administered to the Colony of Victoria at the very moment when it was tendering cordial and generous aid to the British Government,—a snub which even seemed to be intended expressly to discourage all such overtures. It is not often that human beings who have been smitten on the one cheek, are really equal to offering the other. In Mr. Service, however, the enthusiasm of the patriot has overcome the amour pro pre of the offended statesman ; and be has a second time offered the aid which was, on its first offer, in such ungenerous fashion discouraged as well as declined. This time, we hope that the Colonial Office will not permit other Departments so to interfere as to take all graciousness from the transaction. Dr. Montagu Butler, the Head Master of Harrow, has been offered, and has accepted, the Deanery of Gloucester, vacated by Dr. Bickersteth's elevation to the See of Exeter. Dr. Butler's eminence as a scholar and a preacher has long pointed him out for ecclesiastical promotion ; and the Deanery of Gloucester seems an honourable retirement for him, rather than the kind of distinction to which the Church had looked forward. But, perhaps, an honourable retirement is not in all cases unwelcome, after severe work in a Public School, especially when the retirement is accompanied with considerable opportunities of usefulness. We hope that Dr. Butler's place may be filled-up by the governing body of Harrow in such a manner that his great personal influence may be missed as little as possible. There is one, at least, among the Assistant Masters now at Harrow who would make a Head Master of consummate ability, though the usual custom in these cases is to go outside the working administration for a head.

Mr. Paget, Vicar of Bromsgrove, is to succeed Canon King—the new Bishop of Lincoln—as Regius Professor of Pastoral Theology in the University of Oxford. We have elsewhere expressed our strong satisfaction that a man still in the vigour of early manhood has received this important appointment, for which we are persuaded that youth is a very important qualification ; but we may add that Mr. Paget, as a Christ-Church student and an Oxford tutor, won the highest possible reputation before he left Oxford, and that in Oxford the news of his appointment has given the widest and most cordial satisfaction.

M. Ferry has gained two considerable successes this week. On February 9th, General Briere de l'Isle arrived opposite the fortified villages which protect Langson, and proceeded to attack them. No details are given ; but after four days' severe fighting, during which the French lost, by the General's account, some 220 men, the Chinese retreated. On the 14th, after some skirmishing of no importance, the French entered Langson, which they found deserted, and occupied a high pass some three miles further towards the frontier. They maintain that this victory clears Tonqnin ; but its value is not great, as the Chinese have other points of entrance, and will flow in again as if they had not been beaten. The second victory is, perhaps, more important. Admiral Courbet, abandoning Formosa,—in which he can accomplish nothing without reinforcements, his Marines declaring that their lives are wasted against superior numbers, and even mutinying, so that he had to shoot twelve men,—sought the Chinese Fleet near Chin Hai. He found them, and after four attacks with torpedo-boats, succeeded in blowing-up the frigate Yuquen,' of 26 gnus and 600 men, and the corvette Tcheng-Kin,' of seven guns and 150 men. The remaining three vessels escaped ; but the engagement is probably fatal to the Chinese Fleet, which cannot be protected against this new form of artillery. A torpedo-boat is really a new gun ; and from the experience of this campaign, and of that batween the Chilians and Peruvians, is the most formidable yet invented, its specialty being that the comparative size of the attacking ship, and of the ship attacked, has nothing to do with the matter. There is no visible reason why a ten-gun brig, with a torpedo-boat on board, should not destroy the • Duilio.'

Sir E. J. Reed, formerly Director of Naval Construction, offers his contribution to the destruction of her Majesty's Government in the shape of along letterto Thursday's Times, in which he affirms that the Admiralty have stripped their own ironclads of armour. until the ten best ships in the service, the Ajax,' Agamemnon,' Colossus," Edinburgh," Collingwood," Rodney," Howe,' `Anson,"Benbow,' and Camperdown,' are unarmoured-ships, with a belt protecting one-third of their length, and may be sank or capsised without any shot striking the armoured portion. He declares that as regards two of these ships, the Ajax' and Agamemnon,' Sir T. Brassey entirely concurs with him, having printed an opinion that in these ships " the central armoured citadel has not sufficient displacement to secure the stability of the ship should the unarmoured ends be destroyed." Rear-Admiral Wilson also objects to these unarmoured ends; as does also Captain C. C. Fitzgerald, who holds that at best their stability, when riddled with shot, would be doubtful. Sir E. J. Reed, though he writes in an exaggerated style, and is as bitter as possible, is a firstclass expert; and the Admiralty will doubtless be compelled to explain its plans. Their defence will be, we presume, that the object of armour is not to protect the ship—which would be safer if built of wood alone—but the human beings inside ; and that this is provided for by the iron belt covering the citadel." Sir E. J. Reed grievously injures his case by writing as if the present Admiralty wished their ships to be destroyed ; but his criticisms are not made worthless by their bitterness of tone.

Lord Wolseley has, it appears, asked that the Khedive's brother, Prince Hassan, the soldier of the family, should be sent to him with the rank of High Commissioner and authority over all Egyptian Mudirs and officers. The Khedive has consented, and Prince Hassan is to join him with a large staff. As the Soudanese will see in this appointment evidence that the Egyptians are to be again placed above them, the request is an extraordinary and prima facie an unwise one. The Government, through Lord E. Fitzmaurice, have explained that " the presence of Prince Hassan is not to be taken as indicative of a policy to establish the dominion of the Khedive in the Soudan in the person of some member of the Khedive's family ;" but there is evidently some idea in the appointment not revealed. Indeed, Lord E. Fitzmaurice said on Thursday that he could not answer the question, whether any change of policy had led to the appointment, with propriety. The rumour that we are about to appoint Hassan Governor-General of the Soudan under the Sultan-is, of coarse, absurd. We are not expending money in the Soudan, and losing lives like Sir H. Stewart's—whose death, we grieve to say, was announced on Thursday—in order to extend or revivify the Turkish dominion. Certainly Mr. Gladstone would be the last man in the world even to think of such a project.

So far as we understand the imperfect telegrams, there is as yet no prospect of war in South Africa. The Government of Pretoria is either honest in its wish to respect the Convention, or is afraid of pushing matters to extremity, and is holding-in the young men who desired to fight for their plunder, with a strong hand. Sir Charles Warren and President Kruger have accordingly met, and have arranged a modus vivendi, the principle of which is the restoration of the native chiefs, and the surrender of all farms which those chiefs are unwilling to sell. This would be most satisfactory, but that the younger Boers scarcely hold themselves bound by their chief's engagements, and may return if the British troops are withdrawn. We do not want to garrison Bechuanaland for ever, and there is reason to fear that if assigned to the Cape Government a Ministry of Dutch proclivities may wink at a renewal of Boer outrages. We are bound to add that Dutch politicians at the Cape profess an entire distaste for such proceedings ; but as yet we can see no prospect of continued order except in the appointment of a Viceroy with a moderate force behind him, and instructions under all circumstances to do justice. Boers and Kaffirs are just like other men ; and if justice is steadily and quickly done, find rebellion not only inconvenient, but unreasonable. Even Irishmen at their hottest abstain from insurrection.

The momentary passion of the Continent for Corn-laws is stoutly resisted in France. In Germany, Prince Bismarck has doubled the duties on wood, wool, and cereals, after a speech in which, with his customary frankness, he declared that he was legislating for the owners of the soil, and that if they could not get along, Society would have no basis. Messrs. Lowther and Chaplin would, of course, heartily applaud that sentiment. In France, however, M. Germain has proposed an alternative. He says the peasants will be more benefited by a remission of the land-tax, and an increase in the duty on spirits ; and although he is opposed by M. Tirard, the Minister of Finance, he has carried his proposal through the Committee of the Chamber appointed to report upon the project. Indeed, out of the eleven members of the Committee, only two voted against him, though two were absent, and may have been on his side, and one refused to pronounce an opinion. Still,six votes is a clear majority of eleven, and M. Clemencean was one of the six. It is by no means certain that the Chamber will accept the Report; but it is still less certain that the Deputies will reject it. The truth is, they are watching their constituents intently ; and the small peasants, who eat all they produce, do not like the Corn-duty, which only benefits their wealthier neighbours, and they do like the remission of the contribution foneZre, which they feel, as only a class at once poor and miserly can feel a direct tax.

Sir Stafford Northcote received a deputation from the Irish Conservative Members on Wednesday, who went to him to com. plain that the loyalists in Ireland would be very unfairly represented under the Redistribution Bill, as that Bill would be applied to Ireland. Sir Stafford Northcote had really nothing in the world to say iu reply ; and he said it—at considerable length. He evidently did not believe that the Boundary Com. missioners had done their work unfairly in Ireland ; and he saw no means of applying any different principles to Ireland from those which will he applied in Great Britain, merely for the purpose of securing a fairer representation to the Irish loyalists. The only consolation be could tender was this,—that if in this country those who intend to support the loyal party in Ireland should find their hands strengthened, they will probably be able to do more for the Irish minority than the Irish minority, even if they got a somewhat better popular representation, could do for themselves. That did not satisfy the Irish Conservatives, but it is true all the same, and may prove to be a very substantial ground of consolation after all. The people of Great Britain do not intend to let Mr. Parnell and his supporters work their will in Ireland, without any reference to the question whether that will be evil or good.

Mr. Cowen made a great oration to his constituents in Newcastle this day week,—an oration on'some of the weak points of which we have commented in another column. But though the party politics of the speech were somewhat acrimonious and unfair the generalities of the speech were eloquent and effective. He spoke of those who are indifferent to our Colonies with great contempt as "the exponents of emasculated Beuthamism." " Wealth alone never will, or can, sustain a State. If it is to thrive, the higher and nobler faculties of our nature must be brought into play. Sybarites soon sink to the level of their brother brutes." Mr. Cowen's denunciation of the Dual Control in Egypt, and still more of an International control, was more grandiloquent than eloquent :—" The crucial clause would internationalise the position, and thus not only perpetuate, but intensify, a paralysing bifariousness." The perpetuation of " a paralysing bifariousness" is a mighty mouthful, even for Mr. Cowen. Of the Egyptian Bondholders he said, very happily, "They are of all nations, but of one genus."

On Ireland Mr. Cowen showed a curious mixture of shrewdness and credulity. He was right enough in asserting that to try and bribe Irish discontent into silence is a vulgar and hopeless expedient. He was very credulous in assuming that if we would but give Ireland the same measure of independence as we give to a Colony, we should hear no more of her discontent. If the Parnellite party has taught us anything in the world, it has taught us this, that nothing—unless, indeed, it might be a complete conquest of Great Britain by the Irish, and a despotic government of this island by the other,—would satisfy the party led by Mr. Parnell, and it is not very likely that it would be satisfied even then.

The unwieldy Committee of forty, appointed by the Convocation of the University of London ou January 6th last, has taken a very grotesque course. Instead of reporting reasons to Convocation for the revolutionary course it recommends, it has simply agreed to the following two abstract resolutions and it proposes to invite Convocation to accept them, also without offering an iota of reason for them. The resolutions are these :—" (1.) That in the opinion of this Committee the objects of the Association for promoting a Teaching University for London would, if carried into effect by this University, add to its usefulness and importance. (2) That this Committee do recommend to Convocation to reappoint this Committee to promote the carrying into effect by this University of the objects of the said Association, with power to confer with the Senate or any Committee thereof, and with the said Association, and with such other bodies and persons as they may think fit, and with power to accept resignations, fill up vacancies, and add to their number, and also to appoint sub-committees, and that the said Committee be directed to report to Convocation from time to time as occasion may require." Convocation is to be asked to assent to these proposals on Tuesday next,—on the ground, we suppose, that they are axiomatically true, and perceived intuitively by the reason of man. But if so, why were they not submitted to Convocation on January 6th, without the intervention of a dilatory and unnecessary Committee? And if not, why do not the Committee report the evidence and the considerations which have induced them to arrive at these conclusions? It is clear that the Committee are trifling with Convocation, and do not understand their work.

Bank Bate, 4 per cent. Consols were on Friday 981 to 98k.