KING MENELIK'S DEATH

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 263, 29 March 1913, Page 10

KING MENELIK'S DEATH

STORIES OF HIS LIFE. It was reported by cable recently that King Alenelik of Abyssinia was dead. This is not the first time that the death of King Menelik has been announced, but tlie news of his decease on tlie present occasion seems to be definite enough. Abyssinia's ruler had the reputation of being an accomplished and warlike monarch. He succeeded to the throne in 1889, on the death of Johannes 11., bearing the title Negus Negus t ("King of Kings"). In the same year he concluded a treaty with Italy which placed his kingdom under Italian protection. King Menelik declared afterwards that the text of. the treaty was not in the form of Which he approved it originally, and it was in consequence of this difference that hostilities broke out between him and the foreign occupants of Massowah. After his accession to the throne he did much to consolidate the kingdom, which was at one time broken up into several semi-independent viceroyalties. He also promoted the civilisation of his people and cultivated relations with foreign Powers. During 1895 he sent a mission to St. Petersburg to affirm his sympathies which subsist between the Abyssinian and Greek Orthodox Churches.

A BRAVE MONARCH. Menelik has no direct heir, but he proclaimed as his successor his grandson, Lij Yasu, who is now 17 years of age, and who in 1909 was married to Waiiero Romanie, granddaughter of Johannes 11. Owing to the illness of the King, Yasu has for tlie last three or four years discharged functions usually performed by his grandfather. Menelik himself was a brave man. At the battle of Adowa, when the Mauser rifles of the Italian army were doing deadly execution among their dark foes, the Emperor, towards the close of the engagement, rushed upon the enemy , sword in hand, and slew several Italians. After military exercises Menelik used to command his men to squat down on the ground in long lines and fire ball cartridges into the air. The falling bullets used generally to kill and wound a few of his subjects, hut that was a small matter in his eyes, if only lie could thereby teach his people to be brave. Many of them ;tre in the habit of attacking lions with only a >pear, a feat which must require much skill and coolness combined if the lion is not to be the victor. Until a few yeass ago Menelik used to keep three full-grown lions, and he allowed them to roam about the grounds of his palace. Needless to say, they were a source of terror to many of the Emperor's visitors. When asked by a European whether the lions ever killed people. Menelik answered: "Yes, they do occasionally, but we al-, ways kill the lion afterwards!" Menelik was certainly an original man, perhaps even a genius in his way. Thus, when some chief had displeased him—it may have been in some trifling affair—he would summon the man to his palace, and. instead of a good sound scolding, he would administer his rebuke in a truly fatherly way with a stout cane. His people were fully aware that their ruler had his eye on them, for he spent a.good deal of his time watching them from a tower of observation built for this very purpose. Here he would sit with a powerful pair of field glasses, surveying his subjects in the principal streets and open places. Consequently they were careful not to do anything that might incur his anger. THE KING'S CLEMENCY. The following story will serve to illustrate Menelik's clemency. At the siege of Makell the Italians were hemmed in by Ras Makonnen and his army of 15,000 men. They were perishing for want of water, and in their extremity sent forth their natives, 3000 blacks, to propitiate the Ras. who gave them foo"d :ind drink and allowed them to depart. Then the Italians, who were in a desperate plight, came out to beg for terms, and were, received hy Menelik himself, who said: "You have not been kind to me or mine: you have broken your pledged word and drawn the sword against us. Nevertheless. Ido not wish it said that Christians died here like dogs, so you may go." And the poor, humiliated Italian* wore allowed to depart in peace, and mules were even provided for them. For some time after this Menelik was reputed to have strong French leanings, and in February. 1897, he certainly concluded a treaty with France on very favorable terms. A British mission in the following year, led by Sir Rennell Rodd, was. however, also well received. Indeed, in spite of a treaty with Germany, and the presence of a Russian mission at the capital, it has been said that British influence in Abyssinia, owing largely, no doubt, to the conquest of the Soudan, the destruction of the Dervish power, and the Fashoda incident, has been of late years sensibly on the increase. A POWER FOR GOOD. Under his influence of late years the Afoyssinians were induced to resume agricultural operations gradually, and te abandon their predatory habits, which had been, of course, only fostered by the long period of anarchy and civil war in which Menelik himself had borne so important and formidable a part. European tastes, ton. under his auspices, became more general in Abyssinia. Seven vonrs ago the telephone* and telegraph were started working between Addis Abeliii ami Ilarrar. Menelik also coined silver thalers bearing his own portrait, but the ordinal v currency of bars of salt and of lengths' of calico he was never able entirely to displace. Some £240,000 worth of calico is still imported into Abyssinia annually—principally of American manufacture, and by British traders.