I should have done now with Whydah, but the surprizing Revolution brought about here in 1727, by the victorious King of Dauhomay, turning things topsy turvy, and entirely destroying our Slave-Trade, deserves some Remarks.
This Prince was probably incited to the Conquest from the generous Motive of redeeming his own, and the neighbouring Country People from those cruel Wars, and Slavery that was continually imposed on them by these Snakes and the King of Ardra; each helped the other to propagate the Mischief far and wide, and differ’d between themselves, only in sharing the Booty. That this spurred on their Catastrophe, I think, First, Because it is agreeable to Capt. Snelgrave’s Character of that King, a Gentleman well acquainted with that part of Guinea, and who has given the latest Account of those People: He says in that Tract, he made a Journey in company with some of the English Factory to the Camp of the King of Dauhomay (40 or 50 miles up the Country,) and informs us, “that in the Conversation and Business he had to transact, he had experienced him just and generous; in his Manners, nothing barbarous, but contrarily, the most extraordinary Man of his Colour.” The natural Consequence from such Qualities in a Prince, being, I think, to extend them towards all that are oppressed, and against those in particular, his Resentments were fired: First, on account of their publick Robberies, and Man-stealing, even to his Dominions; and Secondly, That Contempt the King of Whydah had expressed towards him, saying publickly, “that if the King of Dauhomay should invade him, he would not cut off his Head (the Custom of Conquerors) but keep him alive, to serve in the vilest Offices:” a Specimen both of his Vanity and Courage, which he had soon after Occasion to try; and then instead of the haughty Revenge he purposed, dastardly deserted his Kingdom, he and the Subjects of Ardra becoming in a few days miserable Fugitives.
2. The King of Dauhomay at this Interview with Captain Snelgrave, which was after the Conquest of Ardra and Whydah, agrees with him in the Character of these Enemies: “That they were Villains to both white and black People, and therefore had been punished by his hands;” a Text that ought to have been regarded more heedfully by the Factory than it was: For what were they Villains more than others of the Colour, unless for this illegal and unjust Trade? And if he himself declared his Victories in punishment of their Crimes, what might not they expect in their turn, who differed only as the Pawnbroker and the Thief? Mr. Testesole, the Company’s Governour, we find when Opportunity presented, was seized by them, and cruelly sacrificed: “The Crime alledged being, that he had used the Dahomes on all Occasions in his power, very ill, on account of the bad Trade they had occasioned:” and afterwards they went on, surprized and plundered all the European Merchants at Jaqueen, finishing in that, the Destruction of the Slave-trade, the little remaining being now at Appah, a place beyond the bounds of his Conquest. Yet in all this, could we separate our Idea of the Sufferers, and the temporary Views of Traders; the King’s Actions carry great Reputation, for by the destruction of this Trade, he relinquished his own private Interests for the sake of publick Justice and Humanity.
Lastly, that this destruction of the Trade was designed in the King of Dauhomay’s Conquest, seems confirmed by Captain Bulfinch Lamb’s Proposal from him to our Court.
This Gentleman, on some Business of the Factory, was at Ardra when the Dahomes came down upon them, was made a Prisoner, detained near four years with the Emperor, and came to England at last by his Permission or rather Direction, having given him 320 Ounces of Gold, and 80 Slaves to bear his Charges. In his Scheme of Trade, said to be proposed from that Emperor and laid before our Commissioners of Trade, some of the Articles run thus;——That the Natives would sell themselves to us, on condition of not being carried off.——That we might settle Plantations, &c. a Foundation quite foreign to the former Slave-trade, and carried no Temptation but the empty one of Instruction and Conversion, which he himself might have laid down there, and had given some room to expect, agreeably to the Judgment he made of the King’s Sentiments, and his own view of getting away; an additional Honour to the King in this way of thinking indeed; “but the Inconsistency made it unsuccessful,” and Captain Lamb, tho’ under a solemn Promise to return, never gave any Account of his Embassy to that Prince.
Captain Snelgrave’s Account leads me still a little farther, on his suggesting these conquering Dahomes to be Men-eaters; I beg an Animadversion or two on that Head.—Common Report has settled Cannibals at several parts of Africa. Dapper in the Geographical Atlas says, the Ausicans or Gales in Æthiopia, and many of the Natives of Quiloa, Melinda, and Mombaza, on the East side of Africa are such, and that human Flesh is sold in the Shambles. Gordon, in his Geographical Grammar, conveys it modestly as a Report, that the Kingdom of Loango in South-Africa has many Cannibals, and that human Flesh in several places is sold publickly in the Shambles, as we do Beef and Mutton. That the Caffres, (tho’ abounding with Provisions) also are such, and will eat even nasty Hottentots their Neighbours; who tho’ accounted the most brutish People upon the Globe in their Manners and Feeding, are at the same time excused by all Travellers so inhuman a Custom. Bosman reports the same of Drewin. The Observation I shall make on these and the like Stories I have heard from other parts of the World, is their being reported of Countries remote from our Correspondence, abounding with Provisions, by Persons who never were in the Places they relate their Wonders; or where they have, their Testimony is on hear-say, or their Reasons inconclusive, and against later Experience. I am prejudiced indeed against the Opinion of Cannibals, and very much doubt whether there be any such Men on the face of the Earth, unless when provoked by Famine, as has unfortunately happened in Voyages: Or possibly with Savages, single Instances may have been, as their way to express an intense Malice against a particular Enemy, and in terrorem; or to cement with a Bond of Secrecy some very wicked Societies of Men: but that there should be a common Practice of it, Nations of Men-eaters, to me looks at present impossible. Captain Snelgrave’s being the newest Account of this Affair, and on his own personal Knowledge, I shall amuse the Reader with a short Extract from him, and then my Objections.
“This Gentleman, by an Invitation from the King of Dahome or Dauhomay, went in company with some other of the Factory from Jaqueen, to pay him a Visit at his Camp, 40 miles inland; there he was an Eye-witness of their human Sacrifices, Captives from the Kingdoms of Ardra, Whydah, Tuffoe, and other Conquests: the King chose them out himself. The first Victim I saw, says he, was a well-looking Man, of 50 or 60, his Hands tied, he stood upright by a Stage five foot from the Ground. The Fetisher or Priest laying his Hand on the Head, said some Words of Consecration for about two Minutes; then giving the Sign, one behind with a broad Sword hit on the Nape of his Neck, and carried off the Head at one Blow, the Rabble giving a Shout. Others of these Captives he made his Servants, or sold for Slaves.——”
The Story thus far is not over-marvellous; whether the Sacrifices be considered as a Thanksgiving to their Fetish, or God (as an Acknowledgment, he was told) or an Honour to the Manes of his deceased Heroes, because such Practice is supported both by Scripture and History. The Captives in War under the Jewish Law, which fell to the Lord’s Share, were to be slain (Levit. xxvii. v. 28, 29.) and the Custom of many Pagan Countries has been, and still continues in many parts of the World to this day (if we may credit History or Travellers) to attend the Obsequies of their Princes and great Men with human Sacrifices, particularly at some other Parts of Guinea. The Emperor of Feton’s Funeral (Miscell. Curiosa, Vol. 3. p. 356.) was accompanied with a great number, and remarkably barbarous. Montezuma, (Antonio Solis says,) sacrificed 20000 Enemies a year. The present Dahomes follow it from political Principles, to awe the Conquered, and secure the Conquest; for the captive King was always one, and next him the Men of Experience and Influence, such as already had, or were most likely to disturb his future Peace; answering more justly than that Argument à posteriori, of the Bow-string or Halter, when Men rise for the Recovery of a lost Country, &c.