The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-03 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPT. 3, 18G7.

The Abyssinian Expedition is evidently engaging

the serious attention of the authorities, and the
various suggestions made in all directions show the
great interest which the subject inspires. It is
certain that the expedition will be a perilous one,
and that great care and caution must be adopted.
As it is pretty plain, however, by this time that it
will be necessary to undertake the work, the best
thing to do now is to take note of the many evils

that environ the way, and to seek for the best
remedies that skill and science cad suggest or offer.

In pursuance of this idea many writers have wisely
and judiciously set forth their knowledge on the
subject; and as this is no doubt a case in which
being forewarned is to be forearmed, the more
attention that is paid to their remarks the baton
The Lancet has lately directed notice to some
diseases of Abyssinia, which are endemic, and has
shown good reason why precautions should be
adopted in order to ward off the effects of some of
these, which might otherwise paralyse exertions,
and injure the capabilities of the force which we
sent out. Among the most prominent of these
diseases is that of the " guinea worm," and the
frequency of
_its attack, no less than its severity,
render it important to guard against it. An his-
toric interest attaches itself to this subject, since

the description of this disease occurs in the records
that belong to remote antiquity. It has been said,
indeed, that the "guinea worms" are synonymous
with the fiery serpents which the Israelites met
with during their journey by the Red Sea.

It is a mistake to believe that Europeans are not
attacked with this disease, for experience has shown
the contrary to be the case, and it will behove the
authorities to be very careful that our troops may
not be sufferers from this serious evil. Another
danger arises from the attacks of the Telse fly,
whose bite is fatal to any domestic beast.
A good suggestion has been made by one who
has had experience in the hills of India. During the
Bhootan campaign it was found advisable to have
an " advanced guard" to push on some hours
ahead, and thus force a path through

the almost impenetrable country. In this
work it was found that the elephant was worth

twenty men. " With his shoulder or trunk he
pushed or threw to oue side obstructing trees, and
by his immense weight crushed down the tangled
grass or reeds, forming a better way by his own
progress than a Land of sappers could have done in
hours with their implements." No doubt these
animals would prove of great utility to our forces
in Abyssinia, and afford the same practical advan-
tage that they have done elsewhere. The camel
has also been spoke of as a desirable
,ally in this
hazardous undertaking, and proofs are not wanting
of his efficiency. In some of the forced marches in
India the Camel Guard were very useful. The
guns were attached to the camel's saddles, and could
be moved round on a pivot. When the guns were
fired, the camels knelt down, and thus obviated the
necessity of gun-carriages. "We are to have
camels for Abyssinia, why not try elephants also ?"
exclaims, with some justice, the writer who fur-
nishes the information, and we hone that the sug-
cpstion will receive due notice in the right quarter.

Anything that tends to facilitate the progress of
the e%pedition, and to ward off any of tha
dangers to which it is unfortunately exposed is
especially worthy of notice just now, and it will not
do to pay as little heed to the opinions of those com-
petent of judging, and who have verified their state-

tents by experience or by intimate acquaintance.
with the places referred to, as has been too often

the case on former occasions when our troops have
had to depart on those awkward missions to distant
places. Too much care and provision before-
hand are unquestionably better than too little ;
and we earnestly trust that a deaf ear will
not be turned to any advice that is offered or in-
difference displayed in those matters which seem
trivial, but which often turn out too late to have
been most material. As a rule the expeditions sent
out from this country are most badly managed,
and most, if not all, of the other nations of Europe
surpass us in realising those secondary arrange-
ments, upon the due observance of which so much
of the comfort, safety, and often success of the
affair depends. Better late than never is a very true
saying, and it would be a very good thing if this
forthcoming expedition to Abyssinia should form an
exception to the rule. It is high time that the world
should see ne have profited by experience, and are
resolved to atone for the errors of the past by greater
car;, and the exercise of more circumspection in
future. The perils that environ the expedition are
no doubt numerous, and it will not do to ignore
them. Neither will it do to give up the
affair altogether or to think them unsurmount-
able. It may be a good thing if some persons
overrate them, if thereby it follows that proper care
b.; taken to provide for emergencies. The courage
and heroism which our troops always display are
undeniable, but that is na reason why they should
not be duly provided with proper precautions, and
have all the advantages that can possibly be afforded
to them. With this view all the information that
can be afforded about Ay-ssinia is very welcome, and
should bo appreciated accordingly.

Among the many difficult and troublesome clues-
ti'mas left for Lord STANLEY'S adjudication by fate
and his predeces.iors, there is none- perhaps more
awkward and more harassing than the Alabama
el-aims. On the one hand, the English Minister is
naturally avcrse to embroiling himself with a
country-with whom many considerations render a
good understanding especially desirable. We know
from his own words that a war between the two
areat Anglo-Saxon nations of the eastern and
western hemispheres is regarded by Lord Stanley as
the most disastrous of possibilities. On the other
hand, he is wise enough to know that concession to
an unjust and unreasonable demand is not the way
to preserve mutual respect or good understanding.
It would naturally lead to further encroachments
until some demand was male that could no longer
be granted, when the refusal woull cause all the

more irrita'ion from previous consent, and tii; very
evil it was sought to avoid would b„) inevitab'y
brought about. 'Weakness is never respected, and
the Americans have quite sufficient nation d pride
and decision themselves to know the claims their

Aatesmen are pressing forward are such as no
State could thick of lightly conceding. If a nation
is to be held responsible for the effects produced by
every article manufactured within its limits, Euro-
pean, aye, and American exchequers too, will soon
be bankrupt. We are in the habit of seeing iron-
dalz for foreign governments rising in oar dock-
yards. Are we to bear the consequences of all the
mischief they do hereafter ? There are two points
in connection with this vexedquestion of the Alabama
claims which might surely teach the Atuericaus alittle
moLration. One is the Fenian organisation in the
States and the open assistance given t) it by Anleri-

can citizens. Ex-officers of the Federal army have
actually assumed the direction of the Fenian out-
breaks, and it is well known that the little method
perceptible in t' aeir madness is to be attributed to
the ability and • experience acquired in the American
ranks. The 0 Vier consideration which might re-
strain the activity of the diplomatic pens, were
Americas statesmen to give it due consideration, is
the amount of direct assistance which the Federal
arms receive d from this country during the war.
The English Government proposed a strict neutrality
from the fi nit outbreak of the war. If a strict
neutrality inalui'es a supervision of our ports, so
that no material of war should be transmitted to
either belligerent, how would our accounts stand?
The amount of arms and ammunition furnished to
the Federal army during the war made a very con-
siderable difference in the efficiency of the victorious
troops. The annals of Birmingham trade fur-
nish some statistics which might puzzle Mr.
SEWARD to explain away, if they came under
his inspection. Why, then, are we to be held
responsible for the mischief done by a ship unarmed
when she left our shores, and not for the losses
occasioned by the actual arms and ammunition
manufactured in this country and transmitted direct
to one of the belligerents ? If a turn of the wheel
brings the Southern interests into importance, once
more we shall be receiving a small bill on account
of these losses, and we shall find the charges
more difficult to answer than we do the
Alabama demand. If such rigorous measure
is to be dealt out to all offenders, we advise
the American Minister to turn his attention home-
wards. lle will not find it difficult to discover
among his own countrymen some who talked loudly
in favour of the war, and all the while were secretly
transmitting goods to the enemy. It has been
openly acknowledged that, but for the supplies
coining from the North, the Confederacy could not
have held out so long, but with this we have nothing
to do. We have only to attend to our own share in
the matter. Mr. SEWARD makes this heavy enough,
for he finds serious ground of complaint in the fact
of our recognition of the belligerent rights of the
South, by which he says we gave strength and
countenance to " a mere domestic disturbance."
Was it worth while to declare a blockade on ac-
count of " a mere domestic disturbance ?" Aud
how could we, in recognising that blockade, refuse
to recognise the blockaded ports as the property of
belligerents? We must either have insisted on our
rights to trade with the closed ports and paid no atten-
tion to the blockade—a decision which would have
decided the war—or we must in acknowledging the
blockade have acknowledged the existence of some-
thing more than a domestic disturbance ?

Lord STANLEY has a difficult and delicate task, in
which great firmness, temper, and prudence are
needed. Happily, he is not a man to be irritated
into rash and groundless measures, or to be
frightened from his proper position by bombastic
threats. He has met the demands of the American
Minister in a moderate and conciliatory spirit,
while taking care not to commit himself to the
wholesale abandonment of English rights and dig-
nity which Mr. SEWARD seemed to look for. We
hope that he will succeed in bringing this trouble-
some business to a satisfactory close, knowing, as
he must do, that a foreign war, or the talk of a war,
is a favourite resource with American politicians
when they wish to gain public attention or revive
their waning popularity.

CORRESPOrDENCE FRUM PARIS.

(FRO3I OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, Monday Evening.

There is no news of importance to-day in Paris,
and the speculations about Salzbourg are exhausted.
I :believe, however, from what 1 hear in official
circles that the French Government will shortly
give publicity to a very reassuring and pacific mani-
festation upon the subject.
The Vienna papers announce that at the Council
of Ministers held on Friday, under the presidency
of the Emperor, and with the participation of the
Hungarian Government, definite resolutions were
adopted on the subject of the debt of the State, and
the preparation of the Budget of 1868. The Reich-
strath will resume its sittings on the 16th inst.
The Provincial Digits will also be very shortly con-
voked, in order to vote the Budgets for the year
1868.

The following is the composition of the new
Cabinet of Roumania :—M. Golesco, President and
Minister of the Interior ; Foreign Affairs, M.
Tariakian ; Public Works, M. Brationo ; Ministers
of Finance, War, and Justice, Messrs. Steege, Ad-
rian, and Anion.

It is stated:in a letter from Rome that, with a
view to the execution of the Convention of Sept.
last, a force of at least 30,000 men is collected on
the frontiers of the Roman States to prevent insur-
rection, but happily there are no symptoms of in-
surrection, at least for the present. Garibaldi,
restless spirit as he is, has been at Orreto and other
places making speeches, from which it may be
gathered that he defers any positive action for the
present. In one of these inflammatory' orations he
said--" With me, or without me, nevertheless you
will go to Rome. That is a political necessity,
which will be manifest hereafter. As to me, I can
neither hasten nor retard this movement." Gari-
baldi does not dare to proclaim what the object of
this movement will be, but some democratic organs
and a few of Garibaldi's friendaleave it to be imagined
that these agitators are determined to strike a
blow having for object the destruction of the tem-
poral power of the Pope. Garibaldi has already done
much mischief, and caused a great deal of useless
bloodshed, but "such divinity doth hedge', the
Pope, that even without the interference of France,
which will not fail should occasion require, any
rising fomented by Garibaldi would prove as absurd,
and as mischievous to himself, as the last Quixotic
exploit at Aspromonte.
The Spanish Government, at length, speaks out
a little, and the telegrams pretend that all danger
from the insurrection has ceased. It is, therefore,
its intention to refrain from recording any further
facts from the insurrection. In spite of this official
complacency it is quite certain that there are some
"black points" connected with the present position
of affairs in Spain. A few days will probably pro-
duce events which will force the Spanish Govern-
ment to abandon the silent system.
There was a numerous attendance of literary
men to-day at the Church of St. Honore, Passy,
to pay the last tribute of respect -to M. Charles
Bandclaire—a man of eminence in the profession
suddenly called to another and a better world. M.
Bandelaire was the author of " Fleurs du Mal,"
" Parades Artificiels," and other popular produc-
tions. He also translated the works of Edgar Poe.
The Paris papers are almost filled with cimmen-
taries upon the recent admirable speeches of the
Emperor in the North, but an analysis of their ap-
preciations of them would form but a repetition of
ex, re.sidons of confidence, loyalty, and satisfaction.
French writers are endowed with much finesse. The
Constitutionnel, referring to the long residence of
the Emperor in the prison of Ham, speaks of that
establishment as the University of Ham. Perhaps,
however, the Constitutionnel is not wrong, for it
was only by degrees that the then Prince Napolcoa
managed to.get out of it.
-A second veteran of the Empire had an interview
with the Emperor Napoleon during his Majesty's
visit to the North. This old soldier is named Flo-
rentin Landonsie, and was present at all the cam-
paigns from 1807 to 1815. He was in the Old
Guar,l. The old warrior went to the Prefecture of
Police at Amiens, on Friday, shortly before the
Emperor was about to leave, and asked for au au li-
enee. With some difficulty he obtained it. He
rushed into the presence of the Empror with
the agility of youth, although he is upwards of