CAPTAIN AYLMERasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he can inform the House as to the present position of affairs in the "Soudan;" and, whether the Government have considered the advisability of delaying the return of the Troops from Egypt in view of the possible requirement of their services to protect Cairo?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKESir, news from the Soudan comes very slowly, and there is great difficulty in sifting the true from the false. News from Khartoum of the 30th of October states that the Mahdi was beaten with great slaughter during the past month, and that small-pox is raging among his followers. The second portion of the hon. 659 and gallant Member's Question relates to a matter of policy on which I am not in a position to give a reply.