The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-27 00:00:00

If A'fIIAItICZT.

TRH Evringe. A CO7)ICIIATIVEitOVEMENT.—A 81110
OF ROMANCE. Mews. &thorn, Bankston*, Compton, Cl:lppon.
ask, Rogers, and Clark ; Mesdames 'abortion, Burke, Chippers.
dais, litawllllam, Laws, do. —And INTRIGUE. Mr. Kendal, dc.

Qt*EP.WR TRICATRII, LONG.ACRR.
Legge• end %wafter. Mr. ALFRED WIGAN.
Tat• RYEVINO, at 7, MARY JONIII. At a quarter to 8,
OLIVER TWIST. losire. J. L. Toole, L Bronsh. 11. lrrher.
C Windham, .1. Clayton, W. U. aterhena, and Jahn Ryder
Mesita:ace hula n, I:yward, and Nellie Moore. To conclude
with LA VIVANDSLIE.

The fact that the redemption of the captives has
been accomplished without sacrifice, so far as
we yet know, of the life of • single British
soldier is a circumstance calling for thankfulness.
It is the fault of THU/DORI himself Viat any
Abyssinian has perished. Had he surrendered the
captives and the European workmen upon Sir
ROBERT NAME'S demand, our army would
have retired without striking a blow.
Possibly such a course as this would
not, for his own ends, have been politic on the part
of the Abyssinian ruler. He governed by prestige,
by personal ascendency, by the reputation of in-
vincibility. How strong this feeling was among
his subjects and the bordering tribes appears from
the letter of our special correspondent:—" The
" peasants on our route," he writes, " fancy
" that we are marching to meet our
" doom. THEODOILZ, they say, is not like them-
'
" selves, or like other men. He always destroys
" those who fight him." To have surrendered his
captives on summons would have been to have
cast away the charm by which he exercised
sovereignty. A warrior whom the mere sight of
a handful of men frOm across the sea had subdued,
would be to his own countrymen a warrior no
longer. Some more powerful rival might have
arisen on the ruins of his reputation ; and TIIZO-
-1 DORE would probably have been doomed to
ignominy and death. He had no alternative but
to fight. Possibly he was unable to com-
pute the real nature of the odds against
him. His army was six or seven, perhaps ten
times as numerous as that which threatened him.
He had • fortress which was really strong
and which he regarded as inexpugnable. Had
he not, too, European artillery, and men
trained to work it by European artificers ?
What did he know of the difference between ARM-
smoso guns and the engines that his workmen had
cobbled up ; between the gunners of the beet artil-
lery service in Europe and his own half-instructed
savages? A gun and a gunner were pro-
bably to him the same all the world
over. He had expressed • delight not un-
magnanimous nor unsoldier-like, in the prospect
which the expedition afforded him of seeing a well-
disciplined force before he died. This satisfaction
was not denied him. He saw it and tested it.

°Trial - _ and icarlortablerrs-
reeve, which ma formerl)r in the trotitml a
monk and is BOW removed teems at thripliseiem
pyi suliglto of lastelllaPere skid ii pecierlicals iEj
wy extensive, oompraing lowly all lie imps,
It jouaals published in London and the pro-
vinces; sad iabnist. every magazine or review of
any worth or name. • The French daily papers,
high-clue critical journals, hice the Beset des Deux
Mundell, and the Beans Contemporairte, and other
foreign periodicals, add to the attractions of the
news-room, and on the table will be toned ra,
number of papers and magazines patronised br
peculiar sects and coteries which rarely meet the
eye of the general public. For the advantages of
this room, which are enjoyed by ladies as well as
by gentlemen, a charge is made of ten shillings per
annum, or of one penny for each separate visit.
We have our penny and twopenny news-rooms in
London also, and we know of one in which a very
scanty supply of papers may be seen for sixpence.
But there is not in the metropolis, so far as our
knowledge extends, a single room which contains
an ample supply of papers, and is at the same
time pleasant as • lounge. Such a news-room
would we think supply a public want, and if wisely
conducted, could scarcely fail to prove a commer-
Mal success.