25 JULY 1885, Page 1
The Mahdi, according to a good many different accounts, which
seem to receive credence at Cairo, died from small-pox on June 22, and one sheikh even asserts that he had witnessed the Mahdi's funeral. On the whole, it seems probable that the Mahdi is really dead ; and if it be so, it can hardly be doubted that the pressure on Egypt of the fanatical Mohammedan movement which he originated, will now subside. If so, Lord Salisbury will congratulate himself that with his accession to power the tide of ill-fortune which England had had to endure in the East has begun to turn.
