New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-10

NEW ORLEANS FRIDAY NOVEMBER TO- 1876.


Ii 1U. 1910.
Egypt and Abysslnia.
A correspondent of the London Times fur
niehes that journal with some extraordinary
and intere. ting particulars relating to the
two expeditions which tho Khedive sent
out sgainst his enemy, King John. Of Abys-
sinis. The history Of these expeditions has
hitherto remained an unfsthomable secret,
the Egyptian authorities having ''sup-
pressed" it owing to the disasters which
overlook their fOrCee; and, moreover, at .
time when the Khedive's finances were in
such an apparently desperate condition and
had excited 60 much feeling in England, it
was probably deemed advisable by the
Khedive not to add to the panic by proclaim
the present revelations are in measure the
arst authentic news of that secret and ter
rible chapterOf Egyptian history.
The correspondent Gays he happened to
meet at Vichy an officer who took part in
the second expedition under Prince Hassan.
The officer was interviewed on the subject
and gave the following circumstantial de-
tails of the horrible events of which Abys-
sinia has been the theatre during the st-
temps Of Egypt to ohastise the Abyssinians.
To the question what truth there was in the
the European papers of the war in Abysslnia
the officer replied: ''These papers W. re
wrong in transforming that terrible cam
paign into narrative Of imaginary gayety.
The truth il too earnest to provoke laugh
ter" Then, giving the interviewer his word
of honor that all he would tell would be the
extract truth, he proceeded to give the en-
curing narrative:
There have been known two expeditions;
10 thn <hir ind xuhinh hos iust hoovn Oru~u.
lied, and of which your correspondent at
Alexandra speaks. The first of these ex-
peditions-that which met with the most
terrible fate-was made in October, 1875.
1t consisted of 1000 men. cavalry and in
fantry, with artillery. It was conducted
by Colonel Arendrup. The history of this
fret expedition can be told in . few lines.
The force commanded by Arendrup, at the
moment when it was advancing on Adoua,
without having taken the least precaution
to cover itself, merely following the van
guard commanded BY Arakel Bey, was sur
prised in tho defile Of Goundel. overwhelm-
ed by Q force ten times its number, exter-
minated without mercy from the first to
the last-from Arakel Bey ct the vanguard
to Arendrup himself, from the General-in-
Chief to the humblest soldier.
The following dark incident detaches
itself from this m0notonous horror: Among
the volunteers in this expedition there was
An officer, an Austrian gentleman, Count
aud left for dead on the field of battle.
Fifteen days after n. de Ssrseck, the
French cOnsul general ct Mass0Wah, wish
ing to see King John before going away for
q holiday, went to Ad0uA and crossed the
horrible defle of Goundel, where tho mas.
sacred Egyptian army had been abandoned.
Among the dead bodies n. de Sarseck dis
covered man who WAS still breathing. n.
de Ssrseck approached him and gave him
immediate assistance, and found that this
sole eurvivor was Count de Lichy, and that
he had been left - dead, had come to him
self, and had lived for . fortnight in the
midst of indescribable suffering, crawling
from place to place, had supported himself
on herbs and roots, drinking the water re-
naming in the TASKS Of his dead COM
panions.
n. dc Ssrseck had him conveyed to m
Alb gssinian village and con6ded him to the
care of ono of the inhabitants, and then
continued his journey, with the intention of
taking up the unfortunate Count on his re-
turn. During the interview he had with
King John he narrated this touching Incl.
dent, mentioned the village to which he had
transported the wounded man, and asked
permission to take him with him to Egypt,
which was forthwith accorded him. But
when, two days after, he came again to the
village, he learned that Abyssinlan soldiers,
armed with An order of King Jehn, had
taken possession of Count Lichy and car
ried him of. Since then he has never been
heard of. and the only surviving witness OF
the deeds of the defile of Goundel has
doubtless disappeared forever.
Three months after the second expedition
was organized with the mission of avenging
~ nd Ne Ia
ono. The second expedition consisted of
COCO men, believe, under the command of
Prince Hassan, with Rstib Pacha - chief
of the staff, including Loring Pacha, An
American officer, and several others of the
same nationality. This expedition left Mas
sowah on January 10, and toward the end
of the Same month reached Goura, between
Massowsh and Adous, without having en-
countered the slightest obstacle. An in.
trenched camp was then established to let
the soldiers rest without exposing them to
surprise, for it was known that King John,
at the head of the armed population Of
Abyssinia, was moving about the provinces,
because, according to the spies, he did net
wish to disperse his army in face of an in
vasion Of the country, because none of his
provinces were rich enough to permit him
to fix himself anywhere with his troops.
The Egyptian expedition, without provis.
ions, remsined month in the intrenched
camp at Goura without seeing tho enemy.
On the seventeenth Of February they
were informed by spies that King John and
his army would have to pass between the
intrenched camp and the defile of CazacLor.
The Egyptian troops, then placed under
the command of Osman Pacha, consisted
of three batteries and nine battalions. The
batteries, armed with mountain pieces, and
seven battalions left the intrenched camp.
and took up their position Elk kilometres
ahead, on the slope of two hills forming q
valley, which, prolonging itself beyond
them, becomes . plain Of some milee in
extent. The bed of dried up stream
passes at the bottom Of this valley and ex
tends across the plain, cutting it in two. The
Egyptians occupied both sides of this bed
and distributed themselves from the banks
to the middle of the heights. Facing them
at the extremity of the plain, they could
see the Abyssinian army, which seemed tx
intend advancing to force the defile occu
pied by the Egyptians. Osmsn Pacha 90
tsblished his batteries at the head of hi
army, facing the plain and the Abyssisns
From time to time the latter attempted K
break them, and each time they were re
pulsed by the Egyptian artillery, ant
already the Khedives troops were shouting
victory, when the most horrible of surprisel
changed their shout Of triumph into cries
despair. = i.
While the mass of the Abyssinian army
wa pretending to wish to force the defle
this was simply . ruse de gue,re BEHIND
them soldiers had entered the dried up bei
they got round the hills on which tn,
Egyptian troops were massed. These hill
they ascended from tho opposite eide, ani
then once arrived 1t the summit bv th0u