Several of the papers have published denials of the story
that the Khedive is invading Abyssinia, and all kinds of letters are being written about atrocities committed on European women by Prince Kassel. On the other hand, the Neue Freie Presse, of Vienna, which has a good deal of official information, says a battle between Egyptians and Abyssinians is imminent, while the pro-Egyptian journalists admit that the Khedive is repelling in- cursions of the Abyssinians. Looking at all the stories by the light of some knowledge of Cairene ways, we should say that the
original story in the Telegraph was in the main true, though flavoured with dislike to Munzinger ; that the Khedive means to conquer the country if he can, that his pretext is his dislike to the slave trade, and that he is using stories, possibly true, -about the sufferings of German women to create a bias in Europe against Kassai. Lieutenant Prideaux, the only trustworthy wit- ness about those stories, seems to take his information from Munzinger. There is no necessity for all that finesse. Nobody would object to the Khedive taking Abyssinia, if he would be decently honest in his promises to suppress slavery.
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