British Expedition to Abyssinia peaceable inhabitant shall be molested. The sole object for which the British Force has been sent to Abyssinia is the liberation of Her Majesty's subjects. There is no intention to occupy permanently any portion of the Abyssinian Territory, or to interfere with the government of the country." The two most powerful Ethiopian princes in the north, Dajamach Kassai of Tigray and Wagshum Gobeze of Lasta both pledged to cooperate and aid the British Army, thus transforming an apparent invasion of Abyssinia into a conquest of a single mountain fortress defended by only a few thousand warriors in the employ of
SS Abyssinia Due to such, "Parthia" only burned 47 tons of coal per day. In 1880, Cunard sold "Abyssinia" to the Guion Line when that company needed a mail liner to replace the wrecked "Montana". Two years later, "Abyssinia" finally received compound machinery. In 1884, she was transferred to the John Elder shipyard to partly finance Guion's new Blue Riband winner, the "Oregon". Unable to make the payments, Guion returned its new record breaker to Elders and continued to operate "Abyssinia". At the same time, Elders also acquired the former Cunarders "Batavia" and "Parthia" ("Abyssinia's" near sister) as trade ins for the