ABYSSINIA. 



the King gave the following as his reasons 

 for imprisoning Mr. Cameron : " Captain Cam- 

 eron I imprisoned because he went to Ka- 

 sala to my enemies, the Turks, and I had 

 given him a letter for the Queen, and he came 

 without bringing me an answer. Messrs. Flad, 

 Stern, Bosenthal, Makerer, and Kerons I had 

 chained because they have abused me ; and 

 the rest of them I imprisoned because I found 

 them together with the others. They have 

 done nothing. I even don't know them." 

 Mr. Cameron had quarrelled with his secre- 

 tary, M. Bardel, a Frenchman, who entered 

 the King's service, and tried to stir up enmity 

 against England. He went to the Emperor Na- 

 poleon with a letter at the same time as the 

 letter to the Queen was sent off, and the Emper- 

 or at once returned an answer. Mr. Cameron 

 also sent back from the country of the Turks, to 

 Abyssinia, an interpreter, Samuel, who had 

 been given him by the King, and this man had 

 repeated Cameron's expressions. When Mr. 

 Cameron made his excuses to the King for 

 going to the ..Turkish tribes, the King very 

 justly replied, "It was not your business to 

 interfere. "Who told you to do so ? Neither 

 I myself nor your Queen gave you order to go 

 down to Kasala." In January, 1864, Earl 

 Eussell's letters to Mr. Cameron arrived, and 

 were taken to the King, who, after learning 

 that there was nothing in them in answer to his 

 letter, sent Mr. Cameron, as a prisoner, to 

 Magdala. He appears to have suspected that 

 treachery was at work. On January 1, 1866, 

 Mr. Hormuzd Bassam, a Turk, but an English 

 subject, formerly Deputy-Governor of Aden, 

 was sent up with a very small retinue with a 

 letter from her Majesty, requesting the release 

 of Mr. Consul Cameron, and the other Euro- 

 peans. Colonel Merewether, the resident at 

 Aden, afterward spoke of Mr. Bassam's 

 mission " as a great mistake," from its want 

 of dignity. Mr. Bassam was received with 

 every mark of favor by the King, and was 

 always well treated by him. Colonel Mere- 

 wether reported that " a regular constituted em- 

 bassy from England could not have been 

 treated with greater honor and attention." It 

 seems that the letter from the Queen which 

 Mr. Bassam delivered to King Theodore had 

 been mistranslated, so as to make it read that 

 any gift Theodore expressed a wish for through 

 Mr. Bassam she would send to him. At the 

 same time the King seems to have got into his 

 possession a letter which Captain Cameron 

 had given to one of the native chiefs, request- 

 ing that he might be .protected if the Queen's 

 troops came to the country to take revenge for 

 his imprisonment. Under various pretexts 

 Theodore detained Mr. Bassam and the other 

 Europeans, while Mr. Flad was sent home 

 with a letter, requesting that the Queen's 

 "kasa," or presents, for the release of the 

 prisoners should consist of artisans, " to give 

 light to our eyes." On July 10, 1865, Mr. 

 Flad arrived in England with the letters, and 



I 



made full report of all the difficulties, and the 

 causes which had led to the complications. 

 He gave it as his opinion that it was desirable 

 "to finish with this man in peace." On Au- 

 gust 13, 1866, Colonel Merewether, on the 

 understanding that force was not to bethought 

 of, reported to Lord Stanley that Theodore's 

 requests should be frankly and most liberally 

 met. He said: "It has been mentioned that 

 it would be best to try and enter into some en- 

 gagement with the King, that, before the peo- 

 le now going to work for him should enter 

 is country, the Europeans there should have 

 left it. I look upon it as most dangerous to 

 the success of the whole scheme, should this 

 be attempted." In August and September, 

 1866, the ministry, acting through Lord Stan- 

 ley, expended over three thousand pounds upon 

 presents for King Theodore, and engaged arti- 

 sans to go to Abyssinia. On September 1, 

 1866, Mr. Flad wrote to King Theodore that 

 he had been received by the Queen personally, 

 that the artisans and presents were coming, 

 and that he had promised, in the King's name, 

 that after he had received those presents the 

 captives would be liberated. On October 4, 

 1866, the ministry determined to adopt the 

 policy which Colonel Merewether reported 

 would be fatal to the whole scheme, viz., not 

 to send the artisans and presents until the 

 captives were sent to Massowah. Lord Stanley 

 wrote to King Theodore, in the Queen's name, 

 in this sense, although Mr. Flad, had previously 

 reported that the presents were to be sent. In 

 January, 1867, Mr. Flad, being unable to re- 

 turn to Abyssinia, sent a copy of the Queen's 

 letter, which apparently had also been mis- 

 translated. On its arrival Theodore wrote to 

 Mr. Bassam : " As Solomon fell at the feet of 

 Hiram so I, beneath God, fall at the feet of the 

 Queen and her Government and her friends. I 

 wish you to get them (the skilful artisans), 

 via Matemma, in order that they may teach 

 me wisdom, and show me clever arts. When 

 this is done, I shall make you glad, and send 

 you away by the power of God." On January 

 8, 1867, Mr. Bassam wrote in reply: "I have 

 already written regarding Mr. Flad, and the 

 articles which my Queen had ordered for your 

 Majesty as a token of her friendship, and they 

 are to be sent at once to Matemma." The 

 artisans and articles were, nevertheless, de- 

 tained at Massowah, and not sent to Theo- 

 dore; the captives were in consequence not 

 liberated, and thus the war between England 

 and Abyssinia was brought on. 



The first troops which were to' form part of 

 the expedition against King Theodore landed 

 in the latter months of 1867.* In the first 

 days of January, the chief commander, Sir 

 Bobert Napier, arrived from India, and in the 

 course of January the remainder of the troops 

 followed. The progress of the expedition, 

 during the first weeks, was slow and devoid 



* See ANNUAL CYCLOPEDIA for 1867. 



