Chapter XXIX: THE REIGN OF VICTORIA (continued) (2)

The Portuguese, soon after they had discovered the passage round the Cape of Good Hope, conceived a high idea of the importance of Abyssinia as the key of North-Eastern Africa, and opened diplomatic and commercial intercourse with its rulers. For about a century and a half this heroic little nation, partly by its soldiers, partly by its Jesuit missionaries, maintained a close and constant communication with Abyssinia. About the year 1640 the Portuguese power, succumbing to some mysterious law of national decay, began everywhere to decline. Thenceforward, till official relations were opened between Britain and Abyssinia, near the beginning of the century, it does not appear that any European nation had any intercourse with the country except through the visits of individual travellers or adventurers. The ancient royal family, which bore the sovereign title of Negus (properly "Nagash"), was deposed about 1770, shortly before the visit of James Bruce, the celebrated traveller; and Abyssinia was split up into three or more independent States, the chief of which were Tigré, Amhara, and Shoa. Official communication was first opened between Britain and Abyssinia in 1810, when Mr. Salt, the British Envoy, paid a formal visit to Ras Walda Selassyé, the Prince of Tigré, at Antalo, and presented him with two three-pounder field guns and other presents. But Mr. Salt's visit was an isolated act, and led to nothing. Nor was the visit of Major Harris to the King of Shoa, in 1841, undertaken by orders of the Bombay Government to arrange a treaty of commerce with that potentate, productive of more lasting consequences; although it furnished the materials for one of the most popular and interesting books of travel that the last generation produced. The visit of Walter Plowden, a private Englishman, who first found his way to Abyssinia in 1843, led eventually to more important consequences than either of the official visits just mentioned. After a residence of nearly four years in the country, he returned to England, bearing some presents from Ras Ali, then chief of central Abyssinia, to the Queen. While in London he submitted several memoranda on Abyssinian affairs to Lord Palmerston. The intelligent clearness with which these were written, and the prospect which they held out of extending British trade and influence in those parts of Africa, appear to have made a strong impression on Lord Palmerston, and he appointed Mr. Plowden British Consul at Massowah, for the protection of British trade in Abyssinia. He also entrusted him (Jan., 1848) with presents for Ras Ali, and instructed him to conclude with that ruler a treaty of amity and commerce. Plowden was soon back in Abyssinia and zealously fulfilled his instructions. Ras Ali, an indolent man, had no objection to sign the treaty, but he said he did not expect that it would bring any British traders to Abyssinia. In truth, while the Turks (or rather the Egyptians, for Turkey ceded her possessions on this shore in 1866 to the Pasha of Egypt) were allowed to cut off Abyssinia from the sea, no European trade with the country could flourish.

Consul Plowden had been residing six years at Massowah when he heard that the Prince to whom he had been accredited, Ras Ali, had been defeated and dethroned by an adventurer, whose name, a few years before, had been unknown outside the boundaries of his native province. This was Lij Kâsa, better known by his adopted name of Theodore. He was born of an old family, in the mountainous region of Kwara, where the land begins to slope downwards towards the Blue Nile, and educated in a convent, where he learned to read, and acquired a considerable knowledge of the Scriptures. Kâsa's convent life was suddenly put an end to when one of the marauding Galla bands attacked and plundered the monastery. From that time he himself took to the life of a freebooter and, through his superior intelligence and undaunted courage, soon attained the reputation of being successful in all his enterprises. Adventurers flocked to his standard; his power continually increased; and in 1854 he defeated Ras Ali in a pitched battle, and made himself master of central Abyssinia. His ambition widened in proportion to its gratification; he now sent to Oobye, the ruler of Tigré, requiring that he should pay him tribute, and insisted that the Abuna, then resident at the Court of Oobye, should be sent to Gondar, which, since the fall of Ras Ali, had been Kâsa's capital. His demands were scornfully rejected, and the Abuna excommunicated him. But Kâsa was equal to the occasion. Monseigneur de Jacobis, a Roman Catholic missionary of great ability and saintly life, was at that time in Abyssinia, with the authority of Vicar-Apostolic; him Kâsa threatened to recognise as bishop unless the Abuna came to Gondar. The Abuna then yielded, revoked the excommunication, and came to live at Gondar, thus giving a kind of religious sanction to the adventurer's power. Fortune still attended the arms of Kâsa. In 1855 he defeated Oobye at a place called Derezgye, in the province of Semyen, and all Tigré submitted to the conqueror. He now resolved to assume a title commensurate with the wide extent of his dominion. In the church of Derezgye he had himself crowned by the Abuna as King of the Kings of Ethiopia, taking the name of Theodore, because an ancient tradition declared that a great monarch so called would one day arise in Abyssinia. Courtly genealogists were not wanting who deduced his pedigree from the line of the ancient kings.

These startling events reached the ears of Mr. Plowden at Massowah and he resolved to visit the new monarch. He arrived at the camp of Theodore in March or April, 1855, and found that a former fellow-traveller, an Englishman named Bell, who had married an Abyssinian lady, was already in Theodore's service, with the title and functions of Grand Chamberlain. At this time Theodore's character and aims were such as to command the admiration and respect of Plowden and Bell, both of whom were able and excellent men. "Plowden said of him that he was generous to excess, and free from all cupidity, merciful to his vanquished enemies, and strictly continent; but subject to violent bursts of anger and possessed of unyielding pride and fanatical religious zeal." His views of government were far more enlightened than those of the majority of his countrymen. He abolished the slave trade, put an end to many vexatious imposts on commerce, and aimed at curtailing or suppressing the feudal privileges of a number of petty chiefs, who were the tyrants of the districts over which they ruled. Consul Plowden thus concluded his report on Theodore's character and policy:--"Some of his ideas may be imperfect, others impracticable; but a man who, rising from the clouds of Abyssinian ignorance and childishness, without assistance and without advice, has done so much, and contemplates such large designs, cannot be regarded as of an ordinary stamp."

Some years passed and the power of Theodore was ever on the rise. After his coronation, the first object which he set before him was the subjugation of the Galla tribes in Abyssinia; after which he said that any Galla who would not abjure Islam and receive baptism should be expelled from the country. This object he partly accomplished by the subjection of the Wolo Gallas to his rule. To keep these wild tribes in check, and also to serve as his own principal stronghold, he about this time made choice of Magdala, an _amba_, or natural fortress, beyond the river Beshilo, east of the Lake of Dembea, and in the midst of the territory of the Wolo Gallas. He then invaded and reduced Shoa, taking Ankober, the capital, and bringing away with him Menelek, the young heir of Shoa, to bring up with his own son. The whole of Abyssinia was now subject to his power. But a series of misfortunes presently fell upon him and changed the whole aspect of his career. In 1860 his true and judicious friend and counsellor, Consul Plowden, while journeying to his camp, was intercepted by an ally of the chief Negussye, who had set up the standard of revolt in Tigré; and in the fight that ensued Plowden was mortally wounded and taken prisoner. Theodore immediately raised from the merchants of Gondar the sum demanded for his ransom and procured his release; but Plowden died a few days afterwards. About the same time Bell, the King's Grand Chamberlain, fell in battle; and within a few months Theodore lost his first wife, the beautiful and virtuous Tawabeteh. His naturally violent temper was soured and embittered by these losses. He took a terrible revenge on the chiefs who had been instrumental in the deaths of Bell and Plowden; and he bade farewell for the rest of his life to that marital fidelity for which, while Tawabeteh lived, he had been conspicuous. He married for his second wife the daughter of Oobye, the Tigré chief whom he had dethroned; but the union was one of policy, not of affection, and Theodore's illicit amours were both numerous and scandalous. In 1861 he got the rebel Negussye into his power, together with his brother, and put them to death with horrible cruelty.

Theodore was now at the height of his power, and European Governments evinced a considerable desire to court his friendship. The French Government nominated M. Lejean as French Consul at Gondar, but on account of some real or imagined affront paid to an emissary whom Theodore had sent to Paris, with a letter to the Emperor, M. Lejean was sent at a day's notice out of the country. The British Government, on hearing of the death of Plowden, immediately replaced him at Massowah by the appointment of Captain Cameron. This gentleman arrived at Massowah in February, 1862, and visited Theodore at his camp in the following October, bearing a few presents, and a letter in the Queen's name, thanking him for his exertions in ransoming poor Plowden. Captain Cameron was very well received. Theodore told him that he had executed 1,500 of the followers of the chief who had killed Plowden, to revenge his death, and that he might thereby win the friendship of the Queen of Great Britain. He also spoke with great bitterness of the encroachments of the Turks and Egyptians, both on the sea-coast and also on his north-western boundary, on what he called his ancestral dominions. In the following month, when Cameron left his camp, he entrusted him with the famous letter to the Queen of England; the postage of which, as Colonel Sykes said, cost us five millions. In this letter the two ideas then prominent in his mind--to deserve and win the friendship of the Queen, by executing wholesale vengeance on those who had killed Englishmen; and to gain her help in his darling project of humbling the Mussulman--received distinct expression.

The reader already knows what became of this remarkable letter when it reached England. Consul Cameron--after expediting the letter to Massowah, whence it was conveyed to Aden, and home by the Indian mail steamer--turned aside to visit the district of Bogos, a little Abyssinian upland, nearly surrounded by the Egyptians and other Mussulmans of the plains. The Christians of Bogos had on some former occasion complained to the Consul at Massowah of ravages committed in their territory by the neighbouring tribes, and Captain Cameron wished to know whether things were now quiet there, and also whether there was any opening for trade. Mainly with this latter object, he next visited the Egyptian town of Kassala. He arrived at Djenda, near the Lake of Dembea, in August, 1863, calculating that he would thus be in the country when the expected reply from England to the King's letter arrived. It appears that Theodore, who had become prone to suspicion, was offended when he heard that Consul Cameron had been at Kassala, among his mortal enemies the Egyptians; and his dissatisfaction, probably through the channel of Mr. Walker, the Vice-consul at Massowah, had become known at the Foreign Office. Moreover, Lord Russell--who wrote soon after this to a British agent, that "he trusted that interference on behalf of a Christian country, as such, would never be the policy of the British Government"--entirely disapproved of the consul's interesting himself in the Bogos people because they were Christians; his business was only to promote trade. The letter already alluded to contained a proposal by Theodore to the Queen of Great Britain for an offensive and defensive alliance against the Moslem powers. It was well known that if that eccentric offer had been rejected, which, of course, could not have been otherwise, the danger of Consul Cameron and the other British subjects, who were in the power of Theodore, would become very grave. However, through the indiscretion of Consul Cameron in having returned to Abyssinia without an answer to the King's letter, when the missionaries had already got into disgrace, he had to share their misfortune in ill-treatment and imprisonment. The Rev. Mr. Stern had fallen under the heavy displeasure of the King, and had been flogged, almost to death, for having, as Theodore alleged, intruded one day on his privacy before giving a notice of his intended visit in accordance with the Abyssinian court etiquette. Stern had also written a book, entitled "Wanderings among the Falashas in Abyssinia," in which he had reflected upon the avocation of Theodore's mother as a vendor of a purgative herb called kosoo. Mr. Stern was called upon to divulge the name of his informant (who was supposed to be the Coptic Metropolitan of Abyssinia), and, as he refused to do so, the King had him tortured, together with his companion Mr. Rosenthal, Consul Cameron, and other British subjects, until he was forced to confess. They were shortly afterwards sent to the fortress at Magdala, and put in irons.

Absolute power and sensual indulgence had by this time turned Theodore's head, and many of his subsequent actions seem hardly to be those of a sane man. His cruelty, fickleness, and suspicion made his rule more and more intolerable to all his subjects. Rebellions were plotted in every province and after a time broke out. Menelek, the young heir of Shoa, escaped from confinement and, expelling Theodore's lieutenant, established himself as the independent ruler of that country. The chief Gobazye raised the standard of revolt in central Abyssinia, and one of his lieutenants, a chief of the best blood of Tigré, rebelling against his principal, made himself independent in that province. The fabric of Theodore's Christian empire, ruined through his own degeneracy, was fast crumbling to pieces. Meanwhile, the news of Captain Cameron's imprisonment had caused considerable sensation in Britain. Government resolved to send out a regular mission, bearing a letter, signed by the Queen, in answer to Theodore's long-neglected epistle, to demand the release of Cameron and the other captives. The head of the mission was Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, of Chaldean nationality, born at Mossul, near ancient Nineveh, since so well known in connection with Assyrian and Babylonian discoveries. He had held different important political appointments under the Indian Government. He was then acting as first Assistant Political Resident at Aden, and possessed great influence amongst the Arabian and African tribes along the coasts of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. To Rassam were added Dr. Blanc and Lieutenant Prideaux, two officers from the Bombay establishment.

A curt permission to enter the country having been granted, Mr. Rassam's first interview with the King was on the 28th of January, 1866. Theodore was seated on a sofa, and wore the common robe of the country, called a _shamma_. The letter of Queen Victoria, dated the 26th of May, 1864, was presented by the envoy, and Theodore received it graciously. He then entered upon the subject of his grievances. The cause of all the mischief, the prime offender, was the Abuna Salama, the Coptic Patriarch, who had told false and malicious stories about him to various Europeans. Against the missionaries he had a great deal to say, particularly against Mr. Stern. Against Mr. Cameron, besides the offence of never having brought him back an answer to his letter to the Queen, he laid the charge of having gone to visit the Turks and Egyptians, and of having been friendly with them; and, on one occasion, when he was at Kassala with the Pasha, of having brought the King and his army into contempt by ordering his Abyssinian servants to imitate the war-dance of the royal troops. This story was told to the King by a discharged servant of Mr. Cameron's, named Ingada Wark, who had quarrelled with his master, and it is probably devoid of foundation. We give it here as a sample of the kind of insults and injuries over which the suspicious and wayward mind of Theodore was continually brooding, and of which Mr. Rassam's interesting report is full. When the Queen's letter had been translated for him into Amharic, Theodore was much pleased with its contents. On the 29th of January he sent for Mr. Rassam, and told him that, for the sake of his friend the Queen of England, and in return for the trouble that he had taken in the matter of Consul Cameron, he was pleased to pardon all the European captives, and he had ordered their immediate release. He then ordered a scribe to read an Arabic translation of the letter which he had just written to the Queen, announcing the release of the captives. There is a touching humility, a childlike simplicity, in the tone of this letter, which, coming from one who so often appeared in the light of a bloodthirsty and capricious tyrant, affords a curious study of the complexities of human character. A day or two afterwards Mr. Rassam had another conversation with the King. The misdeeds of Mr. Cameron again formed a prominent topic; and it is worth while to record a part of the King's indictment, because the language which he used on this occasion seems to cast a strong light on the actual sequence of feelings and ideas that influenced him in committing Cameron to prison. Theodore said that after he had written his famous letter to the Queen in the autumn of 1862, he gave it to Consul Cameron, requesting that he would take it down to the coast, and bring up an answer himself; that he gave him money for the journey, and ordered the chiefs of all the provinces between Gondar and Massowah to supply him and his followers with food, and treat him with respect and honour. What he chiefly wanted to effect by the letter was this--that since he had no navy of his own, the Queen should send a vessel to convey his ambassador to Suez, and should procure for him a safe conduct through Egypt. Instead of complying with his request, Mr. Cameron "had gone to play with the Turks" (this refers to the visit to Kassala), and after a long time came back to Gondar, but without an answer to his letter. Six months afterwards, Cameron sent him a letter, which he had received from his Government, and demanded his dismissal, that he might go down to Massowah. The King asked why he had returned to Abyssinia if he wished to be at Massowah? Getting no satisfactory answer to this question, Theodore continued, "I sent and told him, by the power of God you shall be detained in prison until I find out whether you are really the servant of the Queen." For why, Theodore would naturally argue, if he is indeed the servant of the Queen, has he not brought me long ere this an answer to my letter?

FROM THE PAINTING BY H. E. TIDMARSH.]

But the coming of Mr. Rassam, for whom Theodore, though he afterwards used him so roughly, seems to have conceived a genuine affection, appeared at first to have removed all difficulties. It was arranged that the mission should travel to Korata, a beautiful village on the south-eastern shore of Lake Dembea, and there await the arrival of the captives from Magdala; after which they should all leave the country together. For several days' march the mission accompanied the King and his army; but Theodore turned aside to Zagé, a place on the western shore of the lake, facing Korata across the water. Mr. Rassam reached Korata on the 14th of February. Some weeks elapsed, on almost every day in which the King sent a friendly message or letter to Rassam. The first indication of difficulty was on the 7th of March, when the King wrote, "When the people [prisoners] reach you, we will consult;" that is, "You shall not go home at once, as heretofore arranged, but the whole matter shall be reconsidered." The words filled Mr. Rassam with dismay. About the same time a letter was delivered to the King from the traveller Dr. Beke, who had come out to Massowah, enclosing a petition from the relations of Cameron, Stern, and several other captives, entreating the King to release them. Colonel Stanton, the British agent in Egypt, and Sir William Merewether, the Political Resident at Aden, feared that Dr. Beke's action would perplex the King and lead him to doubt the reality of Mr. Rassam's mission. They tried in vain to make Dr. Beke see the prudence of abstaining from any interference in the difficult and delicate negotiation. For the King had now begun seriously to entertain the thought of detaining Rassam and his party till the envoy should have obtained for him from England a scientific man to teach his people the mechanical arts. On the 12th of March, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Stern, Mr. and Mrs. Rosenthal, and eleven other captives, mostly Germans, arrived at Korata from Magdala. On the same day the King wrote to Rassam, saying that he must have them all over to Zagé and put them on their trial again. Rassam, however, obtained leave to try them at Korata; and, having gone through the forms of a mock trial, he wrote to the King that they all confessed that they had done wrong. It was thought prudent that the captives should throw themselves on the King's mercy; but the fabrication did no good, and probably would have been better left unattempted. The King wavered. On the 25th of March he held separate consultations at Zagé, first with the German artisans, and afterwards with a body of Abyssinian chiefs, and propounded at each the question, whether to detain Rassam or let him go? The chiefs and the artisans were equally unanimous in deciding that Rassam ought to be allowed to depart. Theodore was shaken, and yet he was not quite satisfied. The pressure, however, seemed to be telling upon him, and he wrote to Rassam (April 8th), desiring that he would come and pay him a farewell visit at Zagé "after the light of Easter," and bring Mr. Cameron and the other captives with him. This, however, Mr. Rassam--knowing the hatred that the King bore to Mr. Cameron and one or two others among the captives--thought it more prudent not to do. He obtained the King's consent to leave them behind at Korata, with the understanding that they were to start on a given day on their homeward journey, and himself proceeded to Zagé, on the 13th of April, along with the other members of the mission. Unfortunately for them, Theodore for some time past had been drinking heavily, and the effect of this on his moody imagination and suspicious temper was to fill his mind with a thousand preposterous apprehensions. When, therefore, Mr. Rassam with his two companions arrived at Zagé, to pay, as they supposed their farewell visit, they were seized, cross-examined, and their money and arms taken.

Such treatment of a mission, which even in Abyssinia ought to have been safe under the protection of the law of nations, was, of course, outrageous and unprecedented. At this stage an acute crisis seemed to be reached, calling for the most careful treatment at every point. However, there was nothing to be done at the time but to humour Theodore as far as was practicable, and to use every effort to make their situation known to the British Government. In effecting the latter object Mr. Rassam found very little difficulty. Only one of his messengers appears to have been stopped; all the rest carried safely to the coast, not his letters only, but frequently large sums of money, with praiseworthy honesty and regularity. With regard to artisans from England, Theodore wrote to Mr. Rassam (April 17th), that he wished the envoy to obtain for him, from the Queen, "a man who can make cannons and muskets, and one who can smelt iron, and an instructor of artillery." It was thought expedient to comply with the request, and Mr. Rassam wrote accordingly to the Secretary of State on the following day. Mr. Flad, a lay missionary, was selected as the bearer of Mr. Rassam's letter. As his wife and children were left in Abyssinia in Theodore's power, Mr. Flad's speedy return was counted upon with confidence.

For several weeks the captives were detained at Zagé. During this period Theodore's behaviour was almost that of a madman: at one time he would storm and threaten, throw the captives into irons, and make them tremble for their lives; at another time he would publicly express his sorrow for having ill-treated them, and humbly ask their pardon. In June, cholera having broken out in the King's camp, he transferred his headquarters to Debra Tabor, a large village about twenty miles to the east of Gondar, which at that time served him for a capital. Here he arrived--the captives, of course, accompanying him--on the 16th of June. In regard to Mr. Rassam and the other members of the mission, his frantic behaviour reached a climax on the 3rd of July, 1866, when having summoned them to his presence, he made a wild rambling speech, rehearsing a string of trumpery charges, old and new, against them and the other captives. A few days after this interview, it being at the time the King's purpose to march northward against the rebels, the captives were sent, under the guard of an escort of 200 men, to be confined in the fortress of Magdala, where they arrived on the 12th of July. On the broad level top of the _amba_, so long as they kept within the boundary fence or palisade, they were free to wander as they pleased; Theodore caused them to be liberally provided with food; and with the exception that they were detained there against their will, they had no cause to complain of their treatment.

On his way home to convey to the British Government Theodore's request for skilled workmen and machinery, Mr. Flad saw Colonel Merewether, the Resident at Aden, and communicated to him the state of affairs. That zealous officer, who seems to have thoroughly understood Theodore's character, and had little hope that he would ever release the captives, except under compulsion, resolved to return to England with Mr. Flad. They arrived in England in the summer of 1866, and reported themselves to Lord Stanley, who had just taken over the administration of the Foreign Office. Lord Stanley decided that Theodore's request to be supplied with mechanics should be complied with, in the hope that this would lead to the liberation of the captives. But, while Colonel Merewether was engaged in selecting and making agreements with artisans, news reached London that Rassam and his companions were no longer simply detained, but that they had been seized and imprisoned. Colonel Merewether now recommended that Mr. Flad (whose wife and children were in the King's camp) should at once be sent back to Abyssinia, with a letter demanding the release of all the prisoners; and that, should this step be vain, prompt measures should be taken to enforce compliance. But Government, unwilling to renounce the hope of obtaining the desired end by peaceable means, determined to send out the artisans, together with a costly cargo of presents, to Massowah, with instructions to proceed no farther until the captives should have all arrived safely at that port. Six skilled artisans, headed by a civil engineer, together with machinery and other presents to the value of about £3,500, were sent out in November, 1866, and arrived in due course at Massowah. But after waiting there nearly six months--it being apparent that the prospect of the release of their countrymen was indefinitely remote--they were sent back to England. In April, 1867, Lord Stanley addressed a final letter to Theodore, informing him that the presents would be sent home again unless the prisoners were released within three months.

As he perceived that a warlike demonstration was inevitable, Merewether's recommendation was that the invading force should consist of one European and six native regiments of infantry, together with other troops, so as to compose an army of about 6,000 men. However, Government resolved to let the period of three months expire which had been named in Lord Stanley's note. When that was over, and still Theodore showed no sign of yielding, Government decided upon sending out an expedition. Bombay was fixed upon as the most convenient base of operations, and the Governor of that Presidency was directed to take the necessary measures. Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald, the new Governor of Bombay, desired the Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay army, Sir Robert Napier, to state what number of troops was, in his opinion, required for the service. That officer reported that, in his judgment, 12,000 was the smallest number that it would be safe to employ. Acquiescing in the opinion that so large a force was required, the Bombay Government considered that Colonel Merewether, who now for some years had taken the lead in all matters connected with Abyssinia, was too young a man to be placed in supreme command. Or rather such was the opinion of the India Council and the War Office at home. Sir Stafford Northcote, on whom, as Secretary for India, a large share of the responsibility for the right management of the expedition rested, wrote (August 16th, 1867) that, while Government trusted that Colonel Merewether's valuable services would be made available in aid of the expedition, "his rank was not high enough to enable him to take the supreme command of such a force as it was probable would have to be employed." In August, 1867, Sir Robert Napier was appointed to the command of the expedition, and Major-General Sir Charles Staveley, an officer who had served in the Crimea, was nominated second in command. The force employed was to consist of 4,000 British and 8,000 Indian native troops. An advanced brigade, consisting of about 1,200 Indian troops, under the command of Colonel Merewether, was despatched from Bombay in September, preceded by a reconnoitring party under the immediate orders of the colonel himself. The vessel containing the reconnoitring party arrived in Annesley Bay early in October.

It was a matter of considerable importance to choose the best point on the coast where the force should disembark, and whence it should begin its march on Magdala. Distance from Magdala was one, but not the most important, element in the selection. The high table-land of Abyssinia is bastioned on the north and east by ranges of magnificent mountains, descending frequently in sheer cliffs, many thousand feet high, into the strip of sandy plain that borders the coast. At Annesley Bay, which penetrates far into the land, the mountains approach nearer to the sea than at any other point where the landing of a large force is possible. In this respect, however, Massowah was little inferior, while in facilities for landing it was superior, to Annesley Bay, from which it is about thirty miles distant; but besides that it was somewhat farther from Magdala, political considerations rendered it inexpedient that the British Government should incur so great an obligation to the Pasha of Egypt as would have been involved in the landing of so large an army, with all its baggage and stores, at a much-frequented Egyptian port. Annesley Bay, then, was to be the point of disembarkation. The best pass for the march of an army into the interior was the next subject of inquiry. The first person to point out to Colonel Merewether the superiority of the Senafé Pass was Father Zechariah, a native Abyssinian priest educated at Rome. But the colonel was not satisfied till he had carefully examined several other defiles leading up to the table-land, and had convinced himself that the Senafé Pass, difficult as it was, could be made practicable for the expedition with less trouble than any other.

The route having been decided upon, all that remained was to land the troops as quickly as possible, organise an efficient transport service, and then advance upon Magdala. The distance of the fortress from Annesley Bay was about 400 miles; but the climate on the table-land is magnificent, the difficulties of the road were easily within the power of the strong pioneer force that was at the general's disposal to surmount them, and it became more and more certain that no serious opposition would be met with. A hitch, however, occurred; and it was, as usual, in the transport service. Supplies of food, stores, and ammunition could most easily be transported along the rough and narrow Abyssinian roads on the backs of mules. The world was accordingly ransacked for mules; from Egypt, India, Syria, and Spain they were poured into Annesley Bay in thousands. Any one can buy a mule, but it takes an experienced person to manage him when bought. The Transport department engaged as muleteers thousands of men who are described as "the vilest sweepings of Eastern cities"--men whose languages no one could understand, and who were utterly ignorant of their business. Again, being landed in such vast numbers on a sterile plain like that which divides the sea from the mountains at Annesley Bay, the mules could pick up scarcely anything for themselves; and, with such unmanageable ruffians for muleteers, it was impossible to distribute properly among them the forage that had been brought by sea to the anchorage. In consequence of all this, the mules soon began to die by scores. To supply the animals with water, since the arid shore had next to no resources in this respect, the steamers at the anchorage condensed water at the rate of 32,000 gallons a day (at a cost of nearly £3,000 a month), which was then conveyed along a shoot 480 feet long, raised on trestles above the sea, to tanks on shore. But, whether from the unwholesomeness of this water or some other cause, an epidemic broke out among the animals on shore, and carried off great numbers of them, especially the horses. The 3rd Dragoons lost 318 horses out of 499 landed. In these circumstances Colonel Merewether resolved to push on with his advanced brigade to the healthier position of Senafé, as soon as ever the road through the pass was declared practicable. The main body of the brigade, which had landed on the 30th of October, was accordingly moved forward from Mulkutto (so the landing-place was called) about the end of November, and, threading the pass with little difficulty, arrived at Senafé on the 6th and 7th of December. The Shohos--Mohammedan tribes that infested the mountain valleys and ravines running to the Red Sea--were converted by the power of British gold from being rapacious depredators and thieves into the character of useful traders and carriers.

Sir Charles Staveley, with the second brigade, arrived at Annesley Bay early in December. The 33rd, a British regiment, was with them, and was before long sent on to Senafé, where it arrived on the 12th of January, 1868. Sir Charles set himself energetically to work to bring things into order at the port, while the movements of all the departments were quickened by his presence. The greater part of the troops, as they arrived were sent up to Senafé. Sir Robert Napier himself landed at Mulkutto on the 7th of January and assumed the command. Leaving orders that a transport train should be organised immediately, and a railway laid down from Mulkutto to the foot of the Senafé Pass, he hastened forward to the front. He was at first under the impression that no dependence could be placed for the subsistence of the army on the resources of the country itself and that it would not be safe to move forward from Senafé until six months' supply of food had been accumulated there for a force of 9,500 men. But when he arrived at Senafé and found how admirably General (he had just been made local Brigadier-General) Merewether, and Colonel Phayre, the Quartermaster-General, had made amicable arrangements with the principal men of the neighbourhood, and attracted the natives from all parts to the markets of the camp by the prospect of the liberal payment which they received for their meat, corn, and other produce, Sir Robert Napier saw reason to change his opinion. In fact, the friendliness and openness of the people towards the British were truly strange to European ideas. Their country was being invaded, and its prestige, if it had any, humiliated; but this singular people felt no throes of indignant patriotism, were well pleased to think that the formidable King, who had come to be a dangerous tyrant and freebooter, was to be put down without any trouble to themselves, and pocketed with the utmost satisfaction, inwardly marvelling no doubt at the simplicity of the stranger, the large new silver dollars which they got for their country produce.

With these reassuring prospects before him, the Commander-in-Chief thought that he might safely commence the march into the interior before any very large quantity of stores had been brought up to Senafé. No opposition was to be feared from the rulers of provinces. Immediately after landing General Merewether had dispersed as widely as possible copies of a proclamation, declaring that the sole motive of the British invasion was the desire to liberate the captives; that Britain's quarrel was with Theodore, not with the Abyssinian nation; and that the inhabitants, if they maintained a peaceful attitude, would be treated well and liberally. Mr. Rassam had been in constant communication with Kassa, the Prince of Tigré, and also with Wakshum Gobazye, the Prince of Lasta. They both showed great kindness to his messengers, and rendered them the protection they needed between Magdala and Massowah for two whole years. As soon as Rassam informed them of the intention of the British Government to send a force to punish Theodore, their enemy, they promised their friendship to the troops, and Wakshum went so far as to cause it to be proclaimed through his districts by beat of drum that all his subjects were to supply the British army with whatever they required, and that they were not to fear, as the troops were Christians, and would pay the full price for everything. Kassa wrote a letter to General Merewether, offering friendship and assistance, soon after his arrival at Senafé. To confirm him in these pacific sentiments, Major Grant, the well-known African explorer, was sent to his capital of Adowa, where he was received with great cordiality; and Sir Robert Napier himself, mounted on an elephant, had a formal interview with Kassa on February 19th near Adigerat. Wakshum Gobazye--who for the last three years, though fearing to meet Theodore in the field, had occupied each province of central Abyssinia as Theodore led his army out of it, and who was now employed in consolidating his power--probably regarded the British intrusion in much the same light as Kassa. And there is reason to believe that, after the invasion had been achieved successfully, Wakshum felt hurt that he had not been treated with like consideration to that shown to the Prince of Tigré.

The force that Sir Robert Napier considered necessary amounted finally to upwards of 16,000 men. Four British infantry regiments, the 33rd, the 4th, the 45th, and the 26th, and one cavalry regiment, the 3rd Dragoon Guards--in all about 3,400 men--besides a company of Sappers, formed part of the force; the rest were all Indian troops. The men of the Transport Train numbered 12,600, and the camp-followers about 3,200; so that a host numbering about 32,000 men, exclusive of those attached to the Commissariat and Quartermaster-General's Departments, was collected at Annesley Bay. But a small portion of these was required to overcome the feeble resistance of Theodore's army, and to scale the height of Magdala. To oppose to this large and disciplined force, Theodore had only some 3,000 soldiers armed with percussion muzzle-loaders, 1,000 matchlock-men, a number of spearmen, and about thirty pieces of ordnance, including one enormous mortar which his German artisans had cast for him at Debra Tabor, the management of which no one in his army properly understood.

After Sir Robert Napier had come up to Senafé, discussion arose and much doubt was entertained as to the best method of applying the force in hand to the attainment of the one paramount object of the expedition, the rescue of the captives. There were many who thought, forming their judgment from the ordinary experience of the conduct of uncivilised rulers, that if Theodore (who was known to be on the march from Debra Tabor to Magdala) should reach the fortress before the British army, he would, after the inevitable defeat and dispersion of his army, be certain, in an access of impotent rage and revenge, to put to death the English and other prisoners there confined. It was urged therefore that what ought before all things to be aimed at was to intercept the march of Theodore, and prevent him from ever reaching Magdala. But to effect this it would be necessary to march at once with a lightly equipped force of about 2,000 men, who, while drawing a portion of their supplies from the stores that were already at Senafé, should be largely dependent on the resources of the country through which they marched. The other plan was to wait till stores were accumulated at Senafé in sufficient quantity to support a force capable of marching upon and capturing Magdala (to take which it was thought that siege operations might be required), with only slight dependence on local supplies. It was decided that the march should be on Magdala; and the safety of the prisoners was left to the generosity of the strange monarch, who in all his cruelties and excesses never wholly forgot that he was a Christian King.

It would weary the reader if we were to describe in minute detail a march that was never opposed, and movements of troops involving no triumphs but those of the Control department. The 350 miles of road that separated Senafé from Magdala were indeed full of difficulty; for many steep and lofty ranges had to be crossed; many narrow and uneven tracks to be repaired and widened; many long marches to be made under a tropical sun. The advance guard of the army moved from Senafé on the 18th of January; and the headquarters were established at Buya camp, near Antalo, rather more than half way from the coast to Magdala, on the 2nd of March. When the march was resumed a new arrangement of the forces was adopted. A large proportion of the Indian troops was left at the Buya camp; the column destined to march on Magdala was formed into two brigades and a pioneer force. The latter, commanded by the active Quartermaster-General, Colonel Phayre, consisted of about 500 men. Both brigades were under the command of Sir Charles Staveley; with the first marched the Commander-in-Chief and the headquarters. The total strength of the column was about 3,000 men. From the 12th of March, on which day the march was resumed, seventeen days were required to bring the column to the top of the Wadela plateau, a distance of 118 miles. This plateau, rising in precipitous cliffs from the southern bank of the Takkazye river (a large feeder of the Blue Nile) to the height of nearly 10,000 feet, runs for many miles in a nearly unbroken wall from east to west, and forms one of the most striking natural features in the country. At the time when our troops were scaling Wadela, Theodore arrived in the immediate vicinity of Magdala; that is, he had outstripped our army by a distance of nearly sixty miles. Marching to the right along the flat Wadela plateau, descending by a zigzag road that Theodore had just cut for his guns into the deep valley of the Jidda, crossing it, and ascending the Dalanta plateau, the British army (April 8th), on reaching the southern edge of this last, above the river Beshilo, beheld in front of them the goal of their labours--the table-topped mountain of Magdala.

We must now return to Theodore, who, since he put Mr. Rassam and his companions into irons, had been chiefly stationed at Debra Tabor, in the province of Beguemder. Here he kept his German artisans fully employed in casting guns and mortars, and constructing carriages for their conveyance. His revenues being gone, he obtained subsistence for his army simply by plunder, until the people of Beguemder rose against him, and commenced a desultory warfare against his half-starved soldiers, numbers of whom were continually deserting. The once noble nature of the man was now marred by licentiousness, drunkenness, and cruelty. But when--the resources of the country round Debra Tabor being destroyed by cruel and long-continued rapine--it became necessary to take and act upon a decision, Theodore, it would seem, woke up from his sensual dream, and for a while became himself again. He resolved to return to Magdala, and to transport thither the heavy ordnance that had just been constructed. First setting fire to Debra Tabor, his own capital, he began his march on the 10th of October, 1867, with his European workmen, about 6,000 soldiers, and a host of camp followers. Although the distance to Magdala did not exceed a hundred miles, the difficulties in the way of transporting guns, owing to the want of roads and the mountainous nature of the country, were enormous. Thus labouring on for weeks and months, and conveying his guns and stores without loss on twenty heavy waggons dragged by his soldiers along the roads that he had previously built, Theodore arrived at last (March 25th) on the plateau of Islamgyé below Magdala. On the 29th he came up to Magdala and sent for Mr. Rassam. The interview was very friendly, and the King, who seems to have really liked the envoy, was gracious and affable. His army, through continual desertions, had by this time dwindled down to about 3,000 men. He afterwards told Mr. Rassam that when he was excited he was not responsible for his actions. It is to be hoped that it was so, and that in the fact some palliation may be found for the horrible massacre that he ordered a few days later. On the 9th of April, having on the previous day caused all his native prisoners, 570 in number, to be brought down to Islamgyé from Magdala, he set a considerable number free, including all, or almost all, the women and children. After that he drank deeply and went to lie down in his tent. Those who were retained in captivity, no order having been given to take them back to Magdala, were kept on the barren top of Islamgyé; and having nothing to eat, they began to clamour for food. This enraged him to such a degree that, starting up in a drunken fury, he commanded them all to be put to death, and commenced the butchery by cutting one down with his sword, and shooting two others with his pistols. The rest were hurled alive over the precipice of Islamgyé, and those who showed any signs of life were fired upon by the soldiers stationed below. The massacre lasted from about 4 till 6.30 P.M., and there were no less than 197 victims, only thirty-five of whom were criminals.

Meanwhile the toils were being drawn closer round the doomed King. The 12th Bengal Cavalry and six companies of the 45th Regiment, having been ordered up from the coast by Sir Robert Napier, arrived at the camp on the 8th of April. The 45th accomplished the distance from Mulkutto to the Beshilo River in twenty-five days. The force before Magdala, with these accessions, numbered upwards of 3,700 men, including a rocket brigade consisting of eighty sailors of H.M.S. _Dryad_. On the 9th of April, the whole force being now concentrated on the Dalanta plateau, the approaches to Magdala were carefully reconnoitred. It was suggested to Sir Robert Napier to send a force round to the saddle connecting Magdala with the Tanta plateau, so as to cut off Theodore's retreat while he was attacked in front. But the Commander-in-Chief deemed that the force at his disposal was not large enough to allow of its being divided with safety. It was finally resolved to attack the position of Magdala by way of the great projecting mass of Fâla, from which the lower terrace of Islamgyé could be easily reached.

Early on the morning of the 10th of April Sir Charles Staveley led the 1st Brigade down the steep side of the Dalanta plateau, forded the Beshilo, and, mounting the bold spur of Gumbaji, proceeded along it in the direction of Fâla. His intention was to choose a suitable site for an encampment, and await the arrival of the 2nd Brigade, led by the Commander-in-Chief, which was to pass the night in the valley of the Beshilo. Meanwhile, Colonel Phayre, with the pioneer force under his command, was moving up the Wark-Waha ravine, parallel with, and to the left of, the march of Sir Charles Staveley, in order to examine the position of the enemy. He ascertained that neither in the ravine, nor on any part of the great open slopes and terraces of which he obtained a view, right up to the ascent of Fâla, was there any trace of a hostile force; and he sent back a message to this effect to Sir Robert Napier, which on its way was read by Sir Charles Staveley. Sir Robert, on receiving Colonel Phayre's report, ordered the Naval Brigade, Colonel Penn's battery of mountain guns, and the baggage of the 1st Brigade, which had been left at the Beshilo by Sir Charles waiting orders to advance, to press forward up the Wark-Waha ravine. They did so, the sailors leading the way. It was about four o'clock when the Naval Brigade, followed by the battery, emerged by a steep ascent from the ravine on to the diversified surface of the Arogé plains, just above which, to their right, on the Aficho terrace, the 1st Brigade was posted. Presently a gun, followed by several others in succession, was fired from the crest of Fâla; the direction being good, and the elevation from which the guns were discharged considerable, the shot came plunging into the ground near the British ranks. Then, from the top of the mountain, rushing down the steep sides of Fâla, came Theodore's warriors in headlong charge. There were about 1,000 musketeers, armed with double-barrel guns, 2,000 men carrying match-locks, and a multitude of spearmen. They reached the bottom of the hill, and began advancing towards the British, part plunging down a ravine called Dam-Wanz on the British left, to attack the baggage train.

With such an inequality of arms as existed between the combatants, no real fighting was possible. The sailors, on seeing the enemy swarming down the hill, quickly got their rocket tubes into position, and opened upon them. Sir Charles Staveley ordered all the infantry of his brigade to come down the steep ascent from Aficho to Arogé, and advance firing against the enemy. Against the Sniders of the British infantry, what was the use of smooth-bore muzzle-loaders and undisciplined valour? The brave chief Gabriyé--Theodore's Fitaurari or Quartermaster-General--after doing all that man could do to encourage his followers, was shot down, and many other chiefs with him. Finding it impossible to get near their enemy, the Abyssinians after a time lost heart and turned to flee. Those who had gone down into the Dam-Wanz ravine were hemmed in there between the Punjab Pioneers and baggage guard in their front, and some companies of the 4th, whom Sir Charles Staveley had sent against their left flank, and mown down with terrible slaughter. As the fugitives retreated up the hill-side, the Naval Brigade advanced, and sent rockets among them with destructive effect. Evening closed in; Theodore, who had watched the action from the top of Fâla, knew that his army was destroyed and his power at an end; the British army seeing its task well-nigh accomplished, but full of anxiety for the fate of the captives, bivouacked that night on the slopes of Aficho and Arogé. The loss of the Abyssinians in this action was estimated at between 700 and 800 killed, and 1,500 wounded. On the English side twenty men were wounded, two mortally.