Conquering Lion of the tribe of Judah, Menelik II, elect of God, king of kings of Ethiopia

To our friend Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India.

Greetings!

We ask most especially for news of your precious health.

I wrote a letter to your Majesty dated 25 Meskerem 1883; but I do not know if it reached you.

The great English power being up to this day the friend of the Ethiopian empire and in recognition of your goodwill to her, we express to you our gratitude.

Seeing that we wish to acquaint the friendly powers of Europe in writing with the boundaries of Ethiopia, we hereby write to your Majesty in the same sense, and we are hopeful that you may bestow your benevolent consideration upon what follows:

Boundaries of Ethiopia:

In pointing out the exact boundaries of my empire as they exist today I signify my intention, if god graciously grants me life and strength, to re-establish the ancient frontiers of Ethiopia as far as Khartoum and Lake Nyanza (Lake Victoria), with all the Galla territories.

I have not the least intention of remaining a disinterested onlooker if powers from a distance come with the notion of dividing Africa between themselves, Ethiopia having been, during the course of quite fourteen centuries, an island inhabited by Christians in a see of pagans.

Just as almighty god has protected Ethiopia up to the present time, so also I am confident that he be her guardian today and will also add to her territory in the future, and I have no reason to contemplate that he will divide up Ethiopia amongst other powers.

Formerly the boundary of Ethiopia was the see. Because of lack of strength on our own part and because of the failure of other Christians to come to our aid, our frontier on the seaward side fell into the hands of the Muslims. Today we make no pretence of seeking to recover our seaward frontier by force; but we hope that the Christian powers, guided by our lord Jesus Christ, may yield us our frontiers on the sea, or that at least they may give us some points on the coast.

Done at Addis Ababa 14 Miazia 1883 (April 1891)