o be demonstrated.

General Gordon proceeded direct from Cairo to Massowah, which route he
selected because he hoped to settle the Abyssinian dispute before he
commenced operations in the Soudan. Both the Khedive and the British
Government wished a termination to be put to the troubles that had for
some time prevailed in the border lands of Abyssinia and the Eastern
Soudan, and it was hoped that Gordon's reputation and energy would
facilitate the removal of all difficulties with King John, who, after
the death of Theodore, had succeeded in obtaining the coveted title of
"Negus."

In order to understand the position, a few historical facts must be
recorded. By the year 1874 King John's authority was established over
every province except in the south, Shoa, where Menelik retained his
independence, and in the north, Bogos, which was seized in the year
stated by Munzinger Bey, a Swiss holding the post of Governor of
Massowah under the Khedive. In seizing Bogos, Munzinger had
dispossessed its hereditary chief, Walad el Michael, who retired to
Hamacem, also part of his patrimony, where he raised forces in
self-defence. Munzinger proposed to annex Hamacem, and the Khedive
assented; but he entrusted the command of the expedition to Arokol
Bey, and a Danish officer named Arendrup as military adviser, and
Munzinger was forced to be content with a minor command at Tajoura,
where he was killed some months later. The Egyptian expedition
meantime advanced with equal confidence and carelessness upon Hamacem,
Michael attacked it in several detachments, and had the double
satisfaction of destroying the troops and capturing their arms and
ammunition. Such was the disastrous commencement of those pending
questions to which the Khedive Ismail referred in his letter to
General Gordon.

The Khedive decided to retrieve this reverse, and to continue his
original design. With this object a considerable number of troops were
sent to Massowah, and the conduct of the affair was entrusted to Ratib
Pasha and an American soldier of fortune, Colonel Loring Pasha. By
this time--1876--Michael had quarrelled with King John, who had
compelled him to give up the weapons he had captured from the
Egyptians, and, anxious for revenge, he threw in his lot with his
recent adversaries. The Egyptian leaders showed they had not profited
by the experience of their predecessors. They advanced in the same
bold and incautious manner, and after they had built two s