Baton Rouge tri-weekly gazette & comet. [volume] (Baton Rouge, La.) 1865-18??, 1867-10-15
THE SITUATION IN ABYssINIA.

ence TO the proposed English expedi
ton into Abyssinia, from we'll known
French traveller, the Count du Bison
After same preliminary remarks, he
thus sums up the situation
And now the cruel alternative pre-.
sented TO Great Britain is this Either
to make war against King Theodorus
(of Abyssinia), or abandon the Eng
lish prisoners to their melancholy fate.
Look at the news which reach us
from Gondar. AS the Moniteur has
announced, the, Negous is at the foot
of the Debrachador with forty~thou.
sand (4O,0OO( men. But this is not
the whole of his active force. Other
bodies Of troops hold in check the few
insurgent chiefs whose influence has
greatly diminished since the total de-
feat Of the army at Goudarsie. A d.
vison of 10000 men is concentrated
between Gondar and Matamah, or
Galabar; and the Tigris is occupied
by like number Of fusileers.
The Emperor jTheodorus), knows
that England is preparing an expedi-
ton against him. He awaits it with
out alarm, and without fearing it.
The orders are given to defend vigor.
curly all the defiles, to break up the
roads, already detestable; to burn the
towns and villages to poison the run.
ming streams with the bodies of ami
mails i; to destroy the forests with fire
and swords; to give way, always in
fighting, without getting engaged ;
and to make, before the invaders,
not a desert, but veritable Atamonr.
As we have already written, there is
no longer capital in Abyssinia.
Such is the Emperor will. The
strong places no longer exist there.
The obj ct Of attack for an invading
army is wholly wanting. Or, to BE-
exact, there is one, one only-the
Emperor, he is the true capital be
is Abyssinia; he is all-the rest, rocks,
earth, trees nothing more. Around
the tent of Theodorus, in single
night, powerful city rises up, and in
an hour, by the monarch's order, it
disappears. Thus, with that African
smile, full Of subtlety, playing on bis
thin lips, he says to his courtiers
"The English will see what they have
never yet seen, phantom capital
That sight is we'll worth the trouble of
the journey"
The system Of tactics adopted by
the Emperor, and evidenced by the iu-
stfuctions given to his generals is
this {: To weaken, decimate the Eng
|ish army BY privatons, disease,
forced marches, heat, incessant night
attacks, and not to except battle, save
in his own day and hour.
In all the churches, in all the pub.
nc places, 1t IS an bounced that the
enemy comes so destroy, in Abyssinia,
he sacred worship of the holy Virgin
Mary that the Mussulmans are their
allies, and that all Abyssinia has to
choose between apostacy and combat.
By these skillful tactics be has sue
,eeded in rallying many dissentients,
n arousing the fanaticism of the peo.
pie. The priests are with him and
sustain him by their burning dis.
courses.
"A war of partisians, war with.
out quarter or mercy, war. of exter-
nination.'
'For the brave, fallen in battle, par.
adise and Immortality
'For the survivors, victory
For the coward, if any such are
ound, curses and hell
Such is the cry which the priests
low raise, cross in hand. To occupy
Abyssinis under such conditions, fifty
thousand strangers would not suffice.
And the idea Of soaring Theodorus by
IN ultimatums is simple idle; it is
lot to know that man, made up Of
courage, audacity, will. England will
all, and the dead bodies Of her sol.
Tiers furnish the landmarks for all
he roads OF the Empire.
The English prisoners, it is said,
ire worse treated and more closely
than ever. All the letters
eceived, and one of the most init.
nate councillors of the negroes, are
unanimous on this point-that the
reads of all the prisoners will fall on
he day that the first hostile column
hall enter Abyssinia. The resolution
# Theodorus is irrevocable. Thus
will it be. The British expendition
AN neither hold the country, cor get
of Theodorus, nor reimburse
tself for its expenses. 1t will obtain
,ut one result-the massacre Of the
IL