The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-04 00:00:00

Theodore, King of Abyssinia.

Some correspondence just issued among the Par-
liamentary papers gives an account o the " King of
Kings of Ethiopia." When he received Consul
Cameron in 1862 the King was in a reclining pos-
ture with a double-barrelled gun and two pistols by
his side, his Ministers and Generals standing round

in their robes of State. The Consul was allowed to

be seated. According to the custom in Abyssinia
mead and broiled meats were brought in. The King
gave a graphic description of his campaign against
Negusi, and of the death scene of his late grand
chamberlain, the Englishman Bell, in which our
countryman singled out the chief Garrett, to whom
Mr. Consul Plowden owed his death, and killed
him on the battlefield, while the King despatched
the same rebel's brother. Both the slain were his
Majesty's cousins. He spoke of his further revenge
for Mr. Plowden's death when he executed 1,500 of
Garrett's followers on the same day ; he did this,
he said, to win the friendship of her Majesty. The
consul delivered the presents, a rifle and revolver
pistols, sent by her Majesty in acknowledgment of
the king's exertions to recover the remains of her
late consul, Mr. Plowden. The King was anxious
to procure English aid or influence against the pres-
sure of the Turks upon his borders. Consul Plow-
den sent to the Foreign-office in 1855 a report, in
which, after referring to the distracted state of
Abyssinia, with its chiefs generally at variance with
each other, he says:—" A remarkable man has now
appeared, who, under the title of King Theodorus,
has broken the power of the great feudal chiefs, has
united the whole of Northern Abyssinia under his
authority, and has established tolerable tranquil-
lity.' It appears that from his earliest youth he
has regarded this as his destiny. Mr. Plowden de-
scribes him as young, vigorous in all manly exer-
cises, of a striking countenance, peculiarly polite
and engaging when pleased, and mostly displaying
great tact and delicacy, of untiring energy, both
mental and bodily, and of boundless daring, perso-
nal and moral. His ideas and language are said
to be clear and precise, hesitation is not known to
him, he has neither councillors nor go-betweens.
He salutes his meanest subject with courtesy, and
is generous to excess, but also unsparing in punish-
ment and terrible when his wrath is aroused. His

faith is signal ; " Without Christ," he says, " I am
nothing ; but if He has destined me to purify and
reform this distracted kingdom, who shall stay me 2"
Mr. Plowden, who thus sketched the King's cha-
racter, stated that he had made great reforms of
Abyssinia, had enforced more decency of manners,
was putting down trade in slaves, and vexatious
exactions on commerce. As might be expected, he
was jealous of his sovereign rights, and he objected
to the establishment of an English consulate in his
dominions as an innovation ; "he found no such
thing in the history of the institutions of Abys-
sinia." Mr. Plowden hinted that if he consented
to the establishment of friendly relations the sea-
coast and Massowah might possibly be given up to
him ; but though his ambition was roused at this he
feared the clause conferring jurisdiction on the con-
sul as trenching on his prerogative, and the time for
consideration was so short that he was too much
startled at the proposal to accept it. The Roman
Catholic mission had usurped the functions of the
Aboona and the Abyssinian clergy, and the King
f eared • that we should wish in like manner to usurp the
political rights of the Sovereign. The Earl of Claren-
don, then Foreign Secretary, approved the language
of the consul in his interview with King Theodorus.
Consul Cameron, visiting the King seven years
afterwards, stated to him that the question of juris-
diction by a consul was in his Majesty's hands—
that England only wanted justice to her subjects,
and that if his Majesty explained to our Govern-
ment that separate jurisdiction would be impossible,
and is unnecessary where the laws are so mild as
in Abyssinia, this would besufficient for the present.
Mr. Plowden's opinion was this :—" Whenever he
does sign a treaty he will faithfully fulfil his obli-
gations to the extent of his authority. He has a
noble disdain of falsehood or covetousness. Should
he establish one Government as he proposes, and a
frontier arrangement be made with Egypt, Abyssinia
may rank as a Christian kingdom ; should he fail,
she must be left to her destinies until some European
Power shall think it worth while to conquer and in-
struct the most fertile of African provinces." Un-
fortunately, Consul Cameron, when furnished by
the King with a letter to Queen Victoria, and or-
dered by him to return to his post at Massowah,
went to Bogos, where he employed himself in recon-
ciling some rival chiefs, sending on the King's letter
by an Abyssinian messenger. The chief cause of the
King's anger with Consul Cameron was his journey
to Bogos, coupled with a suspiciontigpttiahnse
of
fntshuel
had intrigued to set the Turks and E
frontier against him, and
any
degree
an-
swer
to the letter to the Queen.
by the consul's return to G
ereena.ldVhthene
Ft the
Foreign-
' g n
con-
sul's report of his proceedings che
office, Earl Russell wrote to him abstaniing from all
interference in the internal affairs of Abyssinia.
Earl Russell, writing to Colonel Stanton in October
last, says If we were to make ourselves the pro-
tectors of the Emperor Theodore against the Sultan
and his Viceroy of Egypt, we should become respon-
sible for his acts, and be entangled in his
Thequar-
rels with all his neighbours and rivals.
obli-
gations of the British Government are various
enough and heavy enough without undertaking so
costly, hazardous, and unprofitable a protectorate."

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