The difficulty about Lahej appears to have terminated, the Ottoman
Government having issued peremptory orders to its commanders to leave the Sultan, and indeed Arabia south of Hodeidah, alone. These orders, however, have still to reach Aden ; but some sort of a truce would appear to have been established to await them, as the telegram affirming that the Turks had attacked the Arabs is officially denied. Indeed it was nearly impossible that it should be true, as Colonel Mackenzie, commanding the British force, would hardly have looked upon such an attack unmoved. Very strong pressure must have been applied to the Porte, and it is most discreditable to the intelli- gence of our agents at Constantinople that the matter should ever have reached such a pass. Intelligence of what is doing in Arabia is surely easy enough to obtain, or has the Embassy no funds for secret inquiries?
Previous page
