he Bight of
Benin, under Commodore Bruce, in 1851. It had hitherto been one of the
chief slave-marts, and its rulers had encouraged the tribes in the
interior to make war on each other, for the sake of the captives they
might bring to them. Two brothers, the younger of whom, Akitoye, had
succeeded by his father's will as king, the elder, Kosako, having for
misbehaviour been banished, it gave an opening for the interference of
the English. Akitoye having recalled Kosako, the latter rebelled and
usurped the government, compelling Akitoye to take refuge at Badagry.
On this Kosako was preparing to attack Badagry, and would certainly have
invaded Abbeokuta, the centre of Christianity and civilisation in that
part of Africa, when Mr Beecroft, the British agent on the coast,
applied to Commodore Bruce for a force to destroy Lagos. The
_Bloodhound_, steamer, with a small squadron of boats, was accordingly
sent up, but was fired on by Kosako's people. In consequence, the town
was attacked and entered, with the loss of two British officers and
several men wounded. As their force was inadequate to hold the place,
the English were compelled to retire. As soon as a sufficient number of
vessels could be collected, another expedition was sent against Lagos,
which arrived before it on the 26th of December, 1851. As neither the
_Penelope_ nor the flag-ship of Commodore Bruce, nor any of the larger
vessels, could cross the bar, the _Bloodhound_ and _Teaser_ only, with
the boats of the squadron strongly armed, were sent in, under the
command of Captain Lewis Jones, of the _Sampson_, with Commander Henry
Lister, of the _Penelope_, as his second. The expedition was joined by
the ex-king Akitoye, and upwards of 600 men, who were landed in some
canoes captured by Lieutenant Saumarez. Lagos was strongly fortified;
the people also had long been trained to arms, and possessed at least
5000 muskets and 60 pieces of cannon, so that the work undertaken was of
no contemptible character. As the _Bloodhound_ and _Teaser_ with the
boats approached the stockades, they were received with a hot fire from
the guns, jingalls, and muskets of the negroes, which was returned with
round-shot and rockets from the steamers and boats. An attempt at
landing was made by a party under Lieutenant Saumarez with the boats of
the _Sampson_, but so hot was the fire through which they had to pass,
that before they got on shore, Mr Richards, a gallant young midshi