1867 necessary, a new Reform Bill was passed. It greatly increased the number of voters; gave members to certain towns, the population of which had recently increased; and took members from others, the population of which had gone down. Seven members were added to the number from Scotland. A.D. 1874 A.D. 4. Six years later, another little African war had to be begun. The Ashantees, near the west coast, made it difficult for other tribes there to carry on trade with England. A small army was sent to Ashantee, under Sir Garnet Wolseley. The natives were defeated, their capital was burned to the ground, and their King was glad to make peace and to promise all that the English wanted. 5. A new war broke out between Russia and 1877 Turkey in 1877, in which Turkey was beaten. The other powers did not step in this time till the war was quite over. Then they met at Berlin A. D. and made a treaty of peace. At the same time England made a 'private treaty with Turkey, promising to defend her provinces in Asia against attacks from Russia. 1878 A.D. 6. This was hardly done when an Afghan war broke out. The Indian Government was alarmed because the ruler of Afghanistan seemed to favour the Russians more than he favoured the English. An English army marched into the country from India and took Cabul, the capital. After peace had been made, the English Envoy, Sir Louis Cavagnari, was cruelly murdered, and the war broke out again. But the English people did not like the war. A change of Ministry took place, and the war was as soon as possible brought to an end. 7. About the same time a war broke out in South Africa, between the English and the Zulus, whose King refused to disarm his soldiers. 1878 A. D. The English suffered terribly in one battle; but in the end they gained, and the Zulu King was taken prisoner. A year or two later the 1880 colonists of the Transvaal,3 in South Africa, A. D. revolted and set up a Free State. This led to another war, in which, after gaining some successes, the colonists accepted the English terms. [Queen. en-voy, person who represented the private, secret. u-ni-ver-sal, generally felt. 1 Abyssin'ia.-A country on the east coast of Africa, south of Nubia and west of the Red Sea. 2 Magdä la. — A rocky fortress, nearly 300 miles from the Red Sea. 3 Transvaal'.-A State north of the river Vaal, founded by Dutch Boers (farmers) in 1848. Its independence was declared in 1852. It was annexed to the British possessions in 1877. 68. THE ABYSSINIAN WAR. 1. Abyssinia is a mountainous country in the east of Africa, lying near the entrance to the Red Sea. Some of the principal tributaries of the Nile pour their waters from its rocky table-lands. The great Nile flood owes its volume every summer-and Egypt therefore owes her bread-to the rains and melting snows of this land, which we may call the Highlands of Africa. 2. In 1868 it happened that Mr. Cameron, the British Consul in that region of Africa, gave offence to an Abyssinian chief or king, named Theodore, by having visited some provinces that were friendly to Egypt. The hot-blooded African, supposing that some secret plot was being formed against his power, seized a number of British subjects, and refused to set them free. The Queen declared war, and sent a force to storm the fortress of this Abyssinian chief. 3. A general, trained in Indian warfare, and bearing a name of great military renown-that of Napier was selected to command the expedition. Sir Robert had at his disposal an army of twelve thousand fighting-men; but the difficulties of the way were so great that a still greater number was required. The entire body of men under his command numbered about twenty-six thousand. 1868 A.D. 4. The landing-place was on a bay in the Red Sea The object of the toilsome march was the capture of Magdala—a fortress perched on the summit of a barren hill, far up stony wilds of this torrid land. Here Theodore, like a vulture in his nest, looked out upon realms where the white man's foot had seldom trodden. the 5. We read in the books written by men who have travelled in Egypt, that the ascent of the Great Pyramid consists in climbing up a 'succession of stone steps, each step being breast high. The march accomplished by the British army in ascending the table-lands that lead to Magdala was very like this kind of climbing, only that the steps were mountain terraces. The struggle at first was not with a human foe, not with a scorching climate, but with the vast rocks that pile themselves up on every side, as if forbidding entrance to the heart of the land. 6. But our engineers triumphed over every obstacle. If the entrance to a steep pass was blocked up by a great hill of stone, they blew the hill to fragments with powder, and used the fragments to pave a road for the advancing forces. If the mountain-wall rose sheer and smooth, they cut a narrow shelf, along which the soldiers marched in single file. The cannon were carried on the backs of elephants. 7. King Theodore knew little of real warfare as it is waged among 'civilized nations. In a combat with lances, arrows, and hard-wood clubs, he was well skilled; and he knew also of gunpowder and its terrors in war. He possessed one large cannon, on the supposed powers of which he rested all his hopes of destroying the white-skinned warriors, who, as his scouts told him, were every day forcing their way nearer to his rocky stronghold. 8. Planting this gun on a rock, he drew his army up near it in what seemed to him a powerful array of battle. The British drew near, and made their way slowly but steadily up the mountains. Theodore ordered the great gun to be fired; but, to his surprise, it produced no effect on the advance of the enemy! 9. Soon from them a quick firing began. Armed with breech-loading rifles, the British soldiers kept up a fire so rapid and unceasing that all the echoes of the rocky glens were roused as if into a rattling |