It looks very much as if we should have another
African war on hand. That execrable tyrant, the " King " c f Dahomey, was not at all alarmed by the fate of his neighbour, the King of Ashantee, who, he said, had suffered no real harm from the capture of Coomassie, and his agents recently outraged a British merchant, Mr. Turnbull, at the port of Whydah. Com- modore Hewett, despatched to inquire into the affair, decided that the King must be fined 500 puncheons of palm-oil, where- upon the King replied that he would pay the fine at Abomey, in bullets and powder. This message, however, was improved by his agents at Whydah into a reply that the King would do as he pleased in his own territory, and hoped the Commodore would leave off palaver and turn trader. Commodore Hewett has accordingly ordered a strict blockade of Whydah, which will be felt at Abomey in want of revenue, but will probably induce the King to attack British territory. In that case, it will be neces- sary to punish him, and we trust that, in his case, the Abyasinian precedent will be followed, and not that of Ashantee. It is use- less to attack a barbarian of this kind, whose destruction is slaughter, unless, as Lord Napier said, he is made to come down from his throne. He does not care how many of his people are killed, or have their huts burned down.
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