A PAGE OF HISTORY.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 483, 16 April 1909, Page 3

A PAGE OF HISTORY.

THE MAGDALA CAMPAIGN RECALLED. Among the visitors to Wellington at present is Lieutenant A. H. Rassani, late of .. the Northumberland : Garrison Artillery, and one of the Border Regiments, who saw service in South Africa and Burmah, but has since resigned his'coriimission, and has some idea of settling :n the Dominion. Mr. Rassam is a son of Mr. Hormuzd Rassam,, whoso name.opens up a page of history in which England was concerned. He was British Commissioner at Aden, when.(in 1864) he was sent on a diplomatic visit to King Theodore, of Abyssinia; who had, \ for reasons ■'■ ' best known to himself, imprisoned tho British Consul at Magdah. He saw King Theodore, . and entered a formal protest on behalf of the British. Government, and received a' favourable reply. '.He, then started' put to return, but the tirst night out his camp ' ' was surrounded, and Mr. Rassam was taken 1 prisoner, and was kept- with hjs two legs ! chained together, and .his right, wrist at- ! tached to the chain in such a manner that he was always stooping, for two. and a half '. years. \ Things.moved slowly in those , days, . arid Parliament, not hearing of the affair ;' for a long time, moved slowly when it did ; hear of it, but eventually Lord Napier was • dispatched 'with an ; expedition to'" teach 1 King Theodore manners, and ~the outcome • was the Abyssinian campaign, in which I'jbrd 1 Napier earned the title of "Napier,'of Mag- ! dala, , . , and .Mr. Rassam Was released—forty : , years ago on.April-11 (Eister Sunday).. Mr. j Hormiizd Rassam, now 85.years of age, is . said to be one of the most famous arcnaeologists of the day. He was born'at Mos- ■ sul r on the banks of ttie-Tigris,-opposite the . ■ site of the■ ancient..city of Ninevah, .and , ' i he is 'accredited witli the 'discovery, of what ■ is supposed to be' the Tower: of Babel, some ancient tablets which'-toll-the story of the deluge - (corresponding almost exactly with . f the' Bible .version), and the Temple: of Sar- ; danapolis. : ' ThVKaiser.recently, wroto a play •■■ called "Sardanapolis," whiqh referred/to the .: i old tomiple, and ho commanded Mr. Rassam f (who now rosides at.Brighton, England) to , attend ..the first performance, but the old - I gentleman not able to undertake the : i journey.' He was "'associated witli Layard ; . in ■ Assyrian research ■ as, far back as '1845, 1 and returned with him to Oxford*two years 3 later. Then he was sent-out with Layard ".. on the ■ latter's, second expedition by. the 3 British Museum in 1849, and in 1854 was I appointed to succeed' him.." Ho conducted f further Assyrian .explorations :in- 1876-82, , during which (in. 1877khe.was.sent by the \ British Foreign Oifa'tie] ■ during the Turkof Kussian War, on's-/»pecial\iniSsion to Asia Minor, ---'Armenia, ami, .Kurdistan. For "his s pains' suffered in Abyssinia, Mr. Rassam was thanked by the Government,, and received. £5000 and a sword of honour.