The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-11 00:00:00

CUMBERLAND.

The Carlisle Journal announces that a distin,:tly
marked case of the disease has occurred at Stanwix,
near Carlisle.

NORFOLK.

A meeting of the Central County Committee was
held at Norwich on Saturday, Mr. C. S. Read, M.P.,
in the chair. It appeared that, in answer to the
application for information ordered to be made last
week, returns had been received from 18 out of the
27 Poor Law unions of the county. These returns

showed that the disease prevailed in five unions, but
not to any very alarming extent, and it appeared to
be considered that the measures adopted had checked
its progress.

The Abyssinian Captives.

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The France has received the following letter from
Count du Bisson, relative to the partial liberation of
Mr. Cameron, English consul in Abyssinia :
" PARIS, Sept. 6.
"I have just received from n:klintendant of sports
in Abyssinia a report, from which I extract some
lines which may interest your readers. Mr. Came-
ron, the English consul,' he says, will be at liberty
and probably on his way home when this letter shall
be in your hands. The Emperor Theodorus was still
undecided and vacillating between clemency and
severity (death). You said to his Majesty before your
departure, " 0 powerful monarch, of what do you
complain? Are you not victorious on every point of
the question ? England menaced you and you have
laughed at her. She landed troops at Massowah ;
the war steamers were to bring an invincible army ;
you left .the field open to them ; you went to
triumph among the Yallas, saying to the British
envoys, ' Come on, I am waiting for you ; at
my return, I hope to encounter your valiant batta-
lions.' And they do not dare come on. A woman,
their Queen, has written to you with her royal
hand ; she has asked pardon for her minister."
(This is exact : I have seen and read the Queen's
letter.) " ' When persons implore your mercy and
invoke your magnanimity, 0 Emperor of the Abys-
sinians, how should the lion have any fear of the
antelope ?' The Prince appeared to be in one of
those critical moments when the life of a man, who-
ever he might be, would be of small account in the
balance. We repeated to him your words in the
interest of humanity. 6 Well then,' said Theodorus,
' let him depart—the serpent, but before he goes he
shall make every amend ; he shall swear by the
Virgin Mary never again to re-enter my states." (A
very useless oath, methinks.) "' On that condi-
tion my mercy shall be extended to him, and to all
the other Europeans of his cursed religion. The
order was immediately despatched to Magdala to set
Mr. Cameron at liberty." For ourselves we took
our departure for our sporting expedition, and were
unable to be present, to our great regret, at the ex-
piatory scene—the famous anti-protestant oath.
But the dejar A— has written to tell us that this
long and incredible history has at length come to a
pacific denouement, and that the words of a French-
man had a more powerful influence over the terrible
Emperor than the threats, the military demonstra-
trations, the royal letter, the ships of war, and lastly,
the prayers of the first nation in the world.
COUNT R. Du BissoN.
Mr. Stern, one of King Theodore's prisoners,
writing from Amba Magdala on the 30th of May,

says :
" Our position has, since my last, undergone no
change. Day after day comes to its close in the
usual painful or reckless monotony of savage prison
life. . Sometimes tidings reach us which afford a
thrill of joy, and perhaps for a week we ruminate
on freedom and the blessings of civilised life ; and
then, again, the vision of hope becomes damped,
and the soul either seeks comfort and consolation in
God and His Word, or sinks into the wonted state of
apathy and indifference. As lam reminded of the
approach of winter, ',will give you a hasty sketch of
the locality where we and upwards of 200 unhappy
natives of all ranks and conditions may have to pass
that inclement season. Just picture to your imagi-
nation an isolated locality, rising out of the midst
of a jumble of conical hills, deep ravines, and ele-
vated ridges, and you have Amba Magdala. On the
summit there are clusters of thatched huts occupied
by about 1,000 troops. Not far from the church,
which you recognise by an apex surmounted by a
glittering brass cross, you gaze on a mass of
wretched hovels that stand in mocking contrast
around, close to which lie basking in the sun bands
of unfortunates, loaded with galling fetters ; this is
the royal prison. Those wretched huts outside the
inclosure are occupied by the elite of the prisoners
during the day, but towards evening all must re-
pair within the fence, -where, after being counted,
they are driven like wild beasts within the reeking
walls of those conically shaped structures. Insects
and all that is repulsive of whatever name or colour
swarm in these gaols, and really, if Prin-m---- "a
(not tempered human nature so as to render
it capable of enduring every hardship, I believe
even few Abyssinians would long resist the fatal
influence of this poisonous atmosphere. It is as a
special favour, which we have to thank our guards
(into whose good graces we have wormed ourselves
by the distribution of some simple medicines), that
we are allowed to make our abode close to the walls
of one of the houses ; and there under a black
woollen awning, Captain Cameron, Rosenthal,
Makerer, and myself pass the day and night ; and
the rest, who have huts outside, only the night."