ABYSSINIA. 



tents of her letter by the copy sent up by Mr. Flad, 

 you had hesitated to comply with her majesty's 

 wishes for the release of the prisoners, and instead 

 of sending them at once to Massowah, to be ex- 

 changed against the presents, had looked still to ob- 

 tain the presents on the faith of your own assurance 

 that on the receipt of them you would release the 

 captives. Looking to what has. already passed, the 

 Queen cannot again write to your majesty; but she 

 has desired me to write, and to say that her determi- 

 nation, as expressed in her majesty's letter, of which 

 you know the contents, is unchanged and unchange- 

 able, and that, so far from being willing to allow the 

 presents to go on before the prisoners have reached 

 Massowah, the Queen has sent orders that the pres- 

 ents shall be returned to Europe, unless the British 

 authorities at Massowah are satisfied within three 

 months after the dispatch of this letter from that 

 port, a copy of which is sent by three different mes- 

 sengers, that the prisoners are actually released and 

 on their way to the coast. In that case the return 

 of the presents may be deferred for such time as may 

 suffice for the prisoners to perform the journey to 

 Massowah, on their arrival at which place the pres- 

 ents will be made over to your agents. The Queen 

 has forbidden her agents to enter into further cor- 

 respondence on these matters. Her majesty requires, 

 for the last time, by her Secretary of State, that the 

 prisoners should be made over to her, and she trusts 

 that your majesty will be sufficiently well advised to 

 comply with her demand, rather than forfeit the 

 friendship which, notwithstanding all that has hap- 

 pened, the Queen is still disposed to entertain for 

 you. Having thus fulfilled the commands of the 

 Queen, my sovereign, I bid your majesty heartily 

 farewell. 



In May Mr. Flad saw the King, and informed 

 him that unless he released all the prisoners ac- 

 cording to the Queen's letter, there would he 

 war with England, if not with France and 

 Egypt. Theodore replied: "Let them come. 

 By the power of God I will meet them, and you 

 may call me a woman if I do not heat them." 

 The captives,* some of whom were transported 

 from Gaffat to the royal residence, Dehra Ta- 

 bor, while others remained at Magdala, were, 

 ' during all this time, in constant dread of being 

 executed, and, as the supplies sent to them fre- 



* A correspondent sends to the Pall Matt Qatsette the fol- 

 lowing list, which he believes to be correct, of the prisoners 

 in Abyssinia : 



AT FOET MAQDALA. 



Name nnd occupation. ^ When imprisoned. 



Consul Cameron, H. B. M. consul, Massowah. ..Jan. 3, 1864, 



L. Kerans, late secretary to Cameron. '' 



E. McKelvey, late servant to ditto 



J. Makeron, servant to ditto 



D. Pietro, late servant to ditto " 



A. Bardel, painter and teacher of languages .... " 



English Mission. 



Hermuzd Eassara, first assistant political resi- 

 dent July 1, 1866. 



Lieutenani Prideaux, third ditto " 



Dr. Blanc, civil surgeon " 



Ee v. H. Stem, mission 1864. 



AT DEBHA TABOR. 



H. Eosenthal, missionary 1864 



Mrs. Stern " 



Mrs. Eosenthal " 



Mr. Flad. missionary " 



Mrs. Flad and three children " 



"W. Steiger, missionary " 



T. Brancleis, missionary " 



K. Schiller, natural history collector " 



J. Essler, natural history collector " 



One Polish and twelve German artisans (Theo- 

 dore's artisans for making guns), lately not im- 

 prisoned, but guarded " 



quently failed to reach them, suffered from 

 scarcity of means of subsistence. 



In October, according to a letter of Mr. Flad, 

 the King carried off with him from Debra Ta- 

 bor all the Europeans, some in chains, others 

 free. Among the latter was Mr. Flad, who 

 says also that the women and children were all 

 well, and that the prisoners had of late been 

 better treated by the King. 



According to the unanimous statement of the 

 captives, the civil war in Abyssinia, which for 

 years had been raging, assumed, in 1867, a turn 

 more unfavorable to Theodore. It is extremely 

 difficult, however, to establish any details of the 

 progress of the war with certainty. In Janu- 

 ary, 1867, it was reported that the rebellious 

 subjects of Theodore were fast making head 

 against him, and notwithstanding he had re- 

 cently made a raid on Gondar, where he burnt 

 the churches, the territory owning his sway 

 was reduced to two small provinces, and that 

 his forces wore only about one-fourth the num- 

 ber he commanded in June, 1866, when he re- 

 ceived Mr. Eassam in full durbar. In June, 

 1867. a letter from one of the captives stated : 

 " For some time the elements of disaffection and 

 rebellion had infected the peasantry of Begem- 

 eder and the troops belonging to the revolted 

 provinces. Occasional .defeats inflicted by the 

 enraged villagers on the pillage-loving soldiers 

 gave them confidence in their own strength, 

 and prompted them to offer a bold and un- 

 daunted opposition in the only province which, 

 till now, had apparently been loyal. One might 

 have imagined this would have induced the ty- 

 rant to adopt a wiser and more conciliatory 

 policy than that of the fire, the spear, and the 

 mutilating knife ; but no, impelled by an insa- 

 tiable thirst for blood, he withdrew from the 

 burning homesteads of the vengeance-breathing 

 peasantry, and in a fit of frenzy commenced the 

 work of destruction and death among his own 

 pusillanimous adherents. On the 7th of June it 

 is said that upward of 670 of these cowardly 

 crime-stained ragamuffins were butchered in 

 cold blood. A panic immediataly spread through 

 the rabble ranks, and on the evening of the 

 same day on which this revolting tragedy was 

 enacted, Ras Addalon, the chief of Gedshon, 

 with ah 1 his followers, and a considerable num- 

 ber from all the other districts bordering on the 

 "Wollo Galla country (which is in close proxim- 

 ity to the mountain on which the Magdala 

 stands), deserted their royal master's service. 

 The well-known defections in his camp, the con- 

 stant desertions from the impotent bands, and 

 the woeful fate accorded to every one who strays 

 beyond his hut or tent, and falls into the hands 

 of the rebels, has at last dismayed the vaunting 

 tyrant. He is at present in Debra Tabor, where, 

 it is reported, he is erecting a strong fence 

 around his insignificant camp. Provisions he 

 has in abundance, as a mountain of corn is 

 heaped upon the top of the hill ; but even such 

 attractions have ceased to keep his lawless com- 

 panions together. All the great men have either 



