Letters to the Editor
MAULANA MOHAMED ALI
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.]
Sm,—The death of Mohamed Ali, one of the leading Moslem Delegates to the Round Table Conference on January 4th, did not come as a surprise to his friends who knew how dangerously ill he was, and it is no exaggeration to say that he deliberately sacrificed his life by coming to the Round Table Conference, for his doctors told him of the risk that he was running.
I went to see him in his bedroom three weeks ago, and I came away with the conviction that he could not last long. For a dying man his vitality was extraordinary. We discussed India's problems for more than two hours, and our hope that the Round Table Conference would be successful. Like the writer, he felt that Great Britain is at the moment afforded one of the most wonderful opportunities in her career in helping India to obtain a Constitution which will be suited to her needs, and which will enable both Hindus and Mohamme- dans to work for the common cause.
I think Mohamed Ali certainly felt that there were few greater causes in the world at the present time than that of promoting a better understanding between the British and Indian peoples on a basis of equality, without condescension on one side or suspicion on the other. He was an old reader of the Spectator, and expressed in the warmest terms his appreci- ation of the Spectator's Indian policy. His command of the
English language was remarkable.—I am, Sir, &c., E. W.
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