The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-04-14

IuohSp-p- A~.-~--~~y~so~~ -~-~~g~>s~'1N'~
France anA England.
Various journals, both 10 Ensisna a'. Of
ted States, maintain that the nrss my s..,,r. Of
Great Britain with regard to the seN ,sa.--,hat.
,ha French Emperor, was the "as 80, ,,a
s"s a.. b. h.a harbored in bis heAr' Tue
""a' VS.. ~ the vengeance due TOT that
aee'so " -. I. went on board che Bs'lero-
rhoa. n rr.n.a NAV he
~.oa ar sv;,. discreet rssh, great or lucky, nc
..,.,nlv the rare faculty of hiding his chas
~..,.r and purposes completely from the world
% a. TIA most inscrutable and impenetrable Of
,norta,s. His face IL itself mask, which remains
,nexnressise under the most searching and inqui'
alive slances of observant diplomatists and pry'
ing politicians. He Is man Of mystery; has no
onh Iential friends; his tongue Is action. "has
means, therefore, the quid-auncs of Europe, ana
especially Of America, haveof fAthoming the deep
we'll OF Louis Napoleon's policy, IL beyond the
Of common mortsis IL ande'
niable however that the question Of the French
Emperor's designs 10 regard TO England, is OF i'm
nense interest to this country.
On one hand, the United States cannot desire
the continuance Of q powerful alliance, which as
sumes TO regulate the affairs of both hemispheres,
and on the other, 1. will be sti less to our iute-
rest that England, the only free government In the
world besides ourselves, should be BUNDLED be
meath the feet of military despo.ism. Ii must
be admitted that sao is apparently not secure at
this moment from a French invasion. The bulk
Of her army is ia India, and what effect the intro'
duction Of steam will have in neniral,Zins her
superiority 10 seamanship, remains 10 be seem One
thing seems clear: England cannot in the ap-
proschiug European Congress throw her weight
In the scale of French ACKNOWLEDGEMENT without
making Napoleon more powerful than due 70.
gard to the balance of power in Europe, aud her
own security, would warrant.
Death OF the King of DahOmey.
His Majesty, the King of Dahomey, the great
negro seller of Africa, has departed this life He
was In the habit of rausacking all the neighbor'
ing African Kingdoms, for the purpose of making
eaptives, whom he sold to the slavers. At his fu-
neral obsequies. his loving subjects manifested
their sorrow by sacrificing eight hundred negroes
to his memory. He is succeeded by bis son, King
Gexo II, kindred spirit who proceeded at once to
divess bis mind from Overwhelming grief at his
fathers loss, by salying forth on grand slave
hunt Whilst, however, the subjects Of the late
exemplary monarch show him such honor, the
abolition newspapers on this side of the Atlantic
treat him with great disrespect.
The New York Times, in closing an editorial on
the subject, states that sin blaming King GEO
tthe elder it would scarcely be fair to forget that
he was no worse than the white men who passed
for Christians, and who not only bought his wares
but ever melted him to fresh exertions for the
supply of their almost unsuitable demand We do
not greatly respect the majesty that hedged about
this king 10 common with all other moDarchs,
but We cannot regard him quite so villainons as
the whites who dealt with him. They Aattered
his vanity, ambition and avarice, with beads.
cccked hats, and paDtaloons, and bribed him with
what the old wretch loved more than all-rum,
suupowder, and dollars. Even Napoleon, of res
fined France his brother sovereign, Del gratta. but
lately cohdescended to present TO Gezo field
piece to furnish music congenial to his savage
ears. He Is gone, however, and there is an end OF
the energy, determination, aud greed which ami.
mated the negro who sold negroes to an extent
unknown before him. His death will be the sig =
nal for new crusade against the system which
Great Pitt has attempted in thousand ways,
but unsucct fully, to destroy"
We are no advocates of the slave trade, but, re.
ally, the Times oughl'nt to be 30 hard the
white men" who pass for Christians, aud who
bought the king of Dahomey's wares, as most OF
them, who are not foreigners, are New EDglanders
and therefore entitled to the sympathy and char
liable consideration of the Times From first to last
It has been the Times own couutrymen, who have
been engaged in the kidnapping of negroes from
Africa and the South. However, odious as the slave
trade ID in this ection must confess that it can
not be bad thing fer the Africans when it removes
them from country where it is the custom to sac
rihce eight hundred Of them upon the death Of a
king.