220 



DAHOMEY. 



Mr. Curtis used his pen and his voice in the 

 cause. 



A year after his marriage the publishing firm of 

 which he was a member failed disastrously, and 

 Mr. Curtis had put all he had into the venture. 

 He now became permanently associated with the 

 Harpers, as editor of the " Easy Chair," and as 

 " The Lounger " in " Harper's Weekly," estab- 

 lished in 1857. In 1859, in the same periodical, 

 appeared his novel " Trumps." Mr. Curtis led 

 a busy life as a lecturer abroad and at home. 

 The proceeds of all this work went to settle the 

 claims of creditors of the bankrupt firm, and 

 he had the satisfaction of completely paying off 

 its indebtedness. 



Meantime, he had become interested in local 

 politics; and on Staten Island, which was his 

 home as well as that of his father-in-law, he pro- 

 moted the interests of the Republican party, of 

 which he was an ardent adherent. In 1860 Mr. 

 Curtis was a delegate to the convention that 

 nominated Mr. Lincoln for the presidency. He 

 had now become the chief editorial writer for 

 " Harper's Weekly," and in its columns and on 

 the platform he enthusiastically advocated the 

 cause of the Union and emancipation. 



In 1862 Mr. Curtis declined the offer of the 

 oonsul-generalship of Egypt. In 1864 he was 

 again delegate to the National Republican Con- 

 vention, and was candidate for Congress in the 

 First New York District, but was defeated. In 

 1867 he was delegate to the convention for re- 

 vising the Constitution of New York State, and 

 was also appointed one of the regents of the Uni- 

 versity. In 1868 he was a presidential elector 

 on the Republican ticket. In 1869, on the death 

 of Henry J. Raymond, the post of editor of the 

 " New York Times " was offered to Mr. Curtis, 

 but was declined. In 1871 Gen. Grant appointed 

 him one of the commissioners to draw up rules 

 to regulate the civil service. For several years 

 Mr. Curtis had been interested in that subject, 

 having adopted the views of Thomas A. Jenckes, 

 of Rhode Island, and he was elected chairman 

 of the commission and of the advisory board 

 into which it was merged. The views of Mr. 

 Curtis differed from those of the President, and 

 he resigned his office, but he supported Grant's 

 renomination in 1872. 



In 1876 Mr. Curtis opposed the renomination 

 of President Grant for a third term and favored 

 the successful candidate, Mr. Hayes. In that 

 year a civil-service league had been formed in 

 New York State, and in 1880 it was revived, and 

 Mr. Curtis became its president. This was super- 

 seded a year later by the National Civil Service 



Reform League, which was essentially of his 

 organization. In the same year Mr. Curtis sup- 

 ported Gen. Garfield's candidacy for President, 

 being again a delegate to the National Republican 

 Convention, and in 1884 he again held a seat 

 in that body, making there his famous speech 

 beginning, " The Democratic party is very hun- 

 gry and very thirsty." After working earnestly 

 against the nomination of Mr. Elaine, and re- 

 taining his seat to the last with no hint of his 

 intention, he returned to New York and bolted 

 the nomination, and worked against the Repub- 

 lican party. In 1888 he again supported Mr. 

 Cleveland, but his interest in politics steadily 

 declined. 



Mr. Curtis was President of the Metropolitan 

 Museum of Art Association, and of the National 

 Conference of Unitarian Churches. He always 

 manifested great interest in the denominational 

 religious life of his home on Staten Island, and 

 for several years, although not ordained, con- 

 ducted the service of the Unitarian church, read- 

 ing a sermon every Sunday. He pronounced 

 eulogies upon Robert Burns, Sumner, Phillips, 

 Bryant, and his life-long friend Lowell. Of his 

 published works, " Prue and I " seems most like- 

 ly to live. It belongs on the same shelf with 

 Alexander Smith's " Dreamthorpe," Lamb's "Es- 

 says of Elia," Ik Marvel's "Reveries of a Bache- 

 lor," and Willis's " Letters from under a Bridge." 

 As to his personal character, we may well ac- 

 cept the verdict of Lowell : 



Dear friend, if any man I wished to please, 

 'Twere surely you, whose humor's honeyed ease 

 Flows flecked with gold of thought, whose generous 



mind 



Sees paradise regained by all mankind, 

 Whose brave example still to vanward shines, 

 Checks the retreat, and spurs our lagging lines. 



Mr. Curtis seemed to be in public life more by 

 circumstance than by nature. He was essen- 

 tially a home-keeping, friend-loving man. He 

 was happiest in his country house in Ashfield, 

 Mass., and was genial, appreciative, and kindly, 

 in the simple, unstudied fashion of an American 

 gentleman. His funeral was unostentatious, and 

 he was buried in the old Moravian Cemetery on 

 Staten Island. The complete list of his publi- 

 cations, besides pamphlet speeches and addresses, 

 is as follows : " Nile Notes of a Howadji " (1851) ; 

 "The Howadji in Syria " (1852) ; "Lotus Eat- 

 ing" (1852); "The Potiphar Papers" (1853); 

 " Prue and I " (1856) ; " Trumps," a novel (1862) ; 

 "From the Easy Chair" (1891); and " Washing- 

 ton Irving" (1891). 



DAHOMEY, a native African kingdom in 

 Upper Guinea, on the Slave Coast. It has an 

 area of about 4,000 square miles and a popula- 

 tion of 250,000 souls, having been much reduced 

 in extent and power by unsuccessful wars with 

 Abeokuta and other Yoruba tribes on the eastern 

 frontier. On the west the river Volta divides it 

 from Ashantee. Northward it extends to the ter- 

 ritory of the Wangera. On the coast of the Bight 

 of Benin it possesses the port of Whydah. The 



treaty of delimitation between the West African 

 possessions of Great Britain and France leaves 

 Dahomey within the French sphere of influence 

 as the Hinterland of Porto Novo. 



The King of Dahomey has unlimited power, 

 and is the religious as well as the temporal ruler. 

 He maintains a large army, and his soldiers are 

 noted for desperate courage, but most of all his 

 body guard of Amazons or female warriors. The 

 people belong to the Fon branch of the Ewe 



