The immediate policy of the Government on the Red Sea,
and its reasons, come out with perfect clearness in Lord Salisbury's speech of Thursday at Scarborough. He does not intend to propose a campaign in the Soudan, or even a further expedition against Handoub and Tokar. He will, in fact, do as little as possible ; but we are bound by Mr. Gladstone's positive pledge to the Egyptian Government not to give up any Egyptian ports on the Red Sea. (This pledge was, no doubt, asked for to prevent an alliance between the Mahdi and the tribes of Arabia, which would raise a conflagration throughout Western Asia.) We must, therefore, if only for the sake of the national faith, hold Suakin until the general fate of Egypt has been finally determined. This is now com- paratively easy, as the black troops are full of a new confidence in themselves, and as they will not perish in garrison from disease as English soldiers would. Lord Salisbury dwelt also on the importance of Suakin to the suppression of the slave-trade, an argument perfectly correct, as, were we to abandon it, the port would become the great dep6t for slaves to be transmitted to Jeddah. The sea voyage is very short, and the dhows very swift in a fair wind ; while it is, for political reasons, most inconvenient to blockade Jeddah, or even to watch it closely. Every Mussulman looks on the port as a sort of gate to Mecca.
