The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-05 00:00:00

THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.

(Frees the Timm)
If the news that the English captives in Abys-
sinia have been liberated by the Emperor Theodore
is true, it will gladden every heart. The humane
will rejoice that men who have been kept month
after month and year after year caged in a barbarous
country, chained like criminals, ill-fed, ill-lodged,
and daily dreading torture or death at the hands of
the savage who had seized them, should at length
be freed and restored to their country and friends.
Englishmen will be glad to believe that the threat of
hostilities and the preparation of an invading force
have accomplished what gentle words and Royal
presents could not effect. The intercession of the
Armenian Bishop Isaac, to which the clemency of
Theodore is attributed, comes suspiciously soon
after the news of an expedition from Bombay must
in due course have reached the Imperial Court. The
remonstrances of the British Government have been
until now unavailing, and it has been well under-
stood that any native advocate of a just policy
would assuredly share the fate of those for whom
he pleaded. It may, then, fairly be concluded that
the sudden resolution of Theodore to liberate these
captives was mainly caused by the belief that in a
few weeks an irresistible force would be landed on
the coast ready to wrest from him whatever power
he may retain. Though Abyssinian politics are
somewhat vague, and we cannot pretend to much
knowledge of " the situation," it would appear that
this Sovereign, who by means of some ability and
great unscrupulousness attained to an extended
authority over the country and its tribes, has now
been abandoned by a great part of his followers,
and finds himself harassed by insurgent chiefs
and deprived of a large part of his dominions. It
may well be believed that while engaged in such
a struggle he would dread the armed interposition
of such a Power as England. Even in Abyssinia
our Indian deeds are known. The offending
Monarch bas learnt what we did to Lucknow and
its King, to Delhi and its King, and may have a
wholesome fear of attracting to his dominions so
formidable a race of King-deposers. There are, no
doubt, plenty of candidates for his throne, and
nothing would be more natural than for one or
more of these to court our alliance and for us to
accept and reward his assistance. Should this prove
to be the true cause of the alleged change in
Theodore's counsels, the Government may justly
claim the most complete and gratifying kind of
success—that which ii attained by a display of re-
solution, and costs but little in treasure and nothing
in blood. We can give this praise with the greater
freedom, inasmuch as we have not been among those
who have been most enthusiastic for the expedition.
Foreseeing the difficulties which mast beset it, we
have endeavoured to inspire rather caution than
confidence. But the more we are convinced that
the campaign would have been among the most
difficult in which an army can be engaged, the more
shall we be gratified if it should prove that a threat
has done all that was necessary.
It is, however, in their capacity as British tax-
payers that our readers will have the best title to be
congratulated if this intelligence be confirmed.
Whatever the issue of the war, it mvst have been
most costly. A maritime nation has lb: any advan-
tages it is not only free from the teal; PI foreign