The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-06 00:00:00

The Captives in Abyssinia.

Letters have been received from Abyssinia up to
20th of April, nearly three weeks later than our
last intelligence. The captives were well, but no
change has been made in their position. They had
heard of the arrival of Mr. Flad at Matemma,
where he was waiting for an escort from Theodorus
to enable him to travel to the royal camp ; but it
':as thought very probable that in the actual state
of the country the King would be unable to send
him one. It is rumoured that Lord Stanley has
despatched an ultimatum to Theodorus, to the effect
that he will forfeit the friendship of England, and
will, moreover, be denied the presents unless he
liberates the captives in three months, which will
expire about the middle of August. It is not
thought probable that this by no means formidable
threat will have any influence on his Abyssinian
Majesty, although his position appears to be getting
more and more precarious. The rebels have lately
taken Mariam, only seven miles to the south of
Debra Tabor, where he himself resides; yet he has
not attempted to march against them. The general
idea is that he will hold out to the last at Debra
Tabor, where his 77 concubines are lodged. The
German workmen still employed by him are at
Gaffat, close by, making implements of war and
strong drink for his Majesty. It is hoped that a
crisis may arrive which will set the captives at liberty
before the Emperor is able to fortify himself in the
Amba Magdala, where he would be able to defy any
attack from the rebels, and could only be dislodged
by an European force. On the other baud, the
captives themselves seem to dread the supremacy of
the rebels who are said to be turning the country
into a pandemonium. The artisans who were sent
out for the service of Theodorus have been brought
away from Massowah, and left Aden for England
on the 11th ult. • The presents designed for the
King are still at Massowah, awaiting his Majesty's
reply to the ultimatum.—Pall Mall Gazette.

CRUEL7I' 70 CALVES.

1 and I

Every cry of anguish, however wea. nek,
less, is sure to find a generous echo somewhere.
Even the moan of the wretched calves whose
miserable death we lately touched upon has met
with pity. It is well to state at length what the
helpless creatures endure in order that the veal
may be made white. The calf is dragged away from
its mother into shambles reeking with the odour of
blood, which terrifies quadrupeds. It is so fastened
that it cannot lie down, stabbed in the jugular vein,
and left to moan and bleed till it faints. Then a
plug of tow is pushed into the wound. When a
human being undergoes such a loss of blood, lie
feels a swimming of the head, a strange sinking,
painful respiration, and a sense of fear, which is
dreadful to bear.. The calf suffers the same tor-
ments. On recovering a little, it gets cruel to keep
up the action of the heart, and the vein is again
opened. If no blood issues, the tail is twisted or the
animal is tortured with kicks and blows to stimulate
the flow, till at last not a drop more will come. The
sufferings of this further haemorrhage are dreadful;
the breath is only fetched by gasps ; the body
loses its heat and shudders ; the throat is parched
with a horrible thirst, so that the animal can with
difficulty cry or moan. When the butcher has got
the calf to this stage, he knows that he must kill
it soon, and in the midst of the agony it is slung
tip by the heels, head downwards, the skin of the
neck is cut, the vessels underneath are divided, and
it is again beaten to get the last drops of blood
away by means of its anguish. Often, while the
creature is still alive, the skin is loosened in certain
places, in order that air may blow in. At last the
victim is permitted to die ; but not till the execrable
suffering has been prolonged always for hours, and
sometimes even for days. The new-born beast has
to bear all this torment in order that veal may come
white to our tables. The natural colour is pink,
and the flesh thus cooked is infinitely more whole-
some and savoury ; but an unhappy fashion has
ruled that we should eat calves' meat in a bloodless
ni state, and all the bitter cruelty is therefore perpe-
trated. Would English housewives patrose the
detestable system any longer, even though the veal,
as they have it, were healthier and better than the
natural carcase ? If we must kill the lower creatures
for our food, there ought not to be the slightest
them,
butcher necessary pain inflicted. We
hhtatveototrhn
torment em
i
butcher them, but we have no rig
ver whitened veal, is
so that they feel an age of misery in dying. At
any rate, grace before meat, o
a mockery that surely few can now venture on,
when it is known that the blessing has to be asked
over the flesh of a creature to which we have shown
such elaborateand ingenious
custom could mercileperpetuate.
ssness as no-
av
thing but the deil of
' Telegraph,