As part of the British campaign to abolish slavery, the British government began putting significant pressure on Ghezo in the 1840s to end the slave trade in Dahomey. Ghezo responded to these requests by emphasizing that he was unable to end the slave trade because of domestic pressure and instead proposed an expansion of palm oil trade. His domestic support had shifted as well, with the declining power of Francisco Felix de Sousa and his death in 1849. The attempt at compromise with the palm oil trade was unable to be maintained following the defeat of Dahomey against Abeokuta and the establishment of a British naval blockade on the ports of Dahomey in 1851. By January 1852, Ghezo signed an agreement (along with both the "Migan" and the "Mehu") with the British. The agreement specified that Ghezo was to end the slave trade from Dahomey. The British believed that Ghezo never implemented the provisions of this treaty, although he believed he did comply by stopping slave trade through Dahomey's ports even though he allowed slaves to be traded from Dahomey to other ports and then sold into the slave trade.