18 MAY 1889, Page 2

The latest news from Cairo contradicts the report that El

Senoussi has totally defeated the Mahdi. A letter has been received from that personage of later date than the reported capture of Khartoum. In it, the Mahal adjures her Majesty to embrace Mahommedanism and accept his mission. One is puzzled, in discussing Mussulman pretenders, to decide whether they ever do or do not believe their pretensions. To the Western mind, the theory of imposture seems the only reasonable one ; but if they are merely impostors, whence do they derive their energy and firmness? We suspect that, like many spiritualists, they are only helping out with craft a belief deeply rooted in their own minds, and arising from a certain slavery to impressions they cannot account for.