THE ENGLISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 39, 30 September 1867, Page 242

THE ENGLISH CAPTIVES IN ABYSSINIA.

In a letter to tlie Pall Mall Gazette, Sir Henry Bulwer says : “ I have just read, in a number of your journal, some days old, that on the 2nd of April the Abyssinian captives were still in chainß in the fort of Magdala. It seems to me that, throughout this disgraceful business, tve have done too little or too much. If we had reason to suppose that these persons were guilty of any offence which justified then* treatment, we had no right to interfere in their behalf. If the cruel imprisonment to which they have been subjected is without justification, we ought surely to have insisted upon their immediate release and ample compensation for their ill-usage. There is no question •:ere of wrong done to a British subject in an unexplored country, and by unknown ruffians. We are well acquainted with the precise spot of these unhappy men’s confinement, and with the unscrupulous tyrant who has incarcerated them. It has been till now the boast and the belief of Englishmen that wherever they went they were under the protecting eye and aegis of Great Britain. Mr Baker, iu his recentlypublished travels, relates a case in which he was told not to proceed in his course, for there was danger in the path b fore <iirn. The substance of his reply was : ‘ I am a subject of the Queen of England, and she will inflict exemplary vengeance on any one who lays his hand on one of her people.’ It is with such notions as these that we have grown up great and powerful, not only in the world’s esteem, but, what is more important, in our own. Are these traditions lost ? Already—l can speak with authority—the carelessness or the impotence wd have manifested has made the worst possible impression throughout the East. Should we go on year after year attempting to hold converse with, or to send presents to, this paltry barbarian P L may be told that there is difficulty in reaching him—difficulty in punishing him. But why is a nation great P Because it performs difficult things ; because in fact, it esteems nothing difficult which its honour tells it must be accomplished. I venture, without accusing one in particular, to say as a general axiom that is only lazy indifference that puts forth the miserable plea of insuperuble difficulty. Let England but say plainly ‘ These men shall be liberated; this miscreant whom we have condescended to call king shall be trodden into the dust.,’ and the deed follows the word. Nor do I speak idly. With a moderate British and sepoy force, and such assistance as the Viceroy of Egypt told me he would be ready to give, it would be no rash engagement to undertake to hang Theodorus in the chains that now torture the limbs of his captives. If 1 had t.e opportunity of raising my voice in Parliament, it would long since have attempted to arouse the sentiments of humanity and chivalry which are, I am sure, to bo found there. If J had health and strength sufficiently for the task, I would at this instant traverse England from one end to the other, to invoke the patriotism, the charity, and the courage of a generous and high-spirited people. As it is, I oan only appeal through your columns to the public sympathy—to the public dignity; for there is at stake in this case, not merely the lives of the poor victims in the dungeons of Magdala, put the name and honour of Englishmen throughout the world.” The same journal says : ' , '

After considering what is above stated, kind the, general reports about the-stkte of Abyssinia which haye npw for some time been current/ it is to be * inferred, ! tliihb, that the power .of Theodorus is . much weakened, and the whole country in such disorgkmßation/t)iat we ought to be able to' find allies against THhddoi;iB 6 ih ! the event of its being then determined to effect by force ; the! releas'd of/the captives; ’ for ■ I doh’t believei .in tlie success' of the m Ud'exr pbdients hitherto:;rekorted/ to //theyhaye now been tried rnbre;;tiihn/three years vvithoutourbeihg'one/yirhitneßrerthe desired from the itehtr /Fate may assist

us by bringing about the death of Theodorus by any one or more of. his many adversaries; but if we are to wait upon fate it may bring about the death of-the prisoners likewise, and leave us with the stigma on our power of having been unable to cope, with a resolute chief of Abyssinia, and it will be Bmall crowing over a dead : lion who kept us at bay while alive, and whom we had no hand in subduing. The effect would not be lost on Egypt, or along the shores bf the Red Sea, and might have its influence in India. What we do we should do ourselves. If we set the Egyp» tians on Abyssinia we shall merely be immolating its Christian population,' and opening the door for influence there not our own —one day, perhaps, to be used adversely to us/