the same stance towards the British requests. Instead, King Ghezo proposed an expansion of palm oil trade and a gradual abolishment of the slave trade. His domestic support had shifted as well, with the declining power of Francisco Felix de Sousa and his death in 1849. By 1850, King Ghezo was on the verge of war with the Egbas of Abeokuta, the new Yoruba capital that arose after the Oyo Empire dissolved. The Egbas, who did not participate in slavery, had set their sights on becoming the new palm oil capital of the region; a title King Ghezo needed to steer the Dahomey Kingdom away for slavery. Ebgas gained the advantage by welcoming Europeans, including missionaries and traders, into Abeokuta. This strategy allowed the Egba to obtain new firearms and other weapons that the Dahomey Amazons did not yet possess. Jealous of the attention and goods that the Egba were received from the British and fearful of what it would mean for Dahomey, King Ghezo decided to act. That same year, he told Consul Beecroft and Commander Forbes that he planned to attack Abeokuta, and if the British didn't help him end the palm oil trade in Abeokuta by evacuating the capital, Dahomey would also see the British as an enemy. The issue with this demand is that Abeokuta and Badagry had become headquarters for British missionaries, who sought to "civilize" the Yoruba locals. Thus, Britain sided with the Egba, effectively undermining King Ghezo and the Dahomey's ability to flourish in the palm oil trade and leaving them no means to end their involvement in the slave trade without dissolving the Kingdom of Dahomey. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, King Ghezo joined forces with King Kosoko, the Oba of Lagos. Together, they created a plan for the Dahomey to attack Abeokuta while Lagos attacked Bagadry simultaneously. In March 1851, the attack was carried out, and the Egba triumphed with British support. It became known as the Battle of Abeokuta. Following the defeat of Dahomey against Abeokuta and the establishment of a British naval blockade on the ports of Dahomey, King Ghezo appealed to the British government and proposed to end the slave trade immediately if the British were willing to pay reparations to Dahomey for their loss of income from slave trading, as Britain had done to slave owners in its Caribbean colonies for freeing their slaves. After they rejected his