AN AFRICAN EMPEROR

Taranaki Daily News, 18 October 1930, Page 1 (Supplement)

AN AFRICAN EMPEROR

INDEPENDENT ETHIOPIA

(By

E.R.M.)

The King's third son, the Duke of Gloucester, is due to leave for Abyssinia on Thursday , to be present at the coronation

of the new Emperor, lias Tafari Mekonncn. —British Wireless Message. The night Was cold. Away io the west Tekla Haemanot, leader of the Gogamites, was trying to stimulate his warriors with promises of an early fight. To the north Ras Mikael was assuring the Wolla Galla cavalry that ci‘e another sundown there would be water and grass in plenty; to the-East Mangasha of Tigre rode among his hungry troops promising loot in abundance did. they but stand firm. hurrying all he knew, Menelik, Emperor of Abyssinia, at whose command the lords of Ethiopia had marshalled their forces to meet a common foe, gathered up What stragglers he could and by cajolery or force brought them back in his.ranks. Hundreds of priests mingled with the groups of soldiers invoking aloud the aid. of St. Michael and St. George for a victory. Italy, well established to the northeast and along the coast o'f the !Red Sea, had forced upon Menelik a treaty that practically amounted to a protectorate over his whole dominions. The race that had withstood all the attacks of Islam, that had bowed the knee but once to a European conqueror—when Lord Napier rescued British prisoners—was unlikely to give much heed to a half-understood treaty unless it were backed by something more than persuasion. So Italy had found, and a campaign against Menelik was decided upon.

Progress southwards was slow for the inVaders, 'but Menelik and his Chiefs had found that the artillery of a generation ago had practically eliminated the value of personal valour. There j-emained but the age old strategy of withdrawing to fighting grounds suitable for the defenders’ methods in the hope that there the enemy might be tempted to. give battle. Menelik knew kthe Italian’s strength was some 20,000 men. Five 'times this number he gathered around the peaks of Adha. But the waiting game was wearisome. Hourlyithe armies of Ethiopia were dwindling as hunger or indifference did its work. •It was an anxious night for all, not least for the Italian commander ,who had the responsibility of . action.

Like. Saracen with the Crusaders, Menelik could scarcely believe| his good fortune when he saw that the men ■of Italy meant to fight. Outnumbered by five to one the European forces had •failed to concentrate according to plan. /The day saw a series of offensives and the rout of the Italians with a loss of’ •10,000 killed, wounded and prisoners. ■The objectionable treaty ' was annulled and the Great ’Powers recognised the Independence of unconquered Abyssinia. With the exception of the Napier expedition of long ago, the relations be•eween Great Britain and Ethiopia have always been friendly and the King’s son, •the Duke of Gloucester, is now on his •way to represent Great Britain at the coronation of the new. Emperor, [Ras Tafari Mekonnen, who, as Regent and Negus, has been virtual ruler of the country since the death of his uncle the Emperor Menelik, in 1916. Rosita Forbes 'thus describes a visit to the. new Emperor a year or two ago. r‘l went to tea one afternoon in a big house on a hill with a long European drawing-room —white walls, chintzes ■and thick carpets—a charming room •which looked on to a garden. The R'as and his wife, Princess Menen, were sitting side by side on a sofa, he in a big royal-'blue cloak, she in a black one bordered with red. They rose to welcome me and I found myself before, a man of middle height, slight and strong, with slender, finely modelled hands that grasped mine firmly. Ras Tafari speaks •French and Arabic and made use of •both in (his shrewd questions concerning my travels, but the Princess speaks through an interpreter. When the Ras •smiled his face lit up-and fie ho longer •resembled the Kings of Judah, 3600 ■years dead, who were his ancestors. •The smile was keen and kind and there ■was very nearly a twinkle in it as he contested the Charm of the new against the old, of the useful and productive against the wasteful and picturesque.” Addis A'ba'ba, where the new Emperoi* •is to be crowned, is, says Miss Forbes, •“a blending of old and new.” In her (violent contrasts and in her gentle •violence, Addis A'baba, the “New Flower,” is typical of her people. The city’s creation dates from 1892, four years earlier than the year of deliverance from the threatened suzerainty of Italy. iEt lies in a bowl between mountains •8000 feet up and with tens of thousands of gum trees planted by order of- the (Emperor when he decided to. form a new capital. Now “the forest is like a myriad spears, their steel quivering •in. the wind, and amidst its metal 'blueness are scars, which -are .white stonebuilt houses roofed with corrugated ■iron and mud' specks which are huts. ■The little hills, down which the roads fling themselves in a tumult of rock and boulder, are dwarfed 'by the palace pf the Emperor. This is a congloniera-

-tion of different architectures of roofs, flat, round and peaked, of shed, house .and pavilion, while th© highest of all |the buildings is like a Greek temple. “There are few modern buildings—an hotel, the Bank of Abyssinia, the [Legations and of course the palaces of the-Royal : Family. But the huts outpum'ber them, smother them, as self sufficient simplicity outweighs the inffluence both of Africa and of Europe. Among the 60,000 inhabitants are many foreigners, but they are super-imposed ■on the native life and remain detached from it, an excrescence, though- they -control the business and industry of the ■capital.” ' A modern bank in one street; in the next, a sunlit hollow is the public execution ground where those condemned for murder must still be killed by the nearest relative of the murderer in ’.e exact manner in which 'his victim was slain! Motor cars near the palace, but the camel, the real four-wheeler, and ithe mule, the taxi for the common (people. ‘Churches, for Abyssinia has been Christian since the ancient Coptic (Church was formed, are important feaof the city and th© priesthood dominates a religious and little-educated (race, but “always under the throne ,'which theoretically owns all the land, has right Of.life and death over every subject and can claim his labour in ,-peace or his sword in war.” The new Emperor has had a European education. He is progressive and ambitious, though not in a military sense, tit may be that his coronation will mark ;the commencement of development in Which British capital may be sought and ft hat something more practical than diplomatic courtesy may underlie the visit of the King’s son.