e sceptre. She seized--it in her right
hand and waved it around to command silence. Her ministers of state
formed on either side of the throne, and doffed their cocked hats, or
straw hats, or hats with three corners, or their red caps, or whatever
covering adorned their heads. She then made them a speech, which I have
no doubt was much more original than the Queen's speech in England, but
as I did not know a word of the Mandingo language, I was not much the
wiser for it. When it was concluded, her Chancellor of the Exchequer
made a report of the financial condition of her kingdom, while her Home
Secretary described the good behaviour of her subjects, and her Minister
for Foreign Affairs assured her that she was on good terms with all her
neighbours. This part of the business being concluded, they squatted
down about the throne, and filling their pipes with tobacco, began to
smoke; while her other subjects, one by one, stepped forward, and
dropping on both knees, each one gave her hand a kiss, not bashfully as
if they were afraid of it, but with a hearty smack, which sounded
through the hall. Her ancient majesty in return bestowed a blessing on
them, and told them all to behave well; and especially to be contented
with their lot, if their masters and mistresses treated them kindly.
After the speech, all the people shouted, and the musicians struck up a
magnificent flourish with the drums, and the bows, and the jaw-bones of
the asses; and if there was not much harmony, there was a great deal of
enthusiasm. Several slaves then stepped forward, and preferred
complaints against their masters for ill-treatment.

The Queen listened to them attentively, and I thought seemed to judge
their cases very judiciously. To some she replied, that it was through
their own neglect of their duty that they had been punished. Others she
advised to bear their ill-treatment patiently, and to endeavour, by zeal
and attention to the wishes of their masters, to soften their tempers,
and to gain their good-will; but there were two or three who had been
treated so barbarously and unjustly, that she promised them that the
_Confradia_ should make every effort to purchase their freedom.

"You shall be freed," she observed; "but remember you will have to work
as hard as you have ever before done, to repay the _Confradia_ the money
they have advanced for your emancipation."

These were not exactly her words, but what she said was to this effec