Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-07-07
AN EXILE IN MARTINIQUE.
One Of the Forgotten Kings of Africa
May Have Perished.

iHS VI -hsti tiiiltiue, HoDOly seems 10
have remembered that the stricken
island is the exile home of one of the
| forgotten kings of Africa, says the st.
James Gazette. For eight years King
/ i3ehanZin has smoked his pipe at Mar
Unique. though dethroned king is d
detail in the presence of a woodworking
catastrophe, and one searches in vain
for Behanzins name in the kilograms
The probability is only too great that
the exiled potentate has smoked his
last pine and breathed his last threat
against Colonel Dodds. Only a few
months ago he was at st. Pierre, as
happy as king without a kingdom
and it may be found that Behanzin
and his suite have persisted in the
cataclysm of fire which has swept st.
Pierre off the face Of the earth.
Behanzin was King of Dahomey-the
Dahomey- that is. of yesterday. With
! him has passed his ancient kingdom
one of the seats of power in Western
Africa, before the coming of the white
man. For Two hundred years Dahomey
hourished. 1t is indeed, as dead as
Queen Anne, whose contemporary on
the throne Of Dahomcy was a man OF
giart strength and talent not to be
despised. GuadJor Trudo ruled his
kingdom well. and Dahomey ranked
among the great powers of Africa
when those powers were not less real
than the powers of Europe which have
brought them to an end. But even the
good example Of a king does not live
forever. and a long line of cruel tyrants
followed Guadior Trudo, whose king
dom degenerated into Il huge strong
hold Of slavery and oppression, and
rem aimed so until fifty years ago
France set it's foot down in Dahomey
territory. and until, in our time, France
absorbed the kingdom altogether.
The end came with almost dramatic
suddenness. For four years Behanzin
was King. and through half this he
was hunted like a fox by the French
troops. The crisis was part OF his in
heritance: already when he succeeded
to the throne, in 1890, France was
knocking angrily at the gates, and one
CT the Kings first acts was TO write to
President Carnot entreating peace.
3ehan2in was one OF the troubles Of
| President Garnet Twice the King APP
Dealed to the President by letter and
once BehanZin's enVoys knocked at
the door CT Elysee. They knocked in
vain. France had come to distrust
Behan2in. and to doubt mis- word. The
peace concluded with him six months
after his accession was rudely broken,
and the French parliament voted three
, million francs for an expedition against
him. 1t was the Kings last chance.
His predecessor had challenged France
by insulting letters to its officials, and
complaints Of French merchants in
terfering with politics at Whydah,
and France had retorted by lombard
ing Whydah within forty-eight hours.
The expedition of Colonel DOddS was
the last determined blow at BehanZin's
power. ana the decisive struggle be-
gan when the King treacherOusly drew
the French into ambush by waving a
flag Of truce and Offering to eVacuate.
! The treachery shan pened the ardor Of
the invaders. For six weeks the French
troops mad been fighting their way for
ward at the rate Of less than q mile a
day, and Colonel Dodds was still thirty
: miles from the capital. Bat rapid
+. movement brought the Invaders to
| within eleven miles of Abomey, and
when Colonel Dodds reached Cana, the
/ sacred city Of the kings, Dahomcy sued
$ for conditional peace. Content with
2 nothing hut absolute surrender the
: | =
: working their way With painful slow
. ness through q vast area of forest
: swamp. The King, with his army had
! occupied Adomey. and there it was eX-
E; pected the great battle between the two
) civilizations would be fought cut.
Bchan2in with all the forces Of his
kingdom to SUI rort him, awaited the
, arrival Of the French in significant
. silence. He had made the war his final
trial Of strength, ANA his famous
amazon army. the only regular army of
women warriors, perhaps. which a
European Power has ever fought WIS
fully armed. The amaZons were the
glory Of Behanzin's kingdom. From
time inlmcmorial the daughters of the
chiefs had been trained to defend the
KINGDOM IN tho last resort. and to be Il
perpetual guard surrounding the King,
ana at great fetes ID WAS the com
mander Of the amazons who struck off
The head of the first captive offered to
: the gods. Waving the knife, dripping
with blood. before the King the com
mander would lead her troops in their
hmm Of triumph.
Behanzin had gathered his amazons
around him for his last stand against
France. and or the last day Of the war
the women sang before him in the
capital The French soldiers emerged
from the swamns and forests on to a
; smiling plain, and in full view ahead
WAS Abomey, Il city of eight miles
round with farms and palaces, and
squares. and population of 20e30
people The turrets Of its palace
towers shonc like silver in the sunlight,
but a more dazzling scene met the in
vadcrs as they approached Suddenly
just rs suddenly as Rehanzin may have
seen it at st. Pierre, the air was filed
with fame. Colonel Dodds, like a
greater French commander eighty
wears before. found city in flames.
AbCmey was a second Moscow. It was
a dramatic finish to i sharp campaign.
The glory of Dahomey passed with the
burning capital. PehanZin. deserted by
the braves, kept his foes ut bay two
years. and issued a manifesto TO all
nations in his own defence. But the
fallen King was run to earth at last,
land in 1894 he was sent to Martinique.
where to-day he is either alive in ter
ror or dead in peace.