THE MAHDI AND THE SUDAN
SIR,—I have read with much interest Sir Nigel Davidson's letter in your issue of November 29th, The Mahdi died in 1885—a few months after the death of Gordon—so he cannot be held responsible for the " maladministration " of the Sudan, to which Sir Nigel Davidson refers, between 1885 and 1898, when the Khalifa was in power. Moreover, in The River War, vol. t, page 56, Mr. Winston Churchill wrote as follows:—
"I believe that, if in the future, prosperity should come to the peoples of the Upper Nile, and learning and happiness follow in its train, then the first Arab historian who shall investigate the early annals of that new nation will not forget, foremost among the heroes of his race, to write the name of Mohamed Ahmed, the Mahdi."
It is, therefore, not inappropriate that Sir Sayed Abd el Rahman el Mahdi Pasha (the sole surviving son of the Mahdi) should have recently arrived in London to plead the cause of Sudanese independence.—
43 Wetherby Mansions, s.w.5.
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