NEWS OF THE WEEK
IT was announced last Saturday that the Government had decided to increase the British garrison in Egypt. The step, we assume, has been taken as an indication to the intriguers and agitators of the Turkish Party in Cairo that Great Britain intends to retain unimpaired her absolute control of Egyptian affairs. This we believe to be in accordance with the desires of the enormous majority of Egyptians, who keenly realise the material advantages to the country from our presence. The opponents of British control owe their inspiration to Constantinople, and their activity, combined with the frontier trouble over the Tabah affair, makes it necessary to read the Sultan and his Egyptian supporters a lesson. The increase of troops has a political, not a military, significance. At no time has the internal peace of Egypt been better assured, and it is improbable that the Tabah affair will lead to hostilities, though the Sultan, relying upon Berlin and the highly coloured reports of his friends in Cairo, will no doubt put off yielding as long as possible. We have dealt elsewhere with the whole question, including the encouragement which it is probable the Sultan has received, and perhaps is still receiving, from external sources.
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