10 



ing all those who would not shave their heads 

 and swear on the Koran their adherence to his 

 faith. This fanatical warrior, elated by the 

 success he had obtained over his negro brethren, 

 in June, 1866, sent an invading array into Brit- 

 ish territory on the Gambia, but he was re- 

 pulsed, and sustained great losses from the able 

 strategy of the governor, Colonel D'Arcy. 

 Mabba, however, then thought he would attack 

 the French, and in December of the same year, 

 with four thousand warriors, surrounded a party 

 of three hundred European French troops, and 

 massacred them all with the exception of nine. 

 The sacrifices and customs of the King of Da- 

 homey are but a trifle compared to the slaugh- 

 ter and misery this fanatic Mabba has, by his 

 policy, inflicted on the unoffending negro races. 

 The year 1867 fortunately ended his rule, he 

 being captured in battle by Jolliffe, King of 

 Sein, and his head and hands sent exultingly by 

 that King as a trophy of successful war to the 

 governor of the French settlements on the Sen- 

 egal. It has been computed that no less than 

 twenty thousand human beings have been killed 

 or have died through starvation, or have been 

 abducted and sold into slavery by Mabba, under 

 the cloak of religion. It was hoped that peace 

 and prosperity would now be restored to these 

 unhappy countries. 



On the relations of the English Government 

 to the native chiefs on the Gold Coast, we find 

 some curious information in the papers con- 

 cerning "King Aggery" laid before the Eng- 

 lish Parliament in June. It appears that under 

 the English protectorate of the Gold Coast a 

 chief has been from time to time elected by the 

 people of Cape Coast, who, on being approved 

 by the governor of Cape Coast Castle, has 

 borne the title of King of Cape Coast. In 1856 

 the then king was deposed by Colonel Ord, 

 the English commissioner, in compliance with 

 the wish of his people, and. for the next nine 

 years there was no king at all ; but in 1865 

 Governor Pine permitted and ratified the elec- 

 tion of Aggery as king. He is a native Chris- 

 tian, educated by the missionaries, and is said 

 to be not a bad man, but he became the tool 

 of half-educated adventurers, and especially of 

 one person who is described as "a sort of 

 Fenian." By some mishap, the usual oath of 

 allegiance was not administered to King Ag- 

 gery at what he terms " his coronation " an 

 omission which he does not forget. After the 

 return of two commissioners whom he sent to 

 England to attend the committee of the House 

 of Commons on West Africa, reports were cir- 

 culated that the desire of England is that the 

 Africans should be trained for self-government, 

 and should relieve that country of the pro- 

 tectorate it has undertaken ; and King Aggery 

 seems to have been advised that the time for it 

 was come. Conflicts and collisions arose be- 

 tween the British court of justice and a court 

 established by him, without leave, as an inde- 

 pendent tribunal ; and discussions sprang up, 

 in which he wrote to the governor what Mr. 



Cardwell gently called "very unsuitable let- 

 ters." The hundred other kings and chiefs of 

 the protectorate do not appear to be dissatis- 

 fied with their position, or unconscious of 

 the improvement in the condition of their peo- 

 ple, but the " Blue-book " of the committee, 

 which of course has found its way to them, has 

 been ill understood, and an uneasy feeling was 

 likely to be created by King Aggery's proceed- 

 ings. King Aggery appealed to Governor 

 Blackall, at Sierra Leone, demanding to be con- 

 sulted in the making of laws, and to have a 

 portion of the public revenue to pay the na- 

 tional debt, the said national debt consisting of 

 300 or 400 borrowed at enormous interest 

 of a commissariat clerk to pay the expense of 

 sending his commissioners to England, to at- 

 tend the House of Commons' committee. He 

 avowed his intention to form a native police 

 corps for the defence of his country. He was 

 last year convicted before the Supreme Court 

 of cruelty to some of his people, who, being 

 prisoners for debt or on charges not generally 

 punished as crimes, were found chained to logs 

 in dungeons underneath his house a punish- 

 ment interdicted throughout the protectorate, 

 the sufferers being almost unable -to move, liv- 

 ing in their own filth, and dependent upon 

 the kin'dness of friends for food. King Aggery's 

 final offence, and the proximate cause of his 

 fall, was that on the 6th of December. 1866, 

 after holding a meeting of two thousand five 

 hundred of his followers, he addressed a letter 

 to the lieutenant-governor, stating that he 

 should make one more appeal to the Colonial 

 Office, and, if unsuccessful, it would be time 

 for him to adopt measures which would "in- 

 sure for him and his people something unlike 

 the slavery which the lieutenant-governor 

 was endeavouring to place them in ; " he added 

 significantly that the governor's object was 

 " to incite him and his people to enact more of 

 those fearful things that took place at Jamaica." 

 On receipt of this letter, Lieutenant-Governor 

 Couran sent King Aggery to Sierra Leone, 

 under charge of Lieutenant Harrison, and 

 issued a proclamation declaring Aggery no 

 longer king, and closing his native courts. 

 Arrived at Sierra Leone, he was permitted to 

 be at large on parole, and allowed five shillings 

 a day by Governor Blackall. Eventually the 

 sanction of the Secretary of State was given 

 to an offer of a pension of 100 a year dur- 

 ing good behavior, and on condition of his 

 not returning to Cape Coast without leave. 

 The governor adds that Aggery knows very 

 little English, and could hardly be made to 

 understand what an insulting and threatening 

 letter he had sent. His letters were written 

 for him by some native who had learned to read 

 and write, or some petty native lawyer, a class 

 of men who " cling like leeches to the skirts of 

 their ignorant chiefs and kings," making tools 

 of them. Aggery paid 50 for getting one of 

 his letters prepared and written. 



The total population of Africa is estimated 



