DAHOMEY. 



245 



Frenchmen were permitted to trade in all the 

 towns. They bound themselves to attend the 

 religious festivals that were accompanied with 

 human sacrifices. On May 19, 1868, the King 

 signed a treaty ceding Kotonu to France, and in 

 1878 a third treaty confirmed this cession, em- 

 powered the French to levy and collect duties, 

 and relieved them of the obligation of being 

 present at the barbarous pagan rites. No at- 

 tempt at an effective occupation even of the 

 coast district was made. The country was con- 

 sidered as a no-man's-land, notwithstanding the 

 French treaties, which were offset by counter- 

 claims advanced by other countries, all of which 

 refrained from establishing their rights by con- 

 quest, which would necessitate serious military 

 operations in a difficult and unhealthful coun- 

 try. The English, who blockaded the coast in 

 1876 on account of the maltreatment of a mer- 

 chant, long disputed the prior right of France 

 to Kotonu. In 1883 a German force landed to 

 punish the inhabitants of the town for piratical 

 acts. At one time, when looking around for a 

 field for colonial expansion on the west coast, 

 the German Government considered the risks 

 and costs of establishing a colony here. In Sep- 

 tember, 1885, the Portuguese Government, re- 

 viving an ancient claim, announced a protector- 

 ate over the Kingdom of Dahomey. In 1888 all 

 rights and responsibilities in respect to the coun- 

 try were disclaimed in a formal renunciation of 

 this protectorate. The French Government was 

 anxious to incur no further sacrifices than were 

 necessary to keep alive its ultimate claims. 

 These were settled for all real intents when treat- 

 ies of delimitation were made with England and 

 Germany which included Dahomey, with Grand 

 Popo and Porto Novo, in the French sphere of 

 influence. The French part of the coast begins 

 at the limit of the German possession of the 

 Pohos, and extends, according to the Anglo- 

 French convention of Aug. 10, 1889, to the point 

 where Adjarra creek and the prolongation of its 

 meridian to the coast divide Porto Novo from 

 the English colony of Lagos. This was not 

 enough to satisfy the French traders, whose fac- 

 tories would be worth much more if they stood 

 on French territory. They induced the Govern- 

 ment to take possession of the town of Porto 

 Novo, which has 50,000 inhabitants, and to pro- 

 claim a protectorate over the kingdom of that 

 name on July 4, 1884. The occupation was ef- 

 fected without a blow, and a French official and 

 twelve Senigalese soldiers were the only repre- 

 sentatives of French dominion. The merchants 

 intrigued to set up a new King of Porto Novo 

 in the place of a faithful vassal of the King of 

 Dahomey, and urged the Government to take 

 effective possession of Kotonu and Whydah. 

 Warned by the English traders of Lagos, King 

 (He Gb. who had been educated in France and 

 had always lived on friendly terms with the 

 French, took the offensive first. He declared 

 that France had no rights in the ceded districts 

 of Dahomey, and that the protectorate over 

 Porto Novo was invalid, as the King of that 

 country was his vassal. Passing from words to 

 deeds, he raided Porto Novo in April, 1889, cut 

 down the palm trees, ravaged and plundered, 

 illed a great number of people, and carried off 

 1,000 men, women, and children into slavery. 



Lieut. Jean Bayol, deputy governor of this part 

 of the French possessions, called the Southern 

 Rivers district of Senegal, was sent to Abomey 

 to demand recognition of the French rights, 

 not only in Porto Novo, but in Kotonu and 

 Whydah, and to offer a money indemnity for 

 the King's right to collect taxes in these places. 

 The French officer was treated rather as a pris- 

 oner than as a guest, and, with the object of in- 

 spiring him with respect for the majesty and 

 power of the savage ruler, hecatombs of human 

 victims of both sexes were sacrificed with horri- 

 ble tortures before his eyes till he became sick. 

 Then, suddenly, Gle Gle died and was succeeded 

 by Dongko, who reigns under the title of King 

 Benezin. The envoy's life was no longer safe, 

 and he took the first opportunity to break off 

 negotiations. In his report to the Government 

 he described the horrors that he had witnessed. 

 It was necessary to make a manifestation of mil- 

 itary power or leave the country open to the 

 possible interference of other 'colonizing powers. 

 On April 4 a blockade was proclaimed on the 

 French portion of the Slave Coast to prevent the 

 importation of munitions into Dahomey. The 

 French Government was not tempted to under- 

 take the conquest of Dahomey, but thought it 

 necessary not only to make the position at Porto 

 Novo secure, but to take effective possession of 

 the coast district of Kotonu and Whydah, in the 

 southwest corner of Dahomey, after asserting its 

 claims to these places. Benezin began to collect 

 men for an attack and repeated the demands of 

 his predecessor, which were evacuation of Koto- 

 nu, which the French fortified, abandonment of 

 Porto Novo, and surrender of its king. 



The Campaign. Three companies of native 

 sharp-shooters were sent in vessels of war from 

 Senegal. The naval forces began operations by 

 bombarding Abomey-Kalavy and other villages 

 from the lagoon that lies between Dahomey and 

 Porto Novo. The military occupation of Ko- 

 tonu took place on Feb. 17, after a battle in 

 which 60 natives were slain. On March 4, 1890, 

 the morning after re-enforcements were landed 

 at Kotunu, they were attacked by the King's 

 troops, losing 8 dead, whose heads were sent 

 to the King at Abomey. In the mean time the 

 Dahomeyans had besieged Whydah, and the 

 seven French merchants there were enticed out 

 of the fort where they had taken refuge by a 

 Portuguese half-caste named Candido Rodri- 

 guez, and dragged off to the King, who kept them 

 as hostages, and so maltreated and tormented 

 them that one or two tried to kill themselves. 

 He threatened to behead them if the French 

 troops advanced. The vessels threw shells into 

 Whydah on April 29 and 30, with the object of 

 securing the release of the French prisoners. 



The Dahomeyan army lay encamped before 

 the French works till early in May, when it re- 

 treated into the interior. During this period 

 three or four fights took place every week. Most 

 of these were mere skirmishes, in which the sav- 

 ages received two or three volleys and then broke 

 for the trees or the tall grass. Their tactics 

 were to attempt to surprise and suiTound the 

 French at night or in the early morning. They 

 advanced fearlessly to within 100 yards of the 

 French line, those in the front rank firing their 

 guns, charged to the muzzle with iron balls and 



