Evening star., 1935-08-04
On the Ethiopian Front
Prince Ras Seyoum Says Armed Natives Can Defeat
Planes-Mntilation of Prisoners to Be
Answer to Gas Attacks.

teeth, that handful of men will fall!
And gas?"
IF Italy uses gas, we shall mutilate
prisoners, since men who employ such
means are not worthy to have chill
dren, and when they are confronted
He continued:
You know how it was that We won
the Battle of Adowa?"
mol"
For this simple reason-that the
Italians attacked us one day when
they should have held off. a day on
which all our soldiers had gene to
church to celebrate the feast of st.
George. God was outraged, and God
protected us. AS He will again,
should our land be in danger. The
soldiers Of the Tigre Province will not
permit the enemy to pass. My troops
will be there to take the first blow.
Thereafter the army of Choa will
arrive. and finally the Emperor's
army.
Our Emperor is a great and just
man. learned and farseeing, who had
made Of Ethiopia one whole by his
good will.
Eritreans Suffering.
"Over there, in Eritrea, are our
brothers, and they suffer. They may
exercise no ambition, they can never
rise above the status of servants.
These famous Askaris of whom the
Italians are so sure, 1t is among them
that We have our greatest chance, be-
cause, at the last moment, they will
all desert, to become independent
people once more.
Fundamentally. we are not dis
pleased with the great efforts that
Italy has made In the colony. Perhaps
one day-perhaps it is for our benefit
that they have been working. One
never knows!"
How long do you think the war
would last?" asked.
That can be looked at from two
points of view," he replied. Either
we shall win the first battle, and
then everything will be over quickly,
or the Italians will succeed in pene-
trating our territory-and then it
will take more than a year."
Prays for Peace.
The prince arose. His eyes were
raised to Heaven. His voice was grave
and he spoke prayerfully:
In the Psalms of David" he
murmured, "it Is written Ethiopia
reaches out her hand to God, and
has need of none other! We await
the future with confidence. Perhaps
the League of Nations. and France,
for instance, who have received the
call to peace, as it were a gift from
God, may spread the thought Of
peace throughout the world. Let us
hope for that"
Prince Seyoum turned his eyes
to me.
Since you, a woman, have had
courage enough to come so far, have
courage enough to tell the truth,
only the truth-that you have seen
that the peasant in this country, with
his plow, and with no other thought
than of earning his livelihood, in
common with the rest of the popu-
lation, has no other ambition than to
live in peace on his land"
The Princess Agede ASfaou hung
a necklace around my neck. The
prince presented me with a gold
plaque on which was figured the lion
Of Judah, and said:
1T Is ordered by an imperial decree
that when a stranger sets foot on
Ethiopian earth the princes and gov
ernors shall see to it that no act of
aggression shall happen to him.
Therefore we hope you will reach
home safe and sound and our prayers
will be to God that he be with you on
your long voyage"
AS left Adowa, I turned to look
for a last time on the little city which
slept in the sun between its great red
walls.
Beside the road peasant was clean
ing his arms while before him oxen
hauled on the plow.
I questioned him. what are you
going to kill?"
He bowed to the earth and picked
up a pebble.
ANY one who takes so much as q
pebble or a blade Of grass from my
land!"
(Copyright. 1885 by the North American
Newspaper Alliance. Inc.)