The Portland daily press., 1868-04-28

Abyssinian dispatches have hitherto proved
remarkably correct considering the remote
ness of the country whence they come. 1t is
therefore entirely probable that the startling
intelligence Of the capture of the Abyssinian
capital, the release OF the British captives and
the death of King Theodore will prove true.
1t was expected that the contest would occur
within short time, as the later dispatches
have chronicled the steady approach of Ma
piers army toward Magdala.
This result will please our English cousins
nightly. They were fast becoming utterly
disheartened and dsgusted with this crusade
against this descendant of the Queen of She
ba. Mr.. Hunt, Chancellor of the Exchequer,
in presenting the annual budget the other
day, estimated the expense of the war at five
millions of pounds sterling. This was fright
ful enough, but the opposition members speak
with many doubts and some notable sneers
of the Chancellor's estimates. They hold
that five millions will not carry the armv
through single campaign. But the singular
good fortune of Sir Robert Napier will silence
ihOoO SAAttSSs cOuA Dull HASH uOuc SO
handsome thing for a long while. Tie
national pride will be fattered, and the gem
eral who has led the army to Magdala will
enjoy the usual apotheosis of successful Eng
lish warriors. He has been ridiculed and de-
nounced almost as much as Lord Raglan was
in the Crimea, but he will now be held to
have added new lustre to an already illustri-
Gus name. How much of praise he has ac-
tually deserved remains yet to be seen, tor
the battle before Magdala on Good Friday.
and the capture OF that place on the Monday
following, are the only contests in the whole
campaign that deserve the name of battles.
All the skill previously shown has been in
surmounting natural obstacles and conciliat-
ing the native chiefs by arts that belong to
the diplomatist rather than the soldier.
How much that is really creditable
to British valor has been developed in
the Abyssinian war remains also to be
determined upon the receipt of the de-
tails of the engagement. But small
part of Napier's fifteen thousand troops were
Englshmen, the greater number being mer-
cenares from India. The viceroy of Egypt
too, sent large contingent to CO operate
with the British forces. He was requested
10 withdraw his troops on account of the
Abyssinian chiefs who were friendly to the
English, but hostile to the Egyptian poten
tate. At last accounts the Viceroy's force:
had not withdrawn from the country.
The English went to war with Theodore
ostensibly to release their countrymen whom
he had thrown into prison, and for this alone
It has been shrewdly suspected, however
that there was less creditabe ulterior pur
pose-that Great Britain was jealous of tn
French ascendancy in that part of the glob
that seemed likely to be obtained through th
completion of the Suez canal-that the res
purpose was to obtain permanent foothol
in Abyssinia and so to control the entrance t
the Red Sea. If the immediate withdrawa
of the invading forces spoken of in the dis
patches actually takes place, these runor
will be set at rest and the sincerity of tn
English government vindicated.