THE ORIGIN OF THE SUEZ CANAL. 143 



for the good wishes you express towards me and for 

 the prosperity of my people. I am convinced that, 

 despite my earnest efforts to remove from my country 

 the barbarous customs introduced into Abyssinia 

 during the last few centuries, I shall never succeed 

 in entirely changing the ideas of the people, and 

 regenerating them until European genius, uniting the 

 waters of the Bed Sea and the Mediterranean, has 

 opened our country to European commerce and Chris- 

 tian civilisation. 



"'When, by the grace and will of God, I have 

 brought all the rebels into subjection, and established 

 my kingdom upon a more solid basis, I shall send my 

 ambassadors to all the Christian kings of Europe, and I 

 shall say to them: " My brothers, I am like you a servi- 

 tor and a son of Jesus Christ. Beceive me, therefore, 

 among you and enter into relations with me. Then 

 the men of Europe will come among us, they will 

 teach us your arts, and Abyssinia will become what 

 it was before. If you are my friends, and if you desire 

 the good of humanity, you will doubtless aid me in this 

 work." 



" ' In order that my acts should correspond to my 

 words, I have forbidden the mutilation of the killed 

 or wounded in battle ; I have prohibited the slave 

 trade, and this odious traffic is now suppressed in the 

 Tigre*, Semen, and all the subject provinces upon the 

 coast of the Bed Sea. 



" * Permit me to repeat to you in conclusion that 



