The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-20 00:00:00

THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.

(From the Times' special Correspondent.)
You will be glad to hear that the rumour to which
I referred in my last letter turns out to be true, and
that Sir Robert Napier will in future himself ac-
company the Pioneer Force. This is the best piece
of news that-it has been my good fortune to send
home for some time, and ought to give as much
satisfaction in England as it has given here, for it
looks as if our " rapid advance upon Magdala,"
which has been so long beginning, has at last begun.
We are indebted for this change to the big blunder
just made in taking the roundabout, villainously-
bad road by Muzno instead of the shorter and
better road by Beyt Mara, and our Quartermaster-
General, Colonel Phayre, is consequently the
hero of the hour, occupying an unwonted share of
public attention, though, like many other heroes,
he gets more abuse than praise. The abuse hap-
pens, in this instance, to be not altogether just.
Colonel Phayre was only partially to blame, that
awful mysterious bugbear of " political considera-
tions," with which a Quartermaster-General
intermeddleth not, having chiefly determined
the rejection of the Beyt Mara road. But the
sufferers from the blunder, who, after ten days' in-
activity at Antalo, had suddenly to make a rush
over an Abyssinian road, and then wait hungry and
helpless in the cold until their animals
overtook them, naturally wanted a victim, and
Colonel Phayre, no less naturally, was the one
chosen. He has been constituted, though some-
what unfairly, the " Aunt Sally" of the expedition,
in consequence of his rushing about the country
doing the work of a deputy-assistant, instead of
remaining at his proper post in charge of his de-
partment near the Commander-in-Chief. This ab-
dication of power would be readily pardoned, and
indeed applauded, by
the force—since his represen-
tative at head-quarters, Captain Holland, is a first-
rate officer—if Colonel Phayre were not under the
inconvenient delusion that one Quartermaster-
General, or, at any rate, one Col. Phayre, must be.
equal to at least three deputy-assistants, and did
not, therefore, insist upon doing all the work
himself, with «no brother near the throne."
Now, every one admits that he has enormous
industry, and rare physical endurance. It is
believed that he can walk more and sleep
less than any other man, native or European,
in the force. But even these remarkable gifts leave
him, when compared with three deputy-assistants,
at a grave disadvantage in one all-important point
—he cannot be in three places at once. Neither
his country nor his Commander-in-Chief expects
this from Colonel Phayre. If there bad been one
assistant to survey the Muzno road and another the
Beyt Mara, the big blunder would probably never
have been made. However, Sir Robert has now
peremptorily insisted that Colonel Phayre should
no longer sacrifice himself for the good of his coun-
try or the amusement of the expeditionary force,
and has therefore sent him two able assistants in
Captain Fawcett and Lieutenant M'Gregor, and if
he can only persuade himself to let them do a little
work, under his supervision, he may, despite the
sneers of his critics, be of very great service in ex-
ploring and surveying at the front. At head-quar-
ters he would oly b@ au Qbaructiyv, J 0 bari