SLAVERY

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 1, Issue 48, 19 October 1931, Page 4

SLAVERY

DESCENDANT of KING SOLOMON SEEKS HELP AND ADVICE. LONDON, August. 31. Elaborate plans for iiberating the 2,0Q0,00Q people who live in slavery in Abyssinia are revealed in a letter frohx the picturesque king of that country. The monarch, Ras Tafarx, king of_^ kings, Lion of Judah, and Emperor of AHyssinia, claims to be decended from King Solomon and Queen of Sheba. He has turned to the AntiSlavery Society of London for help and adviee in the work of freeing his slaves. . The society, offered him £250 in cash and. £100 a year towardg, a school in Addis Ababa, in Abyssinia. The Emperor's reply begins, "The conquerxng lion of the tribe of Judah, the elect of one God, king of kings of Ethiopia. May this reach the president of the Anti-Slavery Society. Peace be xinto .you," aiid went on:— We confirmed to you that we are definately deeided to improve progressively the regulations concernihg the status of slavery and to .suppress slavery altogther. We have undertaken to free the slaves .still bwned by the publie and traffic in slaves we have already prohibited by deeree. In somo. of the worst eas.es we have even gone so far as to inflict the death penalty. We have no doubt that yon realise the seriousness .of our efforts and the labour it has cost xxs to obtain the preliminary results known to you, and to lay the f oundations of the great emancipation work. _^Certain persons, forgetful of the fapt thqt slavery was once a universal institutioh; and probably unconscxons of what we have already accomplisHed or are. about to accomplish, exaggerate for their own private ends when referring' .to Ethiopia. We are confideht that you who have made it your special duty to study these problems know better than these sensa-tion-mongers what a.delicate task. it is to abolish this old custom and hosw over-hasty steps may easiiy have xinhappy consequences. Although the status of slavery still exists in Ethiopia, it would undobutedly be ari nnjust thing to pnt Ethiopian slavery on a par with the. industrialised forms of slavery of Europe and American former days, which the Western mind of nowadays connects with this word. The difference is above all that slaves in Ethiopia are not deprived an^thing to hope for iri life as were their former brethren iri the West. Our, Christian people is not averse to seeing slaves hold posts, own property, embrace . Christianity," aiid learn trades, aiid in this respect it is a people, that deserves praise. Abyssinia, is a Christiari country and a meriijber of the League of Nations. Ras Tafari himself is a curious blend of East and West. He speaks and writes excellent FrencH, and his palace is. full, of . ciyili.sed . luxuries.