The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-21 00:00:00

A Friend of the King of Dahomey.

"An African," in a letter to a contemporary, says
—M. Jules Gerard has vastly exaggerated every-
thing connected with the King of Dahomey. I
speak from experience. Human sacrifices are re-
garded by the Africans as a part of their religion.
They are not committed out of sheer addiction tc
the shedding of man's blood for pleasure's sake, but
they are committed in obedience to a sense of reli-
gious duty. They come under the same sort of
inspiration as that which leads us to bend the knee
in prayer.
By the side of the throne of every African king
sits a counsellor who is called the " °crab "
"Ocrah" signifies the "soul." This officer is the
soul, then, or most confidential adviser, friend, and
companion of the King. He receives all the
thoughts and wishes of the King. What is
scrupulously concealed from others is revealed
to him. But the first obligation of the office
of the " ocrah" is that when his Sovereign dies
he also must die or be put to death. He must be
put to death because, as the receptacle of the plans,
desires, and policy—as the "soul," ia a word, of
the King, he is bound to follow his master to the
other world in order that ho may perform the
same kind of loyal service which he has per-
formed on earth. To say, therefore, that the
"ocrah'' of the King of Ashante, or the King of
Dahomey, is slain at the royal tomb for the pur-
pose of satiating a love for blood is to say that
which is nonsense, or to say that which betrays
the utmost ignorance of the customs and laws and
faith of the Ashantees or Dahomians.
The "ocrah" would not survive the King if he
could. He re ies on an existence hereafter; and,
in accordance with his creed, he is simply pass-
ing from one state of being to another in the
immediate company of him to whom he believes
that great deference and distinction are due, and
will be rerdered beyond the stars.
The " ocrah" is highly distinguished: He re-
mains seated on grand occasions close to the throne.
He speaks in public for the King, and the King
is always guided by his opinion. As a badge of
his lofty post and functions, a broad, round plate of
chased gold is suspended by a chain of the same
precious metal from his neck, and rests upon his
uncovered bosom. From a crowd of retainers you
can easily select the " ocrah," not only because his
place is near the elbow of his Prince, but because
this symbol of superlative dignity and trust shines
brightly through the whole sable file of courtiers.
The narrative and conclusions of Commodore
Wilmot are to be preferred to the narrative and
conclusions of M. Jules Gerard. Believe me—and
I write from ocular testimony—that African kings
are in advance of their subjects. I never found
the battle hard which was fought with them alone.
Rememter that African monarchies are limited,
almost as much limited as are the more en-
lightened monarchies of Europe. The Zing
alone is unable to do what he likes; he must
secure the consent of his chiefs. The whole
catalogue of atrocities perpetrated at Abomey, and
imputed to the King's insulated depravity, must
meet with the concurrence of the chiefs, or the King
would not dare to lend his countenance to offences
which are so flagrant in our English estimation. I
know, for example, that the Bible has often been
read to my old correspondent Quacoe Dash, King
of Ashantee ; and I know that be has said he would
like to be a son of the Christian Church. But his
chiefs are the sole impediment to his conversion. I
will relate a fact illustrative of the King's deference
to the views of the chiefs.
Sir William Winniett, the English Governor of
the Gold Coast, paid the King a visit at Coomassie.
On the day of audience Sir William was dressed in
full uniform, and his blue naval coat was, more-
over, set off in gaudiness by the presence o

epaulets.
After having touched lightly on various ordinary
topics, Sir William broached the main purpose of
his errand—human sacrifice—and conveyed to the
King the kindly feelings of the English Govern-
ment towards him, as well as the anxious desire of
the Queen herself that such sacrifices should be
abandoned. The King listened most graciously
and, when Sir William had stopped, observed—
" What you say is good, but would you like to
lose one of your epaulets ?" and the King put his
finger upon the Governor's left epaulet. Sir Wil-
liam was a little puzzled at the strangeness and at
the apparent inappropriateness of the question, but
he replied, " Why, no. I should not."
" Very well, then," answered the King. "If I
were to attempt to do away with human sacrifices,
my chiefs would make my kingdom like your coat
with its one epaulet. I should lose the half of
Ashantee."

Permit me, in contradiction of M. Jules Gerard,
,o state that the King of Dahomey is a man of
superior intellect, and is endowed with an extraor-
dinary capacity for government. Receiving un-
sought the adulation of his people, he maintains a
degree of modesty in his deportment and of equa-
nimity in his language which is, indeed, astonishing.
His arrangements in regard to his police and in
regard to his finances and laws would excite the
admiration of every unprejudiced person, and are
worthy of a people much farther advanced in the
scale of civilization than the Africans are. With
power in his hand verging on despotism, he is yet
served more from love than from fear; and no tongue
nue ever thrown aspersion on appeals made to his in-
terpretation of justice. Te strangers he is hospita-
ble; to his subjects generous. Impressed with the
dignity of his regal station, he never separates
his habits from frugality and temperance, nor
does he often give way to sadden ebullitions
of temper. Like every uneducated African, he
is strongly attached to the customs of his fore-
fathers,
and regards with singular suspicion any
attempt at innovation. Hence arises his reluctance
in agreeing to abandon the slave trade and human
sacrifices. From sentiments of admiration and
dread, he displays attachment to the English ; from
sentiments of self-interest he displays more attach-
ment to the slave trade and to human sacrifices ;
and from sentiments which actuate the black man
as well ss the white, he is most attached to himself.
If the English Government would then wisely take
advantage of the King's compulsory predisposition
in its favour, and would judicously address its policy
to the satisfaction of those sentiments of self-interest
by raising for the King a larger revenue than that
proceeding from the slave trade, and by saPPivg the
superstitions which surround the rites of human
sacrifices, the slave trade and human sacrifices must
vanish.

Let us approach the abolition of human sacrifice
in a temper different to that in which we have
hitherto. approached it. Let us undermine the
who are 80 faith of those of our own species
men-
tally poor; but do not let us inveigh against them
as a horde of merciless, sanguinary savages.

INFERNAL MACIIINES IN THE BALTIC.—A St.
Petersburg letter contains the following :—" Infer-
nal machines have been placed around the works at Cron-
etadt, and the Finland journals contain notices to seamen
of the limits which they must not pass. Those lines are
marked near the Emperor Paul L and Constantino forts by
flags fixed upon buoys.
blue Not only have heaps of earth
been thrown into the sea behind those flags, bat there still
remain many of the explosive machines which were laid
down at the time of the Crimean war. Two years ago a
Danish brig struck one of them, suffering considerable
damage, and the accident was followed by a long lawsuit
between the Russian and Danish authorities."
A PRETTY RUSTIC PICTURE IN DEVONSHIRE :
not unworthy of illustration by the pencil of Birket
Foster I —We have to thank the b'aturday _Review of last
Saturday for a charming paper upon a curious little work
called 4 bevenshire Dialogue in Four Tarte, written by
Mrs. Palmer, the sister of Sir Joshua Reynolds. From
this little book we quote one passage suggested by Rab's
reminder to his sweetheart Bet, that "thee mert now be
owner of the hour, the garden, the cat, and the great tree
[,orraerly belonging to her schoolmistress], which, us hopes,
want be cut down in our time." To all which Bet answers
thus :—" I hope zo, too, vor I shu'd like to bring out my
knitting work, or my spinning turn, and zit there; and
then I inert happen to z e thee, when you be to work.
Dear heart ! what strange things come to pass. When I
used to think how happy any body inert live in such a sweet
place, I could ne'er ha' thort it wid come to my take,
everything so handy ; a pretty doming oven, big enew to
bake a batch o'bread, water at the shet just by, the thorn
hedge and garden, and the great tree. Poor zoul, her used
to zit there summer yevlinge, to zee the yolks come fro'
markets, and take in her arrants, her had a 'zent by 'em.
JV,'ien I used to cede story 494 of a it ty place, I mart
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