NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Correspondents in Egypt are telling us, in their vague and hesitating way, some important facts. In the conflict of English and Egyptian opinion, the trial of the Arabists has proved impossible, the evidence being hopelessly voluminous and contradictory, and it is believed that the Khedive will amnesty them, on condition of their permanent residence beyond the confines of the Ottoman Empire. That involves, of course, a grant of some means of livelihood, and it is proposed, we per- ceive, to allow them to keep their pay. This, we think, is going too far. It may be indispensable for political reasons, one of which is the extreme irritation of the Sultan, to bring the trial to a close by an amnesty, but it cannot be necessary to grant more than a bare subsistence allowance to men who are, at all events, dangerous prisoners of war, and who knowingly staked their heads. As to a place of residence, departure from which should at once stop all allowances, we would venture to recommend Singapore. Malta is too near, and in India Arabi might be- come, if not a centre of disaffection, at least a religious leader of far too great importance. He could, it is tree, be confined there under the State Prisoners Act ; but we understand his sentence to be exile, and not imprisonment.
