both parties. Those who are recognized, after their wounds are healed, as incapable of serving, shall be sent back to their country. The others may also be sent back, on condition of not again bearing arms during the continuance of the war. Evacuations, together with the persons under whose directions they take place, shall be protected by an absolute neutrality.

VII. A distinctive and uniform flag shall be adopted for hospitals, ambulances, and evacuations. It must, on every occasion, be accompanied by the national flag. An arm-badge (brassard) shall also be allowed for individuals neutralized, but the delivery thereof shall be left to military authority. The flag and the arm-badge shall bear a red cross on a white ground.

VIII. The details of execution of the present Convention shall be regulated by the Commanders-in-chief of belligerent armies, according to the instructions of their respective Governments, and in conformity with the general principles laid down in the Convention.

IX. The High Contracting Powers have agreed to communicate the present Convention to those Governments which have not found it convenient to send Plenipotentiaries to the International Conference at Geneva, with an invitation to accede thereto; the Protocol is for that purpose left open.

X. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Berne in four months, or sooner if possible. In witness whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the same, and have affixed thereto the seal of their arms. Done at Geneva, the 22nd day of August, 1864.

Signed, General G. H. Dufour, G. Moynier, Dr. Lehmann, Switzerland; Dr. Robert Volz, Steiner, Grand Duke of Baden; Visschers, Belgium; Fenger, Denmark; J. Heriberto Garcia de Quevedo, Spain; Ch. Jagerschmidt, S. de Preval, Boudier, France; Brodruck, Grand Duke of Hesse; Capello, F. Baroffio, Italy; Westenberg, Netherlands; Jose Antonio Marques, Portugal; De Kamptz, Loeffler, Prussia; Dr. Hahn, Wurtemberg.

And the Swiss Confederation having, in virtue of Article IX. of the said Convention, invited the Government of Her Britannic Majesty to accede thereto; the undersigned, her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, duly authorized for that purpose, hereby declares that the Government of her Britannic Majesty fully accedes to the Convention aforesaid. In witness whereof he has signed the present act of accession, and has affixed thereto the seal of his arms. Done at London, the 18th day of February, in the year of our Lord 1865.

"The Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation having seen the Act signed at London on the 18th of February, 1865, whereby his Excellency the Minister for Foreign Affairs of her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, in exercise of the power reserved by article IX. of the international convention concluded at Geneva on the 22nd of August, 1864, for the amelioration of the condition of soldiers wounded in armies in the field, declares that the Government of her Britannic Majesty fully accedes to that convention; which act of accession is as follows: (Here follows the act of accession.) Declares by these presents :-In virtue of the final stipulation of the procès-verbal of the exchange of the ratifications of the said convention, signed at Berne on the twenty-second of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, that the Federal Council accepts such accession, as well in the name of the Swiss Confederation as in that of the other high contracting parties, to whom official communication thereof is given by the present declaration. In witness whereof these presents have been signed by the President and the Chancellor of the Confederation, and furnished with the seal of the Federal Council, at Berne, the 3rd of March, 1865. In the name of the Swiss Federal Council, the President of the Confederation, Schenk. The Chancellor of the Confederation, Schiess."

On the 2nd February, 1861, Captain Cameron received his instructions upon his proceeding to Massowah as British Consul. He was desired to abstain from any course of proceeding by which a preference for either party in the civil war then pending should be imputable to him; to abstain from all intrigues to set up an exclusive British influence in Abyssinia; and, lastly, to promote the amicable arrangements between the rival candidates for power.

Her Majesty's Government were aware that religious rivalry had contributed its share to promote dissension in Abyssinia, but such

rivalry should receive no countenance from a British agent; on the contrary, his study should be to extend as far as possible general toleration of all Christian sects, as being most consistent with the doctrines of Christianity and with sound policy. The British Government claimed no authority to set up or advocate in a foreign country one sect of Christianity in preference to another: all that they would urge upon the rulers of any such country was to show equal favour and toleration to the professors of all Christian sects. But although it was not desirable that Mr. Cameron should engage in a contest with the agent of any other power for superiority of influence, or that he should openly exhibit suspicion or jealousy of his proceedings, or of the influence which he might be supposed to have acquired, it would be his duty closely to watch any proceedings which might tend to alter the state of possession either on the sea-coast or in the interior of the country, and he would keep her Majesty's Government at home and her Majesty's Governor-General of India fully informed of all matters of interest which might come under his observation, sending his despatches under flying seal in the one case through her Majesty's agent and Consul-general in Egypt, and in the other through the political agent at Aden.

In addition to matters of a political or commercial nature, Mr. Cameron was instructed to pay particular attention to any traffic in slaves which might be carried on within his district, and to report fully upon the same; and that he should further avail himself of any suitable opportunity to impress upon any native rulers who might directly or indirectly encourage or permit such a traffic, the abhorrence in which it was held by the British Government, and the dislike with which any parties who may have recourse to it are likely to be regarded in this country.

As a present, Mr. Cameron was to give to the King, soon after his arrival, a rifle and a pair of revolver pistols.

On the 12th February, 1863, the following autograph letter by the King of Abyssinia was received by her Majesty the Queen :-

"In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, one God in Trinity, chosen by God, King of kings, Theodoros of Ethiopia to her Majesty Victoria, Queen of England. I

He

hope your Majesty is in good health. By the power of God I am well. My fathers the Emperors, having forgotten our Creator, he handed over their kingdom to the Gallas and Turks. But God created me, lifted me out of the dust, and restored this empire to my rule. endowed me with power, and enabled me to stand in the place of my fathers. By His power I drove away the Gallas. But for the Turks, I have told them to leave the land of my ancestors. They refuse. I am now going to wrestle with them. Mr. Plowden, and my late Grand Chamberlain, the Englishman Bell, used to tell me that there is a great Christian Queen, who loves all Christians. When they said to me this, We are able to make you known to her, and to establish friendship between you,' then in those times I was very glad. I gave them my love, thinking that I had found your Majesty's goodwill. All men are subject to death, and my enemies, thinking to injure me, killed these my friends. But by the power of God I have exterminated those enemies, not leaving one alive, though they were of my own family, that I may get, by the power of God, your friendship. I was prevented, by the Turks occupying the sea-coast, from sending you an embassy when I was in difficulty. Consul Cameron arrived with a letter and presents of friendship. By the power of God I was very glad hearing of your welfare, and being assured of your amity. I have received your presents, and thank you much. I fear that if I send ambassadors with presents of amity by Consul Cameron, they may be arrested by the Turks. And now I wish that you may arrange for the safe passage of my ambassadors everywhere on the road. I wish to have an answer to this letter by Consul Cameron, and that he may conduct my embassy to England. See how the Islam oppresses the Christian."

But an answer to this, under her Majesty's sign manual, was not addressed to the King of Abyssinia till the 26th May, 1864, by the hand of

Hormuzd, Esq., the Assistant Resident

at Aden.

On the 22nd April, 1863, Earl Russell ordered Captain Cameron to return to his consulate at Massowah, and he wrote that it was not desirable for her Majesty's agents to meddle in the affairs of Abyssinia, and that

Mr. Cameron would have done better had he returned to his post at Massowah when the King told him to do so. This he should do at

once, and he should remain at Massowah until further orders. Mr. Cameron was, however, instructed to keep her Majesty's Government fully and accurately informed of French proceedings in Abyssinia.

On the 8th September, 1863, Earl Russell wrote to Consul Cameron that her Majesty's Government did not approve his proceedings in Abyssinia, nor of the suggestions founded upon them. He was desired to abstain from all interference in the internal affairs of that country, and that he should remain at his post in Massowah.

On the 29th April, 1864, Earl Russell received a communication from Dr. Beke in London, informing him that shortly after the date of the distressing occurrences in Abyssinia a messenger arrived at Gondar from Massowah with letters which had just been received from Europe, that, owing to the unfortunate position of affairs at that time, the whole of those letters fell into the hands of the King, who had them translated to him. And that among them was one from his Lordship's department to Consul Cameron, ordering him forthwith to leave the Court and return to his consulate at Massowah, than which nothing could have happened more unfortunately at that particular juncture. Whether Captain Cameron would have been permitted by King Theodore to obey his Lordship's orders was, at the least, questionable. At all events, it was not improbable that some time would elapse before that officer would be able to communicate with his Lordship, especially as Lieutenant Speedy, whom he had left. in charge of the consulate, had left Massowah for Australia. The Rev. Mr. Stern's sentence of death had been commuted for imprisonment for life.

On the 18th May, 1864, Dr. Beke again wrote to Earl Russell on the subject, and renewed the offer of his services in case they could be of any avail to her Majesty's Government in the present emergency; and on the 8th June, 1864, Mr. Layard received a letter from Major Plowden offering his services for the same object.

On the 23rd June Mr. Hammond received from Mr. Dufton, of Leeds, communicating a

paragraph from the Intelligencer, entitled "Persecutions in Abyssinia of British Subjects," to the following effect :-" A short time ago it was reported that the Rev. Mr. Stern, a missionary of the London Society for Promoting Christianity among the Jews, had been publicly whipped by order of Theodorus, the so-called Emperor of Abyssinia. Later accounts from the same quarter confirm the intelligence, and seem to imply further, that from some cause or other Theodorus has commenced a general persecution of all British subjects within his territories, including our Consul, Captain Cameron."

The following is a verbatim copy of a notice which Captain Cameron succeeded in getting conveyed to Massowah: Myself, Stern, Rosenthal, Cairnes, Bardel, M'Cravie, and Mr. Kilvie are all chained here. Flad, Staiger, Brandeis, and Cornelius sent to Gaffat to work for King. No release until civil answer to King's letter arrives. Mrs. Flad, Mrs. Rosenthal and children, all of us well. Write this to Aden, and to Mrs. Stern, 16, Lincoln'sinn-fields. Gondar, 14th February, 1864."

"We are perfectly at a loss to conceive what can have induced so sudden a change of conduct on the part of the Emperor Theodorus. Up to a very recent period he was the sworn friend of the English, who had generally sided with him in the policy which, within the last ten years, has raised him from the rank of a provincial governor to that of supreme ruler over the whole of Abyssinia, including Shoa. In 1860 he paid a large sum of money to ransom our late Consul Plowden from the hands of the rebels in Tigre, who had wounded and seized him while travelling towards the coast. Plowden's death was avenged by the Englishman Bell, who had long been Commander-in-chief of the Abyssinian army. Bell himself fell in the attempt, but the victory which he had gained over the rebels paved the way for the subjection of the whole of Tigre to the autho`rity of Theodorus.

"Such having been the friendly relations. between the Emperor and the few Englishmen settled in Abyssinia, we cannot imagine what has caused the present state of hostility, and purposely abstain from publishing the surmises which have reached us on the subject. What we are most anxious to know is, what

steps the Foreign Office has taken to obtain the release of our countrymen and countrywomen, who appear to have been in chains at Gondar for the last four months at least.

"Our fellow-townsman, Mr. Dufton (son of Mr. H. Dufton, cloth merchant), in a communication we have received from him, gives it as his opinion, founded on information obtained during a six months' residence in Abyssinia in 1863, during which he had several interviews with King Theodorus, that the displeasure of that monarch towards Captain Cameron and our fellow-subjects, though manifesting itself on the occasion of their interference on behalf of Mr. Stern, is really due to the neglect or delay of our own Government in not replying to the letter which the Abyssinian king despatched to Queen Victoria in some part of 1862. The purport of the letter was to ascertain the willingness of her Majesty to receive ambassadors from the Ethiopian Court, and also whether such ambassadors could be guaranteed a safe passage through the territory of the Pasha of Egypt, with whom King Theodore is not on good terms. With the ambassadors the king also purposed sending some of the richest presents his dominions afforded, including Abyssinian breeds of horses, gold and silver-mounted saddles and trappings, armour, shields, and spears. Now, the nonreceipt of a favourable reply would be apt to present itself to the king as a sign of indifference, if not something approaching to ingratitude, on our part.

"His good feeling towards the English nation is unquestionable, this having been fully guaranteed by the faithful services, during more than twenty years, of our fellow-countrymen Plowden and Bell. The king's revenge for the death of the latter was the slaughter of 3,000 of his own people; and he is even now often known to weep at the remembrance of him whom he had made his bosom companion and friend. He has been known to say, in the expressive idiom of the East, that were an Englishman to present him with poison, he knowing it to be such, would take it at his hands for the love he bears to the nation. His ambition is very great, and having gone on hitherto in his conquering career with little check or hindrance, he is prone to look upon himself as having already attained (though such

is far from being the case) the object for which he says he lives, namely, the re-uniting of all the territories originally called Ethiopia into one vast empire. His title is King of Kings, or Emperor of Ethiopia! The neglect—for in this light he will certainly view it-of our Government in not replying to his letter must consequently be somewhat offending to his pride, and also liable to excite his indignation, as humbling him in the sight of his people, and thereby endangering the stability of his throne."

On the 8th February 1865, Brigadier-general Coghlan made a memorandum on the Abyssinian difficulty, suggesting that since the conduct of King Theodorus towards British subjects was owing to the offence by her Majesty's Government given in not answering that king's letter in time, the best and only mode to secure a better treatment would be to send him a formal embassy with a proper supply of presents.

On February 13, 1865, Dr. Beke again offered himself, believing himself to be the person best qualified to undertake a mission of that peculiar character. Major Leveson also offered himself for the purpose.

And on the 19th May Dr. Beke sent a communication to Earl Russell, stating the method he would pursue to overcome the difficulty as follows:

"It is now well understood that the Emperor Theodore's ill-treatment of her Majesty's Consul and the other European prisoners has been mainly caused by the altered policy of the British Government with respect to the relations between Egypt and Abyssinia, and that the Abyssinian monarch hopes to induce her Majesty's Government to retract their steps and to continue to afford him material aid against his enemies, as was virtually done while Mr. Consul Plowden was alive, that officer having been an active partisan of the Emperor, and having lost his life while bearing arms in his cause.

"Circumstanced as England is with Egypt, it is impossible for the British Government to hold out to the Emperor Theodore the hope of his receiving the further countenance of this country in his disputes with Egypt, or of his obtaining material aid in any other respect; although the transmission to Massowah of 500 stand of arms as a ransom for her Majesty's Consul might, by some persons, and even by the

Egyptian Government, be looked on as doing covertly what would be repudiated openly.

"Nevertheless, it would not be difficult, I believe, to make the Abyssinian monarch understand that by the policy now proposed to be pursued towards him by the British Government, and recommended for his adoption, he might eventually attain the object he has so much at heart; inasmuch as, by the cultivation of the arts of peace he would so aggrandize himself as to be able to cope effectually with his powerful neighbour; leaving it, however, to the progress of events to guide his judgment as to whether the continuance of peace would not be more conducive to the permanent prosperity of himself, his dynasty, and his people, than a war which might result in the ruin and destruction of them all.

"In the first place, then, I would represent to the Emperor Theodore that the immense increase of power and influence among European nations acquired by Egypt during the last few years, had chiefly arisen from the extension given to the cultivation of cotton within the territories of the Viceroy; and I would represent to his Majesty that the plant which has thus suddenly caused the wealth of Egypt was introduced into that country from Upper Ethiopia only forty years ago; and that within his own dominions there are tracts of land more extensive than the whole of the cotton-grounds of Egypt, and far more fitted than the latter for the growth of the cotton plant, not only as being its native country, but also as lying within the limits of the tropical rains, and thus rendering unnecessary the great trouble and expense of artificial irrigation. And I would hope to have it in my power to convince the sovereign of Abyssinia that if he desires to equal, or even to surpass the Viceroy of Egypt in power, he must first seek to augment the material wealth and prosperity of his country and its inhabitants, by means similar to those so successfully adopted by the latter potentate.

"I would further represent to the Emperor of Abyssinia that he possesses within his country other sources of wealth far greater than any enjoyed by the ruler of Egypt, such, in fact, as have so largely contributed to make England what she is. These are iron and coal.

"The former article is well known to exist in unlimited quantities throughout the whole