let them remain in this
country to cut the throats of his subjects? This would have been wretched
policy indeed; which, had it been adopted, the Dahoman name would have
long ago been extinguished, instead of becoming as it is at this day, the
terror of surrounding nations. What hurts me most is, that some of your
people have maliciously misrepresented us in books, which never die;
alledging that we sell our wives and children for the sake of procuring a
few kegs of brandy. No! We are shamefully belied, and I hope you will
contradict, from my mouth, the scandalous stories that have been
propagated; and tell posterity that we have been abused. We do, indeed,
sell to the white men a part of our prisoners, and we have a right to do
so. Are not all prisoners at the disposal of their captors? and are we to
blame, if we send delinquents to a far country? I have been told you do
the same. If you want no more slaves from us, why cannot you be ingenious
and tell the plain truth; saying that the slaves you have already
purchased are sufficient for the country for which you bought them; or
that the artists who used to make fine things, are all dead, without
having taught anybody to make more? But for a parcel of men, with long
heads, to sit down in England, and frame laws for us, and pretend to
dictate how we are to live, of whom they know nothing, never having been
in a black man's country during the whole course of their lives, is to me
somewhat extraordinary! No doubt they must have been biased by the report
of some one, who had had to do with us; who, for want of a due knowledge
of the treatment of slaves, found that they died on his hands, and that
his money was lost; and seeing that others thrived by the traffic, he
envious of their good luck, has vilified both black and white traders.

You have seen me kill many men at the customs; and you have often observed
delinquents at Grigwhee, and others of my provinces tied, and sent up to
me. I kill them, but do I ever insist on being paid for them? Some heads I
order to be placed at my door, others to be strewed about the market place,
that the people may stumble upon them, when they little expect such a
sight. This gives a grandeur to my customs, far beyond the display of fine
things which I buy; this makes my enemies fear me, and gives me such a name
in the Bush.[9] Besides, if I neglect this indispensable duty, would my
ancestors suffer me to live? would they not trouble me day a