The French Government seems to be in for an ugly
busi- ness in Dahomey. Against the advice of General Dodds, it refused to make an arrangement with King Behanzin, and that monarch is again upon the war-path. He has defeated a French detachment within twelve miles of Abomey, killing three French officers, and seems to be master of the whole country, except the capital and Whydah. The French are dying of the climate like flies in a frost, and 20 per cent. of the whole force in the country is invalided. The Government is unwilling to annex or to withdraw, and appears afraid to tell the Chamber the true position of affairs, which constitute Dahomey, says a French officer, writing home to his friends, —" a little Tonquin." With perseverance, of course, most of
the evils might be abated, Behanzin might be destroyed, and one or two sanitariums might be discovered ; but the French are unable to persevere. Just at the crucial moment, the Chamber discovers that conscripts must be sent ; and the Deputies, in terror for their seats, compel the abandonment of the forward policy. It has been the same in Tonquin, in Madagascar, in Dahomey, and, in fact, everywhere except in Tunis, the annexation of which is popular because it irritates the Italians, who having made an alliance with Germany, are in France regarded as outside the pale of human sympathy.
