Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-25


] cidental nations within the last decade and
those being actually executed
obscure give that country place
rI{s+o-v among the civilized peoples
of the globe. The history of
Abyssinia. or, properly. Ethiopia, Is obscure.
| About the middle of the eighth century be-
| fore our era. the Himyarites established
| colonies in southern Arabia and on the At
rican coast Of the Red sea. The first Sc
| rious documents relating to them date from
| the second century AID. and mention the
| kingdom of Axium. cited by Pliny in the
year 10 AID. Subsequently the colonies in
creased. and Ptolemy Tvergite and his sue
cessors sent expeditions similar to those
| being dispatched at present to open the door
| both In Asia and Africa
Christianity was introduced into Ethiopia
In the fourth century by Frumentius. In
| the sixth century Attic Kaleb. Emperor OF
| Ethiopia, undertook, with the aid OF the
| Greeks. a war known the war Of the
| elephant to restore his authority in Arabia
and protect Christianity. century later
| the Arabs. become Musulman. conquered
| Egypt and establishing themselves on the
| Red sea. founded the Musulman kingdom
OF leila. Abyssinia. defended by its noun
| tains preserved its Christian faith re-
| ceived from the church at Alexandria under
| Eutyches. subsequently In the fifteenth
century the Portuguese under Christopher
| de Cana. brother of the illustrious Vasco.
came to the rescue against Ahmed the Mus
| ulman. introducing the Roman Catholic
missionary and dividing Abyssinia into two
parties. Aside from the loss of several
| provinces. two kingdoms were formed. the
| Tigre and Choa. between which hostility
| has always existed.
In 1865 KaSSa. native chief prof1ting by
| the disorder then dominant. caused himself
| to be proclaimed NeguS under the title Of
| TheodorCs l. The latter addressed a letter
to Queen Victoria. which gave offense to the
| British consul. whom TheodOros. with
| others. Imprisoned. An army of British and
| Indian troops under Sir Robert Napier was
| sent to punish the indignity. and defeated
! at Magdala Theodoros. who committed
suicide. Kassa Ras of Tigre succeeded to
| the throne and was crowned at Axium I'M
| der the title of Johannes
In 1870 the writer met Lord Napier OF
| Magdaia. then route to India as British
| governor general. who. in the course Of con-
versation on shipboard. gave him a graphic
! and detailed account of his campaign in
Abyssinia. the capture of Magdala and
death of Theodoros.
War between Egypt and Abyssina was
declared In 1873, and the Egyptian army
| was defeated with great loss at the battle
/ OF khya khor. number of American Off
! GERS of the Egyptian staff participated in
| that unfortunate affair. among whom was
Col. w. Nee. Dye, formerly major in
| the United States army and chief of police
OF Washington. d. c. Col Dye published an
account Of the Abyssnian campaign in
volume entitled Egypt and Abyssinia.'
| The Emperor King Johannes proposed to
the writer. then in Egypt. in 1889, that if
the Ere n c h government
proposition would sustain the effort he
| to France. would attack the Mahdi with
an Abyssinian army of 1Jb-
| 900. capture Khartoum and destroy the in
surgents, The writer submitted note in
| this sense to the French minister of foreign
| affairs, M. Ferry. dated the 18th of Decem-
| Der. 1883. adding that the opportunity to
| cut the projected road from cape to Cairo
should not be lost: that besides the possible
! Characterization of the Soudan under Jo-
names. 1t would compel England to aban-
don Egypt and thus restore the joint control
| which existed prior 70 the British occupa-
ton OF Egypt in 1882 M. Ferry replied that
| the risk was great and that. having won
| the sobrquet of the "Tonkinois'' by reason
| OF his advocacy Of the acquisition of Ton
| KIN. he had no ambition to add to such
| titles that OF the 'Abyssinien" That Eng
Iand had no such scruples was manifest
me unauthorized and inexplicable pubIica-
| ton of the note to NJ. Ferry in an English
| Journal provoked immediate action on the
| part OF the British government which has
| tened to send Admiral Hewett as chief of a
mission to the Abyssinian capital, charged
| with presents etc. to achieve for Johannes
Ihat winch the latter had proposed to
france. Although the French resident at
| ODok was ordered to proceed at once to the
ADyssnian capital to anticipate the English
| mission. 1t was nevertheless a lost oppor-
! tunity
| The emperor proved his faith in the
| proposition rejected by NJ Ferry Five
| years later. in 1889. the writer was in
| Korea and read with interest the cable
| dispatches announcing that King johann
mes had undertaken the expedition against
hhartoum; that with his army of $50 600
warriors he had met and defeated the
| Mahdlsts at Gallabat on the Bahr ell Azrak:
that King Johannes after the battle had
| been Killed by accident; that fight had
| ensued among the jealous chiefs and their
| partsanS for the succession; that the
| enemy, apprised of the situation. returned
| to the attack and destroyed or drove the
| victorious Abyssinians back to their coun-
| try. The presence of European and
American officers in the Abyssnian army,
| as proposed. would have rendered impos-
sible the defeat that followed victory.
| Had King Johannes captured Khartoum
| the power of the Mahd would have been
| hopelessly broken; there would have been
| no disaster to the 10000 men of Hicks
Pasha; Gordon would not have returned
| to the Soudan. would not have been killed:
| there would have been no Emin Pasha to
betray the Egyptian government, no ex-
penditure of 10000 pounds as the price Of
Emin's treason. burlesque rescue expe-
| dtion by Stanley, and finally. no massacre
| of Christian missionaries nor British pro-
| tectorate over Egyptian Uganda
King Johannes dead. Chief Menelik sue
ceeded to the throne. Italy in the mean
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