The French are very anxious to conciliate Ras Makonnen, the
feudal noble whom the Emperor Menelik regards as his first counsellor and sent over to England to be present at the Coronation. The Colonial party in Paris on Saturday last gave him a grand banquet, and M. Etienne, chief of that party, made a speech in which he declared that the independence of Abyssinia was sacred, and guaranteed by France, with or without Russia, against " the aggression of a third party." Abyssinia, he continued, " has in France only admirers." The Ras in reply thanked his hosts for "the very sympathetic greeting which be was receiving in France, and which he had not yet met with elsewhere." It seems that the Ras complains of a certain want of official attention in England, which is perhaps natural under recent untoward circumstances, but which is rather stupid nevertheless. The Emperor, who knows India, is inclined to favour the British, and might become in easily imagined contingencies a most valuable ally. His army is rather for defence than for external action, but it is a powerful one, as was shown in the defeat of the Italians, and it is composed of singularly brave men. Neither Arabs from beyond the Red Sea nor Egyptians have ever succeeded in making an impression on Abyssinia., which has remained for ages free, and, at least nominally, Christian.
