The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-10-14

the spiritual guidance Of Ethi-
opia, some of them were not
above working for their own per-
sonal interests. For the bishops
could read and write-and the
majority of the nation could not
and still can not. In addition the
Ethiopian is great believer in
witchcraft and can be immensely
upset by superstitions.
These characteristics were not
lost on some bishops and so the
spiritual guidance of Ethiopia
was not always as fast or as ideal
as it might have been.
Imagine then, the anger of the
Ethiopian church and the fury of
the bishops when, two years ago,
the Ras Tafari Makonnen, the
Emperor Halle Selassie, the mod
ERNST, outraged all Ethiopian ira
dition by refusing flatly to petit
ton the Coptic Patriarch in Alex
andria for a successor to an
Egyptian bishop who had died.
And so here the royal family of
Ethiopia enters the picture.
The present ruler-the bearded
King of Kings, Lion of Judah and
Emperor of Ethiopia-claims di-
rect descent from the Queen of
Sheba and King Solomon. Before
him trickles through the pages
of history a powerful and great
line of kings, queens and princes
some good, more bad.
or modern times-and this is
~ what we are concerned with
today-the first great King was
Theodore the Third. He was born
in 1918, the son of a small and
obscure chief. But by his own
political acumen, cunning and
courage, he made himself en-
peror.
He educated himself, became
far more intelligent than any of
his fellow countrymen and was a
religious zealot and cruel in the
bargain. He looked upon the Eng
lish as a great white people, a
race whose methods of statecraft
he would do no harm in aping. So
one day he dispatched a letter to
Queen Victoria. The letter was
never answered.
This angered the great Theo-
dore, King of Kings, Lion of
Judah and Emperor of Ethiopia.
Without more ado he sent a de-
tachment of warriors to the house
of the British Consul General,
Capt. Cameron; seized him, bound
him with thongs and flung him
into prison.
In London there was conSterna-
ton. Who was this who dared lay
unceremonious and rough hands
upon the queen?-for the consul
general was the representative of
the queen and inferentially any
one who laid hands on him, laid
physical hands on her.
The upstart, said London, must
be taught a lesson-one of those
lessons in which Great Britain
has been past master in the day
when she was building her great
colonial empire.
A MILITARY expedition under
L n Gen. Sir Robert Napier set
out. In the spring of 1863, the
British column marched into The
odore's capital, Magdala, after
slaughtering many Ethiopians with
rifle fire-one Of the earliest times
Ethiopians got really first-hand
taste of how deadly rife fire can
become in the hands of organized
troops.
When the town fell to the Brit
ish, Theodore, too proud to fee,
plunged a knife into his own heart
and fell dead.
Overshadowing the great The
odore's memory, however, came
Menelik the Second. He was born
in 1912, the son of the King of
Shoa. His father had resented
Theodore's power and threw down
the gauntlet, challenging him to
battle, not once, but many times.
At length the old King of Shoa
was exhausted and surrendered.
The young son Menelik led a life
little different to that of his father
always continual round of
wars. But when Theodore stepped
out of the picture, Menelik struck
out all around and about him and
in time, became powerful enough
to declare himself Negus Negusti.
Tomorrow The Massacre at
Adowa.
fronvrs0hs 1o7s Talecranh pres,