The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-18 00:00:00

-----
THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.

Full details of the surrender of ilia prisonert‘the
engagement of Good Friday, the capture of Magiflala,
and the destruction of that fortress, have been re hived.
The letter of the Times special correspondent is ;seven
colamns in length, and from it we make the follwiing
c•ctracts

found within Magdala. If so, I fear that many of the
slain were not fighting men, for I myself counted the
bodies near the gateway, at which nearly all the fighting
occurred, and I could not find more than ten, and
at least half of these were Theodore's chiefs, dis-
tinguished from the common soldiers by their shirts of
coloured silk. These few men stood by him to the last
with desperate devotion, but the rest must have made a
very poor stand, or our troops would have suffered far
more. As it is, it is little short of miraculous that even
six men, bent on selling their lives dearly, and with good
arms in their hands (nearly a dozen English breech-loaders
have been found in Magdala) should have failed to kill one
man out of a dense column advancing up such an ascent
as that to Magdala--it would have been less surprising if
they had between them killed a hundred men
than that they should have failed to kill one.
Theodore's body was found, not near those of his
chiefs in the gateway, but alone on the hill above.
I happened to be near Dr. Lumsdaine when he examined
the body, then still warm, and was told by him that he
believed Theodore to have committed suicide. This theory
is so exactly in accordance with what is known of the
man's character and his conduct up to the last moment
that lam inclined still to think it the right one. His face
seemed to me rather a disappointing one after all that has
been said about it, but then it was impossible to judge pro-
perly after death, especially as the eye was said to be, from
its fire and expression, the most remarkable feature.
There was a look of bloated, sensual indulgence
about the cheeks by no means heroic or kingly, but the
forehead was intellectual, and the mouth singularly deter-
mined and cruel. A very strange smile still lingered about
the lips, as if even in the death-throe his last thought had
been one of triumph at having baulked his conquerors by
dying a king. His death is universally regarded with
unmixed satisfaction. It would be affectation to pity a
tyrant who himself knew no pity, who wss as unscru-
pulous and crafty as he was cruel, and who bad indeed
every reason to style himself the Scourge of God sent to
punish the people. He has met with a death far more
merciful than he dealt out to better men, and far more
honourable than any trait in his character, except, per-
haps, his dauntless bravery and invincible determination,
deserved. Those few to whom these qualities recom-
mended him to some sort of mercy bad only to look for a
moment into the fearful charnel-house, the loathsome
human shambles which was exposed to our horrified gaze
as we neared Magdala, and every lingering trace of compas-
sion at once disappeared. We had been told by his prisoners,
our fellow-countrymen, that the day before the arrival of
the British army Theodore had summoned all the prisoners
to his presence, and had in cold blood butchered over 300
of them, some with his own hand, almost within sight
and hearing of the rest, who momentarily expected the
same fate. But though details of this kind make one
shudder, the mind of a civilised man, whose whole expe-
rience runs counter to a vivid faith in the actual existence
of such atrocities, somehow cannot fully realise them, or
take in their whole terrible import. On Easter Monday,
however, nothing was left to the imagination, the tragedy
was forced in all its naked horror upon our revolted
senses. A strange smell, for which there was no apparent
cause, made some of our party look over the edge of a
steep cliff, almost within a few yards of the spot from
which the guns were beginning to play upon Magdala, and
there, on a ledge about fifty feet below them, lay two large
heaps of mangled human bodies, closely piled upon each
other in ghastly confusion, their limbs protruding from the
mass in all sorts of repulsive attitudes and contortions,
and presenting altogether a scene of horror such as no
pen could adequately describe, could any pen be found
to undertake the task. Here was the latest, though
not by any means the worst, specimen of the pious
handiwork of the self-elected Scourge of God. More
commonly he mutilated and disabled his victims, leaving
them to die of their wounds, or to the more tender mercy
of the hyena. On Dalanta one of the force picked up two
human bands, evidently not long cut off. The only ex-
ceptionally cruel feature in this last massacre was its un-
usual wantonness. The victims were, many of them,
prisoners for very slight offences, and men of no im-
portance, who might with perfect safety have been set
free. Theodore feared the expense of keeping them during
a siege, and considered it perhaps derogatory to his dignity
to let them go ;so he massacred them. It is impossible to
feel pity for such a man.

THE SURRENDER OP THE CAPTIVE..
It requires (says the writer, on April 12) a life-dong
faith in figures and almanacks to believe that barely a
clay and a half have elapsed since we were looking for-
ward to the safe delivery of the captives as a doubtful
event, and to the possibility of another year of absence
front home and roughing it in Abyssinia, supposing Theo-
dore escaped. Measured not by minutes, but by variety
and intensity of sensations, as psychologists tell us 'time
should be measured, there are in a life few months that
would not pass more quickly than these short hours.
Would that any description of mine could do justice to
them ! But, so far from this, I have to ask the indul-
gence of your readers for 'a report that must be written,
not only against time., but 'in such a Babel of questions,
answers, congratulations, kissings, handsbakings, tears,
laughter, rumours, contra,lietions, and counter contradic-
tions as only the present occasio*uld create, and to which
nothing short of utter blindness, deafness"tind heartlessness
could make even a special correspondent impervious. Within
four yards of the little tente d'abri under which I have to
write, lying at my length on the ground, Mrs. Flad, who
was prevented by illness from coming into camp last night,
is at this very moment exchanging greetings and congratu-
Iltisns with Mrs. Rosenthal, both happy and free at last,
aittn. so many weary months of well-nigh hopeless cap-
tivity ; a group of small children are carrying on an
animated conversation in a strange patois, compounded I
possibly of German and Abyssinian ; and a strong-lunged
baby is performing, in the universal baby language, a solo
of its owe.. Exactly twenty-four hours ago these people
w.re in ntonientary fear of a cruel death, at the
yof a -i raless tyrant, who two days before had in '
c I blood i I..,chered over 300 innocent captives, slaying
some with his own hand, and who, mad with rage and
Qtrong drink. alternately threatened and flattered them as
fear or ,ireciominated. Just twenty-four hours ago
their are literally not worth a moment's purchase.
, are as safe as five thousand gallant hearts ready
t every drop of blood in their defence can make
diem, th friendly fact's and friendly voices on all sides
of i.h.nn, and big, rough men—the sailors of the Rocket
.?..rigaZe, of course, as conspicuous as they were in the
f!- ' of Friday—almost crying over their children.
THE ENGAGEMENT ON GOOD FRIDAY.

main body of the British army had drawn near to
—seen, when King Theodor..., misinformed by spies,
:aocisl t' at only a small pioneer force was advancing with
Lag.sage to find a camping ground for the rest of the.
troops. Ms mistake was immediately confirmed by the
ar,pesseancc at the top of the Arogee Pass of Colonel
sAilward's men, more especially as the mules of
the battery and the Rocket Brigade looked to
is.sxnesienced eye like ordinary baggage animals.
Ts.. f3;l minutes more one of the guns on Fahla poured
costh a heavy booming sound, evidently in preconcerted
signal. and almost simultaneously the steep road leading
down from the heights, and the hilly, broken ground
below them, were alive with armed men, horse and foot,
rosldss; impetuously to battle. A finer or more spirit-
s4i -ring sight it is difficult to imagine, not more, how-
ever, from the bold, martial bearing of the men—some
,•f them, too, splendid horsemen—although they came
on with the proud, triumphant confidence of
soldiers used to conquest, than from the magnificent
scenery in which the action. was carried on, Magdala
and the adjoining mountains forming, as it were, a
grand natural amphitheatre, and a spacious terrace at the
foot of Pahl, soaking an admirable stage on which to give
roll effect to the brilliant game of war. The effect on our
troops was magical. They had scarcely ever dared to believe
Coat the Abyssinians would fight even behind walls, and
t find them rushing on in this gallant style to do battle in
,en was, indeed, an unlooked-for taste of the
" Stern joy which warriors feel
" In foemen worthy of their steel."
A :hosing cheer broke from their ranks, and the two .
armies hastened to close. Up to the moment when
the first battle-gun from Pablo, sounded the prelude to the
battle, the 4th were crawling listlessly along, constantly'
falling out of the ranks to lie down, utterly knocked up THE DESTRUCTION OF MAGDALA.
by a terribly trying march, and imploring anyone who Writing on April 17, the correspondent thus speaks ca
passed for a drop of water, which on that day was as pre- ti destruction of Magdala :—The town itself was unin-
cious and rare a commodity as champagne. No hallowed teresting, save from its accidental associations as the
rag of saint or winking virgin ever wrought such prison of our fellow-countrymen and other Europeans,
a miracle upon halt or • lame as did the sound even for Abyssinia a charge so grave that no man, it is
o! that one Abyssinian gun upon the dead-heat men to be hoped, would lightly bring it against any town
of the 4th. In five minutes they were to the calling itself Christian. It consisted of the ordinary col-
front, dressing up, and hurrying past the Beloochees I lection of huts, most of them built of grass and wood,
—not that the Belooches were a whit the less eager, but , with thatched conical roofs, and did not boast even one
they had not the deadly Snider to recommend them, and I, building of exceptional beauty or importance. The church
in a very few minutes more—though to anxious eyes was one of the meanest and dirtiest that we have seen in
ahoy( it may have appeared a longer time—they emerged Abyssinia, while the palace of the great Emperor Theodore
from the hollow into which they had disappeared on leav- differed only from the surrounding huts of his humblest
ing Lb_ ',;11, aid began steadily to mount the stage which subjects in being larger, two-storied, and with a thatched
the mem.; had at first so dauntlessly made their own, and roof, not conical, but oblong, giving it much the appear-
to take it I ,-n them inch by inch. To describe the fight ance of an English barn, except that no decent
after the Sn ler came into play would be only to describe a English farmer would allow any animal that he
battue. Its sharp, short cracks, following each other in valued to live in a building so dark, dirty, a
breathless au ession, were the death knell of the Abys- ventilated. After all that one had heard and read of this
sinian cause. The unfortunate foe had no longer even undoubtedly great man, of his immeasurable superiority
the shadow of a chance, but went down like grass before to his people and the country upon which, unhappily for
the scythe. no v they kept their ground at all when him, his lot was thrown, of his enlightened appreciation
Bidders, mountain guns, and rockets had begun to get j of the institutions of more civilised nations, and of his
fairly at them is a marvel, and says a good deal for penetrating practical insight into whatever was most
their national " pluck," notwithstanding that they valuable in those of his own, it seemed strange, almost
never managed to hold even for a few minutes after beyond belief, to find that he had lived the squalid, grace-
the first impetuous onset any ground from which it I less life of a savage, to stand in his so-called palace—a
was attempted to dislodge them. That they came on rude, dirty cabin—and look everywhere around in vain
so pluckity is accounted for by their mistaking the j for even one slight trace of a refined or accomplished
character of the force, but this mistake, soon dis- mind. In the workshop of his European artisans there
covered, could only have contributed to their confusion, were, of course, many signs of modern civilisation, though
and yet to the very last, though they had left, it is thought, nearly all of a practical, very few of a strictly ornamental
some 500 comrades dead on the field, among them their or luxurious kind. Workmen's tools and huge glass
leader, Theodore's favourite general, and must have had tumblers, apparently of English make, seemed the prin-
at least three times that number wounded, they kept up cipal articles of import, drinking being, next to fighting, the
some show of resistance, rallied to make a few faint great business of a wealthy Abyssinian's life, and these
charges, and mustered up spirits enough for a mock- I mixed up with crosses, censers, mitres, bells—the spoils
victorious cheer when Sir Charles Staveley, as night was of Gondar churches—Amharic bibles, stray copies of the
coming on, and nothing more was to be gained by Record, odd volumes of encyclopazdias, foolscap paper, old
useless butchery, sounded the retreat. Their I matchlocks, pistols, swords, powder-flasks, and perms-
artillery Theodore's famous guns-gave them no I sion caps, formed altogether as strange a jumble as it
t
assistance whatever ; on the contrary, killed would be easy to
find anywhere. The ' loot,' on t
it is said, t, few of them. The big gun burst at the first whole, has rather disappointed the captors. They did not
explosion, the rest—there were about seven, I believe, j expect much, but still it was believed that Theodore had
altogether posted. on Fahla—kept up a steady cannonade both gold and silver treasure. If he had, it has somehow
easily distinguishable by its dull, heavy sound, ascribed j disappeared. By an oversight no orders were given nor
to the slow ignition of bad powder, from the quick rattle j any precautions taken against looting, and there is little
of the mountain guns, but did not even touch one of our doubt that the moment the place was forced many
men. Not cue man on our side, strange to say, was killed, .A,byssinians, who knew best wheie to look, began
en 1 only nineteen were wounded, among them one officer, to search for plunder. Next day an order
Captain Roberts, of the 4th, who was hit by a bullet in was issued that everything taken should be given
the elbow joint. back, but, as many things had already changed
hands and handsome prices been paid for them as curiosi-
ties and relics of Magdala rather than for their intrinsic
value, the order was unpopular, and I question whether
it has been very strictly obeyed. The late Emperor,
' too, appears to have behaved to his prisoners and
artisans with a generosity which must have left him
nearly bankrupt. Scarcely an article of real value
has been found which is not declared to have been at
some time or other presented by him to some one
of them, which, therefore, does not go into the general
fund to be raised, by the sale of all loot, for the benefit of
the non-commissioned officers and men of the force. All
these deductions will, I fear, make the proceeds of the
sale very small. However, a few curious and valuable
relics have been found. Mr. Holmes, for instance, who
came out here as archaeologist for the British Museum,
and who has hitherto had • a singularly disappointing and
unfruitful journey, was lucky enough to rescue a handsome
crown, probably an archbishop's, and a gold chalice, bear-
ing the following inscription in Amharic :
" The chalice of King Adam Segud, called Yasoo, the
son of Queen Brahn Mogussa, presented to Kwoskwan
Sanctuary (Gondar). May my body and soul be purified !
Weight twenty-five wokkits of pure gold, value five hun-
dred Sollars. Made by Waldo Georgis."
The Emperor's own crown has also been found, and is, I
believe, to be sent home to the Queen. I saw in the hands
of a British soldier what, under the circumstances,
was certainly a fiery singular and interesting bit of
loot, a six-barrelled revolver, with an inscription declaring
that it was presented by the Queen to the Emperor Theo-
dore, in token of her gratitude for " the kindness shewn
by him to her servant Plosvden." The soldier told me
that he had seen five pistols with this inscription, and had
had a hard fight to get one for himself, but, so far, only
one has been given up to the prize-agents.

THE CAPTURE OF MAGDALA.

Disheartened by a crushing defeat, and finding his
troops utterly demoralised and deserting in large numbers,
Theodore endeavoured to obtain terms of peade. But
having given up the captives, he was told that he must
surrender himself, and was allowed twenty-four hours to
consider his position. He made no reply, but early next
morning the camp was full of rumours, as usual, contra-
dictory, of his flight by night from Magdala, and of
a wholesale massacre of the Abyssinian hostages. Some
of his leading men came early into camp to give
themselves up as prisoners, and to surrender Selassee, the
lo'ty peak which on the north commands Magdala, and
reported that nearly all Theodore's aimy had deserted
bim. Before eight o'clock it was known, on trustworthy
authority, that Theodore had indeed fled from Magdala,
but had returned almost immediately, probably on find-
mg his retreat cut off by the fierce Wollo Gallas, his
bitter foes,• who since his defeat on Friday had
been swarming eagerly round him, like bloodhounds
on the scent of wounded prey. Driven to desperation
lie was now standing savagely at bay, prepared to
defend Magdala itself to the last, and sell his
life as dearly as he could. Before ten, all the
troops here (except a small baggage guard)—two brigades,
mustering about 5,000 men, were marshalled in order of
attack, under Sir Charleg Staveley, on the terrace which
formed the principal scene of Friday's encounter, imme-
diately underFahla, prepared to ascend the road up to it,
wale by 'Theodore for his guns, and carried through
/,!amgee (his camp) to Selassee, which projects, about a
mile further on, slightly north-east, and to Magdala,
about the same distance, which projects slightly south-west,
The task of taking the place was mere child's play.
Altho-ugh the enemy had every advantage of position, and
might have fired with their eyes shut upon the troops
massed in the narrow path below, not one of our men was
killed, and only about ten wounded in the path, a few
being t-euched by stray shots elsewhere. Even of these
ten t.vo or three—among them Major Pritchard, who
led the Engineers—were, it is believed, struck by
PA itish bullets, the men keeping up an objectless fire
of the interference of their own officers
end the general in command, Sir Charles Staveley,
himself. At first the perfect fee denier raised by the
a 3 the head of the storming column moved up he
pa!,), did, no doubt, admirable service. Volley followed
volley with a blinding, deafening vehemence and rapidity,

in spite

'TIE LATR FATAL ACCIDENTS AT OXFORD.—On
Saturday morning last the mortal remains of the two un-
fortunate gentlemen who were killed on the previous
Thursday— viz., Mr. C. Marriott, of Christ Church, and
Mr. J. W. Mime, of Exeter College—were conveyed for
interment, by railroad, the former to near Tiverton, and
the latter to Butterworth.

cf bullets rattled, without an instant's inter.
idnion, round every crack and crevice of the gate and
wijoining stockade, leaving scarcely an inch of wall (.1
rock unexplored from which an opposing shot could safely'
be tired, such as might well have shaken a far cooler and
more experienced foe than the Abyssinian.
THE SCENE WITHIN THE FORTRESS.

Only a small number of Theodore's troops stood by
to the A is said tillAteighty dead b9cliea have been

I On Saturday Prince Arthur, attended by Major
Elphinstone, 0.8., V.C., IL E., paid a visit to Chatham.
I Royal Highness inspected the ironclads now building,
the mould-loft, and model-room. The official residence of
the Captain. Superintendent in Chatham Dockyard is, it
is understood, to be set apart as a residence for Prince
Arthur and his suite during a course of study in military
engineering. The Prince took luncheon with Major-
General Simmons, and returned to town in the afternoon.
He is expected to join the corps of Engineers during the
luilipguicgith, -- • -