Abyssinian Slavery The Anti-Slavery Society, supported by our Foreign Office,
has scored a notable success in inducing the Abyssinian ruler to open a school for freed slaves at Addis Ababa, his • capital. In a letter to the Society the Emperor, Ras Tafari, states that the slave trade is forbidden and that domestic slavery in Abyssinia is a mild form of servitude, inasmuch as slaves can hold property and practise trades, as in the early Roman Empire. To abolish so old an institution is, he says, a delicate task which cannot be hurried. We must hope that the Emperor's evident sympathy with the work of liberation will lead to a rapid reduction in the number of slaves, now estimated at 2,000,000. It is well known that slaves are still shipped across the Red Sea into Arabia. Until slavery ceases in Abyssinia, this dreadful traffic cannot be stamped out, despite the efforts of our naval patrols. * * * *
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