Untitled

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 4

WAR WITH ABYSSINIA.

TJie Go^ernmeni; have determinedtupori sending a powerful expedition to Abyssinia, for the purpose of attempting tq ' rescue the Europeans so long held in cap-, tivity there; and preparations , upon an extensive scale, are now in progress. Nearly 20,000 tons of steam shipping have been chartered, in London and Liverpool for the conveyance of 10,000 troops from Bombay to the Abyssinian coasts, with material and- camp-followers. • The expedition, will he organised in -India, under the commar.d of Sir Robert. iNapier, Commander-in-Chief at Bombay, ■who is to be intrusted with the chief political as well as military authority. Sir Charles Staveley has . been' selected as second in command. ' A quantity" of steam transport has been taken up and will start for Bombay immediately so as to be there in the course of November ; but the Bombay

Government have also providec a quantity

-of transport for themselves. Officers have -also been despatched to various places, to purchase camels and mules. Massowah ■will probably be selected as the base of operations, but this point is not finally settled. Three steamers have been provided, which are being fitted up as hospital ships, and will be furnished with appropriate stores. Medical officers will be appointed to them. The whole of the arrangements are under the direction of the India Office, in order to secure unity of action ; but the expense will be borne by imperial funds. The following officers of the commis sariat department are under orders for the expedition : — Acting Commissary-

General Robinson, Deputy-Acting Com-

missary-General Stanes, to Egypt ; Acting ' Commissary-General Maude, DeputyActing Commissary- General Casolani, to Syria ; Deputy- Acting Commissary-Gene-ral Furse, to Trebizond ; Acting Commis-

sary-General Baynes, to Genoa ; Acting Commissary-General Cumming, to Alicante ; Deputy-Acting Commissary- Gene-

ral Wingfipld, to Barcelona : Acting Com-

missary-General Irvine, to Valencia ; Acting Commissary-General Downes, to Smyrna ; besides officers of Royal Artillery, Royal Engineers, and Military Train. Colonel Kennedy to command in .Egypt. > The Times of August 30th says ;—; — The Abyssinian war is growing rapidly into substance, and the probable exigencies of the enterprise are acquiring ominous proportions day after day. Already we can realise something of the nature of the work before us. The army itself is almost the least pait of the expe-

dition.

Neither the King of Abyssinia

nor any party among the Abyssinians > themselves are likely to appear against ■us in any military strength, and the description given of the force to be despatched from Bombay is sufficient to relieve us of all misgivings on this point. It will be but a small army, comprising, perhaps, hardly 10,000 fighting men— a contingent easily afforded from the military establishments of India. Eight regiments of Punjab infantry and six of irregular cavalry may be expected to

compose the main body of the force, which

■will be strengthened by two battalions of Europeans and as many batteries of the Royal Artillery. Such an army would undoubtedly suffice to overcome all resistance in the open field, but that, unfortunately, is not the resistance to be dreaded. We have, first of all, to reach the enemy, and to do this we must convey the troops from Bombay to the coast ,of Abyssinia, and from the coast into the interior of the country. The means of transport required for this army and its followers are beyond the immediate resources of India. The Government of Bombay is already busily engaged in providing troopships and store-vessels, but a ■whole fleet of steamers will be sent from this country. No fewer than 16 fine vessels are under survey at this moment, and these, we are told, form butafraction of the number required. Steamers, too, require coal, and the probable demand on this head is already affecting the rates of freight. Beit remembered that we have to carry to the scene of action not only soldiers, but mules and camels in almost equal numbers. It seems as if there would be one camel or other beast of burden to every fighting man, for 5000 have been bespoken of our ally the Viceroy of Egypt, and officers have been despatched to various places to purchase more. It says something for the resources of Woolwich that we should be able to furnish 5000 packsaddles and as many sets of harness on the first demand, and thG manufacture of these and other requisite articles will be ' continued, we may be sure, with the utmost expedition. The object is to place, say, 10,000 fighting men, 10,000 mulas or camels,, and, we suppose, some 20,000 attendants and camp followers, with all their stores and munitions, on the coa«t of- Abyssinia some time next November. This object, no doubt, can be accomplished, but how many thousand pounds

a, day .it will' cbsli' us, and 1 , indeed,} is" costing lis""'«Jready,"'Ve'"f6rßearJ to conjecture. -" TKife^' llibwever^ ; is L buti the least part 'bi the work before us. The proportions -qf the Bombay} armada when actually complete may very probably create astonishment, but it is When, this armada reaches its destination that our difficulties will begin. It seems that a landing will be effected probably at Massowa'h, and'-we need not anticipate any resistance in this operation. In what direction, however, of by what route, or with what prospects we are then to advance nobody can tell. In a letter we published on August 29, a very gloomy picture was drawn for olir contemplation. According to ourcon-esporident's account, the climate will he fourd as dingerous to human life as it is on the opposite coast of the continent. We have to prepare for 300 miles of African jungle, whereas less' that half that distance on the West Coast has proved too much for us before now. Certainly, this would be a bad prospect, but is it a fact that the climate is so deadly? Do we know upon any good authority that Abyssinia is as unhealthy as Sierra Leone 1 Is it so very much worse than Upper Egypt ? Our Indian officers have lately been asserting that modern tactics and equipments have rendered warfare in' wild regions far more practicable than formerly. An Afghan expedition, for instance, might now be managed, it is said, with comparatively little risk, and the fact was actually alleged as an argument against the inactive policy of Sir John Lawrence. The assertion may now be put to the test. The climate, no doubt, would be an element of difficulty comparatively '| known in the case of Cabul, but Indian troops are not altogether without experience of such trials. Before Bhootan, for example, could be reached, the invading army had to traverse a belt of the most pestilential jungle in the world, and in some parts of Central India the climate is noxious in the extreme. We may hope, then, that the difficulty on this point will be either not so great or not so novel as our correspondent imagines ; but the question is, what are we to do when our march, through this country has been accomplished ? In the Bhootan war we had a definite mark before us. Wild and barbarous as the country was, it had its capital towns and a government with a known residence. Even the independent chieftains could be reached, if refractory, at a certain calculable cost. But it does not seem that we possess any sucli information or certainty in the case of Abyssinia. King Theodore, if he be still a king, may be anywhere. If he should retire before us, or even keep out of the way, it appears hard to imagine how he can be reached. We are reminded that in the Ashantee country, with a far more limited area,, the refractory monarch did but keep out of sight and do nothing, which was quite enough to frustrate our designs. A prudent step has been talcen in placing the whole arrangements — in fact the entire conduct of the expedition — under the direction of our Indian authorities. This will secure that unity of action without which the enterprise would infallibly niiacarry, and as the chief work will he clone in India, the Indian Government could best superintend it. We have already seen, however, that the resources of this country could be made available for the incidental demands of the enterprise. India can find troops in abundance, and officers to lead them; but shipping, coal, and money nnist come from England. Our India-office, therefore, will take the management of atfaira here in concert with the Government of India, so that the Imperial Government will be relieved from any duty except that of paying the bill. That responsibility will be expressed jn substantial figures in next year's estimates, and we shall be fortunate indeed if traces of the charge are not discovered in the estimates of many years to come. It may be interesting, though it will not be agreeable, to compare the cost of art Abyssinian war with that of similar ojierations n ISew Zealand, Caffraria, China, or Japan. The moral of this affair will be felt with greater weight when the bill is presented for payment ; but even' now it may be serviceable to ask ourselves whether the cause of the war could not have been escaped. Of course we must go to the rescue of our own envoy and representative ; butr was there any occasion for the original interference which made the subsequent missions necessary. We might almost inquire how it happened that we \\:A any representative at all in a country of which we now seem to know as little as of the land at the Antarctic pole. Arabia itself is more familiar to us than Abyssinia. We cannot even guess whether the enterprise will yield any fruit in the way of sciertific discovery, though we observe that a civilian of eminence is attached to the Military Staff, and it may, perhaps, interest the public to learn that the competition for the privilege of representing this journal on 1 the' expedition has been exceedingly keen. 1 It is 'now all but a

century 'since Bruce related his advenrures*Tn"{hese"^egicms) arid' fourict CnenVtoo surprising" for the credulity of his'countryi men ." Possibly there may. be some .marvels to be discovered still, and some wonderful narratives to' be written. Abyssinia, at any rate,' will' not be an unknown country twelve months • hence, and if the information acquired iishould in any degree repay us for the cost of the enterprise, it will be some alleviation of a very hard bargain.