...imagined that a Sovereign who could converse with Mr. Rassam on such various and remote topics as " the American war, the Ashantee war, the barbarity of the...King of Dahomey, and the Government of Madagascar," should not be thoroughly acquainted with matters so much nearer home and affecting him so much more...

...occasion he told me why he had not answered my letters sooner. " Because," said he, " since the death, of Plowden and Bell, all the English and Franks who visited my country appeared insane, ill-mannered, and ill-tempered. I said to myself, ' I must not see this English agent...