NEWS OF THE WEEK
-VERY little news of importance has arrived from Egypt this week. Osman Digna is said to have fled, but the report is unconfirmed, and General Graham is fidgetting about with 'cavalry in the neighbourhood of Suakim to no apparent end. He may, however, be accumulating information as to the road to Berber. It is believed that the Arab tribes between Khar- toum and Berber have seized the river, and that General 'Gordon is in danger ; but General Gordon has five thousand men, and has fortified his position. He can defend himself until communications are reopened with Cairo, and the Govern- .ment at home have decided whether there is to be an expedition to Berber or not. Everything, in fact, waits for the final resolve as to the settlement of Khartoum, which is delayed by the difficulty of hearing from General Gordon, by the -obvious anxiety of the Egyptian -Ministry to force Zebehr Pasha on the Government, and possibly by Mr. Gladstone's enforced absence from Cabinet Councils. The public, accus- tomed to a heating diet of telegrams, is growing morbidly irritable, and forgets entirely all the conditions of life in the East. It is quite capable of believing that troops could be marched from Cairo to Khartoum in a week, and rather won- ders why Lord Northbrook does not send a few ironclads up the Nile to Berber. For the moment, the only advice we can give our readers is to leave the statesmen and the experts a little time. They are both of them anxious enough.
