ABYSSINIA. 



The emperor's wrath appears to have been 

 roused at these and perhaps other causes, and 

 within a year after he had written with his 

 own hand to Queen Victoria, asking to be ad- 

 mitted into the pale of friendly intercourse, 

 he sent a body of troops to the mission- 

 ary station, seized the missionaries and Mr. 

 Cameron himself, put them in chains, and cast 

 them into prison, Mr. Cameron being chained 

 continually to an Abyssinian soldier. This was 

 done in November, 1863, and from that time 

 to this the unhappy men have been in confine- 

 ment. 



With the consul were incarcerated his sec- 

 retary Kerans, his servants McKelvie, Makerer, 

 Petro, and Bardel ; the missionaries Stern, Ro- 

 sen thai, Had, Steiger, andBrandeis, and the nat- 

 ural-history collectors Schiller and Essler. This 

 outrage against British subjects produced the 

 greatest excitement in England ; but as the ter- 

 ritory of the Emperor Theodore does not ex- 

 tend to the sea, and as the murderous climate 

 puts the greatest obstacle to the success of an 

 armed expedition, it was deemed best by the 

 English Government to confine its efforts in be- 

 half of the prisoners to diplomacy. 



In the second half of the year 1865 the Eng- 

 lish Government sent Mr. Eassam, an Asiatic by 

 birth, well known in connection with Mr. Lay- 

 ard's discoveries, and at that time holding the 

 office of assistant to the British resident at Aden, 

 on a special mission to the Abyssinian emperor. 

 Mr. Eassam started from Massowah on the 

 15th of October, with forty camel-loads of pres- 

 ents to the emperor. In a letter from Mr. 

 Eassam, dated February 7, 1866, it was an- 

 nounced that the emperor had given him a 

 magnificent reception, and ordered the release 

 of all the prisoners. The fact was accordingly 

 announced in the Englisbj Parliament by Lord 

 Clarendon. But the hope thus raised was soon 

 to be disappointed. "When Mr. Eassam and the 

 other prisoners were just on the point of taking 

 leave of the emperor, he and his party were put 

 under arrest, and informed that they were to 

 remain in the country, not as prisoners, but as 

 "state guests," until an answer could be ob- 

 tained to a second letter which the emperor 

 was about to write to the queen. This letter 

 was duly indited, in a style worthy of some 

 Lusitanian monarch of old, beginning : " In the 

 name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

 From God's slave and His created being, the 

 son of David, the son of Solomon, the king of 

 kings, Theodore," etc. The ostensible reason 

 assigned for the detention of Mr. Eassam was 

 to consult with him in what way the friendly 

 relations of the English and Abyssinian mon- 

 archy might best be extended. Theodore's let- 

 ter was conveyed to England by Mr. Flad, the 

 German missionary, who wa% also the bearer of 

 a letter from Mr. Eassam, in which, by desire 

 of Theodore, he requested that English artisans 

 might be sent to engage in the Abyssinian ser- 

 vice. It was supposed that these men were 

 required more as hostages than as artisans, as 



the emperor dreaded that his unjustifiable con- 

 duct toward Consul Cameron and his associates 

 would bring down upon him the vengeance of 

 .the British Government. In the mean time 

 Consul Cameron and those who were impris- 

 oned with him enjoyed comparative freedom ; 

 and the emperor, whose fitful and suspicious 

 temper is his bane, renewed his friendly inter- 

 course with Mr. Eassam and his companions, 

 looking after their comforts personally, and en- 

 deavoring to relieve the pompous monotony of 

 court life by taking them out on occasional 

 shooting excursions. 



On August 25th, the Eev. Mr. Stern, one of 

 the prisoners, wrote as follows : " Our present 

 more rigorous captivity is to be attributed to an 

 alleged report that English, French, and Turk- 

 ish troops were on their way to invade Abys- 

 sinia. Mr. Eassam protested against the ve- 

 racity of this etatement; nay, every one of ua 

 would have discredited the story even had it 

 been confined to a mere military expedition. 

 On the same day that he charged the British 

 Government with duplicity, he also reproached 

 me with the stale offence of having traduced 

 his character by throwing doubts on his lineal 

 descent from Solomon. I tendered my wonted 

 apology for this oft-repeated crime, but hia 

 majesty said he would not pardon me till I had 

 atoned for the sin by rendering him some ser- 

 vice. In the evening of the same day he made 

 fresh proffers of his friendship to Mr. Eassam, 

 and also told Mr. Eosenthal, and particularly 

 myself, that we should not indulge in unpleas- 

 ant surmises, as he had nothing against us; 

 and, like the rest of our fellow-prisoners, we 

 drank his health in good araki, provided for 

 that purpose from the royal distillery." 



'Letters from Eev. Mr. Stern and Consul 

 Cameron, dated September 15, 1866, stated that 

 the emperor was expected at Magdala (the 

 place where the prisoners were kept), and that 

 a crisis in the fate of the prisoners was ap- 

 proaching. Later letters (written about the 

 beginning of October) were received by Dr. 

 Beke, a gentleman who has long resided in 

 Abyssinia, understands the language of the 

 country, is personally acquainted with the Negos 

 (emperor), and has taken a special interest in 

 the liberation of the prisoners, from which it 

 appeared that Messrs. Eosenthal and McKelvie 

 had been allowed to remain at GafFat; that 

 Messrs. Kerans and McKelvie had offered their 

 services to the emperor those of the former 

 having been rejected, but those of the latter 

 accepted; and that Messrs. Bardel, Makerer, 

 Steiger, Brandeis, Essler, and Schiller, had also 

 entered the emperor's service. A full account 

 of the fate of the prisoners is given by Dr. 

 Beke, in his work, " The English Captives in 

 Abyssinia " (London, 1866). 



Interesting information on the Emperor 

 Theodore is contained in the parliamentary 

 papers published by the English Government. 

 In 1855 Consul Plowden sent to the Foreign 

 Office a report in which, after referring to the 



