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 THE 
 
 BRITISH CAPTIVES 
 
 ABYSSINIA. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES T. BEKE, Ph.D., F.S.A. 
 
 FELLOW AND MEDALLIST OF THE ROYAL GEOGKAPHICAL SOCIETY; 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 ' OEIGINES BIBLIC^,' ' THE SOURCES OF THE NILE,' ETC. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 LONDON: 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER. 
 
 1867.
 
 TAVUiIt ANK FUANCIS, I'RINTERS, RED /,ION COURT, FLEET .STREET.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 When I sat down to prepare for the press a second 
 edition of the pamphlet which I pnbhshed nearly two 
 years ago, I contemplated a tract of perliaps twice 
 or thrice the size of the former edition. As the work 
 grew under my hand, I soon perceived that it would 
 make a fair-sized volume : by and by I found that it 
 might be enough for two volumes. 
 
 Under this change of circumstances, it became 
 necessary to decide whether I should delay the pub- 
 lication of any portion of the work until I had com- 
 pleted the whole, or whether I ought not rather at 
 once to issue the first part of it, which is really an 
 enlargement of the former edition, and leave the 
 remainder, which relates more especially to myself 
 and the journey that my wife and I have just under- 
 taken, to form not merely a second volume but a 
 separate work. 
 
 Feeling that the pubHc must be far more inter- 
 ested in the fate of the hapless British Captives in 
 Abyssinia than in our personal adventures, I have 
 deemed the former course to be the preferable one. 
 A further inducement for bringing this portion of\ my 
 labours before the public without delay, is the con- 
 sideration that the subject of the captivity of our 
 countrymen, which has already attracted the atten- 
 
 a2 
 
 1217959
 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 tion of the Legislature diirmg the last three sessions 
 of Parliament, is sure to be again brought forward as 
 soon as Parliament assembles, when it will likewise 
 be necessary to discuss the Abyssinian Question with 
 reference to all the circumstances which have led to a 
 state of things so discreditable to the British name. 
 
 But, though coming to the conclusion that it was 
 better to defer my personal narrative for a separate 
 work, 1 have found it necessary, in order to render 
 the present volume complete in itself, to refer to 
 several matters connected with myself and my late 
 journey, which would have appeared more suitably 
 in connexion with that narrative, had it formed a 
 portion of the single work originally contemplated. 
 
 I had also prepared some remarks on another sub- 
 ject, which, being of a purely personal character, were 
 in like manner intended to accompany that personal 
 narrative ; but, for reasons which will be apparent, I 
 have decided on publishing them here. 
 
 My recent journey has in fact not merely been dis- 
 pleasing to friends connected with the late Adminis- 
 tration, but it has also given dissatisfaction to others 
 more closely associated with myself personally. I 
 am blamed for taking up a cause in which I am 
 alleged to have no concern, for acting as a political 
 partisan, and for being a dreamer, — and, what in a 
 worldly sense is worse than all, an unprofitable 
 dreamer. To the last of these charges alone do I 
 j)lead guilty. In anything connected with Abyssinia, 
 let it be wjiat it may, I cannot be said to have 
 no coiiccrii. further, that I have not been actuated 
 hy any party sjjii'it is I'stablished by the fact that
 
 PKEFACK. 
 
 ever since I returned from Abyssinia in 1843 till the 
 publication of my pamphlet, ' The Prench and English 
 in the Red Sea/ in 1862 — during the far greater por- 
 tion of which long interval the party now in opposi- 
 tion Avas in power — I proffered advice and assistance 
 in the most friendly spirit, both to the Foreign Office 
 and to the Board of Trade, though (as I have regret- 
 ted to see) without any good effect. It was not till 
 matters had gone so far that I felt I ought no longer 
 to allow what I had said to remain hidden in the ar- 
 chives of public offices, that I published that pamphlet; 
 and even then what I made known was quite as much 
 for the information of Her Majesty's Government as 
 for that of the public. I may say the same as regards 
 the first edition of the present work. 
 
 As to my being a dreamer, whilst not denying the 
 charge, I must say in extenuation that I have like- 
 wise been a worker, and a hard worker ; and I ques- 
 tion whether it has fallen to the lot of many persons 
 who have dreamed so widely and apparently so wildly, 
 to have seen, to such an extent as I have, their 
 dreams " come true." 
 
 Having said thus much, I am bound to say more, 
 and I trust I shall be excused for availing myself of 
 this opportunity to show the truth of what I have 
 just asserted. 
 
 My first dream, then, was one of my childhood. 
 It was that I should some day live at the place to 
 which my forefathers gave their name seven centuries 
 ago. Three-and-thirty years have elapsed (a whole 
 generation of man) since the time when, in anticipa- 
 tion of my coming to live at Bekesbourne, I changed
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 the spelling of my family name from Beek to Beke*. 
 But before this my early dream was realized, I had 
 
 * The name is Flemish — Van dcr Beke ; and its original form, 
 or rather forms in England were De Bcke, Del Beke, and Do la 
 Beke, or, vrrittcn as pronounced in Latin, De Beche, Del Beche, 
 and De la Beche. In the course of time it came to be spelled 
 Beake and Beak in East Kent, and Beeke and Beek in "West 
 Kent. 
 
 The llev. Christopher Beeke, father of Dr. Henry Beeke, Dean 
 of Bristol, and my grandfather Charles Beek, were distant cousins, 
 and both left the county, the former in 1736 for Devonshire, 
 the latter in 1760 for London. They are thus mentioned for the 
 pui-pose of placing on record two parallel anecdotes respecting 
 my graiidfather and Dean Beeke, which arc too good to be lost. 
 
 Charles Beek lived in Mile-end Kew-town, Stepney, and was 
 a Jxistice of the Peace, a colleague and neighbour of his being 
 Justice Wilmot of Bethnal Green. At that time, as there were 
 no sti]>cndiary Magistrates, the resident Justices of the Peace in 
 and about London acted as those in the country do now ; and my 
 grandfather being an active and leading person within the Tower 
 Hamlets, obtained in consequence the name of " King Beek." 
 
 In the Gordon riots of 1780, when, as is known, the mob de- 
 stroyed the houses of many of the nobility, magistrates, and 
 other notables, a section of the rioters at the east end of the town 
 were on their way to my grandfather's house, when a tenant of 
 his, who had mixed in the crowd as a looker-on rather than as 
 an actor, called out — " Don't let's go to King Beek's. He's a 
 jolly good fellow. Let's go to Justice Wilmot's " — joining to his 
 name a few choice but not very complimentarj- epithets. As in the 
 case of another section of the same rioters at the Inner Temple 
 gate, a chance word sufficed to turn the mob. To Justice Wil- 
 mot's they went, sure enough, and burned his house down! 
 Before they had time to think again of my grandfather, a party 
 of liorsf'guards arrived to protect him. 
 
 The other anecdote respecting Dean Beeke is almost identical. 
 In the Bristol riots of 1831, the mob were about to destroy the 
 Deanery, when some one suggested that they should not injure 
 or molest the good old Dean, on which they went and destroyed 
 the Bishop's i)alace instead I
 
 PREFACE. Vll 
 
 to wait seven-and-twenty years longer; for it was 
 only in 1860 that I succeeded in coming to reside in 
 the home of my ancestors. Whether I shall lay my 
 bones where theirs were laid, is in the hands of the 
 Disposer of all events, who has so graciously per- 
 mitted me to worship Him where once they wor- 
 shiped. 
 
 That I should have changed the spelling of my 
 name so long ago as 1833, was because I was at 
 that time engaged in preparing for the press my work 
 ' Origines Biblicse ; or Researches in Primeval His- 
 tory ' (a Book of Dreams — or " crotchets," as they 
 have been styled by a high authority, who in so 
 doing forgot himself) ; and I felt that when 1 came 
 to occupy a niche in the Temple of Fame, as I 
 " dreamed " I should, I must not do so under an 
 alias. 
 
 Without desiring to enter upon any general consi- 
 deration of that work, its scope, or its contents, I 
 must still be permitted to allude to a few of the 
 " dreams" contained in it. 
 
 The first was that the land at the head of the 
 Persian Gulf has advanced at so rapid a rate, as ma- 
 terially to aflPect the comparative geography of Baby- 
 lonia and the neighbouring regions. Of course 
 this was pooh-poohed at the time : for had not 
 scholars written erudite volumes on the assumption 
 of there having been no change? and had not the 
 learned Heeren even expressed the opinion that in the 
 time of Nearchus the northern coast of the gulf ex- 
 tended further south than it does at the present day ? 
 Nevertheless, seventeen years afterwards, the Presi-
 
 VIU PREFACE. 
 
 dent of the Royal Geographical Society, (the late 
 Admiral Smyth,) when adverting in his anniversary 
 address to a dissertation of Sir Henry Rawlinson on 
 the Biblical Cities of Assyria and on the geography 
 of the Lower Tigris, in which it is stated that the 
 Delta of the Tigris and the Euphrates " is found 
 to have advanced since the commencement of the 
 Christian era, at the extraordinary degree of a 
 mile in thirty years — a rate of increase probably 
 about twice that of the growth of the Sunderbunds 
 or any other known delta" — added " This agrees, in 
 fact, with the statements which Dr. Beke, one of your 
 Fellows, j)ublished in the ' Philosophical Magazine ' 
 as far back as February 1834; and in his ' Origines 
 Bibhcae' in the same year"*. 
 
 The next dream of * Origines Biblicaj ' w^hich has 
 been realized is as to the site of the patriarchal 
 Harran. This town is described in the Scriptures as 
 being situate in Aram Kaharahu — " Syria of the Two 
 Rivers;" which country has been placed by commen- 
 tators between Euphrates and Tigris, the two rivers 
 of Asshur or Assyria ; whereas it appeared to me to 
 be between the two rivers of Aram or Syria, Abana 
 and Pharpar. As there were no signs of a place with 
 such a name in the locality indicated, my dream or 
 " crotchet " was ridiculed or passed over without no- 
 tice. Wwi, after many years, a place of the name was 
 found to exist precisely where in 1834 I said it must 
 
 ♦ * Joum. Roy. Gcogr. Soc' vol, xxi. p. Ixxx. I should ex- 
 plain that the article in the 'Philosophical Magazine' was the 
 hccond chapter of ' Origines Biblicic,' puljlished in advance, as 
 uas kno\s'n at the time to Sir Charles Lyell.
 
 PREFACE. IX 
 
 exist; and towards the end of 1861, more than 
 twenty-seven years afterwards, I performed a pilgrim- 
 age to Harran, accompanied by my wife, who has 
 written an account of our journey. 
 
 Next is the position of Mount Sinai, my dream 
 with respect to which is not yet reahzed, and hardly 
 will be by myself, though the traditional mountain is 
 already rent and shaken to its base, and cannot stand 
 much longer. The true Mountain of the Law has to 
 be sought for in the Desert of Arabia, east of the Ghor 
 or Valley of the Jordan ; and the indications in Scrip- 
 ture of its general locality are definite and absolute. 
 In that desert " Moses kept the flock of Jethro, his 
 father-in-law, the priest of Midian ; " and when " he 
 led the flock to the west side of the desert," he " came 
 to the Mountain of God, to Horeb"*. And at a 
 later period of the Scripture History, the prophet 
 Elijah, after eating and drinking in the desert of 
 Beersheba, " went in the strength of that meat forty 
 days and forty nights unto Horeb, the Mount of 
 God," and thence, at the command of the still small 
 voice, he "returned on his way to the desert of 
 Damascus "f. Some traveller, younger, richer, more 
 enterprising, and more favoured than myself, will, I 
 feel persuaded, come forward ere long to search for this 
 sacred spot, in the region thus indicated, taking, as I 
 have done, the Bible as his sole guide, and carefully 
 eschewing all traditional and (so called) authoritative 
 identifications. 
 
 The non-identity of Egypt with the Mitzraim of 
 
 * Exod. iii. 1. The Authorized Version has " the back side of 
 the desert." t 1 Kings, xix. 8, 15.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 the Exodus — another of my dreams — is the most 
 paradoxical of all my " crotchets." But the results 
 of modern discoveries and investigations are all tend- 
 ing in that direction. And when we see such 
 changes as in this present year, 1866, when Prussia 
 and Italy are anything but the same countries they 
 were only a few years back, it will no longer be 
 astonishing that ]\lisr, under the rule of the Turkish 
 Viceroys of Egypt, should not correspond with the 
 Land of ]\Iitzraim, of which the Hebrew Joseph was 
 made governor by Pharaoh. 
 
 Another of my dreams is faintly indicated in 
 ' Origiues Biblicse.' Not very long ago, when I 
 heard as it were the voice of a trumpet talking with 
 me, I tried to rouse myself to work it out ; but I am 
 not at present fit for the task, and it must still re- 
 main as a vision of the night. 
 
 The " dream " which has had the greatest influence 
 on my actions — it having led to my travels in Abys- 
 sinia, with all their results direct and collateral, and 
 in the end to the production of the present volume — 
 is that contained in pages 158 and 159 of ' Origincs 
 Biblica3,' where, when exi)lainhig the Dispersion of 
 Mankind in accordance with the principles enunci- 
 ated in that work, and s})eaking in })articular of the 
 descendants of Hani, I say : — " The other sons of 
 Cush, in their progress southward, appropriated to 
 themselves the eastern side, and in the course 
 of time the whole, of the southern part of the 
 peninsula of Araljia. Prom hence, as population 
 increased, colonies of those Cushites, whose settle- 
 ments lay towards the western side of tlu; [)cninsiila,
 
 PKEFACE. XI 
 
 crossed over into Ethio})ia, and settled there, be- 
 coming the aboriginal inhabitants of that country, 
 and being in fact the stock from which, in the 
 progress of time, has sprung the greater portion of 
 the negro nations by whom the vast continent of 
 Africa is peopled." 
 
 Abyssinia being thus indicated as the natural road 
 of the human race into the interior of Africa, it 
 naturally followed, as indeed history teaches, that 
 this road should be that by which were introduced 
 into that continent its three predominant religions, 
 the Mosaic, the Christian, and the Mohammedan ; 
 and hence I was led to the inference — it is, I trust, 
 something more than a dream — that by the same 
 road Africa will be regenerated by means of Eu- 
 ropean commerce as the precursor of Christian civi- 
 lization. 
 
 It further became manifest to me why during so 
 many ages the vast continent of Africa has remained 
 as it were a sealed book, and why the efforts of civi- 
 lized nations to establish relations with the interior of 
 that continent have had so little success. 
 
 The arid and inhospitable character of the conti- 
 nent of Africa, its want of navigable rivers, and the 
 barbarism of its inhabitants have been alleged as 
 causes for this strange anomaly. But, active as all 
 those causes may have been and still continue to be, 
 recent discoveries have shown that they are far from 
 being true to the extent generally attributed to them; 
 for it is now demonstrated that Africa possesses fer- 
 tile and genial regions, large rivers and lakes, and an 
 immense population, which, if not civilized, is yet to a
 
 XU I'llElACE. 
 
 considerable extent endowed with kindly manners, 
 lumianc dispositions, and industrious habits. 
 
 The fundamental cause of the erroneous notions pre- 
 valent respecting Africa is, that Europeans have always 
 approached that continent in a wrong direction. To- 
 wards the north, the districts skirting the Mediter- 
 ranean Sea are cut off from the other portions of the 
 continent by the rainless sands of the great Desert ; 
 to\vards the west, the climate truly exercises those 
 baneful influences on European constitutions which 
 have stamped their mark on the rest of the continent; 
 towards the south, the form of the peninsula, which 
 there runs almost to a point, prevents ready access to 
 the vast internal regions further to the north. On all 
 these sides, however, have we during centuries per- 
 sisted in our endeavours to penetrate inwards, while 
 the east coast has been unattempted and remained al- 
 most totally unknown. And yet it is in this direction 
 that the interior of intertropical Africa is approachable 
 with the greatest facihty. 
 
 It w^as under the influence of the opinions thus ex- 
 pressed, and with a view to their realization, in part 
 at least, through my own exertions, that I undertook, 
 in the year 1840, a journey to the kingdom of Shoa; 
 whence, in the following year, I proceeded across the 
 river Abai into Godjam, Damot, and Agaumider, pe- 
 netrating westward over seven degrees of longitude 
 and one-fifth of the way across the continent of Africa 
 in the direction of the Gulf of Benin — an achievement 
 wiiicli might iiavc been thought more of, had it been 
 performed at tin; j)resent day instead of a quarter of a 
 century ago ; and 1 returned home by a new road di-
 
 PREFACE. Xni 
 
 rectly across Abyssinia, from the extreme south-west 
 to its furthest limit in the north-east. 
 
 " Nor could his eye not ken 
 The empire of Negus to his utmost port, 
 Ercoco"*. 
 
 But the exploration and mapping of countries for 
 the use of subsequent travellers formed the least im- 
 portant result of my geographical labours in Abys- 
 sinia. My observations enabled me to form a theory 
 of the true physical structure of that country, and of 
 Eastern Africa generally, which is becoming accepted 
 as the true theory. It is, that the principal mountain- 
 system of Africa extends from north to south, along 
 the eastern side of the continent, adjacent to the Red 
 Sea and the Indian Ocean, resembling, in its direc- 
 tion and rough parallelism to the coast, the Andes of 
 South America and the Western Ghauts of India. 
 
 A corollary from this theory was the determination 
 of the position and direction of the snowy "Mountains 
 of the Moon," in which the geographer Claudius 
 Ptolemy placed the sources of the Nile. These moun- 
 tains were universally supposed to traverse Africa pa- 
 rallel to the equator, being so represented in all the 
 maps ; whereas they are in reality merely a portion of 
 the meridional range, of which the Abyssinian table- 
 land forms the northern extremity. 
 
 As regards the much-vexed subject of the Discovery 
 of the Sources of the Nile, I have the satisfaction of 
 knowing that whatever credit is due to me in this re- 
 spect is now freely accorded to me by all whose 
 
 * Arkiko, opposite Massowah.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 o})inions arc deserving of consideration as competent 
 and impartial judges. 
 
 I might allude to many other results of my jour- 
 ney to Abyssinia, but will confine myself to pla- 
 cing here on record the following remarks, extracted 
 from a paper on " The Nile and its Tributaries," 
 which was communicated by me to the Royal Geo- 
 graphical Society in 1846, and published in the seven- 
 teenth volume of the Society's 'Journal' (pp. 82, 83) : — 
 " This survey of the physical character of the pla- 
 teau of Eastern Africa cannot be concluded with- 
 out special attention being directed to a most im- 
 portant practical result which it affords. It is, that 
 the eastern coast of that continent presents facilities 
 for the exploration of the interior very superior to 
 those possessed by the western coast. For, when the 
 narrow belt of low land along the shores of the Indian 
 Ocean — which, from its general dryness, arising from 
 the absence of large rivers, is far from unhealthy at 
 most seasons of the year — is once passed, and the 
 eastern edge of the elevated tableland is attained, a cli- 
 mate is met with, which is not merely congenial to Eu- 
 ropean constitutions, hut is absolutely more healthy than 
 that of most countries. I speak from the experience of 
 iqmards of tioo years passed on the high land under cir- 
 cumstances anything hut favourable. Here — that is 
 to say, on the edge of the elevated plateau, and not in 
 the low desert country along the sea-coast — settlers 
 might take up their permanent residence, without 
 apprehensions as to the effects of the climate at any 
 period of the year ; while travellers might wait in 
 safety, and even A\itli advantage to their health, till
 
 PREFACE. XV 
 
 suitable opportunities should present themselves for 
 penetrating westwards into the interior ; and, in the 
 event of their having to retrace their steps, they would 
 only return upon a healthy and delightful country, 
 where they might remain till the proper season should 
 arrive for their journey down to the coast. On the 
 other hand, the climate of the western coast, even far 
 inland, is notoriously such, that few can long with- 
 stand its baneful influences ; while a traveller is ne- 
 cessitated to press forwards, whatever may be the 
 time of the year, whatever the condition of the coun- 
 try, whatever even his state of health. And should 
 he, from sickness or any other unforeseen circum- 
 stance, be compelled to abandon his journey, he must 
 do so with the painful knowledge that the further he 
 retrogrades the more unhealthy are the districts which 
 he has to traverse, and the less likelihood there is of 
 his ever reaching the coast, more fatal than all the 
 rest." 
 
 It will be observed that my assertion that the 
 climate of Abyssinia is absolutely more healthy than 
 that of most countries, was based on my own expe- 
 rience of upwards of two years passed there under cir- 
 cumstances anything but favourable. But what are 
 these circumstances compared with those under which 
 the Captives have passed three miserable years of their 
 lives, and yet apparently with so little injury to their 
 bodily health ? In any other country in the world, 
 not blessed with such a climate, they must long ago 
 have succumbed to the privations and hardships to 
 which they have been subjected. 
 
 It is requisite that I should dwell upon this point,
 
 XVI PREFACE. 
 
 because of the mistaken notions entertained by the 
 British Government, not less than by the pubhc, re- 
 specting the climate and physical character of Abys- 
 sinia, whicli is in fact a temperate, well-watered, and 
 most fertile country, inhabited by an agricultural and 
 at the same time warlike people, and possessing capa- 
 bilities not surpassed by those of any region on the 
 face of the earth. 
 
 The notions entertained . by our Government re- 
 specting the approaches to Abyssinia in the event of 
 a war arc, if possible, even more erroneous than those 
 concerning the climate and physical character of that 
 country. 
 
 In ])age 206 of the present Work I have quoted 
 the assertion of the late Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs, deliberately made in the House of Lords less 
 than a twelvemonth ago, that "to attempt to send an 
 army across that deadly plain which separates Abys- 
 sinia from the sea, and to penetrate into the interior 
 of the country through mountain-passes and diffi- 
 culties unknown, without any basis of operations or 
 means of obtaining supplies, would have been a vain 
 and idle endeavour." In page 178 I have shown 
 what that " deadly plain " is " which separates Abys- 
 sinia from the sea;" and I will now add that, when 
 on the 29th of last April my wife and I stood 
 oil the brink of the valley of the Iladas, within a 
 mile of llalai, at an elevation of 8500 feet above 
 the ocean — the tableland of Abyssinia there begin- 
 ning and extending for hundreds of miles to the 
 soutli and sontli-wcst — we could perceive the sea at 
 Arkiko, op[)Osite to Massowali, and that island itself
 
 PREFACE. XVll 
 
 beyond, and we heard the report, of the guns of the 
 Egyptian frigate ' Ismailiah,' sounding (it is to be 
 feared) the death-knell of Christian Abyssinia*; whilst 
 as regards a basis of operations, it exists in the sea 
 off Adulis, whence the Sovereign of Ethiopia, the ally 
 of the Emperor Justinian, transported 70,000 men 
 into Arabia for the conquest of Yemen f; whither 
 Captain Robert A. Parr, of H.M.S. ' Lyra,' was so 
 good as to convey my wife and myself; and where, as 
 that efficient officer would be able to report, a fleet of 
 line-of-battle ships might lie in safety, at more than 
 half the distance nearer to Halai than Arkiko. 
 
 As to the alleged " mountain-passes and difficulties 
 unknown," it might really be imagined that no Euro- 
 peans had been in Abyssinia since the time of Bruce 
 and Salt. And yet, within the last quarter of a cen- 
 tury, there are few " unknown " countries that have 
 been visited and traversed in all directions by so 
 large a number of educated Europeans, many of 
 whom have published their journals or digested 
 narratives of their travels. 
 
 That an army would be " without any means of 
 obtaining supplies " in Abyssinia comes strangely 
 from the Foreign Secretary, seeing that on March 
 28th, 1848, I addressed to his Lordship's predeces- 
 sor in office. Viscount Palmerston, a letter, in which 
 I suggested the practicability of victualling a British 
 army in the Red Sea by means of supplies drawn 
 from Abyssinia. It has been said that the best way 
 to publish a matter and yet keep it secret, is to get 
 it printed in a Blue-Book. It would really seem that 
 
 * Sec page 241 . t See page 1 77. 
 
 b
 
 -Will PREFACE. 
 
 the way to keep information from the knowledge 
 of the Head of a Government Department is to com- 
 municate it to himself officially. 
 
 Yet, after all, our Government and our Government 
 Offices are not entirely to blame. It is the British 
 public, who, not imderstanding the subject and being 
 too much occupied with matters nearer home to study 
 it, do not interest themselves in it as they ought ; 
 and our officials, perceiving that the public are not 
 alive to the importance of the subject, are not sorry 
 for any excuse for not troubling themselves with what 
 does not concern those in whose service they are. 
 
 Still this is no justification for the conduct of 
 the Foreign Office and the India Office (for this 
 latter Department likewise must come in for its share 
 of blame) as regards the way in which this unhappy 
 Abyssinian Question appears to have been dealt with 
 from beginning to end. 
 
 My duty however is, not to blame, but to enhghten 
 the British nation on this dark and difficult subject. 
 AVhen once the public, and especially the public 
 press, is brought to understand it as it is requisite it 
 should be understood, there can be no fear of its 
 not being sifted to the bottom, and of justice being 
 meted out to all with an equal and at the same 
 time an unflinching hand. 
 
 Bckesboume, 
 December 4th, 1866.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Bntish Captives — Facts misrepresented and concealed — Aljys- 
 sinia — its Sovereigns — Geographical and Political Divisions — 
 Turkish Possessions — IVIr. Salt's Mission — Sahagadis — Ubye — 
 Protestant Missionaries in TigTe — their Expulsion — Ptonian Ca- 
 tholic Mission — English Eeligious and Political Missions to Shoa 
 — their Failure 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Coptic Abuna — Protestant and Roman Catholic Rivalry — 
 French and English in the Red Sea — Fate of Lord Palmerston's 
 Letter — Mr. Coffin's Mission — British Consulate — Mr. Bell and 
 Consul Plowden — Treaty between England and Abyssinia — its 
 Impolicy — Consul Plowden's Report — Frontier Tribes — Raids of 
 Turco-Egyptians into Bogos — Consul Plowden's Interference — 
 Approval of British Government — Continued Aggressions of 
 Egypt— Slave Trade 15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Kassai of Kwara — his Rise to Power — Conquest of Amliara, 
 Godjam, and Tigi-e — Crowned as Theodore, Emperor of Ethiopia 
 — His Character — Great Reforms — Ambitious Projects — Reli- 
 gious Intrigues — Banishment of Roman Catholics — The Theodore 
 of Prophecy — Roman Catholic Pretender at Rome— Theodore set 
 up by the Coptic Abuna — his Belief in his Divine Mission — Sub- 
 sequent Change of Character and Conduct 30 
 
 C
 
 XX CONTENTS. 
 
 CnAPTER IV. 
 
 Page 
 
 Theodore's Reception of Consul Plowden — He objects to a 
 Consulate — Consul Plowden's Report — Lord Clarendon's Ap- 
 proval of Proceedings — Proposed Embassy — Subsequent Nego- 
 tiations — Consul Plowden's Conduct condemned and vindicated 
 — Agau Negusye's Rebellion in Tigre — His Recognition by 
 France — Cession to France of Adulis and Dissee — Captain de 
 Russel's Mission — Consul Plowden and Mr. Bell killed — Theo- 
 dore's "N'engeance — Defeat and Execution of Negusye — French 
 Attempts on the Coast of Abyssinia — Zeila — Obokh 47 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Consul Cameron — ^His Reception by Theodore — Earl Russell's 
 Letter — Negotiations for an Embassy aiid Treaty — Abyssinian 
 Convent and ("hurcli at Jerusalem — Theodore's Letter to the 
 Queen of England — Samuel, the Emperor's Steward — Proposal 
 for a Mission from India 05 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Consul Cameron's Journey to Bogos — Blamed by Earl Russell 
 — Correspondence with the Board of Trade respecting the Com- 
 merce of Abyssinia — Consul Cameron ordered to report thereon 
 — His Journey to Matamma — M. Lejean's Arrival in Abyssinia — 
 His Imprisonment and Release — Consul Cameron's Return — In- 
 ter\-iew with the Emperor — His Disgrace and Detention — Causes 
 of the Emperor's Displeasure — M. Bardel's Return fi-om France — 
 Emperor Napoleon's Letter — its Treatment — Consid Lejean ex- 
 pelled — Consul Cameron's Despatches stopped — His Messenger 
 l)eaten— Earl Russell's Despatch of April 22nd, 1863 — Theodore's > 
 Letter to the Que^n ignored Sti 
 
 CHAPTER Yll. 
 
 Protestant Missionaries— not implicated in Disputes between 
 Emperor and Consul — Imputations against tlicni unfounded —
 
 CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 Commeucement of their Misfortunes — Letters from Mr. Sterii 
 and Mr. Rosenthal — Bishop Gobat's Lay Missionaries — London 
 Society's Mission — Scottish Mission — Differences among Mis- 
 sionaries — Mr. Layard on Missions — Mr. Stern's Meeting witli 
 the Emperor — Ilis Servant beaten to Death — Himself likewise 
 beaten — Consul's Intercession rejected — Mr. Stern's Private 
 Papers — Denoimced by M. Bardel — His Character — All Euro- 
 peans imprisoned — Trial of Stem and Rosenthal — " The Kosso- 
 seller's Son" — Their Condemnation — .Arrival of Mr. Kerans — Con- 
 sul again ordered to Massowah — No Answer from the Queen — 
 Consul Imprisoned — Theodore's singular Proclamation 10(5 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Continued Ill-treatment of Missionaries — Mr. Flad's proposed 
 Jom'ney to England — Consid's Request to leave — Imprisonment of 
 all Europeans — Abyssinians deprived of Convent at Jerusalem — 
 Consid Finn removed — Consul Moore appointed — His Refusal 
 of Protection — Earl Russell's Instructions — Memorial to the An- 
 glican Chm-ch — Abyssinia claimed by Turkey — Transferred to 
 Egypt — Egyptian Occupation — " The Abyssinian Question " — M. 
 Bardel's Return and Imprisonment — Consul Cameron's Letter 
 Home — Captives Tortured — The Convert Makerer — Repeated 
 Torture of Captives — theii" Removal to Amba Magdala — De- 
 scription of Fortress Prison — Captives double-ii-oned — theii- Re- 
 lease — Consul Cameron's Letter to the Author — Aii-ival of News 
 in England 128 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 First News of Consul's Detention — not believed — Imprisonment 
 of Missionaries — IShs. Stern's Petition — The Queen advised not 
 to write to Theodore — London Society for Promoting Chris- 
 tianity among the Jews — their Inaction — Reasons for it — Great 
 Mistake — Missionaries might have been fi-eed — Anniversary 
 Meeting — Silence recommended — Mr. Layard's Reasons for nut
 
 XXll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 auswering Theodore's Letter — Consul Cameron's Note — Queen's 
 Letter to Theodore — Entrusted to Mr. Kassam — Objections to 
 him — Testimonials of Mr. Layard and Sir William Coghlan — 
 Instructions to demand Consul's Release only-^Injustice to Mis- 
 sionai-ies — Private Charge to exonerate Government — Mr. Ras- 
 sam arrives at Massowah — annoimces Queen's Letter and asks 
 for Escort— The Emperor's Anger — Refuses to notice him — Spies 
 sent — Queen's Letter changed — Mission enlarged — Present of 
 Firearms — Mr. Rassam remains unnoticed 147 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Discussions in Parliament — Lord Chelmsford's Motion for an 
 Address — Sir Hugh Cairns's Inquuies — Further Papers produced 
 — Inquiry deprecated hy Government — Alleged Fear of offending 
 Theodore — Real Fear of merited Censure — Offensive Language of 
 Earl Russell and Mr. Layard — Commented on in Newspapers — 
 Earl Russell decides on replacing Mr. Rassam — The Author's 
 Offer of Services — Mr. Palgrave preferred — Author's Letters to 
 Earl RusseU — Mr. Palgrave's Mission — On the point of leaving 
 Egypt — Mr. Rassam arrives there — Mr. Palgrave stopped — Re- 
 port of Consul Cameron's Release — its Falsehood — Mr. Rassam 's 
 Letter to Earl Russell — Emperor's Letter — Difference between 
 Mr. Rassam and Mr. Palgrave — The former prevails — retui'us to 
 Aden — Mr. Palgi-ave remains in Egypt — For what Purpose ? . . . . 1G2 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 No News at Aden of the 'Victoria' — The 'Surcouf sent to 
 Massowah to inquire — Letters from the Captives — Messenger 
 refuses to give them up— The ' Sm-couf ' comes back for them — 
 The Captives double-ironed — Mr. Rassam's Return from Suez — 
 goes again to Massowah— Departure for the Interior— M. Mun- 
 ziuger — Adulis a Key to Abyssinia — kno^ATi to Greeks — and to 
 French— Ignorance of English— Road by the Iladtis— Mr. Ras- 
 tam's Journey by Bogos — Arrival at Matamma — Arrival of Es-
 
 CONTENTS. XXlll 
 
 Pagu 
 
 cort — Departure for Debra Tabor — Gaftat — Stopped by Rebels — 
 Route changed — Arrival at Emperor's Camp — Report of Pro- 
 ceedings — Interview with Emperor — The Queen's Letter pre- 
 sented — Theodore's Grievances— Consul and Missionaries blamed 
 — Captives ordered to be liberated — The Emperor's Army — its 
 March — Friendly Behaviour towards Mr. Rassam — All Eiu'o- 
 peans accused — Mr. Rassam complimented — Charges untrue and 
 absurd — Mr. Kerans — imprisoned without cause — Letter to his 
 Parents — Hand- and foot-chains — Illustrations — Madness of Cap- 
 tives — Sufferings worse than on " the Middle Passage " — Parlia- 
 mentary Inquiry called for 172 
 
 CHAPTER XH. 
 
 Mr. Rassam's Report continued — Present of 15,000 Dollars — 
 Captives ordered to be released — Journey from Magdala — Ar- 
 rival at Korata — List of Prisoners released — Mr. Rassam ho- 
 nored — deceived — His mistaken Estimate of Abyssinians — 
 Trial of Captives — their alleged Confession — Mr. Waldmeier's 
 Statement — Mr. Purday's Reply — Reasons for Mr. Rassam's Re- 
 port — Expected Success — Desire to screen himself and the Go- 
 vei-nment — Missionaries without Defence — Consul to be blamed 
 and employed elsewhere — Failure of Plan — Real Truth — The 
 Captives are State Prisoners 199 
 
 CHAPTER Xm. 
 
 Theodore's Answer to the Queen — a Mockery — written for 
 him — His Letters to the Author — Captives start from Korata — 
 stopped — Mr. Rassam and aU chained — Mr. Flad sent to Eng- 
 land — Bad News concealed — Cause of Detention — Departure 
 without leave — Mr. Rassam objects to remain alone — Dr. Blanc 
 offers to stay with him — Mr. Rassam's Detention predicted by 
 the Author — Danger of Detention 217
 
 XXIV CONTEXTS. 
 
 CIIAPTEK XIV. 
 
 Page 
 
 Change of Ministrj- — Lord Stanley's Alternative — Peace or 
 War — Former decided on — Object of Mr. Flad's Mission — 
 '' Machines and Gunpowder-makers " — Government Assistance — 
 Macliinery ordered — Mr. Talbot and six Workmen engaged — ]\Ir. 
 Flad sees the Queen — Her Majesty wi-ites again to Theodore — 
 insists on Liberation of the Captives — Later Intelligence — All 
 sent Prisoners to Magdala — Cause — Evil Reports — Railroad from 
 Suwakiu to Kassala — Articles in Newspapers — Egyptians at Mas- 
 sowah and on the Frontiers — Departure of Mr. Flad — of Mr. 
 Talbot and Workmen — of Colonel Merewether — to await Arrival 
 of Mr. Flad and Captives before going on — The Author's Pre- 
 sents given over — Abyssinian Captives Liberation Fund — Elec- 
 tric Telegraph — Regeneration of Abyssinia 229 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Relations of England to Abyssinia — Professed Policy to pro- 
 mote Trade — not acted on — Real I'olicy — Covert War with 
 France — The French and English in the Red Sea — M. JMunzin- 
 ger's Charge against Consul Plowden — He caused Roman Catholics 
 to be banished — established a Protestant Mission — Charge dis- 
 proved — Bishop Gobat's Missionaries — to work at then- Trades 
 — to say Nothing about Religion — Mr. Waldmeier's Missionary 
 Labom-s — " The Book of Quinte Essence " — " Mm-der " of Consul 
 Plowden — France, Roman Catholics, and the Sea-coast — Eng- 
 land, Protestants, and the Interior — Author's Interview with 
 Earl Russell — with Lord Palmerston — Consul Cameron's In- 
 structions — History repeats itself — Venetians aided Turks against 
 I'ortuguese — English League with Turks against French — Aban- 
 donment of Chi-istian Abyssinia to Mohammedans — Earl Russell's 
 Justification — Right of Turkey disputed — French Pretensions 
 continued — Roman Catholic Missions prosper — Protestant Mis- 
 sions withdrawn — No Hope of Christianity in Abyssinia, but in 
 Rome and France 2ol
 
 CONTENT?, XXV 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Pngc 
 
 Policy of England — its Eifects on Abyssinia — Massowah and 
 Sea-coast offered to Theodore — Lord Clarendon's Consent — 
 Consul Plowden's Death- — Captain Cameron's Appointment — 
 Change of Policy — Abyssinia abandoned to Turkey — Consul's 
 Acts repudiated — Sir William Coghlan's Evidence as to altered 
 Policy — Theodore retaliates — makes War after his Fashion — 
 England defeated and sues for Peace — Theodore's Conduct con- 
 doned — Treaty with Mr. Rassam — to be confirmed by Colonel 
 Merewether — Mr. Rassam and Captives imprisoned — Vacillating 
 Policy of England — State of Parties in Abyssinia — Tadelu 
 Gwalu in Godjam — Cause of Theodore's Downfall — Prestige 
 gone — French in Shoa and Tigre — King Menilek of Shoa — 
 Oizoro Warkyet at the head of WoUo Gallas — Tessu Gobazye 
 in North-west Provinces — Waagshum Gobazye — King Hezekiah 
 — Future Emperor — State of Parties in Tigre — Warfare — The 
 " Battle of Axum " — Compte Bisson's Report — Englishmen said 
 to be present — Report a Fabrication — Doubts as to Battle — Its 
 ProbabUitj- — Possibility of Theodore's Presence — False Report of 
 Execution of Captives — Futm'e Policy of England — Treaty 
 with Theodore too late — Machines and Gimpowder-makers use- 
 less without fm-ther Help — Author's Suggestions — England 
 worse off than in 1847 — Enlightened Policy of France — Eng- 
 land drifting with the Stream — Sooner or later War 275 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I. Letter from Dr. Beke to Viscomit Palmerston, G.C.B., Se- 
 cretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated April 4th, 1848 295 
 
 II. Proposal for a Tram-road between the Cotton-fields of 
 Ethiopia and the Coast of the Red Sea 301 
 
 III. Letter from Consul Cameron to the Emperor of Abys- 
 svnia 312
 
 XXVI coxtj:nts. 
 
 IV. Four Letters from Dr. lieke to Earl Russell, K.G., Secre- 
 tary of State for ForeigTi Affairs, dated respectively May 19th, 
 aud .July 7th, 21st, and 22nd, 1865 310 
 
 V. Extracts from Letters from the Rev. H. A. Stern and Mr, 
 Rosenthal, -v^Titten during their imprisonment at Amba Mag- 
 dala 333 
 
 VI. Petition to the Emperor Theodore from the Relatives of 
 the Captives, and Correspondence between His Majesty and Dr. 
 Beke 390 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 A British Captive at Magbala Frontispiece 
 
 Mav of Abyssenlv to face page 1 
 
 ABYS.SIXIAN Slave-shackles 195 
 
 Seal op " The ICxng of Kings, Theodore of Ethiopia". . . . >S0
 
 THE 
 
 BRITISH CAPTIVES 
 
 IN 
 
 ABYSSINIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 BRITISH CAPTIVES — FACTS MISREPRESENTED AND CONCEALED — 
 ABYSSINIA — ITS SOVEREIGNS — GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL 
 DIVISIONS — TURKISH POSSESSIONS — MR. SALT'S MISSION — 
 SABAGADIS — LTBYE — PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES EST TIGRE — 
 THEIR EXPULSION— ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSION — ENGLISH RE- 
 LIGIOUS AND POLITICAL MISSIONS TO SHOA — THEIR FAILURE. 
 
 Nearly three years have elapsed since the sad and truly 
 astonishing intelligence was received, that the Christian 
 Sovereign of a Christian African people, who, though re- 
 mote from the civilized world, have during centuries pos- 
 sessed the sympathies of their co-religionists in Europe, 
 had perpetrated acts of the grossest cruelty towards several 
 Europeans resident within his dominions, who had long en- 
 joyed his favour and protection : acts more in accordance 
 with the customs of the brutish pagan nations of Western 
 and Central Africa, than suited to a people on whom the 
 light of the Gospel shone in an age when the greater
 
 JJ THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 portion of tlic now civilized nations of Europe were still 
 in utter darkness. 
 
 Captain Cameron, Her Britannic Majesty^s Consul in 
 Abyssinia, two missionaries of the London Society for 
 promoting Christianity amongst the Jews, and several other 
 British su])jccts and persons connected with British mis- 
 sionary societies, — men, women, and children, — have been 
 for three years the captives of Theodore, Emperor of Abys- 
 sinia, an Afi'ican potentate, whose name was previously 
 unknown to a large majority of the British nation. Her 
 Majesty^s Representative and several of these captives 
 have further been subjected to the greatest indignities 
 and even to cruel torture, and they have long remained 
 in prison, chained hand and foot, herded together with 
 the lowest criminals; whilst to add to the difficulties 
 and disgrace of all parties concerned, Mr. Rassam, the 
 Envoy sent by the Government of this country with a 
 letter signed by Her Majesty's own hand, with a view to 
 effect the liberation of the unfortunate persons who have 
 so long lingered in captivity, has himself been thrown into 
 prison, together with the members of his suite. 
 
 What the cause is of all this ill-usage of Her Ma- 
 jesty's subjects and others and of this great indignity to 
 the British nation, remains stdl almost as little truly 
 known to the public, as it was on the day (March 12th, 
 1864) when the news first arrived in England of the 
 imprisonment and illtrcatmcnt of these unfortunate Eu- 
 ropeans'^. 
 
 The subject has been mooted during the last three 
 
 * Tlie previous detention of Consul Cameron was knovni in Europe 
 as early as December 10th, 18G3, but was heeded by no one.
 
 THE FACTS MISREPRESENTED AND CONCEALED. 3 
 
 sessions of Parliament; and, thougli at first treated as 
 insignificant, it has day by day gone on increasing in im- 
 portance, till at length it has come to be regarded as a 
 national question of the greatest magnitude, involving 
 not only the character of the late Administration, but that 
 also of the British nation. It is fervently hoped — though 
 almost against hope — that nothing will intervene to pre- 
 vent the eventual liberation of the unfortunate captives. 
 But under any circumstances it behoves the public to 
 know the real facts of the case, which have hitherto 
 been most grievously misrepresented and by every pos- 
 sible means attempted to be concealed. As far therefore 
 as those facts have come to my knowledge, I have put 
 them together and arranged them in a connected form ; 
 so as to give a narrative of the events that have led to 
 the present deplorable state of affairs, the treatment to 
 which our unfortunate countrymen have been subjected, 
 and what has been done to procure their liberation, — a 
 task which my long residence in Abyssinia, the relations 
 I have continued to keep up with that country, and espe- 
 cially the journey from which I have recently returned, 
 have furnished me with peculiar means of performing. 
 
 Before commencing this narrative, it is advisable that 
 I should give a brief summary of the geographical and 
 political condition of the country which is the scene of 
 these lamentable occiu-rences, in order that the subject 
 may be rendered intelligible to the general reader. 
 
 The once rich and powerful Christian empire of Ethio- 
 pia, commonly known as Abyssinia or Habesh, has, during 
 the last three centuries, been in a progressive state of 
 decay. Its fertile provinces have been overrun and devas- 
 
 R 9
 
 4 THE BRITISH CAPTIVKS IN ABYSSIXIA, 
 
 tatcd b}^ numerous tribes of pagan Gallas from the south, 
 whilst the occupation of its entire seaboard by the Turks 
 has annihilated its commerce and shut it out from com- 
 munication witli the civilized world. The empire itself, 
 thus weakened and debased, has become the prey of in- 
 testine wars and anarchy, till at last it has almost lost its 
 place ill the list of nations. 
 
 Until the accession of the reigning sovereign, Theodore, 
 whose singular history will be related in the sequel, Abys- 
 sinia was an hereditary monarchy, under the sway of an 
 Emperor claiming descent from Solomon, king of Israel, 
 and the Queen of Sheba. Though this parentage is of a 
 character similar to that of the ancient kings of Britain 
 and Scotland, there are few Christian sovereigns who can 
 boast of a more illustrious lineage than the Emperors of 
 Ethiopia, Avhose progenitors received the Christian faith 
 and possessed a native version of the Holy Scriptures as 
 early as the fourth century. 
 
 The occupiers of the tlirone of theii* once absolute and 
 mighty ancestors had, for a considerable time past, been 
 mere puppets in the hands of the one or the other of their 
 powerful vassals ; the form having been kept up of nomi- 
 nating a sovereign of the line of Solomon, who, however, 
 remained a prisoner in his palace at Gondar, his sole 
 revenue consisting of a small stipend and the tolls of the 
 weekly market of that city^. 
 
 From about the commencement of tlic present century 
 
 until the year 1853, the seat of government and the per- 
 
 • It is said that the present intrusive Emperor Theodore still con- 
 tinues to treat Ilatsye Yohannes, the puppet Emperor, as his suzerain, 
 standing in liis presence with his body uncovered down to the waist, 
 ;v.^ Abyssinian servants are used tu do when waitinjr on tlieir master.
 
 GEOGllAPIIICAL AM) POLITICAL DEFliVITIONS. 5 
 
 son of the sovereign remained, though with occasional in- 
 terruptions, in the hands of the chiefs of a powerful tribe 
 of Yedju (Edjow) Gallas, who for three generations had 
 been able to secure to themselves the dignity of Ras or 
 Vizier of the empire — that is to say, to become its sove- 
 reigns in everything but in name. This sovereignty within 
 the central portion of the empire, however, was far from 
 giving them the command over the outlying provinces. 
 On the contrary, each ruler of a province mostly acted as 
 an independent sovereign; and if at any time he found 
 himself strong enough to march upon the capital, he did 
 so, placed upon the throne another puppet sovereign, and 
 was by him appointed Kas or Vizier, which dignity he re- 
 tained till a rival stronger than himself could turn him out 
 and take his place. Under such circumstances, it is no 
 wonder that there should have been at one time half-a- 
 dozen titular Emperors, and that the Governor of each of 
 the principal provinces should have assumed the title of 
 Ras, and continued to bear it even when no longer in 
 power. 
 
 It would be no easy task to enumerate all the sections 
 into which, through wars and their consequences, this un- 
 happy country has become divided. For all practical pur- 
 poses it will be sufficient to particularize Amhara, as the 
 central portion of Abyssinia, containing the capital, is 
 generally though incorrectly called — " Amhara " being 
 properly a province of Central Abyssinia, now principally 
 in the possession of Mohammedan Gallas of the Wollo 
 and Yedju tribes, and the stronghold of the family and 
 partisans of Ras Ali ; — Tigre in the north-east, and Shoa in 
 the south-east of Amhara, which two provinces have spe-
 
 b THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 cially become knoAvn to European nations tkrough the 
 alliances and diplomatic relations into which, separately 
 and as independent States, they have entered either with 
 England or with France; — to which have to be added 
 Godjam, in the extreme south-west, Kwara, in the ex- 
 treme north-Avest, and Lasta, a portion of Central Abys- 
 sinia, situate to the south of Tigre. 
 
 Tigi'c is the representative of the kingdom of the Axu- 
 mites of ancient history. It adjoins the Turkish island 
 and port of Massowah in the Red Sea, round which it ex- 
 tends full one hundred and sixty miles to the west and 
 south ; so that, without passing through it, no communi- 
 cation can be held with Amhara or any other portion of 
 the interior. It is almost entirely surrounded by the 
 river Takkazye, which separates it from the rest of Abys- 
 sinia, fi'om which it is further distinguished by its lan- 
 guage, the representative of the ancient Ethiopic or Geez, 
 in which is the early version of the Bible. 
 
 The physical conformation of Shoa enabled it to pre- 
 serve its independence when the rest of Abyssinia, except 
 Tigre, was overrun by the Gallas ; and it has long been 
 governed by a native race of princes, wlio, Avithout taking 
 part in the distm'banccs of the rest of the empire, have 
 transmitted the crown from father to son duiing eight 
 generations, 
 
 God jam, from its lying within the curve of the river Abai 
 (the "Nile " of the Portuguese and of J3ruce), has always 
 maintained a (piasi-indcpcndence ; and its rulers, like those 
 of Tigre, have at times gained possession of the capital 
 and the person of the nominal sovereign, and been by him 
 a])i)oint((I lias (jr \ izier, with the real ])o\ver.
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL AND POLITICAL DEFINITIONS. 7 
 
 Kwara^ though usually recognizing the sovereignty of 
 the nominal Emperor or his representative, has long been 
 noted for the successful stand its chiefs have made against 
 the inroads of the Turco-Egyptians ; and it has recently 
 become yet more distinguished from its having given to 
 the empire its actual ruler. 
 
 Lasta is the least known though most remarkable 
 portion of Abyssinia, its inhabitants speaking a language 
 radically different from those of Tigre and Amhara, and 
 being apparently the descendants of the primitive occu- 
 pants of the whole country. Their hereditary princes 
 possess extensive and peculiar privileges, but disclaim all 
 honorary titles at the hand of the Sovereign, by whom 
 they are, however, treated as equals ; contenting them- 
 selves with the simple designation of Shum or governor, 
 a title which is borne by the head man of a village, and 
 even the steward of a gentleman's household. The prince 
 of Lasta, who is styled Waag-shum, or Governor of 
 Waag, has Always been a faithful vassal of his suzerain ; 
 till in the person of Gobazye, the present holder of tliat 
 rank and title, a pretender to the imperial throne has 
 arisen, who bids fair to play a prominent part in the his- 
 tory of the empire. 
 
 Before concluding these geographical and political de- 
 finitions, essential to the proper understanding of the sub- 
 ject, it has to be remarked that Abyssinia, the country 
 comprising the several States just named, is a high table- 
 land separated from the sea by a belt of low and almost 
 waterless desert, very narrow at the north in the neigh- 
 bourhood of Massowah, and widening towards the south, 
 till, in the latitude of Zeila, which is nearly that of Slioa,
 
 » THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 the edge of the tableland recedes almost 200 miles from 
 the coast. These lowlands, formerly more or less under 
 the sway of the Emperors of Ethiopia, are now occupied 
 by various independent Dankali tribes, who, with their 
 neighbours the Somaulis and other nomadic people yet 
 further south, are commonly, but erroneously, called 
 Hubshecs {Habshis) or Abyssinians, which frequently 
 causes no little confusion. The Abyssinia of history is 
 properly limited to the high tableland, and so the term 
 is employed here. 
 
 Since the middle of the sixteenth century, when the 
 Turks with the aid of the Venetians drove the Portuguese 
 out of the lied Sea, the Ottoman Porte has claimed the 
 entire sea-board along the territory of these Dankali 
 tribes ; a claim Avhich the natives have not had the 
 power nor the inclination to resist. Until quite recently 
 the Turks actually occupied only the ports of Sawakin 
 and !Massowah, though they have occasionally made de- 
 monstrations along the coast for the purpose of asserting 
 their sovereignty. The transfer to the Pasha of Egypt of 
 the entire possessions of the Ottoman Porte on the western 
 shores of the Red Sea, which has been made only during 
 the present year, may, however, give to Mohammedan- 
 ism in North-eastern Africa a vitality which it has not 
 hitherto possessed ; and it may even cause the pretensions 
 of Turkey to the sovereignty of the whole of Chi-istian 
 Abyssinia, to become something more than merely no- 
 minal, as they have been until now. 
 
 The foregoing remarks will, it is hoped, enable the reader 
 to follow the course of events about to be narrated. 
 
 The attempt of the J'rench to acquire possession of
 
 MR. SALT S MISSION TO ABYSSINIA. 9 
 
 Egypt, towards the close of the last century, naturally led 
 the English to direct their attention to the Red Sea and 
 Eastern Africa ; and in 'the year following that of the 
 defeat and expulsion from Egypt of the invaders, Lord 
 Valentia, the nephew of Marquess Wellesley, Governor- 
 General of India, undertook a voyage into the Indian seas, 
 on which occasion he dispatched his Secretary, Mr. Salt, 
 afterwards Consul- General in Egypt, into Abyssinia. 
 
 Mr. Salt was unable to penetrate beyond Tigre, where 
 he was well received by the ruler of that province. Has 
 Walda Selasye, with whom, as the representative of the 
 then reigning sovereign, he entered into friendly relations. 
 In the year 1810, Mr. Salt returned to Abyssinia, bear- 
 ing a letter and presents from King George III. to the 
 Emperor; which he however delivered to Has Walda Se- 
 lasye, owing to the hostilities between that prince and Ras 
 Guksa, chief of the Yedju Gallas, who had then acquired 
 the supremacy in Amhara. 
 
 Mr. Salt ha^dng been accredited to the Emperor of 
 Abyssinia, and Guksa being at that time the actual Ras or 
 Vizier, the latter, and not Walda Selasye of Tigre, was the 
 legal representative of the reigning sovereign, and to him 
 the King of England^s letter and presents ought to have 
 been delivered. But, as the object of the mission was to 
 establish friendly relations with Abyssinia, and as for that 
 purpose it was essential to cultivate the friendship of the 
 prince whose dominions surrounded Massowah, the only 
 port by Avhich the country coidd well be approached; 
 Mr. Salt very sensibly addressed himself to Ras Walda 
 Selasye, to whom, as the independent ruler de facto of 
 the province and ancient kingdom of Tigre, he delivered
 
 10 THE niUTISn CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 the presents destined for the titular Emperor of the whole 
 country. 
 
 Ahuost simultaneously with Mr. Salt^s second visit to 
 Abyssinia, the power of the French in the Indian seas was 
 annihilated, by the capture of the Islands of Bourbon and 
 Maui'itius and the destruction of their settlements on the 
 coast of jNIadagascar ; and a few years later the fall of 
 Napoleon led England to imagine there was no longer any 
 cause to fear the aggressions of France in the East. As 
 oui' statesmen, unlike those of France, do not possess any 
 "ideas^' on the subject, Abyssinia ceased therefore to be 
 an object of solicitude. 
 
 But, though all diplomatic relations between England 
 and Tigre were at an end, a certain connexion was still 
 kept up by means of two Englishmen, named Pearce and 
 Coffin, who had accompanied Mr. Salt to Abyssinia, and 
 who remained behind when he left. In 1819, Pearce 
 quitted Abyssinia for Egypt, where Mr. Salt was Consul 
 General ; but Coffin took up his permanent residence 
 in Tigre, where he enjoyed the confidence of Dedjatj 
 Sabagadis, who, shortly after lias Walda Selasye^s death 
 in 1816, acquired the government of that province. 
 
 Mr. Salt had, on his second visit to Tigre, become ac- 
 quainted with Sabagadis, then a young man, of whose dis- 
 position and talents he was led to form a high opinion, 
 and whose future elevation he foretold. When he saw his 
 predictions thus verified, it was only natural that lie should 
 feel great interest in Sabagadis, and should keep up 
 fiMcndly relations witli hiiu. llcncc it arose that, in 1828, 
 Coffin, in concert with a Dankali chief named Ali, was 
 sent by Sabagadis to Bombay and Egypt, and afterwards
 
 ENGLISH CHURCH MISSIONARIES IN TIGRE. 11 
 
 to England, to negotiate for a supply of arms ; but, wliilc 
 he was still absent on this mission, Sabagadis was, in 1831, 
 attacked by the united forces of his rivals, Ras Marye 
 (Guksa's son and successor) and Dedjatj Ubye of Semyen, 
 by Avhom he was defeated, made captive, and put to death. 
 After this, Ubye assumed the government of Tigre, in ad- 
 dition to his own hereditary province of Semyen ; and he 
 continued to rule over both as an independent sovereign 
 until the year 1855, becoming soon so powerful as to be 
 able to contend with Ras Ali for the supreme dominion. 
 
 Marye, who was killed in the same battle as Sabagadis, 
 was succeeded as Ras by his brother Dori, the dignity 
 thus continuing hereditary in Guksa^s family ; and Dori 
 having died shortly afterwards, he was succeeded by his 
 nephew Ali, who continued to rule in Amhara until re- 
 cently, when, as will be related in the sequel, the same 
 superior power overwhelmed both him and his rival, Ubye 
 of Tigre. 
 
 Various circumstances, which need not here be adverted 
 to, but especially the fact that Sabagadis was most favour- 
 ably disposed to everything English, induced the Church 
 Missionary Society to establish a mission in Abyssinia. 
 All the missionaries were either Germans or Swiss, the 
 first of them being Dr. Gobat, now Anglican Bishop of 
 Jerusalem, who arrived in Tigre towards the end of 1829 ; 
 and the mission continued till 1838, when (as is stated 
 in Bishop Gobat' s ' Journal of a Three Years' Residence 
 in Abyssinia'), '^ through the influence of certain mem- 
 bers of the Church of Rome, opposition was raised against 
 the missionaries by the Abyssinian priests, and they were 
 compelled to quit the country and return to Egypt."
 
 12 THE HlUTISIl CAPTIVES IN AIJYSSIMA. 
 
 There is no question that Bishop Gobat is substantially 
 right in this assertion. Still it is not less certain that 
 other causes likemse operated. For the fact cannot be 
 concealed, that, after the death of Sabagadis, the sym- 
 pathies of the Protestant missionai'ies were entirely with 
 their late protector's family, wlio, instead of submitting to 
 the conqueror Ubye, continued for many years in open 
 hostilities against him. And when, in the year 1832, shortly 
 after Sabagadis^s death, the Englishman Coffin arrived at 
 Massowah with a large number of muskets, as a present 
 from the British Government to that chief; instead of 
 keeping them back altogether, as the prince for whom 
 they were destined was then no more, or else handing 
 them over to Ubye as the ruler de facto of Tigre (in which 
 he would only have followed the precedent of his patron, 
 Mr. Salt, with respect to the presents destined in 1810 for 
 the titular Emperor), Coffin gave a considerable portion 
 of those muskets to the sons and relatives of Sabagadis, 
 who were in arms against Ubye, and so enabled them to 
 ^vithstand him for many years. Added to this. Coffin 
 attached Inmself personally to the interests of the family 
 of Sabagadis, and is generally understood to have led 
 them to look for assistance from England, and thus to con- 
 tinue their fruitless attempts to acquire the sovereignty of 
 Tigre. Under such circumstances, it may readily be be- 
 lieved that Ul)ye and his adherents were not likely to be- 
 friend the Eiifjlisli missionaries, who, hoping perhaps that 
 the relatives of Sabagadis would eventually gain the upper 
 hand, certainly took no pains to conciliate the ruling 
 powers either in Church or State. 
 
 The Roman ('atholic mission, which was established on
 
 THE FllKNCII AND ENGLISH IN SIIOA. 13 
 
 the expulsion of the Protestant clergymen by Padre Giu- 
 seppe Sapeto, had for its head Padre de' Jacobis, a Neapo- 
 litan of noble family, under whose able direction it soon 
 took deep root in Abyssinia, where it still flourishes, not- 
 withstanding the disgrace and subsequent death of its able 
 and accomplished chief, who, in addition to his zeal for the 
 spread of his faith, was the prince of political intriguers. 
 
 When the Protestant missionaries were expelled from 
 Tigre in 1838, they directed their steps towards Shoa, 
 where they arrived in the following year, and established 
 their mission under the most favourable auspices. But 
 hardly were they settled, when they were troubled by the 
 appearance of M. Rochet (afterwards French Consul at 
 Djidda), who soon ingratiated himself with King Sahela 
 Selasye, and was sent by that monarc'h, in March 1840, 
 with presents to King Louis Philippe. 
 
 At that particular juncture, the participation of England 
 and France in the disputes between the Sultan and his 
 powerful vassal, Mohammed Ali, Pasha of Egypt, threatened 
 to cause hostilities between those two Powers; and the 
 British Government, again alive to the importance of 
 Abyssinia in such an event, lost no time in sending to 
 Shoa a mission under the direction of Major (afterwards 
 Sir William) Harris. 
 
 This mission arrived in Shoa in July 184<1, six months 
 after I had reached that country, whither I had jDroceeded 
 from Aden by the way of Tadjurrah (the road followed by 
 Major Harris), taking with me, as my servant, a young 
 Dankali named Hussein, or Samuel Georgis, who is the 
 son of the chief Ali, Mr. Cofiin's companion in 1838, and 
 who has recently become known, in connexion with the
 
 IJ- THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 unfortunate British captives^ as " Samuel, the Emperor's 
 stCAvard/' 
 
 It is needless to dilate on the objects and proceedings 
 of Major Harris's mission, or on its lamentable failure. It 
 will be sufficieut to say that scarcely had the British 
 envoy concluded a treaty of amity and commerce with 
 the King of Shoa, by which the latter engaged to respect 
 the persons and property of British subjects, than the 
 Rev. J. L. Krapf, a Chui'ch missionary established in 
 that countiy since 1839, who in March 184^2 had un- 
 dertaken a journey into Northern Abyssinia, was pre- 
 vented by the King from passing through the coast 
 lands of the Dankali tribes, on his return to Shoa by 
 the way of Tadjurrah, in November of the same year — 
 and this in spite of the representations of the British 
 envoy, who was also unable to save from confiscation 
 the property which Mr. Krapf had left in Shoa; and 
 that shortly afterwards the English mission left the coun- 
 try and returned to Bombay. 
 
 It may be regarded as mere surplusage to add that the 
 Protestant Church mission in Shoa was abandoned.
 
 15 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 COPTIC ABUNA — rROTESTANT AND ROMAN CATHOLIC RIVALRY — 
 FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN THE RED SEA — FATE OF LORD PAL- 
 MERSTON's LETTER — MR. COFFIX'S MISSION — BRITISH CONSU- 
 LATE — MR. BELL AND CONSUL PLOWDEN — TREATY BETWEEN 
 ENGLAND AND ABYSSINIA — ITS IMPOLICY — CONSUL PLOWDEN'S 
 REPORT — FRONTIER TRIBES — RAIDS OF TURCO-EGYPTIANS INTO 
 BOGOS — CONSUL PLOWDEN'S INTERFERENCE — APPROVAL OF 
 BRITISH GOVERNMENT — CONTINUED AGGRESSIONS OP EGYPT — 
 SLAVE TRADE. 
 
 Such was the unsuccessful issue of our relations, both 
 religious aud political, with Southern Abyssinia; more 
 fortunate, however, than those with Northern Abyssinia, 
 inasmuch as they had no consequences, as the latter 
 had — consequences which have been in operation till the 
 present day, and unhappily have not yet come to an end. 
 
 The seed of all the troubles that have arisen was sown 
 by the expulsion of the Protestant missionaries from Tigre 
 in 1838, and the establishment there of a Roman Catholic 
 mission. The first fruit of that seed was produced within 
 two years afterwards, in the circumstances attending the 
 nomination and consecration of the present Abiina or 
 Bishop of Abyssinia. According to the constitution of the 
 Church of that country, which is said to have been esta- 
 blished by Abuna Tekla Haimanot, the last native bishop 
 in the thirteenth century, the Abyssinian Church receives 
 its bishop from the see of St. Mark, in the person of a 
 Coptic priest consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria. 
 In the year 1840, when the metropolitan see of Abyssinia 
 had been vacant thirteen or fourteen years, Dedjatj Ubye
 
 16 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 of Tigrc, with a view to his own aggrandizement at the 
 cost of his rival Ras Ali, sent a mission to Cairo to obtain 
 the consecration of a new Abuna. The expenses of such 
 a mission are necessarily great, inasmuch as, besides the 
 customary presents to the Coptic Patriarch, the consent 
 of the Turkish Government, through the Pasha of Egypt, 
 has likewise to be obtained by purchase; which (it may 
 be remarked) is adduced as a proof that the Abyssinians 
 themselves are vassals of the Porte. 
 
 The interpreter to this mission was Padre de' Jacobis, 
 Avho hoped, tlu'ough the influence of the representatives of 
 the Roman Catholic powers in Egypt, to obtain the ap- 
 pointment of a candidate favourable to their Church. But, 
 as is related by Mr. Isenberg, one of Dr. Gobat^s succes- 
 sors in the Protestant mission in Abyssinia, " with a \dew 
 to strengthen the friendly connexion between the Coptic 
 (as also the Abyssinian) and the English Churches, the 
 Patriarch's choice fell upon a young man Avho promised 
 well for that purpose, on account of his having passed 
 several years in the school of the English Church Mission- 
 ary Society at Cairo. His name was Andraos, and he 
 received at his consecration the name of Abba Salama, in 
 remembrance of Frumentius, the apostle of the Abyssi- 
 nians, w^ho had borne the same name in the Church" *. 
 
 Defeated in Egypt, Padre de' Jacobis, accompanied by 
 several Abyssinians, proceeded to Rome, wlicre he esta- 
 blished certain relations, which will be more particularly 
 alluded to in the sequel f. 
 
 For a long time Ablja Salama was an uncompromising 
 
 • Abcsshdcn mid die evangelische Kirche (Bonn, 1844), vol. ii. p. 145, 
 t See page 41.
 
 THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN THE RED SEA. 17 
 
 supporter of the Protestant party in Abyssinia, in opposi- 
 tion to that of the Church of Rome ; and he is understood 
 to have been for several years a pensioner of that party, 
 through Consul Plowden during his lifetime, and after his 
 death, for a short time longer, through M. Barroni, Mr. 
 Plowden's agent at Massowah. Seeing the venal character 
 of the prelate, this was doubtless the most effectual way to 
 secure his partisanship ; and there is no reason for believ- 
 ing that his exertions were not at all times proportioned to 
 the benefit he derived from them. 
 
 It is not easy to gain so clear an insight into the various 
 intrigues in Abyssinia of the agents of the Church of Rome 
 and of the Government of France, which appear to have 
 been systematically and silently cai'ried on from the com- 
 mencement of the present century. In my pamphlet, 
 'The French and English in the Red Sea,"" published in 
 1862, 1 have endeavoured to give a summary of the actions 
 of both establishments, which for all practical purposes 
 may, in their objects and interests, be regarded as similar 
 if not absolutely identical ; like as in a general way are 
 those of England and Protestantism. 
 
 But there is one instance of this common action which 
 cannot be passed over without special notice. In the year 
 1839, M. Antoine d^Abbadie, a well-known traveller in 
 Abyssinia, was the bearer of two letters from Hatsye 
 Sahela Dengel, the nominal Emperor at Gondar, the one 
 to the English and the other to the French Government. 
 These letters, in the character of an Englishman in England 
 and of a Frenchman in France, he delivered to Viscount 
 Palmerston and Marshal Soult, from both of whom he re- 
 ceived '' appropriate answers,'^ with which he returned to 
 
 c
 
 18 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Abyssinia in the beginning of 1840. The letter from 
 Marshal Soult duly reached its destination : that from 
 Lord Palmcrston was retained by M. d^Abbadie in his 
 possession for a considerable time, and was eventually 
 delivered over to Captain Haines, the British political 
 agent at Aden. The subsequent fate of this letter from 
 Lord Palraerston to the Emperor of Abyssinia is not ma- 
 terial to the present narrative ; but I may be permitted to 
 mention, on account of my personal connexion with it, that 
 after it had passed three times before my eyes, at Suez, at 
 Aden, and at Ankober, it was, on its fourth appearance, at 
 Ycjubbi, in South-western Abyssinia, on February 10th, 
 1843, committed to the flames by the messenger by whom 
 it liad liecn brought to me from Major Harris, but from 
 whom I refused to receive it. The circumstances con- 
 nected Avith this letter of Lord Palmerston^s are, however, 
 so singular and instructive, that I have thought it well to 
 print, in the Appendix to the present Avork, a letter which 
 I addressed on the subject to Earl Russell, on July 22nd, 
 1865. 
 
 Subsequently to this correspondence bctAveen the Em- 
 peror Silhela Dengel and Viscount Palmcrston, which, as 
 is evident, led to no practical result, the next attempt to- 
 wards a renewal of political relations between Abyssinia 
 and England (as we are informed by Earl Russell^) was 
 made by lias Ubye, who, in the year 1841, sent Mr. 
 Coffin t with a letter and presents to Her Majesty. On 
 
 * Despatch to Col. Stanton of October 5, 18G5, in Parliamentary 
 Paper, 18()0, ' Further Correspondence respecting: the British Cap- 
 tives in Ahj'ssinia/ p. 61, 
 
 t Lord Piupsell describes Mr. Cofiin as " an Enrrlisli traveller,' 
 which is CAidentlv a misnomer.
 
 BRITISH CONSULATE IX ABYSSINIA. 19 
 
 Mr. Coffin's arrival in Egypt lie was informed through 
 Colonel Barnctt, the British Consul-General there, that he 
 need not proceed further on his journey to England, but 
 that he might deliver to Colonel Barnett any letter with 
 which he was charged. Mr. Coffin accordingly delivered 
 the letter from Ras Ubye, together with presents, to 
 Colonel Barnett, who sent the letter to England ; but it is 
 not known whether the presents were also sent, the only 
 allusion to them being found in a despatch from Colonel 
 Barnett, dated September 1841, in which he says they 
 were still with Mr. Coffin at Cairo. No reply, how- 
 ever, was returned to this letter ; in consequence of which 
 Ras Ubye was so angry that he threatened violence to 
 Mr. Coffin for not bringing him a return present from the 
 Queen. 
 
 According to Mr. Isenberg *, the only practical result of 
 Mr. Coffin's mission was the obtaining for the newly-con- 
 secrated Abulia, Abba Salama, a passage from Suez to 
 Massowah in the British vessel ' Colombo.' 
 
 Nothing further has to be noticed till 1847, when a 
 British Consulate was established in Abyssinia. The idea 
 of establishing such a Consulate did not originate in any 
 pohtical object, but in consequence of a suggestion made 
 by me in 1846 as to the obtaining of agricultural labourers 
 from Abyssinia " f ; and I was given to understand that 
 Viscount Palmerston had it in contemplation to appoint 
 me to the post. But Mr. Walter Plowden happened to 
 return to England from Abyssinia, where he had been re- 
 
 * O/?. cit. vol. ii. p. 60. 
 
 t See Parliamentary Papers relative to Distress in Sugar-growing 
 Colonies : H. L., 1848, No. 250, pp. 810 to 948, passim.
 
 20 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 sident nearly five years with Mr. John G. Bell, previously 
 an officer in the Indian navy, bringing presents from Ras 
 Ali and proposals for an alliance, and he received the ap- 
 pointment. At that period Baalgada Araia, a grandson of 
 Aito Debbib, mentioned by Mr. Salt as Ras Walda Selasye^s 
 favourite brother, and also nephew to Mr. Salt's friend 
 Sabagadis, had been for some time in arms against Ubye. 
 The traditional sympathies of the two Englishmen might 
 have induced them to take part with the Baalgada {" Go- 
 vernor of the Salt Plain ") against Ubye ; but, as his was 
 manifestly the losing side, they had passed on into Amhara 
 and attached themselves to Bas Ali, Ubye's great rival. 
 When Mr. Plowden came to England in 1847, he left his 
 comrade Bell holding the rank of general in the Ras's 
 army ; and when he returned in 1848 as Consul, he was 
 the bearer of presents fi'om the British Government to 
 their fi'iend Ras Ali. 
 
 Though Consul Plowden may not himself have entered 
 the service of the Ras as his companion Bell had done, he 
 organized a body of musketeers, the firelocks for whom he 
 procured from Aden; and, as in former times the com- 
 mander of the matchlock-men in the Emperor's service had 
 the title of Basha"^, Mr. Plowden was at first generally 
 known as Basha Buladen, as his name was pronounced by 
 the natives, which name, by dropping the nunnation, soon 
 became Basha Bulad. This appellation, of which the 
 
 • " The Basha, an ofTicer introduced by Melee Se<2rued, in imitation 
 of the Turks. . . . The function of the person so called was to command 
 the Mahometan musqueteers, then introduced into the household 
 troops. He .... is usually a gentleman of approved valour, who heads 
 a division of the infantry." — Bruce's ' Travels,' .3rd edit. vol. iii. p. 25 ; 
 note liv Dr. Murniv.
 
 TREATY BETWEEN GREAT BRITAIN AND ABYSSINIA. 21 
 
 literal meaning (curiously enough) is " General Gunlock/^ 
 became in the result the usual designation of the English 
 Consul, it being applied to Mr. Plowden^s successor as well 
 as to himself"^. 
 
 In November 1849, Consul Plowden and Ras Ali, as re- 
 presenting the titular Emperor, concluded a treaty of 
 friendship and commerce f, one of the articles of which 
 stipulated that the two Sovereigns should respectively re- 
 ceive and protect any ambassador, envoy, or consul whom 
 the other should appoint; and by the 17th article His 
 Majesty of Abyssinia agreed " that in all cases when a 
 British subject should be accused of any crime com- 
 mitted in any part of His Majesty^s dominions, the 
 accused should be tried and adjudged by the British 
 Consul, or other officer duly appointed for that purpose by 
 Her Britannic Majesty; ^^ and, further, that the British 
 Consul should have jurisdiction in disputes in which 
 British subjects were concerned, in like manner as gene- 
 rally in the Levant. 
 
 It was farther stipulated that the Sovereigns of England 
 and Abyssinia should " respectively, to the best of their 
 power, endeavour to keep open and to secure the avenues 
 of approach betwixt the sea-coast and Abyssinia ;^^ which, 
 as Ubye, the virtually independent ruler of Tigre, possessed 
 
 * ISIr. Stern says, in page 97 ol his ' Wanderings among the 
 Falashas,' "The report that a successor to the assassinated Consul 
 Plowden had arrived created quite a stir." The people " repaired in 
 a mass to the road to welcome in a becoming style the new hache 
 boulady Mr. Stern does not appear to have had the least conception 
 of the meaning of this strtinge name for an English Consul. 
 
 t Treaty, November 2nd, 1849 ; Bntish ratification delivered to the 
 Ixas of Abyssinia March 1st, 1852 ; laid before Parliament June 1852.
 
 22 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 and commanded those " avenues of approach " and was at 
 enmity witli AH, Avhilst Massowah and the entire sea- 
 board belonged to the Turks, might be construed into a 
 treaty offensive and defensive against both Ubye and the 
 Ottoman Porte. 
 
 The impolicy of this line of conduct on the part of the 
 British Government and their representative was distinctly 
 pointed out by me to Viscount Palmerston in a letter 
 addressed to him as Foreign Secretary on April 4th, 1848, 
 shortly after Consul Plowden's departure for his post. 
 This letter is printed in the Appendix to the present work. 
 On its contents I will now only remark, that had the ex- 
 ample of Mr. Salt been followed, as I so strongly recom- 
 mended, the present calamitous state of affairs in Abyssinia 
 could not have arisen. 
 
 Mr. Plowden himself appears to have discovered, when 
 it was unfortunately too late, that little benefit was likely 
 to accrue either to England or to Abyssinia from this 
 Treaty between the two nations; and he candidly con- 
 fessed in his letter to Eai'l Granville of June 20th, 1852, 
 written shortly after Her Majesty^s ratification of that 
 Treaty had been delivered to Ras Ali, as the representative 
 of the Emperor, that no efforts of his could annihilate the 
 3000 miles that interpose between the tAvo countries, or 
 " the more fatal barrier of the Turkish domination along 
 the line of coast^^^. And in his ' Remarks on the Social 
 System of Abyssinia, in some points bearing upon the 
 Treaty lately concluded,' Mr. Plowden states that " Dedjatj 
 Ubye of Semyen, by having added by conquest the whole 
 of Tigre and other provinces, had become in ])oint of war- 
 
 • i*;irlia)iii'iil;trv I'itprr. 1866, ' Further Correspoiulenct'/iSic, p. 1.
 
 IMPOLICY OF TllKATY WITH AMIIAllA. 23 
 
 like equipments fully the equal of the Ras^ possessed every 
 avenue leading from the interior, and acted in every respect 
 as an independent sovereign'^ "^j thereby virtually admit- 
 ting that the Treaty^ of which an express stipulation was 
 ''to endeavour to keep open and to secure the avenues 
 of approach betwixt the sea-coast and Abyssinia/^ ought 
 to have been concluded with Ubye rather than with his 
 enemy Ali. 
 
 What, on the other hand, the value of an alliance with 
 Ubye might have been may be judged from Mr. Plow- 
 den's description of that able and powerful prince, given 
 at a shortly subsequent date in a ' Statement of our pre- 
 sent Relations with Northern Abyssinia,' dated March 23, 
 1853 : — " The present Ras, though no other chief is 
 powerful enough to encounter him in the field, can only 
 retain his title by the maintenance of a large army and 
 constant wars against his rebellious vassals. Of all the 
 inferior chiefs, whose title is Dcdjazmatjfj the greatest is 
 Dedjatj Ubye, who, partly by the concurrence of the Ras, 
 and more by subtlety, fortune, and the force of arms, 
 
 * Ihid. p. 2. 
 
 t This title is so variously spelled that it is deserving of a few 
 words of explanation. It is compounded of two words, Dt'dj, a " gate " 
 or "door," wx^Azmatj, a "leader " {dux) or "general;" and it means 
 the conmiander of that portion of the army which protects the door of 
 the Emperor : consequently the commander of the centre or main 
 body; Kan-AzinatJ And Gef'-Azmafjhehv^ respectively the commanders 
 of the right and left wings of the army. These desig-uations have 
 however now become territoi'ial distinctions and almost mere titles of 
 honour ; DedJ-aztnafJ, as governor of a province, may be regarded as 
 equivalent to our Duke. The language of Tigre not possessing the 
 sounds dj, tj, the word becomes Derjasmati, by some Europeans wiitten 
 Kasmati or Gusmati. Before a proper name it is contracted to 
 Dedjatj or De(/us.
 
 24 
 
 THE imiTJsn captives in abyssinia. 
 
 governs with absolute sway tlic country from near the 
 coast of the Red Sea to Gondar, and from Lasta to 
 Sennaar ; the only conditions that should prevent him 
 from being regarded as an independent sovereign being 
 his title of Dcdjazmatj held from the lias and the pay- 
 ment of a tribute of money to him yearly as his feudal 
 superior : otherwise the E-as does not interfere with his 
 rule over these vast provinces, by which he commands 
 every avenue to the interior of the country available for 
 trade or policy"*. 
 
 In reply to Consul Plowden's communications of June 
 20, 1852, and March 23, 1853, the Earl of Clarendon, 
 who was then Foreign Secretary, replied on October 3, 
 1853: — '^ Her Majesty^s Government were led by the re- 
 presentations formerly made by you to expect that ad- 
 vantage Mould result to British interests from the con- 
 clusion of a treaty with the rulers of Abyssinia, and 
 from the establishment of a British Consulate in that 
 country. It appears, how^ever, from your reports now 
 before me, that there is little reason to expect that such 
 will be the case. 
 
 ^' Nevertheless, Her Majesty's Government having con- 
 cluded the treaty and established the Consulate, are re- 
 luctant to renounce all hope of benefit from those mea- 
 sui'cs; but their means of obtaining in this country in- 
 formation on which to act are necessarily very limited; 
 and I must have recourse to you for a report as to the 
 possibility of your establishing yourself either at Massowah 
 or any otlicjr place on the sea-coast where you may retain 
 an influence on the rulers of Abyssinia, and facilitate 
 * * Further CoiTespondence,' p. 4.
 
 CONSUL PLOWDEn's REPORT. FRONTIER TRIBES, 25 
 
 communication with the provinces under their govern- 
 ment"''^. 
 
 From the papers laid before Parliament, it does not 
 appear what steps were taken by Mr. Plowden in pur- 
 suance of Lord Clarendon^s instructions. But one result 
 of these instructions was a long and valuable report, 
 giving, as it states, ' a Sketch of the Laws, Customs, Go- 
 vernment, and Position of Abyssinia, with a short account 
 of its Neighbours 't; the contents of which report are so 
 exceedingly interesting and instructive, that it is deeply 
 to be regretted that such precious matter should have been 
 allowed to remain for more than twelve years hidden 
 and seemingly forgotten in the archives of the Foreign 
 Office. 
 
 In his report, Mr. Plowden describes at considerable 
 length the tribes surrounding Abyssinia on all sides. 
 E-eferring to that report for fui'ther details, it will be suf- 
 ficient for my present purpose to state here that along 
 the edge of the Abyssinian plateau, towards the north and 
 north-west, are several tribes, the sovereignty over whom 
 has long been debatable between Abyssinia and Egypt. 
 Some of them, who profess Christianity, have for many 
 years been under the protection of England ; and the 
 British Consul-General in Egypt has more than once been 
 under the necessity of remonstrating with the Egyptian 
 Government on account of aggressions or other ill-treat- 
 ment. 
 
 In speaking of these frontier tribes, Mr. Plowden 
 says, " The divisions of Bogos, Senhait, Bidjuk, and all the 
 others near Hamasyen, still hold out after having been 
 * 'P'urtlier Corretspoudeuce/ p. 5. t Ibid. pp. G-41
 
 26 THE HRITISII CAPTIVES IX ABYSSINIA. 
 
 twice plundered : the details of the last cxpeditioii have 
 been furnished in my despatches/^ 
 
 Though the despatches fui'nishing these details have 
 not been laid before Parliament, we have the means of ob- 
 taining elsewhere the particulars of the expedition alluded 
 to by Consid Plowden, on the testimony of an eye-witness, 
 namely, j\Ir. James Hamilton, in his work ' Sinai, the 
 Hedjaz, and Soudan,' published in 1857. 
 
 After describing how the Egyptian Government had 
 step by step acquired possession of the Arab districts 
 surrounding Abyssinia on the north, and particularly the 
 province of Taka, of which the capital, Kassalah, has be- 
 come the residence of the Egyjjtian governor, Mr. Hamil- 
 ton relates how the soldiers of the garrison are " employed 
 by the Government, in conjunction with the border Arabs, 
 in the iniquitous raids into Abyssinia, which furnish a 
 considerable part of the revenues of the province. This 
 year (1854), in the latter part of January, they made a 
 successful incursion into the territory of the Bogos, carrying 
 away three hundred and forty individuals, men, women, 
 and children, all Christians, and eighteen hundred beeves. 
 Of these one half fell to the share of the Arabs, the other 
 half Avas carried to the account of the Government, which 
 sold a part by auction, and distributed the others, on ac- 
 count of their arrears of pay, to the officers and other 
 employes. This is the usual way in which the produce of 
 these man-stealing, frecbooting expeditions is tm'ned to 
 account; the slaves and the cattle are ranged in cate- 
 gories, according to their estimated values, and then dis- 
 tributed instead of pay to the employes, and even to the 
 troops.
 
 TURKISH RAIDS INTO BOGOS. BRITISH INTERFERENCE. 27 
 
 '' An Italian missionary, named Giovanni Stella "^^ from 
 whose congregation sixteen of these poor wretches had 
 been carried off, followed them here (to Kassalah) in hopes 
 of rescuing them. The Governor only laughed at his de- 
 mand when he claimed the liberation of the three hundred 
 and forty frecborn Abyssinians who had been carried into 
 slavery; and when he afterwards limited himself to re- 
 quiring those who belonged to his own flock, offering even 
 to pay the price at which they were valued, it was equally 
 
 in vain I can find no words to express the feeliugs of 
 
 indignation which the recital of these atrocities filled me 
 with. Had its victims been Pagans, the crime was atro- 
 cious ; but they were Christians, and therefore more en- 
 titled to secure our sympathies. 
 
 " After our departure from Kassalah, the English Consul 
 at Massowah came here to investigate the matter ; and 
 though his representations to the Governor were met with 
 insult as well as refusal, I have still some faint hope that 
 justice may be obtained. But this country is too remote 
 from European eyes to make one sanguine that any real 
 satisfaction will be given, however fair the promises with 
 which the Pasha may seek to gain time or delude the 
 European authorities in Cairo. The Egyptian Govern- 
 ment has long had designs upon Abyssinia Not- 
 
 wishstanding the stipulations made three years ago by the 
 European Powers, to prevent aggression on the Abys- 
 
 * Padre Stella is still stationed in Bogos. He went to France last 
 year, it is said, on account of the continued aggressions of Egypt. He 
 returned to Abyssinia in tlie beginning of the present year, in the 
 suite of the newly consecrated French Roman Catholic Bishop, Msgr. 
 Bel (the first of his nation in Abyssinia), who at once proceeded with 
 him to visit the mission at Keren, in Bogos.
 
 28 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 siniau frontiers, there is every reason to believe tliat tlie 
 Pasha, whose obstinacy of purpose is only equalled by the 
 cunning with which he has circumvented more than one 
 Frank diplomatist, has by no means changed his view^s "^. 
 
 In a note in a subsequent page, written at Cairo on 
 August 5th, 1854, Mr. Hamilton says, " A few days 
 after we left Kassalah, H.M. Consul at Massowah arrived 
 to inquire into and report upon the recent outrages on the 
 frontier. He met with even a colder reception than our- 
 selves : the Mudir (governor) forbade the Arabs to carry 
 letters for him, forbade the public writers to write for 
 him, in fact, completely excommunicated him — a penalty 
 in which our worthy host, Mr. Kotzika, was also involved. 
 It Avas necessary to go a joui'ney of two days to reach a 
 tribe not dependent on the Mudir, in order to forward his 
 coiTcspondence. The usual system of promises and eva- 
 sion was, of course, resorted to in Cairo, to excuse the 
 culprit, who no doubt had only acted on Abbas Pasha^s in- 
 stnictions ; and it was only after that monster's death, that 
 H.M. Consul-General obtained fi'ora the present Viceroy 
 (Said Pasha) satisfaction, by Chosrew Bey^s dismissal " ■\. 
 
 That Consul Plowden's proceedings on behalf of the 
 frontier tribes of Abyssinia were entirely approved by 
 the British Government at home, is established by the 
 following passage in Lord Clarendon^s despatch to that 
 officer, dated November 27, 1855 : — " Her Majesty^s Go- 
 vernment have latterly remonstrated in the strongest terms 
 against the intentions of the Viceroy of Egypt to attack 
 Abyssinia; and the present Viceroy (Said Pasha) has not 
 only put a stop to such proceedings, and has confined 
 * Op. til. pp. 240-2-A8. t Hid. p. '2:>2.
 
 CONTINUED AGRESSIONS OF EGYPT. SLAVE TRADE. 29 
 
 himself within his own dominions, but he has set free the 
 Abyssinian prisoners reduced to slavery by his prede- 
 cessor " ■^. 
 
 Notwithstanding the assurance thus given of the good 
 intentions of the then ruling Viceroy, it is quite certain 
 that the atrocious aggressions on the Abyssinian frontier 
 districts, so vividly depicted by Mr. Hamilton, were in 
 no wise intermitted. When Said Pasha himself was in 
 England in 1862, he told the President ot the Royal 
 Geographical Society, Sir Roderick I. Murchison, that 
 the frontiers of his dominions towards the south were 
 very elastic ; and there is evidence of their having been 
 steadily pushed forward in the direction of Abyssinia, as 
 in every other. It may be quite true that, on the part 
 of the Abyssinians themselves, there has been no lack of 
 hostile feeling, and that they likewise have lost no oppor- 
 tunity of harassing the Egyptians and the tribes submitted 
 to them. Such is always the case in border warfare, and 
 it would probably be often difficult to decide which of the 
 two parties was the aggressor. 
 
 However this may be, an inevitable result of these con- 
 stant feuds between the Mohammedans and Christians 
 along the frontiers has been the capture, both in war and 
 by stealth, of numerous Christian Abyssinians, who are 
 sold into slavery. When I was last at Massowah, I heard 
 that the Slave Trade was still carried on there and at Ar- 
 kiko to some extent. How it is in the interior may be 
 gathered from the preceding pages, and also from Consul 
 Cameron^s report to Consul General Colquhoun of May 
 20th, 1863t. 
 
 * ' Further Correspondence,' p. 47, t If'id p. 00.
 
 30 
 
 CPIAPTER III. 
 
 KASSAI OF KAVARA — HIS RISE TO TOWEB, — CONQUEST OF AMHABA, 
 GODJAII, AND TIGEE — CROAVNED AS THEODORE, EMPEROR OF 
 ETHIOPIA — HIS CHARACTER — GREAT REFORMS — AMBITIOUS PRO- 
 JECTS — RELIGIOUS INTRIGUES — BANISHMENT OF ROMAN CATHO- 
 LICS — THE THEODORE OF PROPHECY — ROMAN CATHOLIC PRE- 
 TENDER AT ROME — THEODORE SET UP BY THE COPTIC ABUNA — 
 HIS BELIEF IN HIS DIVINE MISSION — SUBSEQUENT CHANGE OP 
 CHARACTER AND CONDUCT. 
 
 Whilst Consul Plowdcn was thus occupied on the 
 northern frontiers of Abyssinia, an important change oc- 
 cuiTcd in the government aud political condition of that 
 country, which cannot be better described than in the 
 words of that officer in his report on the subject, con- 
 tained in his despatch to the Earl of Clarendon, dated 
 Gondar, June 25th, 1855. 
 
 " In my last report I represented Northern Abyssinia, 
 independently of Shoa, as being ruled by three chiefs, who 
 were generally at variance with each other, and whose feudal 
 vassals were most often in a state of secret or open rebel- 
 lion. A remarkable man has now appeared, who, under 
 tlic title of Negus or King Theodoras^, has united the 
 whole of Northern Abyssinia under his authority, and 
 
 • I cannot see any reason for using this Latin form. The native 
 name is 'Teodcros or Teddros, from the Greelv Qeodapos, with the ac- 
 cent on the antepenultimate. We oujjht to use either the native name 
 or the English form Theodore. I have altered the name through- 
 out, and have likewise coiTected in some instances the spelling of na- 
 tive names; adopting, generally, the system of Sir William Jones, 
 as recommended by the lloyal Geogi-aphical Society.
 
 DEDJATJ KASSAI OF KWARA. 31 
 
 has established tolerable tranquillity, considering the short- 
 ness of his career and the hazardous wars in which he has \ A *'** 
 been and is still engaged. 
 
 " From his earliest youth, Dcdjatj Kassai regarded his 
 present elevation as assuredly destined, but concealed his 
 designs with prudence equal to his daring until ripe for 
 execution. First he denied the authority of the Queen, 
 mother of Ras Ali, under whom he governed the provinces 
 near Sennaar; defeated in succession all the troops she 
 could send against him, and lastly herself with tenfold 
 his numbers : he protested, however, that he was still the 
 faithful servant of Has Ali, but refused to surrender ex- 
 cept on certain conditions of peace. The Uas then sent 
 against him an immense force ; the armies camped opposite 
 to each other for some time, the Eas not wishing to drive 
 matters to extremity; and in the interval Kassai fought 
 several minor battles, detected and punished some traitors 
 in his own camp, and introduced a little discipline into 
 his army. 
 
 " The Ras having sworn to do him no injury, he sur- 
 rendered and came to Debra Tabor, where he so com- 
 pletely lulled all suspicion that he received all his former 
 honours and provinces from the Ras, the queen being in 
 a measure disgraced. He returned to Kawra and attacked 
 all the low countries towards Sennaar [inhabited by] Shan- 
 kalas or Arabs, accustoming his soldiers to war and hard- 
 ships. 
 
 " His projects not being yet matured, on several occa- 
 sions when it was confidently reported that he had re- 
 belled, he baffled his accusers by suddenly appearing in 
 the Ras's camp, and following him to war in Godjam with
 
 32 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 about a third of his forces, tlius quite winning his 
 heartj though I ventured to point out to the Has his dan- 
 gerous character. 
 
 '' At last, about two years and a half ago, he tkrew off 
 the mask, and the lias having sent against him Dedjatj 
 Goshu, that prince was defeated and slain in battle. 
 
 " The Ras now became seriously alarmed, and ordered 
 half his army under his best commanders to attack 
 him ; he also called upon Dedjatj Ubye. chief of Tigre, for 
 assistance, and that prince furnished a very large con- 
 tingent. Though numbers Avere so overwhelming against 
 him, Dedjatj Kassai met these forces and gave them a 
 signal defeat, killing most of the chiefs ; shortly after he 
 took the daring resolution of attacking the Ras, and ar- 
 riving by forced marches near the camp of that prince in 
 Godjam in the rainy season, sent him a defiance, and 
 met him, though so far superior in cavalry, in the open 
 plains. The Ras fought with the utmost courage in 
 person; the loss of life was considerable on both sides; 
 but Kassai's determined valour again won the day, Ras Ali 
 escaping. 
 
 " He then retired from Godjam, and afforded to Biru 
 Goshu, who had been for five years besieged by the Ras 
 in his mountain fort of Somma, an opportunity of leaving 
 that stronghold. 
 
 " During some months Dedjatj Kassai remained tran- 
 quil, amusing Dedjatj Ubye at first with friendly propo- 
 sals, afterwards demanding of that chief the Abuna, Abba 
 Salama, who had been banished by Ras Ali, with me- 
 naces in case of non-c(niipliauce. Ubye, becoming alarmed, 
 sent first his son with proposals, and, subsequently the 
 
 "N»
 
 L 
 
 KASSAl's CONQUESTS AND RISE TO I'OWEU. -'^3 
 
 Abima; the latter was reinstated in his dignity at Gondar, 
 and a peace was made between the chiefs. Dedjatj Kassai 
 then pursued Biru Goshu even to the Galla provinces, 
 where he had assembled a large forcC; defeated and took 
 him prisoner. 
 
 " He was now strong in guns and troops, and on his 
 return camped in the province of Woggera, from whence 
 he declared war against Ubye, reproaching him with his 
 falsehood, which was proved, in having sent letters to 
 encourage Biru Goshu. With some reluctance Ubye at 
 last put himself in motion to oppose Dedjatj Kassai, who 
 had advanced into Semyen ; the latter, by forced marches, 
 fell suddenly upon his rival, and in two hours defeated 
 him, taking prisoner all his sons and generals with him- 
 self; without delay he invested Ubye^s strongholds, which 
 surrendered at once. 
 
 " The fruits of this last victory were large treasures 
 accumulated for three generations, the submission or im- 
 prisonment of almost all the chiefs in Abyssinia, and the 
 coronation of Dedjatj Kassai by the Abuna, Abba Salama, 
 under the title of Theodoros, King of Kings of Ethiopia. 
 
 " Discovering a plot against his life, the King only 
 placed in durance those concerned, displaying in all things 
 great clemency and generosity, and the ransom of Dedjatj 
 Ubye was fixed at 120,000 dollars. 
 
 " With scarce a week^s delay, and in spite of the mur- 
 murs of his soldiers, the King marched against the Mo- 
 hammedan Gallas, who had, during his absence, burnt 
 some churches, and assembled all the forces of Christian 
 Abyssinia, Tigre included, in the province of Dalanta, on 
 the borders of Worrahemano, where I found him.
 
 34 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ARYSSINIA. 
 
 '' He may have from 50,000 to G0/)00 men of all arms. 
 
 " Such has been his adventurous and warlike career. 
 I shall now say a few words on his personal character, 
 the reforms he has eflFected, the designs he is contem- 
 plating, and the condition and prospects of the country. 
 
 '^ The King Theodores is young in years, vigorous in all 
 manly exercises, of a striking countenance, peculiarly po- 
 lite and engaging when pleased, and mostly displaying 
 great tact and delicacy. He is persuaded that he is des- 
 tined to restore the glories of the Ethiopian empire, and 
 to achieve great conquests : of untiring energy, both men- 
 tal and bodily, his personal and moral daring are bound- 
 less. The latter is well proved by his severity towards 
 his soldiers, even when these, pressed by hunger, are 
 mutinous, and he is in front of a powerful foe ; more so 
 even by his pressing reforms in a country so little used to 
 any yoke, whilst engaged in unceasing hostilities, and his 
 suppression of the power of the great feudal chiefs, at a 
 moment when any inferior man would have sought to 
 conciliate them as the stepping-stones to empire. 
 
 " When aroused his wrath is terrible, and all tremble ; 
 hut at all moments he possesses a perfect self-command. 
 Indefatigable in hiisiucss, he takes little repose night or 
 day : his ideas and language are clear and precise ; hesi- 
 tation is not knoA^ai to him; and he has neither coun- 
 cillors nor go-betweens. He is fond of splendour, and 
 receives in state even on a campaign. He is unsparing in 
 punishment — very necessary to restrain disorder, and to 
 restore order in such a wilderness as Abyssinia. He 
 salutes his meanest subject with courtesy ; is sincerely 
 though often mistakenly religious, and will acknowledge a
 
 CHARACTER OP THE EMPEROR THEODORE. 35 
 
 fault committed toward his poorest follower in a moment 
 of passion with sincerity and grace. 
 
 " He is generous to excess, and free from all cupidity, 
 regarding nothing with pleasure or desire but munitions 
 of war for his soldiers. He has hitherto exercised the 
 utmost clemency toward the vanquished, treating them 
 rather as his friends than his enemies. His faith is signal : 
 without Christ, he says, I am nothing ; if he has destined 
 me to purify and reform this distracted kingdom, with 
 His aid who shall stay me : nay, sometimes he is on the 
 point of not caring for human assistance at all, and this is 
 one reason why he will not seek with much avidity for 
 assistance from or alliance with Europe. 
 
 " The worst points in his character are, his violent 
 anger at times, his unyielding pride as regards his kingly 
 and divine right, and his fanatical religious zeal. 
 
 " He has begun to reform even the dress of Abyssinia, 
 all about his person wearing loose flowing trowsers and 
 upper and under vests, instead of the half-naked costume 
 introduced by the Gallas. Married himself at the altar 
 and strictly continent, he has ordered or persuaded all 
 who love him to follow his example, and exacts the greatest 
 decency of manners and conversation : this system he 
 hopes to extend to all classes. 
 
 " He has suppressed the Slave Trade in all its phases, 
 save that the slaves already bought may be sold to such 
 Christians as shall buy them for charity : setting the ex- 
 ample, he pays to the Mussulman dealers what price they 
 please to ask for the slaves they bring to him, and then 
 baptizes them. 
 
 " He has abolished the barbarous practice of delivering 
 
 d2
 
 36 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 over murderers to the relatives of the deceased, handing 
 over offenders, in public, to his own executioners to be 
 shot or decapitated. 
 
 " The arduous task of breaking the power of the great 
 feudal Chiefs — a task achieved in Europe only during the 
 reigns of many consecutive Kings — he has commenced l)y 
 chaining almost all who were dangerous, avowing his in- 
 tention of liberating them when his power shall be con- 
 solidated. He has placed the soldiers of the different pro- 
 vinces under the command of his own trusty followers, to 
 Avhom he has given high titles, but no power to judge or 
 \j' punish ; thus, in fact, creating generals in place of feudal 
 Chieftains more proud of their birth than of their monarch, 
 and organizing a new nobility, a legion of honour depen- 
 dent on himself, and chosen specially for their daring and 
 fidelity. 
 
 " To these he gives sums of money from time to time, 
 accustoming them to his intention of establishing a regular 
 pay ; his matchlock-men are numbered under officers com- 
 manding from 100 to 1000, and the King drills them in 
 person. In the common soldiers he has effected a great 
 reform, by paying them, and ordering them to purchase 
 their food, but in no way to harass and plunder the pea- 
 sant as Ijcforc ; the peasantry he is gradually accustoming 
 to live quiet under the village judge, and to look no more 
 to military rule. As regards commerce, he has put an 
 end to a number of vexatious exactions, and has ordered 
 that duties shall l)e levied only at three places in his do- 
 minions. All tliese matters cannot yet be perfected, but 
 he intends also to disarm the people, and to establish a 
 regular standing army, armed with muskets only ; having
 
 THEODORE^S REFORMS AND ASPIRATIONS. 37 
 
 declared that he will convert swords and lances into 
 ploughshares and reaping-hooks^ and cause a plough-ox to 
 he sold dearer than the noblest war-horse. 
 
 " He has begun to substitute letters for verbal messages. ' 
 After perusing the history of the Jesuits in Abyssinia, he 
 has decided that no Roman Catholic priests shall teach in 
 his dominions ; and insisting on his right divine over those 
 born his subjects, has ordered the Abyssinians who have 
 adopted that creed to recant. To foreigners of all classes, 
 however, he permits the free exercise of their religion, but 
 prohibits all preaching contrary to the doctrine of the 
 Coptic Chm'ch. To the Mohammedans he has declared 
 that he will first conquer the Gallas, who have seized on 
 Clu'istian lands, devastated churches, and by force con- 
 verted the inhabitants to Islamism; and after that, the 
 Mussulmans now residing in Abyssinia will have the 
 option of being baptized or of leaving the country. 
 
 " He is peculiarly jealous, as may be expected, of his 
 sovereign rights, and of anything that appears to trench 
 on them : he wishes, in a short time, to send embassies to 
 the great European Powers to treat with them on equal 
 terms. The most difficult trait in his character is this 
 jealousy and the pride that, fed by ignorance, renders it 
 impossible for him yet to believe that so great a monarch 
 as himself exists in the world. 
 
 " In his present campaign he proposes to subdue or 
 exterminate the Mohammedan Gallas, and perhaps Shoa. 
 Next year he will devote to the settlement of Tigre, in- 
 cluding the tribes along the coast, and meditates the oc- 
 cupation of Massowah. After that he wishes to reclaim 
 all the provinces lately conquered by Egypt along his
 
 38 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA, 
 
 northern frontier, and even Khartoum, as his by right : nor 
 does his military ardom* hesitate to ckeam of the conquest 
 of Egypt and a trimnphant march to the Holy Sepulchre. 
 
 "■ Some of his ideas may be imperfect, others imprac- 
 ticable ; but a man, who, rising from the clouds of Abys- 
 sinian ignorance and childishness without assistance and 
 loithout advice"^, has done so much and contemplates such 
 large designs, cannot be regarded as of an ordinary 
 stamp /^ 
 
 The character thus attributed to the Emperor Theodore 
 by Consul Plowden was evidently written with a most 
 friendly pen. Several circumstances connected with his 
 rise to power have been omitted, especially those re- 
 lating to his final acquisition of the Imperial crown. I 
 give them here as having an important bearing on his 
 subsequent career. 
 
 After the defeat of Ras Ali, as is related by Mr. Plowden, 
 Kassai and Ubyc, who were then left alone, were found to 
 be [jretty evenly matched. To avoid further bloodshed, it 
 was agreed, in February 1854, that a council of the prin- 
 cipal chiefs and dignitaries of the empire should decide 
 between the two rivals, who each hound himself by an 
 oath to submit to tlicu' decision. It being soon apparent 
 that the council were inclined to place Ubye on the throne, 
 and that the Abuna, Abba Salama, was willing to crown 
 him, Kassai intrigued with Padre de^ Jacobis (who with 
 the spread of Romanism in Abyssinia had been recognized 
 as Romish hishop under the title of Abuna Yakob) for the 
 adoption of the faith of Rome by himself and the whole 
 empire, if Jacolns would crown him Emperor. Having 
 * Froui what is stated in pajre 4i>, this may bo questioned.
 
 INTRIGUES WITH ROMISH AND COPTIC HISIIOPS. 39 
 
 gained this point, Kassai suddenly led his army into Ubyc^s 
 hereditary jjrovince of Semyen. The Coptic bishop having 
 declared the perjured Kassai and his soldiers out of the 
 pale of the Church, Kassai intimated to him that, if he 
 could excommunicate, Abuna Yakol) could absolve ; at the 
 same time leaving the door open for negotiation. The 
 Coptic abuna, entrapped as easily as the Homish bishop 
 had been, at once abandoned Ubye^s cause, and agreed to 
 crown Kassai Emperor, on condition that he recognized 
 the Coptic faith as that of the empire, and banished from 
 the country Bishop de' Jacobis and his Romish priests. 
 
 Ubye, deprived of most of his moral power by the defec- 
 tion of the Coptic bishop, now marched in pursuit of Kassai. 
 On the 10th February, 1855 ^, a pitched battle took place 
 at Deraskye between their two armies, when that of Ubye 
 was completely routed, and he himself was wounded and 
 taken prisoner. Two days afterwards, Kassai was anointed 
 and crowned by the Coptic bishop by the name and title of 
 Theodore, King of the Kings {i. e. Emperor) of Ethiopia. 
 This ceremony took place in the church of Deraskye, which 
 Ubye had had built with a view to his own coronation. 
 
 Immediately after he had been crowned, Theodore 
 marched upon Gondar, where he ordered the imperial 
 7iegarit or large kettle-drums to be brought out and beaten 
 in the market-place ; and it was proclaimed, in the name 
 of the King of Kings Theodore, that if any one should 
 ever again speak of Dedjatj Kassai, he would have his 
 hands and feet cut off. 
 
 In order to show more fully the character of Kassai, and 
 to afford a key to his general conduct, it must be explained 
 * Mr. Stern gives this as the 4th, M. Lejean as the 5th of February. 
 
 .*i^-'
 
 40 THE BRITISH CAI'TIVES IN AI5YSSINIA. 
 
 that the name of Theodore, assumed by him at his corona- 
 tion, is tliat of an Emperor of Abyssinia who flourished 
 during the eleventh century of the Christian era, and Avho, 
 according to a native prophecy, is, like King Arthur of 
 Britain and Don Sebastian of Portugal, to reign again, and 
 under whom the empire is not only to recover its pristine 
 power and splendour, but Mohammedanism is to be extir- 
 pated and the Cross planted in tlie place of the Crescent at 
 Jerusalem, in which city he is to seat himself on the throne 
 of his ancestor Solomon, the wise King of Israel. 
 
 When I passed through Lasta in the year 1843, I ac- 
 quired a knowledge of the tradition of that kingdom, 
 which differs materially from that of the rest of Abyssinia. 
 According to it, the second Theodore is no other than 
 Nakwetolaab, the last reigning monarch of the native dy- 
 nasty of Lasta, who abdicated in favour of Yekwena Amlak, 
 the legitimate heir to the throne, and is said to be still 
 alive and wandering about between Jerusalem and the 
 Abyssinian province of Zobul, in expectation of the time 
 Avhen his second reign shall commence, which is to be a sort 
 of millennium. 
 
 Whether the present Emperor, when he assumed the 
 name of Theodore, was sincere in the belief that he was the 
 destined sovereign may fairly be questioned. M. Lejean is 
 inclined to regard him as sincere, and asserts that in 
 1855 the whole of Abyssinia believed in him, even if at the 
 present day the same faith may not be retained.* But this 
 is evidently a misapprehension. In 1855 I had in my ser- 
 vice, or was otherwise in communication Avitli, several Abys- 
 sinians, some of whom were from Kassai's native province, 
 • ' Revue des Deux Mondes ' (Nov. 1, 1864), vol. liv. p. 235.
 
 THE THEODORE OF PUOPHKCY. — RO.MISII PRETENDER. 41 
 
 Kwara or its immediate vicinity; and they unqualifiedly 
 denied his claim to be the Theodore of prophecy, for the 
 simple but conclusive reason, that Theodore was to come 
 from the east, whereas Kassai's place of origin, Kwara, 
 is in the extreme noriYi-ivest of Abyssinia ; and besides, we 
 are told by Consul Plowden, in his Report of June 25, 1855, 
 that at that very time a son of Ubye was giving himself 
 out as the destined Theodore, in opposition to Kassai. 
 
 That Kassai should have been induced to pass himself 
 off for the Theodore of prophecy may perhaps be accounted 
 for by the following remarkable circumstances. 
 
 For upwards of twenty years past there has resided in 
 Rome a certain lady of English extraciion, who claims to 
 be a lineal descendant of Menilek, the son of King Solo- 
 mon by the Queen of Sheba, and who, in the year 1863, 
 printed and published "con permesso" at Rome, a pamphlet 
 setting forth her pretensions, under the title of " Istoriche 
 Incidenze, per mezzo delle quali si prova esistere ancora e 
 fra di noi la linea diretta di Salomone, Re d'Egitto e de' 
 Giudei." 
 
 It is not requisite to discuss the pretensions of this 
 aspirant to the tlu'one of Ethiopia, whose pedigree I pos- 
 sess. It will be sufficient to state that they have been 
 countenanced both at Rome and in Abyssinia ; and that 
 when Padre de' Jacobis was in that city, as has been 
 already mentioned, a meeting was held in the Palazzo del 
 Governo Vecchio on September 9th 1841, at which were 
 present this claimant to the throne and other members 
 of her family, together with Padre de' Jacobis and several 
 Abyssinians, one of whom was the Alaka Habta Selasye, 
 and another a former secretary of Dcdjatj Sabagadis.
 
 42 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 This lady's husband, or one of her two sons, occupies 
 himself with painting sacred pictures for the adornment of 
 the churches of his future empire. When I was in Abys- 
 sinia during the present year, I inquired after these paint- 
 ings, but could not hear of any except two in the Roman 
 Catholic church at ]\Iassowah; the one representing the 
 marriage of the Holy Virgin and St. Joseph, with St. 
 Simeon joining their hands, and the other the death of St. 
 Joseph, with the Virgin and. infant Jesus attending him. 
 My very brief stay in the island in May last, on my return 
 from the upper country, precluded me from seeing these 
 two pictures, as I had desired to do. I am told that on 
 their frames are set forth the pretensions of the artist to 
 the throne of Ethiopia. 
 
 It is not at all improbable that, under favourable cir- 
 cumstances, the lloman Catholic party in Abyssinia would 
 have been, and might still be, prepared to support the 
 claims of this aspirant to the throne of their own faith, 
 who on his side would assuredly be willing to make them 
 every concession in return for their support. Whether it 
 was ever intended that this lloman Catholic pretender 
 should declare himself to be the Theodore of prophecy I 
 cannot say ; but the intimate acquaintance of Bishop de' 
 Jacobis with the ancient history of Ethiopia, his mystic 
 and cntliusiastic character, and his intriguing disposition, 
 might well have disposed him to originate and encourage 
 such an imposture. As regards, however, the idea of Kas- 
 sai's ])cing the destined sovereign — so to say, on the Coptic 
 and Protestant side, — I have been assured that it was sug- 
 gested to him by the Abuna — the same train of thought 
 which made that prelate assume to be the representative
 
 THEODORE S BELIEF IN HIS DIVINE MISSION. 43 
 
 of Frumentius and adopt his revered name of Abba Salama, 
 leading him not mmaturally to propose that Kassai should 
 in like manner adopt the name and attributes of the 
 destined restorer of the empire. 
 
 Whatever may have been the origin of Kassai's preten- 
 sions, and whether at the outset he himself believed 
 in his own claim or not, there can be no doubt that 
 he is now fully convinced of it. So far indeed has he be- 
 come filled with the idea of his divine mission, that at the 
 time of the defeat and execution of his rival, Negusye, in 
 the beginning of 1861, he made the following impious de- 
 claration to the clergy of Axum : — " I have made a bar- 
 gain with God. He has promised not to descend on earth 
 to strike me ; and I have promised not to ascend into 
 heaven to fight with him.^^ The madness of this assertion 
 is regarded by M. Lejean"^ as representing the amount of 
 disquietude caused by the intervention of France on the 
 side of his rival, Negusye. Rather is it the result of the 
 intoxication of success, superadded to that arising from the 
 constant habits of excess, which he indulged in before he 
 took on himself the character of the destined monarch of 
 religion, morality, and peace, and which he is known 
 to have resumed since he threw ofi" the mask and reap- 
 peared in what must be regarded as his true character. 
 
 M. Lejean, who on the whole is not unfavourably disposed 
 towards Theodore, attributes his change of conduct to 
 his being at length worn out by the constant rebellions 
 which he is unable to queU, and which eventually have 
 given rise to the one sole dark thought that now pervades 
 his soul; and he puts into Theodore's mouth the following- 
 * Oj7. cit. p. 2oo.
 
 44 THE niUTISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 words : — " God, wlio raised mc from the dust to supplant 
 the legitimate princes, did not perform this miracle without 
 a motive. I have a mission; but what is it? I thought at 
 first that I had to elevate this people by means of pros- 
 perity and peace ; but, in spite of all the good T have done, 
 I see more rebels raise up their heads than in the time of 
 the worst tyranny. It is evident that I have deceived my- 
 self. This people has a hard head, and requires to be chas- 
 tised before being called to enjoy the blessings of Provi- 
 dence. I now perceive the true part I have to perform : 
 I ^vdll be the scourge, the judgement of God on Abyssinia." 
 And M. Lejean adds that, as the new programme of his 
 reign, he has caused to be engraved on the carriages of his 
 mortars, "Theodore, the Scourge of the Perverse^^"^. 
 
 One of the frightful consequences of this resolution was 
 the laconic general order given by the monarch to his sol- 
 diers, " Eat up everything ; " under which order fourteen 
 provinces, with a superficies equal to that of Switzerland, 
 were " eaten up,'' the one after the other, in the three 
 months from March to June 18G3 f. 
 
 That M. Lejean has not exaggerated is proved l)y the 
 following extract from a letter, which I received in 1863, 
 from a j)crson who has had but too many opportunities of 
 forming a correct estimate of the Emperor's real charac- 
 ter : — " Abyssinia, I regret to say, has not improved since 
 my last visit. The King who, in the beginning of his reign, 
 gave great promise that he would introduce a new era of 
 peace and ])rospcrity to this long-distracted and misgo- 
 verned empire, has grievously disappointed the general ex- 
 pectation. Infatuated with the idea that he was the chosen 
 • Op. cit. p. GOD. t Ibid. 
 
 I
 
 TUEODOKE S CHANGE OF CHARACTER AND CONDUCT. 45 
 
 instrument of Heaven to perform exploits that would elicit 
 the Avorld's applause, he led the life of a saint in the camp, 
 and displayed the daring of a hero in battle. As long as 
 success attended his varied enterprises, all was couleur de 
 rose; but no sooner did he discover treacheries among his 
 governors and wide- spreading conspiracies among the 
 troops, than he abandoned the false character he had as- 
 sumed, and descended to the common level of all former 
 Abyssinian monarchs. Since his defeat of Agau Negusye, 
 the Tigre rebel, who expiated the crime of his ambition by 
 a cruel death, the despot has wasted part of the Wollo- 
 Galla country; and, during the last year, all his forces 
 have been applied to subjugate to obedience the province 
 of Godjam. Tadela Gwalu, who is the leader of the 
 rebels, to forestall any reverse, has intrenched himself on 
 the Ambas Djibella, Mutera and Tsamara, where, it is 
 said, a sufficient quantity of provisions is stored up to 
 last him and his numerous army upwards of fourteen 
 years. 
 
 "The persevering resistance of this pretender to the 
 throne has exasperated Theodore to a pitch almost border- 
 ing on frenzy. Damot, Agaumider, and part of Dembea, 
 which were suspected of disaffection, have already expe- 
 rienced the severe doom of traitors ; and it is said that a 
 similar fate aAvaits other districts and provinces. The 
 cruel and licentious soldiery, too delighted with the royal 
 licence to plunder, have perpetrated the most revolting 
 deeds of cruelty. Confiscation and rapine have been the 
 lot of the patient and submissive ; but wherever any re- 
 monstrance was offered, blows, and in scores of instances 
 death, became the punishment. Even churches, which
 
 46 THE BKITISII CAPTIVES IN AIJYSSINIA. 
 
 were liitlicrto considered inviolable, did not escape the de- 
 vastating storm. 
 
 " This unprecedented mode of intimidation has awakened 
 horror and detestation among friends and foes ; and it will 
 take years, if the despot so long maintains his power, till 
 the impression of the late proceedings is effaced. Just now 
 he is encamped in Maitsha, south of Lake Tsana ; but I 
 question whether his vast army will not prove dangerous to 
 himself in an impoverished and hostile country. The pea- 
 santry are all Aveary of this unsettled state of the empire, 
 and secretly sigh for a change of government." 
 
 This was written from Southern Abyssinia in 1863. 
 When I was in the northern portion of the empire in the 
 beginning of the present year, I heard everything thus 
 stated fully confirmed, and more than confirmed. Like 
 the children of Israel, the Abyssinians — the Betii Israel, 
 as they call themselves — sigh by reason of their bondage 
 under a sovereign whom they do not scruple to style 
 " Pharaoh, King of Egypt," and they look anxiously, yet 
 hopefully, for the day when a deliverer shall arise, like 
 Moses, to free them from their oppressor. 
 
 Yet Theodore, with all his faults, is but one of a class. 
 Like other " heroes," 
 
 " From Macedonia's madman to the Swede," 
 he bears down and crushes all that stands between him and 
 the object of his desires; and like them he will learn, when 
 it shall be too late, that " wisdom is better than weapons of 
 war." 
 
 But I have been anticipating the course of events, the 
 narrative of which shall be resumed in the following 
 Cliaptcr.
 
 47 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Theodore's reception op consul plowden — he objects to a 
 
 CONSULATE — CONSUL PLOWDEn's BEPORT — LORD CLABENDON's 
 APPROVAL OF PROCEEDINGS — PROPOSED EMBASSY — SUBSEQUENT 
 NEGOCIATIONS — CONSUL PLOWDEn's CONDUCT CONDEMNED AND 
 VINDICATED — AGAU NEGUSYE's REBELLION IN TIGRE — HIS RE- 
 COGNITION BY FRANCE — CESSION TO FRANCE OF ADULIS AND 
 DISSEE— CAPTAIN DE RUSSEL'S MISSION — CONSUL PLOWDEN AND 
 MR. BELL KILLED — THEODORe's '^'ENGEANCE — DEFEAT AND 
 EXECUTION OF NEGUSYE — FRENCH ATTEMPTS ON THE COAST OF 
 ABYSSINIA — ZEILA — OBOKH. 
 
 At the time of the defeat of Ras Ali in 1853, Mr. Bell 
 was in that prince's camp, and was either taken prisoner 
 by the conqueror or submitted to him. In either case he 
 was pardoned, and soon stood in high favour, even more so 
 than with Ras Ali. Consul Plowden was at the time at 
 Massowah, but on being written to by his friend Bell, he 
 proceeded to Gondar, where, in June 1855, he had an in- 
 terview with the Emperor. What took place on the occa- 
 sion is thus graphically described by Mr. Plowden, in a 
 Report to the Earl of Clarendon, dated Gondar, June 25, 
 1855 : — "On approaching the camp, the intervening country 
 being dangerous to traverse on account of the Gallas, I re- 
 quested an escort ; the King, to do me honour, sent four of 
 his generals with several comj)anies of gunners, who accom- 
 panied me to the camp with ceremony, the King^s flutes 
 and drums playing before me, and fired a salute of mus- 
 ketry when I approached his tent. The tent was filled with 
 all his officers in handsome dresses, and the ground was
 
 48 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 entirely covered with carpets ; the King was seated on a 
 coucli; splendidly attired, with his crown on the pillow and 
 his sword of state held behind him : the Abuna and the 
 Etjegye were seated on high chairs to tlie right and left — 
 every one else standing. He received me with great po- 
 litenesSj and caused me to sit down on a carpet near him- 
 self. After a short conversation respecting my journey 
 and on the forms of government in England and other 
 countries, he told me to retire, as I must be fatigued, 
 causing a large tent to be pitched for me 
 
 " The evening before the day fixed for my departure, 
 the King sent to me to know the object of my coming. I 
 replied that I had not come on the part of the Government 
 or in any official capacity; but that as I was about to 
 visit England, it yvas important that I should know and 
 report His Majesty ^s disposition respecting the establish- 
 ment of a Consulate and friendly relations generally; I 
 hinted, also at what had been arranged with the Ras, Ali. 
 The King said, ' I know nothing of what Ras Ali may have 
 done ; I am young and inexperienced in public affairs ; I 
 have never heard of a Consulate under the former Kings of 
 Abyssinia, and tliis matter must ])e referred to my Council 
 and the principal people of my court. ^ 
 
 " The next day, being sick myself, I sent Mr. Bell, who 
 is much trusted by the King; and after several messages 
 to and fro the King finally replied as follows : — ' I cannot 
 consent to a Consulate, as I find in the liistory of 
 our institutions no such thing; but for anything else 
 that you wish for, now or hereafter, for yourself and 
 other English, I shall be happy to ])erform your pleasure ; 
 and could 1 receive anv Consul, I should wish for no
 
 THEODORE OBJECTS TO A CONSULATE. 49 
 
 one more agreeable to me, or more esteemed by me, 
 than yourself/ 
 
 " I had ventured to hint that the sea-coast and Masso- 
 wah might possibly be given up to him on his consent ; 
 but, though his ambition was roused at this, he feared the 
 clause conferring jurisdiction on the Consul as trenching on 
 his prerogative; and the time for consideration was so short 
 that, though half inclined to say yes, he was too much 
 startled at my proposals to do so. 
 
 " The next morning he offered me some hundred dollars 
 for the expenses of my journey, and begged me to pass 
 the rainy season in Gondar. I replied that, had he received 
 me as Consul, I should even have followed him in his cam- 
 paigns and have shared his dangers ; but that after his re- 
 fusal my duty was to return to my country as soon as 
 possible ; and that as for the money I could not receive it, 
 as I was paid by my own Sovereign. He spoke to me in 
 the most affectionate manner, gave orders for my honom'- 
 able reception everywhere as far as Massowah, and said, 
 ' In refusing your request for a Consulate, my only reason 
 is that it appears an innovation, but do you not forget my 
 friendship for you, and cause your Queen also to regard me 
 as a friend. After the rains I shall send to Her Majesty 
 an Embassy and letters, and when these wars are finished 
 I will give every favour and protection to Englishmen 
 who may visit my country : do you also visit me and 
 write to me.' 
 
 "The Abuna, Abba Salama, tried in every way to 
 assist me in this negotiation ; and it will be seen that the 
 King's refusal is hardly a refusal, and that he does not 
 wish to break off all treaty ivith us, but 7'ather the con-
 
 50 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 trary, being only startled by the clause about jurisdiction 
 of Consuls. 
 
 " I left the camp with all honour^ the King adjuring me 
 twenty times not to forget to write to him constantly 
 wherever I might be, and giving me his own mule to ride 
 as a proof of his friendly feelings. I told him that I 
 should report all our conversation, and receive the orders 
 of my Government in consequence ; that I should then 
 report the answer to him, which was all that I was au- 
 thorized to do'^^. 
 
 Lord Clarendon's reply, dated November 27th, 1855, 
 to Consul Plowden's despatch, was couched in the fol- 
 lowing terms : — 
 
 " I have read with great interest the able report on the 
 present state of the Kingdom of Abyssinia, inclosed in 
 your despatch dated Gondar, June 25th, 1855, and / en- 
 tirely approve your pf-oceedings as reported in that de- 
 spatch, as well as the language held by you at your inter- 
 view with the King Theodorus. 
 
 "You will acquaint the King that Her Majesty's Go- 
 vernment are fully informed with respect to the events 
 that have recently taken place in Abyssinia, and that they 
 desire to express their admiration of the valour and skiU 
 wliich he has displayed in the field and of his moderation 
 in victory, and also of the wisdom and benevolence with 
 which he has commenced the work of reform, and of his 
 labours for the welfare of his people. At the same time, 
 however, you will convey the advice and express the earnest 
 hope of Her Majesty's Government, that the King will 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 18GG, 'Further Con-espondence,' kc. pp. 
 44, 4o.
 
 LORD clarendon's REPLY, PROPOSED EMBASSY. 51 
 
 abstain from religious persecution and extending religious 
 principles by force of arms, which is contrary to the prin- 
 ciples of Christianity, and cannot fail to involve him in 
 endless troubles. 
 
 " Her Majesty^s Government are convinced that the 
 establishment of friendly and intimate relations between 
 Great Britain and Abyssinia would be attended with many 
 advantages to both countries ; and you wdll accordingly 
 inform the King that the Queen, our gracious Sovereign, 
 will have much pleasure in receiving, and treating with 
 due honour, the Ambassadors whom His Majesty may 
 send to Her Court. 
 
 " This must, however, depend upon your receiving from 
 the King a distinct assurance that he renounces all idea of 
 conquest in Egypt and at Massowah. 
 
 " Her Majesty's Government have latterly remonstrated 
 in the strongest terms against the intentions of the Viceroy 
 of Egypt to attack Abyssinia ; and the present Viceroy has 
 not only put a stop to such proceedings and has confined 
 himself within the limits of his own dominions, but he has 
 set free the Abyssinian prisoners reduced to slavery by his 
 predecessor. Her Majesty's Government would subject 
 themselves to grave suspicions if they received an Em- 
 bassy from a sovereign whose designs against the Sultan, 
 the ally of .the Queen of England, were previously known 
 to them. 
 
 " Should you receive a complete and satisfactory assu- 
 rance on this subject, and should the King of Abyssinia 
 determine to send Ambassadors to Her Majesty^s Court, 
 it ivill be your duty to accompany them, and you are hereby 
 authorized to defray the expenses of their Journey to Eng- 
 
 E 2
 
 52 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 land, respecting wliicli you will he careful to observe all 
 reasonable economy. 
 
 " I apprehend, however, that the route which the Ambas- 
 sadors would pursue must be through Egypt ; and as the 
 Viceroy is aware of the hostile designs of the King, it is 
 highly probable that His Highness will not allow them to 
 pass through his territory ; and you will therefore coinmu- 
 nicate with Mr. Bruce, and ascertain from him whether 
 leave will be granted or not, as it would be highly inexpe- 
 dient that you should be exposed to being turned back 
 from the Egyptian frontier in company with the Abyssinian 
 emissaries" *. 
 
 At what time this despatch of Lord Clarendon reached 
 Consul Plowden, and what negotiations took place between 
 that officer and the Emperor in consequence of it, do not 
 appear. Earl Russell, in his despatch to Colonel Stanton of 
 October 5th, 1865 1^ says that the Emperor Theodore, " so 
 far from insisting on the observance of the Treaty of 1849, 
 refused altogether to recognize that Treaty. Consul Plow- 
 den was told by the British Government in 1857 that 
 the Emperor was bound in good faith to recognize that 
 Treaty, and that if he objected to any of its provisions 
 he should propose modifications. But from the triumph 
 of the Emperor Theodore in 1856 [it should be 1855] to 
 the present day, the Treaty has been a dead letter.^' 
 
 From these expressions of Earl Russell the legitimate 
 inference would ])e that between the accession of the 
 Emperor Theodore and Consul Plowden^s untimely death, 
 that monarch had turned a deaf car to the representations 
 
 * Pari. Paper, 18(i6, ' Furthoi- Correspondence,' &c., p. 47. 
 t Ihir]. p. ()2.
 
 i '■■{'■ 
 
 VARIATIONS BETWEEN TREATIES OF 1841 AND 1849. 53 
 
 made by the latter at the instance of the British Govern- 
 ment ; whereaSj as far as is shown by the documents hither- 
 to published^ it appears that the Emperor did precisely as 
 it is insinuated he ought to have done but did not. 
 
 It is necessary to explain, that the treaty entered into 
 with the Emperor and Ras Ali, in 1849, was based on, or 
 more properly speaking copied from, that made with the f'^ 
 King of Slioa in 1841, but with some material modifica- '{ -^^ui' 
 tions. The treaty with Shoa consists of sixteen articles, 
 stipulating for friendship between the two countries, for 
 the reception of " any Ambassador or Envoy " whom either 
 of the high contracting parties might see fit to appoint, for 
 the establishment of commercial intercourse, and for the 
 payment of an import duty of 5 per cent, in Shoa, and of 
 no greater duties in England than are levied on British 
 subjects. 
 
 The treaty with the Emperor of Abyssinia in 1849 con- 
 sists of nineteen articles, of which the first sixteen and the 
 last are nearly verbatim the same as the sixteen composing 
 the treaty with the King of Shoa; — with the difierence, 
 however, that by the second treaty it is stipulated that the 
 high contracting parties shall receive and protect " any 
 Ambassador, Envoy, or Consul," whom they may recipro- 
 cally see fit to appoint. 
 
 From the reference to this treaty made in Earl RusselPs 
 despatch, it might be imagined that while Her Britannic 
 Majesty agreed to "receive and protect any Ambassador, 
 Envoy, or Consul,^^ His Majesty of Abyssinia would " re- 
 ceive an Ambassador " only ; but in the treaty itself the 
 reciprocity is equal and complete. The later treaty con- 
 tains further the following important addition : —
 
 54 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 " Article XVII. — His Majesty of Abyssinia agrees that 
 in all cases when a British subject shall be accused of any 
 crime committed in any part of His Majesty^s dominions, 
 the accused shall be tried and adjudged by the British 
 Consul, or other officer duly appointed for that purpose 
 by Her Britannic Majesty ; and in all cases when disputes 
 or differences shall arise between British subjects, or be- 
 tween British subjects and the subjects of His Majesty of 
 Abyssinia, or between British subjects and the subjects of 
 any other foreign Power, within the dominions of His Ma- 
 jesty of Abyssinia, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, or 
 other duly appointed officer, shall have poiver to hear and 
 decide the same, without any interference, molestation, or 
 hindrance on the part of any authority of Abyssinia, either 
 before, during, or after the litigation. 
 
 " Article XVIII. — If any British subject shall die in the 
 territories of His Majesty of Abyssinia, the British Consul, 
 or in his absence his representative, shall have the right to 
 take charge of the papers and property of the deceased, for 
 the benefit of his lawful heirs and creditors, without any 
 interference on the part of the Abyssinian authorities." 
 
 It is to these additions to the treaty of 1841 introduced 
 into that of 1849, and also generally to the establishment 
 of a Consulate — that is to say a *' Levant ^^ Consulate — 
 within his dominions, that the Emperor Theodore princi- 
 pally, if not entirely, objected : not to the treaty itself. 
 From his own subjects who had visited Egypt and the Holy 
 Land, as well as from travellers of other nations, he had 
 heard of the al)uonnal privileges enjoyed by European 
 Consuls in those countries, and of the abuses they have often 
 given rise to; and he was determined — and no one can
 
 CONSUL PLOWDEN CONDEMNED BY MR. LAYAKD. 00 
 
 blame him for it — that within his dominions an imperium 
 in imperio, like that within the Turkish dominions, should 
 not exist. 
 
 If Earl Russell wrongfully charged the Emperor Theo- 
 dore with, not keeping his engagements, his subordinate, 
 Mr. Layard, in the debate in the House of Commons on 
 June 30th, 1865, even more wrongfully accused Consul 
 Plowden of breach of duty. His words were, " Unfortu- 
 nately, Mr. Plowden, our Consul at Massowah, instead of 
 attending to the object with which he was placed there, 
 that of encouraging commercial intercourse between Great 
 Britain and Abyssinia, plunged into the local intrigues. 
 He and Mr. Bell sided with King Theodore, and actually 
 commanded his troops. When information reached home 
 that Mr. Plowden was thus mixing himself up with local 
 conflicts, and acting exactly in opposition to the spirit of 
 the policy which he had been placed there to carry out. 
 Her Majesty's Government at once sent out instructions 
 for him to return to his post at Massowah, and no longer 
 to interfere in those local differences. Unfortunately, 
 before those instructions reached him, Mr. Plowden had 
 been killed by a native Abyssinian chief*. 
 
 This accusation drew forth the following indignant pro- 
 test on the part of Consul Plowden's brother : — 
 
 " Mr. Plowden was accredited to Abyssinia, and not to 
 Massowah, which is a Turkish port, without trade, with no 
 mercantile interests and no British subjects to protect, and 
 is valuable only as the means of entry into Abyssinia and 
 of communication with Europe, obviously the reasons for 
 its being made the head quarters of the Consulate. The 
 * ' Times,' July 1, 186c
 
 56 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 duties of the Consul were to watch and counteract foreign 
 intrigue — that of France especially ; — to keep peace be- 
 tween Abyssinia and Egypt; to obtain the abolition of 
 slavery, and to establish and promote commercial inter- 
 course between Great Britain and Abyssinia. His duties 
 commenced in 1848 with a mission to Ras Ali, the then 
 ruler, to whom he was charged with presents and with 
 instructions to conclude a treaty. It was in this capacity 
 he returned to Ras AH, and not, as Mr. Layard says, to 
 remain in his ser\dce. 
 
 " From that time to the day of his death the greater 
 portion of his life was spent in visits to the interior and to 
 the King's Court — first to Ras Ali, and afterwards to King 
 Theodore. These visits were made with the sanction and 
 approval of the Foreign Office, w^th whom he maintained 
 a constant correspondence, and by whose instructions he 
 was throughout guided. His quarterly certificates, for- 
 warded from various places in the interior, declared him 
 to be ' at his post,' and ' in the exercise of his duties,' 
 always without challenge or reproof from his superiors. 
 
 " He left ]\Iassowah on his last visit on the 25th of 
 March, 1855, and was killed in March 1860, on his return 
 homewards. 
 
 " In this enforced absence of five years (for he expected 
 to be away as many months only) he carried on his usual 
 correspondence with the Foreign Office, and in accordance 
 with his instructions had frequent personal interviews with 
 King Theodore. Neither in this period, nor before, was he 
 found fault with for quitting Massowah, nor was any pro- 
 hiljition to visit the interior issued. It was impossible 
 there could have been ; for the duties required of him were
 
 CONSUL PLOWDEN's CONDUCT VINDICATED. 57 
 
 those of an envoy and minister, absolutely necessitating his 
 presence in the interior, and involving personal intercourse 
 with the King ; and I assert that this necessity was known 
 to and recognized by the Foreign Office up to the middle 
 of 1859, and during the tenure of that office by Lords 
 Palmerston and Clarendon, to whom the facts I have 
 stated must doubtless be well known. At all events, the 
 official despatches will prove what I have said; and 1 
 challenge their production, as well as of any orders or 
 instructions which my brother is alleged to have dis- 
 obeyed^^*. 
 
 There can be no question as to the facts thus plainly 
 stated, and it is deeply to be regretted that the Under 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs should have spoken 
 so entirely at random. But, however Consul Plowden may 
 have been occupied during the last four years of his life, 
 from 1856 to 1859, it is certain tliat no definite arrange- 
 ment was come to, either with respect to the treaty or to 
 the sending of an Embassy to England. One reason may 
 be, that Theodore was far too much occupied at home to 
 be able to turn his attention to foreign affairs. He had 
 invaded and conquered the territories of our ally the King 
 of Shoa ; he had also extended his conquests considerably 
 in the south and centre of the empire ; but he had thereby 
 been forced to neglect the northern portions of it, more 
 especially Tigre and the other dominions of his great 
 competitor Ubye, whom he still kept in imprisonment. 
 
 The result was that a serious rival rose to power in 
 that province in the person of a relative of Ubye, named 
 Negusye — called Agau Negiisye, from his being a native 
 * ' Standard,' July 10, 1865.
 
 58 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 of the adjoiuiug Agau (Agow) country — who raised the 
 standard of " rebellion " in Tigre, of which province he 
 Mas recognized as the independent sovereign by the French 
 Consul at Massowah, and also by Msgr. de' Jacobis, who 
 since his banishment had continued to reside at Halai, 
 the frontier town at the eastern edge of the tableland. The 
 Emperor Napoleon likewise entered into friendly relations 
 with Negiisye, and wrote to Theodore, in reply to his 
 offers of alliance, recognizing his sovereignty west of the 
 Takkazye, but desiring him to recognize Negusye as King 
 of the country to the east of that river — that is to say, 
 Tigre, the ancient kingdom of the Axumites. 
 
 This alliance between the Emperor Napoleon and Ne- 
 gusye led to the following remarkable incident. 
 
 In December 1859, Captain de Russel, of the French 
 navy, landed at Zulla (the ancient Adulis), near Massowah, 
 and proceeded into the interior. The professed object of 
 this mission was purely scientific, Captain de E-ussel being 
 accompanied by no less than fourteen savans ! At bottom 
 it proved to be a political mission to the "Emperor'' 
 Negusye. The cause of this " scientific " mission was 
 a letter addressed by Negusye to the Emperor Napo- 
 leon, offering to cede to him the Bay of Adulis (Annes- 
 Icy Bay) and the Island of Dissce (Valentia Island) at its 
 entrance, in consideration of French troops being sent 
 to aid Negusye in acquiring full possession of Tigrc. 
 The Paris newspapers said at the time, " la mission a par- 
 faitement reussi,'' the French envoy having proceeded us 
 far as Gondar (Theodore's capital!), where he had an 
 interview with the " Emperor " Negusye. The fact how- 
 ever is, that the mission was unable to penetrate further
 
 FRENCH MISSION TO TIGRE. CONSUL PLOWDEN's DEATH. 59 
 
 than Halai, at which place Captain de Russel awaited 
 Negusye^s arrival. But the latter was prevented from 
 joining him by Theodore^s troops, who even came as far as 
 Halai, where they made the French envoy and his com- 
 panions prisoners, allowing them to remain in Msgr. de^ 
 Jacobis's house, under the latter's pledge that they should 
 not leave it till the Emperor Theodore^ s pleasure should be 
 known. Captain de Russel and his party escaped, how- 
 ever, during the night of the 5th of February, 1860, and 
 returned in safety on board their vessel ; whilst Msgr. de' 
 Jacobis was imprisoned and fined for having allowed them 
 to escape, and died soon afterwards from the ill-treatment 
 he sustaiued. 
 
 Simultaneously and intimately connected with the oc- 
 currences thus related, a disastrous event took place, 
 which was destined to be the precursor of others yet more 
 calamitous. 
 
 In the month of February 1860, Consul Plowden, while 
 marching with a small body of his followers, was attacked 
 by a much larger force under a chief named Garred, a 
 cousin of Negusye, the French " King of Tigre.^' Mr. 
 Plowden was wounded, taken prisoner, ransomed by the 
 Emperor*, but in the following month died of his 
 wounds. In October of the same year, Theodore, accom- 
 panied by Mr. Bell, advanced against Garred for the 
 purpose of avenging Consul Plowden's death. Garred, 
 with a force of about 2000 men, was encamped in 
 Waldabba, when Theodore's advanced guard, led by 
 
 * This act having been reported to the Government in India, a 
 vahiable present was sent to the Emperor from Bombay, independently 
 of the rifle and pair of pistols sent as a present from Her Majesty.
 
 60 THE 15R1TISII CAPTIVES IN ABYS.?INIA. 
 
 Bell, made a furious attack on them. In the conflict, 
 which was brief, Bell slew Garrecl with his own hand, but 
 was himself immediately killed by Garred's brothers. A 
 considerable number of the latter's troops having fallen, 
 the rest threw down their arms and sm'rendered at discre- 
 tion, when Theodore, after putting Garred's brothers to 
 death with his own hand, executed also all who had 
 surrendered. This frightful sacrifice offered up by a 
 Christian sovereign to the manes of the two unfortu- 
 nate British officers may appear incredible, but it is 
 nevertheless a fact'^. The particulars of it may best be 
 given in the Emperor's own account of the occurrence 
 to Captain Cameron, as reported by that officer: — "His 
 Majesty gave me a detailed account of his last campaign 
 against Negusi. This he did with much apparent mo- 
 desty. He dAvelt with graphic clearness on the death- 
 scene of his late Grand Chamberlain, the Englishman 
 Bell, in which om' countryman singled out the chief, 
 Garratt, to whom Mr. Plowden owed his death, and killed 
 him on the battle-field ; whilst the King similarly dis- 
 patched the same rebel's brother. Both the slain were his 
 Majesty's cousins. He spoke of his further revenge for 
 Mr. Plowden's death when he executed 1 500 of Garratt's 
 followers on the same day. He did this, he said, to win the 
 friendship of Her Majesty" f. 
 
 * Tilt! following is the account given by Mr. Stern in page 129 of 
 his ' Wanderings among the Falashas : ' — " On October 31st, 1860, 
 three thousand rebels, with their leader Oerat, were defeated by the 
 Itoyal troops n(!ar the western bank of the Taccazy, and mercilessly 
 butchered in cold blood : in fact, so inexorable was the King, that even 
 their wives and cliildrcn — contrary to former custom — were indis- 
 criminately condemned to perpetual slavery." 
 
 t Parliamentary I'ap'i", iHUi, ' Further Correspondence,' &c.,p. -50.
 
 MR. BELLAS DEATH. EXECUTION OF NEGUSYE. 01 
 
 From Earl RussclFs despatch of February 20tli, 1862, 
 given in a subsequent page, it appears that the Emperor 
 also wrote to his Lordship, informing him of '^ the steps 
 he had taken to punish the men who murdered Mr. Plow- 
 den and Mr. Bell,^' and that his Lordship thanked His 
 Majesty for so doing in the name of the Queen*. 
 
 Following up his victory over Garred's detachment, 
 Theodore now marched against the main body of Negusye's 
 army, Avhich he completely routed in January 1861, Nc- 
 gusye falling into the hands of his merciless conqueror, 
 by whom he was put to death, together with several of 
 his relatives and principal adherents. On the unfortunate 
 Prince himself was inflicted the punishment awarded to a 
 traitor and murderer. His right hand and left foot were 
 struck off, and he was then left, exposed to public gaze, to 
 linger till he died. 
 
 Negusye's defeat and death did not put an end to the 
 attempts to maintain Tigre as an independent State. His 
 successor, Mehret, a chief of Hamasyen, who like Negusye 
 was supported by the French and Romish party, had how- 
 ever but a short reign. Theodore, ever fruitful in strata- 
 gem, enticed him into the power of one of his adherents, 
 by whom, in October 1861, he was put in chains to await 
 the will of the Emperor, who ordered him to be executed. 
 
 Before quitting this portion of the subject, it will be 
 well to give here a summary of the subsequent move- 
 ments of our allies and neighbours, the French, along 
 the Abyssinian coast. 
 
 The ill success of the attempt to obtain a cession of 
 
 * See page 68.
 
 62 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 the Bay of Adiilis and the Island of Dissee only stimulated 
 the French Government to make a fi'csh one of a more 
 systematic and adroit character in another quarter. 
 
 In July 1859, M. Henri Lambert, French Consul at Aden, 
 — brother to M. Joseph Lambert, formerly a merchant 
 in Mauritius, and afterwards Minister of the King of 
 Madagascar, by whom he was sent to France on a mission 
 to the Emperor Napoleon, — was accidently drowned on 
 the Somauli coast, while crossing from Hodeida to Ta- 
 djurrah in a native boat belonging to the port of Zeila. The 
 former Governor of that place, Abu Bekr, who was then at 
 Tadjurrah, revenged himself on his rival and successor. 
 Sheikh Shermerki, by accusing him of the murder of M. 
 Lambert. As soon as this became known at Aden, the 
 British Political Resident, Brigadier (now Sir William M.) 
 Coghlan, dispatched his Assistant, Captain Playfair, in 
 H.M.S. 'Furious,'' to investigate the matter on the spot; 
 when it was found that M. Lambert' s.^ death was purely 
 accidental, and the charge against Shermarki trumped up 
 by Abu Bekr out of sheer malice. The matter afforded, 
 however, a pretext, such as had been long desired, for 
 French interference. Accordingly, the French corvette 
 ' Somme,' Commodore Vicomte de Langle, went to Zeila 
 towards the end of 1860, to investigate the matter; 
 when Shermarki and about a dozen other natives, most 
 wrongfully accused of being M. Lambert's murderers, 
 were made prisoners, and carried to Hodeida, to l)e judged 
 bv the Turkish Governor, witliiii whose jui'isdiction Zeila 
 and Tadjurrah lie. The latter refusing to act in the matter, 
 M. de Langle proceeded to Djidda, where he appealed to 
 the Governor-General of Yemen, who likewise declined to
 
 ACQUISITION BY FRANCE OF OBOKH. 63 
 
 interfere. On this the French Commodore sailed for 
 France with all his prisoners except Shermarki, who had 
 died on board ship in the harbour of Djidda. 
 
 Representations were now made to the Porte by the 
 French Ambassador at Constantinople, the result of which 
 was that tlie Porte made over to France the revenues of 
 the port of Zeila, till the sum of 30,000 dollars, the 
 estimated cost of M. de Langle's mission to investigate the 
 circumstances of M. Lambert^s death, should be paid. 
 
 Emboldened by success, the Government of France went 
 on yet further, showing but too plainly what were their 
 real designs. 
 
 Towards the end of April 1862, the French aviso ^Cu- 
 rieux,' after cruising about the Red Sea for several 
 months, went to Suez, where she took on board the native 
 Somaulis and Dankalis, who had been carried to France by 
 Commodore de Langle, the professed object being to con- 
 vey them back home. But with them went M. Schaefer, 
 first Oriental Interpreter to the Emperor ; who, having 
 carefully surveyed all the Dankali coast from Massowah to 
 Zeila, fixed on a site for a settlement at Obokh, near Ras 
 Bir, about midway between the Straits of Babelmandeb 
 and Tadjurrah, and exactly opposite Aden; which place 
 he purchased of the native governors of Tadjurrah and 
 Raheita for the sum of 10,000 dollars, taking formal pos- 
 session of it in the name of the Emperor Napoleon. 
 
 There ought not to be any doubt as to the illegality of 
 this purchase from acknowledged vassals of the Ottoman 
 Porte, paying customs-duties to the Governor of Zeila, 
 who is subject to the Governor of Hodeida. But the 
 French have at all events succeeded in establishing a
 
 64 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 holding title ; and wc shall doubtless see ere loiig the use 
 to which this settlement will be put. It is evidently 
 intended for a base of operations against Abyssinia; 
 and to it, as such, the Emperor Theodore's attention 
 was drawn by Consul Cameron, under instructions from 
 Mr. (now Sir Kobert G.) Colquhoun, Her Majesty's 
 Agent and Consul-General in Egypt*. 
 
 The acquisition of Obokh by the French was first 
 announced by me in the ^Times' of June 16th, ]862. 
 It would be well if a motion were made in Parliament 
 for the Papers relating to this subject as well as to the 
 transfer from Turkey to Egypt of the western coast of 
 the Red Sea, to which allusion is made in a subsequent 
 Chapter t. 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 18GG, ' Further Correspondence,' &c., p. 51. 
 And see page 72, jmst. 
 t See pages 134, 135.
 
 65 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONSUL CAMERON — HTS RECEPTION RY THEODORE — EARL RUSSELL's 
 LETTER — NEGOTIATIONS FOR AN EMBASSY AND TREATY — ABYS- 
 SINI^VN CONVENT AND CHURCH AT JERUSALEM — THEODORE'S* 
 LETTER TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND— SAMUEL, THE EMPEBOB'S 
 STEWARD — PROPOSAL FOR A MISSION FROM INDIA. 
 
 It would occupy far too much time and space, and would 
 besides be to no good purpose, were I to detail the sub- 
 sequent events of Theodore's reign, consisting as they do 
 of a succession of campaigns into the various provinces 
 of the Empire, the rulers and people of which were only 
 lirought into subjection by the presence of his troops, and 
 " revolted,' ' the one after the other, as soon as these 
 troops were withdraAvn. I proceed therefore to relate 
 those events in which our countrj-men have taken part, 
 and which have unhappily given occasion to the present 
 work. 
 
 As soon as the news of Consul Plowden's death reached 
 England, Captain Charles Duncan Cameron, who had 
 served on the staff of Sir W. Fcnwick Williams, Her 
 Majesty's Commissioner with the Turkish army in the 
 East, was appointed his successor. Captain Cameron's ap- 
 pointment as " Her Majesty's Consul in Abyssinia" was 
 annovmced in the ' London Gazette' of June 24th, 18G0; 
 but it was only on February 9th, 1862, two years after 
 Consul Plowden's death, that he arrived at Massowah, 
 which island he was ordered to '^ consider as the head- 
 quarters of his Consulate," and whence, following his 
 predecessor's example, he proceeded to the Court of the
 
 66 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Emperor Theodore, to whom he was the bearer of pre- 
 sents from the Britisli Government, 
 
 Before ^dsiting the Abyssinian Court, Captain Cameron 
 accompanied the Duke of Saxe Coburg on an excursion 
 into the country of Bogos, on the northern frontier of 
 Abyssinia ; so that it was not till July that he reached 
 Gondar. 
 
 During the rainy season of 1862 Consul Cameron re- 
 mained at Gondar, but at its close he was sent for by the 
 Emperor, whom he joined at his camp in Godjam on the 
 7th of October. He was received with a salute of twelve 
 guns ; and 6000 cavalry, infantry, and matchlock-men 
 were marched on to escort him into camp. His reception, 
 Cameron himself says, was the best His Majesty had yet 
 accorded to an envoy ; and the same opinion has been ex- 
 pressed by Europeans who were present on the occasion. 
 
 At the first interview, which lasted several hours. His 
 Majesty gave a detailed account of his last campaign 
 against Agau Negusye, as has been already narrated* ; 
 and " he afterwards broke out into invectives against the 
 Turks, said they were encroaching on him on every side, 
 spoke of the seven flags (as he expressed it) that they had 
 planted on the sea-coast, and dwelt much upon alleged 
 advances from the Egyptian quarter. He announced his 
 intention of fighting with them, and sending ambassadors 
 to the European nations to justify his conduct "f- 
 
 Two days after this interview Consul Cameron received 
 a message from His Majesty, directing him to put down 
 
 • Page 60. 
 
 t Parliamentary Paper, IHfifi, ' Furthor Correspondence,' &c., 
 p. 50.
 
 EARL RUSSELL^S LETTER TO THE EMPEROR THEODORE. G7 
 
 his business with him on paper. On this, says that offieer, 
 in his despatch to Earl Russell of October 31, 1862, '^ I 
 wrote immediately that I was deputed to present him with 
 certain gifts and a letter of introduction ; also to discuss 
 with him regarding the future. That when Mr. Plowden 
 was killed there were two points under discussion, \\z., 
 1st, a Treaty; 2nd, the sending an Embassy to England. 
 I offered to take these up where Mr. Plowden had left 
 them"*. 
 
 Next day Captain Cameron was sent for to deliver his 
 presents and the letter from Earl Russell, of which letter 
 the following is a copy : — 
 
 " Foreign Office, February 20, 1862. 
 
 " Sir, — The Queen my Sovereign has been informed by 
 her servants in the East of the exertions which your 
 Highness kindly made to recover the remains of her late 
 Consul, Mr. Plowden, and of youi* generosity in declining 
 to accept repayment of the sum of money which you paid 
 for that purpose. Her Majesty commands me to assure 
 your Highness that she views your conduct in regard to 
 this affair as a proof of friendship towards herself and the 
 British nation, of which she is duly sensible. 
 
 " In order more particularly to manifest Her Majesty's 
 thankfulness for these your Highness's services, and to 
 show her regard aT>d friendship for you personally. Her 
 Majesty requests your acceptance of a rifle and a pair of 
 revolver pistols as a present from herself. Her Majesty 
 has intrusted these articles to Captain Charles Duncan 
 Cameron, whom she has appointed her Consul in Abyssinia, 
 as the successor of the late Mr. Plowden, and who has 
 * ' Further Correspondence,' &(•., p. 50. 
 
 k2
 
 08 THE BKITISII CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 lately taken his departure for liis post; and I take this 
 opportunity of introducing him to your Highness, and of 
 requesting your pi'otection and favour in his behalf. He 
 is well acquainted with all that concerns the interests of 
 both countries, and will, I am confident, do all in his 
 power to make himself acceptable to your Highness and 
 to promote your av el fare. 
 
 " I thank your Highness for the letter which you ad- 
 dressed to me, informing me of the steps which you had 
 taken to punish the men who murdered Mr. Plowden and 
 Mr. Bell ; and with my best wishes for your uninterrupted 
 health and happiness, I recommend you to the protection 
 of the Almighty. 
 
 " Your faithful friend, 
 (Signed) " RUSSELL.'^ 
 
 " (L.S. The large signet.)" 
 
 These were scarcely the terms in which to address a 
 potentate whose predecessors on the throne of Ethiopia 
 had been treated as equals and addressed by the name oi 
 ^'^ brother" by the haughty sovereigns of Spain, and with 
 whom her Britannic Majesty^s ancestors, King James the 
 First and King George the Third, had corresponded like- 
 wise. However, both the letter and the presents gave 
 Theodore great pleasure, " especially the inscription on the 
 gun, to the effect that it was given by Her Majesty in 
 return for the King^s kindness to Mr. Plowden." 
 
 Earl llusseirs instructions to Consul Cameron, as far 
 as they have been published*, are somewhat of the 
 vaguest; but they would appear to luive been intended to 
 
 * Pari, Paper, 1865, ' Papers relating to ibo Iiuj)risonment of 
 r.riti>li Sulijccts,' pp. 1, 2.
 
 ARRANGEMENTS FOR A TREATY AND EMBASSY. 09 
 
 leave him to be governed very mueh by cireumstances and 
 liis own discretion. It was, however, understood that he 
 Avas to take the conduct of his predecessor, Consul Plowden, 
 as his guide generally; and it is quite certain that his at- 
 tention was expressly drawn to the negotiations still pend- 
 ing for a new treaty and for the dispatch of an embassy to 
 England ; which, though unavoidably interrupted in conse- 
 quence of the death of Consul Plowden and Mr. Bell, had not 
 been, and still were not intended to be broken off, either on 
 the part of the Emperor Theodore or on that of the British 
 Government. 
 
 In proof of this, we have the statement of Mr. Stern, 
 that the Emperor, on hearing from him in the beginning 
 of 1860 how prisoners of war were treated in other 
 Christian countries, said to him, " You are superior to 
 us in all things ; and, if God permit, I shall soon send 
 an embassy to England, to open the eyes of at least a few 
 of my people.^^ And when Mr. Stern, on his departure 
 for England, took leave of Mr. Bell, the latter told him 
 that " their next meeting would be either in Tigre or in 
 London, to which latter place he was expecting to accom- 
 pany an Abyssinian embassy." 
 
 And, as regards the Foreign Office, it is a fact that 
 after Captain Cameron had been appointed Consul Plow- 
 den's successor, but before he arrived in England from 
 the post he held in the Black Sea, Mr. Stern was re- 
 quested by Earl Hussell to remain in London, in order 
 that he might see Captain Cameron and discuss with him 
 the subject of the contemplated embassy and other matters, 
 which had remained in suspense since Consul Plowdcn's 
 decease.
 
 70 THK BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding that Consul Cameron had full 
 authority to take up the two matters where his prede- 
 cessor had left them, jNIr. Layard, in his place in Par- 
 liament on October 31, 1865, when quoting the foregoing 
 extract from Consul Cameron^s despatch of October 31, 
 1862"^, ventured to say: — "Now this was altogether con- 
 trary to the instructions he had received. So far was Consul 
 Cameron from being instructed to propose an embassy to 
 England from the King, that he was distinctly told that 
 Her Majesty^s Government would not entertain the idea 
 of a mission unless he gave up all idea of conquering the 
 Tm'ks and invading Turkish territory; so that Consul 
 Cameron was not justified in making such a proposal to 
 the King, It appears that the King, thinking that Consul 
 Cameron might induce Her Majesty's Government to 
 assist him in exterminating the Mohammedans, wrote the 
 letter to Her Majesty which has been quoted by the 
 honourable Gentleman [Sir Hugh Cairns] . / have reason 
 to think that this letter ivas entii'ely got up by Consul 
 Cameron, who wished to come to this country with the em- 
 bassy. 1 am quite under that impression '^ t- 
 
 But what is the fact? It was not Consul Cameron 
 at all who proposed the embassy. He expressly says 
 that ill the first instance he " received a peremptory 
 message from His Majesty to leave for the sea at once, 
 and send him an answer whether the British Govern7nent 
 would receive an embassy or not." 
 
 On the receipt of tliis message. Consul Cameron's judi- 
 cious reflections were these : — " I considered, on the other 
 hand, that as I had been sent to His Majesty at a con- 
 • See page 67. t ' Times,' July 1, 1865.
 
 CAPT. CAMERON ACCREDITED AS CONSUL IN ABYSSINIA. 71 
 
 siderable expense and on a mission of pnre courtesy, it 
 was his duty at least to give me some reply to the question 
 of a treaty, which had been so long pending, including the 
 other important point as to his admitting a representative 
 of Great Britain to reside in his country, if such were our 
 wish, 
 
 "I thought, too, that unless I had clear details with 
 regard to his projected embassy, much embarrassment 
 might ensue to us hereafter; while at the same time I 
 wished to know His Majesty ^s intentions regarding the 
 Slave Trade, and to elicit information from him regarding 
 an intercourse with his new kingdom of Shoa, and his 
 hold on the tribes to the side of Zeyla. 
 
 "I therefore wrote His Majesty a letter, a copy of 
 which is herewith inclosed." 
 
 This letter from Consul Cameron to the Emperor is 
 given in the Appendix, and it fully confirms the state- 
 ment made in Earl TlusselPs letter to the Emperor, by 
 which Consul Cameron was introduced and accredited to 
 him as Her Britannic Majesty's " Consul in Abyssinia, 
 as the successor of the late Mr. Plowden,'^ that — " He is 
 well acquainted with all that concerns the interests of both 
 countries, and will, I am confident, do all in his power to 
 make himself acceptable to your Highness, and to promote 
 your welfare." 
 
 In his despatch to Earl Russell, Consul Cameron goes 
 on to say : — " Fortunately, just as it [the letter to the 
 Emperor] was finished, I got a batch of letters from 
 Massowah. One was a letter from Mr. Colquhouu, telling 
 me that he had received my despatch to yoiu' Lordship 
 stating my fears that Turkey intended to encroach on
 
 72 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Abyssinia from her new settlements on the coast ; to 
 which he replied that the Porte would be warned to do 
 nothing which could give umbrage to King Theodore. 
 He added that I ought to inform His Majesty that his 
 best mode of obtaining the sympathies of England was 
 by putting down the Slave Trade in his dominions. 
 
 " There was a further passage regarding Mr. Schaefer^s 
 mission to Tadjurrah, which was corroborated by an 
 extract from the ' Home and Overland Mail/ forwarded 
 from Aden, stating what the mission had done, and that 
 the new settlement^ was merely intended for a base of 
 operations against Abyssinia. 
 
 " All this, together with the old treaty made with Kas 
 Ali, was carefully read through to His Majesty by two in- 
 terpreters well conversant with English. 
 
 " I also forwarded His Majesty a letter, in Arabic, from 
 Jerusalem, detailing the part our Consul had taken in 
 some outrage against the Abyssinian community there. 
 
 " The King, at the same time, got information that 
 Russia had 40,000 men within four days of Constantinople ; 
 that Sayid Pasha had gone to France; and that the Sultan 
 was in Egypt. 
 
 " This various intelligence seems to have pressed hea'vily 
 on His Majesty. He sent a message thanking me, entreat- 
 ing me to obsei've the peril in which he was from two 
 powerful enemies, and begging me to act sincerely by 
 him. 
 
 " On the following morning I sent a note to His 
 Majesty, telling him that, if he wished, I would return 
 by Matamraa, where he told me the Tniks had been 
 * Namely, at Obokb. See pages 03, 64.
 
 Theodore's enemies, the French and the Egyptians. 73 
 
 taking tribute unjustly and gathering troops, and do -what 
 I could there to keep them back, or, at least, collect facts 
 which might tell against them hereafter. Matamma is, 
 just now, a hot-bed of fever. 
 
 " I reassured him about Ids embassy ; and wishing to 
 mention something more about his statement regarding not 
 provoking attack, which, as your Lordship will perceive, I 
 had written to him to say that I would report, I sent him 
 a letter which I have expedited to our Consul at Khartoum 
 asking the latter to do his utmost to preserve peace, but, 
 above all, to report military movements or aggression on 
 Abyssinia to Alexandria. 
 
 "I told His Majesty that I did this for his sake; he 
 must also now keep his own governors in restraint. 
 
 " The answer of His Majesty was kind in the extreme.'^ 
 
 For the proper understanding of what is here stated, it 
 should be explained that the '^two powerful enemies" 
 were, — first, the French, the allies of Negusye, to whose 
 acquisition of Obokh, the Consul-General in Egypt had 
 drawn Consul Cameron^s attention; and secondly, the 
 Egyptians, who were daily making encroachments along 
 the northern frontiers of the empire. 
 
 The part our Consul at Jerusalem had " taken in some 
 outrage against the Abyssinian community there '' requires 
 a more lengthened explanation and reference. 
 
 It is a well-known fact that friendly feelings towards 
 England have been kept up in Abyssinia by gratitude for 
 the good offices rendered to the community of that nation 
 at Jerusalem, a spot regarded by them with the deepest 
 veneration. The Holy City is to the Abyssinians a sort 
 of heaven upon earth, to whicli they have eagerly made
 
 74 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 pilgrimages from the olden time. To have been to Jeru- 
 salem imparts to the traveller^ in their estimation, a 
 sanctity far greater tlian the pilgrimage to Mecca gives 
 to the Mohammedan hadji. 
 
 It was this that disposed the Abyssinians to receive 
 Bishop Gobat when he first went to Abyssinia as a mis- 
 sionary, he having prepared himself by a short stay in Je- 
 rusalem, where he made himself known to the Abyssinian 
 residents. When he was made Bishop of Jerusalem in 
 1846, the Abyssinians rejoiced at his appointment, and the 
 community of that nation in Jerusalem were placed under 
 his spiritual rule by the princes of that country. 
 
 In July 1852, Bishop Gobat, who Avas then in London, 
 appealed to Her Majesty's Government on behalf of Ras 
 Ali and Dedjatj Ubye, who had adopted at a meeting at 
 Gondar a resolution to the effect that Her Majesty should 
 be requested to authorize the bishop to protect and super- 
 intend their countrymen visiting or residing in Jerusalem, 
 and to authorize the British Consul at Jerusalem to lend 
 him his assistance for that pu.rpose when required. 
 
 Lord Malmesbury^s answer to this request was, that 
 " Her Majesty's Government could not undertake to pro- 
 tect officially the natives of Abyssinia who might chance 
 to be residing in the territory of the Sublime Porte. But 
 Her Majesty's Consul at Jerusalem would be instructed to 
 use his good offices for them, in case of need, as members 
 of a Christian Church in spiritual communion with the 
 Established Churcli in this country." 
 
 Under these " proi)cr and judicious " instructions, as 
 they are styled by J^^arl Russell, no difficulty occurred 
 during the ten years of the British " olHcious " pro tec-
 
 ABYSSINIAN CHURCH AND CONVENT AT JERUSALEM. 75 
 
 torate of the Abyssinians in Jerusalem — that is to say, 
 from 1852 to 1862. 
 
 The Abyssinian pilgrims, finding there was safety from 
 personal violence, came to Jerusalem in largely increased 
 numbers, and the settlers in the convent of that nation 
 amounted to more than a hundred. 
 
 This prosperity of the Abyssinians raised the jealousy of 
 the Copts and Armenians in Jerusalem. During the Egyp- 
 tian rule in Palestine, those two communities bad joined 
 together in despoiling the Abyssinians of much of their pro- 
 perty in Jerusalem. It happened that the Abyssinian 
 monks had all died of the plague, and the Armenians and 
 Copts got possession of their title-deeds and destroyed them, 
 under pretence of infection. The Armenian convent, how- 
 ever, supplied the Abyssinian pilgrims with a daily provi- 
 sion of soup and bread, as a kind of compensation. 
 
 From the year 1855 those two communities began 
 again to molest the Abyssinians in various ways, and even 
 threatened to take away their only remaining property, 
 consisting of their convent and chiu'ch. But, finding that 
 the British Consul was informed of all that passed, no 
 violence was attempted by them. 
 
 In 1856 the Egyptian Government sent a political mis- 
 sion to Abyssinia, and deputed the Coptic Patriarch, in his 
 capacity of chief of the Coptic and Abyssinian Churches, 
 to be the envoy. The Emperor Theodore resented this in- 
 terference, and seized the Patriarch's money (all in Frencli 
 gold) and baggage, barely permitting him to return to 
 Egypt. On his arrival there the Patriarch took his re- 
 venge, by selling to the Armenians, as Russian subjects, 
 for 60,000 dollars, the Abyssinian church and convent in
 
 76 THE JUIITISH CAPTIVES IX ABYSSIMA. 
 
 Jerusalem. The Abyssiiiiaus in that city naturally refused 
 to recognize the sale ; and so long as the English Consul 
 "was there to prevent violent hands being laid on them, 
 they could not be turned out. Under these circumstances, 
 the Russians did not openly insist on their purchase. 
 
 In 1862 a fresh attack was made. The Copts and Ar- 
 menians had now enlisted on their side the Turkish Pasha 
 of Jerusalem, who marched a body of Tui'kish soldiers 
 into the Abyssinian convent^, but withdrew them on the 
 appearance of the British Consul, whom the affrighted 
 Abyssinians had summoned to the spot. Sureya Pasha 
 now asserted the sovereignty of Turkey over the Abyssi- 
 nians as a nation, denying the right of English officials to 
 notice what might befall Turkish subjects, and declaring 
 that Turkey would never abandon her claim to Abyssinia. 
 On this the British Consul, j\Ir. Finn, anxious to avoid 
 a collision with the Turkish Pasha, wrote to the Foreign 
 Office for instructions, and in reply was referred by Earl 
 E-ussell to those given him in 1852. 
 
 The Abyssinians, on their part, wrote to their own 
 Sovereign, praying him to send an embassy to England, 
 with a view to obtain eff'ectual protection for their property 
 and lives. This letter was dispatched from Jerusalem in 
 1862, and is evidently the " letter in Arabic," which is 
 alluded to in Consul Cameron's despatch. 
 
 On the day after these matters had been discussed be- 
 tween the Emperor and Consul Cameron, another inter- 
 view took })lace, the rcsidt of which was that the former 
 " said voluntarily that he had well considered the subject 
 of a Treaty, about which there Avould lie no difficulty, but 
 that at prcscut his mind was full of other things; also.
 
 CONSUL Cameron's departure for massowah. 71 
 
 that if matters went well, he would gladly receive a Consul. 
 He likcAvise spoke about putting down the Slave Trade, on 
 which I purposely questioned him, 
 
 '^ After this " (Consul Cameron goes on to say) " I 
 presented His Royal Highness the Duke of Saxe-Coburg's 
 decoration, which was exceedingly well received. 
 
 " He then \\Tote the letter to Her Majesty, which I 
 herewith have the honour to forward. 
 
 " The translation was written by his own interpreters. 
 
 " He intended also to have written a letter to Mr. 
 Colquhoun about the Slave Trade, and a letter of appeal 
 to the King of Holland, similar to those he had already 
 dictated, but it was too late. 
 
 " This morning I was told to leave for Massowah. 
 
 *^ I sent a memorandum to His Majesty, reminding him 
 of the letter for Mr. Colquhoun, and stated the advantage 
 he would derive from it. 
 
 " He replied that he would write afterwards, but assured 
 me that he would stop the Slave Trade effectually, not as 
 a concession to us, but because he hated it himself. 
 
 " He repeated his expressions of entire confidence in 
 me, and added that he believed I would be a friend to 
 him, as Mr. Plowden had been before. 
 
 " A royal circular of appeal has likewise been forwarded 
 to France from the camp this day by a Frenchman, whom 
 the King has given 500 dollars for his road expenses. 
 
 " It states, like the two others, that His Majesty pro- 
 jects a struggle with the Turks, and wishes to send am- 
 bassadors to France. He requests an answer by the 
 bearer, who is, however, travelling slowly. 
 
 " One will also go for Russia, with which country His
 
 78 THE BRITISH CAPTIVKS IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Majesty lias been in some commuiiicatiou. Others arc 
 being prepared for the German Powers. 
 
 " As it is desirable on every account that we should 
 not be without a correspondence in Abyssinia for a con- 
 siderable time, I am preparing a letter on the subject to 
 the Resident at Aden, a copy of which will herewith be 
 inclosed.^' 
 
 The Emperor's letter to Her Majesty was as follows : — 
 
 " In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, one God in Trinity. 
 
 " [The] chosen by God, King of Kings, Theodoros of 
 Ethiopia, to Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of England. 
 
 '' I hope your Majesty is in good health. By the power 
 of God I am well. 
 
 '' My fathers the Emperors having forgotten our Crea- 
 tor, he handed over their kingdom to the Gallas and 
 Turks *. But God created me, lifted me out of the dust, 
 and restored this empire to my rule. He endowed me 
 with power, and enabled me to stand in the place of 
 my fathers. By His power I drove away the Gallas. 
 But for the Turks I have told them to leave the land 
 of my ancestors. They refuse. I am now going to 
 wrestle with them. 
 
 " Mr. Plowden, and my late Grand Chamberlain, the 
 Englishman Bell, used to tell me that there is a great 
 Christian Queen, who loves all Christians. When they 
 said to me this, ' We are able to make you known to 
 her, and to establish friendship between you,' then in 
 
 * Tlif Abyssinians use the word " Turk " to mean Mohaminedaus 
 in general, witliout regard to nationality. In most cases, when the 
 Turks are spoken of, the Tureo- Egyptians are intended.
 
 Theodore's letter to the queen of enoland. 79 
 
 those times I was very glad. I gave them my love, 
 thinking that I had found your Majesty's goodwill. All 
 men are subject to death; and my enemies, thinking to 
 injure me, killed these my friends. But by the power 
 of God I have exterminated those enemies, not leaving 
 one alive, though they were of my own family, that I may 
 get, by the power of God, your friendship. 
 
 '' I was prevented by the Tui'ks occupying the sea- 
 coast from sending you an Embassy when I was in diffi- 
 culty. Consul Cameron arrived with a letter and presents 
 of friendship. By the power of God I was very glad 
 hearing of your welfare, and being assured of your amity. 
 I have received your presents, and thank you much. 
 
 "1 fear that if I send Ambassadors with presents of 
 amity by Consul Cameron, they may be arrested by the 
 Turks. 
 
 " And now I wish that you may arrange for the safe 
 passage of my Ambassadors everywhere on the road. 
 
 " I wish to have an answer to this letter by Consul Ca- 
 meron, and that he may conduct my Embassy to England. 
 
 " See how the Islam oppress the Christian" ^. 
 
 Consul Cameron's letter to the Resident at Aden has 
 not been given in the Papers laid before Parliament. It 
 was written at the instigation of Samuel Georgis, who had 
 been (so to say) a party to Major Harris's mission to the 
 King of Shoa in 1841 f, and it was to the effect that the 
 
 * This refers to the Moslem oppression of the Christians at Jeru- 
 salem. " Islam " is the Abyssinian form of " Moslems." 
 
 t As it will be interesting to know who " Samuel, the Emperor's 
 Steward," is, I give here an extract from a * Memoir on the Euro- 
 peans who have \'isited the Kingdom of Shoa during the present Cen- 
 tury,' dated 7th September, 1841, being one of four Memoirs which I
 
 80 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Indian Government should fortlnvith dispatch a similar 
 mission to the Emperor Theodore. 
 
 After receiving the letter for the Queen, Captain 
 Cameron lost no time in taking his departure for the 
 coast. He was accompanied by the following five per- 
 sons : — Samuel, the Emperor's steward; Mertcha, a son 
 of Aito Warkye, an Armenian, who settled in Abyssinia 
 many years ago, and was known to me in Shoa — Mertcha 
 
 drew up for Major Harris whilst in Shoa, as is recorded in my * State- 
 ment of Facts,' relative to the transactions between that officer and 
 myself, published in the year 1845 (2nd edit. 1846) : — 
 
 " Samuel Georgis, or Hussein, is the son of a Mohammedan Danlcali 
 chief of Northern Abyssinia, who stood hig-h in the favour of Saba- 
 gadis, the late ruler of Tigre, and who was well kuown to the Rev. 
 Mr. Gobat, a British missionary in that part of the country. His 
 father having been mui'dered shortly after the untimely death of his 
 chief, Samuel Georgis was charitably taken charge of by Mr. Gobat ; 
 and on that gentleman's quitting Tigre, was left with his successor, 
 Mr. Isenberg. Mr. Krapf, who joined Mr. Isenberg in the beginning 
 of 1838, thus became acquainted wdth Samuel Georgis, of whom he 
 entei-tained no very good opinion ; and when shortly afterwards (in 
 the month of March of the same year) the mission was expelled from 
 Tigre by Ubye, he strongly dissuaded Mr. Isenberg from taking the 
 lad Avith them. Mr. Isenberg however prevailed, and Samuel Georgis 
 accompanied them to Cairo, where he was baptized. But having dis- 
 agreed with his preceptors, and 31. Kielmaier having retm'nod to Egj-pt 
 from Tigre, preparatory to setting out for Shoa, Hussein volunteered 
 to accompany hiiu, and came into Shoa after M. Kielmaier's death, 
 arriving here in the beginning of 1840. 
 
 " Samuel Georgis being rather an intelligent yoimg man and of pre- 
 possessing manners, the Negiis took a great fancy to him : and as it 
 happened that, just at the moment, he, at the suggestion of Mr. Krapf, 
 propor^ed writing to Captain Haines, Samuel Georgis was commis- 
 sioned by him to be the bearer of his letter, witli the presents tliat 
 accompanied it. Towards the end of July he left Shoa for Aden, 
 which place he reached not long before my arrival there. Mr. Krapf 
 had suggested to Captain Haines that Samuel Georgis should retm-n 
 to Egvpt for the purpose of finishing his education; but, as I was in 
 want of n servant and interpreter on my journey liithcr, Captain
 
 SAMUKL, TIIIO KMPKROR S STEWARD. 81 
 
 himself having been educated in Bombay, and being one 
 of the tAvo persons who had interpreted into EngHsh the 
 Emperor's letter to the Queen ; two other natives named 
 Engada-Wark and Kassa Debotj, who were deputed to 
 carry the Emperor's letters to Aden ; and, lastly, M. Bardel, 
 the Frenchman referred to in Consul Cameron's despatch 
 as being the bearer of the " Royal circular of appeal " to 
 the Emperor of the French. 
 
 On his way to the coast, Captain Cameron was stopped 
 
 Haines kindly engaged him to accompany me. At first I had every 
 reason to be satisfied with his services ; but when on the road he 
 accidently discovered that he was nearly related to Loaita, the power- 
 ful chief of the Debeni Danakil, he began to give himself airs ; and 
 when subsequently, as we approached this country, we saw letters 
 from Walasma Mohammed to the principal chiefs of the Debeni and 
 Weema tribes, desiring them to ' take good care of all travellers 
 coming to Ifat, and especially of Hadji Dufey, Rochet, and Hussein,' 
 his head was quite turned, and he fancied himself to be a much greater 
 man than his master. And I believe he really was in the eyes of the 
 Negiis and his people ; and it was to prevent a recurrence of similar 
 conduct in the event of his accompanying the embassy — in whose case 
 it would have been of far more consequence than it was in that of a 
 mere private individual — that Captain Haines detained him on his 
 return to Aden, and would not allow him to come again to Shoa imtil 
 after the embassy had been received. Had he accompanied it, he 
 would have assumed to himself the merit of having brought it. 
 
 " Samuel Georgis returned to Aden on the 3rd of March [1841], 
 bearing a letter to Captain Haines, with a few additional presents of 
 no great value." 
 
 To these remarks it has to be added that in the King of Shoa's 
 letter to the Queen of England, dated October 2nd, 1841 (Pari. 
 Paper (54), 1844, 'Shoa, Extracts of Correspondence/ &c.), it is said, 
 " By my messenger, Samuel Georgis, I formerly despatched some 
 tokens of esteem, together with a letter, wherein I sought your 
 friendship." 
 
 I had not heard anything of Samuel Georgis, except that he had 
 settled at Aden, till, on my arrival in Abyssinia this year, I was 
 enabled to identify him as " Samuel, the Emperor's Steward."
 
 82 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 in Tigre by a " rebel " chief at tlie head of 300 men, 
 and compelled to take refuge in the sanctuary of Axum, 
 which prevented hira from going down to Massowah and 
 caused some delay on his part ; and on the arrival of his 
 despatches at that port, they had to be sent to Europe 
 by the circuitous route of Aden ; so that they did not 
 reach London till the 12th of February, 1863. M. Bardel 
 was more fortunate. Whether in accordance with a 
 previous arrangement or merely by a lucky coincidence, 
 the French vessel of war ' Curieux ' took M. Bardel on 
 board at Massowah, and conveyed him with his despatches 
 to Djiddah and Suez ; so that, although Consul Cameron 
 reported home that he was " travelling slowly ,^^ he arrived 
 with them in Paris most probably before the English 
 despatches reached Aden. 
 
 These latter despatches were carried down to [Mas- 
 sowah and thence to Aden by the two native messengers — 
 Mertclia, who accompanied them as far as Massowah, 
 remaining at the British Consulate there to bring up the 
 answers when they should arrive. Consul Cameron him- 
 self, accompanied by Samuel, proceeded to Bogos, in 
 accordance with the desire of the Emperor, and as an- 
 nounced in the Consul's despatches to Earl Russell and 
 to Mr. Colquhoun.
 
 83 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONSUL Cameron's journey to bogos— blamed by earl russell 
 — correspondence with the board of trade respecting 
 
 THE commerce OF ABYSSINIA — CONSUL CAMERON ORDERED TO 
 BE]fORT THEREON — HIS JOURNEY TO MATAMMA — M. LEJEAN's 
 ARRIVAL IN ABYSSINIA — HIS IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE — 
 
 CONSUL Cameron's return — interview with the emperor — 
 
 HIS DISGRACE AND DETENTION — CAUSES OP THE EMPEROR's 
 displeasure — M. BARDEL's return from FRANCE — EMPEROR 
 napoleon's letter — ITS TREATMENT — CONSUL LEJEAN EX- 
 PELLED — CONSUL Cameron's despatches stopped — his mes- 
 senger BEATEN — EARL RUSSELL'S DESPATCH OP APRIL 22nD, 
 
 1863 — Theodore's letter to the queen ignored. 
 
 I HAVE now to narrate the incidents of Consul Cameron's 
 journey to Bogos and the neighbouring frontier districts, 
 with the highly important consequences of that journey. 
 
 The recent disturbances in Tigre having raised many 
 robber-bands. Consul Cameron applied to the authorities, 
 who furnished him with an escort of 5000 men across the 
 river Mareb into Hamasyen. The strength of this escort 
 (he explains) was regulated by their own fears, as the 
 Emperor had written to say that if anything happened 
 to Cameron he would reduce Tigre to a desert. 
 
 The details of our Consul's proceedings are given in his 
 despatch to Earl Russell, dated " Bogos, Abyssinia, March 
 31, 1863,'' in which he says that a statement of the facts 
 was being carried to King Theodore by his representative 
 there, who persisted, with his master, in viewing the 
 Turkish claim to the Bogos, Halhal, and Habab as illu- 
 sory, — this representative being Samuel, who had accom- 
 
 g2
 
 84 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IX ABVSSIMA. 
 
 pauied him as far as Bogos^ and thence returned to his 
 master. Consul Cameron had also himself written twice 
 to the Emperor explaining matters ; and he adds^ " What 
 effect the news from here may have on a character at once 
 so passionate and politic, it is impossible for me to say. 
 He may either alloAv his grievances to accumulate, in 
 order to lay them before Europe hereafter, or he may at 
 once take violent measures to compel the TurKs to a 
 certain amount of decency in their transactions on his 
 frontier. He will, however, do nothing without seeing his 
 Avay." 
 
 Among the Papers, for the production of which Lord 
 Chelmsford, in the House of Lords, moved an address to 
 Her Majesty on May 23rd, 1865, was a " Copy of Report 
 made by Captain Cameron from Bogos in or about March 
 18G3, and of the orders in consequence of such Report 
 sent to him by the Consul-General in Egypt, or from the 
 Foreign Office." To this part of the address no retui-n 
 was made under Earl RusselFs Administration. The Re- 
 port itself was, however, produced by Lord Stanley at the 
 close of the last Session— though seemingly not in a 
 perfect form, as Mr. Murray^s letter, dated August 13th, 
 1863*, acknowledging its receipt, relates to matters which 
 are not mentioned in the copy laid before Parliament. 
 
 From Bogos Consul Cameron proceeded to Kassala, 
 and thence to Kedarif, whence he addressed Earl Russell 
 on May 20th, 1863, with a copy of his despatch to 
 Consul-General Colquhoun at Alexandria of the same 
 date, and several enclosures, bearing on the aggressions of 
 the Egyptians on the Abyssinian frontier districts. In all 
 * I'arl. I'ajxT, 1805^ 'Papers rdatinir to the Iniprisoiinicnt,' Sec, p. .'5.
 
 CONSUL CAMKKON's INTERKERENCE in HUGOS. 85 
 
 these communications both to Earl Russell and to Mr. 
 Colqulioun, Ca2)tain Cameron, taking as his guide the con- 
 duct of his predecessor Consul PloAvden, appears to have 
 acted as the advocate and protector of the Christian Abys- 
 sinians and in the interests of their sovereign the Em- 
 peror Theodore — what he did being with the full concur- 
 rence of that Sovereign, and indeed in concert with Samuel, 
 the Emperor's favourite and representative. It is there- 
 fore clear that there could have been no foundation for 
 Earl RusselPs ill-advised allegation in his despatch to 
 Colonel Stanton, that " the chief cause of the Emperor's 
 anger with Consul Cameron was this journey to Bogos." 
 
 His proceedings, however, incurred the displeasure of 
 the British authorities both at home and in Egypt ; and 
 the Government of that country did not scruple to charge 
 the British Consul with having invaded the Egyptian ter- 
 ritory at the head of an Abyssinian army. The subject 
 formed at the time a topic of conversation among the 
 European residents in Egypt; and I was assured by one 
 of the best-informed of them, that, had the Viceroy, 
 Ismail Pasha, insisted on it, our Consul would have been 
 recalled. 
 
 No doubt Egypt in 1863, under the able and energetic 
 rule of Ismail Pasha, and with a crop of one hundred and 
 fifty millions of pounds of cotton, was very different from 
 Egypt in 1854 under Abbas Pasha, when the country was 
 on the verge of ruin. Otherwise it does not seem that the 
 conduct of Consul Cameron differs materially from that of 
 Consul Plowden, for which, at the time, the latter ob- 
 tained much credit. 
 
 In his despatch to Consul -(General Colquhoun from
 
 86 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Kedarif, dated May 20th, 1863, Consul Cameron says, with 
 reference to his despatches of October 31st, 1862, from 
 the Emperor's camp : — " It will give you an idea of the 
 slowness with which my Government correspondence is 
 carried on, when I state that I do not yet know whether 
 those letters have reached England or not; yet I have 
 received a packet from Massowah to-day/' On this, it 
 may be remarked that, as those despatches did not reach 
 London till February 12th, 1863, and were not even ac- 
 knowledged (not to speak of their being replied to) by 
 Earl Russell till April 22nd of the same year, some time 
 had still to elapse before any answer could possibly be 
 received. 
 
 But in the packet which Consul Cameron received at 
 Kedarif, there was (unless it had previously reached him) 
 one despatch, with enclosui-es, from the Foreign Office, 
 which requires particular notice. In order to understand 
 the natiu'c of that despatch and its contents, it is neces- 
 sary to relate rather a long story, going back several 
 years. 
 
 In the beginning of the year 1819, an application having 
 been made to me from the Board of Trade for information 
 respecting the commerce of Abyssinia, I had an inter- 
 view with Sir Denis Le Marchant, then Secretary to the 
 Board ; and, in consequence of what took place on the 
 occasion, I, at his instance, addi'csscd to him a letter 
 for the consideration of the President of the Board, Mr. 
 Labouchere (now Lord Tiiuntoii), in whicli I suggested 
 the establishment of a British factory on the edge of 
 the high tableland of Abyssinia, behind Massowah. Sir 
 Denis Le Marchant's reply, whilst according to my sug-
 
 CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE HOAKl) Of TRADE, 87 
 
 gestion some degree of favour, stated that Mr. La- 
 bouchere thought it desirable to see the Reports of Her 
 Majesty's Consul in Abyssinia before forming a decided 
 opinion on the subject *. Those Reports were laid before 
 Parliament at the close of the Session of 1866 f, more 
 than seventeen years after the President of the Board of 
 Trade had expressed his intention to be guided by them 
 when received. 
 
 Unconscious of the existence of such Reports, as I be- 
 lieve the officials of the Board of Trade likewise to have 
 been, I addressed Sir James Emerson Tennent, the pre- 
 sent Secretary to the Board, on November 3rd, 1862, 
 calling attention to my letter of March 5tli, 1849, and 
 
 * The following is the reply of the Secretary of the Board of 
 Trade : — 
 
 " Board of Trade, March 16, 1849. 
 
 " Sib, — I am directed by the President of this Board to thank you 
 for your letter of the 6th, which, as well as your letters to the Foreign 
 Office, he has read with great interest. 
 
 " That the establishment of a Factory, as you suggest, on the 
 eastern edge of the tableland immediately above Massowah, might 
 eventually be attended with advantageous residts to British com- 
 merce, the facts adduced in your letter certainly go far to prove. On 
 the other hand, the extreme insecurity of such an establishment, 
 owing to the conflicting and fluctuating fortunes of the native chiefs 
 in that part of Africa, renders the measure one of very doubtful 
 policy ; and Mr. Labouchere thinks it desirable to see the Reports 
 that may, from time to time, be expected from II. M. Consul in Abys- 
 sinia, before he forms a decided opinion on the subject. 
 
 " Li the meanwhile, he wishes you to be assured of his sense of the 
 readiness with which you have given him the benefit of your re- 
 searches in a country respecting which it is very difficult to obtain 
 authentic information. 
 
 " I have the honour to be, &c., 
 
 " Charles T. Behe, Esq.'' " Denis Le Marchant." 
 
 t Parliamentary Paper, 180G, ' Further Correspondence,' &c. p. 5 
 et scq.
 
 88 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 also to two other comnmnicatioiis I had made to the 
 Board — the one " On the Trade of Intertropical Africa/' 
 addressed to Mr. Laboncherej President^ on January 27th, 
 1852, and the other " On the Cultivation of Cotton in 
 Taka and Northern Abyssinia," addressed to Lord Col- 
 chester, Vice-President, on March 31st, 1852. And with 
 reference to the contents of the latter of these tAvo com- 
 munications, I remarked that the precarious condition 
 of affairs in North America rendered what was there said 
 rcsj)ecting Ethiopian cotton far more pertinent, and there- 
 fore more cogent, at that time (1862) than it had been 
 when written upwards of ten years previously. 
 
 On November 27th and December 26th of the same 
 year I again addressed the Secretary of the Board of 
 Trade on matters connected with the same subject. 
 
 On January 10th, 1863, the Secretary of the Board of 
 Trade wrote to me in these terms : — " With reference to 
 your letters of November 3rd and 27th, and 26th ultimo, 
 respecting the expediency of adopting measures for the 
 development of British commerce in Abyssinia, I am di- 
 rected to inform you that your communications have been 
 referred by Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs for the report of Her Majesty's Consul at Mas- 
 sowali." No allusion Avhatever was made to the previous 
 reports of the late Consul Plowden, the existence of which, 
 carefully put away in some pigeon-hole in Whitehall Gar- 
 dens, I can only conclude to have been then as forgotten 
 at the Foreign Office as it Avas unknown at the Board of 
 Trade. 
 
 The reference to Consul Cameron was made, as is evi- 
 dent, at some time between December 26th, 1862, and
 
 w CONSUL CAMERON^S JOURNEY TO MATAMMA. 89 
 
 January 10th, 1863; and the despatch from the Foreign 
 Office, together with some of my original communications, 
 which had been transmitted in it, reached him from Mas- 
 sowah apparently on May 20th of the latter year, whilst 
 he was at Kedarif ; and on the 25th of the same month, 
 he accordingly wrote from that place that he was going 
 to Matamma, ^'to see about cotton, and trade, and so 
 forth." That he undertook the journey is, unfortunately 
 as it has turned out, but too true; but whether he ever 
 made any report on the subject, I cannot say : at all 
 events, no such report had reached the Board of Trade 
 as lately as July 12tli, 1866, as I learned on applying 
 officially for information on the subject. 
 
 Whilst Consul Cameron was thus absent in the north of 
 Abyssinia, M. Lejean, who in 1860-61 had been charged 
 with a mission from the French Government into the re- 
 gions of the Upper Nile, in the course of which he had ; 
 visited Abyssinia, and who had made an able report on the 
 subject of his mission, now returned to that country with 
 the appointment of Consul at Massowah, and charged 
 with a special mission from the Emperor Napoleon to the 
 Emperor Theodore, the professed object of which was the 
 opening of a trade between France and Abyssinia. At 
 his audience with the Abyssinian Monarch, M. Lejean <i^^'' 
 presented a letter, which at the time was said to be an 
 autograph of the Emperor Napoleon, but which was in 
 fact signed by M. Thouvenel, then Minister for Foreign 
 Affairs ; in which letter it is naively declared that the 
 Emperor would never have countenanced the pretensions 
 of Agau Negiisye in 1859^, had he been at all aware of 
 * See page 58.
 
 90 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. , 
 
 his being a rebel. In token of his esteem, the Emperor 
 sent by M. Lcjcan several valuable presents, and also 
 offered to his Abyssinian Majesty the gratuitous services 
 of M. Legard, an able French physician, who had accom- 
 panied INI. Lcjean into Abyssinia. 
 
 As the result of this audience, M. Lejean reported his 
 expectation that French produce would be admitted into 
 Abyssinia on payment of a moderate import duty, and 
 ! that Theodore was disposed to send an ambassador to 
 \ France; which latter fact had, however, been already 
 directly communicated to the Emperor Napoleon through 
 M. Bardel. 
 
 When M. Lejean arrived at Court, he found the Abys- 
 sinian Monarch on the point of setting out on another 
 campaign into the '^ revolted'^ province of Godjam, where 
 Tadela Gwalu was again in arms, having fortified himself 
 in the impregnable ai7iba or hill-fort of Djibella, near the 
 great market of Baso, in the south of the peninsula ; and 
 at the invitation or in compliance with the commands of 
 his Abyssinian Majesty, the Consul of France accompanied 
 the army, crossing, on the 11th of February 1863, the 
 bridge over the Abai into the peninsula of Godjam. He 
 has given a very interesting description of the march 
 westwards, till he arrived within five hours of the source 
 of the Abai, which, however, he was unable to visif^. 
 
 In his account of the occurrences which have next to be 
 related, M. Lejean says : — " I now enter upon a series of 
 events which are the more delicate to narrate because I 
 
 * My own two visits to this Source of tlic Nile are related in the 
 'Journal of the Roval Geographical Society,' vol. \\\. pp. 12-14, 
 
 :J3-:J7.
 
 IMPRISONMENT AND RELEASE OF FRENCH CONSUL. 91 
 
 had to perform a part in them that was not always 
 voluntary. The reader will understand without difficulty 
 the repugnance I entertain to dwell on these recollections, 
 and the convenances which oblige me to allude to rather 
 than to explain them/' It is only to be regretted that this 
 sense of propriety, most suitable in a person occupying 
 M. Lej can's official position, should not have induced him 
 to refrain altogether from adverting to the circumstances 
 in question, unless he felt himself at liberty to represent 
 them in their true colours. 
 
 On the 1st of March, a plot against the life of the Em- 
 peror was discovered, and the conspirators were sum- 
 marily punished — eighteen of them, in the Monarch's 
 presence, having the right hand and the left foot cut oif 
 (the ordinary punishment for high treason) , and being left 
 to a lingering death or to be devoured by the hyaenas. 
 
 On the following morning (March 2nd) M. Lejean says 
 that, " on some absurd suspicions which he could never 
 unravel, he was arrested by order of the Emperor and put 
 in irons, as was also the Naib of Arkiko." According to 
 other information, M. Lejean had provoked the Emperor 
 by protesting against one of his judicial acts. The version 
 given to myself, in a letter written from Gondar shortly 
 after the event occurred, is, that, " weary with Abyssinian 
 life and the still greater hardships of the campaign into the 
 distant province of Godjam, he suddenly resolved on de- 
 manding his conge. The Emperor, not being in a very 
 placid humour, refused to receive his guest ; and the latter, 
 with equal pertinacity, insisted on having an audience. 
 This exasperated the monarch, and poor Lejean was put in 
 chains, and for four-and-twentv hours had to meditate on
 
 [)2 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 this novel mode of euforeing court etiquette/' The follow- 
 ing day he was liberated on parole, Debra Tabor being 
 assigned to him as a residence, with liberty to move about 
 at his free will Avithin a distance of 30 or 40 leagues. 
 Towards the end of April, however, he was at Gondar, at 
 liberty, but ahvays on parole. 
 
 The Godjam campaign proved a failure, although in the 
 French newspapers Theodore was reported to have been 
 victorious. The Emperor returned home, after having 
 caused his troops to devastate the districts within their 
 reach, and to commit every sort of atrocity. 
 
 In the month of June 1863 Captain Cameron found his 
 Avay back to Gondar from his lengthened excursion in the 
 north. His position was a most pitiable one. He had 
 brought with him no answer from the Queen of England 
 to the Emperor's letter of October 31st, 1862 ; but, from 
 the greater proximity of India and apparently a greater 
 alacrity there than at home in answering letters, he had 
 already received a decided negative to the proposal made 
 for a mission to be sent from Bombay. He had further 
 been reprimanded by the Consul- General in Egj^pt (within 
 whose jurisdiction the Consulate in Abyssinia had then 
 recently been placed — apparently as a proof, like the with- 
 drawal of British protection from the Abyssinians at Jeru- 
 salem, that in future this Christian country was to be 
 regarded as a dependency of Turkey, and its inhabitants as 
 vassals of the Porte) for having taken on himself to 
 submit such a ])roposal to the Indian Government direct, 
 instead of sending it through his superior officer. His 
 political proceedings in the Abyssinian province of Bogos 
 — not his commercial visit to the Egyptian districts
 
 INTERVIEW BETWEEN EMPEROR AND BRITISH CONSUL. 93 
 
 further to the west^ which lie had been ordered to make — 
 had likewise been reproved by the Consul-General, 
 and this long before the displeasure of Earl Russell him- 
 self could be manifested to him. It would however 
 seem that he had already received some communication 
 from the Foreign Office, desiring him not to meddle in 
 the affairs of Abyssinia, but to return forthwith to Mas- 
 sowah*. 
 
 In the following month, July, the Emperor himself 
 came to Gondar; and it was under the untoward cir- 
 cumstances which have just been described that the 
 British Consul met the Emperor of Abyssinia face to 
 face. At his first audience that monarch put to him a 
 series of point-blank questions, to which he was required 
 to give straightforward and unequivocal answers. They 
 were to this effect: — ''Where have you been since you 
 parted from Samuel in Bogos ? " " Into the fi'ontier 
 provinces of Soudan.^^ — ''What for?'^ "To see about 
 cotton, and trade, and so forth. ^^ — " Who told you to 
 go there ? " " The British Government.^^ — " Have you 
 brought me an answer from the Queen of England ? " 
 " No.^^ — " Why not ? " " Because I have not received 
 any communication from the Government on the sub- 
 ject." — " Why, then, do you come to me now ? '^ " To 
 request permission to return to Massowah." — " What 
 for?^^ "Because I have been ordered by the Govern- 
 ment to go there." — " So," exclaimed the exasperated 
 monarch, "your Queen can give you orders to go and 
 visit my enemies the Turks, and then to return to Mas- 
 
 * If I mistake not, Earl Russell wrote to Consul Cameron as early 
 as June or July 1802, ordering him to leave Theodore alone.
 
 94 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 sowah ; but she cannot send a civil answer to my letter 
 to her. You shall not leave me till that answer comes.^' 
 
 That Consul Cameron's visit to the Egyptian cotton- 
 growing districts, by order of Her Majesty's Government, 
 was one of the main causes of the Emperor^s displeasure, 
 is confirmed by the testimony of two persons who were in 
 Abyssinia at the time. Mr. Stern says, '^ During his [the 
 Emperor's] stay in our vicinity I heard several times that 
 he was annoyed that Captain Cameron had not brought 
 an answer to his letter to the British Government, and also 
 for having gone round the frontier, and formed (as was 
 falsely stated) prejudicial intimacies with his enemies the 
 Turks.'' 
 
 M. Lejean's version is, that Captain Cameron, when he 
 left Godjam in November 18G2, had been accompanied by 
 an agent of the Emperor*, no doubt a spy, whom the 
 English Consul dismissed on quitting the Abyssinian 
 territory, whereby he had given grievous offence. He had 
 further made a long excursion into the cotton-districts of 
 Sennar and Kalabat, for the purpose of inspecting them, 
 with a view to the commercial interests of England ; and 
 Theodore, not understanding how a diplomatic agent could 
 be interested in commercial matters,-lKid imagined Captain 
 Cameron to have gone to coneci't measures with his mortal 
 enemies the Egyptians, and had treated him aecordinglyf. 
 
 Earl Russell, in his despatch to Colonel Stanton of 
 October 5th, 18G5, represents the matter in this distorted 
 form : — " It appears, further, that the chief cause of the 
 Emperor's anger with Consul Cameron luas this journey 
 
 • Namely, Samuel. 
 
 t ' Keviie des deux Moudes,' Dec. 1, 1804, p. 015.
 
 EARL Russell's despatch to colonel stanton. 95 
 
 to Bogos, coupled with the Emperor's suspicion that 
 Consul Cameron had intrigued to set the Turks and 
 Egyptians of the frontier against him, and aggravated 
 in some degree by the return of Consul Cameron to 
 Gondar without any answer to the Emperor's letter to 
 the Queen, 
 
 " It appears from King Theodore's letter to Mr. Rassam, 
 sent home by that gentleman in his letter of the 5th of 
 September, that the King alleges that Captain Cameron 
 ' abused and denounced him as a murderer ' in conse- 
 quence of the vengeance which he took on the persons 
 who killed Consul Plowden and Mr. Bell, and that, when 
 he had treated him well and asked him to make him (the 
 King) a friend of the Queen, Captain Cameron ^went 
 and stayed some time with the Turks, and returned to me 
 (the King) ;' and further, that when the King spoke to 
 Captain Cameron about the letter sent by him to the 
 Queen, he said he had not received any intelligence con- 
 cerning it. 
 
 '' There is no reason to suppose that Consul Cameron 
 incited the Egyptian forces on the frontier to commit 
 aggressions on the territory of Abyssinia. It is far more 
 probable that the enemies of the British name in Abys- 
 sinia should have infused unjust suspicions into the mind 
 of the Emperor. But certainly Captain Cameron, in 
 going to Bogos, acted without orders, and incurred the 
 displeasure of his own Government"*. 
 
 It is to be expected that some inquiry will be made in 
 Parliament as to the meaning and object of these repre- 
 sentations of the late Secretary of State for Foreign 
 * Pail. Paper, 1866, ' Further Correspondence,' &c., p. 63.
 
 96 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Affairs. Bogos^ as we kiiow^ is a part of Abyssinia ; Con- 
 sul Cameron's despatch from thence is dated " Bogos, 
 Abyssinia, March 31^ 1863"^. He went thither in com- 
 pany Avith Samuel on the Emperor^s business ; and though 
 by so doing he undoubtedly " incurred the displeasiu'e of 
 his own Government/' it is not possible — it is not true — 
 that ''the cause of the Emperor's anger with Consul Ca- 
 meron was this journey to Bogos." But into the Egyp- 
 tian frontier provinces further ivest he went on the busi- 
 ness of the British Government, and in pursuance of in- 
 structions from Earl Russell himself ; and it was because 
 he thus " went and stayed some time with the Turks/' 
 that he laid himself open to the suspicions and incurred 
 the displeasure of the Abyssinian monarch. 
 
 Be all this as it may, it is now quite certain that from 
 that time forward — July 1863, and it is most important 
 to bear this early date in mind — Consul Cameron was no 
 longer on the same friendly terms with the Emperor as he 
 had been before quitting him on October 31st, 1862. 
 
 The breach between them could not but be widened 
 when Consul Cameron gave the Emperor to understand, 
 as he would have felt himself bound to do, that the op- 
 pressed Christian inhabitants of Bogos were to be left to 
 the tender mercies of the Turks; for it would naturally 
 have served to confirm Theodore's belief that Captain 
 Cameron, when absent in Soudan, had been intriguing 
 with his Mohammedan enemies ; whilst his knowledge 
 of the friendly terms on which the French and English 
 Consuls were together, and of the enormous commercial 
 transactions between Egypt and England, would have led 
 * Pari. Paper, 1806, ' Further Correspondence,' &c., p. 55.
 
 CONSUL Cameron's disgrace. — m. bardel's return. 97 
 
 him to the not unreasonable conclusion, that, for the sake 
 of Egypt and apparently at the instigation of France, he 
 and the CImstians of Abyssinia were being betrayed and 
 abandoned by the British Government and their repre- 
 sentative. And he could only regard the refusal of the 
 Government of Bombay to treat him as they had formerly 
 treated the King of Shoa, now become his vassal, as an 
 additional proof of this change of feeling and conduct to- 
 wards him. 
 
 This state of affairs continued till September 1863, 
 when M. Bardel returned from Paris, bringing an answer 
 from the Emperor Napoleon to the letter addressed to him 
 by Theodore in October of the previous year *. 
 
 As there are two versions of the contents of the letter 
 from France and of the way in which it was received, it is 
 proper to give them both. The first is that of M. Lejean. 
 His statement is, that the Abyssinian monarch, ^' proud 
 of this diplomatic success, called together at Gondar all 
 the Europeans resident in Abyssinia, to be present when 
 the Imperial message was read ;'' but, as he had already 
 opened the letter and given it to be translated, its con- 
 tents were soon known; '^ so that,^' says M. Lejean, 
 " I could without indiscretion arrange beforehand with 
 my British colleague and the most influential members 
 of the little colony, as to our common action on the 
 mind of the Emperor, in the sense of the instructions 
 which I had received." As, however, the French Con- 
 sul, according to his own showing, was at that time 
 in positive disgrace and a prisoner on parole, and as 
 the English Consul was likewise in disfavour, we may be 
 * See page 81. 
 
 H
 
 98 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 able to estimate at its proper value this alleged ar- 
 rangement. 
 
 M. Lejean then states that the official letter from the 
 Emperor Napoleon demanded^ in courteous but firm lan- 
 guage, religious toleration for the Roman Catholic mis- 
 sions protected by France. And he adds, " I must do 
 justice to the missionaries of Basle, who, directed by the 
 English Consul and Mr. Martin Flad, their principal 
 leader, had been most ready to ofi'er me their assistance 
 on this religious question, with a view to toleration, in 
 accordance (as they justly said) with the spirit of en- 
 lightened Protestantism." 
 
 " But," continues M. Lejean (whose words are deserv- 
 ing of being quoted in full), " all this diplomacy was en- 
 tirely thrown away. The Emperor had been much irri- 
 tated by the passage iu the letter relative to the Romish 
 missions. ' I know,' said he, ' the tactics of European 
 Governments when they wish to acquire possession of 
 Oriental States. They first send missionaries, then con- 
 suls to support the missionaries, then armies to sup- 
 [)ort the consuls*. I am not a Rajah of Hindostan, 
 to be humbugged in that fashion. I prefer having at 
 once to do with the armies.' After a series of curious 
 and characteristic scenes, Theodore replied to what he 
 regarded as a provocation on the part of France, by 
 an order of expulsion to her agent "f- This occurred, 
 
 * This notion is so peculiarly French, that I cannot but suspect 
 these words to have been put into Theodore's mouth by M. Lejean, like 
 those respecting,' Queen Victoria and Earl llussell, cited in page 124. In 
 my own inf(.rniant'8 report of what took place, there is no allusion to 
 anything of the sort having been said by the Emperor. 
 
 t 'Revue des deux Mondes,' (Dec. 1, 1804) p. ()12.
 
 THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON^S LETTER. 99 
 
 according to M. Lejean, on the 28tli of September, 
 1863. 
 
 I now proceed to give the version of another person, 
 who was also present on the occasion, and who had no 
 motive for misrepresenting or concealing anything that 
 occurred. 
 
 The letter brought by M. Bardel was not from the Em- 
 peror Napoleon, but from M. Drouyn de Lhuys, the 
 Minister of Foreign Aifairs, in his Imperial master's 
 name ; and, after compliments in reply to Theodore's 
 letter, the writer stated that the Emperor had especially 
 commissioned him to say to his Abyssinian Majesty that 
 he extended his protection to the Roman Catholic mis- 
 sionaries all over the world ("dans tout I'univers"). 
 Nothing therefore could be more agreeable to his Imperial 
 Majesty than to learn that those clergymen were treated 
 with the consideration Avhich was their due. All Govern- 
 ments, continued the Minister, deserving of being called 
 civilized, have accepted the principle of the freedom of 
 religious worship, especially when the religion is a Chris- 
 tian one. 
 
 But now comes a part of the French Minister's letter, 
 which les convenances did not permit the Consul of France 
 even to allude to. " The Emperor has remarked," writes 
 M. Drouyn de Lhuys to the Abyssinian Monarch, "the 
 passage in your letter in Avhich you manifest warlike in- 
 tentions. Before undertaking a war against powerful neigh- 
 bours, it is right to calculate one's own strength, and to be 
 careful not to place in jeopardy advantages already gained. 
 His Majesty prays to God that He will inspire you with 
 decisions suited to the interests of the people whom you 
 
 H 2
 
 100 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 govern, and wlio, as a Cliristian people, are the objects of 
 his especial sympathy." The letter finished with some 
 general phrases, as to the French Emperor's willingness 
 to form friendly and commercial relations with Abyssinia. 
 There can be no doubt that the advice given in this 
 letter was excellent ; only it is to be questioned whether 
 it was offered by the proper person and in proper season. 
 Theodore was at that moment inveterate against the 
 Egyptians, and most anxious to go to war with them ; and 
 having always regarded the French as their allies and 
 abettors, the last person from whom he Avas likely to 
 accept advice as to his conduct towards them was the Em- 
 peror Napoleon. He consequently decided on resenting 
 in a signal manner the insult which he considered himself 
 to have received. 
 
 13ut before taking this step, in order to manifest his 
 feeling towards those persons Avhom the Emperor of the 
 French had declared to be the special objects of his solici- 
 tude, Theodore first sent for the Coptic Abiina, with Avhom 
 he had been on bad terms for some time, and became tho- 
 roughly reconciled with him — the one not less than the 
 other being the bitter enemy of the Roman Catholics ; and 
 the prelate, in his joy at the reconciliation, vowed he Avould 
 have his throat cut before he allowed a single Romish 
 missionary to enter the country. 
 
 A week afterwards all the Europeans, seventeen in 
 number, including the English and I>cnch Consuls, the 
 Protestant missionaries, and the Emperor's European 
 workmen, were summoned to witness what was to take 
 place. 
 
 Tliere was first a personal question between M. Lejean,
 
 THEODORE REJECTS THE FRIENDSHIP OF FRANCE. 101 
 
 as Consul of France, and the Frenchman Bardel, which 
 was cut short by Theodore^s declaring the latter to he his 
 envoy. His Majesty then stated publicly the following 
 grounds of complaint against the Emperor Napoleon, and 
 of dissatisfaction with his letter : — 
 
 1st. The letter had no seal affixed to it, and therefore 
 was no formal document. 
 
 2nd. The answer to a letter written by himself to the 
 Emperor Napoleon came, not from the Emperor in person, 
 but from a servant [lolye) of his. 
 
 3rd. The letter was, in point of fact, no answer to the 
 contents of his (Theodore's) letter. 
 
 4th. M. Bardel had not been treated with the respect 
 due to an Envoy from the Emperor of Ethiopia. 
 
 With a view to meet these objections, M. Lejean wished 
 to show that he was the bearer of a more explicit and 
 favourable answer, respecting the reception in Paris of an 
 Abyssinian embassy; but Theodore would not listen to 
 his explanation, as he said his present envoy (M. Bardel) 
 had not been well received. 
 
 The result " was that Theodore positively rejected the 
 friendship of France, tore the French Minister's letter in 
 pieces and trod it underfoot, and said that, if the quarrel 
 between himself and the Emperor Napoleon had to be de- 
 cided by the sword, there was a youth {gobaz) above^ who 
 would fight for him^. 
 
 * The celestial champion here appealed to is the Farasmya (Horse- 
 man), as St. George is called — that saint being, as in the Greek 
 Church, the especial patron of soldiers, and so much revered by 
 the Abyssiuians that he is looked on as one of the Persons of their 
 " Trinity." In an article on " Christianity among the Gallas," in the
 
 102 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 The French Consul and Dr. Legard were then peremp- 
 torily ordered to quit the Emperor's dominions. Two 
 days afterwards the two Frenchmen were furnished with a 
 passport^ but without being allowed to take leave of his 
 Majesty personally; and they immediately made the best 
 of their way to the coast. M. Lejean himself acknow- 
 ledges that he hastened to INIassowah before the news 
 of his disgrace, spread along the road, should cause 
 the local authorities to place obstacles in the way of his 
 journey. He was likewise anxious, no doubt, to trans- 
 mit the disagreeable news home with his own imprint 
 on it. 
 
 In the debate in the House of Commons onun Je 30th, 
 1865, Mr. Layard said that, when the letter from the 
 Emperor Napoleon was presented, the Emperor Theodore 
 " quarrelled with the French Consul, threw him into 
 prison, and loaded him with chains. He released him 
 after five or six weeks, and then ignominiously expelled 
 him from the country"*. The "one halfpenny-wortli of 
 bread to this intolerable deal of sack " is the following 
 anecdote related by M. Lejean himself: — As he and his 
 colleague were breakfasting together on the morning of 
 the former's expulsion, Cameron said to him laughingly^ 
 " Well, my friend, are the chains of the Negus heavy ?" 
 " Should you like to try them V asked Lejean in the same 
 tone. " Well, who knows ?" was the reply of the un- 
 fortunate Representative of Great Britain. But this con- 
 versation referred to the occurrence in March previous. 
 
 * British Magazine ' for June 1847, I have alluded to this and other 
 eimilar eiTors. 
 • ' Times,' July 1, 1866.
 
 consul's despatches stopped. SERVANT BEATEN. 103 
 
 wheiij however, M. Lejean had been put in chains for 
 only a few hours *. 
 
 A few days after M. Lej can's departure, namely, on 
 October 8th, 1863, Consul Cameron wrote thus from 
 (jlondar to his family: — "The business of the French 
 Consul is a disagreeable affair. I have kept myself aloof 
 on the whole ; but I off*ered my services to the Consul, 
 which he was generous enough not to accept, lest it might 
 injure my own mission, especially as King Theodore has 
 taken it into his head that I have been intriguing against 
 him in Egypt. He is a fine fellow, but does not under- 
 stand foreign politics or foreign manners. My own fate 
 rests on the turn of a die. I am still waiting for answers 
 to my letters of last year from the King's camp. If the 
 King intercepts them Avhen they come, I suppose I shall 
 be sent packing after my colleague.^' 
 
 At that time, though the British Consul was a prisoner 
 on parole, no hand had been laid on him or any of his 
 people ; neither did he then ianticipate any act of violence. 
 But the storm which had long been lowering, at length 
 broke over his devoted head. 
 
 A messenger, with letters sent by Captain Cameron, 
 Avas stopped on the way from Gondar to Massowah by the 
 Grovernor of the province of Woggera, who seized the 
 letters and sent the messenger back to Gondar. Captain 
 Cameron having complained to the Emperor of this out- 
 rage, the latter took the messenger with him into Wog- 
 gera, and sent him to the Governor to demand the letters 
 back. He was told that they were lost ; and on his re- 
 peating this to his Majesty, the latter (who by this time 
 * See page 91.
 
 104 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 had doubtless become acquainted with the contents of the 
 letters) replied^ " He has done you justice : give him (the 
 servant) stripes into the bargain." 
 
 The date of this occurrence, as far as I possess the 
 means of fixing it, was the 15tli of October, 1863, at 
 which time Consul Cameron had been for about three 
 months under surveillance and prevented from quitting 
 the comitry. It is not possible at the present moment to 
 explain the specific motive for the stoppage of his letters, 
 though it is most probable that Theodore wished to know 
 how that officer had reported to the British Government 
 the proceedings of the 28tli of September. 
 
 It is however also very likely that by this time, 
 (October 15th, 1863), Earl Russell's reply to Consul 
 Cameron^s important communication from the Emperor's 
 camp in Godjam of October 31st, 1862"^, had reached 
 Abyssinia. In the return to the Address to the Crown 
 on Lord Chelmsford's motion of May 22nd, 1865, that 
 reply is given as having " arrived at Gondar about No- 
 vember, 1863 ;" but there was ample time for its arrival 
 at this earlier date, and my own impression is that it 
 did so arrive. I therefore insert it here as in its 
 proper place : — 
 
 " Fureujn Office, April 22nd, IHGS. 
 
 '' Sir, — With reference to your despatch of the 31st of 
 October last, I have to state to you that it is not desirable 
 for Her Majesty's Agents to meddle in the affairs of 
 Abyssinia, and you would have done better had you re- 
 turned to your post at Massowah when the King told 
 you to do so. This it will hi; rii;ht that you should do at 
 * See page 07 et sc/j.
 
 Theodore's letter to the queen ignored. 105 
 
 once, and you will remain at Massowah until further 
 orders. 
 
 "You will of course keep Her Majesty's Government 
 fully and accurately informed of French proceedings in 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 " I am, &c., 
 
 "RUSSELL." 
 
 It must not be forgotten that Consul Cameron's des- 
 patch of October 31st, 18G2, contained the Emperor's letter 
 to the Queen, which is thus contemptuously ignored al- 
 together. 
 
 If the fact be as I surmise, and if it should also prove 
 to be the case that Earl Russell's despatches, like those 
 of Consul Cameron himself, were intercepted, as he had 
 anticipated, the whole matter becomes yet plainer and 
 more intelligible. Indeed, it must continue to do so as 
 additional facts are brought to light.
 
 106 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES — NOT IMPLICATED IN DISPUTES BE- 
 TWEEN EMPEROR AND CONSUL — IMPUTATIONS AGAINST THEM 
 UNTFOUNDED — COMMENCEMENT OF THEIR MISFORTUNES — LET- 
 TERS FROM MR. STERN AND MB. ROSENTHAL — BISHOP GOBAT's 
 
 LAY MISSIONARIES — LONDON SOCIETY'S MISSION SCOTTISH 
 
 MISSION — DIFFERENCES AMONG MISSIONARIES — MR. LAYARD ON 
 SnSSIONS — MR. stern's MEETING WITH THE EMPEROR — HIS 
 SERVANT BEATEN TO DEATH — HmSELF LIKEWISE BEATEN — 
 consul's INTERCESSION REJECTED — MR. STERN'S PRIVATE PA- 
 PERS — DENOUNCED BY M. BARDEL — HIS CHARACTER — ALL EU- 
 ROPEANS IMPRISONED — TRIAL OF STERN AND ROSENTHAL — 
 " THE KOSSO-SELLEr'S SON " — THEIR CONDEMNATION — ARRIVAL 
 OF MR. KEBANS — CONSUL AGAIN ORDERED TO MASSOWAH — 
 NO ANSWER FROM THE QUEEN — CONSUL IMPRISONED — THEO- 
 DORE'S SINGITLAR PROCLAMATION, 
 
 It cannot but liave occurred to every one wlio has read 
 thus far, if at all acquainted with the subject of the 
 captivity of our countrymen in its ordinary form, that 
 throughout the events narrated the Protestant mission- 
 aries in Abyssinia, so long Consul Cameron^s companions 
 in bonds, have not once been mentioned except inciden- 
 tally. In fact, as far as the breach between the Emperor 
 of Abyssinia and the representative of the British Go- 
 vernment is concerned, those missionaries may be re- 
 garded as not being at all in the country — as having no 
 existence whatever ! And yet it has been repeatedly as- 
 serted, and the popular belief notoriously is, that it was 
 with one of those missionaries, the Rev. Henry A, Stern, 
 that the Emperor was displeased in the first instance, 
 and that, through Consul Cameron's generous though
 
 JSIISSIONARIES MISREPRESENTED. MR. STERN. 107 
 
 injudicious interference on his behalf, he himself fell into 
 like disgrace; whilst, Ijy quitting his post at Massowah 
 without orders, this officer incurred at the same time 
 the displeasure of his own Government. 
 
 From the preceding pages, it is manifest that there is 
 not one word of truth in these statements, which, with 
 many others, of an equally fabulous character"^, would 
 seem to have been made and intentionally put into cir- 
 culation, with no other object than to turn the eyes of 
 Parliament and of the public in a direction diametrically 
 opposed to the right one. 
 
 Mr. Stern has told his own sad story of how his mis- 
 fortunes commenced, in a letter to his wife, dated from 
 Amba Magdala in April 1865, which was published about 
 a twelvemonth ago among the ' Letters from the Captive 
 Missionaries,' circulated by the Committee of the Abyssi- 
 nian Captives Liberation Fund. 
 
 The principal portions of that letter are reproduced in 
 the Appendix to the present work, together with other 
 
 * Among other absurd stories, the following was circulated in the 
 French newspapers, and copied into some of the English ones : — 
 " Letters from Abyssinia state that Theodore, Emperor of that country, 
 has just crowned his imperial eccentricities by an act which exceeds 
 them all in extravagance. Having learned of the widowhood of 
 Queen Victoria, he has had a letter written to her offering her his 
 hand. Mr. Cameron, the English consul, was charged to forward 
 this missive to his Sovereign. The reply to so unforeseen an offer 
 not being immediately forthcoming, the Emperor Theodore got angiy, 
 and had Mr. Cameron put in chains until His Majesty should have 
 obtained satisfaction for such a want of attention to him. On hear- 
 ing of the imprisonment of Mr. Cameron, Her Britannic Majesty 
 is said to have decided on replying by a polite refusal, the sending of 
 which by post was more economic than a special mission to Abyssinia." 
 See the ' Sun' of August 6th, 1864 ; and see also the 'Times' of Sep- 
 tember 0th following.
 
 108 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 subsequent communications from Mr. Stern and his com- 
 panion, Mr. Rosenthal. They give a detailed and con- 
 nected narrative of the barbarous treatment to which 
 they have been subjected, and they form a tale of horrors 
 such as probably never was surpassed. Referring, then, 
 to the letters of the two unfortunate missionaries, it 
 remains for me to give merely a summary of the principal 
 events, derived partly from Mr. Stern's statements, and 
 more fully in some particulars from other authentic 
 sources. 
 
 To render the history complete and intelligible, it will 
 be necessary to go back to the epoch of the banishment of 
 Msgr. de' Jacobis and his clergy by the newly crowned 
 Emperor Theodore in the beginning of 1855, narrated in 
 a former page *. 
 
 By an extraordinary coincidence, on the very day on 
 which the fugitives reached Halai on the frontiers, the 
 Protestant missionary. Dr. Krapf, who had been expelled 
 both from Tigre and fi'om Shoa, was a third time entering 
 Abyssinia, accompanied by the Rev. Martin Flad, for the 
 purpose of establishing a mission in that country, at the 
 instance, under the auspices, and with the direct support 
 of Bishop Gobat of Jerusalem. The moment of Dr. Krapf's 
 arrival was most opportune, and permission was readily 
 granted by the new Sovereign and the Abuna for the 
 establishment of a mission, the first members of which 
 arrived out in April 1856, being followed by others at a 
 later date. This time, however, the missionaries M'crc not 
 ordained priests, but lay handicraftsmen, who folloAved 
 their usual vocations in conjunction with their missionary 
 * See page .39.
 
 VARIOUS PROTESTANT MISSIONS IN ABYSSINIA. 109 
 
 labours. These latter were however confined to reading, 
 teaching, and distributing the Scriptures in the native 
 languages, for which purpose they were supplied by 
 tlie British and Foreign Bible Society with books and 
 money to the amount of nearly ^€1000. 
 
 Encouraged by the success which liad attended Bishop 
 Gobat^s mission, the Rev. Henry A. Stern arrived in Abys- 
 sinia in the early part of 1860, as the agent of the London 
 Society- for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, for 
 the purpose of establishing a mission among the Falashas 
 or native Israelites ; and after obtaining the consent of 
 the Emperor and the Abuna, he returned to England, to 
 take measures for the extension of his mission. AVhilst 
 at home, Mr. Stern prepared for publication a work en- 
 titled ' Wanderings among the Falashas of Abyssinia,' 
 giving a narrative of the events that had occurred during 
 his first visit ; and after having been detained some time 
 in London, in order that he might meet Consid Cameron, 
 as has already been related *, he returned to Abyssinia, ac- 
 companied by Mr. and INIrs. Rosenthal^ reaching the mis- 
 sionary-station at Djenda in the early part of 1863. It is 
 proper to add here, that Mr. Flad subsequently left Bishop 
 Gobat's mission and joined that of the London Society. 
 
 At a later date a Scottish mission was established in 
 Abyssinia, the members of which were the Rev. Messrs. 
 Steiger and Brandeis. 
 
 Unfortunately certain differences arose between Mr. 
 
 Stern and the members of Bishop Gobat's lay mission, of 
 
 which differences Mr. Layard thus spoke in the House of 
 
 Commons on June 30th, 1865 : — " Let me mention a fact 
 
 >» * See page 69.
 
 110 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 of importance in relation to this question. There are in 
 Abyssinia three missionary establishments^ and I am sorry 
 to say that, as usual, they are intensely jealous of one 
 another. These estal)lishments consist of a German mis- 
 sion from Basle, a Protestant mission from this country, 
 and a Freneli Propagandist mission. The Basle mis- 
 sionaries hated the English with an intensity of which 
 some conception may be formed from the amiable pages 
 of the 'Standard^ — if anybody reads that paper — in which 
 some letters on the subject have recently appeared. The 
 Roman Catholics hated all the others. The King had 
 no love for any of them, and said, ' I have nothing to 
 do with preaching the Gospel ; but if you can be of any 
 use to me, I shall be very glad that you should stay.' 
 In consequence of this decision the members of the Basle 
 mission were compelled to turn their attention to the 
 manufacture of muskets; but, as they produced very 
 bad weapons, they turned with better success to trading 
 in brandy. Mr. Stern was allowed to deal with tlie 
 Jews and Mahomedans, but was strictly prohibited from 
 converting any of the native Abyssinians. The Roman 
 Catholic mission was expelled the country "*. 
 
 Comment from me on the tone and evident spirit of this 
 statement is not called for ; neither is it requisite to in- 
 quire how far the particulars of it are correct or not. All 
 that may be affirmed — though no reader of my work will 
 deem even this necessary — is, that whatever differences 
 there may have been, their existence was not " a fact of 
 importance in relation to the question^' of the Emperor's 
 quarrel with Consul Cameron and the English; which 
 
 • •Tiiiu-s." .lulv 1, IHC,.^,. .
 
 MR. stern's DITFERENCES WITH LAY MISSIONARIES. Ill 
 
 quarrel was, and is in truth, the real and only original ques- 
 tion, whatever other questions may have been raised by the 
 subsequent complication of affairs resulting from it. And 
 even had "jealousies " or " hatreds " — to use Mr. Layard's 
 expressions;;;— existed between the members of Bishop Go- 
 bat's lay mission and the " English " missionaries, there 
 is not the slightest reason for imagining that the Emperor 
 would have troubled himself about such insignificant mat- 
 ters, as long as he and the British Government continued 
 to be good friends. 
 
 For myself, I have never taken the trouble to investi- 
 gate the subject, believing it to be altogether of secondary 
 importance ; and so I have earnestly and invariably en- 
 deavoured to persuade the friends of both parties in Eng- 
 land with whom I have occasionally come in contact. As 
 far, however, as I understand the question, Mr. Stern, on 
 his first visit to Abyssinia, was led to form the opinion 
 that the members of Bishop Gobat's lay mission were 
 altogether too secular in their occupations, for that they 
 led rather the lives of ordinary workmen in the Emperor's 
 service than that of readers, teachers, and distributors of 
 the Scriptures ; and I believe he wrote home to that effect. 
 Inquiries were made and explanations given ; and when 
 Mr. Stern arrived out a second time, in the beginning of 
 1863, though at first there Avas not unnaturally some little 
 coolness between him and Bishop Gobat's lay missionaries, 
 still that soon passed over, and (unless I am misinformed) 
 they have ever since been on friendly terms. 
 
 It was in the beginning of April 1863, as already men- 
 tioned, that Mr. Stern returned to Abyssinia and resumed 
 his missionary labours, which, despite of obstacles, were sue-
 
 113 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 cessful and promising. In June, Captain Cameron arrived 
 at tlie mission-station at Djenda, on his return from the 
 north. In the following month the Emperor, who had 
 been at some distance, also came quite accidentally into 
 the neighbourhood. During his stay, Mr. ^tern heard 
 several times that he was annoyed with Captain Cameron 
 for the reasons already stated*; but Mr. Stern himself 
 does not appear to have seen or had any communication 
 with the Emperor, he having gone to \asit the Falashas 
 in various districts, and having at the end of August set 
 out for Armatjoho, a province to the north-west of the 
 missionary station. 
 
 On September 20th, Mr. Stern came back to Djenda, 
 and on the evening of his return was summoned to 
 Gondar, to hear the reading of the letter which M. 
 Bardel had brought from the Emperor of the French. 
 There was nothing personal in this summons, which was 
 issued in common to all the Europeans in the country. 
 
 The occurrences of that eventful day are already re- 
 corded t- The immediate result is thus simply related 
 by Mr. Stern : — " M. Lejean and M. Legard, a French 
 physician, were peremptorily required to quit Abyssinia; 
 and the rest returned to their respective homes." But 
 he adds, significantly, '^ The crisis, which for some time 
 had been looming in the distance, was now drawing 
 nearer and nearer. All felt that there was something im- 
 I)ending; but even the most timid dreaded nothing beyond 
 the seizure of property and expulsion from the country." 
 
 How completely this corresponds with the expressions 
 ill Consul Cameron's letters written to his family on Oc- 
 * See page 94, t See pages 97-] 01.
 
 MR. STERN^S MEETINfi WITH THE EMPEROR. 113 
 
 tober 8tli, a few days after the two French agents had 
 been expelled the country^. 
 
 Up to the middle of October 1863, I am unable to trace 
 any cause whatever for the Emperor's anger against the 
 missionaries. On the contrary, they would seem to have 
 enjoyed just as much of his favour as they required, the 
 summit of their desires being that they might be allowed 
 to pursue their labours unmolested. 
 
 On the morning of October 15th, as has been already 
 related f. Consul Cameron's messenger was beaten by 
 order of the Emperor, who was then encamped in Wog- 
 gera, near Gondar. In the afternoon of the same day 
 Mr. Stern approached the camp, and stopped to pay 
 his respects to the Emperor, as in duty bound. It was 
 not till the evening that the Monarch left his tent and 
 came into the open air, where Stern and his two servants 
 had been waiting more than Uvo hours. The time was 
 most inopportune, the Emperor having been at table. 
 A fi'own was on his countenance : with the thought on 
 his mind of what had taken j)lace in the morning, he 
 was assuredly in no good humour with Englishmen or 
 those belonging to them, and the merest trifle sufficed to 
 drive him beyond all bounds. Mr. Stern's address to 
 His Majesty appears to have been badly interpreted by 
 the servants, and the Emperor became so angry that 
 he ordered them to be beaten — probably with the very 
 sticks with which the English Consul's messenger had 
 been punished that same morning. Mr. Stern, under 
 alarm and excitement, happened to bite his thumb — an 
 action which in that country, as elsewhere, is considered 
 * See page 101. f See page 103. 
 
 I
 
 114 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 a threat of revenge. The Emperor had not at first noticed 
 this action; but his attention having been directed to 
 it by some of his officers who were Stern's enemies^ the 
 latter was likewise severely beaten. The two servants 
 died the same night, from the efi'ects of their pvmishment. 
 
 The British Consul, who was at Gondar a prisoner at 
 large, sent immediately to Mr. Flad, requesting him to go 
 to the Emperor with him as his interpreter. But Theo- 
 dore refused to admit Captain Cameron to his presence, 
 desiring him to say in writing what he had to say. He 
 accordingly wrote to the Emperor a letter, in which he 
 reminded him of the friendship that had so long subsisted 
 between England and Abyssinia ; Avhereupon he was asked, 
 " Where are the proofs of that friendship?'' 
 
 The punishment which I\lr. Stern received was so se- 
 vere that for some time his life was despaired of; and 
 Mr. Flad obtained leave to visit him daily and take charge 
 of his recovery. When his health was somewhat restored, 
 Mr. Stern was taken to Gondar chained to a soldier. 
 Here his papers were searched, but nothing criminatory 
 was found among them; and as the Emperor's anger 
 against him appears to have been only of a temporary 
 nature — it being, in truth, founded on no specific cause 
 of complaint — the monarch wrote, in the beginning of No- 
 vember, to his European workmen at Gaffat, namely 
 Bishop Gobat's Scripture readers, that he had tortured 
 Stern long enough, and that, if they approved of it, they 
 should come to Gondar and reconcile them, according to 
 the Abyssinian usage when two parties have injured one 
 another or are otherwise at variance. The form of this 
 reconciliation woukl have been, that, after the mediator
 
 STERN^S PRIVATE PAPERS. DENOUNCED BY BARDEL. 115 
 
 {astdraki) had admonished them to mutual forgiveness, 
 Mr. Stern Avould have begged pardon for anything he 
 might have done amiss, and the Emperor, on his side, 
 would have begged Steru^s pardon for the wrong he had 
 done him. I repeat, therefore, that this is a proof that 
 at the beginning of November 1863, nearly four months 
 after the Emperor had quarrelled with Consul Cameron, 
 he had no serious cause of complaint against Stern ; 
 whereas he continued on such unfriendly terms Avith the 
 former, that, in the middle of October, he would neither 
 admit him to his presence nor listen to his representa- 
 tions in writing. 
 
 Mr. Stern's prospects were thus looking bright and 
 hopeful, when a most calamitous change took place. 
 Under the belief that the persons and property of Euro- 
 peans were inviolable, Mr. Stern had incautiously recorded, 
 both in his manuscript note-book and in his printed 
 work, of which he had taken a copy with him to Abys- 
 sinia, facts and opinions more or less derogatory to the 
 Emperor Theodore. During his illness, he had employed 
 himself, as best he could, in erasing from his journals 
 and other papers the offensive passages. But unfortu- 
 nately he had mentioned their existence to M. Bardel, 
 and that individual made known the fact to the Emperor. 
 
 Mr. Stern, in alluding to this, says, " I know by whom, 
 but will not, without positive proof, give the name.'^ Mr. 
 Steiger is not so reserved, but expresses himself respecting 
 M. Bardel in the following unmeasured terms : — " He had 
 come to Abyssinia three years ago as Secretary to the 
 English Consul, but had been sent to France with a letter 
 to the Emperor Napoleon. When he returned from Paris 
 
 i2
 
 116 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 with an official answer^ he brought at the same time a 
 private commission from tlie Secretary of Foreign Af- 
 fairs, M. Drouyn de Lhuys, and his Jesuit friends, to en- 
 deavour by all means to destroy the Protestant missions 
 in Abyssinia, and to plant Roman Catholic missionaries 
 in their stead — the price for his endeavours being a Vice- 
 consulship. He did his best to execute his commission, 
 and did it with subtlety and ingenuity which is truly sur- 
 prising, and which none but a Frenchman taught in 
 a Jesuit school — I had almost said the DeviFs — could 
 have learnt. But truly the foolishness of God is wiser 
 than men, and the weakness of God stronger than men ; 
 and w^onderfully has the saying been fulfilled, ' He that 
 diggeth a 2)it for others, will surely fall into it himself.^ 
 Through his own intrigues he has fallen ; for ere his work 
 was completed his punishment came, and he is now^ in 
 prison, chained, with Mr. Stern, whose fall he had so 
 desperately striven to compass, "When he saw his plans 
 frustrated, he confessed his wickedness to his companions, 
 whose captivity he shares in the fortress of Magdala^^ *. 
 This was written in December 1864 ; since w^hicli time 
 much has to be related concerning M. BardeFs proceed- 
 ings. "Without Avishing to anticipate what will best be 
 told in its proper place, I will merely mention here that, 
 on July 6th 1866, M. Bardel, who Avas then again in 
 the Emperor's favour, had Mr. llassam. Consul Cameron, 
 Mr, Stern, and the other European captives given into 
 his charge, to be taken to prison at Amba Magdala. 
 
 M. BardeFs denouncement would appear not to have 
 been limited to Mr. Stern. The result of it Avas, that on 
 * See the ' l!ecord' of September (!, 1805.
 
 EUROPEANS IMPRISONED. — MISSIONARIES TRIED. 117 
 
 November 13tli, 1863, a body of troops came to Djenda, 
 seized most of the missionaries including Mrs. Flad, and, 
 after binding them, conducted them to Gondar, treating 
 them most ignominiously by the way. On the following 
 day they reached the Emperor's camp, where heavier 
 chains Avere laid on them ; and Mr. Rosenthal, who had 
 previously been left at liberty, Avas also bound. 
 
 All the Europeans in the country, the English Consul 
 not excepted, were next made prisoners, their papers 
 seized, and their goods confiscated. The prisoners were 
 dragged into the presence of the Emperor, Avho, when he 
 saw them, was actually red Avith anger. 
 
 After some investigation the artisan missionaries were 
 set at liberty, and their goods restored to them, the Em- 
 peror sending for them, receiving them in the most friendly 
 way, and calling them his children. The members of the 
 Scottish mission were likewise released, there being no 
 specific charge against any one but Stern, Rosenthal, and 
 Mrs. Flad. MeanAvhile these latter were almost starved; 
 and it was only Avith great difficulty that Mr. Flad con- 
 trived to supply them Avith food. A day Avas now ap- 
 pointed for their trial, at which Theodore said the other 
 Europeans in the country should be their judges. 
 
 On the 20th of November a court Avas held, to which 
 all the Europeans Avere summoned. On an elevation 
 sat the Emperor, and behind him, on an alga or couch, 
 the Etjegye, or superior of the monks. On the ground 
 beside the throne Avere Zander and Bardel — a German 
 and a Frenchman ! In the middle of the open space sat 
 the other Europeans in rows, and behind them the Abys- 
 sinian grandees. Many thousand spectators formed a
 
 118 THE BKITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 semicircle beyond them. The two prisoners, boimd by 
 the arm, stood opposite the Monarch, both of them, and 
 Stem especially, looking so sqnalid and "s^Tetched that 
 it was pitiable to behold. 
 
 Various charges were brought against the prisoners, 
 one against Stern being that in his book he had called 
 the execution of the rebels who had killed Messrs. 
 Plowden and Bell a cold-blooded murder*. Another was 
 tlie expression of the opinion that a war between Theodore 
 and a foreign power would remove intolerance and intro- 
 duce religious liberty. But the principal grievance ap- 
 pears to have been Mr. Stern's publication in Europe 
 of the fact that Theodore's mother was a poor woman, 
 who sold kosso, the well-known anthelmintic, now of 
 not unfrequent iise in Europe. The fact is notorious in 
 Abyssinia ; and before Theodore came to his greatness he 
 was not ashamed of his origin. An amusing anecdote is 
 told of how, having conquered a chief of Ras All's army, 
 who had promised to bring "the kosso-seller's son" dead 
 or alive into the presence of the Ras's mother, Oizoro 
 Menen, he invited him to dinner ; when, instead of mead, 
 the ordinary beverage of the country, he placed before 
 him a bottle containing an infusion of kosso, and thus ad- 
 dressed him : — " I am, as you have truly said, only the 
 son of a poor kosso-seller ; and as my mother has not dis- 
 posed of anything to day, I am sure you wall not refuse 
 her your custom ; " and he made him swallow the nau- 
 seous draught to the very dregs. It is therefore unworthy 
 of him to think of concealing his origin, and of claiming 
 
 * The pa^;sa(re in Mr. Stern's worii where the C'xpret;sion occurs is 
 given in a note to page 00.
 
 " THE KOSSO-SELLEr's SON." 119 
 
 instead to be of the ancient royal family of Ethiopia — an 
 idea, however, to which he now attaches the greatest im- 
 portance, and which (according to Dr. Krapf) he is said 
 to liave stated strongly in his late correspondence with 
 the Emperor Napoleon, in order to outdo the latter in 
 respect of genealogy ^. 
 
 Mr. Rosenthal had also spoken ill of the Emperor, 
 saying that it would be far better for the country to be 
 nuder the rule of the Turks (Egyptians) than of Theo- 
 dore; and as at that time two Turkish armies were re- 
 ported to beadvancing against Abyssinia, supported by 
 the French, it may well be understood how this must 
 have exasperatedthe Emperor. It is proper to state 
 what these two armies really were. 
 
 One of them was that under Musa Pasha, an old and 
 experienced officer, who had served under Ibrahim Pasha, 
 and who arrived at Khartum during the summer of 1862, 
 with 4000 regular troops and several rifled cannon. He 
 passed the winter in exercising his troops, with the avowed 
 intention of invading Abyssinia. In January 1863 he 
 advanced slowly, at the head of a body of 10,000 or 
 12,000 men in all, on Kalabat, of which district Ma- 
 tamma is the capital, reaching it about the middle of 
 the following month. He remained there only a few 
 days, during which short time he devastated and com- 
 pletely ruined the country, and he then returned to Khar- 
 tum. Towards the end of the year, it was reported that 
 he was about to undertake a campaign against Abys- 
 
 * See ' Christian Work ' for December 1st, 1864. Theodore's pro- 
 clamation given in pages 12;'5-127 may perhaps have some beariuu- on 
 this correspondence with the Emperor of the Frencli.
 
 120 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 sinia; but there docs not appear to have been any foun- 
 dation for the report. 
 
 The other " army " consisted of a body of fifty or sixty 
 drilled soldiers^ of various Eui'opean nations with several 
 officers, under the command of Comte de Bisson, a 
 French subject, formerly a general in the Neapolitan 
 service, who arrived at Khartum towards the end of 1863, 
 with the alleged intention of forming an agricultural 
 colony in the debatable country of Bogos, rendered memo- 
 rable by the visits of Consuls Plowden and Cameron in 
 1854 and 1863^. M. de Bisson received at first every 
 assistance from the Egyptian authorities, enlisted several 
 hmidred Nubians, and Avas escorted from Kassalah as far 
 as the district of Barea by a body of 200 Egyptian 
 soldiers. But he having decided on remaining in Barea, 
 where he began to form a permanent camp Avith the 
 alleged object of protecting himself from the attacks of the 
 natives, the Mudir of Taka sent 700 men to dislodge him 
 and bring him back to Kassalah, whence he returned to 
 Egypt about the middle of 1864 f- I am not acquainted 
 witli his subsequent proceedings ; but I know that several 
 of the members of his " French colony in Abyssinia" were 
 in Tigre during the present year, 1866. 
 
 Retui'ning now to the trial of the unfortunate mission- 
 aries, it has to be related that, after they had been ex- 
 amined, the Emperor caused to be read out a list of his 
 victories, thirty in number, being fifteen before and fifteen 
 after his accession to the throne ; next, a table setting out 
 his alleged descent from Meiiilek, the son of King Solomon 
 
 • See pages 25-29, 88-85. 
 
 t See the 'Times' of August 30th, 1864.
 
 CONDEMNATION OF STERN AND llOSENTHAL. 121 
 
 and the Queen of Slieba ; and lastly, that portion of the 
 Fetha Negest (the Abyssinian code, founded on tliat of 
 Justinian), by which death is made the penalty of reviling 
 the Sovereign, this offence coming within the crimen loesce 
 majestatis of the Roman law. 
 
 The Emperor is said to have next called on the l^u- 
 ropeans present, beginning with the English Consul, to 
 declare whether the prisoners were guilty or not of the 
 charges brought against them. They could only answer 
 in the affirmative. He then asked the prisoners what 
 they had to say against judgement being pronounced. 
 This, in the opinion of some of the persons present, was 
 the critical moment. They think that, had Mr. Stern and 
 Mr. Rosenthal confessed their fault, expressed their con- 
 trition, and asked for pardon, the other Europeans might 
 have interceded for them, and they would most Hkely 
 have been set at liberty ; but, instead of this, they tried 
 to justify, or at least to extenuate, their conduct ; which 
 prevented the others fi'om interfering, and only exaspe- 
 rated the Emperor. If this really be the case, it only 
 shows how entirely the Emperor^s anger with the mis- 
 sionaries was of a casual and transient character, quite 
 different from his feeling towards the Consul, which had 
 a fixed and permanent cause. 
 
 The monarch then consulted his grandees as to what 
 should be done to the prisoners. Ras Hailu (the highest 
 executive officer) advised that they should be put to death ; 
 but the Waag-Shum (the highest territorial chief*) and 
 
 * This is not Waag-shum Gobazye, but his cousin Taferri, on whom 
 the Emperor has confeiTed the title, after having liilled Waag-Shum 
 Gebra Medhin, Gobazye's father.
 
 122 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 others dissuaded him from it. The counsel of the latter 
 prevailed, and the lives of the prisoners were spared, 
 though they were still kept in close confinement. 
 
 Mrs. Flad had also been arraigned for speaking dis- 
 paragingly of the Emperor, l)ut Avas immediately pardoned 
 out of regard for her husband. 
 
 As if it were only to complicate matters and make them 
 worse, two days after the trial of Messrs. Stern and 
 Rosenthal (that is to say, on Sunday, November 22nd), 
 a young Irishman, named Kerans, arrived at Gondar, 
 bringing despatches from the Foreign Office to Consul 
 Cameron, " with a kind of reprimand, and instructions to 
 go to his post at Massowah." 
 
 The despatch thus brought by Mr. Kerans may pos- 
 sibly have been that from Earl Russell of April 22nd, 
 1863, supposing it not to have arrived in October*, as 
 I believe it did ; but it is more likely to have been the 
 following one, dated August 13th, from Mr. Murray, 
 Under Secretary of State for Foreign Aifaii's : — 
 
 " I am directed by Earl Russell to acknowledge the 
 receipt of your despatch of the 31st of March last t, sug- 
 gesting that you should be formally authorized to pui'chase 
 what you ma^ require, whenever possible, with the view of 
 freeing yom-self from the interference of the King of Abys- 
 sinia's officers. 
 
 " In reply, I am to refer you to Lord Russell's despatch 
 of the 22nd of April last, and to state to you that as you 
 have been ordered to return to and remain at Massowah, 
 your proposal need not be considered. 
 
 '^ I am also to remind you, with reference to the 
 * See page 104. t Naiuely, fi\jin JJof.'-os: see page 83.
 
 NO ANSWER FROM THE QUEEN. CONSUL IMPRISONED. 123 
 
 expressions ' Envoy ' and ' Mission/ wliich repeatedly 
 occur in your despatch, tliat, as Her Majesty's Consul 
 at Massowah, you hold no representative character in 
 Abyssinia.'' 
 
 This last assertion renders necessary the remark that 
 Captain Cameron, like his predecessor Mr. Plowden, was 
 appointed "■ Her Majesty's Consul in Abyssinia " and 
 gazetted as such'^ ; and he was expressly accredited to 
 the Emperor Theodore by Earl Russell, in his letter to 
 that monarch of February 20thj 1862t. 
 
 There was no answer to the letter addressed by the 
 Emperor to Queen Victoria more than a twelvemonth 
 before J, either from the Queen herself or from Earl Rus- 
 sell in Her Majesty's name; nor was that letter even 
 alluded to in the despatches to the Consul. 
 
 To repeat the words of a person who was present on the 
 occasion : — " This was, at the moment, a most untoward 
 event. The Consul had previously had his hands only half 
 bound; they were now bound altogether. Theodore was 
 angry, and not without cause. He had a right to expect 
 a reply of some kind fi'om England, and a favourable 
 answer would doubtless have put him in the best possible 
 Immour ; for he desired above all things the friendship of 
 England. But now," adds the reporter of these pro- 
 ceedings, " it is most improbable that the Emperor will 
 ever liberate the captives, or even let the Consul go free, 
 unless the expected letters arrive." 
 
 These occurrences have been repeated here as they 
 were related by one who was present on the occasion. 
 M. Lejean, who was not present (for he had left Gondar 
 
 * See page Go. + See pages 67, 68. X See page 78.
 
 124 THE BRITISH CAl'TIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 nearly two mouths previously '^) , gives a totally imagi- 
 nary account of these proceedings. He says, in parti- 
 cular, that the Emperor " was oft'euded at receiving from 
 the Foreign Office a letter signed by Earl Russell, and not 
 by the Queen herself. ' I wrote to Victoria/ said he, an- 
 grily, ' and not to this INIister Russell {Aito Russell) , 
 whom I don^t at all know.^ " 
 
 But, as has long been known but too well, the fact is 
 that no letter whatever was written to the Emperor either 
 by Lord Russell or by the Queen ; so that it stands to 
 reason he did not utter the words put into his mouth 
 by M. Lejean. Consequently the latter has taken an 
 unAvarrantable liberty ,Avith the names of both Her 
 Majesty and her Minister; and it can scarcely be 
 doubted that the words which he has had the assurance 
 to apply to them are merely an adaptation of those 
 which the Abyssinian monarch really did use on the pre- 
 vious 28tli of September, with reference to the letter 
 signed by the French minister f, which M. Bardel deli- 
 vered : — "I ^vrote to Napoleon, and not to this Mister 
 Drouyn de Lhuys, Avhom I don't know at all.^^ 
 
 Strangely enough, Mr. Kerans brought with him, as 
 a present to the Emperor, a carpet, on which were repre- 
 sented a zouave attacking a lion, and behind the former a 
 mounted European. Theodore at once interpreted this 
 in the following fashion : — The lion was himself (the 
 " Lion of Judah " being the arms of the Emperors of Ethi- 
 opia, as the descendants of King Solomon) ; the zouave 
 represented the Turks (Egyptians) attacking him; and 
 the horseman was the French, backing up the Egyptians. 
 * See page 102. t See pape 101.
 
 MOTIVE FOR Theodore's conduct. 125 
 
 " But where/' exclaimed he, " are the English, to l)ack up 
 the lion ? " 
 
 There can be no doubt of this 1)eing his master passion, 
 fostered, as it has been, by the friendship and material 
 assistance of Consul Plowdcn and Mr. Bell ; and inasmuch 
 as the former's partisanship had been authorized, or at 
 the least permitted, during so many years by the British 
 Government, the fact of Consul Cameron's being for- 
 bidden to continue to follow his predecessor's example, 
 especially after he had commenced doing so, could only 
 be regarded as an act of hostility ; and the Emperor's con- 
 duct towards all the Europeans resident in his country, 
 being either Englishmen or persons under English protec- 
 tion, was in the nature of reprisals. 
 
 Probably about this time, and as would seem in con- 
 sequence of the notoriety given to the fact of the low 
 condition of the Emperor's mother, the monarch thought 
 fit to issue a proclamation to his Abyssinian subjects 
 and the Europeans within his country, of which the 
 following is a translation : — 
 
 " In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost, one God. 
 
 " The King of Kings, Theodore, created by the Trinity 
 its servant, installed by it and made Prince : to his children 
 given to him by God and to all the Franks (Europeans) . 
 
 " By your God and the God of your friend Theodore, 
 who appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai and in the Red 
 Sea ; who appeared to Joshua at Jericho ; who through 
 his servant Samuel anointed Saul when he was seeking 
 the asses that were lost; who, when Saul turned from 
 his Creator, commanded Samuel to anoint David.
 
 120 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 " Solomon was King after David, according to the word of 
 the prophet and of his father, notwithstanding that Adonias 
 [Adonijah], against the will of God, was proclaimed King 
 by the people and obtained favoiu' in their sight. Solo- 
 mon, by the Queen of Azyeb [the south-east] , begat Meni- 
 lek, who became King of Ethiopia. From Menilek down 
 to the dynasty of the Gallas, all the Kings were stage- 
 players [azmdri*), who sought from God neither wisdom 
 nor strength; but, with His help, the means of raising 
 up the empire were found, when God chose me. His 
 servant, to be King. 
 
 " Mv countrymen said, ' the river is dried up, its bed 
 is empty,' and they insulted me because my mother was 
 poor, and called me the son of a beggar. But the Turks 
 knew the greatness of my father, who made them his tri- 
 butaries as far as the frontiers of Egypt and to the gates 
 of their cities. My father and my mother descended from 
 DaWd and from Solomon, and they are also of the seed of 
 Abraham, the servant of God. 
 
 " Now, those who insulted me with the name of a 
 beggar's son, are themselves beggars aud beg for their 
 daily bread. Without God's will neither wisdom nor 
 power can save from ruin. Nevertheless, as God said 
 unto Adam, ' in the sweat of thy face thou shalt cat 
 bread/ it is necessary not to fall into slothfulness. But 
 it is needless for me to give you this advdcc; for, as the 
 proverb says, ' speak not of wisdom to the sage, neither 
 cut the food of a lion.' 
 
 '' There is nothing powerful in the world. Many have 
 had mortars and cannons in abundance, and nevertheless 
 
 * Literally " .sintjer.-f " or " minstrels."
 
 THEODORE^S SINGULAR PROCLAMATION. 127 
 
 have succumbed. Napoleon had myriads of them, yet 
 he died conquered, after having subjugated the Franks. 
 Nicholas, Emperor of the Muscovites, possessed them in 
 abundance, and he was vanquished by the French, the 
 English, and the Turks, and died without having accom- 
 phshed the desire of his heart. 
 
 " If in your countries you meet with any partisans of the 
 brigand Negiisye, who shall say, like the traitors of this 
 country, that Ethiopia is governed by the son of a beggar ; 
 wager Avith them a field covered with gold that I, the 
 present Emperor, am on the throne of my fathers, Abra- 
 ham and David, and bring them here to be confronted 
 with me. 
 
 " It is God ' that hath put down the mighty from their 
 seats, and hath exalted them of low degree.^ " 
 
 The only comment on this most singular document 
 that is necessary is, that it completely disproves the 
 supposition of Mr. Stern's having been in any way con- 
 cerned in the original promulgation in Europe of the fact 
 of the low condition of Theodore^s mother. Indeed, the 
 allusion in it to Negiisye and his partisans in Europe — 
 namely the French — who " like the traitors of this coun- 
 try " had given currency to the report, might lead to the 
 impression that this proclamation was of an earlier date 
 than is here assigned to it.
 
 128 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONTINUED ILL-TEEATMENT OF MISSIONAHIES — MH. FLAD's PBO- 
 POSED JOUENEY TO ENGLAND — CONSUL'S REQUEST TO LEAVE — 
 IMPEISONMENT OF ALL EUROPEANS — ABYSSINIANS DEPRIVED OF 
 C0X^T:XT at JERUSALEM — CONSUL FINN REMO^'ED — CONSUL 
 MOORE APPOINTED — HIS REFUSAL OF PROTECTION — EARL EUS- 
 SELl's INSTRUCTIONS — MEMORIAL TO THE ANGLICAN CHURCH 
 — ABYSSINIA CLAIMED BY TURKEY — TRANSFERRED TO EGYl T — 
 EGYPTIAN OCCUPATION — "THE ABYSSINIAN QUESTION" — M. 
 barbel's RETURN AND IMPRISONMENT — CONSUL CAMERON'S 
 LETTER HOME — CAPTI\':ES TORTURED — THE CONVERT MAKEREE 
 — REPEATED TORTURE OF CAPTIVES — THEIR REMOVAL TO AMBA 
 MAGDALA — DESCRIPTION OF FORTRESS PRISON — CAPTIVES DOU- 
 BLE-IRONED — THEIR EELEASE — CONSUL CAMEEON's LETTEE TO 
 THE AUTHOR — ARRIVAL OF NEWS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 From the day of their trial until the 4th of December 
 1863, the two wretched missionaries remained in suspense 
 as to their final doom. On that day they were summoned 
 before the Emperor, interrogated, stripped naked, and so 
 conducted back to their prison. They heard afterwards 
 tliat they had been in imminent pi'ril, for that the knives 
 to cut oft' their hands and feet were actually lying close 
 to the spot where they had stood ; and that they were 
 only saved from this fate Ijy the intercession and energetic 
 remonstrances of the Etjegye. 
 
 A fortnight after this, an opening for tlicir liberation 
 again presented itself. Mr. Flad was going to Europe, 
 and it was proposed that Mr. Stern should furnish him 
 " with letters to procure machines and one or two gun- 
 powder makers" — much in the same way as he is now 
 doing nearly two vcars later: and lu liis r(>tuni Mr.
 
 AUYSSINIANS EXPELLED FKOM THEIR CONVENT. 120 
 
 Stern would be allowed to leave the country loaded with 
 favours. Whilst the negotiations with this object were in 
 progress, Consul Cameron, unaware of what was going on, 
 again applied for leave to go to his post at Massowah, 
 in pui'suance of orders from the British Government. 
 This once more proved fatal to the prospects of the pri- 
 soners; and on January 4th, 1864, Captain Cameron, his 
 European attendants, and all the missionaries, were put 
 in fetters, and together with Stern and Rosenthal confined 
 in one common prison within the royal enclosure. 
 
 Mr. Steiger, a member of the Scottish Mission, reported 
 to his Society at home that the cause of this his second 
 imprisonment Avas not merely the English Consul's desire 
 to leave the Court, without redeeming his promise to bring 
 an answer to the Emperor's letter to the Queen, but the 
 fact that at the same moment the head of the Abyssinian 
 convent at Jerusalem arrived out there, and " told the 
 King all that had happened at Jerusalem in connexion 
 with the expulsion of the Abyssinians from their convent. 
 He reported that the Coptic priests had endeavoured, with 
 the aid of the Turkish Government, to appropriate the 
 Abyssinian convent to themselves, that the Abyssinian 
 Monks, of course, opposed this deed of wrong, upon which 
 scenes of violence ensued, and bloodshed was only pre- 
 vented by the interference of the English Bishop. The 
 Bishop himself wrote to the King, informing him that he 
 had repeatedly begged the assistance of the English Con- 
 sul in trying to secui'c the rights of the Abyssinians, but 
 that the Consul had declared such a measure impossible, 
 as he had not received any instructions from his Govern- 
 ment to protect the Abyssinians. This surprised and in-i-
 
 130 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 tated the King the more, as Mr. Finn, the former Englisli 
 Consul, had previously assured him that he was commis- 
 sioned by his Government to protect the Abyssinians^'^. 
 
 In order to understand this statement, it is necessary 
 to refer to what has already been recordedf respect- 
 ing this subject, and also to cite -^vhat Earl Russell has 
 stated in liis despatch to Colonel Stanton of October 5th, 
 1865. When commenting on Lord Malmesbury^s answer 
 to Bishop Gobat's application. Lord Russell expresses 
 himself in the following singular terms : — " You will see 
 that the Earl of Malmesbury distinctly refused ' to pro- 
 tect officially the natives of Abyssinia who may chance to 
 be residing in the territory of the Sublime Porte.' You 
 will observe also that the good offices to be employed in 
 their favour were intended for the benefit of those ' who 
 might chance to be residing in the territory of the Sub- 
 lime Porte.' Thus a distinction was made between those 
 who might resort occasionally or casually to Jerusalem 
 and the inhabitants of Jerusalem of Abyssinian origin, 
 who might be accounted Turkish subjects." This is, 
 however, a distinction without a difference. The Abyssi- 
 nians at Jerusalem are all of one class, and they are 
 all either Turkish subjects or they are not. 
 
 His Lordship continues : — " Thus limited, both as to 
 the extent of the protection to be afforded and as to the 
 classes of persons on whose behalf good offices were to 
 be exercised, the instructions of the Earl of Malmesbury 
 must be allowed to have been proper and judicious. Ac- 
 cordingly (continues his Lordship) I referred Consul 
 
 * ' Record ' of Septi'inbtr Gtli, 18(Jo ; and see also the ' Times ' of 
 Sept. 14tli. t 'See pages 7;}-7<J.
 
 CONSULS FINN AND MOOIIE AT JERUSALEM. 131 
 
 Finn, on May 29th, 18G2, to those instructions of 1852, 
 observing, ' I have nothing to add to those instructions, 
 except to enjoin you to act u])oii them with caution and 
 prudence/ " And his Lordship concludes this portion of 
 his despatch with the words, " Those instructions remain 
 still in force." 
 
 But Earl Russell omittftd to add that on October 30th, 
 1862, Consul Finn was removed from Jerusalem and sent 
 to the Dardanelles, and Mr. Noel Moore was appointed 
 Her Majesty^s Consul at Jerusalem in his stead. What 
 the consequences were of this substitution of Mr. Moore 
 for Mr. Finn have yet to be seen. 
 
 In a letter published in the ' Times ' of September 
 14th, 18G5, in which was given similar information to 
 that reported by Mr. Steiger, I stated on good autho- 
 rity that Mr. Moore, the new Consul, had expressed his 
 inability to help the Abyssinians, on the ground of their 
 being 7'urkish subjects. 
 
 I added, and it is most important to repeat it here, that 
 the poor Abyssinians being thus abandoned to the tender 
 mercies of the Turks, the head of the convent was arbi- 
 trarily tlirust into prison — not into the usual place of con- 
 finement, but illegally into a dungeon in the Armenian 
 convent, where he was kept upon bread and water. This 
 lasted for many weeks, until, through European aid — in 
 which it is only justice to Consul Moore to say that 
 he had no hand — the poor man managed to escape 
 disguised in European clothes, and found his way to his 
 native country, arriving there at a moment when this in- 
 telligence alone was wanting to fill the cup of the indig- 
 nant monarch's wrath to overflowing.
 
 132 THE RRITIsn CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 The other Abj-ssiuian residents, uhen their church and 
 convent had been wi'ested from them, left Jerusalem in a 
 body. Deprived of all their nation holds most dear, and 
 deserted by the British Consul, in whose predecessor they 
 had always found a friend, they addressed a memorial on 
 the subject of their wrongs to " the INIost Noble Church 
 in London," which the Archbishop of Canterbury laid 
 before Convocation in the season of 1864, at the same 
 time communicating the reply he had received from Earl 
 Russell, to whom His Grace had submitted the same. 
 That reply was to the effect that a letter had been sent 
 to the Emperor of Abyssinia, and it was hoped in conse- 
 quence that the persecution would be stopped *. 
 
 It is not very intelligible how a Turkish persecution of 
 the Christian Abyssinians at Jerusalem in the year 1863 
 could be stopped by means of a letter written to their 
 sovereign at Gondar, especially when that letter was not 
 delivered till January 28th, 1866 ; and it can only be 
 imagined there is some mistake in what is thus stated. 
 At all events the position of the Abyssinians is not at 
 all bettered, and they are as far as ever from obtaining 
 the restitution of their church and convent. 
 
 How the Emperor Theodore understood and regarded 
 this conduct, says Mr. Steiger, "was soon visible in liis 
 behaviour to Captain Cameron and to those of us who 
 were connected ivith English societies. We were bound 
 with chains, our goods confiscated, our houses in Djenda 
 and Darna demolished, and the only reason assigned was 
 our connexion tvith the English Consul and English so- 
 cieties." 
 
 ' Sec the ' Times " of June 2.3rd, 18G4.
 
 ABYSSINIA CLAIMED BY TURKEY. 133 
 
 Is anything further necessary to establish the fact 
 that the ill-treatment of the unhappy missionaries of the 
 London Society was a mere episode incidental to the 
 main question, which was entirely between the Emperor 
 Theodore and the British Government ? 
 
 But there is another question arising out of that of the 
 Abyssinian church and convent at Jerusalem, the solution 
 of which may be yet more difficult than any other. In my 
 letter of September l-lth, 1865, I stated, and it has just 
 been repeated, that Consul Moore, when applied to by the 
 Abyssinians, expressed his inability to protect them, on 
 the ground of their being Turkish subjects. Now, it has 
 to be inquired whether in saying this Mr. Moore ex- 
 pressed the sentiments of the British Government. If so, 
 our relations with Abyssinia, past, present, and future, 
 reveal themselves in a light which, if not altogether new, 
 is one in which they have never before been exhibited. 
 
 It is a well-established fact, though it may not be gene- 
 rally known, that the Ottoman Porte includes the whole 
 of the Christian country of Abyssinia within its domi- 
 nions. The Governor- General of Yemen, on his investi- 
 ture, is named Pasha of Habesh among his other titles ; 
 he, either directly or indirectly, delegates his authority 
 over this province of the Turkish empire to the governor 
 of Massowah ; and inasmuch as this latter, as Consul 
 Plowden informs us, " must give some account of the 
 twenty provinces supposed to be submitted to his au- 
 thority, every few mouths he procures the signature of a 
 number of people in Massowah to a paper setting forth 
 that perfect order and tranquillity reign everywhere in 
 the Sultan's extensive possessions in this part of the world.
 
 134 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 In a manner liithcrto believed to be peculiarly Chinese, 
 this despatch is always sent when the neighbourhood is 
 most disturbed, and when marked disorders have occurred 
 in the town " *. 
 
 As long as this continued to be the same mere form 
 that it had been for three centuries past, England 
 made no scruple in treating Abyssinia as a State, or 
 collection of States, totally independent of Turkey; and 
 hence she sent missions to that country, and entered 
 into treaties with the rulers of it, or parts of it, in 
 1810, in 1841, and in 1849 ; and whilst Massowah re- 
 mained in the hands of a governor appointed, directly or 
 indirectly, from Constantinople, this might have gone on 
 unquestioned in any quarter. 
 
 But during the last few years a very important change 
 has been in course of preparation, and in 1865 is un- 
 derstood to have been operated, though it was not acted 
 on till the beginning of the present year. This change 
 is no less than the transfer of the whole of the Turkish 
 dominions along the western shores of the Red Sea from 
 the Ottoman Porte to its powerful vassal, the Viceroy of 
 Egypt. This cession is understood to have been made 
 under a fixed rent, and for the term only of the life of the 
 present Viceroy ; but it can hardly be anticipated that, 
 after Egypt has been put into possession of a country so 
 important to her on account of its lying between the sea 
 and the extensive and valuable regions of Soudan in the 
 interior of Africa, and has acted in virtue of that posses- 
 sion, she will ever again be willing to relinquish it. 
 
 Be this as it may, the occupation of those frontiers of 
 * Parliaixifiitary I'apur, 18G0, 'FurlliurCorrospondt'Uce,' &c., p. 43.
 
 ABYSSINIA TRANSFERRKD TO EGYPT. 135 
 
 Abyssinia which lie nearest to Massowah and the coast 
 lias not been delayed one moment on the part of Egypt. 
 Towards the end of April of the present year Massowah 
 was formally transferred from Tm*key to Egypt^ and, as 
 I witnessed in person, a garrison of 800 men was placed 
 in the island and on the mainland adjoining ; and since 
 I left Abyssinia, I have heard that large bodies of troops 
 Avere being assembled along the northern frontiers of 
 Abyssinia, for the purpose of taking possession of some 
 portion, at least, of the twenty provinces now submitted 
 to the authority of living and energetic Egypt in the 
 place of effete and dying Turkey. Ere this, I have little 
 doubt, Bogos has been " annexed.^^ 
 
 This transfer is generally understood to have been 
 effectuated mainly through the instrumentality of Sir 
 Henry Bulwer, late British Ambassador at Constanti- 
 nople; and its object is said to be the more effectual 
 prevention of the French from obtaining a footing any- 
 where along the east coast of Africa within the Red Sea ; 
 as they have already managed to secure one at Obokh, 
 just outside the Straits of Babelmandeb*. 
 
 If this really be the case — without at all touching the 
 question of the policy or impolicy of the measure — we 
 shall be better able to understand a number of facts 
 which, regarded singly and independently, have not been 
 very intelligible. In the first place, there are the length- 
 ened negotiations with the Emperor Theodore for a treaty 
 and an embassy to be sent by him through Egypt. Now, 
 if Abyssinia is to be regarded as a dependency of Turkey 
 or Egypt, England could no more receive an Ambassador 
 * See paf^e G3.
 
 136 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 from her " Emperor/' than she coukl in 1862 welcome 
 Said Pasha as an independent Sovereign. Secondly, 
 England might, as she did in Consul Finn's time, tender 
 her good offices on behalf of the oppressed Abyssinians at 
 Jerusalem ; but, if Turkey insisted on her " rights," she 
 w^ould be unable to protect them, or obtain for them the 
 restoration of their church and convent, on the ground 
 of their being Tui'kish subjects. Thirdly, our Consul's 
 interference on behalf of the injured Christians of Bogos, 
 which in 1854 was a commendable act, would in 1863 
 have become an unwarrantable act of impertinence, draw- 
 ing down on the offender's head the displeasure of his 
 own Government, and even his absolute dismissal had the 
 Government of Egypt insisted on it. And, lastly, the 
 fact that the British Consulate in Abyssinia is no longer 
 a separate one, but has been made subordinate to the 
 Consulate General in Egypt, would only be a proof of 
 our intention to regard Abyssinia no longer as an inde- 
 pendent State. Under this view. Earl Russell's declara- 
 tion in his memorable despatch to Consul-General Stanton 
 receives a significance which it might not otherAvise pos- 
 sess : — " It has seemed to the British Government a pre- 
 ferable course to withdraw, as much as possible, from 
 Abyssinian engagements, Abyssinian alliances, and Bri- 
 tish interference in Abyssinia"*. 
 
 Earl Bussell proceeds to say : — " This course, however, 
 has not been taken without giving rise to groundless 
 reproaches, many unfounded allegations, and some embar- 
 rassing and painful occurrences. Of the former class is 
 
 • Pari. Papers, 1866, ' Further Correspondence,' &c., p. 62.
 
 " THE ABYSSINIAN QUESTION." M. BARDEl/s RETURN. 137 
 
 the following bold assertion, namely, 'There is reason 
 for believing that the Emperor Theodore holds Captain 
 Cameron as a hostage for the recognition by England, 
 already made in 1849, of the independence of Abyssinia, 
 for the suppression of Egyptian aggressions along the 
 frontier, and for the restitution of the church and con- 
 vent at Jerusalem, torn from him and his people by the 
 Copts, Armenians, and Turks. ^ " 
 
 When the further Papers connected with " The Abys- 
 sinian Question,''^ which will have to be laid before Par- 
 liament, are produced, I much fear that the boldness of 
 this assertion will be found to consist in its truth. 
 
 Resuming the narrative of events, it has next to be 
 stated that on February 3rd, 1864, M. Bar del, who, since 
 the trial of the missionaries in the previous November, had 
 been absent from Gondar, returned to that city. He had 
 been sent by the Emperor to Kassala with a party of horse- 
 men, to inquire into the particulars of M. de Bisson's ex- 
 pedition ^, and likewise apparently to ascertain how far 
 Consul Cameron might have been impHcated in that un- 
 dertaking and in the other hostile movements along the 
 frontiers tj and he had subsequently gone away secretly 
 to Khartum, under the pretence that he had escaped from 
 the Emperor^s clutches, but in reality as his spy. As 
 soon as M. Bardel had made liis report, the Emperor 
 ordered his European workmen to come from Gaffat to 
 attend a special council. This they did on February 5tli ; 
 and after a lengthened conference they were sent to 
 liberate Messrs. Flad, Steiger, Brandeis, Cornelius (since 
 
 * See page 120. f See page 94
 
 138 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 dead), Essler^ and Scliillcr'^. The only prisoners left in 
 chains were the British Consul and his attendants^ and 
 the two London missionaries. Stern and Rosenthal. 
 There Avas a talk of their being liberated likewise, if the 
 Consul would pledge himself that the British Govern- 
 ment would not insist on satisfaction for all that had 
 occurred. 
 
 A few days afterwards f M. Bardel, who since his return 
 from his secret mission had been taken into high favour, 
 and is understood to have presumed too much on it, 
 was brought to the tent in which the English prisoners 
 remained in chains, and added to their number — his 
 offence being, as was publicly stated by the head jailer, 
 that he had misrepresented the prisoners to the Em- 
 peror, and caused him to chain them, that he had 
 himself also spoken ill of the Emperor, and that he had 
 further, by unfounded assertions, tried to prejudice him 
 against the European workmen J at GafFat ; which last 
 grievance the Emperor doubtless took to heart far more 
 than the others, on account of his great regard for 
 them. 
 
 On the 14th of February all the artisans were ordered 
 to return to GafFat, and the missionaries and others libe- 
 
 * These last two are not missionaries. Mr. Layard styles tlicm 
 "natural-history collectors," Mr. Stern "ornithologists." Cornelius 
 was a colporteur of Mr. Stem's in Constantinople, and went out with 
 him to Abyssinia in 1860 in the same capacity. 
 
 t ]\Ir. Stem says, on February 4th ; but this must be an over- 
 sight. 
 
 J They prefer to call themselves "Scripture readers." See Mr. 
 Waldmeier's letter to Bishop Gobat, dated Korata, March 20, 1866, 
 published in the 'Record ' of July 11, 1866. But they are generally 
 styled by others " artisan or lay missionaries," or " European work- 
 men."
 
 CONSUL Cameron's note. — dispute with the a buna. 139 
 
 rated a few days previously were sent to work with them. 
 On the same day Consul Cameron managed to write and 
 dispatch to Massowah the following note in pencil : — 
 
 " Gondar, February 14, 1864. 
 
 "Myself, Stern, Rosenthal, Kerans, Bardel, andM'Kilvie 
 are all in chains here. Flad, Steiger, Brandeis, and Cor- 
 nelius sent to GafFat to work for the King. No release 
 till a civil answer to King's letter arrives. Mrs. Flad, 
 Mrs. Rosenthal and children, all of us well. Write this 
 to Aden, and to Mrs. Stern, 16 Lincoln's Inn Fields. 
 
 " To C. Speedy, Esq., Massoivah." 
 
 From that time till May 12th the prisoners all remained 
 in chains, with the exception of Mr. Rosenthal, whose 
 shackles were taken off for a while because he had 
 interpreted a text of Scripture to the satisfaction of the 
 despotic and capricious Monarch — the monotony of their 
 confinement being occasionally relieved by discussions on 
 religious subjects (especially fasting), in which the Em- 
 peror and his court aj)pear to have sometimes taken part. 
 
 On the 12th of May — "a day which like one or two 
 more will never be obliterated from my memory," writes 
 poor Stern — a violent dispute took place between the 
 Emperor and the Abuna. This dispute appears to have 
 arisen, in part at least, out of certain money matters ; 
 but the svibject is not at all clear, and I can only refer 
 to what Mr. Stern has written about it in his letter 
 printed in the Appendix. But it may not be immaterial 
 to direct attention here to the statement of Mr. Stern 
 on a previous occasion, that Samuel had said to him, 
 " the Negus has heard your replies, and did he deem it 
 expedient he could tell you a secret about England. But
 
 140 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 what does it matter ? time will reveal it." Whether this 
 has any bearing on the present question, I cannot pre- 
 tend to say ; but it is certain that there were money 
 transactions with the mercenary Abiina which would not 
 exactly bear the light. 
 
 Nothing occurred immediately after this dispute and 
 the interrogations that ensued on it. But about sunset 
 — a most perilous time of day to have anything to do 
 with Theodore — the Emperor came galloping over the 
 plain to where the prisoners were ; and a scene of horror 
 ensued which no one would venture to describe after the 
 affecting narrative, from the pens of two of the chief 
 sufferers, given in the Appendix. 
 
 When the torture of the wretched prisoners was at 
 length put a stop to, and they were left to themselves, 
 infidelity, scepticism (which had frequently formed the 
 stajile of their discussions) , sneers, and scoffs were now all 
 merged in one deep and pathetic cry of anguish, fear, and 
 despair; and in compliance with the request of some of his 
 fellow sufferers, Mr. Stern, whose words I am here only 
 repeating, poured forth the gushing emotions of his heart 
 in a prayer in Avhich sorrow, sighing, trust, and confi- 
 dence were sadly blended. 
 
 In the midst of all this anguish and misery, there was 
 yet the consolation, to the persecuted missionaries at 
 least, that all they were enduring was not in vain, as the 
 following touching incident Avill testify. 
 
 Among the captives, though his name does not ap- 
 pear in Consul Cameron^s note, is a Frenchman named 
 Makercr. This person is a native of Alsace, of middle 
 age, who has served in tlic army of Algiers, and went out
 
 THE CAPTIVES TORTURED. THE CONVERT MAKERER. 141 
 
 to Abyssiuia in the ser\ice of our Consul. Makcrer, 
 like most of his countrymen, was born in the Horn an 
 Catholic faith, but appears never to have troubled him- 
 self much about religion, except to become a confirmed 
 infidel and scoffer. His reckless profanity was such as 
 frequently to call forth a protest and a rebuke from Mrs. 
 Flad, who, as well as her husband, also addressed to him 
 occasional words of admonition and warning. For a long 
 while all this was without any visible eflFect; but subse- 
 quently to the removal of the captives to the Emperor^s 
 camp, Makerer was observed to attend occasionally the 
 morning and evening services which the missionaries re- 
 gularly held in their tent. After this had gone on for 
 some time, the soldier asked Mr. Flad to lend him a 
 copy of the New Testament, Avhich he sedulously perused, 
 becoming at the same time a constant attendant at di- 
 vine service. On the departure of the captives for Amba 
 Magdala, as will be mentioned in the next page, Makerer 
 was especially recommended to the care of Messrs. Stern 
 and Rosenthal by Mr. Flad, who himself kept up a cor- 
 respondence with the convert, and sent him from time 
 to time religious books and tracts. They had remained 
 some considerable time in the fortress, when Makerer, 
 who had continued his study of the Scriptures with in- 
 creased diligence, begged of Mr. Stern a copy of the 
 Bible in Amharic. This he studied so attentively and 
 unremittingly, that in an almost incredibly short time 
 he became able to read and explain it to the native 
 soldiers who kept guard over him and the other pri- 
 soners; and Mr. Flad, from whom this little anecdote 
 has been obtained, expresses his firm conviction that the
 
 142 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IS ABYSSINIA. 
 
 former profane swearer and reprobate has now become a 
 repentant and consistent Christian^ and may, with God^s 
 blessing, tm-n out to be a messenger for good to the 
 ignorant and superstitious people among wiiom his lot 
 has been cast. 
 
 Returning to the suffering missionaries, it has to be 
 related that on the night of May the 13th the torture 
 was repeated. But it is useless to dwell on these atro- 
 cities, the particulars of which are given in the distress- 
 ine: narratives of Mr. Stern and Mr. Rosenthal. What 
 they underwent passes all conception, and the only wonder 
 is that they should have survived it all, especially when 
 coupled with the great hardships and privations of every 
 kind to which they were subjected dm'ing their lengthened 
 incarceration. 
 
 The incessant tropical rains of 1864 were passed by 
 the wretched captives in an old ragged tent ; but as soon 
 as the season for campaigning approached, the Emperor, 
 before leaving Begamider for Godjam to attack the in- 
 domitable Tadela Gwalu, had them removed to Amba 
 Maerdala. To reach that fortress, which was destined to 
 be their prison for so many months, they were dragged 
 two and two, chained together, across the country on 
 mules, every moment in danger of pulling one another off 
 their animals and breaking their necks ; and on arriving 
 there they were huddled together with about two hun- 
 dred persons of various ranks, ages, and sexes, charged 
 with real or supposed crimes and variously chained, and 
 crammed into a place about sixty feet in diameter. 
 
 Magdala is an aitiba or hill-fort in Warrahcmano, the 
 principal division of the country of the INIohammedan
 
 AMBA MAGDALA. MILITARY ROAD. NEW CAPITAL. 143 
 
 Wollo Gallas, who for the last few centuries have occupied 
 the central and finest portion of Abyssinia. Its posi- 
 tion is very incorrectly marked in the few maps in Avhich 
 its name appears at all; and though it cannot be abso- 
 lutely determined^ yet, from unpublished documents in 
 my possession, I believe I am not far wrong in placing 
 it in lat. 11° 30' N. and long. 39° 10' E. of Greenwich. 
 Magdala is almost impregnable by nature, and since its 
 acquisition by the Emperor Theodore it has been ren- 
 dered completely so, it having been made by him his 
 chief fortress, arsenal, and state prison ; and he is now 
 connecting it with Debra Tabor, the former capital of 
 Ras Ali, by means of a military road, constructed by 
 his European workmen, over the lofty pass of Nefds 
 Mdivatja (the " Portal of the Winds '') at an elevation 
 of between 10,000 and 11,000 feet above the ocean. 
 
 It may not be out of place to mention here that on this 
 road, about halfway between Debra Tabor and Magdala, 
 the Emperor has recently founded a new camp or capital^" 
 at Zebit, in an extensive plain known as Zebit Myeda, 
 at a short distance to the east of the mountain-range of 
 Nefas Mawatja. In the beginning of the present year 
 Zebit was taken possession of by Waagshum Gobazye, 
 who remained there some time, placing the surrounding 
 districts under contribution. Thinking to surprise his 
 enemy, whose army was but small, Theodore performed 
 one of his forced marches by night, for which he has 
 become more famous than the celebrated Galla Chief 
 Amora Easil (" Basil the Eagle ") of the time of the 
 
 * Like the Roman Castrum, the Abyssinian Kdtama has this 
 double meaninp:. The camp, made p(!rmanent, becomes a town.
 
 144 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 traveller Bnice. But Gobazyc, having through his spies 
 had warning of Theodore^s approach, made a rapid retreat, 
 first burning the Emperor's new capital to the ground. 
 
 The following description of the place of confinement 
 of the illfated victims of Theodore^s anger is given by 
 Mr. Stern in a letter to his wife : — " As I am reminded 
 of the approach of winter, I will give you a hasty 
 sketch of the place where we and upwards of two hun- 
 dred unhappy natives of all ranks and conditions may 
 have to pass the ensuing inclement season of winter. 
 Just picture to your imagination an isolated locality 
 arising out of the midst of a jumble of conical hills, 
 deep ravines, and serrated ridges, and you have Amba 
 Magdala. On the summit there are clusters of thatched 
 huts, occupied by about 1000 troops. Not far from the 
 church, which you recognize by an apex surmounted by a 
 glittering cross, you gaze on a mass of wretched hovels 
 that stand in mocking contrast around four spacious 
 circular dwellings ; you approach a few steps nearer, and 
 you behold a strong thorn fence guarded by groups of 
 sooty soldiers, close to whom lie basking in the sun bands 
 of unfortunates loaded with galling fetters. This is the 
 royal prison. 
 
 " Those wretched huts outside tlie enclosui'c arc occu- 
 pied by the elite of the prisoners dm'ing the day; but 
 towards evening all must repair Avithin the fence, where, 
 after being counted, they are driven like Avild beasts 
 Avithin the reeking walls of those conically shaped struc- 
 tures. Insects, and all that is repulsive of whatever 
 name or colour, swarm in these jails ; and really, if 
 Providence had not tempered human nature so as to
 
 CAPTIVES DOUBLE-IROXED. THEIK RELEASE. 145 
 
 render it capable of enduring every hardship, I believe 
 even few Abyssinians would long resist the fatal in- 
 fluence of this poisonous atmosphere. By special favour 
 we are allowed to make our abode close to the walls 
 of one of these houses ; and there, under a black wool- 
 len awning, Captain Cameron, Rosenthal, Makerer, and 
 myself pass the day and night, and the rest, who have 
 huts outside, only the night/' 
 
 Until the 1st of July, 1865, the prisoners' feet alone 
 were fettered ; but on that day the heir to the throne of 
 Shoa having unexpectedly quitted the Emperor's camp, 
 the enraged monarch vented his spite on his prisoners, 
 hoih native and European. All the Mohammedan Gallas 
 had their hands and feet hacked off, and their mutilated 
 bodies were then hurled down the precipitous side of the 
 amba. The Christian prisoners had hand-chains added 
 to those already round their ankles, the two being so 
 fastened together that the wearers were bent double, and 
 thus rendered unable to move about by day or to stretch 
 their Aveaiy limbs by night. 
 
 In this wretched state of torture they continued till the 
 25th of February, 1866, when the joyful news reached 
 them of the arrival of Mr. Rassam at the Emperor's camp, 
 and the order in consequence given for their liberation. 
 
 This news was communicated to me by Captain Came- 
 ron in the following letter, which reached me at Halai on 
 the 4th of April : — 
 
 '' Magdala Prison, February 26th, 1866. 
 
 " My dear Beke, — I saw in a fragment of the ' Times ' 
 yesterday that you had volunteered to come to this country 
 to try and effect our liberation. 
 
 L
 
 146 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 " I thank you most sincerely, and beg that you will be 
 good enough to inform such of our well-wishers as may be 
 within your reach that owe chains were taken off yesterday, 
 and that we are all to be given over to Mr. Rassam. I 
 write tliis in secret and in haste, but will let you know 
 further hereafter how we are getting on. God bless you ; 
 and with kind regards to Mrs. Beke, believe me, 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 '' C. DUNCAN CAMERON." 
 
 The gratifying intelligence of the release of the cap- 
 tives reached England on April 23rd, in a despatch from 
 Colonel Merewether, Resident at Aden, to the Earl of 
 Clarendon, then Secretary of State for Foreign AflFairs, 
 which was read by his Lordship in the House of Lords 
 in the evening of the same day, and on the following 
 morning appeared in all the newspapers. 
 
 From this point the history of the capti^^ty coincides 
 with that of the measures adopted for the liberation of 
 the prisoners. It is therefore here the place to take u]) 
 the narrative of those measures from the commencement. 
 This will be done in the next Chapter.
 
 147 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 FIRST NEWS OF CONSUL'S DETENTION — NOT BELIEVED — IMPRISON- 
 MENT OF MISSIONARIES — MRS. STERN'S PETITION — THE QUEEN 
 ADVISED NOT TO WRITE TO THEODORE — LONDON SOCIETY FOR 
 PROMOTING CHRISTIANITY AMONG THE JEWS — THEIR INACTION 
 — REASONS FOR IT — GREAT MISTAKE — MISSIONARIES MIGHT 
 HAVE BEEN FREED — ANNIVERSARY MEETING — SILENCE RE- 
 COJOIENDED — MR. LAYABD's REASONS [fOR NOT ANSWERING 
 THEODORE'S LETTER — CONSUL CAMERON's NOTE — QUEEN'S LET- 
 TER. TO THEODORE — ENTRUSTED TO MR. RASSAM — OBJECTIONS 
 TO HIM — TESTIMONIALS OF MB. LAYARD AND SIB -WTiLLIAM 
 COGHLAN — INSTBUCTIONS TO DEMAND CONSUL'S RELEASE ONLY 
 — INJUSTICE TO MISSIONARIES — PRIVATE CHARGE TO EXONE- 
 RATE GOA^RNMENT — JIR. RASSAM ARRTV'ES AT MASSOWAH 
 — ANNOUNCES QUEEN's LETTER AND ASKS FOR ESCORT — THE 
 emperor's anger — REFUSES TO NOTICE IHM — SPIES SENT — 
 queen's LETTER CHANGED — MISSION ENLARGED — PRESENT OF 
 FIREARMS — MR. RASSAM REMAINS UNNOTICED. 
 
 The first intelligence of Captain Cameron^s disgrace and 
 detention^ if not actual imprisonment, in July 1863, as nar- 
 rated in a previous page *, reached Europe in this form, as 
 given in the ' Standard ' newspaper of December ISthf: — 
 ^' The Paris papers of this evening publish advices from 
 Egypt, annouficing the victory of the Emperor Theodore 
 of Abyssinia over the population of Godjam. The Emperor 
 is reported to have ordered the massacre of 15,000 pri- 
 soners, men, women, and children. He is also stated to 
 have had the English Consul at Massowah arrested, and to 
 have set the French Consul at liberty .'' 
 
 * Page 93. 
 
 t Copied from the evening edition of the ' Patrie ' of December 
 14-15. 
 
 l2
 
 1-18 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IX ABYSSINIA. 
 
 It is highly deserving of notice that Captain Cameron's 
 arrest was thus publicly announced in France and in 
 England, as long ago as December ISth, 18G3. No one at 
 the time paid any attention to it ; for nobody could believe 
 it, the favour in m Inch the British Consul had stood being 
 a matter of such notoriety. 
 
 It would appear, however, fi'om a few words dropped by 
 the Earl of Clarendon in the debate in the House of Lords 
 on February 9th, 1866, that the news had reached the Fo- 
 reign Office at that early date. His Lordship's words 
 ^vere, " The first we heard, not of the imprisonment, but 
 the detention of Consul Cameron, came by rumour through 
 l"]gypt""^. But whatever may have been known at head 
 quarters Avas not divulged ; and it was not till March 
 IGtli, 1861, exactly three months afterwards, that the 
 London Society for the Promotion of Christianity among 
 the Jews received the distressing intelligence respecting 
 their missionaries, which had been brought from Abyssinia 
 to Khartum by Mr. Hausmann, an agent of the Basle 
 Society, w ho had been allowed to leave the country. On 
 communicating these tidings to the Foreign Office, the 
 London Society learned that Her Majesty's Government 
 had already received similar intelligence t, and that 
 orders had been sent to the Consul-General in Egypt 
 "to open up commimications with Abyssinia":}:. What 
 measures Avcre adopted by the Consul-General in con- 
 
 • ' Times,' February 10, 1806. 
 
 t Intelligence of Captain Cameron's captivity had reached me 
 several days previously, and I wrote to Viscount Palnierston and 
 Earl Russf'll on tlio ISth and IHtli of IMarch, offering- my services to 
 effect his liberation and that of the other captives. 
 
 \ See ' Jewish Intelligence ' for May Ist, 18G4.
 
 THE QUEEN ADVISED NOT TO WRITE TO THEODORE. 149 
 
 sequence of these instructions have not, liowcvcr, ])ccn 
 made public. 
 
 At the Anniversary Meeting of the London Society, 
 held in Exeter Hall on May 6th of that year, the Pre- 
 sident, Lord Shaftesbury, stated that, ''with a view to 
 the liberation of Mr. Stern, he had transmitted to Lord 
 Hussell a letter from Mrs. Stern, addressed to the Queen, 
 praying (and his Lordship added that he had joined in 
 the prayer to Lord Russell) that Her Majesty might be 
 induced, by letter under the sign manual, written by 
 the Queen herself, to intercede with the King of Abys- 
 sinia to have mercy on hini^' ■^. 
 
 However, on the following day (May 7th), Earl Russell 
 wrote to Lord Shaftesbury, saying that " after much con- 
 sideration he had come to the conclusion that he ought not 
 to advise the Queen to ivrite to the King of Abyssinia ; but 
 he gave the assurance that every possible means should 
 be used to obtain the release of Mr. Stern and his fellow- 
 prisoners "t- Mrs. Stern^s petition to the Queen was 
 accordingly returned by Earl Russell unpresented. 
 
 Allusion ha^dng thus been made to the London Society, 
 whose missionaries Messrs. Stern and Rosenthal are, 
 it is here the fitting place to mention that all active 
 measures on the part of that Society for the liberation of 
 their missionaries ceased with the transmission, by the 
 Earl of Shaftesbury to Earl Russell, of Mrs. Stern^s pe- 
 tition to the Queen. 
 
 That the Society generally, and their executive officers 
 individually, have felt, and still continue to feel, deeply 
 
 * See the ' Record ' of May Otli, 1864. 
 
 t See ' Jewish Intelligence ' for December 1st, 1865, p. 296.
 
 150 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 interested in the issue of the proceedings cannot for one 
 moment be doubted ; and that the latter^ in the name of 
 the Society, have made repeated applications at the Fo- 
 reign Office for information is also certain. But it is not 
 less certain that all separate exertions for the liberation 
 of their own missionaries have been not merely suspended, 
 but discountenanced, their course of action being con- 
 trolled by the determination that, " the conduct of the 
 Emperor being based upon political considerations, with 
 which our Government only could deal, they ought not 
 to interfere by any independent action, so long as the 
 Government were making any reasonable efforts to ac- 
 complish the liberation of the captives ^^*. The result of 
 this determination, which was reiterated and confirmed, 
 after much deliberation, by a resolution of the General 
 Committee at a Special Meeting on November 3rd, 1865 f, 
 was, in effect, to abandon their missionaries to the Govern- 
 ment, through whose fault (as is virtually admitted) they 
 had been placed in so dreadful a position, and to their 
 agent, Mr. Rassam, an object of whose mission was (as 
 Avill be clearly shown in the sequel) to exonerate that 
 Government at all risks — even at the expense of the un- 
 fortunate missionaries themselves — quite as much as it 
 was to accomplish their liberation. 
 
 I would not for a moment think of harbouring a doubt 
 as to the conviction of all parties concerned that the 
 course they adopted was the right one. But it was a 
 most mistaken one, nevertheless. It has, I apprehend, 
 been convincingly established % that the Emperor Theo- 
 
 * 'Jewish Iiilelligeuce,' December 1, 18G5, p. 294. 
 t Ihid. p. 2'JO. X See page 113.
 
 MISSIONARIES ALONE MIGHT HAVE 15EEN FREED. 151 
 
 dore had originally no special motive for visiting the mis- 
 sionaries — even Mr. Stern — with the consequences of his 
 extreme displeasure ; it has likewise been shown * that, on 
 more than one occasion, he was prepared to forgive them. 
 It appears further, from the statement of Mr. Waldmeier, 
 one of Bishop Gobat's lay missionaries, published in the 
 ' Record^ of July 1st, 1866, that the petition sent by me 
 from Massowah from the relatives of the captives " deeply 
 moved the heart of the Emperor,^' that portion of it from 
 Mr. Stern's family being '' written in very good terms, 
 and exceedingly touching'^f; and I have been assured 
 that, had Captain Cameron's name been left out and the 
 petition limited to the families of all the captives except 
 his own, its prayer would have been granted and all the 
 other captives sent away at once. For the Emperor is 
 conscious, as everybody else now is, that the quarrel was 
 and still is solely between him and the British Govern- 
 ment ; and the representative of that Government is even 
 now detained a prisoner until satisfaction is obtained for 
 his grievances. Such, indeed, is the meaning of his words 
 to Mr. Rassam in July 1866, when making him and the 
 members of his suite prisoners with the rest, and send- 
 ing them in charge of M. Bardel to Amba Magdala : — 
 " You are a sweet-mouthed gentleman, Mr. Rassam ; 
 but those above you are my enemies." 
 
 It can therefore hardly be doubted that independent 
 action on the part of the Society would long ago 
 
 * See pages 114, 128 and 138 : see also the Appendix. 
 
 t Mr. Waldmeier speaks of several petitions ; but there was one 
 only from the relatives of all the captives jointly and severally. It 
 was accompanied by a letter from mjself individually. Both petition 
 and letter, with the Emperor's answer, are given in the Appendix.
 
 152 THE HKITISH CAPTIVES IN AHYSSINIA. 
 
 have saved their missionaries; though at the same time 
 its success would have too plainly shown to the world 
 where the real fault lay. 
 
 So gi'eat, however, has been the scrupulousness of the 
 Committee of the London Society and their Noble Pre- 
 sident, that not only have they refrained from all inde- 
 pendent action, but they have even deprecated every ex- 
 pression of individual feeling or opinion on the subject. 
 Hence it is that, at the last Anniversary IMeeting of the 
 Society in Exeter HaU, on May 3rd, 1866, Lord Shaftes- 
 bury said, " I hope that in the course of the discussions of 
 this day nothing will be said in reference to that great 
 African potentate, the Emperor of Abyssinia. A hasty 
 word incautiously spoken was the cause, as I believe, of 
 all the troubles that were subsequently brought upon the 
 missionaries ; and therefore I trust that nothing will now 
 be said on that subject. Strange as it may appear, it 
 shows what is called the growing civilization of the world, 
 that the remote Emperor of Abyssinia has as many agents 
 ill this country to pick up and to give him information as 
 the Emperor of Austria or the Emperor of Russia ; and 
 therefore our language should be discreet, and our words 
 wary and few " ■^. 
 
 At the time when these words were uttered by the noble 
 President, whom I would not do the injustice to regard 
 as anything but the mouthpiece of others, news had just 
 been received that the captives vrere released from their 
 chains, and were expected to start shortly on their 
 journey homewards; and the Meeting was accordingly 
 called on to express its gratitude to Earl Russell and "the 
 * 'Jewish Intelligence,' Juno 1, 18GG, p. 122.
 
 WHY Theodore's letter was not answered. 153 
 
 (late) Government of this country for tlie very prompt 
 measures which they took for the release of the poor 
 sufferers/' 
 
 The sentiments thus expressed as lately as May 3rd, 
 1866, might almost be regarded as ironical; because 
 it is certain, from the explicit declaration of Earl Rus- 
 sell to the Earl of Shaftesbury on May 7th, 1864* — 
 just two years before — that Her Majesty's Government 
 had no intention to give a " prompt " or any other reply to 
 the Emperor's letter, and that, had the^^ not been forced 
 to do so, they would never have noticed it. It is with 
 this certainty, however, that we now find Mr. Layard's 
 statement in the House of Commons, on June 30th, 
 1865, to be much nearer the literal truth than most, per- 
 sons were inclined to believe it to be at the time it was 
 made. His words were, " A great deal has been said 
 as to no answer having been sent t© the letter to the 
 Queen f. I will ask any impartial person — knowing that 
 that letter originated after a distinct understanding with 
 the King that Her Majesty's Government would not 
 receive a mission until he had given up all idea of con- 
 quest upon Turkey, — after rejecting a treaty which au- 
 thorized him to send a mission to England, — whether any 
 person would have thought it necessary to answer that 
 letter at all ? I can only say that even now, after what 
 has passed, if the letter were put into my hands, I should 
 say it did not requii*e an answer. The first letter of 
 the King had been answered J ; and we did not wish 
 that Consul Cameron should come home on a mission. 
 
 * See page 149. t The letter is given in page 78. 
 
 \ Earl Russell's answer will be found in page 67.
 
 154 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Having no wish to answer that letter, we sent it to the 
 India Office, to know whether they wished to answer it. 
 Not a bit of it ; they did not think it necessary that a 
 mission should be sent to this country, the object of 
 which was to get us to go to war with Turkey "*. 
 
 Nevertheless, a few days only after Earl Russell had 
 informed the Earl of Shaftesbury that he had advised 
 Her Majesty not to write to the Emperor Theodore 
 — namely, on May 25th, 18G4, — the note from Consul 
 Cameron of February 14th of that year, given in page 138, 
 reached London, was inserted in all the newspapers, and 
 filled everybody with amazement — the officials at the 
 Foreign and India Offices, if I am rightly informed, quite 
 as rnuch as others. Of course an investigation was in- 
 stantly set on foot : the Emperor's letter, which had been 
 altogether lost sight of, if not actually mislaid, was looked 
 up; and on the Sijd of the following month (June), in 
 answer to the inquiry of Mr. Henry D. Seymour in the 
 House of Commons, Mr. Layard said that " Her Majesty^s 
 Government would of course do all they possibly could to 
 obtain the release of Captain Cameron and the mis- 
 sionaries. The most natural step would be to send some 
 person there to demand their release; but Her Majesty's 
 Government were rather afraid that he would share the 
 same fate as the Consul and the missionaries. The ques- 
 tion was how to get at the King, without endangering the 
 liberty of others. He trusted, however, that means would 
 soon be found of communicatmg Avith the King, and the 
 sul)jcct was under the serious consideration of the noble 
 Lord at the head of the Foreign Office "f. 
 
 * ' Times/ July 1, IbUo. t ' IStuiidard,' Juiif 4, 18G4.
 
 queen's letter to THEODORE. MR. RASSAm's MISSION. 155 
 
 The promised serious consideration having been given 
 to the subject, it was decided that the previous deter- 
 mination of both the Foreign and the India Office should 
 be rescinded, and that after all the Secretary of State 
 for Foreign Affairs ought to advise Her Majesty to write 
 a civil answer to the Emperor's letter of October 31st, 
 1862, which had remained unnoticed for more than 
 fifteen months since its receipt by Her Majesty's Go- 
 vernment. Accordingly, towards the end of June 1864, 
 a reply from the Queen, under the Sign Manual, was 
 addressed to His Majesty, and letters were also pro- 
 cm^ed from the Coptic Patriarch at Cairo, both to that 
 monarch and to the Abuna. 
 
 The Queen's letter was sent out to Egypt to have an 
 Arabic translation made to accompany it, but was thence 
 sent back to England to receive certain modifications 
 suggested by (or to) the Consul -General there. This 
 caused some delay; but at length the letter with its 
 translation, and those from the Coptic Patriarch, were 
 transmitted to Aden for delivery to the Emperor Theo- 
 dore. 
 
 The duty of delivering these letters was entrusted to 
 Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, who is well known from his 
 connexion with Mr. Layard at Nineveh, and who for 
 several years past has been an Assistant to the Political 
 Resident at Aden. 
 
 As serious objections have been made on various oc- 
 casions, both in and out of Parliament, to the choice of 
 Mr. Rassam to be the bearer of the Queen's letter, and 
 to negotiate for the liberation of the British Consul and 
 the other European captives, it is only just to him to
 
 156 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 state tlic precise relation in wliich he stood to Mr. Layard, 
 and also to reproduce the testimonial in liis favour given 
 Ly Sir William Coghlan. 
 
 As regards tlie former, Mr. Layard makes the follow- 
 ing: statement in his well-known work : — " Mr. Hormuzd 
 llassam, the brother of the British Vice-Consul, came to 
 reside with me, and undertook the daily payment of the 
 workmen and the domestic arrangements " *. 
 
 Sir William Coghlan's testimonial, as read by Mr. 
 Layard in the House of Commons during the debate on 
 June 30th, 1865, when nearly a twelvemonth had elapsed 
 without any good having resulted from Mr. Rassam's 
 mission, was in the following terms : — " Mr. Rassam^s 
 antecedents, his status, and his qualifications are greatly 
 misunderstood and misrepresented by a portion of the 
 press of this country. He has been variously styled Le- 
 A'antine, Greek, obscure Armenian, Turkish subject, non- 
 descript, &c. In answer to these assertions it is but just 
 to a very deserving public servant to say what Mr. Ras- 
 sam really is. He was born at Mosul, of Christian pa- 
 rents (his brother is British Vice-Consul there) ; he re- 
 ceived his education in England; he is a gentleman in 
 manners and conduct ; and his qualifications for the pecu- 
 liar line in wliich he has been employed during the last 
 ten years cannot be surpassed. I speak with confidence 
 on tliis point ; for ]\Ir. llassara was my assistant at Aden 
 during many years of trouble ; a part of that time he held 
 charge of our political relations at Muscat, and acquitted 
 himself to the entire approval of the Government which 
 placed him there. In short, Mr. Rassam^s whole previous 
 * ' Nineveli,' vol. i. p. 54.
 
 INSTRUCTIONS TO DEMAND CONSUL's RELEASE ONLY. 157 
 
 career well justified the expectation which Her Majesty's 
 Government entertained in appointing him to the delicate 
 and difficult mission on which he is now employed. The 
 disappointment of that expectation is not attributable to 
 any fault of his " *. 
 
 The instructions from Earl Russell to Mr. Rassam were 
 to the effect that he should demand the release of Consul 
 Cameron; but, inasmuch as Her Majesty's Government 
 had no right to make authoritative demands on foreign 
 powers in favour of any not British subjects, Mr. Rassam 
 was cautioned against making his request on behalf of 
 foreigners in an authoritative manner, such as he would be 
 entitled to do on behalf of subjects of Her Majesty. 
 Of course Mr. Rassam was commissioned to do his best to 
 obtain, if practicable, the liberation of all the captives ; 
 but it is manifest, from his instructions, that he was to 
 insist on the liberation of Consul Cameron alone — that is 
 to say, of the individual who, as the representative of the 
 British Government, was the only person really to blame, 
 and against whom, in that capacity though not personally, 
 the Emperor had therefore the greatest cause of complaint; 
 whilst the poor missionaries. Stern and Rosenthal, wlio 
 loere the victims of an arbitrary domiciliary visit, which 
 would never have been made but for the fault of the 
 British Government, were to be left in the lurch, if needs 
 must be — because, forsooth, Her Majesty's Government 
 have no right to make authoritative demands in favour 
 of any but British subjects f, even when they may happen 
 
 • ' Times; July 1, 1865. 
 
 t Mr. Stern is the bearer of a Foreign Office passport, in which ho 
 is designated "a British subject." It was obtained for him through a
 
 158 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 to be in difficulties through the fault, not of themselves, 
 but of that Government. What then becomes of the 
 repeated " assurance on the part of Her Majesty's Go- 
 vernment that they would do all in their power to obtain 
 the release of the missionaries in common with Her Ma- 
 jesty's Consul," on which the Committee of the London 
 Society implicitly and confidently relied as a justification 
 for their not adopting or promoting any separate action 
 to save their own missionaries"^? 
 
 In addition to the execution of his official instructions, 
 Mr. Rassam had a duty to perform of a private and more 
 delicate character, to which allusion has been made in a 
 previous paget- He was to make a good case for the 
 British Government — to remove the blame from their 
 shoulders, even if it were thrown on those of any one else. 
 It did not matter who might be the scapegoat, as long 
 as the Government were exonerated. This is said quite 
 advisedly ; and when the results of Mr. Rassam's mission 
 come to be investigated, its truth will be seen and acknow- 
 ledged by all, even the most sceptical. 
 
 Having received his credentials, Mr. Rassam, accom- 
 panied by a medical officer, proceeded to Massowah, at 
 which island he arrived on the 20th of August, 1864. 
 From Massowah he dispatched messengers to the Court 
 of the Emperor, with the letters from the Coptic Patriarch ; 
 
 banker by a relative of his wife, himself a British subject, who, in 
 perfect good faith, stated the connexion between them, without any 
 thought of the difference of nationality. Still, with such a passport, 
 Mr. St(!rn has surely a right to the protection of our Government, 
 
 • See Jewish Intelligence,' December 1, 1865, p. 298. 
 
 t See page 150.
 
 MR. RASSAM SENDS TO THEODORE. ABYSSINIAN SPIES. 159 
 
 and he himself addressed a letter to His Majesty, stating 
 that he was the bearer of the Queen of England's answer 
 to the Abyssinian Monarch's letter of October 31st, 1862, 
 which he was prepared to bring up on a suitable escort 
 being sent for him, but representing to His Majesty the 
 propriety of the previous liberation of Her Britannic 
 Majesty's Consul. 
 
 The Emperor, indignant at such a demand being ad- 
 dressed to him from the coast, instead of the Queen's 
 " messenger" coming up to present Her Majesty's letter 
 in person, refused to send him an answer : did not even 
 condescend to notice him ! 
 
 Nevertheless, shortly after the news of Mr. Rassam's 
 arrival had reached the Court, two Abyssinians came down 
 to Massowah and visited that gentleman, doing so as if it 
 were out of curiosity and as mere strangers ; but, after a 
 civil reception from him, these visitors vanished all at 
 once, leaving no trace behind. They were evidently 
 " spies, come to see the nakedness of the land " — emis- 
 saries of the Emperor, sent to take note of him and his 
 mission, and to report thereon, which they would hardly 
 have been able to do in a manner satisfactory to their 
 arrogant Sovereign. 
 
 It would be difficult, if not impossible, to say what 
 actually took place in the twelvemonth that elapsed be- 
 tween the 20th of August, 1864, when Mr. Rassam arrived 
 at Massowah, and the same date of the following year. 
 From time to time reports, both favourable and unfavour- 
 able, appeared in the newspapers ; but nothing certain was 
 known ; and it would be to no good purpose to speculate 
 as to the details, when it is sufficient to know the general
 
 160 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 result to have been, that no actual advance was made 
 towards the lil)eration of the captives, or even towards the 
 delivery of the Queen's letter, which remained in the pos- 
 session of Mr. Rassara, whose j)resence at jMassowah con- 
 tinued to be unrecognized by the Emperor^. 
 
 Various messengers appear hovrever to have passed to 
 and fro, one of them being a brother or near relative of 
 Samuel, the Emperor's steward f, with whom JNIr. Rassam 
 had established a friendly communication ; whether or not 
 in consequence of any previous acquaintance with him at 
 Aden, I cannot say. Meanwhile, it having been disco- 
 vered that Her Majesty's letter to the Emperor was not 
 sealed with the Royal Signet and was in other respects 
 insufficient, another letter duly signed and sealed was 
 substituted for the original informal one, in the month 
 of February or March 1865. 
 
 ''At a later time," as was stated by Earl Russell in the 
 House of Lords, " it w^as suggested that some military or 
 naval officer would be treated Avith more respect [than 
 Mr. Rassam], and he had therefore desired, through the 
 India Office, that the Resident at Aden should send a 
 military officer to Massowah; and such an officer had 
 been sent"|. But the officer sent was only a subaltern, 
 the third assistant to the Resident at Aden, who, being 
 Mr. Rassam's subordinate, could not be " treated Avith 
 more respect " than that gentleman. His presence 
 however had the efl'ect of exalting Mr. Rassam as the 
 
 • As late as the end of April 1865 Earl Russell admitted that " it 
 did not appear from the last accounts that the King had taken any 
 steps towards receiving that letter." — 'Times,' April 28, 180.5. 
 
 t f^ee page 70, note. \ ' Times,' May 24, 1865.
 
 PRESENT OF FIREARMS. SECRET-SERVICE MONEY. 161 
 
 head of the mission, which now consisted of himself, 
 Dr. Blanc, and Lieutenant Prideaux. 
 
 In the Address to the Crown moved for by Lord 
 Chelmsford, as has to be mentioned in the next Chapter, 
 one of the particulars asked for was an " Account of the 
 Presents sent to the King of Abyssinia to accompany 
 the delivery of the Letter" under Her Majesty's sign 
 manual ; to which the answer given was, " None.'^ Sub- 
 sequently however — for the whole business, from be- 
 ginning to end, has been a piece of patchwork — it was 
 deemed advisable to send a present of five hundred stand 
 of arms to the Emperor Theodore, as a ransom for Consul 
 Cameron; and I did hear that the sum of 15,000 dollars 
 was to be added as a makeweight. If I mistake not, 
 the muskets still remain at Aden, no opportunity having 
 occurred of sending them into Abyssinia — at all times a 
 difficult task, as the Turks will not allow firearms to 
 pass through Massowah into the interior. As to the 
 dollars, I believe them to have been intended for secret- 
 service money. Though it may not be material, still it 
 is well to place on record that what I had thus heard was 
 communicated by me on June 21st, 1865, to a nol)leman 
 holding office under the present Administration. 
 
 M
 
 ir)2 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 DISCUSSIONS IN PARLIASIENT — LORl) CHELMSFORT)"S MOTION FOR 
 AN ADDRESS — SIR HUGH CAIBNS's INQUIRIES — PURTHEB PAPERS 
 PRODUCED — INQIiTRY DEPRECATED BY GOVERNMENT — ALLEGED 
 FEAR OF OFFENDING THEODORE — REAL FEAR OF MERITED CEN- 
 SURE — OFFENSn^ LANGUAGE OF EARL RUSSELL AND MR. LAYARD 
 — COMMENTED ON IN NEWSPAPERS — EARL RUSSELL DECIDES O.N 
 KEPLACDSTG MR. RASSAM — THE AUTHOR'S OFFER OF SERVICES — 
 MR. PALGRAArE PREFERRED — AUTHOR'S LETTERS TO EARL RUS- 
 SELL — MR. PALGRAVe's MISSION — ON THE POINT OF LEAVING 
 EGYPT — MR. RASSAM ARRI^T?S THERE — MR. PALGRAVE STOPPED 
 — REPORT OF CONSUL CAMEROn's RELEASE — ITS FALSEHOOD — 
 MR. RASSAM's LETTER TO EARL RUSSELL — EMPEROr's LETTER — 
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MR. RASSAM AND MR. PALGRAVE — THE 
 FORMER PREVAILS — RETLTRNS TO ADEN — MR. PALGRA^T*: RE- 
 MAINS IN EGYPT — FOR WHAT PURPOSE ? 
 
 DuEiNG the session of 1865 the subject of the impri- 
 sonment of the captives was brought before Parliament on 
 repeated occasions; and in particular Lord Chehnsford 
 in the House of Lords on the 23rd of May, and Sir 
 Hugh Cairns in the House of Commons on the 30th of 
 June, made some searching inquiries, which were strongly 
 deprecated by both Earl Russell and Mr. Layard, as likely 
 to prove injurious to the captives should tlie intelligence 
 reach the Emperor Theodore. Lord Chelmsford, how- 
 ever, succeeded in carrying his motion for an Address to 
 the Queen for the production of certain papers relating 
 to the sul)ject, though the Address was but imperfectly 
 responded to by the Foreign Office*, some of the most 
 
 * rarlianiontary Paper, 18(55, ' Papers rolatinp tn the Imprisonment 
 of British Subjects in Abyssinia.'
 
 PAPERS PRODUCED. INQUIRY DEPRECATED. 1(53 
 
 important documents being witliheld. On the 5th of July 
 of the same year, just before the prorogation of ParUa- 
 ment, when the subject was again discussed in the 
 House of Commons, Mr. Layard promised to produce 
 other papers, which, however, were not laid before Par- 
 liament till Mr. Darby Griffith moved for them on Au- 
 gust 3rd, 1866 *. 
 
 Throughout all the debates in both Houses of Parlia- 
 ment, and likewise out of doors among the friends of 
 Lord Russell's Administration, every attempt was made to 
 stifle inquiry and discussion, professedly lest it should 
 injure the captives. Without citing, as I might easily do, 
 numerous instances of this deprecation of inquiry, I will 
 merely refer to what was said by Lord Shaftesbury as 
 lately as May 3rd, 1866, as is recorded in page 152. In 
 doing so, I must however repeat that I believe his Lord- 
 ship to have been unwittingly the mouthpiece of others, 
 whose fear of merited censure made them employ every 
 means of putting off the day of reckoning until after 
 the final liberation of the captives, when the general 
 feeling of joy and gratitude for their safety would more 
 than counterbalance the trouble and dissatisfaction which 
 had been caused by such great mismanagement and long 
 delay. 
 
 Had the dread of offending the Emperor Theodore been 
 the real motive for this urgent desire to avoid discussion 
 and inquiry. Earl Russell and Mr. Layard would them- 
 selves have been the first to set an example of moderation 
 in their language respecting that potentate. Instead of 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 186G, ' Further Corre^pondeiioc respeotiujr 
 the British Captives in A])yssinia.' 
 
 M 2
 
 164 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IX ABYSSINIA. 
 
 which, it is precisely these two statesmen who were guilty 
 of applying the strongest and most oflensive epithets to 
 Theodore, and who spoke of his conduct with the greatest 
 abhorrence^. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to adduce instances of what was 
 at the time a matter of notoriety. A daily journal, when 
 commenting on the debates in Parliament, says, in 
 speaking of the captives : — " Their lives would be worth 
 very little if Theodore should learn^ whilst they are stiU 
 at his disposition, in what offensive language Mr. Layard, 
 in the name of the English Government, abused him^^t* 
 And a contemporary adds, " The Foreign Secretary 
 went on to emulate his subordinate in applying abusive 
 language to the Abyssinian Emperor, who is supposed to 
 be so sensitive to such remarks ^^ J. This inconsistency 
 is tersely put by 'Punch,^ whose pages appear to con- 
 tribute to the special recreation of the Emperor of 
 Abyssinia §. On July 15th, 1855, that witty monitor 
 says, in his ' Essence of Parliament,'' " The Earl [Russell] 
 described King Theodore as a blood-thu'sty tyrant; and 
 as Theodore has the English papers read to him^ this 
 may please him.^^ 
 
 In consequence of the discussions in Parliament, 
 Earl Russell at length decided on doing what he might 
 better have done long before — namely, on taking the 
 
 * It is a fact worlhy of notice that when the news of the ill- 
 treatment of the missionaries first arrived, Lord Shaftesbury, did 
 not scruple to call the Emperor a " barbarian Philistine." (See the 
 ' Record ' of May 9th, 18G4.) 
 
 t ' Standard,' July 5th, 18G5. 
 
 X ' Pall Mall Gazette,' July 'Mh, 18G5. 
 
 § Mr. Stem writes from Goudar, '']\Iost of all was the inquisitive 
 descendant of Solomon interested in the caricatures of ' Punch.' "
 
 TilE author's offer. MR. PALGRAVE's MISSION*. ] G5 
 
 matter into his own hands, instead of leaving it, as it 
 had thus far been left, in those of Mr. Layard and his 
 nominee, Mr. Rassam. And Lord Houghton and the 
 Earl of Malmesbury, on opposite sides of the House of 
 Peers, having spoken of me in highly flattering terms 
 in the debate on July 4th, and I having on the 7th of 
 that month again offered to undertake the liberation of 
 tlie captives on my own responsibility, his Lordship (as I 
 have understood on unquestionable authority) had almost 
 made up his mind to send for me and place the matter 
 in my hands, when Mr. W. Gifford Palgrave, the accom- 
 plished traveller in Arabia, having been strongly recom- 
 mended to Earl Russell, was preferred by him to me. 
 
 My letter of July 7th to Earl Russell is given in the 
 Appendix, together with two other letters which I ad- 
 dressed to his Lordship on the 21st and 22nd of the same 
 month. 
 
 The arrangements for Mr. Palgrave's mission were made 
 with the utmost celerity and as secretly as possible. His 
 instructions from Earl Russell were more favourable to 
 Messrs. Stern and Rosenthal than those given by Mr. 
 Layard to ]Mr. Rassam ; for Mr. Palgrave was directed to 
 secure the liberation of the German missionaries in com- 
 mon with the Consul and other British subjects; which, 
 as has been shown in a former pagC^, was not the 
 tenour of Mr. Rassam's instructions. 
 
 Having received his credentials from the Foreign Office, 
 
 Mr. Palgrave proceeded to Egypt, where he lost no time 
 
 in making the necessary preparations for his expedition ; 
 
 his intention being to enter Abyssinia from Matamma on 
 
 * See page 157.
 
 166 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES I\ AHYSSINIA. 
 
 the north-western frontier; and he is said to have ex- 
 pended considerable sums of money in the purchase of 
 presents. 
 
 At the instance of Colonel Stanton, the Government of 
 the Viceroy of Egypt, Ismail Pasha, took immediate and 
 energetic measures for Mr. Palgrave's speedy voyage up 
 the Nile, placing a steamer at his disposal, and giving 
 orders to the authorities in the upper country to facilitate 
 his further journey by land to the confines of Abyssinia. 
 Two days more, and he would have been away from 
 Cairo, pursuing his rapid voyage up the Nile under the 
 most favourable conditions; when suddenly Mr. Rassam 
 made his appearance at Suez, and put an end to Mr. Pal- 
 grave^s undertaking *. 
 
 The cu'cumstances under which Mr. Rassam thus visited 
 Egypt are not a little remarkable. 
 
 When it had been decided by Earl Russell that Mr. 
 Rassam should be superseded by Mr. Palgrave, the former 
 gentleman was written to, both officially and privately, 
 informing him of it ; and he was ordered to return to his 
 post at Aden, where his presence and most useful services 
 had long been required. 
 
 There was no difficulty in communicating this intelli- 
 gence to Mr. Rassam. The Steamer * Victoria,' belong- 
 ing to the Bombay Government, had been placed at the 
 
 * So little did Mr. Palgrave anticipate any contretemps, tliat ou the 
 very day of I\Ir. Raasam's arrival at Suez ho left the private hotel at 
 Cairo whore he had been residing for several weeks, and removed to 
 Sheplieard's hotel, for tlie purpose of giving a gi-and farewell dinner ; 
 notifying his departure in the register book of the hotel he had so 
 left, and signing it " W. Gilford Palgrave, II. My's Envoi to Abys- 
 sinia, 5 Sept. 186o.''
 
 MR. RASSAM RECALLED TO ADEN. GOES TO EGYPT. 167 
 
 disposal of the Political Resident at Aden during the 
 continuance of the mission to Abyssinia ; and that vessel 
 was almost incessantly engaged in keeping up a com- 
 munication with Mr. Uassam. As was quaintly observed 
 by a native gentleman, writing from Aden on the 17th of 
 June 1865, " The ' Victoria* makes two trips monthly to 
 and from Massowah, but brings no particular news. It 
 is fact that the prisoners are in very bad condition ; and 
 if they stop longer in same, they will soon die. Very 
 little remedy is done for them " *. 
 
 On the trip which the ' Victoria ' made to Massowah 
 towards the end of August, she conveyed to Mr. Rassam 
 the intelligence of his recall, with orders to return by that 
 vessel to his post at Aden. But instead of obeying those 
 orders, Mr. Rassam turned the ' Victoria's ' head the 
 other way, and took his passage in her to Suez. On his 
 arrival there, on September 5th, he despatched a tele- 
 gram to Colonel Stanton at Alexandria, announcing 
 that "■ Consul Cameron had been released," and that 
 he had come on to Egypt to consult as to the course 
 to be adopted in the altered state of affairs. 
 
 This most gratifying intelligence was immediately for- 
 warded by Colonel Stanton to the Foreign Office, and 
 was distributed by Mr. Layard with commendable alacrity 
 to all the newspapers, appearing in their impression of 
 September 6th in these words : — " Information has been 
 received that Mr. Rassam had arrived at Suez, and had 
 reported to Her Majesty's Agent and Consul- General in 
 Egypt that Consul Cameron had been released.'' 
 
 From the vague terms in which this intelligence was 
 * ' Pall Midi Gazette/ July 10, 18Go.
 
 168 THE BUrriSH captives IX ABYSSINIA. 
 
 given, a very general impression prevailed that Consul 
 Cameron had not merely been released, but had even 
 been brought on to Suez by Mr. Rassam, and therefore 
 might soon be expected in England. But this hope was 
 destined to be soon disappointed. It was " explained ^^ 
 that Consul Cameron had been released from his chains 
 only ; and after a short interval the further " explanation" 
 was given that Mr. Rassam having made it a condition 
 that the liberation of Consul Cameron shoidd precede the 
 delivery of the Queen of England's letter to the Emperor, 
 the latter had ordered the Consults chains to be removed 
 in the presence of Mr. Rassam^s messengers, so that they 
 might be able to report what they had actually seen — and 
 that then, as soon as the messengers were out of sight, 
 the fetters had been replaced by heavier ones. 
 
 This explanation is understood to have been given by 
 Mr. Rassam himself in a letter to Earl Russell, written on 
 the same day on which he sent the telegram announcing, 
 without any qualification, that Consul Cameron had been 
 released. In Earl RusselFs despatch of October 5th to 
 Colonel Stanton, the following passage occurs : — " It ap- 
 pears from King Theodore's letter to Mr. Rassam, sent 
 home l)y that gentleman in his letter of September 5tli, 
 that the King alleges that Captain Cameron * abused 
 and denounced him as a murderer,' in consequence of 
 the vengeance he took on the persons who killed Consul 
 Plowden and Mr. Bell, and that when he had treated him 
 well and asked him to make him (the King) a friend of 
 the Queen, Captain Cameron ' went and stayed some time 
 with the Turks and returned to me (the King) ;' and fur- 
 ther, that when the King spoke to Captain Cameron about
 
 REPORT (U' consul's RELEASE. THE EMPEROR's LETTER. IGD 
 
 the letter sent by him to the Queen^ he said he had not 
 received any intelligence concerning it " *. 
 
 This certainly does not convey the idea that Captain 
 Cameron could have been released even for a moment; 
 and from private letters from all the principal captives 
 — Mr. Stern, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal, Mr. Kerans, and 
 Consul Cameron himself — dated about the middle of July, 
 the fact is established that, in consequence of the escape 
 of the Prince of Slioa on July 1st (as has been already re- 
 lated), all the European captives had had their chains 
 doubled, fetters being placed on their hands as well as on 
 their feetf ; and it must be added that there is not in any 
 of their letters a single word that would serve as a founda- 
 tion for the report of Cameron's pretended release from 
 his chains, even for a single moment, or under any pre- 
 tence whatever. 
 
 The alleged letter from the Emperor bore neither the 
 signature nor the seal of that monarch ; and doubts have 
 consequently been entertained as to its authenticity. On 
 the other hand, I have heard that the letter was really 
 written on the part of the Emperor, but that, in con- 
 sequence of Mr. Rassam's having so long delayed to 
 bring up the Queen's letter. His Majesty positively re- 
 fused to address him in person. This does not, however, 
 appear to be very material — the point that is really im- 
 portant being to know on what evidence Mr. Rassam 
 telegraphed to Colonel Stanton, on September 5th, that 
 Consul Cameron had been released, and what were the 
 contents of the despatch which that gentleman addressed 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 1866, ' Further Correspondence,' Sec, p. 03. 
 t See page 145.
 
 170 Tllli nRITISIl CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 on the same day to Earl Russell, enclosing a letter pur- 
 porting to come from the Emperor Theodore. But, in 
 truth, the whole matter of Mr. Rassam^s visit to Egypt 
 and of the intelligence which he was the medium of con- 
 veymg to England, is altogether enveloped in mystery 
 and requires explanation. 
 
 For the moment, however, there was not the slightest 
 suspicion of the entire worthlessncss of the intelligence ; 
 and consequently its immediate result was the putting 
 a check upon Mr. Palgrave's mission. 
 
 When, shortly after Mr. Rassam^s arrival in Egypt, 
 it came to be known that the report put in circula- 
 tion was unfounded, it became necessary to decide what 
 should be done under the novel circumstances. Backed 
 by his patron Mr. Layard, and doubtless encouraged by 
 the official sympathies of the Foreign and India Offices — 
 where, as in all Government departments, "outsiders '' are 
 not favoured — Mr, Rassam declined all fellowship with 
 Earl RusselFs nominee ; and when it Avas proposed by an 
 officer whose voice was entitled to be heard, that the one 
 should go by the way of Massowah and the other up the 
 Nile, or at all events that the two should proceed to- 
 gether, Mr. Rassam objected to this, and indeed to all 
 compromise or arrangement of any kind, insisting that, 
 if he was to continue to be employed, the business must 
 be left in his own hands entirely and exclusively. 
 
 The final result was that Earl Russcll^s nominee had 
 to yield to Mr. Layard's friend, who, after taking over 
 the presents bought by Mr. Palgrave, and (it is said) 
 uddmg thereto others which he himself purchased, left 
 Cairo on the 18th of September, and returned to Aden
 
 MR. PALGRAVE REMAINS IN EGYPT. FOR WHAT PURPOSE? 171 
 
 by the 'Victoria/ which vessel had been kept waiting 
 for him at Suez. 
 
 Mr. PalgravCj on the other hand, remained behind in 
 Egypt in the pay of the British Government, " to await/* 
 as was declared, " the result of Mr. Rassam's mission." 
 There he continued until June 1866, though with what 
 object is not patent. For when, in March last, news 
 was received of Mr. Rassam^s favourable reception by the 
 Emperor and the ordered liberation of the captives — and, 
 yet more, when in May the further intelligence arrived of 
 their having been all handed over to Mr. Rassam, and 
 being about to leave Abyssinia — nay, that they had even 
 started for the coast — he still remained in Egypt under 
 orders from the Foreign Office; whereas at the end of 
 June, when Mr. Flad unexpectedly arrived in Egypt with 
 intelligence of the " detention" of Mr. Rassam and his 
 suite with all the captives (that is to say, of the unsuc- 
 cessful " result of Mr. Rassam^s mission," which he had 
 been so long ''awaiting "), he started off for England, run- 
 ning a race with Mr. Flad, and winning it by a length — 
 he having (if I am rightly informed) reached London on 
 July 8th, and Mr. Flad on the following day. That 
 Mr. Palgrave did not come to England on the affairs of 
 the captives in Abyssinia, is manifest from the fact that 
 a few days only after his arrival he received a Consulship 
 in the Black Sea, whither he has since gone. What the 
 meaning of all this is remains an enigma, the solution 
 of which, like that of a good many others arising out of 
 this calamitous "Abyssinian Question," will doubtless 
 be found in the further Papers which will have to bo 
 laid before Parliament in the approaching Session.
 
 172 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 NO NKWS AT ADEN OF THE ' VICTORIA ' — THE ' SUECOUF ' SENT 
 TO MASSOWAH TO INQUIRE — LETTERS FROM THE CAPTIVES — 
 MESSENGER REFUSES TO Gn'^E THEM UP — THE 'SURCOUF' 
 COMES BACK FOR THEM — THE CAPTR^ES DOUBLE-IRONED — MR. 
 RASSAM's return FROM SUEZ — GOES AGAIN TO MASSOWAH 
 — DEPARTURE FOR THE INTERIOR — M. MUNZINGER — ADULIS A 
 KEY TO ABYSSINIA — KNOWN TO GREEKS — AND TO FRENCH — IG- 
 NORANCE OF ENGLISH — ROAD BY THE HADAS — MR. BASSAM's 
 JOURNEY BY BOGOS — AR.BIVAL AT MATAMMA — ARRIVAL OF ES- 
 CORT — DEPARTURE FOR DEBRA TABOR GAFFAT — STOPPED 
 
 BY REBELS — ROUTE CHANGED — ARRIVAL AT EMPEROR's CAMP 
 — REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS — INTERVIEW WITH EMPEROR 
 
 — THE queen's letter PRESENTED — THEODORe's GRIEVANCES 
 — CONSUL AND MISSIONARIES BLAMED — CAPTIVES ORDERED TO 
 BE LIBERATED — THE EMPEROr's ARMY — ITS MARCH — FRIENDLY 
 BEHAVIOUR TOWARDS MR. RASSAM — ALL EUROPEANS ACCUSED — 
 MR. RASSAM COMPLIMENTED — CHARGES UNTRUE AND ABSURD 
 
 — MR. KERANS — IMPRISONED WITHOUT CAUSE — LETTER TO 
 HIS PARENTS — HAND AND FOOT CHAINS — ILLUSTRATIONS — 
 MADNESS OF CAPTIVES — SUFFERINGS WORSE THAN ON " THE 
 MIDDLE PASSAGE " — PARLIAMENTARY INQUIRY CALLED FOR. 
 
 Whilst Mr. Rassam was away on his visit to Egypt^ a 
 curious incident occurred, which is deserving of a place in 
 the general history. 
 
 On that gentleman's leaving Massowah in the 'Vic- 
 toria,' he gave to the Political Resident at Aden, hy 
 whom that vessel had been sent to convey him back to 
 his post, no intimation of what he had done. Several 
 days having elapsed without the ' Victoria's ' making her 
 appearance at Aden with Mr. Rassam on board, or any
 
 'SURCOUP' SENT TO MASSOWAH. — LETTERS FROM CAPTIVES. 173 
 
 intelligence of her^ Colonel Merewether became anxious 
 about the vessel, not unnaturally imagining that some 
 accident must have happened ; and the ' Surcouf/ a 
 steamer of the French Navy, chancing to be then in the 
 harbour, he requested her Commander to run across to 
 Massowah and see what was the matter. 
 
 On his arrival at Massowah, the Captain of the ' Sur- 
 couf not only heard of Mr. Rassam's sudden departure 
 for Suez, for which no reason could be assigned, but he 
 found at the same time that a native messenger had 
 arrived from the interior with letters from Consul Came- 
 ron and the other captives, being those of the middle of 
 July, containing the news of the flight of the Prince of 
 Shoa and the consequent vengeance taken by the Emperor 
 on all his captives, native and European. The French 
 officer naturally asked for those letters, to take with him 
 to Aden; but the messenger refused to give them up to 
 any one but Mr. Rassam, who, it appears, had given 
 orders to the Consul's clerk, Abdallah Efi*endi, ia charge 
 of the Consulate, that all letters arriving from the in- 
 terior should be kept till his return. On this the Captain 
 of the ' Surcouf'' made the best of his way back to Aden 
 and reported the facts to Colonel Merewether, at whose 
 request he obligingly went over again to Massowah, with 
 a peremptory order for the immediate delivery to him of 
 the letters, which he brought away, together (if I am 
 rightly informed) with the messenger himself, who still 
 persisted in not parting with them except to his employer, 
 Mr. Rassam. 
 
 The letters thus brought down from Consul Cameron 
 and Mr. Stern announced that the Emperor had, about
 
 174 THE IHUTISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 the bcgmning of July, written to Mr. Rassam desiring 
 him to come up to him at once ; and tliey expressed tlie 
 opinion that his speedy advent and the delivciy of the 
 Queen^s letter would effect their liberation *. 
 
 Mr. llassam was however gone to Suez, and conse- 
 quently it was not till his return to Aden, about the end 
 of September, that the contents of those letters could 
 become known to him. The letters themselves, in 
 consequence of their having been left lying at Mas- 
 sowah, did not arrive in England till October 11th ; 
 whereby the truthful intelligence that Consul Cameron 
 and the other captives had been double-ironed was not 
 received till upwards of a month after the report that 
 "Consul Cameron had been released" had been in cir- 
 culation. 
 
 On the retm^n of the ' Victoria ' to Aden with Mr. Ras- 
 sam on board, she was ordered off to Massowah without 
 loss of time ; and in order to guard against a second flight 
 into Egypt, and also to secure Mr. Rassam^s prompt de- 
 parture on his hitherto protracted mission, the Commander 
 of that vessel had special orders to land that gentleman 
 and his suite without delay, and to sec to their imme- 
 diate joui'ney into the interior — a week, or at the utmost 
 ten days, being allowed either to make the necessary 
 arrangements for their departure, or else to bring them 
 back to Aden. 
 
 Under such circumstances, every expedition could not 
 fail to be used ; and accordingly, on the 19th of October 
 18G5, just fourteen montlis after Mr. Rassam's first ar- 
 rival at Massowah with the Queen's letter, that gentle- 
 
 * Mr. Stern's letter to that effect ie given in the Appendix.
 
 Mil. RASSAM S DEPARTURE. — M. MUNZINGEU. 175 
 
 man left the coast for the interior, accompanied by Dr. 
 Blanc and Mr. Pridcaux. 
 
 In the preparations for his journey, Mr. Rassam was 
 materially aided by M. Werner Munzinger, the French 
 Consular Agent at Massowah, whose intimate personal ac- 
 quaintance wdth the regions they had to traverse, and 
 general local knowledge, were of essential ser^dce. 
 
 If I am rightly informed, that gentleman has for several 
 years past been settled at Keren, the chief place of Bogos, 
 of which country he has married a native ; and he is also 
 established at Massow'ah as a merchant. After the af- 
 fair of the ' Surcouf,' it was deemed advisable to have an 
 European agent at Massowah; and M. Munzinger has in 
 consequence had the English Consulate placed in his 
 charge, in addition to that of France. 
 
 M. Munzinger is well known as a traveller and man of 
 letters, and he has written several works relating to the 
 countries he has visited — the principal one being ^ Ost- 
 africanische Studien ' *, published about two j^ears ago. 
 
 In the Introduction to that work, the author has re- 
 ferred to my pamplilet, ' The French and English in the 
 Red Sea,' speaking of it favourably, except that he con- 
 siders it to be too English f- I had endeavoured to 
 be impartial, as M. Munzinger himself professes to be ; 
 and now, with every desire not to judge my critic un- 
 fairly, I should say that, if I am too English, he is too 
 un-English. But all depends on the point of \iew. By 
 birth M. Munzinger is a Swiss Roman Catholic, and (if 
 
 * 8vo : SchafFliausen, Fr. Hurter'sche Buchhandliing, 1864. 
 t " Eine Schrift von Hrn. Beke ... die sehr lelin-eich abor fast 
 zu sehr englisch gefarbt ist." — Einleittmy, S. 45.
 
 17G THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 I mistake not) he received a considerable portion of his 
 education in France. It is not surprising, then, if, whilst 
 intending to represent things as they present themselves 
 to us, we should be looking on the two sides of the gold 
 and silver shield. 
 
 Ha^dng thus had occasion to allude to M. Munzinger, 
 it will not be out of place to mention here that, when my 
 wife and I went to Abyssinia in the beginning of the 
 present year, that gentleman, whilst rendering us many 
 personal services and kindnesses, for which I shall always 
 feel grateful, was decidedly opposed to our journey. He 
 even went so far as to tell Mrs. Beke, in the hearing of 
 more than one officer of the British navy, that he should 
 do all in his power to prevent us from proceeding inland, 
 which he subsequently explained to myself as meaning 
 merely that he should exert his influence with me to in- 
 duce me not to go. As regards the motive for his con- 
 duct, I desire not to ofi'er an opinion. I speak only of 
 the fact. 
 
 • I must further mention that, when some of the officers 
 of Her Majesty^s ship ' Lyra ' accompanied my wife and 
 myself on shore, on a shooting-excursion, in the direc- 
 tion of Zulla, the representative of the ancient Adule, in 
 Annesley Bay, whither Captain Parr, her excellent com- 
 mander, was so good as to take us, in order that we 
 might see whether a way inland was not practicable 
 from that point, M. Munzinger assuredly did not help us ; 
 though when we were stopped by the Sliohos he most 
 pi'omptly provided for our return in all safety and honour. 
 
 Still, in spite of obstacles of various kinds, the parti- 
 culars of which will be related when I come to the narra-
 
 ADULTS A KKY TO ABYSSINIA. ROAD EXPLORED. 177 
 
 tive of our recent visit to Abyssiuiaj I saw quite cuough 
 on that little trip, in connexion with our subsequent jour- 
 ney, to confirm the opinion I have so long entertained, 
 that when the ancient Greeks founded Adule or Adulis, 
 at the mouth of the river Hadas — now only a river-be(5 
 without water except during the rains, though a shoi't 
 way above there is water all the year round — they knew 
 that they possessed one of the keys to Abyssinia; and i 
 was also convinced that the French knew the same wlien 
 they sought to obtain possession of that spot in De- 
 cember 1859, under the circumstances narrated in a pre- 
 vious Chapter"^. 
 
 I perceived yet further that the authorities at Massowah 
 were desirous that, as far as lay in their power, the En- 
 glish should not become acquainted with this road ; and, 
 however " English" it may be, my wife (on account of my 
 
 * Chapter IV. page 58, On December 20tli, 1859, writing from 
 Mauritius, I drew the attention of the Foreign Secretary, then Lord 
 John Russell,- to the designs of the French on Adulis. In 1861, 
 I printed that letter and others addressed to the Foreign Office and 
 the Board of Trade, appending to it in a note the following passage 
 from an article (not from my pen) which had appeared in the ' Times ' 
 of December 6th, 1859 :— 
 
 " The reader of Eastern history will recognize in Adoolis one of the 
 four great Abyssinian emporia of the Indian trade in ancient times, 
 the remaining three being Azab, Axum, and Meroe. Of these Adool, 
 or Adoolis, appears to have been the most renowned, owing to its 
 highly favourable position in the Red Sea, as also its fertility and 
 safe anchorage. The skill of the ' children of Adool ' in ship-buildiug 
 is eidogized in the Moallaha of Tarifa, a famous Arabian poet of the 
 sixth century ; and it was in the same century that, instigated thereto 
 by Justinian, the Abyssinian Nejachi, or King, known to the Westerns 
 by the name of Elisbaas, built 700 small vessels at Adool, and -witli 
 the cooperation of a Roman fleet transported 70,000 Abyssinians into 
 Arabia, and effected the conquest of Yemen."
 
 178 THE niiiTisn captives in abyssinia. 
 
 ill-healtli at the time I may truly say dux fcemina facti"^) 
 and myself were determined that the English should 
 become acquainted with it in case of need. I have 
 therefore to place here on record that^ in the foui' days 
 from the 5th to the 8th of INIay inclusive, we descended 
 from Halai;, on the edge of the Abyssinian tableland at 
 an elevation of 8500 feet above the ocean, to Arkiko, 
 on the seashore opposite Massowah, travelling only in 
 the morning and evening, and resting at night and 
 during the heat of the day, and that the time we were 
 actually in the saddle was 20| hours ! Of this time 7\ 
 hours were consumed in crossing the low country be- 
 tween the Hadas and Arkiko ; so that only thirteen 
 hours and a half ivere requisite to bring us dawn from the 
 Abyssinian tableland to cohere that river turns off to Adulis 
 and the sea. And whilst in the upper country I obtained 
 information respecting another road between the table- 
 land and the sea, which is still better than that along 
 the valley of the Hadas. This serves to show how 
 erroneous is the notion of the inaccessibility of Abys- 
 siniaf- 
 
 * A '' passed " candidate for a post in the Library of the British 
 Museum might render this in English, " a duck of a woman indeed." 
 
 t It is surprising how little seems to be known in the several de- 
 partments of our Government on the subject of the approaches to 
 Abyssinia. A twelvemonth ago an officer holding a high position 
 asked my opinion as to the choice to be made, in the event of a war, 
 out of six routes, the particulars of which he had obtained (he said) 
 from a source entirely to be relied on. Two roads known to myself, 
 and both communicated by me long ago to Govei'nment, were not 
 among those six, though preferable to them all ! When the subject 
 was again discussed very recently, I believe that one of my two roads 
 was brought foi-ward — though of course without any allusion to an 
 " outsider " like mvself — but the other still remained unnoticed.
 
 MR. RASSAM S JOURNEY. MATAMMA. ESCORT. 179 
 
 Mr. Rassam did not^ however, take his course in this 
 direction. The letter from the Emperor, or whoever may 
 have written it in his name, directed the mission to pro- 
 ceed westward tlirough the border districts of Bogos, 
 Barea, Taka, and Kedarif, to Matamma, where an escort 
 was to be provided to conduct him to Debra Tabor, or 
 wherever the Emperor might happen to be. 
 
 For the transport of the tents, stores, presents, and 
 baggage of the mission thirty-five camels were needed, 
 and with the requisite attendants and followers a goodly 
 caravan was formed. No time appears to have been lost 
 on the journey, which however was unavoidably slow. 
 
 The tardy and intermittent notices of Mr. E-assam's 
 progress were at the time watched by the public with in- 
 tense interest ; but the particulars are now of little mo- 
 ment. It will be sufficient to note that he arrived at Kas- 
 sala, the capital of the Egyptian province of Taka, on 
 November 6th, and left that place on the 9th, and that 
 on the 21st he reached Matamma. On his arrival there 
 he wrote to the Emperor, informing him of it and asking 
 for a safe conduct and an escort. After a delay of about 
 a month (I have not the precise date) , the long-expected 
 escort arrived. It consisted of a strong body of soldiers 
 under the command of three " bashas"^, whose orders were 
 to giv^ Mr. Rassam and the mission a mo.st hearty wel- 
 come, and to escort them in safety to Debra Tabor, where 
 they were to await the arrival of the Emperor, wlio had 
 gone back into Godjam to attack the ''rebel" Tadela 
 Gwalu, who during so many years has set Theodore at 
 defiance. The Emperor's European workmen at Gall at 
 * The siguitication of this title is given in page 20. 
 
 n2
 
 180 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 were also written to^, ordering them to receive Mr. Ras- 
 sam and his suite^ and to provide for their comfort in 
 every Avay. 
 
 As Gaffat is not marked in tlie ordinary maps of Abys- 
 sinia, and there is a district in the south of the peninsula 
 of Godjam, visited by me in October 1842, which formerly 
 bore or was inhabited by a people who bore that name"^, 
 and which has been supposed to be the residence of the 
 -Emperor's European Avorkmen, it may be well to explain 
 that the place in question is a village in the immediate 
 vicinity of Debra Tabor, where Consul Plowden used to 
 [)ut up when he visited Ras Ali or the present Em- 
 peror, and which has now become the permanent resi- 
 dence of the little colony of European gunsmiths and 
 other workmen in the pay of the Emperor — a sort of 
 Abyssinian Woolwich Arsenal. 
 
 From Matamma Mr. Rassam with his escort proceeded 
 on the way towards Gondar and Debra Tabor, and on the 
 4th of January 1866 they reached a place called Belloha, 
 between Wekhni and Tjelga (Chelga), when they were 
 stopped by a body of troops belonging to the " rebel " Tessu 
 Gobazye (not Gobazye the Waag Shum, but another 
 powerful chief of the same name, the son of a person of low 
 degree named Tessu), who for several years past has held 
 rule in the larger portion of the north-Avestern provij^ices of 
 the empire down southwards as far as Gondar. It was re- 
 ported at Massowah that Mr. Rassam had been taken pri- 
 soner, and only liberated by his escort after a hard fight 
 with the rebels. Another report was that he obtained 
 his freedom by paying a heavy ransom. At all events 
 * See ' Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,' vol. xiv. p. 24.
 
 STOPPED BY REBELS. AKIMVAL AT EMPEKOr's CAMP. 181 
 
 it is certain that he succeeded in escaping from Tessu 
 Gobazye^s soldiers, and that on January 11th he had 
 arrived in safety within twenty miles of Gondar ; which 
 fact was duly notified in his despatches to Government 
 of that date. 
 
 A reference to the map will show that at that time 
 Mr. Rassam was at a short distance to the north of Lake 
 Tsana, and that, had he continued his journey as origi- 
 nally contemplated, he would have gone along the north- 
 eastern and eastern sides of the lake. But it would ap- 
 pear that, for some cause not yet explained, he did not 
 continue on that course; for on January 28th (only 
 seventeen days after he had written from near Gondar, 
 saying he was going in the direction above indicated) 
 we find him in Damot, about forty miles to the south of 
 the south-western corner of Lake Tsana, and at no great 
 distance from the source of the river Abai. 
 
 The road actually taken is nowhere stated ; but I con- 
 jecture that, what between the one Gobazye and the 
 other*, the country to the east side of the lake was not 
 considered safe for Mr. Rassam to pass through, and that 
 therefore orders had been sent to him and his escort to 
 alter their course, and to proceed along the Avestern side 
 of the lake to join the Emperor. 
 
 However this may be, the result was, that on the 28th 
 of January, 1866, Mr. Eassam at length reached the 
 Emperor's camp. What occurred at the meeting and 
 subsequently, is narrated in an abstract made by Colonel 
 Merewether from Mr. Rassam^s report to Her Ma- 
 
 * The Waag Slium's inroad from the uorth-east, mentioned in page 
 143, is believed to have occurred somewhere about this time.
 
 182 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 jesty's Goverument; which abstract was published in 
 the 'Times of India' of July 21st, and has thence been 
 copied iuto the ' Jewish Intelligence ' of October 1st 
 (pp. 291-256) . 
 
 In giving here this abstract of Mr. Rassam's report ver- 
 batim, I feel myself called on to comment on several 
 portions of it, which cannot be allowed to pass without 
 observation. 
 
 " On the morning of the 28th January, Mr. Rassam, ac- 
 companied by Dr. Blanc and Mr. Prideaux, came in sight 
 of the Emperor's camp, which was pitched in the district 
 of Damot, between Agaumider and Godjam. As they 
 had received a courteous message from His Majesty on 
 the road, about three miles from the camp, to the effect 
 that he had graciously ordered all his officers of state to 
 meet them on the road and escort them to the court, 
 they halted at 11 a.m. for about twenty minutes, to put 
 on their uniforms, in a small tent which was pitched for 
 the occasion, in order that they might be in fitting cos- 
 tume to meet the Abyssinian grandees. 
 
 " At noon they met the guards of honour that had been 
 sent by His Majesty to welcome them. Ras Engeda, the 
 Chief Minister, came forward on foot to welcome them on 
 the part of his royal master, and made many ci^il speeches 
 through Samuel, the King's steward, who had been sent 
 by the Emperor to interpret. Mr. Rassam and his com- 
 panions immediately dismounted, and after some ci^dl 
 words had been said in answer to the royal message, Ras 
 Engeda presented Mr. Rassam with a fine mule, nicely ca- 
 l)arisoned, saying that his master sent it for him to ride 
 iuto the royal camp. Ras Engeda then rode before them
 
 MR. RASSAm's interview WITH THE EMPEROR. 183 
 
 with about 300 officers^ the rest of the cavahy riding be- 
 hind, and they proceeded in this order at a quiet pace, 
 until they reached the foot of the hill on which the King's 
 pavilion was pitched. Here they dismounted, and were in- 
 vited by Eas Eiigeda to take a little rest in a red cloth tent, 
 which had been pitched by order of the King for their re- 
 ception. After many polite speeches, Ras Engeda and 
 Samuel left them, and Avent to report their arrival to the 
 King. In the meanwhile refreshments were brought in, 
 sent from the royal kitchen, together with a present of ten 
 cows and as many sheep. 
 
 " About three o'clock Mr. Rassam received a very civil 
 note from His Majesty, wherein he expressed his desire to 
 see him. A verbal message accompanied the note, to the 
 effect that, although the day was Sunday, the King could 
 not delay the meeting any longer. Mr. Rassam and his 
 companions accordingly repaired immediately to the royal 
 pavilion. From the bottom of the hill they found mus- 
 keteers ranged as a guard of honour on the right and left 
 for their reception ; and on coming in sight of the royal 
 pavilion the infantry soldiers began to discharge their 
 muskets (no cannon being available) , and continued to fire 
 in regular order till the visitors were ushered into the royal 
 presence. The pavilion was made of silk, and carpeted 
 with the same material. 
 
 " The King was a man of middle age, tall, well-built, 
 with aquiline nose and dark piercing eyes. His coun- 
 tenance shows resolution and a powerful mind, while his 
 smile is fall of sweetness. His Majesty received them 
 sitting on a couch covered with silk his throne having 
 been left behind at Magdala, all the ministers of state
 
 181 TIIK JJKITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 juid officers of the court stauding on either side of the 
 tent. 
 
 "When Mr. Rassam had handed His Majesty the Queen^s 
 letter^ and interchanged a few civil words befitting the oc- 
 casion, they were invited to sit down on the right hand of 
 His Majesty. As the royal epistle was without a transla- 
 tion, and as there was no one in the court who coidd read 
 English, His Majesty laid it on the right side of the couch, 
 and began by saying that he was glad to see Mr. Rassam, 
 and that he hoped they were all well after the fatigue of 
 the long journey. All the ministers remained standing, 
 and seemed very attentive to whatever was said by His Ma- 
 jesty and by Mr. Rassam in reply. 
 
 " The King then opened up the sul)ject of his grievances, 
 and related everything that had taken place from the time 
 of the death of Messrs. Plowden and Bell. He blamed in 
 strong terms the conduct of the missionaries and of Mr. 
 Cameron. In reply to this Mr. Rassam spoke in a sooth- 
 uig way, and apparently succeeded in allaying the royal 
 anger." 
 
 Thus far Mr. Rassam. In the remarks I am about to 
 make, I have no intention to dispute the accuracy of that 
 gentleman^s report of what occurred in the conversations 
 between him and the Emperor Theodore. But whilst 
 accepting that report as veracious, I am not only war- 
 ranted in denying the trutli of the statements which are 
 so reported, but also in contending that as Mr. Rassam, 
 like myself and those acquainted with the real facts of 
 the case, was aware of the untruth of these statements, 
 he was not justified in repeating them without qualifica- 
 tion or comment, so as to lead the general reader and
 
 THEODORE S GRIEVANCES. — SAMUEL AS " IN'rUODUCiai." 185 
 
 the public to believe in the truth of what the Emperor 
 is thus reported to have said. 
 
 Mr. Rassam tells us that the Emperor '' opened up the 
 subject of his grievances/'' and that he then " blamed in 
 strong terms the conduct of the missionaries and of Mr. 
 Cameron^' — as if that conduct had been at all '""the sub- 
 ject of his grievances." How little the one had really to 
 do with the other is fully shown in these pages, and is 
 unhappily confirmed, at the cost of Mr. Rassam himself, 
 by Avhat has since occnrred. It is much to be regretted 
 for Mr. Rassam' s sake that he should have allowed the 
 Emperor's assertions to pass unnoticeed. Of course, it 
 would have been impolitic and uncourtierlike for him to 
 contradict or even appear to doubt the truth of ■ any- 
 thing His Majesty might have thovight fit to say to him. 
 But in making his report to the British Government and 
 to the British public, the same restraint Avas altogether 
 unnecessary and indefensible. 
 
 Mr. Rassam next relates that, " During the conversation, 
 Samuel was employed by the King as interpreter, and this 
 officer was afterwards employed as ' introducer ' for Mr. 
 Rassam, in accordance with the Abyssinian rule, — an ar- 
 rangement which appears to have been a satisfactory one, 
 as Samuel knows Amharic and Arabic very well, and seems 
 really desirous to promote a friendly feeling between 
 England and Abyssinia.^' 
 
 From what has been stated in the biographical memoir 
 of Samuel given in the note to page 79, and from his 
 conduct towards the captives as related in Mr. Stern's 
 letters in the Appendix, it is not improbable that Mr. 
 Rassam may since have had cause to modify his opinion
 
 18(5 THE BKITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 with respect to tliat individual. It is only to be hoped 
 that this is not the case, and that Samuel has proved 
 to be really deserving of all the good said of him by 
 Mr. Rassam. But it must be mentioned that that gentle- 
 man was seriously warned, by more than one person, 
 against putting too much trust in him. 
 
 The report then continues : — " Soon after they had re- 
 turned to their tent after this intervicAV, the King sent 
 over Her Majesty's letter to be translated into Amharic. 
 This occupied a considerable amount of time, as Mr. 
 Rassam had to translate it into Arabic, the interpreter and 
 Samuel then retranslating it to the chief scribe in Am- 
 haric. 
 
 " Very early next morning (Jan. 29) the King sent for 
 them. They found His Majesty standing outside the Royal 
 pavilion, and, after being welcomed, they were invited to 
 enter. When all the attendants, except Ras Engcda, the 
 chief scribe, Samuel, and Mr. Rassam's Mohammedan in- 
 terpreter, had been ordered to withdraw, the King again 
 recounted his complaints regarding the misconduct of the 
 European prisoners. He then expressed himself much 
 pleased at having at last seen Mr. Rassam, and said that 
 the friendly intentions of England towards himself had 
 been proved by Mr. Rassam's patience and good conduct, 
 and concluded by ordering the chief scribe to read the 
 letter which he had written to Her Majesty. This letter, 
 which was afterwards sent to Mr. Rassam to he translated 
 into English, was to the effect that the King had for- 
 given the European prisoners and made them over to 
 Mr. Rassam ; but the exact contents were not at this time 
 made public."
 
 CAPTIVES LiBEIlATKD. PRESENTS. KORATA. IH? 
 
 Mr. Rassam does not give here any particulars respect- 
 ing the liberation of the captives ; but in the letter from 
 Colonel Merewether to the Earl of Clarendon, which was 
 read in the House of Lords on April 23rd, 186G, as has 
 already been narrated*, it is said that " a few hours after 
 his first interview with His Majesty, the latter ordered 
 the release of all the European prisoners, including the 
 missionaries and the Frenchmen, and directed that they 
 should all be made over to Mr. Rassam to take out with 
 him from Abyssinia, which country he hoped to leave 
 about the end of March. The King sent his chamberlain 
 to Magdala to unfetter the prisoners and to bring them to 
 meet Mr. Rassam at Debra Tabor, to which place the 
 latter and his companions were proceeding from the court, 
 then in Godjam, and where he expected to receive the re- 
 leased captives about the end of February "f- 
 
 Mr. Rassam's own report contmues as follows : — 
 
 " The afternoon of the same day had been appointed for 
 receiving the presents which Mr. Rassam had brought. 
 He accordingly, about 5 p.m., brought the presents, and 
 after making a suitable speech presented them to the 
 King. His Majesty appeared much pleased, and after 
 making an appropriate answer said that he accepted the 
 gifts, not for their value, but for the sake of the giver, and 
 in token of the renewal of friendship between himself and 
 the British nation. 
 
 " Next morning (Jan. 30) the King intimated to Mr. 
 
 Rassam that he intended him to go to Korata, where he 
 
 was to wait till the prisoners should be brought from ]\Iag- 
 
 dala. Korata is a large town situated on the extreme limit 
 
 * See pajio 140. t ' Tiint's,' ,VpriI '2i, 18(30.
 
 188 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 of the soutli-east side of the Lake Tsana, at an elevation 
 of about GOOO feet above the sea"^ ; and the Emperor had 
 chosen it as the residence of his visitors on account of the 
 cool breeze from the lake^ and because they could there 
 pass their time in fishing and shooting. They afterwards 
 found the climate of Korata neither very hot nor very cold, 
 the temperature averaging 75° [Falir.] in the day and 55° 
 [Fahr.] at night, but they did not find it as imdgorating 
 as they expected. 
 
 " His Majesty had determined to accompany them on 
 their way for one or two stages, and accordingly marched 
 that morning as far as Sakala, accompanied by the whole 
 army, estimated at about 45,000 fighting men, with about 
 an equal number of followers, male and female. The 
 whole army is divided into four divisions, which always 
 encamp round the Court in separate regiments, the fa- 
 vourite division being placed on the right side of the King. 
 Most of the troops on this occasion had not their tents 
 with them; so that every day the soldiers had to build 
 grass huts for themselves f. These huts are constructed 
 with wonderful rapidity, and with great attention to order 
 and neatness, the huts of the privates being arranged in a 
 circle, with the huts or tents of the officers in the centre. 
 Every time they march, thovigh it be only for a mile or 
 two, tlie soldiers set fire to their huts, so that on leaving a 
 place hardly any trace of the encampment is left. 
 
 * The text lias " GOO feet," by mistake. The elevation of I.ake 
 Tsana, on the shore of which Korata is situate, is 6250 feet above the 
 ocean. 
 
 t As a rule, the soldiers have no tents, but make godjotj, or huts 
 of branches of trees covered with grass or straw, as described by Mr. 
 Kassam.
 
 "rebel" districts wasted. MAIUII OF TIIK AKMV. 189 
 
 " On the morning of the 31st they marched IVoni 
 Sakala to Bugata in the Mctcha district. The King's 
 tent was here pitched on the top of a high hill overlooking 
 parts of the districts of Damot and Mctcha. These un- 
 happy districts are under the Avrath of His Majesty for 
 having proved rebellious ; and consequently he has deter- 
 mined to destroy them, and leave them a waste as a warn- 
 ing to the disobedient." 
 
 Alas ! the same sad story was told by M. Lejean in 
 1863*^ and has been repeated every year since. Will no 
 one take warning besides the inhabitants of those un- 
 happy districts ? 
 
 " For the first two days of the march Mr. Rassam and 
 his companions had followed in the rear of the army. As 
 the King found that they had been considerably incon- 
 venienced by the crowding and turmoil of the troops, he 
 on the third day (1st February) invited them to ride Avith 
 him at the head of the army. The King rides most grace- 
 fully, and it was a fine sight to see the whole army follow- 
 ing him at a rapid pace, stopping when he stopped, and 
 turning to the right or the left as he turned, as though 
 the movements of this great mass had been directed by 
 machinery. Those who rode with His Majesty w^ere Ras 
 Engeda, Mr. Rassam, Dr. Blanc, Mr. Prideaux, Samuel, 
 and the King's arm-bearers. On the march the King 
 showed himself extremely kind and hospitable, sending 
 them rations from his kitchen, and directing their tent to 
 be pitched near his own, on a spot which he himself 
 pointed out. 
 
 "Next day (2nd February) they marched soon after 
 * See page 92.
 
 190 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSIXIA. 
 
 sunrise, and about 1000 yards from the camping ground 
 came to tlie River Abai (the source of the Blue Nile). His 
 jMajesty crossed the river on foot, and made Mr. Rassam 
 and his companions ride ; but as Mr. Rassam's mule found 
 it difficult to carry him up the opposite bank, which was 
 steep, the King told him to dismomit, and, while he was 
 trying to climb the bank, condescendingly caught him by 
 the arm and pulled him up, saying in Ai'abic, ^ lb shin, la 
 takhaf,' that is, ' Be of good clieer, be not afraid.' He 
 then remained standing on the bank till he saw the road 
 made sufficiently good for the army to pass. This day 
 they halted at Omka, where there was a tremendous shower 
 of rain. The thunder and lightning were frightful. 
 
 " Next day (3rd February) the march was in the direc- 
 tion of Agaumider, the last district through which the 
 mission had passed before reaching the King. The King 
 on this day conversed with Mr. Rassam on various topics 
 — the American war, the Ashantee war, the barbarity of 
 the King of Dahomey, and the Government of Madagascar. 
 He also said to him, ' The reason I did not at first give 
 you an answer was, because, since the death of Messrs. 
 Plowdeu and Bell, all the English and Franks who visited 
 my country proved to be insincere, ill-mannered, ill-bc- 
 liaved, and ill-tempered. I said to myself, I must not 
 see this English agent before I find out that he is of a 
 different temperament from those who created a breacli 
 between me and your Queen, my friend. Your patience 
 in waiting so long for an answer convinced me of your 
 worth ; and now, as you have happily established the re- 
 newal of friendship between my country and England, I 
 wisli you to carry to your Queen, my friend, and to lier
 
 EUROPEANS UNJUSTLY ACCUSED. 191 
 
 council, my anxiety to cultivate the friendship of England, 
 which I have longed for ever since I ascended the throne 
 of Abyssinia.'" 
 
 Here, again, all that is represented by Mr. Ilassam as 
 having actually been said by the Emperor of Abyssinia to 
 himself as the Envoy of Her Britannic Majesty, we arc 
 bound to accept as having actually been said. 
 
 As regards the compliments paid to that gentleman 
 on account of his " patience in waiting so long for 
 an answer," whereby the Emperor Theodore had been 
 " convinced of his worth/' if his vanity would allow 
 him to accept them as a satisfactory apology for his 
 twelve months' detention at Massowah, there is really 
 nothing to be said against it. 1 would however prefer 
 to give Mr. Rassam credit for more good sense, and 
 to imagine that as a well-trained courtier he maintained 
 a becoming gravity, without appearing in the least to 
 doubt the truth of anything the Emperor might think 
 fit to say. 
 
 But when Mr. Rassam noted down that monarch's un- 
 qualified assertions respecting the unfortunate captives, 
 throwing upon them the blame of having " created a 
 breach between him and oiu' Queen," he cannot be ex- 
 cused for putting such falsehoods into circulation without 
 a word of dissent or protest, and thus as it were vouching 
 for their truth. 
 
 Moreover the reason alleged for the Emperor's not 
 having given Mr. Rassam an answer at first is worse 
 than untrue : it is absurd on the face of it. Who are 
 "all the English and Franks who have visited Abyssinia 
 and proved to be insincere, ill-mannered, ill-behaved,
 
 192 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 and ill-tempered " ? Never was there in the mind of 
 the Emperor or of any one else a thought of ill-conduct 
 on the part of any of the Europeans resident in Abys- 
 sinia till after his quarrel with Consul Cameron ; which 
 quarrel however was not at all on account of that ofi&cer's 
 personal misbehaviour, but was occasioned by the ill 
 feeling of the Emperor towards the Government whose 
 representative Consul Cameron has the great misfor- 
 tune to be. And how many Europeans are there not 
 still in Abyssinia, both " English " and " Frank " (that 
 is to say, Protestant and Roman Catholic),^ who con- 
 tinue to enjoy that monarches favour and protection? 
 Such an assertion then, let it emanate from whom it 
 may, is absurd from its attempt to prove too much. 
 
 * In page 77 of a work published in 18G0, entitled ' Notes from 
 tlie Journal of F. M. Flad, one of Bishop Gobat's Pilgrim jNIission- 
 aries,' is the following note : — " By Englishman an Abyssinian un- 
 derstands not an English subject, but a Protestant as distinct fi-om a 
 Frenchman, by which he understands a Roman Catholic." On this I 
 must remark that it is not so much the Abyssinians themselves who 
 understand the expression " Englishman " in that sense, as it is the 
 Germans under English protection who wish them so to understand 
 it. The character of England, as a nation, has not been raised 
 thereby in the estimation of the natives ; for they say that the " En- 
 glishmen" who formerly visited their country were independent per- 
 sons, who by travelling in Abyssinia benefited the princes and the 
 inhabitants, whereas they are now poor persons who come to work 
 in their ser\ace and get their living at their expense. But the Em- 
 peror evidently does not distinguish between Protestants and IJoman 
 Catholics. He has both in his employ; and in his estimation, as 
 may be seen from his proclamation in page 125, and also from Mr. 
 Stem's letters in the Appendix, they are all Freyidjotj or Franks. 
 In the more remote provinces, where Europeans are little known, 
 they are all called Gchtsofj (plural of Gchid) or Copts — that is to say, 
 Christians, in contradistinction to Turkotj, or Turks, meaning IMo- 
 lianimedans.
 
 MR. KERANS's CRUEL CASE. 193 
 
 In a former Chapter ^' it has been shown how the mis- 
 sionaries Stern and Rosenthal fell into disgrace. I have 
 now to adduce the case of the latest victim of Thcodore^s 
 malice against the British Government — a person whose 
 name has never been brought prominently forward, and 
 yet who, taking all the circumstances into consideration, 
 must be regarded as having been more unfortunate than 
 any of the other captives, because there really does not 
 appear to have been the slightest cause of complaint 
 against him, except that he was a British subject and con- 
 nected with Her Majesty^s Consul. 
 
 Mr. Lawrence Kerans, a son of Dr. Kerans of Alias- 
 cragh, in county Galway, went out to Abyssinia in the 
 year 1863, to fill the post of Secretary to Consul Cameron. 
 As has been akeady relatedf, he was the bearer of de- 
 spatches from the Foreign Office, and by ill fortune ar- 
 rived at Gondar on November 22nd, 18G3. Owing to 
 the contents of the despatches of which Mr. Kerans hap- 
 pened to be the bearer, our Consul, who " had previously 
 had his hands half-bound," had them "bound altogether." 
 How Mr. Kerans himself was treated at that particular 
 juncture does not anywhere appear, though, as being 
 the bearer of the obnoxious documents which caused his 
 principal to be imprisoned, it is not to be imagined that 
 he, the subordinate, fared much better. At all events, 
 on January 4th, 1864, only six weeks after his arrival, 
 when he could hardly have had time to mauifcst many 
 of the bad qualities imputed to all Europeans antecedent 
 to Mr. Bassam, Mr. Kerans was put in chains ; and so 
 he remained till February 24.th, 1866 (nearly six-and- 
 * Chapter VII., pages 113-117. t See page 122. 
 
 o
 
 194 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 twenty months) ^ Avlicn he was Hbcrated with the rest, — 
 though only to he incarcerated again, on Mr. Kassam's 
 account, in less than six months afterwards ! 
 
 Here is what this much-to-he-pitied young man Avrote 
 to his parents when he had been a prisoner only eighteen 
 months : — 
 
 " Amba Magdala, July \4:th, 1865. 
 
 " My DEAREST Father and Mother, — I have with 
 much delight this morning, for the first time these last 
 two years, received news from home. I am glad to hear 
 you are all weU. Noav, dear father and mother, you must 
 be very anxious to know how we are getting on. To be- 
 gin with, / am now a year and six months in prison, with 
 chains of 20 lbs. weight on the legs ; and lately the right 
 hand has been attached to the feet. You cannot imagine 
 what fearful sufferings I ha\e to go through every day ; 
 it has been much worse ivith us before than it is now, but 
 still it is a sad torment. Our only hope is in God, wlio 
 has delivered us many times when we were at the point of 
 death, and I trust still (no matter how gloomy it now 
 appears) He will ere long deliver us, I can't write all 1 
 wish about our imprisonment, as it might cause great 
 danger to me and my fellow captives. Hoping I may yet 
 live to see all who are near and dear to me, I remain, 
 dearest father and mother, ever your affectionate son, 
 
 " Lawrence Kerans, 
 " Secretary to Consul Cameron. 
 
 " There are here in chains, besides myself, Consul Ca- 
 meron, the Rev. H. A. Stern, Mr. llosenthal, M'Kilvie, 
 Makerer, and Pietro; and Mrs. Rosenthal and cliild not 
 in chains."
 
 HAND- AND FOOT-CHAINS. ILLUSTHATIONS. 
 
 195 
 
 Mr. Stern has thus explained what the diaracter of 
 these hand- and foot-eliaiiis is : — " This art of tormenting 
 (which is aserihed to the wise King of Israel) is a most 
 cruel invention, particularly when, as in our case, the 
 fetters are so short, that one is actually bent double and 
 unable to move about by day or to stretch one^s weary 
 limbs by night ^'*; and Mr. Rosenthal, whilst corrobo- 
 rating Mr. Stern^s statement by saying, " Hand- and foot- 
 irons were put on us in such a manner that we could 
 not stand upright/' adds '' My fetters were of a specially 
 cruel construction. Usually the manacles are separated 
 by two or three links of chain ; mine, however, constantly 
 kept my feet within one-eighth of an inch close together, 
 and when I desired to move I was obliged to crawl upon 
 both hands and feet "*. 
 
 From a drawing made by M. Bardel, I am enabled 
 to give in the Frontispiece an illustration of the attitude 
 in which these wretched sufferers, when thus chained 
 hand and foot, had to pass so many mouths of torture 
 and misery ; whilst below is a representation of the Abys- 
 sinian slave leg-shackles, drawn by myself when in that 
 
 country, which will serve to explain the peculiar punish- 
 ment inflicted on Mr. Rosenthal. In a footnote is 
 given my description of these slave-shackles, published 
 
 * See Mrx Rosentliars letter in the Appendix. 
 
 () 2
 
 196 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 in 'The Friend of the African' for June 1844*, on Avhich 
 I have to remark that the Abyssinian slave-dealers find 
 it sufficient to shackle their Shankala or negro slaves 
 on the legs only, so that they have their hands free, and 
 at the same time can move about "by taking short 
 jumps -svith both feet close together/' whereas Mr. Ro- 
 senthal, by having, like his companions in captivity, one 
 hand fastened (as shown in the Frontispiece) to his leg- 
 shackles, was not only bent double like them, but " was 
 obliged to crawl upon both hands and feet/' 
 
 Some time after ]\Ir. Rassam's arrival at Massowah, he 
 managed to get some warm European clothing conveyed to 
 the captives. But, A\athout the skill of the brothers Daven- 
 port, liovv were they to pass coats and trousers over their 
 shackled limbs ? Consequently they were only tantalized 
 by the sight of garments which they were unable to put on. 
 
 • " Two semicircular — or rather longer than semicircular — hoops 
 of iron (a) of about one-eighth of an inch in thickness and nearly an 
 inch in breadth — those for a female or child of lighter make — having 
 a hole pierced at each end, are fastened together by a round iron bolt 
 (6), the one end of which is flattened out so as to prevent its passing 
 through the holes, and the other (likemse flattened out) is pierced 
 80 as to admit of an open ring of soft iron (c) being passed through 
 it, the ends of which ring are then gently beat together. It is 
 scarcely necessary to add that one hoop is placed round each ankle, 
 before the bolt is passed through the two from the front, so as to 
 rivet them. When the shackle is to be taken off", the ends of the 
 rin<T are separated by placing them on the edge of a chisel-shaped 
 piece of iron, and hammering on them. These shackles are put on 
 during the night, and also occasionally in the daytime, preventing the 
 captive from moving otherwise than by taking short jumps with both 
 feet close together; and the ring being behind, it is impossible for 
 him to remove it. No chain or other restraint is considered neces- 
 sary, since the distance a person could jump must necessarily be 
 but very small." — Vol. ii. pp. 8-9.
 
 CAPTIVES "ILL-BEIIAVED, ILL-TEMPEREd/' "iNSANE." 197 
 
 It is no wonder, then, that the wretched captives, con- 
 fined and tortured as they were, should have been " ill- 
 mannered, ill-behaved, and ill-tempered " — nay, that some 
 of them should have become " insane,^^ as they are stated 
 to have been in a letter from Mr. Rassam himself, whioli 
 was read by Colonel Playfair at a Meeting of the Royal 
 Geographical Society on June 25th last *, and as I have 
 but too much reason to believe to be the fact from infor- 
 mation obtained from other sources. In truth, it is hardly 
 possible to conceive any state of mind that might not 
 have been induced by this protracted confinement of a 
 heterogeneous medley of persons of different nations, 
 religions, characters, dispositions, habits of life, and ways 
 of thinking, all crowded together — several of them loath- 
 ing or hating one another intensely, yet having no 
 means of withdrawing from their proximity to the ob- 
 jects of their abhorrence. 
 
 Of its outward manifestation some faint idea — and still 
 only a very faint idea — may be formed from the following 
 appalling statement from the pen of one of the captives : — 
 " All our jjeople are half mad, and quarreling like so many 
 devils. Fortunately the fit passes over after a few days 
 from sheer exhaustion, or we should worry one another to 
 death. The man with the longest tongue carries the day. 
 The best temper in the world could not stand the wear 
 and tear of this coarse, brutal life." 
 
 Can anything be more awfid than the thoughts which 
 these few words conjure up? Such a state must be far 
 worse than that of our jails, our convict-prisons, or even 
 the French hagnes. 
 
 * See the ' Times/ June 27, 1866.
 
 198 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Several years ago, wlien a friend of mine was preparing 
 for publication a work called ' A Cry from the Middle 
 Passage '*, I frequently discussed with him the details of 
 the atrocious occurrences to Avhich he had occasion to re- 
 fer; but, heart-rending as those details were as regards 
 the physical sufferings of the wretched negro victims of 
 human barbarity, I feel firmly convinced that when the 
 secrets of the prison-house of Magdala shall one day be 
 revealed, the entire annals of " the Middle Passage " 
 can hardly furnish a case which, for the combination of 
 lingering mental as well as physical torture, Avill bear 
 comparison with that of the European prisoners of this 
 African despot. 
 
 In the approaching session of Parliament, will no 
 Member of the Legislatui'c make " The Abyssinian 
 Question " the subject of earnest and searching inquiry? 
 A seat in the House of Commons is certainly a distinc- 
 tion which I never coveted and with each year of my life 
 have felt less ambitious of; but I must confess that, 
 since I have been led by circumstances to identify myself 
 with the cause of the British Captives in Abyssinia, I 
 have often wished, and I cannot help at times still 
 wishing, that I were so placed for a season, solely 
 for the purpose of sifting to the bottom all the circum- 
 stances of this complicated and still hidden question, 
 the thorough understanding of which concerns not the 
 fate of the aggrieved captives alone, but also the honour 
 and the interests of the British nation. 
 
 * Ldiidoii (Seeleys), ISoO.
 
 H>9 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Mil. RASSAM's KEPOKT continued — PRESENT OF 15,000 DOLLARS — 
 CAPTIVES ORDERED TO BE RELEASED — JOURNEY FROM MAG- 
 
 DALA ARRIVAL AT KORATA LIST OF PRISONERS RELEASED — 
 
 MR. RASSAM HONOURED — DECEIVED — HIS MISTAKEN ESTIMATE 
 OP ABYSSINIANS — TRIAL OP CAPTIVES — THEIR ALLEGED CON- 
 FESSION — MR. WALDMEIEE's STATEMENT — MR. PURDAY's RE- 
 PLY — reasons for MR. RASSAm's REPORT — EXPECTED SUC- 
 CESS — DESIRE TO SCREEN HIMSELF AND THE G0\T;RNMENT — 
 MISSIONARIES WITHOUT DEFENCE — CONSUL TO BE BLAMED 
 AND EMPLOYED ELSEWHERE — FAILURE OF PLAN — REAL 
 TRUTH — THE CAPTn^ES ARE STATE PRISON^ERS. 
 
 The necessity for defending the hapless captives from the 
 charges so unjustly brought against them by their perse- 
 cutor, and so ungenerously repeated by their would-be 
 liberator, made me in the last Chapter digress from the 
 consideration of the report of Mr. Rassam^'s proceedings. 
 I now return to it. 
 
 After relating the conversation between that gentleman 
 and the Emperor on the 3rd of February, the narrative 
 continues : — " This day^'s march brought them to Fugata, 
 passing through the well-cultivated and peaceful country 
 of Agaumider ; and it was most cheering to see how 
 well His Majesty protected the crops of his faithful sub- 
 jects, sending parties commanded by officers to guard 
 the corn-fields and villages against the ravages of the 
 soldiery. 
 
 " Next day (4th February) the King had much conversa- 
 tion with Mr. Rassam, and ended by telling him that he 
 proposed to send him to Korata, allowing him to choose
 
 200 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 whether he would stay at Korata or at Debra Tabor till 
 the prisoners arrived ; and after he retired to his tent he 
 sent Mr. Rassam a most polite note, informing him that 
 he had sent him some guns and pistols, and also 5000 
 German crowns [Austrian species-dollars of a.d. 1780] 
 to spend in any manner he wished, 'except in a way 
 displeasing to God.' These presents Mr. Rassam was 
 obliged to accept, as he was told that it would displease 
 the King if he refused them. Twice afterwards the King 
 gave Mr. Rassam a present of 5000 dollars, for the same 
 purpose and with the same admonition." 
 
 In the letter from Mr. Rassam to Colonel Playfair, read 
 at the Meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, to 
 which allusion has already been made ■^, it is stated that 
 the Emperor ^' insisted on Mr. Rassam's acceptance of 
 10,000 dollars for his expenses, which our Envoy at first 
 refused, but found it politic to accept and credit the sum 
 to Her Majesty^s Government.^' For the reasons already 
 stated in the ' Times ' of July 6th, ISGGf, I cannot but 
 think it to have been most impolitic to accept any such 
 present. When Consul Plowden was offered by the same 
 
 • See page 197. 
 
 t My words wero these : — " I feel myself, however, called upon to 
 remarlt that when Mr, Rassam so complacently vaunted the excessive 
 humility of the Emperor Theodore towards the Queen of England, 
 and his having (as reported in the ' Times ' of the 29th of June last) 
 ' insisted on Mr. Rassam 's acceptance of 10,000 dollars' [Mr. liassam 
 himself now saj's 15,000 dollars in all] ' for his expenses, which our 
 Envoy at first refused, but found it politic to accept and credit the 
 sum to Her Majesty's Government,' he can hardly have contemplated 
 that such a gift was intended as a mamdladja, which in Isenberg's 
 Amharic Dictionary is defined as a ' present presented by an inferior 
 person to a superior,' and for which the donor expects in return not 
 merely an equivalent, but something of very much greater value. So
 
 E.MPEROR S PRESENTS TO MR. RASSAM. 201 
 
 monarch " some hundred dollars for the expenses of his 
 journey/' he replied, "that as for the money he could 
 not receive it, as he was paid by his own Sovereign''*' ; at 
 which Theodore does not appear to have taken offence, 
 but on the contrary spoke to Mr. Plowden " in the most 
 affectionate manner," and " gave orders for his honour- 
 able reception everywhere as far as Massowah"t- And, 
 besides, there really does not seem to have been any 
 means of spending the money in a legitimate manner — 
 in a way not displeasing to God ; for the Emperor would 
 not allow Mr, Rassam to make presents, and himself 
 supplied the mission with all they stood in need of. Ac- 
 cording to that gentleman's letter to Colonel Playfair, 
 " The Emperor's orders to supply Mr. Rassam with 
 provisions and carriage free of expense on his way to 
 the Court were carried out to the letter ; everything was 
 provided on the road on the most liberal scale. Some- 
 times their daily rations reached as high as 1000 loaves of 
 bread J, 2 cows, 20 fowls, 500 eggs, 10 jars of milk, 10 of 
 honey, &c." 
 
 It is not at all clear therefore what Mr. Eassam could 
 
 conscious was I of this usage in Abyssinia, that never during my long 
 residence in that country would I, under any pretence, accept a pre- 
 sent fi-om an inferior without first understanding what I was to give 
 in return ; and whenever I asked a favour of a superior I first pre- 
 sented my mamdladja. 
 
 " It was not without a motive, then, that the Emperor Theodore 
 lowered himself so exceedingly before Her Britannic Majesty in the 
 person of her representative ; and the question put hypothetically on 
 the 27th of April has now become a sad reality. What will Her Ma- 
 jesty's Government do under existing circumstances? " 
 * See page 49. t -^'<^- 
 
 X It must not be supposed that these are European loaves. They 
 are pancakes, each 4nade of a cup of batter.
 
 202 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 do witli these 15;000 dollars, except take them on with 
 him wherever he -vveiit ; and half a ton of silver (for they 
 weigh nearly as much^) is no trifle to carry about in a 
 country likQ Abyssinia. In addition to this^ it may be 
 presumed that Mr. Rassam had already the 15,000 dollars 
 from Aden, to Avliich allusion was made in the last Chap- 
 tert, in addition to money for his ordinary expenses. 
 
 The narrative continues: — " The next day (5tli February) 
 they left for Korata^ and crossed the south-eastern side 
 of the lake from Wandige [Woinadagga?] and Koonsila, 
 right on to the island of Dak. The Emperor afterwards 
 came to Zagye, on the S.W. side of the lake, and not more 
 than ten miles from Korata by water. This was after he 
 had destroyed the districts of Damot and Metcha. 
 
 ^'As Mr. Rassam and his companions Avere to wait at 
 Korata for the arrival of the prisoners, the Emperor sent 
 to Debra Tabor and brought his European artisans to 
 keep them company. Orders for the release of Mr. 
 Cameron and the other prisoners were given on the 
 29th of January ; but they were not released till the 24th 
 of February J, owing to the difficulties of travelling.'^ 
 
 The subsequent occurrences cannot be better related 
 than in the words of Mr. Stern in a letter to his wife, 
 dated Korata, March 22nd. He says, " Our manacles 
 were removed on February 24th, and on the 2Gth we 
 
 *- An Austrian species-dollar of 1780 should weigli 4.'3.3 "xrains, but 
 usually does not weigh more than 430. Then 4.'}0x loOOO-^TOOO 
 (the number of grains in a pound avoirdupois) =921 lbs. 
 
 t See page IGI. 
 
 X Consul Cameron's letter dated February 2Gth, giAen in page 145, 
 says, " Oui" chains were taken oil" ycslenhii/.'' From this I couclude 
 that the date of his letter was really the 2oth.
 
 CAPTIVES RELEASED. HECONCILEl) TO EMl'EHOK. 203 
 
 quitted the rocky heights on whicli avc liad been con- 
 fined for sixteen interminable months. Two davs Ave 
 remained encamped at the foot of Amba Magdala to regain 
 some strength, as several of us, myself among the num- 
 ber, could scarcely stand upright, much less ride any con- 
 siderable distance. Freedom, change of air, and the luxury 
 of unshackled hands and feet, however, eflfected a Avon- 
 derful alteration in our exhausted and enervated frames. 
 On the 7th inst. we reached Gaffat, where Mr. Flad and 
 our former fellow prisoners gave us a most cordial recep- 
 tion. We remained one night with these friends, and 
 then in company started for Korata, the temporary home 
 of Mr. Rassam, and in the vicinity of the royal camp. 
 From the kindness and attention we experienced as we 
 advanced on our journey, hope, so long deadened in our 
 hearts, began again to revive, and visions of liberty (to 
 which for more than two years we had been strangers) 
 again brightened our future. Our enterprising, excellent 
 friend, Mr. Rassam received us with that cautious cold- 
 ness ivhich our mutual position rendered indispensable. 
 Messengers were despatched the same night to announce 
 our arrival to His Majesty ; and on the morning of the 
 15th inst., a complete reconciliation was effected, before 
 Mr. Rassam and royal delegates, between the King and 
 his white prisoners. We are now waiting with yearning 
 impatience for the permission to leave Abyssinia — a ques- 
 tion which is still subject to the variable mood of His 
 Majesty." 
 
 Of the released prisoners, Mr. Rassam^s report says, 
 " They arrived safely at Korata on the 12tli March. 
 ^Ir. Cameron was at first very weak, but rapidly im-
 
 204 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA, 
 
 proved ; all the rest were in perfect health. Eighteen 
 prisoners^ including tliree children^ were made over by 
 the Emperor to Mr. llassam^ to be conducted to Aden, or 
 to Egypt if they Avent via Khartoum. The prisoners 
 who were in chains at Magdala were four English (one 
 of them the wife of Mr. Rosenthal), two Germans, two 
 Frenchmen, and one Italian ; and the persons who were 
 detained at Gaffat, near Debra Tabor, were six Germans 
 (one of them the wife of Mr. Flad), and the three chil- 
 dren of the latter.^' 
 
 The following is a list of the released prisoners issued 
 from the Foreign Office to the newspapers, arranged 
 here according to their nationalities. 
 
 Prisoners who were in chains at Magdala. 
 
 Mr. C. D. Cameron, Her Britauuic Majesty's Consul . 
 
 Mr. L. Kerans, late Secretary of Mr. C. D. Cameron \ ^ . . 
 
 Mr. Pw McKelvey*, late senrant of do f ^^S^^^' 
 
 Mrs. E. Rosenthal ) 
 
 Rev. H. A. Stem, JMissionai^ t I n> 
 
 TT -r. 1 •, Tr- . \ Germans. 
 
 H. Rosenthal, Missionary I 
 
 J. Makerer, servant of Consul Cameron | -ci i 
 
 * -r. 1 1 P , • . \ Frenchmen. 
 
 A. iJardel, lormerly m service of do I 
 
 D. Pietro, late servant of Consul Cameron Italian. 
 
 Prisoners who were detained at Gaffat. 
 
 W. Steiger, Missionary 1 
 
 T. Brandeis, Missionary .' . 
 
 ^ * , ' / Natural History Collectors 
 
 J. Essler, i ^ 
 
 J. M. Flad, Missionary S>Germaus. 
 
 Mrs. P. Had 
 
 A. Flad, "^ 
 
 Fr. Flad, ^Children of the above Mr. and Mrs. Flad 
 
 P. Flad, J 
 
 * This name has hitherto appeared as McKilvie. 
 t As stated in page 157, Mr. Stem is the bearer of a Foreij^m 
 Office passport, iu which he is described as a British subject.
 
 MB. RASSAM HONOURED AND DECEIVED. 205 
 
 Mr. Rassara's narrative then continues as follows : — 
 " During the whole of this time the Emperor treated Mr. 
 Rassam with the greatest kindness and consideration. 
 He would not allow him to make presents to any of the 
 people of the Court who had been kind and civil, but said, 
 ' Keep your money for other of my people who render you 
 service, my friend ; but if you wish to make any present 
 to those of my household, let me know the sum, and I 
 wdll pay it to them on your part.^ He however con- 
 sented to allow him to invest those of his household with 
 silk garments. 
 
 " He gave general orders that the servants of the Court 
 should pay to Mr. Rassam the homage due to the re- 
 presentative of his friend the Queen of England ; and 
 therefore when they presented themselves before him 
 they always knelt and touched the ground with their 
 foreheads. And when Mr. Rassam arrived by water at 
 Korata, nearly sixty priests dressed in canonicals came 
 out on the beach to meet him, bearing the symbols of the 
 Abyssinian Church, chanting hymns and praying for him. 
 And this they did because the Emperor had commanded 
 that they should receive Mr. Rassam with the same ho- 
 nours as they would accord to himself. Every one there- 
 fore, whether European or Abyssinian, admitted that no 
 sovereign could be more attentive and gracious to the 
 representative of a foreign government than Theodoras of 
 Abyssinia was to Mr. Rassam.^' 
 
 Nothing can be further from my desire than to say 
 anything unkind of Mr. Rassam in his present unfortunate 
 position. Still the historian has to deal with facts, and 
 I cannot avoid regarding it as a fact that that gentleman
 
 206 THE BKITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 allowed himself to be completely deceived by the outward 
 forms of kindness and respect on the part of the Em- 
 peror Theodore and his people ; of Avhom he appears to 
 have formed an entirely erroneous estimate. Doubtless 
 his mistake was in part due to defects on his own side. 
 Mr. Rassani may be all that my friend Sir William 
 Coghlan says of him ^, when at Aden, at Muscat, or at 
 any other place du-ectly under British influence and im- 
 mediately within the range of British power; but, as 
 was objected by the present Lord Chancellor (Lord 
 Chelmsford) in the House of Lords on April 27th, 1865, 
 when first calling attention to the subject of the British 
 Captives in Abyssinia, Mr. Rassam, though a man of 
 great experience and ability, is "just the sort of person 
 who ought not to have been selected for the purpose ; and 
 the consequences were just such as might have been ex- 
 pected "t- This was said almost oracularly; for at that 
 
 * See page loG. 
 
 t See the * Times ' of April 28th, 18G5. The following discussion 
 in the House of Lords on February 10th, 186G, more than nine months 
 later, is deserving of heing recorded here, for other reasons besides its 
 bearing on the subject of Mr. Ilassam : — 
 
 ''The Earl of Clarendon. — The first we heard, not of the impri- 
 sonment, but of the detention of Consul Cameron, came by rumour 
 through Egj-pt. It was then to be considered in what niaunov 
 we should proceed — whether by force or negotiation, in order to 
 effect the liberation of the prisoners. Now, to attempt to send 
 an armj/ across that decully plain which separates Abi/ssinia from 
 the sea, and to penetrate into the interior of the country through 
 mountain passes and difficulties unknown, without any basis of ope- 
 rations or means of obtaininy supplies, tvould hare been a vain and 
 idle endeavour. In such case the Emperor would have can-ied his 
 prisoners further into the interior or woidd have massacred them, 
 while we should have sacrificed many thousand lives. Next came 
 the question how should an attempt be mad(i to attain the desired
 
 MR. RASSAM SHOULD NOT HAVE HEK\ SENT. 207 
 
 time, now nineteen months ago, the only cause of com- 
 plaint was Mr. Rassam's long stay at Massowah with- 
 out making any advance. 
 
 Perhaps a more cogent reason for Mr. Rassam's mis- 
 take may be his having regarded the Abyssinians as 
 
 object by negotiation. The noble lord said tliat if he had been 
 responsible for the matter, he would have sent out an important 
 mission headed by a man of rank. I think he would have done no 
 such thing ; for it is likely that the members of that mission would 
 have shared the same fate as Consul Cameron. We have evidence for 
 believing that the Emperor of Abyssinia supposed that by keeping 
 these men prisoners he would compel the British Government to adopt 
 his policy. Therefore I think that every man belonging to such a 
 mission as the noble lord suggested would have been thrown into 
 chains ; and I need not say how much the difficulties of the case woidd 
 have been aggravated by such an event. That Consul Cameron had 
 fallen into a state of captivity was his own fault ; but if the Queen had 
 sent from this country an important mission, and if all the members 
 of it had been thro-wu into chains, it would then have been necessary 
 to adopt every measm-e to obtain their release, or the prestige of Eng- 
 land would have been at an end throughout the East. In thecase of 
 the present prisoners we had to decide on the selection of an efficient 
 agent, and our choice fell on Mr. Rassam. I am at a loss to account 
 for the hostility of the noble and learned lord towards Mr. Eassam. 
 
 " Lord Chelmsford. — I have invariably said that I had no doubt 
 Mr. Rassam was a man of very great ability. My only objection to 
 bis appointment was — and I considered it a conclusive objection — that 
 he was not a European. 
 
 '' The Earl of Clarendon. — The noble and learned lord has always 
 contended that he was an imfit person to be sent out on his present 
 mission. 
 
 " Lord Chelmsford. — Only on that ground. 
 
 " The Earl of Clarendon. — The language of the noble and learned 
 lord was, I maintain, calculated to lead the Emperor of Abyssinia, if 
 his words reached him, to think that to send Mr. Rassam on this 
 mission was an insult towards him on the part of this country. The 
 noble and learned lord and the press have thus, I am sorry to say, 
 done their best to second the failure of that mission." — ' Times,' 
 February 10, 1866.
 
 208 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 an Eastern rather than as a Western people; who, cor- 
 ruptcdj debased, and half-savage as they have become, 
 are still Western in their religion, their laws, and in 
 what little of literature and science they still retain. 
 For it must always be borne in mind that, in addition 
 to the Scriptui'es, both of the Old and of the New Tes- 
 tament, which they enjoyed when most of the nations 
 of Europe were pagan savages, their code of laws is 
 substantially that of the Roman Empire, on which all 
 our modern European legislation is based; Avhilst they 
 derived from the Greek school of Alexandria whatever 
 other learning they once possessed, and of which some 
 traces, however faint, may still be detected among them. 
 What nation on the face of the globe is there, then, 
 whose ideas must necessarily possess so much in com- 
 mon with those of the now civilized nations of the 
 West, on accomit of the sources whence their ideas 
 were derived in common, as this remote and neglected 
 ruin of the great and powerful Christian Empire of 
 Ethiopia*? 
 
 The narrative continues : — " The Emperor wished to 
 see the released prisoners for the purpose of asking them 
 l)cfore Mr. Rassam whether he was not right in what 
 he did to them, in consequence of their misbehaA iour. 
 But Mr. Rassam, fearing that their presence would ir- 
 ritate the Emperor, begged him to dispense with their 
 presence. The Emperor accordingly agreed that Mr. 
 Rassam should hold a court in his tent, and have the 
 charges read out to the released prisoners before all 
 
 * Of the groat power of Ethiopia in the sixtli century of our era a 
 striking instance is given in the footnote in page 177.
 
 MISSIONARIES TRIED. THEIR ALLEGED CONFESSION. 209 
 
 the European artisans of Gaffat, and before a nuni"l)er 
 of the principal Abyssinian officers. The chief Amharic 
 scribe read out the charges. Then all the released priso- 
 ners confessed that they had done wrong, and begged tliat 
 His Majesty would forgive them as a fellow Christian. 
 Afterwards the Emperor wrote to Mr. Rassam, and asked 
 him to judge between him and the released prisoners: ' If 
 I have done them wrong let me know^ and I will remune- 
 rate them. But if you find them in fault, I will give them 
 back my love.'' " 
 
 Mr. Rassam has not mentioned what answer he gave 
 to the Emperor^s request that he ^^ should judge be- 
 tween him and the released prisoners/^ though there 
 can be little difficulty in deciding what that answer 
 must have been, if, as is stated, " all the released pri- 
 soners confessed that they had done wrong." But even 
 then, it is essential to know the extent of the '' wrong " 
 to vrhieh they or any of them pleaded guilty. On this 
 point a recent correspondence in the ' Record ' news- 
 paper is very apposite and instructive. 
 
 The impression of that joiu'nal of July lltli, 1866, con- 
 tains the following article : — 
 
 " We are requested by the Secretary of the Gobat 
 Fund to publish the following extract from a letter of Mr. 
 "Waldmeier to Bishop Gobat, dated Quarata"^ (Abyssinia), 
 20th March, 1866. "We accede to his request, leaving 
 out how^ever some passages which are uncalled for, and 
 can do no good ; but in doing so we undertake no rc- 
 
 * Korata. This name is variously spelled, owing to the difficult}' 
 of representing with English letters the native sounds in the three 
 Amharic characters, Kwe-ra-tsa. Mr. Waldmeier spells his own 
 name as above, not Waldmeyer as printed. 
 
 P
 
 210 THE BKITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 sponsibility for the truth of its contents. In the absence 
 of authentic intelligence from the captives themselves, 
 we can neither judge of the probability of the confession 
 attributed to ]\Ir. Stern, nor estimate the importance to be 
 given to it. 
 
 " ' Three weeks ago the King ordered us to come to 
 Quarata, a to^vn on the south-east coast of the lake Zana. 
 Mr. Rassam has already spent a month here, where we 
 have had the great pleasure of making his and his com- 
 panions^ personal acquaintance. Mr. Rassam has been 
 sent by the British Government with the \aew of effecting 
 the liberation of ]Mr. Cameron, Consul at Massowah, and 
 was at the same time ordered by the Queen to endeavour 
 to set the captive missionaries and other Europeans at 
 liberty. Mr. Rassam is a prudent and kind man, and by 
 great precaution and patience he has so far perfectly suc- 
 ceeded. The King has delivered all the liberated prisoners 
 into his hands, saying that he did it for the sake of 
 friendship between England and Abyssinia ; to which he 
 added : — " The friendship between Abyssinia and England 
 has been disturbed by the Europeans who came to my land 
 with the devil in their hearts, who abused me, speaking 
 all kinds of evil against me ; but now the Great Queen of 
 England having sent a great man — Mr. Rassam — to me 
 with a friendly letter, I have set Mr. Cameron and all 
 the Europeans at liberty, desiring a cordial and solid 
 reconciliation.^^ 
 
 " ' Last week there was a kind of assize in Mr. Rassam's 
 tent, at the order of the King, to which we of Gaffat, 
 that is, Elad and our brethren, together with the liberated 
 prisoners, were called. The written accusations of the
 
 MR. WALDMEIEr's STATEMENT. — MR, PURDAy's REPLY. 211 
 
 King against Captain Cameron, M. Bardel, and the mis- 
 sionaries, Messrs. Stern and Rosenthal, were publiely 
 read ; upon whieh the aceused confessed their guilt before 
 the whole audience. Mr. Stern, especially, said in the 
 name of all of them, " We have done wrong against the 
 King, and we have received our just reward. We thank 
 the King (who was not present) for having pardoned us, 
 and we pray to Grod that He may prolong the life of his 
 Majesty, prosper his kingdom, and subdue his enemies 
 under him.'^ This closed the judicial conference, and its 
 result was communicated to the King, who expressed his 
 joy and satisfaction.'" 
 
 The remainder of Mr. Waldmeier's letter is immaterial 
 to the present question, and therefore will not be quoted 
 here. 
 
 The insertion of this letter (which even on the editor's 
 own showing was hardly justifiable) brought the following 
 reply from Mr. Purday, Mr. Stern's father-in-law, which 
 appeared in the same paper on the 21st of the same 
 month, addressed to the editor : — 
 
 " In your Supplement to the ' Record ' of Wednesday 
 last, July 11th, you publish 'Extracts from a letter to 
 Bishop Gobat ' from one of the good Bishop's artisan 
 missionaries in Abyssinia, Mr. Waldmeier, on which you 
 very properly remark, 'We undertake no responsibility 
 for the truth of the contents.' Now, Sir, as the natural 
 guardian of Mr. Stern's family in his unfortunate absence, 
 I feel called upon to make some comments on these ' Ex- 
 tracts,' and I do so the more readily as I am in possession 
 of the facts of the case. Mr. Waldmeier says, that ' a sort 
 of assize was held in Mr. Rassam's tent, when written 
 
 p 2
 
 212 THE BRITTSIl CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 accusations were read against Consul Cameron, Monsieur 
 Bardel^ and the missionaries, Messrs. Stern and Rosen- 
 thal.'' As one proof of tlie accuracy of this statement, I 
 am told by an eye and ear witness, that Messrs. Stern 
 and RosenthaFs names were not even mentioned, nor did 
 they make any ' confession of their guilt.' My informant 
 also adds that Mr. Stern never used the words put into 
 his mouth, ' We have received our just reward' ^, or any- 
 thing that might be construed into such an idea. Mr. 
 Stern was put forward as the organ of the captives and 
 other Europeans to say what was necessary, and Mr. 
 Waldmeier, who was present, readily assented to what 
 was said. Mr. Stern spoke in English, that he might not 
 be misunderstood by those who understood that language, 
 and what he did say was literally translated into Amharic 
 for the benefit of the Abyssinians present, and was to the 
 following effect : — ' That they all regretted having used 
 any expressions that were considered derogatory to the 
 dignity of His Majesty the King of Abyssinia ; and they 
 all most humbly begged His Majesty^s pardon for their 
 offence, thanking His Majesty at the same time for his 
 most gracious pardon, and praying that the King may be 
 blessed with long life and prosperity in his kingdom.' I 
 can only ho])e, therefore, tliat those who have requested 
 these statements to be circulated against Mr. Stern behind 
 his back, have done so in ignorance of the facts, and with 
 no motive of ill will against that long-suflFering and ill- 
 used missionary .'' 
 
 I have thought it best to let the case be stated by 
 
 • All these italics are Mr. Purday's. I am told that this " eye and 
 ear witness " was Mi*. Flad, who acted as interpreter on the occasion.
 
 REASONS FOR MU. RASSAM's REPORT. 213 
 
 the parties themselves, and so to leave it; with this 
 single word of commeut only, tliat I believe Mr. Wald- 
 meier's intention, in v^riting as he did, Avas not to 
 injure Mr. Stern, but simply to cry up that " great 
 man — Mr. Rassam,^^ who was then in the ascendant, 
 and whose departm'c, "together with those to whom he 
 had been a saviour,^^ — to use Mr. Waldmeier's fulsome 
 and unseemly language — he and his companions were for 
 various reasons most anxious to accelerate. 
 
 As regards Mr. Eassam, of whom I would wish to 
 speak with every consideration, it appears to me, as it 
 will doubtless be apparent to most of the readers of these 
 pages, that when he made to Government his communi- 
 cation of March 22nd last, of which an abstract has been 
 here given, he entertained the firm conviction that he was 
 on the eve of his departure from Abyssinia in triumph 
 with the liberated captives. It was therefore only natural 
 that he should announce beforehand the circumstances 
 under which their liberation had been effected; and it 
 would doubtless have been regarded by his employers, 
 and even by the public, as a venial fault, if in doing so 
 he should have represented matters in the light most 
 favourable to himself, and likewise to the British Govern- 
 ment, whose agent he was, and whose exoneration from 
 blame was as much an object of his mission as the de- 
 liverance of the prisoners themselves. 
 
 Had success crowned his efforts, all would have been 
 well. The statement attributed to the Emperor that the 
 friendship of England towards him had been proved by 
 Mr. Rassam^s " patience and good conduct,"' would not 
 merely have been allowed to pass unquestioned, but
 
 214 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 would have been accepted as his complete exoneration 
 from blame on account of his delay at Massowah; and 
 his " good conduct/^ and yet more his ingenuity, would 
 no doubt have entitled him to a rich reward. 
 
 The truth of the Emperor's alleged charges against 
 Consul Cameron and the missionaries no one would pro- 
 bably have cared to dispute except the parties concerned. 
 And what could they have said or done ? 
 
 It would have availed Mr. Stern and Mr. Rosenthal but 
 little had they attempted to explain that the ejfect was 
 made the cause — the cart truly put before the horse ; that 
 what they had written would never have become known to 
 the Emperor and his spies, but for the unfortunate posi- 
 tion in which they and the other Europeans were j)laced 
 in consequence of the Emperor's quarrel with the repre- 
 sentative of the British Government; and that it was, 
 besides, intended for their own private use only. They 
 would have been told by all, even by their friends, 
 that they had erred in not following the advice of the 
 Preacher, " Curse not the king, no not in thy thought, 
 and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber"*; and they 
 would have been told further, and would no doubt 
 themselves have felt, that they had only too much reason 
 to be deeply grateful for their final deliverance, by what- 
 ever means, from their protracted captivity, and that 
 under the circumstances the best thing for them to do 
 would be to follow Earl Russell's excellent advice, and 
 to "rest and be thankful." Added to which, the feel- 
 ing of the injustice done them would by degrees have 
 worn off, when compensated, and more than compen- 
 * Eccles. X. 20.
 
 CONSUL TO TAKE BLAME AND BE EMPLOYED ELSEWHERE. 215 
 
 sated, by their restoration to the arms of their families, 
 and by the sympathy and regard of their admiring 
 friends and well-wishers. 
 
 For Consul Cameron, the inducement to hold his 
 tongue and take on himself the blame of all he has done 
 or not done as the agent of Government, is one which 
 is infallible in cases of the sort. Notwithstanding the 
 displeasure of Her Majesty's Government incurred by 
 that officer on account of his visit to Bogos*, of the 
 general disapproval of his proceedings in Abyssinia for- 
 mally communicated to him by Earl Russell f, of the 
 stoppage of his pay and allowances for u.pwards of two 
 years, and of the obloquy which has been so repeatedly 
 cast on him within the walls of Parliament and without, 
 it has been intimated by Earl Russell in his despatch to 
 Colonel Stanton, of October 5th, 1865, that all the de- 
 linquent's imputed offences are condoned ; for that " he 
 
 * See page 95. 
 
 t See pages 104 and 122. In page 129 it is stated that in the 
 beginning of January 18G4, when arrangements had nearly been 
 made for Mr. Flad's departure with letters to procure machines and 
 gunpowder-makers, Consul Cameron applied for leave to go to his 
 post at Massowah in pursuance of orders from the British Govern- 
 ment. Those orders, which through an oversight were omitted to be 
 inserted in their proper place, are here given. They were contained 
 in the following despatch from Earl Russell : — 
 
 " Foreign Office, September 8th, 1863. 
 
 " Sir, — I have received from Her Majesty's Agent and Consul- 
 General in Egypt your despatches of the 20th May last ; and I have 
 to state to 'you that Her Ilajesty's Government do not cqyprove your 
 proceedings in Abyssinia, nor your suggestions founded upon them. 
 
 " I have only to desire that you will abstain from all interference in 
 the internal affairs of that country, and that you will remain at your 
 post at Massowah, whither you were ordered by my despatch of the 
 22nd of April last, to return and reside. " I am, &c., 
 
 " Russell."
 
 216 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 ivill be employed hereafter in a different part of the 
 world, and will never have occasion to return to Abys- 
 
 sinia 
 
 "Ifr 
 
 Whether this tardy retribution will ever avail anything 
 to that much ill-used man is very questionable. Still it 
 is to be hoped that it afforded some consolation in her 
 agony to his aged mother (the widow of Colonel Came- 
 ron, late of the Buff's), who, worn out by care and 
 anxiety for her beloved son, breathed her last on the 
 morning of November 2nd, 1865, the day after this 
 virtual vindication of his character had appeared in all 
 the newspapers. 
 
 Unfortunately the elaborate fabric raised with so much 
 care and ingenuity has fallen to the ground, like a house 
 built by a child with a pack of cards ; and '' the Abys- 
 sinian Question,'^ which it was attempted to cover and 
 hide from the public sight, stands exposed in all its naked 
 hideousness. Mr. Steiger, writing from Gaffat in Decem- 
 ber 1864-, went to the core of the matter when he said, 
 " We are state prisoners, and shall probably remain such 
 until the political diff'erences between England and the 
 King of Abyssinia come to a satisfactory conclusion ^^ t : 
 after the second imprisonment of all the captives, together 
 with Mr. Rassam himself, in July 1866, as will have to 
 be related J, that gentleman, when communicating the 
 sad intelligence to Her Majesty^s Government, could 
 hardly have expressed himself diff'ercntly. 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 18GG, 'Further Con-espondence,' &c., 
 p. r,3. 
 
 t ' Record,' Sept. G, 18G5. J See page 234.
 
 217 
 
 CilAPTKK Xlll. 
 
 IllEOhOUR'H AXSWBB TO THE qUKK.V — A MOCKKUY — WIIITTKN 
 
 FOB iriM — nia lettkks to thk author — CAPTIVKS 8TAUT 
 
 FROM KOIiATA — STOPPKL) — Mtt. KAS8AM AND ALL CHAINKD 
 
 MR, FLAD HKNT TO K.NGLANli BAD NEWS CONCEALED — CAUSE 
 
 OF DETENTION — DKI'AIiTLRE WITIIOUT LEAVE — MR. RAKSAM 
 OBJECTS TO REMAIN ALONE — DR. BLANC OFFERS TO STAY WITH 
 HIM — MR. RASSAM's DETENTION FBEDICTED BY THE AUTHOR — 
 DANGER OF DETENTION, 
 
 Aftkr what }ias heon related in the preceding Chapter, 
 it seems almost a mockery to give the conclusion of Mr. 
 Rassahri's report. It is in these words : — '' Further, the 
 Emperor ordered the translation of Her Majesty^s letter 
 and his answer thereto to be read publicly by the chief 
 scribe. Tlien all heard what had been written in his 
 letter. In the letter His Majesty a-sks that what has 
 been done may be forgiven, and says, ' In my humble 
 position I am not worthy to address your Majesty; but 
 illustrious princes and the deep ocean can bear anything. 
 I, being an ignorant Etliiopian, ho]jc that your Majesty 
 will overlook my shortcomings and pardon my offences;' 
 and the letter ends thu>s : — 'Counsel me, but do not 
 blame me. Queen, whose Majesty God has glorified, and 
 to whom He has given abundance of wisdom/ " 
 
 At the moment when this letter to our Queen was writ- 
 ten, Theodore was for a certainty in right good humour, 
 and ready to say or do anything that would please Mr. 
 Ilassam as Her Britannic Majesty's representative, But 
 it needs scarcely be said that the words of luirnility thus
 
 218 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 imputed to him did not come from the heart of the ar- 
 rogant and self-sufficient " King of Kings," who has of 
 hite dropped the qualifjdng words " of Ethiopia," as de- 
 rogatory to his transcendent dignity *. It may indeed be 
 doubted whether those words ever issued from his lips. 
 The expressions are hardly such as he would make use 
 of; and the probability is, that, as great people often do 
 in countries nearer home, he said to Mr. Rassam or some 
 person in his confidence, " There, you write whatever you 
 think right and proper, and I will sign it," — or, in his 
 case, " I will put my seal to it." 
 
 I have myself a letter in English from the Emperor, 
 with his seal afiixed, dated May 28th, 1866, which I feel 
 quite convinced never had an Amharic original, but was 
 indited by Mr. Rassam t^ and sealed with the Empe- 
 ror's seal, — he troubling himself little about the con- 
 tents, or at all events placing implicit confidence not 
 only in the writer, but likewise in the individuals 
 through whom those contents would have been made 
 known to him — namely, first Mr. Rassam's Moham- 
 medan interpreter, and then Samuel, the Emperor's 
 steward. 
 
 A copy of this second letter is given in the Appendix, 
 together with a translation of the former one, written in 
 reply to mine from Massowah forwarding the petition 
 from the relatives of the captives. The Emperor's first 
 letter was written in Amharic, unaccompanied by any 
 translation into English, and must consequently be re- 
 
 * See his proclamation in page 125, and his two letters to myself in 
 the Appendix. 
 
 t I believe the handwinting tu be that of l.icut. Prideaux.
 
 THE emperok's letters to the author. 219 
 
 garded as having emanated directly from himself. Sin- 
 gularly enough, it is in the hand-writing of two per- 
 sons, — the one being the Emperor's secretary, Avho wrote 
 the body of the letter, but was not scholar enough to 
 fill in the date, which had to be done by a second 
 person — namely, some learned debtera or scribe. 
 
 I have already mentioned* how favourably the petition 
 to the Emperor was received by him. As regards his 
 sincerity, it is not here the place to say anything. All 
 that is now necessary is to repeat the communi- 
 cation made to me on the subject from Mr. Rassam 
 through M. Munzinger. "Mr. Rassam," writes the 
 latter gentleman, " begs me to say to you, ' The letter 
 he (Dr. Beke) sent to the Emperor arrived on the 15th 
 ult. ; and the day after His Majesty received it he sent 
 it to me to read with the petition from the relatives of 
 the prisoners. I believe the Emperor Avishes to consult 
 me about the answer when I go to see him this week ; 
 and I have no doubt that Dr. Beke's messenger will be 
 dismissed when we leave the Court. In that case I 
 shall send a messenger with him to inform you of our 
 departure hence to Matamma and Kassala. I told 
 them (the messengers) to bring no letters from you 
 to my address.^ " 
 
 This communication from Mr. Rassam was dated April 
 9th, 1866, at which time everything bore the most 
 gratifying appearance. The messenger who brought Mr. 
 Rassam's letter to M. Munzinger was the bearer also 
 of despatches to Colonel Merewether, who happened to 
 arrive at Massowah in the ' Victoria ' on May 1 1th, 
 * See page 151.
 
 220 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 on his way to Suez, and thus was enabled to carry the 
 good news on with him. 
 
 It was immediately reported to England by the Con- 
 sul-General in Egypt, and, as usual with all favourable 
 (though not with unfavourable) intelligence, it was in- 
 stantly communicated by Mr. Layard to the newspapers 
 in the following terms : — '^ Colonel Stanton reports from 
 Alexandria, by a telegram dated Tuesday, that letters 
 had arrived from Mr. Rassam, dated Korata, April 9th, 
 all well ; and that later intelligence had been received at 
 Massowah, according to which Mr. Rassam had crossed 
 the lake to take leave of the King, while the late pri- 
 soners had gone on to Gorgora, at the north end of the 
 lake, where Mr, Rassam would join them, and the whole 
 party would then proceed to Matamma.'' 
 
 This appeared in public on May 23rd ; and the next 
 intelligence to be expected naturally was that the whole 
 party had reached the coast, and were on their way to 
 England. 
 
 Little more than a month afterwards, however, rumours 
 were afloat of an unfavourable nature ; and on application 
 being made to the Foreign Oflicc for information, the 
 following circular letter, dated July 4th, was addressed by 
 Mr, MuiTay to the relatives of the several captives, and 
 was inserted by Mr. Purday, Mr, Stern^s father-in-law, 
 in the ' Times ' of July 6th : — " I am directed by the Earl 
 of Clarendon to inform you that a telegram has been re- 
 ceived from Colonel Stanton, dated Alexandria the 29th 
 ult., stating that Mr. Flad had arrived in that town, and 
 was on the point of embarking in the French steamer 
 for tliis country, being the bearer of despatches. The
 
 MR. FLAD's mission. BAD NEWS CONCEALED. 221 
 
 Europeans had not left Abyssinia, but were Avell treated, 
 the object of the King being, as is stated, to procure an 
 assurance of good disposition towards him before the Eu- 
 ropeans departed. Mr. Flad on his arrival will doubtless 
 be able to explain how matters stand.^' 
 
 Three days afterwards Mr. Flad arrived in London, 
 bringing despatches from Mr. Rassam to Government, 
 and letters from the captives to their respective relations. 
 From these letters, as well as from Mr. Flad himself, 
 very little was to be learned, as may be best evidenced by 
 the following letter from Mr. Stern to his wife : — 
 
 " Royal Camp, Zdgye, Lake Tsana, April \^th, 1866. 
 
 " My DEAR Charlotte, — Your petition, together with 
 that of the relatives of my companions, duly reached His 
 Majesty, and at his own request was read to us on the 
 17th ultimo. 
 
 '' His Majesty was graciously pleased to give it the 
 kindest consideration, and assured us that the day was not 
 far distant when we would again behold those we loved. 
 
 '' We have received a full pardon for all our past of- 
 fences, on account of the King's love to the Queen of 
 England and his high regard and esteem for Mr. Rassam. 
 We are exceedingly grateful for this favour ; and in the 
 hallowed anticipation of meeting once more those whose 
 life and happiness are bound up with my own, 
 " I am ever your affectionate husband, 
 
 " Henry A. Stern." 
 
 This letter was sent by Mr. Purday to the ' Times,^ and 
 inserted in that paper on July 14th, with the following 
 observations from Mr. Purday himself: — " In sending 
 you this letter, I cannot but remark on its style, which
 
 222 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 is so different from anything Mr. Stern has hitherto 
 written^ that all his family conclude it must have been 
 penned under restraint, and therefore cannot be con- 
 sidered as the spontaneous expression of the mind of 
 this ill-used and much misrepresented man^. I may add 
 that we now know for a fact, that Mr. Rassam (as well as 
 the captives) is detained a prisoner until Mr. Flad, who 
 has just arrived with despatches to the British Govern- 
 ment, carries back to the Emperor a favourable reply.^' 
 
 The letters from the other captives were in a similar 
 tone. Mr. Rassam had evidently induced them to keep 
 silent on all that had just occurred, and to continue the 
 same mischievous coui^se of " making things pleasant " 
 before the public, by concealing or perverting the real 
 facts. As is manifest, this system of deceit is quite 
 gratuitous, because sooner or later the truth must come 
 out. But perhaps Mr. Bassam — or rather his employers, 
 for I should be sorry to impute anything to him per- 
 sonally, where he was merely following orders — may be 
 of the same mind as a certain great agitator, M'ho was 
 not very particular as to the truth of what he asserted, 
 and who, when asked by a friend what could be the use 
 of saying publicly what he knew would be contradicted 
 as publicly the next day, replied, " Ah, my good friend, 
 you don't know the value of a lie sometimes, if only for 
 a quarter of an hour ! " 
 
 However, in spite of all these attempts, it was not 
 long in oozing out that on July 13th, only four days 
 after the date of Mr. Rassam's most favourable report, 
 
 • In a subsequent letter to his wife, dated May 2()t]i, Mr. Stern says, 
 "You will of course have taken my last letter for what it was worth."
 
 MR. RASSAM AND ALL EUROPEANS CHAINED. CAUSE. 223 
 
 and after the captives had left Korata for Gorgora, as 
 had been announced in Colonel Stanton's telegram of 
 May 22nd^, they were to their astonishment suddenly 
 arrested^ fettered, and taken to Zagye, where the whole 
 of them, together with Mr. Rassam and his companions, 
 remained in chains for five days. 
 
 The cause of this treatment of Mr. Rassam and the 
 liberated captives, and of Mr. Mad's mission to England, 
 has been thus related to me. 
 
 At the last moment, when everything had been arranged 
 between the Emperor and Mr. Rassam as to the terras of 
 a fresh treaty to be entered into between Abyssinia and 
 Englandf and for the departure of the released prisoners. 
 His Majesty desired that before starting they should 
 all cross over from Korata to Zagye to take leave of him 
 personally — his object being that they might be recon- 
 ciled to each other through the intervention of an 
 astdraki (peace-maker or mediator) according to the 
 custom of the country, as has been explained in a 
 former Chapter J . Of course Mr. Rassam himself would 
 
 * See page 220. 
 
 t Mr. Waldmeier wi-ites, under date of March 20th last, " It is pos- 
 sible, as Mr. Rassam tells me, that in consequence of some treaty 
 between England and Abyssinia, there may be more liberty for Eu- 
 ropeans to come to Abyssinia and leave it again at pleasure." — ' Re- 
 cord/ July 11, 1866. 
 
 X Chapter III., pages 114, 115. The following incident serves to 
 show the great importance the Abyssinians attach to this reconciliation 
 through a mediator. Indeed, they never " make it up " otherwise. 
 
 Whilst my wife and I were at 'MkuUu near Massowah, being 
 most anxious to leave the coast, we arranged with Kautiba 
 Walda Georgis of Halai to accompany him to his place, upon his 
 representation that he was the shmn of the Emperor Theodore, and 
 that if the " rebels " shoidd approach he would see to oxir safe return
 
 224 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 have been the astdraki. With this usage that gentleman 
 would appear not to have been acquainted; and fear- 
 ing that ill might result from the desired interview, he 
 took on himself to send the captives off to Gorgora on 
 
 to the coast or wherever else we might wish to go. As AValda 
 Georgis was well known to M. Munzinger, with whom he had busi- 
 ness transactions, we believed we might trust him. But before reach- 
 ing Halai we learned that he had recently gone over to the " rebels ; " 
 and we foimd that his object was to extort money by frightening us 
 with them, and so inducing us to require his help to get away. 
 
 It is unnecessary to enter into the details of his iniquitous conduct, 
 which ended in his getting a petty chief to arrest us at Halai, as is 
 explained in my letter of April 3rd to the Emperor, given in the 
 Appendix. These details will be narrated elsewhere ; and all that needs 
 be said here is, that the Kantiba and I became bitter enemies, and 
 that he did all in his power to injure me by reporting in Massowah 
 that I was sending messengers to the "rebels," when in fact I was 
 secretly corresponding with Dedjatj TeMa Georgis, the Emperor's 
 lieutenant in Tigre, and with the Emperor himself. 
 
 A few days before the arrival of the good news from Mr. Eassam of 
 April 9th, which caused us to quit Abyssinia, the Kiintiba had occa- 
 sion to go to Massowah, but he could not leave Halai without being 
 reconciled to us. At first I refused to have anything to say to himj 
 but I was so importuned that at length I allowed a native priest, 
 who had been educated at Rome, to act as our mediator. Not content 
 with being reconciled to myself, Walda Georgis was most urgent that 
 my wife should also be a party ; and as she was within our tent, and 
 not inclined to see him or even to pardon him for his infamous con- 
 duct, I had to say in her name what she would not say herself. 
 
 After this reconciliation at the hand of a Christian mediator and 
 with his conscience thereby lightened, Kantiba Walda Georgis went 
 down to Massowah, and there became a renegade, the rising power of 
 Egj'pt in Northern Abyssinia convincing him that it would be more 
 to his worldly advantage to be a Mohammedan than a Chiistian. 
 
 Thus it was easier for him to renounce the " one Mediator between 
 God and men," than to forego the supposed benefit of a human me- 
 diator between man and man ! 
 
 Since my return to England, T have been informed that Walda 
 Georgis — I do not know his INIoslem name — died of cholera at Mas- 
 sowah not long after his apostacy.
 
 MR. RASSAM OBJECTS TO REMAIN ALONE. 225 
 
 their way home. The consequence was, tliat the Emperor 
 suspected, as under the cu'cumstances was not unnatural, 
 that Mr. E,assam wished to get them out of the country, 
 and then to decamp himself; to which he put an effectual 
 stop, by sending a body of soldiers after them with 
 manacles, to bring them all back to his camp at Zagye, 
 Mr. Rassam and his party being fettered in like manner. 
 It was not till after the lapse of five days that the Em- 
 peror was appeased and a reconciliatiou took place, the 
 Eiu'opean artisans doubtless acting as mediators; upon 
 which the chains of all were removed^ — though they 
 were no longer allowed to have their liberty as they had 
 had at Korata, but were confined within the Emperor's 
 " court. ^' 
 
 I have heard that, notwithstanding all this, the liberated 
 captives might still have been permitted to quit the 
 country, had Mr. Rassam consented to remain behind as 
 a hostage for the fulfilment of the treat}^ on the part 
 of the British Government and their compliance with 
 the Emperor's other requests ; but that that gentleman 
 objected to the departure of the Europeans without him, 
 though Dr. Blanc volunteered to remain behind with 
 him, provided the other Europeans might leave in charge 
 of Lieut. Prideaux. 
 
 From the well-known character of the monarch, it was 
 to be anticipated that he would not allow everybody 
 to leave him till he had got all he wanted ; and conse- 
 quently, even if the liberated prisoners had " made it up " 
 with him before attempting to go as they did, the result 
 would have been much the same. It is in no spirit of vain- 
 glory that I say that, had I been permitted to undertake 
 
 Q
 
 226 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 the liberation of the captives, I was quite prepared for this 
 emergency, as was my wife likewise ; and the proof that 
 I am not speaking ex post facto, is in a letter which I 
 wrote from Halai on April 27th, when everything pro- 
 mised so well for the success of Mr. Rassam's mission, and 
 which, after the good news of April 9th had reached me, 
 T forwarded nevertheless to the nobleman to whom it 
 was addressed, adding merely a postscript dated May 
 12th, to the effect that, notwithstanding that good news, 
 I still retained the same opinion. 
 
 In that letter I said, " The reports of Mr. Rassam's pro- 
 ceedings are most favourable, and if only they are to be 
 depended on, we may expect soon to witness the arrival at 
 Massowah of our Consul and the rest of the unfortunate 
 Europeans who have so long been in chains. But, even 
 supposing the Emperor to have thus promptly responded 
 to Her Majesty's letter, there is yet a contingency which 
 may arise. Mr. Rassam will, doubtless, have entered into 
 engagements on behalf of Her Majesty's Government ; 
 and the Abyssinian monarch may be suspicious as to the 
 non-fulfilment of those engagements when once Mr. Ras- 
 sam and tlie prisoners are beyond his reach. He may 
 therefore insist on retaining a hostage for the fulfilment 
 of those engagements, and if so, whom so likely as Mr. 
 Rassam himself? Without discussing the rights of the 
 matter, I will merely say that native Abyssinians of in- 
 telligence, who know Theodore's character well, assure me 
 that nothing is more probable." 
 
 The foregoing extract from my letter of April 27th was 
 inserted by me in the ' Times ' of July 8tli, accompanied 
 by the following remarks : — " The case thus imagined
 
 MR. RASSAM^S DETENTION PREDICTED. ITS DANGER. 227 
 
 upwards of two months ago has unhappily now become a 
 fact, but under circumstances far more aggravated than 
 I had contemplated. Mr, Flad, one of the captives, is 
 on his way to England with despatches from Mr. Ras- 
 sam, containing certain proposals from the Emperor 
 Theodore to the British Government; and it is said 
 that, until a favourable answer to these proposals is 
 received. Her Majesty^s Envoy is to be detained with 
 the remainder of the ' liberated ' captives ; so that, under 
 no circumstances, can their departm'e from Abyssinia be 
 expected till ' after the rains ' — that is to say, nex 
 September or October. We have the assurance, how- 
 ever, that during the interval they are to be ' well 
 treated.^ Well did M. de Lesseps put the case, when 
 we were discussing the subject together at Alexandria 
 on my way home : — ' His Abyssinian Majesty,' said he, 
 * imprisons his enemies and detains his friends.' " 
 
 This detention is most disastrous. Mr. Waldmeier, in 
 his letter of March 20th, to which allusion has already 
 been made^, when speaking of Mr. Ilassam and the re- 
 leased captives, remarked significantly and almost omi- 
 nously : — '' It would be a dangerous thing if they -were 
 obliged to spend the rainy season in this country. I 
 fear, in that case, that the peace and friendship which 
 have been so wisely restored by Mr. Eassam might suffer, 
 which would be most painful to us. We shall, there- 
 fore, do our utmost to forward Mr. Rassam's departure, 
 together with those to whom he has been a saviour, 
 with all possible speed." 
 
 Dangerous as their passing the rainy season in that 
 * See page 209. 
 
 q2
 
 228 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 country seemed to one so competent to judge, at a mo- 
 ment when all was fair and promising, they have now un- 
 fortunately had to do so under circumstances such as 
 Mr. Waldmeier could not then have contemplated. If 
 the peace and friendship which Mr. Rassam was said to 
 have restored were nevertheless likely to be endangered 
 Avhilst all the Europeans were at liberty and able to oc- 
 cupy and amuse themselves as best pleased them, how 
 much more is this to be dreaded now that they have all 
 been cooped up together at Magdala diuing the rainy 
 season of 1866, as the " captives^' were during that of 
 1865. 
 
 It must now be added, that as Mr. Flad did not leave 
 England on his return to Abyssinia till October 9th, 
 when the rainy season had terminated and the Abyssinian 
 new year had begun, it can hardly be before the be- 
 ginning of our new year, under the most favourable cir- 
 cumstances, that we may expect to know the result of his 
 mission.
 
 229 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 CHANGE OP MINISTRY — LORD STANLEY'S ALTERNATIVE — PEACE OR 
 WAR — FORMER DECIDED ON — OBJECT OP MR. PLAD'S MISSION — 
 " MACHINES AND GUNPOWDER-MAKERS " — GOVERNMENT AS- 
 SISTANCE — MACHINERY ORDERED — MR. TALBOT AND SIX 
 WORKMEN ENGAGED — MR. FLAD SEES THE QUEEN — HER MA- 
 JESTY WRITES AGAIN TO THEODORE — INSISTS ON LIBERATION 
 OP THE CAPTIVES — LATER INTELLIGENCE — ALL SENT PRI- 
 SONERS TO MAGDALA — CAUSE — EVIL REPORTS — RAILROAD 
 FROM SUW.^KIN TO KASSALA — ARTICLES IN NEWSPAPERS — 
 EGYPTIANS AT MASSOWAH AND ON THE FRONTIERS — DEPAR- 
 TURE OF MR. FLAD — OF MR. TALBOT AND WORKMEN — OF 
 COLONEL MEREWETHER — TO AWAIT ARRIVAL OF MR. FLAD 
 AND CAPTIVES BEFORE GOING ON — THE AUTHOR's PRESENTS 
 GIVEN OVER — ABYSSINIAN CAPTHTIS LIBERATION FUND — ELEC- 
 TRIC TELEGRAPH — REGENERATION OF ABYSSINIA. 
 
 The calamitous intelligence of Mr. Rassam^s fii'st disaster 
 arrived in England at an inauspicious moment. Earl 
 RusselFs Administration liad just broken up, leaving to 
 their successors in office a damnosa hesreditas in this un- 
 happy Abyssinian Question. Most difficult must it have 
 been for Lord Stanley, immediately on entering on his 
 duties at the Foreign Office, to decide on any course of 
 action with a reasonable prospect of success. Under the 
 circumstances, it would seem that he had only this alter- 
 native :-^either to comply as far as practicable with the 
 Emperor Theodore^s demands, as intimated by him to 
 Mr. Rassam and agreed to by the latter as the Agent 
 of Government; or else to repudiate all that Mr. Ras- 
 sam had done, and at once adopt violent measures against 
 that Sovereign — that is to saj', go to war with him.
 
 230 THE BRITISH CxVPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Having decided on the former coiu'se, the next thing 
 was to act on it promptly and energetically. The fact 
 was that Mr. Flad^s projected mission to Europe in the 
 beginning of January 1864, "with letters to procure 
 machines and one or two gunpowder-makers " *, which 
 had been nipped in the bud by the inopportune arrival 
 of Earl RusselFs despatch of September 1863t, was now 
 revived on an enlarged scale, Mr. Flad having brought 
 with him J2000 — said to be in bills drawn by Mr. 
 Rassam against the amount of the Emperor's present, 
 which he had placed to the credit of Her Majesty's 
 Government J — for the purchase of the machines and 
 other articles required. 
 
 To enable him to fulfil his mission in this respect, Mr. 
 Flad required the assistance of Government, which seems 
 to have been given very fairly — not so liberally perhaps 
 as Mr. Flad himself desired, but still on the whole very 
 fairly. The machinery and other articles required by 
 the Emperor were immediately put in hand; and the 
 services of Mr, Talbot, a Civil Engineer, were secured 
 for three years at a salary of .£1000 per annum, to- 
 gether with those of six workmen of various kinds. They 
 are all to be paid by the Emperor Theodore, but under 
 the guarantee of the British Government, without which 
 it is not likely that any of them would have agreed 
 to go. 
 
 Mr. Flad was further commissioned to see the Queen 
 in person, and to obtain from Her Majesty another letter 
 under the Royal Sign Manual, the former " civil answer '' 
 
 * See page 128, and Mr. Stern's letter in the Appendix, 
 t See pages 129 and 215, note. \ See page 200.
 
 MR. FLAd's audience. THE QUEEN WRITES AGAIN. 231 
 
 of May 1864* not being sufficient. Accordingly Mr. 
 Flad went to Osborne on Tuesday, August 14th, when, as 
 was announced in the ' Court Circular/ " Lord Stanley 
 had an audience of the Queen, after which he presented 
 to Her Majesty the Rev. John Flad, lately detained in 
 Abyssinia. Mr. Flad, whose family remains in that coun- 
 try, is about to return there under instructions to effect, 
 if possible, the release of the remaining prisoners." 
 
 Her Majesty has further been pleased to address a 
 second letter to Her " Good Friend," which has been 
 entrusted to Mr. Flad to deliver. The purport of this 
 letter is luiderstood to be that, whilst complying as far 
 as possible with all the Emperor Theodore's requests, 
 Her Majesty demands the immediate liberation of Mr. 
 Rassam, Consul Cameron, the missionaries, and all the 
 Eui'opeans who may be desirous of quitting Abyssinia. 
 And the Queen makes it a condition that all those per- 
 sons shall arrive either at Matamma or at Massowah, 
 before Mr. Talbot and the workmen, together with the 
 machinery and presents, will be allowed to pass the 
 Abyssinian frontier. 
 
 But before the preparations could be made for Mr. 
 Flad^s departure, communications were received from the 
 captives in Abyssinia on two separate occasions, which 
 must be more particularly alluded to. The first was in 
 the beginning of August, and brought news to the end 
 of May, when everything appeared to be going on tole- 
 rably well. The following particulars were published in 
 the ' Jewish Intelligence' for October 1st, page 256 : — 
 " Information has been received concerning the con- 
 * See pages 139, 155, and 183.
 
 232 THE BRITISH CAPTIVJES IN ABYSSINIA, 
 
 ditioii of the missionaries and their companions on to 
 May 26th ; all were Arell and happy. The King's kind- 
 ness and liberality to Mr. Rassam are spoken of in the 
 highest terms. He has even visited him upon two occa- 
 sions in his private tent. The King also provided food 
 and wine for the whole party, to celebrate the anniver- 
 sary of the Queen^s birthday. The National Anthem was 
 sung with all honours, though not perhaps quite so cheer- 
 fully as it Avould have been at home. As a special mark 
 of the King's consideration for the Queen of England, 
 a salute of twenty-one guns* was fired upon the occasion. 
 The caution and wisdom of Mr. Rassam are highly com- 
 mended; and we sincerely hope and earnestly pray that 
 it may lead, on the return of Mr. Flad, to the final de- 
 liverance of all. Mr. Flad, sent over by the King upon 
 a special mission, has been most graciously received by 
 Her Majesty at Osborne House, with expressions of sym- 
 pathy for the sufferings which had been endured during 
 the months of captivity. The Government are using their 
 best endeavours to comply with the requests of the King, 
 and to secure for our brethren and their companions the 
 long waited for permission to leave the country. We 
 ask our friends, in their name and in our own, to con- 
 tinue to remember them in their prayers.^^ 
 
 The periodical in which the foregoing particulars ap- 
 peared is the organ of the London Society for Pro- 
 moting Christianity among the Jews, whose Mission- 
 aries Messrs. Stern and Rosenthal are, and it is published 
 (if I mistake not) under the supervision of Captain 
 Layard, the lay Secretary of the Society. I do not know 
 * One four-pounder fired oft' 21 times.
 
 CAPTIVES "well and IIAPPV." MR. STERN's LETTER. 233 
 
 from what source Captain Layard obtained his infor- 
 mation that the missionaries and their companions 
 were all " well and happy ; " but I must confess that 
 such was not the impression made on my mind by 
 the following letter from Mr. Stern himself, received 
 at the same time as the information so reported by 
 Captain Layard, than which it is of two days' later 
 date. 
 
 " Zdgije, Lake Tsana, Abyssinia, May 28th, 1866. 
 
 " My dear Dr. Beke, — Little did you or I anticipate, 
 when we last met in London, that I should be a prisoner 
 and you the good Samaritan to come to my own and 
 others' release. A Turk would say it was kismet, but a 
 Christian sees in it the finger of God and the pro- 
 ceedings of an inscrutable Providence. 
 
 " You have probably heard lots of strange stories about 
 my grievous offences ; but, believe me, if an angel from 
 Heaven had been placed in my position, he would not, 
 after certain occurrences on which I must not dilate, 
 have got unscathed out of this country. Thanks to 
 Him who is with His servants in the tempest and fire, 
 and who has also almost visibly been with me, and 
 afforded me strength according to my day. 
 
 "Our future is still enveloped in mystery. We have 
 been released from our fetters, and enjoy once more the 
 use of our unshackled limbs. When we shall be per- 
 mitted to leave Abyssinia is still problematical. I have 
 become a regular soiu'ed sceptic, and do not worry my 
 mind about \isionary prospects, which till now have 
 always turned out to be phantoms of an excited imagina- 
 tion, or merely soap-bubbles.
 
 234 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 '^His Majesty, is 'kind'^" to lis, and we hope that his 
 favours will not diminish. Our whole party are tolerably 
 well, and very likely when the camp moves we shall find 
 in active exercise something to relieve our distracting 
 suspense. I am thankful that my family are well. His 
 Majesty was deeply moved by the petition you forwarded, 
 and he has also written a gracious reply to the relatives 
 of the captives f- 
 
 " We have heard wonderful accounts of Mrs. Beke^s 
 hunting exploits. Please to give her my best Cliristian 
 regards, and accept also the same for yourself. 
 
 " That our Heavenly Father may be with you and us 
 is the prayer of 
 
 " Yours in the bonds of trouble and gratitude, 
 
 " Charles Beke, Esq." " H. A. Stern.'^ 
 
 In a foot-note to the information published in the 
 * Jewish Intelligence,^ Captain Layard adds, " We regret 
 to have to state that more recent letters from Abyssinia 
 give a less favourable account of the condition of the 
 captives, who had been sent up to the fortress of Mag- 
 dala under a strong escort. ^^ 
 
 This was putting in the mildest possible form the sad 
 intelligence which had already been published by Mr. 
 Flad himself in the 'Times' of September 26th, that 
 the captives had all again fallen under the Emperor's dis- 
 pleasure, in consequence of reports brought to him by 
 some evil-disposed persons, and that they had all, toge- 
 
 * So marked by Mr. Stern. 
 
 t The Emperor's letter to myself is given in the Appendix ; but 
 no answer to their petition has been i-eceived by any of the relatives 
 of the captives.
 
 ALL SENT TO MAGDALA. CAUSE. EVIL REPORTS. 235 
 
 ther with Mr. Rassam and his party^ been sent again 
 to prison at Amba Magdala, I have since learned what 
 gave rise to the Emperor's displeasure. 
 
 It having been reported to him by some evil-disposed 
 persons that an English company had contracted with 
 the Pasha of Egypt to construct a railroad from Suwakin 
 to Kassala_, for the conveyance of troops to the latter place 
 with a view to the invasion of Abyssinia, he called toge- 
 ther all the Europeans to hear the statements made to 
 him on the subject, and thereupon broke out into a 
 violent rage with the English, and ordered all the libe- 
 rated captives, together with Mr. Rassam and his suite, 
 to be taken to Magdala. His anger against them was 
 the greater, in consequence of his having been at the 
 same time informed that some of the Europeans had 
 abused him in the English newspapers, especially Dr. 
 Blanc and Mr. Rosenthal, with whom he was in a ter- 
 rific passion. Poor Mrs. Rosenthal was so frightened on 
 account of her husband as to be taken seriously ill ; but 
 Dr. Blanc having been allowed to attend her, notwith- 
 standing the Emperor's anger against him, the antici- 
 pated evil consequences of her illness were averted. 
 
 The Emperor then ordered the Fetha Negest — the law 
 of the country founded on the Roman Civil Law — to be 
 referred to, and the texts to be read condemning the 
 captives for their alleged offences ; and he then con- 
 fiscated everything they possessed, not omitting the pre- 
 sents he had himself given them. They were then given 
 over into the hands of the Frenchman, M. Bardel, who 
 was charged to see them all safely lodged at Amba Mag- 
 dala. The members of the Scottish Mission were, as
 
 236 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 before; sent to work at Gaffat, with Mr. Waldmeier 
 and the other European workmen^ Mrs. Flad and Mrs. 
 Rosenthal being given into the charge of the latter. 
 
 The substantial correctness of what is thus stated may 
 be depended on; and there can be little doubt that M. 
 Bardel himself, into whose charge the prisoners were 
 given, was one of the " evil-disposed persons " to Avhose 
 machinations they owe their misfortune. Time will show 
 who were his coadjutors in this work of infamy. 
 
 As to the report of the contemplated construction of a 
 railway from Suwakin to Kassala, for the purpose of con- 
 veying Egyptian troops to invade Abyssinia, it may possi- 
 bly be a misrepresentation of the idea which has recently 
 been entertained in some quarters, of forming such a 
 communication between the Nile and the Red Sea at 
 Cosseir or Berenice, as a more direct means of trans- 
 porting British troops to and from India. Or it may be 
 the renewal of a French project for running a railway 
 from Suwakin to Berber on the Nile, which has long 
 been entertained, and was even countenanced by some of 
 the predecessors of the present Pasha of Egypt, though 
 I am not aware of any steps having actually been taken 
 to carry it into execution. 
 
 I cannot, however, imagine that this French scheme 
 alone could have served as a pretext for the misre- 
 presentation made to the Emperor Theodore, though, 
 coupled with the circumstances I am about to relate, it 
 might without difficulty have been wrested so as to 
 injure Mr. Rassam and his party. 
 
 In page 88 of the present work allusion is made to a 
 letter which I addressed on March 31st, 1852, to Lord
 
 PROPOSED FACTORY. ETHIOPIAN COTTON. 237 
 
 Colchester, then Vice-President of the Board of Trade, 
 " On the Cultivation of Cotton in Taka and Northern 
 Abyssinia ; " which letter concluded in the following 
 terms : — " In the new circumstances which ai'c now pre- 
 sented to the notice of Her Majesty's Government, I 
 take the liberty of repeating the representations which 1 
 had the honour of making in my letter of the 5th of 
 March, 1849, to Sir Denis Le Marchanf^, and of most 
 strongly urging the importance of establishing a com- 
 mercial Factory in the way and for the purposes sug- 
 gested. And, in conclusion, I will only remark that, 
 even were such a Factory established solely with a view 
 to the opening up of a trade in Cotton with the regions 
 which gave birth to the ' Ethiopian ' or ' Maho ' cotton 
 of Egypt, so as to secure to our manufacturers a supply 
 of that most valuable, and indeed indispensable, article 
 from an independent source, the national advantages ac- 
 cruing from such a measure would most assuredly far 
 more than cdmpensate any reasonable expense that might 
 thereby be incurred by Her Majesty's Government." 
 
 Without pretending to any great amount of prescience, 
 I felt convinced in my own mind at that remote period 
 (1852), that before many years elapsed events would be 
 such as to check, if not altogether to stop, the supply of 
 Cotton from North America ; and several of my friends in 
 England will remember how, during my residence in 
 Mauritius between the years 1853 and 1860, I wrote to 
 them in that sense, and got laughed at by them for my 
 supposed wowsense ! 
 
 Towards the end of 1860 I retm-ned to England, and, 
 * See page 87.
 
 238 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 my prognostication having unhappily been verified, I ad- 
 dressed a letter to the Editor of the ' Times ' which ap- 
 peared in that journal on January 22nd, 1861, calling 
 public attention to the remarkable fact that the increase 
 in the production of Cotton was far more rapid in Egypt 
 since the introduction of the seed from " Ethiopia/^ than 
 it had been in North America in the first years of its 
 growth there, wonderful as the latter was"^. On June 
 11th of the same year, I spoke to the same effect at the 
 Annual Meeting of the Cotton Supply Association at 
 Manchester, and proposed to put down ,£1000 for the 
 establishment of a Factory, such as had been proposed 
 in my letter to Sir Denis Le Marchant twelve years 
 previously, if twenty-four persons would join me with 
 a like sum each, which proposal of mine is mentioned 
 by Mr. Stern in page 321 of his book, ' Wanderings 
 among the Falashas of Abyssinia.^ 
 
 Nothing resulted however fi'om all my exertions. But 
 on speaking shortly afterwards on the subject to my old 
 and valued friend, the late Admiral Washington, who had 
 always interested himself most deeply in the amelioration 
 of Africa generally, as well as in my own personal la- 
 bours in Abyssinia from the very outset, he represented 
 to me that it was useless to hope for any one to embark 
 in commercial speculations in that country, because it 
 was not yet ripe for the public, but that, were I to pro- 
 pose anything on Egyptian ground, he thought there 
 might be a better chance of success. 
 
 I Avas then on the point of proceeding into Syria with 
 
 * Tliis arfiuiiieiit is reproduced at f^Tcater length in the 'Proposal 
 for a Traniroad,' Arc, printed in the Appendix.
 
 TRAMROAD FROM THE COTTON FIELDS TO THE COAST. 239 
 
 my wife on our '^Pilgrimage to Harran^'^; and as on 
 our way we had to go to Egypt, I drew up the " Proposal 
 for a Tramroad between the Cotton Fields of Ethiopia 
 and the Coast of the Red Sea/^ which is given in the 
 Appendix to the present work, and had some copies 
 printed for distribution among my friends in Egypt and 
 otherwise for my private use. I never went further how- 
 ever than a limited distribution of these copies. 
 
 A copy of that document was enclosed in the letter 
 which I addressed to the Secretary of the Board of Trade 
 on November 3rd, 1862, and was by him forwarded to 
 the Foreign Office; and I fear that the same, together 
 with several other of my original communications, was, in 
 the beginning of 1863, most inopportunely transmitted by 
 Earl Russell to Consul Cameron to report thereon, as is 
 stated in page 88. Should this printed " ProposaF' have 
 been found among Consul Cameron^s papers, it would 
 have been quite sufficient for evil-disposed persons to 
 build thereon a tale of the construction by an English 
 Company of a railway from Suwakin to Taka, not for the 
 legitimate purposes of trade, but for the conveyance of 
 Egyptian troops, with a view to the conquest of Abys- 
 sinia. 
 
 As to Dr. Blanc and Mr. RosenthaFs having inserted 
 articles in the English newspapers abusing the Emperor, 
 it is nothing but a malicious calumny patent to all the 
 world, inasmuch as no such articles ever had any exist- 
 ence except in the mind of the slanderer. Had it been 
 
 * Mrs. Beke has since published a narrative of our journey, under 
 the title of ' Jacob's Flight ; or a Pilgrimage to Harran, and thence 
 in the Patriarch's Footsteps into the Promised Land.'
 
 240 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 said that Earl Hussell's ill-advised despatch of October 
 5thj 1865, to Colonel Stanton had been brought to the 
 Emperor's notice, it might have been believed, because, 
 when at Massowali, I was . informed that that despatch, 
 which was published in the "^ London Gazette' of Oc- 
 tober 31st and thence copied into all the newspapers 
 of the following morning, was also translated and pub- 
 lished in a French journal which had reached Massowali; 
 and my informant, who had read it, expressed the opinion 
 that, if a knowledge of the contents of that despatch 
 should reach the Emperor Theodore, he would assuredly 
 regard it as an absolute withdrawal of friendship on the 
 part of England, if not as a declaration of hostilities, and 
 might consequently be expected to treat British subjects 
 within his dominions as prisoners of war *. This would 
 be quite in accordance with what he is reported to have 
 said to the British Envoy, when sending him to prison 
 at Amba Magdala on the 6th of last July, " You are a 
 sweet- mouthed gentleman, Mr. Rassam, but those above 
 you are my enemies." 
 
 When I was at Massowah there were several persons 
 there quite willing and able to forward the French trans- 
 lation of Earl Russell's despatch into Abyssinia, and M. 
 Bardcl was there to read it to the Emperor, making such 
 comments on it as he might think best suited to inflame 
 his mind against the British Government and everybody 
 dependent on or connected with them. 
 
 But there are other circumstances which, at the time 
 in question, the bcginiiing of July, 1866, must of a 
 surety have come to the Emperor's knowledge. 
 
 * On the subject of this despatch sefs the rcmavks in page 136.
 
 EGYPTIAN OCCUPATION OF MASSOWAH. 211 
 
 On April 29tli the Egyptian steam frigate ' Ismailieli' 
 and a steam transport of the Azizieh Company, having 
 on board the new Egyptian Governor and 1200 soldiers, 
 with several cannon, arrived at Massowah, for the pur- 
 pose of taking possession of the Turkish dominions along 
 the Abyssinian sea-board, recently transferred to Egypt 
 through the instrumentality of Sir Henry Bulwer, the 
 late British Ambassador at Constantinople^. After land- 
 ing the Governor and 800 soldiers in the island of 
 Massowah and at Arkiko on the adjoining mainland, 
 the ' Ismailieh ' left with the remaining 400 men and 
 Hassan Pasha, who had come to inspect and garrison the 
 several Turkish, now Egyptian, posts along the coast, 
 and who afterward crossed over in the Egyptian frigate 
 to Aden. 
 
 A few days after this, namely on May 11th, the British 
 steamer ' Victoria ' arrived at Massowah, having on board 
 Colonel Merewether, Her Majesty^s Resident at Aden, 
 who, on entering the harbour, as a matter of course 
 saluted the Egyptian flag, and was in return saluted by 
 the fort, and shortly afterwards the new Egyptian Go- 
 vernor went on board to pay his respects. These ordi- 
 nary acts of courtesy, really meaning nothing in them- 
 selves, might easily have been made significant by the 
 evil-disposed persons at Massowah, who in any case 
 would not have failed to announce the arrival of the 
 new Egyptian Governor and garrison — a fact in itself of 
 the gravest import. 
 
 It is well known how deeply the Emperor Theodore, 
 not individually only but in common with his country- 
 * See page l^.'j. 
 
 R
 
 242 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 men generally, feels the loss of the Abyssinian sea-coast. 
 " My kingdom reaches to the sea " is a frequent expres- 
 sion of the Emperor; and Consul Cameron has reported 
 how, at his first interview with him, that monarch " broke 
 out into invectives against the Turks, said they were 
 encroaching on him on every side, spoke of the seven 
 flags (as he expressed it) that they had planted on the 
 sea-coast ■^, &c. — meaning by this the stations along the 
 coast, which the Turks have occupied since the middle of 
 the sixteenth century. 
 
 Is it then to be imagined that a Sovereign who could 
 converse with Mr. Rassam on such various and remote 
 topics as " the American war, the Ashantee war, the bar- 
 barity of the King of Dahomey, and the Government 
 of Madagascar," should not be thoroughly acquainted 
 with matters so much nearer home and affecting him so 
 much more intimately? 
 
 But there is something, if possible, more immediately 
 serious than even the occupation of Massowah and the 
 Abyssinian coast by the Egyptians. This is the fact of 
 the assembling of troops along the northern frontiers of 
 Abyssinia, as is mentioned in a former pagcf, coupled 
 with the further intelligence that troops have recently 
 been introduced into Taka by the way of Suwakin ; and 
 though they have been so introduced for the ostensible 
 purpose of keeping peace within the unsettled border 
 districts belonging to Egypt — and I believe the matter 
 has been so represented to the British Government on 
 their asking for an explanation on the subject, — there 
 can be little doubt that the real object is to occupy the 
 • See page 66. f See page 135.
 
 DEPARTURE OF MR. PLAD MR. TALBOT AND WORKMEN. 243 
 
 districts about which there exists a question between 
 that Government and Abyssinia^ if not even to make 
 aggressions into those belonging to the latter power — 
 which means much the same thing after all, now that 
 Turkey has ceded to Egypt her right to the whole of 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 All these matters prove how complicated the Abys- 
 sinian Question is, and serve to show that the longer 
 its settlement is delayed, the greater are likely to be 
 its complications and the difficulties in the way of its 
 solution. 
 
 But to return to Mr. Flad, who left England on Oc- 
 tober 9th with the second letter from the Queen to the 
 Emperor, his intention being to make the best of his 
 way to Debra Tabor, or wherever the Emperor may 
 happen to be ; and his return, either to Massowah or to 
 Matamma, with the rest of the finally released captives, 
 is to be the signal for Colonel Merewether, with Mr. 
 Talbot and the English workmen, to cross the Abys- 
 sinian frontier, carrying with them the machinery and 
 presents, and to proceed to the Emperor's court. The 
 treaty which Mr. Rassam is understood to have entered 
 into provisionally"^ will then be settled ; and it is said 
 said that Colonel Merewether may, under certain contin- 
 gencies, return to England with an Embassy, or a pseudo- 
 Embassy, from that Potentate to Her Britannic Majesty. 
 
 Mr. Talbot and the workmen, with the machinery and 
 presents, left Southampton on November 4th by the Pen- 
 insular and Oriental Company's steamer for Alexandria, 
 and on the 9tli Colonel Merewether followed them via 
 * See page 223. 
 
 r2
 
 244 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IX ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Marseilles. The British steamer 'Victoria^ -was to meet 
 them at Suez"^, and convey them all to Massowah^ Avhere 
 they would await intelligence from Mr. Flad. 
 
 Their departure had been delayed by the preparation 
 of the machinery — the boiler of the steam-engine" forming 
 part of it having to Ijc made in several pieces, on account 
 of the difficulty of transporting heavy articles in Abys- 
 sinia, where there are no artificial roads. 
 
 Before concluding this portion of my work, it is requi- 
 site that I should say a few words respecting my own mis- 
 sion in connexion with that of Mr. Flad. 
 
 In the debate in the House of Lords on Jiily 4th, 1865, 
 to which alkision has already been made f, the Earl of 
 Malmesbury said that " Dr. Beke had placed in his hands 
 a paper, in which he stated he had not the slightest 
 doubt he should have been able to obtain the liberation of 
 the captives, as well as to convince the Emperor of Abys- 
 sinia of the wisdom of cultivating the arts of peace in 
 preference to those of Avar, and of developing the immense 
 resources of his dominions "J. 
 
 In the paper referred to by Lord Malmesbury, I had 
 particularized the cultivation of the indigenous cotton of 
 Ethiopia (which, introduced into Egypt only forty years 
 ago, has been the main source of the wealth of that 
 country), the production and employment of the iron and 
 coal which abound in Abyssinia to an almost unlimited 
 extent, and the formation of a line of electric telegraph 
 across that country as an important portion of a chain 
 connecting Europe with India, Australia, China, and the 
 
 • The * Victoria ' <an-iv('d at 8uez on Xovember IGtli. 
 t See page 1G5. | ' Times,' July 5, 1865.
 
 THE author's mission. PLAN AND PKOCEEDINGS. 215 
 
 entire eastern hemisphere, — the same particulars being 
 more fully set out in my letter to Earl Russell of May 
 19th, 18G5 *, a copy of which is given in the Appendix. 
 
 In going out to Abyssinia, as will be apparent from my 
 first letter to the Emperor also printed in the Appendix, 
 the intention of my wife and myself was to present our- 
 selves before him as suppliants, having no connexion 
 whatever with Her Majesty's Government; and I have 
 no hesitation in saying that in my communications with 
 that monarch I should have adopted a line of policy 
 diametrically opposite to that of Mr. Rassam. It would 
 be useless to describe here how I would have acted ; but 
 this only I must repeat, that we were both quite 
 prepared to propose that, if the Emperor would allow 
 Consul Cameron to leave the country, we would remain in 
 his stead. As to the missionaries, I do not imagine there 
 would have been any difficulty in the way of the Em- 
 peror's being reconciled with them and letting them go 
 free. In fact, I believe he would have been only glad to 
 have been furnished with a reasonable excuse for getting 
 rid of them without compromising his dignity. 
 
 Of course when we heard that the captives had not only 
 been liberated, but had actually started on their way to 
 the frontier t, and it appeared to be a moral certainty tliat 
 they would arrive on the coast in a few weeks, if not 
 in a few days, it was useless for us to continue our jour- 
 ney, especially as at that time the rainy season was just 
 setting in. We therefore returned to Egypt and thence 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 18G5, ' Papers relating to the Imprison- 
 ment of British Subjects,' pp. 11-14. 
 t See page 220.
 
 246 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 to England, fully expecting that the liberated captives 
 would not be long behind us. 
 
 In the beginning of July, when Mr. Flad arrived in 
 England, bringing the distressing news that all the cap- 
 tives, together with Mr. Rassam and his suite, had been 
 " detained " by the Emperor *, he was also the bearer of a 
 letter from that monarch to myself, directing me and my 
 wife to come to him when it suited us by the way of Ma- 
 tammaf; and Mr. Flad informed me that the Emperor 
 was most anxious for the arrival of myself and of the pre- 
 sents I had brought for him, and he suggested that should 
 I not take them up myself, I should let him have them 
 to deliver in my name. 
 
 For some time I was undecided as to what I should 
 do, especially after the receipt of a second letter from 
 the Emperor, recalling the permission given me to come 
 to him, and ordering me to remain at Massowah until 
 he should give me orders which way I was to take J. 
 But, after mature consideration of this and other matters 
 which will be related in their proper place, I at length 
 decided that, under existing circumstances, it was not 
 advisable for me to attempt to proceed to the Empe- 
 ror^s court. I therefore freely allowed Mr. Flad to take 
 the presents, or such of them as he might think fit 
 to select. 
 
 The articles I had purchased had been chosen in ac- 
 cordance with the plan I had long entertained. Some 
 few were taken out with me ; but, owing to the slow- 
 
 * See page 221. 
 
 f A tmnslation of this letter is given in the Appendix. 
 
 \ This letter is likewise gi^en in the Appendix.
 
 ABYSSINIAN CAPTIVES LIBERATION FUND. 247 
 
 ness with which the funds for my expedition were pro- 
 vided, most of them had to be sent after me; and 
 notwithstanding a delay in my own progress much greater 
 than I had contemplated, many of the things were still 
 so long in coming out, that they did not reach Masso- 
 wah till after I had left Abyssinia, and they had conse- 
 quently to be returned to Aden^. 
 
 * The Committee of the "Abyssinian Captives Liberation Fund" 
 having asked for a statement of my appropriation of the money re- 
 ceived from them, in order that they may render an account of their 
 stewardship to the subscribers to that fund, I hasten to furnish here 
 the following particulars, which would more suitably have accom- 
 panied my personal nan-ative. 
 
 The total amount received from the Committee by myself and my 
 agents, Messrs. Blyth, Greene, and Co., is £1979 13 7 
 
 And the following is a note of the payments out of 
 the same : — 
 
 Presents purchased : — 
 
 Paid for by myself £ 52 19 3 
 
 Paid for by my agents 667 15 7 
 
 £720 14 10 
 
 Travelling kit, &c 125 9 1 1 
 
 Freight and incidental expenses 121 7 3 
 
 Sept. 1, 1865, to Jan. 16, 1866 :— 
 
 Journey out to Massowah of my wife and 
 myself, including our stay in London and in 
 Egypt, visit to Manchester, Birmingham, 
 
 Wolverhampton, &c 439 11 4 
 
 Jan. 16, 1866, to May 12, 1866 :— 
 
 Expenses at Massowah and in Abyssinia, in- 
 cluding supplies purchased in Egypt and 
 
 at Aden 264 7 
 
 May 12, 1866, to June 8, 1866 :— 
 
 Journey back to England 147 
 
 1818 4 5 
 
 Leaving a surplus of £ 161 9 2 
 
 Against this there is the personal outfit of my vdfe and myself; 
 and, further, no charge is made for our three months' forced stay in
 
 248 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 The firearms, ammunition, cutlery, tools, &c, were 
 taken over by Mr. Flad ; the specimens of cotton goods 
 of various kinds were rejected, as was also the electric 
 telegraph apparatus, to which I had attached a special 
 value. When however Mr. Talbot had been engaged 
 to go out and was spoken to on the subject, he appears 
 to have been alive to its importance, and asked to have 
 it. Of course it was given. 
 
 These things are intended to be taken by Mr. Talbot 
 into Abyssinia; and if only all turns out well, and 
 the Emperor can be induced to direct his mind to the 
 cultivation of the arts of peace — even if it be by fol- 
 lowing the example of the Powers of Europe, and manu- 
 facturing gunpowder and Snider breach-loaders — there 
 may be something yet in store for Abyssinia, Let us 
 only hope it will be so, though, day by day, I fear the 
 chance grows smaller of its being by means of the Em- 
 peror Theodore. 
 
 For myself, I had fondly hoped that I might per- 
 sonally have had some share in the regeneration of a 
 country to which I have devoted so many years of the 
 prime of my life. But, according to all appearances, 
 mine is likely to be the common fate of pioneers, pro- 
 jectors, and inventors, who, after sacrificing time, talents, 
 fortune, health, nay even life — poor Jacob Snider himself 
 is the latest instance — in the furtherance of their views, 
 find themselves, at the moment of fruition, superseded 
 
 liOndon after our return, oiu' house having been let for a j'ear during 
 our absence. In fact, I am out of pocket by the transaction, to say 
 nothing of remuneration for time and services, which was not ex- 
 pected.
 
 REGENERATION OV ABYSSINIA. 249 
 
 by others more fortunate, who reap the benefit and too 
 often obtain likewise the credit of all their labours 
 and sacrifices. 
 
 Still, if through the intervention of others — even though 
 putting myself aside — good shall at length come to Aliys- 
 sinia — the liberation of the long-suffering captives, in 
 whose fate I feel so deep an interest, being an element 
 of that good — I shall have my reward ; for I shall have 
 the proud consciousness of not having laboured in vain, 
 whilst striving during so many years to direct the atten- 
 tion of the British Government and the British nation 
 to the vast field which is there presented to British en- 
 terprise. 
 
 This is a theme on which it would be easy to dilate. 
 But as that Avould hardly come within the scope of the 
 present work, I will content myself with repeating the 
 closing words of ' A Memoir on the Commerce of Abys- 
 sinia,* which I addressed to the Earl of Aberdeen, then 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, on December 9th, 
 1843 — now three and twenty years ago : — "Were a regular 
 system of commerce once introduced, there is no saying 
 what development our trade with Abyssinia, and through 
 it with the interior of Africa, might be made to attain. 
 At present, the commerce of the country is so completely 
 in its infancy and so trammeled by the few Mohammedan 
 middle-men of Massowah, through whose hands it has to 
 pass, that its actual condition forms no criterion of its 
 future powers. The Abyssinians themselves have hitherto 
 known so few wants, that they have had no inducement to 
 turn their attention to what their country produces or 
 might be made to produce ; but when we bear in mind
 
 250 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 that, though situate within the tropics, between the 10th 
 and 16th degrees north of the Equator, it is, from its 
 great elevation, blessed with a temperate climate, and, 
 moreover, that its fertile soil, extending as it does through 
 regions of almost every degree of temperature, might be 
 made to yield the productions both of the West Indies 
 and at the same time of the south of Europe, it is diffi- 
 cult to place a limit upon its capabilities under a more 
 favourable state of things — the first grand step towards 
 which is to induce the feeling of fresh wants in the minds 
 of its inhabitants, who, to satisfy such feeling, would not 
 be long in turning their lovely country to the uses for 
 which it was assm'edly intended by its Creator."
 
 251 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 RELATIONS OF ENGLAND TO ABYSSINIA — PROFESSED POLICY TO 
 PROMOTE TRADE — NOT ACTED ON — REAL POLICY — COVERT 
 WAR "WITH FRANCE — THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN THE RED SEA 
 — M. MUNZINGEr's CHARGE AGAINST CONSUL PLOWDEN — HE 
 CAUSED ROMAN CATHOLICS TO BE BANISHED — ESTABLISHED A 
 PROTESTANT MISSION — CHARGE DISPROVED — BISHOP GOBAT's 
 MISSIONARIES — TO WORK AT THEIR TRADES — TO SAY NOTHING 
 ABOUT RELIGION — MR. WALDMEIER's MISSIONARY LABOURS — 
 
 "the BOOK OF QUINTE ESSENCE" " MURDER " OF CONSUL 
 
 PLOWDEN — FRANCE, ROMAN CATHOLICS, AND THE SEA-COAST — 
 ENGLAND, PROTESTANTS, AND THE INTERIOR — AUTHOR's INTER- 
 view with earl russell — with lord palmerston — consul 
 Cameron's instructions — history repeats itself — "Vene- 
 tians AIDED TURKS AGAINST PORTUGUESE — ENGLISH LEAGUE 
 WITH TURKS AGAINST FRENCH — ABANDONMENT OF CHRISTIAN 
 ABYSSINIA TO MOHAMMEDANS — EARL RUSSELL's JUSTIFICATION 
 — RIGHT OF TURKEY DISPUTED — FRENCH PRETENSIONS CON- 
 TINUED — ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONS PROSPER — PROTESTANT 
 MIS^ONS WITHDRAWN — NO HOPE OF CHRISTIANITY IN ABYS- 
 SINIA BUT IN ROME AND FRANCE. 
 
 Should Mr. Flad succeed in his mission, as is fervently 
 to be hoped, we may expect the new year to be ushered 
 in with the most welcome retui'n of the captives to the 
 bosom of their families; and all that they will thence- 
 forth have to do in connexion with Abyssinia will be to 
 recount the hardships they have undergone. 
 
 It will remain for Colonel Merewether to proceed to 
 the Court of the Emperor Theodore, for the purpose of 
 endeavouring to renew the friendship which existed be- 
 fore the death of Consul Plowden and Mr. Bell, and
 
 252 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 which has received so severe a trial from the events of 
 the last four years. 
 
 In order to estimate the chances of success in what 
 cannot but be an arduous undertakings even under the 
 most favourable circumstances, it is desirable^ or it may 
 rather be said it is absolutely essential, that we should 
 consider what have hitherto been the relations — not offi- 
 cial and exoteric, but esoteric and real — in which Eng- 
 land has stood towards Abyssinia, so that we may be 
 enabled to form something like a correct opinion as to 
 the probable issue of the existing state of affairs. 
 
 For this purpose it is necessary to refer once more 
 to Earl Russell's despatch of October 5th, 1865, to Co- 
 lonel Stanton^. The object in writing that despatch is 
 thus stated by his Lordship : — " It may be useful, in 
 order to prevent misconceptions, that I should enable 
 you to state, on any proper occasion, what has been and 
 is the policy of the British Government regarding Abys- 
 sinia ;" and after entering into various details, which have 
 been more or less discussed by me in the preceding 
 pages, Earl Russell concludes by saying, "I have thus 
 explained to you that the policy of the British Govern- 
 ment has been founded entirely on the desire to promote 
 trade and intercoiu-se with Abyssinia' 't- 
 
 Though it is far from my desire to dispute in any way 
 the correctness of the assertions of a nobleman holding 
 the high position of Earl Russell, I am nevertheless 
 under the necessity of appealing to the readers of these 
 pages to say whether they have been able to discover any- 
 
 * rarliamentary Paper, 18()(), 'Further Correspondeuce,' &c., p. 00. 
 t Ihid. p. U.3.
 
 PROFESSED POLICY OP ENGLAND NOT ACTED ON. 253 
 
 thing in them that tends to substantiate Earl RussclFs 
 assertion, or whether, on the contrary, everything does 
 not go to prove directly the contrary. I will briefly 
 recapitulate the main facts. 
 
 In the year 1847 Mr. Walter Plowden was appointed 
 by Viscount Palmerston to be Her Majesty^s Consul in 
 Abyssinia. The instructions given to that officer have 
 not been made public officially ; but a summary of them 
 has been inserted in pages 55 and 56 of this work, on 
 the authority of Consul Plowden's brother. One of the 
 objects of his appointment is indeed said to have been, 
 "to establish and promote commercial intercom'se be- 
 tween Great Britain and Abyssinia;" and in the year 
 1849 that officer, professedly with this object, concluded 
 a treaty of friendship and commerce with the rulers of 
 Abyssinia^. But as early as October 3rd, 1853, Lord 
 Clarendon stated explicitly that, from Consul Plowden^s 
 reports then before him, it appeared there was little 
 reason to expect that advantage would result to British 
 interests from the conclusion of that treaty and the es- 
 tablishment of a British Consulate in Abyssinia f : and 
 we have seen that from that time until his death in the 
 beginning of 1860, with the exception of his official inter- 
 ference in Bogos and a brief visit to Massowah in 1854, 
 Consul Plowden was occupied about the person of the 
 Emperor J, and that, during the whole intervening period, 
 and indeed down to the present day, nothing whatever 
 has been done to show that the agents of the British 
 Government, or the Government themselves, have acted 
 in accordance with a policy founded entirely, or in the 
 * See page 21. f See page 24. t See page 5G.
 
 254 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 slightest degree, on a desire to promote trade and in- 
 tercourse with Abyssinia, or have even entertained a 
 thought respecting such a policy. 
 
 It Avill be asked, "what then has been the real policy of 
 England with regard to Abyssinia during this long series 
 of years? The answer, though it may much surprise 
 the British public, will not appear in the least strange 
 to those persons who have at all watched the course of 
 events in that quarter of the globe. England has been 
 covertly waging war with France on the western shores of 
 the Red Sea. The two Powers, through their political 
 agents, and still more so through their religious mis- 
 sionaries (who, singularly enough, are Germans on the 
 English side, and Italians on that of France), have been 
 endeavouring to acquire the preponderance in Abyssinia. 
 Yet more, the French have striven to obtain a footing 
 on the sea-coast, which the English have done their best 
 (or rather their worst) to prevent ; and so the stream of 
 events has gently and almost imperceptibly glided ou, and 
 we have been drifting with the stream. It is not difficult 
 to foresee how it is all to end, especially if England is to 
 continue, as she seems bent on continuing, in the line of 
 policy she has hitherto adopted. 
 
 General assertions like these require to be substantiated 
 by means of details, which I therefore proceed to give. 
 
 The first two chapters of the present work contain 
 a bi-ief outline of the rivalry that has long existed in 
 Abyssinia between the French and Roman Catholics 
 on the one hand, and the English and Protestants on 
 the other. In page 17, referring to my pamphlet, 'The 
 French and English in the Red Sea,' I have alluded more
 
 M. MUNZINGER^S CHARGE AGAINST CONSUL PLOWDEN. 255 
 
 especially to the " intrigues in Abyssinia of the agents of 
 the Church of Rome and of the Government of France, 
 which appear to have been systematically and silently 
 carried on from the commencement of the present ccn- 
 tuiy/' 
 
 I will not attempt to deny that, in saying this, I may 
 have laid myself open to the imputation of having looked 
 at matters too much as an Englishman ; and, as I have 
 already shown, this has been alleged against me by M. 
 Munzinger, the French Vice-Consul at Massowah *. Such 
 being the case, it is only fair that I should give that gen- 
 tleman's opposite statement of the case — namely, that it 
 was Mr. Plowden and the Protestant missionaries who in- 
 trigued against the Roman Catholics, if not actually 
 against France. 
 
 In page 47 of his work already cited t, after having 
 spoken in favourable terms of our late Consul, and de- 
 scribed his relations with the Emperor Theodore and his 
 murder " by rebels," M. Munzinger thus expresses him- 
 self, — " That Mr. Plowden should have done everything 
 to dispose the Emperor favourably towards England is 
 natural ; that he induced him to forbid the slave-trade 
 is praiseworthy, even although the result was nothing 
 and the prohibition was soon afterwards revoked ; but the 
 active part he took in the banishment of the Catholic 
 mission was no great honour to him, and did him no 
 good ; for, in so acting, he relinquished a clear and open 
 policy for a system of intrigues. 
 
 "It is known that Theodore sought to secure his 
 throne through an alliance with the Coptic Bishop of 
 * See papre 175. f ' Ostafrikanische Stiidien.'
 
 256 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Abyssinia, and that in consequence the Emperor banished 
 the Catholic missionaries "^ and attempted to compel 
 their converts, the native priests, to recant. The result 
 was naturally the reverse of what was intended. Perse- 
 cution consolidated the infant congregation. But it was 
 lamentable that an English Consul should have mixed 
 himself up in the matter, when he had so favourable 
 an opportunity of becoming the acknowledged protector 
 of all Eiu'opeans. 
 
 " Through these proceedings, the Catholic Mission 
 became hostile to the Emperor and to England. A 
 new French Consul arrived at MassoAvah, Negusye rose 
 against the Emperor, and, as the Abuna supported the 
 latter, Negusye favoured the Catholic Mission ; and thus 
 was formed an alliance between these three powersf- It 
 must not be forgotten that in the train [Gefolge] of the 
 English Consul, and under the protection of the Abuna, 
 a Protestant Mission was established under the very eyes 
 of the Emperor^' J. 
 
 The mission to which M. Munzinger alludes is that of 
 Bishop Gobat's Scripture readers, better known as the 
 artisan missionaries or the Emperor's European workmen, 
 whose introduction into Abyssinia by Dr. Krapf is nar- 
 rated in a preceding Chapter §. 
 
 On account of the important position the members of 
 Bishop Gobat's mission have come to occupy in the recent 
 occurrences between England and Abyssinia, it is expe- 
 
 * See page .39, ante. As is shown in page 16, the rivalry between 
 the missionaries of the two religions was first ()])enly manifested in the 
 nomination of the Coptic Ahixna. 
 
 f Namely, Tigre, France, and Home. % Op. cit. page 47. 
 
 § Chapter VII. page 108.
 
 BISHOP GOBAT S LAY MISSIONARIES. 257 
 
 dient to enter here into some further explanations respect- 
 ing that mission^ which would have been out of place^ and 
 indeed unintelligible^ had they been given earlier. 
 
 The mission in question was founded in Abyssinia 
 through the agency of the well-known missionary and 
 my very good friend Dr. Krapf, who, in a work pub- 
 lished by him a few years ago*, relates that when, in 
 the year 1855, he went to Abyssinia, accompanied by 
 Mr. Flad, for the purpose of establishiug this mission, 
 he addressed himself in the first instance to the Abuna, 
 whom he told " that Bishop Gobat proposed to send 
 Christian artisans to Abyssinia, whose primary occu- 
 pation would be to work at their trades, but who at 
 the same time would be the means of spreading the 
 gospel both by precej)t and example. The Abuna re- 
 joined that the King would be glad to receive skilled 
 workmen, and that His Majesty had proposed to write 
 to England, France, and Germany for such persons. 
 He promised to read Bishop Gobat^s letter to the King, 
 and to recommend its contents to His Majesty^s con- 
 sideration "f. 
 
 Dr. Krapf then goes on to say that, consequent on this 
 conversation, he and Mr. Flad received a visit fi'om Mr. 
 Bell, whom the Abuna had commissioned to tell them that 
 they " ivere not to say anything to the King about the 
 religious vocation of the persons Bishop Gobat proposed to 
 send to Abyssinia, but to dwell on the known and secular 
 character of the mission, as religious matters belonged to 
 the jurisdiction of the Abuna, who was our friend and 
 
 * ' Travels, Researches, and Missionary Laboiu-s,'&c., London, 1860. 
 t Op. cit. p. 453.
 
 258 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 would protect and support Bishop Gobat's people as far 
 as lie had it in his power '' *. 
 
 What is here related by Dr. Krapf took place in 
 April 1855, at a time when Consul Plowden was alto- 
 gether awayt ; so that M. Munzinger is nowise justi- 
 fied in saying that in the train of the English Consul, 
 and under the protection of the Abuna, a Protestant 
 mission was established under the very eyes of the Em- 
 peror." Neither is it the fact that the English Consul 
 had anything to do with the expulsion of the Roman Ca- 
 tholic mission ; for, as has been shown J, that mission was 
 banished as a consequence of the intrigues connected with 
 Theodore^s rise to power, at which time Consul Plowden 
 was away in the northern frontier districts; and he did 
 not join the Emperor till June 1855 §, when everything 
 was settled, and Dr. Krapf had left the Court and returned 
 to the coast, as is related by him in the following passage, 
 
 * Op. cit. pp. 454-55. 
 
 t The following extracts from Dr. Krapf 's work prove that Mr. 
 Plowden had nothing whatever to do with the establishment of the 
 mission. 
 
 " '20th Fehrttary [1865]. — To-day we arrived safely at the island 
 of Massowah."— P. 4-38. 
 
 " 2Qth Fehruarrj. — Mr. Plowden, the English Consul, returned to 
 day to Massowah. He thinks that we may proceed with safety to the 
 frontiers of Tigre, but that we should halt there until the govern- 
 ment of the new King shall be consolidated Mr. Plowden 's 
 
 opinion is, that the condition of Abyssinia will be materially improved 
 by the new monarch, whom he knows personally.''- — P. 439. 
 
 " 1st March. — We received to-day fresh and certain news from 
 Abyssinia. ■ Zlhye has been cmnpletely defeated by Theodore . . . . Ttic 
 Ro7tiish missionaries have been expelled from Tigre, and are not to 
 return to it. TTpon the receipt of this news the Consul encouraged us 
 to prosecute our journey to Abyssinia." — P. 440. 
 
 \ See page 30. § See page 47.
 
 "to say nothing about faith and religion." 259 
 
 which^ for more than one reason, is deserving of being- 
 reproduced : — "24!th-28th April. — After we had taken 
 leave of the Abuna we commenced our return-journey to 
 Gondar, which we reached in safety. To-day Mr. Plowden 
 arrived at Gondar"^. He intended to accompany the King 
 during his campaign against the Gallas, and to give him 
 good advice respecting the improvement of his country. 
 We took leave of Mr. Plowden, who has shown us much 
 kindness and hospitality " t- The results of the inten- 
 tion thus expressed are shown in the Fourth Chapter of 
 the present work J. 
 
 In the beginning of the following year (1856) Bishop 
 Gobat's lay missionaries arrived out in Abyssinia, where 
 they soon made themselves serviceable to the Emperor in 
 their capacity of workmen. Their missionary labours, 
 though apparently restricted to the distribution of bibles, 
 met with little favour either with the sovereign or with 
 his people; and Mr. Flad relates that, on the occasion 
 of their first interview with the Emperor, when they 
 had presented some books to him, Mr. Bell " acknow- 
 ledged to them after the interview that at that moment 
 His Majesty would have been more plfeased with a box 
 of English gunpowder than, as he said, Avith books he 
 already possessed^' §. Mr. Bell "told them also that 
 evil and, as he believed, false reports had reached the 
 King's ears;" and he concluded by warning them, "if 
 they desired to remain in Abyssinia^ to say nothiny 
 
 * From Massowah, where he had remained since Februaiy : see the 
 note in the preceding page. 
 
 t Op. ('it. p. 4G0. I Pages 47-52. 
 
 § ' Notes from the Journal of F. M. FLid,' p. 34. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 about faith and religion, and to avoid all appearance of 
 teaching '' '^. 
 
 Notwithstanding this warning, the artisan missionaries 
 have not abandoned their character of Scripture-read- 
 ers^ as is shown by Mr. Waldmeier's letter, published 
 in the ' Record/ to which reference has already been 
 made t j whence it is to be inferred that, although in 
 the first instance the Emperor received Mr. Waldmeier 
 
 * Op. cit. p. 55. 
 
 t See pages 209, 227. The following is an extract from IMi*. Wald- 
 meier's letter : — " As to our mission, we believe it to be of tlie greatest 
 importance just at this time, when the hearts of the people have been 
 softened, and in some sense broken, by the sufferings and tribulations 
 which the severe and successive judgments of God have brought upon 
 them, so that they are better disposed to hear the Word of God than 
 formerly. Messrs. Stern and Makerer have given us the most 
 encouraging reports about the himger of the people at Magdala after 
 the Word of God. Yet if I had to be appointed again to a mission, I 
 should hardly consent to be sent to any old and dead Church, where 
 one must first break down before one can begin to build up, and 
 where the breaking down is so tiresome and exhausting that there 
 remains scarcely any strength afterwards to build up. Nevertheless 
 our labom's are not altogether in vain ; for, in the first place, thej^ are 
 the means, as we sometimes are permitted to see, of bringing indivi- 
 duals to Jesus and to salvation ; and, secondly, they are calculated to 
 prepare a more general reform and a day of salvation for this people, 
 of which we believe to perceive the dawn; though, as a thousand 
 years are as one day before the Lord, a long time may still elapse 
 before the rising of the Sun of Righteousness upon the people at 
 large. 
 
 " It is possible, as Mr. Rassam has told me, that in consequence of 
 some treaty between England and Abyssinia, there may be more 
 liberty for Europeans to come to Abyssinia and leave it again at plea- 
 sm'e ; in which case personal consultations about the mission here, and 
 fi'ora here to the Galla tribes, would be of the utmost interest. Till 
 then we will continue to believe, to hope, and to labour, looking unto 
 the Lord for strength and courage witli patience to proclaim the sal- 
 vation which is in Christ to this ruined people." — 'Record,' .Tuly 11, 
 18G6.
 
 SCRIPTURE READERS. " BOOK OF QUINTE ESSENCE/^ 2G1 
 
 and his companions into his employ^ and accorded them 
 his favour, solely in their character of workmen, yet his 
 need for their services'^ has since induced him to shut 
 his eyes to their labours as missionaries. Still, in the 
 midst of the ignorant and bigoted native clergy, and 
 with the Abuna utterly unable to protect them (for he has 
 long been a prisoner at Magdala), their position cannot 
 but be precarious ; and therefore it is only natural that 
 Mr. Waldmeier should have been anxious for the speedy 
 departure of Mr. Rassam and the released prisoners, from 
 an apprehension that it might indeed be " a dangerous 
 thing if they were obliged to spend the rainy season " in 
 Abyssinia, and hence lead to further complications, from 
 which the artisan missionaries themselves might suffer f. 
 
 But, to return to M. Munzinger. After unjustly 
 charging the English Consul with being the originator of 
 aU the mischief, he proceeds to say that, " England having 
 declared herself for the Emperor, France turned to Ne- 
 giisye" X, with whom an alliance was formed, the terms 
 of that alliance being (as M. Munzinger cannot deny 
 though he hesitates directly to admit it,) that France 
 should support that Prince in consideration of the cession 
 
 * Whilst correcting this sheet for the press, my attention has 
 been directed to Mr. Stern's statements at the end of his letter of 
 November 1st, 1865, printed in the Appendix, which I received for 
 publication only a few days ago. From them we learn the secret of 
 the hold Mr. Waldmeier and his companions have on the mind of the 
 Emperor Theodore. They possess a copy of " The Book of Qviiute 
 Essence, or the Fifth Being, that is to say, Man's Heaven," which 
 "Hermes, the prophet, and King of Egypt after the Flood of Noah, 
 father of philosophers, had, by revelations of an angel of God, to 
 him sent." This subject wiU be reverted to in a note on Mr. Stem's 
 letter. — November 23rd, 1866. 
 
 t See page 227. J Op. cit. p. 47.
 
 262 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 of the sea-coast near ZuUa, as has ab'cady been de- 
 scribed *. 
 
 The " murder of Consul Plowden by some rebels in 
 the neighbourhood of Gondar '' (to use jM. Munzinger's 
 own expression) is passed over very lightly by him; for 
 he would not have liked to bring it prominently forward, 
 lest it should be said that, as those " rebels " were some 
 of the troops of Negiisye the ally of the French and 
 the Roman Catholics, and as the alliance between these 
 three was caused by acts in which Mr. Plowden is 
 alleged (however unjustly) to have participated, and was 
 avowedly formed for the purpose of counteracting those 
 acts and as a matter of self-defence, the unavoidable 
 conclusion is that both tlie French and the Roman Ca- 
 tholics were indirectly (though, we would hope, uncon- 
 sciously) participators in this " murder " of the British 
 Consul. 
 
 The French Government would doubtless repudiate all 
 participation in Consul PloAvden^s death, as emphatically 
 and unequivocally as the English Government would 
 repudiate all participation in or even knowledge of the 
 acts imputed to that officer by M. Munzinger. But 
 neither the one nor the other of those two Governments 
 could deny their general policy, — that of the one being 
 to obtain a preponderance in Abyssinia and a footing on 
 the Abyssinian coast, and that of the other being to pre- 
 vent their doing so by every means in their power. 
 
 It has now to be considered what steps they have taken 
 to attain the ol)ject they each liave in view. 
 
 Common sense would suggest that the natural course 
 * See piiirc 58.
 
 ENGLISH POLICY BAD. I'RENCH POLICY GOOD. 2G3 
 
 for England to adopt would have been to form an alliance 
 with the native rulers near the sea-coast. In the letter 
 which I addressed to Lord Palmerston on April 4th, 
 1848, to which I. have already alluded*, I pointed this 
 out as a direct, consistent, and intelligible policy. That 
 letter is given in the Appendix f; and though it was written 
 upwards of eighteen years ago, I really do not see one 
 word to alter in it, with the exception only of the changes 
 of proper names &c., resulting from the subsequent ap- 
 pearance of other actors on the stage. 
 
 I may seem to be constantly referring to myself; but, 
 mixed up as I am with so much that has occui'red, it is 
 impossible to avoid doing so. Ever since I addressed 
 that letter to Lord Palmerston I have continued to harp 
 on one string ; or, I should rather say, I have continued 
 to strike two chords — France, Roman Catholicism, and 
 the Sea-coast — England, Protestantism, and the Inte- 
 rior, — of which the former is consonant and harmonious, 
 whilst the latter is discordant and harsh. 
 
 After Captain Cameron came to England from his post 
 in the Black Sea, and while he was waiting for his in- 
 structions from the Foreign Office, I saw him several 
 times, and did not fail to point out to him the impolicy 
 and impropriety of his going into the interior and leaving 
 the coast to the French, and I told him that I would 
 do all I could to prevent him from doing so. 
 
 His instructions were dated February 2nd, 1861 J ; and 
 on the 19th of that month I had the honour of an inter- 
 
 * See page 22. f See page 297. 
 
 X Parliamentary Paper, 1865, ' Papers relating to the Imprisonment 
 of Bi-itisli subjects,' p. 1.
 
 264 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 view with the Foreign Secretary, Earl Russell, on whom 
 I urged my stereotyped arguments. "But what then 
 would you do with Theodore, Dr. Beke?'' asked his 
 Lordship. "^'My Lord, I would let him go to — just 
 wherever he pleases,^^ was my plain-spoken and not very 
 diplomatic reply. 
 
 Of course this was not said on account of any personal 
 objection to the Emperor Theodore himself. I admit 
 that when he first gained possession of the throne, I 
 could not think so highly of him as others thought, be- 
 cause I happened to know more than they did of his 
 personal character, and (what is perhaps more to the pur- 
 pose) I had no motive for wishing, and therefore none 
 for thinking, well of him ! But when once his possession 
 of the throne had become un fait accompli, there was 
 nothing more to be said on that point. But my objec- 
 tion to the ruler of the central proiinces of Abyssinia, 
 whoever he might be, still continued the same as it had 
 been expressed [mutatis mutandis) in my letter of April 
 4th, 1848, written seven years before ever "the Em- 
 peror Theodore " came into existence : — " He is a chief 
 having no jurisdiction or authority within the dominions 
 of [the ruler of Tigre] , and -vfhose residence, Debra Tabor, 
 situate at least 250 miles from the coast, is only to be 
 reached by [Consul Cameron's] running the gauntlet 
 through the territories of [Ubye, Negiisye, Gobazye, or 
 whoever the ruler of Tigre may be], at the risk of being 
 stopped and plundered"^, and with the certainty of caus- 
 ing (and not without reason) the feelings of that prince 
 
 Consul Cameron was actually stopped by the "rebels" in 1862 
 (see page 82); and four years later Mr. Rassam, not being able to 
 
 I
 
 INTERVIEWS WITH LORDS RUSSELL AND PALMERSTON. 265 
 
 to become more hostile than before to the British and the 
 Protestants, and more favourable to the French and the 
 Roman Catholics/' 
 
 Failing of success with Earl Russell, the Foreign Se- 
 cretary, I went to the Premier, Viscount Palmerston, 
 who received me in his usual affable manner, but put 
 me off with, " What can I do in the matter ? It is in 
 Lord RusselFs department. I am not a schoolmaster, 
 you know : I cannot whip my colleagues/'' Of course 1 
 was quite aware of the value of such expressions, the 
 fact being that Earl Russell was merely carrying out 
 Lord Palmerston's own policy ! I am only surprised that 
 so clear-headed a statesman should not have been con- 
 scious of the fundamental error of that policy. 
 
 The result was that Consul Cameron went out to Abys- 
 sinia to take his predecessor's place at the Court of the 
 Emperor Theodore. His official instructions, as pub- 
 lished, do not contain any mention of France with re- 
 ference to Abyssinia ; but it is evident, from what that 
 officer says respecting his first interview with the Em- 
 peror Theodore in October 1862, that he had received 
 orders " to elicit information from him regarding an in- 
 tercourse with his new kingdom of Shoa and his hold 
 on the tribes to the side of Zeyla"^ — which had unques- 
 tionably a bearing on the proceedings of the French in 
 that directionf. In addition to which, just after that 
 interview. Consul Cameron received a letter from the 
 Consul-General in Egypt, containing a " passage regard- 
 
 pass through Tigre, went by a long- and circuitous route, and still 
 was stopped by " rebels " (see page 180). 
 
 * See page 21. t See page 03.
 
 266 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 iiig M. Schaeffer's mission to Tadjurrah, which was cor- 
 roborated by an extract from the ' Home and Overland 
 Mail/ forwarded from Aden, stating what the mission 
 had done, and that the new settlement [at Obokh] was 
 merely intended for a base of operations against Abys- 
 sinia ;" all of which, Consul Cameron goes on to say, 
 " was carefully read through to His Majesty liy two in- 
 terpreters well conversant with English " *. 
 
 The futility of all this is demonstrated by the fact that, 
 in spite of our Consul's representations to the Emperor 
 Theodore, the French have succeeded in making good 
 their footing at Obokhf ', while, as regards that mo- 
 narch's "new kingdom of Shoa," it has thrown off the 
 yoke and reasserted its independence under Menilek, the 
 grandson of our ally King Sahela Selasye, whose flight 
 from the Emperor's camp on July 1st, 1865, was the 
 cause of the British captives having their fetters doubled, 
 as has been related J. 
 
 It must be remarked here, that when that prince es- 
 caped on a former occasion, he applied to the French 
 Consul at Aden. for a supply of fii'carms; and, as I gave 
 warning in a letter inserted in the ' Times ' of September 
 18th, 1865§, it may be presumed that he has renewed 
 his application to that officer, or more probably to the 
 authorities at Obokh, which place, after having been neg- 
 
 * See page 72. f See page 63. J See page 145. 
 
 § The following is an extract from my letter : — '^ Mr. Stern men- 
 tions, in his letter given in your impression of the 14th inst., the 
 sudden flight from the royal camp of Menilek, Crown Prince of Shoa, 
 and son-in-law of the Emperor Theodore ; in consequence of which 
 the enraged monarch caused all his Mohaimuedan and Galla prisoners 
 to be executed, and fetters to be placed on the hands of their Christian
 
 FUTILE INSTRUCTIONS TO CONSUL CAMERON. 267 
 
 lected for some time, has now (if I am correctly informed) 
 been taken actual possession of by the French, and a 
 garrison placed there. 
 
 Further, on April 22nd, 1863, Earl Eussell wrote to 
 Consul Cameron, " You will of course keep Her Majesty's 
 Government fully and accurately advised of French pro- 
 ceedings in Abyssinia''"^ — after having given that unfor- 
 tunate officer orders the effect of which was to shut him 
 up in a prison, where he could neither give nor receive in- 
 formation of any kind ! 
 
 fellow-captives, iu addition to those they already had on their legs — 
 ' 20 lb. of foot-chains on our ankles,' as I copy from a letter of one of 
 the wretched victims now before me. 
 
 " Were it not for the manner in which the fact of Menilek's escape 
 was made feelingly known to Mr. Stern and his friends, one might 
 have been inclined to regard his statement as an almost verbal repeti- 
 tion of one made in the ' Standard ' of the 20th February last, re- 
 specting the flight of Menilek from the royal camp, and the imprison- 
 ment of the Abuna, or bishop, on the suspicion of having aided him in 
 his escape. 
 
 " On that occasion the fugitive, on his arrival in his native country, 
 applied to the French consular agent at Aden for a supply of firearms. 
 I cannot say whether or not the representative of France was at all 
 disposed to comply with the request ; but I do know that some com- 
 munication took place between him and the British authorities at 
 Aden, and that the arms were not furnished. The Crown Prince, 
 who without them was unable to make head against the Emperor, was 
 defeated and taken prisoner, only to escape again as related by INIr. 
 Stern. 
 
 " As everything repeats itself in Abyssinia, there can be little 
 doubt that Menilek will renew — perhaps has already renewed — his 
 application for firearms, either to the French Consul or to some other 
 resident at Aden ; and I would therefore avail myself of the medium 
 of your widely-circulating journal to express the hope that suitable 
 measures may be adopted by the authorities, both at home and abroad, 
 to prevent such an application from being successful, as the inevitable 
 consequence would be the innnediate execution of our hapless coun- 
 trvmen." * See page 104.
 
 268 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 And to place the capital on the column which will ever 
 stand as a memorial of British policy in Abyssinia, our 
 Government have committed an act which, unless it is 
 remedied (as perhaps it might still be) by a total reform, 
 has given to Christianity in Eastern Africa the severest 
 blow it has sustained since the conquest of Abyssinia by 
 Mohammed Granye in the beginning of the 16th century. 
 
 It is wonderful how history sometimes repeats itself. 
 
 At that time, " the discovery then recently made by 
 the Portuguese (I am quoting from a work of my own 
 published in 1860 *) of the road to India round the 
 Cape of Good Hope, had the inevitable consequence of 
 turning a large portion of the commerce of the East 
 into this new channel, to the serious injury of the Ve- 
 netians, who had enjoyed the monopoly of that trade 
 through Egypt and the Levant. To obviate this cala- 
 mity, the Venetians did not scruple to lend their aid 
 to the Mohammedan ruler of Egypt; and in order to 
 enable him to cope in the Red Sea with their commercial 
 rivals, they built him a powerful fleet of ships at Suez, 
 for which they supplied the timber, cut in their own 
 forests of Dalmatia, and transported on camels across the 
 isthmus of Suez ;'^ with which fleet the Turks soon drove 
 the Portuguese out of the Red Sea, taking possession of 
 the island of Massowah, their most important post, in the 
 year 1558. Now, three centuries later, when there was 
 a chance of Abyssinia^s emancipating herself from her 
 thraldom, England, animated by a spirit of rivalry simi- 
 lar to that of Venice, has induced the Ottoman Porte 
 to transfer the entire Abyssinian sea-board to the Pasha 
 * ' The Sources-of the Nile,' pp. 92, 93.
 
 ABANDONMENT OF CHRISTIANS TO MOHAMMEDANS. 269 
 
 of Egypt, in the hope of thereby preventing France from 
 acquiring a footing anywhere along the Avestern coast 
 of the Eed Sea"^. 
 
 There is too much reason to fear that this cession 
 from Turkey to Egypt has been accompanied by a re- 
 cognition qf the absolute right of the former power, not 
 merely to the sea- coast, but also to the whole of Abys- 
 sinia, as a dominion acquired by conquest in the six- 
 teenth ^entury ; the consequence of which is that the 
 Christian Abyssinians are henceforth to be regarded as 
 vassals, immediately or mediately, of the Porte. In fact, 
 the treatment of the pilgrims of that nation at Jeru- 
 salem f can only be regarded as a proof that we have been 
 consenting to what is equivalent to the delivery of a 
 whole Christian nation into slavery; for the domination 
 of Turkey over Abyssinia was nominal and had no prac- 
 tical effect, whereas that of Egypt is real, active, and 
 energetic, and, as her conduct in the surrounding dis- 
 tricts but too plainly shows J, will be that of a brutal and 
 unmerciful tyrant and oppressor §. 
 
 A plausible justification for this conduct is given by 
 Earl Russell in his despatch to Colonel Stanton, which 
 his Lordship was unfortunately induced to indite (as 
 is correctly stated in a leading article in the ' Times ' of 
 November 2nd, 1865) in '^ reply, in eflFect, to the letter 
 of Dr. Beke, published in this journal on the 14th of 
 September." "I am aware," says his Lordship, "that 
 there are persons who wish Her Majesty^s Government 
 to interfere in behalf of Abyssinia, as a Christian country, 
 
 * See page 134. t See Chapter VIII. pp. 129-137. 
 
 $ See pages 133-137. § See pages 25-29.
 
 270 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 against Turkey and Egypt, as Mahometan countries. 
 But this policy has never been adopted by the British 
 Government, and I trust never will be. If we were to 
 make ourselves the protectors of the Emperor Theodore 
 against the Sultan and his Viceroy of Egypt, we should 
 become responsible for his acts, and be entangled in his 
 quarrels with all his neighbours and rivals. The obliga- 
 tions of the British Government are various enough and 
 heavy enough, without undertaking so costly, ha^rdous, 
 and unprofitable a protectorate""^. 
 
 Religious considerations being out of the sphere of the 
 enlightened statesmanship of the nineteenth century, we 
 are left to look for the political advantages which have 
 resulted, or are expected to result, from a transaction so 
 discreditable to a Christian nation. And it has to be 
 asked whether what our Government has done will effec- 
 tuate the object they had in view : will it shut out France 
 from the Abyssinian sea-board ? 
 
 It will, of course, be conceded that Turkey could not 
 assign to Egypt more than she herself possessed ; and as 
 far as occupation is requisite to substantiate the right of 
 possession, she cannot pretend to possess more than here 
 and there a point along the sea-shore. In speaking of 
 the cession of that portion of the coast adjoining Zulla, 
 which was made by Agau Negusye to the French in 
 1859t, M. Munzinger, who thoroughly understands the 
 subject in all its bearings, says that " anyhow that coast 
 belongs quite as much to the Abyssinians as to the 
 
 * 'Timop,' November 1, 1865. Parliaincntarv Papor, 18GC, 
 * Further Correspondence,' &c. pp. 63, 64. 
 t See page 58.
 
 RIGHT OF TURKEY DISPUTED. FRENCH PRETENSION'S. 271 
 
 Turks"*; and there can be no doubt he is right f. Still, 
 as long as we could consistently support Turkey in in- 
 sisting on the observance of the Treaty of Paris, and 
 could get her to occupy the coast in such a way as to 
 show that her possession was something more than a 
 mere naked right, it may have been a wise policy to 
 recognize the pretensions of Turkey, or at all events not 
 to dispute them. 
 
 But to be parties to the transfer of a naked right from 
 the one power to the other, as a means of preventing 
 France from acquiring a footing, when this nation neither 
 recognizes the validity of that right, nor indeed cares 
 to be bound by the Treaty of Paris, or by any other 
 treaty, where her interests are concerned — the only 
 practical effect of the transaction being to place Chris- 
 tian Abyssinia at the mercy of the stronger of the two 
 Mohammedan powers, — is certainly neither an enlight- 
 ened nor a far-seeing policy. 
 
 On the 8th of last February there appeared in the 
 Times/ an article which plainly showed that, notwith- 
 ''standing this transfer, the French have not in the least 
 abandoned their pretensions. When I was in Tigre shortly 
 afterwards, I met the writer of that article and several of 
 his countrymen, some of whom were members of Comte 
 Bisson^s ''French Colony of Abyssinia," having been 
 
 * "Die Kuste .... die jedenfalls den Abyssiniern ebenso gehiirt, 
 wie den Tiirken." — ' Ostafrikanische Studien,' p. 48. 
 
 -f- To my personal knowledge, tlie people of Halai and other Abys- 
 sinian villages along the edge of the tableland, at the present da}-, till 
 the fields in the immediate vicinity of Zulla and harvest the crops, 
 and they also pasture their flocks and herds in the meadows close to 
 the sea-shore.
 
 272 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IX ABYSSINIA. 
 
 with him on his expedition into the Egyptian frontier 
 districts*; and they were cognizant of all that England 
 had done to prevent France from acquiring possession 
 of the coast^ which they quite ridiculed. They were then 
 negotiating with Gebra Medhin^ the Waagshum^s Go- 
 vernor of Okulekusai, for the concession of a coalfield 
 said to exist near the coast^ at no great distance from 
 Massowah ; and they talked very loudly of their inten- 
 tion to acquire (I believe they had actually acquired) 
 some district on the sea-coast where the Egjqjtians have 
 no actual settlement, and then to put at issue the 
 right of the Pasha to dispossess them. Shortly after 
 my arrival at Massowah, one of the party left for France, 
 with the avowed object of getting the Government to 
 '' protect French interests.^' 
 
 Though the " Defender of the Faith " does not pro- 
 fess to act up to this title anywhere but at home, the 
 " Eldest Son of the Church " openly avows that he ex- 
 tends his protection to the Roman Catholic missionaries 
 "dans tout Funivers^^t- And the Church of Rome and 
 her missionaries are not ungrateful. 
 
 From what is related in these pages, it is evddent that 
 France receives the greatest support from the Roman 
 Catholic mission in Abyssinia; and it is not less certain 
 tliat the mission has taken deep root in the country. 
 Independently of the church at MassoAvah, to which allu- 
 sion has been made J, they have one at Halai and 
 another at Ebbo, the Episcopal See, on the edge of the 
 tableland further to the north, where is the tomb of 
 Msgr. de' Jacobis, the first Bishop, who died a martyr 
 • See page 120. f See page 99. J See page 42.
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT MISSIONS. 27') 
 
 to tho French cause ^ rather tlian to that of Jlome. 
 The present Bishop, Msgr. Bel, is the first l^Venchman 
 who has filled the See, his predecessors, Mdiether possess- 
 ing the rank of Bishop or of Vicar Apostolic, having been 
 Italians. There is likewise a mission at Keren, in Bogos, 
 under the direction of Padre Stella, but within the juris- 
 diction of Msgr. Bel. I was assured that the number 
 of native Abyssinian s who have gone over to the Church 
 of Rome is 60,000. This I believe to be an exaggera- 
 tion, though there can be no question as to the number 
 of converts being considerable ; and it increases daily, 
 the native clergy having but little power or influence in 
 the frontier districts. 
 
 The diflferent positions of the Roman Catholic and the 
 Protestant Missions in that country needs not to be 
 dwelt on, except that I would hazard the remark, that far 
 better would it have been had the sympathies of Bishop 
 Gobat and Dr. Krapf and their friends not been enlisted 
 on the side of Bas Ali and his successor Theodore, and 
 that they had not (to repeat the words of my letter to 
 Lord Palmerston of April 4th, 1848) " joined in the cry 
 of Mr. Salt^s party f against Ubye — the usurper, the tyrant, 
 the oppressor, as he is called" J . They have now learned, 
 at the serious cost of the Protestant cause, of which they 
 so long have been the zealous, earnest, conscientious, and 
 indefatigable — I only wish I could add judicious and suc- 
 cessful — agents, that there are others more deserving of 
 those epithets than Dcdjatj Ubye of Tigre, who, by 
 the inscrutable decree of an overruling Providence, 
 
 * See page 59. t See page 12. 
 
 I See the Appendix, page 207. 
 
 T
 
 274 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 has long been a fellow-prisoner at Magdala of our ill- 
 fated missionaries^ who were taught to look on him as 
 their enemy. 
 
 The result is that the Protestant Missions, both the 
 London Society's and the Scottish, have been given 
 up — or, to speak more properly, they will be with- 
 drawn whenever the Emperor Theodore shall permit the 
 poor missionaries to leave the country"^; and as soon 
 as Mr. Talbot and the six English workmen reach Gatfat 
 as substitutes for the liberated captives, it may be an- 
 ticipated that Bishop Gobat's artisan missionaries will 
 either become completely secularized, or else will have 
 to quit Abyssinia like their countrymen the other Pro- 
 testant missionaries. Then, with the encroachments of 
 Mohammedanism on every side, the only hope of Chris- 
 tianity in Abyssinia for safety against annihilation will 
 be in Rome and France, as in its last great struggle it 
 was in Rome and Portugal. Taught by the experience 
 of their precursors, the Lazarists of the 19th century will 
 doubtless be in their generation wiser than the Jesuits of 
 the 16th and 17th centuries. 
 
 * I have just heard that the members of the Scottish mission, 
 Messrs. Stei^-er and Brandeis, have entered the Emperor's service. — 
 Decctnher 3rrf, 1866.
 
 275 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 POLICY OF ENGLAND — ITS EFFECTS ON ABYSSINIA — MASSOWAH 
 AND SEA-COAST OFFERED TO THEODORE — LORD CLARENDON'S 
 CONSENT — CONSUL PLO'NVTJEN's DEATH — CAPTAIN CAMEROn's 
 APPOINTMENT — CHANGE OF POLICY — ABYSSINIA ABANDONED 
 TO TURKEY — CONSUL'S ACTS REPUDIATED — SIR WILLIAM COGH- 
 LAN's evidence AS TO ALTERED POLICY — THEODORE RETALI- 
 ATES — MAKES WAR AFTER HIS FASHION — ENGLAND DEFEATED 
 AND SUES FOR PEACE — THEODORE 's CONDUCT CONDONED — 
 TREATY "WITH MR. RASSAM — TO BE CONFIRMED BY" COLONEL 
 MEREWETHER — MR. RASSAM AND CAPTI\'F;S IMPRISONED — VA- 
 CILLATING POLICY OF ENGLAND — STATE OF PARTIES IN ABYS- 
 SINIA — TADELU GW'ALU IN GOD JAM — CAUSE OF THEODORE's 
 DOWNFALL — PRESTIGE GONE — FRENCH IN SHOA AND TIGRE 
 — KING MENILEK OF SHOA — OIZORO WARKYET AT THE HEAD OF 
 WOLLO GALLAS — TESSU GOBAZYE IN NORTH-WEST PROVINCES — 
 WAAGSHUM GOBAZYE — KING HEZEKIAH — FUTURE EMPEROR — 
 STATE OF PARTIES IN TIGRE — WARFARE — "THE BATTLE OF 
 AXUM" — COMTE BISSONS REPORT — ENGLISHMEN SAID TO BE 
 PRESENT — REPORT A FABRICATION — DOUBTS AS TO BATTLE — 
 ITS PROBABILITY — POSSIBILITY OF THEODORe's PRESENCE — 
 FALSE REPORT OF EXECUTION OF CAPTIVES — FUTURE POLICY 
 OF ENGLAND — TREATY WITH THEODORE TOO LATE — MACHINES 
 AND GUNPOWDER-MAKERS USELESS WITHOUT FURTHER HELP — 
 author's SUGGESTIONS — ENGLAND WORSE OFF THAN IN 1847 — 
 ENLIGHTENED POLICY OF FRANCE — ENGLAND DRIFTING WITH 
 THE STREAM — SOOXER OR LATER WAR. 
 
 In the preceding Chapter has been considered the policy 
 of England with reference to France. We have now 
 to notice the efl'ccts of that policy in relation to Abys- 
 sinia. 
 
 For this purpose it will not be necessary to go furtlu^r 
 back than to Consul Plowden's Report to the Earl of 
 
 t2
 
 270 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Clarendon, dated Gondar, June 25th, 1855*, — although 
 from the contents of that report it is evident that there is 
 much yet to be learned respecting what had previously 
 ''been arranged with the Ras Ali'^t- 
 
 Consul Plowden states that on his first interview with 
 the Emperor, after urging on him the establishment of a 
 Consulate within his dominions, he " ventured to hint 
 that the sea-coast and Massowah might possibly be given 
 up to him on his consent ^^ J. What authority Mr. Plow- 
 den had for making such a proposal does not appear ; but 
 at all events it was quite in the spirit of the stipulation in 
 the treaty of November 2nd, 1849, between England and 
 Abyssinia, that the Sovereigns of the two countries 
 should " respectively, to the best of their power, en- 
 deavour to keep open and to secure the avenues of ap- 
 proach between the sea-coast and Abyssinia ' §. But 
 whether he had been previously authorized or not is im- 
 material, inasmuch as Lord Clarendon in his reply, dated 
 November 27th of the same year, unhesitatingly adopted 
 that officer's proposal by saying, " I entirely approve 
 your proceedings as reported in that despatch, as well as 
 the language held by you at your interview with the King 
 Theodorus " \\ ; and he added that the Queen of England 
 would receive ambassadors from that monarch, and would 
 defray the expenses of their journey to England. 
 
 It is true that the condition was attached that Consul 
 Plowden should obtain " from the King a distinct assu- 
 rance that he renounced all idea of conquest in Egypt and 
 
 * Parliamentary Paper, 18G0, < Furtlier Con-espondence,' &c., 
 pp. 41-47. t Ihid. page 45. 
 
 X See page 4'J. § Seepage 21. || See page 60.
 
 MASSOWAH AND SEA-COAST OFFERED TO THEODORE. 277 
 
 at Massowah " *. But the nature of an " assurance " of 
 the sort is well understood. When obtained it would 
 have been worth just as much as that which Lord Cla- 
 rendon said had been given by the Viceroy of Egypt not 
 to attack Abyssinia. But his lordship added signifi- 
 cantly, that " Her Majesty's Government would subject 
 themselves to grave suspicions if they received an embassy 
 from a sovereign whose designs against the Sultan, the 
 ally .of the Queen of England, were p?'eviousIy knoivn to 
 them ; " and it is only surprising that Theodore did not 
 act on the hint so plainly given him. 
 
 Consul Plowden's despatches between the years 1855 
 and 18G0 have not been made public; and it would not 
 be worth while to speculate as to what took place in the 
 interval- But we know that the death of that officer, 
 in March 1860, and that of his comrade, Mr. Bell, in 
 October following, unfortunately put a stop to diplomatic 
 relations between England and Abyssinia. 
 
 The resumption of these relations by Captain Cameron, 
 and the calamitous results of such resumption, have been 
 detailed in the preceding pages f, and need not be dwelt 
 on here. All that is essential to remark is that, at the 
 time of that officer's departure from England, and subse- 
 quently, till February 20th, 1862, when Earl Russell wrote 
 to the Emperor Theodore the letter given in a former 
 page X, Abyssinia continued to be regarded as an indepen- 
 dent nation and its sovereign as a frienrl and ally of the 
 British Government. 
 
 During the course of the year 1862 a radical change 
 took place in the policy of England with respect to 
 
 * See page 51. f Page 66 et seq. J See page 67.
 
 278 THE BKITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Abyssinia. What was its precise motive and how it came 
 al)out will be best understood when the papers connected 
 with "the Abyssinian Question" — particularly those rela- 
 ting to the acquisition of Obokh by France — are laid 
 before Parliament. Meanwhile we have evidence of the 
 change having occurred before the end of that year^ in 
 the fact that on October 30th, 1862, Consul Finn, the 
 " officious " protector of the Christian Abyssinian pil- 
 grims to the Holy Sepulchre, was removed from Jeru- 
 salem and replaced by Mr. Moore, who, as the exponent 
 of the altered policy of the British Government, at 
 once expressed his inability to help those pilgrims, on 
 the ground of their being Turkish subjects *. 
 
 Consequently it was in accordance with that altered 
 policy that Consul Cameron's negociations with the Em- 
 peror Theodore as an independent Sovereign were repu- 
 diated, and his interference on behalf of the inhabitants of 
 the Abyssinian provinces of Bogos condemned; and as 
 Her Majesty's Government had then made up their minds 
 " to withdraw as much as possible from Abyssinian en- 
 gagements, Abyssinian alliances, and British interference 
 in Abyssinia " ■\, the Emperor's request for a mission 
 from Bombay was refused J, and his letter to the Queen 
 was intentionally left unanswered § ; whilst the unfortu- 
 nate Consul himself was ordered, M'hen it was no longer 
 in his power, to return to " his post " at the Turkish (now 
 Egyptian) island of Massowah ||. 
 
 Sir William Coghlan, who, having long occupied the 
 important post of Political Resident at Aden, cannot but 
 
 • See page 131. t See page 130. X See pages 79 and 92. 
 
 § See pages 149 and 103. || See pages 104, 122, and 215, note.
 
 CHANGE OF POLICY. THEODORE RETALIATES. 279 
 
 be well acquainted with the acts and intentions of our 
 Government^ makes use of expressions in his ' Menio- 
 randnra on the Abyssinian Difficulty/ printed in the papers 
 laid before Parliament in the Session of 1865''", Avhich 
 clearly point to the poKtical abandonment of Abyssinia. 
 He " assumes/' for instance, that, apart from the release 
 of the captives, " any further relations with Abyssinia, 
 except as they may affect the object, are not desired by 
 Her Majesty's Government;" and again, supposing a 
 mission to be sent for that purpose, he adds, " In the 
 possible event of the release of the captives before the 
 arrival of the mission, and on a certainty that they had re- 
 moved beyond the power of the King, it is presumed that 
 Her Majesty's Government would not desire the mission to 
 go on. British subjects might be warned, and the mission 
 would return " f ; and consequently Abyssinia and the 
 Abyssinians, both at home and at Jerusalem, would be 
 abandoned (bound, as it were, hand and foot) to the 
 Sultan and his Viceroy of Egypt. 
 
 There can hardly be any doubt that it was with a view 
 to prevent this fatal consummation, that Theodore 
 adopted a line of conduct which " grossly violated the 
 rules of civilization and of international law." But is 
 not this one of those extreme cases which may be said 
 to make their own laws ? What other remedy had the 
 ill-starred monarch ? Was it not the only way in which 
 he could wage war against England ? Had one of the 
 Great Powers of Europe been treated half as ill, there 
 would have been an immediate commencement of hosti- 
 
 * 'Papers relating to tlie Imprisonment of British Subjects,' 
 p. 7. t Ihid. p. 9.
 
 280 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 litics— invasion of territory, seiznre and destruction of 
 the property of harmless and inoffensive private indi- 
 viduals having no more to do with the quarrel than 
 the poor " British Captives in Abyssinia/' personal vio- 
 lencCj imprisonment, punishment, nay torture or even 
 death, if they resisted or perhaps even complained — a 
 Koniggratz (Sadowa) or Custozza, Avith the sacrifice of 
 thousands of lives — and all according to the rules of 
 civilization and of international law ! 
 
 I do not think of justifying the conduct of the Emperor 
 Theodore and his advisers (whoever they may be), any 
 more than I can commend that of the King of Prussia 
 and Count Bismark. But, like them, he carried on war 
 according to his own lights and after his own fashion, 
 and like them he gained the victory, England, like 
 Austria, being forced — though with infinitely less honour 
 — to sue for peace. 
 
 After all the cruelties inflicted on Her Britannic Ma- 
 jesty's Consul and the other unfortunate European pri- 
 soners, the " renewal of friendship between Abyssinia and 
 England was happily established" — at the expense only 
 of those " insincere, ill-behaved, ill-mannered, and ill-tem- 
 pered " persons who had '' created the breach " between 
 the Emperor Theodore and our Queen ; and " every one, 
 whether European or Abyssinian, admitted" — and what 
 everybody says must be true — " that no sovereign could 
 be more attentive and gracious to the representative of a 
 foreign government than Theodore of Abyssinia was to- 
 Mr. Rassam " ^. 
 
 That monarch being thus admitted within the pale of 
 
 * See page 205. I could cite examples much nearer home of
 
 THEODORE S CONDUCT CONDONED. 281 
 
 civilization^ tlie preliminaries of a treaty were arranged 
 between him and the British envoy^ who was, however, 
 "detained" awhile by His Majesty — "the object of the 
 King being, it is stated, to procure an assurance of good 
 disposition towards him liefore the Europeans departed"*; 
 and this assurance has accordingly been given in a second 
 letter from Her Britannic Majesty to her "good friend," 
 the Emperor of Abyssinia, which Mr. Flad is the bearer of, 
 and Colonel Merewether is gone to confirm, accompanied 
 by Mr. Talbot and six English workmen, who are to take 
 the place of Mr. Bassam and the European captives. 
 
 When shattered and prostrate, after the tortures to 
 which they had been subjected on the 12th of May, 
 1864 — now more than a year and a half ago, and they 
 still prisoners ! — Samuel, the Emperor's steward (" that 
 compound of malice, hatred, and cunning," as he is called 
 by one who has but too much reason to know him f, but 
 who seemed to Mr. Bassam to be " really desirous to 
 promote a friendly feeling between England and Abys- 
 sinia"), said to the unhappy captives, "Do you know 
 who lies here ? " pointing to the Consul ; " This is 
 Victoria !" 
 
 It was hardly to be imagined that the name of Her 
 Majesty and the honour of the British nation could be 
 subjected, as they have been, to still greater indignity. 
 
 Suspecting perfidy on tlie part of England — and, alas ! 
 he has unhappily too much reason for doing so — the 
 Emperor of Abyssinia has put Mr. Bassam and all the 
 
 praise bestowed on Theodore's conduct. But it is not worth while 
 now to attract notice to these specimens of flunkyism. 
 
 * See page 221. f See Mr. Stern's letter in the Appendix.
 
 282 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 captives again in chains and sent them to Magdala, where, 
 according to the latest intelligence'^, they have passed 
 the rainy season. And it is to be dreaded that we have 
 not yet seen the end. 
 
 It shall however be assumed, notwithstanding all that 
 has passed and in spite of all forebodings, that the Em- 
 peror Theodore will listen to the representations made to 
 him in Her Britannic Majesty^s second letter, of Avhich 
 Mr. Flad is the bearer, and that he will liberate Mr. 
 Rassam and all the captives — such being the condition 
 on which Colonel Merewether is prepared to carry out 
 Mr. Rassam^s arrangements f- Nevertheless it is not at 
 all certain whether this compliance with most of his de- 
 mands may not still be unavailing. He may insist on 
 everything being granted ; and I believe this will not 
 be acceded to — that in fact it could not be done unless 
 England felt disposed for another Crimean war. What 
 then, after all, would our Government have to do ? To 
 leave the captives to their fate, or to go to war with 
 Theodore himself? 
 
 But we must not look at the dark side. It shall be 
 taken for granted that all goes on favourably ; the Em- 
 peror is induced to abandon his claims; the captives are 
 all liberated ; a treaty signed between the Emperor and 
 Colonel Merewether on behalf of Her Britannic Majesty, 
 and Mr. Talbot and the six English workmen left behind 
 in Abyssinia. What is to happen then? There is no 
 need to disguise the fact, that these Englishmen have 
 been enlisted into the service of the Abyssinian monarch 
 for the purpose of assisting him with the means of sub- 
 
 ' See the ' Times ' of November I'O, 18(j6. t See page 231.
 
 VACILLATING POLICY OV ENGLAND. 283 
 
 jugatiug his enemies and acquiring the sovereignty of the 
 wliole of Abyssinia. Such a scheme might have been 
 feasible a fcAV years ago ; but in consequence of the vacil- 
 lating policy of the British Government — who encouraged 
 Theodore when he ought not to have been encouraged, 
 gave him up just at a moment when, if good were ex- 
 pected from the alliance, he ought to have been supported 
 and not given up, and is now taking him up again when, 
 according to all appearances, he is no longer worth taking 
 up — there remains scarcely any hope that, even with the 
 help of these Englishmen and of the German and other 
 artisans he has already in his employ, he will be able, 1 
 will not say to conquer the " rebels " and the " Turks," 
 but to hold his own against them. 
 
 The following summary of the state of parties in May 
 last, will serve to show what his chances are. 
 
 For several years past Theodore has attempted, but in 
 vain, to conquer Tadela Gwalu, the hereditary prince of 
 Godjam*. Year after year has he led his army across the 
 
 * This warrior is the son of Dedjatj Gwalu, who was the grand- 
 son of Ras Hailu, the friend of the traveller Bruce, by whom he is 
 called " Ayto Aylo." , 
 
 In the time of Ras Ilailu, a young man named Zaudye (a native 
 of Uamot, of Galla extraction, whose history is almost more extra- 
 ordinary than that of Theodore himself) raised himself to power, 
 and received in marriage Oizoro Dinkanish, the lias's daughter, by 
 whom lie was the father of Dedjatj Goshu ("the Father of the 
 white men," as Consul Plowden calls him, and my very good friend), 
 who was slain in battle by Theodore, and whose son Biru is now 
 a captive at Magdala. Through his marriage with Ras Hailu's 
 daughter and his own great talent, Dedjatj Zaudye deflected from that 
 prince's male descendants the sovereignty of Godjam and Damot, 
 which, since the defeat and imprisonment of Biru Goshu, has been 
 resumed by Tadela Gwalu, the lineal male heir.
 
 284 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 Abui into the peninsula of Godjam, in the extreme south- 
 west of the empire, witli no result except to ravage and 
 ruin, though not absolutely to "■ destroy/^ those un- 
 happy districts* ; Avhilst Tiidela himself retires into his 
 fortresses, jNIutera and Djibella, impregnable by nature, 
 where he laughs the invader to scorn. 
 
 The resistance of Tadela may be regarded as the proxi- 
 mate cause of Theodore's downfall, inasmuch as it has 
 shown to the nation at large that the " King of Kings,'' 
 the would-be conqueror of all nations, can be withstood. 
 At one time his prestige was such that he had only to 
 approach at the head of a victorious army, and the 
 " rebels," in however great force, were unable to offer 
 any firm resistance, and either dispersed without striking 
 a blow, or else went over bodily to his side. 
 
 I have reason to know that the faith in Theodore's 
 invincibility has been, and even to this day is, enter- 
 tained not only in Abyssinia, but likewise in England, 
 by persons whose opinions must necessarily have great 
 weight with our Government. Even Mr. Flad, when in 
 this country, expressed himself in this sense, he ha^dng 
 such a dread of the despot as to imagine that every one 
 else must look on him as he and those about the Court 
 have only too much reason to do f. 
 
 Meanwhile, Theodore's absence from the other pro- 
 vinces of Abyssinia nearer to the coast has allowed their 
 
 * See page 189. 
 
 t The petty tyranny of Theodore is such, that if he calls to a 
 person about him to come, and that person does not fly at the bidding 
 — not walk even quickly, but actually run — he is saluted with all 
 sorts of abusive epithets, and often " gets the stick " for keeping the 
 impatient despot waiting.
 
 rKENCII IN SIIOA AND TIGRE. 28.") 
 
 rulers to gain strength, and, in tlic case of Slioa and 
 Tigre, to make alliances with the French, if not with 
 France, and in their turn to obtain not merely machines 
 and gunpowder makers, but likewise soldiers and fire- 
 arms, by which means they may be expected to be able 
 to counteract all that Mr. Talbot and his assistants will 
 be able to perform. 
 
 Several months ago, as I stated in the ' Times ' of 
 October 1st, ''there was a talk of some French officers 
 of the army of Algiers going out to Northern Abys- 
 sinia, taking with them several light pieces of artillery." 
 And I added the expression of my belief that on this 
 point, as well as that of the earlier application of the 
 King of Shoa to the French Consul at Aden for a supply 
 of firearms, to which allusion has been made in a former 
 page ■^, " representations had been made to the Go- 
 vernment of France." But I added, not without reason, 
 that ''natives of that country may have gone to Abys- 
 sinia nevertheless;" and the mission of Mr. Talbot and 
 his English companions, to a monarch who has set the 
 Emperor Napoleon at defiance and has virtually declared 
 war against France t^ must of course deprive the Eng- 
 lish Government of all further right to make represen- 
 tations or demand explanations on the subject. 
 
 As to the Kingdom of Shoa, it has (as already stated J) 
 reasserted its independence under the sovereignty of Me- 
 nilek, the grandson of Sahela Selasye; and it is gene- 
 rally considered that the resubjugation of that country is 
 hopeless. If, as is probable, now that the French are so 
 near to him at Obokh, the King of Shoa has renewed the 
 
 * See page 260. t See page 101. J See page 145.
 
 28G THE lilllTISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 alliance with France — which was established through M. 
 Rochet, and to counteract which was the fruitless object 
 of Major Harris's mission in 1841 * — it may be looked 
 on as certain that the Emperor Theodore will never have 
 it in his power to conquer Shoa, or even to make head 
 against King Menilek should he become the aggressor. 
 
 The revival of the two provinces of Tigre and Shoa 
 as separate and independent kingdoms, setting Theodore 
 at defiance, coupled with the persistent rebellion of 
 Tadela Gwalu in Godjam, has, in point of fact, placed 
 the Abyssinian Empire in the position in which it was 
 under the puppet Emperors, before his accession to the 
 throne. The resemblance will be seen to be complete 
 when we have said a few words respecting the other por- 
 tions of the now disintegrated Empire. 
 
 In the centre of Abyssinia, a female leader named 
 Warkyet, a relative of Oizoro Menen, Ras Ali^s mother, 
 is at the head of the powerful tribes of Mohammedan 
 Wollo Gallas, and threatens to wrest from Theodore all 
 his most valued and dearly bought conquests in that di- 
 rection, including Amba Magdala, his principal hold, 
 which has obtained such unenviable notoriety as the 
 Englishmen's prison. Had warlike measures against 
 Theodore been decided on, it might have been no 
 difficult task to enlist these Gallas on our side, and 
 by their means to have obtained possession of Magdala 
 by a coup de main, and so perhaps have liberated the cap- 
 tives, though not in the way recently suggested by Dr. 
 Krapf, to whose proposition, however, the serious con- 
 sideration of the Foreign Office has been accorded, not- 
 * See pjige 13.
 
 WAAGSHUM GORAZYE TO BE EMPERoR IIEZEKIAII. 2H7 
 
 withstanding that there are in the archives of that oiHee 
 conclusive proofs of its ineligihility ! 
 
 In the north-west, in Walkait, Semyeiij and the neigh- 
 bouring provinces, a chief named Tessu Gobazye, a non- 
 veau-ne, has for some time past held sway and become 
 virtually independent, he having extended his occupation 
 of the country as far as Gondar, and even beyond. It 
 is he whose troops stopped Mr. Rassam in January last, 
 when only a few miles from Gondar '^. When I was in 
 Abyssinia, I heard that he and Waagshum Gobazye 
 had formed an alliance, the basis of which was that 
 they should each oppose Theodore to the death, and 
 that whichever of the two killed him or made him 
 prisoner should be recognized as Emperor by the other. 
 But this I am slow to credit, because I have been 
 informed, on good authority, that the Waagshum in- 
 tends to declare himself Emperor with the aid of the 
 King of Shoa and of the French, and to be crowned 
 by the name of Hizkiasf or Hezekiah — there being a 
 native prophecy that a monarch of that name shall reign, 
 who is to be the precursor of the true Teodros or Theo- 
 dore. 
 
 In North-eastern Abyssinia, Deras, the W^aagshum's 
 lieutenant in Tigre, who in the beginning of March last 
 had sustained a complete defeat at the hands of Tekla 
 Georgis, the brother and deputy of Ras Bariau, Theo- 
 dore's lieutenant, was, when I left the country in May, 
 regaining strength ; whilst Tekla Georgis, who in the 
 
 * Se« page 180. 
 
 t This is the " Ischias " of Bruce, who almost invariably gives the 
 native names wrongly-
 
 288 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 very flush of victory had had his army destroyed by 
 cholera, was obliged to retire into Shire, his native pro- 
 vince, where he was raising an army to replace the one 
 destroyed. Deras, on the other hand, had united his 
 forces at Adigrat to those of the Governor of A game, 
 Subbart, the son of Sabagadis, the friend of the English 
 in the time of Mr. Salt and of Bishop Gobat. Gebra 
 Medhin, the Governor of Okulekusai, the district in which 
 Halai is situated, whose troops had dispersed on the defeat 
 of Deras by Tekla Georgis, had again collected an army 
 of some force, and had moved westward in the direction 
 of the Mareb. 
 
 All these chiefs acknowledge the supremacy of Waag- 
 shum Gobazye, between whom and Tessu Gobazye the 
 whole of Northern Abyssinia was divided, with the ex- 
 ception of Shire, Serawe, and Hamasyen, which were still 
 held by governors named by Theodore. The latter had 
 just written an abusive letter to Dedjatj Hailu, the 
 governor of the two last-named provinces, calling him 
 the one-eyed son of a bad woman (he has lost an eye in 
 battle), and ordering him to cross the Mareb and attack 
 Gebra Medhin. 
 
 I have heard that one of Theodore's objects in send- 
 ing Hailu into Okulekusai was to fetch myself and my 
 wife, for whose arrival he was very anxious; and Tekla 
 Georgis wrote to me from Axum, that if I did not choose 
 to wait for his coming, my better course would be to try 
 the road across the Mareb into Hamas_yen, which I might 
 have done, had not Gebra Medhin moved directly across 
 my path. But different counsels prevailed at the Em- 
 peror's court, and on May 28th, as has already been
 
 WAR BETWEEN THE WAAGSHUM AND THE EMPEROR. 289 
 
 related ^, the second letter, written in English, was sent to 
 me, ordering me to leave Halai and return to Massowah. 
 I am grateful for the order, whatever may have been the 
 cause of its being given. 
 
 Such then was the state of Abyssinia when I left that 
 country in the beginning of last May. At that time the 
 general impression was, that some important military 
 operations were likely to take place before the setting in 
 of the rainy season. The Waagshum, whose movements 
 had for several months previously been concealed, evi- 
 dently with an object, but who was generally beHeved to 
 have gone southward f — perhaps to Shoa — was expected 
 in Tigre to pass the winter there. At the same time it 
 was currently reported that Ras Bariau, the Emperor's 
 governor of that province, would come and place himself 
 at the head of the army his brother Tekla Georgis was 
 collecting, to drive the Waagshum out and hold pos- 
 session for the Emperor — nay, that the Emperor him- 
 self was coming into Tigre, from which province no tri- 
 bute has been received by him for the last three years %. 
 
 The * Times ^ of July 23rd last contained an extract 
 from a Cairo newspaper, 'II Commercio,' under date of 
 July 7th, announcing that a tremendous battle was immi- 
 nent between the armies of the Emperor and the Waag- 
 shum, and that it was calculated there would be not less 
 than 150,000 combatants in the field §. 
 
 * See page 218. 
 
 t During part of the time he went and destroyed Zebit, as is men- 
 tioned in page 143. 
 
 X See the ' Times ' of April 7, 1866. 
 
 § In the ' Times ' of July 25th I commented on this intelligence, 
 pointing out how it agreed with what I had myself heard. 
 
 tJ
 
 290 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 On September 17tb, nearly two montlis afterwards^ 
 a telegram from Constantinople appeared in the ' Times ' 
 and otlier newspapers, announcing that an engagement 
 had actually taken place near Abrin [Axum or Adowa ?] 
 hetween the Abyssinians and the Tigre insurgents, and 
 that the Emperor was expected Avith reinforcements. 
 
 A week later, namely on September 24th, an article 
 ■appeared in the ' Times ' from the Paris correspondent of 
 that journal, reproducing a long account which had ap- 
 peared in the '^Nice Journal,^ of what is there styled ''the 
 battle of Axum,''^ said to have been fought on July 30th, 
 between the army of Theodore and the insm-gents of 
 Tigre a7id Shoa. The account was communicated by 
 Comte Bisson, who signed himself " Founder of the 
 French Colony of Abyssinia,^^ and said he had received it 
 in the form of a report from one of his colonists present 
 at the battle. Theodore was stated to have been at the 
 head of 95,000 men ; and the forces of the insurgents were 
 estimated to have been ratlicr larger. Several English- 
 men were alleged to have been in arms against the Em- 
 peror. In the report we find such expressions as these: — 
 " The English were there, in constant communication 
 with Aden : the insurgents drew arms and supplies from 
 that place " — " three pieces of artillery of English manu- 
 facture " were taken from them — and " among the Ti- 
 grean dead were recognized Egyptians and some English 
 faces, especially in the fort. No doubt but that officers of 
 that nation directed all the evolutions of the battle," &c. 
 
 All this is so utterly improbable that, if the story is 
 not a pure fiction from beginning to end, it is meant as a 
 blind to conceal the fact that tlic Europeans present in
 
 "the battle of AXUm" DISBELIEVED. 201 
 
 the army of Waagslmm Gobazye (tlie intended Emperor 
 Hezekiah) were Frenchmen and not Englishmen, and 
 that tlie field-pieces, even if of English manufacture, were 
 introduced into Tigre by French officers — not improbably 
 those I heard of several months ago, as has just ]jeen 
 mentioned'^. 
 
 There appears to be, I do not know for what reason, 
 a determination on the part of every one who has any 
 relations Avith Her Majesty's Government, to deny alto- 
 gether the fact of any great battle — or indeed any battle 
 at all — having been fought in Tigre before the rains. 
 As to the idea of Theodore's having been present at such 
 a battle, it is looked on as preposterous. Mr. Flad him- 
 self published a letter in the ' Times ' of September 2Gtli 
 last, to show how utterly impossible it was for Theodore 
 to have transported an army in twenty-three days from 
 Debra Tabor, where he was on July 7th, to Axum, 
 where the battle was said to have been fought on the 
 30th of the same month. But, as I stated in the same 
 journal on October 1st, and from the several facts w^iicli 
 I have just related, it is indisputable that the Em- 
 peror's army was already in Tigre, as were likewise the 
 united forces of Tigre and Slioa — 150,000 combatants in 
 all, as stated in the Cairo newspaper; a battle was 
 said to be imminent ; the Emperor was expected to 
 arrive with reinforcements ; and as the distance between 
 Dcbra Tabor and Axum is only 170 English statute miles 
 in a direct line, it stands to reason that a strategist like 
 Theodore, whose great successes have mainly resulted 
 from his rapid marches, frequently by night, and fi'om 
 * See page 285.
 
 292 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 his falling unexpectedly on the enemy "^^ might easily 
 have performed that distance^ at the head of a select 
 or even a large body of cavalry, in much less time than 
 twenty-three days f. 
 
 I cannot then bring myself to doubt the fact of an im- 
 portant battle having been fought in Tigre before the 
 rainy season fully set in, and that, whether the Em- 
 peror was there or not in person, the result was un- 
 favourable to him. Comte Bisson^s correspondent asserted 
 that, in consequence of the repulse, if not defeat, which 
 the Emperor sustained, he had ^'^in his exasperation 
 ordered the immediate execution of all the English 
 captives, sparing only the women and children.^^ But, 
 thank God, this we know to be untrue, because news has 
 just been received from Massowah that at about the end 
 of September the captives were all alive, though still in 
 chains at Magdala. 
 
 It now only remains for me to say a few words respect- 
 ing the future policy of England with regard to Abyssinia. 
 
 * See page 143. 
 
 t In the ' Times ' of October 1st 1 stated that, " In the year 184-3 
 I went from Debra Tabor to Adowa, which is close to Axum, by a 
 circuitous route through Lasta, the Waagshum's country, and my 
 actual time on the road was 121^ hours. My diary is published in the 
 'Journal of the Royal Geogi'aphical Society,' vol. xiv. pp. 51-62, with 
 a map." Now, allowing as much as double the direct distance for the 
 irregularities of surface and deflections from the straight line, the dis- 
 tance to be travelled between the two extremes would be 340 statute 
 miles, and supposing the Emperor to have travelled only twice as fast 
 as I did, the journey would have occupied him sixty-two hours in the 
 saddle ; and to say that he could not perform such a journey between 
 the 7th and 30th July — twenty-three days — is too absurd to be 
 insisted on for a moment when the matter is thus put to the test of 
 figures.
 
 FUTURE POLICY OF ENGLAND. 293 
 
 Should all result favourably as regards the prisoners, 
 Colonel Merewether will, it is presumed, proceed to the 
 Emperor^s court and conclude with him the treaty, of 
 which the preliminaries have been settled by Mr. Ilassam. 
 In the present state of affairs it is not very intelligible 
 what can be the object of that treaty. Theodore may be 
 nominally Emperor of Abyssinia, but his power is much 
 weakened, if not entirely gone; and it is much to be 
 questioned whether an alliance with England would 
 restore it unless our Government should engage to sup- 
 port him on the throne. " Machines and gunpowder- 
 makers '^ alone will not help him now, I fear ; and it is 
 hardly to be imagined that England would bind herself 
 to support him by any other means. 
 
 And yet it is manifest that Mr. Talbot and the English 
 workmen, who have gone to Abyssinia under the guarantee 
 of the British Government, cannot be left without pro- 
 tection. It would not now do to say, '' British subjects 
 might be warned, and the mission would return ^^*. Con- 
 sul Cameron wisely foresaw this very case, when in his 
 letter of October 22nd, 1862, he urged on the Emperor 
 the recognition of a Consul within his dominions, in the 
 foUowiug terms : — " Some arrangement, at any rate, on 
 this point wiU be necessary, if your Majesty really wishes 
 to keep up a close friendship with England. I feel 
 certain, too, that if English artisans were to come here, 
 as I have heard is your Majesty ^s wish, it would 
 be impossible for them to stay, unless there wa.s an 
 officer of some kind, either Envoy or Consul, to look 
 after them " t- 
 
 * See page 279. t ^('e the Appendix, page 314.
 
 294 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 As already stated^, tlie ' Times ^ of July 8tli contains an 
 extract from a letter which I Avrote from Halai to a per- 
 son of high rank in England, on the 27th of April, before 
 the news of Mr. Rassam's alleged final success reached 
 me. In that letter I predicted the detention of Mr. 
 Rassam, and asked the question, '' What would Her 
 Majesty^s Government do in such a case?" And I pro- 
 ceeded to suggest a certain course of action. When 
 the present Administration came into office, I anticipated 
 that my letter of April 27th, as well as a previous one of 
 March 28th, would have been communicated to Lord 
 Stanley. I have reason to believe that it was not so, or 
 that, if it was, the communication was made officially, in 
 which case it would of com'se have shared the fate of my 
 previous communications to the Foreign Office. It is 
 perhaps well that it should have been so; for the con- 
 tents of my letters were not likely to be appreciated 
 either by the Foreign Secretary or by the public without 
 a previous thorough knowledge of all the facts. At the 
 present moment my suggestions would be out of place; 
 but the time may yet come when they will be deserving 
 of consideration. 
 
 The intelligence which we may shortly expect to receive 
 from Abyssinia will be franght with interest, as regards 
 not only the fate of the British captives, but also the 
 destinies of that country, as resulting from the conduct of 
 its' present ruler, and likewise from the movements of 
 the princes of Tigre and Shoa and their French allies. 
 
 As matters now stand it would appear that all that 
 England has been doing in Abyssinia during the last 
 * See page 226.
 
 CONTRAST BETWEEN ENGLISH AND FRENCH POLICY. 295 
 
 twenty years has been to no good purpose, and that in 
 fact we are politically in a worse position than we were 
 when Mr. Plowden was appointed Consul in Abyssinia ; 
 for our only alliance is with the Emperor Theodore in his 
 present crippled state, — and even that alliance is not 
 from choice, but is forced on us by an anxiety to get our 
 unfortunate countrymen and others out of his hands; 
 whilst France has not only obtained a settlement on the 
 sea-coast at the southern extremity of Abyssinia, but is 
 likely now to obtain one also in the north, through ter 
 alliance with the rising sovereign of Tigre, who will perhaps 
 eventually become the ruler of the whole of Abyssinia. 
 
 In conclusion then I do not see that I can do otherwise 
 than reiterate the closing words of my pamphlet, ' The 
 French and English in the Red Sea,^ published more than 
 four years ago^ : — 
 
 '' Such are the interested but at the same time en- 
 
 * This was in fact only a repetition of the warning I gave in a 
 letter to Viscount Palmerston, dated August 21st, 1851, now more than 
 fifteen years ago. My words at that time were these : — *' At the 
 present moment, England appears to have gained the ascendancy in 
 EgTpt, but we have no right to expect that this will always be the 
 case ; and, even while it lasts, it may and dotibtless will only lead to 
 efforts on the paH of France to acquire a counterpoise in the south. Any 
 attempts in that quarter might, however, be effectually prevented, and 
 at a trifling outlay, were only suitable measures at once adopted. If, 
 on the contrary, such measures are delayed, they may at a future period 
 become difficult, if not impracticable. And as, on account of our 
 Indian possessions, it is absolutely essential that British influence 
 should continue to preponderate in Egypt; and as, consequently, it 
 will be imperative on our nation to proceed even to the last extremi- 
 ties for the maintenance of that preponderance, — if not, indeed, in 
 order to regain it after it shall have been lost ; we may, in the result, 
 be forced to atone for present neglect by the sacrifice of millions of 
 treasure and tens of thousands of human lives."
 
 296 THE BRITISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA. 
 
 lightened views of France, which she will continue to 
 carry out by all the means in her power, and (as is mani- 
 fest) without being over-scrupulous as to the character of 
 those means. England, on the other hand, after inter- 
 meddling most needlessly and mischievously in the affairs 
 of Abyssinia, appears now to be simply drifting with the 
 current of events, which she knows not how to stem. 
 Circumstances will, however, be sooner or later such as to 
 force her to intervene with an armed hand, and (as she 
 usfially does) to atone for past incapacity and neglect by 
 the sacrifice of millions of treasure and tens of thousands 
 of human lives. ^'
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Letter from Dr. Beke to Viscount Palme rston, G.C.B., 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated April dt/i, 
 1848. 
 
 [Referred to in pages 22 and 263.] 
 
 Mt Loed, 
 
 Eeferring to the letter which I had the honour of ad- 
 dressing to j our Lordship on the 25th ultimo *, I now feel it to 
 be my duty to offer a few remarks on the subject of the policy 
 which, during a number of years past, would appear to have 
 been adopted by the British Grovernment with regard to 
 Abyssinia ; since it is not improbable that the effects of that 
 policy would exercise some influence on any operations that 
 might be attempted to be carried out in accordance with the 
 suggestions contained in my said letter. 
 
 When Mr. Salt undertook his mission to Abyssinia in the 
 year 1810, he became acquainted with a young native chief 
 named Sabagadis, of whose disposition and talents he Avas 
 induced to form a high opinion, and whose future elevation he 
 foretold. Mr. Salt's prognostications were so far fulfilled, that, 
 in 1818, subsequently to the death of Eas Walda Selasye (the 
 
 [* This was a letter on the subject of the Victualling of an Army in 
 the Red Sea, addressed simultaneously to Lord Palmerston and to the 
 kite Duke of Wellington, who was then Commander-in-Chief.]
 
 29() APPENDIX. 
 
 prince of Tigrc, to whom the British Envoy had delivered the 
 presents originally destined for the Emperor), Sabagadis 
 acquired the rule of that province, which he retained about 
 thirteen years. But, in the beginning of the year 1831, he 
 was defeated in battle and slain by the united forces of Eas 
 Marye and Dedjatj Ubye ; and on this event the latter prince 
 assumed the government of Tigre, which he has since retained, 
 in addition to his hereditary province of Semyen, to the west of 
 the river Takkazye. 
 
 The friendship between Mr. Salt and Dedjatj Sabagadis was 
 lasting ; and it would appear to have formed the groundwork 
 of all the relations (mth the exception of Major Harris's mis- 
 sion to Shoa) which have since been maintained between Eng- 
 land and Abyssinia. As long as Sabagadis lived, he was 
 doubtless deserving of the friendship entertained towards him 
 not only by the British Government but by all British travel- 
 lers in Abyssinia, But his rule of Tigre was one of force, not 
 of right. It was established by himself, and died with him. 
 In its subsequent relations, therefore, with Abyssinia, the true 
 policy of England was to have cultivated the friendship of that 
 chiefs successor de facto. Instead of which a morbid feeling 
 has arisen in favour of the family of Sabagadis ; and the kindly 
 sentiments towards that prince, which were originated by 
 Mr. Salt, have been transferred to his children and relatives, 
 and fostered in a most undue manner by Mr. Salt's dependent 
 and adherent, Mr. Coffin, who has taken up his residence in 
 Abyssinia. It is not intended to impute to that individual 
 improper motives for his partisanship in favour of the family 
 of Sabagadis, but simply to explain the origin of the existing 
 prejudices against the actual ruler of Tigre. 
 
 This hostile; feeling against Ubye has likewise been pro- 
 moted by other circumstances of an entirely independent 
 nature. Dr. Gohat, the present Bishop of Jerusalem, was 
 the first Protestant missionary to Abyssinia in the time of 
 Dedjatj Sabagadis, l)y whom lie was very favourably received.
 
 DR. BEKE TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, APRIL 4tH, 1848. 297 
 
 That able and prudent missionary was most careful not to 
 offend the prejudices of the ignorant native priesthood. His 
 successors in the mission, who visited Northern Abyssinia 
 in the time of Dedjatj TJbye, were, however, not always so 
 guarded, so that they soon excited the hostility of the priests ; 
 and as Ubye never had any special reason to be favourable 
 to the British missionaries — or it may rather be said that 
 he had cause to be opposed to them, seeing that British 
 sympathies have always been exhibited in favour of Sabagadis's 
 family, who have been constantly in rebellion against his 
 government — it is not at all surprising that he should have 
 felt no inclination to interfere between our missionaries and 
 their enemies. The consequence has been that they have 
 been compelled to abandon the country. 
 
 Prom this cause the missionaries have joined in the cry of 
 Mr. Salt's party against Ubye — the usurper, the tyrant, the 
 oppressor, as he is called. But the condemners of this prince 
 have omitted to say that his title is at least as good as that of 
 his predecessor ; that while Sabagadis held possession of Tigre 
 barely thirteen years, Ubye has kept it upwards of seventeen 
 years*, in spite of the incessant efforts of the various members 
 of Sabagadis's family, whom the leniency of this " tyrant " has 
 alone prevented him from crushing long ago ; that it is, in 
 fact, to this constant state of rebellion, which (it is to be 
 feared) has to a certain extent been encouraged by the En- 
 glish, that the unsettled and distressed condition of Tigro is 
 mainly attributable ; and that, as regards Ubye's character, 
 whether as a prince or as a man, it ^vill bear comparison with 
 that of the much-lauded Sabagadis or any other of the princes 
 of Abyssinia. 
 
 Such, at least, is the opinion entertained respecting the 
 reigning sovereign of Tigre by travellers of all nations except 
 England ; and this brings me to the point to which I would 
 
 * [Ubye had held rule in Tigre twenty-four j'ears, when he was 
 conquered by Kassai, as narrated in page .'53.] 
 
 X 2
 
 298 APPENDIX. 
 
 desire more especially to direct your Lordship's attention. In 
 consequence of the unfriendly feelings thus entertained by the 
 English and Protestants generally towards Dedjatj Ubye, that 
 prince has been abandoned to French and Roman Catholic 
 influences. It is Ms favour that all French agents and travel- 
 lers have sought to cultivate; it is he to whom presents have 
 on more than one occasion been sent hy the late Government 
 of France, and with whom diplomatic relatio7is have been 
 entered into hy that Government ; while it is in his territories, 
 in tvhich our Protestant missionaries have been unable to keep 
 their footing, that a Roman Catholic onission, emanating from 
 the Hue du Sac in Far is, has firmly and (as it tvould seem) 
 permanently established itself. 
 
 The dominions of Dedjatj Ubye extend from Massowah at 
 least 160 miles to the west and south. In the accompanying 
 Map their approximate limits are represented by a red shade, 
 from which it will be seen that, without passing through them, 
 no communication whatever can be held between the port 
 of Massowah and any portion of Abyssinia. Hence it is 
 manifest that, if it be deemed expedient to establish rela- 
 tions of any kind with that country through Massowah, it 
 is in the first place essential to cultivate the friendship of 
 the sovereign whose dominions surround that port in every 
 direction. 
 
 It is much to be feared that these matters have not been 
 placed before your Lordship in a proper light : otherwise the 
 fact would not be (as I regret to understand it is) that the first 
 ofiicial interference of the British Government in tlie affiiirs of 
 Northern Abyssinia since the time of IMr. Salt has been the 
 commissioning of Mr. Plowden, the newly appointed Consul in 
 that country, to be the bearer of presents to Dedjatj Ubye's 
 great rival, Eas Ali — a chief who has no jurisdiction or autho- 
 rity within the dominions of the former, and whose residence, 
 Debra Tabor, situate at least 250 miles from the coast, is only 
 to be reached by Mr. Plowden's running the gauntlet througli
 
 DR. BEKE TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, APRIL ItII, 181^8. 299 
 
 the territories of Ubye*, at the risk of being stopped and plun- 
 dered, and with the certainty of causing (and not without rea- 
 son) the feelings of that prince to become more hostile than 
 before to the British and the Protestants, and more favourable 
 to the French and the E-oraan Catholics. 
 
 I do not believe that, in his heart, Ubye has a greater regard 
 for one European nation than for another. Like the rest of the 
 native rulers of Abyssinia, ho principally seeks his own per- 
 sonal aggrandizement ; and, if it were only made equally worth 
 his while, he would doubtless be just as ready to favour the 
 English as the French. It is to be hoped, therefore, that Her 
 Britannic Majesty's Consul will have had authority given him 
 to exercise his discretion with respect to the presents destined 
 for E-as Ali ; so that he may be at liberty to deliver them to 
 Dedjatj TJbye, in the same way that Mr. Salt delivered to 
 Walda Selasye, Ubye's predecessor in the government of Tigre, 
 the presents of which he was the bearer to the Emperor of 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 The Emj)eror was then in the power of E-as Guksa, the 
 grandfather of Eas Ali, just as the reigning Emperor is at the 
 present day in that of Eas AYi himself It is true that Walda 
 Selasye, who was then, as Ubye is now, the independent ruler 
 of Tigre, had, at the time of Mr. Salt's first visit to Abyssinia 
 in 1805, been the Eas or vizier of the empire ; but at the time 
 of that gentleman's diplomatic mission he was no longer so, 
 having been dismissed by the new Emperor whom his rival, 
 Eas Guksa, had placed on the throne at Gondar. Eas Guksa, 
 as the actual Eas or vizier, was therefore the legal representa- 
 tive of the reigning Emperor, and consequently he was the 
 person to whom, de jure, the presents to that sovereign from 
 the British Government ought to have been delivered. The 
 
 [* In December 1862, Consul Cameron, when carrying the Emperor 
 Theodore's letter to the Queen, was stopped in Tigre by a " rebel " 
 chief, as described in page 82. In the spring of 1866, my wife and I 
 could not pass through Tigre for the "rebels."]
 
 300 APPENDIX. 
 
 only principle ou which we may justify Mr. Salt's delivering 
 these presents to Walda Selasye, the dismissed Ras or vizier of 
 the nominal empire, but still the independent sovereign of the 
 province of Tigre, is that tvJdch at the present day is so deci- 
 dedly recognized by the British Government — namely, the re- 
 fraining from all interference in the domestic affairs of a foreign 
 nation, and simply entering into relations with the existing 
 government de facto. 
 
 As regards the title of Kas or vizier, the truth is, that, in 
 the present disorganized condition of Abyssinia, that title is 
 just as nominal as that of Emperor. Any chief who is able 
 to march on Gondar, the capital, and with the concurrence 
 of the Abiiua or Coptic Bishop, to place a new puppet Em- 
 peror on the throne, may receive that dignity at his hands. 
 The relative position of Dedjatj Ubye and Ras Ali is most 
 correctly expressed in the following answer, given to King 
 Louis Philippe by one of the native Abyssinians who accom- 
 panied Lieutenant Lefebvre to Paris with presents from the 
 former prince : — ■" Le Eoi nous demanda quel etait le chef le 
 plus puissant de notre pays, si Oubie etait Dedjasmatche par 
 la volonte de Eas Ali, ou par son droit seul. Nous repondimes 
 que I'un et I'autre n'avait de droit que par la force; qu'il 
 cxistait un empereur en titre, qui avait bien tout le droit, mais 
 sans force pour le soutenir." 
 
 Such is simply the state of the case. Each provincial 
 governor in Abyssinia (and the King of Shoa is de jure no- 
 thing more) is de facto an independent sovereign ; and the 
 
 TRUE POLICY OF ENGLAND CLEARLY IS TO RECOGNIZE EACH 
 
 SEPARATELY IN Ills OWN DOMINIONS. This is tlic more essen- 
 tial in the case of Ubye, the Dedjazmatj (Duke) of Tigre and 
 Semyen. He is the potentate de facto, tvith ivhom alone we 
 should he brought into connexion in the event of an establish- 
 ment, whether consular or otherwise, being formed at Massowah ; 
 and the recognition of him simply in that capacity would not 
 implicate us with any of the native rulers, nor mix us up ivith the
 
 DR. BEKE TO VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, APRIL 4tII, 1848. 301 
 
 internal affairs of the country. To enter into friendly relations 
 with Has All or any other of the princes of Northern Abyssinia 
 tvould, on the contrary, he virtually an offensive alliance against 
 Dedjatj TJhye. 
 
 My long residence in Abysssinia and my yet longer study 
 of the history of that country, both before and since my 
 journey thither, justify me in forming a decided opinion on 
 the subject of the present letter. I am persuaded that I have 
 no need to apologize to your Lordship for the freedom with 
 which I have ventured to express that opinion. 
 
 I have the honour, &c. 
 
 II. 
 
 Proposal for a Tram-road between the Cotton-fields of 
 Ethiopia and the Coast of the Red Sea. 
 
 [Referred to in page 239.] 
 
 It is proposed to construct a Tram-road from the coast of 
 the Red Sea, near the port of Suwakin, in about 19° north 
 latitude, to the valley of the Upper Nile, near the junction of 
 the Atbara with the main stream, for the purpose of affording 
 a ready access to and outlet from the extensive Cotton-fields 
 of Ethiopia, and otherwise opening up the trade with the 
 southernmost portion of the dominions of the Pasha of Egypt. 
 
 The length of the proposed Road would be about 225 En- 
 glish statute miles, the whole being within the territories of 
 the Pasha, except a few miles on the sea-coast, subject to the 
 Turkish dovernment *. 
 
 Prom the nature of the country, the construction of such a 
 Tram-way would be of simple and inexpensive character. 
 There do not appear to be any engineering difficulties to 
 
 [* This coast has since been transferred to Egypt, as is mentioned 
 in page lo4.]
 
 302 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 encounter or heavy works to construct. From a comparison 
 of the measurements of various travellers who have ascended 
 the Nile, the elevation of the bed of the river at El Mukheir- 
 rift", just below the junction of the Atbara, is 1082 English 
 feet above the sea. This, on the estimated length of 225 
 statute miles, gives rather less than 5 feet per mile, or about 
 1 in 1000, for the general inclination from west to east be- 
 tween the two extremities of the line. The intervening 
 country partakes, more or less, of this general inclination, 
 without being traversed by mountain-ranges, or indeed by any 
 elevation of importance in the line of the proposed com- 
 munication. 
 
 This latter point is established by the peculiar natural cha- 
 racter of the locality. The river Atbara (the ancient Asta- 
 boras) receives, at a short distance above its junction with the 
 Nile, a tributary called Khor-el- Crash, which, though in the 
 dry season it ceases almost if not entirely to flow, spreads its 
 waters during the rains over the flat country of Taka or El- 
 Gash, situate to the south-west of Suwakin, at a short distance 
 from the sea-coast. These waters when at their highest find 
 two outlets, the one being north-west towards the river Atbara, 
 while the other turns off" north-eastward to the Eed Sea, near 
 ISuwakin*. 
 
 In the year 1852 two Erench travellers, MM. de Malzac 
 and Vayssiere, following the course of the valley running from 
 Eillik in the north of Taka to Tokiir, a Turkish military post 
 about thirty miles south of Suwakin, found it to carry down to 
 the Eed Sea during the rains a portion of the waters from 
 Taka. It is evidently this valley which is intended by M. 
 Linant, the Pasha of Egypt's engineer- in-chief, who, when 
 alluding, in a conversation with Sir John Bowring (see his ' Ee- 
 
 * This remarkable fact, which affords an instance of the natural 
 phenomenon of the bifurcation of a river high up its course, as exem- 
 plified in the Cassiqmaro of South America, was known to the Egyp- 
 tian geographer Artemidorus more than 2000 years ago.
 
 TllAM-ROAD FROM SUWAKIN TO THE COTTON-FIELDS. 303 
 
 port on Egyjjt and Candia'), to the Abyssinian tradition tliat 
 art might stop the course of a portion of the waters of tlie 
 Nile or direct them into a difierent channel, expressed the 
 opinion that the Atbara might easily be turned into the Red 
 Sea at Suwakin, for the reason that it passes over plains and 
 sands, and that the remains of a bed or canal, already traced 
 by human hands, exist from the river to the coast*. 
 
 This, then, appears to afford the natural course for a road 
 from the sea-coast upwards as far as tlie plains. Once arrived 
 there, the entire country through which the Nile, the Atbara, 
 and the Khor-el-Grash flow, is so perfectly flat, that the full of 
 the Nile has been ascertained to be only 8 inches per mile, 
 which is equivalent to an inclination of 1 in 7500, being prac- 
 tically a dead level. 
 
 Such, approximatively, would be the line of the proposed 
 Tram-way. Its precise course has to be determined by means 
 of a special and accurate survey. 
 
 The country which the Tram-road is intended to serve has 
 next to be considered. It is, in a general way, that portion of 
 North-eastern Africa contiguous to the shores of the Eed Sea, 
 lying south of Egypt and Nubia and within the limits of the 
 tropical rains. By the ancients it was called " Ethiopia above 
 Egypt" — though this designation comprised also the country 
 lying more to the south, now known as Abyssinia, to which, 
 how^ever, on the present occasion it is unnecessary to allude 
 further. 
 
 Though for ages past these regions have remained neglected 
 and almost unknown, it is nevertheless certain that in former 
 
 * The celebrated Albuquerque proposed to draw oft' the waters of 
 the Nile in this direction, so as to prevent their flowing down into 
 Egypt. The particidars of this scheme are related in my work, ' Tlie 
 Sources of the Nile,' p. 89 seq. [At the Meeting of the British 
 Association for the Advancement of Science at Nottingham in 18GG, 
 I read, in Section E, on August 22nd, a paper " On the Possibility of 
 Diverting the Waters of the Nile into the Eed Sea."]
 
 304 APPENDIX. 
 
 times they were famous for the cotton they produced. lu 
 proof of this it will be sufBcient to refer to Pliny, who in his 
 ' Natural History ' tells us that " Ethiopia, the country ad- 
 joining Egypt, possesses scarcely any trees of importance, 
 except those bearing wool," — a statement which the writer 
 explains in a subsequent passage, where he says more expli- 
 citly that " the higher parts of Egypt, towards Arabia, pro- 
 duce a certain shrub or bush, which some call gossypium and 
 others xylon, whence the flax made from it is called xylina {i. e. 
 tree-flax). This plant is but small, and it bears a fruit re- 
 sembling a filbert, from the inner cocoon {homhyx) of which is 
 spun a downy thread, with which there is nothing comparable 
 for whiteness or softness. Hence, garments made of it are 
 much esteemed by the Egyptian priests." 
 
 In Egypt it is traditional that, from time immemorial, there 
 has existed in the regions whence flow the waters of the Nile a 
 fine quality of cotton, only known from the specimens of native 
 manufacture occasionally brought to Cairo by the gellahs or 
 slave-dealers, some of which are very beautiful and of the 
 purest white, the weft-yarn being equal to the count of No. 80, 
 and the warp to that of No. 120. 
 
 It does not appear, however, that any use was made of the 
 cotton of Ethiopia as an article of commerce till about forty 
 years ago, when the following remarkable occurrence took 
 place : — 
 
 " A Turkish officer named Maho Bey, who had been go- 
 vernor of Dongola and Sennar, and who had brought down 
 various seeds of Ethiopic plants, which he cultivated in his 
 garden at Cairo, about the year 1820 received a friendly visit 
 from M. Jumel (a Frenchman well known in New York, where 
 he resided some years) ; and in the course of his hospitalities, 
 Maho Bey took him round the garden. The attention of Jumel 
 was attracted by the appearance of a tree bearing cotton-pods, 
 whose growth and produce were equally new to him ; but, with- 
 out saying anything which might raise Maho Bey's suspicions
 
 TRAM-ROAD FROM SUWAKIN TO THE COTTON-FIELDS. 305 
 
 as to the value of the (liecovery, Jumel gleaned all the iufor- 
 mation the Bey possessed on the subject, and procured from 
 him some seeds of the same plant. 
 
 " Jumel made his calculations, and presented to the Pasha a 
 project for increasing his revenues, for which he asked 20,000 
 dollars. The Pasha consented, if the scheme should succeed. 
 But, after many delays, Jumel was compelled to seek less bril- 
 liant but more solid residts. Associating himself with a Cairo 
 merchant, they took a small lot of ground at the village of 
 Matereeyeh, near the Obelisk of Heliopolis, and commenced a 
 small plantation. The produce in 1820 was three bales, which 
 were shipped to Trieste [or, according to another account, to 
 Marseilles] ; and the advices were highly satisfactory. New 
 arrangements were made. Jumel took the direction of the 
 cotton-plantations, which at this time Avere established on the 
 Pasha's account throughout Lower Egypt ; and, buoyed up 
 with magnificent illusions of personal benefit, he brought large 
 territories into cultivation, continuing for three years these 
 operations. 
 
 " The time came, however, when, having hrought to the Pasha 
 a mighty increase of revenue, and having thereby mainly contri- 
 buted to his subsequent aggrandizement, Jumel sought to realize 
 his long-cherished hopes ; but, partaking of the lot of most of 
 those Europeans who have served Mohammed Ali with fidelity, 
 he was flattered, harassed, and deluded, till, in 1824, he died 
 insolvent, or little better 
 
 "The year 1822 produced about 30,000 cantars of the 
 ' Jumel ' cotton, the staple of which was remarkably fine, but 
 more unequal and less clean than that of the ensuing years. 
 Eude presses were constructed for packing the cotton at the 
 villages ; but as the machinery was defective, some of the 
 Alexandrian merchants brought hydraulic presses, with which 
 they caused the bales to be pressed again aboard the respective 
 ships"*. 
 
 * Gliddon's ' Memoir on the Cotton of Egypt,' pp. ll-lo.
 
 30G APPENDIX. 
 
 After this, the cultivatiou of Ethiopian cotton increased so 
 rapidly in Egypt, that in the year 1824 the quantity exported, 
 being the growth of the preceding year (1823), amounted to 
 148,276 bales of 219 lbs. each, or ujowards of thirty-two mil- 
 lions of pounds ; which, at the government price of that year 
 (S15^ per cantar), represented no less a sum than £848,479 
 sterling ! And this was the produce of an exotic plant, of 
 which a stranger had accidentally seen a specimen growing iu 
 a garden at Cairo only three years previously ! 
 
 The rapid increase in the growth of cotton in America has 
 been frequently made the subject of remark. But what was it 
 compared with that of the " Jumel " cotton ? In America, 
 1200 lbs. were first produced in the year 1784. In 1802, the 
 yield only amounted to twenty-seven millions of pounds. That 
 is to say, the American cotton-trade had not in eighteen years 
 increased so much as that of Ethiopian cotton in Egypt in 
 only three years. Had the latter trade gone on increasing in 
 the ratio in which it began, it would ere long have equalled 
 that in American cotton at the present day. But, like most 
 branches of industry under Mohammed Ali Pasha, it soon 
 retrograded ; though, from a report made by Mr. G. E. Hay- 
 wood, Secretary of the Cotton Supply Association, when in 
 Egypt on his way to India, which appeared in ' The Times ' of 
 August 16th last, the export of Egyptian cotton, which in 
 1856-1857 was only 91,572 bales, has in the season of 1860- 
 1861 increased to 142,759 bales, or nearly equal to what it was 
 in 1824. 
 
 There can be no doubt that, by improved cultivation and by 
 affording facilities to the growers, the production of cotton in 
 Lower Egypt might be largely extended. But the present 
 Viceroy expressed to INIr. Haywood his fears that " he would 
 not have it in his power to do much directly to induce an ex- 
 tensive cultivation " of that article, adding significantly that 
 " when the fellah or cultivator found cotton to pay him better 
 than any other crop, he was now ready from self-interest to
 
 TRAM-ROAD FROM SUWAKIN TO THE COTTON-FIELDS. 307 
 
 grow as mucli as possible ; " which implied also that, as loug as 
 other crops paid better than cotton, they were not likely to 
 be abandoned merely for the sake of supplying our manufac- 
 turers. 
 
 In Egypt, where the cotton-plant is an exotic, its culture 
 is entirely artificial, besides having to compete with other' 
 articles of produce which are of absolute necessity. In 
 Ethiopia above Egypt, on the contrary, where it is indigenous, 
 it flourishes even without the need of cultivation, and its 
 production, with comparatively little labour or attention, 
 might be rendered almost unlimited. The quality, too, is of 
 the finest kind; for it is here that Maho Bey obtained the 
 seeds from which the " Jumel " cotton was raised in Lower 
 Egypt. 
 
 Without seeking to ascertain what extent of country within 
 or near the dominions of tlie Viceroy of Egypt might be made 
 to produce cotton for the European markets, it will be 
 sufficient for the purposes of the projected Ethiopian Railway 
 to look merely to the productive powers of the country of 
 Taka, which has already been repeatedly named, and of the 
 neighbouring peninsula or "island" of Meroe or Atbara, 
 between the river of that name and the JSTile. 
 
 In modern times Taka was first visited in the year 1814 b}' 
 the traveller Burckhardt, wlio gives the following particulars 
 respecting it : — " The country of Taka, or, as it is called by its 
 inhabitants, El Crash, is famous all over these countries for its 
 extreme fertility. The reason why Taka is so fertile and has 
 become so populous is, its regular inundation. About the 
 latter end of June, or sometimes not till July — for the period 
 does not seem so fixed as that of the rise of the Nile — large 
 torrents coming from the S. and S.E. pour over the country, 
 and in the space of a few weeks (or according to some in eight 
 days) cover the whole surface with a sheet of water, varying 
 in depth from 2 to 3 feet ; these torrents are said to lose 
 themselves in the eastern plain, after inundating the country ;
 
 308 APPENDIX. 
 
 but the waters remain upwards of a montli in Taka, and, 
 if I am to believe the reports of several persons who had 
 seen the Nile and could draw a comparison, the waters on 
 subsiding leave a thick slime or mud upon the surface, similar 
 to that left by the Nile" *. 
 
 A more recent traveller, M. Werne, speaks in the following 
 terms of the great fertility of Taka, and the nature of the 
 principal articles which it produces : — " The cotton-plantations 
 about the camp at Aronga [near Kassela-el-Lus] are of con- 
 siderable extent, and, notwithstanding the present drought, 
 look healthy and of a fresh green, with which there is nothing 
 to compare. Still, for so large a nation as the Haddendas, 
 tliese plantations are but trifling, when compared with the 
 
 great extent of the durraf fields But what might not 
 
 be cultivated in, and produced by, this splendid country, 
 which — through the moisture caused by brooks springing out 
 of the earth, and through its regular yearly irrigation by rain, 
 and by the inundation of the streams which descend from the 
 Abyssinian mountains — is so exceedingly fertile that, in spite 
 of violent storms and the frequent catching fire of the woods, 
 it brings forth in an instant (as it were) trees of considerable 
 size, durra — without manure or cultivation — 15 and 20 feet in 
 height, with full ears sixteen and eighteen fold, and Cotton 
 which (/rows ^i feet in a single year ! And yet, what does this 
 country produce at present ? Nothing but this durra and 
 
 cotton, and a few small beans ! But all kinds of grain 
 
 would doubtless flourish here, so that this country might 
 become the granary of Hedjaz, which province is entirely 
 destitute of corn, and is only saved from famine by the 
 gratuitous supply of the entire yearly crops of the neighbour- 
 hood of Kenneh, or, when these are insufficient, of those of 
 the districts of Siut and Manfalliit in Egypt, Indigo, too, 
 might be grown here quite as well as in Egypt, where its 
 
 * * Travels in Nubia,' pp. 348-.')49. 
 
 t Durra, Down, a .species of Sortjlann.
 
 TRAM-ROAD FROM SUWAKIN TO THE COTTON-FI KLOS. 309 
 
 cultivation is considerable; so also rice and sugar, wliicli 
 latter article, on account of the quantity of wood that grow« 
 here, might easily be refined, whereas, at present, it has to be 
 brought from India; likewise tobacco, oil, flax, &c. The 
 cultivation of the date-palm might also be made a matter of 
 
 great importance At present almost the only dealings 
 
 are in honey, butter, and durra, which articles are exchanged 
 for salt with the people living near the Red Sea; but the 
 trade might be extended to a great many other articles. The 
 herds of cattle, which even now are numerous, and might witli 
 a little attention be very much increased, as their keep is so 
 easy, would furnish hides for sale without number ; whilst, by 
 improving the breed of the sheep, no small profit might be 
 derived from their wool, thoixgh at present their flesh alone is 
 made use of But, above all, Cotton tcool might he ren- 
 dered a most important article of commerce, tJwugli its present 
 insignificant cultivation does not even suffice for the home con- 
 sumption. When it is seen how plentifully and how leautifullg 
 this plant grows, even with the present careless cultivation, it 
 is easy to imagine lohat immense quantities might he produced if 
 more attention were paid to it. Here there is no need, as in 
 Egypt, to provide for its regular irrigation — in itself an immense 
 labour ; in addition to tvliich, the greater part of the inhabitants 
 know something at least of its treatment, which is an incalculable 
 advantage for a people who are so wedded to their primitive 
 customs, habits, and occupations'^*. 
 
 As regards the country beyond Taka to the west, it is 
 described by a recent traveller, Mr. Hamilton, in equally 
 favourable terms : — " The Island of Meroe presents a uniform 
 character ; its surface is formed by an immensel}' thick layer 
 of alluvial soil, which only requires irrigation in order to yield 
 larger crops of every valuable production of a warm climate 
 than the whole of Egypt can supply. The two rivers seem 
 intended to feed a network of canals, which would transform 
 * '■ Feldzug nacli Semiaar/ kc, pp. 00-102.
 
 310 APPENDIX. 
 
 the desert into a paradise ; bi;t for such an end capital, 
 industry, and intelligence are all wanted. Cotton, sugar, 
 wheat, and indigo may all be successfully cultivated here, 
 especially the first and last, which grow wild. The regularity 
 of the climate seems to promise a certainty of unfailing crops 
 of these articles, and to render this the most favourable 
 country in the world for their production"*. 
 
 In another place Mr. Hamilton says : — " Throughout this 
 country I have found the natives, though very timid, good- 
 natured and obliging when caught ; but to catch them is not 
 easy. They are certainly a very superior race to the Egyptain 
 fellah, — superior in communicative intelligence, and untainted 
 Avith his shameless rapacity. I do not remember to have been 
 asked for a hacJcshish in the whole of Soudan ; and what was 
 given was always received with frank thanks, as if welcome but 
 not due. A more humane government is all that is wanting to 
 raise this country to a state of great prosperity. The Atlara 
 is full of islands, offering thousands of acres of the richest land 
 to cultivation almost without lahour ; and a netioorh of canals in- 
 tersecting the Island of JSIeroe, the triangle formed hg the Atbara, 
 the Raliad, and the Nile, looiild more than double the productive 
 soil of EgypV-X. 
 
 If, then, the late Mohammed Ali Pasha, within the short 
 period of three years, was able to create (even though by un- 
 justifiable means) a yearly revenue of nearly a million sterling 
 from the growth in Lower Egypt of "Ethiopian" Cotton, it 
 cannot be doubted that the present Viceroy, Said Pasha, might 
 derive a much larger income from these southern provinces, 
 were the cultivation of their indigenous Cotton and that of the 
 other productions of their fertile soil properly fostered, and 
 the transport of the produce itself to the sea-coast facilitated 
 by means of a road such as is proposed. 
 
 The formation of this line of transport would have another 
 
 * ' Sinai, the Hedjaz aud Soudan/ p. 369. t I^id p. 280.
 
 TRAM-ROAD FROM SUWAKIN TO THE COTTON-FILLDS. 311 
 
 most important and beneficial result. It would soon become 
 
 the channel for the commerce of Sennar and the surrounding 
 
 countries, and would eventually bring into connexion Avith the 
 
 sea-coast the most extensive, most fertile, and most populous 
 
 regions of Intertropical Africa. 
 
 The distance of Khartum, on the Nile, from the shores of 
 
 the Eed Sea, is little more than 400 miles, through a fertile 
 
 and weU-watered country ; whereas from Egypt it is double the 
 
 distance, by a desert and difficult road. Khartum itself is on 
 
 the high road to Central Africa ; and it is a fact pregnant with 
 
 inferences, that the greatest movement of the population of 
 
 Africa is from east to west and from west to east — pilgrims 
 
 from the remotest regions of Western and North-western 
 
 Africa traversing the entire breadth of the continent on their 
 
 way to and from the Caaba and the tomb of their prophet and 
 
 lawgiver. This is, indeed, the road which has unalterably been 
 
 trodden during countless ages ; for it existed long before the 
 
 time of Mohammed. The pilgrims who frequent Mecca are 
 
 almost of necessity merchants, trading from place to place, 
 
 often as the sole means of enabling them to perform their 
 
 journey. It is by this means that the Mohammedan religion 
 
 has attained its great development throughout Central Africa — 
 
 not by any zealous and expensive, or, indeed intentional, propa- 
 
 gandism, but by the casual communication between these 
 
 Moslem merchant pilgrims and the rude pagans through 
 
 whose countries their route happens to pass ; and it is by the 
 
 same simple means that our manufactures, and with them 
 
 eventually our civilization and our religion, will find their 
 
 way into the heart of Africa. 
 
 Charles Beke. 
 Bekesbourne House, Kent, 
 
 1st October, 1861.
 
 312 APPENDIX. 
 
 III. 
 
 Letter from Consul Cameron to the Emperor of 
 Abyssinia. 
 
 [Referred to in pag-e 71.] 
 
 Godjam, Abyssinia, 
 Mat it please tour Majesty, October 22, 1862. 
 
 I have bad the honour to receive your Majesty's 
 
 message of this moruing, informing me that I had better 
 
 leave at once for Massowah, in order to ascertain, for your 
 
 Majesty's information, whether I would be able or not to pass 
 
 certain Ambassadors or messengers, whom yoa are anxious to 
 
 send to England. 
 
 On this point I believe myself justified in repeating the 
 reply I made to your Majesty on the same subject in my last 
 interview, viz., that if Egypt was at war with your Majesty, it 
 would be impossible to pass such Ambassadors or messengers 
 through without her consent ; if, on the contrary, there was 
 peace, that I could conceive no possible obstacle. 
 
 I wiR, however, send a messenger immediately to Aden, 
 informing the Resident there of your intention, and request- 
 ing him to send you an answer direct in Arabic, without 
 reference to me. 
 
 Your Majesty ought, however, now to inform me of the 
 number of people of which your Majesty's Embassy, if 
 it goes, will consist, the exact date at which it will be at 
 Massowah, or, if you wish, Halai, and the character of the 
 presents they are to take, — as, if there are any horses intended 
 to be sent (as I hear), it will be necessary for me to write this 
 beforehand, so as to insure accommodation, if indeed it is 
 possible to afford accommodation, on board a steamer. 
 
 It might be desirable, too, to speak with me as to the objects 
 of the Embassy, supposing them to be more than what you 
 told me loosely the other day, viz. to appeal to England with 
 regard to certain differences between yourself and Turkey, as
 
 . CONSUL CAMERON TO THE EMPEROR, OCT. 22n1), 18G2. 313 
 
 also Egypt. We might then consult on those differences, 
 before your taking so serious a step as to bring theiu before 
 an European Power. 
 
 My being an European, and one versed in some degree in 
 public affairs as conducted among us, may perhaps assist you. 
 
 Besides which, I may remind your Majesty that my appoint- 
 ment has obhged me to think much over everything connected 
 with Abyssinia. 
 
 If your Majesty wishes much business to be done by talk- 
 ing, it would be fitting to choose such a person as the head of 
 the Embassy as may be thoroughly versed in the matters to 
 be spoken about, and one who would give a favourable opinion 
 of the intelligence and civilization of your people, as well as of 
 your Majesty's character, both of which have been greatly mis- 
 represented by your Majesty's enemies. 
 
 The accompanying retinue also ought to be the smallest 
 possible, a sufficient retinue being always to be obtained in 
 England. I would say that one or at most two heads of the 
 Em.bassy, and an interj^reter, with a Secretary if necessary, 
 would be amply sufficient, each with a single native servant. 
 
 Having given your Majesty my opinion with regard to an 
 Embassy, as far as I can do so in writing, there is only one 
 point further to discuss with your Majesty, viz., whether your 
 Majesty wishes to avail yourself of my being here to make out 
 a draft of a treaty for the consideration of my Queen ; which, 
 if your Majesty thinks proper, can be signed conditionally, 
 and notice of it now sent on by me, while the draft itself, with 
 the provisional signatures, can accompany your Ambassador. 
 
 I have a copy of the treaty made through Eas Ali with the 
 former Emperor, which can be made the base of such a docu- 
 ment, if your Majesty wishes ; and I now send it you, with 
 certain alterations, for your Majesty's consideration. 
 
 As I am anxious to finish whatever I have to say to your 
 Majesty in this letter, as far as I can do so in writing, I may 
 observe at once that I know that the points on which your 
 
 Y 2
 
 314 APPENDIX. 
 
 Majesty made a difficulty in your conversation witli Mr. Plow- 
 den on this subject were : — 
 
 1. The acceptance of a Consul. 
 
 2. If he were accepted, whether he should have jurisdiction 
 as agreed in the former Emperor's treaty. 
 
 On the first point, I can only ask your Majesty whether 
 Mr. Plowden's stay liere was not a positive advantage, in so 
 far as he acted as a mediator and friend generally, but parti- 
 cularly as a protector to the unfortunate Abyssinian tribes laid 
 open to Egypt, while those who ought to have looked after 
 them were cutting each other's throats ; whether be did not 
 testify bis anxiety by word and deed tbat your Majesty, as 
 the most noble and enlightened of Abyssinian Chiefs, should 
 become sole master ; lastly, whether he ever showed a disposi- 
 tion to do anything contrary to the interest, honour, or inde- 
 pendence of Abyssinia. 
 
 Some arrangement at any rate on this point will be 
 necessary, if your Majesty really wishes to keep up a close 
 friendship with England. I feel certain, too, that if Englisli 
 artisans were to come here, as I have heard is your Majesty's 
 wish, it would he impossible for them to stay unless there ivas 
 an officer of some kind, either Envoy or Consul, to look after 
 them. 
 
 It would be well if, now that there is an opportunity, your 
 Majesty gave a frank decision on this subject, particularly as 
 your Majesty has now had many years to think it over. 
 
 As regards a Consul's flying a flag, this is by no means 
 necessary ; nor would my Grovernment even wisb it, if, as I 
 bear, your people might misunderstand it. 
 
 In regard to jurisdiction by a Consul, this is in your 
 Majesty's bands, not ours, to decide. England wants to 
 ensure justice and good treatment to her subjects, and nothing 
 more. 
 
 If your Majesty can explain to our Government Avhat I 
 believe to be your Majesty's opinion, viz. that such separate
 
 CONSUL CAMERON TO THE EMPEROR, OCT. 22nD, 1862. 315 
 
 jurisdiction would be impossible to carry out, and is also un- 
 necessary where the laws are so mild as in Abyssinia*, this 
 would be sufficient for the present. 
 
 But it seems to me that a few hours' conversation would 
 settle these matters either one way or the other. 
 
 As your Majesty is now by Grod's grace master of Shoa, I 
 would gladly know whether your Majesty has any intention of 
 opening a trade through Zeyla in opposition to Massowah. 
 In the meantime, I can only point it out to your Majesty as 
 worthy of attention. 
 
 If I could have some assurance with regard to the stopping 
 of the Slave Trade in this country, which has again been 
 opened (I believe) without your Majesty's knowledge, I feel 
 certain that satisfactory information on that point would 
 be received with much pleasure by my Government. 
 
 A clause in the treaty on this subject would be still better. 
 
 I can only thank your Majesty now for the courteous 
 manner in which your Majesty has received the presents I 
 brought, of which, as well as of the distinguished manner in 
 which I have hitherto been treated, I shall write immediately 
 to England. 
 
 It is my duty, however, to add that, if your Majesty wishes 
 me to stay until I have finished everything thoroughly, I can 
 dismiss my people if they are too many for a camp, and stay 
 till you have quite done with me. 
 
 I owe it to my Government to tell you this. 
 
 I am now about to write to the Pasha of Massowah, telling 
 him that if he commits any aggression on those under your 
 Majesty's rule from where he is on the coast, I feel certain 
 that his conduct will be greatly disapproved of by my Govern- 
 ment. 
 
 Iioill also write to my Government, mentioning your Majesty s 
 wise resolution not to give either Egypt or Turkey any ground 
 
 * [It must always be borne in mind that the Roman ' ('ivil Law ' 
 is the law of Abyssinia. — C. B.]
 
 31G APPENDIX. 
 
 for attack, which I feel sure icill do much to confirm its opinion 
 of your Ifajestfs prudence as well as courage. 
 
 Tour Majesty has many enemies besides the Turks and 
 Egyptians, who will rejoice in putting your Majesty in the 
 wrong, and who will rejoice especially if your Majesty gives 
 them an opportunity of doing so. 
 
 I have the honour, &c. 
 
 lY. 
 
 Four Letters from Dr. Beke to Earl Russell, K.G., 
 Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated respectively 
 May I9th, and July 7th, 2lst, and 22nd, 1865. 
 
 [Keferred to in pages 18 and 161.] 
 
 My Lord, May 19th, 1865. 
 
 In the letter which I had the honour to address to 
 your Lordship on the 29th ultimo, I took the liberty of sug- 
 gesting that if the existing difficulties in the way of obtaining 
 the liberation of the British captives in Abyssinia could not 
 be directly met, they might, at all events, be turned ; and at 
 the interview with which I was favoured by your Lordship on 
 the 8th instant, I briefly stated the course which, in my 
 hiimble opinion, ought to be adopted. 
 
 Tour Lordship seemed, however, disposed to leave the busi- 
 ness still in the hands of Mr. Eassam. 
 
 Should all the endeavours of that gentleman prove un- 
 availing, the time will at length arrive when, unless it be 
 determined to abandon the captives to their fate. Her Ma- 
 jesty's Government must decide on adopting some other 
 measures. 
 
 It would scarcely be consistent with the dignity of the
 
 DR. BEKE TO EARL RUSSELL^ MAY 19tII, 1865. 317 
 
 Britisli nation that a Mission on a larger and more magnificent 
 scale than that of Mr. Eassam's should now replace it ; for, as 
 your Lordship argued in the House of Lords, when replying 
 to Lord Chelmsford's inquiry, " The obvious inference would 
 be, that the way to obtain consideration and respect from this 
 country would be to imprison one of our Consuls." 
 
 On the other hand, it is not to be expected the British 
 Grovernment will go to war with the Emperor of Abyssinia 
 for the purpose of compelling him to set the captives free. 
 
 It would therefore really appear that there remains no 
 practical method of surmounting the difficulty except by 
 adopting a totally different line of conduct towards the 
 refractory Monarch ; and, with your Lordship's permission, I 
 would now presume to state in detail the course which, in my 
 humble judgment, it would be advisable to pursue in order to 
 render him amenable to reason without, at the same time, com- 
 promising the British Grovernment or afiectiug the dignity of 
 the British nation. 
 
 It is now well understood that the Emperor Theodore's ill- 
 treatment of Her Majesty's Consul and the other European 
 prisoners has been mainly caused by the altered policy of the 
 British Government with respect to the relations between 
 Egypt and Abyssinia, and that the Abyssinian Monarch hopes 
 to induce Her Majesty's Government to retrace their steps 
 and to continue to afford him material aid against his enemies 
 as was virtually done while Mr. Consul Plowden was alive, 
 that officer having been an active partisan of the Emperor, and 
 having lost his life while bearing arms in his cause. 
 
 Circumstanced as England is with Egypt, it is impossible for 
 the British Government to hold out to the Emperor Theodore 
 the hope of his receiving the further countenance of this 
 country in his disputes with Egypt, or of his obtaining mate- 
 rial aid in any other respect, although the transmission to 
 Massowah of 500 stand of arms as a ransom for Her Majesty's 
 Consul might, by some persons, and even by the Egyptian
 
 818 APPENDIX. 
 
 Government, be looked on as doing covertly what would be 
 repudiated openly. 
 
 Nevertheless it would not be difficult, I believe, to make 
 the Abyssinian Monarch understand that by the policy now 
 proposed to be pursued towards him by the British Govern- 
 ment, and recommended for his adoption, he might eventually 
 attain the object he has so much at heart, inasmuch as by the 
 cultivation of the arts of peace he would so aggrandize himself 
 as to be able to cope effectually with his powerful neighbour, — 
 leaving it, however, to the progress of events to guide his 
 judgment as to whether the continuance of peace would not be 
 more conducive to the permanent prosperity of himself, his 
 dynasty, and his people, than a war which might result in the 
 ruin and destruction of them all. 
 
 In the first place, then, I would represent to the Emperor 
 Theodore that the immense increase of power and influence 
 among European nations acquired by Egypt during the last 
 few years had chiefly arisen from the extension given to the 
 cultivation of cotton within the territories of the Viceroy ; and 
 I would represent to His Majesty that the plant which has 
 thus suddenly caused the wealth of Egypt was introduced into 
 that country from Upper Ethiopia only forty years ago, and 
 that within his own dominions there are tracts of land more 
 extensive than the whole of the cotton-grounds of Egypt, and 
 far more fitted than the latter for the growth of the cotton 
 plant, not only as being its native country, but also as lying 
 within the limits of the tropical rains, and thus rendering 
 unnecessary the great trouble and expense of artificial irriga- 
 tion. And I would hope to have it in my power to convince 
 the Sovereign of Abyssinia tliat if he desires to equal, or even 
 to surpass, the Viceroy of Egypt in power, he miist first seek to 
 augment the material wealth and prosperity of his country and 
 its inhabitants, by means similar to those so successfully 
 adopted by the latter Potentate. 
 
 I would further represent to the Emperor of Abyssinia that
 
 DR. BEKE TO EARL RUSSELL, MAY 19tII, 18G5. 31<J 
 
 he possesses within hia country other sources of wealth far 
 greater than any enjoyed by the Euler of Egypt, such, in fact, 
 as have so largely contributed to make England what she is. 
 These are iron and coal. 
 
 The former article is well known to exist in unlimited quan- 
 tities tlxroughout the whole of Abyssinia, and in so pure a 
 state as to require little more than " rolliug out," it being 
 used by the native smiths in the manufacture of weapons of 
 war and of agricultural and domestic implements. 
 
 The existence of coal in various parts of Abyssinia has long 
 been asserted by travellers in that country — by myself as far 
 back as 1840, when I reported on the subject to Captain 
 Haines, then Political Agent at Aden ; but it is only within 
 the last few years that this has been establislied as a fact. In 
 communications more recently made by me to the Board of 
 Trade, and thence referred to your Lordship's Department, it 
 is shown that coal of good quality exists within the district of 
 Galeila, at a short distance from the entrance to the Red Sea ; 
 and there is reason for believing that it was the knowledge of 
 the existence of this coal so near to the sea-shore that induced 
 the French Government in 18G2 to acquire possession of 
 Obokh, on the Abyssinian coast, just outside the Straits of 
 Babelmandeb. 
 
 But without taking into consideration this coal-field of 
 Galeila, or others which are said to stretch along the line of 
 coast northwards nearly to Massowah, and also south of the 
 Bay of Tadjurrah, below the eastern flank of the high tableland 
 of Shoa — all of which, though in common parlance said to be 
 situate in Abyssinia, can hardly be regarded as lying within 
 dominions of the Emperor Theodore — there is one extensive 
 field which not only is situate in the heart of those dominions, 
 but has been worked by the Emperor himself during several 
 years past. 
 
 This coal-field lies at a distance of about fifty miles from 
 Gondar, tlio capital of Abyssinia, and has been described by
 
 320 APPENDIX. 
 
 several Europeans who have visited it. Eor a length of about 
 three miles along the right bank of the River Gwang (the 
 upper course of the Atbara), six seams of coal crop out, each 
 having a uniform thickness of from 10 to 15 feet, the quality of 
 the coal being very good, and fit for ordinary steam and other 
 purposes, though, from its rapid combustion, it might not be 
 suited for steam -vessels going long sea-voyages. Nor, w^ere 
 the quality fit, could it, like the Galeila coal, be rendered 
 available for steamers in the Indian seas, as it lies at a dis- 
 tance of at least 200 miles from the sea-shore. 
 
 At present the only use made of this coal appears to be in 
 the Imperial founderies, in vs^hich the European artisan 
 missionaries and others are employed iu casting mortars and 
 shells, and in constructing other implements of war. But it 
 may well be conceived what a mine of wealth is here present, 
 if the Emperor and his people could be brought to appreciate 
 it at its true value, and to apply it to useful purposes. 
 
 As by means of the cultivation of cotton in Abyssinia the 
 Emperor Theodore might be shown how he could cope with 
 Egypt, so by the proper application of the produce of his iron 
 and coal mines, he might be led to the hope of being eventually 
 able to rival even England herself. And if once brought to 
 entertain such ideas, and wliilst awaiting their realization, he 
 might without difficulty be induced to see how he could lay 
 both nations under obligation, and in a manner make them de- 
 pendent on his favour, by permitting a line of electric telegraph 
 to be carried across his dominions. 
 
 The Viceroy of Egypt is engaged in constructing a telegraph 
 line from Cairo up the valley of the Nile as far as Khartum, 
 the capital of the province of Sennar, with a branch to Kas- 
 selah, the capital of the province of Taka ; by means of which 
 not only will those remote possessions in the south be placed 
 in immediate connexion with the seat of Government, but, from 
 tlie fact that this line is a prolongation of tliat already existing 
 between Egypt and Europe, it will result that about three-
 
 DR. liEKE TO EARL RUSSELL, MAY IOtII, 18(55, 321 
 
 fifths of a telcgi'apliic communication between England and 
 India (London and Ivurracliee), by way of the Red Sea, will 
 thereby be established. 
 
 Before this plan of the Viceroy of Egypt was known, I liad 
 suggested to Her Majesty's Government, in a ' Memoran- 
 dum on the means of developing British commerce within the 
 Red Sea, and of securing the communication between England 
 and India,' dated November 12th, 1862, and submitted to your 
 Lordship on the 27th of the same month, that the wires of the 
 Eed Sea telegraph line from India should be continued from 
 the Straits of Babelmandeb, northward along the Abyssinian 
 coast as far as Suwakin, and thence carried inland to Berber on 
 the Nile, and so up the bank of that river to Cairo — thus 
 forming a land-line the whole way from Babelmandeb to 
 Alexandria, entirely over Turkish and Egyptian territory. 
 
 But taking into consideration the great stride which the 
 Viceroy of Egypt is making in the desired direction — bearing 
 also in mind the advance which during the last few years the 
 Emperor Theodore has made towards the east and south-east 
 by the conquest and annexation of the territories of the King 
 of Shoa and the Chiefs of the WoUo Gallas — and having regard 
 likewise to the hold which the Government of India, through 
 Aden, is gaining on the Abyssinian coast, in consequence of 
 the acquisition recently made by a British subject of the 
 Galeila coal-field, as also of the settlement of the French at 
 Obokh, I am now decidedly of opinion that the telegraphic 
 communication between England and India, through Egypt 
 and Aden, should and might easily be efiected by continuing 
 the Egyptian line from Khartum across Abyssinia to the sea- 
 coast, in the immediate vicinity of the Island of Perim, and 
 thence to Aden. 
 
 On the accompanying map I have marked the proposed line 
 of telegraph ; and in explanation of the same I would beg leave 
 to state that the entire distance between Khartum and Aden
 
 322 APPENDIX. 
 
 is (in round numbers) 850 geographical miles, wbicli distance 
 may be divided into four portions. 
 
 Of the first of these, being from Khartum to Kalabat, on the 
 western frontier of Abyssinia, the length is 250 miles ; the 
 next, from Kalabat to Dowe, the great market-place on the 
 eastern edge of the Abyssinian tableland, has a length of 300 
 miles ; the third, from Dowe, across the country of the Dankali 
 ti'ibes, to the shore of the Red Sea opposite Perim, is 200 miles ; 
 whilst the last portion, from Perim to Aden, is 100 miles. 
 
 The condition of these several portions of the line is very 
 different. The first, between Khartum and Kalabat, and the 
 last, between Perim and Aden, forming together 350 miles, or 
 about tvro-fifths of the whole length, would be respectively 
 Egyptian and British ; no further remarks, therefore, are re- 
 quisite as regards them. Of the remaining 500 miles, the third 
 portion, between the sea-coast and the eastern edge of the 
 Abyssinian tableland, being 200 miles in length, may be re- 
 garded as being so far under the influence, if not the absolute 
 control, of the British Grovernor of Aden on the one hand, 
 and of the Emperor of Abyssinia on the other, that between 
 tlie two, the road might be kept open as securely as it is among 
 the tribes occupying the regions through which passes the 
 Euphrates Valley Telegraph line to India. 
 
 As regards the second portion, of 300 miles, across Abyssinia 
 itself, the road is already marked out by Nature and by the 
 experience of the natives. It runs from Kalabat, by AVekhni, 
 Grondar, and Debra Tabor, and thence, over the warter-parting 
 between the rivers Takkazie and Bashilo, to Magdala, the im- 
 pregnable fortress, arsenal, and State prison, in the district of 
 "Warra Ilemano, in which Captain Cameron and his com- 
 panions are confined, from whence it continues to Dowe, in the 
 adjoining district of "Warrakallu. 
 
 It may here be remarked, parenthetically, that it would be 
 in vain to look for Magdala in the ordinary maps of Abys-
 
 DR. BEKE TO EARL RUSSELL, MAY 19tH, 18G5. 323 
 
 sinia ; and that in those few in which it is marked, it is al- 
 together misplaced. 
 
 Availing themselves of the natural facilities of this road 
 across Abyssinia, the native merchants have from time imme- 
 morial made use of it, in a greater or less degree, according to 
 political circumstances, as the direct channel of communication 
 between the sea-coast and the interior. In the ' Memoir on 
 the Commerce of Abyssinia,' which I had the honour to sub- 
 mit to your Lordship's predecessor in office on the 9th of 
 December, 1843, I dwelt particularly on this fact, and I 
 pointed out the advantages that would result from the re- 
 opening of this great commercial road, expressing the opinion 
 that, whenever the political condition of Abyssinia should be- 
 come more settled, we should doubtless see this road resume 
 its pristine importance, and the commerce from the coast to 
 the interior in great part pass by this channel. 
 
 Such, then, are the arguments that I would propose to em- 
 ploy when approaching the Emperor Theodore. I would sup- 
 port these arguments by presenting to him some cotton-gins, 
 together with specimens of articles of British manufacture of 
 various descriptions capable of being made from the cotton of 
 Abyssinia if only he would stimulate the production of that 
 article by his subjects. 
 
 I would further submit to the Emperor's inspection speci- 
 mens of the infinite variety of articles that might be manu- 
 factured from the fine iron which his territories contain in sucb 
 abundance. 
 
 Lastly, I would take with me an electric-telegraph appa- 
 ratus, for the purpose of exhibiting and explaining to His Ma- 
 jesty the use and operation of this wonderful and, as to him it 
 would appear, miraculous invention. And in order to make 
 him more readily and fully appreciate the channel by which I 
 should propose to connect Abyssinia with England and the other 
 nations of Europe, I would not enter his country at all by the 
 way of Massowah, but would adopt the road laid down on my
 
 324 APPENDIX. 
 
 map as that of the proposed telegraph Hne, thus proving to 
 him that the acquisition of Massowah is no longer indispen- 
 sable as the channel of communication between Abyssinia and 
 the civilized world. 
 
 I take for granted that it would be but proper to assure the 
 Emperor Theodore that Her Britannic Majesty's Government 
 would exert every suitable influence over the Viceroy of Egypt 
 to induce him to desist from further aggressions on the terri- 
 tories or dependencies of Abyssinia, and that the mediation of 
 Her Majesty would even be oifered, with a view to the settle- 
 ment of existing questions between Egypt and Abyssinia, and 
 the determination of an equitable frontier line between the two 
 States. 
 
 On the liberation of the British Consul and the other cap- 
 tives, it might (should Her Majesty's Government so decide) 
 be promised to the Emperor Theodore that a suitable Embassy 
 should be forthwith dispatched to his Court, and that Her 
 Majesty would, on Her side, be willing to receive an Envoy 
 from His Majesty of Abyssinia, in accordance with the stipula- 
 tions of the Treaty of November 2, 1849. 
 
 Such being the line of conduct which I should propose to 
 adopt, I once more beg leave most respectfully to tender my 
 humble services to Her Majesty's Government. 
 
 To obviate the objection that might be made that I am not 
 of sufficiently elevated rank to be entrusted with such a Mis- 
 sion, and that I do not occupy any official position, I would 
 take the liberty of reminding your Lordship that the late 
 Eichard Cobden, though holding no official post, was not 
 thereby disqualified from acting as mediator between the two 
 most powerful nations in the world ; and as regards myself, 
 without thinking for a moment of comparing myself mth 
 that distinguished individual, I may be permitted to state 
 that I have already had the honour to serve the Crown as 
 Acting Consul at Leipzig. 
 
 And as, furtlier, it appears that so much importance is
 
 DR. BEKE TO EARL RUSSELL;, JULY 7tU, 1865. 325 
 
 attached to the wearing of a British uniform that a young 
 subaltern officer, Lieutenant Prideaux, has been sent from 
 Aden to Massowah to join Mr. Eassam, I trust it will not be 
 regarded as presumptuous if I represent to your Lordship 
 that I have for many years held the Commission, and am con- 
 sequently entitled to wear the uniform, of a Deputy-Licutenant, 
 Avhich (if I mistake not) gives me rank equivalent to that of a 
 Lieut. -Colonel in the army. 
 
 I have, &c. 
 
 Mt Lord, July 7th, 18G5. 
 
 On several occasions I have ventured to express to your 
 Lordship my readiness to be the medium of communication 
 with the Emperor of Abyssinia, with a view to the liberation 
 of Consul Cameron and his companions in captivity; but it 
 would appear that Her Majesty's Government shrink from the 
 responsibility of availing themselves of my services, lest I also 
 should be made a prisoner or even put to death by the irri- 
 tated Monarch. 
 
 Such being the case, I see no means of relieving Her 
 Majesty's Government from their difficvdty, except by my 
 undertaking the task of approaching the Abyssinian Sovereign 
 on my own personal responsibility. This I now beg leave to 
 state unreservedly I am prepared to do ; and further, I am 
 content to visit the Abyssinian Court in the character of a 
 private traveller not officially accredited, should such a course 
 be deemed expedient. 
 
 Possessing, as I do, an acquaintance with all the circum- 
 stances and bearings of the case, I have not the slightest doubt 
 of being able to bring His Abyssinian Majesty to see that, in 
 imprisoning Consul Cameron, the British missionaries, and 
 other Eixropeans, he has made a great mistake, and that, in 
 order to put himself right with the British nation and with the 
 whole Christian world, he must immediately set them free.
 
 326 APPENDIX. 
 
 I have likewise no doubt of being able to convince His 
 Majesty that the only effectual way to secure the integrity 
 and stability of his empire, to preserve Christianity among his 
 people, and to gain the friendship of England and all other 
 European nations, is to cultivate the arts of peace in prefer- 
 ence to those of war, and to develope the immense resources of 
 his rich and fertile country, — showing him how he might most 
 readily do this by the means pointed out in my letter to your 
 Lordship of May lOth last, which is printed among the Papers 
 laid before Parliament *. 
 
 Should my undertaking be crowned with success (with re- 
 spect to which I do not entertain any apprehension), I should 
 have had the gratification, not only of liberating the unfortu- 
 nate captives, some of whom are my own personal friends, from 
 their long imprisonment, but also of freeing Her Majesty's 
 Grovernment from a great embarrassment and the British 
 nation from an equally great disgrace. 
 
 In the possible but most improbable alternative of failure, I 
 should have no one to blame but myself; whilst Her Majesty's 
 Government would truly be enabled to say that no means 
 whatever had been neglected of bringing about a result which 
 every friend of humanity must have so much at heart. 
 
 I have, &c. 
 
 My Loed, July 21st, 1865. 
 
 With reference to the letter which I had the honour to 
 address to your Lordship on the 7th inst., expressing my 
 readiness to go to Abyssinia on my own responsibility, with a 
 view to the liberation of Her Majesty's Consul, Captain 
 Cameron, and his companions in captivity in that country, I 
 now beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Layard's 
 
 [* Pari. Paper, 1865, ' Papers relating to the Imprisonment of 
 British subject? in Abyssinia,' p. 11.]
 
 DR. T?1:KE to earl RUSSELL, JULY 21 ST, 18G5. 327 
 
 letter of the IStli inst., in reply to the same ; in wliii-li ]ic 
 states, by your Lordship's desire, that, if I proceed to Abyssinia 
 as a private traveller, Her Majesty's Government cannot 
 interfere in the matter, hut that your Lordship loarns me 
 that Her ^lajesty's Government are in possession of informa- 
 tion derived from private sources, describing the cruel and 
 merciless character of King Tlieodore, which would almost lead 
 to the conclusion that he is not in his right mind. Mr. Layard 
 further informs me that, if I undertake this journey, Her 
 Majesty's Government cannot hold themselves responsible 
 for anything that may happen to me in Abyssinia, nor 
 can they give me any authority whatever to enter into any 
 political arrangements with the King on their behalf or to 
 interfere in the political affairs of tlie country, — and that what- 
 ever I may choose to say to the King will therefore be the 
 expression of my own sentiments and views, for which Her 
 Majesty's Government will in nowise be responsible. And 
 lastly, Mr. Layard represents to me the propriety of my 
 making it clearly understood to King Theodore and his agents 
 that I proceed to Abyssinia entirely as a private traveller, and 
 that in no sense am I to be considered as an organ of Her 
 Majesty's Government. 
 
 In taking due note of your Lordship's desires as thus con- 
 veyed to me, I would beg leave to represent that so desirous 
 am I for my own sake not to be considered as an organ of 
 Her Majesty's Government, that I would hope to be excused 
 for not even offering to be the bearer of despatches from your 
 Lordship to Consul Cameron, on account of the extreme ill 
 feeling which unhappily exists between the British Govern- 
 ment and the Abyssinian Monarch. Mr. Layard, by your 
 Lordship's direction, speaks of "the cruel and merciless cha- 
 racter of King Theodore, which would almost lead to the con- 
 clusion that he is not in his right mind ;" and, on the other 
 hand, I learn from a letter from one of Consul Cameron's 
 fellow captives, written at Magdala in April last, only three 
 
 z
 
 328 APPENDIX. 
 
 months ago, that that monarch "considers the members of 
 Her Britannic Majesty's Groverument " — I trust your Lord- 
 ship will forgive me for daring even to repeat the words now 
 lying written before me — " the greatest miscreants that ever 
 breathed." 
 
 Under such circumstances your Lordship will perceive how 
 necessary it is for me to avoid everything that might lead the 
 irritated monarcli to believe me to be a messenger (even 
 though unrecognized) of Her Majesty's Grovernment. 
 
 I have, &c. 
 
 My Lord, JiUy 22nd, 18G5. 
 
 In the letter which I had the honour to address to 
 your Lordsliip on the 21st instant, I have ventured to suggest 
 the inexpediency of my being the bearer of any desjiatches to 
 Consul Cameron, on account of the extremely bad feeling 
 which exists between Her Majesty's Grovernment and the 
 reigning Sovereign of Abyssinia, evinced by the offensive 
 terms in which they express themselves with regard to each 
 other. 
 
 Notwithstanding my unwillingness to run the risk of in- 
 curring the displeasure of the irritated monarch by acting as 
 the medium between Her Britannic Majesty's Government 
 and their unfortunate representative in Abyssinia, I would 
 still desire not to reject the idea that, should your Lordship 
 think fit, some indirect means of communicating with Consul 
 Cameron might still be adopted. Only, even in that case, I 
 should respectfully request it may be understood that I 
 protest against anything being said or done which might in 
 the slightest degree be likely to compromise myself or the 
 success of my undertaking, and that I must reserve to myself 
 the right, at my absolute discretion, to destroy without exami- 
 nation any papers whatever that might be committed to the 
 charge of myself or anyone accompanying me.
 
 DR. BEKE TO EARL RUSSELL, JULY 22nD, 1805. 329 
 
 This allusion to the possibility of my having to destroy 
 papers delivered to me, induces me to report to your Lordship 
 the fate of a despatch, addressed in 1839 by Viscount Palmer- 
 ston, when Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to " His 
 Highness, Sahela Dongol, King of Abyssinia," which until 
 now has remained unknown to Her Majesty's Government. 
 
 In the year 1837 (if I am correctly informed) Mr. Anthony 
 Thomson D'Abbadie*, on the recommendation of the Eoyal 
 Geographical Society, obtained from Viscount Palmerston a 
 passport as a British subject born in Ireland, with which he 
 travelled in Abyssinia ; in visiting which country he professed 
 to have scientific objects alone in view, and on more than one 
 occasion he emphatically disclaimed, in print, all participation 
 in political and religious matters, as he likewise denied the 
 imputation of his being a Frenchman. 
 
 In the course of 1838, M. d'Abbadie and his brother 
 Arnauld were at Gondar, where they mixed themselves up iu 
 the affairs of the country, one of the results of which I would 
 beg leave to relate in his own words, copied from the 
 * Athenaeum ' of January 27th, 1849. He there says, " I was, 
 in 1839, the bearer of two Abyssinian letters, which I delivered 
 to Lord Palmerston and Marshal Soult ; and as the application 
 was favourably received by both Governments, I was naturally 
 intrusted with the appropriate answers. When, subsequently. 
 Captain Haines impeded my voyage to Gondar by Tajurrah 
 and Shoa, peculiar reasons preventing me then from proceeding 
 to Massowah, I gave him, as his receipt shows. Lord Palmer- 
 ston's despatch, begging him to forward it ; but seven years 
 afterwards it had not yet reached Gondar." 
 
 The foregoing statement is most ingeniously and jesuiticallg 
 made, dates and intervening facts being omitted, which when 
 added give to the affair a totally different appearance. 
 
 M. d'Abbadie, bearing the two despatches from the French 
 and English Ministers to King Sahela Dongol, arrived at 
 * [Now better known as Monsieur Antoiue d'Abbadie.]
 
 330 APPENDIX. 
 
 Massowah in February 1840. He was there joined by his 
 brother, whom he had left at Grondar, and the two together 
 proceeded inland on the way to Gondar as far as Mai Tahalo 
 in Semyen, at which place they were distant from the capital 
 only about seventy-five miles in a direct line. 
 
 At Mai Tahalo, on May 21st, 1840, the brothers separated, 
 Arnauld, the younger, continuing on to Grondar and taking 
 with him the letter from Marshal Soult to the King ; whilst 
 the elder returned to the coast, carrying hacTc tvith him the letter 
 he had received for that monarch from Lord Palmerston. 
 
 In the beginning of July 1840 M. d'Abbadie left Massowah 
 for Aden, where, some time during the following month of 
 August (I know not the precise date, but I have the facts I 
 am now about to relate in the handwriting of the late Captain 
 Haines, I.N., who was then Political Agent at Aden), he was 
 arrested by a native sentry on the heights of Djebel Shumshum, 
 taking a plan of the fortifications. On being brought before 
 Captain Haines, M. d'Abbadie declared himself to be a 
 Frenchman ; on which he was simply reprimanded and dis- 
 charged. He did not at the time allude to the fact of his 
 being the bearer of Lord Palmerston's despatch, neither had 
 Captain Haines any idea of the fact. 
 
 From Aden M. d'Abbadie returned to Cairo, with the 
 avowed intention of proceeding to Europe. But having altered 
 his plans, he went back to Suez, which place he left for Aden 
 on November 1st, on board the Honourable East India Com- 
 pany's steamer ' Berenice,' commanded by Captain Lowe, I.N. 
 
 Whilst M. d'Abbadie was at Suez, it was currently reported 
 that he was a French spy ; on hearing which Captain Lowe 
 refused him a passage in his vessel. But on M. d'Abbadie's 
 going on board and producing Lord Palmerston s despatch and 
 Mr. Bachhouse' s letter to himself enclosing the same, Captain 
 Lowe could not do otherwise than allow him to take his 
 passage. 
 
 On November 10th, 1840, M. d'Abbadie arrived a second
 
 DR. BEKE TO EARL RUSSELL^ JULV 22nDj 1865. 'S'-il 
 
 time at Aden, whence he endeavoured to cross over to Tadjunah 
 with the intention of proceeding to Shoa ; but, not finding the 
 means of doing so, and Captain Ilaiues having refused to assist 
 him — though he made the same attempt with Lord Pahuer- 
 stou's letter which had so well succeeded with Captain Lowe, 
 — he, on November 12th, delivered that letter over to Captain 
 Haines, it being no longer of any use to him, and took tliat 
 officer's receipt for the same, as has, subject to this explana- 
 tion, been trul^ stated by him in the 'Athenaeum.' Only 
 M. d'Abbadie has not explained why Lord Palmerston's 
 letter to the King of Abyssinia was not delivered over to his 
 brother, together with that from Marshal Soult, when they 
 parted at Mai Tahalo near Grondar, on May 21st, 1810. 
 
 Lord Palmerston's letter, after having (as would appear) 
 been retained by Captain Haines for several mouths, was for- 
 warded by him to the Eeverend Louis Krapf, at Aukobar in 
 Shoa, whom it reached on June 9th, 1841. I happened to be 
 then in Shoa, and by Mr. Krapf s desire I wrote on the same 
 day to the late Admiral (then Captain) Washington, requesting 
 him to explain to Mr. Backhouse that Lord Palmerston's letter 
 could not be sent on to Gondar just then, lest King Sahela 
 Selasye should be suspicious, Eas Ali being his great rival. 
 
 "When I quitted Shoa for Godjam in October 1841, shortly 
 after the arrival of the British mission under Major Harris, I 
 certainly did not expect to see again this letter from Lord Pal- 
 merston to King Sahela Dongol, which had already thrice crossed 
 my path, at Suez, at Aden, and at Ankobar. But, to my 
 astonishment, on February 10th, 1843, when I was at Yejubbi, 
 in the south of Godjam, an Abyssinian messenger, whom I had 
 sent to Shoa, returned with news of the approaching departure 
 from that country of the British mission, and bringing me 
 Lord Palmerston's letter, which Major Harris had sent to me 
 to be forwarded to Eas Ali. 
 
 I was then within the territories of Dedjatj Biru, the liere- 
 ditary prince of Godjam, who was a far greater enemy of Eas
 
 332 APPENDIX, 
 
 Ali than King Sahela Selasye was, the two princes being at 
 that moment at open war ; and the possession of a letter which, 
 though addressed to the nominal Sovereign of Abyssinia, was 
 in fact intended for Eas Ali, who governed in the King's name, 
 might seriously have compromised me with Dedjatj Biru, who 
 was of a very arbitrary and merciless character — especially as 
 at that time M. Aruauld d'Abbadie had just arrived at his 
 court with presents and was in high favour with him, and 
 M. Antoine d'Abbadie liimself was shortly expected : in fact, 
 on my way home I met him, on March 11th, 1843, at Mahdera 
 Mariam, one stage from Debra Tabor, Eas All's capital. 
 
 Independently of this, I was not imder the orders of Major 
 Harris, nor was I in any way an agent of the British Grovem- 
 ment ; and therefore, as that officer had taken on himself to 
 send me this letter for the King without my permission, and it 
 was not in my power to return it to him in consequence of his 
 having left Shoa, I felt myself quite at liberty to refuse to 
 receive it from my messenger. 
 
 The latter, fearing that he too might get into difficulty if he 
 retained the letter, committed the unfortimate document to the 
 flames, not (I admit) without my privity and entire approval ; 
 for I argued in my own mind that the delivery of such a letter 
 after so many years, even supposing it to have been practi- 
 cable, could hardly do any good, and might possibly be pro- 
 ductive of much harm ; whilst its possession by myself or any 
 one connected with me, if detected, might have proved most 
 calamitous. 
 
 In now making these facts known to your Lordship, I would 
 lake the liberty of adding that "Mr. Anthony Thomson 
 D'Abbadie," to whom, as a Britisli subject. Lord Palmerston's 
 letter to " His Highness Sahela Hongol, King of Abyssinia " 
 was thus confided, has long since openly avowed himself to be 
 "a Frenchman by education, fortune, and choice"*; and that, 
 
 [' See the 'Athenioum ' of .Jaimarv :27tli, 1S40, No. 1109, p. Oy ; 
 and February 17th, 1849, No. 1112, pp. 166, 167.]
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, APKIL 18G5. 333 
 
 in spite of Lis repeated disclaimer of all participation in the poli- 
 tical and religious affairs of Abyssinia, he has in like manner 
 declared in print within the last two years that by his means 
 " deux missions chretiennes etaient etablies, I'une dans le 
 nord, I'autre dans le sud de la haute Ethiopie ;" so that there 
 now remains no room to doubt the substantial correctness of 
 the charge which was at the time openly brought against him 
 by several well-informed persons, that he was a Jesuit emissary 
 of the See of Eome and a secret agent of the Prench Govern- 
 ment; and it is most important that Her Britannic Majesty's 
 Grovernment should bear in mind that one of the Roman 
 Catholic missions, of the establishment of which he takes 
 credit to himself, has long been the focus of French intrigue in 
 Northern Abyssinia, and from the signs of the times appears 
 liJcely to become ere long even more so than lefore. 
 
 I have, &c. 
 
 Extracts from Letters from the Rev. H. A. Stern and 
 Mr. Rosenthal, written during their imprisonment at 
 Amba Maydala. 
 
 [Referred to in page 107, and repeatedly elsewhere.] 
 
 From Mr. Stei'n. 
 
 April 1865. 
 
 You are aware that in the beginning of April 18G3 
 
 I reached Abyssinia. Our mission, though restricted in its 
 
 operations, was then most prosperous, and despite obstacles I 
 
 cherished the most hallowed anticipations respecting the future. 
 
 In June, Captain Cameron, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, 
 
 arrived a second time at our station at Djenda. The King, 
 
 who had been at some distance, also quite accidentally came
 
 334 APPENDIX. 
 
 into our neighbourhood. During his stay in our vicinity, I 
 heard several times that he was annoyed that Captain Cameron 
 had not brought an answer to his letter to the British Govern- 
 ment, and also for having gone round the frontier and formed, 
 as was falsely represented, prejudicial intimacies with his 
 enemies, the Turks. Against us and our mission I also heard 
 unfavourable reports ; and as I knew the priests were opposed 
 to us and our work, I communicated my fears to my feUow- 
 labourers ; and all agreed not to incur any expense except 
 what was indispensably necessary for the support of scliools, 
 scripture-readers, and the extensive circulation of the Word of 
 God. Not expecting violence or foi-cible detention even under 
 the most adverse circumstances, I visited the Falashas of 
 various districts ; and at the end of August, accompanied by 
 Cornelius, I set out for Armatjoho, a province well inhabited 
 by Falashas, who had never seen a missionary or heard the 
 tidings of redeeming love. 
 
 About the 20th of September I came back to Djenda, and 
 on the evening of' my return a royal order summoned the 
 British Consul, all the missionary agents, and myself to 
 Goudar, to hear the reading of the letter which M. Bardel had 
 brought from the Emperor of the French. All obeyed the 
 behest, and on the morning of the 2nd of October (I think the 
 dates may not be quite correct) the despatch was publicly 
 read, and the fictitious interview between M. Bardel and 
 Napoleon III. narrated before the small European colony. 
 The King was exceedingly dissatisfied with the letter and the 
 reception of his messenger, and I know that M. Lejean, the 
 French Consul, might still have kept us company, had not 
 Abuna Salama arrested the King's violence, and gained him 
 permission to leave. M. Lejean and M. Legard, a French 
 pliysician, were peremptorily required to quit Abyssinia, and 
 tlie rest returned to their respective homes. 
 
 The crisis, whicli for some time had been looming in the 
 distance, was now drawing nearer and nearer. All felt that
 
 MR. STERN S LETTER FROM MACiDALA^, AI'KIL 18G5. 335 
 
 there was something impending; but even the moat timid 
 dreaded nothing beyond the seizure of property and expulsion 
 from the country. My own work being finished, I purchased 
 the requisite number of animals, and started for the coast. 
 On my way I had to repass Gondar, where the King was still 
 with his army. The Metropolitan with wonted kindness 
 invited me to his residence, an offer which I gratefully 
 accepted. I reached Gondar on Tluirsday, and on Saturday 
 I intended to pay my salaam to His Majesty. Unfortunately, 
 before I could secure a haldarahd or introducer, the King un- 
 expectedly set out on an expedition against a rebel. I re- 
 mained at Gondar till Tuesday, and then bade a final adieu to 
 the Bishop and other friends, and quitted, as I thought for 
 ever, the capital of Abyssinia. Captain Cameron, and also the 
 Frenchman Bardel, accompanied me about two hours on my 
 road, and then shook hands and parted. 
 
 My people as well as myself were in the happiest mood, a 
 feeling which even our animals seemed to share, for they 
 marched with ease along the shelving path and even dizzying 
 precipices up to the plain of Woggera. Here, to my surprise, 
 I saw the King's white tent glittering in the sun's rays on 
 one of the heights which dot the plateau. Duty as well as 
 courtesy forbade me to advance without saluting His Majesty. 
 This induced me to halt ; and towards afternoon I proceeded, 
 accompanied by two servants, of whom one spoke a little 
 Arabic, to the royal camping-ground. 
 
 After waiting about two hours. His Majesty came into 
 the open aii*. Myself and attendants immediately made a 
 most humble obeisance. There was a frown on the King's 
 countenance, which augured nothing auspicious. Between 
 the first question and the death of my two servants, the hand 
 of time could not have advanced ten minutes. The gloom of 
 approaching night, the rattling of the sticks, and my own 
 doubtful fate prompted me to put my hand mechanically to 
 my lips, or, as it was said, to put a finger into my mouth.
 
 336 APPENDIX. 
 
 This was construed into a crime, and in less time than these 
 words take to pen, I was stript, beaten, and lay almost lifeless 
 on the ground. AVounded, bruised, and bleeding, my execu- 
 tioners dragged or rather caiTied me down the hill, where my 
 swollen wrist was fasten by a hoop and chain to the arm of a 
 soldier. My guardian, moved with compassion, tried with 
 rank grass to stanch the blood which profusely welled out 
 of more than a score of gashes and scars ; but, finding the 
 effort useless, he wrapt himself in his sJiama, and, with my 
 sj)ectral form clinging to him, fell asleep. I also sank several 
 times into a feverish stupor ; and, oh ! how gladly would I have 
 passed the wearisome hours of night in forgetfulness, had not 
 the shifting motion of blood in my mouth and throat denied 
 me this indulgence. In sighs, groans, and excruciating 
 agonies the night waned, and the beautiful stars, unconscious 
 of mortal woes, glittered with wonted brightness in the 
 eastern horizon. 
 
 At daylight I was given into the charge of several chiefs, 
 whilst the King moved on to Grondar. The villagers, as also 
 my guards, showed me much sympathy, and like the good 
 Samaritan they washed my wounds, and brought me an 
 abundance of milk, the only nourishment my inflamed lips and 
 gums allowed me to swallow down. Midday, my servants 
 strongly guarded were conducted to my temporary prison ; 
 and never shall I forget the shrieks, lamentations, and 
 agonizing contortions which the sight of their afilicted master 
 occasioned. Orders had been sent that I should have foot and 
 hand-fetters ; but as my ankles were too much inflamed for the 
 hoops, they transgressed the royal command, and only tied 
 my left hand to my right ankle. 
 
 The next day a detachment of troops came to escort me and 
 my servants to Grondar. I was now treated as a regular 
 criminal : in fact, my position became so painful and my 
 physical suffering so intense, that I looked for death as a 
 happy release. The abject condition to which I had been
 
 MR. STERN^S LETTER FROM MAODALA, Al'RIL 18G5. 337 
 
 reduced softened even the flinty hearts of my guards, and, 
 amidst words of comfort and hope, they told me in whisper- 
 ing breath that my intimacy with the Bishop, and the report 
 that he had sold the church lands to me and the British 
 Consul, were the cause of my misfortune, and that it might 
 have fared worse with me had I passed the royal camp, as 
 arrangements had already been made for my arrest. Loss of 
 blood and want of food, beyond a few biscuits, brought on a 
 melancholy and a depression of spirits which language cannot 
 depict. 
 
 On the fourth day (I believe) Mr. Flad, M. Bardel, Samuel 
 (a convert of Bishop Gobat*), and two officers of the royal 
 household came to inspect my luggage, as I was suspected of 
 having letters from the Bishop or Captain Cameron. My 
 photographic sketches and a well-assorted collection of in- 
 sects, however, entirely absorbed their curiosity, and the 
 search turned out to be only a farce. 
 
 In going away, I mentioned to M. Bardel that I had papers 
 and diaries which might compromise me, to which he readily 
 replied, " Don't be afraid ; for, if anything is found, I will say 
 
 they are the journals of a gentleman in England," My 
 
 visitors gave me and my luggage again in charge to the guards, 
 and then left. A few days later all the missionary agents 
 arrived at Gondar, and at the royal behest visited me. They 
 all thought, as I subsequently learnt, that my days were 
 numbered, and that I could not possibly survive my horrid 
 wounds. Mr. Plad, who remained at Gondar, obtained leave 
 to give me medicine ; and his occasional hope-inspiring visits, 
 and a regular supply of wholesome provisions from the house 
 of the Consul, staved off the fever, contrary to the expectation 
 of my friends, and brought on a better state of health. The 
 anticipated arrival of favourable letters from the British 
 Government, as well as the energetic efforts of the Metro- 
 
 [* Samuel was converted (that is to say, baptized) by Mr. Iseuberg, 
 Bishop Gobat's successor, as is related in note t to page 79. — C. B.]
 
 338 APPENDIX. 
 
 politan and other friends, dispelled every doubt of my speedy 
 release. Captain Cameron, Her Majesty's Consul, also kindly 
 offered to exert himself officially in my behalf; but I disclaimed 
 all assistance that was not strictly of a conciliatory and 
 friendly character. 
 
 About the beginning of November, the King wrote to his 
 European workmen at Gaffat, that he had tortured me long 
 enough, and that if they approved of it they sliould come to 
 Gondar and reconcile us. My prosj)ects now looked bright 
 and hopeful, when, unexpectedly, His Majesty was informed 
 (I know by whom, but will not without positive proof give 
 the name) that I had papers unfavourable to him. This was 
 exactly four weeks after my beating and incarceration. Not 
 dreaming of anything inauspicious, and animated by the sweet 
 hope of liberty, I passed the greater part of the day in con- 
 versation with my guards, when unexpectedly Samuel and a 
 party of soldiers came rushing into my prison, seized every 
 article in it, and carried it oif to the King. My Egyptian 
 servant, Joseph, who had been my fellow-prisoner though not 
 in chains, was desired to follow. Two hours of torturing 
 suspense had elapsed, when bags, boxes, &c. were again 
 brought back, minus every paper and book. I anxiously in- 
 terrogated poor Joseph about every incident ; but he was so 
 agitated and nervous that I could only gather from his in- 
 coherent sentences that every paper and book had been 
 handed to M. Bardel, who acted as examiner, and that now 
 and then the King said Cocah (my name in Amharie*) is a 
 hilhatenya (clever man) ; then again, a tonJculenya (cunning 
 man) . 
 
 The glowing prospect of freedom and restoration to the 
 bosom of my family, from that hour, like the declining rays of 
 sun, sank before my mind's vision, and all again became dark. 
 Cheerless and dismal and removed from all human aid, I 
 
 [* In Amharie and Arabic Cocah means ''star," as Stern does in 
 German. — C. B.]
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, APRIL 1805, 339 
 
 threw myself then, as during all my subsequent sufFerings, on 
 the arm of Omnipotence, and fearlessly braved tlie crested 
 waves that threatened to engulf me. 
 
 In the evening I was given in charge of severer guards, and 
 tied hands and feet. Joseph, who was tenderly attached to 
 me, unable to check his deep emotion, groaned and sighed as 
 if his heart would burst. Twenty-five soldiers and five chiefs 
 were now appointed as my regular guard ; but, notwithstanding 
 this formidable watch, some during the night actually put 
 their legs across my stifiened limbs, to prevent what they 
 must have thought a miraculous escape. No stranger was 
 allowed to approach my tent. A servant of the chief of the 
 soldiers now and then baked me a few flat cakes, and brought 
 me a leather bottle of water. One of the guards, into whose 
 good graces I had wormed myself, informed me that I had an 
 enemy at Gondar, and, snapping his fingers (a sign that all 
 was over), ejaculated "We are all dust, and must die." 
 
 On Tuesday evening, as stated, I was bound with fetters on 
 hands and feet, and on the Monday following, I heard from a 
 delegate of the King that all the missionary agents had been 
 brought in chains to the camp. Subsequently I was informed 
 that they had all been again released, then that one was still 
 in irons ; and finally, to add to the confusion, M. Makerer, a 
 French servant of the British Consul, sent me word through 
 a soldier that the longed-for letter from the British Grovern- 
 ment would arrive in two days, and that on Friday I was to 
 be liberated. Seconds yielded to minutes, minutes to hours, 
 and at last came Friday. I had already lost trust in messages ; 
 but early on that morning, to my agreeable surprise and grati- 
 tude, the feet-chains were opened. Less guarded than usual, 
 I sat in my tented prison, and prayerfully ruminated on my 
 future destiny. About midday my fierce chief jailer marched 
 into the tent, and commanded that I should accompany him to 
 His Ma-jesty. 
 
 I immediately obeyed the summons ; but, instead of a pri-
 
 340 APPENDIX. 
 
 vate interview with the monarch, I found the whole army- 
 drawn up in a square, the furthest line of which was occupied 
 by a kind of throne, on which sat the King, shaded by gigantic 
 silken umbrellas. On the left side of His Majesty I noticed 
 Messrs. Bardel and Zander, and on the right a host of priests 
 and scribes ; whilst in the interior of the square and squatted 
 on carpets were ranged in opposite lines the King's European 
 workmen, Her Britannic Majesty's Consul, and the mission- 
 aries. The grins of some and the dejection of others filled me 
 A\dth a mingled feeling of contempt and gratitude. Scarcely 
 one of the Europeans ventured to gaze at me, whilst myriads 
 of black glittering eyes vainly tried to pierce my iimiost 
 soul. 
 
 Eearless and confident in the purity and integrity of my 
 actions, I calmly awaited the issue of that pompous court of 
 justice. My Christian fortitude (and I do not say it in a 
 boastful strain) , which always rose higher as the danger be- 
 came more imminent, almost flagged, as on looking round I 
 saw Rosenthal in chains standing about a hundred steps from 
 me. Ignorant of the crimes he had committed, I forgot 
 entirely my own misery, and allowed an excited fancy to tor- 
 ment itself in reflecting on the sorrow, grief, and pain I had 
 brought upon others. The distress, agony, and horror of his 
 desolate young wife rose like a revolting phantom before my 
 mental vision, and unconsciously made me shake the abomi- 
 nable fetters by which I was held. A violent pull from the 
 jailer put a stop to the dreamy speculation. 
 
 The Fetha Negest was then read ; and according to that code 
 the verdict of death was pronounced on all who spoke, wrote, 
 or ofi"ended the King, Judgment being thus announced 
 before the accusations were read, the prisoners were naturally 
 deprived of all defence or hope. For form's sake the charges 
 were however read. Ten articles were, I believe, brought 
 forward against me ; and the most formidable of these were, the 
 assertion that a war between the King and a foreign power
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, APRIL 18G5. 311 
 
 would remove intolerance and introduce religious liberty — 
 that since the death of Mr. Bell the King had no good coun- 
 sellor — that various provinces and also Djenda had been 
 plundered — and, lastly, that in passing a place where lay 
 bleaching in the sun 700 or 800 skulls, I had stated in my 
 diary they had been murdered in cold blood. The only 
 offensive statement in my book, of which I had unfortunately 
 one copy, was the pedigree of His Majesty ; and the last heavy 
 crime consisted in my having a few harmless and complimen- 
 tary notes from the Metropolitan. 
 
 Rosenthal's sins, which were laid upon me though I knew 
 not a word of what he had written till that very moment, con- 
 sisted in some remarks about the King's private life, m a letter 
 to a relative in London. Even Mrs. Mad was arraigned before 
 this Imperial court, and that, forsooth, because she wrote to 
 me a note a year before, in which she stated that the Abys- 
 sinian lion had degenerated into a tiger, which note I care- 
 lessly threw among other papers. She was immediately par- 
 doned on account of her husband ; but myself and Mr. Rosen- 
 thal, uotwitlistauding all I urged against the malice and 
 obvious perversions in the translations, were unanimously 
 declared guilty. Knowing full weU from sad experience what 
 the verdict implied, I appealed to Samuel and entreated him 
 to solicit the royal pardon in oiu" behalf. At first he did not 
 deign to give me a reply ; but on reiterating the request, he 
 angrily retorted " to-morrow, to-morrow." 
 
 The King now waved his hand, and both Mr, Eosenthal and 
 myself were led off to our common tented prison. The chains 
 were the same day again fastened round our legs, and faith had 
 once more to exert its energy and seek refuge from surrounding 
 despair in the arms of Omnipotence, Judgment was given on 
 Friday, and on Monday morning all my luggage was for the 
 last time carried oflT to the Kins:. The same evening Shaka* 
 
 [* Shaka or Shdiaka is a contraction of ya shih dlaka, tlie chief of a 
 thousand, or chiliarch. Like most Abyssinian titles, it is often nicrt'l}-
 
 342 APPENDIX. 
 
 Ubye, our fiendish jailer, tumbled half drunk into our tent, and 
 after eyeing me awhile like a basilisk exclaimed, " If I had 
 a sword, I woiild cut off that dog's head;" and then, making 
 again a pause, he jumped up, dragged me aloug the ground by 
 the chain, and amidst a shower of the vilest epithets, began to 
 hammer tight my fetters. Rosenthal having on slave-irons, he 
 could not augment his torture, and so he dismissed him with 
 the remark, " He is a hdla-makerali " i. e. a sufferer on account 
 of the other. These harassing scenes wrung the heart, and 
 made death to be courted more than life. 
 
 On the next morning Samuel and an officer came to our 
 prison, and in the name of His Majesty promised me a pardon 
 and favours, if I confessed that through the family of the wife 
 of Has Ubye, one of the greatest men in the country, I had 
 obtained the information respecting the royal descent. I de- 
 precated all acquaintance, direct or indirect, with that family ; 
 and my tormentors walked off in a discontented and angry 
 humour. A spasmodic calm, like the lull of the elements be- 
 fore the outburst of a storm, now crept into our tent. We 
 attributed this to the arrival of the impatiently expected letter 
 from the British Grovernment, an intelligence that came to us 
 quite accidentally. Every day, though in misery of a life-long 
 duration, must pei"form its diurnal motion, and add its segment 
 to the past. This we mournfully experienced in our captivity, 
 where even minutes became long periods in one's sad existence. 
 
 The memorable 4th of December at length broke, with 
 wonted brightness, upon the afflicted and happy, the prisoner 
 and the free. About noon that day our fetters on the feet 
 were removed, and, escorted by a detachment of soldiers, we 
 were conducted before the King. His Majesty was at our 
 arrival engaged in administering justice, and for two hours we 
 had to stand close to the criminals who were undergoing the 
 dreadful punishment of the djirdf*. 
 
 honorary. I have taken on myself to alter the spelling of this and 
 several other words as written by Mr. Stern. — C. B.] 
 
 * A wliip made of liijipopolamiis liidt;, about ^i fi'et long.
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, APRIL I8f)5. 343 
 
 On being summoned nearer, His Majesty ironically said, in 
 reference to an expression wliicli had inadvertently dropped 
 from my lips, " Are you now afraid ? " We gave no reply, but 
 quietly resigned ourselves to Him who is a help to His servants 
 in all times of need. His Majesty then peremptorily inquired 
 why we had insulted him ? Fearlessly, though respectfully, I 
 returned, " Our object has not been to insult your Majesty, 
 nor have we Avritten a single word in the language of this 
 country ; but if we have done wrong we humbly crave your 
 royal pardon." Samuel, who acted as interpreter, had not 
 quite finished translating this sentence, when the King com- 
 manded to take away our shammas and shirts. Miserable, 
 wretched, with a mere rag around the waist, we were con- 
 ducted back to our prison. 
 
 Our guards now consulted among themselves whether they 
 should leave us in the open air, or permit us again to occupy 
 the tent. The fear of our escape induced them to consign us 
 again to our old place, where on the bare ground we spent a 
 never-to-be-forgotten twelve hours. Cold and chilly was the 
 night ; gloomy and sad appeared the dawn of day. Our chief 
 jailer, who had gone to the King, came back in about two 
 hours ; but instead of leading us to execution, as we had every 
 reason to believe, he brought to each a tattered rag, and also 
 ordered us to have some bread and water. 
 
 Respite and not release did not lighten our burden or miti- 
 gate our mental and physical sufferings. A young native lad 
 in the service of Mr. Plad, accompanied by a friendly soldier, 
 occasionally came to the door of our tent, and by signs gave us 
 to understand that we were ere long to be liberated. Our 
 guards also put a stop to their petty tyrannies, and some be- 
 came even civil and communicative. We now heard from all 
 sides that our lives had been in imminent peril ; nay, we were 
 assured that on the day the King had us stripped, the knives 
 to cut off our hands and feet were actually lying close to the 
 spot where we stood, and that the fell deed was only prevented 
 
 2 A
 
 344 APPENDIX. 
 
 by the energetic remonstrances and intercession of the head of 
 the monks. Thus, ahnost miraculously delivered from mutila- 
 tion and a horrible death, we shook off" the depressing melan- 
 choly which had deprived us almost of our senses, and began 
 afi'esh to foster the prayerful hope of freedom and liberty. 
 
 Fifteen days more of trouble and exhausting anxiety rolled 
 away. I do not recollect the date, but it was on a rainy and 
 dull morning, that our tent-door was lifted up, and, to our 
 surprise as well as joy, there entered Flad, Samuel, and seve- 
 ral of the Bishop's and King's people. My body being almost 
 bent double by the chains, Flad softly requested me not to 
 rise, as is customary at the receipt of a royal message, but 
 simply told me that His Majesty wished me to give him the 
 exact price of certain silks which had been presented to him by 
 the Metropolitan*. 
 
 Having finished the valuation, Avhich I could easily do, as 
 most had been purchased by me in England, Samuel ordered 
 me to get up, and he then informed me that it had been the 
 King's design to kill me, but that God had not permitted it, 
 and that now / had the oneans of regaining the royal favotir, if 
 I supplied Mr. Flad, who was going to Europe, loith letters to 
 procure machines and one or two gunpoioder-makers. On the 
 return of Mr, Flad, His Majesty would also allow me to 
 leave Abyssinia, and that, too, overloaded with presents and a 
 name famous in Africa and Europe. During the interval His 
 Majesty would set me free and afford me occupation in taking 
 for him photographic sketches. I felt inclined to object to all 
 these proposals ; but Flad, to whom the King himself had 
 shown the spot where he intended to kill me, advised me to 
 give an unqualified assent to every demand, or otherwise it 
 might go badly with myself and also with Mr. Rosenthal. 
 
 His Majesty sent the following day to open our hand-chains, 
 
 * The Bishop presented to the King on his own account articles of 
 considerable value, hoping thereby to pain liis favour and promote my 
 restoration to freedom.
 
 MR, STKUn's LElTEll FROM MAGDALA, APRIL 1805. 8 k") 
 
 but, on Mr. Flad's representation that my legs were in a bad 
 state, the order was reversed. Samuel subsequently said that 
 the King wanted that the same fetters should that very day be 
 attached to the Consul and Makerer, and that he had to beg 
 most earnestly to prevent the command from being carried 
 into eflect. Our afFairs, though still undecided, assumed a 
 more favourable aspect. AVe were again allowed to have a 
 servant and also clothing, which (you will smile) consisted of 
 shifts from Mrs. Eosenthal's and Mrs. Flad's rifled wardrobes. 
 What we most prized were two Bibles, a solace we had not 
 enjoyed for six long and trying weeks. Poor Joseph, whose 
 constitution fright, terror, and suffering had entirely sapped, 
 was removed to Gondar, where, after a week's illness, he 
 breathed his last. 
 
 Two or three days after the above incidents, Mr. Flad and 
 Samuel came again to me and requested me to write to my 
 friends to ensure the success of Mr. Flad's mission. Mechani- 
 cally I complied with the royal behest, and then made some 
 oral arrangement with Flad on the subject. Another year of 
 exile appeared inevitable. The King himself communicated 
 his agreement with me to the Europeans at Gaffat. Judging 
 rightly of my feelings, they gently remonstrated with the King 
 against my further detention, and, instead of a machine and 
 powder -makers through me, they promised to provide them 
 selves all that His Majesty required. Their objection appeared 
 plausible to the King, and they tvere requested to cotne to tlie 
 camp at Gondar to reconcile its, when Captain Cameron, unin- 
 formed of all this, sent in a letter demanding leave to depart 
 for his post at Massowah, in compliance with orders from the 
 British Government. This once more proved fatal to my own 
 and Rosenthal's prospects ; and on January 3rd, 18G4, Captain 
 Cameron, his European servants, and all the missionaries were 
 put in fetters, and we, together with them, confined to one 
 common prison within the royal enclosure 
 
 2 A 2
 
 346 APPENDIX. 
 
 July 13, 1865. 
 
 We anticipated that Mr. Eassani, Hex* Majesty's agent 
 
 at Massowali, would, by his friendly and conciliatory letters to 
 the King, ere this have appeased his oftended pride and ob- 
 tained our release from these galling chains. Our anticipa- 
 tions have however to our grief not been realized ; and we 
 must still for some time be patient and prayerful expectants 
 of coming deliverance. His Majesty about ten days ago 
 wrote to Mr. Eassam to come to Abyssinia ; and his advent 
 and the delivery of the Queen's letter, we believe, may possibly 
 effect our liberation. 
 
 Just now everything here is in a transition state ; and it is 
 quite impossible to prognosticate the events of the ensuing few 
 months or even weeks. A general undisguised presentiment 
 of a change is evinced in the open revolt of all the important 
 provinces ; and relentless despotism may soon experience a 
 terrible retribution. My own and most of my fellow-pri- 
 soner's misfortunes may, to a great extent, be attributed to 
 the crafty insinuations and insidious malice of godless, unprin- 
 cipled men, who in tlie ruin of others sought to attain their 
 own nefarious and selfish ends. I do not, however, despair or 
 despond. 
 
 To-day I have been in chains twenty-one months ; and al- 
 though during that long heart-wasting existence I have had to 
 submit to fiendish tortures, and more than once have been 
 obliged to face (apparently) a cruel death, yet I enjoy an infi- 
 nite satisfaction in the consciousness that by an inflexible 
 Christian firmness I saved others and won influential friends 
 to the cause of Missions in Abyssinia. His Majesty, since our 
 arrival here, has not favoured us even with an en passant 
 inquiry. Placed on a level with murderers, robbers, and other 
 great criminals, our days have rolled on in the usual sad mono- 
 tony of savage prison life. 
 
 Within tlic last few days wc have, however, again experi- 
 enced something of His Majesty's feelings against the white
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, JirLY IMtiI, 1805. 317 
 
 prisoners. The cause of this fresh outburst of indignation is 
 utterly unconnected with our affairs. On the night of the 
 1st inst., Menilek, the Crown-Prince of Shoa, and son-in-law 
 to the Negus Theodore, unexpectedly quitted the royal camp, 
 and, accompanied by his followers (but not by his young wife), 
 fled to bis own country. The King, irritated at the desertion 
 of another powerful prop of his throne, next morning executed 
 all the G-alla prisoners, then quarrelled with the Eisliop, and 
 at last his chafed spirit vented itself on all liis Christian pri- 
 soners, by giving them, besides foot-, band-chaina also. This 
 art of tormenting (which is ascribed to the wise King of Israel) 
 is a most cruel iuvention, particularly when, as in our case, the 
 fetters are so short, that one is actually bent double and un- 
 able to move about by day or to stretch our weary limbs by night. 
 There is a report that we are to be released from these abomi- 
 nable hand-shacldes. I shall be thankful if it proves to be 
 true, as the stooping attitude affects my head and causes great 
 pain in the spine. 
 
 August 9, 18G5. 
 .... On Sunday morning, January 3, 18G4, some of our 
 guards with bated breath informed us that the Negus was 
 sending and receiving messages from the Frendjotj (the Consul 
 and tbe Missionaries), and that probably we should be libe- 
 rated. Tossed about on a sea of trouble and care, any intel- 
 ligence of this kind, even from the lips of an Abyssinian, did 
 not fail to excite our depressed spirits to renewed courage and 
 confidence. About midday our truculent jailer strode in 
 breathless hurry into our tent, and, after convincing himself 
 that all was right, ordered in the name of His Majesty a de- 
 tachment of troops to execute an important behest. I did not 
 understand the commission ; but the promptitude witb which 
 all sallied forth convinced me that they -n-ere charged to arrest 
 a prisoner or to seize some property *. 
 
 * Subsequently we heard that tliey had beeu dispatched to Goudar 
 to arrest the Consul's people and to seize the property in his own
 
 348 APPENDIX. 
 
 Later our redoubtable Shaka Ubye once more made his ap- 
 pearance, and in an imperative tone commanded us to accom- 
 pany him to the King. On leaving the tent Rosenthal said to 
 me, "What do you think this summons signifies?" "On a 
 Sunday," I returned, "we need not to apprehend anything 
 inauspicious." A group of curious idlers followed us within 
 the fence that divided the royal camp from that of the troops. 
 A second palisaded enclosure on a small eminence, occupied 
 by white and black tents, revealed the abode of His Majesty 
 and the royal household. We thought that we were to be 
 conducted up to that busy acclivity where a few weeks before 
 we had such a doleful interview ; but instead of this our 
 guards escorted us to a white tent on the left that ominously 
 fronted an elevated bank, on which two 4-pounders, mounted 
 on rickety ship-carriages, ostentatiously displayed their unpo- 
 lished brazen fronts. A profusion of ragged carpets covered 
 the entire space between these pieces of ordnance and the 
 pavilion, — a parade of regal pomp quite unusual except on 
 grand gala days. 
 
 Our excited imagination immediately ran riot with all sorts 
 of pleasing conjectures, which even now, after the lapse of 
 so many trying months, I recall with satisfaction, as they 
 afforded me a passing relief from perpetual trouble and care. 
 The happy illusion in which I indulged was dispelled on a 
 nearer approach. His Abyssinian Majesty had for some 
 months felt disposed to quarrel, or, as he emphatically styled 
 it, to humble the pride of the Europeans (probably England 
 and Erance) ; but his rigorous severity towards the two white 
 prisoners, and the still lingering expectation of a favourable 
 reply to his letter to the British Grovernment, imposed a tem- 
 porary restraint on his towering pride. The delay, or I believe 
 the certainty of no answer, and the request of the Consul to 
 
 house, as well as everything in the ti'nipomry home of Mrs. Ilosenthal 
 and Mrs. Had.
 
 MR. stern's LKTTER FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST DtII, 18G5. 319 
 
 start for bis post, together with the crafty insinuations of ill- 
 disposed individuals, produced their baneful efiect, and Cap- 
 tain Cameron, the missionaries, and every other European 
 not in the actual service of His Majesty, were insultingly 
 arrested. 
 
 Ignorant of all that had occurred, and seeing my friends sad 
 and desponding, diffidently, as if I dreaded the inquiry, I said, 
 " What is the meaning of all this ? " Mr. Elad with a forced 
 calmness responded, " We are all j)risouers, and about to be 
 chained." The manacles were indeed soon brought,and under the 
 auspices of Basha Olash (now in chains at Magdala) hammered 
 around the wrists of the culprits. The custom of attaching a 
 soldier to each prisoner was in the present instance not strictly 
 followed ; two white men to one black was deemed sufficient 
 security, and myself and Rosenthal, who w'ere considered 
 harmless criminals, the chief commanded to be merely shackled 
 to each other. 
 
 As the hour of evening drew nigh, a strong guard took their 
 station in and around the tent, and, as if suspicious of the 
 white man's skill in opening chains and making use of potent 
 spells to burst impassable barricades, they watched our slight- 
 est movements with a nervous trepidation. The dark shades 
 of night had already enveloped in their murky mantle every 
 object, when Samuel entered our prison, and in the blandest 
 accents, which were contradicted by the smiles of satisfaction 
 that lit up his sharp features, inquired whether Captain 
 Cameron had his bed and wonted comforts. He also benig- 
 nantly favoured me with an oblique glance, and en jMissant 
 remarked, " I hope you are happier now in the company of 
 friends than m your former isolated position." He relieved 
 us of some of the guards who most inconveniently thronged 
 the tent, and then bidding us an EgziahMr yasfatdtjhu, " may 
 Grod deliver you," slunk quietly away. 
 
 The next day the servants of our fellow-prisoners, who at 
 the first alarm had sought the bush, on obtaining better tidings
 
 350 APPENDIX, 
 
 came again straggling into Gondar, from whence some found 
 their way to their incarcerated masters. The retributions 
 already inflicted for an imaginary insult, one might have 
 thought would have satisfied even a more sensitive monarch 
 than the "successor of Solomon;" but chains alone were 
 not deemed sufficient, and the few defenceless strangers must 
 be despoiled of the property in their possession. In tliis 
 glorious enterprise, so congenial to the taste of the royal 
 marauders, the most heartless conduct was exhibited. In the 
 vacated tents of the Consul and the missionaries in the camp, 
 where they had been for some weeks unchained prisoners, they 
 seized every article tliat was either of value or use ; but their 
 prowess could not achieve similar exploits unopposed in Mrs. 
 riad's and Mrs. Eosenthal's dwelling at Gondar. 
 
 These ladies, roused to a pitch of frenzy, defied heroically 
 the cowardly attempts of the rufiians to rob them and their 
 helpless babes of their necessary food and clothing. Mrs. Flad 
 particularly distinguished herself in the encounter with the 
 undisciplined savages. " Go tell your King," she said, ener- 
 getically, to the leader of the band, " that we are weak oppressed 
 women, yet, if he wishes to kill us, we together with our infants 
 shall deem it a mercy to be despatched at once, rather than be 
 subject to a slow and lingering torture." This message w^as 
 delivered verhatim to His Majesty, and he swallowed the 
 smarting rebuke by merely observiug, " These M'hite women 
 compared to ours are perfect devils." 
 
 Even Mrs. Rosenthal with her limited knowledge of the 
 language boldly faced some of the dei:)redators. One brave, 
 who had forcibly wrested from her a few pieces of sugar, she 
 pursued courageously through the camp-ground, and would not 
 give up the chase till the fellow restored the stolen article. 
 Another black, amidst rude ribaldry wanted to test the com- 
 forts of an iron folding chair. Mrs. Eoscnthal immediately 
 hastened to close it ; but Mrs. Flad had already laid hold on the 
 leg, and the coarse savage, before he had tasted the luxury of a
 
 MR, stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 18G5. 351 
 
 civilized seat, to the amusement of his compauious tumbled 
 heavily on the stony ground. Poor little Anne, Flad's eldest 
 girl, about four years old, had her temper also ruffled during 
 the pillage. Her rag doll which she had carefully concealed 
 in a particular nook, was accidentally discovered and confis- 
 cated by the robbers. With tears and " by the King's death," 
 she protested against this illegal seizure; but the ruthless 
 heroes were deaf to her entreaties, and for more than half an 
 hour capered madly around it ere they yielded it up to the 
 sobbing child. 
 
 While such and similar scenes were being enacted at Gon- 
 dar, a crossfire of questions and answers was lustily kept up 
 between His Majesty and the Frendjotj. The vexatious topic 
 of the unfortunate letter and certain personal favours * formed 
 the staple of the queries put to Her Majesty's Consul. From 
 the tenor of the questions one could perceive that His Majesty 
 began to be conscious that in his conduct towards all he had 
 exceeded the bounds of a ruler and a professing Christian ; 
 but, stimulated by burning revenge, he stifled every better and 
 more generous sentiment, and haughtily informed Captain 
 Cameron that he knew Her Britannic Majesty would send 
 some great man to inquire into his proceeding towards her 
 representative and the other Frendjotj ; but then as now his 
 answer would be, " I can do in my country what I please." 
 
 Captain Cameron's business being dismissed, Samuel, the 
 royal delegate, turned his vulture eyes upon me, and demanded 
 to know what I meant by the statements contained in my 
 papers, that " if the Negiis provoked the hostility of the French 
 or the aggression of the Turks, the conflict would probably break 
 the enthralling bonds of intolerance and confer the boon of re- 
 ligious liberty on Abyssinia." " His Majesty," I responded, 
 " is already acquainted with the views of the Emperor Napoleon 
 
 * I made it a rule with myself and fellow-labourers not to accept 
 any presents from the King, bej'ond a cow or a few sheep ; and now 
 he could not reproach me with his imappreciated favours and gifts.
 
 352 APPENDIX. 
 
 on this subject, as they were embodied in the letter conveyed 
 to the King through M. Bardel ; and it would consequently be 
 a superfluous task for me to give a comment on language that 
 was plain enough." " And what will England do if such a 
 contingency should arise?" rejoined my interlocutor. "The 
 British Government," I returned, " has always cherished the 
 most friendly feelings towards Abyssinia, and it might be, if 
 they thought that religious toleration would enhance the moral 
 and material welfare of the country, that they would support, 
 without insisting on such a concession." 
 
 Samuel carried these answers back to the King, and then 
 returned again, and in a stern tone said, " the Negus has 
 heard your replies, and did he deem it expedient he could tell 
 you a secret about England ; but what does it matter ? time 
 will reveal it." I was anxious to discover the meaning of this 
 mystery, which evidently was some mischievous intelligence 
 communicated by the lying tongue of an unprincipled royal 
 parasite. Samuel saw the drift, and, as he had perhaps ample 
 reason to evade an explanation, he promptly slided the interro- 
 gations into a new groove, and in the name of His Majesty 
 proudly insisted that I should mention the name or names of 
 the parties who had furnished me the particidars about the 
 royal ancestry. Here a war of words ensued. Samuel dexte- 
 rously tried to extort the names, and I adroitly eluded his 
 request. Baffled and thwarted, the indignant courtier arro- 
 gantly demanded that I should tell him the title I had be- 
 stowed in my book* on the parent of the Negus. Too much 
 candour here betrayed me into a serious mistake ; for instead 
 of saying that I had stated His Majesty's father was the Duke 
 [Uedjazmatj] of Kwara, I lowered him to the grade of a mere 
 laldta, " nobleman," a dignity arrogated by many a despised 
 peasant. 
 
 This day of intense misery tardily at length drcAV to a close, 
 and, freed from our tormentor, each one according to his incli- 
 * * Wanderings among the Falashas.'
 
 MR. STERN\s letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST DtII, 18G5. ,'3.").'> 
 
 nation was once more allowed to chew the bitter cud of his 
 own ill-boding imagination. In the evening our tyrannical 
 jailer Shaka Ubye, on resuming his night-watch, brought the 
 Amharic Kew Testament, and pointing to the last verse of the 
 first chapter of the Epistle to the Eomans, which stands on 
 the top of the page, commanded me and Rosenthal to give the 
 Negiis an explanation of the passage the next day. The awful 
 import of the text, and the frightful verdict it denounces on 
 guilty, polluted sinners, made me first doubt whether I was 
 among sane or mad savages ; but when I recollected the dire 
 emphasis Samuel had laid on the words, which, in the course 
 of the interrogations, had escaped my lips, " If it pleases God 
 to bring me back to England, I shall know how to correct tlic 
 pedigree of His Majesty," aU misgivings vanished, and I 
 anticipated without dread or terror my approaching doom. 
 For weeks and weeks I had indeed been weary of this lin- 
 gering torture and incessant misery; and now when the 
 ominous warning came, the knell of parting life was to me 
 merely an emancipation from the cruel and bitter tyranny of 
 earth, to the glory, peace, and rest of heaven. Our heartless 
 jailer who, I believe, never felt any other emotion in his 
 petrified bosom than that caused by the love of rapine and 
 plunder, on hearing from Mr. Elad the contents of the verse, 
 compassionately remarked, " They are not bad men, but this is 
 a bad business." 
 
 Gradually the night rolled away, and daylight with its 
 cheering sun and bustling hum broke upon the sad and lonely 
 prisoners*. There was no conversation, and no interchange 
 of thought ; every one had sorrow engraven on his brow, and 
 gloomy misgivings concealed in his heart. Anticipating every 
 moment the fatal summons, faith, invigorated by Divine grace, 
 
 * Subsequently Captain Cameron, Flad, and Cornelius told me that 
 during^ those anxious hours they had fi-equently cast secret glances on 
 the vacant padduck near our tent, to see if the gallows on which thu 
 victims of tyranny were to suiler, was in the course of erection.
 
 354 APPENDIX. 
 
 triumphed over the throes of impending death , and, without 
 one of those ever shifting fluctuations of hojDe and fear which 
 under such circumstances naturally agitate the human breast, 
 I watched calmly and composedly the flying hours of time. 
 Midday passed — the afternoon declined — evening approached, 
 and still no royal messenger made his appearance. Another 
 night of earthly cares slowly waned away, and a new day of 
 troubles stole quietly in upon us. 
 
 At length, about noon, Samuel, that messenger of evil, 
 appeai-ed in our prison. After a condescending salutation, 
 which even in the moment of the basest intrigue he never 
 omitted, Mr. Rosenthal and myself were required to rise, and 
 in the best Arabic of his rejected Koran, he ordered me, at 
 the behest of his royal master, to expound the pointed-out 
 passage of Sacred Writ. Instantly I seized the New Testa- 
 ment, and commenting on the whole chapter, told Samuel that 
 the terrible indictment of the Apostle against an unbelieving 
 world had not the remotest connexion with the ofiences 
 charged upon us ; but if His Majesty thought the reverse, we 
 both deplored to have incurred his displeasure, and craved his 
 clemency. Samuel now read the chapter himself, and as he 
 came to the revolting catalogue of crimes alleged against the 
 fallen posterity of Adam, he unwillingly vented his astonish- 
 ment at the unhappy selection in the ejaculation, " Djanhoi ! 
 Djanhoi ! " " Oh, King ! Oh, King ! " 
 
 His Majesty himself, rather ashamed of his quotation, or 
 satisfied that he had inflicted sufiicient sufferings, on the 
 return of the messenger informed us that the unlettered 
 Shaka Ubye had stupidly stuck his digits on the last verse of 
 the 1st cliapter, instead of the beginning of the 2nd. The re- 
 proof he now designed to administer was obvious, and there- 
 fore, without expatiating on the propounded passage, I sought 
 to mollify the hard heart of our oppressor, by soliciting Samuel 
 to inform him tliat both Eosenthal and myself lamented ito 
 have involuntarily oflended him, and in iiuitaj:ion of the coiu-
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAODALA, AUGUST 9x11, 18G5. 3')') 
 
 passionate Saviour to repentant sinners, recorded in the 1st 
 Epistle of St. Jolm, chapter 1, verses 8 and 9, we implored him 
 to accept our apology and suffering as an atonement for cur 
 transgression. 
 
 Samuel soon returned with the message that His Majesty- 
 had read the passage, and as he hoped to oUain forgiveness of 
 his sins he also extended pardon and entire oblivion for the fast 
 to tis ; and henceforth, added the servile courtier, you will pray 
 for the Negus, as the Negiis charges me to tell you he will 
 pray for you. The shadows of death in which we had been 
 enshrouded for twice twenty-four hours were now dispelled, 
 and, relieved from the spectral vision of a cruel torturing 
 martyrdom, we once more speculated on liberty and freedom. 
 Pardoned — but in chains ; restored to royal favour — but in 
 prison, may appear puzzling paradoxes ; but it must be re- 
 collected that His Majesty was then in the swing of glory, 
 and, impelled by untamed passion, he resented the imaginary 
 slight of the British Grovernment on the few defenceless 
 strangers in his power. 
 
 On the same day that the Negus manifested a faint inclina- 
 tion to generosity and mercy, the rest of the white prisoners, 
 consisting of Mrs. Elad, Mrs. Eosenthal, Joseph and Schiller, 
 two Grerman ornithologists, Kerans, M'^Kilvie, and Makerer, 
 two English and one Frenchman, in the service of the Consul, 
 were conducted from Gondar down into the camp. The two 
 ladies, who were not treated like regular prisoners, were taken 
 by Samuel to that part of the camp occupied by his establish- 
 ment ; and the rest, after receiving then* chains, were located 
 in a tent opposite to our own. 
 
 Moved by caprice, or perhaps satisfied revenge, the King 
 ordered a few of the most worthless articles among the pillage 
 to be restored to the prisoners. Here an incident occurred 
 which strikingly illustrated the guardian care of our Heavenly 
 Eather, and inspired the depressed soul with unwavering faith 
 and trust.
 
 356 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 About the middle of November 18G3, Mr. Kerans had 
 arrived at Gondar, witli a packet for the Consul. Amongst 
 the letters there were several for me ; but as I was a closely 
 guarded malefactor and unapproacliable, Mrs. Eosenthal took 
 charge of them. On the day that her property was a second 
 time entirely confiscated, these longed-for epistles from distant 
 friends were safely concealed in a secret drawer in her work- 
 box. Anxious to destroy everything that might compromise 
 me afresh, she tried hard to abstract them, but the keen eye 
 of the guard rendered the attempt abortive. In the evening, 
 to her delight, the box was restored, and though forced open, 
 the clumsy depredators had not discovered the hidden recess. 
 Mrs. Eosenthal immediately communicated to me this for- 
 tunate recovery, and at my request she and Mrs. Flad perused 
 the letters ere they were consigned to the flames. I was 
 afterwards informed that they were harmless except one, 
 which contained some questions about the Negus, that might 
 again have roused his dark and ever wakeful suspicion, and 
 involved me in new grave troubles. 
 
 Settled down into regular prison habits, our days were wiled 
 away in listless inactivity or anxious care. Now and then our 
 evenings were varied by a quarrel with the guards, who, reck- 
 less about space, thronged in groups into our tents, and im- 
 pregnated the already stifling atmosphere with the putrescent 
 odours of their foetid garments and buttered heads. The 
 Negiis, too, occasionally relieved the dvdness of our existence 
 by a message to the Consul, or the gift of a cow or a few 
 sheep to replenish our exhaused larder. Sometimes also he 
 sent and requested to know the meaning of a pirated sketch 
 of the "Illustrated London News" — sometimes of a Bible 
 picture — sometimes of an illuminated advertisement torn out 
 of an unfortunate Monthly; hut most of all was the inquisi- 
 tive descendant of Solomon interested hi/ the caricatures of 
 " Funch,^^ which lay scattered among tlic plundered archives 
 of the British Consulate.
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 18G5. 357 
 
 These friendly communications rendered tlic dreaded pre- 
 sence of Samuel quite amusing, and his visits, which were 
 neither few nor far between, were then always diverting and 
 agreeable. One day he walked into our tent scowling like -a 
 fiend, and handed to the Consul a large full-written sheet of 
 paper. As I was standing close to him, I cast a glance on the 
 formidable document, and without betraying my emotions 
 perceived that it was an energetic protest of M. Lejean, the 
 French Consul, against the treatment he had received from King 
 Theodores. Captain Cameron, after glancing over it, exclaimed, 
 "Samuel! Samuel! this is a sad business!" but the stem 
 delegate, without attending to his words, urged him to read it. 
 Having complied with the request he handed it to me, and 
 commanded that I should give him the contents of it in 
 Arabic. Uncharitable as it may seem, I confess it afforded 
 me some satisfaction to obey the order; and heedless about 
 the wrinkles which each fresh sentence wreathed on his 
 frowning brow, I translated every word, not omitting even 
 the brutal conduct of His Majesty in chaining the representa- 
 tive of a potent foreign Sovereign in full uniform. The out- 
 raged envoy restrained his boiling passion till I had concluded, 
 and then he gave vent to his impotent rage in the ridiculous 
 epithets, " dog, liar, donkey, why did you not say all tliis when 
 you were in the King's country." 
 
 The precious document, which unsparingly exposed the 
 vanity, weakness, and barbarism of the monarch, must in 
 perusing it have rankled like a barbed arrow in his ambitious 
 breast. In the absence of any other white men on whom to 
 retaliate, we expected that our treatment would be more ruth- 
 less and severe ; but whether guided by gentler emotions, or 
 actuated by a disguised presentim-ent that the day of retribu- 
 tion was approaching, matters continued in statu quo, and 
 "Punch," the "Illustrated London News," advertisements of 
 razors and chandelier manufacturers, continued to pour into 
 our tented prison.
 
 358 APPENDIX. 
 
 About the end of January reports were afloat that M. 
 Bardel, who had gone on the service of the Negus to Kasala, 
 the capital of Soudan, to espy what the Egyptians intended to 
 do, was on his way back, and that on his arrival the European 
 workmen at Gaffat would also come to the camp, whither they 
 liad been summoned to attend a special Council. The rumour 
 proved true ; for on the 3rd of February M. Bardel returned 
 from his secret mission, and on the 5th the Europeans arrived 
 from Debra Tabor. 
 
 Immediately on their advent they repaired to the royal 
 tent, from whence, after a lengthened conference, they were 
 despatched to our prison. Messrs. Elad, Steiger, Brandeis, 
 Cornelius (since gone to his rest), Joseph, and Schiller were 
 instantly liberated — a clemency not extended to the more 
 traduced and maligned objects of the royal vengeance. Our 
 visitors, it is true, did not deprive us of all hope of deliverance ; 
 on the contrary they assured the Consul that, if he pledged 
 himself that the Bx'itish Government would not insist on 
 satisfaction for all that had passed, they could without 
 endangering their own lives effect our liberty, and perhaps 
 permission to quit the country; if, however, this stipulation 
 exceeded his authority (as was alleged) they promised to use 
 their influence to secure us an unchained asylum, either at 
 Gafiat or some village in the neighbourhood. Driven about 
 on a sea of doubt and uncertaiuty, my mind revolted at this 
 protracted, wretched captivity, and recklessly I remarked, " If 
 I am to be deprived of liberty, I don't care for chains." These 
 incidents may appear trifling ; but if ever a full narrative of our 
 bondage and misery is published, they will explain matters 
 on which a prisoner in a crowded gaol and surrounded by 
 numerous guards dares not dilate. 
 
 The interviews between His Majesty and the European 
 workmen were frequent, and often, as we were informed, of 
 long duration. All the Abyssiuians expected that the white 
 prisoners would be set at liberty ; nay, some even averred that
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 18G5. 359 
 
 the King bad sworn that we should not much longer sigh in 
 chains. Evening at last terminated this anxious day, and 
 our guards as usual obtruded themselves in disgusting numbers 
 upon us. They had now a less onerous task in counting the 
 prisoners, since our number had considerably diminished ; and 
 it was a kind of satisfaction to hear them roar out to their 
 chief " six," and gdnzabatjen, " our property," a designation 
 by which Eosenthal and myself were familiarly distinguished. 
 The next afternoon, Zaudye, the chief spy on the Europeans 
 at GafFat, an office for which nature designed him from his 
 birth, and a couple of other royal functionaries, came to remove 
 the evacuated tent. We inquired when our own would be 
 struck, to which they replied "Teoderos yemiit," (by Theodore's 
 death*), "before many suns have risen and set." The Etjegue, 
 the Prior of all the monks and Father Confessor to His Majesty, 
 also sent us a friendly salutation, accompanied by a significant 
 hint that we should not forget him in more prosperous circum- 
 stances. The longed-for to-morrow came and closed, and so 
 another and another, without any change. 
 
 Early on the morning of the 4th f, intelligence reached us 
 that the King was angry with M. Bardel, and accused him 
 of being the author of the rupture between him and the 
 Europeans. A little later, a young lad in the service of Mr. 
 Elad, who had picked up a tolerable knowledge of the German 
 language, stealthily crept into our tent bearing the same 
 tidings, with the addition that we should soon be freed and 
 M. Bardel chained. About noon the report received its 
 verification, and M. Bardel, conducted by a detachment of 
 troops, was actually led into our tent, there to await his royal 
 master's pleasure. 
 
 * [Literally " may Theodore die ! " that is to say, if the assertion 
 made is not true. To tell a lie after such an asseveration is regarded 
 as equivalent to " conspiring the Sovereign's death," and is conse- 
 quently high treason. — C. B.] 
 
 t [This date is eiToneous. See page 138.] 
 
 2 B
 
 3G0 APPENDIX. 
 
 Discussion and inquiries were at their height when a most 
 formidable and imposing deputation from the King made their 
 appearance. On former occasions Shaka Ubye, Samuel, or an 
 officer of the household, formed the medium of communication 
 between the King and his white prisoners ; but in the present 
 instance, to give eclat to the message, greater etiquette was 
 observed. Among the crowd which constituted the delegates, 
 was our old acquaintance Zaudye, Shaka Ubye, Mahdera-Kal 
 (formerly a pupil in the Malta Protestant College), and a host 
 of high functionaries and attendants. Shaka Ubye, after 
 making a scrutinizing survey to see that all the prisoners, in 
 deference to royalty, had girded their sJiammas round the waist, 
 in a calm and deliberate tone said : — "M.Bardel, Djan-hoi (the 
 King) is angry with you because you have misrepresented the 
 prisoners and caused him to chain them. You have also 
 spoken ill of the Negus himself; and you have further, by 
 unfounded assertions, tried to sow distrust and suspicion in 
 his heart against your countrymen at GafFat." Mahdera-Kal, 
 for the benefit of all, translated every word into French ; and 
 the accused, without denying or admitting the charges, simply 
 replied, " How, how ? " * 
 
 This indirect apology for unmerited suiferings gave birth to 
 fresh hopes of home and dear friends. Every hour now sped 
 on heavily, and every messenger from the Europeans created 
 a thrill of excitement. Day after day, however, was swallowed 
 up in the relentless womb of time, and stiU the chains hung 
 degradingly on our wrists. At last — I believe it was the 14th 
 of February [1864] — Elad sent us word that all the employes 
 and late prisoners were to set out for Gaftat. This was a severe 
 blow to our expectations, though the excess of the disappoint- 
 ment only acted as a tonic in stimulating the moral and 
 physical energies of the soul to renewed courage and patience. 
 
 * Should an explanation be required, the white employes at Gaffat 
 (among whom is M. Bourgaud, a Frenchman, a friend of M. Bardel) 
 will, as the King's confidants, be best able to furnish it.
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 1865. 361 
 
 Consigned once more for an uncertain period to fetters and 
 a prison, each one according to his peculiar taste sought some 
 occupation to beguile the long hours of the almost never- 
 ending days. The accession to our number introduced also 
 new topics of conversation. Popery, scepticism, and infidelity 
 formed the staple of our discussion during part of the day ; 
 whilst, not unfrequently, our evenings were occupied in ex- 
 plaining the tenets of oti* faith to the loquacious guards. 
 
 On the 29th of February the King requested me through 
 Samuel to show him a certain passage of Scripture. Samuel 
 was exceedingly afi'able — a symptom by which we obtained a 
 cue to the royal sentiments towards us. Our speculations that 
 matters were again more promising were not unfounded ; for 
 in the afternoon the royal favourite came back and released 
 Rosenthal from his shackles, who now, together with his wife 
 and babe, was permitted to enjoy the luxury of an unguarded 
 tent ; whilst to us he held out the prospect of a speedy, happy 
 change from prison to liberty. I had lost all confidence in 
 his assertions — nay, invariably suspected that when he pro- 
 mised us freedom (a fact now incontestably ascertained) he 
 was toiling to efiect our destruction and death. 
 
 A few weeks before Easter, His Majesty one noon requested 
 that I should prove to him from the Bible that fasting was 
 not a Divine injunction, nor necessary to salvation. I readily 
 obeyed the mandate, and message after message was carried in 
 rapid succession from the white men's prison to the royal 
 pavilion. Not to prolong the discussion, which, on the part of 
 His Majesty and court had degenerated into a challenge, I 
 briefly observed that fasting, as a help to piety and devotion, 
 was in harmony with the practice of the Apostles ; but such 
 fasts, I added, were diflferent, nay, opposed Lo those enforced 
 by the Church and designed to eff'ect a compromise between 
 sin and good works, as was evident from Isaiah Iviii. This 
 chapter His Majesty applied as a censure on his own actions ; 
 and I might have had to pay dearly for my temerity, had not, 
 
 2 B 2
 
 3G2 APPENDIX. 
 
 at tlie very moment wlicn a loud and ominous cry, rc-eelioed 
 by scores of voices, "bring Cocab " {i.e. myself), a counter 
 order of tau, "stop," arrested the dangerous command. 
 
 This discussion, -whicli might have sadly terminated had not 
 an invisible power restrained the ire of the King, created, as 
 Ave were told, a variety of speculations in the army ; and it is 
 very likely that the anticipations of an abridgment of Lent 
 would not have been disappointed, hjnf not the Prophet Isaiah 
 too unsparingly denounced injustice and oppression. 
 
 Lent passed away, and so also Easter — the season of pardon 
 and mercy to criminals not stained with blood ; and yet there 
 was no indication that our fetters would be loosed or our 
 imprisonment come to an end. 
 
 And now winter, charged with storms, fogs, and cold, silently 
 stole upon us. Inactivity, the gloom of an impending famine, 
 and other serious causes, excited discontent in the pillage- 
 loving army, and desertions were neither slow nor few. These 
 symptoms of dissatisfaction among the wild hordes that con- 
 stitute the army did not improve the irascible temper of the 
 King ; and the formidable djiraf (a long whip) and the muti- 
 lating knife were in constant requisition. On one day, within 
 sight of our prison, forty persons had their hands and feet 
 wrenched off, whilst many more perished under the inhuman 
 lash. 
 
 On the 12th of May, a day which like one or two more will 
 never be obliterated from my memory. His Majesty had a 
 boisterous public interview with the Abuna or Primate. 
 Epithets neither dignified nor apostolic were most profusely 
 interchanged between the head of the State and the Euler of 
 the Church. Once I audibly heard my name ; and two of my 
 fellow-prisoners understood that it was coupled with the con- 
 cealment of a curtain and taking of notes. Like a flash of 
 lightning, it struck me that it must refer to a certain morning 
 when Captain Cameron and myself arranged some money 
 matters with the Bisho]). which malicious tongues in tliis
 
 MR. STERN^S LETTER FROM MAODALA, AUGUST 9tH, 1865. 303 
 
 country of inquisitorial espionage had viciously distorted into 
 an unlawful secret communication. The altercation, which 
 was occasionally very loud, and then again more subdued, 
 lasted about an hour; and from the deep silence which per- 
 vaded, it was evident that the army did not approve of the 
 quarrel. His Majesty, weary with the contest, abruptly 
 mounted his horse, and followed by a vast concourse daslu'd 
 furiously across the plain. 
 
 Conjecture was now rife among us about the probable issue 
 of the dispute, in which one, if not more of us, were certainly 
 involved. We were not long permitted to indulge in these 
 gloomy musings ; the tramp of feet, the hum of numerous 
 voices, and the tinkling of Church umbrellas, announced the 
 approach of an extraordinary procession. Suddenly there was 
 a rush of slaves through the palisaded doorway which led from 
 the camping-ground of royalty to our prison, and then fol- 
 lowed a mass of turbaued priests, proud chieftains, and high 
 state functionaries. The Primate, clad in his simple Egyptian 
 garb, with a black silk scarf negligently thrown over his head 
 and face, led the van. There was a boisterous call for 
 " Cocab " and the Frendjotj. Precipitately we rushed out of 
 our tent, and in a most deferential attitude confronted this 
 formidable array of Church and State dignitaries. 
 
 The royal notary, a tall, sleek personage, now opened a 
 small parcel, and, taking out a portfolio that once belonged 
 to me, thrust his unwashen fingers into a packet of greasy 
 papers, and took out the document that contained the charges, 
 garbled from my pilfered notes, and the letter of Mr. Eosen- 
 thal. These were then read, after which Samuel, in a bland 
 persuasive strain, more entreated than commanded that we 
 should state the parties who had been our inlbrmauts. Rosen- 
 thal, who, as Samuel well knew, had had no communication with 
 the Bishop, in a few brief sentences satisfied the inquisitor. 
 Samuel now turned his villanous eouuteuance full upon me, 
 and desired that 1 siiould state the sources from whence
 
 364 APPENDIX. 
 
 I had obtained the statements embodied in the books and 
 papers found in my possession. Fully aware, from the cha- 
 racter of the King, that the examination was a serious busi- 
 ness, I turned to M. Bardel, and inquired whether he objected 
 if I denied the correctness of the translations. M. Bardel 
 rejoined, " No, for I only read the English ; Birru, Samuel, 
 and the debteras (scribes) are responsible for the Amharic." 
 
 Eelieved from tlie apprehension of implicating any other 
 human being, and particularly a fellow-prisoner, in troubles of 
 no ordinary gravity, I turned to Samuel, and in unsparing 
 expressions deprecated the malice of those who, without any 
 provocation, had sought my destruction by attributing to me 
 language not to be found in my papers. 
 
 Then addressing the whole assembly, I said, " What offence 
 have I committed ? That I said the King had pillaged certain 
 provinces was no libel, for I saw it myself. That I stated a 
 number of people had been executed at Dubarek, the skulls 
 scattered over the plain attest the fact. That I was misin- 
 formed about His Majesty's descent, I must blame the late 
 Mr. Bell, and the Negiis'a own speech at the capture of a 
 chief*, recorded in the history of his accession to the throne, 
 and at present in the possession of the King himself. That I 
 was not impelled by any ill feeling towards the Negus, my 
 bookf incontestibly proves; nay, the very mistake about his 
 origin was an honour in Europe, since, beyond the great waters, 
 not a man's glorious ancestry, but his own deeds shed lustre 
 around his name. The Bishop," I continued, raising my 
 dexter hand, " I honour as a friend ; and were he even my 
 enemy, neither diversity in our religious sentiments, nor the 
 dread of danger or the hope of favour, should make me swerve 
 from the truth." 
 
 Samuel now interposed, and hypocritically remarked, " We 
 do not wish that you should utter a falsehood, nor does any one 
 
 * [See page 118, ante.'] t ' AN'andcriugs among the Falashas.'
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 18G5. SGS 
 
 feel disposed to contradict your assertion, that you had no de- 
 sign to misrepresent the origin of the Negus ; but there are 
 difierent ideas in Europe, America, and Asia; and this," he 
 added emphatically, as if anxious by biting sarcasm to vent his 
 stifling rage, " this, you know, is Africa." 
 
 The Bishop, who during the whole of that time sat on the 
 bare ground like an unconcerned spectator, now started up, 
 and casting an oblique glance of sympathy towards his white 
 friends, poured forth a torrent of abuse on the King and the 
 whole army of sycophants who swarm around the throne. 
 
 " Guards, receive your prisoners !" now^ shouted Samuel, and 
 instantly we were driven into the tent, whilst the Primate and 
 his cortege retraced their steps through the fence by which 
 they had entered. 
 
 The exciting conference acted like a tonic upon my weak, 
 and by sickness enfeebled frame, and, without troubling myself 
 about probability, I said, in a cheerful tone to my fellow 
 prisoners, " I have hardly eluded the shafts of the Angel of 
 Death when I must prepare for foot-chains." No one, I be- 
 lieve, except myself, had any idea that a serious trial was 
 impending over us. About sunset His Majesty came galloping 
 over the plain, and bounding up to his pavilion; he had not 
 yet alighted when M. Bardel, who was outside the tent, hurried 
 quickly in, exclaiming, "the King is coming!" Bustle and 
 confusion for a moment prevailed, and then aU was drowned in 
 the shout, " Cocab, FrendjotjV The indignant and ven- 
 geance-breathing accents of the King thrilled through my very 
 soul like the knell of all my hopes. " Dog, Falasha, scoundrel, 
 tell me the name of the man who reviled my ancestors, or I '11 
 tear the secret out of your haiUnya " (stout) " heart !" vocife- 
 rated the enraged Theodores. 
 
 I attempted to reiterate what I had said to the delegates in 
 the afternoon ; but ere I could finish a sentence, I was blinded 
 with buffets, whilst at the same time several fellows violently 
 seized me by the hand, and began to twist round my arms
 
 366 APPENDIX. 
 
 hard, coarse ropes, formed of the fibres of the Doloussa tree. 
 Rosenthal, simultaneously with myself, experienced a similar 
 treatment. His poor wife, thinking that our last moments had 
 come, distractedly ran into the arms of Captain Cameron. 
 The latter, who also believed that all were about to be 
 butchered, called out to me, " Stern, we shall soon be in 
 heaven!" This the Negus interpreted into an exhortation 
 that I should not compromise the Prelate ; and instantly Mrs. 
 Rosenthal, under a shower of blows, was driven with her 
 babe into our tent and then into her own, whilst the Consul 
 and all the other prisoners, with the exception of Mr. Keraus, 
 who was suffering from illness, were thrown on the ground 
 and pinioned. 
 
 Generally, criminals under torture are only tied around the 
 upper parts of the arm ; but the white miscreants were deemed 
 unworthy of such leniency. From the shoulder down to the 
 wrists the cords were fiendishly tight rolled around the un- 
 resisting limb. This being still regarded as insufln.cient, the 
 swollen, throbbing hands were bound together behind the back, 
 and then other ropes were fastened across the chest, and that, 
 too, with a force that caused the miserable sufferers to agonize 
 for breath. "Writhing and quivering in every nerve, we lay in 
 contortions heavings on the hard, bare ground. Some prayed ; 
 others groaned ; here one in excruciating torments capered 
 about ; there, another in desperate frenzy knocked his reclining 
 head on a loose stone, as if determined to end by suicide his 
 career of suffering. The crescent moon shining through a 
 white canopy of clouds, the stiUness of the guards, broken by 
 the howling of savage dogs as they careered in quest of prey 
 through the camp, and the moans and sighs of the tortured, 
 formed a scene that beggars language to describe. 
 
 His Majesty, immediately on the application of the ropes, 
 quitted the spot and repaired to his tent. Samuel, his face 
 concealed under a black hood, every few minutes made his 
 appearance, and inquired whether I would confess, and, on not
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 1865. 367 
 
 receiving a satisfactory reply, whispered to the guards, " give 
 him another rope round the chest." Three times he repeated 
 his visits, and three times a couple of soldiers jumped on me, 
 and with ardent delight, as if they felt pleasure in torturing a 
 white man, executed the royal behest. To contract the dry 
 ropes the black fiends now and then poured a profusion of 
 cold water down our insensible backs. " Speak," once more 
 repeated the muffled royal messenger — a command which 
 Captain Cameron seconded by shouting, "Stern, Stern, say 
 what you know !" 
 
 The agonizing torture had now lasted about- three quarters 
 of an hour, and still there was no sign that the tyrant would 
 relent in his cruelty. Physically and mentally prostrated, the 
 hand of faith, in the birth hours of eternity, held confidingly 
 on the eternal rock, and prayerfully sighed for release from 
 these earthly pangs and woes. The Negus probably suspecting 
 that we should succumb beneath a protracted torture, and so 
 elude the clutches of further revenge, now ordered the ropes 
 to be removed. Promptly a score of blacks were bending over 
 us and unfastening the cords. This process caused excru- 
 ciating pain, for the ropes rebounding from the stiff marble 
 limbs, tore away skin and flesh in broad gory shreds. 
 
 Infidelity, scepticism, sneers, and scoffs ^'ere now all merged 
 in one deep and pathetic crj- of anguish, fear, and despair. In 
 compliance with the request of some of my fellow-sufterers, I 
 poured forth the gushing emotions of my heart in a prayer, in 
 which sorrow, sighing, trust, and confidence were sadly blended. 
 Our guards, and every servant who on the approach of tlie 
 King had decamped, now in a most sympathetic spirit, so cha- 
 racteristic of the transient emotions of the barbarian and 
 savage, rendered us every aid in their power. My own 
 " Kuranyee," the man to whom I was chained, a kind Galla 
 from Enarea, arranged the pallet on which I slept, and also 
 gently swathed my wounded arms in the soft folds of the 
 sliamma.
 
 368 APPENDIX. 
 
 A harassing and anxious night was foDowed by a cheerless 
 and desponding morning. Nervously we anticipated some 
 new harrowing message from the King ; but to our delight he 
 rode out, and the forenoon wore away iu silence and stoical 
 apathy. Towards noon the chief of our guards came into our 
 prison, and after some desultory remarks urged me to satisfy 
 His Majesty. " Tell those who sent you," I returned, " that 
 I have spoken the truth ; and if the Kiug does not believe me, 
 I can swear on this book"* (the Bible, which I raised aloft 
 with my palsied and swollen hand) " that the Bishop never 
 spoke to me on the topic he wishes me to charge upon him." 
 " Well," was the laconic retort ; " you will aU get ropes again, 
 and that, too, much severer than last night." 
 
 Uncertain about our fate, moments, miautes, and hours 
 passed away in torturing suspense. Near evening Samuel, 
 that messenger of evil, agaiu obtruded his hated person upon 
 us. He crouched down near Captain Cameron, and with the 
 utmost assiduity tended his wounds. His affability and con- 
 descension emboldened me to ask him why the Negus, after 
 granting me a fuU pardon, again revived the old affair. A 
 withering scowl gathered over his brow at these words, and as 
 if panting for breath he glared at me a few seconds, and then 
 poured forth a volley of frightful abuse. " Dog," " Falasha," 
 "rascal," &c., "how dare you criticise the King's actions, and 
 obstinately defy his authority ? Look here and beliold the suf- 
 ferings you have inflicted on your brethren. This is poor M. 
 Bardel ; and do you know who lies here?" pointing to the 
 Consul. " This is Victoria!" 
 
 Shattered and prostrate as I was, my whole frame shook and 
 trembled at this unmerited rebuke. Samuel I think noticed 
 this, and bending down to me he whispered confidentially, 
 " Come out, I want to speak to you." Once in the open air, 
 
 * It did not then occur to me that the only binding obligation in 
 Abyssinia is an oath " by the death of the King," or the excommuni- 
 cation of the Abuna.
 
 MR. STERN^S LETTER FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 1865. 369 
 
 the raging courtier subsided into the smooth flattering knave. 
 Placing his hand affectionately on my aching shoulder, he said, 
 " Don't think that I am angry with you ; on the contrary, I 
 admire you ; but what possesses you that for the sake of the 
 Bishop, who is neither your countryman nor one of your belief, 
 you incur the wrath of the King, and expose your person to 
 suffering. He is my Abiina (he forgot that he had often told 
 me he was a Protestant), but you are my friend ; and I don't care 
 what happens to him if you only (whose money I have eaten), 
 by obligiug the Negus, win honour and favours." I shook my 
 head, and the foiled inquisitor hastened away, muttering no very 
 charitable benison on my devoted head. 
 
 The shades of night had by this time gathered dark and 
 thick around us. Tlie guards took their station ; and the white 
 prisoners, after committing themselves to the guardian care of 
 a Divine Protector, composed themselves to uneasy slumbers. 
 The sudden whisper of voices and the sound of approaching 
 steps made us start from our leather skins. "Cocab!" 
 " Rosenthal !" "Makerer!" roared several voices at once. 
 Leaping mechanically on our feet, we were in an instant out of 
 the tent. Several dark figures in a trice encompassed me, and 
 with ruthless fury dashed their horny hands in my eyes and 
 face. Blow after blow in quick succession descended stun- 
 ningly upon me, whilst at the same time the ropes were rapidly 
 rolled around my wounded and lacerated arms. "Tie his 
 legs, too, if he does not confess"* rang in deep but distinct 
 accents from the royal pavilion, and was re-echoed from three 
 other lungs who stood in measvired distances to send back my 
 reply. 
 
 My eyes, dimmed by buffets, started almost out of their 
 sockets, my veins began to swell, my nerves throbbed as if they 
 would burst ; and my heart, compressed by the inhuman tight- 
 ness of the ropes, almost stopped its pulsations. Despairingly 
 
 * This fiendish de\ace, which entirely arrests the circulation of the 
 blood, few persons can long resist without succumbing.
 
 370 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 I raised my inflamed eyes towards heaven, and prayed that 
 the bitter cup might either pass away from me, or if I was 
 to drain it to the dregs, that the agony might not be pro- 
 tracted. 
 
 My head now became dizzy, the cold perspiration coursed 
 down my quivering frame, I felt confused, giddy, and mad. 
 "Samuel, Samuel!" I shrieked in frenzied agony, " What do 
 you want, what do you want ?" " Tell the Negiis all you have 
 been told by the Abuna," was his calm response. " Oh ! my 
 God! my Grod !" I mentally ejaculated, have I still longer to 
 endure this wasting martyrdom, and seized by a fit of delirium 
 I vociferated in a hoarse, sufibcating voice, " Yes ! the Abiina 
 often told me that the King was more dreaded, and possessed 
 more power than any of the former sovereigns of Ethiopia, 
 but that his ambition and cruelty ruined and depopulated the 
 country." " Untie the ropes," reverberated far above the 
 cooling breeze, as it swept in refreshing gusts over the torn 
 and bleeding limbs of the sufferer ; " untie the ropes, and ask 
 him if he is not a merchant of insects"*. I hesitated to affirm 
 this palpable falsehood ; but Samuel with clenched teeth 
 muttered, " Dog, do you want a fresh trial of the ropes? " Again 
 roared in succession the invisible voice, accompanied by a slap 
 in my face from the chief jailer, " ask him whether the ladies 
 in England do not eat rats and mice." Promptly my inter- 
 rogator, who evidently now pitied me, responded " Yes." 
 " Ask him whether the Queen of England does not sell thread, 
 needles, and tobacco at Massowah ?" returned the dismal echo ; 
 and before the sound had died away, there was a wild merry 
 shout, accompanied by the gay chuckle of some of the royal 
 ladies. " Ask him whether it is lawful for an Abiina to com- 
 mit "f. Erantic and almost raving, I vehemently roared 
 
 out " No ! no!" The ropes were now entirely removed from 
 
 * I had a beautiful collection of insects, and rare, valuable manu- 
 scripts, which of course were confiscated by the King, 
 t Not to sully these pages I omit the rest of the query.
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAfiDALA, AUGUST 9tH^ 1805. 371 
 
 1110, and also from Rosenthal, wliom, contrary to orders, the 
 guards in the exuberance of their zeal, had also tied ; and poor 
 M. Makerer was questioned about certain language insidious 
 malice reported that he had uttered at Massowah. 
 
 Elated with his success, although it must have been obvious 
 to every rational being that I could not have been for days and 
 days the guest of the Primate, without conversing on the pillage 
 of different provinces, among which Djenda, the domain of the 
 Metropolitan, formed no exception, yet, as he had gained his 
 object, in the flash of delight he ordered a liberal supper of 
 bread, hydromel, and potent (Iraki for his wretched victims. 
 Supported by two blacks, I tottered back into my tent, where 
 I sank down, more dead than alive, on my painful couch. Im- 
 mediately on my entrance. Captain Cameron, in that perfect 
 absence of mind by which all the events of the outer world are 
 excluded, abruptly called across the tent, " Stern, please throw 
 me over the tobacco pouch." An 9. he might have added, a star, 
 or the crescent moon to light his pipe ; for the one would have 
 been as possible for me as the other. 
 
 Samuel, accompanied by a Galla slave, charged with a 
 formidable horn of strong draki, after about half an hour's 
 interval, stumbled into our tent ; he had evidently fortified 
 himself, after the previous toils, by a few herrilles, or bottles of 
 old hydromel. And now some glasses more of ardent spirits 
 wonderfully stimulated his garrulity. Tlie region of the lost 
 could alone have equalled the revolting sight presented at 
 that moment by our prison. There, guarded by a band of dark 
 savages, and chained like untamed beasts, are crowded together 
 in a tattered tent, a party of white captives, in whose de- 
 sponding forlorn looks sorrow and suffering, trouble and care, 
 have written their indelible lines. In the centre of their frail 
 tenement, squat several ragged savages around a flickering, 
 unsteady taper, with their dilated optics wistfully directed to 
 the operations of a smooth-faced Galla lad, who is pouring out 
 of a gigantic horn a strong smelling liquid. A grinning figure,
 
 372 APPENDIX. 
 
 girded to the waist, receives the cup, and hands it, bowing 
 obsequiously, to the criminals, who in formal etiquette quaff 
 the potent draught. This is a faint, and indeed only a faint, 
 outliue of the picture we then formed. 
 
 As I could not move, Samuel, with great tenderness, held 
 the cup to my fevered lips, and in a sympathetic tone said, 
 "Drink, if only a few drops, to evince your regard for the 
 King." Covered with bruises, sores, and scars, I did not 
 know how to lie or sit, without enduring the most excruciating 
 tortures. Some one proposed that we shoidd take opium, and 
 thus elude the tyranny of the despot, and close our career of 
 misery. My giddy and whirling brain rapturously caught the 
 suggestion ; and had my fingers been able to perform their 
 wonted functions, I should, unless a gracious Providence had 
 restrained me, have opened my small basket, and in the frenzy 
 of the moment partaken with some or all my fellow-sufferers 
 of the fatal drug. Mrs. Rosenthal had a similar craving for 
 laudanum ; and, as she afterwards told me, she considered it 
 quite a mercy that the dangerous phial was not within her 
 reach, as in the complete prostration of mind and body she 
 might have terminated her own and her poor babe's trouble- 
 some existence. Somnolency, that angel of pity, gradually 
 closed our eyes, and in a state of dreamy stupefaction the night 
 glided away. At davni, the sinister visage of Samuel appeared 
 at the door of our tent. " Cocab," he commenced, in a hollow, 
 sepulchral voice, to which the previous night's debauch, more 
 than the message of evil he was about to deliver, imparted a 
 fearful solemnity — " Cocab, His Majesty knows that you are not 
 afraid to die ; but don't think that he intends to kill you ; on 
 the contrary, he will preserve your life, and torture you till the 
 flesh rots on your bones." "That this," continued the trucu- 
 lent delegate, " is not a vague threat, the last two nights and 
 many similar ones still in reserve will prove. Do, therefore, 
 
 satisfy the Negus, or, by , those ropes will anon extort by 
 
 force what you now deny as a favour."
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, AUGUST 9tH, 1865. 373 
 
 The sight of the torturing instruments, which lay in a heap 
 in a comer of our tent, caused a dizziness in my head ; and, 
 raising my racking frame, I said, " Samuel, I told you last 
 night my conversation with the Bishop ; and if that does not 
 satisfy you, God's will be done : I won't tell a lie." The im- 
 placable inquisitor, touched by my sufferings, paused a moment, 
 and then resumed once more, " Let us admit that the Bishop 
 did not furnish you with the false account of His Majesty's 
 lineage ; still, as he has proofs, you will never persuade him 
 tbat the statement did not emanate from some of his priests or 
 domestics." 
 
 I now recollected that one of the Abiina's shums (stewards) 
 whom I then thought safe at Massowah or in Egypt, where, 
 for aught I know, he may now also roam about, had many a 
 time amused me by giving episodes out of the history of the 
 Negus. And as evil tongues might have repeated these de- 
 sultory conversations, I said " Grebra Egziabher frequently 
 spoke to me about the exploits of the King, and at my request 
 also gave me some of the particulars relative to his birth and 
 education. But never did he utter a word to depreciate His 
 Majesty ; for he knew that in Egypt and Europe, where he had 
 been, a man was respected on account of his actions, and not 
 on account of his origiu." " I will report this to Negus," was 
 his laconic reply. 
 
 Slowly the weary hours of terror and dread rolled on. Our 
 nerves were horribly shattered, and our minds too would have 
 been unhinged, had not religion, with her solacing influence, 
 smoothed the asperities and hardships of our existence. The 
 Bible, prayers, a morning and evening exposition of an appro- 
 priate passage, were the exercises in which we regularly 
 engaged. No bitter gibes, no harsh expression, no impure 
 language, characterized our intercourse ; religion formed a 
 wonderful bond of harmony ; and when I looked on the devout 
 countenances that then hung over the inspired page as I com- 
 mented on the selected text, I cherished the hope that the
 
 374 APPENDIX. 
 
 clouds so big with wrath had been charged witli a flood of ever- 
 lasting mercy. 
 
 Our affairs, to our infinite satisfaction, suddenly ceased to 
 occupy the royal mind, and few incidents occurred to interrupt 
 our melancholy tranquillity. One afternoon there was a sup- 
 pressed cry, "the King, the King;" which caused quite a 
 panic in our tent. His Majesty, accompanied by a shield- 
 bearer, it is true, had strayed on our prison premises, but for 
 what purpose remains a mystery to this day. On another 
 occasion Basha Engeda, on the guards being changed, pointed 
 me out as a special object of interest — a distinction which, 
 under existing circumstances, I did not much admire. An 
 apparent peace between the Negus and the Primate also gave 
 rise to various conjectures among the prisoners. 
 
 One evening a young lad in the service of the Consul, who, 
 together with other servants, had again returned to his master, 
 crept down near me and adroitly conveyed a small piece of 
 paper into my dead and feelingless hand. I hastily put it into 
 my Bible, thinking it was a letter from Mr. Flad — a mistake 
 which the Arabic character soon exposed. The note was from 
 the Bishop, and commenced — " To my Brother in Christ, ser- 
 vant to the Prophets and Apostles," &c. &c. It then adverted 
 to the suiferings all, and especially myself, had endured, on his 
 account, and, quoting certain appropriate passages of Scripture, 
 it concluded abruptly with a remark about money. 
 
 By the dim glimmer of the guards' light, it occurred to me 
 that the Abuna expected that ere long I shovild have to endure 
 a fresh ordeal of the Negus's retributive vengeance, and that, 
 doubtful about the issue, he wanted me to send him an order for 
 the money I owed him. This warning, for such my unhinged 
 imagination fancied it to be, gave me a momentary shock, and, 
 grasping the ill-boding missive between my numbed fingers, I 
 held it clandestinely to the light, and to my satisfaction disco- 
 vered that, instead of an order for the money I had borrowed, 
 it was a generous off'er to advance me more.
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAODALA, AUGUST 9tH, 1805. JJ?.") 
 
 This incident, trifling as it may seem, inspired me and alno 
 my fellow-prisonei's witli a vague hope that in the reconcilia- 
 tion with the Abuna our own affiiirs might receive a just and 
 honest consideration — an anticipation that Avould not have 
 been disappointed, had the pride of the suspicious and offended 
 monarch been pacified by the timely arrival of the still 
 expected letter from Her Majesty. Samuel no longer ob- 
 truded his undesirable presence upon us. Once he brought 
 some Italian medals and mathematical measuring instruments 
 into the tent of Rosenthal, and requested to know their use. 
 Rosenthal advised him to ask me, upon which he returned in a 
 petulant tone, " always Cocab ! " 
 
 The attitude in which I am compelled to carry on my 
 clandestine correspondence is most painful. Bent double by 
 manacles about three-eighths of a yard long between the 
 ankles, linked to another a few inches shorter to the right- 
 hand wrist, I crouch down with the paper half-concealed in my 
 lap, and scribble away. The posture is not adapted to make 
 the pen run easily ; but this is of no consequence, the occupa- 
 tion dispels, for at least a few hours, the gloomy reveries in 
 wdiich my mind unwillingly indulges, and furnishes you and 
 my friends with a faithful outline of my own and my fellow- 
 prisoners' sad history ; and this amply compensates for the 
 pain which the task inflicts on my chaiii-crippled frame. 
 
 November 1, 1865. 
 The Abyssinian winter, accompanied by storms, rain, fogs, 
 cold, and all sorts of other discomforts, had now fairly set in. 
 Almost every noon, the sky became darkened ; and lowering 
 clouds, amidst the reverberations of thunder, poured down de- 
 luging floods ; our frail cotton tent, which had already for 
 more than four months resisted the wear and tear of guards 
 and prisoners, sun and wdnd, notwithstanding the patching of 
 Pietro and Makerer's skill, admitting the pelting torrent. 
 During the day the horrors of the tempest were still mitigated 
 
 2c
 
 376 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 by the scanty coverings in which each one could muffle up his 
 shivering frame ; but by night, when wedged between suspi- 
 cious guards, who tremblingly rose at the slightest clang of the 
 heavy chains, one was forced positively to press the cold earth 
 as one's couch. The King, two or three times in riding out, 
 gave a musing glance across our fence, which led us to antici- 
 pate that our wretched apology for a shelter would soon be ex- 
 changed for some more substantial covering — an expectation 
 that was never destined to be realized. Condemned to wet 
 and filth, our misery was intensified by the foul aroma of the 
 coarse guards, who in crowds obtruded their offensive persons 
 upon us. Goaded to desperation, we sent one afternoon to 
 Samuel, and reqiiested him to regulate the watch. Samuel men- 
 tioned it to the King ; and the reply was, " If they don't like to 
 come in contact with my people, give tbem foot-chains, and let 
 only two soldiers watch in the tent." This unexpected inflic- 
 tion of fresh suffering gave us an unmistakeable clue to his 
 Majesty's sentiments towards us ; but without allowing such 
 an ebullition of hatred to depress our spirits, we determined 
 henceforth passively to endure every hardship that might still 
 
 fall to our lot 
 
 That terrible scourge, the small-pox, which had already for 
 more than six weeks ravaged the camp, in the absence of every 
 precaution to arrest its progress, spread with increased viru- 
 lence through the crowded lines of tents, hurrying promis- 
 cuously men, women, and children to an untimely grave. An 
 incipient famine accelerated its devastations, and multiplied 
 the funeral processions, which, amidst the melancholy chants 
 of priests and the wail of mourners, everywhere traversed the 
 gloomy camp. His Majesty, to dissipate the panic which pre- 
 vailed through the thinning ranks of the army, interdicted the 
 usual lamentations for the dead ; but the voice of nature coidd 
 not be stifled by royal edicts ; so in defiance of the stick and 
 the whip, the shrieks and lamentations of the bereaved rang all 
 nijrht in wild cadences over hill and dale.
 
 MR. STERN^S LETTER PROM MAGPALA, NOV. IST, 1805. 877 
 
 Prompted by sanitary motives, ou July 5tli the camp was 
 removed to Assoaso, about six miles W.S.W. from Gondar. To 
 our surprise we received no official intimation that we were to 
 change our abode ; and it was quite a relief to our eyes to gaze 
 on the stockaded acclivity above our prison, without the trial of 
 beholding the despot or his myrmidons. Ou the Gth of July, 
 towards evening, Basha Deresa, the commander of the fusi- 
 liers, paid VIS a visit, and ordered our foot-chains to be removed 
 from the hand-chains : the operation of unrivetting the massive 
 irons required the efforts of eight powerful savages ; and even 
 these had to exert their whole strength to accomplish the one- 
 rous work. "We were immediately linked together in pairs by 
 shackles fastened round the wrists. The wonted insolence of 
 the conceited Ethiop, which had been often enough exhibited 
 towards us, was on the present occasion not omitted ; and many 
 a vile sarcasm during the hammering of the iron was expended 
 on the defenceless white prisoners. 
 
 On the following morning a formidable guard came to escort 
 us to the camp. Captain Cameron, and myself, who at our 
 own option were chained together, formed the most unhappy 
 pair for the ride. Enervated by suffering and sickness, I was 
 in no condition to manage the young and untrained mule 
 which I received orders to mount : nor was my companion, 
 whose nerves and mind were dreadfully shaken, better fitted 
 
 for the novel exercise 
 
 On arriving at the camp we were conducted up a rugged 
 ascent, on the summit of which, exposed to the cool and re- 
 freshing breeze, stood the royal tents. A strong palisaded en- 
 closure defended every encroachment on this forbidden ground. 
 We w^ere ordered to alight close to the rigorously guarded 
 entrance, where, together with hundreds of deserters, thieves, 
 murderers, and other low criminals, we had to await the man- 
 date for our location. At last the order came that we were to 
 march to the front of the camp, occupied by tlie chief of the 
 fusiliers. Ever since the imprisonment of the Consul we 
 
 2 c 2
 
 378 APPENDIX. 
 
 always had a spot for our tent within the royal fence ; but as 
 each indignity to the detested Frendjotj was supposed to en- 
 hance the glory of the despot and the lustre of his name, we 
 were no longer deemed worthy to enjoy tlie not very enviable 
 distinction conferred on the more exalted native offenders. Our 
 fragile prison, which the journey had not improved, was at last, 
 with difficulties that appeared almost insurmountable, lashed 
 to the pole, and then to secure this unsafe abode an impassable 
 thorn fence was raised around it. All the other prisoners, 
 above three hundred in number, among whom there were not 
 a few who had more to deplore the caprice of the law than the 
 perpetration of crime, were shut up in an enclosure separated 
 from ourselves by a thin acacia partition 
 
 On August 19th, 1864, we heard that the long-expected let- 
 ter from Her Majesty had at length arrived, and that the Ne- 
 giis had sent for the Europeans at Gaffat ; then again we were 
 told that the order had been countermanded, and again that 
 they were on the road. These contradictory rumours were not 
 quite unfounded. A letter, it is true, had arrived from the 
 coast, but it was not the document the King expected ; and 
 the Graffat employes had also been desired to come to the camp 
 and settle our affairs ; but the vacillating tyrant, probably at 
 the instigation of Samuel, once more abandoned his generous 
 designs. 
 
 Gondar, the capital of Abyssinia, owing to its sympathies with 
 rebels, never enjoyed the particular good graces of the Monarch. 
 The population, confiding in the number of their churches and 
 the wealth of its merchants, quaffed their hydromel and in- 
 dulged their vicious passions in heedless security. Their fatal 
 dream of undisturbed repose was, however, destined to expe- 
 rience a grievous reverse. A complaint that the bread and 
 meat provided by the town were bad in quality and limited in 
 ([iianiity, afforded the Negus a favourable opportunity to satisfy 
 his long cherished resentment. An exorbitant fine was im- 
 mediately imposed on the mistaken inhabitants ; and on meet-
 
 MR. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, NOV. IsT, 18G5. 379 
 
 ing with a slight opposition to his ruinous demand, the whip and 
 rope were energetically used to enforce compliance. Despoiled 
 and pillaged, the wretched populace deceived themselves \\ ith 
 the illusive hope that the heaviest calamity was past ; but they 
 had not yet sounded the depth of their Sovereign's vengeance, 
 and only felt its full weight when they saw their homes on fire 
 and demolished by the devouring flames. The old metropolis, 
 with the exception of the churches, being reduced to ashes, 
 his Majesty, to perpetuate his Neronian achievement on a 
 miniature scale, proclaimed Assosso the new capital of the 
 empire. To outdo his predecessors, all sorts of grand plans 
 were projected to embellish the royal city. Churches, palaces, 
 workshops and gardens, vying with each other in matchless 
 splendour, had already assigned to them their appropriate 
 spots. These imaginary schemes occupied the dull princes of 
 the whole army, and led every one to believe that the camp 
 would remain stationary for many months to come. Sur- 
 rounded by everything revolting, we still preferred our offen- 
 sive prison to travelling in chains. Unexpectedly, about the 
 beginning of September 1864, the vision of a new capital, 
 which had for some time delighted the ragged hordes, was 
 
 abandoned, and the camp removed to Shangarou 
 
 On the 17th the imperial blacksmith, accompanied by a 
 score of menials, came to relieve us of our foot-chains. As 
 we were to start the same forenoon, celerity was indispensable ; 
 and the important functionary, assisted by his servile sub- 
 ordinates, manipulated most dexterously the chains on our 
 legs and arms to accomplish his task. Shackled in couples, 
 however, round our wrists, and guarded by a band of armed 
 fusiliers, we were now led out of the narrow enclosure, in which 
 we had been closely confined for more than two months. The 
 King, more intent on torturing than on destroying the hated 
 and envied Frendjotj, had given orders that we should be 
 provided with mules ; but the escort, being well aware that 
 prisoners are not objects of much consideration, did not teel
 
 380 APPENDIX. 
 
 disposed to comply witli this high behest. The ride from 
 Gondar to Assosso had not increased our zest for bestriding 
 a mule in fetters ; and, at my suggestion, all except Mrs. Eo- 
 senthal, who had a baby in her arms, consented to test the 
 strength of their legs 
 
 It was said, and the rumour was also true, that His Ma- 
 jesty, on coming together with his European employes, would 
 finish our business, and either aUow us to leave the country 
 or else keep us at Gaft'at. The capricious tyrant this time would 
 have kept his word, had not Mr. Samuel, that compound of 
 malice, hatred, and cunning, by crafty insinuations and po- 
 sitive lies (as we know for certain), neutralized his master's 
 designs. "We remained at Sergu from September 23rd to Oc- 
 tober 14th, and then set forward again. The journey from this 
 to the capital of Begamider took vis fifteen days, of which three 
 only were spent in actvial travelling 
 
 On reaching Debra Tabor, we expected that a messenger 
 from Gaffat would meet us ; but in vain we wistfully strained 
 our eyes in all directions to discover the face of a known 
 servant or the white countenance of a Frendji. Probably 
 the majority, if not all, would have gladly come to see us, had 
 they not dreaded the cruel tyrant, whose proximity damps, if 
 it does not entirely extinguish, every feeling of sympathy to- 
 wards those who have incurred his displeasure. As we did 
 not obtain unsolicited intelligence from our friends, who were 
 located about two miles' walk from our resting-place, we sent 
 one of our servants for that purpose to Mr. Flad. The messenger 
 returned in the evening loaded with potatoes, bread, milk, and 
 a small note, which contained the tantalizing news that His 
 Majesty, during the two or three conferences with the Gaffat 
 Avhite workmen, had always carefully avoided alluding to our 
 afiairs. Once, during a subsequent interview, Mr. Waldmeier 
 ventured to advert to our position ; but the Negus did not 
 deign to notice his remark on that disagreeable topic. Several 
 days (ah ! several centuries !) of heart-burning suspense had
 
 MK. stern's letter FROM MAGDALA, NOV. IsT^ 18G5. .'381 
 
 already elapsed, and still there was no other amelioration of 
 our condition beyond that we had an ample supply of whole- 
 some food from our friends. 
 
 About the 29th of October we were informed that the King, 
 being moved by the potent hydromel and draki of his foreign 
 employes *, had, in a fit of magnanimity, urged them to solicit 
 
 * [After having sent to the printer the MS. of what is printed above, 
 and whilst correcting for the press that portion of my work (page 
 2G1) in which I have referred to the present note (not having been 
 able to insert it there), I saw in the ' xVthenteimi ' of November 10th 
 a notice of the following work recently published by the Early Eng- 
 lish Text Society : — " The Book of Quinte Essence, or the Fifth Being, 
 that is to say, Man's Heaven. Edited by F. J. Furnivall." 
 
 I have not seen this curious work ; but the following notice of its 
 contents, taken verbatim et literatim from the columns of the ' Athe- 
 naeum,' will fully serve the purpose for which 1 now refer to it : — 
 
 " ' The Book of Quinte Essence ' is described as ' a treatise in Eng- 
 lish, briefly drawn out of the book of quintessence, in Latin, that 
 Hermes the prophet and King of Egypt, after the flood of Noah, father 
 of philosophers, had, by the revelations of an angel of God, to him 
 sent.' Mr. Furnivall himself says, * This tract appears to be a great 
 fuss about Spirits of Wine, how to make it, and get more or less tipsy 
 on it, and what wonders it will work, from making old men young 
 and dying men well, to killing lice.' The compoimder states that his 
 mixtm-e is the burning water, aqua vitcs, or, according to the name by 
 which philosophers keep its character secret, quintessence. It is re- 
 conmiended as a panacea that will overcome Death himself, always 
 excepting that the patient has reached ' the term that is set of God 
 that no man may escape ' — a saving clause of an early quack charac- 
 ter. It is also to be observed that this spirit, for those who lack jol- 
 lity or medicine, for those who prefer to take it under the plea of lack 
 of health, is intended by the inventor only for ' evangelic men.' This 
 inventor, horrified at the idea of the secret getting into the possession 
 of sick tyrants, who, by its use, may regain their lost vigour, recom- 
 mends it to the keeping of Christ. Thus, the tipplers who quailed 
 their walnut-shell or their egg-shell fidl, might measure their riglit- 
 eousness by the amount of their exhilaration. The author of ' The 
 Book of Quinte Essence ' shows how life may be rendered physically 
 joyful; its date is of the fifteenth century; and men learned therein 
 how they might be cured of every disease except hereditary leprosy."
 
 382 APPENDIX. 
 
 any favour they would, and that, if it were not his throne or his 
 crown, it should be granted, even if it were for the liberation of 
 the European prisoners. Acting on a Scriptural precedent, our 
 
 As it was in Europe in the middle ages, so it is at the present day 
 in Abyssinia, where the art of distillation is unknown ; and hence it 
 may be understood how great is the importance of persons who, like 
 the Emperor's European workmen, can distil spirits. To that monarch, 
 whose habits of intemperance are notorious, they must have become a 
 necessity. 
 
 I do not make this remark in any unkind spirit, as Mr. Layard did 
 when speaking in the House of Commons of the Basle Missionaries as 
 "trading- in brandy" (see page 110). Even supposing they did so, 
 there would be nothing incompatible in their making, or even selling, 
 honey-wine (hydromel), beer, and spirits. We have at home men 
 of unquestionable piety and goodness, who are brewers, distillers, and 
 wine-merchants. But, from an expression in a letter from INIr. Stern 
 to his wife dated Magdala, August 2oth, 1866, just received, it would 
 seem that the spirits are made onh^ for the Emperor's private use. 
 He says, " like the rest of our fellow-prisoners, we drank his health in 
 good drald provided for that purpose from the royal distillery." 
 
 Theodore's failing in this respect is no new matter. As long ago as 
 the year 1853, Baron Theodore von Heuglin described him as " a hard 
 fighter and a hard drinker." (" Ein tapferer Kfimpe in der Feldschlacht 
 und hinter dem Tedsch-Becher." — Reisen in Nonl-Ost-Afrika, p. 45.) 
 This was before he became Emperor, at which time I was in Mauri- 
 tius, where my Abyssinian servants gave me strange descriptions of 
 his excesses and of their consequences. Whether after his accession 
 he reformed in this respect as in others, Mr. Plowden has not said in 
 his report (see page 35) ; but if he did, it can only have been for a 
 short time. I remember having shipped to Aden sundry cases of 
 "Vermouth" for the private use of his Imperial Majesty, and 1 am 
 afraid that the habit has now become inveterate. It will have been 
 seen that most of the acts of violence perpetrated on Mr. Stern and the 
 other captives have occurred in the evening, after the Emperor had 
 been carousing (see pages 113, 140, 365, 369). If, as his panegp-ist 
 Mr. Plowden admits, one of the " worse points in his character " was 
 " his violent anger at times " (Joe. cit.), even at the most favourable 
 period of his career when all was prosperous, how must it be when 
 inflamed by drink, now that his temper has become soured by re- 
 verses and disappointments! C.B.].
 
 MA. STEKn's letter FROM MAGDALA, NOV, IsT, 18G5. 38.'5 
 
 friends (I suppose) merely expressed their deli^'ht at enjoying 
 the royal countenance and favour. Two evenings after tlie 
 above, His Majesty again drained a good number of herilles 
 (bottles) of the Frendjotfs generous brew, and, once more ex- 
 hilarated by the excellent beverage, repeated the former re- 
 quest a little more urgently. This time they vpere more bold, 
 or thought the moment more opportune to intercede in behalf 
 of our freedom. The request was instantly granted, and all 
 were to be released from their chains, except the Frenchmen 
 Bardel and Makerer. 
 
 This was about the beginning of November, 1864 ; on the 
 5th of the same month the cheering tidings were commu- 
 nicated to us that Kantiba Hailu, the late Governor of Gon- 
 dar, a man highly esteemed by the King and the European 
 workmen, had received orders to proceed to the camp, and to 
 conduct us and our French fellow-sufferers, free from fetters, 
 to a new home in the vicinity of our countrymen. "We were 
 already in spirit revelling in the luxury of unshackled limbs, 
 when, at the very moment we expected to hear the tramp of 
 our friends' mules and to grasp their extended hands, one 
 messenger followed by another came to announce that the 
 humane intentions of His Majesty had been defeated by a 
 report of Samuel, confirmed by Dedjatj Bariau, the Governor 
 of Tigre, that a British general and troops had landed at Mas- 
 sowah, and that another great man (whether French or Eng- 
 lish, was not stated) had also arrived in Sennaar, and that 
 both publicly declared they were determined to move to- 
 wards Abyssinia, to effect our deliverance either by media- 
 tion or by force of arms. This unexpected blight of our fond 
 anticipations came upon us like a thunder-clap ; but the mind, 
 when pressed down by a succession of calamities, either be- 
 comes callous and apathetic, or tries to gain calmness and 
 comfort to the troubled heart in prayer and the promises of 
 the inspired page 
 
 On November 7th I got a note from Mr. Flad, which con-
 
 384 APPENDIX. 
 
 tained the dreaded intelligeuce that we were the next day to 
 be carried to Magdala, the penal settlement of the Negusa 
 
 Negest, King of Kings On the 8th we quitted Debra 
 
 Tabor, the goal where we confidently imagined that our ma- 
 nacles would be removed and our captivity terminate. Our 
 first resting-place was San M3'eda, the spot where the late 
 Coptic Patriarch, the Ambassador of the Viceroy of Egypt, 
 was incarcerated by the artful barbarian, whose smiles and 
 
 sua\dty ought never to have duped a white man 
 
 Our party, which since we left Begamider had consider- 
 ably increased, did not much tend to beguile the fatigue and 
 toil of the route. About a dozen criminals, almost all of 
 whom were in puris naturalibus, or nearly so, with long heavy 
 wooden yokes round their necks, were not exactly the com- 
 panions that Europeans in Africa, even in the greatest emer- 
 gency, would ever dream of being obliged to have for daily 
 associates, although Ave might pity their forlorn condition ; 
 but the mighty name of Britain, respected as it is throughout 
 the universe, is no palladium to travellers, missionaries, or a 
 Consul, in the powerful realm of the boasted descendant of 
 
 Solomon Many a sinister black visage was turned 
 
 upon us, and many an ill-boding sentence was uttered against 
 us, as we were driven through a narrow gap up the dreaded 
 Amba. That his Majesty had been bragging about his Eu- 
 ropean captives was evident from the deportment of the wild 
 hordes ; and this idea, which was uppermost in the mind of a 
 few of us, did not tend to soothe the agony of the lacerated. 
 Gasping and panting, we at length emerged out of a rude, 
 strong gateway on the summit of the Amba. Again a sliort 
 halt was ordered, and then once more all hurried forward to- 
 wards a collection of sugar-loaf-shaped huts — the dwellings of 
 his Majesty's court *. All in a twinkling lay prostrate in the 
 
 * [A description of Amba Magdala, where the captives remained 
 confined till February 24th, 180G, and whither they have again been 
 taken, together with Mr. Kassani and his suite, is given iu page 144. 
 — C. B.]
 
 MR. STEKN's letter FROM MAGDALA, NOV. IsT, 18G5. 385 
 
 dust; but the profound obeisance, instead of meetiuf a re- 
 sponse, remained unnoticed amidst tbe boisterous shouts for 
 draki. The malefactors and their servile guards paused; 
 but, as the Negus was indulging in his orgies, we were driven 
 on to our home — the prison. 
 
 From Mr. Rosenthal. 
 
 End of April, 18G5. 
 
 Tou will no doubt within a short time hear of the letter of 
 the Eev. H, A, Stern, in which he gives a sketch of the 
 suiferings we have had to undergo since our arrival in this 
 country, with the circumstances which accelerated them, in 
 order to prevent ill-disposed persons from misconstruing his 
 course of action here. Although the history of his suft'ei-iugs 
 comprises that of my own, with the exception of the beating 
 which he received at first, yet, as Mrs. E. and the child shared 
 our lot in part on the one hand, and were separated from me 
 for about two months on the other, during which period I 
 neither saw nor heard from them, you can easily imagine that 
 these additional bereavements greatly contributed to my own 
 sorrows. 
 
 .... I only add a few things which concern more especially 
 Mrs. E. and myself, as Mr. Stern has wTitten all concerning 
 himself to the time of my seizure and our imprisonment 
 together. From that period our lot was one, so that I can 
 safely refer you to his letter. After the imprisonment of 
 Mr. Stern, I was in continual fear lest something untoward 
 shoidd happen to me, because I gave to him some letters to for- 
 ward, one a missionary report to the Society, also to several 
 friends delineations of the character and prospects of our work, 
 to interest them in the same ; and one was descriptive of our 
 journey from the coast to the interior, and a six months' resi- 
 dence in this country, to which some personal remarks were 
 added ; these were among his seized papers.
 
 386 APPENDIX. 
 
 Our anxiety was only too soon verified by the event. "We 
 were taken prisoners on the fifth of November, 1863. Our 
 animals, grain (stored up for the next six months), clothes, 
 books, medicine, money — in fact, all we possessed was seized, 
 and we were for the next three days subjected to a series of 
 insults, inconveniences, and wants in our house, and our ser- 
 vants were compelled to grind and bake day and night. In 
 spite of this we were nearly starving for lack of bread. Some 
 time after this event the personal eff'ects of Mrs. E. were 
 returned, but only to be retaken subsequently and finally ; and 
 she and our child were left entirely destitute of clothing. 
 
 When we arrived at Gondar, I was chained hand and foot, 
 and put in a separate tent from that of Mrs. E.. Both were 
 filled with soldiers to excess. Mrs. E. was actually obliged to 
 beg and cry to have permission for two female servants to sleep 
 by her side. On the Friday following my fetters were re- 
 moved, and I joyfully anticipated entire release ; but, imagine 
 my surprise and disappointment when, instead of that, I was 
 brought before a gorgeous assembled multitude to be judged. 
 Mr. Stern and myself were both condemned to death according 
 to the dictates of the Fetha Negast, a book firmly believed by 
 the Abyssinians to be of Divine origin ; and although I re- 
 peatedly begged for mercy during the examinations, I only 
 received the answer to reply to the questions put to me. We 
 both made one more attempt to be heard, Mr. S. in Arabic, 
 and myself in Amharic ; but were simply told, " luckra'''' (to- 
 morrow). During the trial two different soldiers, holding my 
 chains, fell down at my side, and were carried ofi" like corpses. 
 
 We were now confined to the same tent, and hand and foot- 
 irons were put on in such a manner that we could not stand 
 upright. My fetters were of a specially cruel construction. 
 Usually the manacles are separated by two or three links of 
 chain ; mine, however, constantly kept my feet within one- 
 eighth of an inch close together ; and when I desired to 
 move I was obliged to crawl upon both hands and feet. These 
 are designated " slave-irons."
 
 MR. ROSENTHAL S LETTER FROM MAODALA, APRIL 1805. 387 
 
 I omit the intervening time that elapsed until the chaining 
 of the Consul and the other Europeans. Mr. Stern's and my 
 condition were a little ameliorated before that proceeding ; but 
 what Mrs. Flad, Mrs. E., and the poor children suffered in Gron- 
 dar during the 3rd of January, 1864, and the two following 
 days, baffles description. They were maltreated, received the 
 most abusive language, and were deprived of food. In their 
 extremity, Mrs. E. opened the Bible at random, and her eves 
 fell upon the composing words of Joseph to his brethren — 
 " Fear not ; I will nourish you and your little ones." God did 
 bless the supply of Mrs. E.'s nourishment, so that she kept the 
 two poor babes, ours and Mrs. Flad's, for three days from 
 famishing. They were, however, soon brought to the camp, 
 and at the end of January permitted to visit us. O, my G-od ! 
 what a meeting was this of mine with my poor wife and child, 
 after two months' separation under such trying circum- 
 stances ! 
 
 I pass over the liberation of the German missionaries, a pain- 
 ful illness aud operation of Mrs. E., and a dangerous fever of 
 the child, aud come to Sunday, February 29th. On tliat day 
 the King asked something of Mr. Stern in reference to the 
 Bible, which I happened to answer, and being thus informed 
 he gave immediate orders for the opening of my chains. 'I was 
 indulged also to occupy the same tent with Mrs. E, within a 
 few yards of the European prisoners ; and, thank God, we both 
 say, we were never afterwards separated. 
 
 Thus we remained until that fearful evening the 12th of 
 May, only alluded to by Mr. S., when we were tortured. 
 Mrs. E., hearing our groans and cries, rushed out of her tent 
 towards us, and, with the baby in her arms (who was then only 
 ten months old), was beaten, knocked down, trod upon, and 
 dragged back to the tent senseless. The marks of this treat- 
 ment were visible after many days. That evening the poor 
 child relapsed, and remained weak and sickly for many months. 
 When Mrs. E. revived, she lamented and agonized over the
 
 388 APPENDIX. 
 
 supposed death of myself and Mr. S. I was at last conducted 
 back to her, lacerated, and with the distorted features of a 
 madman. The same tragedy was reperformed the following 
 evening upon three of us, and Mrs. R.'s sad pleasure consisted 
 afterwards in healing our impotent arms. I was again chained, 
 and have remained so ever since. 
 
 "We passed the incessant rains of a tropical winter in an old 
 torn tent, experienced many disappointed hopes, were dragged 
 two and two, chained together, across the country on mules, 
 every moment in danger of pulling one another off our animals 
 and breaking our necks ; and on arriving here were huddled 
 together with about 200 persons of various ranks, ages, and 
 sexes, with real or supposed crimes attached to them, and vari- 
 ously chained, and stuffed into a place about sixty feet in dia- 
 meter. Mrs. R. is not, nor ever was, tied, although she is con- 
 sidered a prisoner. 
 
 September 16th, 1865. 
 
 Tou remember that the whole affair of our imprisonment 
 turns around the Grovernment Letter. Had the same arrived 
 a year ago, without any further comment, it is probable that 
 we had long ago enjoyed liberty. Would the same were pre- 
 sented, even with ceremony or without it — delivered either by 
 an Englishman or an Abyssinian ! we are pretty confident 
 that, if not permitted to leave the country, our imprisonment 
 would at least be at an end. 
 
 So the whole matter finishes in this : — On account of this 
 oft-mentioned letter, kept in some secluded spot of the uni- 
 verse for some time longer, we have no other hope but to 
 remain to an indefinite period in Magdala, or some other un- 
 pleasantly elevated locality of the Abyssinian highlands, until 
 its arrival. The difference, however, which now exists is this : 
 — Formerly the King only desired an answer. The proposal 
 was made to him that a gentleman should forward that docu- 
 ment, and at the same time effect a reconciliation between the
 
 MR. ROSENTHAL'S LETTER FROM M AODALA, SKl'T. 1805. 389 
 
 two parties. It only stands to reason that the Negus expects, 
 as the case remains, that both should be carried out. And the 
 one without the other would not be sufficient to effect our 
 release. 
 
 There is still another and serious consideration. His Ma- 
 jesty has been informed so often of the arrival at Massowah of 
 the letter, without its making its appearance liere, that if it 
 does not come soon, or that gentleman at Massowah does not 
 find an open road to forward it, His Majesty might think tiiat 
 all the letter affiiir is a delusion, only practised tipon hiin to 
 get us quietly out of the country. And if he lias once made u]) 
 his mind this way, it might be a bad job for us. You are 
 aware that untutored minds are very much open to suspicion. 
 We should not forget, however, that Mr. Eassam in his gene- 
 rosity offered to come, and would have come too had he received 
 permission. 
 
 But one must take the King as he is. He was in full power, 
 and perhaps did not care for friendship then, and therefore 
 not for the causing of mediation. His pride was wounded in 
 not receiving an answer to his letter. This he wanted, and 
 nothing else. Had it arrived at the first, there is no doubt he 
 would have said, " I am satisfied now ; they have offended me, 
 but I have shown them that I have my own will." And with 
 this our experience in prison life would have ceased. It should 
 be remembered, however, that no one could imagine that such 
 a kind proposal should have been refused. According to our 
 notion a letter from so high a personage (as the Queen) should 
 be delivered with every decorum and eclat ! In an Abyssinian 
 dictionary it may be, " anyhow, so long as it does come."
 
 390 APPENDIX. 
 
 VI. 
 
 Petition to the Emperor Theodore from the Relatives of 
 the Captives, and Correspondence betweeti His Ma- 
 jesty and Dr. Beke. 
 
 PETITION. 
 
 In the name of tlie Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, One God. 
 
 May this letter from the distressed relatives of the unfor- 
 tunate white prisoners at Magdala come to His Most Excel- 
 lent Majesty, Theodore, by the Grace of God, King of the 
 Kings of Ethiopia. 
 
 Are you well, King ? Are you very well ? We are all 
 well in health, thanks be to God ! though sorely troubled in 
 mind, because those we love have incurred your Eoyal dis- 
 pleasure. 
 
 Humbly at the feet of your Majesty we plead for mercy and 
 pardon to the wretched Europeans who have been so long in 
 captivity. 
 
 The wife of Stern and her four young and helpless children 
 mourn the absence, and need the support of, a tender and be- 
 loved husband and father. 
 
 It has pleased God to take the husband of the mother of 
 Ellen Eosenthal, and she and her other two children are poor, 
 and she has now only her daugliter and her daugliter's hus- 
 band, Eosenthal, to whom she could look for support and 
 comfort in her old age. 
 
 The aged mother of Consul Cameron is pining with grief 
 that her darling son should have been kept so long from her 
 widowed arms. She longs to see him once more, and to bless 
 him before she dies *. 
 
 Kerans is the beloved son of a father and mother, who, 
 
 * This consolation was denied to the poor old lady. She died on 
 November 2nd, 1865, as is mentioned in papre 21(5 of this work.
 
 PETITION FROM TIIK KKLATIVES OK THE CAPTIVES. 391 
 
 through his loug captivity, are deprived of tlie prop of their 
 declining years. 
 
 The brothers and sisters and other relatives of all the 
 prisoners are weeping to behold the dear faces that have been 
 so long withh olden from them, 
 
 AU appeal to your Majesty's good feelings as a liusband 
 and a father, earnestly imploring you to comfort the afflicted 
 and to dry the tears of the sorrowful, by extending to their 
 unhappy relatives the clemency and magnanimity whicli you 
 have so often shown even to your bitterest enemies. 
 
 We ask for mercy in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 in whose Holy Gospel it is written, " Forasmucli as ye have 
 done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it 
 unto me." 
 
 And may the Holy Trinity reward you a hundredfold : and 
 we, your suppliants, will ever pray that blessings may await 
 you and your whole house, that you may overcome all your 
 enemies, that prosperity may attend your reign, and that your 
 children's children to all generations may sit on tlie throne of 
 Menilek and Tekuna Amlak. 
 
 Chablotte E. Steek, Wife of the Eev. H. A. Stem. 
 
 CiiAELOTTE E. Stebk, Daughter of the same. 
 
 Evelina C. Steen, Daughter of the same. 
 
 Louisa M. Steek, Daughter of the same. 
 
 Heney a. Steen, Son of the same. 
 
 Aletta Cameeon, Mother of Consul Cameron. 
 
 M. Desboeough, Sister of the same. 
 
 L. Desboeough, Brother-in-law of tlie same. 
 
 E. Blackall, Sister of the same. 
 
 A. Blackall, Brother-in-law of the same. 
 
 L. C. Desboeough, Nephew of the same. 
 
 C. H. Desboeough, Niece of the same. 
 
 Laweence O. Keeans, M.D., Father of Lawrence Kerans. 
 
 Augusta A. Kerans, Mother of the same. 
 
 T. S. Keeans, Brother of the same. 
 
 2d
 
 39,'2 APPENDIX. 
 
 Geo. IvEKA^■s, Brother of the game. 
 
 EoBEUT Keeans, Brother of L. Kerans. 
 
 Lyons Keeans, Brother of tlie same. 
 
 Anna Keeans, Sister of the same. 
 
 Saeah Keeans, Sister of the same. 
 
 Elizabeth Keeans, Sister of the same. 
 
 C. H. PuEDAY, Father-in-law of the Rev. H. A. Stern. 
 
 Maey Ann Pueday, Mother-iu-law of the same. 
 
 M. A. PuRDAY, Sister-in-haw of the same. 
 
 Elizabeth C. Pueday, Sister-in-law of the same. 
 
 "Wm. R. Moeoan, Clerk, Brother-in-law of the same. 
 
 C. H. Pueday, Jun., Brother-in-law of the same. 
 
 J. T. Pueday, Brother-in-law of the same. 
 
 F. S. Pueday, Brother-iu-iaw of the same. 
 
 S. T. MoEGAN, Sister-in-law of the same. 
 
 M. Young, Mother of Mrs. Rosenthal. 
 
 E. EisNEE, Sister of the same. 
 
 L. EiSNEE, Brother-in-law of Mr. Rosenthal. 
 
 E. Rosenthal, Sister of the same. 
 
 Letter from Dr. BeJce accompanying the foregoing Petition. 
 
 In the name of tlie Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy- 
 Ghost, One God. 
 
 This letter comes from the Englishman, Charles Theodore * 
 Beke, to His Most Excellent Majesty, Teddros, by the Grace 
 of God, King of the Kings of Ethiopia. 
 
 * When I first went to Abyssinia in 1840, 1 took "Theodore " as 
 my travelling name. I could not use my own name, Charles or 
 Kdi-olos, as this would immediately have been changed to Kerelos or 
 CjTil. I therefore adopted Theodore from my motto, A Deo omne 
 Donum, — in Greek, Ek OEOY nav Ai2P0N. That it happened to be 
 the name of the Teodros of prophecy was no objection at that time ; 
 but since Kassai has assumed this name, he does not like it to be 
 borne by any one else. I have therefore thought it well to retain the 
 English form, Theodore. I coxdd not consistently drop the name 
 altogether, being known by it in Abyssinia.
 
 DR. BEKK S LETTKK ACCOMPAXYINf! TIIK I'ETITIOX. ^[V.] 
 
 I am a countryman of Plowden and Bell, who were both mv 
 friends. Twenty years ago, before those friends settled in 
 Abyssinia, I went through the whole of that country. 1 
 found the country to be very good, but divided into many 
 provinces, always fighting one against another ; and I knew 
 that, unless a strong hand gave peace and security, Abyssinia 
 never could become a rich and powerful kingdom. 
 
 Many years passed away, and I heard that all the Princes 
 of Abyssinia had been conquered by one great and powerful 
 Monarch, who had seated himself on the tin-one of Mcnilek. 
 I longed once more to visit Abyssinia, but the dealh of Plow- 
 den and Bell disheartened me. 
 
 I then went to Jerusalem with my wife, and we visited the 
 Holy Places ; and afterwards we were sitting quietly at home, 
 when the news arrived that Consul Cameron and the English 
 Missionaries had incurred your Eoyal displeasure. 
 
 When the relatives of the captives heard this, they were 
 much grieved, and they asked me, knowing Abyssinia so 
 well, to go out and supplicate your- Majesty in their names 
 for their pardon and release. The brother of Bell, who is far 
 away in America, requested me also to beg for mercy in the 
 name of his brother, whom you loved so well. 
 
 My wife has come with me, in the hope that j'ou will 
 not refuse her prayers joined to mine. 
 
 Thus we have left England, and w-ish to come to you, O 
 King, to make our supplications at your feet. We have ar- 
 rived at Massowah, and intend to leave this place imme- 
 diately. We know not yet what road we shall take ; but we 
 shall do our best to reach your Eoyal presence. 
 
 We have brought with us a few choice presents. 
 
 By the friendship you always showed to Plowden and Bell, 
 I supplicate you then, O King, to allow me and my wife 
 to come to you in safety, and to pardon and liberate the un- 
 fortunate captives ; which act of mercy will bring down 
 upon you and your house the blessing of Grod, and will
 
 394 ' APPENDIX. 
 
 secure to you the thanks and friendship of the whole British 
 nation. 
 
 (l.Sj Chaeles T. Beke. 
 
 Written at Massowah, 
 January 29tli, 1866. 
 
 Second Letter from Dr. Bele to the Emperor TJieodore. 
 
 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Grhost, One God. 
 
 This letter comes from the Englishman, Charles Theodore 
 Beke, to His Most Excellent Majesty, Theodore, by the Grace 
 of God, King of the Kings of Ethiopia. 
 
 On my arrival at Massowah with my wife more than two 
 months ago, I wrote to you, O King, acquainting you with our 
 desire to come to you, to supplicate for the pardon and release 
 of the unfortunate white captives, who have so long lain under 
 your royal displeasure. With my letter I sent a Petition from 
 the relatives of the captives, on whose behalf we have under- 
 taken our journey to Abyssinia. 
 
 "We were told that the people of Halai loved your Majesty, 
 and we also heard of the victory which Dedjatj Tekla Georgis 
 had gained over Deras. We therefore thought we might 
 come to Halai without danger. On our arrival I immediately 
 sent a messenger to the Dedjazmatj with a letter, telling him 
 of our wish to reach your Majesty's Court, and asking for an 
 escort. He sent me back a very friendly answer, saying that 
 he would have come here before, had it not been for the cholera, 
 which had unfortunately broken out in his camp ; but that he 
 stiU hoped to come here soon. 
 
 We remained some time in peace at Halai, till Tesfaldat, a 
 relative of Gebra Medhin, came with his soldiers, and wanted 
 to take us to Gebra Medhin. But, as the people of Halai 
 would not consent to this, he adjured them by the God of 
 Gobazye and the God of Gebra Medliin, not to let us de-
 
 DR. BEKE's second LETTER TO THE EMPEROR. 395 
 
 part, under a penalty of 1000 muskets and 1000 carpets, with 
 as many dollars as there are stones and as much gunpowder 
 as there is dust in Halai. "We hear that Gcbrii ]Medhiu has 
 sent to say this was done without his orders ; but we are still 
 his prisoners, being unable to continue our journey witliout his 
 consent. 
 
 Therefore I intreat you, O King of Kings, to send and free 
 us from the power of your enemies, and bring us in safety to 
 your presence, so that we may repeat at your feet our prayer 
 for the pardon of the captives ; or, if it be true, as we have just 
 heard, that you have been graciously pleased to liberate them, 
 that we may come and thank you in the names of their rela- 
 tives and friends. 
 
 The presents intended for your Majesty remain at Massowah, 
 till we are able by your assistance to bring them in safety to 
 you. 
 
 Lest my former letter with the Petition from the relatives 
 of the captives should not have reached you, I now send a copy 
 of both, concluding in the words of our Lord and Saviour, 
 " Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." 
 
 May God preserve your Majesty. Amen. 
 
 Written at Halai, ^Q), Chakles T. Beke. 
 
 April 3rd, 1866. 
 
 Letter from the Emperor Theodore to Dr. Beke. 
 (Translation.) 
 
 In the name of the Eather, and of the Son, and of tlie Holy 
 Ghost, One God. 
 
 The King of Kings, Teodros (says), may this reach the 
 Englishman, Charles Theodoi-e Beke. 
 
 Until thou and thy wife, by the power of God, sliall meet 
 me, are you well ? I, God be j)rai8i>d, am w(41.
 
 396 APPENDIX. 
 
 Be it so*. At what time suits you, come by Matamma. 
 
 As regards the persons who were imprisoned, by the power 
 of God, out of friendship for the Queen of England, I have 
 liberated them and given them to Mr. Hormuz Rassam. May 
 this give you pleasui'e. 
 
 Written at Zagye, in the 7358th year since the Creation of 
 the World, and the ISSStli year since the Birth of Christ. 
 
 Second Letter from the Emperor Theodore to Dr. Beke. 
 (Original in English.) 
 
 In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Grhost, One Grod 
 
 From the King of Kings, Tlieodorus, to Doctor Charles The- 
 dore Beke. 
 
 How are you ? Thank Grod, Ave are quite well. 
 
 We have received your letter of the 3rd of April. We are 
 sorry for what has befallen you at Hallai. Whj did you go 
 up there, when you knew there were disturbances in the coun- 
 try, without first asking us permission ? 
 
 I have ordered the Chiefs in that neighbourhood to send you 
 back to Massowah in safety ; and if any accident happen to you, 
 
 * Ushi, in Amharic, is the general expression of assent to or com- 
 pliance with a request. I asked the Emperor for permission to com(> 
 to him : lie answers " Eshi."
 
 TIIK KMl'iaiOK 8 SKCONI) LIOTTEK TO 1)11. HEKi:. 'V.)T 
 
 I shall hold them responsible, and I shall punish them acrord- 
 iug to their deserts. 
 
 I have already answered your first letter by Mr. Elad, and 
 in my reply directed you to come via Matamma ; but now on 
 your return to Massowah, you are to remain there until I shall 
 inform you what route you are to take. The prisoners, from 
 whose families you brought a petition, I have released for the 
 sake of my friend the Queen, and have made them over to 
 Mr. Eassam, to take out with him when he leaves Abyssinia. 
 
 Dated at Zagay, on the 20th day of the month Qinbot, in 
 the year of Saint Mark, 1858, corresponding with the 28th day 
 of May, 1866. 
 
 Replij from Dr. Beke to the Emperor Theodore's two Letters. 
 
 In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, One God. 
 
 May this letter reach the King of Kings, Teddros. It 
 comes from the Englishman, Charles Theodore Beke. 
 
 May the Eedeemer of the World give your Majesty health 
 and prosperity. 
 
 I received in due time your Majesty's letter by Mr. Martin 
 Elad, inviting me and my wife to come to you by the way of 
 Matamma. I have since received your Majesty's second letter, 
 desiring us to await at Massowah your orders as to the way wc; 
 should take. 
 
 Ere this you will have heard of the illness of my wife and 
 myself, which would not let us stay at Massowah. Having 
 received intelligence of the liberation of the European pri- 
 soners, we have returned to our native country, where we hope 
 to be favoured with your Majesty's further commands. 
 
 The presents I brought from the relatives of the captives, I 
 shall send to your Majesty by Mr. Martin Elad.
 
 398 APPENDIX. 
 
 I myself and my wife rejoice that your Majesty has gra- 
 ciously freed the captives from their chains ; aud we unite with 
 their relatives, who long to see once more their dear friends, in 
 the prayer that your Majesty will soon perform your promise 
 to send them home. 
 
 Written at Bekesbourne, in England, on the 14th of Sep- 
 tember, 1866, corresponding with the 5th of Maskarrem, in 
 the year of St. Luke, 1859. 
 
 (l.S) Chaeles T. Beke. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.
 
 Mrs. Beke's Work on the Holy Land. 
 
 JACOB'S FLIGHT; 
 
 OR, 
 
 A PILGRIMAGE TO IIAIIIIAN, 
 
 AND THENCE 
 
 IN THE PATIIIARCH^S FOOTSTEPS 
 
 INTO 
 
 THE PROMISED LAND. 
 
 miti) jllluigtration^. 
 
 BY 
 
 MES. BEKE. 
 
 WITH 
 AN INTRODUCTION AND A MAP BY DR. BEKE. 
 
 OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 
 
 Mrs. Beke explains iu the preface that the jom-ney here descriljed 
 was undertaken by her husband and herself with the view of establish- 
 ing, from personal observation, the correctness of the opinions wliich 
 the former had expressed in his ' Origines Biblicte ' respecting the 
 Pati'iarch Abraham's place of residence in Padan Aram, and the road 
 taken by his grandson Jacob in his Flight from that counbry over Mount 
 Gilead into the Land of Canaan. Dr. Beke has contributed an intro- 
 ductory chapter to his wife's work, and has also added here and there 
 passages which describe, for scientific geogTaphers and historical stu- 
 dents, the motives of his journey and the character of his inquiries; 
 the whole of the work, moreover, having passed under his supervision. 
 Thus we have the best combination that we could desire towards ma- 
 king a book of travel interesting : the freshness, the willingness to be 
 pleased, and the all-observant eagerness which generally give interest 
 to a woman's narrative of her travels, and the sound information and 
 careful accuracy which we have a right to expect from so practised a 
 ti-aveller and so distinguislied a geogi'apher as Dr. Beke. Mrs. Beke 
 has told her story in a gentle, chatty, womanly style, that will at once 
 recommend it to aU readers. They will also find that, when they have
 
 pleasantly occupied a few hours in its perusal, they have acquired a 
 great deal of important information on a subject of high interest, both 
 in a historical and in an imaginative point of view. — John Bull. 
 
 Mrs. Beke's pleasant book, besides the chai-m of its naiTation and 
 adventures, is illustrated with several well-executed lithographs. As 
 a record of travel through a deeply interesting region, the volume is 
 attractive and valuable ; but its value is still greater as a reverent, a 
 careful, and, as we think, a successful attempt to throw new light upon 
 an important passage in the history of the ancient Church of God. — 
 Freemati. 
 
 A volume of travels in the Holy Land needs some specialty of pur- 
 pose or achievement to give it interest, and even to justify it 
 
 Dr. P>eke had a purpose, and he has au achievement, which give flavour 
 
 and interest to his wife's narrative of travel Whether Dr. Eeke's 
 
 point is carried or not, his wife has given us a sprightly and amusing 
 book. — Patriot. 
 
 Dr. Beke was quite right in thinking his theory worth a journey into 
 the Ilauran and an extremely careful examination of the sites and 
 routes. Such a journey of adventures and discoveries was made, in 
 company with his wife, in the winter of 1861-62, and a pleasant record 
 of their daring ride through the wild Arab comitry has been prepared 
 
 by Mrs. Beke We have to thank Mrs. Beke for a bright and 
 
 charming little book. — Athenccwn. 
 
 It is a narrative of travel of an order and with a pui-pose considerably 
 above that of the usual Syrian tours. — Reader. 
 
 Although the Doctor had his own views in taking his courageous 
 wife on this adventurous joiu-ney, he has very wisely allowed the ac- 
 count of it to be entirely hers. Setting aside all controversial features, 
 and looking on the volume only as a description of the country tra- 
 versed, we have hardly met with anything so gi-aphic and vividly 
 natural since the appearance of that excellent little book on Syria by 
 Miss Rogers, whose brother, now consul at Damascus, was of great 
 service to the travellers. Mrs. Beke seems to have taken a lively plea- 
 sure in astonishing the natives, and certainly her bold horsemanship 
 and free use of firearms must have struck the Arab chiefs, who wit- 
 nessed them, as something more than natural. Her sex also gained 
 her admittance to the women's quarters, a sealed book to most Eastern 
 travellei-s, and her amusing account of the women's bath at Damascus 
 is not likely to be soon surpassed. There is a degree of freshness, acti- 
 vity, and self-reliance about INIrs. Beke, that is almost as rare among 
 her countrywomen as the unaffected ease with which she tells her 
 tale. — Westminster Revietr. 
 
 She rides and runs about with all the freshness and agility of youth, 
 and evidently was the master mind of the little expedition. It is this 
 wliicli irives "so much life to the volume, and makes it so readable, 
 whichever side of the geograpliical tlieory may be taken. It is, in 
 fact, a graphic description of the whoh; tt)ur from Be_\Tout to Damascus, 
 then to the Jordan and Shefhrm, back to England agani. Mrs. Beke
 
 loved the adventures of the East, and the description of thorn is nnui- 
 sing and attractive. — Clerical Journal. 
 
 As far as mere argument goes, Dr. Beke certainly seems to have the 
 best of it ; and without pretending to decide where two such Innmed 
 Doctors as Stanley and l^eke disagree, we cannot help sympathizing 
 with the earnest desire of the latter to remove the ditficulti(!s which lie 
 in the way of oui* acceptance of this portion of the older Script un-s as 
 
 a genuine fragment of ancient history The hook is everywhere 
 
 readable and amusing, and many of the descriptions of scenery excel- 
 lent. — Theological Review. 
 
 We have been veiy much pleased with the brief record of travel 
 here presented to us. The narrative is exceedingly graphic and life- 
 like ; and, with its pictorial embellishments, suffices to set before us 
 in the clearest light the scenes which were visited. . . . Their route 
 lay partly through a district little known to Europeans, and therefore 
 the book befoi-e us is a real acquisition to the students of Jiiblical geo- 
 graphy. As a record of events and facts observed, and as a well writ- 
 ten naiTative of a romantic tour, we can strongly reconmieud it to the 
 attention of our readers. — Journal of Sacred Literature. 
 
 Not only as a book giving the details of earnest purposes and dili- 
 gent research, will Mrs. Beke's NaiTative be accepted, but it will take 
 a high place amongst those descriptions of adventure whicli always 
 find favour amongst our countrymen and countrywomen. It reads with 
 all the interest of a novel ; but the nnxrvellous is never drawn upon, 
 and we feel as we proceed page after page that many an event is toned 
 down rather than made the most of. In fact the simple-minded, 
 matter-of-fact manner in which Mrs. Beke writes, convinces at once 
 that what she says may be thoroughly relied upon as authentic, and 
 that she has contributed an amount of information, especially upon tiie 
 question of the locality of liarran, which cannot possibly have a mere 
 ephemeral value. — Bell's Weekly Messetiger. 
 
 Mrs. Beke gives us a very pleasant narrative of this excm-sion, with 
 some excellent illustrations. — Spectator. 
 
 The book is lively and amusing for the devotion with wliich the 
 wife accepts and enforces the theories of the hush&nd.— Guardian. 
 
 Mrs. Beke makes out an admirable case ; the facts seem to be all on 
 her side, and we must leave it to the advocates of traditional interpre- 
 tation to pick a hole in it if they can. Independently of the theologi- 
 cal purpose of the work, it is full of interest as a book of travels.— 
 Daily Nexvs. 
 
 The narrative of the " Pilgrimage " is written by Mrs. Beke, whose 
 graceful pen was happily employed in describing the places through 
 which thev journeved and the people with whom they camein (.-on- 
 tact, while her husband prosecuted his inquiry into the traditions of 
 the T^Bst.— Morning Post. 
 
 The book is really deserving of attentive perusal, and combines much 
 that is ori<?inal with a strong dash of adventure. — Englishman.
 
 The narrative of Mrs. Beke is lively aud full of point, — Morning 
 Advertiser. 
 
 This is a very interesting book of travel through a countr}', reliable 
 details of which always possess a charm for Christian readers. — 
 Kentish Gazette. 
 
 The narrative, which is writteii in a pleasing style, is entitled to re- 
 spectful attention, as well for its own intrinsic merit and the nature of 
 its subject, as for the valuable introduction written by Dr. Beke, and 
 
 the map and illush-atious with which the volume is enriched 
 
 Upon the whole, a more agreeable narrative of travel has rarely been 
 offered to public notice. — ^S'i^. James's Chronicle. 
 
 From Mrs. Beke's pages may be culled numerous interesting bits of 
 local information, which are often happily illustrated by her observa- 
 tions, and supported by her husband's opinions on matters historical, 
 ethnological, and etymological. — London Revieio. 
 
 A woman's story can hardly fail to contain fresh matter, and Mrs. 
 Beke has used well her opportunities of studying female life and cha- 
 racter in some of the strictest and most exclusive corners of the East. 
 — Exanmwr. 
 
 Though Mrs. Beke has given a substantial value to the account of 
 her travels by the introduction of references to Holy Scripture, and by 
 throwing light upon many questions connected with the geography of 
 Palestine, yet her volume, on the whole, is a lively, interesting record 
 of personal adventures and travels, for which she seems excellentlyfitted. 
 Her pages abound in gi'aphic sketches of the manners and interesting 
 details of the lives of the dwellers in the wilderness east of the Jordan. 
 . . . .We take our leave of this little book with that feeling of gTatitude 
 which politicians feel when they desire future favoiu's. — Cliurchman. 
 
 From these specimens, our readers, we feel assured, will be inclined 
 to look at the remainder of the volume ; and, if they do, we make no 
 doubt of their tlianking us for directing: their attention to it. — Globe. 
 
 Price 125. Crown octavo. 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, READER, AND DYER.
 
 WOKKB BY THE SAME AUTHOE. 
 
 ORIGINES BIBLICJE, 
 
 Or Eesearciies in Primeval Histouy. Vol. I., 8vo, with a Map. 7.s. 
 
 The Author's views in Scripture History, Geography, and Ethnolugy are fully 
 enunciated in this volume, though the second, intended to contain their further 
 development, has not apj>eared. 
 
 VIEWS IN ETHNOGRAPHY, 
 
 The Cla.ssification op Languages, the Progress of Civilization, a.su the 
 Natural History of Man. 8vo, Is. 
 
 THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH IN THE RED SEA. 
 
 Second Edition, 8vo, Is. 
 
 Taylor and Francis. 
 
 THE SOURCES OF THE NILE, 
 
 Being a Gfjjeral Survey op that River and op its Head-Stre.\.m.s; with the 
 History of Nilotic Discovery. 8vo, with Six Maps, 6s. 
 
 WHO DISCOVERED THE SOURCES OF THE NILE? 
 
 » A Letter to Sir Roderick I. Murchison, K.C.B., F.R.S., President of the Royal 
 
 Geographical Society. Second Edition, 8vo, Is. 
 
 James Madden, and Williams and Norgate. 
 
 A FEW WORDS WITPI BISHOP COLENSO 
 
 On the Subject of the Exodus or the Israelites and the Position of Mount 
 Sinai. Tliii-d Edition, 8to, Is. 
 
 Williams and Norgate.
 
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