"Badly," he replied. "I had an audience with the Emperor, when Mr.
D'Abbadie whispered to him that your Majesty was in the habit of
cutting off hands and feet; on that, without a word more, Napoleon
turned his back upon me."
Theodore then took the letter, and, tearing it to pieces, said:--"Who
is that Napoleon? Are not my ancestors greater than his? If God
made him great, can he not make me also great?" After which his
Majesty ordered a safe conduct to be given to M. Lejean, with orders
that he should leave the country at once.
The Abouna, at that time in favour, afraid above all things of the
Roman Catholics, urged the Emperor to let Lejean depart, lest the
French should be afforded an excuse for taking possession of some
part of the country, from whence their priests would endeavour to
propagate their doctrines. But two days after Lejean's departure,
Theodore, who had by that time regretted that he had let him go,
sent to have him arrested on the road and brought back to Gondar.
In the autumn of 1863 the Europeans in Abyssinia numbered about
twenty-five; they were, Cameron and his European servants, the Basle
mission, the Scottish mission, the missionaries of the London Society
for the Conversion of the Jews, and some adventurers.
In 1855 Dr. Krapf, accompanied by Mr. Flad, entered Abyssinia as
pioneers for a mission which Bishop Gobat desired to establish in
that country.
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