f cultivating friendly
relations with Abyssinia, had appointed Captain Cameron as consul to
that country. He was stationed at Massowa, on the shores of the Red
Sea. During an expedition into the interior, he was seized by Theodore,
in revenge for the insult he considered he had received, the king having
also thrown Mr Stern and some of the other missionaries into prison.
At length Mr Rassam was sent as ambassador to King Theodore, in hopes
of obtaining the release of the prisoners. He was accompanied by
Lieutenant Prideaux and Dr Blanc. At the very moment that it appeared
the king was about to release the prisoners, Mr Rassam and his
companions were themselves seized and treated with the greatest
indignity. In vain every attempt was made by the English Government to
obtain their release. Theodore would listen to no expostulations, and
at length it was resolved to send an English army to compel him to
deliver them up, although the difficulties of the undertaking were
well-known. Never was an expedition undertaken for a more generous
object or with purer motives. It was simply for the release of the
captives. The thought of conquest or the acquisition of territory did
not for a moment enter into the views of the British Cabinet. The work
to be done was to march an army of some thousand men a distance of 400
miles across a mountainous and little-known region, inhabited by tribes
who might prove hostile, to the fortress in which the king had confined
certain British subjects, and to compel him to release them. The
persons, both military and civil, who were believed to be the best able
to carry it out, were selected without favouritism or party
consideration of any sort. Colonel Merewether, an officer of known
talent, was appointed to make the preliminary preparations, and to
select the spot best suited for the base of operations. The
reconnoitring party selected a place called Mulkutto, in Annesley Bay,
on the shores of the Red Sea, for that object. In the previous month,
Sir Robert Napier, then Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army, was
appointed to command the Abyssinian expedition, and Major-General Sir
Charles Staveley was nominated as second in command, with a force under
them of 4000 British and 8000 native troops. The reconnoitring party
consisted of the 10th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry, the 3rd
Regiment of Bombay Cavalry, a mountain train of four guns, with native
gunners, and two companies of B