Connecticut western news., 1892-11-03
BEHANZIN CRUSHED.
FRANCE coNouERS DAHoMEY IN
 A BRILLIANT CAMPAIGN.

Colonel Dodds Captures the Capital of
 the Dusky Monarch's Kingdom, and the
 Barbarous Human Sacrifices in His
 Domain wm Be Tolerated No Longer.
 PARIS, Nov. IA dispatch from Porto Novo states that Colonel Dodds captured Canna on Saturday and Abomey Sunday. This ends one of the most brilliant cam paigns that a European power has ever waged against the natives of Africa. The French column, numbering 1000 infantry and cavalry and several cannon, set out from the coast Aug. 16 and the campaign has therefore lasted two and half months.
 The usual route to Abomey is by. road, almost directly north from the coast town of Wydah. The route, however, involved crossing a wide lagoon, which would be difficult for the artillery, and Colonel Dodds therefore chose the route along the Wheme river.
 His artillery went ahead and broke a road along the river bank for the troops to follow, and the cavalry and part of the supplies were lowed up the river on trans ports, while 2, 400 native porters carried the remainder of the provisions.
 The advancing force had a number of skirmishes with the enemy and three hard fought battles before it reached the neigh. borhood of Gamma and Abomey. The French loss on all occasions was trifiinR, but the Dahomeyans suffered severely in killed and wounded. The Amazons or women war riors fought with ferocity, but their shoot ing was very wild
 At the Mercy of the French.
 Gamma, the place that was captured on last Saturday, is eight miles from Abomey, and has a sacred character in the eyes of the Dahomeyans, as it is the burial place of long line of Dahomey's kings.
 The capital, Abomey, could not possibly offer any resistance to a well equipped force though the king has for many years possessed cannon of a more or less modern type and roughly disciplined army, the most formidable members of which are the Amazons
 The city is about eight miles in circum- ference, protected by ditch five feet deep, filled with a dense growth of prickly acacia. 1t Is entered by six gates, which are simply clay walls with two openings built across the roads leading into the town. Alto gether the place does not contain more than l2,o00 inhabitants. It is probable that un- less the king is captured be will, like Kof fee-Kalkalli of Ashanti under similar cir cumstances, retreat into the bush.
 The campaign somewhat resembles the English invasion of the neighborinR king dom of Ashanti. The British forces, how ever, were nearly all European soldiers who suffered terribly from the climate, while the present invaders arc for the most part Senagalese troops, with Porto Novo allies officered by Frenchmen.
 The French will now doubtless seize Whydah, the Dahomey seaport. The coun. try is now at their mercy, and they will probably turn it into French colony. One good result will be that we shall hear no more of the terrible human sacrifices that have marked the annual religious festivals at the capital.
 BehRnzin's Human Sacrifices.
 King Behanzin, a young man very much puffed up with his own importance, has brought his downfall upon himself He has been on the throne less than three years. When he became king he made a treaty with the French, promising to reoog. nize their rights to the Port of Kotonu, and to cease the customary raids into the French territory of Porto Novo for slaves and sacriicial victims.
 The French agreed to give him an annual subsidy, and lived up to their engagement. Last year, however, Behanzin resumed his raids into Porto Novo, and when the French protested he repudiated the treaty, said be would raid where he pleased; that the French had no business in the country anyhow, and that he would drive them out of Kotonu into the sea.
 The rainy season was coming on, and as the French were utterly unprepared to as. sume the offensive, they utilized this period to make preparations for the war. They spent about seven months getting ready to fight, but after they were ready they moved with celerity and have had an unbroken series of successes. Colonel Dodds is now in position to supply some of the famous women warriors for exhibition at the Chicago Worlds fair.