In 1860 he advanced against his cousin Garad, the murderer of Consul
Plowden, and gained the day; but he lost his best friend and adviser,
Mr. Bell, who saved the Emperor's life by sacrificing his own. In
January, 1861, Theodore marched with an overwhelming force against
a powerful rebel, Agau Negoussi, who had made himself master of all
northern Abyssinia; by cunning and skilful tactics, he easily
overthrew his adversary but tarnished his victory by horrid cruelties
and gross breach of faith. Agau Negoussi's hands and feet were cut
off, and though he lingered for days, the merciless emperor refused
him even a drop of water to moisten his fevered lips. His cruel
vengeance did not stop there. Many of the compromised chiefs, who
had surrendered on his solemn pledge of amnesty, were either handed
over to the executioner or sent to linger for life, loaded with
fetters, in some of the prison ambas. For the next three years
Theodore's rule was acknowledged throughout the land. A few petty
rebels had risen here and there, but with the exception of Tadla
Gwalu, who could not be driven from the fastness of his amba in the
south of Godjam, all the others were but of little importance, and
did not disturb the tranquillity of his reign.

But though a conqueror, and endowed with military genius, Theodore
was a bad administrator. To attach his soldiery to his cause, he
lavished upon them immense sums of money; he was therefore forced
to exact exorbitant tributes, almost to drain the land of its last
dollar, in order to satisfy his rapacious followers. Finding himself
at the head of a powerful host, and feeling either reluctant or
afraid to dismiss them to their homes, he longed for foreign
conquests; the dream of his younger days became a fixed idea, and
he believed himself called upon by God to re-establish in its former
greatness the old Ethiopian empire.