8 



ABYSSINIA. 



ADLER, GEORGE J. 



son under the charge of Captain Speedy, ar- 

 rived in England in the last days of June, and 

 met with an enthusiastic ovation. He had 

 conferred upon him the title of Lord Napier of 

 Magdala. The son of Theodore, who was, 

 soon after his arrival, presented to the Queen, 

 will be educated in England. His mother had 

 died in the English camp, on May 15th. The 

 released Abyssinian captives, namely, twenty 

 gentlemen, eight ladies, twenty-two children, 

 and twenty-one followers, arrived in England 

 a few weeks before Lord Napier. 



The first effect of the death of Theodore, and 

 the withdrawal of the English troops, upon the 

 condition of Abyssinia, was a relapse into an- 

 archy. Theodore had been the first ruler for 

 many centuries who had acquired the power 

 to make his authority felt all over the country, 

 and to begin the consolidation of Abyssinia 

 into one compact empire. 



A letter from Massowah, dated September 

 17th, to the Paris Moniteur, gives the following 

 review of Abyssinian politics at that time : 

 " One of the three great provinces of Abyssinia, 

 Amhara, is under the absolute sovereignty of 

 Gobazie, who has taken advantage of the 

 English expedition against Theodore, to ex- 

 tend his possessions. 



"Magdala, after having been burnt by the 

 English, has been occupied by Masteeat, one of 

 the queens of the Wollo-Gallas, a Mohammedan 

 tribe. The escarpments of this fortress being 

 natural, they could not be destroyed. Imme- 

 diately after the city was taken possession of 

 by Masteeat, a rival, in the person of Queen 

 Werkait, set up claims, in which she was sup- 

 ported by the King of Shoa. Werkait is one 

 of the two queens ruling over the "Wollo-Gallas, 

 in the name of their sons, who are cousins. The 

 frontier of the Wollo-Gallas tribe is Bashilo. 



" The country to the north of Bashilo, Lasta, 

 and Jidjou, t were governed during the English 

 expedition by the maternal uncle of Gobazie ; 

 but Tapis Ali has commenced to urge the rights 

 which he pretends to have, through his mother, 

 upon Lasta, and through his father upon 

 Jidjou. This chief is popular in both these 

 countries, but he is not in a position to resist 

 the forces of Gobazie. On the other hand, the 

 son of Theodore, Mechacha, who is in revolt 

 against Gobazie, has returned to Kwara, his 

 father's country. Gobazie has not yet suc- 

 ceeded in suppressing this revolt, and his power 

 has been seriously compromised in the south- 

 east and northwest, but it is secure throughout 

 the whole of central Abyssinia. 



"Gobazie has rebuilt Gondar, the ancient 

 capital, and has proclaimed himself Emperor 

 under the name of Hazie Tecla Giorghis. He 

 has recently addressed a letter to Kassa, King of 

 Tigre, and sent him at the same time a present 

 of several horses. This latter, who now re- 

 sides at Adowah, received and responded to 

 these overtures in a friendly manner. These 

 relations have given rise to different interpreta- 

 tions. According to some, Gobazie has simply 



required of Kassa to make submission to him ; 

 according to others, he has demanded of the 

 King, that he send an envoy with money to 

 Cairo in order to obtain a bishop, and Kassa 

 has refused to comply. Whichsoever may be 

 true, the rainy season would not permit hos- 

 tilities at present. Amhara, where grain is 

 abundant, offers to Gobazie resources which he 

 would not find in the Tigre ; besides which, it 

 appears preferable for both rivals to remain al- 

 lies for some time yet in order that they might 

 be better able to resist the rebels. 



" In case war should break out in the future, 

 more or less distant, it would take place under 

 very nearly the following conditions : Gobazie, 

 whose army is devoted to him and accustomed 

 to fighting, has a strong cavalry force, but his 

 troops are badly armed. The effective troops 

 of Kassa are very numerous. He has a good 

 supply of cannon and muskets, and he has the 

 advantage of being near the sea. But in spite 

 of his generous character and his proud cour- 

 age, he is not yet completely master of his 

 people. The province of Tigr6 has not only 

 been ravaged for several years past by grass- 

 hoppers, but is, besides, devasted by partisans 

 who, in virtue of certain ancient customs, 

 levy ruinous contributions in grain upon the 

 inhabitants, leaving many of them, frequently, 

 without seed to sow." 



ABLER, GEOKGE J., Ph. D., a German 

 scholar and philologist, born in Germany, in 

 1821 ; died at the Bloomingdale Insane Asy- 

 lum> August 24, 1868. He came to the United 

 States at the age of twelve years, after an ex- 

 cellent elementary course in the gymnasium of 

 his native town, and eventually entered the Uni- 

 versity of New York, where he graduated with 

 high honors in 1844. In 1846 he was appointed 

 Professor of German in his Alma Mater, and 

 continued in that position till 1854. Having a 

 decided taste for philological studies, he very 

 early commenced the preliminary studies for 

 his elaborate German-English and English-Ger- 

 man Dictionary, the first edition of which was 

 published in 1848, when he was but twenty- 

 seven years of age. He subsequently made 

 considerable additions to it, and folio wed with a 

 German grammar, reader, and other text-books. 

 His dictionary, undoubtedly the best work of its 

 kind extant, soon won him a reputation, to 

 which his later works materially added. His 

 works were in great demand in Europe, and 

 several of them, his edition of Goethe's " Iphi- 

 genie," in particular, were translated into 

 French and Spanish. He also wrote much 

 for the periodical press. In 1860 liis mind 

 became affected, probably' from excessive 

 study, and he was sent to the Bloomingdale 

 Asylum. His mania was of a religious charac- 

 ter, but he had lucid intervals, in which he 

 wrote magazine articles, or prepared works for 

 the press, with all his former ability. In the 

 last of these, he prepared for Putnam's Maga- 

 zine an interesting review of Lessing's "Na- 

 than the Wise." 



