His reign soon proved to be the most effective Abyssinia had ever had. As soon as he came into power, his attention was directed to the importance of being on terms of friendship with the government which rules India, and which has established itself in the neighboring stronghold of Aden. He therefore resolved to assert the rights assured to him by virtue of the treaty made between Great Britain and Abyssinia in the year 1849, and ratified in 1852, in which it was stipulated that each State should receive embassadors from the other. Mr. Plowden, who had been for many years English consul at Massawah, although not an accredited agent to Abyssinia, went to that country with presents for the people in authority, and remained during the war which broke out at the succession of Theodore. Unfortunately, Mr. Plowden, who had succeeded in winning the favor of the emperor, to a large extent, was killed; and his successor, Mr. Cameron, was informed, soon after his arrival in 1862, by the King, that he desired to carry out the above-mentioned treaty; he even wrote an autograph letter to Queen Victoria, asking permission to send an embassy to London. Although the letter reached England in February, 1863, it remained unanswered; and the supposition is, that this circumstance, together with a quarrel with Mr. Stern, a missionary, who in a book on Abyssinia, had spoken disrespectfully of the King, and who had remonstrated against the flogging to death of two interpreters, roused the King’s temper, and a year after having dispatched the unanswered letter, he sent an armed force to the missionary station, seized the missionaries, and put them in chains. He also cast Mr. Cameron into prison, and had him chained continually to an Abyssinian soldier. Great excitement prevailed in England on the arrival of the news of this outrage against British subjects: but in consideration of an armed expedition having to undergo many hardships in such a warm climate, it was deemed best by the English government to use diplomacy in its efforts to have the prisoners released. It was not until the second half of August, 1865, that Mr. Rassam, an Asiatic, by birth, was sent on a special mission to the Abyssinian potentate, and was received on his arrival in February, 1866, in a truly magnificent style, the release of the prisoners being at once ordered by the King. But the hope thus raised was soon to be disappointed, for when Mr. Rassam and the other prisoners were just on the point of taking leave of the Emperor, they were put under arrest, and notified that they would have to remain in the country as State guests until an answer could be obtained to another letter which the King was going to write to the Queen.