The Egyptian news of the week is of some importance.
Sir Drummond Wolff seems to have offered to evacuate Egypt in five years, provided that, in the event of disturbances, England, and she only, were allowed to return. The Sultan does not like the offer, which, indeed, is a little absurd. If there is work to be done which only we can do, the proper date for evacuation is the completion of the work. It is announced that the French Government has withdrawn its opposition to the abolition of the corvOe, and this boon to the people, by far the greatest we have yet been able to secure, will be granted at once. Reports are coming in, also, of an improvement in the Soudan, where affairs have almost dropped out of the ken of Europeans. A body of Dervishes who threatened the Egyptian outpost on the Nile have been defeated with slaughter by a regiment of blacks, who fight as well as the Sondanese, and take kindly to discipline. Moreover, the friendly
Arabs near Kassala have been fighting the Mandi's followers, have occupied Kassala, and have, it seems certain, taken Osman Cigna prisoner. That suggests that the wave of fanaticism which raised the late Mandi to power has partially worn itself out, and that the tribes which reject his successor are stronger than the tribes which accept.
