146 THEODORE II. AND THE 



arrived at the summit of his physical and moral power. External difficulties no 

 longer existed ; resistance from within had altogether vanished before the prestige 

 of a victory, so much the more brilliant on account of its having been so long dis- 

 puted. None of the great native class felt themselves strong enough to raise the 

 standard of Negousie ; but the friends of the unfortunate pretender remained, 

 who, at the extremities of Abyssinia, sought to pass unnoticed ; there were Tedla- 

 Gualu in Godjam, and Bedjaz Merid in Hamozene, wh» had valiantly defended 

 this province against the great imperial officers of the frontier. Mered succeeded 

 so well in hiding himself, that from August, 1861, he appears not to have been 

 implicated in any of the political events of the empire so that finally the Ifegus 

 generously pardoned him. As for Tedla-Gualu, his resistance was to be more 

 serious, but it had not yet exhibited itself at the period of which we are now 

 writing. 



Borne along by an irresistible current of public opinion, saluted as the repre- 

 sentative of the empire's order and unity, Theodore the Second was in one of tha 

 most favourable positions for applying to his people ideas borrowed from Europe 

 with much prudence and discernment. The small class among us, interested in 

 Abyssinian affairs, expected in some degree to see an African Peter the Great 

 rise ill Gondar. Did he seriously dream of playing such a part ! Kecalling the 

 earlier stages of his history, we may doubt it. The Negus wrongly persuaded 

 himself that Abyssinia was rich enough in historical wealth to draw from the past 

 the element of its future progress. This system, extremely flattering to Abys- 

 sinian patriotism, could only be withstood by the influence of an intelligent Euro- 

 pean adviser, devoted and courageous enough to tell the Negus the truth to his 

 face, and sufficiently loved by him to make him accept it. Radama the 1st of 

 Madagascar bad found such a man in a common sailor of Brittany, Coroller, whom 

 he made prince of Tamatare, and to whom he owed much of his greatness. The 

 death of Mr. Bell had unfortunately removed the only man who could have ren- 

 dered a similar service to Theodore. The policy of the Negus, thus left to himself,, 

 rested upon this basis, that the revival of the Abyssinian empire required the 

 reclaiming of its frontiers, — a project almost as Utopian as it would be for Turkey 

 to seek the restoration of her limits as they were at the end of the sixteenth cen- 

 tury. This programme would necestarily arm him against a well organized 

 governirent, that of Egypt, and against an ill organized, but obstinate and warlike 

 people, the Gallas. The last years of Theodore's reign, which I am about to de- 

 scribe from my recollactions, will in fact exhibit him directing his restless activity 

 now against Egypt, and now against the Gallas, when not engaged in warfare 

 with the chiefs of countries bordering on the Empire, such as Gadjam, whither 

 Tadla-Gualu had betaken himself. 



The causes of rupture with Egypt were numerous, and especially depended on 

 geographical circumstances. Nature has clearly traced the boundaries of the two 

 states,; but at the foot of the last step leading to the Abyssinian plateau, in the 

 latitude of Khartoun and Massaoua, live five or six tribes of shepherds who emi- 

 grated from Abyssinia, two or three centuries ago, probably on account of an 

 excessive increase in its population, and who nominally recognise the sovereignty 

 of the Ethiopian Empire, nanghesta Aithiopiya. The Turks, who conquered 



