A HI ST O R Y O F T HE G O L D

C O A ST AND A SHA N T I
FR O M T HE E ARLI EST TI MES T O T HE COM
M ENCE MENT OF T HE T WENTI ETH CENT U R Y

BY W WALTO N C LAR I DGE

.

S EN IOR M ED I CA L O FFICER , WE ST A FR I CA N MEDI CA L STA FF, G OLD COA ST

WITH AN e onu c nox BY

S IR HU G H C LI FF O R D ,

G OVER N O R A N D COI I A N D ER — lN -C H I E F O F THE GO L D COA S T

IN Tw o V O LU M E S , WI T H M A P S

VO L . I

LO N D O N

JO HN M U RRAY, A LBE M A R LE ST REE T, W .

191 5
L L .
 D E D I CA T E D T O

HI S E "CE LLE N CY

SI R HU G H CLI F FO R D , K cm c i t .

G OVERNOR A N D OO MMA ND E R -lN ~ CHI EF

OF THE

GOLD COAST

A ND I TS DE PE N D EN CI ES

IQ WHOSE

TIT
-
E Pm Afi ON OF T HIS B OO K

IS MA I NLY DUE
 I NT ROD U CTIO N

S IN C E the manuscript o f Dr Cla rid g s monumental e

’

e
.

His tory of th Go ld Coa s t a nd A s ha nti first came into my

hands i n the summer of 1 9 1 5 , its p u b lica tion in suitable .

form has been to me a matter of keen personal interest

e
.

I t i s not often that o n o f our Crown Colonies has the

good fortune t o number among the o flicia ls serving in it a
man who possesses so many of the qualities that go to the
making o f a really good historian diligence in research —
,

meticulous accuracy a capacity for marshalling facts

, ,

the nice sense o f proportion which allots to each question

o r incident its full but no more than it s due place in t he
,

general picture a strongly critical habit of mind and a

ee
, ,

thorough command o f appropriate language The x r

e
"

cise of all these together with years of patient but nth u si

,

asti o labour have been devoted to the production of the

,

present work and Dr Claridge has thereby rendered to

, .

the Colony with which he has long been connected a

, ,

service of conspicuous value .

I n the past too it has not infrequently happened that

, ,

when labour of this description has been performed by a

servant of Government during his not over abundant
e
e
-

leisure the result of his toil has been s u fi’ r d to reach the

,

public either at his own expense or under the auspices o f ,

some learned body whose imprimatur is apt to have upon

,

the general reader an e ffect comparable to that which

scare crows are piously supp osed to exercise upon the
-

fowls o f the air I n the present instance however the

.
, ,

Government of the Gold Coast has succeeded in saving

the author and his work from such unmerited obscurity ,

though with its characteristic vacillating caution ( of

 I NTR O DUCTI O N

which so many notable instances are t o be found recorded

e
’
in the pages of Dr Cla ridg s book ) it has been careful
.

to dissociate itself from any implied endorsement of the

opinions expressed in these volumes .

I t is in every way right that this work which is now —

presented to the public under the guarantee o f the H ouse

o f Murray —
should be placed in a p osition to make it s
appeal to readers in every part of the Empire for it deserves ,

the attention of all who are interested in the history o f the

-
e
over seas po ss ssi o ns o f Great Britain o f which it forms
,
'

an unusually striking and instructive chapter I t illus .

trates with peculiar force the curiously haphazard fashion

in which many o f ou r tropical colonies have come into
being the manner in which so often the Flag has followed
trade rather than trade t he Flag and the frequency with
,

which extension of control and j urisdiction has been

gradually and reluctantly accepted not as the result of an
e
,

insatiabl appetite for power and dominion but in the ,

first instance as the only practicable means whereby

,

peaceful commerce could be assured and later because a

e
,

newly awakened sens of r esponsibility toward the native

races forbade continued toleration of savage and bar
barous practices I t reveals am ong other things the
.
, ,

ugly fact that the path t o the establishment of a durable

e
peace in semi civilised communities is almost invariably
-

paved with the victims o f a seri s o f devastating little

wars and it shows h ow immeasurably the d iflicu lty o f
avoiding such happenings is increased by an i m perfect
understanding of the character the polity and the ou t
, ,

look upon li fe o f the peoples with whom in t ropical lands , ,

Great Britain h a s had to deal .

I have not included an absolutely unbiassed j udgment

. e
among Dr Claridg s qualities as an historian for as is
’
,

the case with most Englishmen who have come into close
contact with the Ashantis the admiration excited by the
,

courage and the many manly and chivalrous character

is tics o f this warlike people has engendered in him so strong
an affection for them that he cannot invariably view all
e
the incid nts in their history with complete and disp as
 I NTR OD UCTI O N

eimpartiality
e
s io n at But such bias as he from time to
.

time shows is a generous bias and l nds to this book in

, , ,

my op inion a very S pecial value I t is well that o u r

, .

nation a l actions should be examined as much as possible

from t he standpoint o f those who were a ffected by them
and no intelligent reader can rise from the perusal of these
pages without being consciou s that their author has con
ee
v y d to him a deeper and truer appreciation o f the peoples
o f the Gold Coast and Ashanti than has in the past been , ,

any way common or without feeling that his sympathy

,

with them has thereby been notably enlarged and quick

“

ened .

The records of a Colony the earliest beginnings o f which

,

had their inception in the da rk days o f the slave trade ,

-
,

cannot but hold many things that modern Englishmen

must recall with mingled shame and horror The reader .

will fin d much to deplore in the public and private acts of

m any o f the white men who in their time made history on, ,

the Coast ; and some deeds were done which must fo r

ever remain among the most bitter and humiliating
memories o f every Britisher who lov s his country and is e
j ealous of its fair fame For these Dr Claridge has done
. .

well to o ffer neither palliation nor excuse O n the other .

hand it is at least open to argument that he h a s occasion

,

ally been somewhat harsh in the verdicts which he passes

up on the policy o f the Government and upon the actions
o f its se rvants The historian is necessarily in the posi
e
.

ti on o f on wh o i s wise after the event but the large ,

bird s eye view which he is enabled t o take was n ot at the

’
-

ser vi ce o f any save very ex ceptional men among those who

were the contemp or arie s of the events which he records .

This must be borne in mind for excep tional men are rare
e
,

at all times and i n all p laces and f w indeed found their ,

way to the West Coast o f Africa Due allowance there .

,

fore must be made for the imperfect appreci ation which

e
, ,

m any public servants showed o f th situations with which ,

they were confronted and for the bewildering ignorance

e
,

of the p eople with whom they w ere d aling by which they ,

were so frequently hampered .

 I NTR O DUCTI O N

To -
day most thinking men will readily subscribe to the
Opinion that the only j usti fication for the presence of Great
Britain in West Africa and for the control which we
,

exercise over its inhabitants abides in ou r ability to,

govern the country in a manner more conducive to the

common good and happiness and with a higher regard to
,

the rights and well being o f the weak and inarticulate

-

masses than would be possible to the natives themselves if

,

left to their own devices This theory however had not

.
, ,

the remotest connection with the obj ects for the attain
ment of which the first European settlements were estab
e
lis h d on the Coast and though Englishmen began
trading with the natives of the Gold Coast as long ago as
I 5 5 3 the publication of Dr Cla rid g s His tory celebrates
, . e ’

the centenary of the earliest tentative attempts of a British

Governor to improve the lot of the people or to save the ,
1
weak from the Oppression o f the strong For many
e
.

decades after 1 8 1 5 however the maintenance o f u nint r

e
, ,

ru p t d trade routes to and from the interior represented

-

the highest ambition of the British Government on the

Coast and it was in order to secure this obj ect that little by
,

little j urisdiction was extended and an increasingly active

part was taken in inter tribal politics Even after the
—
.

national conscience had been su fficiently awakened to

bring about the abolition of the slave trade the commercial -
,

interests of the British traders continued to be the principal

preoccupation o f the authorities on the Coast and the ,

assumption of responsibility for the welfare of the natives ,

whose world o u r coming had turned topsy turvy was —

,

shirked and evaded as much as possible There can be no .

reasonable doubt that if the British had not interfered the

, ,

Ashantis would have extended their empire over all the

nations of the Gold Coast but our disapproval of their
invasions was due in the beginning not s o much to any
, ,

feeling of pity for their victims as to resentment at the ,

disturbance to trade which they occasioned Thus the

e e
.

ré l of protector of the defenceless was more or less in x o r

ably thrust upon u s in the interests o f o u r own commerce

1
Vida V ol .
p . 2 79 .
 I NTR O DUCTI O N

but once accepted it could never again be wholly dis ,

carded and thereafter o u r main obj ect was to keep t ribal

,

warfare within some sort o f bounds and to shore up as , ,

best we could the tottering prosperity o f the countries

ee
,

which the aggressive energy o f the Ashantis was p rp tu

ally assailing .

After the characteristic fashion of o u r nation we tried ,

t o accomplish t his with the expenditure o f as few men and

as little money as possible and a policy o f hopeless vacilla ,

tion and inconsistency o f course resulted Such a policy .

,

equally of course was quite unintelligible to the natives

,

with whom we were dealing ; and the Ashantis at any ,

rate never knew what to expect o f u s which was only

,
—

natural seeing that we were living so to speak from hand

, , ,

to mouth and never knew from year to year what to

,

expect of ourselves .

Looking backward from the standpoint we occupy to

day it is clearly to be seen that anything resembling a
,

permanent friendly alliance between a British Administra

tion on the Coast and an independent Kingdom of Ashanti
was unthinkable having regard t o the incompatible ideals
,

and the wholly divergent Views on a number of vital

matters entertained by the two Governments I t may .

be that modern civilisation is the lion and that barbarism ,

is the lamb but the two cannot nowadays lie down side
by side N o Colonial Administration of our time for
.
,

instance could long have maintained an alliance with a

,

Power which regarded human sacrifice as an essential

religious rite and the records of West Africa show b e
yond dispute that the abolition of such practices can
only gradually be e ffected even in localities where Great
Britain exercises full executive aut hority A Colonial .

Government which in the beginning battened on the

,

slave trade was itself according to modern notions in a

-
, , ,

condition o f semi barbarism from which it had to emerge

-
,

ere ever the assumption of resp onsibility for the regu

lation of the habits and customs o f its native neighbours
could be recognised by it in the light of an imperative
duty The white men of bygone generations therefore
.
, ,
 I NTR O DUCTI O N

whose aim was commercial expansion not the moral ,

improvement of the Africans whose own standards of ,

civilisation were still in some respects rudimentary ,

and who regarded a friendly Ashanti as the surest

means of se curing the ends they had in view cannot ,

fairly be blamed for having failed to foresee that their

ideals would fall far short of the demands of those who
would come after them Thus the history of British rela
.

tions with the peoples o f the Gold Coast and As hanti ,

rightly viewed is the story o f an attempt to secure our

,

merchants profits at the least possible cost to ourselves

’
,

and the gradual assumption o f extended responsibilities

undertaken in pursuance of that obj ect To a much later .

phase belongs the practical annexation o f the whole

country a step which was forced upon us not by any
—
,

alteration in the habits and practices of it s inhabitants but ,

by a change which in the course of years had been wrought

, ,

in ourselves and in o u r conceptions of the m oral obliga

tions which our presence in their midst imposed upon us .

The passing away of an empire which had risen to gre at ,

power through the warlike genius o f its rulers and people ,

cannot but occasion some sentimental regrets and the

dissolution o f the Kingdom of Ashanti like the destruction ,

o f the great military organisation which Chaka created in

Zululand seems to curtail the already dwindling domain

,

of modern romance No one however can find serious

.
, ,

reason for doubting that the people of Ashanti to day -

,

who devote their energies to the cultivation o f their food

plots and cocoa gardens and to the improvement o f their
-
,

towns are not only a more useful but o n the wh ole a

e
, ,

happier set of people than were their blood stained a nc s -

tors who spent a goodly portion o f their time in ravaging

,

their neighbours homesteads taking other people s lives

’
,
’
,

and enslaving their women kind and their children The -

.

contrary point of view which much more accurately —

represented the truth when it was written nearly fifteen

e
,

years ago than it does now is ably s t forth in the quota

,
—

tion from a despatch by Sir Ma t thew N athan which will ,

be found on page 440 of the second volume o f this book .

 I NTR O DUCTI O N

The dragging across the face of any primitive country of

Jagann ath ca r in which is borne aloft the great idol we
-

name P a x B rita nnica entails the demolition of many

,

romantic things I t necess itates the subs titution of the

.

co m monplace for the exotic the tameness and safety of ,

ordered modern life for the excitement and the perils of

primordial existence and the drab of every day wear for
,
-

the highly co loured hues of barbaric display I ncidentally .

,

however it a ffords to the individual human being the

,
—

average man who in the past was at best a successful

, ,

looter and at the worst mere food for powder an Op p or

,
—

tu nity to live his own life i n pe a ce and quietude and in a ,

manner chosen by h ims elf I t once fell to my lot t o bear

.

the tidi ngs o f an outbreak of war through the villages o f a

co u ntry whose people were famous for their bellicose and
blood thirs ty reputation The men wore grave faces as
-
.

they looked to their weapons and patiently resigned them

selves t o the inevitable but the wailing o f the women
still sounds in my ears Kings and chiefs , o n the other
.

hand stood to lose much and to gain little or nothing

, , ,

by the establishment of a lasting peace and a well regulated -

admi nistration for it h a s usually been the peculiar privilege

of the great ones o f the earth to thrive at the expense of
their subjects and to combine the excitements of war with
,

a comp arative immunity from its dangers I t is not

e ee
.

possi b le how ver to legislate for a minority but x p ri

, ,

ence would seem to show that it is a mistake to suppose

that the average man of any race who has tasted war in ,

real earnest has thereafter an overpowering love of it

,
.

I t is to be regretted that Dr Claridge h as not seen his .

way to carry on his record o f the hist o ry of the Gold Coast

and Ashanti beyond the dawn of the present century for ,

whereas the story that he h a s to tell relates to the alm o st

uninterrupted wars and disturbances which culminated
in the final campaign of the British against Ashanti in ,

1 9 00 it is during the p ast decade especially that the fruits

e
,

of th peace wh ich was then established with so much

e
,

di fficulty have been made manifest Ev n now the

e
.
,

p o t ntia lities of the Gold Coast and i t s Dependencies hav e

 I NTR O D U CTI O N

only begun to be fully appreciated and the phenomenal ,

prosperity o f its people is the growth of the past few years .

N ever until quite recently have the natives o f the Gold

, ,

Coast and Ashanti been a fforded an opportunity o f

developing their ancestral property in peace and security ,

free from the fear that the accumulation o f wealth

might excite the cupidity and invite the unwelcome
attentions of some powerful neighbour Little more than .

a dozen years have elapsed since this p ossibility dawn ed

upon the bulk of the population ; yet to day the Gold -

Coast and Ashanti alike are inhabited by a sturdy race of

peasant proprietors who among other things produce
, ,

annually more than a fifth of the total cocoa crop of the -

world .British energy and a careful management o f the

financial resources of the country are beginning to over
come the appalling transport di fficulties by which West
Africa is still shackled the development of the gold mining -

industry is due to British capital enterprise and science

, ,

but the enormous agricultural expansion o f the last ten

years which has revolutionised the conditions o f life o n
,

the Gold Coast and in Ashanti is the work o f the natives

,

themselves I t has of course been aided and stimulated

.
, ,

by the Government but no one can doubt that a peop le

, ,

who have s o promptly and eagerly availed themselves

o f the chances placed within their reach can look fo rward ,

with confidence to a future marked by increasingly credit

able achievements And though alas the mistakes which
.
, ,

the British have committed in the past in their dealings

with the peoples of the Gold Coast and Ashanti have been
both grave and numerous and though the African s
,
’

instinctive suspicion of the white man has all too frequently

been j ustified the essential soundness of the relations
,

which in our time subsist between ourselves and the native

population has recently emerged triumphant from a very
searching test .

When the great war broke o u t in August 1 9 1 4 the , ,

military forces o f the Gold Coast invaded Togoland the ,

adj oining German colony in the interior of which had

,

been erected a huge wireless installation of immense

 I NTR O D UCTI ON

strategic value I nless than four weeks the Germans

.

had been compelled to surrender and there ca n be lI ttl ,

e
doubt that the knowledge that whereas the natives of the ,

Gold Coast were doing all in their power to a d us the ,

natives o f Togoland had everywhere welcomed us as the ir

e
e
deliverers helped them to the conclusion that th n P95 1
,
“

tion w as desperate A month later it wa s found p ossI bl

.

to despatch to Duala to aid in the campaign of the A llI s

,
e
i n the German K a m a ru ns nearly all the men o f the Gold
,

Coast Regiment of the West African Frontier Force wh o

were not req u ired for the occupation of the conquered
territory The denudation o f the Colony and o f Ashanti
.

of practically all the troops which in time o f peace are , ,

ordinarily maintained in them was rendered possible by ,

the enthusiastic loyalty to the British Throne and to the

Governm ent which was manifested from end to end o f t he
country A s an additional proof of the sincerity of this feel
.

ing subscriptions to the Patriotic Fund initiated by natives

, ,

and mainly received from native contributors amounting ,

to over were rapidly collected and placed in my

hands for transmission to the Secretary of State I t is .

pleasant to recall that at this t ime of national cri sis the

, ,

chiefs and people of Ashanti displayed a s keen a desire

to assist and support the Government a s any that wa s
shown by their neighbours o n the Coast
e
.

There is on subj ect up on which I feel constrained t o

break a lance with Dr Claridge His book will tend I
. .
,

fear to confirm t he p opular belief that the climate

e
,

o f the Gold Coast is o n o f the deadliest in the tropics I .

regard this opinion a s at once unsound and unscientific .

Speaking as a man who has S pent more than thirty years

in tropical lands east and west I regard it a s an axiomatic
, ,

proposition that the climate in any part o f the heat belt -

is strongly inimical to the health of Europeans I t cannot .

be otherwise than enervating t o be in a constant state of .

perspiration ; and those whose skins are no t provided

with wide open p ores really suffer more than do men who
-

p ossess this healthy but inconvenient equipment A s .

tropical climates go however that o f the Gold Coast is at

'

, ,
 I NTR O D UCTI O N

e
fo und in many other pa rts of th world
e
once l ss h ot and l ss damp than t h ose wh ich are to be
This is not a e .

q uestio n of opi nion but of fact p roved beyo nd dispute

e
, ,

by the readings of the ther m ometer and the rain gaug ;

e
-

and no one wh o h a s lived both in th Gold Coast and in

e
.
,

say th low country of Ceylon in the Malay Peninsula

, ,

or Archipelago in Co ch inch ina or in K am b odia can enter

e
, ,

tain a doubt on the subj ect Yet it is an inco ntrov rt .

e
ible t ru th t h at the ravages wroug ht in the health of Euro
peans and especially in that of newly arrived Europ a ns
, ,

ee
by a soj ourn in the Gold Coast have from time to time been ,

greater t h an any which a r r corded in the localities above

e nu merated This is to be acco unted for not by th e
e
.
,

e
c lim at which as I have said is merciful as tropical
e
—
, , ,

cli m ates g o b u t by th virule nc o f the insect and

—

water borne microbes which have their home in West

-

e
I t will p rhaps be s aid t h at if th result is in either
"
, e
case let h al it does not greatly s ignify whether sickness or
e
,

d ath is induced by the climate or by microbes but the

fa ll acy of this will be recognised when it i s remembered
t hat though mankind has not yet obtained a mastery over
,

ee
cli m atic conditions a successful war against microbes is
,

so m ething w ll withi n ou r power Were the climate o f .

the Gold Coast th primary cause of disease we s hould be ,

e
unable to e ffect in it even a slight i m pr ovement but if as ,

has now b en proved to be the case infection is conveyed ,

by the bites o f certain insects or the drinking o f impure

water it will at once be reali sed tha t preventive measures
,

e
are more nearly within our reach As it is however it is
.
,

neither more nor less a cc u rate or logical to blame the

.

cli m a te for cases of yellow fev r malari a or dysentery ,

th an it would be to hold the climatic conditions of I ndia

acco u ntable for th inj u ri s w h ic e e
h .a man h ad sustained in
an encounter with a B engal tiger I n each case the person .

a ffected has fallen a victi m to the onslaughts of the loca l

.
.

fauna which chance to require a tropical climate for their

,

co m fort and well being -

.

Accord ingly, if in the light of the knowledge we to day -

,
 I NTR O DUCTI ON

po ssess concerning the causation of tropical diseases we

were to ana lyse the statistics quoted on p ag 1 6 5 of the e ,

e
s cond volume o f Dr Clarid g s His tory which show the
. e ’
—

casualties from sickness among the Europeans en gaged in

’
Lord Wolseley s mar ch to Kumasi in 1 8 74 w shou ld —
e
have t o admit that on the face o f them they constitute
e
, ,

no specially damagi ng case against the clim ate o f th

Gold Coast We should ask for instance how ma ny of
.
, ,

those invalided had dispensed with the use of a mosquito

net and how m any had drunk w ater which had no t previ
,

e
ou s ly been boiled and filtered I n other words we should
'

.
,

eliminate all cases o f avoidable tropical disea s such as ,

yellow fever malaria and dysentery and when this had

, , ,

been done it would be found that a surprisingly small

residue remained to b laid at the door o f the climate e .

For the invisible and aggressive organisms o f the Gold

Coast to whose assaults the death and illness of Europeans
,

in that country are almost entirely to be ascribed I do ,

n o t desire t o be understood as holding any s ort o f brief .

I t is true that mosquitoes are here fa r le ss numerous and

persecuting than they are in many other countries the
e e
—

Malay Peninsula fo rinsta nc but that renders them a llth —

e
,

more dangerous When these insects swarm in myriad s

.
,

as they did on the P rak River in Malaya or in Georgetown ,

British Guiana a comparatively small percentage of them

,
—

are usually infected and an elementary desire to avoid

,

being eaten alive compels even the most careless of Euro

e
p ans to protect himself from them I n the Gold Coast .

a man may easily be tempted to pass the night outside h is

net for the sake o f coolness and the mosquitoes will not
, ,

usually be sufficiently numerous to break his sleep yet the

bite of one of them may compass h is u ndoing .

The attack is therefore more insidious in the Gold

, ,

Coast than it is in other tropical countries and it is also ,

far more virulent The malarial mosquito is here neither

.

more n or less dangerous than his fellow in Malaya or

Ceylon or elsewhere in the tropical zone which means that —

he is a p retty deadly enemy to Europeans but it is only

o f very recent years that it has been recognised and a d
xviii I NTR O D UCTI O N

m ethat yellow fever which i conveyed by the bite of

itt d ,
s

the common house mosquito is endemic in West Africa

E e
.
,

long it will probably be a generally accepted theory

r

that the West Coast is the original habitat o f the a s ye t

unidentified organism which passing from the mosquito ,

into the blood o f a human being causes this disease and ,

that it was from across the Atlantic that it was imported

into the West I ndies and South and Central America with
the cargoes of slaves some of whom carried the infection
,

i n their veins The extraordinary virulence of yellow

.

fever when it first appeared in those countries would

, ,

e
seem to indicate that the germs were let loose among a
population which had never acquir d any measure of here
d ita ry immunity from them or which in the case of the , ,

descendants o f the African slaves had lost that immunity , .

Similarly it has now been ascertained that though the

,

tse tse fly which is the bearer o f the germ o f sleeping

-
,

sickness is found distributed throughout wide areas in

,

tropical Africa , the disease in an endemic form h a s for cen

e
tu ri s been familiarly known to the natives of Ash anti
and many other parts of the West Coast where it annually ,

claims a few but only a very few victims O f recent

, , .

years however the opening up of trans continental com

, ,
-

m u nica tio n between the seaboards o f the Atlantic and the

I ndian O cean which has been e ffected by Europeans h a s

, ,

caused sleeping sickness germs to be imported i nto locali

-

ties where the tse tse fly abounds but has hithert o been
-
,

innocuous I n these places the native populations had

.

had no opportunity o f acquiring an hereditary immunity ,

such as is enj oyed by the natives of say parts of Ashanti , , ,

and in consequence the people of Uganda to cite a single ,

instance have died of the disease in very large numbers

, .

The position then is that West Africa while enj oying

e
,

what for th tropics is quite a good climate has the m is ,

fortune to be the chosen home o f a variety of dangerous

living organisms which are peculiarly deadly to Europeans
, ,

and are much less easy to cope With than man eating -

tigers or other more demonstrative beasts of prey The .

recognition of this fact was and is the first step toward

 I NTR O D UCTI O N

e
p ople of the Gold Coast and As hanti have reason t o be
gr ateful to him for he has recounted t he history o f t he ir
,

e
country and their forebears in a manner which should
cause it to b widely read through out the E nglish sp aking r e
w orld and if a knowledge and understanding o f a
e
e
country s past is as I believe it to b essential t o those
’
, ,

who serv it in the prese nt and have t o some extent a

,

hand in the moulding o f its future then the t oil and study
,

e
which have gone to the m a king of this book will bear fruit
in Wes t Africa not only for men o f the present gen ration
, ,

but for those of generations yet unborn .

H UG H C LIFFORD .

LLA N D O G O , MO N MOU TH S H I R E ,
A u gu s t 1 7 th , 1 9 1 5
.
 CO NTE NTS

PART I
A N CI E N T HI S TOR Y A N D TR A D I TI

CHAPTER I
THE ORI G IN THE G OLD
OAST T RIB ES
OF C

Th eo rig in o f th eAka n tribe Tra d itions of th e ir e

a rly m igra tion

to wa rds th e coa st Th e a t triba l f am il ie

gre Th e oth e
r tr ibe
s —

in h a biting th e
—
s s —

G o ld Coa st pp 3 1 0 .
—

CHAPTER I I
THE G OLD C OAST AN D THE A N C I ENT S
Voya g e f h ePh ei i Th e Sile T de Hed
t nt otu s

h Ne V y gef S t p e V y gef H
s o o n c ans— ra —
ro

P h
h ara o I ts
ibleee E ideef Ph e t de h e
c o— o a o a as s— o a o anno—

xt i int— G ld C o n c an on t oa st

y ge f E d
p oss v nc o ra o

Vo a s o u pp
ox u s . 1 1 - 29

PART I I
PER I OD OF E UR OP E A N D I S CO VER Y A N D

1 3 6 4 To r6 9 9

C HAPTER 111
THE DI S C OVE RY or THE G OLD C OAS T B Y E U RO PEANS
1 3 64 To 1 48 2

e
p g e P g e
ro r ss of ed eie WeAf P i e
Hey is cov in
e le N
Th ortu rica—

ge G
st

e
u s r s r nc nr
N g avi a tor— V oya s of ilian G onza
el e de e
th z, s and u no Tristan
O g
ri in fi
of E th di C p y
S Tra Th rst

e de De N
a st In
V y ge Pe d
av —
a om an

J u an F i
rna n z— ath of 11 11 0 Tr stan— o a s of dro a
x fii C O NTENTS

Cintra D eath of PrinceHe Discove

ry of th e G o ld Coa s t
Th ecla im s of th e Fre
nry

Se
ttle
m e
— —

F orm atio n of a nt a t E lm ina nch

dis cove
—

to priority of ry pp _

CHAPTER IV
E A RLY E N G LI S H V O YA GE S TO THE G OLD C OAS T
1 482 To 1 59 2
Th e
P l Bu ll Th e first G u ine a Com p a ny N a tive Kingdom s Th e
Portu gu e
se Establish m e Po rtu gu e forts V oya ge e
ap a — — —

nt s of Win d

Lok a nd T o wrso n Adv e ntur es o f a b oa t s cre

s — —

w Portu
’
h am
gu ese reprisa l s Th e S l av eTra de
— —
,

pp 5 4 8 1
— -
,

CHAPTER V

THE A RRIVA L OF THE D UT C H A N D E "P U L S IO N OF THE

P ORT UGU ES E
1 59 2 To 1 64 2

Arriva l o f th e
Du tch ee Portu gu e
se
Opp os ition Th e
D u tch form S ttl
e F D efi ep El i
— —

nts— F N ort ort Th r st a tt m t

We I d i C p Re
on na
e
m u m a— a ssa u — m

F i f D
orm a t on o f u tch st tu rn th
Th e E gli h C p ie d Selee Th e
—
a n a om a ny— o

E glin fi sh — r st n tt nts —
Ab i i eTh ee d
an an

ep
s

ef e
om s m

n El i C p a tt m t tu r th
leP g e eei Fi l ep l i f h eP g ee
oa s m —
s con on m na —
a o

C a st ortu t
e f he
—
u s v rs on- na x u s on o ortu u s

T rac si p i o t r o ccu
pp at on . 8 2— 1 00

CHAPTER V I
”
I I-I E FIR S T A N G LO D UT C H -
WA R
1 64 2 To 1672

Du tch im ee b g C pe
prov m nts — F ortConraad s bu rg
Ch i i C r st ans

e
oa s t

eSwe de h eD e i e
—
or —
a

Cas tl — Forts bu ilt a t Accra Th T

Se lee Th e y f R y l Ad e e f
—
s— an s arr v

and f C tt nts — v ntu r rs

lekeb y e
an

C pe
orm m om o o a
p o

E gl d T di g Af i C D Ca st ta th
H l e d de y e C di i
to oa st u tch

Th e
n an n
epe
ca— n

f he
ra r a

di i t on s of Ru t t on
E gl h C p y h e
t
T e d Th e
an on

B e
—
x o m s r— o

is E gli h C p y T r at of n
edei C e
n y om an r a— s om an

su rr n rs ts pp h art
8 r . . 1 01 — 1 1
 C O NTENTS xxiii

CHAPTER VI I
TRIB A L WA R S A ND ATTA C K S O N THE P O R TS

1 672 To 1 69 4

Africa n Com pa ny Th ePortu gu e

R oya l se ga in p os se ss io n o f

Ch ristia n sb o rg Cas tleWa r be twe en th e

—

Accra s a nd A k wam u s
Se ko nd i F orts bu ilt Elm ina Ca stle a tta cke d b y th e to wns p op le e
—

Ca p e Coa st Ca s tl e a tta cked Th e Bra nde nburge rs f orm Se ttle

—

m e Th e D a ne s rede e m Ch r istians b o rg Ca stle F o rt Fre de

— —

nts ricks

b org bou gh t b y th e English Fre nch fa ctory a t K o m e

— —

n da Fort
V re de Th e Adom Ah a nta wa r Ba rba ritie
— —

n b u rg s o f Ank wa

D ix cov e F o rt Ch ristiansb o rg Ca stle ta ken b y th e

— - —

A k wam u s
Re dee m e d b y th e D a ne n ira F ort blown u p Th e Office
—

th e
rs o f

Eu rop e a n E s ta blis h m e
s — —

nts pp 1 1 9 1 40 .
—

C HAPTER VI I I
THE D U TC H -
KO M E ND A WA R
1 6 9 4 To 1 69 9

e C p Ph illip W bewe
V oya g of ta in eA i d Fe Wi e b t n ss n a n tu
e e Ag O ge de e
nn
d O be
a s— ar —
a

F G
o rt— F pl nt o f k or t ut r a

e D h K e K be D e fe f e
ov rnm u na— ra n u n r —

of th d w
u tc J D oh n at o th u tch

Ab i ee e de ke
-
om n a a r— a s—

g i i F b g d C l i
o t a t o ns — f Vr
Le
o rt v ort a tta c

p ee heid Siegef D eF t T e
n n ur —
onc u s o n o

F d ort E gli h ix cov h

Se e d db e d T eh e
ac n s
k d i p l de y f he
—
y s a am —
o or —

F o rt a t E gli h t
eE gli h de depe F R y l e e
on un r an u rn —
r ac r o n s

d D
an u tch - Th n d s tra m a o n— ort o a r stor

pp 1 4 1
1 -
54

CHAPTER IX
THE G OLD C OAS T A T THE L O SE O F THE S EVE N TE E NTH
C

C E NT U RY

1 7 00

e eC
N a tiv Sta t dition of th e garrisons Unh e a lth in ss of th eclim a te e
Wild a nim a l s E le p h a nt killed in E lm ina Arm s of th e na tive
s— on —

e
Fo rts d am a g d by l igh tning Th e Tra d e e
— —
s —

G o ld Tra d goods
I nte
rl op e De s crip tio n o f th eF orts a nd Se ttle Th e S l av e e
— — —

nts
Tra dePira cy
rs —
m —

pp 1 5 5 1 7 7
— —
.
 CONTENTS

PART I I I

THE R I SE OF A S HA N TI
1 700 T o 1 80 3

CHAPTER X
THE AS H A N T I S

1 7 00
betwe e n th e Ash a ntis a nd th e Fa ntis Th e Ash antis oft n e
e
Contra st
d Mu ch of th h o stil ity towa rds th e
a bu s e a nd m a ny o f th e
—

ch a rge a re e e
—
m

s a g a inst th m u nj u stifi d pp 1 8 1 1 9 1 .
—

CHAPTER X I
THE E A RLY HI STORY OF AS HA NTI
1 7 00 TO 1 73 1
F ou nda tion o f th e e
Ah Th eAh i kingdom R ign o f O sa i Tu tu —
ef h e N e f E l i C leTh e
a nti ant

Deke w
s —
s

C p tu r t ot a st

De f O
n ra a r— a o or m na —

A i Ak
s h antw T A
im k A b a th sai u tu — tta c
he e ked by h e D h C pe
- ar— o on na m a o

F or t— TA ii Fr n ch C at a tta c t u tc oa s t

b b de d by F e h e e h eB deb ge lee
ss n

le
—
a

C a st r n ch t T
he T we A f i f he
om ar a —
ra n n ur rs av

G ld C J y P ipp
’
t o C oas t —
oh n onn —
h s o r— f a rs o t
R oya l Africa n Com p a ny pp . 1 9 2 — 2 08

CHAPTER X I I
THE SE C OND A N G LO D UT C H WA R -

1 73 1 To 1 80 3

e
R igns of ei d O i K j h e
Osa i Op oku Os a i K w Af i C T

p y f Me le k e d b he F eh
an can
C pe
,
s sa u o— r om

C Cr ch a nts— oa st a st a tta c y t
D h W be we eE gl d d
an r nc

by h e
o a

i
I nv a s f Ap ll onia t u tc t
he
on o n n an an

ef f
o —
ar

H ll d E gli h k El i
T C p T i l tu r o rts —

d M i Th e
a tta c na—
de i e D e
an

C p i M keie
o —
n s m a s o r a

of ta n f ac r com m tt at an s

eed h e i Se lee R e
a nz or a m u r or —

xt n t g f O i Kw tt i d O ints— i ns sa am na an

he
r m o sa

Op k I I P i i fA i d di i f ff i
t on G ld s h a nt a n t on t
e ey
con a rs on

h el ef ee igh e
o u —
os o o a o

C t
oa s at t c os pp o 9 th
34 t nth c ntu r . 20 —2
 CO NTENTS xx v

PA R T I V
THE WA R S B E TWEE N THE EN GLI S H A N D
A S HA N TI S

I 80 3 To 1 8 72

CHAPTER X I I I
THE FIR ST AS HA NTI W A R
1 80 3 To 1 80 7

e
R ign of Osa i e
Tu tu K wa m ina ee
Distu rba nc s in A ss in— Tr a ch rou s
de e e
—

o f Ash a nti a m b a ss a do rs— Adv anc o f th Ash a nti a rm y

T e he
m ur rs

y f Ak
r ac F ligh f Ch ib d p ti A i l f t A
—

fee A
r o um an rr va

De
—
o u u a — o

an Ah i K
a nt i b F t
at orm a nt n— of

Pligh f h eg i
s

Ne p eeT eh e
y a rm nc na m a o or

t g i i
t f f
C l e
o t at o n s

eT eC ei he
o arr s on— ac r ac

d f he
y or —
r o

lT w F
’

e
o on onv nt on— En t urt

f lp e e
orra n —

eAb li i f th eSl e
o rra n

d g fC l e
s o a r— r

di g l in
e
s ra c u ro c s o o on T orra n —
o t on o av

Tra d pp . 2 3 7— 2 5 7

CHAPTER X IV
THE S E C OND A S HA NTI W A R
1 80 8 To 1 813

e
E fi cts ew
of Th e
th bl k def E l i Th eF i kA na — a nt s a tta c ccra

Mee ge f eK g f A h Th ee d A h
ar— oc a o m

th i in a nti— a nt

d f he
s co n

R el he
—
ss n rs ro m o s s

inv a s ion Aki d Akw p i of En t inva

pe p leM de
t t
L wle e f h e
vo m s an o

he
—
a m s—

i d ig
T A of tta t
e by eEl i M de M V dep ye
s on— o n s —
a ss n s s o o —
ur r

f D h G u tc th r of

Wi e
an

e M de f M Me edi h b y e
o a ov rno r m na s— ur r. r u

by Ath b Bi h t th nn tis
ege eI e ffe
ccra s —
ur r o r . r a s— r

v n a nc ts ppct58 7 2 2 2
— -
.

CHAPTER XV
THE T HIRD AS HA NT I W A R
1 813 TO 1 816

Akim s a nd Akwa pim s a tta c eA

k T e
th hi d A h ti i h t an n

wee h eE gli h d A h ti
ccra s— s

be
r

eh e
va sio n— Co m m u nica tions t t n an an

he
n s

ew i ep
s s

F E gli h i pof to t
ifi e h e m l e
E nd of th rs t a tt m ts t n m rov

p leP eei f h
s

pe
ar—

nt on o T tra in s av s

e
u m an sa cr c s— o

W e
o —
r v

b F
inn b il a . ort r u t pp . 2 73- 2 85
 CO NTENTS

CHAPTER XV I
TR E ATY W I T H AS HA NTI
1 8 16 To 1 818

Em ba ssy to Ku m bj e I ts eep i Diffi y b

t on e cu lt ou t th
e
as i— I ts cts
e T ediffi l y b
r c

e I peee M J
o — —
a

of h cu t ou t th
e F ed iffi e h e
N ot t nc
d R ell f M J
ncom am s— a

N e
r

ep l i e
s— .

u r th cu lti s T
id e ell W be we
e
ot s

ety B i i h R e
x a n —
ca o r . am s
—
r —

tr K ts nt in i H is ca t n

e
a —
r s u m as —
r -
ar

A h ti j d l
a nd R i icu in Cap C oa st— Ash anti
le K e
s an am an— o u s ru m o u rs

am b d i
a ss ad d
ors ns u t at om n a pp . 2 8 6- 3 02

CHAPTER XVI I
THE TR EAT Y BRO K E N B Y THE E N G LI S H
1 8 19 To 1 8 20

Appointm e nt o f Mr D u p u is Me ss e
n gers from th e King Th e Kin g
cla im s re dres s on th e ngth o f th e
s tre tre Th e j u stice
— —
.

a ty o f h is

S m ith s atte m p ts to e va d eth e tre

‘

de Mr Hop e
—

m a nd s
’
a ty

S l ave
—
.

tra ding a t Accra pp 3 0 3 3 1 8 .

—

CHAPTER XVI I I
C ON S U L D U P U I S TR E ATY ’

1 8 20 To 1 82 1

Mr D u pu is visits eN e h eKi g
Ku m a si D ifficu lty bou t th ot s T n
’

i de d f eG e A e ey
.
—
a —
s

j ifi i
u st fcat o n o w h th tr at

g e d T eey e jee e C d
m an ov rno r— n

d by h e
s ro m

si n h G tr f f i
at ct t itio n fa
M i he e l e P e
—
r ov rno r- on o a rs

Sk hirm is C w at T s contro of th o ss ss ions

th e e f ef
—
or —
ro n a ss u m
on G ld C A o oa st—
pp 3 3 rm am nts o th orts . 19— 33

C HAPTER XI X
THE O U TBR EA K O F THE FO U RTH AS HA NTI WA R
1 82 2 To 1 8 24

Arriva l ofeM C E l e t p Se
Sir Ch arl ef
ge
arth y— nt of
e
i
‘

b T ee ge e ee
nro m
d E pe
s roo s— zu r o a

A ant at di i
nam a h a nt cu t t on to
D kw Th e e e e Fi d e h e f
s r o- s r x —
x

A j i G n th nt— rst ta c
eh e
un ccras nt o
Ri e
ov rnm

E pe
a—

Se d
o m

Ah is P
ant s cross s di i E ik t v r r a— x t on to ss um a —
con
 C O NTEN TS

CHAPTER XX I I I

G OVE R N OR MA C L EA N ’
S T R EAT Y A ND G OVE R NMEN T
1 8 3 0 To 1 83 7

Appointm ent of Capta in Ma cl a n Condition o f th e cou ntry Mac e

e e ee e e
—

le
—

N g otiations for p ac Ma cl an s tr aty '

e e e
’
ch ara ct r
His gov rnm e nt I m prov e e
d con dition of th pe op l and incre
an s — —

as d

tra deAp o llo nian Exp e e

—

atrociti s dition to Apollonia Wa r

b twe e e Arrival o f m is sionarie
— — —

n Ku m a si and j a bin s pp 405 42 5 — .

—

CHAPTER XX I V
MA C L EAN S A D M I N I S TR A T IO N A TTA CK E D
’
A ND VI NDI CA T E D
1 8 3 7 To 1 84 3

L E L Hedeh Di b e B t i ee vi i
at stu r at Fr
’

ee g i M le C pl i t g i hi
. . .
—
r —
a nc u r —
m an s s ts to
K i p t Fals nst
D e l e
u m as —
r or s a a ac a n— om a n s a a nst s

d ii n stra tion—
ti y C p y fig t t K ti h
i i ee ef E
c s av r
App i e i e
a m om s —
_
om an a orm an n

th e
C t f
e
ss o n r s nt ou t— ntm C om tt
q i y M le i d i d T e ee
—
om m o n o a m o u

u r — l C w ac an v n l ca t -
h ro n r su m s contro of

G old Coa st pp .
4 2 6 —
45 1

CHAPTER XXV
D I STU R B A N C ES ON T HE C OAST
1 844 To 1 849

Bond Murd e A i A C figh El i

r of a n s h a nt in ssin—

S l e di g
ts
—
p om any at m na
d A Mi Aw
ssio n

P i ee
D h
i be
an to
ge
ccra — i
ie d De f M le G e Wi ie
a om —
av tra n in u na— F ort
nz nst n

pe
ath

Ap ll i e E e e
r s ac an— ’
o ov rnor tt s
—
nn
d Hi
on a n K d ition s vis it to u m as i—

Re
o ff cts of

b e M ke
x i —
u ca t on
and i i lg
Chr stia n d m iss ons— i iou s istur at

E p i e f fe
a nc s an s im
R A
io t b S b i
at Ad na m a o— ti h u m ss ion of u -
x os 1r o s

pp 45 2 -
47 3
 C O NTENTS

CHAPTER XXV I
T HE P O LL TA x

1 850 To 1 8 59

e e f e ld
Gov ent o ed f th f Sie Go
LeeP
rnm h Co a s t arat t at o

h e eD i P ei Th eP ll T
p s rom rra
on urc a s of th a n sh

e ld C ig e
—
o s s ss ons — o ax

ti f A si A i
e ev de
th Go
Th e
Form ti i oa st Cor s h an ntr
d Wi d w l f e A h ti E e
a on o s— u n ss n
p
P rot ctorat in th th an cu
ii E e
a —
ra a o s s — x

i
t on f K j Ch ib K b f B ti h a nd ina G ab x t ns ion ri s

P y e ei e d Di b e
o u o

e
u o r —
o

j i di ti c on— nt o f th P011 T ax r s st stu r anc s at

e
ur s a

b d e
m —

Ch i i b g B
r st ans L b di hi d Ch i nt o f

b g Th e
T r stians

K b e e C pe
or — om ar m a a , s an

or
y figro o r C t b llion Com p a n ht at a oas
— ~

Pp 474 5 00
-

CHAPTER XXV I I
THE FIFTH AS HA NTI W A R
1 8 60 To 1 8 64

E arth qu ak eM eG ld C C p P pe diti
u tiny o f th oa s t

f he i f gi i ei he P e teTh e
—
o or s— ros rou s con on

ty A h i
e
t t a nt tv t rot

e di i de de
cou n
d d e f e
n c ora
d Pe
o r — s u s — r

C e
x tra t on i f w Ad a ra t ons

f th e lef E k e
m an an r us r or ar— vanc
p
—

Ah i y B ant M j h att ss i u m a
’

et e B ttlef B b k W h d w l f th e
o s a rm —
o —
a or o ran s

r at— A h ti i it
eG e Pi ep p l
r a o o u m a— ra a o s an s

pl i g i tM j C ’
C a nts a o ch ra n

eG ld C t C p disb de
a ns ov rnor n
A i l f C l e
om a or —
s ro osa s

l C d Th
E pe th e Si k e g t h e p Th e e
rr va o o on o nra n— o oa s or s an

di i P H
G e e
t on to t troo
ep e
x ra— c n ss am on s s— om

t t p
ov rnm n s o s pp 5th 53 o ra tion s . 01 - 0

CHAPTER XXV I I I
EFF E CT S OF THE W A R
1 86 5 To 1 8 67

ee App ointm e nt o f a P ar lia m e

ntary Com m itt e
e
e
Com iss ion nt ou t—
e
el h e I ts l oca l effe
m r s

R volt of Aggri R iot at

e
R su t of t nqu iry cts

e
Cap Coast Com pa ny figh ts a t S e
— — —

kondi Kom nd a a nd Mu m ford

l e Conran s pe ace ee
—
,

l
Co on pro cl a m a tion A tt 1npt d Com pany
'

e
h t at Cap Coa st S e e
— —

fig ditiou s co ndu ct of Ortabil Th A wu na

De portation of Aggri G o v e e e
— —

w y D ath
m or B la ckall s tr at
’

of Osa i Kwaku Du eD isturba nce

—
ar — s —

s in Ku m a s i
pp 5 3 1 5 5 6
— —
.
 C HAPT ER XX I X
THE A N GLo - D UT C H E"C HA N G E O F T E R R I T ORY
1 86 7 T o 1 86 8

N e
g
otia tions eD E
with th ge ei y Obj ei u tch — x ch a n of t tor ct o ns of

epele e ef e e K ed b b de
rr —

th R sistancd th K om nd a S —

e i C fedeti e e f El i A k e
op — o om n a om ar

e w h he
Th F a nt I nv s tm nt o ttac th
P l e El i
on ra on— m na— on

to w
n— a av rs Aw at m na— Tr a ty it t u nas

PP 5 5 7 5 75
-

CHAPTER XXX

THE AS HA N T I I N VAS I O N O F K R E P I A ND THE D UT C H -

K O ME N D A
WA R

Ash anti p lans e e

invas ion Kr pi d d Mr Sim pson s m ission
inv a ’

e e
of

ee e e
— —
.

Tr a ch ry o f th A k wam u s— Ca ptu r of G rm a n m issionari s

e e e ey e e
_ _

Ba ttl of K w sikru m — Ca ptur o f Du tch prison rs b th Ko m n

e e e
d a s Bom bardm nt o D f i ce A tj m p on s a trociti s— His a r
i
’

Ap h y f e
— x ov —

i l i El i
r va n D h
m na—pp 5 7 6 5 at o th u tc ,
—
93

C HAPTER XXX I
N E G O T I AT I O NS W I T H THE D UT C H AND AS H AN TI S
1 8 70 To 1 872

Policy o f th eGov e rnm e nt re garding th e Ca ptive E u rop ans Hosta ge e

give n for th ir s afe e
ty Ex ch a nge prisone Ne
s -

of gotia tions for

th e purch ase o f th e Du tch S e ttle m e A tj ie
—
rs —

nts m p on s con du ct in
E lm ina Ash a nti cl a im to Elm ina Me e
’

ting with th e
—

Du tch pro
te cted Chie fs Arre st of A tj ie Ba ttle
— —

of D u fi o I s la n d
Alle ged renu nciation of th e
— m p on —
~

As h anti claim to Elm ina Disp o sition

o f th e Elm ina s R e m ova l o f A tj ie
—

— m p on
pp 5 9 4 6 1 3 ,
—
 CO NT ENTS

CHAPTER XXXI I
THE FA N T I C ONF E D E RAT ION
1 87 1 To 1 872

Th eigi f h e
or F iC
n o fe
de i
t fi f a nti d bj e ra t on— I ts rst orm a t on a n cts
eA N i e E ly e f he
on

C fede i
o

Th l i F t a nti

eG e e A C
at v

fe
de
ccra ra t o n— at o ns o
~
on ar r

C on wi ra tio n i d w pth th nt onstitu t on

he Hee
n u

e P pe
ov rnm —
ra

A ction o f t
Ad G pi i
m I nistra tor—
’

he
n on
ee
y ov rno r o nn ss s o

P li o l l
cy o f t o ca
PP G ov rnm nt

CHAPTER XXXI I I
THE TR A N S F ER OF THE D U TC H S ETTL EM E N T S

I n stru ctio ns of th e
H e
ef h e
G e et
D h f Tra ns f t u tc orts

M de Liee J T ede
ov rnm n

p e
om —
r o

R io tEl iat na dK g r of ut na nt oo st— h in

e e d E e e dee R de de
m —
ur os

in sta t f d f
cu tion o th
ei ie G e Heey p l Ci il w i
r —
x m ur r rs— a ns om m an or
’
th ssiona r ov rnor nn ss icy n

C p i Dye i
m s —
s o —
v ar

Ap ll E d y fii A x im

e f d p ei eE e D i A i e
’
onia ta n ssion— x traor inar a r at

S ele
o —
a r sm a

tt nt o is ut s th a st rn istr ct, tc

p ie e l
n ss n ,

S e e eK i C l e de
m .

in th d ou nci — Th t R
Th e p i ee elle
ra nsom

A j e
c n u m as os —
m ov a

of ti F d Di ca t v s s nt om ana ca

e C peC
on— r s
p
—
m

turb a nc at a 6 6 4 o ast 2 — 6 9
 A HI STO R Y O F T HE G O L D
C O A ST A N D A S HA N TI

CHAPTER I

THE ORI G IN OF THE G OLD C OAST TRIB E S

THE country now known as the Gold Coast includes ,

a p . 1

not only the Colony proper but also Ashanti and a small
,

portion of the Southern Soudan known as the Northern

Territories I ts coast line extends from Newtown on the
.
-

west to Afl a o on the east and in addition to the Gold

, ,

Coast as geographically defined includes a part of the,

Slave Coast to the east of the River Volta I t is only .

within comparatively recent times that the greater part

o f this area h a s been included within the sphere o f influence

or been visited and explored by Europeans who for many , ,

centuries never penetrated more than a few miles into the

,

interior .

The history o f the country lying along the coast line

e
-

is fairly well known for on European nation or another

has held trading settlements there for over five hundred
years and the works o f several writers remain giving a
, ,

more or less complete account o f different periods Such .

discrepancies as occur between them are mainly attribut

able to international j ea lousies for they were written at a
time when several nations were on the coast together con
e
,

tending the on against the other for the trade and regarding
each other a s interlopers I n these circumstances it is
.
,

not altogether unnatural that each writer S hould incline

towards that version o f any particular occurrence which
redounds most to the credit of h is own race Apart from .
 O R IGI N O F TH E COAS T TR I B ES

C HA P . 1 these works t here are no written records The local h is .

tory howe ver h a s always been handed down verbally

e
, ,

from on generation to another t h rough t he Linguists and

e
,

such are their pow rs o f memory that these accounts ha v e

been found remarkably accurate in those cases in which
they could be checked by the written records They are .

always entitled to consideration an d may usually be a c

ee
,

c p t d as reliable s o far as the incidence and sequence of

events are concerned and there is seldom any difficulty
,

in fixing the approximate dates by other contemporary

occurrences .

The records left by Europeans do not commence ti ll

the latter part of the fourteenth century and none o f them ,

have left any account of any statemen t s that may then

have been ma de t o them by the people a s to their pas t
history Very li t tle is known therefore about the origin
.
, ,

o f these tribes and such accoun ts a s hav e been handed

'

down and are current among them at t he present time are

purely traditionary The Gold Coast African however
.
, ,

seldom emigrates He will make long j ourneys for p ur

.

poses of trade and may stay away for years but he always ,

tends to return to h is original home The Linguists and .

better class people from whom these traditionary accounts

-
,

of past e v ents are obtained belong to families w hich have ,

had their home in one and the same place fro m time im
memorial Am ong such a people tradition h a s a far
.
,

greater v al ue t han among less settled races for places and ,

natural obj ects connected with their pas t history are con
s tantly before their eyes and assist in preser v ing the story
,

from generation to generation .

The general sum of these traditions is that the Fantis ,

Ashantis Wassaws and in fact all the Twi speaking or

e
-
, ,

Akan peoples , were originally on tribe They were a .

pastoral race and inhabited the open country beyond the

forest belt and farther north th a n Salaga A northern and .

lighter skinned people which is commonly s upposed to

‘

-
,

have been the Ful a nis com menced to encroach o n their

e
,

territory and being stronger than they sei zed their cattl
, ,

and young women and made m any of the others slaves .

 AS HANTI S AN D FANTI S

After a time the Akans began to migrate in small parties

, ca n . 1

into the forest where they built little villages and lived in
,

hiding As time went on the number of these forest

.
,

e
dwelling fugitives increased until in the course of many , ,

years th ir numbers became very considerable Their

, .

oppressors then h eard o f them and made se veral attempts

to conquer and enslave them but were unable to fight in ,

the dense forest and tiring of their want of success

, , ,

eventually left them unmolested Living in peace the .

,

people continued to increase and gradually extended ,

farther south until they had populated the forest belt and
eventually reached the coast .

The subdivision of the united Akan race into its main

bra nches the Fantis and Ashantis is variously accounted
, ,

for. The split however seems to have occurred long

, ,

before the coast line was reached and while the principal
-

settlements were in the country north of the River Pra

e
,

the present Adansi and around T kim a n O ne story very

, .

plausibly explains that the constant raids of their northern

enemy w h o b u rned all the farms reduced the Akans to
, ,

great straits for food Some o f them subsisted on a wild .

”
plant named fan and others o n a plant named S han
, ,

and thus gained the names F ah d ti and Shan d ti - —

( d ti to eat ) The former subsequently migrated farther

—
.

south and the latter remained in the more northerly dis

,

tricts o f the forest But though this story accounts for

.

the names Fanti and Ashanti and it is worthy of note —

that the initial A of the latter is not pronounced

by the people it fails to explain why they separated
—
.

Another account says that a section of the people dis

liked the King and conspired to poison him The names .

o f the two tribes are derived from the names o f the foods

they o ffered to him The Fantis are said to have gathered

.

fan and the Ashantis a poisonous herb called asun

or as u an which with the verb
, tsiw ( to gather )
, ,

give the deri vation of these names The King discovering .

,

what the Ashantis had done naturally favoured the Fantis ,

but they were n ot strong enough to withstand the j ealousy

and oppressio n of the former wh o ultimately drove them ,
 O R IGI N O F TH E C O AST TR I B ES

ca n . 1 from t he country Yet another version of this story says

.

that a quarrel arose among the people wh o divided i n t o

e
,

two fac t ions on of which migra t ed farther south

,
They .

became known a s the Fa tsiw fu meaning a portion of - -

,

the people who had cut themselv es off from the main body ,

and t he others were called Asua tsiw fu meaning the - —

,

people wh o did not hearken because they refused to lis t en

e
,

to th ad vice of t he King when he w anted to restore peace

and prevent the As hantis from driving the Fantis away .

The Fantis s a y that they found the forest uninhabited ,

and some of them set t led there founding the village of ,

Kwaman but the maj ority pushed on till they reached t he

coast They are said to have been led by three chiefs
.

O sun Obu rnu m a Kuma and Od ap agan They found t he

,
.

sea board inhabited by two t ribes the A sib u s and Etsiis

-
, ,

who united to oppose the new comers Kormantin is -

.

said to ha v e been the princip al t own of t he A sib u s and

e
,

their Chief A m a nfi wh o is said to have be n a gian t led

e
, , ,

them against th Fantis defea t ed them and compelled

,

them to pay him tribute La t er however they organized a

.
, ,

rebellion and dro v e the A sib u s in t o the bush but A m anfi , ,

wh o was su ffering from guinea w orm in h is legs an d could -

no t escape was found in h is house and pu t to death

, The .

Elminas are said t o ha v e come to the coast at a later da t e ,

and to be an off shoo t of the Ashantis which w ould account

-
,

for the fact that while the latter have alw ays been the foes
o f the Fantis their relations with the Elm inas have been
,

uniformly friendly .

How much truth there may be in these accoun ts it ,

is impossible to say but vague and uncertain t hough

they may be they are nevertheless no t unreasonable and
, , , ,

are probably very fairly correct The Fulanis are known .

e
to ha ve been mi grating in a southerly direc t ion for cen
tu ri s and the Arabs had e v en prior to t he el venth cen
, , e
tury founded s t ates in the interior of Africa one of the
, ,

chief of which was Ghana which is belie ved to have been

,

near the present site of Soko t o The country o f Wangara .

belonged to this s t a t e and though this name is now con

, ,

fined to a country quite dis t inct from Ashanti the Ma ,

 AS HANTI S AN D FANTI S

h om e
d in Kumasi in 1 8 2 1 told Mr Dup u is , t he Briti s h
a ns . C HA P . I

Consul that Ashan t i was a part of W angara According

, .

to the Ar ab his t orians the coun t ry to t he sou t h of Wangara

,

was ca lled Lam lam and was inhabited by a race o f sa vages

e
-
, ,

e
whom the people li ving round t he Nig r used to hunt and
sell into slav ery I t is moreo v er well kno wn tha t th
e
.
, ,

Mah om d ans have only been able to conquer in coun t ries

e
where they could u s cavalry which would have been ,

quite impossible in the dense fores t of Ashan t i and might ,

easily account for t heir lack of success agains t t he A kans

wh o fled thither
e
.

I n Winneba and some other plac s on the coast a lan ,

gu age is still spoken whi ch is quite distinct fro m Twi

e e
.

This langua g is grad u ally dying ou t bu t it may well o w

e
,

its origin to that of th tribes wh o were li ving o n the coast

line at the time of t he Fanti imm igration As suming the
e
.
.

tra dition al accoun t of their conqu st to be subst a ntially

correct it by no means follo ws that they were ex t erminated
,
.

I t is far more probable that they would hav e been required

e
to pay tribut to the Fantis and if this was so , the natural
e
, ,

conservatism of the A ffican would be qui t e suffici nt to

account for their language and perhaps some o f their
customs having lingered in those part s of t he coast where
they settled The di fferent languages of the Accras and
.

A p ollo nia ns o n the other hand are to be accoun t ed for by

, ,

t he fact that they are believed to be immigr ants from th e

S lave and I vory Coas t s rather than tru e nati v es of the
Gold Coast The Accras at least h ave nev er succeeded in
.

establishing themsel ves in t he true forest districts ; and

the fact that the count ry now occupied by the Fantis was
e
at on time inhabi t ed by a very p rimi t i v e race is proved
by the discovery of a number o f stone weapons a nd im
plee
m nts .

The only argu men t t hat could be addu ced to refute

t he general truth of t hese traditions is the fac t t hat the
Portuguese when t hey firs t settled on t he Gold Co as t in
,

e
1 4 8 2 found the people alr ady grouped in t o separa t e petty
,

kingdoms and t ribes and the ques t ion h as been raised

whether four and a half centuries would afiord s u ffi
 O RI GI N O F TH E C O AS T TRI B ES

ca n . 1 cient time for the migration through the forest and the
form ation of these tribal distinctions Each of these little .

states however most probably arose from the settlement

e
, ,

o f on o f the more powerful families of the immigrants

with their dependents ; for the family or patriarchal

system is the fundamental principle of the Akan con
s titu tion .

Another point in favour of a belief in the common

origin of the Fantis and Ashantis is the existence among
them of a number of definite families At the present .

time it is impossible to say what their ori ginal number

may have been I t is certain however that some of
.
, ,

them are of very much greater antiquity than others which ,

are believed to be o ff shoots from the parent stock due to

-

quarrels or some other cause The principal families are .

the Twida n ( Leopard ) Nsonna ( Bush cat ) K wo nna ,

-
,

( Bu ffalo ) I ntwa ( Dog) A no nno ( Parrot ) A b ra dzi ( Plan

, , ,

tain ) A bru tu ( Corn stalk ) A ppia di ( Serv ant ) and Yoko

,
-
,

( Red earth ) There are several others but these are

.
,

generally acknowledged to be the oldest The animals .

and other obj ects from which they derive their names are
commonly held sacred by their members The name was .

probably given as a descriptive title to the original head

o f the family a common practice among most primitive
—

peoples but in course of time the fact that it wa s merely

—

the name of an individual has been lost sight of and later ,

generations have come to regard these a nim a ls a s their

actual ancestors or as the tutelary deities or the homes of
,

the tutelary deities of their families .

Members of these families are found among Fantis

and Ashantis alike and it would be difficult to find any
,

explanation of this fact unless it is admitted that these

e
tribes were at o n time living together a s o n united people e .

Many of these names too seem to belong to an older , ,

dialect for they are not those in common use among the
,

Fantis at the present day Moreover though the members .

,

o f these clans are now s o widely scattered a certain brother

,

hood still exists among them and the customary laws in ,

use among all the Akan peoples though va rying slightly ,

 O R IGI N O F TH E C O AS T TRI B ES

C HA P . 1 and their rule became so tyrannical and obnoxious

people that their authority was expressly limited .

In addition to the Akans there are a number of other

e
,

tribes more especially in th Northern Territories about

, ,

whose origin little o r nothing is known and there are also

many colonies of Hausas and Fulanis scattered about the
country but though something more is known of their
,

early history they are only aliens in the land and cannot
,

legitimately be included among the tribes of the Gold

Coast.
 CHAPTER I I

THE G OLD C OA S T A ND THE A N C I E NT S

WH E TH E R the Gold Coast was known to the Ancients o r ca n

no t, is a question to which it is impossible at this day to , ,

give a decided answer but there is a certain amount of

e
evidence which tends to j ustify the belief that it was
e
.

The greatest navigators of early times wer the Ph o ni

cia ns but a s none o f their writings have been preserved
, , ,

the exact extent of their voyages and discoveries is doubt

ful and there is very little mention of them in the writings
,

o f other nations This fact is easily accounted for by the

e
.

j ealousy of the Ph c nicians wh o carefully guarded all

,

information connected with their navigation and trade

as State secrets Consequently when Tyre was conquered
.
,

by Alexander and Carthage by Rome these records were ,

lost for ever We know however that they made frequent

.
, ,

voyages in the Mediterranean wh ich were often extended ,

along the Atlantic coast of Africa or to the British I sles ,

and that they founded colonies o n the African coast ,

beyond the Straits of Gibraltar as early as to 8 00 ,

B C
. . But it is quite certain that they would never have
attempted such colonization o f new countrie s until they
had by frequent voyages become fairly well acquainted
, ,

with their seas and coasts .

Knowing therefore that these ancient t nicia ns

were in the habit of sailing down the western coas t of
Africa the only question to be settled is how far these
,

voyages extended There are two passages in Herodotus

.

whi ch point to the possibility of their having reached the

Gold Coast or its neighbourhood H e states that the .

Carthaginians say there is a region of Libya ( Africa )

 G O LD C O AST AN D TH E ANC I ENTS

C HA P . beyond the Pillars of Hercules ( J b u Za tou t and Gib e

ra ltar
) which is inhabited and that when they g o there

to trade they land and having deposited their go ods on

, ,

the beach return on board their ships and make a great

,

smoke in order to attract the attention o f the natives .

The latter then come down to the shore and place the gold
they are willing to give in exchange opposite the heaps
o f merchandize and go away The traders then land
.

again and if they are satisfied with the amount o ffered ,

take the gold and leave the goods and then sail away ;
but if they think the price too small they go o n board ,

again and wait for it to be increased .

N ow a similar method of trade is mentioned by two

other writers Aluise de Cada Mosto a Venetian was
.
, ,

sailing from V enice to Flanders in 1 4 5 5 when he heard of ,

the great profits made by the Portuguese in the African

trade under Prince Henry the N avigator These were .

stated to be sometimes 700 or even as much as

per cent H e therefore determined to make a voyage
.

down the west coast and arranged to give the Prince a

,

fourth of the profits on h is return H aving arrived at a

.

place somewhere in the neighbourhood of Cape Blanco ,

which he calls H oden he heard of a town or district named

e
,

Tr gazza ( meaning a chest bag or sack of gold ) which lay

,

some six days j ourney by land from Hoden From this

’

e
.

Tr gaz z a a salt trade w a s regularly carried on by means

o f caravans to Tom b u to ( Timbuktu
) and thence to Melli .

Whatever salt wa s not disposed of in Melli was taken by

carriers through a country where there were no camels
or other beasts of burden to a river the Niger There ,

he says having reached the shore or bank of The ,

Water the salt is placed in heaps each merchant s pro

, ,
'

perty by itself They wh o belong to it then retire to the

.

distance o f half a day s j ourney ; when other negroes

’

wh o avoid being spoken to or seen and who it is con

ee ,

j ctu r d come in bo ats from some adj acent I slands a p

,

proach the heaps of salt and having examined its quality ,

p lace a certain portion of gold on each and withdraw

O r p o ss ibly th e
, .

1
V o lta .
 TH E S I LENT TRA DE

The original t raders then return if t he Deposit satisfies “

on .

their expectation they take it and lea v e the salt if no t

, , ,

they again retire witho u t removing the gold The former

, .

Negroes upon this ei t her add more gold or only take the
, ,

sal t on which t heir deposit was appro v ed This mode of .

tradin g is very ancien t among them t he truth of it h as

been attested by many of the Arab and A z anaghi merchants ,
" 1
and by other persons whose information deserves credit .

The next mention of this silent trade is made by Captain

Richard J obson wh o in 1 6 20 2 1 made a voyage to the
, ,
—
,

Ri ver Gambia for the express purpose of disco v ering the

gold trade mentioned by Cada Mosto He published an
e
.

account o f his v oyage in 1 6 2 3 b u t though he makes m ntio n

o f t his trade he does not seem to ha v e been writing from
,

pers onal experience of it but rather to hav e been repeat ,

e
ing what he had read in certain authors but whose names ,
” 3
he could no t recollec t Claude J ann qu in Sieur de
.
,

Rochfort wh o made a West African v oyage in 1 6 3 7 also

e
, ,

mentions the existenc of this silent trade in the neigh

bou rh oo d o f Cape B lanco The account gi v en by Hero
e
.

d otu s of this trade as carried o n by the Ph c nicia ns is

t herefore confirmed and the fact t hat paym nt wa s e
habitually made in gold is additional proof of its truth
e
.

I t do s not follow howev er that they s ailed as far as the

, ,

Gold Coast though i t is a fact that a form of this silent

,

trade is not uncommon both there and much farther down

t he coast even to the present day
, .

The second passage fro m H erodotus is of much greater

importance in this connection Abou t 6 00 B C Pharaoh . . .

Necho then King of Egypt attemp t ed to cu t a canal

,
3
,

e
from the Nile to the Red S ea but such enormous numbers
of h is labourers died a t t h is work that h was forced to
abandon it and seek some other means of s t ablish ing
_

e
communication between t hat s a and the Mediterranean e .

H e therefore provided some Ph aanicians with ships in

e
th Red Sea and ordered t hem to enter t he Mediterranean
by t he Straits o f Gibral t ar and so return t o Egypt They .

Cl a rke Astley vol 1 1 p 1 8 2

s am ewh o s le
w th e
Je
2

Th e
1
p 2 45
, . . , . , . .

3 wish King J osiah .

 G O LD C OAST AN D TH E AN CI ENTS

C HA P . accordingly sailed south and o n the approach o f autumn

, , ,

landed and made a farm where they sowed corn and waited
,

to gather in the harvest This Herodotus explains wa s .

, ,

the usual practice with sailors on an African voyage .

Having thus consumed two years they in the third ,

;

doubled the columns of H ercules and returned to Egypt ,

.

Their relation may obtain attention from others but to ,

me it seems incredible for they a ffirmed that having

, ,
”
sailed round Africa they had the su n on their right hand
,
.
1

I t appears that though Herodotus believed that Africa

was everywhere surrounded by the sea except at Suez ,

he thought this statement that the sailors had had the s u n

on their right that is to the north wa s a mere travellers
, ,
’

tale As a conscientious historian however he inserted

.
, ,

it for what it wa s worth and it is very fortunate that he

,

did so ; for it undoubtedly a ffords the very strongest

evidence that the circumnavigation of Africa was actually
accomplished Either this must have been done or the
e
.
,

whole story was a pure invention of the Pho nicians who ,

tried to cover their failure by describing something mar

e
v llo u s
. But as against this latter hypothesis it must
, ,

be remembered that such an idea was so entirely opposed

to the knowledge o f those days that had they wished to ,

invent anything it is one of the very last things they

,

would have been likely to think of and S ince the holders ,

o f such unorthodox views were more often than not

punished by death it is even less likely that they would
,

h ave ventured to repeat it unless they had really seen

what they described and were convinced of its truth .

This statement alone therefore goes far to prove the

, ,

truth of their story and to j ustify the belief that they

really had rounded the Cape o f Good H ope and were
describing in perfect good faith a phenomenon which they
had actually observed but which they were unable to
,

explain Nor are any of the other details given inco n

.

sistent with this belief The time the voyage is said to

.

h ave occupied is not unreasonable and the winds and ,

currents are more favourable for the passage from east to

1
Me
lpom e
ne 42 Cla rkep l x x x vii
, , . .
 PHCEN I CIA N V O YAGES

west than in the opposite direction The only real d iffi a . p .

culty is the doubt whether the ships of those days could

have successfully encountered the enormous seas which
are so frequently met with o ff the Cape of Good Hope .

I t is usual to avoid these by standing o u t to the south

e
,

but this was a course which the Pho nicians coasting along ,

in strange seas would no t have been able to adopt But

, .

though this obj ection exists it is no t sufficient to invalidate

,

the story for starting with a number of S hips it would

, ,

be quite reasonable to expect a proportion of them to get

through and it is known that they constantly sailed to
,

and maintained a regular trade with the British I slands ,

which involved the successful navigation of the Bay o f

Biscay .

Believing therefore that this voyage was indeed made

6 00 years B C it is quite possible that the Gold Coast
. .
,

may even then have been visited The ships of t h ose .

days were small and the seas unknown and it is safe to

e
,

assume that this voyage was a coasting one and that th ,

S hips never lost sight of land for more than a few days at
a time and then only if blown out to sea by storms The
e
.
,

Pho nicians would moreover have been compelled to

, ,

land and obtain fresh water and provisions at fairly

frequent intervals and it is quite possible that one or more
,

calls may have been made on the Gold Coast for this
purpose for though it is true that the landing there is for
the most part very dangerous there are several places ,

where it is nearly always easy and safe and they would ,

doubtless have been put on shore and taken o ff again

by the natives who would have come out to the ships
,

in their canoes and are well able to manage them in almost

,

any surf They might even have made their farm there
e
.
,

though this is very improbable owing to th amount of

clearing that would have been necessary I f they did in
e
.

fact visit the Gold Coast it is possible that it was th n that

,

they discovered that gold was obtainable there and ,

founded that more or less regular trade which there is

some reason to suppose at one time existed For similar
e
.

reasons we must admit the possibility at any rat that , ,

 G O LD C OAST AN D TH E ANCI ENTS

C RAP . II the Gold Coast may have been visited by others of the
Phoenician explorers who sailed along the West African
coast but of whose exploits no record has been preserv ed
,
.

There seems to be no doubt that at this time the , ,

belief that Africa was a peninsula had gained general

acceptance and that the theory of Hipparchus which
e
, ,

confined each s a in its separate basin was only formulated ,

after all recollection of these earlier discoveries had died

ou t I t was then that such fragmentary accounts of the
e
.

Ph c nicia n voyages as survived came to be discredited

e
.

I n the reign of Xerxes S a tasp s a Persian nobleman and

, ,

a nephew of Darius was condemned to death for some

,

crime but h is mother prevailed upon Xerxes to commute

h is sentence on conditio nthat he should sail round Africa
until he reached Arabia S atasp s accordingly s t ou t
. e e ,

and passing the Pillars of Hercules and 8 01015 turned ,

towards the south According to H erodotus

. after ,
1

continuing his Voyage for several months in which he

e
,

passed over an immense tract of s a he saw no probable ,

termination of his labours and therefore sailed back to ,

”
Egypt . O n his return to the Court o f Xerxes with his
1

task uncompleted he gave as his reason for turning back

,

that it was impossible to make the circuit o f Africa as h is ,

vessel was totally unable to proceed Xerxes however .

, ,

was not the man to be put o ff with excuses o f this kind ,

and the original sentence was at once carried out and the
e
unfortunate S a ta sp s crucified Antonio Galvano writing .
,

in the sixteenth century gives the date of this voyage

e
,

as 4 8 5 D C and says that S a ta sp s reached the Cape of

. .
,

Good H ope though it is not very clear on what grounds

,

he bases this assertion I t is true however that several

.
, ,

months might have enabled him to get there and the ,

mountainous seas and strong currents around the Cape

might well account for his statement that h is vessel was
totally unable to proceed .

By far the most important of these ancient voyages

o f which we n ow have any record however is that o f the
, ,

Carthaginian Hanno This was undertaken when Carthage

.

1
Melpom e
ne 43 , Cl arke
.
p cii
2
, . .
 G O LD C OAST AN D TH E AN CI ENTS

C HA P . covered an island in a deep bay which he colonized and ,

named Cerne H e adds that the distances from the

.

Pillars of Hercules to Carthage and to this island seemed

to him to be about equal H e seems therefore to have .
, ,

doubled Cape Blanco and to have reached the island now

known as Arguin a surm ise that is further borne o u t by
the discovery in Arguin of the remains o f the old tanks
or cisterns constructed by these Pho nician colonists e .

Proceeding farther south Hanno came to another river

ee
, ,

the Ch r t s This he entered and found that it opened

.
,

into a large lake containing several islands O ne day s .

’

sail beyond the mouth o f this river were some mountains ,

and still farther south another large river in which were ,

large numbers o f crocodiles and hippopotami This .

description can fairly be applied to the Rivers Senegal

and Gambia the first of which h as a large lagoon in which
, ,

there are several islands while the latter was noted for ,

the number of crocodiles and hippopotami it contained

within quite recent times The mountains he mentions
e e
e
.

as being on day s sail beyond the Ch r t s would then be

’

the hills around Cape Verde which though of no great , ,

height are specially noticeable on a coast that is almost

,

uniformly flat Hanno having apparently reached the

e
.
,

mouth of the Gambia then returned to Cerne for a time ,

b fore again proceeding south and it is during this second ,

part of the voyage that the principal difficulties arise in

identifying localities and that there is most reason to
,

suspect errors or omissions of time on the part of the

Greek translator .

The Periplus gives the following account of this second

portion of the voyage Sailing then twelve d ai s . e
Southerly not going farre from the Coast which was
, ,

peopled with Negroes wh o upon sight o f us fled away

e
, ,

and spake so as the Lix ita that were with u s understood

e
,

them not the last day we arrived at a Mou ntain full of

great trees the wood whereof was odoriferous and of
e
, ,

various colours H aving now coasted two d ai s by this

e e
ee
.

m o u nta in wee found a d p and troublesome race of

,

Sea on the side whereof towards the land wa s a plaine ,

 PERI PLU S O F HANN O

where by night we saw fires kindled o n every side distant CR A P

e
, .

o n from the other some more some lesse Having watered

e
.

here we sailed by the land five d ai s so that we arrived

, ,

in a great B ay which our interpreters said was called

,

Hesperus his hom e ( the western born ) I n this there was .

a great I sland and in the I sland a lake which seemed a

e
, ,

s a and in this there was another I sland

, Where having
landed by day wee s aw nothing but woods but in the night
e
, ,

many fires were kindled and we heard Ph if s and the

e
,

noise and sound o f cim ba ls and dru m m s and besides ,

infinite shouts so that wee were exceedingly afraid and ,

o u r diviners commanded us to abandon the island then

swiftly sailing from thence we passed by a countrie
ee
,

smelling of spices from which some fi ri rivers fall into

e
the s a and the land is so hot that men are not able to
e
,

go in it therefore being somewhat affrighted we s u d

e
,

d nly hoised out our sailes and running along in the maine
e
,

the space of four d ai s we saw by night the countrie full

,

o f flames and in the middest an exceeding high fire

, ,

greater than all the rest which seemed to reach unto the ,

Starres but wee saw this after in the day time which
e e
,

was a very lofti m ou ntain called the Chariot of the

e ee
,

Gods But having sailed three d a i s by fi ri rivers we

e
.
,

arrived in a gulfe called Notu c ra s that is the South , ,

Horne in the inner part thereof there was a little island

like unto the first which had a lake in it and in that there
, ,

was another I sland full o f savage men but the women were
e
,

more ; they had their bodies all over h airi and of our ,

interpreters they were called Gorgones ( Gorilla ) we pur

sued the Men but could take none for they fled into preci
e
,

p ic s and defended themselves with stones but we tooke

three o f the Women which did nothing but bite and scratch
,

those that led them and would not follow them There
e
.
,

fore they killed them and fl a d them and brought their ,

skins to Carthage and because Victuals failed us we

”
sailed no further .
1

Th is portion o f the voyage is less easy to limit than

the earlier part and various estimates of its extent and
,

Clarke p clx x
1
, . .
 G O LD C O AST AN D TH E AN CI ENTS

the positions o f the Western and Southern H orns have

been given by di fferent commentators D A nvill says .
’
e
the Western H orn is Cape Roxo and the Southern one
Cape St Anne or the point o f Sherbro Sound M de
.
. .

Bougainville o n the other hand fixes Cape Palmas as

, ,

the Western and Cape Three Points as the Southern H orn

ee
,

while Maj or R nn l thinks Sherbro I sland was the island

o f th e Gorilla and practically limits the extent of the
,

voyage to Sierra Leone But though there are mountains

.

here some indeed reaching a height of about

,
ft .
,

they have been pronounced non volcanic O thers again -

.

believe that H anno reached the Gaboon and Congo ;

while some geographers have argued that he never got
beyond the Moroccan coast and others even say he reached,

the Cape of Good Hope Several of these writers had no

.

personal acquaintance with the West African coast

but those who know it best incline to the belief that Hanno
reached the Cameroons even if he got no farther
,
.

Apart from the question of time there are other diffi

e
,

cu lti s ; the chief o f which seems to be to decide what

H anno himself really means by the di fferent things he says .

I n the first place there is some doubt about the meaning

,
”
implied by the term horn Much confusion seems to .

have arisen through some commentators having confined

this term to promontories whereas the word keras was
e
,

usually applied by the Greeks to arms of the s a A pas .

sage in Hampton s translation o f Polybius shows the sense

’

in which it was then used I n describing the current in .

the Bosphorus he says I t is once more hurried back

,

to Asia to the place called Bos and lastly falling back

again from Bos it directs its course towards Byzantium ,

and there breaking into eddies a small part of it winds

, ,
”
itself into a pool which is called the horn The islands .

mentioned in the great bay at the Western H orn were

probably low lying alluvial tracts whose conformation
-
,

would in the course of centuries be liable to very great

, ,

alterations They might even become j oined to the

.

mainland and cease to exist The island of the gorilla .

however seems to have been of a much more permanent

,
 GO RGO N ES

character for precipices are mentioned in it which cer

, C HA P .

ta inly do not occur o n the alluvial islands found in lagoons

and river deltas .

Then there is the question wh ether the Gorgones men

e
tion d in the Periplus were identical with the species
e
now known as g orilla or were in reality baboons chim
e
e e
, ,

p a nz s or some other large species o f ape When th .

modern gorilla was discovered I n 1 846 it was so named

because it was believed that it was the species that had
been described by Hanno The way in which the males
.

are said to have fled up the mountains and thrown stones

is very suggestive of baboons the females o f which would
,

equally have fulfilled the conditions of biting and scratching

their captors and would moreover h ave been far more
, , ,

readily taken than genuine gorilla I n fact the capture

.

of three living and possibly full grown specimens o f the -

true gorilla would be an undertaking o f considerable

magnitude and danger even at the present day Even
e
.

assuming that these animals really were gorilla it is quite ,

unnecessary to conclude t h at the species was then con

fined vvith in the same geogra phical limits as now We
e
.

know that many African animals were common ev n ,

within the last few centuries in places where they would

,

certainly never be found at the present time Bosman .

,

writing about 1 7 00 describes h ow the tracks of thousands

,

of antelope elephants and other animals were to be seen

,

in the neighbou rhood o f Takoradi and Sekondi ; while

around Axim and the River Ankobra several elephants
were killed daily O ne indeed was killed close to the fort
.

at Accra and at least three at Elmina one of them in the ,

town itself Elephants could not now be found within

.

many days march of these places and if this change h as

’

occurred within the comparatively short space of a couple

o f centuries how much more may the distribution o f the
,

gorilla have been altered during a period of between two

and three thousand years The probability is however
.
, ,

tha t these Gorgones were merely baboons or chim panzees .

Then there is the distance travelled by the ships of

those times in a day s sail to be considered R nn l h as
’
. ee
 G O LD C O AST AN D TH E AN CI ENTS

C HA P . collected several ex amples in his G ography of H rodotu s e e

giving the rate of sailing of the best constructed ships of
e
the Pho nicians Greeks and Egyptians He gives eight
,
.

’
ex amples and taking the mean of these a day s sail wo rks
, , ,

o u t at t h irty seven miles-

A great deal however must .
, ,

depend upon winds and currents and H anno would ,

naturally have had to regulate the speed o f his whole

fleet by t h at of his S lowest vessel so that it is impossible ,

to draw any accurate conclusions from times alone More .

over great uncertainty ex ists whether the times given in

,

the Periplus are either complete or correct O bviously .

,

then it would be very unwise to place too much reliance

,

on them as a means of fixing localities though when times , ,

are given they cannot of course be entirely disregarded

, .

Consequently with s o extensive a field for conj ecture

e
,

opened up by this question of time the possible u nc r ,

tainty about the exact meaning of the term horn and

the doubtful identification o f the Gorgones we are com
ee
,

p ll d to rely rather on the more definite physical features

mentioned and notably on th mountain of fire the island
, e ,

with precipitous hills which was inhabited by some species

o f ape , and either promontories or gulfs but preferably ,

the latter that will answer the descriptions given of the

,

Western and Southern H orns .

Now to consider the second portion o f the voyage in

greater detail Taking Cerne as having been satisfactorily
.

identified with Arguin about which there can be little ,

room for doubt and the Carthaginians having already

e
,

explored the coast as far as the Gambia we find they s t ,

ou t again from Cerne and sail south past a country in

habited by Negroes whose language the interpreters taken

e e
from th Lix ita were unable to understand This again .

clearly s h ows that they had already passed south of the

River Senegal which forms the northern limit of d is trib u
ee e
,

tion of the true N gro s w h os language would of course be

e
,

strange to the Lix ita Next they reach some mountains

.

covered with trees This is probably another reference to

.

Cape Verde for there are no other mountains except

,

D u brika until Sierra Leone is reached and this cape is s o ,

 EXTENT O F TH E V O YAGE

conspicuous a point and landmark on a West African C HA P

voyage that it would not be unnatural to mention it again .

The tree covered hills of this cape from which it derives

-
,

its name are cited as a landmark by all the early voyagers

, .

V illau lt in 1 6 6 6 says
, Cape Verde is one o f the most
,

agreeable places in the world for its verdure the north ,

part is mountainous and always covered with green

trees .
” 1
e
G o lb rry who wrote an account o f his travels
,

in West Africa during 1 7 8 5 8 7 says of this spot the —

,

baobabs which are the most monstrous of all vegetables

, ,

grow here in great abundance I counted near sixty of .

them towards the point of Cape Verd among which ,

there were many of a prodigious S i z e their branches laden

with foliage give the Cape a very verdant aspect and it
, ,
”
is from these trees alone that it derives its name It 1

e e
.

is also given as a landmark in the M rch a nts a nd M a rin rs ’ ’

“
e
Africa n Gu id ( 1 8 1 9 ) which says of the hills at Cape Verde
,
”
that the easternmost is thickly studded with trees .
1

Having already mentioned the River Gambia H anno ,

probably would not refer to it again and the troublesome

e
,

race of the sea may be th mouth of the Rio Grande ,

which he could hardly fail to notice .

After this they come to the great bay called the Western
Horn where they land on an island but are alarmed at night
, ,

by the sounds of drumming and shouting and by fires .

This Horn at any rate is distinctly stated to have been a

bay and can hardly have been anything but the harbour
,

o f Sierra Leone which is the finest on the whole coast

,
It .

also contains several low lying alluvial islands beyond

e
e
-

Ta gr n Point The fires and sounds wh ich so alarmed the

.

Carthaginians are capable of a very simple explanation .

I t has been the custom of the natives along the whole of

this coast from time immemorial to clear land for their
, ,

farms by setting fire to the low bush and grass at the end
o f the dry season and it was probably these fires that H anno
,
”
saw distant one from the other some more some less ,

o r they may have been fires lit by the people to illuminate

Astle e
eh e e
1
y v ol , . ii p 3 7 6
, . . G olb rry v ol 11 p 3 7
2
, .
, . .

3
M rc a nts
’
a nd M arin rs
’
A frica n Gu id , p 1 4 . .
 G O LD C OAS T AN D TH E AN CI ENTS

C HA P . 11 their dances in the evening The drumming and shouting .

m ay be heard in any African village o n a moonlight night .

After this they passed by the land from which some

ee
fi ri rivers fall into the sea and the land is so hot that
men are no t able to goe in it This so alarmed them that .

they went on fo r four days until they sighted the mountain

o f fire These fiery rivers admit of two explanation s I t
. .

was commonly believed by the earliest voyagers that the

heat in the tropics was so great that no man could live
there and that the heavy surf they saw was due to actual
,

boiling of the waves on coming in contact with the heated

sands For many years this surf was always referred to as
.

burnings and Bosman in his description o f the mouth ,

of the River V olta mentions the very high B urning of

e
,

extraordinary violence as well a s lofty Agitations of th ,

”
Waves and the same author when writing of the bad
,
1
,

surf on the Slave Coast says : This Port ( Fida ) is so ,

incom o diou s and dangerous ; by reason o f the horrible

Burnings in the Sea that we cannot land here without ,

running a great Risque but in April May J une and J uly , ,

the Sea burns so violently that according to the Proverb , ,

he ought to have tw o lives who ventures fo r the

e
Sea Burning is so viole nt and rolls so that a Canoa full of
-

P ople is over turned and the Canoa shattered into Splin

-

”
ters in a minute These statements about fiery rivers
.
1
,

therefore may merely mean that the rivers they passe d

,

had bad bars and have been inserted to explain why it was
,

that they did not enter and explore them I t may be .

,

however that the passage was intended to be taken liter

,

ally ; for when the grass is fired at the end of the dry
season the vegetation along the banks of the rivers and
streams is usually too damp to burn and remains until later ,

when if the stream h a s dried up and the grass is again

,

fired the rest of the land being already clear the appear
,
,

ance o f a veritable river of fire is produced The four .

days mentioned probably refers to the time taken after

leaving this land and not to that occupied in passing it
also which h a s been omitted and if this is so they might
,
,

1
Bosm a n, p 32 8
. .
2
I bid .
, p .
337 .
 G O LD C O AST AN D TH E ANCI ENTS

GHA P . course of a few centuries Now the number of really per .

manent islands in this part of the world is very limited and ,

the choice o n this particular part of the coast is reduced

to two Fernando Po and Corisco
,
The former lies too far .

o u t to sea to have been described by Hanno as being in a

gulf but Corisco standing in the entrance to Corisco Bay

, , ,

is a rocky wooded island wit h some small precipitous

,

cliffs along its shore and with mountains lakes and minia ,

ture rivers inland I n fact it answers the description

.

admirably .

Now t h ere is nothing in all this voyage to show that

Hanno ever landed on the Gold Coast in fact if its ,

ex tent has been correctly estimated he seems to have been ,

too alarmed by the surf or bush fires that he s a w even to

have touched there to water his ships The account .
,

however is of very great importance because it is the only

e
, ,

on that has been handed down to u s and because what , ,

ever its actual extent it shows the enterprising c h aracter

,

o f the t nicia ns and proves that they had seriously

,

turned their attention to West Africa Their explorations .

were made primarily for the purpose o f extending their

trade and it is quite certain that after achieving so much
, ,

as at the very lowest estimate was done by Hanno they

, , ,

would have followed up this first success by further voyages ,

and have endeavoured to open up communication and

trade with the natives They would then have received .

gold and ivory in exchange for their merchandize and , ,

once they learned that these were obtainable on the coast

and in very considerable quantities nothing would have ,

been left undone to foster and extend so profitable a trade .

A very few voyages would have sufficed to show them that

gold was most abundant on the Gold Coast and the bulk ,

o f their trade would then have gone there Therefore .

,

though no accounts of any further voyages are now extant ,

it is no t at all unreasonable to believe that they were made .

There is h owever other evidence o n the Gold Coast

, ,

itself which supports this belief in an ancient trade with

a maritime people There are on the Gold Coast certain
.

peculiar beads locally called Aggri beads though the

, ,
 V O YAGE O F E U D O XUS

natives can give no meaning to the word These beads are C H A P .

highly prized and commonly valued at their weight in

. e
gold Th natives assert that they find them in the ground ,

and it is noteworthy that they have only been found in

the western part of the Colony where the best known gold ,
-

producing districts have always been nor have they been

found at any great distance inland Their manufacture is a .

lost art Many attempts have been made to counterfeit them

.

o n account o f the high value set upon them by the natives ,

but easily detected imitations have been the only result .

They are of di fferent colours eit h er plain or variegated , ,

and some have small flowers or other patterns worked on

them or an appearance of mosaic Similar beads have .

been discovered in some parts of North Africa in tombs ,

in Thebes and in places in India to which the t nicia ns

,

are known to have traded I t is also known that the

e
.

Pho nician city Sidon was celebrated for manufactures

o f this kind They cannot have been introduced by cara
.

vans across the Sahara or specimens would surely have

,

been discovered farther inland and they must therefore ,

h ave been brought by maritime traders and none more ,

likely than the t nicia ns wh o made them The remains

,
.

o f bronze lamps o f antique design and arranged to bu n a

r
wick floating in oil have also been found in some old disused
g old workings .

About the year 1 1 7 B C a Greek named Eudoxus a

. .
,

n ative of Cyzicus sailed from Egypt to India

, and on his
return voyage meeting with bad weather was blown ou t
, ,

o f h is course and driven o n to the East African coast .

H ere among other things he found the wreckage of a

, ,

ship with the figure of a horse carved upon the prow .

Regarding this a s something of a curiosity he carried it ,

a wa yvvith him and subsequently exhibited it in the market

e
,

place a t Alexand ria Some pilots who saw it there id nti

e e
.

fi d it as the prow o f on o f the ships of the fishing fleet

o f Cadiz which were all marked in this way and used to
,

fish along the West African coast as far as the River

Lix iu s .

H aving found the wreckage of a ship peculiar to western

 G O LD C OAST AN D TH E AN CI ENTS

C HA P waters on the east coast o f Africa Eudoxus concluded ,

that it must be possible to sail round that continent and

e
,

determined to make the attempt Accordingly h went

e
. .

to Cadiz and fitted out o n large and two small ships in ,

which he sailed down the west coast for some distance ,

but was then compelled to beach h is vessels because the ,

crews when they found themselves entering unknown

,

seas refused to go any farther He persuaded them

,
.
,

however to make another start but then found he could

e
, ,

not r floa t his largest ship At length he contrived to

e
.

build another small on of her materials and saved all her

cargo Continuing the voyage he reached a country
.
,

inhabited by Negroes which was probably Senegambia

, ,

and then a fresh mutiny broke out and he was forced to

return This failure however was not sufficient to
.
, ,

extinguish his ambition Fitting ou t two more small

.

vessels he again sailed south but unfortunately never

, ,

returned .

The wreck Eudoxus found on the east coast can hardly

have been carried there by wind and tide after h aving
been lost on its usual fishing grounds t h ough the possi ,

bility o f th is must be admitted Nor is it known exactly

.

how far Eudoxus went on his first voyage some indeed

believe that he sailed much farther than Senegambia for ,

he reported on his return that the natives spoke the same

language as those on the east coast and that before he ,

turned back he was unable to obtain provisions The .

language common to the east and west coasts at the present

day is Bantu which would not now be met wit h north of
,

the Cameroons nor is there any reason to suppose that it

,

ever extended any higher I t is quite possible however

.
, ,

that in those days before the Arab invasion of North

,

Africa the Berber language may have extended right

,

across this part of the continent The accounts o f the .

o ld Arab historians S how that the Moroccan coasts were

much more fertile in those days than now and a deter ,

mined man like Eudoxus should have had no difficulty

in obtaining provisions until he got down among the
mangrove swamps of the Niger Delta or if he really went , ,
 G O LD COAST TH E ANCI ENTS

south o f the Cameroons until he had passed the Congo

, a p

and reached the Kalahari Desert .

Though therefore there is no definite proof of trade

e
, ,

o r communication with the Gold Coast by the Ph c nicia ns

o r any other ancient race ; there are nevertheless a

, ,

number of facts which together furnish a considerable

amount of evidence in favour o f such a belief.
 D I S CO VERY O F TH E G O LD C O AS T

These will therefore be outlined in order to S how what

, ,

were the obj ects for which these explorations were under
taken and h o w it was that the Portuguese were n e
e
,

cou rag d to persevere fo r so long .

The discoveries of the Portuguese were primarily due

to the enterprise and ambition o f Prince H enry the Navi
gator H e was the fifth child and fourth s o n o f J ohn I of

e
.

Portugal and Philippa daughter of J ohn of Gaunt O n .

his mother s side th refore he was Engli s h and a nephew

’
, ,

o f Henry IV and great grandson of Edward I I I Until

e
-
.

th year 1 4 1 2 the Portuguese had never passed beyond

Cape Non ; but in this year Prince H enry sent a small
ship to explore the coast and another was despatched a
,

little later Cape Non was then passed and the coast
.

explored as far as Cape Boj ador but when they reached

this point the Portuguese were so alarmed by the strong
,

currents and tremendous surf they found there that ,

they were afraid to venture beyond it and maintained ,

that they had now reached the limit of practicable

navigation .

I n 1 4 1 5 Prince H enry accompanied his father to Ceuta ,

in the conquest of which he greatly distinguished h imself ,

and was created Duke of Viseo Remaining some time .

in Africa he collected all the information he could from

,

the Moors and it was then that he learned for the first
,

time of the existence beyond the Sahara Desert of a rich

and fertile inhabited land where both gold and ivory were
obtainable This he was told could be approached either
e
.

by land or by sea The Ma h om d a ns at this time had

.

several States o n the Niger and were well a cquainted with

,

the J a llof country and Timbuktu I t was the account .

o f their trade with these regions the very existence o f

,

which had hitherto been unsuspected that fired the Prince ,

with the strongest desire to reach them But this was not .

the only obj ect of the explorations to which he devoted the

remainder of his life He was anxious to discover if
.
,

possible a southern route to I ndia in order to obtain for

,

Portugal a portion of the valuable trade carried on by the

Arabs and their Venetian agents which had first been ,
 PRI NCE H EN RY THE NAVIGATO R

e
founded by Alexander and N arch u s Prince Henry was .
,
1 3 6 4— 1 48 2
moreover a very pious man and Grand Master o f the
, a p . 11 1

O rder of Christ
. He believed in the now abandoned dogma
that no heathen could be saved and the propagation of
,

the Christian Faith and the discovery of the kingdom of

Prester J ohn also formed part of his schemes This rather .

mysterious person was said to rule over a Christian people .

He had been sought in vain in Asia and it was now believed

,

that his kingdom must be somewhere in Africa At the .

present time this kingdom of Prester J ohn is identified -

with Abyssinia whose Kings trace their descent from the

,

son o f the Queen of Sheba by Solomon

e
.

Prince H enry though only twenty on now retired

,
-
,

from the Court and went to live on Cape St Vincent where .

,

the town of Sagres was built I t was a bleak and desolate

.

spot where a few j unipers were the only plants that could
,

survive the continual drenchings of spray from the waves

that dashed against the foot of the cliff The View of the .

wide expanse of ocean constantly inspired his thoughts

and encouraged him to persevere Here he established .

his dockyards and collected the most skilful navigators ,

the best S hipwrights and the most learned scientific men

,

of his day and from here he watched his vessels sail from
the neighbouring port of Lagos with the cross of his O rder
painted o n their sails and patiently waited to catch the
,

first glimpse of them as they returned fro m the unknown

seas they had been sent to explore .

I n 1 4 1 8 Prince Henry sent two naval o fficers of his

e
household J oao G ons a lv z Zarco and Tristam vaz T ix yra
,
ee ,

in a small ship to try to pass Cape Bojador Before they .

reached the cape a heavy gale sprang up and blew thei r

ship o u t to sea I n this helpless condition having lost
.
,

sight o f their familiar landmarks they had given them

,

selves u p for lost when they suddenly saw an island ahead

e
,

under the lee of which they cast anchor This was on of .

the Madeira group which they named Porto Santo Hithert o

,
.

the Portuguese had never done more t h an coast along

within sight of land but this accident had demonstrated
the possibility of navigating the open sea and when they ,
 DI S COV ERY O F TH E G O LD C O AS T

ee
returned and reported their discovery they were sent back
e
8 64 1 48 2
-

C HA P . 1 1 1 in the same year with one Bartholomew P r str llo to

coloni z e the island .

Prince H enry now met with great opposition from

many sections of his o wn countrymen who for reasons of
, ,

their own were averse to the further extension o f these

,

discoveries The nobility were afraid the wealth obtained

.

by others from these new lands might weaken their own

power and dignity and the learned men dreaded having
,

their long cherished theories upset by newly discovered

-

facts The clergy seem to have thought the expenditure

.

o f a part o f the funds o f the O rder of Christ o n the pro

eb l m a tical conversion o f heathens wh o had yet to be dis

covered was hardly j ustifiable and the j ealousy of the
,

military was aroused by the sight of honours being won

by a profession they had always been accustomed to look
d own upon There were many ignorant and superstitious
.

persons too who loudly proclaimed that it was vain

, ,

presumption to attempt to discover a passage round the

southern extremity o f Africa which the best and wisest
,

o f the older geographers had always taught was impossible .

They declared that any Portuguese who were rash enough

to pass Cape Boj ador would be turned into Blacks and bear
this lasting brand o f their folly These absurd predictions
.

had such an eff ect on p ublic opinion that Prince Henry

fo und it impossible to obtain crews to man his S hips ;
but he was not a man to be easily turned from h is purpose ,

and the success he had already achieved in the discovery

of Porto Santo made him determined to persevere About
ee
.

1 430
, therefore he s ent Ferdinand Lopez d A z v d o to
,
’

Pope Martin V to point out the advantages that might

accrue to the Church if his discoveries were extended He .

succeeded s o well in this mission that the Pope granted a

Bull confirming the Portuguese in the possession not only ,

of the islands that they had already discovered but o f any

,

lands that might be acquired by future exp editions also .

H e then silenced the obj ectors by blessing the naval

profession and granting plenary indulgence to all those wh o
m ight lose their lives in these attempts These concessions
.
 V O YAGES O F G I LIA NEZ

were subsequently confirmed and extended by Popes

Eugene IV Nicholas V and Sextus IV
e
, ,
.

I n 1 4 3 3 Gilia n z succeeded in doubling Cape Boj ador

and then returned and reported that contrary to the ,

general opinion there was nothing to prevent the seas

,

beyond that point being navigated Accordingly in the .

,

following year he was sent o u t to continue his discoveries

,

and with him in a larger ship went Alphonso Gonzales

, ,

B a ld a ya the Prince s cup bearer They reached a point

’
-
.
,

ninety miles beyond Cape Boj ador where on landing , , ,

they found the trail of a caravan and then returned They .

gave the name Angra d os R u yvos or Bay o f Gurnets to

the bay in which they had anchored on account of the ,

number o f those fish that the seamen had caught The .

next year 1 4 3 5 these same two men were sent out again
, ,

and ordered to prolong their voyage until they met with

some of the inhabitants o f these new countries They .

sailed another forty miles beyond the Angra dos R u yvos ,

but saw no S igns of any people They therefore landed .

two o f their number Hector H omen and Diego Lopez

,

d A lm a id a with horses
’
, Neither of these youths was yet
.

S ixteen but they rode boldly inland to explore each was

,

provided with a spear and sword but they were not allowed ,

a rmour lest they S hould be tempted to engage the natives

if they met any I t was not until late in the day after
.
,

they had ridden many miles that they espied nineteen ,

natives all armed with spears wh o o n their approach , , ,

fled and hid themselves in a cave from which they found ,

it impossible to dislodge them The two adventurers .

,

therefore returned to their ship for assistance and a party

, ,

was quickly organized which set ou t for the cav e ; but

,

when they reached it they found that the people had

already fled I n commemoration of this excursion the
.

bay in which they had landed was named Angra dos

Cav a llos o r the Bay o f Horses Later they reached Punto .
,

da Gale where they found a fis h ing net but could see

,
-
,

no other sign of any inhabitants and then returned to ,

Portugal
e
.

During this voyage G ilian z had obtained some seal

 DI S C O V ERY O F TH E G O LD C O AST

skins and in 1 44 1 Antonio Gon z ales was sent out to con

e
,

tinne the exploration of th coast and get a further supply

of these skins Having S h ipped his cargo this enter
.
,

prising man took nine of his crew and marched inland by

nigh t After they h a d gone about ten miles they saw a
. ,

man armed with two spears following a camel and easily

e
secured h im for h was too astonished by this sudden
,

apparition of wh ite men to attempt to escape O n their

e
.

way back to th s h ip with their captive t h ey fell in with ,

a party o f forty men and a woman and having separated

e
, ,

th latter from her companions secured her also The ,

.

nex t day while they were getting ready to leave Nuno

, ,

Tristan arrived in another ship and a second ex cursion ,

was at once planned for the following night They had .

not gone far when they again fell in with the natives ,

and after a struggle in the darkness in which three of the ,

Africans were killed succeeded in taking ten more prisoners

,
.

They were taken on board where it was found that an

e
,

Arab who formed o n o f the crew was able to understand

their language He was accordingly put o n shore with
e
.

th woman to arrange for the redemption of the others

e
.

Th Africans were naturally enraged by these captures

and the loss of the men w h o h a d been killed in the a ffray
over night and thoug h they came down to the beach in
-

great numbers and beckoned to the Portuguese to come

o n shore and treat with them the Arab called o u t warning
, ,

them that if th ey landed they would certainly be attacked .

They therefore lay off in their boats and the people after , ,

throwing volleys o f stones at them went away Gonzales , .

then returned to Portugal with his prisoners and Nuno ,

Tristan having first careened his S hip continued h is

, ,

voyage down the coast and succeeded in reaching Cape

Blanco about three hundred and sixty miles beyond Cape
Boj ador But though he again found fis h ing nets on the
e
e
. -

beach he could s nothing of any inhabitants

, .

The prisoners taken on this expedition were well treated

and when it was found that three of them were men of
some importance in their own country and willing to pay
liberally for their release it was decided to send them
,
 G O LD AN D S LAVES

back ; fo r the Prince believed that the accounts they

would give of the good treatment they had received at
the hands of the Portuguese would do much to remove
the ill feeling of the people towards his sailors and materi
-

ally simplify their future labours I n 1 44 2 therefore .

, ,

Gonzales returned with the three principal Moors and on , ,

reaching the coast landed the chief one He however no

, .
, ,

sooner found himself free again than he forgot all his

promises and disappeared as quickly as he could without
paying the ra nsom for which he certainly cannot be blamed
,
.

But he seems to have reported the arrival of the others

for nine days later about a hundred of their people came to
redeem them They were given up in exchange for ten
.

Negroes from di fferent countries some gold dus t a few

1
, ,

ostrich eggs and a buckskin shield This gold dust was .

the first that had been seen and the estuary in which it
,

was obtained was named the Rio del Oro or River of Gold .

I t is di fficult to over estimate the effect it had in infla m ing

-

the z eal o f the Portuguese fo r further discoveries and silene

ing their detractors for the sight of it opened up such
vast possibilities of an extensive and highly profitable trade
that there was no longer any fear that these explorations
would be abandoned Had Prince Henry died before this
.

gold was obtained to prove the truth of his theories it is ,

doubtful if any further voyages would have been made

fo r he was s t ill generally regarded as a V isionary and ,

it was due to his personal influence and determination

alone that they had not been given up long before I n .

1 44 3 N uno Tristan doubled Cape Blanco and reached the

I sland of Arguin where he captured fourteen more natives

,
.

These seizures of natives by Gonzales and N uno Tristan

constituted the foundation o f the African Slave Trade ;
for from that time forward it became customary for the
captain of every vessel that passed down the West Coast
2
to carry o ff a few of the people in this way Though it .

was not until the commencement of the sixteenth century

ee ee P i e
ee Hey
T h y w r p r s nt d by Pope M artin V
e eeb gh Portu gal and th e
1
r nc nr to .

I n 1 444 2 00 s la v s w r a nnu a l
ee e7 8
1
rou t to ,

a v ra g im p ortation s oon ro s to 0 0 or 00 .
 D I S C OVERY O F TH E G O LD C OAS T

'
3 6 4 1 48 2
—
that this trade began to take definite shape it was then ,

cu p , 1 1 1 very quickly established and eventually assumed such

,

proportions that it over shadowed everything else and for

-
,

many years afterwards maintained its position a s one of

the greatest curses ever introduced into Africa I t was .

a custom however which was not peculiar to the Portu

e
e e
, ,

gu s nor did they originate it Slavery in o n form or .

,

another had existed from the remotest times not only in

, ,

Africa but also among the J ews Greeks t nicia ns and

, , , ,

in fact every ancient race During the Roman occupation

.

o f Britain great numbers of the people were carried away

,

into slavery to add lustre to the triumphal processions of

their generals or to be done to death at their festival games .

About this time some merchants o f Lagos now fully ,

alive to the importance of the Prince s schemes and the ’

value of the trade that might be expected to result from

h is discoveries proj ected a Chartered Company
, The .

Prince granted their request and the first East I ndia

e
,

Company was formed by La ncaro t J uan Diaz Gilian z , ,

Estevan Alphonso and Rodriga Alvarez I n 1 4 44 this .

Company with the sanction of the Prince sent out a fleet

, ,

o f s ix caravels under La nc a ro t wh o reached the I sland of

,

Nar near Arguin There he assaulted a village and captured

e e
.

no t fewer than o n hundred and fifty fiv natives after -

,

wards taking forty more from some other islands near by .

I t is said that the obj ect of the Portuguese in taking these

prisoners was to obtain reliable information about their
countries but that the Prince had ordered all h is captains
,

to treat the people at all times with kindness and humanity

and no t to take more men than were necessary for this
purpose I t is evident however that these m oderate
.
, ,

instructions were grossly exceeded by his o fficers who had ,

Only themselves to thank for the unfortunate events that

occurred a little later .

I t is but natural that such high handed proceedings -

should have been resented by the natives and have incensed

them against the Portuguese and in the following year , , ,

Gonzales da Cintra was betrayed by an Arab interpreter at

Arguin and he and seven of his men murdered while five
, ,
 D I S COV ERY O F TH E G O LD COAST

leagues beyond the R io Gr a nde when he too was wounded ,

by the poisoned arrows o f the natives but being p os , ,

”
sessed of an antidote recovered and returned in safety
e
'

to Portugal where he received on hundred gold ducats

,

each from the Regent Dom Pedro and Prince H enry as a

Special mark o f their gratitude After many o t her voyages .

o f no special importance and the first t w o voyages of the

,

celebrated Genoese Aloisio da Cada Mosto in 1 4 5 5 and

e
1 4 5 6 Pedro da Cintra sailed with two armed ship s in 1 46 2
,

and disco v red and named Sierra Leone after which he ,

sailed on and explored the coast as far as Cape Mensurado .

Before Da Cintra s return Prince Henry had died in

’
,

1 46 3 in his sixty seventh year The death of this illustrious

-
.

Prince the founder and moving spirit of European d is

e
,

cov ry in West Africa put a stop for a time to further

, .

explorations of an organized ch aract er H is had been .

undertaken as a national work but the only v oyages that

e
,

were made during the next few years were those of privat
traders and ad venturers .

Though the records of his discoveries only e x tend

them to the neighbourhood of Sierra Leone there is some ,

reason to belie v e that some o f the expeditions he sent out

went much farther and even penetrated south of the Line
but whether the absence of records is due to loss or to the
fact tha t the explorers were wrecked and could not return
to report the extent o f their travels is doubtful The , .

latter however seems to be the most probable explanation

e
, , .

I n 1 5 2 5 Garcia de Loa ysa Knight of Malta Visited the , ,

I sland of S an Thom with a Spanish fleet He found it

e
.

u ninh ab it d bu t s a w distinct traces of its former occupa

, ,

tion by the Port ugues e Besides many fruits and tame .

cattle he discovered an inscription carv ed on a tree a s was

, ,

the Por t uguese custom setting forth that they had been
,

e
there eighty seven years earlier that is in the year 1 4 3 8
- —
, ,

twenty fiv years before the death of Prince Henry whose

-
,

motto Talent de Bien Faire was also ca rved upon the

tree.

I n 1 46 9 King Alphonso V farmed ou t the Guinea T rade

to Fernando Gomez for an annual rent of fiv hundre d e
 DISC OVERY O F TH E G O LD C OAST

ducats ( equivalent to about 75 1 3 8 ) and an undertaking that

he would extend the discovery of the coast five hundred
leagues farther south Few details remain of the voyages
e
e
.

made during this period but in 1 4 7 1 J uan de S a nt r m

and Pedro d E s coba r discovered the trade of O ro de la
’

Mina o r the Gold of the Mine somewh ere in the neighbour

, ,

hood o f Elmina o r Shama This is the first authentic 1

e
.

record of Portuguese discovery o n the Gold Coast F r .

nando Gomez also opened a gold mine at A b ro bi near ,

Komenda 3
Th ere was now a regularly established gold
.

trade and large quantities were imported annually from

,

Elmina and Shama a treaty o f commerce having been

,

concluded with the Chief of the former place When his .

contract ex pired in 1 4 7 4 Fernando Gomez was given the ,

surname Mina by the King and granted a coat of arms

argent three Negroes heads collared or and with rings in
,
’

their noses and ears in recognition of his discoveries

, .

I n 1 4 8 1 J ohn I I ascended the throne of Portugal and ,

being thoroughly conversant with the Guinea Trade and

appreciating to the full the great importance of the work
done and progress made by Fernando Gomez decided not ,

to rely on the Papal Bull alone but to build a fort on the ,

Gold Coast to protect the trade from the avarice of other

nations and safeguard the interests o f Portugal Acc ord
e
.

ingly a fleet o f ten caravels and two transports w as m a d

'

ready and loaded with all the materials necessary for the
erection of a fortress and church which were to be built at ,

the place found most convenient for protecting the gold

trade The equip m ent was remarkably complete Every
. .

thing was provided from the ready dressed stones for the -

foundation to the tiles for the roof and provisions for six
hundred men The command of this fleet was given to
.

Do n Diego d A z a m b u j a under whom were the following

’

e
,

oflic rs commanding caravels Gonzales da Fonseca

e
,

Ruy d Oliv ira J uan Rodrigues Gante J uan Alphonso

’
, , ,
’
Diego Rodrigues I nglez Bartholomew Diaz Pedro d Evora, ,

and Gomez Aires O f these the last was an attendant

.
,

on Pedro King of Arragon but all the others were o fficers ,

2 E ll is
1
Marm ol . .
 D I S C OVERY O F TH E G O LD C O AST
’
of the King s household The two transports were com
e
.

m a nd d by Pedro da Cintra and Fernan d A lp h o ns o and ’

,

a smaller vessel went with them as despatch boat to the -

squadron They had 5 00 officers and soldiers and a 1 00

masons and other workmen on board .

This fleet sailed on the 1 1 th of December 1 4 8 1 and ,

anchored off Elmina on the l g th of January 1 4 8 2 There .

they found a Portuguese trader named J uan Bernardo who ,

had come to the coast for gold and had some knowledge
of the people and their language H e was therefore t aken.

as interpreter and sent to notify the Chief of the arrival

o f the expedition H e was told to arrange a meeting as
.

early as possible and particularly to impress upon the

,

Chief the high rank and importance o f h is V isitors .

Early the next morning J anuary 20 the party , ,

landed carrying their arms concealed under their coats

, ,

and walked towards the spot they had chosen as most

suitable for the erection of the fortress There they .

h oisted the Royal Standard o f Portugal on a high tree ,

beneath which they built an altar Mass was then said .

and prayers were o ffered for the success o f their plans ,

the conversion of the Africans and the endurance o f the ,

church they were about to found Everyone was splen .

d id ly dressed in order to make the greatest possible im

’
pression ; d A z am b u j a wore a gold brocaded waistcoat
and a richly ornamented gold collar set with j ewels and ,

all h is companions were clothed in silks .

The Chief was now expected so d A z am b u j a seated ,

’

himself on a raised chair and disposed his followers in two

lines before him so that they formed an avenue up which
e
th Elm ina s would have to pass The Chief whose name
e
.
,

I s g1v n as Caraman a
c probably a corruption of K wa m in
—

Ansa now approached with h is retinue They wore

—
.

monkey skins o r palm leaves hanging from the waist but

-

e
were otherwise naked Their arms consisted of spears
.
,

s h I ld s and bows and arrows and on their heads were

, ,

helmets made of S kins and thickly studded with sharks ’

teeth The Chief who was preceded by his horn blowers

.
,
-

a nd drummers wore plates and other ornaments o f gold on

,
 N EGOTIATI ON S WITH AN SA

his arms and legs and a hea vy gold chain around his neck ,

while his hair and be ard a s well as those of his subordinate

,

Chiefs were ornamen t ed with small golden bells and

,

other trinkets The lesser Chiefs also wore gold chains

e
.

about their necks and each o n was accompanied by two

e
,

attendants o n of whom carried his s tool and the other

,

his shield .

After an interchange of salutations and com pliments ,

’
d A za m b u j a through h is interpreter explained the obj ect
, ,

o f h is visit H e used e v ery S pecious argumen t he could

.

think of to con vince the Chief of the ad v antages he and

his people would deri v e from the friendship and local
protection o f s o powerful a monarch a s the King of Portu
gal and while carefully concealing all anxie t y and cove
e
,

tou s n ss o n his own S ide laid special stress on the fact that
,

the King s chief wish was to instruct the people in the

’

Christian religion Finally he asked Ansa s permission to

.
’

establish themselves in his town and build a h ouse saying ,

that though Baya the Chief o f Shama and several others

would think it an honour to have such a house built o n
their lands yet the King had selected Elmina because he
,
’
had been moved by Ansa s previous kindnesses to his
people and wished to honour him alone .

This speech was liste ned to with great attention by the

Elminas and when it wa s finished A n sa sat silent for some
, , ,

minutes considering the whole subj ect and weighing the

’
arguments that had been advanced by d A zam bu j a in s u p
port of his request H e raised no obj ection to anything but
.

the suggested formation of a Settlement a proj ect which ,

he evidently viewed w ith suspicion and distrust His .

guarded reply plainly s hows that even in those early days

the African Chief was as skilled a diplomatist as those of
more recent times ha v e so often proved themsel ves .

”
I am no t insensible said h e to the high honour
, ,

which your great master the Chief of Po r t ugal h as t his day

conferred upon me His friendship I have always u e
e e
.

d a v ou r d to merit by the strictness o f my dealing with

e
the Portuguese and by my constant exert ions t o procure an
,

immediate lading for t h ir Vessels Bu t ne ver unti l this .

 D I S CO VERY O F TH E G O LD C OAST

3 6 4 1 48 2
—
day did I observe such a di fference in the appearance of
a r . 1 1 1 his subj ects they have hitherto been only meanly attired ,

were easily contented with the commodities they received

and so far from wishing to continue in this Country were ,

never happy until they could complete their lading and ,

return N ow I remark a strange di fference A great

. .

number richly dressed are anxious to be allowed to build

houses and to continue among us Men of such eminence
,
.
,

conducted by a commander who from his own account

seems to have descended from the God who made day and ,

night can never bring themselves to end ure the hardships

,

of this climate nor would they here be able to procure

any of the luxuries that abound in their own country .

The passions that are common to us all will therefore

inevitably bring on disputes ; and it is far preferable
that both o u r nations should continue on th same footing e
they have hitherto done allowing your ships to come and
,

go as usual the desire of seeing each other occasionally

will preserve peace between us The Sea and Land being
.

always neighbours are continually at variance and con ,

tending who shall give way the Sea with great vi olence
attempting to subdue the Land and the Land with equal
,
”
obstinacy resolving to oppose the Sea .
1

This skilful evasion of the principal if not the sole ,

obj ect of their mission considerably disconcerted the

,

Portuguese and it required all the address of d A z a m bu j a

,
’
,

backed by presents and promises and veiled threats that if

permission were withheld it might possibly be dispensed
with to induce the Chief to give a reluctant consent His
, .

unwillingness was probably due in part to previous mis

understandings and quar rels with some of the Portuguese
sailors and to a belief commonly held by the Africans
,

that Europeans were a people who had no land o f their

own but were compelled to wander about the seas in ship
,

until some fortunate chance enabled them to settle them

e
selves in th country of some other people Whatever his .

real reasons may have been there can be no doubt that

e
,

Ansa looked fo rward to the continual presence of th

De Barros a nd Faria Vide
1
Cl a rke
.
p 324 , . .
 ELMI NA CASTLE FO UNDE D

Portuguese with anyt hing but enthusiasm and had a ,

pretty clear perception of h is own int eres t s H owever .

,

h is consent once gi v en d A zam b u j a lost no time in com

e
’
,

m ncing Operations and Ans a as soon s aw h is misgivings

,

j ustified
.

The very next morning ( January 2 1 ) t he workmen

were landed and preparations at once made for laying the
foundations of the fortress Seeing a large rock close at
.

hand and convenient for their purpose the Portu guese ,

were beginning to quarry it when they were suddenly ,

attacked by the Elminas wh o believed it to be the residence

,

of the god o f the River Benya D A za m b u j a ran towards .

’

them and managed to pacify them with presents and apolo

gies but no t before many of his men had been wounded
, .

This misfortune however was not allowed to delay the

, ,

building of the fort and the work was pushed on to such

e
,

good purpose that in twenty days time the tower had be n ’

raised to the first storey and the whole building was already
sufficiently advanced to be capable of easy defence This .

rapid progress h a d been made possible by the prepared

materials that had been brought out for the tower which ,

only required fitting together This is the tower which .

stands j ust beyond the draw bridge at the main entrance

-

to the Cas tle at the present time .

’
A s soon as the building wa s finished d Az a m b u j a ,

sent back the fleet with a large quantity of gold while he ,

hims elf remained at Elmina with a garrison of S ixty men as

its first Governor a position which he filled with credit
,

fo r two years and seven months The fort was named the .

Castle of San J orge 1 and in 1 4 86 King J ohn conferred

,

upon it all the rights and privileges of a city and an annual

e
,

sol mn mass w a s ordered to be said in its church for the

repose o f the soul of Prince Henry to whose efforts the ,

Portuguese owed their Poss essions in West Africa At .

the same time the King added to his other titles that of
,
”
Lord of Guinea .

The site of the Castle was well chosen I t stands upon .

a rock forming the point of a peninsula and is surrounded

Sa intG e
orge
,

1
.
 D ISC OVERY O F TH E G O LD C O AST

3 6 4 1 48 2
—
on two sides by the sea and on the third by a lagoon known
C HA P . 1 1 1 as the River Benya which runs inland fo r some distance
,

almost parallel to the sea The Castle therefore can only

.
, ,

be approached by land o n its western side .

Such is the account given by the Portuguese historians

o f the formation o f the first settlement at Elmina ; but

although this is the one that is most generally accepted

e
,

it is not as has been mentioned already the only on and

, , ,

the claim to priority of discovery which h a s been advanced

e
by th French must now be considered That the French .

traded to the Gold Coast shortly after the Portuguese

settle d at Elmina there is abundant evidence to prove and ,

the Portuguese themselves admit it ; but the question

now at issue is whether o r not they were there in the four
e
e t nth century long before the date o f the Portuguese
,

discoveries and even before the time of Prince H enry

himself
.

This claim has been advanced by V illa u lt Sieur de ,

Bellefond who made a voyage to the Gold Coast in 1 6 6 6

,

and 1 6 6 7 and by the geographer Robbe whom O gilby

, ,

and others have copied Their several accounts are in

.

general agreement Villa u lt says that in the year 1 346

.

certain adventurers of Dieppe who were accustomed ,

to make long voyages a circumstance which he attributes

—

to their N orman descent sailed down the West Coast of

—

Africa and established Settlements at various places ,

especially in the neighbourhood of Cape Verde where they ,

named a bay the Bay o f France giving the names Petit

e
Dieppe and C stro Paris to Rio Corso and Grand Cess
,

respectively H e says they brought large quantities of

.

ivory back with them and that it was at this time that the
,

ivory turning and comb making industry for which Dieppe

- -

afterwards became famous was first established H e .

goes on to say that the Castle of Mina ( Elmina ) wa s founded

e
by th French in 1 3 8 3 and that they held it until 1 4 84
but that during the time of the Civil Wars in France ,

from 1 3 8 0 to 1 46 1 this trade became s o disorganized that

,

the Settlements were first neglected and ultimately

abandoned .
 D I S CO VERY O F TH E G O LD C OAST

disco veries of Nigritia and Guinea the least mention of ,

their having heard o f any Frenchmen that had founded

the Ca stle of Mina in 1 3 8 3 or that A z m b u j a when he e
came to Mina in 1 4 8 4 "
,

s ic"and begun there his first n e

e e
,

tr nch m nt ever saw or heard of any such castle built by

,
”
the French an hundred years before .
1

These reasons seem singularly insufficient for thus

summarily dismissing all claims of the French for accord
ing to the accounts of Villau lt and Robbe those voyages ,

and settlements were made by private merchants and not , ,

as in the case o f the Portuguese a s a national work I t ,

.

seems most unreasonable to suppose that these inde

pendent traders having a t great trouble and danger to
,

themselves discovered and founded a rich and profitable

trade in a hitherto unknown country would have been ,

anxious or even likely to have advertised many par

, ,

ticu lars ; but far more probable that they would have
been content with congratulating themselves on their
good fortune and have endeavoured by every means in
their p ower to keep it to themselves A manufacturer at .

the present day wh o discovers a new and lucrative process

does not immediately make a present of it to all h is rivals ,

but on the contrary takes every precaution to keep it

, ,

secret There are comparatively S imple means of effecting

.

this now but in former times silence was the only safeguard
, ,

even as it is still the best The absence o f any mention of

.

this trade by the French historians is not therefore very , ,

remarkable .

The fact that no French fort is mentioned by any

Portuguese historian is equally inconclusiv These e .

writers were dependent for their information on those who

went to the Coast with Diego d A za m bu j a s expedition ; ’ ’

and if they going ou t to found a Settlement suddenly

, ,

discovered the existence of a fort built by another Euro

pean nation long before the date of those discoveries of
their own race in which they took such pride it would be ,

only in accordance with human nature perhaps if they , ,

decided to s a y nothing about it but to keep all the credit

,

Barbot p 1 01
, . .
 TH E FREN CH CLAI M

for themselves rather than nullify the glory of all those

,

expeditions that had cost them so much .

As against this possibility it may be argued that the ,

Portuguese would never have permitted a name or ih

scription pointing to such a previous occupation to have
remained in existence during all the time they were in
undisputed possession But though this seems to be a .

sound argument it is nevertheless a well known fact that

,
-

such careless mistakes are very frequently made and the ,

name Bastion de France might have been perpetuated by

the Elminas themselves and no t by the Portuguese at
all The inscription also amounted to so little that it
.
,

might easily have been overlooked or its defacemen t

deferred until in the end it was forgotten ; or again it , ,

may actually have been defaced but the work badly done .

The existence on the coast of places bearing French

names at the time o f V illau lt s voyage is however of very ’
, ,

little importance Such names were probably given by

.

the Rouen Company which had Settlements on the Grain ,

Coast in 1 6 1 6 only fifty years before he wrote but were

, ,

afterwards abandoned O n the other hand in favour o f .

,

this claim Villa u lt distinctly states that he himself s a w the

,

ruins of the French fort at Takoradi upon which the ,

1

Swedes had subsequently erected a fort which in turn , ,

was then in ruins and saw at Elmina a fair Church still

in Being adorned with the Monuments and Arms
, of
France He was also shown at Komenda the remains of
.

the o ld French factory at the northern end of the town ,

and received a message from the Chief informing him that

he had refused a flag that had been sent him by the Dutch
e
General Will m b u rg at Elmina on the ground that h is ,

count ry had always belonged to the French and that

no other nation would be welcomed in it The Portuguese .

and Dutch writers also complain of the damage done by

e
e ee
e ee e
Th s m ay, o f cou rs h a v b n th ru ins o f F ort Wits n , wh ich wa s
e e eee e
1
,

blo wn u p by D R u yt r in 1 66 5 b u t it is non th l ss a fa ct th a t th
e ee e e ,

Ch i f a nd p op l o f T a kora d i s till p oint to a h ill a t som distanc from

e ee e ee e
th a t o n wh ich a r th r m a ins o f F ort Wits n as th s it of a Fr nch
ee e
fort th at sto o d th r m any y a rs a go
e
.

2
Astl y v ol ii p 3 7 5
, . , . .
 D ISC OVERY O F TH E G O LD C O AST

l3 64 1 48 2
—
the French to their trade and the preference the people ,

1 1 1 showed for them

e
ca n ,
.

Th chief interest in this dispute however centres , ,

around the inscription in the Bastion de France As has .

already been remarked and as might reasonably be ex

ee
,

p ct d the French make mention of these things while the

, ,

Portuguese o n the other hand are silent on the subj ect

, ,
.

They were both interested parties and V illau lt as has ,

been stated did not write until 1 66 6 and does no t quote any
,

aut h orities for his assertions I t is interesting therefore .

, ,

to note what a third party writing at a not much later ,

date has to say on the subj ect Dapper a Dutchman

,
.
, ,

published a description o f this Coast i n 1 6 8 6 less than ,

fifty years after the expulsion of the Portuguese from

Elmina of which he gives one of the best accounts He .

says : Some years ago the Dutch restored a battery

wh ich is called the French Battery because according , ,

to the general Opinion of the natives o f the place the French

e
,

were masters of it before the Portuguese There is n .

graved on a stone the first two figures of the number 1 3 00 ,

but it is impossible to decipher the two others I t had .

another inscription also carved on a stone between two

pillars in a small room inside the fort but it was all ob lit r
”
, e
ated He goes on to say that there was yet another
1

e
.

inscription over th door of the warehouse in the Castle ,

setting forth that it was built in 1 4 84 under J ohn I I o f

Portugal and that the figures of this date were so little
,

worn that they might only have been carved nine or

ten years and consequently the others must be assumed
,

to be of great age Farther on he describes how after .

,

the expulsion of the Portuguese the D utch restored the ,

ruined battery which held the outworks of the Castle and ,

”
is said to defend the shore battery and river and that ,
1

as the soldiers in this battery could not pass int o the

Castle except by two flights of close o n forty steps the
, ,
’
soldiers lodgings were lowered by about 5 ft and a long .

gallery constructed all round from the sea to the new

”
bastion 1

ep
.

1
D ap p r, . 2 80 .
2
I bi d .
, p . 281 .
3
I bid .
, p . 283 .
 TH E FRENCH CLAI M

Now if the figures in an inscription o ver the door of a

warehouse where they w ould be exposed to the inclemency
,

of the weather only appeared to be about ten years old

,

after the lapse o f a couple o f centuries i t is absolutely

e
,

inconceivable even aft er allowing for possible di ff rences

,

e
in t he quality of t he s t one that another inscrip t ion in a
,

S helt red position in a room inside the fort should have

been so defaced by time alone as to hav e become quite
illegible after a period of only on hundred years longer e .

Consequently great support is lent by this s t atement to the

,

theory that there really was a French fort in existence

at Elmina when the Portuguese arrived there under
d Az am bu j a and that in order to conceal this ev idence o f
’
, ,

priority they defaced the inscriptions but did not perform

e
, ,

this act o f vandalism and deceit su fici ntly thoroughly to

prevent a p a rt of t he da t e of on of them b ing still de e e
cipherable and further that the ruins of this old building
,

were subsequently restored and incorpora t ed w ith the

Castle by the Dutch .

Labat writing in 1 7 2 8 a
, lleges that there existed among
,

e
the archives of Dieppe a Deed o f Association between
,

th merchants o f Dieppe and those of Rouen to carry on

the trade to West Africa This deed was dated 1 3 6 5 but
e
.
,

was destroyed in the fir which consumed the Town H all

in 1 6 9 4 and consequently could not be produced in
,

e vidence .

Such is the evidence now available on t his disputed

point which it must be admit t ed is somewhat inconclusive
,

and meagre But t hough it may be impossible at this

.

date to decide with certainty whether the French had

established themselv es in Elmina before the arrival of the
Portuguese or not it is equ ally ou t o f t he question alto
, .

ge th er to ignore the claim s of the former nation The

e
.

account of the formation of the Po rtuguese S ttlement h as

therefore been gi ven first merely because there is no doubt
e
,

that it occurred and because it is the on of which we now

possess the fullest particulars and no t because t he French ,

account is considered apocryphal or in any way deserving

of ready dismissal .
 CHAPTER I V

EARLY EN G LI S H VO YA GE S To THE G OLD C O AS T

1 48 2 To 1 59 2

S OON after the Portuguese had formed their S e t tlement

e
at Elmina the King sent to Pope Sextus IV and ob t ained
,

a confirmation of the Bulls th at had been grant d to

Prince Henry This Pope added an inj unction strictly
.

forbidding any Christian nation to disturb the Por t uguese

e
in the possession of th territory that he had bestowed
upon them and even decreed that if they should disco v er
e
,

any fresh countries within th limits he had assigned to

the Portuguese t h ese too should belong to them At
,
.

this time the Pope s right to dispose of kingdoms was

’

e
universally acknowledged and his mandates were con
e
s id r d binding upon all European nations
,

ne vertheless
it appears that their violation was on at least on occasion ,
e
,

seriously contemplated I n 1 4 8 1 J ohn I I sent Ruy de

.

Sousa as his ambassador to the English Court H e was .

accompanied by h is surgeon and secretary J oan d Elu aS ’

e
,

and F rnam de Pina and h a d orders to

,
confirm the
ancient leagues with England and to inform Edward IV
of the King of Portugal s title to Guinea He wa s to ask
’
.

him to cause this to be published throughout h is kingdom ,

s o that none of his subj ects might go there and more ,

particularly to request him to prohibit t he sailing of two

Englishmen named John Tinta m and William Fabian wh o ,

were even then fitting o u t a fleet under the instructions

of the Spanish Duke o f Medina Sidonia With all thes . e
requests Edward complied .

J ohn however was not entirely satisfied with these

, ,
 TH E FI RS T GU I N EA C O MPANY

safeguards and feared that if the great riches of the coun

,

try became known the greed of gain might be more than

,

sufficient to counteract fear of the Pope s commands H e ’

.

therefore spared no pains to keep the full extent of the

Portuguese discoveries secret H e spread reports of the .

great di fficulties to be encountered in making a voyage to

Guinea and alleged that each quarter of the moon produced
,

a terrible storm that the people were cannibals that the

, ,

shores were hedged around with dangerous rocks and that ,

such a voyage was in fact only possible at all in a ship of

, ,

special construction which had been invented by the

Portuguese
e
.

H ence it is that very little is known of the history of th

Gold Coast during the earlier years of the Portugues e
occupation and such knowledge as we have of the latter
,

part of this period is mainly derived from the accounts

of di fferent voyagers wh o sailed there after the Pope s ’

Bull had come to be disregarded I t is known however .

, ,

that about the year 1 5 00 J ohn I I formed a Guinea Com

pany granting it a monopoly of the trade to the Coast for
,
”
an annual payment of a hundred pieces of gold and ,

making it a capital o ffence for any o f his subj ects to trade

there without its licence This Company for a time .

made very great profits and set up new stations at Axim ,

Accra and Shama and a little later at Christiansborg and

,

probably at Cape Coast also According to all accounts .

,

the Portuguese treated the people very badly though ,

it would be unj ust to place implicit trust in everything that

is said of them by other natio ns who were doing their ,

utmost to deprive them of their trade and oust them from

their Possessions I t is certain however that they had
.
, ,

frequent trouble with the people of di fferent places and ,

had very little power outside the range of the guns of their
forts and that they often treated not only the natives
, ,

but also any Europeans who fell into their hands with the ,

utmost barbarity .

The Gold Coast at this time was held to extend from

e
the Rio de Sw iro da Costa ( River Tano ) on the west ,

to Ningo o n the east I t was split up into a number of

.
 EARLY ENGLI S H V O YAGES

petty kingdoms and commonwealths lying along the sea

board none o f which extended any great distance inland
,
.

Commencing on the west the country between the Rivers ,

Tano and Manco was known as A d o u ir and the kingdom

of Ankober lay between this and the Rio Cobre ( River
A nkobra ) Next came A tsyn ( or Axim ) which was bounded
e
.
,

on th east at Akoda ( Akwida ) by the western frontier of

Ante Ante extended from this p oint to about a mile and
e
1
.

a h a lf east of Za kond ( Sekondi ) Between this place and .

the Rio San J uan ( River Pra ) were two more kingdoms ,

Adom or Little I nka ssa n and Jabi ; but o n crossing the

river the kingdom of Com m a ni Commendo or G u a ffo was ,

entered This stretched as far as the River Benya or

.

Salt River at Elmina The present coast town Komenda .

”
was called Little Com m a ny or E kki Tokki and it and -
,

the headland near it were known to the Portuguese as

Aldea de Terres I t is still called Ekit ki by the natives e
e
. .

Th capital Eguafo which was then a large town said to

,

h ave contained a b out four hundred houses w a s distin

e
,

gu ish d as Com m a ny Grande or Great Commendo Fetu

e e
.

lay between th Benya and Queen Anne s Point and Sabo ’

,

between there and the Iron Hills These last three seem .

to have been subdivisions of an earlier larger state for

Barbot says the kingdoms of Commendo Fetu and Saboe
e e
,
”
formerly constituted on kingdom called A d oss nys .
'
1

I t is possible that the S plit may have occurred during the ,

early years of the Portuguese occupation Fa ntyn ( Fanti )

e
.

lay between the Iron Hills and somewhere near wher

Saltpond now stands From here to the Monte de Diable
.

( Devil s Mount at Winneba ) was Akron and from there

’ 1

to Beraku Aguna The country lying between this and

,
.

Ningo constituted the kingdom of Accra I n the maj ority

e e
.

o f these little States the towns o n the s a board were mer -

villages the inhabitants of which were employed in fishing

,

and making salt to supply the larger inland towns The .

capitals o f their Kings lay at some distance from the coast .

Ah a nta Ba rbot
d be ca u s eit wa s be
lie
ve
1

ca lle eh eedee eg d
2
.
, p54 . 1 .

3
So d to b t r si nc o f th o
B ob owisi .
 P O RTUGU ESE ESTA B LISH MENT

When the Portuguese first settled in Elmina th town , e

was divided into two parts under separate kingdoms one ,

owing allegiance to the King of Eguafo and the other to that

of Fetu The Portuguese however encouraged them to
1
.
, ,

assert their independence and now that they had the , ,

Castle to protect them they established themselves as a

,

separate republic There were three Town Companies in

.

Elmina at this time and their Chiefs ruled the town under
e
,

the direction of th Portuguese Governor They had to .

submit their decisions and resolutions for h is sanction and ,

h is right to approve or rej ect them was j ealously guarded

and went far to maintain the local authority of the Portu
e
e
gu s . The people were also assisted when necessary to
avenge any wrongs inflicted o n them by the neighbouring
tribes and were thus kept trained to war and made for
e
,

m id a b l to their enemies But though the Portuguese .

found it to their advantage to encourage and humour the

Elminas they treated th people elsewhere with very
,
e
scant consideration .

When the Guinea Company was first formed the King ,

caused the Castle to be further fortified and well pro

visioned and reserved to himself the right of appointing
,

the Governor and other principal officers These appoint .

ments were made every three years and were usually

e
,

giv n to o fficers who had lost a limb or in some other way

e
become u nfitt d for further active service while fighting
in the King s wars against the Moors o f Fez The chief
’
.

officials besides the Governor were the Padre or Chaplain

e
, ,

the Vi d or or Chief Factor the King s Procurador or ’

e
,

Judge and the Officer Commanding the Garrison Th se .

'
and the Company s chief clerk had quarters in the Castle ,

but the soldiers barber surgeon and others lived in the

,
-

town beneath its walls and only went there each day to do
their work The garrison was composed o f criminals who
.

had been banished there for life and with such a rabble ,

it is not surprising that discipline is said to have been very

poorly maintained O nly the most negligent guard wa s
.

kept except when there were S hips in the roads when the
, ,

E fu tu 1
.
 EARLY EN G LIS H V O YAGES

48 2 1 5 9 2
—
sentries in helm and b r a s tp la c and armed with heavy e e
C HA P . i v halberds might have been seen pacing up and down the

ramparts Two fleets of four or five ships each used to

.

arrive at Elmina in April and September every year ,

bringing merchandize and supplies for the garrison from

Portugal Elmina Castle o n account both of its position
.
,

and design was a fortress of no mean importance The

,
.

Portuguese had built two batteries o n the side towards the

e
s a and mounted them with six guns each O n the land
e
.

side there was another S ix gun battery but towards th -

,

north east facing the River Benya and a hill beyond it

-
, ,

it was only defended by two small pieces of ordnance .

Towards the sea it was strengthened by the lower bastion

known as the Bastion de France so the walls on this side ,

were of no great height but those to landward were very

lofty The Castle was surrounded by a deep ditch but it
.

was only on the side towards the sea that it contained any
water H ere however it was deep enough to admit small
.
, ,

boats There were two gates one o n the east and the
.
,

other on the west The latter which was the main .

,

entrance was furnished with a draw bridge and over it

,
-
, ,
’
in d A z am b u j a s original stone tower were the Governor s
’
,
’

quarters The other and lesser gate was next the Custom
.

H ouse and was only used for passing goods in and out
,

o f the Castle Some time before 1 5 5 5 the Portuguese

.

built a little chapel on the hill over looking the Castle from -

the other side of the River Benya and dedicated it to St .

Jago The b ill itself still bears the name A little later
. .
,

between 1 5 5 5 and 1 5 8 8 a small watch tower was also ,

-

erected there and a stone wall with a gate in it and de

,

fended by a deep ditch and several guns was built across

the neck of the peninsula on which the Castle stands ,

extending from the sea to the River Benya .

The first fort erected by the Portuguese at Ax im 1

was built on a little point o n the shore but they were so ,

continu a lly harassed by the natives that they were com

ee
p ll d to abandon it I n 1 5 1 5 however they built a
.
, ,

second but far stronger fort on a small but high rock in

Ca lled A ch om b e
1
nein s o m e o f th eo lde
r b o o ks .
 P O RTUGU ES E F O RTS

the sea which formed the rounded head of a peninsula

,

and was only open to attack on the land side where it ,

could easily be defended This S ide was s trengthened with

e
.

breastworks a ditch 8 ft deep and a draw bridge the

, .
-
,

approach to which was cov red by several guns There .

was also a spur capable of containing twenty men with ,

steps cut in the rock to connect it with the main building .

This fort was named San Antonio Though small and .

triangular in shape on account of the limited space a fforded

by the rock upon which it was built it was nev ertheless , , ,

very strong and had two good batteries towards the sea
,

in addition to the land defences already described I t .

mounted several large guns besides smaller pieces .

The post at Shama was only built to supply the Castle

at Elmina with provisions and firewood Little if any .

trade was carried on there and the place was afterwards

,

neglected and fell into decay I n 1 5 5 4 the Portuguese had

.

a dispute with the Shamas over a man they had stolen ,

a nd drove them out of the town fully half of which they ,

demolished with their guns .

The fort at Accra was built much against the wish

o f the people who dreaded the tyranny o f the Portuguese
,

a nd were anxious to keep them out of their country .

Th ey therefore took steps to remove them at the first

o pportunity I n 1 5 7 8 some traders having arrived from
.
,

the interior a number o f the Accras went to the fort and

, ,

having gained admission under a pretence of coming to

trade fell upon and murdered the garrison and razed the
,

building to the ground They subsequently invited the

.

French to settle there which they did but were soon after
, ,

wards forced to abandon the place owing to the persistent

hostility o f the Portuguese .

Until the time of the Reformation the Papal Bull had ,

insured a monopoly of the Guinea Trade to the Portu

e
e
gu s but the change in religion had no sooner invalidated
the Pope s authority in the eyes of other nations than they
’
,

began to compete with them According to the accounts .

that are still in existence the English were the first to

,

u ndertake trading voyages to Guinea they were quickly

 EA RLY ENGLI S H V O YAGES

148 2 1 5 9 2
—
followed by the French however and very soon afterwards ,

a p . I v by the Dutch also These intrusions naturally aroused

.

the bitterest enmity of the Portuguese who left no stone

e
,

unturned to drive the new comers o ff the Coast I t is -

.

from the accounts l ft of these early voyages and princip ,

ally from those of Towrs on that most of ou r knowledge ,

of what h appened on the Gold Coast at this period is

derived Th ey were semi piratical adventures in which
.
-

ships were sent ou t by small syndicates of merchants ;

e
and th captains divided their time between a legitimate
barter of goods for gold and ivory or slaves and attacks
e
U pon o n another .

The first of these English voyages was made by Captain

Thomas Windham and Antonio Anes Pint a do who e
e
,

sailed in two ships the P rim ros and Lyon and a pinnace
e
, , ,

the M oon with total crews of 1 4 0 men This Pint a d o

,
.

was a Portuguese a native of the Port of Portugal ( O porto )

, ,

wh o on account o f his S kill in navigation had formerly

, ,
’
been a gentleman in the King s household and very
popular but afterwards fell out of favour and came to Eng
,

land resolved to bring the English on the scene to avenge

,

his wrongs He is described as having been a very able

.

and prudent navigator and an expert pilot and it is on ,

record that he had previously been entrusted by the King

of Portugal with the care of th Coasts o f Brazil and
”
e
Guinea against the insults o f the French From this it .

appears that t h ough there are no accounts of such voyages

,

now extant the French had made attempts to trade on

,

the Coast prior to this voyage and if it is true that they

had a prior claim to it it may very well be that they did,

make efforts to re establish themselves there after the

-

Civil Wars to which their former retirement is attributed

, .

Windham on the other hand seems to have been a very

, ,

ill natured quarrelsome and obstinate man and to have

-
, ,

taken great o ffence at the appointment of this Portuguese

captain as h is colleague .

They sailed from Portsmouth on the 1 2 th of August

1 5 5 3 Windham having first given a sample o f his disposi

e
,

tion by tu rning a relative of on of the p rincipal merchants

'
 V O YAGE O F WI NDHAM

out of his ship O n reaching the Gold Coast they carefully

.

avoided Elmina but traded along the shore both to east

,

and west of it and succeeded in obtaining 1 5 0 pounds

weight of gold There was no lack of gold here and they
.
,

might easily have bartered the whole of their cargo for

it a course which Pint a do advised Windham however e
e
, .
, ,

who had commenced to quarrel openly with Pint a d o soon

after leaving Madeira insisted upon going on to Benin for ,

Guinea pepper and when his fellow captain ventured to

-
,
1
,

doubt the wisdom o f this course owing to the lateness of

the season openly reviled and cursed him before the crew
e
, ,

saying , This whore son J w hath promised to bring u s to

such Places as are not to be found or he cannot bring us ,

to But if he do not I will cut o ff h is Ears and nail them to

,
”
the Mast They sailed on therefore to the Benin River
1

e
. .
, ,

Pint a d o and some of the crew then ascended it for some

distance in the pinnace and saw the King who treated them ,

very well and sent out ordering his people to bring in large
quantities of pepper Windham in the meantime was b .
, , e
coming alarmed at the high rate of mortality among his
crews and sent for them to return to which they replied that ,

they now had large quantities of pepper and daily expected

more They therefore begge d him to wait a little longer
. ,

This so enraged Windham that he seems to have lost all con

trol over himself He broke up Pint ado s cabin destroy
. e ’
,

ing his chests instruments and other possessions and then

, ,

sent him word that if he and his party failed to come back
at once he would sail without them Pint a do then . e
hurried down and tried to make him listen to reason but
Windham himself now died and several of the o fficers and
e
,

crew after cursing Pint a d o for having brought them to s o

deadly a place and even threatening his life insisted o n
e
,

leaving the Coast at once I t was in vain that Pint a do .

begged them to wait for those who were still up the river
o r to leave him o n e
o f the ships boats and a sail to bring
’

them home nothing would content them but that they

must start at once and he with them He therefore wrote .

1 Af a d a s a spice
m u ch v a lu e a t th is tim e
11 A s l ev ol i
r m om u m .

t y p 1 42
, .
, . .
 EARLY ENGLISH V O YAGES

to the men he had left promising to come back later and

,

fetch them and was t h en forced on board and grossly ill

,

treated being put with the cabin boys and half starved
,
-
.

H e died broken h earted a few days later The crews were

-
.

n ow so reduced that they had to sink one o f their ships

for want o f hands to sail her and on their arrival in Eng ,

land there were only forty men left alive of the 1 40 who

e
had set out Nevertheless the great quantity of gold
.
,

they h a d got in xchange for only a part of their cargo

soon encouraged others to try their fortunes on a Guinea
voyage .

O ne o f the first of these was Captain J ohn Lok who ,

sailed from the Thames on the 1 1 th of O ctober 1 5 5 4 with

three ships the j oh n E va ng lis t and Trinity o f 1 40 tons e
e
,

each and the B artholom w of 9 0 tons He also took two

pinnaces but lost one of them in a gal before he had
,

cleared the Channel Passing Fort St Anthony at Axim

.
.

.
e
( which Lok calls Arra Castle ) he reached Shama on the ,

1 2 th of J anuary 1 5 5 5 Here he says the natives fired on

.

them with their ordnance whereof they have only two or ,

”
three pieces This was a year after the Portuguese had
.

had their dispute with the Shamas and destroyed most

o f the town so that they may have already abandoned
,

their lodge as these smaller fortified houses at out stations

,
—

were called I n this case the Shamas may have been

.

making use of the guns they had left there but it is far ,

more likely that it was the Portuguese themselves who

were firing Sailing on they reached Cape Korea ( called
.
,

Cabo Corso by the Portuguese and now anglicized to Cape

Coast ) The Chief o f this place was called Don J ohn by
.

the Portuguese hence these early writers often refer to it

’
as Don J ohn s Town The people here were very friendly
.
,

and the English found a ready market for nearly all their
cloth I n the meantime th Trinity had been trading e
e
.
,

along th coast farther east but the other ships now j oined ,

her and they t h en traded in company as far as Beraku .

While the Trinity was at Kormantin the Chief had come ,

o n board and invited the English to build a fort there ,

promising to give them land if they would do so O n the .

 EARLY ENGLIS H V O YAG ES

are very wary in bargaining and will not lose the least ,

Spark of Gold They have Weights and Measures and

. ,

are very circumspect in t h em Wh oever would deal with .

them must behave civily for they will not tra ffick if they ,
”
be ill used .
1

I n 1 5 5 5 Captain William Towrson made the first of

e
his three v o ga g s to the Gold Coast This as in the case .
,

o f the preceding ones was a trading venture and two,

vessels the Ha rt J ohn Ralph master and the Hind William

, , , ,

Carter master were engaged in it Their cargo consisted

,
.

principally o f linen cloth and small basins They left .

Ne wport in the I sle of Wight on the 3 o th of September

1 5 5 5 and after trading for pepper and ivory higher up the
,

Coast eventually reached Cape Three Points on the

,

3 rd of J anuary 1 5 5 6 having p assed Fort St Anthony , .

during the night They found some difficulty at first in

.

getting the people to trade with them for they were all ,

afraid of being punished by the Portuguese who now that , ,

they found their trade declining dealt severely with all ,

those whom they caught buying from other nations con ,

fis ca ting the goods and fining or enslaving the purchasers .

At length however they anchored o ff a town which

e
, ,

T owrso n calls St J ohn s Town This from the d scrip ’

. .
,

tion he gives of it must have been Shama the name being

, ,

given it because it stood at the mouth of the Rio San J uan ,

as the Portuguese called the Pra H ere they traded very .

profitably The people gave the Portuguese a bad name

. .

They said they used to catch the natives whenev er they

could and keep them in irons as slaves in the Castle at
Elmina and would certainly hang any English or French
,

whom they caught trading on the Coast To wrs on was .

also told that instead of the four or five ships every six
,

months that formerly brought supplies to Elmina only one ,

s h ip and a small caravel now came once a year This in .

itself is sufficient evidence of the disastrous e ffect that

competition and the counter attraction of their newly -

acquired commerce with the East I ndies had had on the

Portuguese trade
Astle
.

1
y v ol 1 p 1 48 , .
, . .
 TOWRSON S
’
VO YAGES

e
These peopl wore cloth manufactured from the bark
o f trees probably palms and used cords and fi
, s hing lines ,
-

of the same material Some wore caps of this cloth , and

.

others helmets made o f skins either basket shaped or ,

-

like a wide purse They understood the working o f iron

.
,

and made spears fis h hooks two edged daggers and other

,
-
,
-

articles of it Some of these latter weapons were very

.

sharp and curved like a scimitar Their other arms .

consisted of spears and bows and arrows and they carried ,

shields made of bark .

Having been told at Shama that Don J ohn the Chief

of Cape Coast was then at war with the Portuguese they ,

sailed down and anchored off h is town Cape Coast at .

this time consisted of only some t wenty houses which ,

were enclosed by a rush fence about 5 ft high The . .

Fantis call this place Gwa or n a and a lo ca l tradition ,

says that it was founded by an Efutu hunter of that name ,

wh o came down to the coast and first saw the sea from
the hill on which the Wesleyan Chap el now stands N o .

boats coming o ff to them they landed and were told that ,

Don John h a d gone to the bush but was expected back ,

that night Landing again the next day they found he

.
,

had not yet returned but was expected hourly Some

e
.
,

men however had arrived in the meantime from D vis o

, , ,

the town on Akwon Point s o called from its Chief having ,

been named J ohn de Viso by the Portuguese They had .

brought some gold to show To wrs on and asked him to ,

come d own there and trade H e therefore went down in .

the Hind and spent the next two days trading with them
,
.

’
This trade was carried o n from the ship s boats which ,

lay off the shore the people coming o u t through the surf
,

in their canoes ; but finding the natives kept pressing ,

them to land they suspected treachery and went back to

e
,

the ship whence they discovered thirty m n o n the hill

,

with a flag whom they took to be Portuguese Towr

,
.

s on therefore went down in his boat to j oin the Hart o ff

, ,

Cape Coast but before he could reach her S he was seen

e
to fir two guns and her boats came hurrying off from the
s hore Hastening on board he learned that some of h is
.
,

I— S
'
 EARLY ENGLI S H V O YAGES

men had been on shore negotiating with Don J ohn and his
sons to open trade when a party of Portuguese suddenly
,

came down from the hill and fired o n them as they were
making off in their boats The people had tried to warn
.

them of their danger but they had not understood what

,

they said and were taken completely by surprise .

Guns were at once put into the boats which were ,

well manned and pulled towards the shore The surf .

was too bad for them to land so they lay off the beach
and opened fire o n the Portuguese wh o had now taken u p ,

a position on the rocks The fire was returned but no

.

one seems to have been hurt and as the Portuguese wer

seen to be still in the town next morning they went down
,
,

e
e
,

to rej oin the Hind o ff D viso Here they found the .

Portuguese had punished the people for trading with them

by burning their town and only six houses were left stand
,

ing They therefore went farther along the coast until

.

they came to a place which from the description given of

,

it must have been Kormantin

, .

The people here seemed afraid to trade ; but in the

e
evening the Chief came down to the beach and Towrson
sent him a pr sent Early the next morning they landed
.

and rigged up a tent with their oars and sail while waiting
fo r the people to come down After a time the Chief.

arrived but though he appeared friendly enough he was ,

in reality betraying them into the hands of the Portuguese

and trying to distract their attention from a crowd of his
people who were standing in the opening o f a narrow path
and acting as a screen for the enemy while they got their
gun into position With this they suddenly opened fire
.

and before Towrson and his men could get the oars and
sail into their boat and launch her th ey had reloaded and ,

fired a second S hot Fortunately however neither of

.
, ,

them did any harm and having now got their boat into
,

the water the English sprang into her and pulled off to
,

their S hip as fast as they could while the Portuguese fired

,

two more S hots at them and the K orm a ntins also ran ou t
along the rocks and poured in a volley or two .

The cause of this treacherous attack by the Korman

 EARLY ENGLIS H V O YAGES

when they S ighted three other ships Thinking they .

might be Portuguese they at once cleared for action ; ,

but on coming up with them they found that the strangers ,

were Frenchmen O n learning each other s nationality

.
’
,

the Frenchmen enquired what Portuguese the English

had seen and were told none but fishermen the French ,

however reported that several Portuguese ships had

,

recently been sent out to Elmina to protect the trad e and

that they themselves had taken and burned anot her of
2 00 tons only a short time ago saving only her c aptain , ,

one or two N egroes and a few of the crew but th ey had

all been s o severely burned that they had put them ashore
at the Cess River .

The French o fficers came on board Towrs on s ship ’

and proposed that the two fleets should conti nue their
v oyage in company Towrson and his o fficers carefully
.

weighed the advantages and disadvantages of this ar

rangement and next day dined on board the French
, , ,

fl ag ship and agreed that

-
to whatever Place they came ,

they should be of one Mind and not hurt each other s ,

’

Market To which End some of their B oats should settle the

.

”
Price for all and then one Boat make Sale for each Ship
, .
1

Having doubled Cap e Three Points they arrived on ,

the 1 5 th of J a nuary I 5 5 7 at a town standing on the shore

of a bay This which they call Bulle was probably
.
, ,

Butri or perhaps Dixcove The inhabitants were very .

pleased to see the K orm a ntins they had now brought back
with them and told them that there had been more than
e
,

on fight recently between the Portuguese guard ships -

and so m e other French vessels that were down the coast .

From here they went to Hanta which from the sailing , ,

distances given may have been Sekondi or Takoradi

, ,

where they heard that there were five ships and a pinnace
then at Elmina The K orm a ntins they had brought
.

back with them were well known here and they were ,

consequently very well received O n the 1 7 th they .

anchored o ff Shama and putting guns in their boats

, , ,

landed with drums beating and trumpets sounding fully

Astle
,
1
y v ol 1 p 1 6 3 , . , . .
 FI GHT WITH TH E P O RTUGUES E

e
xpecting encounter some of the Portuguese I n this
to .
,

however they were agreeably disappointed and were able

,

to do a good trade in peace They promised the Chief .

protection from the Portuguese and fired their guns and ,

shot with their long bows in order to give him some idea
-

o f their power which greatly astonished and impressed

,

him All this time they had been keeping a S harp look
.

o u t for the Portuguese and always went ashore prepared

for battle and expecting to be attacked but though they

heard some shots in the forest near by which must have ,

been fired by the Portuguese to frighten the Shamas and

deter them from trading they were evidently not strong ,

enough to risk an engagement and never S howed themselves , .

Towrso n therefore lay at anchor here for some time send

, , ,

ing h is boats every day to trade at the di fferent villages

along the beach .

About a week had been spent in this way when on the ,

2 3 rd the Shamas warned them that the Portuguese ships

,

had left Elmina and were coming down to attack them .

The English and French thereupon fired their guns and

sounded their trumpets while the Shamas implored them
e
,

to S how the Portuguese no mercy Two days later fiv .

,

Portuguese S hips were sighted coming towards them and ,

the boats were at once recalled but when night closed in ,

the enemy were still a long way o ff and in the morning ,

they were seen at anchor White scarves were then .

served out to all the English crews so that the French

might distinguish them in case of boarding and that ,

night they anchored j ust out of range of the enemy Next .

’
morning both fleets weighed anchor at about seven o clock
and the fight commenced The Portuguese seem to
e
.

have out man o uvred the ships of the Anglo French fleet
- -
,

besides having the faster vessels and the better ordnance .

They sailed past in succession and riddled the French

flag ship with their broadsides and carried away her main
e
-

mast neither was the Tyg r able to make a good shot

,

at any of them because she was s o weak in the Side that

e e
,
” 1
sh lay all her Guns under Water The Tyg r and the
Astle
.

y vol 1 p 1 6 5
1
. . .
, ,
 EARLY EN GLI S H VOYAGES

Frenchman tried to run alongside and board some of t he

enemy s ships but they were too fast for them and sailed
’
,

too close to the wind so t h at they fell away to leeward and

,

were left behind The other French ships would not close
e e
.
,

and the Ha rt lay far a st m The Tyg r th erefore seeing .

, ,

the French flag ship was disabled crowded o n all her

-
,

canvas and gave chase H aving followed the enemy ou t

e
.

to s a for two hours they suddenly put about and fired

e
,

o n h r as they passed All the other French and English

e
.

ships had now sailed away to s a but Towrson still held ,

bravely on in pursuit of the Portuguese in order to prevent

e
,

them from boarding and capturing the disabled French

man A s they passed the la t ter they each pour d in a
e e
.
,

broadside but the Tyg r being still close a s t m they

, , ,

dared not stop to board her and seemed afraid to sep arate
e
.

After they had passed the Frenchman sh too lay as close

e
,

a s sh could to the wind and followed the rest of the allied

e
fleet o u t to s a The Tyg r was thus left in the lurch
. e ,

but Towrson handled her so well that though the Portu

e
e
gu s tacked over and over again he always contrived ,

to keep to weather of them so that it was useless for them ,

to fire on her These tactics were maintained until it was

e
.

so dark that in the end s h lost them .

N ext day Towrs on came up with t he other English and

French ships except the French vice admiral s ship ’

e
ee
-
,

L u ri r which had fled clear away and upbraided them

, ,

with hav ing deserted him Most of them however were .

, ,

in a sorry plight hav ing lost many of their men and sus
e
,

ta in d other serious damage The pinnace indeed had

e
.

been so badly knocked about that they had to take off

her cr w and set her on fire Ten days later when they . .
,

had resumed their trade one of the K orm a ntins whom ,

they had brought out with them came in a canoe having ,

followed them for thirty leagues , and told them that after
the battle which he had watched from the shore the
, ,

Portuguese had put into the Pra but the Chief o f Shama ,

had refused to allow them to harbour there Two men

e
.

had been killed on one o f their ships by a shot from on of

e
the Tyg r s guns ’
.
 EARLY ENGLI S H V O YAGES

millet and that the people keep strict Watch there every
,

Night and have Cords with Bells at them stretched

, , ,

a cross the Ways which lead into Town

-
so that if any one

touch the Cords the Bells ring and then the Watchmen
e
e
, ,

run to s wh o they are I f they be Enemies and pass the ,

Cords they take them by letting fall N ets hung for that
, ,

Purpose over the Roads which they are obliged to pass

, ,

for there is no getting otherwise to the Town by reason of ,

the Thickets and Bushes which are about it I t is also .

walled round with long Cords bound together with Sedge ,

”
and Bark of Trees .
1

Towrso n s third and last voyage was made in 1 5 5 8

’ 1

in the M inion Chris toph r and Tyg r and a pinnace

, e e
named the Unicorn They had no sooner arrived on the .

Coast and begun to trade at Hant a than they were at

e
,

tacked the very next day by fiv Portuguese ships A .

running fight ensued but no great damage was done on ,

either side At Lagu they heard that there were four

ee
.

French ships farther down the coast one at P rrin n

e e
,

another at W am b a ( Winneba ) a third at P rikow ,

( Beraku ) and the fourth at Egra nd ( Accra ) and England ,

being then at war with France they decided to go down and

e
,

attack them They soon S ighted on of the Frenchmen

.

coming ou t of Winneba and gave chase and the next day

e
,

found three of the enemy together at anchor on of which

e
, ,

the M u l t they boarded and took She had fifty pounds

, .

five ounces of gold on board and when they had removed ,

this and all her cargo they tried to sell her back to the
French but they would not pay anything for her because
e
,

she was leaky so they sunk h r o ff Accra The ships now

, .

cruised singly along the coast but met with very small ,

success and at Mori and Cape Coast the people refused to

,

trade with them at all At Cape Coast the inhabitants .

fled into the bush and the English took several of their
go a ts and fowls but when they landed at Mori they were
stoned and on returning the next day to get ballast
,
,

e l p 7
Astl
e
1

d eg e
y, vo 1
e e
16 .
, . .

Th bviou s
e
1
a t is iv n in A s tl y’ s Voya g s as 1 5 5 7 b u t this is
, an o
rro r .
 C OMPAN Y O F MERCHANT ADV ENTU RERS 73

numbers of people a t tacked them and tried to dri v e them

o n board again Se veral of the nati v es were killed in
.

this a ffra y and t heir town was then burned The ships
, .

were now running short of provisions s o t hey returned to

Shama and H anta ; but the Chief of S hama had now
,

come to terms with the Portuguese and refused to supply

e
,

them with anything and t h y in revenge burnt h is t own

,

also
. They did very little better at Hanta for the ,

people here would not trade with them either ; so they

concluded they were not likely to gain anything by remain
e e
ing any long r on th Coast and returned to England .

When Towrson wa s at Komenda the King of Egu afo ,

had asked him to send men and materials to build a fort

in his country and in 1 5 6 1 a syndicate calling th ms elv s
, e e
the Company of Merch ant Adventurers for Guinea and
e
,

consisting of S ir William Gerard William Winter B nj a

e
, ,

min G onson Antony Hickman and Edward Cas t lin

, ,

decided to send J ohn Lok ou t in the M inion to choose

e
a site near the s a and report on the possibility of accepting
this invitation The M inion however wa s an old ship
e
.
, , ,

and had been badly strained in a gal on her last v oyage

home and Lok told the Company that even though sh e
e
,

h a d been repaired he did not consider her s a worthy nor

,
-
,

did he believe that any amount o f patchi ng would e v er

make her so H e t herefore refused to sail in her and the
.
,

proj ect fell t hrough .

A year later however in 1 5 6 2 the M inion and P rim

e
, , ,

were sent o u t by this syndicate but their misfortunes

e
ros ,

fully j ustified th predictions o f Lok They were unable .

to trade anywhere on the Gold Coast for the Portuguese ,

s hips followed them to Cape Coast Mori Kormantin and , ,

wherever else they went and continually harassed them

e
.
,

The favourit method of attack with the Portuguese

’
was in galleys in which t hey could creep up under a ship s
e
,

stern as s h lay becalmed and helpless and take her at a

d isadvantage e Th s e galleys carried a gu n in the b ow
e
e e
.

and had eigh t n oars on either side to each of which thre

e
,

slaves were chained Many of these wretched gall y

.

slaves were English or Frenchm en wh o had had t he m is

 EARLY ENGLIS H V O YAGES

fortune to fall into the hands of the Portuguese and now

e
,

had to spend th remainder of their short lives sitting in

the broiling sun and tugging at the oars with nothing to ,

keep up their strength but a minimum quantity of the

coarsest food and little or no hope of rescue or escape Two .

men used to run up and down between the rows of slaves

carrying whips with which to la sh them to greater exertions
, ,

and in the stern were a number of harquebusiers and cross

b ow m e n .

During the action o ff Kormantin the M inion was ,

attacked by two such galleys which crept up u nder her ,

stern where they were safe from her guns while every
,

shot from their own bow gun told At last by dint of great .
,

exertions the M inion s crew managed to get a demi

,
’

culverin into position o n the stern and during the next ,

hour did great damage to the Portuguese Many of .

them and the S laves were either killed or wounded and a

cross bar shot broke nearly every o ar o n on S ide of o n of
-
e e
the galleys so that though the M inion had lost several
e
,

men sh wa s fully holding her own when a barrel of

, ,

powder suddenly exploded in the steward s room inj uring ’

,

not only him but the chief gunner and nearly all his men
as well O n this the Portuguese raised a shout o f triumph
.
,

for the English were now dependent o n their small arms -

only not having enough gunners left to work the gun

e
.
,

Soon after this a lucky shot from o n o f the galleys

e
,

carried away the for m a st a nd the Portuguese gave another

,

great shout thinking that now they must surely take

,

the ship I ndeed the crew of the M inion had almost given
.

themselves up for lost when one of the white galley slaves

,
-

called out to them in English not to give up as it was ,

”
better to die like men than lead a dog s life as a slave ’
.

Thereupon one of the Portuguese ran up to him and lashed

him with his whip until the blood streamed down his
shoulders and back which so enraged the English that they
,

swore they would never surrender and poured in a close ,

shower of arrows which killed both the wretched slave and

his brutal assailant Determined though they were how
.

ever they could not have held o u t much longer for the
, ,
 EARLY ENGLISH V O YAGES

S ign of their ships they concluded that it would be useles s

,

to spend any more time in looking for them and began to ,

consider what they had best do .

They saw at once that it would be hopeless to attempt

to sail their boat home to England without pro v isions ,

and realized that it would be equally o u t of the question

fo r them to remain in her much longer Exposed as they .

were to all weathers by day and by night they could not ,

last long indeed they were already s o cramped that they

,

could scarcely stand and were beginning to be afraid that

they would lose the use o f their limbs Scurvy had also .

broken o u t amongst them Baker wh o had been factor

e
.
,

o f the M in io n when S h was attacked o ff Kormantin ,

and consequently knew what to expect now suggested ,

three possible courses First they might go to Elmina

.
,

and surrender to the Portuguese when the worst that ,

could happen to them would be to be hanged and so have

an end put to their misery or if they were made galley
, ,

slaves for life which was the most they could hope for they
, ,

would at any rate be supplied with food and drink A n .

other possible course was to throw themselves on the

mercy of the natives but they knew very little about
them and were afraid they might be cannibals wh o would
kill and eat them forthwith while even if they escaped
, ,

this fate they thought it very doubtful if they would be

,

able to exist on their diet and endure the hardships they

must suffer from want o f clothing and other inconveniences
to which they h a d never been accustomed Their only .

other course would be to stay in the boat which they had

e
,

already decided wa s impossible Baker therefore r .

, ,

commended that they should go to the Portuguese from ,

whom as white men and fellow Christians they might

, ,

reasonably hope for better treatment than they could

e
expect fro m th pagan Africans .

Everyone having agreed to this proposal they started ,

to row to Elmina but seeing a light ashore during the

,

night and thinking there must be a trading town there they ,

anchored until daybreak and then pulled in towards the

beach There they s aw a watch house with a large black
.
-
,
 R O B ERT B A K ER

wooden cross in front of it standing o n a rock and beyond ,

this a castle This proved to be the Portuguese Fort San

.

Antonio at A xim of the existence of which they seem to

,

have been ignorant Some Portuguese now came out of

.

the fort and one of them carrying a white flag beckoned

, , ,

to them to come on shore But though they had been .

bold enough at a distance the sight o f the Portuguese , ,

now that they had reached them caused the boat s crew
’
,

to regret their decision to surrender and they tried to

e
,

make o ff The Portuguese however seeing their int n

e
.
,

tion fired o n of their guns the shot from which fell within
e
, ,

a yard of the boat and th y having no means of re

e
, ,

s is ta nc then pulled towards the beach a s fast a s they

e
,

could . The nearer they drew to th shore however the ,

more fu riously did the Portuguese fire on them until they ,

go t under the castle wall where they were out o f reach o f

,

the guns They were about to land when they were

.
,

greeted with a shower of stones from the walls of the fort

and s aw the natives coming down with their bows and
arrows Several of them had been wounded by the stones
.

hurled down at them by the Portuguese so they turned ,

round again in sheer desperation and once more tried to

escape out to sea Four men rowed while the others
e
.
,

snatched up their bows and fir arms and turned them -

against the enemy H aving dropped several of the A x im s

.
,

they next began to shoot at the Portuguese whom they

s a w standing o n the walls of the fort in long white Shirts
( or Gowns ) many of which
,
” 1
were soon dyed red by means of
the English Arrows They were still near enough to
.

the fort to be safe from its guns and had already dis ,

covered that there were no galleys in the place that might

be sent ou t to take them they could therefore a fford to
laugh at the threats of the Portuguese and held their ground
until they thought they had sufficiently punished them for
their want of hospitality They then rowed off and al .
, ,

though they were greeted with another storm of shot as

soon as they entered the fire z one of the fort got clear ou t ,

to sea without receiving any damage

stl e
.

1 A
y v ol i p 1 8 3 , .
, . .
 EARLY ENGLI S H V O YAGES

1 48 2 1 5 9 2
—
They had now had more than enough of Portuguese
C HA P I V charity and decided to sample that of the natives
,
H aving .

sailed about thirty leagues from Axim they anchored off ,

a town somewhere in the neighbourhood of Grand Bassam ,

where some of the people came off to them in canoes .

’
Baker gave them each a present and the Chief s s on then ,

came out to them to whom they explained by signs that

,

they had lost their ship and were starving They were .

then invited to land but in doing s o their boat capsized in

,

the surf the people however swam o u t and not only

, ,

rescued them but brought the boat and oars and all their
,

goods safely to shore also They were then kindly received

.

and food was brought to them For a time they were .

liberally supplied with everything and Baker seems to ,

have expected the people to feed and wait upon them for
an indefinite period and complains because they did not
do so An European built boat with her sail and oars and
.
,

the goods that had been in her must have represented an ,

almost fabulous s u m to these people and should have

amply repaid them for anything they did but when they
found the time slipping by and no ships came as they had ,

expected they gradually reduced the supplies and forced

,

the castaways to shift for themselves The latter then .

suffered great hardships but d o not seem to have been ,

very resourceful for they made no attempt to build

,

themselves a hut or make a farm but slept around a fire on ,

the bare ground and subsisted on any roots or berries that

they could find growing wild This kind of life soon tol d
e
.

on them and S ix of the nine died o n after the other ; but

e
,

Baker George Gage and o n other survivor were u ltimately

e
, ,

rescued by a French ship and as England and France wer

, ,

still at war were carried back to France and imprisoned

, .

The Portuguese were now thoroughly exasperated by

the damage that was done to their trade by the continual
presence of English and French ships on the Coast and
took the severest measures to discourage them I n 1 5 64 .
,

when the M inion was sent ou t again they took her com ,

mander Capt ain Carlet and a merchant and twelve seamen

,

prisoners and dro v e the ship o ff the Coast and in 1 5 8 2

,
 EARLY ENGLIS H V O YAGES

1 48 2 1 5 9 2
—
and in the end no t only abandoned it themselves but
, , ,

ca n . xv made great e fforts to abolish it altogether Slaves had .

been taken from West Africa to Portugal as early a s 1 4 3 4

but it wa s not until the Spaniards in 1 4 70 began to import
s l av e s i nt o S p ai n t h e Ca nary I s l an d s a nd l at er i nto the
, ,

Wes t I ndi es a ls o t hat t hi s tra d e b egan to as s um e large

,
1
p r0p o tio ns
r There was some Opp osition in 1 5 0 3 to the
.

importation o f slaves into the West I ndies on account of

the great number o f them who escaped into the woods
and formed themselves into dangerous predatory bands
but the rapid decrease in the number of I ndians wh o died ,

in enormous numbers under the cruel treatment of the

Spaniards and indeed seemed likely to become extinct
, ,

rendered the importation of Africans to replace them

absolutely necessary I n 1 5 1 7 this traffic in human
.

beings received the formal sanction of the Pope which at ,

once established it on a firm basis so t h at by 1 5 3 9 the ,

annual sales had risen to over

The Papal Bull by which th Spaniards were excluded
, e
from Africa did much to bring other nations into the
, ,

Slave Trade for as the demand increased and the profits

became proportionately greater so the international com ,

petition fo r the Spanish contract became more and more

keen The slaves were employed in the mines and o n the
.

sugar plantations and also as divers in the pearl fisheries .

Th ese unfortunate people a s well as the I ndians them

,

selves were often treated with the utmost cruelty and Las
,

Casas the Bishop of Chiapa wh o wa s styled the Protector

, ,

o f the I ndians and had himself advocated the establish

ment o f a regular system o f importing slaves in order to

2
save the remaining I ndians mentions an instance of the ,

inhuman treatment meted ou t to them H e says : I .

1
e
ThP ee ee d g
ortu u s com m g de nc l
th is e
carryin tra to su pp y oth r

Pe f e
n a tio ns in 1 49 7
e ee e ge d g e
.

d d l
rm iss ion wa s r b y Ca r in a "im n s (R
le
2

f e de leg e
us nt ur in th
m in ority of Ch a r d
s V ) b u t, a t r his

l ee b eg ld el e
a th Ch a r s it, a nd by
e
, ra nt
,

f ll
M kee bl e deP l
to s av s w r
le f e
1 5 39 rom in s o a nnu a y in th S av
d b
d eg ee e d e f b dee f
ar t sta ish in Lis on u n r ap a s a nction Ch ar s a t r .

eee
d
wa r s r r tt
e
wh at h h ad on a nd o r a th tra fic
ee
b u t, on h is
r tir m d
nt to a m ona st r , it wa s r viv
y .
 TH E SLAVE TRAD E

once beheld four o r five principal I ndians roasted at a

slow fire and as the V ictims poured forth screams which
disturbed the commanding officer in his slumbers he sent ,

word they should be strangled But the o fficer on guard .

( I know his name and I know h is relations in Seville )

,

would not su ff er it but causing their mouths to be ,

gagged that their cries might not be heard he stirred up

, ,

the fire with his own hand and roasted them till they all ,

expired I s a w it myself
The English took no part in this trade until 1 5 6 2 when ,

Captain ( afterwards Sir J ohn ) H awkins engaged in it on

h is own account fitting out three ships and obtaining three
,

hundred slaves in Guinea which he sold in the West I ndies

and although Queen Eli z abeth expressed her disapproval
o n his return saying I f any Africans should be carried
,

away without their free consent it would be detestable

e
, ,

and call down the vengeance of H eaven on th under

” 1
taking the prohibition whether sincere or no t a t the
e
, ,

time wa s soon afterwards withdra wn for t he Que n lent

e
, ,

H awkins one of her own ships the j s u s for a slaving , ,

voyage in 1 5 6 4 and granted h im a coat of arms in which

,

a Negro loaded wi t h chains appeared 2 I n I 5 6 2 or 1 5 6 3 an .

Act wa s passed legalizing the purchase o f Africans th ough ,

few Englishmen if any seem to have availed them selves of

e
, ,

e
th permission Their e fforts to e stabli sh Colonies in North
.

America had not yet met with suffici nt success to crea t e

a demand for slaves and it wa s not until some years later
, ,

after 1 66 0 that the English Slave Trade seriously began

, .

e
I n 1 5 8 0 Portugal had become a province of Spain
u nder Philip I I and these African P os s ssions were much

e
,

neglected for those in America This still fu rther dam ag d .

e
the Gold Coast tra d e and a s the profits decreased the , , ,

e
King reduced the supplies s nt to Elmina so tha t in the ,

course of a few years the garriso n becam very m u ch

e
weakened and poorly provis ioned thus paving the way ,

for its fall soon aft rwards .

e
e
Hill s N a va l His tory
e e ebly di e
e
’
1
.

Ha wkins p ris h d m is g i d d
y ge
3
ra ,
as h is S ov r n h ad pr ct , u rin
g
l
a s avin g vo ia5 88 n 1 .
 CHAPTER V

THE ARR IV A L OF THE DUT C H A ND E "PUL S I O N O F THE

P O R TU G U E S E
1 59 2 TO 1 64 2

THE Portuguese had no sooner go t ri d of the English

and French than yet a third rival appeared o n the Gold
Coast I n 1 5 9 5 Bernard Ericks of M d nblick made the
. ee
first Dutch voyage and succeeded in establishing very
friendly relations with the people wh o found his goods ,

were both b etter and cheaper than those with which the
Portuguese were in the habit o f supplying them This .

Ericks had once been taken prisoner by the Portuguese

and carried to the I sland of St Thomas where he learned .
,
’

fo r the first time o f the rich trade they had on the Gold
Coast . Some time afterwards he wa s s t at liberty and e
returned to H olland where he laid h is information before
,

some Dutch merchants wh o accepted the o ffer of his

,

s ervices and fitted him o u t with a ship and cargo to make

a voyage to the Coast This first venture having proved

.
,

so successful was quickly followed by others until in the

, ,

course o f a few years the Dutch had established a regular

trade with the Gold Coast .

This fresh competition immensely disgusted the Portu

ee
g u s who since they had had the Coast to themselves
,

again had no t improved their manner of treating the

,

people and were a s much disliked by them as ever In

e
.

1 5 9 6 Elmina Castle itself was threatened by o n Charles

Hu tsor and they were compelled to demolish their o riginal
e
,

Ch a p l which stood outside the walls and build another

, ,

inside the fortress They did all they could however to

.
, ,

82
 ARR I VAL O F TH E DUTCH

1 5 92 1 6 42
— calmed near Elmina as they were passing to Mori by
am p , v canoe They were seen by the Portuguese Governor
.
,

who sent some Elminas ou t to take them H a ving .

wounded all t he Dutchmen and brought them ashore the ,

Elminas then cut off their heads and presented them to

the Governor These and their broken limbs were s t up
. e
o n the Ca stle walls a s a warning to their countrymen and ,

their skulls were afterwards made into drinking cups by -

the nati v es I n 1 6 00 again t he Portuguese aided by the

.
, ,

Elminas surprised another Dutch barque b ut met with

, ,

such determined resistance that they were compelled to

beat a re t reat I n the same year too the crew of a barque
.
, ,

from Oporto which had been taken by pirates put in at

, ,

Elmina for fresh water and pro visions but though they
,
'

e
were S pa niards th Governor refused to supply them and
t h reatened them with slavery if t hey did not immediately
leave the Coast
e
.

I n spite however o f the continued hostility of th

, ,

Portuguese the Dutch succeeded i n doing what neither

,

the English nor French had ever attempted and founded

Settlements of their own o n the Gold Coast I n 1 5 9 8 .

they formed an alliance with the King of Saboe and estab

e
lis h d a lodge at Mori l
The Portugu ese in revenge came
.

by night and burnt all the fishing canoes but the Dutch ,

e
having thus gained a definite fo oting in the country ,

rapidly extended their influence and built two more lodg s

on e at Kormantin and the other at B utri The lodge at .
,

Kormantin however was abandoned very soon afterwards

, ,

because of the quantity o f base metal that wa s mixed

with the gold brought by the people who then h ad to ,

come over to Mori when they wanted to trade The

e
.

Dutch also supplied the K om nd a s wi t h arms and ammu

nition and incited them to attack the Portuguese to
e
avenge th attack they had made o n the canoe at Elmina
e
.

The K om ndas were j oined by the people of Fetu and

ee e
,

the war that nsu d la st d several months a nd cost the

_

Portuguese abou t t hree hundred men who were presumably ,

e Afte ee e
e e
rwa rds call d th Ce Du tch e
e e
1

ee
m t ry o f th on a cco u nt of th
gr a t nu m b r of th at nation th at d i d th r .
 TH E DUTCH F O RM SETTLEMENTS

nearly all Africans but though they eventually managed

to come to terms with the Fetus the K om n d a s refused to
,
e
owe any further allegiance to them and the Dutch then ,

built another lodge in their town These early Settle .

ments of the Dutch were mere fortified houses and even at ,

their headquarters at Mori the defences consisted only o f

e arthworks which were continually being damaged by
the rains and needed constant repair .

An incident which occurred at Mori j ust before the

Dutch settled there shows the favourable disposition of the
people towards them I n April 1 5 9 8 some Dutch sailors
.

landed there for woo d and began cutting down some

fetish trees paying no heed to the warnings and r
, e
monstrances of the people which in all probability they did
,

not understand The Moris t h erefore attacked them

e
,
.
, ,

killing o n of their number and cutting o ff his head The .

next day they brought the murderer on board and asked

the Dutch to put h im to death in the same manner ; but
they refused They therefore took him ashore themselves
e
.

and beheaded and quartered him and when th Dutch

e e
,

landed again soon a ft rwa rd s th yfou nd that their country

,

man had been decently buried and the murderer s head set ’

up o n a spear over his grave .

The Dutch did all they could to cultivate the friendship

of the people forming alliances with the di fferent Chiefs
, ,

encouraging them to defy the Portuguese and assisting ,

them in their wars When the Moris were threatened by

.

the Chief of Atti with a much stronger force the Dutch lent ,

them two cannon and sixty or seventy muskets which ,

materially contributed towards the complete victory that

they gained soon afterwards I t is true that this policy
.

of inciting the people to resist the Portuguese had bee n

tried by the English and French and failed but the greater
success of the Dutch wa s probably due to the fact that
they had formed definite Settlements in the country which ,

gave the people some guarantee that they would no t sail

away and leave them to bear the brunt o f Portuguese
v engeance a s their predecessors had done During the next .

few years the consistent pursuit o f this policy and their

 ARRIVAL O F TH E D UTCH

fair and j ust dealings with the people steadily increased

the influence of the Dutch and that of the Portuguese was
,

proportionately dimi nished .

There are two Castles on the Gold Coast Christians —

borg and Cape Coast whose early history is shrouded in

—

mystery They will be considered in greater detail a

.

little later but may be mentioned here because they are

,

both said to have been founded originally by the Portu

e
e
gu s . The di fferent accounts however vary so much that , ,

nothing definite can be said to be known about the earliest

history of either .

I n 1 6 2 1 Philip IV came to the Spanish throne The .

Portuguese trade on the Gold Coast however had by this , ,

time been utterly ruined by the Dutch who were able to ,

sell their goods more cheap ly on the Coast than the

Portuguese could buy them in Lisbon The new King .
,

moreover was far more interested in the growing trade

,

with the East I ndies than in the trifling profits that could
now be expected from his Possessi ons in West Africa .

Their wealth had paled before the newly discovered riches

e
of th East and he therefore neglected them even more
,

t h an his predecessors had done The Portuguese thus .

became so weak that they could seldom or never attempt

to do anything outside the walls of their forts though ,

at one time while they were still strong enough they had
, ,

not only claimed but actually exercised sovereign rights

,

over a great part of the Coast .

O ne o f their last sources o f gain was lost to them at

a bout this time This was the gold mine at A b robi which
.

had b een Opened by Fernando Gomez before the Castle was

built and had been worked with few intermissions ever
s ince . But by 1 6 2 2 1 the hill had been riddled in every
direction with badly shored up tunnels and suddenly fell ,

in burying a number o f the workmen beneath it Djesi

, .
,

the Chief of Komenda consulted the Fetish Priests who

Th is is th e da te
,

giv en b y E llis b u t s ince th e

,

Du tch are s a id to h ave

h a d a lo dge
1

a t K om e th a t this d isa ste

nd a a t this tim e pos s ible
, ,

m a y h a ve h a pp ene a rl ie Ellis h o we ve
d a little e y care
it is r

e
,

r is s o u nifo rm l
fu l th a t it 1 5 v ry u nl ike ly th a t h ew ou ld h a ve give n a d a te a t a ll u nle
r .
, ,

he h ad s o m e
, ss
go od au th ority for it .
 ARRIVAL O F TH E D UTCH

two hundred o f their dead before the fort Even the .

Portuguese protected though they had been behind their

,

screen Of mantelets did not escape unscathed About ,

.

e
half a dozen men were wounded by spears in the final rush ,

and two or three Ah anta labourers and a Portugues

received arrow wounds The latter all ended fatally .

within a few days with symptoms of tetanus After this .

peace was arranged The A wo ins recognized the right of

e
.

th Portuguese to Open mines in the neighbourhood of

t h eir fort and the latter undertook no t to interfer with
,
e
any workings that were already in the possession o f the
people A rich vein of gold bearing quartz was soon
.
-

1
afterwards discovered in a h ill at Ab oasi about five miles ,

from Fort Duma This hill however was believed to be

.
, ,

the residence of a s as a b onsu m and for some time no labour ,

could be obtained ; b ut i n 1 6 3 0 slaves were brought up

from Elmina and the Chiefs having been won over by
,

presents and p romises work was commenced During the ,

.

next s ix v ea t s it is said that some pound s weight of

gold was sent to Lisbon from this mine ; but this is pro
bably a gross exaggeration .

The weakness o f the Portuguese gave the Dutch more

leisure to improve their own position on the Coast Their .

first act was to enlarge and improve their post at Mori ,

converting what had been a mere trading station and

redoubt into a substantial stone fort which on its com
e
, ,

p l tio n in 1 6 2 4 was named Fort Nassau in honour of the

,

H ouse of O range I t was garrisoned by a strong force Of

.

Europeans and native levies and the command given to

Adrian J acobs They also built a stone house or lodge on
.

the b ill at Queen Anne s Point but no trade wa s done ’

there the flag only being displayed to prevent others

,

from settling there and damaging the trade at Mori .

The great ambition of the Dutch however was to , ,

capture Elmina and in December 1 6 2 5 they made their

,

first attempt on it The Dutch force consisted o f 1 200 of

.
,

their o wn men most of whom had been sent out for the
e
,

p urpose and 1 5 0 S ab o s I t wa s commanded by Rear

Me Under th e
, .

ng
a ni ro ck
1
.
 B ATT LE O F AM PEN I

Admira l J an Dirks Lamb A landing w as e ff ec t ed shortly

.

before sunset at Terra Pequena ( Ampeni ) a village about ,

six or eight miles to the w est Of Elmina bu t before the

Dutch had time to form up they were furiously attacked
by a large force of Elminas wh o inflicted a crushing defeat
, ,

the battle being o v er before night I n this action the .

Dutch lost nearly all their Officers 3 7 3 soldiers and 6 0 , ,

seamen besides their native allies who were slaughtered

, ,

to a man Admiral Lamb himself was among the wounded

e
.
,

and was only saved by the K om nd as who opportunely ,

arrived o n the scene This decisive victory must always

.

stand to the credit of the Elminas who that e v ening g ave ,

such convincing proof of their courage and loyalty

e
.

I n March 1 6 2 9 the Dutch States Gen ral established a -

e
West I ndia Company and handed over to it all their Settle
ments o n th Gold Coast together with any other lands
,

that it might acquire in Africa between the Tropic O f

Cancer and the Cap e of Good H ope The English too .
, ,

encouraged by the great success o f the Dutch had begun ,

to renew an intermittent trade I n 1 6 1 8 J ames I had .

1
granted a Charter tO Sir Robert Rich and some merchants
'

o f the City Of London for the formation Of a Company to

trade to Guinea This Company wa s called the Company

.

of Ad v enturers of London trading into Africa and several ,

v oyages were made ; but the results no t coming up to their

expectations the promo t ers withdrew from it and the
e ,

Chart r was allowed to expire The next Company was

e
.

form d in 1 6 3 1 under a Charter granted by Charles I to

Sir Richard Young Sir Kenelm Digby Nicholas Crisp
, , ,

Humphrey Slaney and some others This Charter gave .

the Company an ex clusi v e right to the Coast trade from

Cape B lanco to the Cap e of Good H op e for a period o f
e
,

t hirty on years The principal trade at this time wa s

-
.

for slaves the demand for which had been greatly in

,

creased by the colonization o f the Wes t I ndies by the

English and the int roduction Of slav e labour into Man
hattan by the Du t ch The English had hitherto b en
. e
cont ent to cruise along the Coast and get a cargo of slaves
1 Afterwards E arl o f Warwick .
 ARRIVAL O F TH E D UTCH

wherever they could but the growing importance O f the

trade now led t h is Company to establish posts o n shore the
better to supervise it They selected Kormantin as their
.

headquarters and built a large stone fort with four bastions

,

there and afterwards erected lodges at several other places

,

along the Coast N ominally this Company held the sole

.

English rights to trade on the Coast but in reality the ,

trade remained Open and anyone who cared to do so went

there The Company tried to stop these private ventures
.

whenever it came to their knowledge that such a voyage

was being planned and in 1 6 3 7 the Ta lbotwas s o stopped
,

b ut as a rule their e fforts were of little avail for the pro ,

motet s Of such undertakings nearly always kept their

destination secret until they were clear of the last English
port .

O n the 1 8 th of December 1 6 3 6 the western districts of

the Gold Coast were visited by an earthquake which ,

caused the tunnel and galleries o f the Portuguese gold

mine at Aboasi to fall in and bury all those who were
working in it with the ex ception o f a single soldier who was
, ,

o n guard near the southern entrance to prevent the escape

of any of the slaves and ran o u t j ust in time The sole .

survivors of the disaster were this man J uan Rodrigues , ,

Fernan Diaz and Pedro Gomez the engineers and three

, ,

other soldiers They had all been above ground when the
.

accident happened That night they camped around the

e
.

ruins intending to leave at daybreak and report Th .

A wo in villages however had shared in the catastrophe

e
, , ,

and the Fetish Priests Of course attributed it to the v n

ee
g a nc of the s a s a b o ns u m o f the hill and demanded

sacrifices to appease his wrat h During the night there

.
,

fore they led the villagers against the little camp and
,

surprised it Five of the Portuguese were at once secured

.
,

and one of the Others was shot down as he t ried to make

o ff ; but the seventh though wounded in the thigh by an
,

arrow managed to escape The prisoners were taken into

, .

the still open southern end O f the tunnel and there bound ,

hand and foot and left as a propitiatory o ffering to the

outraged god while the A woins tore down the supports of
,
 ARRIVAL O F TH E D UTCH

able to control the trade to the East I ndies to the exclusion

of all other nations Moreover H olland w a s then at war .
,

with Spain o f which Portugal had been a province since

, ,

1 5 80 and the Dutch being unable to e ffect very much

e
,

against th Spanish troops on land had to rely on harassing

e e
,

th enemy at s a wh ere they were uniformly successful

e
.
,

When Van Y pr n s letter wa s received Count Maurice of ’

,

N assau a near relative Of the Prince o f O range and Gover

,

nor O f the West I ndia Company s Possessions in South ’

America was in Bra z il with a fleet O f thirty two ships

,
-
,

including twelve men of war on b oard which he had - -

,

picked troops The news from the Gold Coast was there
.
,

fore forwarded to him with a request that he would detach

, ,

as many men and ships as he could spare from h is squadron

and send them to Van Y pr n s assistance Count Maurice e ’
.

was so impressed with the importance of this scheme that

e
,

h decided to go to the Gold Coast himself H e took nine .

men o f wa r well manned and provided with large reserves

- fi
,

O f ammunition and gave the command o f the troops to

e
,

Colonel H ans Coin .

This fleet arrived off Cape Lahou on the Ivory Coast

on the 2 5 th of J une 1 6 3 7 and as soon as the ships had
e
, ,

dropped anchor a letter was sent to Van Y p r n at Mori

, ,

informing him of the arrival o f the troops and asking him to

choose a suitable spot for their disembarkation He was .

warned to keep their arrival secret especially from the ,

English lest they should suspect their Obj ect and do

,

something to thwart them The fleet then s ailed down to .

Assini where Count Maurice had arranged to await the

,

Governor s reply H ere an unforeseen di fficulty arose

’
.
,

for the people naturally concluded the ships had come to

trade and came O ff in eighteen canoes to barter their ivory
, .

But the Dutch had no trade goods with them and had to ,

put them o ff from day to day while they sent another

e
,

urgent message to Van Y p r n begging him to complete his

preparations with the least possible delay ; for they now
lived in continual dread that the people would suspect and
reveal their Obj ect and possibly ruin the expedition by
giving the Portuguese time to prep are for their defence or
 TH E D UTCH ATTAC K ELM I NA

raising the Opposition of the English These fears h ow .

,

ever were groundless : the people believed they were

,

putting them O ff in order to Obtain better prices and a ,

few days later came out and said that their Fetish had
revealed to them that there were seven other ship s o n
their way to the Coast which would soon arrive and ruin
,

the trade o f the Dutch

e
.

Van Y p r n s reply now arrived instructing Count

’

Maurice to bring his fleet to Komenda where he promised

e
,

to j oin him I n the meantime Van Y p r n had secured

e e
.
,

th alliance of the K om nda s by promising them large

e
rewards if th Castle should be taken and by the time the ,

fleet arrived there they were ready to j oin it in 2 00 canoes .

The combined fleets left Komenda on the 2 4 th of August ,

and sailed down towards Cape Coast wh ere the troop s ,

were disembarked early on the morning o f the a6 th in a

little creek about half a mile to westward of the Cape .

Th is must have been the opening o f the lagoon or salt

pond at Free Town which though usually quite shut O ff
, ,

from the sea h a s been Opened from time to time and

, ,

m ust have been permanently connected with the sea until

the sand silted up and closed its mouth .

The Dutch force consisted Of 8 0 0 soldiers and 5 00 sea

e
men besides the K om nda s wh o probably mustered b
, , e
tween 1 000 and
, men Each man carried rations for
.

t h ree days They advanced towards Elmina in three

.

divisions William Latan led the advance guard and J ohn

G o dla a t the main body while Colonel Coine himself
,

commanded the rear guard About mid day they reached

.
-

the Rio Dolce ( Sweet River ) where a halt was called to

,

rest the men and give them an opportunity to have some

thing to eat while the scouts were sent forward to find
out the strength and disposition o f the enemy .

I t was absolutely essential for the Dutch to gain posses

sion Of the hill on which the Chapel of San J ago stood ;
for this overlooked the Castle on its weakest side and was ,

the only position from which it could be a ttacked with any

reasonable hope of success But when the scouts returned
.
,

they reported that the hill wa s being defended by a force

 ARR IVAL O F TH E DUTCH

of about a thousand Elminas which had been posted at its

foot Four companies o f fusiliers were therefore sent to
.
, ,

drive them back b ut they advanced too far and were so

e
,

vigorously attacked by the Elminas that they were r

pulsed with heavy loss The Elminas then seem to have .

imagined that they had already won the day and cutting , ,

O ff the heads Of the fallen Dutchmen carried them in ,

triumph through the town So many went to celebrate .

their victory in this way that very few men were left to ,

hold the position and Maj or B o nga rzo n coming up with

, ,

a reserve detachment quickly put this small party to,

flight with a loss o f only four of his own men and ten of
the native allies The Elminas then realized too late that
.

the battle had only j ust begun and hurrying back from , ,

the town twice attempted to retake the position ; but

,

though they fought well and inflicted some further losses

on the Dutch including William Latan and several more
,

men killed they were eventually driven back into the

,

valley between San J ago and the hills behind it The .

few Portuguese wh o had b een with them at once sought

refuge in the Chapel of San J ago and their redoubt ,

where they were soon afterwards attacked and forced to

surrender .

Meanwhile Colonel Coine had been having two paths

,

cut through the bush one leading to the summit o f the hill
,

and the other to the Sweet River so that he could Obtain ,

fresh water and ascend the hill without using the path
made by the Portuguese to their redoubt ; for this led up
immediately in front Of the Castle and was covered by its
guns Two pieces of cannon and a mortar were then
.

brought up and mounted on the hill whence fire was ,

opened on the Castle and ten or twelve grenades thrown

against it but they did little or no damage a s the range ,

w a s too great
e
The Dutch however were perfectly safe
.
, ,

wher they were for the Castle s only means of defence on

,
’

this side were two small cannon mounted over an Old

walled u p gate which were quite useless against an enemy
-
,

o n the hill I n the meantime while the attention of the

.
,

Portuguese had been engaged by the bombardment of the

 EXPU LS I O N O F TH E P O RTUGU ES E

they could b e landed o n the I sland of San Thom

1
e
( S t Thomas)
. .

Thus the celebrated Castle Of San J orge del Mina fell

into the hands of the Dutch o n Saturday the 2 9 th of
August 1 6 3 7 A Dutch inscrip tion over the main gate still
.

exists recording the event and a white stone let into the
e
,

pathway leading from th bridge over the River B enya to

e
the Castle marks th spot where the Portuguese Governor
hand ed over the keys Of the fortress to Colonel Coine The .

garrison had been so reduced by death and neglect that

only about thirty men were left to march ou t of the Castle
and even t hey were nearly all sick Th Dutch found . e ,

e
v ery little gold or merchandize in the place but they took
3 0 go od brass cannon pounds Of p owd r , 8 00 cannon
,

balls and 1 0 casks o f musket balls 3 00 packages of flints -

,

and 3 6 Spanish swords besides a great number Of axes , ,

pikes and other weapons most Of which however had , , ,

been mu ch neglected and were very rusty I t was not .

want of ammunition therefore that had been the cause

e
, ,

of the feeble d fe nce made by the Portuguese

ee
.

Colonel Coine now left Captain Wa lra v n Van Malburg

a nd 1 40 men to garrison the Castle while h went down e
to Mori to make arrangements fo r mo v ing the Dutch
headquarters to Elmina At the same time he sent a .
, .

e
letter by canoe summ oning the Portuguese Commandant
at Axim to surrender H e hop d that the consternation .

e
following the fall o f their principal stronghold would prove
sufficient to ensure the submission of any other Portugues
o n the Coast a t h is mere word but he soon found that
this man was not such a p oltroon as the Governor of
Elmina and the only answer he got wa s a defiant message
,

challenging him to do his worst the Commandant de ,

claring that as for himself he would hold the fort for the
, ,

King his m aster until his last breath With this the Dutch .

had to b e content for a time but in 1 640 Por t ugal taking ,

ad van t age o f the distracted condition of Sp ain achieved ,

her indep endence under the H ouse Of B raganza and war ,

e
e e
l fe ee e
e
e l Du tch d d
3
Th w of a
e e
r a s a so a
provision th at th i s rt r nam
H rm an sh ou ld b s ar d
p .
 P O RT U G U E S E VERS I O N

immediately broke ou t be tween her and H olland on th e

question of the possession of Brazil I t wa s during these .

hostilities that the Du t ch attacked and captured For t

San Antoni o on t he 9 th of J anuary 1 6 4 2 and by the trea t y ,

o f peace concluded soon afterwards the Portuguese formally

ceded all their Possessions on the Gold Coast to t he Du t ch

West I ndia Company in return for H olland s renuncia t ion ’

of her claims to so v ereignty in Brazil .

The Portuguese v ersion Of the fall of Elmina is entirely

di fferent to that o f B arbot and Dapper which h as been
given ab ove but t here is no difficulty in deciding which
is correct They say that a Dutch ship a nchored in
.

Elmina roads either to Obtain provisions o r ou t of curiosity

,

to see the place and that her Captain became ve ry friendly

,

with the Portuguese Gov ernor They exchanged present s .

and entertained each other and the Governor also pur

,

chased a considerable quantity of the Dutchman s trade ’

goods on his own account paying for them in gold Before

, .

the ship sailed the Go v ernor invited the Captain to return

,

as soon a s he could with a large cargo guaranteeing him a ,

successful v oyage and promising to have p lenty of gold and

ivory ready for him on h is arrival .

The Dutchman now schemed to take possession Of the

place and on h is return to H olland laid h is plans before
,

the States General Their approval having been Obtained

-
.
,

special short light cannon were cast and packed in boxes

to represent cases of merchandize and quantities of small ,

arms and ammunition were made up into bales to appear

e
like ordinary trad goods These were put on board a shi p
.

with a small supply of the usual articles for the Coast trade
and presen t s for the Portuguese Governor but instead of
the thirty or forty men which was the usual complement of
a merchantman of forty guns 3 00 picked men sailed in her
e
.
,

Six months later sh anchored off Elmina Presents were .

sent to the Governor and her Ca ptain reported that owing

, ,

to wa nt of fresh prov isions and other privations sickness ,

h a d broken ou t among his men who were nearly all seriously

,
'
ill
. H e therefore begged the Governor s p ermission to
land them and t reat them in a hospital camp on shore .

I— 7
 EXPULSI O N O F TH E P O RTUGU ESE

Leave was granted and a site for the camp chosen on

San J ago s Hill where the sick men might reap the full
’
,

benefit of the sea breeze Tents were pitched and the sup
.
,

posed invalids and incidentally the cases containing the

,

cannon were carried up in hammocks Engineer officers

,
.

posing as surgeons accomp anied them and bales Of arms ,

and ammuniti on were landed a s medical stores and other

necessaries A s i t was found that the sick men com
.

plained o f the intense heat and want o f proper ventilation

in the tents it was next decided to erect barracks a work
, ,

in which some of the Portuguese soldiers themselves were

paid to assist These were s o arranged by the surgeons
e
.

that they could easily be converted into batteries Th .

Governor and Portuguese Officers susp ected nothing being ,

too afraid o f possible infection to approach the working

parties They were moreover well entert ained by th
.
, , e
Dutch Captain and his officers who did all they could to ,

distract their attention from the suspicious number of

loads that was being taken up to the camp I n two days .
’

time all the arms and ammunition had been disembarked ,

and the Dutch then began to raise earthworks under cover

of the temporary walls of the huts .

Their preparations were soon completed and the Dutch ,

then invited some of the Portuguese to j oin them in a

shooting party and eve n borrowed guns from them
e
e
, ,

p r t nding th a t their o wn were still o n b oard the ship

'

I n the evening they entertained their guests to supper on

the hill and plied them so well with wine that they were
,

unable to return to the Castle During the night the .

temporary walls were taken down thus uncovering the ,

now finished batteries and when the Portuguese awoke

,

they were astonished to find themselves prisoners in a

respectably fortified camp with the surgeons ”
, com
manding the plague stricken crew wh o now appeared as
-
,

soldiers under arms and in the best o f health The Dutch .

Captain at once sent to summon the few Portuguese wh o

remained in the Castle to surrender threatening to butcher
e
every on of them if they did not comply immediately
,

The ship at the same time stood in towards the shore and
1 00 EXPULS I O N O F TH E P O RTUGU E S E

( palabra ) panyar ( apanhar ) fetish ( feiti co ) 1 piccaninny

, , ,

(p ic a n ia)
,
caboceer ( cabeceiro ) and dash me ( das me ) , .

Many O f the Old Portuguese geographic al names too , ,

still persist as Gold Coast ( Costa del O ro ) Cap e Three

, ,
2
Points ( Cabo de Tres Puntas ) C ape Coast ( Cabo Corso ) , ,

Elmina ( San J orge del Mina ) River Volta ( R io Volta ) , ,

River Ankobra ( R io Cobre ) and many others Many Of , .

the names used by them on the other hand have quite , ,

disappeared Ampeni is no longer known a s Terra Pequena

nor the River Pra as the R io San J uan I t was the .

Portuguese too who first introduced cattle into the

, ,

country and the prickly pear with which to fence their

enclosures They are also said to have brought I ndian
.

corn and the sugar cane from the I sland o f San Thom
and the banana and pineapple from the Congo It is
-

.
e
also asserted that some parts of the funeral customs and
other ceremonies of the people especially in the neigh ,

b o u rh oo d of Elmina show some traces of the influence of

,

Roman Catholic ritual and this may very possibly be the

correct explanation of their origin for the Portuguese , ,

so long as they were on the Coast adhered to this object ,

Of Prince Henry and maintained missionary priests to

,

instruct the people in their religion N or were these the .

only missionaries o n the Coast for Barbot records the

e
,

fact that some French Ca p u ch in priests were sent out to

Assini in 1 6 3 5 and at first made some progress among the
people who treated them very cour teously and seemed ,

to have some relish of Christianity but soon after they ,

”
sco ff ed at them and their doctrine , Three o f these men .

died at Assini and the other two then withdrew to the

,

Portuguese near Axim being no longer able to bear with ,

the insulting behaviour O f the Blacks and their deriding ,

”
the Christian religion
.
.
3

1 S arba h (Fa nti N atio na l Constitu tio n ) th in ks th

e
d riva tion of ee
da sh is th F a nti d asi (th ank you )
e ee
.

A” ridicu lou s corru ption T h origina l na m , m a ning cru ising

e
2

e e e e
.

wa s d ou btl ss g iv n to it fro m its u s a s a la n dm a rk b y th

Portu gu e
se
cap ,

s a il o rs .

3
Barb ot p 3 05
, . .
 CHAPTER V I
THE F I RS T A N G L O DUT C H W A R -

1 64 2 TO 1 6 72

THE Dutch greatly improved Elmina Castle They r 1 6 42 . e —

1 67 2
stored the Bastion de France connecting it with the main ca n
, . v1
building by a long gallery and generally extended and ,

improved the fortifications until in the course Of a few, ,

years the whole building had been very considerably

,

enlarged H aving proved its weakness on the north east

.
-
,

where it faced St J ago s Hill they set about remedying

.
’
,

this serious defect as soo n a s p ossible To this end they .

built a strong fort o n the summit Of the hill in 1 6 3 8 which ,

was planned with four batteries and a tower whence ,

watch could b e kept over a wide expanse Of country and

s hips sighted thirty miles o u t at s a
1
I t was named Fort e .

Conraa d sb u g and garrisoned by an ensign s guard o f ’

e
r

twenty fiv men who were relieved every twenty four

-
,
-

hours The greatest care was always taken to prevent the

.

defences of this fort being inspected and no strangers were ,

ever admitted to it under any pretence for the Dutch

e
,

rightly regarded it as th key to the Castle Th ey also .

built a stone bridge with a wooden drawbridge in its

,

centre across the River Benya and cut a wide road from
, ,

it to the new fort Another battery was then constructed

.

o n this side o f the Castle and mounted with six guns which ,

covered the road to the fort and were capable o f being

turned on the latter in case o f need and a second smaller ,

battery wa s raised on another hill a s an additional p ro 3

e
t ction to it .

1
N ow gene ra lly k no wn a s Fo rt S t J a go a fte r th eh ill o n wh ich it
.
,

stand s
r J a va Hill or S t J o s e
Eith e
.

p h s Hill
’
2 .
.

I O"
 TH E FI RST ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

Besides these material impro v ements in the defences ,

a great deal O f other work wa s carried out from time to

time in after years Stone walls were b uilt along th
. e
b anks o f the Ri v er B enya converting it into a harb our into
which small vessels could enter and after passing through ,

the drawbridge refit under the guns o f the Castle Many

,
.

fine stone houses were also b uilt and some good roads made
in the town rather later Nor were these improvements
.

confined to Elmina ; at Mori a half moon was cut O ff Fort -

Nassau and the buildings further improved and strength

ened and in about 1 6 40 or 1 6 4 2 the old Portuguese lodge
.
,

at S hama and their own at B utri were converted into small

forts with four batterie s each The former had been .

called San Sebas t ian by the Portuguese and this name was ,

now retained by the Dutch while the for t at B utri which

e ee
.
, ,

was built by on Carolus was named Fort B at nst in , .

O ther lodges were built at Anamab o Kormantin Accra , ,

and Corso ( Cape Coast ) .

Very little is definitely known Of the history of the

Gold Coast during t he firs t few years after the expulsion
o f the Portuguese and a great deal has to b e inferred from
,

subsequent records in which mention is made o f forts

and Settlemen t s then in existence at various places along
the Coast and possessed by di fferent European nations .

At this time the enormous profits that were to be derived

from the Slave Trade attracted others to t he Coast and ,

t he Danes and Swedes soon began to comp ete with the

e
English and Dutch so that in all probabili t y many in
e
,

t r s ting but unfortunately unrecorded disputes and

transactions took place After the final conquest of the
.

Portuguese by the Dutch all their Settlements o f course ,

came into the possessio n of the latter nation but though

we find some of these places occupied by o t hers very soon
afterwards it is impossible to decide whether these changes
,

were brought about by the reoccupation Of p osts that

had been abandoned by t he Dutch or by t heir forcible
ejection from them Thus importa nt forts or castles ar e
e
.

suddenly mentioned as being in xistence at Christiansborg

and Cape Coast but Of t heir origin next to nothing is
,
 TH E FI RST ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

sarily prove that there is no groundwork o f truth in the

remainder .

Ellis sums up what is known o f the early history of this

building as follows The question a s to when Cape Coast
Castle was built is involved in great obscurity Smith .
,

Surveyor o f the Royal African Company wh o visited the ,

Gold Coast in 1 7 2 7 says the Portuguese founded it in

,

1 6 10 while Barb ot ( 1 6 8 7 ) says it wa s built by the Dutch

shortly after the capture Of Elmina N either of these .

gives any authority for his statement and Barbot con ,

tra dicts himself in two other places saying in one that the ,

Dutch had a pretty good fort at Cape Coast which they

e
,

b ought of the factor o f on Caroloff wh o had built it for ,

the Danish Company and in the other that Cape Coast

,
’

is famous for the castle the English built there I n any ’

.

case Smith is in error for there is abundant evidence to

,

show that the Portuguese had no fort at Cape Coast and ,

B a rb o t s statement that it wa s built by the Dutch is

’

directly traversed by the complaint made by the African

Company in N ovember 1 66 2 in which it is said the ,

Dutch had no factory at Cape Coast There seems .

,

therefore b u t little doubt that Cape Coast Castle was

,

built by the English but at what date is uncertain The

, .

probability is that it was built shortly before the forma

tion Of the Company of 1 6 6 2 perhaps in 1 66 2 for there , ,

is no mention made o f it before J anuary 1

The Portuguese author Vasconcellos however in his

e
Lif of K ing j o hn writing o f the time when the Portuguese
,
, ,

were still in possession o f Elmina and therefore prior

to 1 6 3 7 says of the Dutch that “they held without any
,

e
,

other right but force the fort at B ou tro four leagues

,

from that at A x im also the settlements Of Kora Kormantin

e
, ,
”
and Aldea del Tuerto at K om nd o This Kora can .

h ave been no other p lace than Cap e Korea as Cape Coast ,

was Often called .

Meredith says the Danish force under Sir H enry Carlof

( 1 6 5 7) conquered the Swedish forts Ca rolu sb org ( now
Cape Coast ) Ta cca ra ry A nnam ab o and Ursu Lodge e
Ellis His tory of the
, , ,
1
. Gold Coast p 5 3 , . .
 CAPE C OAST CASTLE

( now
1
I n another place the same
author says the Castle was originally built by the Portu
ee
gu s and ceded to the Dutch with their other Possessions
in 1 6 4 2 Barbot again when writing of a Danish fort near
.
,

the Castle which will be referred to later says the Danes

ee
, ,

being formerly x p ll d from Corso by the Dutch made ’

,
”
choice of that mount a s a proper place to build a fort
, .
2

The name Ca ro lu sb org suggests the possibility that this

place may have been built or enlarged by the same Carolus
“

ee
who built Fort B a t ns t in for the Dutch in 1 6 40 ; and
though Ellis says there is abundant evidence to prove that
the Portuguese had no fort at Cape Coast yet he gives ,

none and the statement of Vasconcellos quoted above

,

certainly seems to show that they had and that the Dutch ,

had ousted them from it When Towrson was trading on .

the Coast between 1 5 5 5 and 1 5 5 8 he was attacked by the ,

Portuguese at Cape Coast and in 1 6 6 3 the Dutch Governor ,

of Elmina J ean Valkenburg complained that in 1 6 4 7

, , ,

the English had encouraged the Dutch vassals at Cabo

”
Corso to rebel .

But although these statements are so conflicting there ,

are several points on which they show a general agreement ,

and they are not really s o irreconcilable as they appear

to be .After the date of the voyages o f Towrso n it is ,

known that the Portuguese made very determined e ff orts

to drive all strangers from the Coast and having already , ,

found the English trading at Cape Coast within eight miles

o f their headquarters there is nothing more likely than,

that they would have established a small fortified post or

lodge there to protect their interests This may very .

possibly have been built in about 1 6 1 0 but when a little

later their trade declined and their garrisons were weak
ened this would have been one Of the first places that
‘

they would have abandoned This would be quite s u ffi .

cient to account fo r the absence o f all Opposition to the

landing o f the Dutch in 1 6 3 7 which is presumably the ,

evidence upon which Elli s wa s relying The deserted .

lodge would then have come into the possession of the

1
M e
e
rd ith , p . 1 97 .
2
Barbot , p . 1 72 .
 TH E FI RST ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

Dutch who apparently did not think it worth garrisoning

, ,

so that when in after years the Swedes resorted to the

Coast they were able to settle at this place without
,

opposition Their occupation Of Cape Coast is said to

.

date from 1 6 5 2 and there is a general agreement that

,

in 1 6 5 7 or 1 6 5 8 Karlo ff or Carlof dispossessed them and

, ,

took the place for the Danish Company What happened .

after this is very doubtful and the place may have changed
,

hands more than once and even have been taken by the
,

Fetus and p assed from them back again to the Dutch as ,

is alleged before it came into the p ossession of the English

, ,

as it undoub tedly had done by 1 66 2 or 1 66 3 Until then .

the fort was probablyno more than a lodge and it was at ,

this time that the Castle itself seems to have been built ,

either as an addition to and improvement o n the original

lodge or near it
,
I t is most likely however that the
.
, ,

latter course was adopted and that the fortified house close
,

to the Castle and occupied by a native trading agent or

,

middle man which will be referred to later was the old

-
, ,

lodge whi ch had been left untouched and handed over

to him .

The Accras were at first as strongly opposed to the

erection o f European forts in their country as they had
been in the time o f the Portuguese and it was not until ,

about 1 6 4 2 that the Danes and Dutch after giving con

ee
,

s id ra b l presents to the King succeeded in Obtaining his ,

p ermission to build store houses undertaking to pay ,

seven marks Of gold annually for the concession .

Having once secured a footing in the place in this manner ,

they continually insinuated the necessity Of converting

these houses into proper forts in order to protect the Accras
in time of need from the attacks o f their inveterate foes
the A kw a m u s This was at last agreed to and the Dutch

e
.
,

then built a stone fort with a tiled roof which they named ,

Cr ve Coau r I t was completed in about the year 1 6 50

.
,

but it was not until some years later 1 6 7 3 in fact that , ,

the English were given a similar privilege At this ti m e .

the Swedes held Ursu Lodge but in 1 6 5 7 Frederick I I I of

,

Denmark sent an expedition to the Gold Coast under Sir

 TH E FI RST AN GL O D U TCH WAR -

Komenda and Cape Coast at neither of which according , ,

to the English sta tements had they any factory at tha t,

time The Dutch were doub t less much annoyed to find

.

that after they had achieved their ambition and driven

o u t the Portuguese they had even more competition to
,

contend with t han before They were therefore doing .

their best to pu t a stop to this also s o that they might ,

realize their dream of being supreme on the Gold Coas t

e e
.

I n 1 6 6 2 on of their men O f war the Gold n Lyon fired- -

, ,

o n the boats of an English ship a s they were going ashore

at Cape Coast but try as they would they could not

, , ,

succeed in driving their rivals from the Coast .

I n 1 6 6 2 a new Company wa s formed under a Charter

granted by Charles I I and da t ed the 1 0th of J anuary .

This Company wa s called the Company o f Royal A d

ventur ers of England Trading to Africa ; and their Chart r e
gave them the sole trading righ t s from the Straits of
Gibraltar to the Cape of Good H ope I t included many .

influential persons amongst whom was the King s brother

,
’

1
J ames Duke of York undertook to supply , slaves
yearly to the Wes t I ndies and was to maintain posts at ,

Cape Coas t A nash a n Komenda Egy a and Accra besides

, , , ,

a factory at Winneba and their fort at Kormantin The .

headquar t ers too were to be remo v ed from Kormantin

, ,

to Cape Coast , where the Chief Agent wa s to be assisted

by two other merchants a w arehouse keeper a gold ,
-
,

taker tw o accountants and three assistant factors The

, .

Castle was to be garrisoned by fifty English soldiers and

thirty sla v es under the command of a captain and four
sergeants The garrison at A nash a n was to consist of
.

ten English soldiers and eight slaves while t wo of each ,

w ere allot t ed to each o f the other lodges The Slave .

Trade thus recei v ed the formal sanction of the Gov ernment

and the direc t patronage of the Roya l Fa mily .

The formation of this Company was strongly resent ed by

the Dutch O n the 2 8 th o f May 1 66 3 the King 1 of Aguna at
.
,

their instiga t ion plundered t he factory at Winneba and

,

less than a week la ter o n the i st of J une Go v ernor J ean

e
Aft rwards King J am e Que e
, ,

1
s II 2 n . .
 AN GL O D UTCH QUARRELS
-

Valkenburg lodged a formal protest against the action of 1 6 42 —

1 67 2
’
the Company s agents in setting up factories in places a r . v1

which he asserted belonged to the Dutch West India

Company by right of conquest o f the Portuguese A few .

days later the Dutch showed their animosity towards the

Company by more active measures They surprised the .

garrison o f Cape Coast Castle seized the fortress and by

, ,

means of bribes and promises induced the King of Fantin

to attack the English fort at Kormantin after first ar ,

ranging with the King of Aguna to secure the person o f

J ohn Cabes the local Chief who was a staunch supp orter
, ,

o f the English .The capture of Kormantin was prevented

by the opp ortune arrival o f Captain Stokes with reinforce
ments but the Dutch took the factory at Egya
, .

A s a result o f these continual quarrels the Company

ee
,

was quite unable to make any progress and in 1 664 r pr

e
,

s nta tions Were made in Parliament o n the subj ect Of the

insolence and aggression of the Dutch and Sir George ,

Downing wa s instructed to demand full reparation from

1
the States General The Dutch Chief Factor at Fort
-
.

Nassau at the same time handed a written protest to

Captain Stokes on board the M a rm a du k comp laining o f e
the erection o f the facto ry at A na sh a n by the English and
s etting forth that the Dutch had not only won the Coast

from the Portuguese at great expense and at the cost of

many lives but that the monopoly of the whole trade had
,

been formally granted to their West I ndia Company .

There was certainly a great deal o f truth in these con

e
tentions o f th Dutch ; but they had been s o busy im
proving Elmina and their other stations after the expulsion
o f the Portuguese that they ha d not troubled to interfere
,

very much with the English while they were still weak ;
and no w that their position on the Coast was stronger and
their trade had develop ed sufficiently to arouse the j ealousy
of the Dutch it was too late for the latter to protest .

The Dutch had now committed a distinct act o f war by

seizing Cape Coast Castle and Sir George Downing having
,

failed to Ob tain any redress from the Government at the

1
Hu yb et V
r an e
Gaz ld oncq .
 TH E FI RST ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

H ague Charles I I at once despatched Captains Robert

ee
,

H olmes and J oseph Cu b itts in the j rs y and another

1

man O f war together with six frigates and the same

- -
,

number of smaller vessels with secret orders to proceed

,

to the West Coast o f Africa and capture the Dutch fort at

Goree thus commencing the Dutch wars H a ving taken .

Goree in accordance with these instructions H olmes sailed ,

down the Coast and reaching Takoradi on the 9 th o f April

e
, ,

took Fort Wits n and left an English garrison in it Fort .

St Sebastian was the next to fall and this was practically

.
,

levelled with the ground and abandoned s o that the ,

Dutc h were able to reoccupy it almost at once They built .

a palisade fence around it as a temp orary protection and

e
,

though they were again attacked by the English and th

people of J abi succeeded in driving them off and eventually
,

rebuilt the place Cape Coast Castle was next recaptured

.

o n the 7 th of May I t had been defended by less than

.

twenty Dutchmen but H olmes now left a garrison of fifty

,

men to hold it and supplied them with provisions for six

months and materials and labourers for the repair of its
defences According to Barbot who less than twenty
.
,

years after these events was on very friendly terms with

the Danes and used to visit them at Fort Fr d ricksb org ee ,

they assisted the English on this occasion and were allowed

to retain their position in return for these services Fort .

Nassau at Mori and the lodges at Anamabo and Egya

were all taken in turn and according to Dapper th , e
greatest barbarity was shown to the Dutch garrison of
the latter place H e alleges that though the English had
.

given quarter they cut off the ears and noses of all their
,

prisoners and afterwards cut the throats o f some butcher ,

ing them like so many pigs O thers were flayed alive .

,

and even the dead were disinterred in order that their

heads might be cut off and carried in triumph on the ends
o f the English pikes I n the plate of Fort St Anthony at
e
. .

Axim in B a rb o t s work the small island in front of th

’

fort is marked as the large rock o n which Admiral Ruyter

raised a battery of twelve guns with which he forced th e
rwa rd s Ad m ira l Sir R o be
Afte rt Ho lm e
1
s .
 TH E FI RST AN GLO D U TCH WAR -

differen t na tions may have occupied the place though not ,

1
this identical fort .

The Elmina auxiliaries are described a s we aring helmets

furnished with plumes o f feathers and ornam nted with e
one or two pairs Of horns fixed t o t heir front They .

carried s words the wooden hil t s of which were carved in

,
2
the shape of a leopard s j aw bone and many of them had ’
-
,

pain t ed their bodies red or yello w .

De Ruyter next went down to Cape Coas t Castle which ,

had now been repaired and further fort ified by the English
e
.

Go v ernor Valkenburg attached th v ery greatest im

portance to the recapture o f this place for it wa s believed
that if the English could only b depri v ed of the Castle e ,

which wa s their chief strongho ld on the Co ast , they would

give up all hope of r establishing themselves and retire e -

from the Gold Coast altogether leaving the Dutch in

e
,

undisputed possession O n reconnoi t ring the pla c h h ow.

e v er De Ruyter discovered that it wa s only possible to

,

land in safety on one narrow strip o f sand On the eastern

side of the Castle which besides being s wept by the guns
e
, , ,

could easily have been he ld by a hundred resolute m n

against a thousand The people moreo v er refused to .
, ,

assist the Dutch and threatened to side with the English

e
e
if neces sary so that as i t w a s clear that they could hav
, ,

s topped the paths and cut o ff a ll access to the fresh wa t r

and o t her supplies and that any force he might succeed

,

in landing w ould be starving withi n two or three days if

the Castle held out De Ruyter contented himself with ,

expressing h is astonishment t hat the Du t ch should ever

have permitted the English to retake the place when
once they had gained it and declined to risk an attempt
e
,

that seemed bound to end in disas t er Leaving Cap

e
.

Coast therefore he went to Mori where with the assistanc

, , , ,

o f his Elmina allies he recaptured Fort Nassau repaired

, ,

its fortifications and left a garrison Of Europeans with

,

fifty natives to hold it while he himself returned to Elmina .

General Valkenburg had b een deeply chagrined by the

e
e e
1 Vida not p 6 4 . .

1
Mor proba bly a h u m an j a w- b on , a cu s tom ary troph y.
 K O RMANTI N ATTAC KED

Admiral s refusal to attack Cape Coast C as t le and now

'
,

represented to him the great damage that was done to the

Dutch trade by the English forts at Anamabo and K or
mantin urging him at least to attempt the capture Of these
,

places H e undertook to prove that the presence Of the

.

English at Kormantin did more damage to the Dutch

trade than H olmes had done during his whole expedition .

The Admiral was at first rather reluctant to attack K or

mantin b ut having been assured of the friendship and
,

assistance of the A na m a b os and Egya s he agreed to make ,

the attempt Leaving Elmina he touched at Mori and

.
,

embarked the Dutch garrison of Fort Nassau and then ,

sailed o n to Kormantin anchoring o ff it o n the 6 th of

,

February 1 66 5 in company with a fleet o f four or five

hundred canoes manned by the Elminas O n the 7 th .
,

9 00 men were detached and sent with the Elminas in the

ships boats to e ffect a landing at Anamabo where though
’
, ,

there was a small lodge in the possession Of the English

e
,

the landing was much safer than at Kormantin a nd D

Ruyter expected to be j oined by his other allies O n .

nearing the landing place after a hard pull against wind

e
-

and tide the boats were fir d upon by the K orm antins

, ,

who led by their Chief J ohn Cabes had marched over and
, ,

were lying concealed behind the rocks and bushes S O .

heavy wa s their fire and that o f the English lodge that

the Dutch believing that the King o f Anamabo must
,

have played them false turned round and rowed back to

,

their ships But though the English had thus succeeded

.

in beating o ff the enemy it wa s more than they had ,

expected S O confident indeed had they felt that the

.

Dutch would land and attack their fort at Egya o n their

way to Kormantin that the garrison had mined it and
e
,

lighted a long fus calculated to blow the place up when

the enemy reached and entered it They had then aban .

dom ed it and retired to Kormantin The explosion followed .

in due course and wrecked the fort but the unexpected ,

retreat of the Dutch foiled the second part of their scheme .

e
In spite of this reverse De Ruyter did not despair of ,

taking Kormantin H e had now been j oined by V a lk n

.

1— 8
 TH E FI R ST ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

burg and that evening messengers arrived from the King

,

o f Anamabo b ringing hostages and assuring the Dutch

of his fidelity The A na m ab o s explained that the failure

.

in the morning w a s not due to any fault o f theirs but to ,

the fact that the Dutch had made the attempt too soon
and before they had had time to win over the K orm a ntins .

That same night a second messenger named Antonio , ,

came from the King bringing word that he hoped to

complete h is arrangements by the next morning and that ,

a s soon as he had done so he would hoist the Dutch flag

o n the ruins o f E gya Fort as a signal to them to land .

O n the morning of the 8 th this signal wa s seen and as , ,

there wa s very little surf the Dutch force landed in good

,

order near Egya H ere they were j oined by their allies

.
,

and by midday the whole force consisting o f between ,

and Europeans and natives wa s concentrated ,

at Anamabo The allies were then provided with white

.

scarves to distinguish them from those o f the English .

General Valkenburg now sent a letter to the English

Commandant Of Kormantin summoning him to surrender ,

and moved his whole force on to a hill a little to the west

of the fort and about a musket shot from it Here they .

met with a far more determined resistance than had been

anticipated No t only was a terrific fire maintained from
.

the fort but a force of about three hundred K o rm antins

,

was also opposed to them These men led by John .

,

Cabes inflicted such heavy losses o n the Dutch allies

,

tha t the paths soon became blocked with the bodies of

their slain Brave however a s the K orm a ntins were it
.
,

w a s impossible that they could hold out for long agai nst
the immensely superior numbers o f the Dutch force and , ,

though they stubbornly disputed every yard o f ground ,

they were slowly driven back o n to the fort The Dutch

ee
.

now s t fir to the village and under cover Of the smoke

, ,

which was blown directly o n to the fort brought up ,

grenades and mortars and prepared to make the final

assault But the English garrison realizing that their
.
,

position was now hopeless and finding such numbers of

e
,

the enemy close under their v ery walls removed the r d ,

 TH E FI RST ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

forts that H olmes had taken and that had matters turned
,

out di fferently they would have been the very first to have
hailed him a s a hero and benefactor instead of lodging
complaints against him They further alleged that they
.

had since the formation of the Company established and

, ,

maintained forts and trading posts at Cape Coast Tantum ,

kweri Kormantin A nash a n Ahanta ( probably Butri )

, , , ,

Winneba and Accra besides other places beyond the

,

confines o f the Gold Coast and had since their incorpora

, ,

tion sent out goods to the total value of

, and

brought away gold to the annual value of and

slaves worth another The whole of this
lucrative trade had now been ruined by De Ruyter a nd ,

they prayed that the Dutch prizes that had been taken
during the war might be handed over to them as som e
comp ensation fo r the losses they had sustained This .

a p p eal was doubtless supported by the Duke of York

and others who were financially interested in the well
being of the Company and was to some extent at any rat e
e
, , ,

granted for in April 1 666 the Dutch man of war Gold n

,
- -

Lyon w a s handed over to the Company .

I n 1 6 6 6 V illa u lt made h is voyage to the Gold Coast ,

and from the account he wrote o f it the condition of

a ffairs at that time appears to have been as follows Th . e
Dutch were in posses sion of Elmina Kormantin Axim , , ,

Mori and Butri and had lodges at Anamabo and Fantin

,

Egya ) Cape Coast Castle belonged to the English

e
.
,

who had also r established themselves at A na sh a n and

ee
-
,

the Danes held Fr d ricksb org and Christiansborg While .

he was lying near Sekondi Villa u lt received a letter from

ee
,

Harry Da lbr ckh of H amburg who was then Governor

ee
,

of Fr d ricksb org O ff ering him the use of his harbour in

,

consideration of the alliance between their respectiv e

countries and asking him to reserve him some o f his goods .

'
V illa u lt therefore anchored o ff the fort and the Governor s ,

secretary came off to fetch the goods that had been ordered ,

but was prevented from returning on shore that night by

a tornado that suddenly sprang up The next morning as ,

e
.

he was being rowed back from the ship the English at Cap ,
 TH E TREATY O F BREDA

Coast Castle fired on his b oat the ball falling within a

ee
,

e
few feet of it Fort Fr d rick sb org immediately replied
.

e
with a shot at the Castle which fell at the foot of th
second battery whereupon the English seeing that th y
, ,

were under the Danish Go v ernor s protec tion fired a ’

,

round Of blank H e says tha t although war had b een

.

declared b etween the English and Danes on account of

the Dutch yet the Governors o f Cape Coast Castle and
ee
,

Fr d rick sborg had a mutual understanding by w hich

they remained neutral and on good t rms with each e
other the two garrisons meeting and drinking t ogether
e
,

daily The Da nish Governor informed Villau lt that th

e
.

natives had been continuously at war with on another

for the past four years and that a s a result the country
, , ,

around Accra had been so devastated that the garrison at

Christiansborg were unable to obtain supplies locally and
provisions had to be sent them regularly from Fredericks
borg Villau lt further learned that the A x im s had recently
.

murdered the Dutch Commandant o f Fort St Anthony .

and declared for the English but if thi s be true nothing ,

seems to ha v e come o f it H e was also told that the

.

English had been intriguing with the King of Fanti n to

help them to regain possession of their fort at Kormantin ,
and had taken his s on a s a hostage ; but finding h im
“

unable or unwilling to fulfil his part o f the contract they ,

now refused to give up the son The King had t herefore

.
, ,

tried to lay hands on some of the Dutch i n t he hope of

effecting an exchange and had recently seized the Com
,

e
mandant of Kormantin and four others while they were
killing two o f their scor t in th e
e
on a v isit to Anamabo ,

scuffle The Fantis also made a night atta ck o n the S ab o s

.

while Villau lt was at A na sh a n killing four men and taking

,

others prisoners and thus started a war between the two

e
trib s .
,

Peace was restored between England and H olland by

the conclusion o f the Treaty o f Breda in 1 6 6 7 B y th e
e
.

third article it wa s s t ip ulated that each side should b

restored to the places it had held before the war The .

Dutch re t ained Kormantin and the English Cap e Coast

 TH E FI RST ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

but though this Treaty ended the war it did not entirely ,

put a stop to the quarrels between the English and Dutch

o n the Gold Coast The English soon r established them
. e
-

selves a t Egya and of this the Dutch complained in 1 66 8

, ,

affirming that as the post was under the guns of Kormantin

, ,

it must necessarily have been ceded to them with it In

e
.

J uly Of the same year the K om nd as rose against the

Du tch plundered their factory there and murdered the
,

garrison to avenge which the Dutch declared a blockade

of the Coast which was to include not only Komenda but
,

the whole of Fetu and C ape Coast the people of which

e
,

were suspected o f having connived with the K om ndas in

making this attack The English however on being called
.
, ,

upon to assist in enforcing this measure very naturally ,

declined to do so on the ground that their principal fort

lay within the proscribed area I t could not therefore
.
, ,

be carried o u t I n the following year 1 6 6 9 another war

.
, ,

broke out between the A kwam u s and Accras which lasted ,

for many years and laid waste a vast extent of country .

The Company of Royal Adventurers had had a most

unfortunate career Floated a s it was at a most inoppor
.

tune moment great di fficulty had been found in persuading

,

people to risk their money in what at that time was

generally regarded as a very speculative concern Th . e
result was that the Company had b een compelled to start
business with insufficient stock and the outbreak of ,

hostilities wi th the Dutch so soon afterwards led to ex

penses and losses which they were quite unable to bear ,

and left them in debt for very large amounts They h ad .

now no t only lost a great deal o f what they had originally

had but were by no means certain of being able to retain
,

what still remained to them and certainly had no prospects

,

o f being able to extend their Possessions Had they .

started with a larger capital in the first instance they might ,

have been able to weather the storm and in time make , , ,

good their losses but as matters stood they were com

ee
p ll d to surrender their Charter to the Crown and for a ,

fixed sum transferred all their Possessions and interests

,

to another Company which was about to be formed .

1 20 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

and enlargi ng it They also built a fort which they named

.
,

J ames Fort in honour of the Duke Of York at Accra in ,

1 6 7 3 and other forts at Komenda and Anamabo By .

these active measures they succeeded in securing to

themselves a fair amount of the Gold Coast trade and ,

in 1 6 7 3 fifty thousand guineas 1 were coined in England ,

being s o called because the gold from which they were

struck had been brought from Guinea by the Royal African
Company These first guineas bore the Company s stamp
.
’
,

an elephant a privilege that had been S pecially granted by

,

King Charles I I in order to encourage the importation of

gold for coining Five pound pieces were also struck .
-
,

which were similar to the guineas in design but had the ,

i nscrip tion round the rim like the crown piece

e
.

I n 1 6 7 9 the Winn b a s attacked the English factory

there and completely ransacked it The Factor was .

severely wounded and he and his garrison only saved their

e
,

lives by escaping in a canoe by night to Cape Coast wher ,

Barbot saw them land the next morning and says the ,

Factor was much wounded and all embrued in his own

”
blood .

I n the same year the Portuguese made an attempt to

e
t-
establish themselves on the Gold Coast The Governor .

o f the Danish fort at Christiansborg at this time was John

O lrick s o f G lu ck s ta d O ne of his officers a Greek named .

,

Peter Bolt conspired with the natives who treacherously

e
, ,

murder d O lricks and installed B olt in h is place He soon

e
.

afterwards sold the place to J ulian de Campo Baretto an ,

ex Governor o f the Portuguese I sland o f San Thom for

-
,

the palt ry sum o f £2 2 4 and the Portuguese Government

then supplied a small garrison The Portuguese mad
,

. e
some improvements and extensions in the building a nd ,

named it the Castle Of St Francis Xavier They raised . .

the curtains and batteries another 3 ft and built a small .

,

chapel inside the Castle where Mass wa s said by a black ,

1 eeg e we e i lly w e llings be

gh pee eg d
Th
pte
u in a s tw nty ing
e beacce
orth sh i bu t
et
s r nom na , ,

ll w lly d as
e e ll
a ctu a
y o rth i t nc m or ,
ra ua ca m o
tw nty on -
sh i in gs .

3
B a rb o t , p . 1 80 .
 ACCRA AKWAMU WA R
-

priest wh o had been ordained by the Bishop of San Thom

They maintained a garrison of forty fiv white men but -
e ,
e .

employed no natives a s they were so well hated all along

,

the Coast that they could get none to serve under them .

They also constructed a small turf redoubt at Am ashan ,

where ten or twelve men were stationed under Lorenzo

Perez Branco and carried on a small trade in tobacco ,

rum soap and other American goods They were still

e
.
,

there three years later b ut h ow much longer they r

,

mained or what afterwards became o f them is unknown .

The war that had broken out in 1 66 9 between the Accras

and A kwam u s lasted until 1 6 8 0 During this time a vast
.

extent o f country had been laid waste many towns had ,

been burned and all the plantations destroyed The .

Accras were completely crushed and their country was,

reduced to the position o f a tributary province of Akwamu .

Those who had escaped the victorious arms of the enemy

either found refuge in the European forts or fled to Popo ,

and their King Furi sought protection under Penin

e
, ,

A sh riv the King o f Fetu to whom he was related

, Little .

Accra the town under the Dutch fort was burned to the
, ,

ground and some of its inhabitants removed to Soko under

the walls of J ames Fort Such wa s the devastation caused
.

by this prolonged struggle that not only during the war ,

but for several years after the cessation of actual hostilities

e e
,

the forts at Accra and Christiansborg had to b s u pp li d

with provisions from the windward Settlements The .

Accras who had fled to Popo were at constant war with

the A wu nas .These quarrels are said to have been
fomented by the King of Ak wamu in order to distract
their attention from his own country and give them no
time to attempt to gain possession o f some rich gold
mines that he had there H e was careful however to
.
, ,

keep the balance o f power fairly even assisting either side

e
,

from time to time a s might b necessary so that neither ,

was ever allowed to gain any signal advantage ; and

though the Accras in 1 7 00 succeeded in driving the
Awu na s from their country they were very soon afterwards
,

reinstated .
1 22 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

The Dutch at this time had a fort at Seko ndi called

Fort O range but it is not known exactly when it was
,

built probably in about 1 6 7 0 7 5 Captain H enry Nurse

—
.
,

Agent for the English Company also built a fort there

e
,

a f w years later B oth these buildings were Of about the

.

same size and only a gun shot apart that of the English
-
,

standing o n rather lower ground than Fort O range .

I t was now some years since the Dutch had been on

really good terms with the Elminas and in 1 6 80 or 1 6 8 1 ,

matters were brought to a head and the people broke out

into open rebellion The actual cause o f this was an
.

attempt by the Dutch to destroy the independence that

the Elminas had gained under the Portuguese The
e
.

Elminas were j oined by the K om nda s and laid siege to

the Castle and for not less than ten months kept its
,

garrison and that of Fort Conra a d sb u rg closely confined

and made two separate attempts to take the Castle by
assault . Neither of these was successful however for ,

the Castle is indeed impregnable so far as African warfare

is concerned and could only be reduced by bombardment .

The Dutch lost only four men but the Elminas had about
,

eighty killed and several others were taken prisoners a nd

kept stark naked c h ained and exposed to all weathers
, ,

on the land batteries for over nine months When they .

at last realized that the capture of the Castle was im

possible many O f the Elminas burned their houses and
,

emigrated to other towns and the siege wa s then raised .

I n 1 6 8 1 too a great riot occurred at Cape Coast This

, , .

originated in the flight of eighteen slaves who escaped

from the Castle and found refuge in the town Neither .

threats nor persuasion would induce the people to give

these men up and when the guns were trained on the
,

town to compel them to Obey at least 70 0 men turned out

,

and boldly attacked the Castle I n the fighting that .

ensued the garrison had several men killed and fifty or

sixty o f the people also fell The King so soon a s he heard
.
,

o f this outbreak hurried in from Efutu with only twelve

,

attendants to assure the English Agent of his own loyalty .

H e remained for eight days beneath a fetish tree which

1 24 TR I BAL WARS AN D ATTAC KS O N F O RTS

I n 1 6 8 2 Baretto the Portuguese Governor of Christians

,

borg Castle wa s made a prisoner by his own garrison who

, ,

rose against him and kept him close ly confined in the tower
o f the fortress Barbot who had known him in Prince s ’
.
,

I sland three years before went to visit him but was only , ,

allowed to salute him at the window from a consider

” 1
ab le distance The Portuguese Factor wh o had refused
.
,

him admission told Barbot that he was prepared to j ustify

,

what he had done but that if the prisoner wished to return

,

with him ( Barbot ) to Europe he might do so Baretto .

however sent ou t a message that he would on no account

leave h is post except by order o f the King of Portugal ,

but he sent a letter by Barbot to the Court at Lisbon .

The garrison wa s in a miserable condition and had no ,

provisions not even bread and less than sixty pounds

, ,
’

worth of goods in their warehouse The Danes at Fort

ee
.

Fr d rick sb o rg had o ff ered to buy them out for any

reasonable s u m but in vain Eventually however the
,
.
, ,

garrison became s o reduced by deaths and was in such a

wretched condition from shortage o f provisions and lack
o f discipline that the King o f Portugal was glad to accept
,

the o ff er Of the Danes and they were accordingly allowed ,

to redeem the place .

The African Company had for a long time been anxious

to gain p os session of the Danish Fort Fr d ricksborg at ee
Amanfu which being situated on a hill within gun shot of
, ,

their Castle at Cap e Coast constituted a serious menace ,

to its safety Conscious of their insecurity the English

.
,

had hitherto been compelled to humour the Danes and

live a s amicably with them as possible for it would have
been an easy matter to have levelled Cape Coast Castle
with the ground with a few good guns on the Danish
Mount Barbot wh o knew it well and was on very
.
,

friendly terms with its Commandant says that he had ,

often seen the garrison walking about in Cape Coast Castle

from this fort but it was a poor enough place which its ,

owners never seem to have tried to improve for he describes

“
,

it as only a pretty large almost triangular enclosure , ,

B a rb o t p 1 8 3 1
, . .
 F O RT R O YAL

or indifferent thick wall of stone and clay m ix d together ’

,

e
always falling to decay with a round flanker towards the
es a side and two o t h r sorry small bastions to the land
-
,
,

of the same materials a s the wall and curtains one Of them ,

pointing east and the other west towards Cape Corso ,

on all which there are fifteen o r sixteen old iron guns ,

in no good order Within the enclosure or walls is a

.
, ,

disorderly heap Of Old clay buildings th a tch d like those ,

’
,
” 1
of the Blacks and all o u t of repair
, I n 1 6 8 5 arrange .

ments were completed for the purchase of t his place by

the English and it was formally handed o v er by its
,

Commandant H an s Luck to Captain H e nry N urse the

, , ,

Company s Ag ent at Cape Coast by whom i t was renamed

’
,

Fort Royal But the English once they had acquired it

.
, ,

d o not seem to have troubled any more about it and ,

though they had the precedent o f Elm ina Cas t le and St .

J ago s Hill to warn them of the possible results Of such

’

carelessness it was allowed to fall into decay even greater

,

than that which had existed while the Danes held it The
e
.

walls were m rely patched with clay and t he houses

thatched with reeds so that it can have been li t tle if any
,

better than a native hut and certainly did not deserve ,

to be called a fort Nevertheless it was allowed to remain

.
,

in this state for many years .

Wh en Barbot wa s on the Coast in 1 6 8 2 he wa s much

e
,

impressed by the friendship shown by the K om n d a s

for the French The King of Eg uafo too sent h is second
ee
.
, ,

son to him a s a hostage and invited him to come and s

him and discuss the formation o f a French S ettlement .

O n his return to Europe therefore Barbot laid t his proposal, ,

before the French Ministry and advised them to accept

the offer and choose Ampeni a s the most suitable place for
their purp ose I n 1 6 8 8 M d u Casse was sent ou t with
. .

four French men of war from Rochfor t and established a

- -

factory at Komenda and then sailed do wn to the S lave ,

Coast to make further S et t lements The Dutch however .

, ,

contrived to pick a quarrel with the Egu afos a few months

later and in the war that ensued the King was killed
,

1 B arbot
'

p 1 72 , . .
1 26 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

and the French factory pillag ed I ts garrison fled to the .

English at Cape Coast for protection .

The Dutch now decided to build a fort at Komenda to

e
compete wit h th English Wh o had been est a blished there
,

for some time b ut they met with a great deal of opposition

from the people wh o were probably stirred up by the
e
,

English Commandant to resist the new comers Ev ntu

e
e
- ~
.

ally however Governor S w rts collected troops from all

e
, ,

their ot h er forts and defeated the K om nd as who lost '

,

their Chief and several of their princip a l Cap ta ins and a ,

fort wa s then built about a quarter of a mile to eastward

of the English post and named Fort Vredenb u rg .

I n 1 6 9 0 a most disastrous war broke out between the

A d om s wh o were soon j oined by the people o f Jabi and
, ,

the A h a nta s This war lasted three or four years and

.
,

ended in the total defeat o f the A h a ntas whose losses were ,

so terrible that by the time peace w a s restored Sekondi

, , ,

which had previously been a rich and prosperous town had ,

been burned to the ground and many other places which ,

p rior to the war had been large and populous contained

, ,

not more than ten families The maj ority Of the survivors
.

settled under the Dutch fort at Butri whence in spite of , ,

the severe punishment that they had already received ,

they still continued to bid their enemies defiance .

The A d om s were led by a Chief named Ankwa but it

was to their own valour rather than to his that they owed
their success H e was a blood thirsty bully and an arrant
.
-

coward who though for ever stirring up strife usually

, , ,

took to his heels on the day of battle Bosman says of

ee
.

him This Barbarous Monster having in an I ngag m nt

taken five of his principal A nt s Enemies Anno 1 69 1 he ee , ,

wounded them all over after which with a more than ,

Brutal Fury he Satiated th o not Tired himself by

, ,
’
,

sucking their Blood at their gaping Wounds but bearing

a more than ordinary Grudge against one of them and ,

n o t contented with the mentioned Savage Cruelty he ,

caused him to be lai d bound at his Feet and his Body to

e
,

be p i rc d with h o t Irons gathering the Blood that issued

’

e
,

from him in a Vessel o n half of which he Drank and

, ,
128 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTAC KS O N F O RTS

numbered about twenty fiv men ; and the A kwam u s -

e ,

Observing this determined to avail themselves Of so

,

favourable an opportunity to seize the place They were .

prompted to this partly by the ho pe of plunder and partly

by a wish to avenge some real or fancied insults that had
been o ffered to them by the Danes with whom they had ,

been on bad terms for some time The a ffair was planned
e
.

and managed by a man named A ssam ni wh o had formerly

e e
,

been a cook at o n Of th English facto ries but had now

e
s t up in business a s a kind o f commission agent and

used to bring traders from the interior to the fort The .

Danish Governor reposed great confidence in him This

e
.

man came up to the Castle o n day and told the Governor

that he would soon be bringing a number Of traders who
had come down to the coast to buy firearms and advised
him to raise the price A few days later he presented
.
,

himself at the gate with ab out eighty A kwam u s carrying

i vory and gold w h o he said were the traders he had spoken
,

about .

The Danes not suspecting any treachery admitted

, ,

the men and the Factor began to sell them guns and
,

powder I t wa s a common practice with the traders to

.

allow the people who b ought guns to test them with a

blank charge before completing the purchase and this the ,

A kwa m u s n ow prepared to do B ut they had secretly .

brought in some slugs which they now slipped into their

,

guns thus fully loading them Then after stabbing the

, .
,

Factor who was serving them they suddenly turned on ,

the garrison and made them all prisoners The Governor .

,

who was upstairs heard the noise and ran o u t of his room
, ,

sword in hand but was at once attacked by two of the

,

men H e held his ground for some time calling for assist
.
,

ance but finding that none came and seeing more of the ,

A kw a m u s pressing forward to the attack he turned back

ee
, ,

and j umping through a window made his escape to the

, ,

Dutch Fort Cr ve Cc u r H e had been wounded in several

.

places and his left arm wa s disabled After remaining .

with the Dutch for a time he went to Cap e Coast Castle

e
,

in the h O p of finding a Danish ship that would take h im

 AS SAMEN I

back and help him to recover the Castl A ss am ni took e . e

gold and goods in the Castle to the value of about seven
thousand p ounds and then occupied it with a garrison of
,

his A kwa m u s He flew a white flag e m blazoned with a

.

device of a Negro brandishing a sword dressed himself

e
,

in th Danish Governor s uniform and caused himself to ’

be treated i n every way a s Governor H e also required .

every ship that passed the fo rt to salute his flag and

himself saluted all those that came there to trade H e was .

in fact lavish with h is powder often indulging himself with a

,

salute and the guns would thunder forth in h is honour at

,

all hours Of the day or night whenever the fancy seized him
e
.

While A ss a m ni was thus installed at Christiansborg ,

Captain Thomas Phillip s made a voyage to the Coast and ,

o n reaching Accra purchased a canoe from him Phillips

ee
.
,

with Nicholas B u ck ridg and J ohn Bloom the English ,

Commandants o f Winneba and J ames Fort were then ,

invited to dine at the Castle The black Governor s ent

‘

h ammocks for his guests but o n their arrival at the gate

ee
,

the guard demanded their swords Blo o m and B u ck ridg .

gave theirs up but Phillip s flatly refused to follow their

e
,

example A ss a m ni wa s therefore informed and came

.

down to the gate and explained that it was the usual

custom ; to which Phillip s replied that that might be
so but it was never the custom of English commanders
,
”
to deliver their swords upon any account whatever
e
.

This seemed to satisfy A ss am ni who then led the way to ,

the dining room which was entered by mounting a ladder

-
,

and passing through a hole in the floor H ere he drank .

to h is visitors while a salute was fired from the Castle

guns and Phillip s greatly pleased him by taki ng O ff his
,

sword o f his o wn accord and passing it to his boy to hold

e
.

A ssa m ni s previous experiences as cook enabled him to

’

give his guests a very good dinner at which he presided ,

with a boy armed with a pistol standing on either side Of

his chair a s guard H e repeatedly drank the healths Of
.

the King of England the Royal African Company and each

,

of his guests with volleys Of cannon to accompany each

,

toast about two hundred rounds being fired in all

,
.

1— 9
1 30 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

I n 1 6 9 4 however two Danish ships o f twenty six guns

, ,
-

each were sent out to treat for the redemption Of the

Castle They anchored O ff Christiansborg o n the i 3 th of
.

May and the place was soon afterwards restored to the

,

Danes on payment o f fifty marks in gold 6 00 ) and the ,

renunciation o f all claims upon the people for compensa

tion These negotiations were arranged through the
.

Dutch and the King Of Akwamu to whom the Danes had ,

given a large present The Governor who had been in

.

Office when the Castle was taken then went on board the ,

ships to return to Denmark where he was much afraid ,

he would be severely punished for his carelessness

but as it happened the ship s had been so weakened by
, ,

the loss o f the men who had been left to garrison Christians
borg that they soon afterwards fell an easy prey to Avery
( or Every Long Ben ,
the pirate who plundered and ,

burned them at Prince s I sland ’

.

Some years after the expulsion o f the Portuguese the ,

Dutch endeavoured to follow their example and establish

themselves in the gold bearing districts behind Axim -
.

They met with the s ame di fficulties as the Portuguese h ad

ha d to contend with and for several years the hostility
,

o f the A w o ins prevented any advance into the interior .

At last however they adopted the expedient of fomenting

, ,

a quarrel between this tribe and the A h a nta s and by help ,

ing the latter whenever necessary gradually succeeded in ,

driving the A w o ins back and populating a large proportion

o f their count ry with A h a n ta s They then rebuilt the old .

Portuguese Fort Duma and penetrating still farther , ,

inland in search o f gold followed the River Ankobra as

,

far as the rapids at A b a da m a and built a second fort

there which they named Fort R u ygh a v r This was about
, e
.

forty miles above Fort Duma and in the heart of the gold
bearing country They also built a third fort Fort Elis e
e
.
,

Carthago on the river near its mouth At about this tim

e
, .

of these forts seems to have fallen into the hands of

e
on

the natives Probably it was Fort R u yg h av r that was

.

captured by the A wo ins The Dutch then laid siege to .

t he place and the Chief finding himself hard pressed is

, , ,
1 32 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N FO RTS

came into fairly frequent conflict with them According

e
.

to Barbot the King o f Eguafo sent o n o f the Chiefs of

,

Ampeni named Cou co u m y ( K u k u m i) as his ambassador

, ,

to the King of France when he asked that a French fort

might be built in h is country and this man complained
e
,

that th people were tired of the overbea ring treatment

they h a d been receiving at the hands of the Dutch wh o ,

had frequently burned their coast villages The Dutch .

also imposed tolls on the fisheries at Axim Shama Elmina , ,

and Mori ex acting a fifth of the fis h caught at each of

,

these places Besides this they began to take cognizance

.
,

o f the civil and criminal proceedings o f the native Courts

,

a thing that the Portuguese had never attempted to do ,

and even assumed the power of life and death Barbot .

,

wri ting o f this says The Dutch O pper Koopman or

,
-
,

chief factor h a s an absolute authority over the whole

e
,

country of Axim the natives being so entirely r du c d ’

under subj ection by those people that they dare not ,

refuse him anything but are obliged to serve him to the

,

utmost nor will they presume to decide any controversy

o f moment without his knowledge and approbation he
being a s a chief j udge or j ustice to punish even the greatest ,

o f the Blacks All fines imposed are paid into the said
.

factor s hands who distributes them to the inj u r d persons

’
,
'
,

first deducting his own fees which are very large For ,
.

example if a Black be fined a hundred crowns for a ny

e
,

crime the factor s fees amount to two thirds and th

’

e
-
, ,

assembly of Ca b oc iros has the other third but in cases

of murder or robbery or compelling them to pay their
, ,

debts three fourths of the whole are the plaintif s and the ’

e
-
, ,

other fourth is for the factor and the Cab o c iros ; the
former taking two thirds thereof and the latter one So
-
,
.

great is the authority o f this factor at Axim and through ,

o u t the country O f Ankober that the B lacks dare not ,

shelter a criminal but must deliver him up to be p u nish d

,
’

” 1
by him according to h is o ff ence
, The Dutch too .
, ,

followed the example of the Portuguese in inflicting the

severest penalties on those whom they found trading with
Barbot p 1 5 0 1
, _
. .
 TH E D UTCH ESTAB LISHM ENT

other nations and in refusing to open their warehouses

,

until sufficient gold had been brought into the Castle to

guarantee that the trade would compensate them for the
trouble of getting out their goods They are said to have
.

required at least s ix marks for this purpose .

I t was this arrogation of j u dicia l powers and the im

position of tolls and heavy fines that brought about the
estrangement between the Dutch and the people that had
culminated in the attack on the Castle and the subsequent
evacuation o f the greater part o f the town in 1 6 8 2 .

The principal o fficers of the Dutch Establishment and

their annual salaries were as follows

Offic e . S ala ry .

Director General o r Governor whose

-

full title was Admiral and

General o f N orth and South
Guinea and Angola
guilders )
Chief Factor of Elmina
Chief Factors of Mori and Kormantin
Seven o r eight Factors o f out stations -

Nine or ten S u b Factors -

Eighteen o r twenty Assistants or

Clerks
Chief Fiscal
Accountant o r B ook Keeper General -

Under Book Keeper -

Book Keeper of the Garrison

-

Secretary ( sometimes )
Under Fiscal or I nformer
Chaplain
Clerk o f the Church

Besides these there were a warehouse keeper under the -

Ch ief Factor at Elmina the o fficers and men of the ga rri

,

sons and a large number o f workmen and labourers

,
.

Several o f these O fficers dre w allowa nces in addition to

their salaries The Chief Factor at Elmina the Chief
. ,
1 34 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

Fiscal and the Chaplain lived with the Governor but the
other Factors were given from £ 2 1 to £ 2 6 table allowance ,

and all the principal o fficers had an allowance for servants .

The Governor was given a commission on the trade along

’
the whole Coast and after three years se rvice received
, , ,

an annual increment of £ 1 0 5 The Factors were all .

allowed a commission on the trade transacted in their

own stations and were given an advance to cover the cost
,

of the customary presents to native merchants and agents ,

which was sufficiently liberal to enable them to make a

1
profit on it The Chief Fiscal was entitled to a third of
.

all the gold and goods that were forfeited by illicit traders ,

as well as a third of all the fines inflicted on the staff ,

and another tenth o f all forfeitures was given to the Under

Fiscal .

The Sub Factors received the gold that was brought in

-

by traders and had to account for it to the Factor or Chief

Factor who in turn was responsible to the Company
, , , .

Bosman says that the Factors had to watch these assistants

very narrowly for they sometimes contracted extravagant
,

h abits which resulted in a shortage o f gold or good s that

the Factor had to make good and though he might have
the O ffender punished there was s ldom any chance of
,
e
recovering the money H e mentions one case in which a
.

Factor was called upon to make good a loss of between

£ 7 0 0 and £ 80 0 Promotions usually went by seniority in
.

the service and were made by the Council on the Coast as

,

vacancies occurred ; but the appointment o f any Officer

to the post of Chief Factor at any o f the three principal
stations was only provisional until confirmed by the
Directors Of the Company The Chief Factor of Elmina .

ranked next to the Governor and after having held his , ,

appointment for three years was eligible for promotion ,

to the Governorship when a vacancy arose At this ti m e . ,

the Chief Factors of Kormantin and Mori used to make

more by their commission o n the Slave Trade than from
any other source ; but in 1 6 9 9 the management of this
trade was handed over to the Captains of the ships engaged
Barbo t 1
.
 1 36 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

Corporal Punishments ; that not being otherwise to

e
or

b done than in form o f Law and thirdly fo r the Gov ern

'

, ,

ment o f the Coast which is resolved and settled in the ,

C ouncil and least when anything happens wrong the

e
, ,

G o v rno u r should want an excuse he now being able ,

confidently to alledge that he acted by the Advice o f the

whole Council by whom it was also s o resolved tho their ,
’

real O pinions were at the same time a s distant from their

Suffrages as East and West I n short the Council is of
e e
.
,

no other real u s than to participate of the G ov rnou r s ,

’

Faults and to shelter him from being answerable for them

, .

Thus it clearly app ears that it is impossible for the Com

e
p a ni s Affairs to succeed under an ill G o v rn ou r
” 1
e .

The headquarters o f the English Royal African Company

.

were at Ca pe Coast Castle and its O fficials were much ,

better p aid than those of the Dutch The Governor who .

,

bore the title o f Captain General Of the English Settlements -

2
o n the Gold Coast o f Guinea drew a salary of a ,

year There were two Factors with him at Cape Coast

.

with salaries of £ 3 00 a year each and a Secretary drawing

£ 200 These officers composed the Council With the
. .

exception of the more liberal salaries paid to its officials ,

the English Company seems to have conducted its a ffairs

o n very similar lines to the Dutch I ts officers were .

forbidden to trade on their own account No I nformer was

e
.

employed to spy on them however ; but they were r

3
quired to take an oath to this e ffect which Barbot s ays ,

they did not scruple to break and this illicit trade together , ,
4
with the competition o f the interlop ers dep rived the Com
e
,

pany of the best part of the trade A s in the case of th .

Dutch the Council nominally administered the Govern

,

ment but in practice had very little voice in any matter

, ,

the Governor s wishes invariably being unopp osed and ’

the members all voting with him as a matter of course .

B esides these officers there were the Factors of ou t ,

1
Bosm a n p
give le eel ef e
, . 1 02 .

Barbot (p
e
2
. 1 7”0 ) s h is titas G n ra of Gu in a ro m Si rra
L ona to Ango la .

Barbot
tra de
Private nse
d by th e
3

rs not lice
, p . 1 70 .

1
Com p a ny .
 C O U RT O F FETU

stations the Officer Commanding the Garrison and a Chap

,

lain and Surgeon As with the Dutch the English Factors

.
,

were given a percentage on the trade done in their stations .

The death rate was appalling

-
nor considering the ,

conditions under which these men lived is this surprising , .

Their food consisted almost entirely o f what they could

obtain in the local markets their knowledge o f medicine
and their supp ly o f drugs were most deficient they were
u nsuitably dressed in a scarlet uniform and had to wear

wigs and all the contemporary writers are agreed that

,

they drank to excess and more so than any other nation

”
on the Coast especially brandy rum and punch and , ,

constantly slep t in the open air when heated with

” 1
debauchery having nothing on but a shirt .

The English even at this early date seem to have taken

, ,

some part in the j udicial proceedings of the people for

Barbot in his account of the Cape Coast district says
e
, ,

Besides the daily market I have m ntio n d to be kep t at ’

the town o f Corso there is a very considerable o n at e

e
,

the town of A b ra m b o f a large town about twenty seven ,

-

miles northward from cape Corso where by appointment

o f the King of Fetu at a certain time of the year is a
ee
, ,

r nd v o u z from all parts of his country for public dancing , ,

and it is ca ll d the dancing season and lasts eight days

’
, .

An incredible number Of people repair to it from all parts ,

and spend all the day and most o f the night in that , ,

toilsome diversion At the same time are also decided

e
e
.
,

a ll suits and controversies which could not be d t rm in d

’
,

by the inferior j ustices in their several districts This , .

s upreme court is composed o f the king of Fetu his Dey

e
, ,

or prime minister the G ro ffo and the Bra ffo with two
, , ,

English factors of cape Corso castle I t is the agent s .

’

prerogative to send those agents to that court and each o f ,

them is to have as many suits o f clothes as he s tays there ,

days to appear every day in a di fferent suit which p uts

, ,
” 3
the company to three hundred pounds charges yearly .

for it is e
1 B a rbo

This A b ram b oe ca nnot h av ebe e x pre

t p 1 71 , . .

n Anam a b o ss l y
d th a t it lay a t s om e distan ce
2

s tate
,

in la nd poss ibly it wa s Abakram pa .

3 Ba rbot p 1 7 2 , . .
1 38 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

The Brandenburg Governor lived at Groot Fredericks

burg and bore the high sounding title of Director General
- -

under his Electoral Highness of Brandenburg and his

African Company These Governors were usually of
.

Dutch extraction The Prussian Possessions were small

.
,

and tho ugh nothing is known of their sta ff it was probably

ve ry similar to those of the Dutch and English but on a ,

prop ortionately smaller scale The Brandenburg Governor .

also claimed some j urisdiction over the people and seems

to have sat with the Chiefs as a kind of j udicial assessor .

Barbot says The Governor j ointly with the Cabo

e
c iros o f Po qu fo ee
and other neighbouring towns de
, ,

termines all cases and di fferences arising between the

inhabitants summoning them together on such occasions
e
,

into the fort whither immediately those Cab oc iros

repair and there decide all causes civil o r criminal and , ,

their sentences are executed accordingly with all sub ,

” 1
mission from the natives .

Bosman thus describes the Brandenburg Governors who

were in Office while he was o n th Coast at the close of
“
e
the seventeenth century The first J ohn Nyman an
ee
.
, ,

E m b d n r a Man of sound J udgment good Sence and

e
, ,

great Experience wh o discharged his O flic with the

,

greatest Fidelity and good Conduct by which means he ,

quitted this Country with a great deal o f H onour and left

a very good Name behind him : He was Succeeded by
,

J ohn and J acob Ten Hoos t the Father and Son who both
-
, ,

acquired a large share Of Reputation and kept their ,

Subordinates in due Decorum especially the Son who by

e
,

good Nature and a civil Address ga in d the A fi ction of ’

the Blacks and had every body at h is devotion ; By

e
,

which means he Established the B ra nd nb u rgh ia n Affairs

in a much better Condition than any before him and as
they never had a better Governor so tis very much to be ,
’

’
doubted they ll repent the time when they re m oved him
e e
, ,

and appointed Gysbr ch t van Hoogv ld t in his Place ;

who before had been Factor in ou r Service at Axim where ,

he treated those under him so ill that General J oel Smits ,

Barb ot p 43 1 1
, . .
1 40 TRI BAL WARS AN D ATTACKS O N F O RTS

retain their Settlements o n the Gold Coast fo r much

longer .

The a ffairs o f the Danes a s has been seen were at th is , ,

time in a very unsettled condition and their Establish ,

ment was a small one Barbot describes their Government .

as being very precarious and uncertain H e says scarce

e
.
,

any o n wh o is sent over from Denmark a s a person of

e
, ,

known integrity to th Comp any a s chief or general lives , ,

long on the Coast but is either snatched away by a natural

,

d eath o r by the contrivance o f his inferiors assisted by

, ,

the B lacks the better to compass their own designs Thus

, .

it sometimes comes to pass that a gunner of the fort or , ,

o ther such mean person succeeds to that post a nd so , ,

manages affairs according to his small capacity or rather ,

to his wicked inclination to enrich himself in as short a

time a s may be knowing he must shortly be removed or ,

discharged by the Company his command being only pro

e
,

interim O f the two Danish G nerals I knew there

.

during my voyages the first had been the gunner O f the,

fort the latter a lieutena nt a s he said himself but

, , ,

o thers told me he had been the other General s servant a

’

e
,

brisk bold daring well s t man and very young both

, , ,
-
,

which advanced themselves by the aforesaid means The .

first wa s murdered in his turn but what became of the

” 1
o ther I know no t O f this latter man he relates a story
.

that finding the book keeper would not keep h is books in

,
-

the way that he wished ( probably falsely ) he procured some ,

natives to bring false accusations against him and having ,

tried him before a mixed Court of Europeans and Africans ,

all of who m were corrupted sentenced him to death and im

e
, ,

mediately s t him to make his o wn coffin and then shot him .

Whether any Of the other settlers ever brought European

women to the Coast at this time is unknown but the ,

Danes certainly had done s o Barbot s ays that it had .

been observed that the Danish women could not live there
long and h is brother J ames wh o s a il d along the Coast in e
e
, ,

1 6 9 9 says that Mr Tra wn

, the Governor of Christiansborg
.
, ,
”
had h is lady with him .

Barbot p 1 7 3 1
, . .
 CHAPTER VI I I

THE DUT C H K O M END A W A R

-

1 69 4 TO 1 69 9

ON the sth o f Sep tember 1 6 9 3 Captain Thomas Phillips ,

sailed for the Gold Coast in the Ha nniba l of 4 5 0 tons and

3 6 guns with Captain Thomas Shirley in the E as t I ndia
e
,

M rcha nt of 3 0 guns They were engaged in a slaving

e
.

voyage and o n o f the partners in the venture was Samuel

e
,

S ta ny r the Sub Governor o f the Royal African Company

-
.

They also had some soldiers on board for the Company s ’

garrisons so that if they were not actually sailing under

,

its flag they doubtles s held its licence to trade

,
They .

arrived on the Coast in 1 6 9 4 and the account of this voyage

,

that h a s been left by Captain Phillips gives an excellent

idea of the state of a ffairs and mode of life there at
this time .

I n spite o f the fact that the Dutch West I ndia Company

and the English Royal African Company had both been
granted the monopoly of the Gold Coast trade and were
vested by their respective G overnments with the power to
deal severely with those wh o infringed their rights there ,

were more than a dozen Dutch interlopers o n the Coast

when Phillips a rrived there This interloping trade was
.

a profitable one The ships the maj ority of which were

.
,

Zealanders or French used to trade quite Openly ; and as

,

they were always chosen for their speed and were well
manned and armed fighting desperately rather than be
,

captured it was but seldom that any of them were taken

,
.

These illicit traders moreover having no Settlements to

e
,

maintain were able to sell their goods from twenty fiv

,
-

141
 TH E DUTCH K O MEN DA WAR -

1 6 9 4 1 6 9 9 to
—
thirty per cent cheaper than the Companies could and ,

C HA P V I I I thus did enormous damage to their trade They could

.
.

also a fford to give better prices for slaves or other cargo

when the supply was limited and thereby shortened their ,

stay on the Coast and had a quicker turn over Never

e
e
-
.

th l s s the occupation was not without its risks

,
for the
Dutch had power to put crim ina ls of their nation to death
after trial by Court Martial and whenever they succeeded
e
, ,

in capturing o n O f these p oaching ships used to execute ,

the o fficers and confine the crews in the dungeons of

Elmina unless as not infrequently happened it was made
, , ,

worth their while to adopt more lenient measures The .

English however had less power and could only send the
, , ,

o ffenders in irons to take their trial in England .

While he was lying off Axim Phillips was visited by ,

Rawlinson the Dutch Factor at Fort St Anthony who .

,

accepted his invitation to stay and proved a boon Com

panion taking his Glass off very smartly and singing and
, ,
”1
dancing several Jiggs by himself Presently however he .
, ,

s a w a large twelve hand canoe wit h a flag in it coming up

-

from the eastward and showed so much alarm that Phillips

o ff ered to fire on her but Rawlinson hastily begging him ,

not to do so sprang into his canoe and lying flat o n his

, ,

belly in the bottom of the boat was paddled as fast a s ,

possible to westward and following a circular course

, , ,

eventually landed about a quarter of a mile from his fort .

A little later he sent a canoe out to scout and then returned

, ,
” 2
o n board resolved to have the other J ug with them .

H e explained that his sudden departure had been due to

fear lest the canoe contained the Fiscal from Elmina on
one of his periodical tours of inspection I t was however .
, ,

only one of the stewards Frank the Butler from —

Cape Coast Castle who had been sent by the Company s

,
’

Agent with letters and instructions for Phillips and had

ee
picked up B u ck rid g the Factor at Dixcove on his way
The fort at Dixcove though begun three years earlier
, ,

was as yet but half finished and a few s m all guns planted
e
,

in th open on the rocks were its sole means of defence

Astle
.

1
y vol ii p 3 9 7 I bid p 3 9 8 2
, .
, . . .
, . .
 TH E D UTCH K O M EN DA WAR

p urchases had b een made from a ship o r at o n of the e

African Company s forts ’
.

As they passed down to Cape Coast they saluted Elmina ,

Castle with seven guns and t h en anchored off Cape Coast

Castle where they lay for some time as they had a great
,

deal of cargo to land for the Company While they were .

there Clayton the Commandant of Fort Royal died and

ee
, , ,

wa s buried in a spot known as Black J ack s Gard n b

’

tween the Castle and Fort Royal which was the usual ,

burial ground for Europeans At Cape Coast they landed

—
.

t h irty s oldiers for the Castle garrison in a s good Health ,

a s they left England but in two Months Time near half

” 1
o f them died O n another occasion Captains Phillips
.

and Shirley gave a dinner to the Agent and the rest of the
Company s officers in a square summer house which stood
’
-

in the Castle garden Each Captain took six of h is quarter

.

deck guns on shore with which eleven rounds were fired

,

as a salute at every toast These volleys accompanying .

t o asts was a regular custom at this time .

Some time before this the Dutch had instigated the ,

King of Fetu to refuse the A s sins permission to pass

through h is territory These people used to bring a great
.

deal of gold to Cape Coast Castle and the Dutch hoped in ,

this way to divert the trade to their own Settlements The .

King h a ving complied and p lundered some of the traders on

their way down the A s sins declared war against him and
,

were assis t ed by the English with arms and ammuniti on .

The King o f Saboe was a lso paid to help them and the ,

allied army inflicted a crushing defeat o n the Fetus whose

e
,

King w a s forced to fly to Elmina for protection Th

e
.

victorious army consisting Of ab out

,
men under th
King of Saboe and Nim ia the Tu fu h in of Assi m returned
2
,

to Cape Coast while Phillips wa s there and was followed

soon afterwards by the brother of the fugitive King of
Fetu who had been nstool d in his stead and had now
, e e
come down to swear allegiance to the English .

From Cape Coast Phillips and Shirley sailed to Anamabo ,

Astle
Th eprincip a l wa r Ch ie
f or Com m ande
r in Chie
1
y v o l i p 40 0
, . i , . .

1
f - -
.
 AG U NA S UCCES S I O N

where they entertained Searle the Factor and Cooper

e
and Fa sl m a n the Factors of Egya and the Dutch Fort
,

Vredenb urg They then went to Winneba where Nicholas

ee
.
,

B u ck rid g wa s no w in charge The factory here was .

only a little thatched house with no defence beyond that

afforded by its mud walls so that it is not surprising that ,

it should already have been twice plundered by the people

and that the Factor lived in continual dread o f another
attack A proper fort w a s built however in this year
.
, , .

The A gu na s were ruled by a Queen which had been their ,

custom from time immemorial She was not allowed to

e
.

marry but bought male slaves whenever s h pleased as

,

paramours H er eldest daughter who succeeded to the

e
.
,

stool wa s granted a similar privilege s o soon as s h attained

,

a marriageable age These slaves were sold again whenever

th eir mistresses grew tired o f them but if caught intriguing ,

with other women they lost their heads All the female .

children were kept but any males that were born to the
,

Queen or the H eiress Apparent were sold into slavery

-
.

This custom s o di ff erent to that o f the neighbouring Akan

,

tribes together with the fact that the people have a

,

language o f their own which is entirely distinct from the

Twi strongly supports the belief that they are descended
,

from some o f the survivors of the o riginal inhabitants Of

the coast line p rior to the date of the great Fanti invasion
-
.

From Winneba the ships went to Accra where Captain ,

Shirley died and was bu ried with naval h onours in J ames

Fort While the corpse was being towed ashore h is own
.
,

ship fired minute guns and after the ceremony was over

e
,

she fired a salute of thirty guns the Ha nn iba l fired twenty ,

six For t J ames twenty and Fort Cr ve Cm u r and Chris

e
, ,

tiansb org Castle ( then in the hands of A ss a m ni and his

A kwam u s ) sixteen each The pall bearers were Captain .
—

Phillips J ohn Bloom the Factor of J ames Fort Nicholas

ee
ee
, ,

B u ck rid g Factor at Winneba and the Dutch Factor ,

from Fort Cr ve Co ur .

I n September 1 6 9 4 the Dutch Fort O range at Sekondi

was surp rised and plundered by the A h a ntas who at the ,

same time massacred the crew of a Dutch vessel that

I —
IO
 TH E DUTCH K O M EN DA WAR -

chanced to b e at anchor in the road The fort however

e
.
, ,

w as not destroyed and the Dutch soon afterwards r

,

occupied it .

The year 1 6 9 4 saw the commencement o f a war between

e
the Dutch and the K om nd a s which wa s destined to last
fo r some years during which it did an immense amount of
,

damage to the Dutch trade besides costing them very large

e
e
,

sums of money When Mr Sw rts in 1 6 8 8 had overcome

e
. .
, ,

the opposition o f the K om nda s and built Fort Vredenburg ,

he had only accomplished h is Obj ect by force of arms

e
,

and the K om nd a s wh o had never willingly submitted to

,

the presence o f the Dutch had been nursing their resent

,

ment ever since and only required an excuse to break

out into open rebellion Such a pretext was given to
.

them now by an attemp t by the Dutch to reopen the old

gold mine which the Portuguese were known to have
worked at A b rob i A party o f miners was sent ou t from
e
.

H olland and s t to work to locate the mine They com

ee
.

m nc d op erations in a hill j ust above Komenda which ,

they thought must contain the obj ect of their search but
e
this hill wa s believed by the K om nda s to be the residence
Of the chief local g o d and a few d a ys later the miners were
,

suddenly attacked and robbed of all they possessed several ,

o f them being captured and kept prisoners for some time .

The Dutch complained to the Chief of Komenda but he ,

declined to accept any responsibility and said that the

real author o f this outrage was a native trader named
e
J ohn K a b s wh o lived near Fort Vredenburg and had
,

considerable dealings with the Dutch

e
.

This K ab s had formerly been concerned in the murder

o f some Dutchmen and had fled to Cape Coast where he ,

lived for some years as a servant or agent under the

English Later however he got into their debt and went
.
, ,

over to the Dutch Governor J oel Smits whom he bribed

, ,

to let him o ff the punishment with which he had been

threatened and was given p ermission to settle in the
,

village under Fort Vredenburg I n B osm a n s Opinion he.

’

was s o arrant a coward that he would never have dared

to commit such an outrage as this except by the express
 TH E DUTCH K O M EN DA WAR

e
defea t ed t he K om nd a s he would march h is army against

e
t hem also The natural result of these premature boasts
.

was the immediate allianc o f the threa tened tribes with

e
the K om nd as The allied army opposed to the Dutch
.

was t hus made much stronger than their own and in the
e
,

firs t g neral engagement the Du t ch mercenaries suffered

terrible losses and as those wh o were neither killed nor
, ,

taken prisoners only saved themselves by flight the Dutch ,

found themselves not only without an army and

ou t Of pocke t but with the most powerful of the Coast
e
,

t ribes at Open war with th m also Fortunately for them .

,

however a division occurred among the enemy which

,

gav e them an opportunity o f extricating themselves from

their difficulties of which they were only too glad to avail
,

themselves .

A dispute arose between Abe Teki the Chief of Komenda ,

and his brother Teki Ankan a s a result of which the ,

la t ter came over t o the Dutch bringing the A dom s and ,

some other allies with him With the new army thus .

provided a second attempt wa s made to subdue the

e ,

K om ndas and in the battle which follo wed both sides

,

fought with such valour and determination that for some

time the issue wa s in doubt But at length the Dutch .

auxiliaries thinking they had gained the advantage fell

, ,

to plundering and while they were thus engaged Abe Teki

,

brought up reinforcements wh o advancing with their , ,

arms reversed succeeded in deceiving the Dutch who

, ,

mistook them for a party o f their friends NO sooner .

,

however had they go t near enough than they opened so

,

rapid and accurate a fire that the Dutch force was soon
routed and fled in disorder to Fort V redenburg thus
e e
,

giving a second complete victory to th K om ndas .

N O further ac t ion w a s taken until on the death of Mr ,

.

S mits early in 1 6 9 5 his successor J Staphorst seeing the

, , .
,

great losses that the Company had already incurred by

e
this war opened negotiations for peace and succeeded so
e
,

w ll that the K om nda s even undertook to make good the

e
losses that the Dutch had sustained Such a satisfactory .

termination o f the trouble howe v er by no means suit d , ,

 F O RT V RED EN B URG ATTAC KED 1 49

the English whose aim it w a s to profit by the expulsion

,

of the Dutch and thus get the whole o f the Komenda trade
into their own hands They therefore pointed out to the
.

Chief that after his two signal victories it wa s not for him
to give satisfaction but rather to dictate his own terms
, ,

and further supported their argument by showing that the

Dutch were no t in a position to refuse him but would have
to purchase peace at whatever price he chose to demand .

They also undertook to help him with arms and a m m u ni

tion if he followed their advice
e
.

By these means the K om nd a s were prevailed upon to

assume the o ffensive once more and in 1 6 9 5 they attacked ,

Fort Vredenburg William Bosman was the Commandant

.

and had less than twenty men h alf o f whom were sick
e
, ,

to serve the twenty guns Finding that the K om nd a s

.

were resolved to attack him he sent to Elmina reporting ,

h is weak condition and asking for reinforcements and

ammunition Two ship s were sent and anchored o ff the
.

fort and Peter Hinken the Captain of one of them sent a

, , ,

boat full of men to j oin the garrison They had no sooner .

set foot on the beach however than they were furiously

e
,

attacked by the K om nd as under the very guns of the

fort and lost several killed Bosman could do nothing
.

to help them for on going to the guns to fire on the enemy

,

he found that through the treachery o f the gunner every

, ,

one of them had been S piked The gunner wa s therefore .

arrested and sent in irons to Elmina but Bosman complains ,

that though the Governor swore that he would make a

terrible example of him he never did anything Of the kind
, ,

but released him almost at once and promoted him to an

even better p osition elsewhere very soon afterwards
e
.

Fortunately for the garrison the K om nd a s did no t avail ,

themselves o f this opportunity to storm the fort but went ,

away to eat and thus gave the garrison time to put the
guns in order again .

I n the evening however they returned and attacked

, ,

the fort The Dutch were at a great disadvantage for

.
,

many of the embrasures had no doors to them and Bosman ,

says the N egroes p ou r d Small shot o n us a s thick a s

’ -
 TH E D UTCH KO M EN DA WAR -

H ail ; insomuch t h at those few Doors which were left

to some Gun holes were become like a Target that had
-

been shot at for a Mark and the very Sta ff which ou r ,

Flag was fasten d on tho it took up s o little room did

’ ’

e
, ,
” 1
not escape shot free O n on occasion one of the
-
.

enemy actually began to hack at the door with an axe ,

but he was killed and no further attemp t wa s made to

gain admission in that way O ne of the soldiers who .
,

had had the crown of h is hat shot away came to Bosman ,

fo r some grenades two of which he threw down to the

,

enemy telling them that they were something to eat

, .

They at once crowded round and stood for a time watching

them burn and were at first very agreeably diverted ;
,

b ut when they burst they so g a ll d them that they had no ’

,
” 2
great Stomach to such another Meal The fight lasted
e
.

five hours but the Dutch had only two men killed and th
e
, ,

K om nd as finding they could not take the fort then

, ,

drew o ff .

The Dutch now reali z ed that if they were to maintain

their position and credit in the country they must raise ,

another army as quickly as possible They therefore .

approached the Fantis whose former enmity had by th is ,

time died out and bargained with them to take the fiel d
e
,

and fight the K om nd a s until they had utterly exterminated

them on payment o f a sum of £9 00 But no sooner had .

this arrangement been made than the English paid the

Fantis an additional £9 00 to remain neutral Their Chief .
,

who seems to have had some sense of honour demurred ,

at this but was promptly deposed and his stool given to

,

a less fastidious person ; s o that as the Fantis infinitely ,

preferred to d o nothing fo r rather than fight for

o nly half that sum the only result the Dutch attained by
,

these negotiations was the loss o f their money The .

A d o m s next agreed to ally them selves with the Dutch for

something under £ 5 00 and a similiar arrangement was ,

made with the A ssins and the people of Cap e Coast They .

d isagreed among themselves however over the division , ,

o f the money and in the end all that could be got from
,

1 Bosm an, p . 2 7. 3
I bid .
, p . 28 .
 TH E DUTCH K O MEN DA WAR
-

and burned N othing remained but the blackened outer

.

walls and though in ab out 1 7 00 several attempts were

made to rebuild it the people proved s o hostile that nothing
e
,

could be done and such trade a s the place a fforded r

mained entirely in the hands of the Dutch A new fort .

had however been built before 1 7 2 6 when Smith the

, , ,

African Company s Surveyor visited the Gold Coast ; for

’
,

he gives a drawing of b oth forts and a ground plan of the

English o n e
The Dutch had had several ships at Sekondi
.

at this time and were strongly suspected of having ih

e
s tig a t d the attack but when a protest was forwarded
to Director General J ohn Van S v nh u ys n he denied any
-
ee e ,

complicity and explained the presence o f the Dutch ships

by saying that they had come in search o f interlopers
But from some contemporary correspondence it seems quit e
clear that this charge against the Dutch was well founded .

I n a letter from the three English Agents to the Directors

o f the Royal African Company reporting this occurrence ,

and dated at Cape Coast the 2 6 th of J une 1 6 9 8 it is stated ,

that the people wh o took the fort had been sent from
Elmina some in canoes and others by land and that th e
e
, ,

English warned of their hostile intentions sent to th

, ,

Dutch Governor to protest H e admitted having sent .

them but said that they had only come to collect a debt
,

and refused to recall them Moreover from a letter from

.
,

the English to the Dutch Governor it appears that an ,

English l Op was in Sekondi road at the time having put ,

in on account of bad weather She had lost both her .

anchors and her Captain therefore sent to borrow one

, , ,

from one of the Dutch ships but the mate of the latter
replied Tis true we have enough but d o you think we
’

e
e
, ,

will spare any to you Do you not s we are sent to

take your fort and can you expect ou r help Th e
English answered
,
”
We must then perish to which th
, ,
e
Dutchman replied Why then perish and the Lord have
, , , ,
”
mercy upon your souls From a second letter dated the
.
,

zu d of J une 1 6 9 8 it further appears that the Dutch Factor

,

allowed the goods that were taken from the English fort
to be carried Openly into Fort O range and that he turned ,
 M U RDER O F AB E TE KI

the garrison away almost naked and only ridiculed their

misfortunes I n the face o f this evidence it is hardly
.
,

possibly to acquit the Dutch o f complicity in the attack .

e
The fortunate termination o f the Dutch troubles with
the K om nd as s o exasperated the English that in Novem
ber 1 6 9 8 they treacherously murdered Abe Teki while he
wa s visiting them at Cap e Coast The K om nd a s were
. e
determined to avenge the death of their Chief and Teki ,

Ankan wh o was also concerned in this dastardly act fled

, ,

to Cape Coast and sought the protection of the English ,

whom he j oined against h is o wn people The English

e
.

then raised a large force of S ab o s and Cape Coast men ,

and placing Teki Ankan in command sent him against the

e
K om nd a s but the Dutch though invited to j oin refused
e
, ,

to mix themselves up in this new quarrel The K om nda s

e
.
,

who were outnumbered by four to on were led by their ,

Tu fu h in Am u Teki and completely routed the force under

, ,

Teki An kan Amu Teki then sent some of the enemy s

.
’

1
skulls to the Dutch Governor at Elmina in token o f
his victory and a s a sign o f friendship The messengers .

were well received and sent back with presents for the
,

Tu fu h in and the Governor s thanks The Dutch were

’

e
.

now on such friendly terms with the K om nd a s that they

had the best possible opportunity to damage the English
but they seem to have been prevented from doing so
p rincipally by the intrigues of a native named Akim wh o ,

was much trusted by the Governor wh o constantly allowed,

himself to be guided by this man s advice Akim used ’

e e
.

every means to irritate the Governor against th K o m nda s .

Some Elmina women were murdered at this time and Akim ,

pretended that this outrage had been perpetrated by

the Fetus though there is good reason to believe that it
,

was really committed by Agents o f Akim and Teki Ankan

in order that they might lay the blame at the door of the
Fetus who were allies of the K o m nd as Be this a s it
,
e .

may Ak im persuaded the Governor to have a number of

,

Fetus attacked when they came to the Castle to trade ,

several o f whom were killed and eighty more taken

1 Pr ba bl
o j a w b one
y th e s only -
.
 TH E DUTCH K O M EN DA WAR

prisoners This treacherous act was committed without

.

the sanction or even the knowledge of the Council

e
.

The English now attacked the K o m nda s again and ,

this time met with better success ; for Amu Teki being
e
,

wounded and dropping o u t of th figh ting line the Ko

e
-
,

m nda s,
missing t h eir general lost confidence and Teki
, ,

Ankan secured an easy victory killing o r taking p risoners

,

many of the principal men Teki Ankan thus became

.

Chief of Komenda and the continual state Of warfare in

e
,

which the country had been kept for the past four or fiv
years at last came to an end .

The a ffairs of the Royal African Company and the subject

o f the trade to Africa generally had now been considered
1
by Parliament and an Act was passed laying open the
,

trade to all His Maj esty s subj ects for a period of thirteen
’

years from the 2 4 th of J une 1 6 9 8 A duty of ten per cent

e
.

a d va lor m was to be co llected o n all goods and merchandize

exported to Africa and the am ount thus raised was to be

,

paid over to the Royal African Company to assist them in

maintaining the castles and forts o n which the safety of
the trade so largely depended .

I n 1 6 9 9 the Company sent o u t special orders to the

Agent at Cape Coast to lose no time in putting Fort Royal
in a thorough state of repair This important position
.

had been neglected far too long nothing had been done
to improve it since it was purchased from the Danes and ,

it was now little better than a heap o f ruins A model .

was now prepared however which if it had been followed

e
, , ,

would have made this fort the strongest on th whole

Coast but though it was rebuilt the original plan was ,

only partly carried o u t .

1
T h is wa s a n o u tco m e
o f th e
Decla ra tio n o f R ig h ts .
 1 56 TH E G O LD C O AST IN TH E I 7 TH CENTURY
1
1 7 00 and were both under the protection o f Fanti The A dom s .
,

ca n . ix J abis and A kwa m u s were now the most p owerful and

warlike o f the coast tribes but the latter were continually
at va riance with the Akims wh o claimed a feudal right ,

over them and tried to exact an annual t ribute Akim .

would have been a much more powerful State than it was

if its Chiefs had only been able to agree amongst them
selves instead o f being for ever engaged in petty quarrels
and disputes s o that their enemies had little cause to fear
t h em Some Of the inland States now began to be heard
.

o f fo r the first time O f these Denkera was the richest

.

and most powerful and had recently conquered A woin

,

after a prolonged struggle in which their ultimate success

,

was largely due to the want o f combination shown by the

enemy The A na m a b os were especially truculent and
.
,

would sometimes keep the garrison shut up in the fort for

days or weeks together or if they took a dislike to the
, ,

Factor thought nothing o f sending him away in a canoe

,

to Cap e Coast .

Most o f the garrisons o f the forts were very weak ,

2
especially those of the English Atkins describes them .

”
as a Company of white N egroes and says that they were ,

entirely in the power of the Governor wh o punished them ,

fo r any fault with Mulcts Confinement the Dungeon , , ,

Drubbing or the wooden H orse and for enduring this

, ,

they have each of them a Salary sufficient to buy K anky ,

Palm O il and a little fish to keep them from starving

-
, ,

fo r though the Salaries sound tolerably in Leaden hall -

street ( a s from fifty Pounds to ninety Pounds per annum

a Factor ; fifty Pounds fo r an A rtific r) yet in Guinea e
, ,

the General for the Company s Good pays them in

,
’
,

Krakra a false Money current only upon the Spot which

, , ,

disables them from taking any Advantage O f buying

”
Necessaries from Ships coasting down I n order to keep .

up the price of the stock they were forbidden to buy ,

anything except from the Company and were encouraged

to run into debt and then became practically exiled for
e
,

life for no on was ever allowed to leave the Coast until

Astle
,

1 B a rb o t 1
p 1 79 , .
y v ol 11 p 45 1
.
, .
, . .
 CLI MATE AN D H EALTH

his account had b een settled I f a man was to o sober to .

run into debt Atkins alleges that there were other means
,

of attaining the same end by arts o f mismanagement or

”
loss of goods under h is care Similar methods were .

practised with the townspeople many of whom thus ,

became pawns to the Company and liable to be sold by

the Governor at any time Most of the Factors had .

dwindled from the genteel Air they brought ; wear no

Cane nor Snu ff b ox idle in men of business have lank
e
-
, ,

Bodies a pale Visage their Pockets sewn up or of no U s

, , , ,
” 1
and their Tongues tied .

The unhealthiness o f the climate and the insanitary

habits of the peop le were a s noticeable features of life
on the Gold Coast in those days as they are at present .

Bosman says The Stench of this unwholesome Mist is

very much augmented by the N egroes pernicious Custom ’

of laying their Fish for five o r six Days to p u trify before

they eat it and their easing their Bodies round their
,

Houses and all over their Towns ; and if this odious

,

Mixture Of noysome Stenches very much a ffects the State

of H ealth here it is not to be wondered since tis next
, ,
’

to imp ossibility not only for new Comers but those who
e
, ,

have long continued here to preserve themselves intir ly ,

from its Malign Effects The great Di fference betwix t .

the European Air and t h is is so observable t h at few come , ,

hither who are not at first sei z ed by a Sickness which

carries o ff a great many and that chiefly because we are ,

so wretchedly unprovided with what should comfort and

nourish these p oor Men ; for we have no help to have
recourse to but corrupted M d cin s and unskilful Physi e e ’

e
,

ia u s they being only ignorant Barbers who bring several

, ,

into the utmost danger o f their Lives Whereas N ature

is strong enough by the Assistance of good N ourishing
,

Diet and Restoratives it might probably recover the ,

Patient B ut alas how should he be able to get them

.
,

e
For our Medicines a s I have before told you are most o f
, ,

them spoiled and for Food what is here to be gotten f r ,

the common People besides Fish and a dry lean H en

Astl e
y v ol ii p 4 5 1
1
, . . . .
1 58 TH E G O LD CO AST I N TH E I 7TH CENTURY

And i ndeed were he able to pay for better here is nothing

, , ,

proper for a weak Stomach for all the O xen or Cows ,

Sheep and Hens are dry lean and tough So that a sound
, ,

Man not to mention an infirm one hath enough to do to

, ,
” 1
eat them The habits of many of the people have not
.

noticeably improved d uring the two centuries that have

elapsed since Bosman wrote nor has the quality of the ,

fowls changed for the b etter but the progress of civiliza

tion has nevertheless had some e ffect and neither the
, , , ,

want of provisions nor the dearth of medical comforts

are now such marked c h aracteristics o f the Gold Coast as
they once were .

But though the laps e o f time has failed entirely to

ab olish the defects complained o f by Bosman it has pro
e
,

d u c d very great changes in the distribution of the wild

animals o f the country I n his day antelope leopards .
, ,

lions elephants and other animals that are now rare or

,

extinct along the coast line were extremely common He

- .

describes the slaughter O f an elephant in Elmina itself as

late as December 1 700 and says that three had been killed
,

there on different occasions while several were killed ,

daily in the districts around Axim .

The elep h ant at Elmina came into the town about six
o clock in the morning walking along the foot of St Jago s
’
, .
’

Hill and numbers of the people though unarmed at

, , ,

once turned out and began to follow it O ne o f the Dutch .

officers came down from Fort Conra a dsb u rg and shot at it ,

wounding it j ust above the eye ; but in spite of this and

a number of other shots that were fired by the Elminas ,

it continued to walk quietly on until it reached the Govern

ment Garden which it entered and began to pull down a
,

clump of coco nut palms The Dutch Governor with

-
.
,

B osman and several other Officers n ow came down and , ,

while the elephant stood in the garden more than a hundred

shots were fired into it at close range but a s only leaden
balls were used they did not penetrate very far and
,

many of them even failed to pierce the thick skin so that ,

a fatal wound w a s not to be exp ected and all this firing

1
B o sm a n, p . 1 05 .
1 60 TH E G O LD C O AST I N TH E I 7TH CENTURY

only obliging the people with a Knife to cut ou r own

”
Throats and Barbot prophesied that if the sale of cannon
,

went o n it would only require some renegade white man

,

to teach the people how to use them and then they might
bid farewell to all the forts and castles and the Coast trade
fo r ever .

Spears b oth for throwing and stabbing shields and

e
, ,

bows and arrows were still in u s and helmets of ,

crocodile s or some other skin adorned with a red shell on

’

each side and a bunch of horse hair behind and secured -

on the head with a heavy iron chain The arrows were

e
.

feathered thus di ffering from those still in u s among the

,

tribes of the N orthern Territories and except among the , ,

Aw oins were never poisoned

,
The use o f arrows however .
, ,

was already dying o u t and they were in general use only ,

in Akwamu B osman says the people were so nicely

.
“
dextrous in shooting that in Hare hunting they will lodge ,
-

their small fine Ar rows in what part of the Hare s Body is ’

desired ”
.The chief weapon after their fir arms h ow
1
, e -
,

ever wa s the sword These swords were very strong and

,
.

heavy but so blunt that several strokes were required to

,

cut off a man s head They were shaped exactly like the
’
.

state swords that are still to be seen amongst the regalia

Of any Chief which is the only form in which these ancient
,

weapons have survived .

Several of the forts were struck by lightning from time

to time and considering the quantity of p owder that was
,

stored in them it is marvellous that none of them were

blown up Bosman found it recorded in some old papers
.

written by Governor Valkenburg that in 1 6 5 1 Elmina

Castle was struck All the gold and silver was melted in
.

the bags which were themselves untouched and swords

, ,

were broken in their scabbards without any damage to

the latter Fort B a t ns t in was struck in 1 6 9 1 and the
. ee
fl a g sta ff shattered and in about 1 6 9 3 Fort St Anthony
-
, .

and Fort Nassau were both struck At Axim Bosman .

says the Thunder broke all the Drinking Glasses of the -

’
Factor s Chamber and raised up h is Child with the Bed
,

1
Bos m a n, p . 1 86 .
 EXP O RT O F G O LD

under it both which it threw some feet distant without ,

” 1
the least hurt done Fort J ames at Accra was also .

struck and its walls were so shattered that there were

,

holes reaching through to the powder room and some -

pewter p orringers were melted into a lump .

I n spite of the fact that no attemp t had yet been made

to improve up on the crude methods employed by the
people to obtain gold a very large quantity of this metal ,

was annually exp orted from the Coast though only a small ,

proportion o f it passed through the hands of the legitimate

Companies According to B osm a n s estimate the total
.
’
,

amount was about marks annually ( equivalent to

about sterling ) O f this he says the Dutch .

West I ndia Company obtained about marks the ,

Royal African Company about 1 20 0 the Dutch interlopers , ,

another and the English interlopers while

the Br a ndenburgers and Danes between them accounted
fo r another 1 000 and the Portuguese and French together
, ,

had about 8 00 more According to his reckoning there .

,

fore the largest share fell to the Dutch

,
.

The gold was Ob tained by barter and each nation took ,

o u t chiefly those goods that were cheapest in his o wn

country though there were many articles with which they

,

all had to be supplied The Factors too had to be very .

, ,

careful in examining the gold which was Often mixed ,

with base metal more s o at some places than at others

,
.

The p rincipal trade goods were cloth of di fferent kinds ,

linen chintz calico and other materials spirits muskets

e
, ,

fir locks ; cutlasses and knives ; p ewter dishes basins ,

and porringers powder and flints lead in sheets pipes ,

and balls or shot copper basins and pots brass kettles ,

locks bells rings trumpets pins and cups hair trunks

, , , ,

iron bars and hammers ; glass bugles and beads of all

kinds ; fis h hooks and a variety of other articles The
e
- .
,

French carried more brandy wine iron paper and fir , , ,

locks than the English and Dutch who supplied most of ,

the linen and cloth wrought copper and pewter and b eads , ,

and nearly all the gunpowder The Danes Brandenburgers

ei ew
.
,

1 B osm a n. p . 1 1 3 .
1
B arb o t s
'
st m at as

I— I I
1 62 TH E GO LD C O AST I N TH E I 7TH CENTURY

and Portuguese bought most of their goods through Jews

i n H olland but the Portuguese often added rum and
,

tobacco from Brazil .

I nterlopers still frequented the Coast during the summer

months and then had nearly all the trade in t h eir hands
, ,

as they could sell their goods more cheaply than the

Companies who relied mainly on the winter trade James
,
.

Barbot in 1 6 9 9 saw three Zealand ships in Elmina road

, ,

which had j ust been captured by two Dutch frigates One .

of them was a ship of thirty six guns and her commander

-
, ,

who had made a desperate resistance wa s to be tried for ,

his life .

The following is a description o f the Forts and Settle

ments as they existed at or about this time Commencing .

from the west the ruins o f a French fort are described

,

by the Chevalier de Marchais as being still in existence

on a h ill to the east of the River Manco H e says it had .

been a double square redoubt b ut his statements are not ,

always to be relied upon and it is possible t h at what he

saw were the ruins o f Fort Elise Carthago which had been ,

abandoned by the Dutch At Axim Fort St Anthony

e
. .
,

was in the possession of the Dutch but th defences of ,

this place have already been fully described The Chief .

Factor s house was a high triangular building of brick

’

with a small plot of ground planted with a few orang e

trees on its west front and the Dutch had a kiln in th
, e
village where they burnt lime from oyster shells for the
repair Of their di fferent forts .

Farther east was Groot Fredericksburg the headquarters ,

of the Brandenburgers which mounted forty six guns on

,
-

four large batteries the guns however were of no great , ,

size A handsome outwork on the east side of the fort

.

rather weakened its defences and the breastworks ,

being no higher than a man s knee a fforded but little ’

,

protection to the garrison and constituted another serious

defect The quarters and store houses however were
e
-
.
, ,

exceptionally fine and well built and the gateway was th

e
,

most beautiful o n the whole Coast so large was it that th

saying used to the burghers of Minde u s ed to be quoted to
1 64 TH E G O LD CO AST I N TH E I 7T H CENTURY

being merely a square white house in a yard mounting ,

eight or ten guns on a terrace on the roof The first .

Englis h fort had been a very similar building but had been ,

so grossly neglected that the guns were literally honey

combed with rust and the carriages rotten and useless .

I t is small wonder therefore that it fell such an easy prey

, ,

to the Elminas The second English fort was built on

.

much the same plan as Fort Metal Cross at Dixcove and

mounted the same number o f guns but was made rather
1
,

larger and stronger .

Shama at this time consisted of three small villages

b uilt close together and totalling about two hundred
houses The Dutch Fort St Sebastian stood o n a little
ee
. .

hill and was of about the same size as Fort B a t nst in with ,

eight small guns on its four batteries .

Komenda also consisted o f a group o f three villages

e
,

which at ordinary times contained about on hundred

and fifty houses but in 1 6 7 5 nearly the whole town had
been accidentally destroyed by fire and many of th , e
people had temporarily removed to Ampeni The lagoon .

at this time op ened into the sea and was used as a harbour ,

for fishing canoes The English fort was a large quad

.

ra ng u la r building with four bastions and a high tower .

I t mounted twenty one guns and was garrisoned by about

-
,

sixty men half of whom were Europeans The Dutch

, .

Fort Vredenburg lay a little farther east and was a square ,

stone building with a stunted tower and four batteries

mounting twenty guns The close proximity of these
.

forts which were within gunshot distance of each other

, ,

Often led to disputes I n about 1 7 2 5 the Dutch Com m an

.

dant suddenly attacked the English Factor under a tree

midway between the two forts but was himself killed ,

in the encounter There was yet another small fort at

e
.

Komenda which belonged to the notorious J ohn K ab s

,

who had been attacked by the Dutch in 1 6 9 4 At that .

time he had gone over to the English but he seems to ,

have quarrelled with them some years later and to have

set up a separate trade with the interlop ers and buying
e
, ,

1
T w nty .
 ELM I NA

e
eighteen guns from o n of them named G la dm a n mounted ,

them on a small fort that he had built near the English

fort at Komenda in 1 70 2 A little later he increased h is
.

armament by six more guns that were supplied him by

e
Captain I ngle of the S h r ws bu ry I n April 1 7 0 7 the English
.

Factor reported to the Governor Sir Dalby Thomas that , ,

the Dutch were collecting a mixed force o f Shamas J abis ,

and Elminas to attack J ohn in h is fort and asked him ,

to send him some corn and a better gunner in case they

should be blockaded or attacked A long boat and a fiv .
-
e
hand canoe were accordingly sent down well armed for ,

fear o f the Dutch at Elmina who had recently attacked

several canoes passing between Cape Coast and Sekondi .

These precautions were fully j ustified for the Castle fired ,

four shots at them and some canoes were sent o u t to take

them but finding t h em well armed and resolute soon
,

drew off From this it is evident that relations between

.

the English and the Dutch were still very strained but
e
,

it is no t so clear whether J ohn K ab s had again made h is

peace with the former or not .

The defences o f Elmina h ave already been partly de

1
scribed .The town was as a rule very p opulous and
, ,

capable of putting about fighting men in the field

men too who had on more than one occasion given con
, ,

vincing proof of their valour but at this time it was in

a very weak condition having been almost depopulated
,

by its losses in the recent wars and by repeated epidemics

of small p ox -
I t contained about
. stone houses and
was built across the neck of the peninsula on the point of
which the Castle stands t h at is on the present parade
—

ground The Castle of St George mounted thirty eight

. .
-

good brass cannon besides several smaller pieces and

,

some iron guns o n the lower battery which were chiefly

used for firing salutes The old Portuguese moat on the
.

western side had now been subdivided into two and was ,

used a s a reservoir for fresh water in which fish a nd turtles ,

were often kept The entrance to the Castle was well

.

guarded by a drawbridge covered by a s m all redoubt,

1
Odina .
 1 66 TH E G O LD C O AST I N TH E I 7TH CENTURY

1 7 00 mounting eight iron guns and an iron portcullis which ,

cn x p . ix was further defended by four small pieces o f brass ordnance

within the gates The only ot h er door was high up in the
.

wall facing the river and was used for passing goods in and
,

o u t of the Castle by means o f a crane Besides the water .

in the moat there were three large tanks or cisterns con

,

structed within the Castle in which rain water was stored -

,

so that with an adequate supply of provisions for its gar

rison which numbered ab out 2 00 men exclusive of officers
, ,

half of whom were Europeans the place was well able to ,

withstand a siege by natives for an almost unlimited time .

The I nside is a large Quadrangle surrounded with ,

handsome Storehouses of white Stone and Bricks which ,

makes a good Place of Arms The General s Lodgings .

’

are ab ove in the Castle the Ascent to which is by a large ,

Staircase of black and white Stone defended at Top by

e
,

two small Brass Guns and four Padereros

1
of the sa m
,

Metal commanding the Place of Arms and a Corps de

, ,
-

Guard pretty large Next to this is a great Hall full of

.

Arms like an Arsenal through which and by a b y Passage

, , ,
-
,

you enter a fine long covered Gallery all wainscotted

, , , ,

at each End of which are large Glass Windows Through .

t h is you pass into the General s Apartment consisting ’

,

o f several handsome Rooms and O ffices along the Ram

parts The Chapel o n the other Side of these Rooms is

.

very neat and besides Sundays there are public Prayers

, , ,

in it every Day The I nfirmary or H ospital lies along

.
, ,

the Ramparts to the River Side and can contain an -

,

hundred sick Men By it is a large Tower which over

.
,
” 2
looks the Redoubt but has no Guns , Fort Conra ads .

b urg has already been described it mounted twelve guns .

U nder the northern slopes of St J ago s H ill was the ’

e
.

Government Garden in which was a p cu liar ro u nd summer

,

house reached by a few steps open a t the sides and sur ,

mounted by a cupola roof .

Cape Coast contained about five hundred houses with

a market square in the centre but the p opulation was less
-
,

Pa terero s w e
re s m a ll S wiv e
l gu n s
Astle
1
.

1
y v ol ii p 5 9 1 , .
, . .
1 68 TH E G O LD C O AST I N TH E I 7T H CENTURY

two hundred men half of whom were Africans under the , ,

1

command of a Captain Bosman however says that the .

, ,

garrison was very weak in his time and much addicted

to drinking and that the Soldiers are such miserable
,
”
Wretches that they raise your Pity rather than Fear .

H e was however evidently annoyed by the refusal of the ,

English Governor to give up some Dutch deserters who

had fled to Cape Coast The Castle gate was shut at eight .

o clock every night a strong guard mounted and the

’
, ,

officer provided with a pa s s word by the Chief Agent -

( Governor ) All ships whether English or foreign that

.
, ,

anchored o ff the Castle or passed within gun shot of it -

were required to salute it by lowering their top sails and -

,

if they omitted to do so they were at once fired on Bar .

2
b ot relates that when he put in to Cap e Coast in the
French warship L j olly they saluted the Castle with e
seven guns and were answered with five but when they
were coming to an anchor to their great surprise three ,

guns were fired at them with ball which fell j ust ahead of
the ship They therefore went o n to the Danish Settle
ee
.

ment at Fort Fr d rick sb o rg thinking war might have ,

broken ou t between France and England since they sailed .

N ex t morning he sent ashore to ask if this was the case .

The Governor invited him to land promising to explain

e
,

the reason for the shots and gave him a splendid r

e
c p tio n H e then told him of this rule and explained that
.
,

his orders to see that it was observed were very strict .

’
The Company s ships were usually supplied with fresh
water from the Castle tanks but if this was low from a , ,

pond known as Domine s H ole This appears to have ’

.

been a name given to the lagoon to the west o f Cape Coast ,

which was by this time cut o ff from the sea and contained ,

as now brackish water for Barb ot says that the Com

,
’

p a ny s s h ips were sometimes supplied from a large pond

eAf i ebe f th eg i e lly efee dt

e
1
Th
tt e f th e P tg e e ete ei g
r ca n m m rs o a rr s ons ar u su a r rr o as
g
"

l e
G
Th e j ity if f th ewe th e d e
p ti an n

e
ro m o s, a co rru on O or u u s ru m m a.
,

h ip b y
’

f th e d we e
s s o . ll ti
m a or , no t a , o m r om s c s av s
ibly K b y
Pa ge
o C p y om
p an , an r o ss ru - o s .

1
1 71 .
 F O RT R O YAL

lying a t some distance towards the s a between cape

”
e ,

Corso and Mina at a place called Domine .

1

Close under the Castle was a small fortified house

mounting a few guns which belonged to a mulatto named ,

Edward Barter who flew the English flag and was regularly
,

consulted by the Company s o fficers in all their dealings ’

with the people This man had very great influence and
.
,

practically all the trade passed through his hands as

middleman H e seems to have corresponded at Cape
e
.

Coast to the notorious J ohn K a b s at Komenda But .

2
according to some letters quoted by Barbot he over
stepped the mark and fell into disgrace in Sir Dalby
Thomas time and t h en intrigued with the Dutch to
’
,

damage the English trade .

Fort Royal on the Danish Mount at Amanfu lay a little

to the east o f the Castle and was entirely rebuilt at about ,

this time The O ld fort had been triangular with a

.
,

round flanker facing the sea and two batteries towards

Cape Coast and Mori mounting sixteen guns The new .

fort built by the English was square and could b e reached

only by a narrow winding path up the hill which might ,

have been defended by a single gun I t mounted eighteen .

or twenty guns eleven of which were on the platform and

, ,

was garrisoned by six whites and twelve blacks O n .

its completion all salutes from ships in Cape Coast road

,

were acknowledged from this fort instead of from the

Castle in order to avoid disturbing any sick men in the
,

latter by unnecessary noise The English also had .

another small fort near Cape Coast This was on Queen .

Anne s Point mounted five guns and had a garrison of

’

e
, ,

fiv whites and six blacks N ear it the ruins of the O ld .

Dutch lodge could still be seen .

Mori contained over two hundred houses and was very

densely populated The Dutch Fort Nassau had been .

much enlarged and was now a very fine building I t was

,
.

nearly square with very high walls and a handsome square

,

tower at each corner I t mounted eighteen guns on four .

batteries and the gate wa s furnished with a drawbridge

Barb ot p 1 7 1
1 I bid p 445
, . .
1
.
, . .
 1 70 TH E G O LD COAST I N TH E I 7T H CENTURY

and defended by a loop holed gallery S O long as this -

.

C HA P . I"
was the Dutch headquarters a very large garrison had
been maintained but on their removal to Elmina it was
,

considerably reduced A s was the case at all the other

.

posts Mori had very fine gardens attached to the fort

,

these indeed were generally acknowledged to be the best

on the whole Coast .

The English factory at A na sh a n was a very insignificant

place mounting only two guns and wa s never occupied by
, ,

more than two or three men Branco the Portuguese had .

, ,

his turf redoubt and factory here a s late as 1 6 8 3 but how ,

much longer he retained h is position is unknown .

Anamab o was large and populous but the people bore ,

a very b ad character and were particularly turbulent .

The English Factors dare not in the least contradict

them b ut are rather obliged to bear with them The
e
.

great wealth of the Fa ntin a ns makes them so proud and

haughty that an European trading there must stand bare
,
”
to them They Often extorted money from the Factor
.
1

by shutting the garrison up in the fort closing all the paths ,

s o that no traders could come down and compelling him ,

in a very short time to purchase peace and a renewal of

trade at their own price The town was divided into two .

parts one of which was inhabited by Elmina and the

,

other by Fanti fi shermen who paid tribute to the King , .

The English fort had not long been built and the remains ,

o f the mud walls of the old lodge could still be seen in front

o f it I t stood o n a rock close to the sea and though not

.
,

very large was strongly constructed o f a mixture of stone

,

and brick I t was defended by two turrets on one side

e
.

and two fl a nk rs on the other next the sea and mounted ,

twelve good guns and two smaller pieces 2 This was one .

o f the posts that was held by a Chief Factor who had

e
,

twelve other Europeans and eighteen grom ttos with him .

The English Factory at Egya was a mere thatched house

with a large yard and a duck pond I ts sole means of .

defence were the muskets of the two or three men who

formed its garrison The town was divided into two
Pate re
.

Ba rb ot p 1 7 7
1
, . ro s.
1
.
1 72 TH E G O LD C O AST I N TH E I 7 TH CENTURY

so high nor s o thick as those of the English fort but its ,

garrison wa s rather stronger consisting of fifteen whites

e
,

and twenty fiv blacks Christiansborg Castle was far

-
.

larger and stronger than either of the other forts and had
e
,

four batteries but its flat roof made the whole fort pra
e
tically on continuous battery and enabled its twenty ,

guns to be moved to any part o f it .

The Slave Trade was now at its height and quite over
shadowed that for gold This detestable traffic was .

carried o n along the whole West African coast and enor ,

mous numbers of people were annually exported and sold

1
in the West I ndies and other parts The Guinea Coast .

as a whole supplied a s many as from to

slaves yearly and the Liv rpool M m ora ndu m which con
,
e e ,

tains an exact list of all the vessels belonging to that port

that were engaged in this trade together with a return of ,

the number of slaves taken by each shows that in 1 7 5 3 ,

the number imported into America by 1 0 1 Liverpool ships

alone was upwards of and there were of course
many other vessels sailing from London and Bristol that
are not included in this return This estimate is also
, .

confirmed by Anderson who says that England supplies ,

her American Colonies with Negro slaves amounting in

"
number to about an hundred thousand every year and ,
2

it must be remembered that England was only one of

many nations all o f whom were actively engaged in this
,

traffic The Gold Coast alone is said to have furnished

.

no t fewer than slaves every year and these were

considered the most valuable for they made the best ,

labourers though they were of a more impatient and

,

mutinous disp osition than those Obtained from other

parts of Guinea I n the language of the slave traders all
.
,

Gold Coast slaves were classed a s K orom a ntyns because ,

they had been largely obtained from Kormantin Even .

ships b ou nd for the Slave Coast which took 110 slaves ,

e e e et k
e
7 1 3 th Com p a ny b y th Ass i Contra ct, u nd
1
In
ee eei g
1

e
, nto r oo to

e
s u pp ly th S p a nis h G o v rnm nt with s l a v s d uring th nsu n
th irty y a rs
de d C ee
.

1
His tory of Tra an om m rc .
 TH E SLAVE TR A D E

from the Gold Coast itself used to obtain their canoes

ee
and ca no m n there notably from Komenda and Shama ,
,

but often from Axim or Takoradi also ; for the people of

e
th Slave Coast had but few canoes except o n their rivers .

Some o f the Gold Coast natives thus profited indirectly

by the leeward slave trade for these ca no m n were ,
ee
invariably well paid and were given the canoes to return
home in so soon as the ship was full .

The Europeans themselves never engaged in actual

slave raiding except when the trade was quite in its infancy ,

but used to buy their slaves from native brokers living

in the coast towns The slaves were obtained in various
.

ways but were for the most part either prisoners of war
, ,

criminals who had been condemned to be sold o r debtors ,

who were sold to satisfy their creditors The trade there

e
.
,

fore apart from the cruelties inflicted on th slaves them

,
1
selves naturally tended to foster inter tribal wars ; to
,
-

encourage the infliction of the severest possible punish

ments by the Chiefs for comparatively trifling o ffences ;
and to tempt those who were sufficiently powerful and
unscrupulous to sei z e persons who as often as not were , ,

innocent o f any crime and after indulging them with , ,

some pretence of a trial to sell them to the traders and ,

divide the proceeds The successes of the Ashantis in.

their wars brought great numbers o f slaves into the

market They were sent to Mansu where the great slave
.
,

mart was held and there passed into the hands of the
,

middlemen brokers of the Coast towns who sold them to ,

the European traders There was also a second regular .

slave market at Eguafo but people who were sold there ,

were more often bought for use as sacrificial victims at

funeral or other customs than for e x port .

As the trade increased and the demand for slaves w as

s till maintained as much decepti on and cheating were
,

practised in it a s is commonly supposed to enter into horse

ee el e id
Of t n bee p e d wee
l gh e e pe de keby h e be
f e
th at
d fie e
1
m r s av ra s . I t h as n com ut r

di i
h d be eb i e l e d h fie
B
e be
s u ch t on s r ta t
h e
s au t r in v x un n orn u s or
f d
lf h f h ep i ef epe i he he e y t he
n o ta n
we
t r -
f our th s o th a t nu m r a a s s av s a n ,t at v
t t s o t d j
ca t v s o t n r s on t ou rn o t coa st .
1 74 TH E G O LD C OAST I N TH E I 7 TH CENTURY

dealing at the present day All slaves when they reached .

the coast were closely shaved and well anointed with palm
Oil to give their skins a smooth and glossy appearance so ,

that it wa s Often no easy matter to tell an O ld man from

e
a young o n They were then carefully examined by th
. e
surgeons who looked at their teeth made them j ump and
, , ,

thoroughly over hauled them from head to foot in order

-

to exclude the aged and infirm or any w h o were diseased ,

wh o were invariably rej ected while those who were passed ,

as fit were immediately branded on the right breast with

the purchaser s mark to prevent the risk of substitution
’
.

I n the case of the Royal African Company the letters ,

D Y were used
. .
1
This was done with a heated silver or
.

iron brand after first anointing the skin with a little oil .

When the slaves had all been marked if no vessel was ,

already waiting they were confined in the slave rooms Of

,
-

the forts until an opportunity occurred to ship them to

their final destination
e
.

O n b oard the slave ships the men and women wer

separated and the former placed two and two in irons as a
,

safeguard against mutiny or escape Large quantities of .

I ndian corn were bought o n the Coast principally at ,

Anamabo on which they were fed twice daily one chest

, ,

of four bushels being allowed for each slave for the voyage
e
.

The women and children were always allowed to tak

exercise on deck from seven o clock in the morning until ’

sunset and after the African coast had been finally left
, ,

and there was no longer any chance of escape the men ,

also had their irons struck off provided they were not ,

mutinous The slaves required very careful watching

.

while they were being shipped ; for they would Often

throw themselves into the sea and be drowned or would'

starve themselves a nd s o die while mutinies on th slave , e

ships were of frequent occurrence There was a prevalent .

idea among the people that they were being taken abroad
to be eaten and they also believed that after death they
,

would pass o a spirit world in all respects like their own

t 2

land Death therefore had few terrors for them and even
Du ke e
. .
,

1
of Y ork S ra m a n d zi
.
1
.
1 76 THE G O LD C OA ST I N T HE I 7T H CE NTURY

to eat the heart and liver of the first before they themselves
were killed This was probably an excep tional case of
e
.

wanton cruelty but mutinies were of frequent occurrenc ,

and as they could only be suppressed by the severest

measures this monstrous traffic entailed endless suffering
,

and misery to the slaves and must necessarily have had a

,

most degrading e ffe ct on all those wh o were engaged in it .

The only p oints that can p ossibly b e urged in its favour

ar e e
that a c rt ain numb er of real criminals were e ffectively
and profitably transported and that mos t Of the prisoners ,

o f war would if not sold ha v e been sacrificed in Africa

, , .

Slavery in itself is an institution and condition to

which the African is accustomed and so long as he is
living in h is own country amongst h is own people and in , ,

accordance with the immemorial usages o f h is race it ,

entails very little hardship and he does not greatly Object ,

to it But this wholesale exp ortation of unwilling pers ons

.

into a strange land to face a fu t ure Of which they knew

e
,

nothing but concerning which they were filled with th

,

e
gloomiest possible forebodings was a very di fferent matter , .

e
At the same time it must b e remembered that these for
bodings were for the most par t groundless for the slav s
o n the plantations were generally w ell treated and quite

content and most o f the hysterical nonsense that was

,

written at the time of the agitation for the abolition of the

trade consisted o f gross exaggerations of isolated cases of
abuse that were put forward a s representing the common

e
s tate o f a ffairs .

I n addition to the other dangers and inconvenienc s

inseparable from a v oyage to the Gold Coast the seas at ,

this time were infested by pirates wh o after the dispersal , ,

o f the b uccaneers from their West I ndian haunts came in ,

great numbers to seek fresh fields for their nefarious tra de

e
o n the West Coast o f Africa w here there were always ,

plenty of ship s laden with gold dust i v ory slaves or oth r -

, ,

valuable cargoes to b e met wi t h They oftenplayed great .

havoc with the trade and it wa s mainly o n this account

e
,

that H M Ss S wa llow and W ym ou th were sent out to cruise

. . .

in these wa t ers Two or three of these marauders usually

.
 PI RACY

sailed in company and were strong enough not only to ,

capture well armed ships but even to take some of the

-
,

forts a s well Thus in 1 7 1 9 H owell Davis the pirate

.
, ,

took J ames Fort in the River Gambia but wa s soon after ,

wards treacherously murdered by the Portuguese at

Prince s I sland His successor Roberts captured Bunce
’
.
, ,

I sland Fort at Sierra Leone in 1 7 2 0 and a s has already ,

been mentioned Avery took the two Danish men of war ,

- -

of twenty six guns each that had been sent o u t to resettle

-

Christiansborg Castle in 1 6 9 3 Their usual practice was .

to transfer the slaves or other cargo from the prizes to

their own ships subsequently selling them in the West ,

I ndies and to burn or scuttle the empty vessels A s

, .

showi ng the enormous extent to which piracy was carried

o n it is recorded that Roberts destroyed over a hundred
,

ships along the West Coast in one year alone Captain

e e
.

S n lgrav was taken by Co cklyn at Sierra Leone in 1 7 1 9

e
,

when there w as quite a fleet o f pirate ship s lying in th

1
harbour .

Roberts met h is end early in February 1 7 2 2 whe n

H M S S wa llow Captain O gle after a long search found
2

e
. . .
, , ,

h im with three ships at anchor Off Cape Lopez Th

e e
.

pirates slipped their cables and fled out to s a but wer ,

closely pursued by the man of war Roberts himself was - —

.

killed and all the ship s were cap tured The prisoners .

numbered about 3 00 Englishmen and 6 0 or 7 0 N egro slaves

3
and from to p ounds o f gold dust besides -
,

enormous quantities of trade goods were taken The , .

pirates were brought to Cape Coast Castle o n the i 8 th o f

Febru ary where after a trial lasting twenty six days
, ,
-
,

fifty two o f them were hanged in chains seventy four

-
,
-

acquitted twenty condemned to servitude and seventeen

e
, ,

to the Ma rch a ls a What became of the others is u n .

known but several probably died Of their wounds after

being captured or were killed during two mutinies that
broke o u t before they reached Cap Coast The cli m ate e .

alone is probably su fficient to account for the rest .

1 Part o f th eh a rb ou r is still kno wn a s Pira te

rwards Sir Ch a lone We igh t or ste
s B ay

r O gle
’

Afte
.

1 rl ing .
1

I —
12
 CHAPTER X
THE A S H A NTI S

THE beginning o f the eighteenth century witnessed the

first encroachments towards the coast o f the Ashantis ,

who though hitherto unheard of were destined in the near

, ,

future to play a greater part in the history o f the Gold

Coast than all the other t ribes combined From this time
.

forward in fact the history o f the country is largely a

, ,

h istory o f its relations with this people .

Alth ough tradition asserts and other evidence favours

the belief that this people and the Fantis and other Twi
speaking races are the O ffsprings of a common stock yet ,

the Ashantis stand o u t in marked contrast to all the

others distinguished a s much by their s kill and bravery
,

in war as by the p atriotism and power o f combination that

ultimately led to the formation of the most powerful and
in fact the only really impor t kingdom and empire that
the Gold Coast h a s ever seen From small beginnings these
.

people gradually extended their power and authority both ,

by diplomacy and by force of arms until in the end all

,

the surrounding tribes owed allegiance to them and their

countries became tributary provinces of Ashanti Nor .

can there be the least doubt that that kingdom would ,

before the close o f the nineteenth century have included

,

the whole Gold Coast had no t the seab oard tribes been
,

assisted and protected by the Eur their

Settlements and trade might be
The rise and fall o f the power of Ashanti furnish some
of the most interesting chapters of Gold Coast history
and no one who studies the subj ect with an unbiassed mind
can avoid feeling admiration and some sympathy for thi s
 TH E ASHANTI S

remarkable people though it is difficul t for those wh o have

,

su ffered many privations and losses ou their account and .

ha v e li v ed for years i n almost constant dread of them to

regard them without prej udice Lord Wolseley who as .
,

Sir Garnet Wolseley wa s Governor of the Gold Coast and

led the expedition against them in i 8 74 wrote From the
e
,

Ashantees I learnt o n important lesson namely that any , ,

virile race can b ecome paramount in its own region of the

world if it possesses the courage the constancy of purpose
e
and the self s acrific to resolve that it will li v under a
-
,

e
stern system of Sp artan military discipline ruthlessly
e
,

enforced by on lord and master the King I n other , .

words if it be clearly recognized by any people that the

,

interests and comfort o f the individual whether he be ,

king or subj ect should not be the firs t obj ect of national
,

solicitude but rather that it should be the greatness and

,

power of the state as a whole , a greatness which brings

with it national pride individual security and also content
,

ment that nation will rule over its neighbours

,
The .

Ashantee and the Fantee were absolutely of the same race .

The former were a proud nation of bra v e and daring

soldiers living happily an d contentedly under the most
'

absolute of kings The latter who lived and idled under

.
,

the licence o f ou r easy going laws were cowardly lazy -

, , ,

good for nothing vagabonds with all the vices of the

- -
,

Ashantee but with none of h is manly courage Military .

despotism in some cases supplies the nation brave

enough to adopt it with a renown that makes life worth
” 1
living and worth fighting for
e
.

The cowardice of the Fanti has at times been xaggerated ,

and he has been blamed fo r it more than he really de

ee
serves His in ffici ncy as a warrior is due to faults in
.

the system ra t her than in the individual Taken man for .

man the Fanti is probably nearly a s good a s the Ashanti .

The Ashantis however have built up a splendid military

e
, ,

organization to the perfection of which e v rything else has

,

been sacrificed and they have learned to rely on

, lves
and to pu t the national interest before their The
le
W o l sey vol ii p 3 6 8
1
, .
, . .
 TH E ASHANTIS

1 7 00 I t is impossible to hurry a race forward in the course of

am p . x
a few years t o a stage which it would not otherwise have
reached for several centuries except by paying the in
,

evitable penalty for interference with any such natural

law The civilization acquired or imposed by such
.

artificial means is for the most part no more than a veneer ,

which is easily peeled o ff and h a s the terrible disadvantage

of ad ding the vices and defects incidental to the new
condition without having first eradicated those that
previously existed while it also tends to destroy those
,

better qualities that were inbred in the subj ect in his

natural state There are of course occasional but very
.
, ,

exceptional instances of men who survive this process

and appear at first sight to j ustify it but they are ex
amples of the su rvival of the fittest the giants of their
e
,

ra c w h o would inevitably have come to the front by the

,

very force of their own stronger characters .

These rapid transitions from a barbarous or semi

barbarous state to a far higher plane Of civilization are
harmful and the only sure means of attaining the object
,

aimed at is to allow N ature to follow her own methods .

The process must be a gradual one and cannot be hurried ,

thou gh it may be assisted and accelerated by tactful

encouragement sympathy and example The race must
e
.
,

advance as a whole and no matter h ow rapid its advanc

e
,

may be it must tread every rung of the ladder Th

, .

unnatural elevation o f a small number places them at a

disadvantage I t is equivalent to forcing a handful of plants
.

into premature bloom in the artificial surroundings of a hot

house and then relegating them to their original positions
,

among their naturally growing companions in the open .

They must nearly all perish in the struggle that follows

e
.

But the people themselves cannot be blamed for th

e ffects these unnatural conditions produce in them The .

fault lies rather with those whose ill advised attempts at

-

improvement were responsible for their production They .

may be studied among the people of those towns that

have been longest occupied by Europeans and better still
,

in Sierra Leone where the process h a s been carried farther

,
 F O RCED EV O LUTI O N

and its e ff ects are therefore more pronounced The moral .

undoubtedly is to give the people more time and to aim ,

at improving them in ways that are suited to their own

surroundings preserving all that i s good and only lim i
,
e
nating that which is bad in their own institutions and
customs instead o f destroying everything of their own
,

and then forcing upon them the manners and customs and
religious beliefs of a civilization that is the outcome of
centuries of life in a di fferent climate and under di fferent
conditions which are quite unsuited to the African Even
, .

a few o f the people themselves are alive to these truths .

O ne of them wrote The missionary and merchant have

only succeeded in making whited sepulchres of Africans .

Under the existing state of affairs the African becomes

more and more u seless in fact dangerous to himself —
,
”
and h is country .
1

Many charges have been made against the Ashantis .

Some are baseless others are easily explained and ex

e e
,

t nu a t d and o f none can it b e said that they are more

,

than could be levelled at any race in their condition .

The mere fact that some o f them were made at all shows
ignorance o r thoughtlessness and is in itself sufficient ,

proof of the existence o f a very real spirit of hostility

towards them I n fact the Ashanti is perhaps the most
.
,

abused and least understood man in Africa .

They have constantly been accused of procrastination

and a policy of covering up their diplomatic failures with
excuses and apologies This charge is to some extent
.

true though in many instances it h a s been made without

,

justification ; but there is no possible reason why these

traits in their character should be set down as a special
and distinctive Ashanti attribute They are common to .

Africans generally and if they have been specially notice

able in the Ashantis it is only because the frequ ent im
,

portance of the Government s relations with them and ’

their own independence Of character and national pride

have combined to bring them into greater prominence .

No ordinary African appreciates the value o f time ; his

Gold Coa s t L e
1 r 7 th o f D e
a de m be
ce r 1 907
, .
 TH E ASHANTIS

diplomacy as that o f other people Often takes the form of

, ,

deceit and he is ever ready with an abundance Of excuses

and apologies This h a s probably led to the Ashantis
.

being suspected o f making ingenious excuses on some

occasions when they were in reality perfectly serious ;
but if this is not so then the greater plausibility of their
,

statements merely proves their superiority in skill and

brain power over the other tribes .

O ther and more serious charges against them are that

they are treacherous bloodthirsty and guilty of the most
, ,

wanton and inhuman cruelty The ch arge of treachery

.

is absolutely unj ustifiable The Ashanti is naturally brave

.

and for a savage chivalrous and no really brave man

, ,

is ever treacherous An occasional blackguard may of

.

course be found ; but to quote his misdeeds as characteristic

of the race is ridiculous and unj ust They have always .

shown themselves brave and honourable in war beyond

anything that might have been expected of a barbarous
race little more advanced than the ancient Britons of
two thousand years o r more ago and they will easily bear
,

co mparison in this respect with some other races of modern

times boasting of a far higher civili z ation .

N ever have they been known to fire upon a flag of truce

nor to murder an ambassador and their boast that they
,

never take up arms until they have first tried diplomacy

has been repeated ly j ustified The worst that could
.

truthfully be said of them in this connection is that their

unb ounded ambition may sometimes have led them to
s eek a pretext for a dispute that might have been avoided .

There are few powerful nations however against whom, ,

this charge could not be substantiated Meredith in his .

,

description of the sending o f a flag of truce into the Ashanti

camp after the attack on Anamab o Fort in 1 80 7 writes ,

Here we cannot forbear remarking that although the ,

Ashantees are so remote from polished or civilized nations ,

they seem not to be unacquainted with the customs of a

civilized people as they are connected with the rules of
,
” 1
war for they paid every respect to the flag of truce
Mere
.

1
dith p 1 48
, . .
 TH E ASHANTIS

Ashantee h a s never been engaged in war with the maritime

States from sheer caprice and rapacity I may also be .

permitted to quote Mr Mollan s words to me that he .

’
,

never knew the king to make a palaver without cause ,

1 ’
or violate hi s word .

The charge of cruelty stands on a di fferent footing .

Many of their customs are undeniably cruel ; but this

cruelty is dependent not so much upon any innate
bloodthirstiness as upon the stage of civilization in which
,

t h ey are Their principal atrocities have always been

.

carried out in pursuance of their religious beliefs and

practised on criminals or prisoners of war .

1
The religion of the African has been evolved in his
environment by a natural process and is an attempt to ,

account for those phenomena of h is daily life that he is

unable to understand or explain Beliefs of this kind .
,

b eing naturally adj usted to the surroundings and ih

ee
t ll ctu a l powers o f those who hold them and providing , ,

to their minds at any rate the most plausible explanations ,

of otherwise unaccountable facts form a very real part of ,

the daily lives Of the people influence their habits and ,

customs and are clung to and gone back to with a tenacity

,

and persistence that it is difficult for people whose daily

lives and religi on are often things apart to understand
e
.

The religion of the African is in fact th religion natural , ,

to a man in his stage of evolution and he is probably ,

incapable of grasping any more ab stract and to h im less , ,

reasonable theory .

A very large proportion of the s o called human sacrifices -

that are always adduced as evidence in support of this

charge were really nothing more than public executions
of c riminals wh o after condemnation had been reserved
, ,

until victims were required fo r some reli gious ceremony in

Du pu is
ee
1

e e ee
, p . 225 .

F tish ism , Anc stor wors hip s a va g s ar

eee e
1

e e ee
Th
e ee
o f prim itiv
-

a ll, I b li v , diff r nt m a nn rs of x r ssion o f th ir b l i f in gh osts a nd

e
o f th ee e ee p

e
a nth ro om or h ic int r r ta tion o f ou t o f th

e ee
way v nts
p
e p p - - -

Witch cra ft a nd sorc ry

.

s tand in th r l atio n to r ligiou s

e e e e
s am

e
worship a s th sim p l s ava g s d o s to
e ee e
a nth rop om o r h ism of
p
th olo gy (Hu x l y, Th S ci ntifi
”
.
c A sp cts of P os it
ivism ) .
 THE CHARGE O F CRU ELTY

which the sacrifice of human life wa s considered essential .

I t is true that they were not all murderers but it must not
be forgotten that it is only within comparatively recent
times that the death penalty has been reserved for cases
of wilful homicide even in England Formerly and at a .
,

time too when the English were infinitely more civili z ed

than the Ashantis men and women were hanged or burned
,

almost daily for o ffences that would now b e considered

1
trivial .

The j udgment o f a primitive race from a civilized

standpoint is absurd ; yet it is common enough The .

su fferings of those unhappy wretches who were stretched

upon the rack broken o n the wheel or otherwise tortured
, , ,

must have been fully as great if not indeed greater than , ,

those of any victim in As h anti and these were commonly

inflicted punishments The h igher race indeed would
.
, ,

seem to have used its greater knowledge only to devise

more ingeniously cruel tortures
e
.

It has been estimated that b tween the years 1 1 70

a nd 1 7 8 3 at least persons su ffered death at Tyburn
alone and were moreover tortured beforehand by being
, , ,

drawn or flogged at the cart s tail from Newgate When ’

.

the place of execution was moved there ten men were ,

h anged together on the first occasion and twenty o n the

e
second of whom fiv had been condemned for robbing a
,

man of something valued at threepence some nails a , ,

knife valued at a p enny two shillings and a counterfeit ,

halfpenny Men were branded on the cheek for clipping

.

coin and on a single morning i n 1 6 9 5 seven men were

,

hanged and a woman b urned for this O ffence Another .

woman wa s burnt alive at N ewgate in 1 7 5 1 and the punish ,

ment app ears to have been quite a common one for several
years later I n 1 7 6 7 Anne Sowerby was burnt at York
.

for poisoning her husband and it was no t until the 1 8 th of,

March 1 7 8 9 that the last woman wa s burned in England

for coining several men being hanged on the same morning
,
2
for coining robbery and b urglary
,
.

el
ee e
1
Vid a so p 43 7 . .

G ntl m a n s M a ga zi n vo l lix , part i, p

’
1 . . 2 72 .
,
 TH E AS HANTIS

N or d o the tastes of the English people at this time

appear to have been any better than those so freely con
dem m ed in the Ashantis for it i s notorious that so long
a s executions were carried out in public they never failed ,

to draw enormous crowds who conducted themselves in ,

the most disorderly manner and thoroughly enj oyed the

spectacle Macaulay writing o f the condition of England
.
,

in the seventeenth century says The implacability of

,

hostile factions was such as we can scarcely conceive .

Whigs were disposed to murmur because Sta fford was

su ffered to die without seeing h is bowels burned before
his face Tories reviled and insulted Russell as his coach
.

passed from the Tower to the scaffold in Lincoln s Inn ’

Fields As little mercy was shown by the populace to

.

su fferers o f a humbler rank If an o ffender was put into .

the pillory it was well if he escaped with life from the

,

shower of brickbats and paving stones I f he was tied

e
-
.

to the cart s tail th crowd pressed round him imploring

’
, ,

the hangman to give it the fellow well and make him howl , .

Gentlemen arranged parties of pleasure to Bridewell on

court days for the purpose o f seeing the wretched women
,

who beat hemp there whipped A man pressed to death .

for refusing to plead a woman burned for coining excited

, ,

less sympathy than is now felt for a galled horse or an

overdriven 0x Multitudes assembled to see gladiators
.

hack each other to pieces with deadly weap ons and shouted ,

with delight when one o f the combatants lost a finger or

an eye . But on all this misery society looked with
”
profound indi ff erence With such a record i n England
.
1

itself it is needless to particulari z e regarding the habits of

,

the Fantis and other Coast tribes which however were , , ,

fully as bad as those of the Ashantis for very many years

after the settlement o f Europeans amongst them .

The hostility that has been shown towards the Ashantis

by the E nglish was not of the former s seeking They ’
.

were always favourably disposed towards the Europeans

and anxious to remain on friendly terms with them .

Indeed it is ridiculous to suppose that they could have felt

Ma cau lay His tory of E ngla nd
1
, v ol i p 42 4 .
, . .
 CHAPTER X I

THE E AR LY HI S T O RY OF AS H A NT I
1 700 TO 1 73 1

IT is not known exactly when the Ashanti kingdom was

first founded and the law which makes any mention of
,

the death of a King a capital o ffence h a s conduced to the

loss of much o f its earliest history From the traditions .

that are now current it appears however that after the , ,

flight of the Akans from the districts that they had formerly
occupied and the migration of the Fantis to the coast -
,

the Ashantis remained and settled in the northern portions

o f the forest count ry where they established several minor
,

kingdoms or principalities which though united by a

, ,

common interest were nevertheless indep endent of each

,

other By 1 6 40 this confederacy had acquired considerable

.

influence and was esteemed a p owerful kingdom With

e
.

its allies it was able to put an army o f ab out

,
m n
in the field They were armed principally with bows and
.

arrows and their valour and determination in battle soon

,

gave their neighbours good reason to fear them The .

seat of government is said to have been established some

times a t Chichiweri at others at B ekwai or Dompoasi ;
,

but of their earliest rulers or wars nothing definite is now

known although several vague traditions exist
, .

These traditions point to the Ashanti s first home having ’

been somewhere in the neighbourhood o f the Adansi

country the Ananse o f Bosman The first King whose
e
—
.

name has been handed down is Chu Mi ntwi who was ,

succeeded by Kobina A m a m fi H e is said to have reigne d

.

from about 1 600 to 1 6 3 0 Gold was unknown during his

.
 EAR LY KI NGS

reign iron being used as currency I t is probable that

, .

there were at leas t tw o other Kings before him for when

1

the missionaries Ramseyer and Kuhne were prisoners in

Kumasi they s ay t hat there were the chairs of fourteen
former Kings in the Royal Mausole u m at Bantama Thi s .

was during the reign of K ofi Karikari and if Kobina ,

A m am fi was the first King there would only have been

twelve deceased Kings at this time instead of four t een .

Although other members o f the royal family were buried

’
at Bantama they were not placed in the Kings building
e
.
,

Kobina A m a m fi wa s succeeded by O ti A k ntin wh o in

e
‘

turn wa s followed in ab out 1 6 6 3 by O biri Y b oa Mann .

During h is reign the Ashantis are said to have mo v ed

farther north and built Kumasi J abin wa s founded soon .

e
afterwards and other Chiefs built I ns u ta and Mampon ;
e
,

but the B kwais remained where they were in th south

in order to protect the kingdom from the encroachments
of the D nk ra s ee .

Denkera was presumably founded at about the same

time as Ashanti but though there are traditions of wars
,

with S efwi and o t her States during the reign of its third
King Awusu Bori nothing is really known of i ts early
,

history beyond the fact that it was undoubtedly a powerful

e
e
s tate
. O biri Y b oa s nephew and heir Tutu was sent to
’
, ,

the Denkera court where he acted as a shield bear r ; b ut

e
-
,

whil there he intrigued with the King s sister w ho bore ’

,

him a s on I ntim and was therefore compelled to fly first

, ,

to As hanti and afterwards to Akwamu O n the dea t h of

e
.

O biri Y b oa in ab out 1 6 9 7 he was recalled to succeed him ,

as King and it was during his reign that the Ashanti s t ool
,

or throne was made .

Soon after his accession O sai Tutu removed t he sea t ,

of go vernment to Kumasi His cousin B u a tin a t the same

e
.

time succeeded to the kingdom of J abin an d th two then ,

entered into an alliance by which everything was sacrificed

to the main obj ects of securing their independence and -

increasing their power They made war in common and .

shared the spoils equally

Ch u Mie de
ntwi a nd h is prece
.

1 ss or .

1— 13
194 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F ASHANTI

According to another account it was Tutu who l d th , ee

Ashantis in their migration to their new country and
was then given the stool and founded Kumasi but the
version already given is probably the correct one ; for
apart from the uncertain traditions o f former Kings and
the alleged existence of the Royal Mausole u m at Bantama
during his reign it is known that a very large army was
,

soon afterwards led against Denkera which was itself a ,

powerful kingdom and it is hardly conceivable that the

,

Ashantis could have been in a position to make war on

such a scale if the kingdom had only j ust been founded
and they had had but a few years in which to establish
themselves .

B e this as it may there can be little doubt that it was

,

under O sai Tutu that the real power o f Ashanti was

founded The truth probably is that there had hitherto
.

been numerous small kingdoms or family settlements which

were now amalgamated into the two new monarchies and ,

that Kumasi instead of being founded at this time was

, ,

already in existence as an important provincial town and ,

was now merely enlarged and constituted the capital .

Whether or not Kumasi was ever tributary to Denkera or

Jabin is doubtful accounts di ffer but the majority ,

maintain that it has always been indep endent

e
.

wer Of Ashanti was first heard o f by Europ ans

war with Denkera in 1 6 9 9
ate as 1 7 1 9 partly from information
e
,

received from the Ma h o m da ns i n Kumasi and partly from

the date of B o s m a n s work This however was the second
’
.
, ,

English edition of Bosman published in 1 7 2 1 The original, .

Dutch edition was published in Utrecht in 1 7 0 4 and the ,

first English and French translations appeared in 1 70 5 .

The book consists of a series of letters the first of which ,

begins , Sir Your agreeable of Sep tember i s t 1 700 was

,

seasonably handed to me by Capt N 1

while the last . .

or twenty second letter is dated J an z u d 1

It
e
-
.

is in th sixth letter that Bosman gives h is account o f thi s

war which he says took place about the b eginning of
,

1
B osm an, p . 1 .
1
I bid .
, p 49 3
. .
196 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F ASHANTI

her together with the rest to return to their Country and

”1
their inj ured H usband who was informed o f this Affront
, .

Tutu promptly sent to tell B osia nti t h at he was deter

mined to wash ou t the scandal in his blood and made
immediate preparations for war collecting his army and
,

importing large quantities o f powder from the coast

ee
which the D nk ra s very foolishly allowed to be carrie d
,

through their country B o sia nti now thoroughly alarmed

.
, ,

o ffered a large sum in gold as compensation but Tutu ,

turned a deaf ear to these overtures for a peaceful settle

ment and went steadily on with his preparations .

The question h as been raised whether the pretext for

this war was a genuine one Accusations of this kind
.

are by no means uncommon on the Gold Coast and in

Ashanti and have frequently been used as excuses for a
,

quarrel or more commonly for levying blackmail Som e

, , , .

unscrupulous persons have even been known to keep good

looking wives with the sole obj ect of inducing men to
commit themselves or of inveigling p rfectly innocent
people into compromising positions with them in order
e ,

to bring these remunerative accus ations against them

later Mockler Ferryman even goes so far a s to suggest
.
-

that B osia nti sent his first embassy with this object but ,

that Tutu saw through h is design and returned the com

e
p lim nt when B osia nti fell into his own trap
, Whether .

the charge was genuine or not it is now impossible to

determine but the O ffer o f a large sum in com pensation
,

and its refusal by Tutu seems opposed to the theory that

it was entirely without foundation .

Such are the accounts given of the actual exciting

causes o f this war But another important element in its
.

production was the arrival of Europeans on the Coast

e
.

Hitherto the right Of way to the s a had been of no special

value ; but o n the arrival of traders in ships loaded with
powder guns and other merchandize dear to the heart of
e
,

th African it at once became a source Of wealth and free

,

access to it a matter o f paramount importance .

’
Before Tutu s preparations were completed B osianti
 DEFEAT O F D EN KERA

d ied and was succeeded by Intim Dak ari who as has

e e
, ,

a lr to av een u u s on
e
sai .

Th ch ange o f rulers however in no way altered h is

ee
, ,

purpose to exterminate the D nk ra s S o soon as he was .

with a great
army and defeating them in the first engagement turned
, , ,

this defeat into an absolute rout by a second battle soon

afterwards 1
The Akims who had fought on the side of
ee
.
,

the D nk ra s are said to have lost , men and one

of their principal chiefs while the total death roll for the ,
-

two actions is given as over These figures like ,

others derived from native reports are quite unreliable , ,

but the slaughter was undoubtedly very great O ther

ee
.

allies of the D nk ra s were Wassaw Sefwi Bekwai and ,

-

Sefwi A wia s u Fifteen days were occupied by the Ashanti

-
.

army in collecting and removing the plunder which was ,

of enormous value The body of the deceased B os ia nti.

was exhumed the flesh removed from the bones and t h rown
,

to serpents and the skull and thigh bones carried O ff as

,
-

trophies I ntim Dakari whose prosperity was of im

.
,

portance to the Dutch at Elmina who obtained large ,

quantities of gold and numbers O f slaves from h is country ,

had been assisted in this struggle by the loan of three

small cannon Whether or not this artillery played any
.

part in either of the battles is unknown ; but the guns

now fell into the hands o f the Ashantis who carried them ,

to Kumasi where they were set up as trophies and stood

, , ,

until quite recently in an open space near the King s palace

,
1 ’
,

which was known as The Place of Cannon

“
.

A ) this war the Ashantis made yet another capture

and one that was destined to play an important part in
,

later history This was a Note or agreement for the

.

payment Of a monthly sum by the Dutch at Elmina as

ground rent for the land on which their forts stood I t
-
.

had originally been made payable to the Chief of Elmina ,

Bo sm
According to th e Ash a ntis I ntim D a ka ri was ta ke n pris o ne
1
an .

he
be ade d He e de
1

was s u cce
, r a nd
d b y B oa d u Aku fu wh o wa s a l so pu t to
a th l a te
de
.
,

Two a re no w o u ts id e
th e O fficers M e
r .

ss in K u m a s i
1 ’
.
19 8 TH E EARLY H I STO RY O F ASHANTI

but had subsequently fallen into the hands of the K o m ndas e ,

from whom it passed to the King o f Denkera wh o had since ,

received regular payment The King of Ashanti now

.

claimed it by right of conquest and as the Dutch were, ,

quite indi fferent who received the money it was thence ,

forth paid to him This arrangement naturally implied

.

an admission on the part of the Dutch that the Ashantis

had a right to the ground on which their castle stood and , ,

although it could not be foreseen at the time this admission ,

became of great importance in later years and gave rise

to a great deal of trouble This payment of ground rent
.
-

to the chiefs or headmen of the towns in which f ts were

built was a general practice all along the Coast
ee
.

Before this disaster overtook them the D nk ra s had ,

been the richest and most powerful o f all the tribes near
the coast and a constant menace to the safety and in
dependence o f their neighbours wh o had therefore been
, , ,

only too pleased to see the Ashantis attack them and

rej oiced at their overthrow The Akims alone seem to
.

h ave realized that it might be to the interest o f the coast

tribes to keep so powerful and ambitious a nation as the
Ashantis from extending their kingdom far ther south
ee
.

They had therefore gone to the support of the D nk ras

, , ,

and not only shared their losses but now brought down ,

upon themselves the wrath of the conquerors also The .

Ashantis at once invaded Ak im and gained such a decisive

,

victory soon after crossing the border that the Akim s sued
for peace This was granted on condition that Akim
.

became feudatory to Ashanti and paid bendas of

gold ( equivalent to currency or sterling)
as a war indemnity Two Akim chiefs K a kra m si and
“
.
,
”
Aj umako , took fetish and were handed over to the
Ashantis as security for this sum before the army withdrew
to Kumasi .

The conditions of this peace however were never , ,

observed Some say that the King o f Akim tried to evade

.

payment of the indemnity others that his principal chiefs

refused to agree to the terms or to pay their sh ar e threaten ,

ing to destool him if he did not again lead them against

2 00 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F ASHANTI

whisper According to Reindorf the disaster at th Pra

.
, e
occurred on a Monday and is commemorated by the first ,

half of this oath only The complete oath according to

.
,

e
him unites two oaths for he says the second half refers
,

to the death o f O s ai Bonsu ( Tutu Kwam ina ) Th re .

are valid reasons however for asserting that this ex

, ,

planation is incorrect and that that already given is the

true on e .

’
After the King s death the main army returned to
.
,

Kuma si bringing many prisoners to be sacrificed at his

,

funeral custom A terribl v engeance was wreaked on

. e
Akrom a nti which was b u rned t o the ground and every
,

living thing in it even to the sheep and fowls killed

e
, , .

Tutu besides conquering Denkera and Tu f l had also

, ,

subdued Kwa hu and A ss in and a large tract o f country

beyond the Ri v er Tano He was succeeded in 1 7 3 i by .

h is younger brother O p oku Wari .

While these ev ents had been happening in A shanti

e
,

s everal oth rs had occurred o n the coas t O n Sunday .

the 4th of September 1 7 0 1 the A nam ab os rose against the

English Great numbers of them came down to the fort
.

and succeeded in breaking Open the outer spur gate and

e
-
, ,

having s t fire to the outbuildings and corn room directed -

,

a hea vy fusillade against the fort itself They were unable .

to withstand the fire o f the guns however and were at , ,

length dri ven Off During the night the English retaliated
e
.

by setting fir to the town which was almost entirely ,

destroyed This little war l as t ed for twenty two days and

.
-
,

the Factor and some of his men were s o roughly handled

that t hey fled to Cape Coast in nothing but their shirts .

Finally the King of Saboe at the request of the A nam abos , ,

undertook to act as mediator and a truce was agreed to by ,

which the An am ab os guaranteed to make good the damage

they had done to the fort and gave hostages for its due ,

performance The Dutch were freely accused of having

.

assisted the people in this a ffair by supplyin g them with

powder but whether they had really done so or not is not
,

very clear Peace had not long been restored when the
.

A nam abos began to be as t roublesome and turbulen t as

 F O RT J O I NVI LLE

ever being encouraged in their outbreaks by the captains

,

e
of some of the ten per cent ships - -
.

I n J une 1 7 0 1 Fath r Godfrey Loyer a J acobine of ,

Rennes in Brittany arrived at Assini where a mission had

, ,

been established as early as December 1 6 8 7 by Father

Go nsa lv z e
but the Father left in charge by him had died
a few years later and the place had since been neglected .

Loyer on his arrival chose a site on a narrow peninsula

, ,

on the east bank of the River Tano and having entered , ,

1
into an alliance with the local Chief built a small fort ,

there I t was a very insignificant place composed of a

.
,

curtain and two half bastions terraced with earth on the

—

inside I t was built of palisades about ten or twelve

.

feet high and had no ditch Each bastion mounted four .

three pounder guns and a few patereros

-
Behind these .

frail defences there were a few huts used as quarters and

some very small storehouses for the goods and provisions
e
.

The ships after landing a few men to garrison the p la c

,

and a very scanty supply of ammunition and provisions ,

returned to France promising to bring out further supplies

,

within eight or ten months This promise however was

.
, ,

never fulfilled and the Settlement was forgotten for four

,

years so that the garrison w as soon reduced to great

,

straits and the news o f its weakness combined with the

, ,

fear that the French might gain to o much ascendancy over

the people then brought the Dutch down from Elmina to
,

attack them .

William de la Palma the Dutch Director General having,

-
,

first made an unsuccessful attempt to induce the A ssinis

to desert the French or at any rate to remain neutral, ,

sailed for the place with four ships The fleet anchored .

three leagues away o n the 4 th of November 1 70 2 and

e
, ,

on the following day o n ship flying French colours stood

,

in and anchored close to the fort which she saluted with ,

three guns This salute was repeated at intervals through

.

o u t the day but without eliciting any response from the

,

garrison O n the fourth salute however the fort fired

e
,
.
,

on gun and hoisted the French flag to oblige the vessel if

a rs a t a ny ra tewas kno wn as Fort J oinvill e

r ye
Th is fo rt in l a te
,
‘
1 — —
.
202 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F ASHANTI

sh ewere really French to send a boat ashore ; and the

,

Dutchman finding further concealment impossible at

, ,

once rej oined the squadron I n the meantime the Governor .

,

had been renewing his e fforts to corrupt the A ssinis who , ,

however had been told by the French that they expected

,

eight or nine ships very shortly and therefore stood firm .

Their obstinacy so exasperated the Dutch that they poured

a few broadsides into them and the whole fleet then sailed ,

down and anchored O ff the fort on the afternoon o f the

1 1 th .

e
The A ssinis now went to the French advising them to ,

defend themselves vigorously with their guns and leave

the rest to th m as they would undertake to prevent the
,
’
landing of any Dutch troops At eight o clock o n the .

morning of the i 3 th the Dutch moved still closer in and

,

the fort opened fire on them The French did enormous .

damage to the Dutch ships and the flagship soon had to ,

draw out of the line to effect repairs but they were so

short of ammunition and supplies o f all kinds that they
h a d very little hope o f ultimate success in fact they were ,

already reduced to their last two barrels o f powder which ,

they decided to reserve for use with their small arms .

I n the meantime the ships had kept up an incessant fire

,

o n the fort wit h crossbar shot firing over a thousand -

,

rounds but had done very little damage At two o clock

,
.
’
,

however one of t h ese shots knocked over a hive of bees

,

in the fort and the infuriated insects at once brought about

,

more than all the Dutch bombardment had been able to

effect and compelled the garrison to quit the place The .

Dutch seeing them run o u t concluded that they were

, ,

abandoning it and sent s ix canoes ashore to land fifty

men But the French in the meantime had r entered e
e
-
,
.
,

the fort through o n of the embrasures towards the river

where they could not be seen by the enemy and no sooner ,

had the Dutch landed than they were furiously attacked

by the A s sinis wh o had been lying concealed behind some
,

bushes Nine o f the Dutch fled to the fort crying for

.

quarter two more were taken prisoners and the whole

, ,

of the rem ainder including the officer in command were

, ,
2 04 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F ASHANTI

possession of J ohn Conny the local Chief whos village lay

, , e
about three miles to westward of the fort and he then ,

carried on such little trade as the place still afforded and

used to charge all ships that called to water there an
ounce of gold for the privilege I t is uncertain whether as.
,

some allege the Brandenburgers merely vacated the fort

,

and J ohn Conny then appropriated it or whether they ,

actually handed it over to him as he himself averred , .

Probably the true facts of the case were that the Branden
burgers h aving failed to effect a sale before they left
e
, ,

installed the Chief as caretaker pending further n gotia

tions for it is hardly likely that if they had already had ,

o ffers for the place they would have been ready to abandon
,

all claim to it and when they themselves vacated it there

,

would h ave been no one else in whose charge they could

so conveniently h ave left it .

A s Sir Dalby Thomas had foreseen it was not long ,

before the Dutch began scheming to gain possession of this

fort I n 1 7 2 0 Governor Bullier of Elmina collected what
.

men he could spare from his garrison and sailing down in

ee
,

t h ree ships anchored off Groot Fr d ricksb u rg which he

, ,

claimed on the ground that the Dutch h a d purchased it

from its former owners There is little doubt that this
.

assertion had no foundation in fact J ohn Conny at any ,

rate did not believe it and refused to surrender the place

, ,
.

He challenged the Dutch to produce the deed of sale and ,

added that the Brandenburgers could at most only have

sold the guns and the materials of which the fort was built ,

for the ground o n which it stood was not theirs to dispose

of but belonged to him ;
,
that during the time of their
occupation they had always paid him rent for it and that ,

he was not prepared to renew the lease to any other nation .

This answer s o disappointed and enraged the Dutch that

they landed a party of forty men under a lieutenant to
take the place by force They fired one volley without
.

doing any damage and were then furiously attacked by

,

the Chief and his men who charged down upon them from
,

behind the houses and cut the whole party to pieces The .

heads of the Dutchmen were afterwards cut o ff and J ohn ,

 J O H N C O N NY

paved a little pathway leading to the door of h is hous e

with their skulls but kept the largest to be mounted in
e
,

silver and used as a punch bowl According to th -

.

Chevalier de Marchais the D u tch had a total of 1 5 6 men ,

killed and their Go v ernor wounded in this encounter .

He further says that after they had returned to Elmina ,

Conny o ffered the place to Captain Morel of the French

‘

e
ship R och fort which happened to be there a t the time .

A treaty was signed and preparations were made to leave

s ix men with a French flag as a temporary garrison until

the Settlement could be placed on a proper footing ; but

as Morel was returning to the ship his nose began to ,

bleed which he regarded as such a bad omen that the

,

proj ect was at once abandoned .

A ye ar later on the 7 th of J une 1 7 2 1 two English

, ,

men of war the S wa llow Captain Chaloner O gle and the

e
- -
, , ,

W ym ou th both fifty gun ships that had been sent ou t to

,
-

look for pirates anchored Off the fort and landed a party
,

to get fresh water A man soon arrived with J ohn Conny s

.
’

stick to demand the customary payment o f an ounce of

gold but this was refused and the messenger himself
,

treated with scant courtesy N ext morning J ohn himself .

came down with some of his men and took ten or a dozen
of the seamen prisoners while the Officer in charge of the ,

p arty got his head broken as he was trying to explain the

di fference between a King s ship and others J ohn s ’
.
’

reply was By God me King here not only for my water

, , , ,
" 1
but the trouble has been given me in collecting it He .

quite understood however that the seamen had to obey

, ,

their orders and did not blame them but treated them
e
, ,

remarkably well I n th end the dispute was settled by

.

the payment of six ounces of gold and an anker of brandy

to the Chief as compensation J ohn Atkins a naval sur .
,

geon who wrote an account of this voyage describes how

2
,

he and some other officers s ubsequently paid J ohn a visit .

He received his guests o n the beach with a guard of honour

of twenty or thirty men and then led the way to his house , ,

which had been built from some of the materials o f the

Astle I n A stle
y s Colle
’
1
y v ol ii p 449, .
,
ction
. .
1
.
2 06 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F AS HANTI

fort and contained three good rooms one of whic h was ,

used as an armoury besides courtyards and out buildings ,

-
.

The officers asked J ohn what had become of the Dutch

men s skulls and were told that about a mont h befor
’
, e
their ships arrived he had put all malice aside and packing ,

the skulls in a chest with some brandy t obacco and

e
,

other articles for the u s of the spirits had buried them , .

The j aw bones however were still kept strung on a cord

-
, ,

hanging from a tree in the courtyard where they saw them , .

I t was not until 1 7 2 5 that J ohn Conny was finally driven

ou t by the Dutch who then came down with a large force ,

and laying siege to the place ultimately compelled him to

, ,

fly to Fantin Theyrenamed it H ollandia Fort . .

About 1 7 2 1 the English Governor Mr Phipps built a , .

, .

circular tower on a hill overlooking Cape Coast and mounted

it with seven guns I t was surrounded by a dry ditch and
e
.

a palisade Here a small garrison was kept for the doubl

e
.

purpose of overawing the inhabitants and defending th

1
town in case of need from an inland enemy Ellis says .

this tower which for many years was known as Phipps “

,

Tower is identical with that now known as Fort William

, .

This however is an obvious error for all the descriptions

, , ,

o f the place indicate the building now called Fort Victoria .

S mith "the surveyor sent ou t by the African Com pany of

Merchants in 1 7 2 6 says this tow r and Fort Royal wer , e e
equidistant ( three quarters of a mile ) from the Castle
e
-
,

and the plan of Cape Coast 3 that he made as well as th ,

1
plate in Maj or Ricketts account of the Ashanti war of ’

1 8 2 3 2 4 plainly show Phipps Tower where Fort Victoria

’

e
—
,

e
stands on a hill to the north west of the Castle near th
,
-

lagoon I n a lett r dated S un Court March 2 3 1 8 3 8

.
, ,

moreover the African Committee wrote

, We have to
support Cape Coast Castle ( Phipps Tower and King ’

”5
’
William s Tower keeps of the Castle ) with a lighthous , , e
on the latter and Webster s view o f Cape Coast published ’
, .

1
Ellis His tory of the
Astle
, Gold Coa s t p 9 3 , . .

Astle
1

y v ol ii p l ate
y v o l ii p 602 S m ith p 1 2 7
S m ith D rafts of Gu ine
, .
, .
, . .

R icke
, 65 .
, a No 20 , , . .

Parliam entary Pa e
tts p 9 6
p r We s t Coas t of A fri e
, . .

5
d
part 11 p 1 5 5 , , .
20 8 TH E EARLY H ISTO RY O F AS HANTI

for the upkeep of '

e
the Company s forts ; thirdly that it
e
,

was n c ssary that

_
these forts should be maintained and
fourthly that Parli ament should grant an allowance for
,

this purpose This allowance wa s fixed at

e
a year
e
.
,

a nd the Comp a ny wa s thus enabl d to continue in x is

tence .
 CHAPTER X I I

THE S E C O ND A N G L O DUT C H W A R -

1 73 1 To 1 80 3

D U R IN G the period of gloom and inaction that immediately

followed the death o f O sai Tutu Assi m and Denkera , ,

encouraged by the successful resistance that had been

offered by the Akims had revolted and j oined them and
e e
, ,

it was O s ai O p oku s first care to r s u b du these tribes and

’

restore the power of Ashanti to its former position To .

this end Akim was once more invaded and together with ,

As sin utterly reduced

,
after which Denkera was also
reoccupied With the conquest of Ak im some additi onal
.

Notes came into the hands of the Ashantis These .

were the Notes for the Accra forts and Christiansborg

Castle which had originally been issued to the local Chiefs
,

by the English Dutch and Danes but had subsequently

, ,

been captured by the Akims .

Dagomba Gonj a and Brong were next invaded They

,
.

were defeated in the first engagement and soon found that , ,

in spite of their superior numbers and some slight successes

obtained by their cavalry they were handicapped by want ,

of firearms and had no hope of ultim a te victory Their

e
.

trade moreover wa s b ing ruined by the war and peace was

, , ,

therefore made upon these tribes giving an undertaking

to pay a yearly tribute to Kumasi I n this campaign the .

Ashanti army first crossed the Volta at Krachi and , ,

having subdued Dagomba and Gonj a recrossed it at ,

Yej i which at once submitted

, Though Prang offered .

some feeble resistance it wa s quickly subdued b ut when

,

Dawia the King of A ttab u b u was summoned to ack now

, ,

1— 14
 TH E SEC O N D ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

ledge the suzerainty of Kumasi he refused and was killed , ,

in the engagement that followed J aman B u rom i I nta

e e
.
, ,

and T kim a n were soon afterwar ds reduced For th

e
.

purpose of the war against Amio the King of T kim a n

e
,

Op oku ent red into an alliance with Bafu Pim the King
of I nkora nz a which w a s really a Brong kingdom
,
This .

alliance was afterwards continued and the Ashantis thereby ,

gained by diploma cy what they could otherwise only have

obtained by force for from b ing Ea n ally I nkoranza
, ,
e '

gradually became an Ashanti province

e
.

Op oku now enacted a n w code o f laws but as these

had a tendency to diminish the individual power of the
Chiefs and to convert the government from an aristocracy
into a personal de spotism the latter began to intrigue ,

against him and a dangerous conspiracy was quickly

,

formed News of this reached O poku who fled by night

.
, ,

to J abin where he tried to convene a meeting for the

,

discussion and settlement o f the dispute Some of his .

enemies however had already taken action and were in

, ,

Open ar med rebellion s o that he too wa s compelled to

, , ,

collect his adherents and oppose force with force The

e
.

rebels were utterly defeated near Dink nni and the King ,

then returned to Kumasi where the friends of those ,

conspirators who had escaped the slaughter interceded on

their behalf and ultimately ob tained their pardon O poku .

did not long survive these events but in 1 74 2 was taken , , ,

suddenly ill while sitting in the Council and expired as his

attendants were removing him .

Op oku was succeeded by ano t her brother O sai Kwesi

e e
, ,

also known at Kwesi Bodom whose nstoolm nt was made

e
,

conditional on the r vocation of the obnoxious laws and

the restoration of the old constitution Early in his reign .

Akim Bu rom i and Kwahu rebelled at the instigation of the

,

King of Da h om i who promised to send an army to their

,

support They mobilized their forces in Kwahu near the

.
,

Volta expecting that the Da h om is would soon cross the

,

river and j oin them Kwesi however fell upon and utterly
.
, ,

defeated them before their preparations were completed

or their allies had arrived The Kings of B u rom i and .
 TH E SEC O N D ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

1 7 8 1 1 8 03
-
some arrangement whereby the heir to the stool should
ca n . "I I usually have reached years of discretion Had the reigning .

mon arch been killed in battle and the stool descended

to his son a long regency might Often have been involved
,

whereas by adopting a law of succession through the

,

brothers and nephews this risk was reduced to a minimum

, .

In the absence of a brother therefore the heir apparent ,

-

is the King s sister s son or next relative traceable through

’ ’

the female line and on the death of O sai Kwesi his nephew
,

Kuj o succeeded to the stool .

Several of the dependent provinces had taken advantage

o f the war with Banda and the subsequent illness and

death of the King to avoid payment of the customary

tribute and O sai Kuj o now sent to demand it They first
,
.

tried to excuse themselves on the ground that the late

King s death had prevented their receiving a share of any
’

plunder that might have been obtained in the war in which

they had fought under him ; but finding that payment ,

would be enforced the King of J aman openly revolted and

,

was quickly joined by those of Denkera Wassaw and

e
,

Tu f l and by some auxiliary cavalry from Ko ng and Gofan

e
.

Th struggle that followed taxed the resources of the

Ashantis to the utmost Twice the King invaded J aman
.
,

only to be driven back with heavy loss He then returned .

to Kumasi to consult the Fetish ; but finding the omens

still favourable at once led a third expeditio n against the
,

enemy and gained a complete victory Great numbers of .

prisoners were brought back to Kumasi where all the ,

principal rebels were sacrificed but their children and the ,

women were spared to make good the heavy losses that

had been incurred by the army Those adults who .

escaped sacrifice and many of the women were sent to the

, ,

great slave mart at Mansu where they were sold to the

,

coast brokers to be afterwards transported to the West

I ndies Ex peditions were then sent to confirm the sub
e
.

j ctio n of Banda Wassaw Akim and Akwapim The

, , .

subj ugation of J aman had laid Open all the country beyond
to the attack of the Ashantis wh o might now have pushed ,

their frontier for ward in this direction for an immense

 RE IGN o r O SAI KU J O

distance had the King cared to follow up h is victory but

,

he contented himself with merely accepting the oaths of

submission of the Chiefs in the immediate neighbourhood ,

e
and then returned to Kumasi During t his reign a civil .

war broke out between Mampon and J abin in which th ,

latter was defeated The two Kings were then sent for
.

by O sai Kuj o who inquired into the dispute and gave

,

j udgment in favour of Mampon Sefwi was also s u bj u .

gated at about this time and its King Buman Kuma ( or ,

A birim oro ) killed , .

A new king now came to the throne of B ak omi and , ,

seeing the rapid extension of the Ashanti Empire a nd the

steady growth of its power seems to have been afraid ,

another attempt might soon be made to avenge the defeat

of O sai Kwesi H e therefore sent a friendly embassy to
.

Kumasi to announce his accession and bear presents and

a complimentary message to the Ashanti king These .

ambassadors were well entertained and the compliment

was soon afterwar ds returned by the despatch o f a similar
mission to the court at A b om i According to Cruikshank .
,

it was during K u j o s reign that the first mention of Ashanti

’

occurred in the records at Cape Coast Castle O n the ro th .

of J uly 1 7 6 5 and again in 1 7 6 7 and 1 7 7 2 the Council took

, ,

into consideration the probability of hostilities arising

between the Ashantis and Fantis and in 1 7 6 7 asked for ,

men of war to be stationed o n the Coast until a ffairs

- —
'

became more settled They feared that if the Ashantis .

proved victorio us their Settlements might be endangered ,

while should the Fantis conquer it was expected that the

, ,

Company s trade would be ruined

’
.

O sai Kuj o was now getting very old and infirm and
seldom left the palace This gave rise to false reports of .

h is death which encouraged the A ssins Akims and Akwa

, ,

pims once more to revolt and they now sent insulting and ,

defiant messages to Kumasi Kuj o sent ordering them .

to keep the peace but they murdered h is messengers and

,

derisively threatened to march to the capital and place

one of their women slaves on the stool She they said .
, ,

would soon reduce the haughty Ashanti Chiefs to a more

2 14 TH E SEC O N D ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

becoming state of humility and subj ection Great prepara .

tions were at once made for war but before they cou ld
be completed O sai Kuj o died in 1 7 8 1 and was succeeded ,

by his great nephew K w am ina who w as a mere boy still

-
,

in his teens .

I n the meantime the annual allowance that had been

,

voted by Parliament to the Royal African Company in

1 7 3 0 had been regularly paid down to the year 1 7 4 7 when ,

nothing was granted ; in 1 74 4 however it had been ,

doubled on account of the wars with France and Spain ,

and the payments had since been regular ly made Al

e
.

though these grants were very insu flici nt they and some ,

improvement in the trade that followed the French war

enabled the Company to hold out until 1 7 5 0 when an Act ,

was passed by which the Charter lands forts and other , ,

property of the Royal African Company were surrendered ,

1
after due compensation and vested in a new company
e
,

called the African Company o f Merchants The n w .

company continued to receive an allowance o f from

to a year from Parliament for the main
e e
t na nc o f its forts and its membership was Open to all
,

British merchants on payment o f a fee of £2 .

During the Seven Years War in 1 7 5 7 the French made

, ,

an unsuccessful attempt to capture Cape Coast Castle

e
.

The enemy s fleet which consisted of two ships of th line

’
,

and a large frigate was commanded by De Kersaint and

, ,

immediately on its arrival the Governor Mr Charles Bell , .

,

collected about fifty E uropeans from the vessels then on

the Coast to reinforce his garrison and mounted a f w , e
extra guns on a temporary battery The to wnspeople also .

raised a force of 1 2 00 men When the French fleet opened

, .

fire the Castle guns immediately replied and poured so

, ,

well directed and steady a fire into the enemy s ships

-
’

that after an action that only lasted two hours they were
, ,

driven o ff and sailed away to the West I ndies without

having been able to do any material damage to the fortress .

The long continuance of the war however prevented the , ,

usual supplies reaching the Coast and the garrison would

Th e nt o f its d e
pa ym e
,

1
bts a m ou nting to
,
 TH E SEC O N D AN GLO DUTC H WAR -

about in the following manner thr ee children were born

to him all o f whom were deaf mutes which so puzzled him
,
-
,

that he inquired of everyone what could be the explanation

of such a misfortune Finally he wa s told after giving
.
,

assurances that he would not be displeased if the real reason

were made known to him that the affliction had been ,

caused by the Fetish as a punishment for h is cruel govern

e
ment and that even worse calamities would follow if he
,

p rsisted in his present line of conduct This alarming .

statement had such an effect on Kwashi that he thereafter

go verned his people in the mildest manner and never
failed to consult h is Chiefs and be guided by them in
every matter of importance .

O n the death o f Kwashi there was no heir in the direct

,

line of succession ( brother or nephew ) and his eldest son ,

Suki was therefore chosen K ing but was at once opposed ,

by his younger brother A na h om a who compelled him to ,

’
fly to the forest A na h om a s adherents however deserted
.
, ,

h im soon afterwards and j oined the forces under Suki who ,

then advanced against the usurper A na h om a finding .

,

himself without men and unable to make any further

resistance threw all his gold and valuables into the lagoon
, ,

and collecting h is wives and family took them into the ,

forest where he killed all but one s o n whom he spared to

, ,

help him in burying the bodies This done he committed .

,

suicide or as some say compelled this son to shoot him

, , , .

Suki afterwards discovered where the bodies were buried

and caused them to be exhumed and brought down to the
e
beach where they were s t u p in a long row supported by
,

stakes This ghastly spectacle was left a s a warning to

.

all rebels until the bodies were finally disintegrated A .

little later the people disgusted by the acts o f Suki

, ,

killed him and all Kwa sh i s children with the exception of

’
,

two of the deaf mutes wh o still surv ived but were deemed
-
,

incapable of intriguing to disturb the peace of the kingdom .

The stool was then given to an old man wh o acted as regent , .

O n the 2 0th of December 1 7 8 0 England declared war

o n H olland and a few months later early in 1 8 1 an u n
, 7 , ,

successful attempt was m ade to capture Elmina The plan .

 ENGLISH ATTAC K ELMI NA

of operations comprised a simultaneous attack by sea and

land The ships were to bombard the Castle whi le the
.

troops stormed Fort Conra a d sb u rg The naval force

ee
.

consisted of H M S L a nd r a fifty gun ship under Captain

. . .
,
-

Shirley and a slo op of war while the troops were com

e
, ,

m and d by Captain Mackenzie and numbered between 400

and 5 00 men of whom 3 0 0 were natives and the remainder

,

soldiers in the service of the Company of Merchants and

seamen wh o had been landed from the warships to assist
them The plan failed miserably for want of co operation
.
-

between the two commanders which must be attributed ,

either to gross lack of j udgment or more probably to

jealousy Captain Mackenzie received no support whatever
.

from the men of war while he was making h is attack

- -

o n Fort Co nra a d sb u rg and this naturally destroyed his ,

chances of success and he was driven back I t was only .

after h is defeat that Captain Shirley began to bomb ard

the Castle and was in turn repulsed The Dutch had a
,
.

decided advantage in being able to devote their whole

attention to each party singly though it is doub t ful if the ,

English force was really strong enough to have captured

such a fortress as Elmina even had the original plan been ,

carried o u t .

But though they were worsted at Elmina the English

e
,

got the best of the Dutch in several other places I n th .

following year 1 7 8 2 H M S A rgo arrived on the Coast and

, ,
. . .
,

thus reinforced Captain Shirley captured the Dutch forts

,

at Mori Apam Kormantin and Beraku all of which were

, , ,

very poorly garrisoned and o ffered but a feeble resistance ,

while Governor Mills assisted by fifty men from the A rgo

ee
, ,

took Fort Vredenburg at Komenda The ships then sailed .

down to Accra to attack Fort Cr ve Ca u r A determined .

and prolonged resistance was o ffered by the Dutch Accras ,

while the fort was bombarded by the ships and J ames Fort .

I n the end the Accras were driven into the bush but it is ,

uncertain whether the fort itself was ever taken Pre .

s u m ab ly it must have fallen after the flight o f the Accras ,

and Meredith distinctly states that it was captured .

Reindorf on the other hand says that the garrison had

, ,
 TH E SEC O N D ANGLO D UTCH WAR -

1 7 3 1 1 8 03
— been greatly reduced o n account of the war in Europe ,

ca n . x 1 i and that only the Commandant and a few native soldiers

remained Reinforcements from Winneba and other

.

places were drafted into British Accra and strongly

advised the people of the Dutch town to leave the place
instead of attempting to oppose the English They how .
,

ever were determined to defend the fort and collected as

, ,

large a force as possible from Teshi Ningo and other towns , ,

while the people of Christiansborg being Danish subj ects

ee
, ,

had of course to remain neutral He says that while the .

ships and Fort J ames bombarded Fort Cr ve Co ur a ,

battle was fought on the grou nd between the two forts

between the marines and English allies and the pe 0p 1e of
the Dutch town and their allies The fighting lasted from
.

dawn till dusk for twenty four days until the Dutch
-
,

Accras at length became so exhausted and so short of

ammunition that they were compelled to relinq u ish the
e
struggle and retired to th bush According to this writer
.
,

the fort was never taken though it su ffered considerable

,

damage from the bombardment The only success scored .

by the Dutch during this war was the capture of the English
fort at Sekondi which they completely destroyed
e
.
,

Captain K nith Macken zie an officer commanding an

,

I ndependent Company in the service of the Company of

Merchants was Commandant of Fort Nassau at Mori
,

while it was in the possession of the English this was the

same Captain Mackenzie wh o had led the attack against
Fort Conra a dsb u rg in 1 7 8 1 The garrison at Mori as
.
,

at the other English posts consisted largely o f convicts

,

who had been sent out to serve in the Company s forces ’

o n the Gold Coast and the proportion of these to volunteers

e
,

was as six teen to fiv Among these convicts was a man

e e
.

named K nith Murray Mackenzi a nephew of the ,

Com mandant who had formerly been a drummer in the

,

3 rd Regiment of Foot Guards but having on at least three

e
,

occasions been sentenced to death for robbery and r

prieved and indicted for several other burglaries and
,

thefts and acquitted through non appearance o f the -

prosecution he had eventually been transported to Africa

,
 TH E S EC O N D ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

and within an hour of his surrender caused him to be ,

executed without any form o f trial whatever He was

e
.

seated in one of the embrasures in front of a load d gun ,

and his hands and legs were then made fast to it above and
below O ne o f the men read par t of the burial service to
.

him and Captain Mackenz ie after producing his own

, ,

nigh tcap to be pulled over h is head gave the signal for the ,

gun to be fired The man was killed instantly and his

.
,

body which had been blown clear over the battlements

, ,

was picked up later and buried by some o the garrison f l

.

For this act Captain Mackenzie was brought to England

to take his trial at the O ld Bailey before Mr J ustice Willes
'

o n the 1 0 th of December 1 7 8 4 The rather curious ih

e e
.

dictm nt was a s follows K nith Mackenzie was indicted

e
by the name of K nith Mackenzie lat of London Esq for ,
e , .
,

that he not having the fear of God before his eyes but
, ,

being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil ,

o n the 4th day of August in the 2 2 n d year of h is present

Maj esty s reign with force o f arms at Fort Morea on the

’
, , ,

Coast of Africa in parts beyond the seas in and upon

e
, ,

K nith Murray Mackenzie feloniously wilfully and o f his , , ,

malice aforethought did make an assault and that he a , ,

certain great gun called a cannon value 2os then and

e
.
, , ,

there charged with gunpowder and o n iron ball did dis ,

charge and shoot off to against and upon the said

e
, , , ,

K nith Murray Mackenzie and by the said iron ball so ,

shot off and discharged from the said cannon a s aforesaid ,

wilfully and of his malice aforethought did strike penetrate

e
, , ,

and wound the said K nith Murray Mackenzie giving to

e
, ,

him on the left side of the belly o n mortal wound of the

, , ,

length of six inches and of the breadth of three inches of

, ,

which he then and there instantly died and so the j urors

s ay th at he in manner and form aforesaid then and there did

e
, , ,
” 2
kill and murder him the said K nith Murray Mackenzie .

For the defence it was urged that the deceased was

a desperate ch ar acter and wa s conspiring against the
Ma cke nziereporte d th is a ct in a p ostscript to one o f h is l e
tte
th e G ove I h ave se
1

nt Murray to th e o th e
. rs to
rnor a s f o ll ows : r wo rld b y
m e a ns o f a nine
p ou nde r to a ns we
,

r for h is condu ct in th is world

”

ed T i l eh M kew
-
.

Lif an r a o fK m t ac nz , p 3 . .
 C O N CL U S I O N O F PEACE

e
accused whose lif was t hreatened and that i t was a b
e
, ,

solu t ly necessary , in v iew of the number of conv ic t s in the

garrison to make an example o f h im

, The J udge in .
,

e
summ ing up point ed ou t t hat such an execut ion without
,

trial was not in accordance with martial or any o t h r law

e e
,

but though b touched on the fact that t h re wa s a safe

,

prison at Cape Coast left t he question of j us t ification on

,

the ground of self defence to the j ury They found the

-
.

prisoner gu ilty but recommended him to mercy and he

, ,

was sentenced to dea t h H e was afterwards reprieved

.
,

partly on account of t he great gallantry that he had shown

in Guernsey when the French attacked the Channel I slands
in 1 7 7 8 but although he received His Maj esty s pardo n ’

e
for th murder he was still detained in Newgat prison
, e
to ans wer a charge of piracy which the Por t uguese am
bassa d or had lodged against him for having cu t ou t from
under the guns o f a Dutch fort a Por t uguese ship sailing
under Dutch colours The G overnment in the meantime
.

kept £ 1 worth of gold dust belonging to him until he-

gave an account of the s t ores etc that he had had in h is , .

,

charge but what e v entually became of this en t erprising

but reckless man is not known .

O n the conclusion of peace in 1 7 8 5 all the forts that

had changed hands during the A nglo Dutch war were -

restored to those wh o had held them at its commencement

ee
.

S ince the sale of Fort Fr d ricksb org to the English

in 1 6 8 5 the Danes had made no attempt to form any fresh
Settlements with the exception of a small fort t hat they
e
,

had built in 1 7 34 at Ningo about thirty fiv miles to the

ee
-
,

east of Christiansborg which they called Fri d nsb org ;,

bu t wishing now to extend t heir influence and trade which

e
,

had been greatly interf red with by continual int er tribal

- -

wars and not c a ring to risk disputes with the other Eu ro

e
,

peans they d cided to exploit the still unoccupied eastward

,

coast I n 1 7 8 4 they built a squ are fort with four bastions

.

and mounting twen t y four guns at Adda which they -

,

n am ed Konigs t ein 1 bu t before they could form any

Th efou nda tions were laid on th e 1 sth o f Octob r 1 78 3 and a ll th e e
e
ston was ta ke n by s e
1
,

a from Ch ristia ns b org .

 TH E SEC O N D ANGL O D UTCH WAR -

further Settlements on this p art o f the coast it was n c s ee

sary to subdue the A w u nas This unruly tribe had for a
.

long time been at almost constant war with the Addas .

These wars arose from a v ar iety of causes but were ,

principally due to disputes about the fishing rights of the

two tribes in the River Volta or to p a nya rring Quarrels .

had also arisen over the collection of salt in the lagoons ,

and the alliance of the Addas with the Ac cras provided

yet another cause of enmity A great war had broken out .

between the two tribes in 1 7 5 0 and lasted for many years .

The Addas had then been assisted by the Ak ims and

Akwapims and had eventually overcome the A wu na s The
,
.

latter however had taken the two Kings prisoners and

, , ,

i t was not until 1 7 6 7 that peace had been made and the

royal captives ransomed The A wu na s had again as

.

sumed the o ffensive in 1 7 7 6 and the sl a ughter during this

,

war had been appalling more t h a n half the population

,

being killed The Danes therefore determined to make a

e
.

great e ffort to crus h these people onc and for all and in
e
,

1 7 8 3 an army raised by Maj or K iog in Christiansborg and

Accra and reinforced by Addas Akwapims and others ,
, , ,

w a s sent across the Volta fo r this purpose The Awu nas .

were defeated and a treaty wa s concluded on the 1 8 th of

,

J une 1 7 84 by which they agreed to the erection of a fort

at Kitta and factories elsewhere in their country and ,

guaranteed the safety of traders By virtue o f this .

treaty a fort which had already been begun at Kitta was

completed and occupied the same year and named Prinz en
stein I t mounted eight brass three pou nders The Danes
.
-
.

also built a redoubt called A u gu s ta b org at Teshi in 1 7 8 7

and mounted it with sixteen guns .

Fort Vernon at Prampram was built by the English

at about the same time I t soon fell into ruins however
.
,

and a second building that was raised on the same site in

1 8 06
, being built with more haste th a n care was soon in ,

a similar condition .

The Danes devoted a great deal of attention to agricu l

ture and had several excellent plantations O ne at the .

foot of the Akwapim Mountains was known a s Fredericks

 TH E S EC O N D ANGL O D UTCH WAR -

army being m arched down to the coast sent messeng rs , e

to O sai K wa m ina begging him to refuse ; but they met
with no success and found the Ashantis making great
preparations for war Governor B iorn however was
e
.
, ,

succeeded by Andreas Hammer wh o was rather diflid nt ,

about entangling himself in any such alliance and sent

2 5 0 ounces o f gold to purchase the return of the army ,

which was already on its way to the Coast The despatch .

of these messengers to O sai K wam ina constitutes the first

record of any intercourse between the English and the
Ashanti Court .

O sai K wam ina wh o was t he most merciful of all the

,

Ashanti Kings now became the victim o f a conspiracy

,

amongst h is o wn Chiefs which soon after wards led to his

,

destoolment He is believed to have been secretly con

e
.

verted to the Ma h om d a n faith and to have meditated the

introduction of the Koranic law into h is kingdom B ow .

dich further asserts that he neglected all the a ffairs of

state for not less than twelve months while he stayed at
J abin paying h is attentions to the King s daughter Gyawa ’
,

with whom he was infatuated Towards the end of his.

reign he prohibited a great many of the customary human

sacrifices reserving this rite almost exclusively for use
,

at funeral customs and these innovations combined with ,

the fear of what else he might do in the future led the ,

Chiefs to depose him in 1 7 9 7 H e was given a few of his

.

wives and slaves and sent into retirement in the bush ,

where he was put to death a few years later at his own

request and by the following peculiar method His feet .

were made fast to the ground and he was then bent ,

backwards over a prop on which his body rested while ,

’
some heavy elephant s tusks were hung by a cord from his
neck and strangled him These strange means were
.

adopted in order to a v oid the unlawful shedding of royal

blood .

Kwam ina was succeeded by his brother O sai Op oku I I .

H e was almost immediately involved in another war with

the J am ans wh o at the instigation of Kong had seized the
, , ,
’
opportunity of the late King s deposition to rebel pre ,
 ACCE SS I O N O F TUTU KWA MI NA

tending t hat t hey wished to r store him to the s t ool and

threat ening to march to Kumasi for t his purpose Th
e . e
J am ans were j oined by a large army from Kong and , ,

crossing the Ri ver Tano invaded Ashant i t erri t ory , .

Opoku at first acted o n the defensive b ut on being joined ,

by the tribu t ary forces from Jabin I nkora nza and Banda , ,
”
gav e battle on the banks o f the river near B arb anou
e
.

Th engagement lasted for several days bu t the J am ans ,

were ev entu ally defeat ed although their army is sai d to ,

have outnumbered the As hanti force by four to one .

This war with J aman lasted altogether for fifteen months ,

and great numbers of prisoners and large qu antities of

plunder were brought back to Kumasi the Mah om da n , e
prisoners alone numbering over Op oku did not
long survive t his victory but died in 1 7 9 9 after a lingering
,

illness which was com monly attributed to the practice of

witchcraft by the deposed King H e was succeeded in .

1 800 by a third brother O sai Tutu K wam ina also know , n ,

as Asibi or Bonsu t he greatest ruler who ever sat upon

the Ashant i stool
e
.

From some correspondence in o n of the old , but u n

fortunately very incomplete letter books a t Christiansborg ,
-

Castle it appears that the French had formed a small

,

Settlement by about 1 7 8 8 at a place not far from Anamabo ,

the name of which is give n as Amoku The French Com .

mandant s name was Mou gin and he had a surgeon with

'
,

him named Mallat but the vessel that had brought them
to the Coast had evidently left them with stores for only a
short time and no more were sent o u t probably o wing to
, ,

the wars that followed the French Revolution Go v ernor

e
.

Dalz l was o f course most anx ious to turn o u t these

'

, ,

intruders but though prisoners were occasionally taken

,

and deserters sometimes gave themselves up at Anamabo

he did not feel strong enough with the small forc at his , e ,

command to a t tack them

, .

In J une 1 79 4 however negotiations were opened with

, ,

Am onu Kuma the King of Anamabo for the neutrali ty

’

, ,

of t he Fantis and he was told that the whole Fanti nation

,

would be held responsible for any hostile act commit t ed

1— 15
 TH E SEC O N D ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

against the English or Dutc h troops that were to be sent

against Amoku while the payment of a monthly subsidy
e
,

to the Amoku Chiefs was suggested if t h ey too would sid

against the French These negotiations secured the
e
.

neutrality of the Fantis but those with the A m oku s wer

evidently abortive for on the 1 sth of J une Mr Gordon
,
.
,

the Commandant of Anamabo reported to the Governor ,

that the Commandant of the French Settlement answered

the Summons last night wherein he says that he is of
e
, ,

th old Constitution in France and that not h aving received

e
,

any Supplies from Europe for four years and a half h ,

would surrender but the Natives will not permit him

, ,
’

adding that as a Royalist he had hoisted the Wh ite Flag

,

of France . The Governor replied that the question

wheth er the French were Royalists or Democrats did not
affect his demand for the surrender and destruction of th e
Settlement since it had been built on British soil and in
,
’
defiance of the Company s treaties with the Fantis but ,

that if they could prove themselves Royalists their persons

a n d property would be protected .

The French at this time were in great straits and the

e
,

opposition of th A m o ku s to their departure was due to

t h eir being heavily in debt to them At o n time indeed . e , ,

they were so reduced that they sent to Anamabo begging

to be allowed to buy four ackies worth of biscuit A littl e
e
.

biscuit all that there was in store was sent them and th
— —

gold returned After the negotiations had dragged on

e
.

for several months it was eventually agreed that th

,

French should surrender themselves at Anamabo with

any property they could save and be subsisted by the ,

Governor at Cape Coast until he could procure them a

passage to the West I ndies t h at they should be treated
as loyal subj ects of Louis XVI I and that the question of ,

possession of the Settlement s h ould be decided by the

respective Powers on the conclusion of peace This plan .

was to have been carried o u t on the night of the 1 9 th of

O ctober and Mo u gin was advised to send his slaves on
ahead on pretence of selling them to get money to pay his
liabilities to the Amoku Chiefs At the last moment .
,
 TH E SEC O N D ANGLO D UTCH WAR -

crew to come ashore and made them prisoners This .

i nsult however was not allowed to pass unnoticed by the

e
, ,

English and Governor Da lz l remonstrated so strongly

,

that he not only secured the release of the prisoners and

an apology but compelled the Dutch to waive this claim
,

in future in the case of ships that did not wish to call at

a Dutch port .

Now that another century had elapsed great changes ,

h a d taken place in the native States Ashanti which at .

,

the commencement of O sai Tutu s reign had consisted ’

merely of the country in the immediate neighbourhood

o f Kumasi now ruled over a vast extent of
,
country .

I nkora nz a Banda Jaman Wassaw Sefwi Denkera

e e
, , , , , ,

Tu f l o vin T kim a n A ss in Akim Akwapim Kwahu

, , , , , ,

and Akwamu all owed allegiance to its King I t is true .

that this great empire was but loosely bound together

and that there were frequent rebellions calling for consant

ee
,

activity on the part of the Ashantis in order to maintain

their position This was due to th on great fault of
.

their administration : though they could conquer they ,

could not govern : in fact they never made any serio u s ,

attempt to do so O n the reduction of a new State and

.

its inclusion as a province of the Empire no army of ,

occupation was left but the district was handed over to

e
,

of the Ashanti Chiefs as Governor or Resident and

e
on ,

b yond the payment of an annual tribute and the rendering

of military service when called upon nothing was required , .

The amount of tribute payable by these provinces was in

some cases fix ed and in others left indefinite the amount ,

actually levied depending upon the exigencies of the State

and its varying needs for war or other purposes Those .

provinces whose soil was auriferous paid in gold others ,

in which gold was not found were taxed by towns accord ,

ing to their size and importance paying tribute in cattle

ee
, ,

slaves etc Thus Sefwi paid 2 00 p r d wins

, .

annually Monsi ( Adansi ) 5 0 bendas and J aman

e
e
,

p r dwins Salaga and the other large

e
1 00

Dagomba towns wer assessed at 5 00 slaves 2 00 cows , ,

4 00 sheep 400 cotton cloths and 2 00 silk and cotton cloths

, .
 NATIVE STA TE S

The s o called Residents seldom lived in their districts but

-
,

stayed in Kumasi and only went to the provinces nominally

under their control when the tribute was to be collected ,

or on other special occasions The Ashanti Empire .

,

therefore t hough ex tensive lacked cohesion ; and each

, ,

province being left practically under the rule of its own

,

Chiefs seized up on the first opportunity to rebel as soon

,

as it felt strong enough Had the Ashantis possessed .

half as much talent for government and organization as

they had for making conquests it is difficult to imagine ,

to what ex tent their power might have grown .

O n the Gold Coast itself to o there were further changes , , .

Fanti once a small State had now by mingled diplomacy

, , ,

and force subj ected its neighbours until its country ex

,

tended from the Sweet River to Beraku The whole of .

this territory however was not ruled over by one man

, , .

The King of Abra was its nominal head but in practice

the government was administered by a federation of
several more or less independent Kings and Chiefs each of ,

whom ruled over his o wn district but made his local ,

policy subservient to the general interest .

The forts a s has been seen were held primarily for

, ,

the purpose of carrying on the Slave Trade and a ground ,

rent secured by monthly pay notes was paid to the Chiefs -

.

The English up to this time had made no attempt to

, ,

exercise any j urisdiction over the pe 0p 1e nor to improve

their condition by education or other means Strictly .

speaking o f course they had absolutely no right to interfere

, ,

th them They were merely tenants and had no concern

.
,

in their landlords business I t was only when their o wn

’
.

convenience or property was threatened by the outbreak

of inter tribal wars and th
-
consequent interruption to e
trade that they took any action and made occasional
attempts at mediation and it was not until many years
later that the inevitable consequences o f the long associa
tion of two races so far apart in the scale of civilization
began to make themselves felt .

Cruikshank gives an excellent idea of the relations that

existed between the European settlers and Coast peoples
 TH E SEC O N D ANGLO DUTCH WAR -

at this time The native keenly alive to his interests

.
, ,

supple and fawning readily acknowledged the superiority

,

of the white man in words and hailed him without any

, ,

scruples of pride as his master But he had and ever

,
.
,

h a s had a reservation in his own mind which li m its the

,

signification of the term to his own construction of it and ,

has no more intention of giving implicit obedience if he ,

can h el p himself when his pleasure and profit appear to

,

him to be compromised than if he had never entered into

,

any undertaking u pon the subj ect Neither would he .

wish to shake himself free from the necessity of obedience .

His object is to endeavour on all occasions to magnify

, ,

the sacrifice which he is making to gratify y our wishes not ,

so much from a determination not to obey them as to ,

obtain some bribe or concession for his obedience A .

service of this description appears to have been the nature

o f the dependence of th e
African upon the European on the
Gold Coast from t h eir earliest intercourse I t has certainly .

given rise to an incessant struggle productive o f every ,

species of artifice on both sides in the attempts of the ,

one party to extend t h eir power and influence and of the ,

other to obtain new privileges The relation in which they .

stood to each other never in fact appears to have been

, ,

clearly defined or understood I ndeed it is possible .

,

neither party wished it to be so as any certainty upon the ,

point wo u ld lessen the probability o f advantages which

” 1
might possibly turn up in the chapter o f accidents .

Thus though nominally masters the English really

, ,

had no authority whatever ; and the supply of slaves

being entirely in the h ands of the people who well under ,

stood the advant age they held led them to raise frequent ,

disputes and obstructions to the trade with the obj ect of ,

obtaining some advantage as the price of peace ; and

although the English had from time to time made attempts
to resist these extortions yet the natives had invariably
,

triumphed So outrageous did the conduct of the people

.

of Cape Coast eventually become that they not only ,

insulted but actually ass a ulted in the streets officers of

Cru iks h a n k v o l 1 p 2 8
1
, .
, . .
 TH E S EC O N D ANGL O D UTCH WAR -

armed with guns and swords assembled in front of Mr .

Swa nzy s house which was j ust in front o f the Castle gate
’
,

and within fifty yards of it demanding the instant release ,

of the prisoner The Gov ernor Mr Jacob Mould sent

.
, .
,

ou t a message ordering the pe 0p 1e to disperse but they ,

only replied with insults and defiance and openly challenged

the garrison to come out and fight them .

The mob now threatened to attack Mr Swanzy who was .

,
’
preparing to defend the p roperty in h is house At their .

first attempt they broke in the front gate but finding the ,

occupants ready to oppose them quickly retreated Soon , .

afterwards a party was seen trying to force an entrance at

,

the back of the premises in order to take the defenders

by surprise and Mr Mould then released the prisoner
,
.
,

wh o was carried o ff in triumph by his friends This tame .

submission on the part of the Governor by no means

pleased his officers who at once drew up and delivered
,

to him a very strongly worded protest This had the .

desired e ffect Mr Mould immediately gave orders for

. .

the guns commanding the town to be loaded and made ,

every preparation to punish the people for their violent

and unreasonable conduct while a message was sent to ,

the Chiefs demanding payment of forty ounces of gold

under their agreement This however was defiantly
.
, ,

refused and time then had to be gi v en to allow the

,

Europeans living in the town to remove their property

to the Castle While this was being done the people
.
,

busied themselves with their own prep arations collecting ,

all their removable property and sending it together with ,

the old men women and children to the bush villages

, , .

A s soon as everything wa s ready two guns were fired ,

over the town but failed to produce the submission of the

,

people and the bombardment was then commenced in

,

earnest . Fires soon broke o u t in several quarters and

destroyed the greater part of the town before they could
be extinguished and the people then began firing into the
,

Castle from some houses standing close in front of it which

had escaped the conflagra tion The balls from the Castle .

gu ns had very little effect on the mud walls of these houses ,

 WEAKN E SS O F T H E EN GL I S H

but either remained embedded in them or dropped harm

lessly o n the other side The people on the other hand .
, ,

being under co v er were comparatively safe from small arm

e
-
,

fir though their muskets could tell against the men wh o

,

were working the guns The struggle continued in this .

way for nearly a month ; but the people then asked for
a truce and after some tedious negotiations security was
, ,

given fo r the payment o f a penalty and the opportune

e
,

arrival of H M S R ondn y finally brought this little war

. . .

to a close .

About this time too another dispute arose between the

, ,

English and the A na m a b o s o n account of an attempt by

the Commandant to put a stop to the commission of
nuisances under the walls of the fort and a fight ensued , ,

which lasted for three days during which the greater part ,

of the town was destroyed and several lives were lost

‘

e
.

From these incid nts it will be seen how little authority

the English really had and how strictly that was confined
to the forts themselves .

Considering the class of men who were employed by

the Company and the truly extraordinary ideas of j ustice
that these officials seem to have held it is not surprising ,

that the people showed themselves thus restless and

turbulent Cruikshank who had access to the records
.
,

in Cape Coast Castle that have since been destroyed gives ,

several instances illustrating the spirit in which these men

e
regarded the peopl and the manner in which they were
accustomed to treat them O ne officer at Winneba wrote .

complaining o f an a ffront he had received from a man

there saying
,
I seized a musket and made a rush at him
, ,

but the villain had the audacity to elude the bayonet 1

while a Commandant of Wida where the Company then ,

had a fort seized a quantity of goods from a schooner

,

in the roads and j ustified his action by saying that the

vessel was from the I sland of St Thomas and a man at .
,

Prince s I sland owed him a debt

’
As an example of .

illiteracy a Commandant of Komenda wrote in explanation

,

of the ine fficiency of his garrison that They are all sick , ,

1
Cru iksh ank v ol i p 3 4 I bzd p 3 4
, , . . .
, . .
 TH E SEC O N D ANGL O DUTCH WAR -

ee
not from any acute dist m p rary disorders but from old
e
,

chronicle ones ” 1
Even th h ighest o fficials seem to have
.

had most distorted ideas of j u stice and protection for the ,

following minute appeared in the Council Book of May

1 80 2 signed by a Governor and other members of the
,

Council : A free family from Great Cormantine con ,

sisting of two males and nine females having claimed ,

the Company s protection saying they were free pe0p 1e

’
,

Without any man to defend them in consequence of which ,

they had been exposed to many vexatious palavers and

e
,

that several of their relatives had already been p a nyarr d

and sold the Council having taken the case into considera
,

tion ordered them to be incorporated with the Company s

,
’

slaves
( Signed ) AR C HI BA LD DA L ZE L ,

J A C O B MO ULD ,

H EN RY H AM I LT O N .

The climate always bad at times played frightful

, ,

havoc amongst the Europeans and in some specially bad ,

ye ars the death rate among them was simply appalling

-
.

Thus in 1 7 5 6 Governor Melvil and nearly the whole of the

officers and garrison of Cape Coast succumbed to it S O .

bad wa s it in fact that Dr Lind wrote that the living

, , .

were scarce sufficient to remove and bury the dead .

O ther exceptionally bad years were 1 7 6 3 1 7 6 9 and 1 7 7 ,

Cru ks h a nk v ol i p 3 4
pid e
1

ve
I bzd p 3 5
Possibly ye llo w fer e
i 2
, . , . . .
, . .

3
m ics -
.
 CHAPTER XI I I

THE F I RS T AS HA NTI WA R
1 80 3 TO 1 807

O SA I T UTU K WA M I N A is the first of the Ashanti Kings

o f whose reign anything like a complete account is given

by contemporary wr iters What is known o f the history

.

o f the preceding reigns is principally derived from accounts

that were given to these writers by him and his Linguists .

Soon after his accession Tutu K wam ina was involved,

in a war with Gofan whose King was j oined by G ob a g o to

,

attack the Bandas whom he utterly defeated The victors

, .

then advanced upon I nk oranz a but by this time the news

had reached Kumasi the army had b een mobilized and
, ,

Tutu K wam ina met the invaders near Kuka and drove
them back The Ashantis followed the retreating enemy
.

northwards into the open country and inflicted a second

and decisive defeat The turning point in this engagement
.
-

was a brilliant charge by the Ashanti General Amankwa

1
Tia and an army corps o f men The enemy .

broke and fled precipitately across the River V olta with

terrible loss Great numbers fell and many more were
.

t aken prisoners amongst whom were the King of Gofan

,
2
and one of his principal allied Chiefs .

J aman ever ready to seize an opportunity to revolt

, ,

now rebelled once more but the rising was quickly put
down and a peace lasting five years then ensued The .

prestige o f the Ashanti arms was now high and embassies ,

be aring friendly messages and presents arrived from

According to th e Ash a ntis
Th eAs h a ntis cla im to h a v kille e e
1 .

3 d or captu r d
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

Da h om i, Yendi and Salaga but this period of tranquillity

was soon broken by a series Of events which l d to the first e
invasion of the Gold Coast by the Ashantis and brought
the English into conflict with them .

A s sin at this time w a s governed by three Chiefs Chibu .

and Kwaku A p u tai j ointly ruled over the western half ,

while the eastern districts were under Am u All three

e
.

were of course vassals of the King of Ashanti Th

, ,
.

trouble began with the death of one of A mu s Chiefs with ’

,

whose body a quantity of gold and other valuables were

buried in accordance with the usual custom A subject .

a nd relative of A p u ta i who happened to be present at the

,

funeral afterwards returned and rifled the grave and it

e
, ,

is to this insignificant occurrence o f no great importanc

e
,

outside the village in which it happened that all th ,

subsequent trouble between England and Ashanti ending ,

in the downfall of that kingdom can be directly traced

, .

The crime was discovered and Amu having failed to ,

capture the thief sent messengers to demand satisfaction

,

from Chibu and A p u tai They however refused to listen

.
, ,

to his complaint declaring that the whole story was a

,

pure invention on his part and Amu then laid the matter
,

before the King o f Ashanti Tutu K wa m ina seems to

.

have been genuinely anx ious to preserv e peace and

e
,

deferred j udgment for some time in the h O p of bringing

about a reconciliation between the parties I t was only .

after he found this was impossible that he announced h is

decision and ordered A p u ta i to repay the amount that
h a d been stolen to the relatives of the deceased A p u tai .

wa s detained in Kumasi pending compliance with t h is

~

order ; but he contrived to escape and collected his fol

lowers to Oppose Amu wh o then advanced to meet h im
, .

The fortunes of war at first favoured either side alternately

but before long Amu was driven back and forced to await
the arrival o f reinforcements H e then moved into the
.

’
enemy s country and after burning several large towns
e
, ,

defeated A p u tai in a pitched battle in which th t h ief who

e
,

had been th cause of all the trouble was among the killed .

Considering that both combatants were his subj ects ,

 TH E FI RST AS HANTI WAR

complied with the King s demand but the fugitives

’

suspected his intentions and promptly fled to Abra where ,

the Council of Chiefs declined either to surrender them or

to send delegates to discuss the matter in the Ashanti
camp The King therefore sent an ultimatum demanding
.
, ,

permission to follow the remnant of the A ssin forces

through Fanti ; but h is messengers were tortured and
killed and he then gave orders for a general advance
, ,

leaving his mother Kun Aj ua in charge of his kingdom .

The army under Ado Mata and Appia Dunkwa invaded

, ,

F a nti where they twice defeated the A ssins and their

,

allies The second engagement took place near Buinka

.

and ended in the total rout o f the allies wh o fled in disorder,

to Abra and the coast towns Amongst the numerous .

prisoners who were taken was Atta the King of Abra ; ,

but the request of his subj ects to be allowed to ransom

him was declined and he was placed in the custody of
,

Ak um who however let him escape

, , , .

Kwaku A p u ta i now made overtures for peace promising ,

to deliver hostages for h is future loyalty provided the

King would pay some debts which he had incurred by the
war and swear not to depose him but he was not sincere ,

and was only trying to gain time Tutu K wam ina how .
,

ever agreed to this proposition and in proof of his desire

,

for an amicable settlement again sent presents of gold to

both Chiefs The bearers of these gifts shared the fate of
.

his previous messengers and were decapitated Their .

headless trunks were suspended from trees and their ,

heads with the mouths crammed with excrement placed

, ,

in regular succession along the path in the line of the

Ashanti advance while the principal Fanti and A ssin
,

Chiefs are said to have eaten their still quivering hearts .

I t is probable that the Fantis were relying to some extent

o n the belief that the Ashantis would not dare to advance

to the coast and come under the guns of the forts and it ,

is indeed unlikely that they originally had any intention

of doing so but this last insult was so outrageous and s o
exasperated the King that he swore his great oath ( Akro
,

manti Mim inda ) that he woul d never sheath h is sword

 D EFEAT O F TH E FANTI S

nor return to Kumasi until he h ad gained the heads of

both Chibu and A p u tai .

Akum who had in the meant ime been pardoned for

,

allowing Atta to escape and had since been employed in

,

supplying provisions to the Ashanti army now committed

e
,

on o f those rash and apparently motiveless acts which

seem so inexplicable to those unacquainted with the

character of the African After faithfully supplying .

convoys with p rovisions on six separate occasions he in , ,

April 1 8 06 betrayed a party of about a hundred Ashantis

,

who had come to fetch another supply and sold them as

slaves Thus he also became involved in the war and wa s
.

quickly defeated The utter extermination of the Fantis

.

was now decided upon and neither woman nor child was
,

spared The Ashantis met with little or no opposition

.

to their advance until they reached Abra and all prisoners ,

with the exception of a few important Chiefs who were

reserved for sacrifice in the capital were killed A terrible , .

battle was fought at Abra in May and after a prolonged ,

struggle resulted in the practical annihilation o f the

Fantis engaged there Barely a hundred of them are said
e
.

to have escaped from the field but o n Chief Kwesi Beni , , ,

rallied a few men and tried to make a second stand at

e
Em p ru H e was quickly put to flight and Abra and
e
.
,

Em p ru were burned Mankesi m was next destroyed

.
,

but the Ashantis respected its famous fetish grove which ,

they left untouched and then continued their march

,

towards the coast from which they were now only fifteen
,

or twenty miles distant .

Chibu and A pu tai had in the meantime escaped to

Anamabo but not feeling altogether safe there went to
e
,

the Governor at Cape Coast Colonel Torra n who pro

e
, ,

m is d them his protection either by mediation or force of

”
arms . The Governor now became alarmed at the near
approach of the Ashantis to the Settlements and was
anxious to send a flag of truce to the King o ffering himself ,

as a mediator in any dispute between him and the Fantis .

1
But the King and Chiefs of Anamabo and Cape Coast
1 A m onu K u m a A m on u I I
( ) wa s th e
King of Ana m ab o .

1— 16
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

would have none of it and assured him of their ability to

,

beat the Ashantis They were indeed confident that they

.

could make good their words and were loath to be deprived

o f the plunder and numerous slaves that they expected to

obtain I t must be allowed as some excuse for these

.
,

vainglorious boasts that the Fa ntis were at this time the

e
,

most powerful nation on the Coast and had had no x

eee
p ri nc of the enemy they were now to meet but wh o ,

soon afterwards so rudely undeceived them I t is ridiculous .

to suppose however that the King would have accepted

, ,

any mediation at this stage of the war even had the Fanti s ,

permitted its o ffer for the repeated murders of his

messengers and the other inj uries that had been done him ,

apart from his oat h had already made it impossible for

,

him to consent to any amicable settlement

e
.

I t seems almost inconceivable however that th , ,

Governor should only now have awakened to the fact that

the safety of the Settlements might be endangered and
e
,

should have failed to reali z e long before this that if th ,

English were to throw in their lot with the Fantis it was ,

to their interest to give them some practical assistance

and support The King s conduct throughout renders it
.
’

almost certain that had mediation been o ffered in the

,

earlier stages o f the trouble he would have been only too,

ready to accept it The war h a d certainly not been of his

.

seeking The a ffairs of the English on the Gold Coast

.

had indeed reached a crisis and the time had come when
they must choose definitely between the Fantis and
‘

Ashantis I t is true that they were dependent on the

.

former for their information yet they cannot have been

altogether ignorant of the causes of the war and the turn
a ffairs were now taking The Fantis had already given
.

them more than one sample of their character but their ,

knowledge of the Ashantis was only derived from hearsay .

They were moreover afraid of the latter and believed that

, , ,

they might attack their Settlements and ruin their trade 1

'

but they do not seem to have realized that the bulk of that
trade was already with Ashanti the Fantis only acting as ,

1
Vida p . 21 3 .
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

faction was gi ven ; but that in the absence o f any such

j ustification he should give the people the protection of
,

the fort and in the event O f any hostile movement on the

e
, ,

part o f the Ashantis should not hesitate to fir upon them

,
'

with h is guns Two or three of these were then fired to

.

give the messengers some idea of their power and Mr , .

White and a Mr Wilson escorted the three Ashantis to

.

within a short distance of their headquarters as private ,

information had been received that the A nam ab os were

preparing to murder them on their way back .

The A nam ab os now that they found the Ashantis so

,

near them were far less confident of victory than they had
,

formerly professed to be and showed the greatest anxiety

to be assured of the protection of the English Mr White . .

ordered them to put the town in the best possible state of

defence and to post strong guards o n all the roads leading
into it promising if they were attacked to admit as many
, , ,

of the o ld men women and children as there was room

,

fo r into the fort and advising the others to collect under

,

its walls where they would be under the protection of the

,

guns .

Thus the English though merely the tenants of the ,

pe0p1e from whom they rented the ground o n which their

forts stood now for the first time definitely undertook
,

to give them protection .

The Ashantis made no move until a week later when ,

a detachment of the force at Kormantin took possession

of Egya whence being only a mile distant they could
, , ,

watch every movement of the A nam a b os O n the i 4th of .

J une it was decided to dislodge this party and a large force ,

o f A nam ab o s outnumbering the Ashantis at Egya by three

e
,

to o n advanced against it The fire of the A nam ab os was

,
.

so wild and ill directed that in spite of their superior

-

numbers the issue was for some time in doubt but the
enemy then retreated into the lower part of the town and
seemed to give them the victory The A nam ab os would
e
.

not follow them into the vall y ho wever and this apparent ,

success soon cost t h em dear for they had withdrawn all

the guards around the town to take p art in the attack on
 BATTLE O F ANAMAB O

Egya and while their attention had been occupied by the

,

party there the King with the main body of the Ashanti
, ,

army had taken possession Of every road

, .

O n the following day Monday the 1 5 th of J une the , ,

town and fort were attacked and the gallant defence of ,

the latter by its small garrison against the hosts o f Ashanti

furnishes one of the finest chapters in the history of the
English on the Gold Coast .

The gar rison at this time consisted of Messrs White .

( Commandant ) H enry Meredith ( Second in Command )

, ,

F L Swanz y T A Smit h and Barnes with only twenty

e
.
. .
, .
,

men including soldiers artific rs and serva nts and four ’

e
, ,

mulattos The Ashantis made a move early in th

.

morning the alarm was g iven and the A nam abos able to
, ,

bear arms went out to oppose the enemy s advance while ’

,

crowds of old men women and children flocked to the ,

fort About
. of these were admitted ; but the place
could hold no more and after the gate had been shut ,

and strongly barricaded the remainder of the refugees ,

crouched down under the walls where it was confidently

e
,

xpected that the fire of the guns would a fford them full
protection .

The battle could not be seen from the fort though ,

the heavy volleys of musketry could be plainly heard The .

rapid approach of this sound soon made it clear that the

Fantis were retreating ; and Mr White whose previous .
,

experience o f the pe0p 1e had been limited to the more

timid coast tribes fired two o f the guns over the town in ,

the vain hope that the report might frighten the Ashantis
and cause them to fall back Needless to say no such .
,

result was obtained By elev en O clock the A nam ab Os .

’

had been defeated and came pouring into the town like a
flock of sheep hotly pursued by the victorious Ashantis
,

but they were far too panic stricken to think of rallying

e
-

and making another stand under the fort Their on idea .

was to escape Some ran to their canoes and put off to

.

sea and others plunged headlong into the surf and swam
,

out to a rock at a little distance from the shore to which

1

Th eA nam a b os still s we
,

1 a r b y this ro ck .
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

about two hundred of them were soon clinging in terror

but the great maj ority were too closely pursued by the
Ashantis to have any chance Of escape and a terrible ,

massacre took place on the beach Mr White did all . .

he could to help the wretched A na m ab os and round after ,

round of grape was poured into the enemy from a 2 4

pounder and a 3 pounder that pointed along the beach
-

to the westward The Ashantis su ffered fearful losses at

.

every discharge for they came on in such dense masses

,

that they were mown down by scores ; yet they never

wavered for an instant but crowded forward to take the
,

places of those who had fallen and having completed their ,

work o f carnage on the beach charged up to the very walls ,

of the fort to seize and drag away the women and other
refugees who cowered there in terror .

Bullets were now coming into the fort from every

side and the garrison began to su ffer Mr White was
, . .

twice wounded one ball entering his left arm while another
, ,

struck him in the mouth and knocked out four of his teeth .

Another officer and two men were also wounded and a

third man killed Mr White faint from the pain of his
. .
,

wounds and loss of blood was soon forced to hand over the
,

command to Mr Meredit h and retire A similar difficulty

. .

was now felt to that experienced by Bosman in the defence

o f Fort Vredenburg in 1 6 9 5 for the embrasures yawned
so widely that it was found impossible to work the guns
under the hail of lead to which the fort was now exposed ,

and the garrison had to rely almost entirely on their small

arms By noon their numbers had been reduced by further
.

casualties to eight e fficients including officers wh o collected

, ,

in two small bastions on the western side of the fort

flanking the gate and even there they had to lie prostrate
,

to avoid the murderous fire of the enemy The Ashantis .

were now making every e ffort to gain possession of the

fort feeling confident that they would thus Obtain much
,

valuable plunder Twice they made a determined assault

.

on the western gate only to be driven back with heavy

e
,

loss yet they came on for the third time and o n man was ,

seen carrying fire to place against the gate but a fortunate ,

 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

those wh o were carried off by disease 1 His men how ver . , e ,

su ffered very severely ; for their approach was made

with such large bodies that twenty thirty or perhaps
, , ,

more fell with every discharge of grapeshot ; and the

,

musket not only killed but very often wounded at the

” 2
same time so close were the enemy
, .

When day broke o n the 1 6 th of J une the garrison though , ,

having every reason to congratulate themselves on their

brilliant defence of the fort were unable to close their eyes ,

to the very serious and critical position in which they

were still placed By land they were completely
e
.

blockaded and even by s a any communication with the

,

other Settlements was fraught with considerable danger

and di fficulty The garrison originally small enough
.
, ,

had now been still further reduced by death and other

casualties and those wh o had escaped the bullets of th
, e
enemy were worn out with anxiety exposure to the s u n ,

and bodily fatigue Their store of provisions too had

.
, ,

never been intended for any more than the garrison

and was quite unequal to meeting the necessities of th e
numerous refugees now under their protection so that ,

within the next few days famine must be added to their

other troubles The beach on all sides was strewn with
e
.

the bodies of the slain rapidly decomposing under th ,

almost vertical rays of the tropical sun and it was abun

e
,

d a ntly evident that no amount of bravery or enduranc

could enable them to hold out much longer Peace was
e
.

therefore ardently desired and it would appe ar that th ,

Ashantis after the fearful slaughter Of the preceding day

, ,

were equally ready to welcome a cessation of hostilities .

Neither side however cared to make the first overtures

, , ,

and a report of the state of a ffairs wa s therefore sent by

canoe to Colonel Torran e .

The Governor at once despatched two ships from Cape

Coast with reinforcements They anchored off Anamabo .

’
the same afternoon and at about four o clock Messrs Bold
e
, .
,

Galloway and Woolb rt with a corporal and twelve men

were landed under cover of the smoke fro m the guns
Dyse ry bro ke
nte Me re
.

1
ou t dith pp 1 4 3 a nd 1 45
.
1
, . .
 N EG O TIATI O N S F O R PEACE

The party was not attacked and entered the fort in safety ,

but the Ashantis fired on the canoe as it put back to the

ship and wounded o n of her crew e .

Thus reinforced the garrison were anxious to continue

,

the defence ; but the officer in charge of the party from

Cape Coast had brought definite orders from the Governor
that a flag of truce was to be sent to the As h anti King
and an attempt made to come to terms Two of the .

soldiers bearing a white flag and Union J ack were accord

ingly lowered over the walls o f the fort Their appearance
.

was greeted with unmistakable signs of j oy and satisfaction

by the Ashantis who pressed around them so eagerly
,

that it was only with di fficulty t h at the King s officers ’

,

wh o came forward to conduct them to his presence could ,

force a passage through the excited t h rong The King .

received them well made them a present o f a sheep and

, ,

sent them back to the fort about seven o clock the same ’

evening with three o f his own messengers The Ashantis .

in the meantime had Observed the truce ; and though a

few individuals h a d at first made towards the rock to
which many of the A nam a bos were still clinging they at ,

once understood the meaning o f a couple of shots fired

over their heads and retired .

The messengers sent to the Commandant recounted

the history of the origin of the war detailing all the ,

events by which the King j ustified his invasion of Fanti

and disclaiming any intention of commencing hostilities
with the English and after an interview lasting two hours
,

returned to their lines I t was now found necessary before

.
,

any terms could be settled to arrange a meeting between

,

the Governor and the King and every e ffort was made
,

to induce the latter to go to Cape Coast This however he .

, ,

persistently refused to do though he sent a deputation

,

of his Chiefs to wait on the Governor but they were not

authorized to conclude a peace and Colonel Torra n
, e
,

therefore sent them back to the King with a present and

,

decided to come to Anamabo

e
.

Torra n was now guilty o f a most dastardly act which

e
, ,

though only on of several infamous transactions wa s ,

 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

m itself sufficient to nullify all the glory derived from

the spirited defence of Anamabo Fort This was nothing .

less than the seizure and delivery into the hands of the
Ashantis of Chibu the A ssin Chief to whom he had promised
, ,

his protection H e and Kwaku A p u tai with about 5 00 of

.
,

their faithful adherents were living in fancied security ,

in Cape Coast ; but in ord er to curry favour with the

Ashanti King and pave the way for a favourable conference ,

this wretched fugitive was now seized and surrendered .

Even the Chiefs o f Cape Coast opposed this horrible

’
treachery when they heard of the Governor s intentions ;
e
but Torra n sent an armed force unex pectedly to the houses
in which the A s sins were staying and seems to have bought
e
,

th consent of the Cape Coast people by playing on their

fears and permitting them to capture and enslave as many
of the Chiefs followers as they could lay hands on Chibu
’
.
,

old feeble and blind and many of his men were secured
, , ,

and borne o ff after a struggle but A p u ta i fortunately ,

contrived to esca pe Ch ibu was promptly sent to Anamabo

e
.
,

where h was put to death with the most excruciating

tortures and his j aw bone suspended as a trophy from the
-

King s death horn

’ -
.

Naturally Tutu K wam ina was much pleased by this

,

delivery of his enemy into his hands and indeed said to

e
,

Mr Dupuis in Kumasi in 1 8 2 1
. From the hour Torra n ,

delivered up Tch ibb u I took the English for my friends

, ,

because I saw their object was trade only and they did
not care for the people Torra n was a man of sense and e
e
.
,
” 1
b pleased me much Well indeed may the King have
.
, ,

said they did not care for the people with such an
example before him Beyond pleasing the King and .

possibly averting an attack on Cape Coast however there ,

was nothing whatever to be gained by this atrocious act ,

and the price paid the loss of British honour and the
—

distrust it inspired in the minds of the people which

e
,

lingered for many years was surely too high I f Torran —

.

found himself unable to defend the A ssins as he had

promised or did not feel j ustified in risking an attack on
,

1
Du pu is , p . 263 .
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

1 8 03 1 8 07
—
and solemn acknowledgement on the p art o f the Governor
e
.

m p . x 1 1 1 that by right o f conquest Fantee including Cape Coast ,

and every other town in the neighbourhood belonged ,

exclusively to the empire of Ashantee with the reservation ,

of a j udicial authority to the Company over such towns as

stood in the vicinity of any o f the castles ; and in con
firm a tion or ratification o f these terms the Governor ,

ex pressly admitted the King s title to those deeds called ’

,

notes upon which he paid him the arrears then due and
, ,

a tribute called perhaps a present which was demanded

, ,
” 1
Of the Cape Coast people This is generally borne out
.

by Meredith 2 who was present though he does not mention

, ,
”
that any payment was made on the notes I t was .

specially stipulated that so long as the English remained

strictly neutral they should not be molested in any way .

Some di fficulty arose over the disposal o f the refu gees in

the fort the King at first claimed them all by right of
conquest but eventually agreed to divide them equally
e
,

with Torran .

O n the 3 rd of J uly the Ash antis broke up their camp

,

and left Anamabo to meet the force under A p u tai and

Ak um and an engagement took place a little to the east of
e
,

Kormantin which was witnesse d by Torran I t ended .

in the total defeat o f the A ssins and those who escaped at ,

all only saved their lives by retreating across the Oki

e
River with the fords of which the Ashantis were u n
,

acquaint d This battle practically put an end to the war

.

but a kind of guerilla warfare continued for some months ,

during which small predatory bands roamed over the

country and occasionally succeeded in cutting off a foraging
party of Ashantis The Ashantis then slowly continued
.

their march towards Accra devastating all the country ,

through which they passed ; but in O ctober 1 8 0 7 while ,

they were encamped near Winneba small pox broke out ,

-

among them and this in addition to the dysentery that

, ,

had previously appeared at Anamabo ; induced the King

to return without further delay to Ashanti A small .

detachment wa s left at Accra to sell those prisoners that

D u pu is p 2 6 2
1
, .Me redith p 1 60
.
2
, . .
 C O N D UCT O F TO R R A N E

he did not wish to take with him while he with the main
e e
, ,

a rm y m a rch d direct to Kumasi without r visitin A nam ab o

e g
e
,

to complete th proposed treaty with Colonel Torra n

e
.

Besides giving up Chibu Torra n took the A namabo ,

refugees who had fallen to his share to Cape Coast and sold
them to the slave dealers Meredith in one of h is letters
e
.
,

to Torra n dated from Anamabo o n the i 7 th of J une 1 8 06

, ,

wrote The King seems to s ay that he must have those

who sought protection in the fort this he only hinted at ,

and probably the same may be hinted to you but in giving ,

them up we ought to be assured o f their being used kindly

but if you can gain their protection it will be a humane
” 1
act. Nevertheless the only real protest against the,

infamous betrayal of these people seems to have been

made by Mr J o h n Swanzy who was then Commandant of
.
,

Fort J ames at Accra H e was ill in bed when he heard of .

what the Governor and Council O f which he himself was —

a member had done but he got u p and came by canoe

—
,

to Cape Coast His threats t o expose them s o alarmed

e
.

To rra n and the others that they guaranteed to undo

what could still be undone ; but this unfortunately was , ,

not much for most of these people had already been sold
,

o ff the Coast The few wh o remained however were

.
, ,

promptly released The performance of this act of mercy

.

cost Mr Swanzy his life for the fatigue and exposure he

.
,

had undergone so aggravated his illness that he died on

his return to Accra Torra n died in 1 8 0 8 and according
. e ,

to a letter written soon afterwards by Governor White ,

he died in debt to the people of Cape Coast for the value of

forty slaves A ssins whom they sei z ed at the time the
‘

Governor captured Tch ibb u and whom he sold o ff the

”
Coast . From this it is only too clear that after bribing
the people of Cape Coast not to resist the surrender of
Chibu by allo wing them to enslave his followers he under ,

took their sale and kept the money for himself

e
.

I n Torra n s favour however it must be said that

’
, ,

he undoubtedly appreciated the fact that in the preserva

tion of friendly relations with Ashanti lay the only hop e
1 Mere
dith p 1 5 2 , . .
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

of success for British trade on the Gold Coast a fact that ,

few others with the notable exception of Maclean seem to

, ,

have grasped He also did his best to encourage a gricu l

.

ture and laid o u t a plantation at Napoleon a village about ,

four miles from Cape Coast where in 1 80 7 he had ,

co ffee plants doing well besides a great variety of English

,

vegetables .

The stubborn resistance that had been o ffered by the

small garrison of Anamabo must have greatly impressed
th eAshantis ; and it was fortunate that this happened to
be the fort they attacked for most of the others could not
,

have withstood them I t was in fact the height of its

.
, ,

walls that chiefly contributed to its safety Had the .

Ashantis had any knowledge of artillery and brought down

one or two of the guns from Fort Amsterdam which was ,

then in their possession not h ing could have saved the

,

place Even as it was it became known later that arrange

.
,

ments had been made and the men actually told O ff for a
well planned attack that was to have been carried out on
-

the i 7 th the day after the truce was made

, Ashantis
were to have taken part in it of whom were to have ,

kept up a heavy fire on the garrison while the ot h er division

exploded a quantity of gunpowder at the foot of the walls
and then scaled the breach and took the place by storm .

There is little room to doubt that this plan would have

proved successful A ny increase of prestige among the
.

Fantis however that might otherwise have accrued from

,

this defence of the fort was utterly destroyed by the actions

o f Torra n e
whose surrender o f the refugees to Tut u
,

K wam ina was universally regarded by the people as a n

admission of the superiority of the Ashantis This per .
,

h aps he could not help

, the fort had capitulated to the
King and he naturally claimed some advantage and would
,

have insisted on receiving it I t was the use the Governor

.

made of those he had saved that must be cavilled at .

The year 1 8 0 7 will be ever memorable in the history of

all parts of West Africa ; for on the 2 5 th of March the
agitation that h a d been c arried on in England for the past
half century by Thomas Clarkson Granville Sharpe
-

, ,
 TH E FI RST ASHANTI WAR

wholly unrestricted These regulations referred chiefly to

.

the number of slaves that s h ips were allowed to carry

according to their measurement During the later years .

o f the unrestricted and o f the regulated Slave Trade the ,

condition and sufferings of the slaves o n board many of

the ships must have been terrible According to the .

evidence given before a Committee of the House of Com

mons in 1 79 2 the slaves were so closely packed that they
,

always lay touching each other and were Often obliged to ,

lie on their sides for want of enough room for the breadth
o f their back s They had no room to sit up and the
.
,

surgeons had to remove their boots when they went

below to avoid treading on them Many were horribly
e
.

sea sick and sev ral surgeons gave evidence of the great
-
,

mortality that often occurred from disease or from want of

sufficient ventilation or even from despair alone ,
.

Some idea of the enormous number of slaves that was

exported can be formed from the fact that from 1 7 00 to
1 7 8 6 not fewer than were computed to have been
landed i n J amaica alone while the total number imported ,

into the British West I ndies between 1 6 80 and 1 7 8 6 was

Prior to the abolition it was no uncommon thing for

planters visiting England from the West I ndies to bring
e
one or mor of their slaves with them and they would ,

Openly advertise for their recovery if they ran away or sell

ee
e
,

them by auction with other property Thus the Gaz tt r .

of the i 8 th of April 1 7 6 9 contained the following announce

ment e
At th Bull and Gate I nn H olborn a Chestnut , ,

Gelding a Tim Whisky and a well made good tempered

, ,
-
,
-

e
” 1
Black Boy The following advertisement again a p
ee ee
.
, ,

p ar d in the P u bli c A d rtis r on the 2 8 th of November

'

in the same year To be sold a Black Girl the property , ,

Of J B . eleven years of age who is extremely handy ,

works at her needle tolerably and speaks English per

e
f ctly well ; is of an excellent temper and willing dis
,

e
,

position I nquire of Mr O wen at the Angel I nn b h ind

. .
, ,
’
St Clement s Church in the Strand
. This kind o f
,

1
F ox , p 45 . .
 L O RD MANSFI E LD S J U DGM ENT
’

thing however was finally put a stop to in 1 7 7 2 wh n e

e
, , ,

Granville Sharpe secured the j udgm n t o f Lord Mansfield

in the case of J ames Somerset a slave who had run away
,

a nd been recaptured by his master that a slave by setting

,

foot in England became free

e
.

’
The abolition followed th loss o f Britain s American
Colonies Slaves were no longer wanted and the wicked
.
,

ness of the trade wa s then suddenly perceived N umbers .

o f black servants were turned adrift to wander destit u te

and starving through the streets of London till in the end

, , ,

the scandal became s o great that a Com m ittee for Relieving

the Black Poor was formed wh ich led to the found ation
e
,

o f the Colony o f Sierra Leone o f thes

 CHAPTER X IV

THE S E C O ND AS H A NTI WA R

1 80 8 TO 1 813

T HE sudden wit h drawal of the Ashanti army at the end

e
of 1 8 0 7 had been due to th outbreak of disease and th e
scarcity of supplies but tho u gh it put a stop to actual
h ostilities it left affairs in a very unsatisfactory state for
, ,

no definite peace had been concluded The Fantis there .

fore continued under arms and formed a large camp at Abra

, ,

where relieved of the pressing danger of the presence of

,

an Ashanti army their courage or their self conceit so far

,
-

revived that they soon began to boast that it was they

who had driven the enemy from their country The e ffect .

o f such a state of affairs upon trade was of course most , ,

disastrous The principal trade of the Settlements had

.

always been with Ashanti and now that the roads were
, ,

closed it was either cut o ff altogether o r had to be con

,

ducted at great risk and by more circuitous routes Very .

few traders therefore found t h eir way to any of the

e
, ,

Settlements and none at all cam to Cape Coast

, .

The Ashantis made no move ; and the Fantis sitting ,

idle in their camp at Abra and still smarting from their

recent ignominious defeats now decided to wreak their
,

vengeance on those of their neighbours wh o had remai ned

neutral during the invasion War was accordingly de
e
.

clar d against the Elminas wh o had seized and sold numbers

e
,

of Fanti fugitives and th Accras who were also accused of

, .

having given the Ashantis some assistance Both these .

tribes were allies of Ashanti and although they had not

been required to ta ke any active part in the war yet they ,

258
 TH E SEC O N D AS HANTI WAR

e
I n 1 809 on party of Fantis proceeded eastward t o
,
e
attack Accra whil a second di vision w hich was j oined by ,

the Wassaws under King I ntifu and h is Tu fu h in Attobra ,

advanced on Elm ina and blockaded it The Fantis and .

pe0p 1e of Cape Coast camped around its northern and

e
east rn sides while the Wa ssa ws took and occupied Ampeni
e
,

and guarded the western appro aches Sev ral attempts .

were made from these camps to capture the place but the ,

Elminas who were well supported by the guns of Fort

,

Co nraad sbu rg had little di fficulty in driving back th e

e e
,

enemy After on of these unsuccessful attacks th

e
.

Elminas pursued the Wa ssaws who howev r retired in —

very good order a lm ost to within range of the gu ns of

e
—

Kom nda Fort The Wa ssaws burned Komenda an d

.

then occupied the old Dutch For t Vredenburg This fort .

had been almost destroyed by the bomb ardment when

Governor Mills ca ptured it in 1 7 8 2 since when it had ,

never been occupied and the Was s aws now completed ,

its ruin and wrecked the only parts of it that were still
habitable The K om nd a s fled to j oi n the Elminas and e
e
.
,

a f w days later took the Wassaws by s urprise while they

were eating their dinner at Ampeni and completely routed
them , inflicting su ch heavy losses that they soon after

eee
war ds retired to their own country .

Mr B l nk rn
. the Englis h second in command at
,

Komenda had pas sed along the beach on the morning

,

after the occupation of Ampeni by the Wa ssa ws and found

e
two A rrip nis still clinging to some rocks in the s a whom e ,

he rescued and sent to Elmina This brought I ntifu and .

At t obra to Komenda Fort a day or two later demanding ,

two slaves or the ir value in goods in payment for these

“

men The Commandant refused saying that if the m n e

e e
.
,

had been Wa ssaws instead of Arnp nis it would have be n

a ll o n e . eee
to Mr B l nk rn who would have saved them j ust ,

the same I ntifu acknowledged the j ustice Of this but

.
,

e
said This is what I d o not complain of for had you
e
,

kep t t hes men in your for t a s slaves until th war was

over and t hen sent them back to their own country , I
,

s hould ha v e had no cause to feel aggrie v ed b u t instead of ,

 B L O CKADE O F ELMI NA

doing so you sent them to Elmina to j oin my enemies in

,

attacking me at Am peni and thereby gave them two ,

strong men to fight against me after I had once destroyed

them by driving them into the sea where they must in
e
,

v ita b ly have perished had not your second saved them

, .

I therefore now demand two men from you to fight against ,

”
those two you sent to Elmina There was so much .

sound sense in this argument that the Commandant

finally paid the value of two slaves which at that time ,

amounted to £40 .

Finding that they could not take Elmina the Fantis ,

closely invested it s o that the inhabitants could not go

a mile beyond the town and s u ffered great privations ;
fo r provisions could only be brought in by sea and in spite , ,

o f the e fforts o f Mr Wh ite and the Dutch Governor Mr

.
, .

A de Veer to arrange peace the blockade was continued

.
, ,

fo r nearly s ix months I t was partially raised in May

.

1810 ,
but a camp was maintained a few miles behind
Elmina until the following year I n order to strengthen .

the defences of the town against such attacks in the

futur e the Dutch then built a small fort near the shore
,

and about half a mile to westward of the Castle which was ,

afterwards known as Fort de Veer .

I n the meantime the Fantis who had gone to attack

Ac cra had been defeated with a loss of about a hundred
men whose hands were cut ofiby the Accras and roasted in
,

their streets ; but a desultory warfar e was kept up for

some time a nd it was nearly five years before com m u nica
,

tion by land between Accra and Cape Coast was again

open .

While these events were happening the Elminas had ,

contrived to get a message through to Kumasi informing ,

the King of the state of a ffairs on the coast and imploring

his assistance Tutu K wam ina h owever was still in favour
.
, ,

o f peace and sent messengers to Accra wh o arrived there

, ,

during the Fanti attack on the town and informed the

Commandant o f J ames Fort that the King desired peace
and a resumption of trade which was only being prevented
,

by the obstinacy of the Fantis These overtures however .

, ,
 TH E SEC O N D ASHANTI WAR

were of no avail and the King found himself compelled

,

to adopt stronger measures Early in May 1 8 1 0 further.

ambassadors from Kumasi arrived in Elmina and com

e
m u nica t d their King s intentions to Mr
’
de Veer asking .
,

h im to inform the Governor at Cape Coast This he did .

in a letter dated the 7 th of May 1 8 1 0 in which he stated ,

that the King was about to make war upon and severely
punis h the Fantis and Wa ss a w s but would always regard ,

the Europeans of all nations as his friends provided of ,

course they remained neutral but that if they protected

his enemies he should be obliged to turn his arms against
them also Early in O ctober again two more messengers
.
, ,

reached Accra and were sent on by canoe to Cape Coast .

They brought word t h at the King hoped the Governor had

not taken o ffence at his sending his previous message
t h rough the Dutch Governor that he regarded the white
,

men as his masters and he should be happy to keep in

,

friends h ip with them ; that it was his intention to send

an army against the A ssins that their ill treatment of the -

Ashantis some years back was the sole cause of his visit
to the waterside in the year 1 8 0 7 as it would be that of
e
,

the army h was about to send that if the whites Fantis , ,

or others protected his enemies he should be obliged to

wage war with them The King can hardly have imagined
.

t h at this message after the one he h a d already sent through

,

Mr de Veer would be taken literally and though it may

.
, ,

have been mere diplomacy it seems more likely t h at it was

,

intended as a hint to the Fantis that he wa s now quite

ready to take the field again and that they had therefore ,

better leave his allies in peace and save him the necessity
of compelling them to do so .

’
The King s message was communicated by the Governor
to the Fanti Chiefs who however still persisted in de
, , ,

claring t h emselves at war with the Elminas ; and the

Ash antis after a stay of about fourteen days during which
, ,

they had ample Opportunity to take note of the state of

a ffairs were sent back to Accra on their return j ourney on
e
,

the brig Cocka tri c They took presents for the King and
'

’
the Governor s reply that it was the sincere wish of the
 TH E SECO N D ASHANTI WAR

succeeded in inducing Kwow S a fa ch i the King o f Akwapi m

to j oin him in revolt and their allied army wa s now await
,

ing the advance o f Opo ku who had not yet crossed the Pra
, .

Op oku entered Akim in February 1 8 1 1 and an action ,

followed in which the Akims and A kwapims fought so well

e
that neither sid could claim the victory though th battle , e
lasted till nightfall The Ashantis lost so heavily in this
.

engagement that Op ok u dared not risk a second encounter

without reinforcements and called o n the Accras to join
him They obeyed his summons in such numbers that
e
.

further resistance on the part of th allies was ou t of the

question and they retreated the Akims to Fanti and the ,

Ak wapims towards Adda with Op oku in hot pursuit

, .

The majority of the Akwap ims sought refuge in the Krobo

Hills and mountain ranges of their own country but ,

Kwow S a fa ch i and his immediate followers remained in

Adda .

O n the approach of the A shantis early in March the ,

Addas fled to an island in the Volta while Kwow S afa chi ,

doubled back to Akwapim by small and unfrequented

paths Op ok u s ar my occupied and pillaged Adda but
’

e
.
,

made no attempt to molest the Danes at Fort Konigst in .

Op oku believed that Kwo w S a fa ch i was still with the

Addas and spent some time in fruitless negotiations for
h is surrender ; but realizing at last that he had really
escaped h im was convinced that Mr Flind t the Danish
, .

Commandant must have either assisted or connived at his

flight and on the 2 nd of April made him a prisoner while
,

he was visiting his camp H e was required to m arch .

with the As hanti army but w a s otherwise well treated

e
, ,

sharing O p ok u s table and having a b u t to himself when ver

’

they halted H e was finally ransomed by his Govern

.

ment on the 2 nd of September for gold and goods to the

value of £400 after a captivity lasting exactly fiv months e .

O n leaving Adda Op oku took the bell from Fort Konig

,

stein as a tr ophy and followe d the enemy into the moun

tains where they had now rallied their forces ; but the
,

difficulties of the country and the superior knowledge that

the Akwapims had of it combined to prevent his doing
 B ATTLE O F APAM

more than compel them to fall back The Ashanti army .

was now much weakened They had lost many men during .

t he war and most of those w ho remained were thoroughly

e
,

worn ou t with the fa ti gu of campaigning in thi s moun

ta inou s dis trict and suffering from the e ffects o f drinking
,

the brackish water at Adda to which they were u na ccu s

e
,

tom d . Hearing of their distressed condition Kwow ,

S afa ch i advanced t o gi v e them battle in J une but after

a severe struggle lasting till night fell back before dawn
, ,

and thus gave the victory t o the Ashantis Opoku now .

laid the whole country waste and in August invested

e
, ,

Krobo Hill wher a number of the enemy were enca m ped

, .

This hill however is a natural fortress with precipitous

, ,

and almost perpendicular sides and though the Ashantis ,

twice tried to storm it they were easily rep u lsed and , ,

in Septem ber the King reca lled them to Kumasi before

they had been able t o e ffect the capture of K wow S afa chi
e
,

wh o the n r established himself in Akwapim

-
.

While these ev ents were taking place in the eastern

districts the army under Appia Dunkwa had rea ched the
,

coas t near Winneba after but slight opposition from the

Fantis Mr Sm ith the Commandant of Ta ntu m kw ri e
e
. .
,

Fort sent to inquire what its intentio ns w re and was told

, ,

that it was on its way to Elmina to compel the Fantis to

raise the blockade The Fantis o f An amabo A j u m a co
.
, ,

Mumford Apam Winneba and Gomoa had formed a

, ,

c amp near Mumford and on the 1 st of March 1 8 1 1 a battle

,

took place at Apam in which the Fantis fought well , .

The Ashantis however beat them in the end and destroyed

, ,

the town taking many prisoners amongst whom was

e
, ,

Bafo on of the Chiefs of Anamabo About a week later .

Atta marched down at the head of his Akims to attack

the invaders wh o were now encamped near Tantu m kw ri
,
e
.

Appia Dunkwa howev er whose originally small force had

, ,

e
been considerably reduced by the casualties at Apam ,

thoroughly appreciated the di fference bet ween th fighti ng

qualities of the Fantis and those o f the warlike Akims and ,

thought it wiser t o retreat Atta followed and having .

,

engaged and defeated him drove his army o ver the border , .
 TH E SEC O N D AS HANTI WAR

H e t hen returned south and j oined the Fantis but before

he could complete his prep arations for an attack on
Op oku in Akwapim he contracted small pox and died in
,
~

O ctober 1 8 1 1 Had he lived and been well supported by

.

the Akwapims a nd other tribes it is possible that this ,

Chief might have struck a severe blow at the power of

Ashanti for though he acted at times in a wild and irre
sponsib le manner he was undoubtedly a brave and
,

skilful general .

’
Throughout the invasion the King s promise that the
Europea ns should not be molested pro vided they remained ,

e
neutral had been strictly Observed with the single ex
e
, ,

c p tion of the arrest of Mr Flindt and th re can be little

.

e
doubt that Opoku genuinely believed that he had given
Kwow S afa ch i some as sistance for had he r ally intended
e
,

to go against the King s word and molest the Dan s he ’

,

could easily hav e taken the for t and would certainly have
1
attacked and looted it Mr Flindt moreover was very
. .
, ,

well treated But though the English and Dutch suffered

.

nothing more from the Ashantis than the unavoidable

interruption to their trade they were less fortunate with
e e
,

the A kims Atta pillaged the Dutch Fort L ydsaam h id

.

at Apam throwing all the guns over the walls and damaging
,

the building to such an extent that it wa s li t tle more than

a ruin when he left whil the garrison which consisted, e ,

only of a sergeant and a few o f the Company s slaves fled ’

,

to Beraku He also visited the English fort at Ta ntu m k

e
.

weri where he helped himself to ev rything in the Com

,
'
mandant s quar ters that happened to t ake h is fancy .

I n March and again in J uly Atta sent to the English

e
e
, ,

Commandant at Winneba dem anding in the most p r m p

tory terms to be supplied with powder and lead but on ,

ee
each occasion h is request was refused A mulatto named .

V and rpu y was then in charge of the Dutch fort at Berak u ,

and after supplies had been denied him at Winneba in

M arch Atta went to him and threatened to put the whole
,

garrison to the sword if he did not give him what he

e e
wanted Va nd rp u y was then allowed to go to the
1 T ea
.

h D ne ntly o ffe
s a p a re
p red no ob j ction to h is ta king th e
bell .
 TH E SEC O N D ASHANTI WAR

of Beraku Fort was there on business o n of the Accra e

e e e
, ,

f tis h m n went to fis h in the River S ku m some miles to

e e
th west o f th town and was there surprised and captured
,

by a party o f Fantis who took him to Beraku and beheaded

him When the Accras missed their f tis h m a n and e
e
.

learned what had become o f him they went by night to

e e
,

Fort Cr ve Gm ur where Mr V a nd rp u y was staying

e
.
, ,

forced an entrance and seizing him and six B raku s wh o

,

were with him murdered them all

e
.
,

At Winn ba the pe 0p 1e had always been notorious for

their violence They had already flogged on Commandant
. e
through their streets and nearly beaten the captain of a
ship to death but these atrocities reached a climax in 1 8 1 2
e
,

when Mr Meredith th gallant defender of Anamabo Fort

.
, ,

who was now Commandant at Winneba was done to death

e
, .

When the Winn b as were about to j oin the Fanti army

during the Ashanti in vasion in 1 8 1 1 a man named A s siba ta
brought a locked chest to the fort and gave it into the ch arge
o f a sergeant named W u v s for safe k pl ng ee
A ssiba ta e
e .

was killed in the battle of Apam and about six months ,

later his relatives came to the fort and received the chest
from the sergeant but returned it a few days later with
the message that as he had kept the gold which was in
it amounting to a thousand ounces
, he might
also keep the chest .

Accusations of this kind are very commonly made on

the Gold Coast as a means of extorting money even at the
present day and as likely as not the charge was quite
,

without foundation The sergeant at any rate denied it

.
, ,

and although the matter was discussed on several occasions ,

no decision wa s come to I t was therefore decided to .

refer the dispute to the great fetish at Mankesim and the ,

sergeant obtained an adva nce on his pay from Mr Meredith .

with which to pay the customary fees of the priests .

Messengers were then sent to Mankesim to consult the

oracle and the sergeant was declared guilty Conscious .

of his innocence he refused to accept this as final and

, ,

sent messengers a second time to the priests who then ,

returned an answer desiring to know if he doubted the

 M U RD ER O F M R . M ERED ITH

infallibility of the oracle or whether he had forgotten

,

having taken the gold ou t of the chest about seven o clock ’

in the evening carrying it to Mr Meredith about eight

, .

’
O clock and telling him to take good c ar e of it with a ,
”
promise o f dividing the spoil The people or at any .
,

rate those wh o were not in the conspiracy never o f course ,

for a moment doubted the truth of the fetish verdict ;

and as the sergeant still persisted in declaring his innocence
e
,

the Headmen went to Mr Meredith and told him what th

.

oracle had revealed H e asked them if they really believe d

.

that he had stolen the gold and they had to admit that
,

they had never heard of a white man stealing from a black

e
man but repeated that the fetish had said s o an argument
,
—

which they probably deem d conclusive .

O n the following morning Thursday the 6 th of February

,

1 812
, the people suddenly seized Mr Meredith as he was .

walking in the garden of the fort and carried him off Mr . .

Richter of Danish Accra who happened to be staying in

,

the fort heard the disturbance and ran out trying to per
e
, ,

suade the Winn b a s to release their prisoner But they

e
.

would sc arcely allow him to sp ak to him but hurried him ,

o n towards the bush and would no t even let h im hand over (

his keys to Mr Richter for fear lest the key O f the magazine
.

m ight be amongst them After accompanying them for

.

ne arly three miles therefore Mr Richter returned to the fort

e
. .

The Winn b a s treated Mr Meredith with the utmost .

brutality for they not only made him walk in the sun
,
e
without his hat but even s t fire to the grass and taking , ,

o ff h is boots compelled him to walk barefooted through

e
,

the flam s O n reaching their destination in the bush ,

.

they tied h is outstretched arms as tightly as possible to

a heavy piece of wood which passed across and pressed
,

upon h is thr oat and would have put him in irons also had
,

he not avoided this by promising to pay them two ankers

o f rum ,
thirty two heads of cowries and a hundred hands
-

o f tobacco for which he gave them an order on the fort

,
.

O n his return to the fort Richter sent a letter to Mr

e
.
,

Smith , the Commandant o f Ta ntu m kw ri telling him what

e
,

had happened but the Winn b a s gained news of this and

 TH E SECO N D ASHANTI WAR

kept watch throughout the whole night Mr Sm it h . .

arrived the next morning but he had no sooner set foot on,

the beach than the people seized him also and carried him
off to the bush where they demanded eight ounces o f gold
,

before they would let him see Mr Meredith This sum . .

was afterwards reduced by one half He found the prisoner .

in a most pitiable condition so worn o u t by fatigue and ,

the ill treatment that he had received that he could barely

-

stand H e was quite unable to walk and had to be carried

.
,

to the spot where the meeting took place on a man s back ’

.

All Mr Smith s e fforts to convince the people of their

.
’

e
prisoner s innocence and of the folly and danger to them
’

s lves of their unreasonable conduct were of no avail a nd

e e
,

they refused to listen to any other terms than th immediat

payment of 8 00 ounces of gold After a long discussion .

h owever this amount was reduced to 2 2 6 ounces and

e
, ,

in view of th urgency of the case this demand was acceded ,

to and the two Officers were brought down to Winneba on .

the 8 th and lodged for the night in a house in the town .

Mr Meredith s condition was now most critical

.
’
His . .

neck was so swollen and h is throat had been so injured

while he lay tied to the stake that it was only with th e
greatest di fficulty that he could breathe The Winn bas . e
let the whole day pass without proceeding further wit h
the negotiations for his release but in the middle of th e
night it was seen that he was dying and Mr Smith was
e
.
,

allowed to fetch Richter from the fort to make som

alterations in his will O n the following morning Sunday
e
.
,

the 9 th while Mr Smith was in the act of delivering th

, .

gold and goods that had been agreed upon word was
e
,

brought that Mr Meredith was dying J ust before h

. .

expired he called E silfi the leader o f his tormentors and

,

murderers and with his last breath in the presence of

, ,

Mr Smith called the Almighty to witness that he had

.
,

been unj ustly accused and that the money that had been
extorted from him had been taken without cause His .

body was brought into the fort and buried at four o clock ’

the same afternoon N evertheless th Winn b as claimed

. e e
and actually received the price of his ransom .
 TH E SEC O N D ASHANTI WAR

dition of affairs would soon have become O nly a few days

e
.

earlier the K om nd a s had drawn their knives o n the

officer in charge of the fort and stoned the garrison but
the news of the retribution that had overtaken the Winne
b as struck such terror into the people along the whole
Coast causing them to fear a withdrawal of the protection
,

a fforded by the forts that this a ffair was quickly settled

,

and the people were far more careful of their conduct for
many year s afterwards .

The demolition of the fort was probably the very best

and most convincing step that could possibly have been
taken I t showed the people to what lengths the English
.

were prep ared to go in case of need and undoubtedly ,

alar med them far more than the destruction o f a dozen of

their towns or the execution of any number of their men
would ever have done for they understood very well that
the removal o f the protection a fforded by th forts would e
leave them an easy prey to the Ashantis wh o would not ,

be slow to avail themselves of so favourable an opportunity

to punish a pe0p 1e who had given them s o much trouble
and o ffered them so many insults The African Committee .

in London however were unable to regard the loss of a

, ,

nearly new fort in this light and were far from pleased
,
1
when they he ard of it I n fact they reprobated the
.
,

measure in the strongest terms and ordere d the Governor

,

to take immediate steps to have the fort rebuilt This .

,

however was delayed for some time for want of means

, ,

and the people were thus a fforded more time in which

to learn their much needed lesson The Winn b as them
—
. e
selves very soon took the initiative and began to beg
that the fort might be rebuilt promising to give their ,

e
services as labourers and O ffering to pay whatever com
p nsation the Governor might think proper in atonement
for their offence By December 1 8 1 3 they had repaid
.

fifty seven ounces of the s u m they had extorted from Mr

—
.

Meredith and had promised to collect the balance shortly .

ee
Vida l tt r fro m th e e
e eG e Cou ncil
e ee
1

e f
Com m itt
he
to th
e
e
ov rnor a nd
d at d 2 8th of N ov m b r, 1 8 1 2 R p ort C rom t om m itt on
African Forts, 1 8 1 7 , p .
 CHAPT ER XV

THE T HI R D AS HA NTI WA R

1813 To 1 816

e
uccee
O N th dea h f Atta in t his brother Kwaku A h
o 181 1, s a ntl

s ded him the s t ool f Akim H e soon inc rred

to o . u

patrioti schemes f his pre

the disple sure f hi Chiefs by h i apathy and f ilure
he
a o s s a to
carry decessor and
t hey the e
ou t t c
fore
o ,

plotted against him and finally resolved

r

to depose him and put him to death bu t being unwilling

t o have his blood on their hands compromised matters by ,

ordering him to commit suicide After an interv al of a

'

week which he spent in making a great custom for his

e
,

own funer al he took h is life and was succeed d by Kuj o

e
,

e
Kuma The new King was o f a much more warlik dis
e
.

p osition and during th next two year s h kept h is people

,

continu ally under arms in readiness for another attack by

th e Ashantis and finally when th y made no mov
, , e e,

j oined Kwow S afach i in Ak wapim in making a combined

attack on the Accras against whom as allies of Ashanti
e
, , ,

th y entertained t he bitterest animosity But although

ee
.

e
the Accras had been greatly weakened by an pid mic of
s m all p ox that had broken o u t a year or t wo before th y
e e
-
,

s u cce ded in dri v ing o ff their en mies aft er a severe

e
e ee
S ince th ir las t unsuccessful invasion in 1 8 1 1 t he Ashantis
had m ade no attempt to r v enge themselv es on th reb ls
e
bu t i n 1 8 1 4 th King determined once and for all to crus h
Aki m and Ak wapim , which had now be n in open revolt e
e
e
for as long as thre years The roads to t he coast had of
.
,

course been cl o sed d uring t he whole of this t im , and the

,

2 73
1 -
18
 TH E TH I RD AS HANTI WAR

As hantis had conseq uently suffered much loss and ih

e
, ,

conv enience from the stoppage o f their trade and th

e
'

di fficulty in obtaining powd r salt and other necessaries ,

from the seaboard towns .

A l arge army o f men wa s at once raised and

placed under t he com m and of Am a nkwa Abinowa who ,

recei v ed orders to advance int o Akim while a smaller

force und er Appia Dunkwa was sent in the d irection of
, ,

Winneba to cut off Kuj o Kuma if he should attem p t to

repea t the tactics of Atta and fly to Fanti I t was expected
e
.

that on the approach of such an ov rwhelming force and

with t heir prev ious means of escape cut off the Akims
e
,

would i m m ediately su for peace in which case Amankwa ,

was instructed to receive their submission and exact a

fine and then return to Kumasi These expectations .
,

however were never realized though the Akims retreated

, ,

before the inv a ders to within a day s m arch of Akwapim ’

.

H ere Kuj o Kuma succeeded in cutting Off a foraging

party of the enemy killing seven o f them and the nex t
, ,

day a general engagement took place at n a arru Aft er -

.

a battle lasting s ix hours the Ashantis routed the allies

and gained a victory which Amankwa announced by
e
,

s nding a j awbone and a sla v e to each of the Accra towns .

H e soon afterwards followed with h is army t o receive the

'

ee
tribute now ov rdu and the paym ents on the Notes
, ,

for the forts whi th owing to the recent disturbances and

e
, ,

the closure of the paths the Ashantis had been unabl to

,

collect before .

The Ashantis remained in this district for nearly twelve

months causing great discontent among the Accras who
, ,

found that their long and faithful allegiance and the

many services tha t they had rendered in the past could
a vail them no t hing now in pre v enting extortion and priva
tions from the scarcity of pro v isions Aft r this long . e
delay finding there wa s no likelihood of t he submission of
e
,

the nemy Am ankwa retu rned to Ak wa pim where he

, ,

recei ved a present of gold and a message from the King

forbidding him to return to t he capital unless he brought
t he heads of Kwow S afa ch i and Kuj o Kuma with him .
 TH E TH I RD A S HANTI WAR

to westward O n the 1 4th at about four o clock in the ’

e
.
,

afternoon the panic o f the preceding day was still furth r

,

increased by the sudden appearance of a detachment of

the enemy on the outskirts of Cape Coast itself About .

a hundred A ssins under Kwesi Amankwa were seen near

the lagoon on the western side o f the town ; but they
seemed to have come only for plunder or to reconnoitre ,

and were easily driven off .

O n the 1 sth the Governor s messengers returned from

’

the Ashanti camp with the follo wing reply from Amankwa
That he wa s determined to pursue Kwow S afach i K ujo ,

Kum a and K ofi Ashanti to whatever place they might

ret reat in fact that should they throw themselves into
,

the sea bury themselves in the e arth or secrete themselves

,

in a rock he would follow them

,
They also reported .

that six Ashanti messengers were then waiting outside

the town with a message for the Governor These men .

were escorted into Cape Coast and provided with lodgings

in the town where they were seen by two of the O fficers
,

from the Castle Messrs J ames and Mollan for the Fantis
,
.
,

were too ashamed to let them be admitted to an audience

in the Castl e
the usual cours
—
because they would havee
—

seen the crowds of women and children who had taken

refuge there They were promised that if it lay in the
.

Governor s power to seize K wow S afa ch i or Kuj o Kuma

’

he would do so in order to restore peace and would instruct ,

the Commandant of Anamabo Fort to make the people

of that place take fetish to the same effect a s those of ,

Cape Coast had already done The messengers then .

returned to their camp escorted by two soldiers bearing

,
’
the Company s flag and a flag of truce and a present from
the Governor to Amankwa O n the 2 1 st they returned ;
ee
.

and a s the Dutch Governor General Da nd ls had ex , ,

pressed a wish that one of h is Officers might be present to

co operate with the English in any negotiations for peace
-
,

a message was sent to Elmina to notify him of their arrival .

O n the 2 8 th two Dutch o fficers Messrs van Neck and

ee , .

Hu yd coop r came o v er and most Of the women and

e
, ,

ch ildren having first been sent o u t of the Castl .

 PEACE REST O RED

th eAshanti messengers were received in the Palaver

Hall .

After conveying their general s thanks for the presents ’

that had been sent him by the Governor they explained ,

that he had received strict orders from the King not to

molest any of the people living under the p rotection of th e
European forts but having sworn that he would pursue
,

Kwo w S a fa ch i Kuj o Kuma and K ofi Ashanti to whatever

e
,

plac they migh t retreat he had been compelled to come ,

to Cape Coast in order to ascertain whether these men

were in the town H e was now fully satisfied that they
.

were not there and only required that Kwow Aggri

, ,

Paintri and A m iss a three Chiefs wh o had fought for them

,

and assisted them to escape to leeward should return with ,

h is messengers and help him in his search for them These .

men being in town were sent for and said they were
, , ,

quite ready to go with the messengers if they would first

swear on the King s head that no harm should befall them
’
.

The messengers however explained that they could not

, ,

give such a gu arantee because they were no t Of high

enough rank to do so Without the consent o f Amankwa ,

and it wa s therefore arranged that they should return

and inform him of what had passed while the three Chiefs ,

swore that they would not leave the town until his answer
was received A little later however the Fantis borrowed
e
, ,
.

a hundred ounces o f gold from th Governor Mr Hope , .

Smith which they paid to Amankwa in consideration of

,

h is agreeing to waive all claims o n Aggri Pa intri and ,

A m is sa and both parties t h en took a fetish oath to abstain

,

from any further hostilities against each other .

Peace having thus been restored between the Fantis

and Ashantis great numbers of the latter began to arrive
,

in Cape Coast and for a time trade was very brisk The
,
.

people nevertheless su ffered severely from famine owing to

, ,

their inability to visit their farms during the war and the
consequent failure of the crops So great was the distress .

at one ti m e that Mr Dawson and some other officers s u b

.

scribed a considerable sum for its relief Corn was pur .

chased from other parts of the coast and distributed daily

 TH E TH I RD ASHANTI WAR

from the Castle and similar arrangements had to be made

,

for the supply of the garrison .

During this war the Elminas had not forgotten their

feud with the people of Cape Coast and the Fantis and had , ,

as on former occasions ill treated those wh o had fled to

,
-

their town They had also j oined with the Wa ssaws and
.

A ssins in threatening to attack Komenda but the garrison ,

of the fort was reinforced and they gave up the idea In .

J une the Ashantis broke up their camp and moved towards

Accra in search of the proscribed Chiefs During their .

progress through the country they inflicted great misery

on the people by their seizures of provisions and other
ex actions Near lnk a m Kuj o Kuma was surrounded by
.
,

a small party under Appia N a nu and finding escape ,

impossible preferred to commit suicide rather than fall

,

alive into the hands of his enemies His head was cut off .

and smoke dried to be sent to Kumasi Soon afterwards .

K wow S afa ch i whose people had now grown t ired of him

, ,

was also killed He had made good his escape to Akwapim

.
,

and was living in hiding in the village of Amanprobi ;

but his brother Adu Dunkwa o ffered to betray him on
e
condition that h was given the stool Amankwa promptly .

agreed to these terms and Adu Dunkwa led a party of the

Ashantis to Amanprobi which they surrounded while he
, ,

himself went to K wow S afa ch i and advised him to commit

suicide S a fa ch i however believed that he would soon
.
, ,

succeed in wearing out the Ki ng s patience and be left in ’

peace and refused Adu Dunkwa then turned to go which

, .
,

was the signal for the waiting Ashantis to shoot the

unfortunate Chief down He struggled to his feet four .

times accusing his brother of being his murderer but was

, ,

finally killed and his body brought down to Accra His .

head was then smoked and sent with that of Kuj o Kuma
to Kumasi K ofi Ashanti was not considered of any real
.

import a nce and as he had some influence at the Ashanti

,

Court was allowed to escape .

A mankwa had thus achieved the obj ect of the invasion ,

by obtaining the heads of the two chief rebels and com

pelling Akim and Akwapim to return to their allegiance .
 THE T H I RD ASHANTI WAR
“
.

grown t ha t ten ounces o f go ld was actually p aid by th e

e ee
K om ndas a s a fin , b sides all the expenses that had been

he the educ tio Of he

incurred .

A t t end f 5 a school f
o 181 or a n t
child en was established at Cap e Coast under a head
aster S p e
r
m cially sent out from England wh was as isted , o s

by three four educated mulat t os and in M rch

he
or 7 a 181

t Governor reported that there were forty boys i n

attendance and that this nu ber w daily increasing
The re had b e
m as .

H e had been e
en a native ch plain in Cape Coast for between a

fifty and sixty ye rs aducated at Oxford

.
,

but being w o v er eig hty ye r f age and past all duty

by h e
no a s o ,

he w reliev ed by an English ch plain sent

as a ou t t
Af ican Committee i
7 though i d e l e
n 1 8 16
Th e d the Slave
r .

Abolition Act f o 1 80 t .
c ar
the traffic"
,

d great numbe s of slaves were till secr e

Trade illeg l had by no mean put an end to
tly smuggle
a , s ;
d
ff h e
an r s

o t coast wh endu ed quite

, great hard hips
o r d as s an

sufferings as those wh o were taken when the trade was

recognized Then the slaves had usually been fairly well
e
.

tr ated from interested moti v es but though they were

now of greater value than ev r o wing to the increased e ,

difficulty and risk in obtaining them they were often half ,

e
s tarv ed and the ships horribly overcrowded in order that

e e
th great st possible profit might b made o n the voyage
e
,

while s mall pox or m asles not infreq uent ly broke o u t with

-

the most terrib le res ults Yet t hough the loss es from:
e
.
,

e e
disease on individual ships were at tim es appallin g th
e
.

av rage mort ality in the whole trad was less after th

A ct was passed than it had e v er been before Form rly . e
it was stated to have been abou t 1 4 per cent ; but thi s
was no w reduced to 9 per cent th o ugh when dysentery ,

or some other disease broke out the proportion of deaths

e
among indi vidual cargoes would often be as high as 3 5
or ev en 5 0 per cent .

While partly due to increased care of the slav s o wing

to their enh anced value t his diminution in the death rate
e
-
,

was mainly attributable to oth r causes I n the old .

days t he slav e ships were nearly all slow vessels and lay ,
 TH E SLAV E TRAD E

o ff the coast for several months while they were collecting

their full cargo Dur ing the whole of this time the slaves
.

that were first purchased were kept closely confined in

’
the vessel s hold where they were stowed in tiers one
,

above the other and anything approaching a satisfactory

,

degree o f ventilation was hopelessly unattainable When .

the trade was declared illegal on the other hand faster

, ,

shi p s had to be employed to escape the cruisers and as the ,

m odels that were best adapted for fast sailing only a d

e
m itt d o f one tier o f slaves the air in the holds was very
,

much purer than it had previously been At the same .

time the length o f the voyage was shortened and all the
,

slaves were taken on board as soon a s the ship arrived o n

the coast and she left again at once The loss due to the
.

’
lo ng confinement of some of the slaves in the vessel s hold
was thus obviated ; for they were kept in b arracoons on
shore and under more or less natural conditions and there ,

held in readiness for s h ipment in bulk whenever a slaver

put in .

’
The Commissioners sent out by His Maj esty s Govern
ment to investigate the condition of the Settlements and
Forts o n the West Coast of Africa in 1 8 1 1 reported that the
Slave Trade was still being carried on to a vast extent .

Before the passing of the Abolition A ct this trade had been

principally in the hands of the English and as America
had also passed some stringent laws to the sam effect it e ,

had been hoped in both countries that the traffic h a d

received a m ortal blow For the first few months a
.

cessation o f the trade did indeed ta ke place and though

slaves were still brought down to the coast yet when it , ,

wa s found that they could not be disposed of they were ,

either taken back again or retailed locally as domestic

slaves and before long they ceased to arrive altogether
,
.

But the great advantages to be derived from occupying

the Opening thus left on the Coast o f Africa by the retreat
o f the English were soon perceived by the Am ericans ,

particularly those o f the Southern States who setting the

, ,

laws o f their country at defiance boldly engaged to an

,

im mense extent in this trade covering their v essels by a

,
 THE TH I RD ASHANTI WAR

fictitious sale at the Havannah Teneriff , or any other

, , e
o f the Spanish Colonies where they were easily furnished
,
”
with false papers .

But the Americans were not the only culprits Many .

English ships also sailed in this way under the Spanish

flag and by the autumn of 1 80 9 the wh ole coast swarmed
,

wit h such vessels Nor were the people themselves less

.

willing than the Americans Spaniards and others to profit

e
,

by th renewal of the trade The King of Ashanti in .

,

consideration of some concessions he made a few years

later specially asked that the trade might be r established
,
e —
,

and the Governor and Council of Cape Coast reported to

the African Committee in March 1 8 1 7 that it must be
seriously impressed that this traffic is the only obj ect of
commerce congenial to the natives or to which they are
actively disposed they will cling to it to th last moment e
they may be deprived of it but they cannot be diverted
,

from it ; they will quit it but from necessity and make

Opportunities rather than neglect them The pe0p 1e of .

the coast are the brokers of those of the interior who ,

supply the slaves and as they are established from necessity

,

as the sole medium betwixt the vessels and the sellers ,

they have every facility of adding to their regular profit

by impositions wh ich can neither be noticed by one p arty
nor detected by the ot h er This trade is consequently
.
, ,

beyond all comparison so indolent and lucrative that

, ,

even were there any appeal to their feelings it would not ,

influence in competition with such inordinate gain every

oth er trade requires comparatively activity and exertion
, , ,

and yields very inferior profit it is unreasonable there ,

fore to expect any conduct on the part of the natives but

,
”
such as m ay be auxiliary to the slave traders .

I t is not surprising therefore that in the face of so

, ,

m uch opposition and so many di fficulties the British cruisers

m ade but a small i m pression upon this trade The slave .

s hips were fast and were seldom overtaken and there was ,

a t first considerable doubt as to the legality of interference

e
with ships nominally of Spanish nationality The effect .

o f this revival of the S lave Trade was soon v isible o n th

 THE TH I RD ASHANTI WA R

were actually supplied by Governor White for a l ong time ,

un til Commodore Irby ordered him to stop the practice .

The Dutch were even less particular and Openly abetted

the slavers by furnishing their ships with water and
canoes at Elmina and selling them goods suitable for the
trade .

I n December 1 8 1 0 a schooner flying Spanish colours

was seen lying o ff Elmina by H M S N m s is and Captain . . . ee
Ferris ordered an officer to board her and exam ine her
papers Both the Castl and Fort Conra a d sbu rg opened
. e
fire on the man of war s boat and one of her crew was
- -
’
,

wounded by a volley of musketry from the schooner The .

boat therefore put back to the ship and Captain Ferris

, , ,

came to an anchor within range of the Castle and sent his

First Lieutenant ashore to demand a perusal Of the
schooner s papers and the attendance Of her Captain on
’

board his ship to answer for h is conduct The papers were .

produced but the Dutch Governor represented that as

the schooner was under the protection of the guns of his
fort he could not very well hand over her Captain That
, .

night however two of the m a n of war s boats cut her

, ,
~ ~
’

ou t under cover o f darkness and took her to Cape Coast ,

where her Captain wa s cautioned to be more respectful to

e ’
His Maj sty s ships in future and then discharged In .

1 8 1 7 too though the Dutch Government had issued strict

, ,

orders for the prevention o f the Slave Trade Governor

ee
,

Da nd ls was still regularly supplying the Portuguese

and Spanish slavers with canoes water and goods and
e
, ,

in February of that year a larg Spanish ship lay off Elmina

Castle for four days and then sailed down to Apam where
e e
,

the Dutch Fort L ydsaam h id stood and shipped 400 ,

slaves .

I n the absence o f the men O f war it must be admitted - -

e
that the forts made very little e ffort to interfere with
vessels taking slaves o n board even in their immediat ,

neighbourhood I n March 1 8 1 0 the A nna a Spanish brig

.
,

from Havanna took a cargo of slaves o n board at Cape

,

Coast with no other interruption from the Castle than a

threat to fire on her These slaves were supplied by a.
 WI N N E BA F O RT RE BU I LT

mulatto named Howell who li ved within a quarter of a

,

mile of the Castle and consequently under its protection .

H e was a considerable trader in the to wn the son of an ,

European o fficer in the Company s service and had been ’

,

educated in England This brig was captured in May by

e
.

H M S Crocodil
. . . This however was no isolated instance
.
, ,

o f such Open defiance Of the forts for according to Cr nik

shank there were not fewer than seven l arge ships in
,

February 1 8 1 8 all taking slaves o n board close to Cape

Coast Castle .

I t w as probably at about this time that Winneba Fort

wa s rebuilt for in the minutes of a meeting of the Com
m itt e
e e o f th Company of Merchants in London held on the ,

l g th o f May 1 8 1 5 the following passage occurs

, The
Committee understanding from the information of gentle
,

men who have received late advices from that par t Of the
Coast that the natives are very desirous that th Fort
, e
should be rebuilt and continuing impressed with a sense
o f the importance of the possession as well for the reasons ,

above stated a s from the consideration that the station

, ,

if abandoned by this Country may be taken possession of ,

by some other power Resolved unanimously That the

—
,

Governor and Council be d irected to demand from the

natives a s u m of money in satisfaction of the inj ury
e
, ,

done to the lat Mr Meredit h and if the same shall be

.

recovered and sufficient security can be Obtained for the

safety of the persons to be employed in rebuilding the
Fort that the work be proceeded in pro vided it shall
e
, ,

appear on an inspection by the Surveyor ; that it can b

,

accomplished within a reasonable time and at an expense ,

not exceeding currency including such articles as ,

it may be necess a ry to send from this Count ry and which

e
,

th Committee imagin e would no t exceed £3 00 currency .

 CHAPTER XVI

T R E ATY WITH AS H A NTI

1 8 16 TO 1 818

ON the conclusion of peace in 1 8 1 6 the English took into

serious consideration the losses that they had sustained
by the interruption of their trade during the recent wars ,

and contemplated the possibility of still further outbreaks

wit h considerable uneasiness They felt that although for
.
,

the time being everything was quiet they had absolutely

'

no guarantee that this satisfactory state of affairs would

continue and determined therefore to make an effort to
,

come to some definite understanding with the Court at

Kh u na fi t

At the end of the first invasion in 1 8 0 7 the King had

expressed a wish to keep communication open with the
British and in proof of his sincerity had asked that an
,

o fficer of the Company might be sent up to reside in the

As hanti capital as British A mbassador or Cons u l and had ,

undertaken to guarantee his safety This request had .

never been complied with principally on account of the

,

expense such an arrangement would entail At the end .

of the last invasion however it became known that the

ee
, ,

Dutch Governor Da nd ls h a d given large presents to the

King and was still in comm unication with him and a ,

promise of similar presents had then been made by the

English I t was moreover strongly suspected that the
.
, ,

Dutch were trying to come to some understanding with

the Ashantis which might eventually prove very d tri e
mental to the interests of the English Company R pr ee
e
.

s nta tions were therefore made to the African Committee

2 86
 TREATY WITH ASHANTI

with three interpreters two native soldiers and a numb r

, , e
of hammock men and carriers for their own baggage and
-

the presents which brought their total number up to

,

about 1 3 0 A s they passed through the country they were

.
,

deeply impressed by the widespread scenes o f desolation

and misery that marked the train of the Ashanti army .

O n every side they saw farms laid waste and villages burned
to the ground while the few inhabitants wh o yet remained
,

were gaunt with famine and for days together they passed
,

through absolutely deserted country Nothing was left .

of the once prosperous town of Mansu and its great slav e

market but the immense clearing a nd a few scattered

sheds I t was not in fact until they had crossed the Pra
.
, ,

and entered Ashanti territory that they found any p opu

lous villages and saw the first signs of prosperity .

After several delays due to the bad state of the road

,

and the usual troubles with carriers they entered Kumasi ,

at about two o clock on the afternoon of the 1 9 th of May

’
.

Here they were received with every mark of favour by

the King and accorded a public reception A full account . .

of the tedious but rather impressive formalities involved by

t h is is given by Bowdich The whole of the remainder of
.

that day was taken up with purely ceremonial business and

the customary round of visits to the Courts of the various
Chiefs and their return visits afterwards for this routine
is very strictly observ ed on all state occ a sions especially ,

in Ashanti and it was nearly eight o clock in the evening

,
’

before the whole ceremony was over .

The Officers of the mission hitherto acquainted only ,

with the Kings and Chiefs of the coast line most of whom -
,

are of comparatively little importance were greatly ,

astonished at the display of wealth and magnificence pre

sented by the Ashanti Court They estimated that the .

number of soldiers alone who were present on this occasion

could not have been less than about while the
gorgeous silk umbrella canopies of the various Chiefs th ,
e
e
barbarous music the incessant discharge of musketry and
, ,

the ubiquitous abundance of the purest gold far surpass d ,

anything that they had ever imagined B owdich s account .

’
 TH E N O TES

of the S plendour of the Ashanti Court in these years of its

prosperity is fully borne ou t by all wh o visited it H e .

says The s u n was reflected with a glare scarcely more

,

supportable than the heat from the massy gold ornaments

, ,

which glistened in every direction The Caboceers a s .

,

did their superior capta ins and attendants wore Ashantee ,

cloths of extravagant price from the costly foreign silks

,

which had been unravelled to weave them and massy ,

gold necklaces intricately wrought

, S ome wore neck .

laces reaching to the navel entirely of aggry beads ; a

’

band of gold and beads encircled the knee from which ,

several strings of the same depended ; small circles of

gold like guineas rings and casts of animals were strung
e
, , ,
1
round their an les and rude lumps of rock gold hung
from their left wrists which were so heavily laden as to
e
,

be supported on the head of o n of their handsomest boys .

Gold and silv er pipes and canes dazzled the eye in every
direction Wolves and rams heads as large as life cast in
.
,

gold were suspended from their gold handled swords

,
-
,
” 2
which were held around them in great numbers etc , .

The first audience with O sai Tutu Kwam ina took place
o n the morning after their arrival when the King showed ,

every sign o f h is readiness and anxiety to come to a good

understanding with the English I n fact the success of the
.
,

mission seemed fully assured until the subj ect Of the pay
notes for the forts was introduced For more than a .

centu ry the Kings o f Ashanti had received payment for

Elmina Castle on the Note that had been c ap tured by O sai
ee
Tutu from the D nk ra s in 1 7 00 and ever since their ,

conquest of Ak im had been paid on the Notes for the

English and Dutch forts at Accra and the Danish Castle at
Chr istiansborg also .

The actual Notes for these forts were i n Tutu Kwam ina s ’

possession They had always been regarded by their

.

o riginal holders as evidence o f the fact that the ground on

which the forts stood still belonged to them and was merely
leased to the Whites as tenant s and a s proofs that the ,

latter had never acquired any permanent right to such

N u gge
1 ts . Bowdich pp 3 4 3 5
2
, .
—
.

1— 19
 TREATY WITH ASHANTI

lands either by purchase or conquest Their possession .

,

therefore was of great political importance to the King

, ,

as showing a recognition of the sovereign rights that he

had acquired over the coast districts by his various wars
e
.

When Colonel Torra n however after the first invasion of

, ,

Fanti had paid the King the arrears on the Notes for
Cape Coast Castle and Anamabo the actual documents ,

had remained in the h ands of the local Chiefs who had ,

afterwards persuaded Governor Hope Smith to issue fresh

Notes in their place by wh ich the King was to receive four
e
,

ackies a month and they retained the balance of th

original sum of four ounces This impudent attempt
to defraud h im O f his rights was discovered or suspected
e
by th King who now produced these new Notes for four
,

ackies a month and after asking for them to be read

, , ,

vehemently demanded an ex planation from Mr James .

and flatly accused the Governor of having leagued himself

with the Fantis to cheat him of his j ust dues .

Mr J ames was quite taken aback and became so em

e
.

b arra ss d and bewildered that he did not know h o w to

reply A tremendous uproar broke out the King
e
.
,

furiously exclaiming that he was being intentionally mad

a fool of before the Fantis and the Chiefs loudly crying ,

for war and swearing that they would march at once to

the coast and avenge th insult that had been O ffered e
to their ruler Mr James was absolutely overawed in
. .
—

fact he completely lost his head and made no attempt to

,

o ffer any explanation but could only plead his own ,

ignorance of the matter and la y the wh ole responsibility

for this strange transaction ( o n"
the Governor saying h " ,
e
would return at once to the coast and inform h im of what
the King had said The meeting was on the point of
.

breaking up in disorder when the exercise o f a little tact ,

might have put matters straight and restored harmony .

Bowdich however seeing the critical position in wh ich

e
, ,

matters stood and realizing that unless something wer

,

done the success of the mission was likely to be wrecked

at its very outset sprang forward a nd demanded to b
, e
heard .
 TREATY WITH ASHANTI

Abrah and afterwards rat ified here by their mutual

,

consent H earing that messengers from the King were

.

at Abrah I invited them down wishing through their

, ,

medium to communicate with him concerning the con

e e
v ya nc of the presents I had received from the Committee .

After some delay they arrived and on their first interview ,

made known their errand to the Fantees and the manner

it had been arranged applying at the same time for two
e
,
1
Notes to be mad o u t in favour of Zey at four ackies
e
,

each which was to b e deducted from the Notes of A m oon y

,

and A du co ee
Not being perfectly satisfi d from the
. e
representation of these pe 0p 1e as to the j ustness of the
claim I delayed complying until it was stated to be a
,

pledge of good faith and allegiance o n the part of the

Fantees and a confirmation of the final adj ustment of all
,

di fferences between the two parties and as such they were

e
,

given them The nature o f the claim having been fully

.

and satisfactorily xplained I have no hesitation in com ,

plying with the wishes o f the King ; and this I do the

more readily knowing that by the extension o f h is au
,

th ority good order and subj ection will be better preserved

e
.

This will I h Op evince to the King my friendly intention

, ,

towards him ; and you will impress upon his mind that
it is my e arnest desire to cultivate his friendship the ,
” 1
establishment of which will be mutually beneficial etc , .

Mr J ames was recalled and the future conduct of the

.

mission entrusted to Bowdich The Governor also for .

warded a separate reply to the King s letter in which he ’

,

once more expressed his regret that any misunderstanding

should hav e arisen and wrote I observe by the many
, ,

instances quoted in your letter that the Notes of conquered ,

countries have been transferred to your ancestors ; there

fore it shall be the same on the present occasion Here .

with I send you two Notes one for two oz per month
e
, .
,

formerly held by A m oo n y also one from the caboceer at ,

Abrah for two oz The latter was only twelve ackies per
.

month and I have added one oz four to it These and

, . .
,

the Notes you hold from A kra will make your Company s ,
’

1
O sa i (Tu tu K wa m ina ) Bowdich p 7 7 .
2
, . .
 TH E N OTES

pay six oz per month which shall be regularly paid at

.
,
” 1
the Castle .

How much of this explanation wa s a statement of fact ,

and how much of it was of a purely diplomatic nature ,

it is not easy to determine The whole transaction was at .

best an extraordinary one and viewed in the light of Mr , .

’
Hope Smith s subsequent conduct in relation to these
very Notes and other matters and his general treatment ,

o f the King at a little later date it seems at any rate not

2
,

impossible that Tutu Kwam ina s suspicions may have been ’

only too well founded Although there is a great wealth .

of literature dealing with the events O f this and the next

e
few years yet the statements of some of the writers are so
,

contradictory and there was so much p rsonal animosity

,

between them that it is far from easy to form any definite

,

Opinion as to what actually occurred and it is more than ,

likely that the true h istory o f this period will never be

known with certainty Pages might easily be written in .

discussing these questions but the works of Bowdich , ,

Dupuis Hutton and others must be read and compared

, ,

and the evidence a fforded by each carefully analyzed

before any opinion can be formed on the subj ect .

The Governor in his explanation quoted above cer

, ,

ta inly insinuates that he had had no idea of the existence

o f any such claims as those now advanced by the King

until he received his letter yet such ignorance if in fact ,

it really existed would have been very remarkable con

e e
, ,

sid ring th precedents there were Apart from the .

Elmina Note there were the Notes for the Accra forts
, ,

among wh ich was that for J ames Fort and it can hardly ,

have been outside the knowledge of an English Governor

’
that one of the N otes for his Company s forts wa s held by
the King of As hanti and for what reason Mr Hop . . e
Smith indeed proves that he was well aware of this fac t by
writing in his instructions to Mr James before the mission .

ever left Cape Coast

,
You will acquaint the King it is
,
’
my wish that in future he receive his Company s pay at
” 1
this Castle and not at Akra as formerly I t was only
Vide e e
.
, ,

3 Bo wdich
1 Bowdich p 80 , pp 3 0
. 1 t s q and 3.2 0 1
p 12 . . .
, . .
 TREATY WITH ASHANTI

a few years too since Colonel Torra n had understood

, , e
the matter well enough and paid up all the arrears then
due so that it is fairly clear that this ignorance was only
,

assumed and if it was not then it was wholly inexcusable

, , .

Mr Hope Smith moreover asserts in his letter that

.
, ,

h is obj ect in sending for the Ashanti messengers was to

communicate t h rough them concerning the conveyance
of the presents which had been sent out by the Com
m itt e
e ; yet it had been definitely decided long before
their arrival on the Coast that these presents were to be
taken up by the Officers of the mission so that there was ,
”
no obj ect in consulting the King about their conveyance ,

and unless the Governor meant to imply that he merely

wished to notify him that they were coming this statem nt , e
will not bear examination at all .

Dupuis gives copies of the revised Notes that were

now sent to the King That for Anamabo Fort reads as .

follows

CA PE C oA s r CA S T LE ,

A pril 1 1 8 1 7
, .

Zey Too to Qu am ino , King of Ashantee at ,

1 6 03 . per
month .

Signed “J O HN H O PE S1v11r 11
( ) ,

Governor in Chief L S . . .

This note was held by A m on y Caboceer of A nnam abo e ,

e ,

but in consequence o f the conquest of the Fantee country

was claimed and transferred to Zey King of Ashantee , ,

by the consent of the former owner .

( Here followed a list of th goods supplied in payment ) e .

That for Cape Coast Castle is similar but the footnote to ,

it says held by A d o oco Caboceer o f Abrah the former

,

owner The Note of A d oo co was only

. per month ,

now increased to 1 6 os as above This is the Note of Cape

.
,
.

” 1
Coast Castle
e
.

These N otes are dated th I s t of April 1 8 1 7 yet they

1 Du pu is , p . 1 19 .
 TREATY WI T H ASHANTI

1 8 1 6- 1 8 1 8 1 60 shillings a month but the payment for Cape Coast

,

ca n . x vr Cas t le appears as follows

ee A
Cap Coas t n o
‘

d 1 2 05 . e
Cap Co a st is in th e
ee
Castl
ee
kingd om of F tu :
ee King o f Fatu e th D y h as a lways
e
ee
A h n b rah 40 5 .

r c iv d g rou nd
e e e
r nt fo r th Castl 1

From this it is evident that 1 6 0 shillings was the amount

that had always been paid on this Note and t h at by no ,

pretence could it have been made 1 2 ackies as the

Gov ernor now tried to represent This professe d genero .

sity therefore had no existence in fact

, , .

O n the whole therefore although at first sight Mr

, , .

H ope Smith s explanation may look plausible enough it

’
,

will hardly bear a close scrutiny without leav ing at leas t

a v ery strong suspicion that all that the King alleged was
perfectly true and that h is strictures on the Governor s
,
’

cond u ct were fully j ustified

e
.

Howev er the issue o f the n w Notes and the Gov ernor s

e
'
,

explanation satisfied the King and ano t her pr lim inary ,

difficul ty was then broached This wa s an old standing

e e
-
.

qu arrel with the K om ndas who were accus d o f having ,

spoken insultingly of the King and of hav ing committed

overt acts of hostility against h is allies the Elminas After
e
.

the invasion of 1 80 7 the K om nda s had threatened the

,

Elminas with punishment for the assistance they had given

the Ashantis and ag ain when Elmina was blockaded by,

e
the Fantis they had obtained supplies of powder from
,

th m under the pre t ence that t h ey would help them and

e
,

had then seized ninety eight of them and sold t h m as

-

slaves For these wrongs the King now demanded an

.

indemnity of ounces o f gold and sent his fav ourite ,

nephew Adu Bradi and a Captain named Kwa ntri to

,

assist the Governor in settling the matter A fter some .

lengthy negotiations this difficulty was fin a lly disposed

portof S e
nta ry Pap r R e
Parliam e e
ct Com m itt e
le e
,
1
, p 1 00 . .
 TH E TREATY S IGN ED

of by the payment of 1 2 0 ounces by the K om nda s with e ,

3 0 ounces more as fees to the messengers A complaint .

was then brought against the people of A m issa but Mr .

Bowdich refused to listen to this o n the ground that the

Governor neither had nor desired any authority over them .

The subject was therefore dropped although B owdich s ,

’

statement was quite incorrect for in the return already

quoted it is stated of A m is s a and some other places that
,

these are little States on the sea shore inhabited chiefly -

,

by fishermen through which towns all communications

,

must necessarily pass ; but being situated at a distance

from our Forts and those pe0p 1e being much addicted to
,

piratical acts pay has been given to ensure a free

,

communication ; wit h the additional consideration that

they acknowledge allegiance to the English nation The .

" 1
British flag is hoisted in those towns I f therefore the .
, ,

Governor had no authority over these p eople it is difficult ,

to imagine who had .

All obstacles had now been cleared away and a pre ,

liminary tre a ty was made o n the 2 9 th of August by ,

which the King declared h is acceptance of the o ffer of 1 2 0

ounces of gold by the K om ndas in full settlement o f his e
claim I t was further stipulated that the people of
‘
1
.

Komenda shall acknowledge their fealty to the King ,

"
and be entitled to all the benefits of his protection Adu .

Bradi and Kwa ntri who were still in Cape Coast were
e
, ,

authorized to receive the indemnity from the K om ndas ,

and on the 7 th of September the general treaty was signed

by the King and by B u a tin the King of J abin on the
,

following day The text of this treaty as given by Bowdich

.
3

is a s follows
TR E ATY made and entered into by TH O MAS E DWAR D
BO WDI C H Esquire in the name of the Governor and
, ,

Council at Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast of Africa ,

and on behalf of the British Government with 5 11 1 To o r o o ,

QU A M I N A King of Ashantee and its Dependencies and

, ,

B OirxN N E E Q U A MA King of Dwab in and its Dependencies

, .

Vide no te Article
e
1
1
p 2 9 6 , .II . .

Bowd ich p 1 2 6 ai d a lso p 3 08

1
, . . .
 TR EAT Y WITH ASHANTI

1 st .There shall be perpetual peace and harmony

between the British subj ects in this country and the
subj ects of the Kings of Ashantee and Dwabin .

2 nd The same shall exist between the subj ects of

.

the Kings of Ashantee and Dwa bin and all nations of ,

Africa residing under the protection of the Company s ’

Forts and Settlements on the Gold Coast and it is hereby , ,

agreed that there are no palavers now existing and that

, ,

neither party has any claim upon the other .

3 rd The King of Ashantee guarantees the security

.

of the pe0p 1e of Cape Coast from the hostilities threatened

by the pe 0p 1e of Elmina .

4th I n order to avert the horrors Of war it is agreed

.
,

that in any case of aggression on the part of the natives

under British protection the Kings shall complain thereof
,

to the Governor in Chief to Obtain redress and that they

- —
,

will in no instance resort to hostilities even against the ,

other towns of the Fantee territory without endeavouring ,

as m uch as possible to e ffect an amicable arrangement ,

a ffording the Governor the Opportunity of propitiating it ,

as far as he may with discretion .

5 th The King of Ashantee agrees to permit a British

.

officer to reside constantly at his capital for the purpose ,

of instituting and preserving a regular communication

with the Governor in Chief at Cape Coast Castle
- -
.

6 th The Kings of Ashantee and Dwa b in pledge them

.

selves to countenance promote and encourage the trade

,

of their subj ects with Cape Coast Castle and its depen
ee
d nci s to the extent of their power .

7 th The Governors Of the respective F

. orts shall at
all times a fford every protection in their power to the
persons and property of the pe0p 1e o f Ashantee and
Dwabin who may resort to the water side -
.

8 th The Governor in Chief reserves to himself the

.
— —

right of punishing any subj ect of Ashantee or Dwabin

guilty of secondary O ffences but in case of any crime of

,

magnitude he will send the o ffender to the Kings to be

, ,

dealt with according to the laws of h is country .

9 th The Kings agree to commit their children to the

.
 TREATY WITH ASHANTI

stay in the capital and others now tried to learn more

,

about the interior I n this same year the Dutch sent

.

exploring parties for some distance up the Ankobra and

e
Pra under Colonel S tra nb u rg though this was not the ,

first time these ri v ers had been ascended ; for the first ,

at any rate had been well known to the Portuguese for

,

e
many miles from its mouth and the Dutch themselves had ,

sent an xpedition up the Pra prior to 1 7 00 .

’
Soon after B owd ich s return to the coast another war ,

broke out between Ashanti and J aman A dinkra the King .

,

of Jaman made himself a golden stool in imitation of the

,
”
Golden Stool of Ashanti ; and as this was deemed a
gross presumption o n the part of a tributary Chief o n of , e
the Kumasi Linguists was sent to B o ntu ku and confiscated
it Soon after this a Jaman criminal was sent to A dinkra
.

by the King but he was afraid to punish him as the King ,

himself had no t done so and let him go The man then

, .

turned round and insulted the Ashanti messengers who had

brought him but A d inkra took no notice Some of his
, .

wives then began to taunt him with his tame submission

in the matter of the golden stool and eventually succeeded
in goading him into returning an insulting message to the
King and throwing some o f the Ashanti Residents into
some o ld gold pits These acts were reported to Tutu
-
.

K wam ina who after sending to warn him without e ffect

, , ,

began to make preparations for war .

I t was thought that the King would prefer to carry on

t h is war unobserved and would be unwilling for Mr .

Hutchison to witness any reverse his arms might meet

e
with and th latter was recalled The King then in 1 8 1 8
, .
, ,

raised a great army which he led in person against A dinkra

,
.

The Ashantis finally conquered though not until after a ,

severe and prolonged struggle in which thousands fell on

either side and few trophies were secured A dinkra himself .

was slain and Apaw his heir captured but he too was
, , , , ,

killed soon afterwards while attempting to escape Adin .

’
kra s skull was s o shattered that the King caused a duplicate
to be cast in gold which wa s then preserved as a trophy
,

in place of the damaged original During the King s .

’
 FAL S E RUM O U RS

absence from the capital his sister who had been left in , ,

charge and several of h is wives were persuaded by the

e
,

Chief of B u rom i to intrigue with him to seiz the kingdom

bu t on the retur n of th arm y these conspirators were alle
beheaded with the ex cep t ion of the princess who being o f
, , ,

royal blood was strangled , .

This war naturally s t opped the trade wi t h Ashanti

e e
,

whi ch for a tim had been very brisk mor especially while ,

prep arations were being made for this c ampaign for the
King had strictly obser ved the sixth article of the treaty
and obtained all his supplies from the English A f w e
e e
.

traders however still reached th coast from time to tim

, , ,

but they had all been s worn to secrecy before they left
Kumasi and refused to gi v e any information about the
war or what wa s happening in the interior This absence .

o f a ll news and the evident desire of the Ashantis to keep

e
their doings s cret soon led to rumours of an Asha nti
defeat . e e
The wild s t stori s were spread about th coast e ,

and though strenuously denied by the Ashanti Resident

at Cape Coast and by Governor O ldenburg and the Elmina
Chiefs they coincided so well with the wishes Of the Cape
,

Co ast people that they rapidly gained ground and of course

lost nothing by repetition I t was currently reported .

and gener ally belie v e d that the Ashantis had been utterly
defeated Some even went s o far as to s ay that the King
.

himself had been killed and that A dinkra was advancing

with a victorious arm y to crown his success by occupying
Kumasi .

Greatly elated by this news of the downfall of their

much dreaded enemy the Fantis in general and the Cape
e
-
,

Coast peopl in particular Openly exulted o v er the As h anti

Residents but the Governor never made the least a ttempt
,

to restrain them Perhaps he too was glad to delude

e
.
, ,

himself with the h Op that the power of the nation which

had caused so much trouble in the past had at length been
broken and was pleased to s
,
the coast t ribes making e
e
some attempt to assert their independence Be this as .

i t may the Gov ernor s conduct was certainly not in accord

,
’

ance with the S pirit of the treaty that had j ust been made .
 TREATY WITH ASHANTI

The j oy of the Cape Coast people however was doomed

, ,

to be very short lived for while they were still indulging

-

their fancy with these beliefs and congratulating them

selves ou the imaginary defeat and death of the King ,

Ashanti messengers suddenly arrived in the coast towns

bearing the jawbones of some of his enemies in token of
his victory Two of these messengers were sent to K o
.

menda where they were met with defiance and insult for
e
,

the K om nd a s relying on the false reports that had been

,

spread about met the Asha ntis outside their town and
,

refused either to let them enter it or even to supply them

with a drink of water after th eir j ourney in fact the m n
—
, e
were most disgracefully treated and even children turned
,

out to hoot at them and pelt them with stones and dirt .

The messengers then came to Cape Coast and laid their

e
complaint before th Governor in accordance with th e
e e
fourt h article of th treaty but h declined to interfere ,

and one of the messengers then set out for Kumasi to tell
the King what had happened while the other who said h
, , e
dared not convey such an insult to his master remained
,

behind in Cape Coast to watch the course of events .

3 04 TH E TREATY B R O KEN BY TH E ENGLISH
’
distinct tendency to weaken the Governor s authority in the
eyes of the King of Ashanti matters were only likely to ,

be still further complicated by the introduction of another

o fficial with independent powers whose views on the ,

politics O f the country di ffered s o widely from those of

the local authorities From the very first Mr Hope Smith
. .

was j ealous of the appointment of Mr Dupuis and de

e e
.

t rm in d to thwart him in fact he put so many obstacles

—
,

in the way of his going to Kumasi at all that he succeeded ,

in detaining him in Cape Coast for over twelve months .

Dupuis in turn made no secret of h is contempt for the

Governor and Council and strenuously denied that they
,

had any right to dictate to him o r give him any instructions

whatever He maintained that as an officer appointed
.
,

directly by the Crown he was entirely beyond the control

,

of those whom he contemptuously referred to as the

” 1
servants of a mercantile board .

Dupuis however was in the right and his view of his

, , ,

position was openly supported by Mr Swanzy one of the .

,

Members of Council and receives further confirm ation from

,

the terms O f his Commission giving and granting unto

him the said J oseph Dupuis full power and authority by
, , ,

all lawful ways and means to aid and protect as well Our ,

said merchants and other O ur subj ects trading or that ,

shall trade or have any commerce with the said Kingdom

,

e
o f Ashantee and also to examine and hear and as much ,

as in him lies to compose and determine all and all mann r

o f di f
ferences contentions suits and variances that shall
e
, ,

or may happen or arise or that ar now depending at ,

Coomassie aforesaid or within any of the dominions of

,

e
the Kingdom of Ashantee as aforesaid between O ur said ,

merchants and subj ects or any of th m and to do and , ,

execute from time to time all and ev ery other act or acts
, , ,

thing or things that may advance and encrease and be

, ,

for the benefit of trade and mutual commerce between O ur

said Kingdoms and the ports in the Kingdom Of Ashantee
aforesaid .Wherefore We will and by these presents , ,

d o strictly charge and command all and every O ur said

1
Du pu is , p . x x x vii .
 TH E KI N G DEMAN DS SATISFACTI O N 30 5

merchants and other O ur subj ects coming into trading 1 8 1 9 ,

-
1 8 20
or residing in the Kingdom o f Ashantee aforesaid or any a r , . x v1 1

of the dominions thereof to own and acknowledge the said

,
” 1
J oseph Dupuis etc , .

Towards the end of March a sword bearer named Akra ,

-

Dehi arrived from the King to lodge a formal complaint

e
with th Gov ernor of the insult that had been o ffered to his
e e
messengers by th K om nd as He intimated that these .

men had told the King that they had been unable to obtain
a ny redress but o n the faith o f the treaty which stipulated ,

t h at in the event of any aggression on the part of the

pe0p 1e living under British protection the King was to
seek redress from the Governor he had been sent to ask ,

that j ustice might be done and thus spare the King the
necessity of sending a punitive expedition against the
e
K om nd a s which however he was prepared to do in the
, , ,

event of the Governor s further refusal The messenger

’
.

added that the King had heard of the foolish reports that
e
had been spread by th people of Cape Coast and hop ed ,

the Governor would attend to this matter for him also .

According to Dupuis it was asserted by many o f those

,

who were present at thi s meeting and understood the

e
language and were not known as supporters of Ashanti ,

that this moderate and very reasonable messag was

considerably exaggerated and distorted and even added ,

to by de Graft the Castle interpreter who concluded it by

, ,

saying that the King would certainly come down to

Cape Coast in forty days and punish those wh o had abused
him ”
However as Mr Hope Smith himself is said to
e
. . .
,

have understood th language there is no reason why he ,

should have b een misled by any such unauthorized addi

tions to the message The Governor refused to take any
.

action in the matter and returned the message that the

,

King might come down in forty days or in twenty or , ,

"
as soon as he thought proper Finding he could obtain .

no satisfaction Akra Dehi lingered in Cape Coast for some

,

e
time saying he was afraid he would lose his head if he
,

took such a message back to the King but ventually

e
,

1 Du pu is , p cx vii, tc
. .

1— 20
3 06 TH E TREATY BR O KEN BY TH E ENGLI S H

left for the camp and reported the result Of h is mission

to Tutu K wa m ina His fears were to a large extent .

j ustified for the King could not reconcile such conduct

with his ideas o f British honour and absolutely refused
to believe him ordering him to be tortured and im
,

prisoned to compel him to speak the truth .

Meanwhile the people of Cape Coast were instructed

to arm themselves in readiness for the ex pected attack ,
1
and a loop holed swish wall was hastily built round
e e
-

the town reaching from the sea on o n side to the s a

,

again on the other Great faith was apparently put in .

this defence but it would have formed but a trifling

,

obstacle to the advance of an Ashanti army The Cape .

Coast Chiefs readily promised to Obtain reinforcements

from the bush b u t their promises remained promises and
,

nothing more for every village was either overawed by

the fear of subsequent reprisals or in secret league with
Ashanti and wisely declined to implicate itself
, .

I n J une another messenger reached Cape Coast He .

had been sent merely to inquire whether A kra Dehi had

spoken the truth and was sent back with another message
,

of defiance He naturally informed the King of the

.

warlike prep arations that were being made in Cape Coast

and o f the wall the people had built which of co u rse made , , ,

the Ashantis furious and the Chiefs begged to be allowed ,

to march against the town without further delay Tutu .

K wam ina however though he would have been fully

, ,

j ustified in giving his consent showed more respect for ,

the treaty than the Governor had done and said that he ,

could not commence hostilities so long as it remained in

his possession I t was therefore sent d own by a messenger
.

of high rank accompanied by a large retinue who reached

, ,

Cape Coast in September and wa s recei v ed in the large ball

o f the Castle .

The Ashanti ambassador then said The King my ,

master feels very much hurt at the message which was

,

returned to him by the Governor of Cape Coast importing ,

that he would neither s u ffer the Komenda pe0p 1e to do

1
Pu ddle
d clay .
308 TH E TREATY BR O KEN BY TH E ENGLISH

deceived and therefore desires to know decidedly whether

,

yo u wish for peace or war H e is ready for either and will

e
.
,

soon convince his enemies that he is not d ad as the Fantis ,

s ay . But if you wish for peace the King will have ample ,
” 1
satisfaction for those inj uries .

Here the messenger produced from under the folds of

his cloth a small morocco leather case from which he
e
,

drew the treaty and passed it to th Governor wh o read it ,

aloud This the King s copy subsequently passed into

.
,
’
,

the possession of Mr Dupuis who g ives its contents In

e e
.
.
,

it no mention is mad o f the King o f J abin and cons ,

quently few of the articles read the same as in the copy

produced by Bowdich o n his return to the coast In the .

fourth article too the words even against the other

, ,

towns of the Fantee territory and a ffording the Gover

nor the Opportunity of propitiating it as far as he may ,
” ’
with discretion find no place in the King s copy The .

ninth article again commences ,

The King agrees to
,
”
commit children which is certainly a very di fferent ,

matter to the Kings agreeing to commit their chil

”
dren .From this it will be seen that though generally ,

similar there were very real discrepancies between these

,

two versions of what was ostensibly one and the same

treaty .

The account of these events written by Dupuis is not

only the fullest but should naturally be the most accurate
,

and reliable I ts value as evidence however is impaired

.
, ,

by the j ealousy that existed between him and the Governor

and by his numerous attacks on Bowdich Nevertheless .
,

after making all due allowance for partisanship and

personal bias it is impossible to ignore the leading facts
,

given by him and supported by Hutton and it is a bso

e
lu t ly inconceivable that he should have ventured so
utterly to misrepresent every transaction or to have written
as he did of this treaty unless there was real foundation for ,

his assertions Exaggerated and to some extent distorted

.
,

by personal feeling his account may possibly be ; but ,

taken as a whole it is probably a very fair representation

1
Hu tton p , . 1 25 .
 D I FFEREN CE S I N TH E C O PI ES

of the facts B owdich s work i t must b confessed by

.
’
, e
anyone wh o h a s read it is plainly writte n in a spirit of ,

e
egotism ; and the di fferences between the two copies of
the treaty certainly go some way towards supporting th
contention of Dupuis that the pompous name of B oit n ee
Qu a m a King of Dwabin is nowhere to be found I t
, , .

would seem that this association of two sovereigns was

calculated to awaken a more lively interest and thus ,

only can I account for an attempt to deceive government

and the public by means I believe unprecedented in the
, , ,

annals of British diplomacy The article No 9 showing .

, .
,
’
the King s disposition to send his own children to Cape
Coast for education is falsely inserted and every other ,
” 1
article is disfigured or misrepresented more or less .

In fact he describes the version given by Bowdich a s

, ,

compared with the copy now produced by the King a s ,

”
a garbled statem ent and this comment appears to be ,

j usti fied .

I t is true that the absence of all mention of the King

’
of Jabin in the King s copy is to some extent explained
by B owdich s account of the transaction’ 2
for he says
th e King of Ashanti signed the treaty o n the 7 th of Sep
tember and that o f J abin on the 8 th Yet on the other
, .
,

hand Tutu Kwa m ina seems to have had no idea that

,

B u a tin had been represented as signing as a principal

par ty but rather as a consenting vassal or witness for
,

Jabin now seems to have become a subsidiary principality

or province instead o f an ind pendent kingdom holding e
equal rights with Kumasi as it had been in the days of ,

O sai Tutu When Dupuis afterwards went to Kumasi

.

and casually expressed a wish to m eet the King of Jabin ,

Tutu Kwa m ina was most indignant saying The King , , ,

who is he Am I not the King I s there any other

King besides me Does the book say that too If so it ,
" 3
spreads a shameful lie in the white country O n the .

other hand Bowdich says that a messenger who was sent

,

during his stay in Kumasi to demand gold from J abin

returned without it and brought back the message that
,

1 Du pu is p 1 3 5 Bowdich p 1 2 4
, . .Du pu is p 1 3 8
1
, . .
1
, . .
3 10 TH E TREATY B R O KEN BY TH E ENGLISH

there was no war on foot to require gold and as it could ,

only be for the individual benefit of Ashanti the govern ,

ment must be reminded that Dwabin had formerly exacted

gold and was not now to be subjected to imposition because
,

the right had been yielded from respect to a sist r kingdom "1
e .

As the Governor read the treaty aloud it was translated ,

into Ashanti At the fourth article and again at the

.
,

seventh the messenger demanded satisfaction in the

,

name of his King o n the strength of those articles A scene . ,

o f great excitement followed The people now thoroughly

.
,

convinced of their folly in having indulged themselves

with imaginary pictures of Ashanti misfortunes and in
having openly defied the King by building the wall tried ,

to excuse themselves and lay the whole blame on the

Governor but the messenger would listen to none of the
arguments and excuses advanced by Chiefs Aggri and Biney ,
but adhered rigidly to his original statement of the King s ’

case saying that his orders were peremptory and his duty
,
“
i m perative and repeating that he must leave the treaty
,

with the Governor unless j ustice was done .

Mr Dupuis who was present at the meeting now asked

.
, ,

the Governor to inform the messenger of the nature of

his appointment and his anx iety to see the King This .

was done and when the envoy heard that an Officer had
been sent direct from England to the King he seemed to ,

consider this might be a fact of sufficient importance to

warrant a departure from the strict letter of his instru c
tions He therefore retired to take time for his decision
.
,

and finally resolved to send news of this fresh development

to the King while he remained in Cape Coast to await the
,

receipt of further instructions .

Soon after this it became known that a messenger of

exceptional rank was on his way to the coast and on the ,

i 5 th of January 1 8 20 he made his entry into the town

with great pomp and magnificence This was no less a .

person than the King s nephew Adum who was aecom

'

e
p a ni d by I nka ns a an A ssin Chief and 5 00 armed men
,
,

His whole retinue numbered about persons half of ,

1
Bo wdich p 2 45 , . .
3 12 TH E TREATY B RO KEN B Y T H E ENGLI S H

When the King heard that he was much griev ed and

he sent Akra Dehi to make his compliments and t ll th ee ,

Governor to exam ine that affair and do what was right , .

When Akra Dehi returned to the camp and told t he King

that the Gov ernor did not care for him and said that he ,

e
m ight come dow n in twenty days it broke his heart , ,

because it sham ed h im before his Captains and all th Kings

and great Caboceers who fought for him H e could not
e
.

think the Gov ernor would u s him in that manner becaus e

e
,

he never sent an Offensive message to the Castle Th .

King then punished the messenger but the Captains said

e
,

it was wrong and that the people of Cape Coas t wer

insolent and they took their s words to march against the
,

Fantis But the King forbade them saying he mus t do

e
. ,

what wa s right according to the book and h should have ,

s a tisfaction Then the King sent m ore messengers to the

.

Governor but t h ey tell him the Governor will not give

,

e
satisfaction according to the book and the Captains
e
,

believe that it was true he sent a d fiance saying if th

e
,

King chose to come and fight he was ready Then th .

King called all the Chiefs and the old men toget her and
told them t he truth and they said This dishonours you
, , ,

King ; we canno t hear this and sit upon ou r stools for the ,

people will laugh at you and us it is a very bad thing

you must hav e satisfaction Then the King sent down
’

e
.

another messenger and gav e him the book that th

e
e
,

Governor might s what wa s true with his own eyes and

e
,

s ay whether he w anted peace or w ar But still th .

Governor refuses satisfaction and yet he says the book,

is right .

The King is sorry for the sake of the old men and
e
e
women and children but then he cannot help it if th
e
, ,

Gov rnor will ha v e war th King h as nothing to d o with

white men and if they choose to m ake palav rs with him
, e ,

it is not h is fault He kno ws that they come to trade in

.

h is country and they have a great King o f their own in

e
,

the land of t he white men This is all true but then th

.
,

King ( of Ashanti ) is a great King too for all the black

e e
,

countries and th pe0p1e must serv e him and if th y will

, ,
 ’
ADUM S SPEECH

no t , e
serve him but ar foolish and d o evil they must die ,
.

Now the Governor knows that Cape Co ast is very insolent ,

and when the King complained to the Castle the people ,

’

were told to build a wall and fight him I s that like good .

friends as the book says

, The other towns O f Fanti do
what is right and the King has no palaver with them and
e
, ,

he is unwilling to make war for on town only And now .

he sends to the Governor to ask if he will settle that

palaver or not because otherwise the army will certainly
, ,

go down and destroy the place for it is a great palaver ,

and the King and all his Captains are very angry because ,

they believe that Aggri and de Graft cheat them and tell
the Go vernor lies t h erefore the King says they had better
look to it and take care what th y d o for he is not a King
,
” 1
e ,

to play the fool with .

After some confusion o n account of these direct accusa

tions against the Chief of Cape Coast and the Castle ih
ee
e
t rpr t r Adum went on to say that in consequence Of the
, ,

provocation they had given he was empowered to demand ,

a fine of i 6 00 ounces of gold from the people Of Cape Coast

e
, ,

and a similar su m from the Governor as a forfeit for his

infraction of the treaty I n the vent o f these terms not
.

being complied with he was authorized to say that the

,

King would grant no peace until he had taken the fullest

satisfaction .

I nk a ns a and many other speakers followed Adum one ,

o f whom Ando addressed the meeting with great fluency

, ,

for upwards of two hours After some deliberation the .

,

Governor asked the Ashantis whether they had ever heard

Of any instance o f the payment of a fine by the Governor
of a British fort to the King o f Ashanti or any other native

and having been answered in the negative replied that he ,

was not going to establish such a precedent now and ,

intimated that nothing more could be done until this

demand had been withdrawn ; but Adum said he could
no t do this without special authority from the King
e
.

To return to the original cause o f all this troubl the

e
—

2
o ffence of the K om nd as it is asserted by Maj or Ricketts
—

1
Du pu is p x x x , .
R icke
tts p 4
.
1
, . .
3 14 TH E TREATY B RO KEN BY TH E ENGLI S H

that the messengers who took the j awbones to Komenda

’
demanded in the King s name cloth powder and rum to ,

the value of 1 00 ounces of gold and that it was this demand

, ,

made upon a people wh o were living in extreme poverty ,

that first occasioned their hostility Upon what authority

.

Maj or Ricketts makes this statement he does not say ,

and as he wa s not on the coast at the time he cannot have

been writing from his own knowledge The fact moreover .
, ,

that no contemporary writer has made any mention of any

such demand combined with the improbability that if
, ,

made at all it should have been made before the messengers

,

entered the town leaves the authenticity of this assertion

,

open to very great doubt and makes it appear far more

probable that this was merely an excuse invented by the
e
K om nd a s themselves to j ustify their conduct to Major
Ricketts .

I t is hardly likely that the King would have made such

e
a demand upon the K om nd as while sending them jaw
bones which according to native custom was an act of
, , ,

courtesy and friendship and would have been suitably and

,

sufficiently acknowledged by a return message of thanks

and a small complimentary present The position of the
e
.

K om nd as as vassals of the King of Ashanti had been

definitely recognized by the second article of B owdich s ’

preliminary treaty and as such they were peculiarly n

, e
titled to receive a compliment of this kind There is no .

allegation even by Ricketts that any such demands were

, ,

made on the inhabitants of the other towns to which

jawbones were sent and to believe that they were made
e
in the case o f the K o m nd as alone is to believe that the
,

King deliberately went out of his way to demand what

he knew could not be granted for the sole purpose of
e
e
fastening on the refusal as an excuse for war His su bs .

quent long forbearance and the incr asing importance

o f his messengers during many months of negotiation
sufficiently disprove any s u ch intent while everyone of
his messages the chief of which have purposely been
,

quoted in full and the accounts of all those who knew him
,

personally point to the conclusion that Tutu Kwam ina

,
 3 16 TH E TREATY B R O KEN BY TH E E NGLISH

1 8 1 9 1 8 20
—
e
the K om nda s to comply but that he had refused to ,

a P . x v1 1 take the trouble to investigate the matter at all or to

satisfy himself of its j ustice or inj ustice which according , ,

to the treaty he was clearly bound to do I nstead of

, .

this he had treated the King s reasonable request with

,
’

absolute contempt H ad Mr H ope Smith heard and . .

adj udicated upon the dispute between the first messengers

e
and the K om nd as the King would in all probability have
,

been perfectly satisfied even had the Governor after , ,

hearing both sides decided against the Ashantis but shown

,

reasonable and j ust grounds for so doing But when .

instead of doing this he treated their application with

contemptuous neglect and subsequently when the King
e
, ,

asked for an xplanation of such conduct assumed an ,

attitude of defiant obstinacy he must in face of the treaty , , ,

be held to have given Tutu Kwam ina j ust cause for

complaint and for the very low opinion of British honour
that he undoubtedly held
e
.

Still assuming that this alleged demand o n the K om ndas

was really made it is very questionable if they ought not
,

even then to have been held in the wrong To refuse to .

comply with an unreasonable and extortionate request and

to refer the matter if necessary to a third party for ar bitra
e
, ,

tion is on thing but to resort to violence against the

,

messengers whose persons are held sacred by civilized and

,

uncivilized nations alike is quite another matter Were , .

these alleged demands however non existent whic h seems -

,

far more probable the necessity for an immediate in

e
,

v s tig a tio n of the case was even greater still How far .

reaching in its effects this breach o f faith whether in

e
,

t ntio na l or not has been it is imp ossible to over estimate

, ,
-
.

There is no room to doubt that Tutu Kwa m ina regarded .

the Governor s action as a deliberate infraction of the

’

terms o f the treaty which he a savage held sacred and

, , ,

inviolable This too is the opinion held by the Ashantis to

.
, ,

the present day and they have more than once in their ,

dealings with t h ose responsible for the administration of

their country alluded to this instance and charged the
,

British with h aving broken the first treaty ever made ,

 SLAVE TRAD I N G AT ACCRA

and that at the v ery first opportunity As Cruikshank .

j ustly observes it is humiliating to be compelled to make

,

this admission and to confess that a King Of Ashantee had

,

greater regard for his written engagements than an English

"
gove rnor .
1

At the meeting in the Castle H all some attempt was

made by the Governor to represent the King s action in ’

sending j awbones as a menace and threat instead of a

mark o f friendship But if he really believed this to be
.

the case he showed a most lamentable ignorance of the

,

customs of the country he was supposed to govern ; for

such missions were by no means peculiar to Ashanti but ,

were an equally well recognized custom among the coast

e
—

tribes also and as much the practice of the K om ndas

,

themselves as of any ot her people so that the meaning of ,

these trophies was perfectly understood by them When .

Amu Teki of Komenda defeated Teki Ankan in 1 6 9 9

Bosman says that he sent a civil Message to our Governor ,

together with several of the Sculls of his Vanquished

Enemies in Token that he had resolved to live and die
,

in the Service of the Hollanders ; his Messenger was

civilly received and after Thanks and Presents to the
,
” 2
General dismissed Such messages were therefore Of
.

a friendly character and the position assumed by Mr Hope

, .

Smith in attempting to distort them into acts of hostility

was u ntenable .

ee
At this time the Dutch had recently abandoned Fort
Cr ve Co ur at Accra and the pe 0p 1e immediately took
advantage o f the absence o f a garrison to engage ex
,

ee
t ns iv ly in the Slave Trade Great numbers of slaves .

were collected and kept in the Dutch town by Chief Ankra ,

who was the principal broker for the slave dealers and were ,

shipped whenever a vessel put in The slavers calling .

here were mostly Portuguese and the cargoes were put on ,

board by night to avoid detection and interference by the

English and Danes at James Fort and Christiansborg .

A nkra s business however soon became known ; and in

’
, ,

August 1 8 1 9 an English man of war arrived and bom - -

1
Cru iks h a nk v ol i p 1 4 1 ,
Bosm an p 3 8
. , . .
2
, . .
318 TH E TREATY B R O KEN BY TH E ENGLISH

barded his house reducing it to ruins and knocking down

,

the big fetish tree in the town A few months later as

.
,

this trade was still being carried on a squadron of seven

,

British war ships visited Accra and landed a number of

marines at James Fort to stamp it o u t The Dutch Accras
.
,

however retired to their bush villages whence they

, ,

were able to cause much inconvenience to the people of

British Accra and the garrison o f the fort by cutting off
the supply of provisions from the farms so that all this
,

expedition really accomplished was the demolition of

A nkra s house and the people returned to the town soon
’
,

after it left .

At about this time a ship which was being chased by

the English cruisers put in at Temma and landed a cargo
o f 1 6 0 slaves to avoid being taken with this incriminating

evidence on board The Danish Governor at once sent a

.

detachment from Christiansborg to rescue them but

Ankra had already come down from the bush with his
men and when the Danes arrived on the scene they found
,

only a few men who had been left behind in the hurry of
his retreat Temma was plundered however as a punish
.
, ,

ment to the pe 0p 1e for having permitted slave trading

within the j urisdiction of the Danish Go vernment .
 C O NS U L DU PU IS ’
TREATY

At the subsequent meetings the firs t im portant mat ter

to come under discussion was the old subj ect of the Not es
for the forts which had been the cause of so much trouble
on the occasion of B owdich s visit in 1 8 1 7 These Notes '

e
.

were now produced by the King and copies of them ar ,

1 ’
inserted in Dupui s book Dupuis w as asked to read .

e
them and the King then complained that because he had
,

previously r fused to accept four ackies a month and

had then gained his point and obtained the whole amount
for which the N otes had originally been issued t o the Fanti
Chiefs the Gov ernor had since attempted to nullify this
,

ad v antage by making an extrav agant profit and charging

e xorbitant prices for the goods often of v ery inferior ,

quali t y that were supplied in payment Th is accusation

, .

is unfortuna t ely borne out by the No t es themselves in ,

w hich the goods supplied and the p rices charged for them
are all entered I n the Appendix to Hutton s book 2 ’

e
.

t here is a price list of the g oods that w re then stocked at

Cape Coast Ca s t le and a comp arison of this wit h the Notes
,
’
m akes it only too plain that the King s contention that
the Governor wa s still trying to cheat him was justified .

Amongst other items he was charged £9 6 for twenty four

e
-

ankers of rum the true pric of which was only £7 2 for

,

sixty six lead bars he wa s debited with £8 53 instead of

e
-
.

£ 5 I os for cotton cloths £6 I os ins t ad of £4

. and . ,

t he other charges are in proportion I t mus t be remem .

bered that the payments o n these Notes were made on the

’
coast an d that the King s own carriers came down to the

e
Castle to receive the goods so that there can be no ques tion ,

o f an extra charge for transport or any oth r expense to

b e considered .

At his various interviews with him the King constantly ,

impressed upon Mr Dupuis that it was no t his wish to .

go to war but that he rather desired peace and trade ;

,

and though he still insisted that he must ha v e satisfaction

from the people of Ca pe Coas t for the insult they had
e
o ff red him by the er ction of the wall ro u nd their town e
and the other warlike preparations they had made there is
ee
,

1 Du pu is , p . 1 19 .
1 Hu tton pp 465 , . ts
q .
 TH E TREATY S I GN ED

g ood reason to believe that had the e fforts o f the Governor

and Consul been united every di fference might have been,

adj usted and peace established .

When asked by Dupuis upon what grounds he had fel t

j ustified in demanding the payment of a fine by th e
Governor the King immediately replied that it was for
,
1
having broken the treaty and confidently passed it to ,

him saying
, Here is the book ; you will find the gold
,

mentioned in it H e was much astonished when he was

.

informed that no such clause existed and both he and

his Chiefs and K ofi Mr Dupuis servant who h a d been
, , .
’
,

with Bowdich asserted that when the treaty was first

e
,

mad and the articles were read over Mr Bowdich had .

told the King that if he broke it he must pay gold and ,

t h at if the Governor broke it then he would have to pay .

I t is not at all unlikely that some such statement may

have been m ade in the endeavour to impress upon th e
Asha ntis the importance of adhering strictly to their
agreement and there was plenty of evidence to support
e
,

th King s word I t is true the b oy K ofi would hardly

’
.

have d ar ed to contradict the King when called upon to

confirm h is story but he might have withdrawn his state
,

ment wh en questioned by his master afterwards if he had

merely been terrorized into making it at the time The .

King however gave proof o f his anxiety to come to terms

, ,

by withdrawing this claim upon the Governor altogether ,

but still adhered to h is demand for compensation from

the Cape Coast people for having s t him at defianc e e
.

An o ffer by the Governor to compromise this claim by the

payment of 1 00 ounces o f gold was indignantly rej ected ,

and after some further negotiation a treaty and supple

mentary treaty were signed on the 2 3 rd of March the texts ,

o f which are as follows .

“TR E A TY made and entered into by J O S EPH D UPUI S ,

’
Esquire his Britannic Maj esty s Consul for the Kingdom
,

o f Ashantee in Africa in the name and on behalf of th

, e
British Government with S A I Too r o o Q U A M I N A King of
, ,

Ashantee and its dependencies

I t h a d a p p arently b e
n ta ke
e
.

1 n ba ck b y Du pu is .

I— ZI
 C O NSU L DU PU I S ’
TR EATY

i st
.The King of Ashantee agrees to receive and acknow
’
ledge J oseph Dupuis Esquire as his Majesty s Consul
, ,

at Coom assy to the full intent and meaning of his com

,

mission and if at any time ill health should oblige the

,

s aid J oseph Dupuis to leave this country the King will

receive and acknowledge any gentleman that he m ay
appoint to succeed him .

2 nd The King o f As hantee having taken his sacred

.
, _

oath o f allegiance and fidelity to the Crown o f Great

Britain in the person of His Royal Highness the Prince
,

Regent makes known to all to whom these presents shall

,

come that he will with all his power and influence support
, , ,

aid a nd protect the British interests in this country and

, ,

that he will if necess ary on all occasio ns march his arm ies
, ,

to any part of the country where the interests of Great

Britain m ay require their aid and assistance .

3 rd The claim recently made by the King o f Ashantee

e
.
,

o n the Go vernor of Cape Coast Ca stle amounting to on ,

thousand six hundred ounces of gold or is hereby ,

acknowledged to be relinquished ; and it is agreed that .

there are now no di fferences or palavers existing between

the King of Ashantee and the Governor or between the ,

King and any other o f His Britannic Maj esty s subjects ’

,

collectively or indi vidually .

4 th The King of As hantee agrees and binds him self

.

to support and encourage the commerce of this country

with Cape Coast and its dependenci s by all th means e e
in his power and pledges himself not to allow any differ
ee nc s that may occur to interrupt th trade with th e e
English merchants on the Coast .

5 th The King of Ashantee claims the Fantee territory

.

as his dominions which the Consul o n the part of the

, ,

British Government accedes to in cons ideration and on

, ,

e
the express condition that the King agrees to acknowledge
the nativ es residing under British protection entitl d
, ,

to the benefit of British la ws and to be amenable to them ,

only in ca se of any act o f aggression on their part .

6 th After the final adj ustment of the present claims

.

upon the nati v es of Cape Coast t he King binds himself ,

 C O NSU L DU PU IS ’
TREATY

Of those Notes except through the medium of th e

Consul .

1 i th The King on the part of his principal Captains

.
,

and Counsellors hereby acknowledges to their having

,

also taken the oath of allegiance and fidelity to the Crown

o f Great Britain .

1 2 th I n virtue o f this treaty it is mutually agreed

.
,

and expressly understood that all former treaties between

the King of Ashantee and the authorities of Cape Coast
Castle on the behalf of His Majesty s Government par
,
’
,

ticu la rly the treaty of I 8 1 7 are from henceforth to become

,

null and void and are hereby declared so accordingly

, .

Given under our Hands and Seals at the King s Palace ,

’
,

at the capital Coom a ssy this 2 3rd day of March in the , ,

year of our Lord 1 8 2 0 and in the fifty ninth year of the

,
-

Reign of His Maj esty George I I I etc , .

The mark of X SA I I To or o o Q U A M I NA .

J O S EPH D UPU I S .

I n the presence of
B EN J AM I N S A L M O N .

FRA N C I S CO LLIN S .

D A V I D M ILL GRAVE S .

“S UPPLE M ENTAR Y ARTI C LE S annexed to the GENERA L

’

TR E A TY entered into this day between SA I To or oo

Q U A M I N A King of Ashantee on the one p art and CON S UL
, , ,

D UPU I S on behalf of His Britannic Maj esty s Government ’

o n the other par t which articles are hereby considered

,

to be equally binding to the said contracting parties as if

they were inserted in the primary or general treaty itself .

I s t The King of Ashantee having by force of arms

.
, ,

subdued the kingdom of Gaman or B u ntooko which he ,

now governs in full and undisputed sovereignty and ,

whereas from political motives it has been deemed prudent

e
e
, ,

to station troops in A m a nah a on the banks of the A ssin ,

River and other parts of the said kingdom to prevent the

, ,

inhabitants from trading or holding any communication

with the sea coast the King now pledges himself in virtue
, ,

o f t h is article to remove the before mentioned obstacles

,
-
 TH E TREATY

to the commerce of the kingdom of B u ntooko or Gaman 1 8 20 —

1 821
and he guarantees the same privileges of trade to the a r . x v11 1

natives of that country which the Ashantees themselves

enj oy provided their intercourse with the sea coast is
,

confined to Cape Coast Castle or any other of the British

,

Forts and Settlements on the Gold Coast I n promotion .

of this obj ect the King has already nearly completed a

road forming a direct communication to the h eart of the
said country of Gaman and he hereby binds himself to
,

support aid and encourage the trade of that country

, .

2 nd The King of Ashantee being decidedly averse to

.
,

relinquishing h is claim on the natives o f Cape Coast Town ,

and in consequence o f certain private negotiations which

are now pending through the medium of Mr Smith the .
,

Governor of Cape Coast Castle on behalf of the parties

,

concerned ( and whereas the Consul possesses no authority

to guarantee payment to the King of any sum of money
o n behalf o f the natives of Cape Coast beyond the limit Of

one hundred ounces o f gold which has only tended to

,

excite the King s anger and indignation ) as well as for

’
,

other reasons unnecessary to introduce in this treaty it ,

is hereby stipulated that the natives of Cape Coast Town ,

being subj ects o f the K ing of Ashantee are excluded from

.
,

participating in the benefits o f either o f the treaties as ,

the King is resolved to eradicate from his dominions the

seeds of disobedience and insubordination ; nevertheless ,

i n consideration of the friendship existing between him

and the King o f England and as the King of Ashantee is
,

particularly anxious to convince the world of the sincerity

of his regard for the honour and dignity as well as the ,

interests o f the British Government and people he will ,

endeavour as much a s possible to avoid giving o ffence

, ,

either to the Consul or to the authorities of Cape Coast

Castle directly or indirectly and therefore whatever
, , , ,

plans the King of Ashantee may think it advisable to

adopt in order to bring his pe 0p 1e under due subj ection
, ,

he binds himself not to destroy the town of Cape Coast ,

nor will he allow a gun to be fired in the to wn or su ffer ,

his troops to com m it any act of hostility or depredation

 C O NSU L DU PU IS ’
TREATY

therein o n the inhabitants or on their property and in

particular as regards the white part of the population to
, ,

say all the free merchants and traders he guarantees to ,

them not only full security o f person and property but ,

also full protection in case of need Moreover the King .

,

will not su ffer h is di fference with the Cape Coast pe0p1e

to interfere with his plans for the promotion and extension
o f the commerce between the interior and the British
Settlements on the sea coast which he promises shall be
,

immediately restored .

3 rd ( Not granted
. Referred to the establishment of
.

schools at Dunkwa ) .

4th The King of Ashantee pledges himself for the

.

security and protection in person and property to mis

e
sio n a ri s or others being subj ects of His Britannic Majesty
, ,

who may wish to establish themselves in any part of his

territory for the purpose of propagating the Christian
religion ; and the King h ereby cordially invites to his
country such well disposed men
-
.

’
Given under our Hands and Seals at the King s Palace ,

at the capital of Ashantee this 2 3 rd day o f March in the

, ,

year of our Lord 1 8 20 and in the fifty nint h year of the

,
-

Reign of His Maj esty George I I I etc ,

.

The mark of X S A I I To o r o o Q U A MI N A .

J O S EPH D UPU I S .

I n the presence of
BE NJ AM IN S A L M O N .

FRA N C I S CO LLIN S .

D A VID M ILL GRAVE S .

e
Dupuis left Kumasi th next morning with the treaty ,

and the King sent special messengers with him who were ,

deputed to go to England wit h a number o f valuable

presents for King George I I I But when they reached
.

Cape Coast on the sth of April the Governor and Council

,

declined to ratify the treaty mainly on account of the

,

stipulations concerning the people of Cape Coast ; nor

would the Commodore Sir George Collier give the Ashant i
e
, ,

ambassadors a passage with th Consul This hostility .

 C O NSU L D U PU IS ’
TREATY

Ashantee is so perfectly disposed to co operate in all things -

for the mercantile interests o f Great B ritain that if the ,

present opportunity is allowed to pas s it may be the ,

means of crushing at a single blow all future advancement

towards commerce or the cultivation and civilization of
e
,
” 1
this part of Africa N 0 on can s ay what might have
e
.

been the result if a di fferent course of act ion had b en

followed at this time but in the light of subsequent history
,

these words certainly appear prophetic .

S o far from any good arising from Dupuis mission ’

,

t herefore matters had only been still further complicated ;

,

for naturally the King wa s furious when he heard of the

e
rej ection of th treaty and the contemp t uous treatment
of h is messengers to the King o f England

of Cape Coast moreover becam

, ,
The people

and on the 7th of April it was decided still furt her to ih

e
more openly aggressive
.

crease the defences o f the town by the erection of a small

fort on a hill that overlooked it at a short distance from
the Castle This fort was hastily completed and mounted
.

with guns landed from HM S Tarta r I t was then known

. . .

e
as Smith s Tower but is now called Fort William and is
’
,

us d a s a lighthouse and signal station After some .

further bickering with the Governor and Council Dupuis ,

finally left the Coast o n the 1 5 th of April promising the '

,

Ashanti messengers that he would do wha t he could for

them on his arrival in England .

The sum dem anded from the peopl e o f Ca pe Coast was

paid but they had to borrow £ 800 from the Gov rnment e
to make up the amount for half o f which t hey deposited
,

1 00 ounces of gold orn a ments in pawn and signed a bond

e
agreeing to clear all the land around Cape Coast and do
e
oth r work for the remainder I t is a pity howe v r that
.
, ,

it was not decided to pay it a little sooner The stipulations .

about Cape Coast might then have been excluded from

the treaty which in other respects wa s as satisfactory a
,

document as could reasonably be desired .

Affairs were now in a most unsett led state The King s .

'

position was that he had made a new treaty with Mr .

1 Du pu is , p . 1 89 .
 STATE O F AFFAI RS

Dupuis by which that of 1 8 1 7 with which he was now

, ,

thoroughly dissatisfied was cancelled and tha t the

, ,

Governor had broken it and the people of Cape Coast were

still increasing their defences and openly preparing for
war ; while the Governor apparently adopted the V iew
that as he had declined to ratify the new treaty the former
e e
, ,

must still b e in force even though the King had t

e
on

p u dia t d it .

When Dupuis left the coast he h a d sent word to the

King that he would lay the whole case before the Home
Government and asked him to await his report This in .
,

S pite of his annoyance and the undoubted p rovocation

that he had received the King did For ten months he
, .

made no move but Adum was recalled from Cape Coast

and ordered to form a camp with his men a S hort distance
inland This camp was established at Mansu Throughout
. .

this time the King observed the conditions of the new

treaty but when ten months had passed and he received
no word from Mr Dupuis As h anti traders gradually
.
,

ceased to visit the British Settlements and resorted

instead to those of the Dutch and Danes The English .

themselves t h erefore by their conduct of this a ffair laid

, , ,

the foundation of the trade of which the Dutch held a

practical monopoly for very many years .

These events clearly S how that in spite of previous

,

misunderstandings it was not yet too late to e ffect a

,

definite agreement with Ash anti Had a wiser and more

.

temperate policy been adopted at this time ; had Mr .

Dupuis been fairly treated and sup ported by the local

government instead O f being thwarted and Obstructed at
,

every turn had the control o f Gold Coast a ffairs been in

any other hands than those of a few traders whose principal
Obj ect was their own enrichment or had they been able
to take an impartial view o f the situation instead o f ,

accepting it a s an axiom that because a request or a

suggestion for an agreement emanated from a King of
Ashanti it must necessarily be extortionate and unj ust ;
had any or all of these things been a definite and lasting
understanding with Ashanti might have been come to ,
 C O NSUL DU PU I S ’
TREATY

and much subsequent trouble expense and loss of life ,

have been saved ; and possibly the later history Of the

Gold Coast would never have been marred by the continual
disagreements and wars with that kingdom that ultimately
led to its overthrow .

I n the meantime a Fanti Chief named Paintri whom ,

the Ashantis had placed on the stool of Abra as a reward

for former services had attacked an outlying Village of
,

Cape Coast belonging to a man named Tando and carried

off several of the inhabitants Soon afterwards the .
,

leader of this raid came to Cape Coast where he was ,

recogni z ed by Tando who inveigled h im and his followers

,

into a house in the town and blew both them and himself
up with gunpowder This a ffair reached the ears of the
.

King who at once sent instructions to Adum to hold an

ee
,

inqui ry and impose a fine of 1 00 p r dwins ( about

on whichever party he found to be in the wrong Adum .

accordingly summoned Pa intri to appear before him and

the Chief came down to Mori While he was there a .
,

former slave of his a native of Cape Coast named K wam in

,

Teti who had run away to one of the soldiers in the

,

Castle and subsequently quarrelled with his protector ,

was for a consideration handed back to him by the soldier

, ,
.

The unfortunate man was sent gagged and bound by canoe

to Mori where he was barbarously put to death by Paintri
,

o n the 1 0th of February 1 8 2 1 When news of this outrage .

reach ed Cape Coast the greatest excitement prevailed in

,

the town and Mr Colliver was immediately sent from the

e
.

Castle with four officers and eighty fiv men of the garrison -

to arrest the murderer

e
.

O n reaching Mori they found the m a ngled body of th

,

V ictim but were at once Opposed by a force of

, or
men principally Moris who Opened fire on them
, ,
.

The party from Cape Coast returned their fire and having ,

driven them back occupied the deserted Dutch Fort

,

Nassau Adum now sent some Ashantis to the assistance

.

of his allies who rallied the Moris and prepared to waylay

,

the English and oppose thei r return to Cape Coast Their .

preparations however were seen from the Castle and the

, , ,
 ’
CO NSU L D U PU IS TREATY

rather with a V iew to keeping the trade in the hands of

’
a few local agents Dupuis report too probably went far.
,

to determine this measure .

The principal officers of the Company of Merchants

were the Governor in Chief and the seven Commandants
e
- -
,

o f o u t stations who were known as the Gov rnors of their

-

respective forts The Governors of Anamabo Tantum

.
,

kweri James Fort Komenda and Winneba and the A c

, , ,

co u nta nt were Members o f Council

,
and officers were ,

definitely appointed to their several stations and promoted

to the senior ones as vacancies arose so that under the ,

Company s administration a continuity of policy was

'

assured Besides these principal O fficers there were the

.
,

secretaries chaplain officers of the guard factors sur

e
, , , ,

v yo rs writers schoolmaster etc

,
I vory and gold were
, , .

almost invariably shipped to England by men of war and - -

,

ordinary trade goods were frequently imported in the

same way All th Company s officers with th exception
. e ’
,
e
Of the Governor in Chief were allowed to trade on their
- -
,

o wn account and received their salaries in trade good s

instead of cash The following table shows the chief forts

.

t h at were now handed over to the Crown and the arma

ments of each :

Fort
Gu ns p
( e
ound rs ) .

Mo u nte
d
Mou nted
Unm e
d
e e
ou n t
J am F ort Mou nt d
e
s

Un m d
e e
o u nt
T a ntu m k w i M r ou nt d

K om ed n a

1
Most o f th e
se
were
ta ke
n from th e
D u tch F o rt V r e
deb n ur g .
 TH E C O MPANY S ESTAB L I S H M ENT
’
333

Besides these the Company had their new fort at Winneba

and small stations at Prampram Sekondi and elsewhere
,
.

At Prampram Fort Vernon had been destroyed many years

before by the Danes and the officers at Sekondi occupied a
,

large house in the town a s the fort had never been rebuilt
after the Dutch destroyed it in 1 6 9 8 The total number of
e
.

Europeans in the Company s service wa s forty fiv and of

’
-

Blacks about four hundred and fifty .

 CHAPTER XI X

THE O UT BR E AK OF THE FO U RTH AS H A N TI WA R

1 82 2 To 1 8 24

S rR C HAR LE S M CARTHY the Governor of Sierra Leone

‘
, ,

under whom the British Possessions on the Gold Coast

were now placed arrived at Dixcove on board H M S
e
, . . .

Ip h ig n ia Commodore Sir Robert Mends on the 2 7 th of

, ,

March 1 8 2 2 ; and having been ashore there to explain

the c h a nge to the inhabitants r embarked and reached e
e e
-
,

Cape Coast th next day to assume the Government H .

was accorded a most enthusiastic welcome by the people

and on the 2 9 th the new Charter and Proclamation were
read the ships were decorated with flags and a royal
, ,

salute was fired from the Castle The transfer having

e e
.

been quietly e ffected the Governor r embarked on th

,
-

3 o th to visit Anamabo and Accra and then returned to ,

Cape Coast at the end of the second week in April .

The difficulties with which Sir Charles had to contend

were very great and can hardly be over rated He was
,
-
.

a complete stranger to the country knowing nothing of ,

the pe0p 1e o r their customs and Character and the officers ,

o f the o ld Company of Merchants many of whom could ,

have given him valuable information and advice were so ,

jealous o f the transfer of power that they refused almost

to a man to serve under him or to take any part whatever
in public a ffairs The Governor was thus left to grope
e
.

in th dark with no one wh o was really competent to do

,

so to assist or advise him Before he left England he had

.

seen Dupuis who gave him all the information he could

,

a nd has left it o n record that Sir Charles then seemed fully

impressed with the importance of coming to a friendly

 S I R CHARLES M CARTHY‘

understanding with Ashanti but after his arrival o n the 1 8 22

e
—
1 8 24.
Coast where he heard nothing but the on sided version C HA P
,
-
. x ix

o f recent events given by interested natives and others ,

he seems to have been to o easily persuaded that the Fantis

were a grievously oppressed race who had been most
unj ustly menaced and ground down by the Ashantis and ,

that the only possible way of relieving them from this

tyranny was by means of the sword He had now for .

gotten all that Dupuis had told him or had allowed h is,

j udgment to be overruled by the tales he had heard and

by the officials of the old Company any one of whom ,

would h ave been only too ready to ridicule any statement

made by the former Consul and the other side of the case
, ,

upon which it must be admitted there was a great deal

to be said was never again properly laid before him More
, .

over though it is true that after his arrival a few persons

,

warned him that the As h antis were not foes to be despised ,

he never seems to have had any real conception of the

extent of their military organization and resources .

Sir Charles M Ca rth y s measures therefore were all

‘ ’
, ,

directed to crush the power of Ashanti His first step .

was to reorganize the o ld garrisons of the Company of

Merchants into a new corps consisting of three companies
and called the Royal African Colonial Corps of Light
Infantry The people were also assisted to combine their
.

forces with some S how o f method and provided with

1
munitions of war and a native militia was enrolled A
, .

swish redoubt or fort was also raised on the summit

o f a h ill —
still known as M Carth y s Hill O n the eastern
‘ ’
-

side o f Cape Coast town and called Fort M Carth y The ‘

.

Governor recommended that only Cape Coast Castle and

the forts at Accra Anamabo and Dixcove should be
,

retained for most o f the others were in a dilapidated

,

condition and it was not thought worth while to incur

the expense o f their repair I n 1 8 2 3 Parliament granted
.

for the Civil Establis h ment on the Gold Coast

and separate provision was made for the Military .

1 Th e Co a s t Militia a nd th e
R o ya l Ca pe R oya l Ca pe
Coa st V o l u nte
er

Co rps .
3 36 O UTB REAK O F T HE 41 11 AS HANTI WA R

The Governor believing that he had now done all that

e
,

was possible to improve the defences of Cape Coast r ,

turned to Sierra Leone during the second week in May ,

leaving Maj or Chisholm in charge of the Gold Coast with ,

1
Captain Laing of the 2 nd West I ndia Regiment to com
e
e
p l t the organization Of the new forces Unaided as he .

was by those in whose power it lay to assist him it never ,

seems to have occurred to Sir Charles that there might be

more than one reason for the silence of the Ashanti King ,

and that the cause to which he himself attributed it ,

namely fear was the least likely of any to be the true one
e
.
,

Th few Ashantis who still came down to the coast had all
been sworn to silence before they left Kumasi and cons e
quently no information was obtainable as to what was
taking place in the interior It was therefore quite possible
.

that the King might be engaged for the time being with
some other war inland The Governor moreover knew
.

nothing of the amount o f preparation necessary and the

length of time required for the propitiation o f the gods by
various ceremonies before the Ashantis ever engaged in
a war O f any magnitude but which would alone have been
e
,

sufficient to account for a f w months of apparent in

activity .

The King however was anxious to avoid the necessity

, ,

for going to war at all and hoped that now that Mr Smith
, , .

had gone he might at last be able to settle the di fferences

,

between himself and Cape Coast peaceably H e was in .

fact waiting to see what this change of Governors would

bring forth Had negotiations been reopened at this
.

time the King now that his old enemy Smith was no
, ,

longer in Office would have been found ready to listen to

,

reason But unfortunately Sir Charles felt s o convinced

.
,

of the uselessness o f such a course that he never attempted

it and did not even send the customary formal message
,

no tifying the King o f the change in the Government and

his own assumption of power H e therefore not only .

e e e ee
h ad a lr a dy o p n d u p a ro a d to F a l a ba e
e
H
e
wh w
e
1
Th
e E
sam o . as

a ft rwa rds s nt o u t b
y th African Ass o cia tion a nd wa s th firs t
e eee ee e e
u ro

p an to vis it T im bu ktu , wh r h was m u rd r d b y th Tu ar ks .

338 O UTBREAK O F TH E 4TH ASHANTI WAR

ask for redress under Article IV of B owdich s treaty and ’

,

feeling that if he persisted much longer in opposing the

wishes of his Chiefs and ignoring the continued insults of
the Fantis h is own position on the stool might be n e
dangered may have felt constrained to deal with the
,

matter himself without having any motive beyond the

,

act ual punishment of the o ffender According to one .

account indeed the King was so loath to give the British

, ,

Government any cause of o ffence that he pardoned the

sergeant after his arrest and it was his Chiefs who then
,

took the matter u p and issued orders for his execution .

There is at any rate no clear evidence that the King

himself was directly responsible for the man s death ’
.

Be this a s it may in the following N ovember the sergeant

,

was seized between Anamabo and Egya and taken to

Dunkwa a village about fifteen miles inland There he
,
.

was put in log that is secured to a heavy piece of wood

, ,

by means o f an iron staple over the wrist or ankle the ,

usual native method of securing a p risoner The Du nkwas .

,

who were o n friendly terms with the Ashantis were ,

probably only to o glad to have an opportunity o f gratifying

their revenge o n a soldier for the death o f t h eir Chief
Paintri wh o had been killed in the skirmish at Mori
, .

The news of this hostile act quickly brought Sir Charles

M Ca rth y back from Sierra Leone He landed at Cape
‘
.

Coast in December and at once went over to Anamabo to

investigate on the spot the circumstances in which the
sergeant had been seized His j ourney was a triumphal
.

progress The A na m ab o s and people of the ot h er villages

.

through which he passed hailed him with enthusiasm while , ,

o n his return to Cape Coast o n the 1 0 th he was accorded ,

a perfect ovation and the streets and hills were thronged

by crowds of Fantis who showed every sign of delight
and vied with one another in cheering firing guns drum , ,

ming and blowing horns to do honour to him whom they

now regarded as their deliverer The people o f Cape Coast
.
,

indeed had every reason to rej oice at the attitude adopted

,

by the Governor for they were in a serious predicament .

Cut o ff as they were from their neighbours and the objects ,

 EXPED ITI O N T O DUN KWA

of Ashanti wrath nothing could now have saved them

,

from destruction and even complete extermination had

, ,

the English declined to interest themselves o n their behalf

and undertake their salvation .

Captain Laing now volunteered to go to Dunkwa or

even to Kumasi to negotiate for the release o f the sergeant ,

but his o ffer was declined ; though it is quite possible

that had such negotiations been permitted war might
, ,

even yet have been averted O n the 2 nd of February

.

1 82 3 news was brought to Cape Coast that the sergeant

,

had paid the penalty of his treasonable utterances with

his h ead A nephew of the King had arrived at Dunkwa
.

with one of the state executioners and 2 0 0 or 3 00 men a

few days before and put him to death taking his skull
e
, ,

jawbone and o n o f his arms to be shown on his return

,

to Kumasi .

O n the z i st it was reported in Cape Coast that Aduku

th e King of Mankesim and his people had left Dunkwa ,

where the Ashantis concerned in the execution of the ser

geant were thus left practically alone Sir Charles there .

fore determined to secure them The regulars and Cape

.

Coast Militia were quietly called into the Castle at six

o clock t h at evening ammunition was served ou t and the
’
, ,

party marched before seven Dunkwa is only about .

twenty miles from Cape Coast and they should have

reached it long before daybreak and h ave been able to
surprise and capture the Ashantis without trouble ; but ,

wheth er from wilful treachery and fear of the enemy or ,

through carelessness or ignorance only s am Brew who , ,

was acting as guide took the wrong road and the troops
,

never reached Dunkwa at all but after suffering greatly

from fatigue and hunger were suddenly ambus h ed long
,

after sunrise on a narrow path in dense bush near Tu a nko .

The Ashantis who had a strong party of Fantis with them

, ,

opened a heavy fire ; and though the advance guard of

men of the 2 nd West I ndia Regiment under Captain Laing
and Ensign Wetherell returned it and pushed steadily
forward they soon found they were only going farther
,

from their destination and could not possibly accomplish

3 40 O UTBREAK O F TH E 4T H AS HANTI WAR

the purpose for which they had been sent out They .

therefore fell back o n Anamabo The losses of the English

.

in this a ffair were six men killed four missing and , ,

Lieutenant Swanzy of the Royal African Colonial Corps

and thirty eight men wounded But th ough the expedi
-
.

tion had failed in its obj ect it had the e ffect of convincing
,

the people once and for all that the Governor was
thoroughly in earnest and would not shrink from any means
he might think necessary to gain his ends ; for an ex
e
p ditio n of this nature was quite a new departure and no ,

British force had ever before left the Settlements to assume

the o ffensive against an enemy in the bush .

According to Cruikshank s account Tutu K wa m ina

’
,

no w made a last e ffort for the preservation of peace by

sending an o ffer of negotiation for the settlement of all
di fferences through the Dutch Governor but it was con
e
,

t m p tu o u s ly rej ected.Although this statement is not

supported by other writers it is quite possibly true for
,

when Cruikshank was writing his book he had access to the

o ld records of Cape Coast Castle now long since lost and , ,

the historical portions of his work were largely founded on

them Possibly therefore he had seen a letter from the
.

Dutch Governor in reference to this matter Moreover

e
.
,

t h is statement receives some support from an Accra tradi

tion given by Reindorf which alleges that the skull of th
e
,

Anamabo sergeant was sent down by o n of the Ashanti

princes Owusu Pera and other important messengers
— —

to Accra with proposals for peace and that these were

eee
,

rej ected and the messengers ordered by Mr Bl nk rn the .

Commandant of James Fort to return .

The Accras were still friendly with Ashanti and a steady

trade in powder salt and other articles was being carried
,

o n there ,not only with the Ashantis themselves but ,

also with a number of Fanti smugglers who were supplying

them with ammunition Sir Charles therefore determined
.

to try to wean these people from their allegiance He left

e e
.

Cape Coast o n board H M S Gl ndow r on the i 4th of

. . .

April and landed at Accra on Wednesday the i 6 th when ,

he was accorded an enthusiastic welcome by the people

342 O UTBREAK O F TH E 4TH ASHANTI WAR

of the a nd West I ndia Regiment from Sierra Leone to

replace them but he now applied for the return of these
white troops and at the same time asked that their strength
might be made up to I 0 00 by recruiting in England Two
, .

companies of the Royal African Corps were therefore

sent up from the Cape and had arrived at Cape Coast in
April 1 8 2 3 Besides these men there were three black
.
,

companies of the same Corps and the company of the and

West I ndia Regiment which altoget h er provided a force
,

o f about 5 00 regulars .

The Ashantis now made their first move An advance .

party of about men crossed the Pra at Prasu on the

4 th of J une and on the i l th Captain Laing was sent up by
,

Maj or Chisholm with a large force composed o f regulars ,

the new militia and native allies to oppose their advance

, .

The approach o f these troops compelled the Ashantis to

fall back across the border and at the same time removed
,

the last doubts of the still wavering F antis as to the real

intentions of the English Appia the Chief of Ajumako
.
,

who h a d hitherto held aloof now j oined Captain Laing

e
,

with men and most o f th other Chiefs quickly

,

followed his example but Kwesi Amankwa the Chief of

Essikuma still remained loyal to Ashanti and not being , ,

strong enough to risk an engagement retired before Captain ,

Laing s advance and retreated to the banks of the Pra

’
.

Essikuma was burned and the English force then returned

to Cape Coast .

At the end of J uly news was brought to Cape Coast that

,

a second Ashanti army had crossed the Pra with orders

to proceed to Elmina Captain Laing therefore proceede d
.

to Dunkwa to intercept it but though he remained

encamped there for some time he never s a w anyt h ing of ,

the enemy and then moved up to Y a nku m a si Fanti .

Before leaving Dunkwa he visited Elmina and received

,

the assurance of the Acting Governor that the Dutch and -

Elminas would observe a strict neutrality and not allow

any Ashantis wh o might succeed in penetrating to the
co ast to remain in the town
e
.

I n th meantime Kwesi Amankwa had been reinforced

,
 ACTI O NS AT E S SI KUMA

by the Ashantis and reoccupied Essikuma where he was ,

attacked at dawn o n the i 3 th of August by Appia who ,

put him to flight and took eighty prisoners O n the i 8 th .

however Amankwa wh o had again been reinforced by the

, ,

Ashantis returned and pressed Appia so hard that he

,

was forced to send an urgent appeal for help to Captain

Laing at Y a nku m a si Fanti A detachment of the and
.

West I ndia Regiment the Anamab o Militia and some

, ,

native allies were at once sent to his support This force .

reached A j u m aco on the 20 th and arrived next day at

’
Essikuma where Appia s advance guard had been defeated
,

by the Ashantis that morning after a s h arp engagement

e
.

Th enemy were still occupying the place but on the ,

approach of this force they retired without firing a shot .

The bodies of the Fanti prisoners they had taken in the

morning were found lying in the camp still warm having , ,

been massacred immediately before the retreat I t was .

then nearly dark and immediate pursuit was out of the

q uestion but next morning the troops advanced in fiv
, e
divisions and suddenly came upon the enemy who were ,

taken so completely by surprise that they were seized

with panic and fled in the greatest disorder leaving their
e
,

dinners still cooking o n th fires and the camp strewn

wit h arms and baggage The Fantis now that they
.
,

had the Ashantis in full retreat might have struck them

,

a severe blow ; but they were tired by their march and

nothing would induce them to pursue They were tempted
.

by the food and plunder they saw all around them and
preferred to s it down and eat and loot the deserted camp
, ,

rather than follow the enemy and run the risk of being

defeated
.

The Accras were now called up and a force of 1 6 00 men , ,

including the Danish Accras was soon ready to take the

e
,

field. Two standing camps were formed o n at Mansu

g arrisoned by the Anamabo Militia and most o f the Fanti
irregulars un d er Captains Hutchinson and Fraser and a ,

second at J ukwa where a detachment of regulars and the

,

Cape Coast Militia with a few other natives were stationed

u nder Lieutenant King R N, The obj ect of this second
. .
344 O UT B REAK or THE 4TH AS HANTI WA R

camp was t o cut o ff the enemy from all communication

with Elmina and prevent them from obtaining further
supplies of ammunition Captain Laing himself with
.
,

most of the regulars then returned to Cape Coast

, .

O n the 2 8 th of N ovember Sir Charles M Ca rth y arrived ‘

from Sierra Leone bringing with him a third white company

o f the Royal African Colonial Corps which had been raised

in England He was welcomed ev erywhere with every

.

sign of lo yalty and delight and very soon after his arrival
,

went up to J ukwa and inspected the camp there On his .

return he proceeded on the i sth of December to Anamabo

, ,

where he inspected the Militia and wa s received by all the

Chiefs including Appia who came down purposely to see
,

him and made a most imposing entry into the town with
an enormous retinue All the Chiefs were loud in their
e
.

protestations of loyalty and devotion and o n the 2 0th th ,

Governor visited the other camp which had now been ,

moved from Mansu to Y a nku m a si Fanti Here other .

Chiefs before swearing allegiance required the Governor s

, ,
'

solemn assurance that he would never make peace with

the Ashantis without first consulting them and their
interests for they had not forgotten how Chibu had been
betrayed by Colonel Torra n and had no wish to meet e
a similar fate themselves After visiting Dunkwa the
.
,

Governor returned to Anamabo and on the next day to

Cape Coast where he inspected the Royal African Colonial
,

Corps on the 2 sth and presented it with colours .

I t had been Sir C h arles intention to visit Accra and

’

inspect the force under Captain B l nk rn but news was eee ,

now received that the main Ashanti army had crossed the
Pra and was rapidly marching towards the coast in twelv e
divisions O rders were therefore sent to Captain Blen
.
, ,

kerne to advance with his force and threaten the enemy

from that side while Captain Laing was instructed to
,

lead the Fantis into Assi m and create a diversion in that

direction The Governor himself then proceeded to J ukwa
.

o n the 2 9 th where the Royal African Colonial Corps a

e
, ,

detachment of the and West I ndia Regiment and som ,

o f the Militia were then encamped A force o f men .

3 46 O UTB REAK O F TH E 4T H AS HANTI WAR

of men crossed the Pra an operation that took some time ,

as there were only eight small canoes available none of ,

which could carry more than two men besides the canoe
man a t each j ourney and on the i 4th after many difficu l, ,

ties wit h the carriers and delays from the almost impassable
e
state of th road Sir Charles reached I nsam a nkow , ,

where he halted for five days to give the people of the

surrounding districts an opportunity to j oin his force .

Here they fortunately found Mr Brandon the ordnance .

store keeper who had come up from Sekondi with supplies

-
,

o f ammunition O n the i 7th the Governor sent orders

.

to Maj or Chisholm whose force comprised the main body

,

of the army to j oin him without delay ; but by some

,

extraordinary blunder this letter was entrusted to a man

wh o knew nothing of this part o f th country and who e
e
,

was so long in finding his way to A m p nsa su that it was

not until the 2 2 nd that it was delivered
ee
.

The Wa s sa ws and D nk ras who had tried to dispute

e
,

the advance of th invading army were now reported to be

e
,

in full retreat and Mr Williams th Colonial Secretary

, .
,

and Adj utant General of the Militia wa s sent to intercept

-
,

them and induce them to halt in a suitable camping ground

until the Governor could j oin them with his troops He .

found s ome difficulty in checking t h eir flight but finally ,

succeeded in persuading them to form a camp on the banks

of the A d u m a ns u a small tributary of the Pra O n th
, . e
2 0 th Captain Ricketts arrived in the camp after a very
,

trying m ar ch over the twenty miles of road from I nsam an

ko w .The paths in many places were waist deep in mud
and water and he and his party had been compelled to
,

spend the night in the forest in drenching rain He .

brought up the whole of the force under Sir Charles with

the exception of a small guard that was left to bring on
the ammunition Captain Ricketts at once ordered the
.

Denkera and Wassaw Chiefs to set their men to clear the

bush around the camp and very soon afterwards had to ,

mount a strong guard of militia over the Wa s saws who

e
,

were already trying to cross the river a nd des rt During .

the afternoon an alarm was suddenly raised that the

,
 BATTLE O F I NSA MA N KOW

Ashantis were about to attack the position and the whole ,

force stood to arms for five hours in pouring rain but no

a ttack was made and nothing was seen of the enemy ,

though they were known to be no great distance away .

O n the z i s t Sir Charles M Carth y arrived escorted by ‘

,

a body guard of 2 00 Fantis provided by Chief Appia of

-

Aj umako and forty Cape Coast men With him came .

Kwesi Yaku the aged Chief of I nsam a nkow who being too ,

i nfirm to walk had had to be carried the whole way by

e
,

some o f his people Several hundred K om nda s were also

e
.

on th road but they had halted to rest and h a d not yet

,

come up The Governor had come the whole distance

.

from I nsam a nk ow on foot but after a short rest proceeded

,

at once to inspect the position He then went across to

e
e
.

s the Denkera and Wassaw Chiefs but while he was

thus engaged the alarm was raised that the Ashantis
,

were upon them and about to attack .

Sir Charles can have had no idea that this was in truth
the main Ashanti army ; for instead of falling b ack to
j oin his main body under Maj or Chisholm he gave orders ,

for the troops to take up the positions that had been

a ssigned to them With such a force as h had however
. e
which with the exception of the small handfu l of regulars
,

was little better than a disorderly rabble it was quite ,

impossible to insure obedience to any orders The Gover .

nor s Fanti body guard wh ose sole duty was to remain

’
-
,

with him and protect his person took up a position on the

e
,

xtreme left of the line a nd steadfastly refused to quit it

and return to the Governor saying they understood bush ,

fighting and had now got a position that suited them .

They had ; for this position was the one nearest Cape
Coast .

At about two o clock the As h antis who were con

'

e
,

s id ra b ly over strong and were reinforced by another

large body o f men during the action were hea rd advancing ,

through the forest with drums beating and horns blowing .

T hey halted within about half a mile o f the English

position and Sir Charles then ordered the band o f the
,

R oyal African Colonial Corps to play the National Anthem

348 O UTB REAK O F TH E 4TH ASHANTI WAR

and the buglers to sound because he had conceived the

idea from some strange source of information that great
, ,

numbers of the enemy including several important chiefs

, ,

only wanted an opportunity to come over to him He was .

soon undeceived ; for the Ashantis defiantly sounded

their horns and beat their drums in reply but none of ,

them of course came over The pitiful absurdity of these

.

proceedings surely culminated here .

After some little time had been S pent in this way the ,

enemy advanced by divisions in regular succession each ,

sounding the calls of their several chiefs and lined the ,

opposite bank of the river A steady fire was now kept up

.

fo r some time by both forces which were only separated

,

from each other by a S tream about six ty feet wide The

e
.

Ashantis made more than o n attempt to cross but the

river had been swollen by the rain and was unfordable and ,

though they felled several trees and tried to reach the

opposite bank by climbing over them they were driven ,

back each time By four o clock the English h a d ex

.
’

pended the whole of their ammunition Mr Brandon . .

,

who had been specially ordered by the Governor to h ave

forty rounds for each man packed in kegs and ready for
immediate issue had arrived during the action and was
,

now applied to ; but with the grossest mismanagement

he had come on a h ead of the carriers instead of driving
them before him with the natural result that when left
, ,

to their o wn devices hearing h eavy firing in front of them

,

and meeting the fugitives from the field o f battle they ,

had not shown much enthusiasm in pushing forward but ,

had promptly thrown down their loads and fled The .

consequence was that now that the ammunition was so

,

urgently needed there was only one barrel of powder and

e
,

on of ball to be had nor was this all for three other cases
,

that had arrived at the same time proved o n being opened

to contain macaroni .

The British force was now in a hopeless position and ,

no sooner did the Ashantis perceive that their fire was

slackening than they made another determined effort to
cross the stream which had now subsided a little and
, ,
3 50 O UTBREA K o r THE 4TH ASHANTI WA R
'

through the undergrowth one man holding the guide to

,

prevent his deserting them until it became too dark for

,

them to see each other All this time small parties of the
.

enemy had been scouring the forest and had more than
once come s o near to the fugitives that they h a d been forced
e
to lie down and hide in th dripping undergrowth until
they had passed As soon as the moon rose a fresh start
.
,

was made ; but it was not until after another halt and
day had broken that they fi nally struck a small path leading
to I nsa m a nk ow The guide left them here a nd they
.
,

almost ran into the arms of a party o f the enemy only ,

retracing their footsteps j ust in time A little later they

ee
.

fell in with about fifty Wa s s a ws and D nk ra s and it was ,

agreed that they should push on together in the direction

from which Maj or Chisholm was expected That night .

was spent on a small island in the midst of a swamp in ,

reaching which Captain Ricketts lost both h is shoes .

Wh ile they were encamped here in the greatest discomfort ,

e
two Ashantis wh o had mistaken them for a party of their
,

own pe0p1e suddenly walked into their midst they wer

ee
,

promptly seized by the D nk ra s wh o extracted all the ,

information they could from them and then cut their

throats .

O n the next day as they were continuing their retreat

e
,

towards th Pra they fell in with another small party

,

of the enemy with whom a kind of running fight was kept

,

up for some time ; but they were eventually shaken off

after several of them had been killed During their march .

through the forest Captain Ricketts and his party rescued

several Wassaw women but numbers of children were
,

found starv ing on the ground or lying with their brains

dashed out whose mothers had been captured by the
,

Ashantis and compelled to abandon them that they migh t

be able to carry more plunder At length after a terrible.
,

march in which everyone su ffered acutely they reached ,

the Pra and halted on its banks for the night .

Early the next morning they prepared to cross the

,

river but could only find one small canoe which was so ,

d a m aged that it wou ld scarcely float The women how .

,
 D EATH or S I R CHARLES M CARTHY ‘
35 1

ever were sent across and after some delay the whole party
,

reached the Opposite bank Captain Ricketts was now .

in a terrible condition his clothes hung in ribbons his ,

feet were cut bleeding and swollen after his long march
, ,

barefooted through the forest and he was so exhausted ,

from ex posure hunger and fatigue and the pain and loss of
, ,

blood from his wounds that he could scarcely move Soon .

after crossing the river however they fell in with two ,

soldiers of the Royal African Colonial Corps who when , ,

they hear d wh o he was carried h im to a village near by , ,

’
where a detachment of Maj or Chisholm s force that had
been sent on to persuade the people o n the line of march
to j oin him was then halted Maj or Chisholm himself .

arrived on the opposite bank a little later and on being , ,

told of Captain Ricketts terrible plight sent him some ’

,

clothes and provisions and soon followed in person .

Nothing was yet known of the fate o f Sir Charles

M Carth y and the other o fficers with him and it was even
‘
,

though t possible that they too might have contrived to

escape I t was not until towards the end of March when
.
,

Mr Williams who had been taken prisoner by the Ashantis

.
, ,

was released that the full details of this disaster became

,

known He explained that he had left the field of battle

.

with the Governor Mr Buckle and Ensign Wetherell and

,
.
,

retreated along the path towards I nsa m a nk ow They .

h a d not gone far however when they were attacked by a

, ,

party of the enemy O ne of Sir Charles arms was broken.

’

at the first volley and he almost immediately afterwards

fell with a second wound in the chest H e was carried to .

1
one side and laid at the foot o f a tree and Mr Williams ,
.

only had time to see Ensign Wetherell wh o was also ,

wo u nded lying near the Governor and cutting with his

,

sword at some of the enemy who were trying to tear off

Sir Charles uniform wh en he himself received a wound in
’
,

the thigh and lost consciousness H e was brought to h is

e
.

senses by the clumsy attempts of on of the Ashantis to

cut off his head He had already received one gash in the
.

Th is tre d ou t a nd e
estill sta nds and is p ointe ve
re
nce
d b y th e
peop le o f th e
1 r

district .
 3 52 O UTB REAK o r T HE 4T H ASHANTI WA R

back of his neck when an Ashanti Captain to whom he ,

had once done some little kindness on the coast recognized ,

him and ordered his life to be spared Lying near him .

he saw the headless trunk s of his three companions and was

then taken to the Ashanti camp at I ns am a nk ow .

The Ashantis positively assert that Sir Charles com

m itt d e
suicide H e was badly wounded and helpless
.
,

escape was absolutely out of the question and he doubtless ,

felt sure that if he was taken alive he would be subj ected

to many indignities and possibly tortured before being put
to death and he may have felt that the wound in his chest
.
,

was mortal I t is quite possibly true therefore that he

.
, ,

did take his life at the last moment to avoid capt u re No .

European act u ally saw the end and the Ashantis can have ,

no valid reason for inventing such a tale unless in admira ,

tion for it is a point of honour with their own Chiefs to kill

,

themselves when capture is inevitable .

During the period of h is captivity which lasted two ,

months Mr Williams was kept by day under a thatched

, .

s h ed and shut up each night in a hut with the heads of Sir

Charles and the other o fficers These heads had been so.

well preserved that the features of the Governor especially

presented almost the same appearance as they had done
in life It was also stated that the principal Ashanti
e
.

Chiefs ate Sir Charles h eart in th belief that they would

’

thus derive a portion of his indomitable courage and that ,

pieces of his flesh were smoke dried and carried on their -

persons as talismans to protect them in battle His head .

was afterwards taken to Kumasi and deposited in the

Treasury at Bantama to be carried in procession as a signal
trophy at every Yam Custom Mr Williams only food . .
’

was as much snail soup as he could hold in the palm of his

hand and h a d it not been for the wound in his thigh he
, ,

too would have been sent to Kumasi The surgical pro

ee e
.

c d u r s o f th As h antis intended to force out the bullet

, ,

were as ine ffectual as they were painful and consisted in the

application o f very tight ligatures round the limb above
and below the wound O n the occasion of any sacrifice
e
.
,

he was made to sit on o n side of the big Death Dr u m

 TO TA L

What loss the irregular native allies sustained was

never known but in the case of the Wassa ws and Fantis
it was probably slight as t h ey seized the first Opportunity
to run away very few O f them remaining till the end The
ee
.
,

D nk ra s however w h o acquitted themselves with great

,

credit must have lost very heavily indeed though no figures

, ,

could ever be Obtained The regulars including the

.
,

Militia fought well and bore the br u nt of the battle

,
.

O nly twenty two of the Royal African Colonial Corps

-
,

thirty one of the Cape Coast Militia and eight Of the

-
,

Volunteer Company escaped unscathed The Ashantis .

also lost heavily Many fell before the bayonets of the

.

regulars and many more must have lost their lives in the
earlier attempts to cross the river and in the close fighting
that took place afterwards Probably their total loss .

reached several hundreds .

Such then was the immediate result of this rash ex

e
p dition in which a mere handful of partly trained men was
,

blindly led against unknown numbers of an enemy by no

means to be despised and thoroughly conv rsant with the e
peculiar conditions of bush warfare I ts more remote .

results were still more serious The Ashantis had hitherto .

entertained a profound respect for the power O f the white

man ; but this decisive victory at once destroyed it and
seemed to them conclusive proof of their own superiority .

At the same time this terrible reverse and the loss of the
,

Governor did more than anything else to produce that

feeling O f unreasoning and bitter hostility towards Ashanti
that has existed ever since I t is this h ostility combined
.
,

with the As h antis self deception that has done so much

’
-
,

to create ill feeling and prolong d isputes and caused

-
,
 SI R CHARLES ’
D I FF I CU LTI ES

losses Of trade wars and other troubles that should never 1 8 22

, ,
—
1 8 24
have been necessary . C HA P . x xx

Sir Charles M Ca rth y wh o thus paid the penalty Of

‘
,

such foolhardiness with his life must be pitied rather than

,

blamed As a stranger to the country he had no idea of

.
,

the strength and fighting qualities of his enemy nor of the

unreliable character O f some of his allies with many of ,

whom the mere approach of an Ashanti army was sufficient

to cause panic and flight But even they cannot be blamed
.

for running a way on this occasion for it was indeed their ,

only chance and they doubtless realized what the Governor

,

refused to believe that he was attempting the impossible

e
, .

As has been shown too h was placed at a great d isa d

e
,

vantage by th refusal O f nearly all the o fficers O f the Old

Company Of Merchants to serve u nder him and was ,

probably too easily led away by the vain boasts of the

Fantis while the enemy was still at a distance and really ,

believed t h at they would j ustify t h eir words when the

battle began His folly in splitting up his small force
e
.

into three and attempting to give battle wit h th weakest

Of all is however inexcusable
e
.
, ,

The gallant conduct of the Cape Coast Militia th

ee
,

Volunteers and the D nk ra s must always stand to their

credit But their numbers were not sufficient to avert the
.

inevitable defeat while the disgraceful and inexcusable

,

blundering of the Officer responsible for the supply O f '

ammunition turned this into the greatest disaster the

English have ever su ffered on the Gold Coast and ended
in the practical annihilation of the whole force .
 CHAPTER XX

C O NTINU A TI O N O F THE WA R

M A J O R C HI S H O L M S orders from the Governor had been

’

e
1 8 24
ca n . xx to remain in camp with his troops at A m p nsa su until
he received further instructions ; but as has been seen , ,

the letter telling him to advance though sent o ff on the

,

i 7 th of J anuary was not delivered until the z and In

, .

fact a second urgent summons that had been sent off

,

during the battle on the 2 1 st actually reached him two

e
hours before it Wh ile h had been awaiting the arrival
.

Of t h ese orders he had heard that a strong party of the

enemy was somewhere in the neighbourhood of his camp ,

and sent Mr Henry Barnes o u t with a small scouting

.

party to obtain definite information of its movements .

After some hours had been spent in the search this ,

party heard the confused hum of a multitude near at hand

and climbed to the top o f some rocks overhanging th Pra e ,

where they concealed themselves among the bushes and

plainly saw a force of about Ashantis encamped on
the other side of the river The enemy s position was so
.
’

unprotected and they were so evidently unsuspicious Of

any danger that the par ty instead of returning to report
, ,

to Major Ch isholm and enable him to surround and s u rprise

the As h antis fired three volleys into their midst and then
, ,

standing up to show their red coats on the brow of the

hill gave a loud cheer This struck consternation into
, .

the enemy wh o immediately deserted their camp leaving

, ,

all their baggage and many valuables behind them and ,

retreated as quickly a s possible along the river bank to

 CO NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

Here they found Captain Laing who in accordance with ,

his instructions had advanced about thirty miles from

,

his camp at Y a nku m a si Fanti in the direction of A ssin ,

but had then heard of the defeat of the Governor from a

messenger sent him by the O fficer commanding at Cape
Coast who in turn had had the news from some wounded
, ,

stragglers from the battle who had reached Sekondi and

com e on from there by canoe H e had then deemed it .

prudent to return and succeeded in bringing his whole

,

force in safety to Cape Coast .

The expectations of an immediate attack on the town

were not reali z ed The Ashantis remained for some time
.

at I nsam a nk ow In fact an Ashanti army seldom derives

.

the full benefit O f such a victory by immediately following

up its advantage but remains encamped in the neighbour
,

h ood pillaging and burning the villages and destroying

e
,

th plantations and farms and when it does finally renew

,

its advance it generally proceeds at a very leisurely pace

e
.

I n th meantime the inhabitants of Dutch Sekondi

,

h a d been committing some outrages against the English

e e
.

Captain WO O lco m b of H M S Gl ndow r and two of h is

. . .

officers h a d landed there on the 2 sth of January to see the

place and try to gain some reliable news O f the battle
wh ic h they understood had taken place and had been ,

attacked The pe0p 1e had pursued them wit h drawn

.

knives and compelled them to run to their boat but on

reaching his ship Captain WOO lcom b had immediately
,

fallen in a party of marines and returned intending to ,

administer a warning against any repetition of such conduct

that wo u ld not so on be forgotten Much to his surprise .
,

the Sekondis had mustered in full strength on the beach

and prepared to Oppose the landing of his men who had ,

to disembark under a h eavy fire which however they , , ,

amply returned The marines then advanced into the

.

town and drove the people into the bush beyond Two .

marines and a Kru boy were killed and several others

-

wounded in this encounter ; but all attempts to destroy

the town failed as the thatch was too wet to burn The
, .

Sekondis moreover had brutally murdered several

, ,
 SE K O N D I B U RN ED

wounded fugitives who had fled to their town after the

battle of I ns a m a nko w and Maj or Chisholm now determined
,

to punish them for these acts .

O n the sth O f February Captain Laing was sent to ,

J ukwa with a detachment Of the Royal African Colonial

Corps and a few A na m a b os and other Fantis who brought ,

up the total strength of his force to about 400 men By .

the i 4th nearly

, men had been collected and orders ,

were then sent him to move to Komenda where Maj or ,

Chisholm j oined him the next day Here the embarkation

e e e
.

of the whole force on board H M Ss S wing r and Gl ndow r . . .

was commenced at daybreak on the 1 6 th and completed

by sunset when H M S B a nn also arrived The three
,
. . . .

ships then left for Sekondi which they hoped to reach the
,

same night and so surprise and capture about 400 Ashantis

who were known to be in the town But they had both .

wind and current against them and it was three O clock

’
,

the next afternoon before they anchored o ff it The troops .

were at once disembarked but the Ashantis and Sekondis

had already fled The town however was set on fire and
.
, , ,
’
by eight O clock t h at evening the whole place had been
completely destroyed everything in it having been either
,

burned or blown up and the troops returned the same

,

night to Cape Coast .

I n the meantime O sai Tutu K wa m ina had died in

,

Kumasi having passed away on the z i st of J anuary on the

,

very same day as Sir Charles M Carth y had lost h is life ‘

.

This King who was probably the finest man wh o ever sat
e e
,

on th Ashanti stool might Well be named the Misu nd r

,
”
stood . All that is known of him and it is a great deal , ,

for several Europeans came in close contact with him

and knew him personally tends to show that he was a ,

man of high character honourable in his dealings peaceable

, ,

in his disposition and forbearing with his enemies a man

,

of sound sense and one who regarded his plighted word as

sacred and did not make vain promises but who expected ,

to find the same characteristics in others especially those ,

whom he acknowledged to be his superiors and to receive

e
,

what were his j ust dues Colonel Torran wh o wi t h all

.
,
 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

his faults wa s certainly an able m a n wrote of him In ,

all my negotiations with the King I had cause to remark

what I have not experienced on the sea coast to wit the , ,

strictest regard to his word in fact I look on King Zey , ,

” 1
s o he is ca lled to be a high character
, Mr James . .

Swanzy again said of him : I think o f all the native

, ,

sovereigns o f Africa that I have either read or heard of he ,

” 2
is the man most likely to act with good faith NO one .

can read the various accounts of the history of these times

without feeling some pity for the keen disappointment
this King must have felt and a sense Of shame that he ,

S hould have been so much misunderstood and so unfairly

treated Savage he was and as might therefore be
.
,

expected some of his demands may have seemed unreason

,

able in the eyes of more civilized pe 0p 1e ; but that his

intentions were honourable there can be little doub t and ,

it is equally certain that if at any time he made excessive

demands he was always willing to listen to reason and
, ,

being a j ust man himself was ready to modify or abandon

,

any extortionate o r groundless claim if proper cause were

shown The African in any case habitually asks for more
.
, ,

than he expects or even wishes to receive and this is so

e
,

well known a trait in his character that th first thing

done is to ask for a red u ction and were it not given the , ,

original demand would on that ground alone be con

ee
, ,

sid r d extortionate and absurd O sai Tutu Kwam ina .

is of all the Ashanti monarchs the one on whom the English

man should look with the most interest for he was the ,

first of the line wh o came into contact with Europeans ,

and by Observing the attitude which he adopted towards

them before the occurrence of those hostilities by which
the relations of the two powers were subsequently em
bittered we may learn what was the position that the
,

Ashantis would have spontaneously adopted towards the

” 3
white men .

ee e e ee
L tt r d a t d Cap Co a s t C a stl , F bru a ry 1 8 0 7 , to Co m m itt e
e
he
1 of

e
Com p a ny o f M rch a nts
E eeee ee
e ee e e
t .

vid n c b fo r S l ct Com m itt Hou s o f Com m ons

ee
3
th o f th

p 1 60 . . Au stin Fr m an , p 441 . .
 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

power when they were given the opport u nity after the
first treaty had been broken A passive neutrality would
.

have been difficult to maintain unless their position h ad

b een clearly defined Unfortunat ely as h as been seen
.
, ,

this was not the course followed and the arrival Of the
ill fated Sir Charles M Ca rth y who rashly concluded that
-
‘
,

the position was hopeless and greatly under rated the -

power of Ashanti inaugurated wha t has been an almost

,

continual policy of hostility to that kingdom With

e
.

the un rring instinct O f a professedly philanthropic nation

e
,

they ( the English ) have s lected the sturdiest most enter ,

prising and most courageous tribe as the special object of

their hostility and have consistently endeav oured after
, ,

the fashion too common among philanthropists to secu re

e
,
”1
in the most perfect manner the survi v al o f the u nfitt s t .

Tutu Kwam ina was succeeded by his youngest brother

O s ai Yow usually known as O kotu ( orange ) from the
,

light colour of his skin .

It was indeed fortunate that the A shantis had remained

quiescent after the battle of I nsa m a nkow for this defeat
and the death O f the Governor caused such a revulsion of
feeling and such keen disappointment amongst the Fantis ,

that it would have been almost impossible to raise another

force at this time Many o f the Chiefs indeed bitterly
e
.
, ,

repented their hurried repudiation o f the As hanti allianc '

and sincerely regretted that they had ever been induced to

identify their interests with those Of the English for they
believed they had now lost everything and that the
e
,

vengeance of As hanti must soon overtak them and some

e
,

time had to elapse before they began to r cover themselves .

The Ashantis were still enc amped at I nsa m a nkow but

towards the end of February it was report ed in Cape Coast
that they were actively preparing to renew the campaign
e
and intended to start for th coast on the I s t of March .

Their actual numbers were now given as I and as ,

it was not deemed prudent to risk an engagement with

any force that the English could now put in the fi ld it e ,

was decided to Offer no opposition to their advance until

Au stin Fre
1
em an p 4 7 1 , . .
 CAM P F O RMED O N TH E PRA

they reached the Pra and then to dispute the passage of

the river and make a last determined e ffort to p rotect the
actual Settlements from attack .

The Accra Militia under Captains H ansen and Banner

man was now ordered to j oin Captain Laing at Komenda ,

whose force was thus brought up to about men but

no sooner had this j unction been e ffected t h an Captain
Laing wa s taken ill and had to be invalided to England ,

and Captain Ricketts himself far from well was sent to

, ,

take over his command A detachment of the 2 nd West

e
.

India Regiment was now stationed at D ra b oa si and other ,

small bodies Of troops were sent to occupy Himan and the

other villages through which it was thought the Ashantis
might advance I t was believed however that they
.
, ,

would attempt to cross the Pra somewhere in the neighbour

hood of Shama and the main body of the British force
,

was therefore moved to the mouth Of the river where a

l arge camp was formed The troops presented a for
e
.

m id ab l appearance when drawn up in line and were dis ,

tinctly visible from Dutch Sekondi where a small detach

ment of the enemy was again quartered But though
.

several skirmishes took place between these troops and

scattered parties Of the enemy across the river the x e
ee e e
,

p ct d general advance did no t ta k p la c The strength

.

of the force had now been increased to and the men

began to chafe at the enforced inactivity and delay and ,

their impatience was further increased by the growing

scarcity of provisions The Chiefs therefore informed
.

Captain Ricketts that they wished to cross the river and

attack the enemy at once saying that their men would
,

lose their courage if they remained idle any longer I t .

does not seem to have occurred to them however that , ,

their courage might evaporate even more quickly when

they found themselves face to face with an Ashanti army .

The Chiefs were told that the Obj ect of the encampment was
not to attack the enemy but to dispute his passage of
,

the river and protect the country beyond it ; but they

continued their importunities and were at length informed
that an a dvance could only be made if they provided
 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

carriers for the ammunition which they had hitherto ,

neglected to do Affairs were in this condition when on

e
.
,

the 1 0 th of March Captain Ricketts was recalled to Cap

,

Coast owing to the illness of Maj or Chisholm and the

, ,

command O f the army on the Pra devolved upon Captain

Blekee
n rn .

A few days later Governor Last who had but recently

, ,

arrived on the coast from Holland wrote to inform Major

e
,

Chisholm of the arrival of some Ashanti messeng rs at

Elmina who had asked t h at a British O fficer might come
,

over and hold a palaver with t h em Captain Ricketts .

accordingly went to Elmina where he met the messengers

e
,

and the Ashanti Resident A tj i m p o n at a meeting in the

Castle When called upon by Governor Last to state their
.

business these messengers said that their master the King

,

Of Ashanti h a d not sent his army with any intention of

waging war on the white men but in order to capture and
e
,

bring to Kumasi Kuj o Chibu th King of Denkera A wu s u ku

e
,

Chief o f Ts h iforo or Tu f l and Enim il the King of Western ,

Wassaw who had revolted and taken up arms against him

,

their sovereign that if these three men were now given

up the Ashanti army would at once retire but that th , e
orders Of the King in the case o f Kuj o Chibu especially
, ,

were peremptory and they had instructions to take him

,

at all hazards even if he should seek an asylum within the

,

Castle at Cape Coast .

This demand was the direct outcome of the precedent

e
s t by Colonel Torra n and the cause o f this special anie
,

m osity against the King of Denkera makes it likely that

’
the King s assertion that his army had been sent against
him and not against the English may have been quite
true Some time before the war broke out Kuj o Chibu
.

had been ordered to appear at Kumasi but accounts di ffer ,

as to the exa ct reason for this summons He appears .

,

however to have given the King reason to believe that

,

he was meditating a rebellion and was detained for some ,

time in the capital but was privately informed that he ,

would be put to deat h and determined to escape He .

therefore spent the greater part of the night in singing

 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

that score and caused others also to fall into the same
error I t was finally agreed that pending the arrival of
.
,

ambassadors with full powers to conclude a peace the ,

British troop s s h ould make no further attack on the

Ashantis and that they in turn should remain where they
,

then were and not molest the allies Orders to this effect .

were issued to the troops on the 1 6 th of March .

After the meeting was over Governor Last suggested

,

to the Ashantis that in order to prove the sincerity of their

proposals for peace they should release the Colonial
,

Secretary Mr Williams who was still a prisoner in their

.
,

camp and this they finally consented to do provided they

e
,

were allowed to hand him over to th Dutch Governor and

he gave an undertaking that he should not go to Cape Coast
nor to any other place except H olland He was brought .

from S h ama by canoe a few days later and after being ,

march ed in triumph through the streets of Elmina stark ,

naked and with his hands tied be h ind his back was handed ,

over to Governor Last

eee e
.

I n the meantime Captain B l nk rn who was still n ,

camped near the mouth of the Pra h a d been supplied by ,

the Chiefs with carriers for the ammunition and had ,

already fixe d a day for crossing the river and attacking

e
the enemy when h was informed of the amnesty and had
,

to countermand his orders This sudden determination

.

no t to molest the Ashantis com bined with the vague reply

,

given by Captain Ricketts at the conference at Elmina

which was o f course well known to and had been freely
e
, ,

discussed by th Chiefs led them to fear that the Govern

—

ment contemplated purchasing a peace at the price O f their

surrender and it must be admitted that with the r coll c ee
e e
,

tion of Colonel Torra n s proceedings before them and th

’

very indefinite nature of Captain Ricketts remarks it ’

,

was perh aps only natural that they should h ave enter
e
ta in d this idea
e
.

Kuj o Chibu and th other C h iefs therefore conceiving ,

that if they wished to avoid being delivered into the h ands

o f their enemies they must rely upon their own e f forts ,

determined to a ttack the Ashan tis at once a nd in spite of

 EVEN TS O N TH E PRA

eee
all Captain B l nk rn could do to dissuade them crossed ,

the Pra o n the morning of the a4th Of March and began

cutting a series of paths through the bush towards the
’
enemy s position leaving him with only the regulars
, ,

some m ilitia and a small body of Accras wh o altogether ,

amounted to barely 6 00 men When Maj or Chisholm .

heard of their proceedings and of the misunderstanding

that had arisen he sent Captain Hutchinson Of the Ana
,

mabo Militia to explain the whole matter to them and

assure them that the English would never consent to give
them up in order to conclude peace nor for any other
e
reason but he failed to convinc t h em and they steadily ,

persisted in their preparations for attacking the Ashantis .

I t was of course impossible that the movements of such

, ,

a large body Of men could long escape the notice of the

As hantis who naturally regarded this breach of the
,

amnesty that had been arranged at Elmina as but another

example o f the small amount O f reliance that could be
placed on British promises and at once made a counter
move by marc h ing a strong force from I nsa m a nkow to
e
the bank of the Pra opposite D ra b oa si where they too
eee
,

th reatened to cross Captain B l nk rn therefore moved

e
.
,

the men he still had with him to D ra b o a si to watch the

movements O f this force and Oppose any further attempt
to advance The Ashantis were unusually well supplied
e
.

with ammunition for all t h at had been lost on th road

,

to I nsa m a nk ow had of course fallen into their h ands A .

great deal of sniping therefore went on across the river

e
,

while small skirmishes were O f almost daily occurrenc ,

and Ensign Erskine O f the Royal African Colonial Corps ,

amongst others was disabled by a bullet which entered

e
,

h is thigh one morning while h was sitting in a b u t by the

river bank .

After more than a week of arduous toil the allies at ,

last succeeded in carrying their paths to within easy

reach of the Ashanti position and by the ninth day they
,

were ready to attack it But now that the crucial moment

.

had arrived their courage failed them and the Wa ssaws

,

fled incontinently to the river under cover of night and

 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

recrossed it Their desertion was soon discovered and

.
,

Appia sent word of what had happened to the other allies

along the line and advised them to postpone the attack
which had been arranged for the next morning until —

a little later The news however struck panic into

.
, ,

them all and a headlong flight to the Pra immediately

ensued I n their frantic haste to recross it many men
.

were drowned and over guns and nearly all the

ammunition were lost The panic stricken and hungry .
-

s u rvivors of this disgraceful flight who in spite of the ,

darkness and confusion had succeeded in reaching the

eastern bank at once separated and made their way to
,

t h eir own homes and the na tive force then and there
ceased to exist
eee
.

Captain Bl nk rn who was thus left with only a hand

,

ful of h alf starved men believed that the Ashantis who

-
, ,

had h eard the noise made by the allies in their midnight

stampede were preparing to advance and pursue them
,

and decided to retire Accordingly on the 2 nd of April.

, ,

he retreated t h rough Efutu to Cape Coast with his main

body while a smaller detachm ent fell back on Komenda
, ,

whence it was h urriedly conveyed to headquarters by

. . . e
H M S S wing r and th Sierra Leone packet as the e ,

Ashantis were believed to be close behind them During

eee
.

his march Captain B l nk rn fell in with Kuj o Chibu and

ee e
,

a few D nk ra s at B nsu ; but it was only after he had

repeatedly given him the most solemn assurances that he
would on no account be surrendered to the enemy that ,

he finally succeeded in overcoming his distrust of the

English a nd induced him to accompany him to Cape
Coast The Ashantis however never made any attempt
e
.
, ,

to pursue the allies but contented themselves with n

,

camping on the ground they had vacated .

O n the 1 0th of April Maj or Chisholm ordered Captain

eee
B l nk rn to move his men to Efutu and form another
camp there while Kuj o Chibu and Appia who had in the ,

meantime rallied many of their people were sent to occupy ,

Dompim The Ashantis were drawing their water from

.

a small stream flowing near the latter place and the two
 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

e
eq ie
'

w rly secured and soon afterwards sent to Kumasi

u t ,

where one of them died about twelve mont h s later but ,

Riley himself remained a prisoner in a village j ust outside

the capital for four years The Ashantis then occupied
.

Efutu and a few days dater when it was found they made
, ,

no further move the troops were again ordered out from

,

Cape Coast and encamped in the government garden at

Beula about five or six miles from Cape Coast and three
or four from Efutu Great di fficulty was found in col
e
.

l cting any native force to assist the regulars and militia ,

but eventually about men were got together in this

ca m p .

N ews was now received that O sai O kotu was advancing

in person with men to reinforce his army and Major ,

Chisholm decided to attack before the j unction could

be effected O rders were accordingly issued for the troops
.

to cros s the Sweet River and advance against Efutu .

The next few days were fully taken up by the quarrels of

the allies as to the positions they should respectively
occupy The Fantis insisted on being placed on the right
ee
.

of the line but the D nk ra s were very strongly opposed

,

to this ; for they understood their cowardly nature only

too well and knew that the sole reason for their choice
was that Cape Coast lay on that side They de clared .

that if the Fantis were placed there they would bolt as

soon as the firing commenced and wanted them to be p ut ,

on the extreme left where the proximity Of the Elminas

,

would cut O ff all hope Of retreat and they would have

e
no alternative but to fight After much heated argument
.

how ver the Fantis finally declared that if they were

,

not allowed to have their own way they would go home

at once without even making a pretence O f fighting so
e
,

the point was reluctantly conceded to them and th several

divisions began cutting paths through the bush towards
Efutu .

O n the i 8 th of May Lieutenant Colonel Sutherland

e
-
,

arrived at Cape Coast on board H M S Driv r to assume . . .

the government Of the Gold Coast and went ou t with Major

Chisholm on the 1 9 th to j oin the troops They found .
 BATTLE O F EFUTU

the men still busily employed in cutting their paths ,

which were now nearing completion and the Governor , ,

not wishing to deprive Maj or Chisholm of the credit of

the attack he had planned left him in comma nd and ,

returned to Cape Coast to superintend the transport O f

e
the ammunition and other supplies O n the a i st every .
,

a vailable man in the Cape Coast garrison was s nt o u t

to h elp Maj or Chisholm while the Castle and Towers ,

were temporarily h eld by marines landed from the warship s

in the roads .

The paths had now been carried right up to the Ashanti

position The enemy were encamped on the summit of a
.

densely wooded hill j ust outside Efutu from the foot and ,

lower slopes of which they had cleared the bush so that

t h ey could have a clear view of the British force as it
advanced and yet remain under cover themselves The .

battle commenced at one o clock on the afternoon Of the ’

a i st Of May and lasted u ntil dusk but the Ashantis , ,

though they had fought t h roughout wit h their accustomed

bravery and made more than one attempt to turn the
British flank were then driven back with heavy loss
ee
, .

Kuj o Chibu and his D nk ras on the left o f the line greatly
distinguished themselves I n the midst of the battle he
.

had sent a bowl containing six Ashanti heads to Maj or

Chisholm to show him what he was doing and then , ,

after fighting for five hours with extraordinary valour ,

followed the retreating As h antis right into Efutu The .

Fantis as had been expected nearly all ran away at the

, ,

first volley without even firing a shot and though others

e
,

remained till the end of the battle no o n seems to have ,

been more surprised than themselves I n fact now that .

,

the day had been won t h ey actually seem to have taken

,

alarm at their own success and promptly fled As Cru ik .

s h ank says These gallant warriors seemed to have been

’
inspired somewhat with Macbeth s fears

f d k wh a t I h av ed e
d a re
I am a ra i to th in on

Lo o k g ’ 1
a in , I not
’
on t a .

1
Cru iks h a nk ,
v ol. i p
, . I 58 .
 C O NTI N UATI O N O F TH E WAR

Ha d the Fantis only behaved with the most ordinary

courage this Ashanti army might have been cut up alto
,

gether But darkness was now coming o n the ammunition

.
,

was almost expended and the carriers who were coming

,

up with fu rther supplies and with water and provisions ,

meeting the Fantis in full flight towards Cape Coast ,

naturally thought the English had again been beaten ,

were seized with panic and threw down their loads to

ee
,

j oin them The D nk ra s and a few of the Cape Coast

e
.

people were now th only native aux iliaries who remained

e ,

and all th men being h ungry and without water owing

to the flight of the carriers the force h a d to fall back on
,

the Sweet River instead of continuing the pursuit This .

retrograde movement dispirited the men and destroyed

any enthusiasm they might have had for a pursuit the
next morning The troops were therefore recalled to
.
, ,

Cape Coast and only a small outpost under Lieutenant

Rogers of the Royal African Colonial Corps was left at
Beula to keep watch on the movements of the enemy .

When this action took place the main body of the

e
,

King s army had only reached Mansu ; but a few m n

’

who were in advance are said to have taken part in the

engagement and it was currently reported that the Ashantis
were also reinforced by a strong detachment of Elminas .

The British force consisted Of 2 Officers and 9 9 men of

the and West I ndia Regiment 3 O fficers and 1 3 6 men of
,

the Royal African Colonial Corps 4 7 0 Militia of all ranks , ,

and 7 7 Chiefs with about of the native allies NO .

officer was killed but Lieutenant Hutchinson of the

,

e
Anamabo Militia was wounded being shot through both ,

wrists as he was in th act of urging on his men The .

other losses were : 9 killed and 2 0 wounded among the

Regulars 8 3 Militia killed and 5 4 wounded and 84 killed
, ,

and 60 3 wounded among the native allies giving a total

loss Of 1 7 6 killed and 6 7 8 wounded What the losses of .

the Ashantis were was never ascertained but they must ,

have been very heavy .

 TH E BATTLE O F D O D OWA

while the women and children many O f whom were refugees ,

who had been driven in from the outlying villages crowded ,

round the Castle gate clamouring for admission Room .

was found for about of them and in the hope of , ,

preventing a rush only the small wicket in the big gates

,

was Opened through which it was impossible for more

,

than one person to pass at a time But so great was the .

crush of terrified screaming and struggling women and

,

children that several were squeezed or trampled to death

, .

Seamen and marines were then landed from H M S Victor . . .

and the merchantmen in the roads and told off to m an

the guns and every preparation was made to defend
e
,

th town .

The houses immediately in front of the Castle and

overlooking its walls which had been such a source of
,

inconvenience during the riots in 1 8 0 3 were still standing , ,

but on the 2 2 nd Colonel Sutherland gave orders for their

,

im mediate demolition The people however made no .

, ,

attempt to carry out his instructions and as there was , ,

no longer time to pull them down and an attack on the

town seemed imminent it was decided to burn them , .

Four of them were therefore set on fire But a high wind

, ,
.

was blowing and the flames spread rapidly to the dry

,

grass roofs of the adj oining houses until in a very short

e
, ,

time th whole town was in a blaze and added still further

,

to the terrors O f the moment Fortunately nearly all .

,

the removable property had already been taken for safety

to the Castle and as the mud walls could not burn the
, ,

actual damage done by the fire wa s not so great as might

have been expected and most of the houses only required
slight repairs and a new door and roof to make them
habitable again .

According to Cruikshank s account however this ’

, ,

co nfla gra tion was not so unintentional as is generally

supposed He says the Ashantis acting on the advice

.
,

o f the Elminas had arranged to send a small party dis

,

guised as Ch ib u s men into Cape Coast by night who

’
,

were to set fire to the town in several places and in the , ,

confusion that was sure to follow the army was to enter ,

 CAPE C OAST BU RN ED

and make a general attack This plan however reached 1 8 24

.
, ,
-
1 8 26
the ears of Mr Williams while he was still at Elmina and ca n
.
, . xxi

he at once sent to warn the Governor Colonel Suther .

land then determined to sho w the Ashantis that he was

prep ar ed to go to any extreme to defend the town and ,

knowing that the pe0p1e would never consent to the de

struction of their houses acted without consulting them
,

and set fire to the place in a hundred di fferent quarters

,

by firing rockets from the Castle thus preventing the ,

Ashantis from carrying o u t the plan which they had

arranged for that very night .

However this may be and whether the town was de

e
,

s troyed accidentally or intentionally th fire had the

e
,

ffect of dismaying the Ashantis who bel ieving that the

e
, ,

people had s t fire to their town in a frenzy of despair

and were prepared to perish in its ruins decided to post ,

pone their attack until a more favourable moment and

withdrew to Beula the next day There they remained .

u ntil the end of the month sending out strong parties

,

in every direction to lay waste the surrounding country

and burn the villages The garrison meanwhile number
.
,

ing as it did but 3 6 0 men of whom 1 04 were in hospital

e
, ,

with a few artific rs and militia and a very small native

force upon which but little reliance could be placed was ,

powerless to prevent them

e
.

O n the 4th of J uly H M S Th tis Captain Sir J ohn

e
. . .
,

Ph illim or , arrived from England with a much needed

reinforcement of 1 0 1 o fficers and men O f the Royal African
Colonial Corps and two d ays later a force of about
,

n atives from Accra and the neighbouring to wns marched

into Cape Coast They had been raised by Maj or von
.

Richelieu the Governor Of Christiansborg and sent to the

, ,

a ssistance of the English with a few Danish soldiers under

the command Of Captain P loson Throughout the whole e .

w ar indeed the Danish Governor had shown the greatest

,

friendliness and now gave this very practical proof O f

e
,

his sympathy and sent word by Captain P lo s on that he

himself was b u sy collecting another large force with which
e
,

h intended to advance into Ak im so as to threaten an

 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

I nvasion of Ashanti territory and create a diversion on

that side The supply of ball had for some time been
.

running very low and on the arrival of these troops none

, ,

o f whom had brought any ammunition with them every ,

available piece of metal was seized The water pipes .

from the Castle the lead from the roofs of the merchants ’

e
,

hous s and every pewter vessel that could be found

,

were all taken in their turn and the whole garrison was
,

employed day and night in cutting them into sl u gs and

casting bullets .

O n the 7 th the Ashantis again advanced towar ds Cape

e
,

Coast and were seen in great force d filing over a hill and
making for some heights behind th town upon which e ,

they soon took up their position O sai Okotu s tent was .

’

pitched near the left of their line where the bush having ,

been cleared for some distance aroun d his movements ,

could easily be watched with a glass Many of the enemy .

were seen wearing the uniforms they had taken from those
who had fallen in the battle of I ns a m a nk ow and they had
e
,

several English Danish and Dutch flags with t h em b

, , ,

sides others of their o wn design O n the following day the

.

allies took up a position on some hills facing those occupied

by the Ashantis and for the next three or four days were
,

constantly employed in clearing the bush from their

front and keeping watch on the enemy who were busily ,

engaged in cutting paths towar ds the English camp .

Some slight skirmishes between small parties took

place but it was not until the n th that several strong
,

divisions of the enemy were seen descending into the valley

e
,

where they formed into line about m idway betw en the

two camps About two o clock in the afternoon their
.
’

advance party was fired o n by some skirmishers under

Mr Gordon and a general engagement at once ensued
. .

Although it had hitherto been necessary to drive most of

the allies ou t of the town to their posts every morning
at the point of the bayonet they fought extremely well
,

on this occasion and steadily drove the Ashantis back ,

taking and plundering two of their camps The enemy .

,

however o ffered a stout resistance especially those on

, ,
 TH E BATTLE O F D O D OWA

do wn into the valley and drew up in line o f battle with

the e vident intention of renewing the engagement A .

small party of skirmishers was therefore ordered to move

e
cautiously through the bush fire on the Ashantis and
, ,

retire The enemy continued blazing into the und r

.

growth in the direction from which this attack had been

made for nearly half an hour but they made no forward
,
’
movement and at about two o clock in the afternoon a
few shots from a field piece were fired at random through
the bus h which at once caused them to retire to their
,

original position on the Opposite hills .

Early the next morning the As h antis were seen de

scending in single file by several paths into the valley and
a renewal of the battle was momentarily expected This .

movement however was continued till evening and

, , ,

during the night hundreds of camp fires were seen glowing

in the valley but wh en day broke there was no sign of
the enemy and it was soon apparent that the whole
army had retired during the nigh t I t afterwards became
.

known that a retreat had been decided upon the day

before and t h at the apparently large bodies of men that
,

had been seen marching down into the valley had in

reality been only a small detachment detailed to cover
the movements of the main body The comparatively .

few men composing this party had marched down from

the hilltop in full view of the British force and then , ,

returning by concealed paths through the bush had again ,

ascended the hill on the far side and once more descended
e
.

This mano uvre had been kept up throughout the day ,

and after numerous cam p fires had been lit in the valley
,

to confirm the belief that the Ashantis were occupying

it in force this party also retired and j oined the main
,

army The Ashantis had thus been enabled to remove

.

all their sick and wounded and retire with their prisoners
and carriers for some distance before the allies becam e
aware of their intention or could do anything to hinder
them They had gone in the direction of Elmina and
.

Efutu but all attempts to induce the allies to follow

,

and harass them were u navailing They seemed to think

.
 RETREAT O F TH E ASHANTI S

it was sufficient for them that the enemy had withdrawn 1 8 24 —

1 8 26
from Cape Coast and that their own safety was temporarily C HA P . xxx

assured but they had no intention of incurring any risk

,

or inviting further danger by following them During this .

retreat a brother o f the Fanti King Aduku wh o was taken , ,

prisoner by the Ashantis in 1 80 7 and had since been

e mployed as an umbrella bearer to the King made his
e
,

scape and reached Cape Coast .

The chief cause of this sudden retreat was the great

number of men the Ashantis were daily losing by disease .

Small pox and dysentery raged in their camps and had

-

a lready claimed thousands o f victims and famine stared ,

them in the face as a result of their wanton destruction of

the farms for miles around N umbers of men principally
.
,

A ssins hungry weakened

, and disheartened deserted
, , ,

during the night of the I i th and afterwards j oined the allies .

’
A stray shot from one of the guns on Smith s Tower had
moreover struck the King s palanquin and he held a
,
’
,

superstitious belief that the English knew its exact where

abouts and would send a second ball to kill him if he
o ccupied it So firmly convinced was he of the truth of
.

this theory that the arguments and persuasions of h is

Chiefs his own sense of dignity and fatigue were alike
, ,

unavailing to induce him to ride again and he preferred

to trudge along on foot for mile after mile with his r e
treating army .

O n the i 8 th of J uly Lieutenant Colonel Grant arrived

,
-

a t Cape Coast from England bringing large supplies of

,

much needed ammunition and a few men of the Artillery

-
,

to take over the command from Colonel Sutherland wh o

e
,

returned to England o n board H M S Th tis O n the . . . .

1 9 th he sent out a strong native force to h arass the Ashantis ,

w h o were now halted at a distance o f about six miles

from Cape Coast and were drawing t h eir supplies from
Elmina This force returned on the 2 0th with several
.

p risoners and reported that the enemy had moved o ff

in the direction o f Anamabo Th ey remained in that .

district creating great alarm and devastating the farms

,

a nd villages until the news of the Danish Governor s

,
’
 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

a dvance through Akim caused them to retreat with all

speed to Kumasi leaving hundreds of their sick and
,

wounded behind who falling into the hands of the Fantis

, , ,

were murdered almost to a man I t was a new experience .

for a n Ashanti a rmy to return unsuccessful and on their ,

arrival in the capital weary and disheartened with their

, ,

numbers terribly reduced and with the obj ect of the

invasion the capture o f Chibu still unaccomplished
— —

they had to endure the taunts of the women and many a

s coffi ng song was h eard in the streets .

The garrison and people of Cape Coast though relieved ,

from the pressing danger of the presence of a hostile

army before their town were nevertheless in a sad plight
, .

The town was crowded with fugitives from the bush

villages and the famine and disease that had so sorely
,

stricken their enemies fell equally upon them People .

died of starvatio n by h undreds and many more were ,

carried o ff by small pox and dysentery The dead and

-
.

dying lay by dozens in the streets and the women and ,

children who h a d found refuge in the Castle were so closely

crowded that it was impossible to walk from one side
e
o f th yard to the other without treading on some of them
e
.

The stench was overpowering and th filt h that naturally

,

accumulated under such conditions was washed into the

tanks by frequent showers of rain and polluted the water
supply Five or six of the garrison died daily and they
.
,

were almost entirely without food having no meat or ,

flour left and but little rice Fortunately at this critical

.
,

j uncture a vessel loaded with provisions arrived from

,

Sierra Leone and several others were sent out from England
e
,

with large quantities of ric and arrived soon afterwards ,

so that those who still survived could be supplied with

enough to tide them over the months that must elaps e

before fresh crops could be sown and harvested
e
.

I n order to give some idea of th appalling mortality

e
from th e ffects of the climate and disease upon the
Europeans at this time Ellis extracted the following
,

data from an old letter book in the Military Hospital at

Cape Coast : “ e
O ut of th first two companies of white
 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

The majority of th K om nd as returned home by sea e e ,

but their women and children were sent o v erland and , ,

a s they passed through Elmina many of them w ere seized ,

and brutally murdered by the pe0p 1e No sooner did .

news of this outrage reach the ears of Colonel Grant ,

than he wrote to Governor Last demanding the punishment ,

The Dutch Governor however replied

e
o f the o ffenders .
, ,

that he had not sufficient force at his dispos al to ke p

the people in order even and that it was consequently ,

quite ou t of his power to c ompel them to surrender the

e
‘

p rpetrators of this crime Comm odore B ullen was .

anchored off Cape Coast at the time and at once placed

H M S Victor Captain WO O lco m b at the Governor s
. . .
, ,
’

service to conv ey Cap tain Ricketts and Lieutenan t Atchi

s on to Elmina where they in the Governor s name off red
, ,
’
, e
Mr Last the assistance of the English troops The o ffer was
. .

gratefully accepted and before they left arrangements , ,

had been made for the transport of the men and the hour
of landing fixed After they got back to Cape Coast
.
,

however Mr Last wrote to say that the Elminas were

, .

determined to prevent the landing of any English soldiers

in their town and the arrangements were cancelled at
e
,

the eleventh hour The K o m ndas were far too weak .

to have any chance of taking their own revenge and the ,

matter was dropped for the time though not forgotten , .

Had this expedition been successfully carried ou t the ,

A s hantis even if not compelled to make peace at once

e
, ,

would have been very seriously inconvenienced for th ,

Elminas were the only friends they now had among the
'

coast tribes and they were dependent upon them for their
supplies .

O n the I 7 th of O ctober Lieutenant Colonel Chisholm ,

-
,

recently promoted died His loss was keenly felt for not
e
.
, ,

only was he a most popular o fficer who tr ated all those

with whom he ca me in contact with j ustice and considera
tion but his many years of service in West Africa since
, ,

1 8 09 had given him an insight into nati v e character and

,

affairs t hat was of the utmost v alue N o other ev ent of .

any importance occurred until March 1 8 2 5 when Major ,

 G O VERN O R TU RN ER S PR O CLAMATI O N ’
383

General Charles Turner wh o had recently been appointed

,

Governor in Chief of the British Settlements in West

- -

Africa arrived at Cape Coast H e was accompanied by

, .

three tra nsports bringing a further detachment of the

Royal African Colonial Corps from England and 200 men
of the and West I ndia Regiment from Sierra Leone .

Finding that the Ashantis had retired to their own

country the new Governor issued the following pro
,

clamation .

By His Excellency Maj or General Turner C B Cap

-
,
. .
,

tain General and Commander in Chief of the British

- - -

Settlements on the Western Coast of Africa

Charles Turner to the people of Cape Coast to the ,

people of the other British Settlements on the Gold Coast ,

and to the surrounding nations friends and allies of ,

England The King of the Ashantis has by assistance of ,

the Elmina people waged a cruel and unj ust war against
,

you and us he has su ff ered for his crimes and rashness ,

and Elmina is only suffered to stand because the King

e
of the Dutch and th King of England my master are , ,

at peace but I have represented their conduct and their ,

fate will depend on the orders I may receive You have .

all stood forward in defence of your rights and I thank

e
,

you in the name o f th King my master England does

e e
, .

not wish for any wars s h wishes th natives of Africa

to be free happy and rich ; she wishes for nothing in
,

this country but lawful trade and commerce If the .

King of Ashanti will content himself with governing his

own nation and his own people and does not stop the ,

trade of the interior with the coast or attempt to oppress ,

h is neighbours let him say so to me and I will make a

, ,

treaty with him on these terms but I will not make peace
with him o n any other terms nor until he gives up every
,

claim to tribute or subj ection from the surrounding nations .

Given at Cape Coast t h is and day of April 1 8 2 5 .

By His Excellency s command ’

( Signed ) W ILLI AM WILLI AMS ,

Acting Colonial Secretary

e
.

God save th King .

 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

The bombastic tone of this proclamation was hardly

j ustified by the facts The Ashantis had not asked for
.

a treaty and in the circumstances were not likely to do so .

This war had been the final result of the treatment meted
o u t to O sai Tutu K wam ina by Governor Hope Smith in

the matter of the former treaties and the notes for the
forts and the actual invasion had been directed to the
,

capture of Chibu who was a revolted subj ect of the King

,

of Ashanti Though it is true that the Ashantis had

.

met with several reverses during the campaign yet they ,

must certainly be adj udged the victors in the war as a

whole They had killed a British Governor and carried
.

his head in triumph to their capital where it still remained ,

as evidence of their prowess they had practically anni

e
h ila t d his army and had been in possession of large tracts
e
,

of th country for not less than six months and had entirely
depopulated and devastated them ; they had compelled
the British troops to seek the shelter o f their forts and
had been the indirect cause of Cape Coast being burned ,

and finally when compelled by want of provisions a nd

,

disease they had retired o f their own accord and u m

,

molested I n t h ese circumstances it was not to be ex

ee e
.
,

p ct d that t h ey would sue for peac and the boastful ,

tone adopted by the Governor in proudly declaiming that ,

he would grant no peace except upon his own terms and

demanding the renunciation by the Ashantis of all clai m s
to tribute and allegiance from the various tribes they had
subdued was supremely ridiculous and can have deceived
,

no one who chose to think Even the Governor himself .

seems to have been none too certain what he meant for

in the same breath he professes willingness that the King
”
should govern his own nation and his own people and ,

yet claims that he must give up all his rights over the
”
surrounding tribes Unless his first words are to be taken as
.

an ex ample of redundancy the use o f the word people ,

in addition to nation can only be in reference to those

tribes not Ashantis to whose allegiance the king was
, ,

entitled by right of conquest including of course the coast , ,

tribes and the latter p assage then becomes contradictory

, .
 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

1 8 24 1 8 26
—
bush warfare at which the Ashantis from long experience
, , ,

ca n . x x x were s o expert .

The 7 th of August was a Monday a day considered ,

propitious by the Ashantis and it was confidently expected ,

that they would attack The English fighting line ex

e
.

tended east and west for about four miles I n the centr .

were the Cape Coast Militia under Mr J ohn Jackson .

,

the An amabo Militia under Mr H utchinson the Accra .

,
1
Militia under Mr J W Hanson the Christiansborg
e
. .
.
,

Militia under Mr Henry Richter and about 6 0 of th

.
,

Royal African Colonial Corps posted in the rear as a

reserve The A kwam u s were On the right and the D nk ras
. ee
and Akims on the left All the allies were distinguished .

by strips of calico tied to the barrels of their muskets

and large sea shells hanging from their necks in front and
behind Lieutenant Colonel Purdon was in command
e
.
,

and th other officers engaged were Captains Hingston

and Rogers and Lieutenant Calder of the Royal African
Colonial Corps and Doctor Young
,
.

’
The King s drum was soon heard beating the advance ,

and at about half past nine the Ashantis attacked from

-

e
right to left The native allies had been quarrelling
.

amongst themselves for s veral days as to the positions

they were to occupy each tribe professing great anxiety
,

to find itself opposed to the King but in the end they

were all disappointed for O kotu had been told there wer e
e e
,

whit men in the centre and had chosen this as the plac
of greatest honour against which to lead his men in person .

The men in the centre were the last to be atta cked and ,

several o f the others came up abusing and insulting t h em

and ch arging them with cowardice until as they were , ,

seen to be getting out o f hand under these gibes they ,

were pushed forward a little They had not advanced .

more than a hundred yards or so when they were met

with a terrific fire from the enemy and were at once heavily
engaged But though the Ashantis fought with their
e
.

accustom d bravery they could not withstand the steady

,

Us u a lly co m m a nd e d b y Mr Ba nne ve
wh o h o we
Englan d I n b a d h e
1
m an r was in
. r , , ,

a lth .
 TH E BATTLE O F DO D OWA

advance of the British troops and fell slowly back stub ,

bornly disputing every inch of ground

e
.

At o n stage of the battle a fierce hand to hand fight - -

took place The frenzied combatants rushed wildly at

.

each other cutting and slashing with their knives and a

, ,

terrible slaughter ensued Men dragged each other from

.

the opposing ranks and wrestled and stabbed and cut

until one or both fell dead Neither orders nor entreaties
.

were of any avail to check the allies in their mad thirst

for blood . They killed the wounded where they lay ,

knocking those of their o wn side on the head to end their

misery and ripping up their fallen enemies to plunge
th eir hands into their bodies and tear out their hearts
and while this massacre was going on the confusion was ,

still further increased by a sudden exp losion as one of the

As hanti Chiefs blew himself up with powder nearly in ,

volving some of the Europeans in his own destruction .

A s the enemy retired enormous quantities o f plunder

,

fell into the hands of the allies who tiring o f bloodshed

e
, , ,

were soon so engrossed in collecting the S poils that th y

neglected to follow up the advantage they had gained .

But the day wa s not yet won for the whole of the Danish
Accras had already fled and some of the Dutch Accras on
e
,

th left of the centre now gave way and allowed the

As h antis to press forward into their place thereby causing ,

the greatest alarm and quickly recalling the other allies to

a sense of duty The enemy at the same time made a
.

furious onslaught on the centre and drove it back in

confusion while a second division opened a heavy fire
,

on its flank
e
.

At this critical moment when the issue o f the battl,

trembled in the balance and there seemed every likelihood

that the Ashantis would after a ll gain the victory Colonel
e
,

Purdon called up th reserve and ordered them to open

fire with Congreve rockets The consternation caused .

by these terrible missiles now used against the Ashantis

,

for the first time can scarcely be imagined The noise

,
.

they made the long tail of fire they left behind them
, ,

the loud explosions and the fearful wo u nds they inflicted

, ,
 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

led the enemy to believe that the English had some great
”
fetish and were fighting them with actual thunder
and lightning For a f w moments they stood their
. e
ground almost too astonished to act but panic then
, ,

seized them they broke and fled in the wildest disorder

, ,

and the victory was complete .

I n the m eantime Kuj o Chibu on the left had been

e
,

fighting as bravely as ever and though the Winn bas had

,

fled at the first volley and never h alted until they reached
ee
Accra his D nk ra s had stood firm and driv n the e nemy
,
e
steadily back O n the right too the King of Akwamu h ad
.
,

driven all before him penetrating right into the enemy s ’

e
,

camp and taking him in the flank and the issue of th ,

battle o n this side h ad never for a moment been in doubt .

The short dry grass had caught fire and dense clouds of
e
, ,

smoke covered his advance which could only b traced by ,

the occasional explosions and sudden columns of thicker

smoke as one Chief after another blew himself up in despair .

Kwesi A mankwa the Chief of Essikuma too perform ed

e
, ,

prodigies of valour He had frequently been accus d of

e
.

e
treachery by th other allies and was determ ined to give
convincing proof of his loyalty by accomplishing no less a
e
f at than th capture either dead or alive of O sai Okotu
e
, ,

himself H e lost his life in the attempt but not befor

.
,

he had succeeded in reaching the King s side and h ad ’

actually laid his hand on the side of his basket palanquin

to pull h im down He was then shot in the neck and
.

secured O kotu upbraided him for h is treachery and

.

ordered him to follow him but he flatly refused and a , ,

party of his men who were hastening to his support only

arrived in time to s e
e
his head struck O ff .

The people o f Christiansborg who as already stated , ,

had fled at the commencement of the battle actually had ,

the impudence to return now that all danger was over and
began to help themselves to the plunder When r e
e
.

p ro a ch d with their cowardice they merely said that it

was against their fetish to fight o n a Monday though
it s eemed rather late to rememb r it when the battl e
,

e
e
began The valu of the spoil must have been enormous
.
 TH E BATTLE O F D O D O WA

Colonial Corps had no casualties but Mr Richter was ,

.

wounded in the thigh Kwesi Amankwa Naboa the Tufu ,

hin of Akwamu and the Tu fu h in of Akim were the only

,

Chiefs killed while of the rank and file 8 00 were estimated

,

to have been killed and another slightly wounded

e
e
.

The Ashantis are said to have lost fully men many ,

of whom fell to the knife in the fearful m l e that occurred

when the allies charged Late in the day when they had
.
,

become absolutely satiated with slaughter the people ,

took many prisoners amongst whom were Ek u a Pu su a

on e
o f the King s wives
’
Akiawa 1
,
an Ashanti Princess ,

K okowa a wife o f the King of J abin and many other ,

important persons .

All that night the troops lay on their arms ; for the
King had been seen walking dej ectedly over the scene of
his blighted ambitions and it was feared he might even
yet make a last desperate attempt to retrieve his fallen
fortunes by leading the remnant of his army to renew
the attack . At intervals throughout the night the drums
of the di fferent allied Chiefs were sounded accompanied by ,

the usual recitative of voices Each time the sounds .

,

were repeated all along the line until they died away in ,

the distance and the hollow beat of the drums mingled ,

with the weird notes of the singers suggestive of devilish ,

and mysterious r ites and human sacrifices caused many ,

o f the Europeans to shudder These melancholy sounds

.

were generally followed by answering wails and lamenta

tions from the clumps of trees and bushes in front where ,

the unhappy Ashanti women were searching for their

relatives amongst the heaps of slain and whose voices ,

rose out of the intense blackness of the night like the cries
”2
o f despairing spirits I t was a veritable night of horror
. .

When day broke on the morning after the battle no ,

thing would induce the allies to follow the Ashantis as

they might reasonably have been expected to do after so
decisive a victory Their one thought was to see their
.

booty stored in a safe place and they set out at once for
,

Accra all heavily laden Maj or Ricketts indeed has

Ellis History of the
, .

1
O r A k ia n wa .
1
Gold Coa s t p 1 8 4
, , . .
 RESU LT O F TH E V I CTO RY

recorded his belief that if the Ashantis had delayed the

battle for a few weeks the coalition against them would
e
have fallen to pieces so j ealous wer the various units
,

o f each other . The Ashantis might then have marched

into Accra practically unopposed .

O ne result of this victory was that the English for the

e
first time became the owners of th land on which their
forts and castles stood and the payments o f ground rent
”
on the notes which had been such a source of trouble
e
,

in the past at onc ceased

, . These notes having been
claimed from the Fanti Chiefs by right of conquest now
,

reverted by the same right to the English and the sites

,

to which they referred became their absolute property

e
.

In the same way they really became the owners of the

,

land on which Elmina Castle Fort Cr ve Gozur and Chris

,

tia nsb org Castle stood and entitled to the rents for them
e
.

This right however was never claim d and the Dutch

,

a t any rate continued the payment for Elmina Castle

to the King o f Ashanti : a fact that gave rise to much
trouble in later years .
 CHAPTER XXI I

NE G O TI A TI O N S FO R PE AC E
1 826 To 1 8 29

MA J O R GENE RA L S 1R N EIL CAM P B ELL the new Governor

-
,

in Chief landed at Cape Coast on the z i s t o f August 1 8 26

-
, ,

j ust fourteen days after the battle of Dodowa had been

fought and won He held an informal meeting with the
.

Chiefs and Headmen of Cape Coast the same day and

congratulated them on their recent victory but beyond ,

this nothing was done until the 2 6 th of September when

e
,

Kuj o Chibu King of Denkera A wu su ku King of Tu f l,

e
,

Am o nu King of Anamabo and Bafo o n , O f his Chiefs ,

Aduku King of Mankesim and the Chiefs and Headmen

,

o f Cape Coast were summoned to attend a meeting in the

Castle Hall The Governor after thanking them in the

.
,

name Of the King o f England for the parts they had played
in the battle of Dodowa and congratulating them on the
bravery they had shown suggested that the present
,

time while the King was thoroughly beaten and humbled

, ,

would be a suitable occasion on which to send messengers

to inform h im that should he desire peace it would be
, ,

granted o n his giving security for his future conduct

towar ds the English and their allies .

This after the proclamation o f Maj or General Turner

,
-
,

was indeed going to the opposite extreme That officer .

,

after the Ashantis had brought a victorious campaign

to its conclusion and only retired to their country on
account of sickness and want of provisions had issued a ,

pompous manifesto in which he asserted that he would

only grant them a peace and make a treaty for which —
 N EG O TIATI O NS F O R PEACE

Hingston instructing him to meet these Chiefs at Accra

and ascertain their views and finally told the Chiefs that
,

his orders from England were peremptory and that if ,

they would not consent to an immediate settlement he

would conclude a peace for the English without making
any stipulations on their behalf .

The Kings and Chiefs thoroughly dissatisfied with the

,

result of this meeting still remained in Cape Coast and

, ,

the Governor in continuance of his policy now decided to

, ,

send presents and a letter explaining h is wishes and pro

p os a ls to the King o f Ashanti To enable him to do this
e
.
,

the King of Cape Coast was applied to for a party of thre

, e
men o n o f whom was to be able to write who were to ,

go to Kumasi on this mission and the Kings of Denkera

e e
,

Tu f l Wassaw and Fanti and the Chiefs o f A ssin w re

,

each required to furnish a few men as escort This h ow .

,

ever they flatly refused to do and were reported to have

e
e
, ,

said that if any harm b f l those who went they would

only have themselves to blame for ever having left Cape
Coast Kuj o Chibu was therefore ordered to come to
.
, ,

the Castle and explain his conduct but he failed to appear

ee
,

not from any want of respect for the Governor but b caus
e
,

he was afraid he would be made a prisoner in the Castl

and offered to the Ashantis as the price of peace This .

reason however was not understood at the time and

e e
, , ,

he and the King of Tu f l were ordered to leave Cap

Coast at an hour s notice Thus this brave old man wh o
’
.
,

had fought side by side with the English with the most
consistent loyalty and valour ever since the beginning
o f the war was now hounded o u t o f the very town that
,

he had s o materially assisted to defend .

All idea of the mission to Kumasi was now abandoned

but these proceedings of Sir Neil Campbell , who ignorant ,

o f African custom and character had blindly adhered to

,

the letter of his instructions had a very bad effect on the

,

people throughout the whole country reawakening all ,

their old feelings of distrust and alienating them from

e e
that friendship for the English which had so recently
b en cemented by the victory of Dodowa S o univ rsal .
 O VERTU RES F O R PEACE

was this feeling that when the Governor went to Accra

,

o n the 1 0 th o f O ctober to see the Chiefs o f the eastern

districts they refused as o n man to attend the meeting

, e .

Thus thwarted on every side and unable to make the

,

least progress Sir Neil Campbell returned to Sierra Leone

,

on the 1 sth of November leaving Captain Ricketts in

,

charge of the Gold Coast .

O n the i sth of J anuary 1 8 2 7 messengers arrived at

1
Cape Coast from the King of Adansi who said he had ,

undertaken to act as an intermediary for the Ashantis in

suing for peace and wanted the Governor to depute some
officers to attend at Y a nku m as i A ssin where he would
e
,

arbitrate between th two parties Captain Ricketts .

,

of course declined to listen to any such proposal and

, ,

insisted that any palaver in which the English were so

directly concerned must be held at Cape Coast though
e
,

h had no obj ection to the Cap e Coast Chiefs going to

Ya nku m a s i A ss in if they so wished to hear what the
, ,

King of Adansi had to say .

A great deal of unnecessary delay now occurred during ,

which numerous messengers were sent backwards and

forwards between Cape Coast and A ssin Amongst .

others two soldiers were sent up by Captain Ricketts to

,

ask the King of Adansi through the A ssin Chiefs to deliver

the following message to the King of Ashanti That
the Commandant had received orders to make peace with
the Ashantis for the English and for such o f the native ,

tribes as were desirous of being included in this pacific

proposal and that if the Ashantis were inclined to peace ,

he should be happy to see any of them at Cape Coast for

that purpose that should they be afraid of obstruction
in their way down he would o n being acquainted there
, ,

with through the A ssins take measures to secure their

,
” 2
safety both in coming and returning Soon after the .

despatch of this message a sergeant and a small party of

eee e ei e d th f th e
d i g th edi t b e
P
e ee de e be g e
1
Th A d a ns is w r th o s A ss ins wh o h a d r m a n n or o ra

d
wh n th r m a in r o f th tri m i ra t s ou th ur n s ur a nc s

ke
in 1 8 0 6 .

2 R
ic tts , p p 1 3 5 — 3 6
. .
 N EG OTI ATI O NS F O R P EACE

men were sent up to Y a nku m asi A ssin a s an escort for any

Ashanti messengers who might arrive there and wish to
be conducted to the coast but they returned a few we ks e
later with a message from the King of Adansi repeating
that he was the person who settled all di fferences between
the Ashantis and those at war with them and again asking
the Commandant of Cape Coast to send messengers to
him when he undertook to see the King o f Ashanti at
,

once about peace To this Captain Ricketts replied on

e
.

the 1 4th of May thanking th King for his o ffer but saying
, ,

e
that the King of England wants no war with the natives
o f Africa ; j ustice is all that is required that if the
King o f Ashanti is willing to mak peace and if he will ,

send to Adansi proper persons for that purpose I will on , ,

being acquainted therewith through the A s sins send up a ,

guard to meet them half way : that the Ashantis need

no t be afraid of sending to Cape Coast as I and the Cape ,

Coast pe0p 1e will take care that none of them shall be

molested either in coming or returning and when peac
,
” 1
e
shall be made all quarrels will be forgotten
, After .

the interchange o f innumerable messages and months

o f tedious haggling during which it was more than once
,

rumoured that Ashanti messengers were on their way to

the coast a few men did at length reach Y a nku m asi A ssin
,

early in September and were detained there until th e

Lieutenant Governor Lieutenant Colon l Lumley arrive d
-
,
-
e ,

from Sierra Leone o n the 1 1 th o f O ctober when they were ,

called down to Cape Coast where they arrived on the 2 3rd ,

.

At the meeting with Colonel Lu mley in the Castle Hall ,

the ch ief messenger who was a near relative of the Ki ng

,

o f Ashanti when called on to state his business took

, ,

his monkey skin cap with the gold plate o n it and handed
-

it with a great deal o f ceremony to the King of Adansi ,

by whom it was passed through several of the Fanti Chiefs

to the King o f Cape Coast wh o finally delivered it to the
Governor The messenger then stated that he was author
e
.

iz d by the King of Ashanti to say that he was very sorry

for what he had done and hoped the English would pardon
R icke
tts p 1 3 7 1
, . .
 N EG O TI ATI O NS F O R PEACE

be done and the messengers returned to th capital a com e e

e
,

p a ni d by J ohn Carr and J ohn Buckman two educated

Cape Coast men and messengers representing most of th
, e
allied Chiefs They arrived in Kumasi on the 4th of
.

February 1 8 2 8 and the captives were sent down soon

,

afterwards They proved to be Private Patrick Riley of

.

the Royal African Colonial Corps whose capture at Efutu ,

o n the 2 sth of April 1 8 2 4 has already been mentioned

l
,
2
and J ohn Duncan a Cape Coast Militiaman , Carr and .

Buckman at the same time sent a very favo u rable report

e
,

saying they had been accorded a public reception and wer

e
being very w ll treated by the King while the pe0p1e as ,

a whole showed every sign o f satisfaction at the prospect

of peace .

I t now seemed as though peace must speedily be con

cluded but j ust as all the preliminaries had been satis
fa ctorily arranged a hitch occurred in the negotiations
e
,

which delayed the final settlement for some months Th .

Fantis had never forgotten their old grievance against

the Elminas for having sei z ed and sold Fanti fugitives
in 1 80 7 and their resentment had been increased by th e
e
,

murder of th Komenda women in 1 8 2 4 The Elminas .

had moreover fought beside the Ashantis in the engage

, ,

ments at Efutu Beula and Cape Coast and had supplied

, ,

them with powder which in defiance o f the Dutch , ,

Governor they obtained by night from American ships

,

Now that they had leisure to attend to such matters

e
,

therefore and th Ashantis were no longer in a position

,

to give their friends any assistance the allies determined ,

to demand reparation for these inj uries and represented

their grievances to Colonel Lumley saying they would ,

be satisfied if the Elminas paid compensation He accord .

ingly wrote to the Dutch Governor on the subj ect who ,

replied that the Elminas denied all the charges against

them and absolutely refused to pay any s u m whatever .

The allies therefore encamped around the town and so

completely blockaded it that after the loca l plantations ,

had been des troyed the inhabitants were entirely de

Vi de Ca ptu re
,

1
p 3 69 . d a t I ns am a nkow
.
1
.
 ELM I NA BL O CKAD ED

pendant for provisions upo n what they could grow under

the guns of the forts or import by sea .

This was the state of a ffairs when the released prisoners

arrived from Kumasi With them the King sent a message
e
.

pointing ou t that in ord r to prove the sincerity o f his

,

overtures for peace he h a d released these men immediately

e
,

on being told of the Gov rnor s wishes and asking in ’

e
,

return that his chief wife and several other m mbers of

the royal family who had been taken prisoners at Dodowa
might be given back to him and that A tj i m pon and the
, e
other Ashantis who were at Elmina and unable to leave
o n account o f the blockade might also be sent up to
,

Kumasi O n the arrival of these people he promised to

e
.
,

try to collect th sum required as security so as to conclude

peace without further delay .

These requests were certainly fair and reasonable but ,

unfortunately it was found impossible to comply wit h

either of them The King s wife was in th hands of the
.
’
e
Chief o f Ch ristiansborg whose people had not been in
,

cluded in the negotiations for peace because they were

dissatisfied with the terms that h a d been o ffered to the
Ashantis and hoped to utilize their possession of this im
portant prisoner as a means of extorting even b tter e
conditions for themselves The allies too wh o were.
, ,

encamped around Elmina absolutely refused to allow,

any Ashantis to leave until the required security for the

’
King s peaceable behaviour had actually been deposited
in Cape Coast Castle ; for they fully realized that while
the two prisoners whom he had j ust surrendered were o f
no importance to him yet those he was now asking in
,

return were persons of some consequence and they were ,

afraid that if he once gained his ends and had these people
s afe in Kumasi h, e
might repudiate th terms of peace e
altogether or at any rate greatly delay its conclusion
,
.

The blocka d e of Elmina was therefore maintained .

Both Captain Lumley and Captain Ricketts had now

e
gone to Sierra Leon and Captain Hingston wa s in charge
,

of the Gold Coast At the end of April 1 8 2 8 a letter

.

arrived from the King in which he entered a formal protest

,
 N EG O TI ATI O N S F O R PEACE

against t he action of the allies in blockading Elm ina ,

pointing ou t that he had supposed that all h is subjects,

am ongs t whom were the Elm inas w ould be included in ,

the peace He also complained that the su m demanded

e
.

ounces of gold ( quivalent to

e
as security namely
, ,

nearly was excessive but o ff red to deposit 400

,

ounces and promised to send it do wn i m mediately on the

return of h is messenger .

This contention of the King that the Elminas were his

s u bj ects and should be considered as included in the
peace equally with the As hantis themselves was a just
one. There can b e no doubt that t hey not only did but ,

always h a d o wed a llegiance to Ashanti and as the British

e e
,

allies were all to participate in th peace on the on side ,

the Elminas as the allies of As hant i were certainly entitled

e
, ,

e
to be simil arly included o n the other I n thes circum .

stances the action o f the allies in establishing hostil

e
,

camps around th town must be regarded as a distinct

act of war against Ashanti and a breach of the armistice
ee
,

to which the King was perfectly j usti fied in taking x c p

tion Captain Hingston ho wev er ignored this subj ct e
e
.
, ,

altogether in his reply and ha ving been instructed by th

e
,

Governor to make no alterations in the terms of peac

that had been o ffere d merely stated tha t no oth r term s e
than those originally proposed namely the deposit of
e
,

ounces of gold in the Cas tle and the d li very of two

host ages of royal blood could be acceded to that At
e e
,

j i m pon and the oth r Ashantis w ould not be allowed to

e
e
return to Kumasi until these conditio ns had b en fulfilled
e
and that only then would a n ffort be made to co operat -

with the Dutch Governor in se t tling t he dispute between

the Fantis and Elminas This let t er was written on the
.

I s t of May and the King w a s told he must send back the

,

messengers from the allied tribes wit hin twenty days if

he did not intend to agree to thes term s e .

No reply had been received from t he King when Maj or

e
Ricket t s returned from Sierra L one on the sth of J une ,

and he therefore wrote to O sai Oko t u saying he was sorry

, , ,

to find peace had not yet been concluded and asking to

 N EG O TI ATI O NS F O R PEACE

The Home Government now decided to abandon its

Possessions on the Gold Coast altogether A man oi war
e
- —
.

was sent o u t to remove th merchants and their property ,

and Maj or Ricketts was ordered to destroy the forts

before he left This decision was the immediate outcom e
e
.

o f the late war The length of time this had lasted th

.
,

heavy expenses and the disasters incurred and the ex

ee
,

tr m ly unsatisfactory state of a ffairs that still existed

e
,

had thoroughly sickened the Government of its Settl

e
ments in th country and made it only too anxious to
retire from so unprofitable a Possession ; and since th e
disgraceful defeat at I ns am a nkow had now been amply
avenged by the victory at Dodowa it was able to tak , e
this step without incurring the imputation of cowardice .

These arrangements however by no means suited

, ,

the merchants They had calculated the risks of trade in

.

such a country before they embarked in it and although

e
,

that trade had involved them in many heavy losses y t ,

they could only regard the prospect o f abandoning it now

e
,

at the v ry time when owing to the defeat of the Ashantis

, ,

they seemed likely to reap the reward o f their patience ,

with the greatest dissatisfaction Moreover they must .

,

h ave realized by this time that the Ashantis were far too
much alive to the advantages of having a convenient sourc e
of supply o f the numerous articles that they requir d e
ever to think of driving them from the country or seriously
interfering with their b u siness and consequently that
e e
, ,

whether they eventually conquered th Fantis and rul d

the coast or not their own prospects would be almost equally
,

good The outlook was even more alarming still to the Fantis
.

and other coast tribes who pictured themselves t h us left

eee
,

unprotected and at the absolute mercy of their n m i

The merchants therefore represented their position to
, ,

the Hom e Government and their views and arguments,

were so well supported by Maj or Ricketts that a middl e

course was adopted and the forts on the Gold Coast w r
1
e
e
handed over to them o n certain conditions The affairs .

1
e e
e
R port of S l ct Com m i tt e
e heWeC
e
on t st o as t f
o A frica
p art ii App nd ix p p 1 2
, , .
, .
 C O MM ITTEE O F M ERCHANTS

of the forts were to be managed principally by a com

e
e
1 8 26 1 8 29
—

m itt of three London merchants nominated by the OH A p . x x 11

1
Government Th ey were allowed a grant of
.

annually to enable them to maintain Cape Coast Castle

and J ames Fort Accra which were still to be considered
,

Dependencies of Sierra Leone They were to appoint .

officers subj ect to confirmation by the Government ; to

,

render accounts of the manner in which the grant had

been spent and returns of the trade by which the amount
e
,

of future grants would be estimated and all corr spon

dence from the Coast was to be addressed to them The .

local establishment was to consist of a Governor or Pre

e
s id nt of th e
Council at £6 2 0 a year who was to be assisted
e
,

by a Council of Magistrates elected annually on th 2 4th of

e
J une from among th merchants on the Coast a surgeon
and an o fficer to command the garrison at £ 200 each ,

and a commandant for J ames Fort at £ 1 00 Messrs . .

Barnes Brown and Forster were appointed to the London

,

Committee They were not paid but their Secretary had

.
,
2
£2 00 a year and Mr Barnes drew up a code of rule s for
, .

the regulation of a ffairs on the Coast which was approved ,

by the Secretary of State The grant for the proper

e
.
,

expenditure of which the London Committee was r

sponsible was to be used for the payment of salaries
, ,
3
repairs to the forts the maintenance of a school and
, ,

pay and presents to the Fanti Chiefs I t was stipulated .

that the harbours of Cape Coast and Accra should be

open to all vessels without the payment of any duty what
ever and the Senior Naval Officer on the West African
e
,

Station was to make an annual inspection of th forts and

report on their condition to the Government British .

law was to continue in force within the forts but the ,

Council of Magistrates was forbidden to exercise a u

th ority or j urisdiction over the districts and natives
under the immediate influence and protection of the forts ,

From 1 8 3 4 to 1 8 3 9 o n ly e
wa s gra n t d
e ee e
1

e e
.

Parlia m P
a p r , R port of C om m i tt on W s t Coa s t of A fri ca
2
nta ry

ee
e e
part ii, p p 1 4 7 8
e ee e
—
. .

1 T h r w r 1 6 5 b oys att nd ing a f w y a rs l a t r .

 N EG O TIATI O NS F O R PEACE

1 8 26— 18 29 b u t solely in the forts roadsteads or harbours thereunto

e
,
”
ca n . x xu adj oining as well a s over the persons residing th rein
, .

Thus the peculiar system was originated by which

e
,

while the Gold Coast still continued technically a D

pendency of Sierra Leone its actual government was
e
,

entrusted to a Committe of Merchants i n London ; and

while they corresponded with and issued orders to their
own o fficer on the spot who was their servant the Govern
, ,

ment of the Crown had to rely upon them for any inform a
tion it desired as to what went o n there
e
.

Pending the appointment o f a Governor th oldest ,

trader on the Coast Mr J ohn J ackson who had been

,
.
,

e
in the service of the old Company was chose n to act as ,

Presid nt of the Council and Maj or Ricketts handed over ,

to him the forts and such of the garrison as desired to

1
take service under the new Government on the 2 sth of
J une though he himself did not leave for Sierra Leone
e
,

until the 20th o f September During h is term of offic .

he had done much to improve Cape Coast H e had had .

all the houses overlooking the Castle pulled down and

cleared a large open spac around it and made several e
e
,

good streets through th town where the houses h ad ,

hitherto been crowded together without any attempt at

orderly arrangement .

Towards the end of 1 8 2 9 the allies wh o were beginning ,

to find the passive occupation of their camps at Elmi na

rather dull were j oined by a number of the Cape Co ast
,

Militia who came over in defiance of orders and made

,

an attack on the to wn They were very easily driven back

.
,

however and the guns o f Fort Co nra a dsb u rg converted

,

their retreat into a veritable rout .

of eR y l Af i Co l o n ia l Corps eg ge
df e
eye
1
1 85 th o a r ca n n a or th r ars .
 ’
G O VERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY

remained sullenly inactive and given no sign of Open

aggression there was no guarantee that this state of
,

a ffairs would continue much longer nor was it likely to ,

do so I ndeed there was every probability that the cond uct

.
,

of the Fantis who as Cruikshank says never knew any

, , ,

h alf measures but were

-
ever in the ex treme of hopeless
dej ection or arrogant assumption and were now boast ,

fully singing of their victory and vaunting their own ih

vincibility would eventually so exasperate the Ashantis
,

that they would make a desp erate effort to wipe out their
e e
d efeat and r s u b d u the coast tribes Had they done so .
,

the latter were now so engrossed with intertribal quarrels and

disputes that it is very doubtful if they could have repeated
the victory gained by their former combination Their .

repulse from Elmina too had by no means extinguished

, ,

their hatred of the Ashanti allies nor their hopes of ulti ,

mately being able to visit on them some of the su fferings

they themselves had endured in the past .

The authority of the English such as it had ever been

e
, ,

had now almost ceased to exist and it was only by th

appointment of a man of exceptional ability that th e
situation could be saved and order restored ou t of th e
chaos that reigned I t was indeed fortunate for th
. e
Gold Coast pe 0p 1e that such a man had been found in
the person of Captain Maclean who was undoubtedly on e
e
,

o f the ablest if not indeed the ablest and at the sam

, ,

time one of the most maligned Governors the country has

ever had Cruikshank who served under him thus
.
, ,

describes his character Calm and deliberate in forming

a j udgment and carefully canvassing in his own mind all
,

the bearings of every subj ect under review his caution in

e
,

coming to a conclusion appeared to a superficial observ r

to amount almost to timidity H e listened with attention
.

to and courted the discussion of every argument which

, , ,

could be adduced on both sides of a que stion ; not with

the intention o f adopting the views of either disputant ,

but of quietly storing his mind with all its pros and cons
e
,

and of afterwards submitting them to the ordeal of privat

rumination O pinions thus formed became a portion of
.
,
 ’
MACLEAN S CHARACTER

his faith which it was next to impossible to shake I n 1 8 3 0

,
. -
183 7
proportion to the strength o f his conviction was the am p , , xx ",
decision which he displ ayed in carrying o u t his resolutions .

O nce fu lly satisfied that the course which he was pursuing

was morally correct and that he was adopting measures
,

most likely to lead eventually to beneficial results he ,

s hrank from no di fficulty in the path Endowed with

ee
ee
.

a n extraordinary d gr o f moral courage and with a ,

persevering firmness which failures never daunted he ,

s teadily prosecuted his schemes convinced that sooner

,

or later the result would answer his expectations for he

had a most abiding belief in the over ruling direction -

o f Providence While enemies were m aligning his con

.

d uct blackening his fame and attributing motives and

, ,

a ctions to him which his heart had never conceived strong ,

in conscious rectitude his constant reply to his anxious

,

friends was : I assure you this gives me no uneasiness

,

a t all ; sooner or later the truth will appear and God ,

would never permit such wickedness to prosper And .

’

in this belief he reposed with a careless indi fference which ,

others less interested t h an himself found much difficulty

in practising . The same feeling gave rise to the converse
idea also firmly i m planted in his mind that a good obj ect
, , ,

undertaken from pure and disinterested motives and ,

prosecuted without inj ustice would be crowned with ,

success It will be easily perceived how invaluable this

.

d isposition was to a person intrusted with the government

o f such a country as the Gold Coast at that time It .

rendered h im insensible to di fficulties which would have ,

a ppalled a weaker mind and led him to undertake measures

,

which to ordinary men would hav e seemed to require the

e
,

slow process of time and progressive civilisation H .

thus j um ped to difficult results and prudently fortifying

his new position and firmly holding every inch of ground
,

which he had gained prepared for another step The

,
.

strongholds of iniquity which had refused the impress o f

,

a single ameliorating influence for ages were thus cap

e e e
ee
,

tu r d by a s ries o f skilful cou ps d m a in and an opening ,

m ade for the introduction of a new and better r gim .

 G OVERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY ’

e
By n ver allo wing himself to be foiled in any measure ,

but by resolutely persevering towards the desired object ,

regardless o f temporary obstructions and delays every ,

new enterprise carried with it the prestige of h is never

failing success until at last throughout the length and
e
, , ,

breadth o f the land h is fiat became as irrevo cable as th

,
” 1 ’
laws of the Medes and Persians Cruikshank s estimate
.

o f Maclean s char acter is no exaggeration and explains at

’
,

once how it wa s that this remarkable man was able with ,

the small means at his disposal and in spite of app arently

insurmountable di fficulties and the worry and anxiety
o f private troubles , to e ffect a change in the condition of

the Gold Coast greater by far than any single man had
ever done before or has done sinC and lay the foundation e ,

o f the widespread authority and j urisdiction that has

since developed
e
.

Maclean quickly realized that before any hope of r

newed trade or the restoration of law and order on th e
coast could be entertained it was essential that some
,

proper understanding should be come to with the Ashanti s

and a definite peace concluded H e therefore turned .
, ,

e
his whole attention to the accomplishment of this object
e
.

Fortunately th Ashantis and Fantis wer equally anxious

to see an end put to the present unsatisfactory state of
a ffairs and to be able to renew their trade Maclean .
,

therefore had little difficulty in convening a large meeting

,

at Accra which wa s attended by deputies from Kumasi

,

and all the Fanti Chiefs but it was by no means so easy

to persuade the opposing parties to come to any agreement
as to the terms o n which peace should be made , and many
storm y debates took place before he eventually succeeded
in reconciling their views The Ashantis on the one
.
,

hand found it hard to treat o n equal terms with the

,

coast tribes whom they had been accustomed to conquer

,

whenever they liked and to hold in such absolute sub

e
j ction and contempt ; while the Fantis on the other , ,

were so elated by their victory and now thought them ,

selves so strong that they were unwilling to accept any

t se
Cru iks h a nk v o l 1 p p 1 7 1 e
,

1
, q.
, . .
 G OVERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY ’

1 . The King of Ashantee having deposited in Cape

Coast Castle in the presence of the above mentioned
,
-

parties the sum of 6 00 ounces of gold and having delivered

, ,

into the hands of the Governor two young men of the royal
family o f Ashante named Osso o Ansah and Ossoo In e
, ,
’

Q u a ntam iss a h as security that he will keep peace with

e
’

e
,

the said parties in all time coming peac is her by declared ,

betwixt the said King of Ashantee and all and each of the
parties aforesaid to continue in all time coming The
, .

above securities shall remain in Cape Coast Castle for

the space of six years from this date .

“ 2 In order to prevent all quarrels in future which

.

might lead to the infraction of this Treaty of Peace we

e
, ,

the parties aforesaid h ave agreed to th follo wing rules and

,

regulations for the better protection of lawful commerce .

The paths shall be perfectly open and free to all persons ,

engaged in lawful traffic ; and persons molesting them

in any way whatever or forcing them to purchase at ,

any p articular market or influencing them by any unfair ,

means whatever shall be declared guilty of infringing

,

this Treaty and be liable to the severest punishment

, .

Pa nyarring denouncing and swearing on or by any

e
, ,

person or thing whatever ar hereby strictly forbidden , ,

and all persons infringing this rule shall be rigorously

punished and no master or chief shall be answerable for
the crimes of his servants unless done by his orders or ,

consent or when under his control

, .

“
As the King o f Ashantee has renounced all right
or title to any tribute or homage from the Kings of Dinkara ,

Assi m and others formerly his subj ects so on the other

, , ,

b a nd s these parties are strictly prohibited fro m insulting

, ,

by improper speaking or in any other way their former ,

master such conduct being calculated to produce quarrels

,

and wars
e
.

All palavers are to be decided in th manner men

e
tio n d in the terms and conditions o f peace already agreed
to by the p arties to this treaty .

Signed in the Great Hall o f Cape Coast Castle this

2 7 th day of April 1 8 3 1 by the parties to this Treaty , ,
 PAN YA R R I NG

and sealed with t he great seal of the Colony in t heir 1 88 0 18 3 7

—

presence .
0m m . xxm

( S igned ) GE O M A C LE A N Governor .
, .

Their marks
X A K IA NV A H Princess of Ashantee , .

X OUA G U A Chief of Ashantee , .

X A G G E R Y King o f Cape Coas t , .

X A D oo x o o King o f Fantee
e
, .

X A MO N OO King of A nnam a b o
e
e
.
,

X A a oo x o o Chief of A kom f , .

X OT ro o Chief of Abrah '

, .

X CHI B B O O King of A ssin , .

X C UD J O E CHI B B O O King o f Dinkara , .

X G E B EL A s sin Chief
e
, .

X Os s o O K O O King of Tu f l , .

X A P O LL O NI A Chiefs , .

X AR INN I E Chief of Agah , .

1
The custom of pa nyarring referred to in this trea ty
consis t ed in seizing persons or their goods in order to
obtain payment of debts or the return of property that wa s
being unj ustly withheld I t was very common on the .

G old Coast and was frequently abused and did an im

m ense amount o f harm If a resident of Anamabo was
.

indebted to a Ca pe Coast man and neglected or refused

to pay the debt or improperly withheld property o f any
,

k ind from him the creditor might panyar the first Cape
,

Coas t man he could lay hands on and hold him as security .

This usually had an immediate effect for the relatives

e
,

o f the man p anyarr d would at once bring pressure on

the debtor to compel him to pay and release the security

e e
.

Th process however was a costly o n and while the

, ,

s la v e trade ex isted it was no uncommon thing for a man

e
to be thus pa nyarr d and sold o ff the Coast before h is
family could ascertain his whereabouts or to which par
Pa nyarring (pronou nce d p a ya ring) is rath e
s is fre qu ently th e
r a la w th an a cu stom

tim e d to b ad p u rp os e
1

a nd a lth ou gh som e s pro stitu te

, ,

only way to re cover a j u s t de bt I f e xe d u nla wfu lly th e

rcis e
,

of d am a ge
paid a s s atis fa ction 15 s o m u ch a s to cau s e
s to b e th e
. am ou nt ,

financia l
r u in o f th ewrong door (S a rba h F anti Cu stom a ry Laws p
”
- .
. .
, ,
 ’
G OV ERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY

1 8 80 1 8 3 7
—
ticu lar captain he had been sold Such cases gave rise .

a r . xxm t o protracted and very expensive palavers which ftc ,

quently terminated in the sale of a whole family .

The prisoners taken at Dodowa were now released and

returned to Ashanti and the gold he had deposited in
,

the Castle as security wa s given back to the King at the

end of the stipulated time This in conj unction with the
.
,

fact that it had never been disturbed but was handed

back to his messengers in the original packages went far ,

to reassure the Ashantis and induce them to renew their

faith in British honour which had been so rudely shaken
,

by Governor Hope Smith s conduct O f the two Ashanti’

.

princes handed over as hostages Ansa was a son of the ,

late King Tutu Kwa m ina and I nkwa ntab issa of the reigning
,

monarch O kotu They were granted a pension of £ 1 00

.

a year each and sent to England where they were pre —

1
sent a t the Coronation of Queen Victoria to be educated —
.

I nkwa nta biss a died soon after their return to the Coast
2
,

but Ansa lived for many years and played his part in
subsequent history .

According to Reindorf the proceedings at Cape Coas t

,

were marred by q u arrels j ust as those at Accra had been .

He says that a stick and stone fight occurred between

some of the Wassaw Chiefs and that Maclean to quell , ,

the disturbance ordered a hundred lashes to be given

,

to each Chief wh o had allowed his people to fight where

e
upon o n of them B o am p on felt the disgrace so keenly
, ,

that he went behind a house in the town and committed

suicide by cutting his throat I f this account is true .
,

it may seem to have been a rather high handed pro

e
e
-

c d ing o n the part o f Maclean ; but after the long and

difficult negotiations at Accra had been brought to a
successfu l conclusion and the much desired peace was at -

last about to be made he doubtless saw in these disturb

e ,

a nc s the beginning of a fresh series o f delays or even ,

d anger o f an assault o n the Ashanti delegates which ,

might have ended in the abandonment of the treaty or

Th e y we re p la ce ch arge
d in th e o f th e
Rev T h o m as Pyne
1
. .

2
8 th o f J a nu a ry 1 8 5 9 .
 G OVERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY ’

be considered as of the confederacy and must arrange ,

his or their disputes as they best can

e
.

7 I n the event of the Ashantees becoming the aggr s

.

sors and refusing to abide by the decision of the Governor

,

( or his representative ) and council aforesaid then the sum ,

o f money lodged in Cape Coast Castle for the purpose ,

named in the 4th article of these terms shall be forfeited

for ever and the said s u m of money may if it be deemed
, ,

exp edient be expended in the purchase of arms am

, ,

munition and other warlike stores for the purpose of

, ,

carrying on war against the King of Ashantee and h is

pe0p 1e .

Assuming therefore that these are the conditions

, ,

referred to and t h is is a point on whi ch there is little

—

room for doubt then this treaty mutually binds the

—

three parties British Ashantis and Fanti allies by precise

, , ,

rules and the superior authority of the former is definitely

,

acknowledged by the implied agreement o f the other

two to accept the Governor as referee in any case of dis
pute There was also a tacit understanding that the allies
.

would be a fforded British protection in the event of any

further aggression on the part of the Ashantis .

Having thus secured the peace o f the country Mac ,

lean now had time to turn his attention to the coast tribes
and did everything in his power to improve and elevate '

them to encourage trade to ensure the impartial a dm inis

, ,

tratio n o f j ustice and to discourage and in course of

, ,

time abolish those of their customs that were objection

able
e
.

The task he had set himself was not an easy on The .

eradication of customs that have been in use from time

immemorial and whic h are moreover the outcome of or at , , ,

least intimately connected with the religious beliefs of ,

the people who practise them can never be accomplished ,

in a day and the advancement in civili z atio n of a savage

race must always be a slow and gradual process to be ,

effected by time and the increasing knowledge of the

benefits to be derived from such improvement rather
than by the sudden and rigid enforcement of new laws
 ’
MACLEAN S RU LE

and prohibitions Maclean fortunately realized this fact

.

and thoroughly understood that although the state of ,

society with which he had to deal sorely needed speedy

and drastic remedies yet the desired changes could only
,

be effected by slow degrees and by the exercise of patient

tact and toleration and a confident belief in better things
to come He was careful therefore to interfere only
.
, ,

with those customs which a ffected the rights and liberty

of the individual and with those laws which seemed to
err unduly on the side of harshness Moreover he effected
e
.
,

his reforms gradually by exposing the u nfitn ss of the,

existing state of a ffairs rather than by sudden prohibitive

orders which if disregarded he would have been u nable
, , ,

to enforce He firmly believed in the capabilities of

.

the people under his care and it was this conviction of ,

the possibility of improving t h em that enabled him to

persevere and in a large measure to succeed where another
, ,

might probably h ave given up in despair .

In order to carry out these reforms it was essential

that the authority of th Governor should be paramount e ,

and that whenever he did give a definite order it should be

obeyed Maclean r u led therefore with a firm hand and
.
, , ,

while he carefully avoided giving any needless or vexatious

commands required and enforced implicit obedience
,

to such orders as he found it necessary to issue A soldier .

was stationed in each of the principal towns through out

the whole Protectorate and in this way th country was ,
e
for the first time policed and a general supervision main
e
ta in d by the Government Acts o f oppression or defiance .

of the Governor s orders were reported the roads rendered

’
,

safe for travellers trade encouraged and a simple means

, ,

provided by which the Governor s wishes or commands ’

could be communicated to the various Chiefs A court .

was established in Cape Coast Castle where Maclean ,

sat as j udge usually assisted by some of the Chiefs Here

,
.

j ustice was cheaply and impartially administered either ,

in strict accordance with the Akan customary law or in , ,

those cases in which amelioration of severe laws was

deemed advisable according to a compromise between
,
 ’
G OVERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY

this and British law Much good wa s done in this way

.
,

and the people soon learned to appreciate the benefits they

could thus obtain and appeals from the decisions of Chiefs
became more and more frequent Apart from this direct .

administration of an impartial and temperate j ustice ,

the court enabled the Governor to do something towards

the extinction of many superstitions such as the belief ,

in witchcraft ; superstitions which it would have been

impolitic and in fact impossible to have attacked directly
, , ,

but which could to some extent be undermined by his

constant opposition to the infliction of punishment in such
cases a nd his expressed contemptuous ridicule of these
beliefs The court too was frequently attended by the
.
, ,

Chiefs o f outlying districts with their retinues so that in

e
,

course o f tim Maclean s ideas of j ustice became well

,
’

known and widely disseminated throughout the length

and breadth o f the country .

I t is true t h at this exercise of j urisdiction and authority

beyond the forts themselves was contrary to the strict
letter of the conditions on which they had been handed
over to the merchants but Maclean realized that if good ,

were to result they must not be interpreted too literally

, ,

and by th u s blending an absolutely impartial j ustice with

the Fanti law he did an incalculable amount of good and
, ,

the people s appreciation was alone sufficient to justify

’

such deviation from the original instructions .

There was also another point on which the conditions

of transfer were disregarded I t had been stipulated .

that the harbours o f Cape Coast and Accra should be

open to all vessels witho u t payment of any duty what
”
ever but it appears that a duty o f 2 § per cent on British
,

and 5 per cent on foreign imports with extra duties on

spirits and a charge of two dollars for port dues was levied
at about this time but countermanded by the Committee
e
,

in London for a petition by th local merchants is extant

praying for a renewal of these “ foreign and transient
"
duties once in force to enable them to maintain fifty
,

militia the lighthouse on Fort William and canoes for

,

boarding ships This p etition evidently had some e ffect

.
,
 G OVERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY ’

recourse to arms it must not be supposed that he either

,

did or could e ffect all this without meeting with occa

s io nal instances of O p position and revolt Many of th .
e
Chiefs lived in distant parts of the country where it was
no t easy to maintain constant supervision and they were
consequently di fficult to control while they all realized
,

that their own personal dignity and authority suffered

by comparison with that now assumed by the Governor ,

and soon found that they could no longer enrich them

selves easily by the extortionate methods they had hitherto
practised under the cloak of administering j ustice Th . e
fetish men too saw that with the gradual realization of
-
, ,

the Governor s plans their own power and influence must

’

be proportionately diminished and therefore urged the

Chiefs and people to resist these innovations .

Hence individual Chiefs from time to time attempted

,

to reassert their independence and defy the authority of

the Governor But though during the first few ye ars of
.

his administration these outbreaks were of frequent

occurrence little or nothing ever came of them The
, .

people were too much alive to the advantages they enjoyed

under the new conditions to give their own Chiefs any
enthusiastic support while the other Chiefs were only
,

too ready to assist the Governor rather than see one of

their rivals successfully defying the authority to which
they themselves had to submit The malcontents would
.

'

then be cut o ff from all external communication and thus ,

.

shut up in their own districts were soon compelled to

,

give in Fines were then inflicted or the Chief deposed

.
,

to be reinstated later when he had given security for his

good conduct in the future Eventually the system of
e
.

requiring d posits of gold from the Chiefs as security was

resorted to so that in the end it came about that nearly
e
,

every Chief of importance including even those o f Cap

,

Coast who lived under the very walls of the Castle and
were under the immediate supervision of the Governor had ,

a larger or smaller sum in gold deposited in the Castle ,

which was liable to forfeiture in the event of his dis

obedience or failure to preserve order in his district In .
 I N CREASE O F TRAD E

t h e se circumstances if a complaint wa s lodged against

,

any Chief Maclean only had to send a soldier with a

,

m essage to obtain his attendance in Cape Coast but he

was careful never to summon a Chief in this manner
except for some valid and important reason .

Under these improved conditions of security the people ,

were able to travel up and down the country in perfect

safety and trade increased to an enormous extent bene ,

fiting not only those who directly engaged in it but also ,

providing employment for a large number of others as

carriers The manufacture of palm oil had only been
.

engaged in within the last ten or fifteen years and had

been carried on to but a small extent ; but this trade now
rapidly increased and cowrie shells were introduced for the
,

first time as a medium of exchange for small quantities

of the oil and other articles of trifling value which had
hith erto been paid for either in gold dust o r trade goods -
.

I n 1 8 3 1 the value of the imports at Cape Coast had been

3 3 1 1 561" but by 1 840 it had increas ed to
.

The value of the exports showed a similar increase from

6 d in 1 8 3 1 to
. in 1 840 .

During 1 8 3 4 a number of complaints were made against

e
Kwaku Akka th King of Apollonia The fact that the .

English had built a fort in his country in about 1 7 5 0 ,

though it had long since been abandoned and was now a

mere ruin led both the natives and the Dutch to regard
,

it as British territory and some of the Apollonian C hiefs

,

appear to have signed the tri partite treaty of 1 8 3 1 a s

-

delegates for their King though it is possible there may

,

be another explanation of the appearance of their mark

on this document .

Mr Frank Swanzy the Commandant o f Dixcove wh ich

.
, ,

was now the nearest English fort sent in several reports ,

of the barb arities constantly being committed by Akka ,

and the captains of ships who had called on the Apollonian

coast occasionally arrived at Cape Coast and lodged
complaints saying they had been grossly insulted and
,

robbed by the people It was , therefore absolutely

.
,

necessary fo r the Governor to take some steps to put a

 ’
G OVERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY

stop to such proceedings but Maclean wa s reluctant to

appeal to arms until he was actually compelled to do so ,

and therefore sent several letters to Akka remonstrating

with him on his conduct B ut no notice was taken of .

them and Kwaku Akka refused to accept the Governor s ’

last letter and returned it unopened J ust before the

e
.

arrival o f th soldier who brought it some Wassaw ,

traders who were passing through the country had been

e
seized by th Chief wh o had caused twelve of them to
,

be anchored in t he sea and left to perish as they becam e ‘

exhausted while twelve m ore had been crucified on the

,

beach and left to wither in the sun The Governor s .

’

messenger was now shown the bodies o f these unfortunate

men and told that they and sights like them were the
King s only answer Soon after h is return to Cape Coast
’
. .

with this report messengers arrived from E nim il the King

,

of Wassaw complaining o f the outrage against his people ,

and Maclean then decided to waste no more time in fruit

less negotiations but to lead an expedition against Akka
,

and take summary vengeance .

Early in 1 8 3 5 therefore every man who could possibly

e
,

be spared was withdra wn from th garrisons of the di fferent

forts and a small detachment under Mr P B art lls was
, . . e
also lent by Colonel Lans the Dutch Governor Mr , . .

Frank Swanzy was the only other o fficer who a ccom

e
p a ni d the Governor The strength of this combined
.

force was absurdly small a m ounting to only 1 80 men ;,

but no more could be spared and they advanced towards

Apollonia They had barely crossed the border however
.
,

when upon the very first S ign of danger the whole of the
, ,

Cape Coast Militia who o f course were Fantis were

, , , ,

seized with panic refused to fight and deser ted Mac

, , .

lean was thus left with such an insignificant force that

it would have been madness to go any farther and was
compelled to retire o n the Dutch fort at Axim This
e
.

misfortune however did not turn him fro m h is purpos

, ,
.

Mr Swanzy was sent o u t to find the deserters a nd suc

e
ee
.

c d d in bringing them back and order was restored .

In the meantime H M S B ritom art had arrived at

. . .
 ’
GO VERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY

to it plainly shows that it was intended to include others

e
,

at a later date if necessary The Apollonian signatur .

is the last but one and therefore if any further parties

, ,

were added after the 2 7 th of April 1 8 3 1 the A p ollonians ,

and the Chief of Egya must be t h ey There is no mention .

of Apollonia elsewhere in the treaty and the question ,

therefore arises whether it was agreed to and this signa

,

ture added at the end of this expedition and not in 1 83 1 ,

when it was first drawn up If the latter had been the

e
.

case it seems hardly likely that Maclean would hav

,

wasted s o much time in sending letters instead of taking

active measures at once The fact that Kwaku Akka s
.
’

name does not appear as the person who signed is quite

in accordance with this theory for the treaty itself would ,

have been in Cape Coast and not carried on a punitive

expedition and if he now agreed to it it would have
, ,

fallen to the lot of the Chiefs who were afterwards sent

in with the gold for deposit in the Castle to sign on behalf
of the tribe .
l

I n the meantime a gre at civil war had broken out in

,

Ashanti between Kumasi and J abin This according .

,

to Ashanti tradition was the third or fourth such war that

,

had occurred but it is the first of which anything was

e
,

known on the coast Yow S kyiri the King of Insu ta

.

had been amongst those who fell in the battle of Dodowa

a nd there were rival claimants to the vacant stool on ,
e
party being favoured by O sai O kotu and the other by
e
B u a tin th King of J abin I t is not quite clear whether
.

this B u a tin in whose time the trouble began was B u a tin

, ,

Penin who was alleged to have signed the treaty of 1 8 1 7 ,

or his successor K ofi B u a tin b ut it wa s certainly the ,

latter who was reigning towards the end of the time .

B u a tin was invited to Kumasi for the case to be settled ,

and went It is alleged that Mafo the claimant supported

.
,

by O sai O kotu proved that for years past his rivals had
,

been in the habit of murdering and robbing Kumasi

traders as they passed through I nsu ta o n their way to
Salaga and that not fewer than eighty persons had thus
e
,

1
Vid p .
41 9 .
 KUMAS I J A B I N WA R
-

been done away with The o ffenders and their relatives

.

to the number of about sixty were therefore seized and , ,

put in irons and subsequently put to death at dead of

night When B u a tin heard what had been done he was
e
.
,

so enraged that he left the capital immediately and r

turned to Jabin
e
.

Soon after this o n K otia ku a great friend of K ofi

, ,

Bu atin intrigued with three of his favourite wives and

e
,

fl d to Kumasi ; whereupon he demanded not only the

head of the adulterer to which by Ashanti law he was
e
,

ntitled but those of all h is family also This exorbitant

,
.

demand was refused by O kotu who after the resulting , ,

quarrel had lasted three years sent messengers to B u atin ,

a sking him to come to Kumasi a nd settle the case This .

Bu atin flatly refused to do giving as his reason that he ,

had not forgotten what had happened in the I nsu ta stool

case Kotia ku and h is people were then sent back and
.
,

a force left Kumasi for Jabin at the same time B u a tin .

ordered the execution of K o tiak u and his people while the

Ku m a sis were actually outside his town and a battle im
m ediately ensued in which the J abins were utterly defeated

and Bu a tin and his pe0p 1e forced to fly for refuge to Akim .

After this frequent skirmishes took place between the

,

Jabins in A kim and parties of K u m a sis until at last an ,

embassy was sent by O kotu to arrange a peace .

Maclean and the Danish Governor Mr Morck were ,

.
,

asked to assist in the negotiations and a meeting was held ,

at Accra on the 2 7 th of May 1 8 3 5 at which peace was ,

concluded I n spite of this however K ofi B u a tin would

.
, ,

not return to Ashanti though frequent messages were sent

,

by Okotu begging him to do so and he sent some of his

people back Prior to his flight a misunderstanding had
ee
.
,

arisen between him and his two cousins A b ridw si

e
,

and N ribih i and he now required their execution and

,

that o f their whole families before he would consent to

return It is said that although O sai Okotu strongly
.
,

objected to such a proceeding yet so anxious was he for

e
, ,

the return of the exiles that some seventy persons wer

executed in compliance with this demand The Jabins .
 G O VERN O R MACLEAN S TREATY ’

, , e
then in 1 8 39 s t ou t on their return j ourney ; but Kofi
B u a tin died o n the way under a strong suspicion of having
poisoned himself rather than s t foot again in Kumasie .

H e had no brother living and his mother Jabin Saiwa

,

succeeded him and reached Kumasi in November 1 84 1 ,

where a great welcome wa s accorded her and her people .

In the following J anuary the work o f rebuilding Jabin

was begun This was carried ou t on a far grander
.

scale than before and much help was given by Okotu

for this purpose .

The presence of the J abin fugitives in Akim during

all these years had been a source of great anxiety to the
English for B u atin s constant refusal to return in accord
’

ance with the terms of the agreement made in 1 8 3 5 had so

annoyed the King that they had been living in constant
dread that he would lose patience and send an expedition
against him indeed he had once sent down to the Governor
,

warning him that he need not be surprised if he soon

did so Maclean had used every argument to prevent
.

this threat being put into execution ; for he clearly saw

that if B u a tin were attacked in Akim he would at once
, ,

retire o n Accra and involve the English in the quarrel .

They would have been forced to choose between giving

him up and giving him their protection and thus making
,

an enemy of the King and almost certainly bringing about

another war with Ashanti Fortunately Maclean s efforts
.
’

were crowned with success and the death o f B u a tin and

,

return o f his people put an end to a state of affairs that

had been a constant menace to the peace of the country
for many years .

’
It was during Maclean s governorship that the first
1
serious attempt was made to introduce the Christian
religion among the people o f the Gold Coast The Basel .

Mission first sent ou t missionaries to Christiansborg in

1 82 7 ,but they soon succumbed to the climate and the
sole survivor returned to Europe in 1 8 3 3 s o that it is not ,

until 1 84 3 when they made a fresh start that this Mission

, , ,

then working under the protection o f the Danish

With th e
ex ce a rly e
p tion o f th e
e Portu gu e
fiorts of th e se
1
.
 CHAPTER XX IV
MA C LE A N S A D M INI S TRATI O N ATTA C K ED A ND VINDI CATED
'

1 83 7 To 1 8 43

IN J une 1 8 3 6 some time after his return from Apollonia

, ,

Maclean went to England for the benefit of his health

e
,
1
leaving one of the merchants Mr William Topp in charg , .
,

of a ffairs during his absence While he was in London .

he met Miss Letitia Elizabeth Landon better known as ,

L E L the poetess who was then at the zenith of her

. . .
,

fame and popularity She wa s staying at Hampstead

.

with Mr Forster MP for Berwick He was one of the

.
,
. .

members of the Committee of Merchants in London to

whom the government of the Gold Coast had been entrusted
and was consequently well acquainted with all that had
’
recently passed there H e had Maclean s report on his
.

Apollonian expedition and gave it to her to read telling ,

her that it would serve as an introduction to the writer ,

wh o was to dine with them that night The story so .

impressed her that she seems to have been prepared to

fall in love with Maclean at once At any rate she married .

him very soon afterwards and decided to return with him

and share his life at Cape Coast
e
.

At this time there were no European ladies on th

,

Coast and the conditions under which even the officers

,

had to live were very far from satisfactory N evertheless .

,

in spite of the warnings and entreaties of her friends who ,

prophesied all manner o f evil consequences and said she

would certainly come home by the next ship L E L
e
. . .
,

adhered to her decision and s h and Maclean landed at

Cape Coast on the i sth of August 1 8 3 8 I n spite of the
ee
.

many inconveniences attendant on Coast life at that tim sh

Afterwa rd s Com m a nd a nt o f J a m e
,

s F ort A ccra
1
, .

4 26
 D EATH O F L . E . L .

quickly settled down and seems to have enjoyed the novelty

of her new surroundings But it was not to be for long
e
. .

After living but two months in Cape Coast sh died ,

with appalling suddenness on the morning of the i sth of

October and the mystery surrounding her death in this
,

little known country gave rise to the grossest calumnies

-

in England against Maclean which were only too eagerly ,

believed by a scandal loving and credulous public -

.

Nothing shows more clearly h ow entirely without

foundation these reports were than the very full account ,

of t h ese events given by Cruikshank He was then Com .

mandant of Anamabo Fort and was staying in Cape

Coast wit h Mr Topp prior to proceeding to England on
.

leave During this time and also at an earlier date he

.
, ,

saw a great deal o f Mr and Mrs Maclean with both of. .

,

wh om he was on the most intimate terms O n the i 4th of .

October he dined with them at the Castle and at eleven ,

o clock that night went into the long gallery where he

’
,

walked with Mrs Maclean for half an hour She then

. .

seemed in excellent S pirits and the Governor j oined them ,

for a few minutes but he was afraid to remain exposed

e
to th night air for long as he had been in b ad health ,

for some time past and soon returned to his room where
, ,

the others j oined him a little latter Cruikshank left the .

Castle at about half past eleven -

.

Next morning while he was having breakfast with

,

Mr Topp at about nine o clock a servant came to say

.
’
,

that they were wanted in the Castle as Mr Maclean was .

dead They set o u t at once meeting Messrs Swanzy

.
,
.
,

Jackson and Hutton on the same errand ; but it was not

until they reached the Castle gate that they learned for
the first time that it was Mrs Maclean and not the Governor .

who wa s dead This news was even more surprising ; for

.

she had been in excellent health and spirits whereas the ,

Governor had been ill for some time though his condition ,

had not been sufficiently serious to cause any alarm .

Mrs Maclean s death was so sudden and u na ccou nt

.
’

able that it was at once decided to hold an inquest .

Cruikshank says All that could be elicited upon the ,

 ’
MACLEAN S ADM I N I STRATI O N

strictest investiga t ion wa s simply this I t appeared that

e
,

sh had risen and left her husband s bedroom about

,
’

seven o clock in the morning and proceeded to her own

’
,

dressing room which was up a short flight of stairs 1 and

e
-
, ,

ntered by a sep arate door from that leading to the bed

room . B efore proceeding to dress sh had occupied , e
herself an hour and a half in writing letters She then .

called her servant Mrs Bailey and sent her to a store

, .
,

room to fetch some pomatum Mrs B ailey was absent

e
. .

only a few minutes When s h returned she found .

,

difficulty in Opening the door on account of a weight ,

which appeared to be pressing against it This she dis .

covered to be the body of her mistress She pushed it

e e
.

aside and found that s h was senseless She immediat ly

,
.

called Mr Maclean Dr Cobbold wa s sent for but from

. . .

the firs t moment of the discovery of the body on the

floor there had not appeared any symptom of life Mrs
e
.
, .

B ailey farther asserted that s h found a small phial in

the hand of the deceased which she removed and placed ,

upon the toilet table Mrs Maclean had appeared well

e
-
. .

when sh sent her to fetch the pomatum She had ob .

served in her no appearance of unhappiness .

Mr Maclean stated that h is wife had left him about

.
,
’
seven o clock in the morning and that he had never seen ,

her again in life When he was called to her dressing

.

room he found her dead upon the floor After some

, .

time he observed a sm all phial upon the toilet table and

,
—
,

asked Mrs Bailey where it had come from She told

e
. .

him that sh had found it in Mrs Maclean s hand This .

’
.

’
phial had contained Scheele s preparation of prussic
acid His wife had been in the habi t of using it for severe
.

fits of spasms to which she was subject She h a d made

,

e
.

use of it once o n the passage from England to his knowledg .

He was greatly averse to her ha v ing such a dangerous

medicine and wished to t hr ow it overboard She n e
e
, .

treated him not to do so as sh must die without it There , .

had been no quarrel nor unkindness between him and his wife .

Dr Cobbold who had been requested to make a

I n th e
to we
r no w k no wn a s L E L s T o we
.
,

1 ’
r . . .
 MACLEAN S ADMI N ISTRATI O N
’

then in answer to a question from Mr Maclean and it .

occurred to me that s u ch a suspicious circumstance as ,

a phial being found in the hand of a person suddenly

deceased could not fail to be immediately noticed and
,

mentioned without any inquiry These considerations .

induced me to discredit Mrs Bailey s testimony altogether .

’

and to believe that the phial had no t been found in Mrs .

’ ” 1
Maclean s hand at all .

’
Cruikshank s criticisms seem well founded and although ,

it is of course quite possible that the verdict returned

e
, ,

may have been entirely correct there is much room for ,

doubt The fact that Mrs Maclean had previously suff red
. .

from att acks of some kind for the relief of which she h ad
,

been in the habit of using this medicine renders it at least

e
,

possible that s h may now have had a further attack and

have resorted to it again but it by no means follows that
she took an overdose and thereby brought about h r e
sudden end nor indeed is this likely The very fact that
,
.

she was accustomed to the use o f the drug and was well
acquainted with the dose makes it improbable that sh e
would have taken it in poisonous quantities especially ,

when its nature is borne in mind All preparations of .

prussic acid are very dilute and keep badly and it is almost ,

certain that it would have lost much of its strength after

having been kept for even a short time in s o hot a climat e
as that of the Gold Coast and consequently a much
larger dose than usual would have been r q uired to produc
any therapeutic effect and still more to cause death As
,

e ,

.
e
Mrs Maclean was accustomed to use this drug and was
.

doubtless well aware of its dangerous nature it seem s ,

incredible that she could have inadvertently increased the

dose to such an extent as to cause almost immediate death
with a deteriorated sample and it is far more probable
e
,

t h at if s h h a d a recurrence of one of her previous attacks

,

and took the usual dose from which she had formerly
obtained relief the perished medicine would have failed
,

to act and the attack itself may have proved fatal This .

’
probable loss of strength is further borne out by Cruikshank s .

1 Cru iks h a nk v ol i t se
pp 2 2 4 e
‘

, q . , . .
 L S
’
L . E . . GRAVE

statement that the but recently emptied bottle retained

only a very faint odour and it is not improbable that
,

the doctor may have been misled by the production of

this bottle and predisposed to believe that he could detect
the smell of the drug about the body a smell that others —

failed to perceive although that of prussic acid is fairly pun

gent and quite unmistakable No weight can be attached to
.

the medical evidence as to the appearance O f the eyes for ,

there is nothing distinctive about them in prussic acid

poisoning O n the other hand it must be admitted that
.
,

if Mrs Maclean took the medicine for the relief of some

.

sudden sym ptom and detected its loss of strength she ,

may have increased the dose but even then it is hardly

e
likely that s h would have done so to the reckless extent
necessary to cause deat h .

Mrs Maclean was buried the same evening in the court

.

yard oi the Castle Mr Topp read the service and all

. .

but Cruikshank were soon afterwards driven to their

h ouses by a h eavy storm of rain He alone remained .

wrapped in his cloak under a temporary shelter of tar

e
e
paulins to s the work of bricking in the arch over the
1
coffin completed by torch light The Letters L E L .
”
. . .

cut on a large slab of stone in the paving o f the courtyard

still mark the spot and a marble tablet on a wall near by
,

bears the following inscription

ee
Hic j a c t s p u ltu m
O mne quod mortale fuit
LE T IT I A E EL I ZA B E T HA E M A C LE A N .

Quam egregia ornatum indole

Mu s is unice am a tam
e ee
,

Om niu m qu amores secum tra h nt m

I n ipso a ta tis flor e e
,

Mors immatura ra p u it ,

Die O ctobris XV A D MDCCCXXXVI I I . .

Aetat XXXVI
e
.

Quod sp ctas viator marmor

e
, , ,

Va nu m heu doloris m o nu m ntu m

Conj ux m o r ns r x it ee
e e "
.
 ’
MACLEAN S ADM I N I STRATI O N

O n the 2 3 rd of O ctober 1 8 3 7 the A h a ntas under their ,

1
Chief Bonsu rose against the Dutch and treacherously
eee
,

murdered the Dutch Governor Mr H J Tonn bo y r 2

ee
. . .

and the Commandant of Fort B at nst in at Butri at ,

B u yam rom on the a 8 th o f O ctober The first attempt .

o f the Dutch to avenge these murders was a failure for ,

the Ah a nta s defeated them near Takoradi killing four or ,

five officers and a great number of men but in the follow

ing J uly a second expedition was sent against them which
8
utterly defeated them and took Bonsu prisoner .

I n J anuary 1 8 3 8 two more Wesleyan missionaries , Mr .

Freeman and h is wife arrived at Cape Coast where they

, ,

learned for the first time o f the death of Mr Wrigley . .

Forty eight days later Mrs Freeman also died but her
-
,
.
,

husband wh o was a West I ndian mulatto though very

, ,

ill for a time managed to survive O n the 3 o th of January

,
.

1 8 3 9 he went to Kumasi with the obj ect of establishing

a mission station there The King of course had heard .

, ,

o f him as a white fetish m a n and viewed the prospect

e
-

o f his visit to the capital with great mistrust firmly b ,

lieving that his j ourney was prompted by some secret

and sinister motive which bode d no good to him and his
kingdom Consequently Mr Freeman was stopped by
.
, .

his orders at Kwisa and again at Fomana on the Ashanti

frontier where he wa s detained for a long time and his
,

every mo vement closely watched and reported to Kumasi

by some o f the King s boys who were constantly with ’

or near him in the hope of discovering his real object .

It wa s only after a delay of six weeks when he threatened ,

to return to Cape Coast if he was kept waiting any longer

and did in fact start down the road that he wa s at last ,

given permission to proceed to Kumasi the King fearing ,

Ba idu B ons u
e egeede
1
II (A s u a nk a i) .

H wa s k
h is way to a ttac B ons u a t Bu s h u a to a v n
Age ee e
be
1
th ath s
ee
on
o f two D u tch nts , Cr m r a nd Maa so n wh o h a d
be
e e ke
n s nt to a rr st
d e k
,

Bonsu , b u t h a d n to Bu s h u a a nd d
ee e
n a r T a o ra i ta
de
n ca ptu r , ,

d
ee eee
th r m u r r
e
.

A d J l
b e
d e ee
1
noth r v rs io n is th at th xp ition o f u y 1 8 3 8 m t with no
k d o n i a nd B u s h u a Bonsu a nd s om oth r
e eebe e
f e e e ee e
o p p osition a n d u rn S .

d
Ch i s w r th n tray into th h a n s o f th D u tch a nd x cu t d d .
 ’
MACLEAN S ADM I N ISTRATI O N

house and Brooking was left in charge About the end .

o f May 1 8 4 2 he wa s j oined by Mr Thomas Rowland who .

, ,

however died within a few weeks of his arrival and was

,

thus not only the first missionary wh o died in Ashanti ,

but also the first white man who had visited the country
of his own accord and died there .

Kwaku Akka the King of Apollonia remained quiet

, ,

for some time after the return o f Maclean s expedition

’
,

but then began to resume his former ill treatment of -

tr avellers and traders and committed a number of fresh

outrages Maclean wanted to lead another expedition
.

against him but the Committee in London would not

,

allow it and nothing was therefore done beyond the for

ee
,

f itu r o f the gold that had been deposited in the Castle .

The false rumours against Maclean that had been

freely circulated and readily believed in England after the
death of his wife have already been alluded to It was
‘

alleged that he had treated her with persistent unkindness

and cruelty that he had constantly neglected her for
,

orgies in the town and for native women and that there
e
,

was one part of the Castle to which s h was never admitted , ,

where he gave himself up to all kinds of debaucheries .

I n short it was plainly insinuated that he had driven her

,

to commit suicide .

The mere fact that Maclean had been ill during nearly
the whole time that his wife was on the Coast shoul d
alone be sufficient to dispose of such ridiculous reports .

There is however in addition to this the testimony of

, , ,

Cruikshank which seemingly represents the unanimous

—

Opinion of the European residents that Maclean and his

ee
—

wif liv d together in the most perfect harmony

. Hutch .

1
inson says he visited the room in which L E L was
e
. . .

found dead with o n of the most respectable merchants

,
” 2
o f Cape Coast who had been an intimate friend of hers
, ,

had seen her the night before her death and to whom
e
,

sh had written a note e arly on the morning of her death

1
W eeA f i pp
s t rn r ca , . 60 62
—
.

P b bl M T p p w w k k g
ld h ee ebe elike f e
h o m Cru i s h a n wa s s ta yin , a nd wh o
eg be
1

f e
ro a y r . o ith
wo u t h r or ly av n to a ccom p a ny h im th n i h t or .
 RUM O U RS AGAI NST MACLEAN

asking him to come and see Mr Maclean wh o was not well

. .

It wa s while going to the Castle about an hour later that

e
he heard the news that sh herself was dead and it was
l
he who picked up the empty prussic acid bottle He .

had absolutely no doubt that her death was accidental and

indignantly repudiated the charges made against Maclean ,

explaining that the Accra woman with who m he had

formerly lived had returned to her native place long before
Mrs Maclean came o u t and that he had never since held
.

any communication with her If Maclean had had the

.

slightest ground to Suspect that his wife had any cause to

complain of his conduct he would hardly ha ve allowed
,

the letters she had written j ust before her death which ,

were found on her writing table to be sealed in his presence

-
,

by Cruikshank and forwarded to her friends in England ,

as was in fact done I t is much to be regretted that these

.

reports should again have been circulated in England

‘

and with numerous additions at the time when public

,

attention was directed to the Gold Coast during the Ashanti

War of 1 8 7 3 74 Even those who make them do not
—
.

appear to know their own minds Winwood Reade in .

one of h is books says They quarrelled and Maclean ,

grew tired of her : he had a passion for intrigue which ,

almost amounted to disease in fact he spent every

night at orgies in the town yet in another book th3
e
same writer says A disgraceful and groundless charge
was made against Governor Maclean How he would .

propose to reconcile such contradictory statements or ,

what evidence he could possibly have gathered more than

a quarter of a century after the event to induce such a
change of Opinion it is di fficult to imagine
,
.

Ridiculous though these rumours were they were ,

’
eagerly believed and Maclean s reputation in England
,

soon became so evil that nothing was considered too bad

to be attributed to him nor too improbable to be u n
hesitatingly believed There can be no doubt that L E L
. . . .

m e
y s s ta te
Aga in contra ry to Mrs Ba ile ’

e ee
1 . nt .

Th A s h a nt Ca m pa ign p 64
e
1 . .

1
S a va g A frica p 39 . .
 ’
MACLEAN S ADM I N ISTRATI O N

1 8 8 7 1 8 43 was an exceedingly popular authoress and held a high

e
—

m u» . x x iv position in the a f fections o f the public who now that they , ,

had lost their idol were readily stirred by these false

,

recitals of her wrongs to seek a means of avenging her by

bringing her husband into disgrace His every act was .

carefully scrutinized with the one idea of finding fault

with it but he himself knew nothing o f what was going
on wh ile he was on the Coast and had no opportunity of
contradicting these aspersions on his character In fact .
,

he was quite unaware of their existence until they had

been current for some months .

I t was not long before these people found the opportunity

they sought O ne of Maclean s earliest acts on first
.
’

assuming the government of the country had been to

discourage and by all possible means put down the practice
of o ffering human sacrifices a custom that was by no
,

means confined to Ashanti but was universal along the

,

coast also By his continual efforts he had almost

.

succeeded in putting a stop to it in the case of the Fantis ,

though isolated instances still occurred from time to time

in which it became known that sacrifices had been made
with more or less secrecy .

Soon after the death of Mrs Maclean the mother of .

,

Kuj o Chibu died This was the Denkera King who h ad

.
,

recently removed from his own country and been a llowed to

settle at J ukwa near Cape Coast where he and his people ,

enj oyed the same protection and p rivileges as the other

coast tribes He now sent a message to the Governor
.

informing him of the death o f his relative and assuring h im

that his wishes would be respected and no human sacrifices
made This of course was very satisfactory and Maclean
.
,

sent a present to the King to encourage him to keep his

promise warning him at the same time that should he fail
, ,

to do so he would assuredly be punished and knowing

, ,

very well the kind of saturnalia the people always held

at these big fu neral custom s and thinking it possible that
,

in their excitement sacrifices might even yet be made he ,

sent a soldier back with the King s messenger with ih ’

,

s tru ctio ns to stay in J ukwa until the custo m was over

 ’
MACLEAN S ADMI N ISTRATI O N

whom it is believed prisoners of war are specially accept

able as having fought on the side of their own opposing
gods O thers again are killed to wait on the chiefs who
.

h ave fallen This custom therefore owes its origin to

.
, ,

feelings of love and respect for the dead and veneration

for the gods and not to any inherent cruelty of disposition
, .

H uman sacrifices are in fact prompted by the purest , ,

motives .

Kuj o Chibu was at once brought to Cape Coast and

heavily fined for what he had done and a similar punish ,

ment was inflicted on one of the Fanti Chiefs wh o was

proved to have provided on o f the victims e .

Mr Jackson was strongly opposed to the G overnor s

.
’

decision in this case and according to him the sacrifices

, , ,

were not made secretly but quite openly t h ough even so ,

they constituted a distinct breach of the promise Kujo

Chibu had voluntarily made I n reference to this matter .
,

he wrote "would like to draw the attention of the Com

m itt e
e to the fact that the acts for which the King of
Denkera is accused were not done in secret but at noon
ee
,

day in the presence of thousands of D nk ra s and Teufels

and strangers from all the surrounding country They .

know not that they are committing a crime their money

is taken from them and they are irritated at the circum
,

stance but they believe the obj ect sought is their gold
, ,

for the attainment o f wh ich the other is a mere excuse

e
.

Milder measures should in the first instance be resort d , ,

to You are dealing with a nation not an individual

.
,
.

They should be reasoned with which aided by the assist , ,

ance of their friends in endeavouring to convince them of

their error would in time succeed with these as it has
,
” 1
done with others .

There can be no two opinions about the general wisdom

of these remarks I n the introduction of any reforms the
.

milder measures should always be tried first but if

they fail a time must come sooner or later when stronger
,

action must be taken The Government had for a long .

time set its face against human sacrifices and the question ,

S a rbah F a nti N a tion a l Cons ti tu tion p 1 8 4

1
, , . .
 TH E SECRETARY O F STATE S V I EW ’
4 39

as to h ow soon severer measures are called for in such

e
cases is on upon which there will always be room for an
individual di fference of opinion The real point of the .

whole di fficulty as h as already been shown lay in the fact

, ,

that this custom was not practised from caprice or any

trivial motive but was intimately connected with the
,

very root of the national reli gion .

These matters were now reported by the enemies of

Maclean to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and it ,

was represented that these and other similar measures

were acts of oppression and that the Governor had no
,

right whatever to punish Kuj o Chibu as he had done They .

asserted that the position the English held in the country

did not warrant such interference with the customs of
the pe0p 1e and in this they were in a great measure
,

correct ; for the country had never been conquered by the

British nor ceded to them facts from which it was now
, ,

a rgued that the pe 0p 1e could in no way be amenable to

English law .

The Secretary o f State seems to have had no idea of

e
th circumstances of the English in the country nor how ,

they maintained their position there and adopted the view ,

that Kuj o Chibu must either be a British subj ect in which ,

case he should have been punished by death as a murderer ,

or that he was an entirely independent chief in which case ,

the Governor had no authority whatever to fine him

“
.

This view was however quite a mistaken one The

, ,
.

King of Denkera was neither a British subj ect nor inde

. e
pendent He was o n o f several chiefs who had in ret u rn ,

for British protection surrendered a portion of their ih

,

dependence and submitted to British control This .

control had for years been exercised for the suppression

of inhuman customs and Mr Maclean was only follo wing
,
.

out a policy that had been continuous since

The most that could have been said was that the English
had no power either by their legal rights in the country
,

or by the conditions on which they held the forts from

the Crown to interfere with the customs of the people
ory of th e
, ,

1 E ll is Hi s t Gold C oa s t p 2 0 4
, , . .
 MACLEAN S ADM I N I STRA TI O N
’

and had indeed been specially enj oined by the latter not
to do so except by persu asive means The position
e
.
,

however was not s o much on for the consideration of

,

strictly legal rights as o f policy I t was essential that the .

’
Governor s authority should be recognized as paramount ,

and it would no longer have been so had such disobedience

been overlooked N o on understood this better than
. e
Maclean I n a letter to the Secretary of State dated
.
,

i 3 th April 1 84 1 he wrote W ere the Government

,

no t to exercise control over the adj oining districts or ,

were it to refuse to exercise j udicial authority over them ,

the labour of many years would be overthrown in one

m onth and consequences would ensue too horrible to be
contemplated The Forts would become isolated
.

trade and communication with the Ashantee and the

I nterior would cease oppression rapine murder and , ,

human sacrifices would take the place of that peace ,

good order and security of person and property which we

have with so much labour and pai ns established through
” 1
out the country But though the Secretary of State thus
.

defined his views on the subj ect he did not go s o far as ,

’
actually to disapprove of the Governor s action ; but he
warned him to be extremely careful how he attempted to
put down or interfere with any native customs and gav , e
him distinctly to understand that he would have to accept
all responsibility for any such measures .

These agitators in England wh o probably knew little ,

o r nothing about the Gold Coast and were ready to make

any allegations that suited their purpose upon however ,

slight a foundation and who seem moreover to have

, , ,

been actuated by feelings of spite against Maclean person

ally rather than by any motives of philanthropy towards
the natives now brought a further accusation against
,

the local government and charged it with encouraging

slavery Thus the very people wh o had made such an
.
,

outcry against the Governor because he had tried to

abolish the horrible practice of o ffering human sacrifices ,

now blamed him for no t having interfered with the equally

a n s le
Ma cle tte
r book at Ch ristians b org Ca stl e
1 ’
-
.
 '
MACLEAN S ADM I N ISTRATI O N

1 83 7 1 8 43
—
But yo u are well awar e that I possess no power to prevent
a r . x x 1 v this ,
so long as the masters of those ve ssels comply with
our port regulations and that if I did presume to interfere
with them a memorial to the Secretary o f State would
,

( j ustly ) ensure my being heavily censured if not dis ,

missed .

But I repel with indignation the insinuation ( if

, ,

such has been made ) that these slave dealers receive any -

aid or encouragement whatever from the authorities here .

I o n the contrary assert that we have discouraged

, ,

the slave trade by every means in our power a triumphant

proof of which is exhibited in the total abolition of that
\

traffic throughout the whole line of o u r coast 1 5 0 miles ,

in extent ; a consummation which neither Sir Charles

Ma carth y nor his immediate successors were able to
, ,

e ffect when they possessed twenty times our means and

, ,

fifty times o u r physical power .

If Her Majesty s Government disapprove of slave ’

vessels being allowed to trade with this colony let the ,

order be given ; and I shall take care that it shall be

obeyed .

With a small armed vessel at my command I would ,

undertake to prevent slave traders resorting to any part of

eth Gold Coast ” 1
.

J udge Stephen pointed o u t in reply that Maclean had

an undoubted right to seize all such vessels and to ,
”
send the masters and crews to Sierra Leone for trial and
“
,

the authority for such action would be the British

statute to which within the British dominions all persons
, , ,

are bound to yield obedience He omitted to say ,

however how this was to be done in the absence of any

,

armed vessel and with only the small force that Maclean
had
.

’
Maclean s position was also supported by Lord John
’
Russell s letter dated Downing Street 1 4 J uly 1 84 1 in
, , ,

which he wrote : The laws of Great Britain are of ,

course binding only within the British dominions

,

1
e
R port on th e
WeC st f A fri ca
oa s t o pa rt 11 p
, . 127 .

I bid , p 1 2 8
. . .
 D O M ESTI C SLAVERY

but I do not understand that a British subj ect would

incur any penalty which would be enforced against him
in British courts of justice by holding men in slavery
,

within the limits of any country by the law of which ,

slavery is permitted Her Maj esty s dominion o n

.
’

that coast ( Gold Coast ) is of very narrow local range

it extends only to the forts themselves beyond
the very walls of the forts there is no sovereignty properly ,

speaking vested in the British Crown

,
Whether the .

’
residents within Her Maj esty s dominions on the Gold
Coast are Europeans m ulattoes or natives the rule o f
e
e
, ,

law that no man can be holden in slavery there is p r m p ,

tory and inflexible and must be rigidly enforced With

, .

regard to persons living in the vicinity but not within the ,

British dominions the same rule does not apply I f the

, .

laws or usages of those countries tolerate slavery we hav e ,

no righ t to set aside those laws or usages except by per ,

” 1
suasion negotiation and other peaceful means
, .

Domestic slavery was a well established custom and -

had probably existed on the Gold Coast for as long as it

had been inhabited and still exists I t formed so integral
,
.

a part of the social life of the people whose whole system ,

of society was based upon it that any sudden attempt to

,

interfere with it would have been bound to fail and would

have caused such serious disturbances and have evoked
such strenuous resistance and determined op p osition that
the ability o f the English to maintain their position on
the Coast must have been seriously endangered No one .

understood this better than Maclean who also appreciated ,

the vast di fference t h at existed between slavery as it is

ordinarily understood in European countries wh ere the ,

s lave is a mere drudge and chattel and domestic slavery ,

as it exists on the Gold Coast where the slave is almost

,

invariably well treated and regarded rather as a member

of the family than as a servant and not infrequently
succeeds in accumulating a considerable amount of per
s onal property and may in certain circumstances even
, , ,

1
e e
e
R port of S l ct C om m i tte WeC
e on st oa s t o f A lrica p art 11 ,

P I 39
 MACLEAN S ADM I N ISTRATI O N ’

inherit that of h is master O ther considerations had .

also induced the Government to tolerate this internal

slave trade A large number of these domestic slaves
.

were of course born in servitude on the coast but nearly ,

all fresh importations and most of the class originally

, ,

came from Ashanti and were persons who had either been
paid in tribute by subsidiary provinces or captured in war .

In Ashanti such men when not immediately required

, ,

for sacrifice were kept as slaves and lived in constant

,

danger of being chosen for sacrifice on some other occasion .

By allowing the coast tribes to purchase and hold them

therefore their position was very materially improved ;
,

for they no longer ran this grave risk of being o ffered as

victims to the gods and their good treatment as slaves
was also fairly assured added to which was the further
important consideration that these slaves and their issue
greatly increased the population of the British pro
ee
t ct d area and provided a large number o f men wh ose
services would be available in the event of further trouble
with Ashanti Maclean therefore had very wisely r e
e
.
, ,

fra in d from any open interference with this institution

and had merely endeavoured by every possible means to
better the condition of the s laves themselves and ensure
their good treatment thus paving the way for the intro
,

duction of greater reforms at some future time should ,

they be found necessary In this he succeeded ; and so .

soon as it became known that cruelty to slaves would not

be tolerated it quickly ceased Maclean himself wrote
, .

to the Committee on this subj ect I am certain that no

wise and prudent man no true philanthropist would , ,

hastily and rashly endeavour to force upon a people a

state of society for which they are as yet wholly u npr e
pared and which would inevitably plunge them into a
,

worse condition of barbarism than that from which they

” 1
are now so happily emerging .

The people who propagated these reports however , ,

made it appear that the Gold Coast was a British Colony in ,

which the Governor tolerated and even encouraged slavery

e e
.

1
R p
ort on W s tCoa s t of A lrica part ii p
, . 1 49 .
 MACLEAN S ADMI N IST R ATI O N ’

up the challenge and a more or less serious riot ensues .

This result is all the more certain if such actions take place
in the rival company s quarter of the town The severity
’
.

of these conflicts varies considerably They may take .

the form of little more than a disorderly crowd or assume ,

the magnitude of a big armed riot or even a pitched battle

on chosen ground An instance of the latter occurred
.

in 1 8 4 1 at Kormantin where two companies who had long

,
’
been j ealo u s of each other s strength took the field after
due preparation and began to fight a reg u lar battle which
e
,

would probably have ended in the decimation or extin

tion of one or other o f them had not Mr Cruikshank hurried .

over from Anamabo and intervened before much damage

had been done Yet although he stopped the battle thus
.
,

early twenty two men had already been killed when he

,
-

reached the scene .

The final result of this continued agitation against

Maclean was the appointment of a Commissioner Doct or ,

R R Madden who was sent o u t by the Home Government

. .
,

to enquire into and report on the state of the British

Settlements o n the West Coast Some idea of the effect
e
.

o f the oft repeated calumnies against Maclean

-
and th ,

spirit in which a certain section at least of the public

regarded Dr Madden s mission may be gained from th
’
e
e
.
,

tone of some verses that were addressed to him at th

time of h is departure .

e
ed eeld
ek g e
G od sp th h ra on h is way,

ek e
T o wh om th ta s is iv n

ee
T o ch c o pp ss io s iro n s way,
e
’
r n
T h a t m o c s a t a rth a n d H av n "
k
e d ebe f le Brita in s I s
eg ee
wo r h
’
Th ars r om

ll
e
e l g f g e le
N s r i h ts r s to r ,
’
S h a a tu r
d
e Af e
or o tt n s m i
’
A n d Fr om s on -

"
e efee f e d
R visit ric s s h or
’

ek e eg g e
S trik o ff th os tt rs ro m h r h a n
Br a o fi th os with rin yv s "
ee e e de d
e ee
Th n s h o w na tiv m in
e
x pa n s ,

Ho w th cru s h d h a rt r v iv s
ebl d ll e e ed b ll g
’

el ef ge e
Th in sh a s , th um sh a s in ,

e
Th s av or t h is wo
E tc , tc . .
 SELECT C O MM ITTE E APP O I NTED

Considering the facts it would be di fficult to imagine,

anything more absurdly hysterical and misleading than

these lines .

Dr Madden only stayed a very short time on the Coast

.
,
1
and the brevity of his visit combined with the fact that ,

he was in very bad health at the time made it quite im ,

possible for him to form any accurate opinion on the

matters he was to enquire into or realize the true relation
ship in which the Government stood to the pe 0p 1e It was .

sufficient however to enable him to obtain some little

, ,

superficial knowledge and because he found that a form

of slavery existed that was both recognized and tolerated
by the Governor and that the administration of j ustice
,

was e ffected by a compromise between British and Fanti

law his report was most unfavourable to the local Govern
,

ment .

On his return to England a Select Committee of the ,

House of Com mons was appointed to report to Parliament

on the state of the West African Settlements After very .

lengthy proceedings this committee eventually agreed

,

upon a report which entirely exonerated the local Govern

ment and did j ustice to Maclean and his administration .

We fully admit the merits of that Administration ,

whether we look to the officer employed Captain Maclean , ,

or to the Committee under whom he has acted which , ,

with a miserable pittance o f between and

a year h as exercised from the four ill provided forts of
, ,
-

Dixcove Cape Coast Anamaboe and British Accra manned

e
, , ,

by a f w ill paid black soldiers a very wholesome in

ee
-
,

flu nc over a coast no t much less than 1 5 0 miles in extent ,

a nd to a considerable distance inland preventing within

that range external Slave Trade maintaining Peace and ,

Security and exercising a useful though irregular J uris

, , ,

diction among the neighbouring tribes and much miti ,

gating and in some cases extinguishing some of the most

He de vo te d one d a y only to his e a t Ca p e Vide
ed ate d Ca p e
nqu iry Coa st
a n s le tte r to th e African Com m itte Coa st Ca stle
1

Ma cle
.

a rriv ed a t Ca p eC oa s t o n th e 1 9 th o f F e
’

y 1 8 42 He
,

i 7th of J a nu a r bru a ry
1 841 wh il e Ma cle an wa s a t A ccra a nd le ft on th e 2 6 th o f M a rch h avin g

be en continu ou s ly s ick for a ll e x cept th e firs t and la st fe

, , ,

w d ays .
 MACLEAN S ADMI N I STRATI O N ’

atrocious practices which had prevailed among them

unchecked before .

We would give full weight to the d oubts which Captain

'

Maclean entertained as to his authority until specifically ,

so instructed to prevent vessels suspected of being ih

, ,

tended for the Slave Trade but not having slaves on ,

board from trafficking in lawful goods within his juris

,
~

diction ; and we do not infer from that circumstance

1
,

that the Government of these Forts had any partiality

for an abominable Tra ffic which o n the contrary they , , ,

have done so much to check but we think it desirable ,

fo r the sake o f enlarging the sphere of usefulness of these

Settlements and of giving greater confidence in the char
,

acter and impartiality of their Government that it should ,

be rendered completely independent of all connecti on

with Commerce by a direct emanation of authority from,

the Crown and that it should be placed with increased

, ,

resources in direct a nd immediate communication with

,

the genera l Government of the Empire .

The J udicial Authority at present existing in

the Forts is not altogether in a satisfactory condition ;
it resides in the Governor and Council who act as Magis~ ,

trates and whose instructions limit them to the a dm inis

e
,

tra tio n o f British law and that as far as the natives ar , ,

concerned strictly and exclusively within the Forts

,

themselves but practically and necessarily and usefully , , ,

these directions having been disregarded a kind of i rregular ,

j urisdiction has grown up extending itself far beyond ,

the limits of the Forts by the voluntary submission of the

Natives themselves whether Chiefs or Traders to British , ,

Equity and its decisions owing to the moral influence , ,

partly of o u r acknowledged power and partly of the ,

respect which has been inspired by the fairness with

which it has been exercised by Captain Maclean and the

eA t by wh i h h i te fe ee ld l eb ej tifie dw
eeet t p bli h e d i C pe t be e G e
th e
1
Th c c su c n r r nc co u a on us as

e weeig t f th eei teef l ey i y f th eB iti h

n v r s n C o or i 83 3u s n a o as , ca u s n 1 ov rn

e
ttleet th e we te ( Vide e
m nt r no ra n o x s nc o s av r n an o r s

t f Af i L d J h R ll ”

le
tte R e fSe
’

leC e e WeA f i
s m n s on s rn coas o r ca . or o n u ss s

p r orto
p t i p ct om m i tt on st r ca ar i ,
.
 MACLEAN ’
S ADM I N ISTRATI O N

1 8 3 7 18 4 3
—
N o stronger proof of the j ustice of Maclean s govern ’

cHA p . x x 1 v ment nor of his extraordinary abilities as an administrator

could possibly be found than that a fforded by the fact

that he had governed this country for not less t h an four
teen years and had only once had to resort to arms and
in spite of his having assumed control at a most u m
fortunate and difficult time when the Ashantis were still
,

smarting under their first serious defeat and were believed

to be likely to make an attempt to retrieve their fortunes ,

and when the tribes on the coast itself were at war with
one another and Openly defying all authority yet he had ,

succeeded in restoring and preserving peace and good

'

order and establishing general security and prosperity

,

throughout the whole country to an extent to which they

e
,

h a d never existed before A ll t h is he had done witho u t

.

losing the respect and love of the peopl and although

there must have been an enormous amount of prej u dice
against him personally at the time of the Commission of
Enquiry yet he emerged from this ordeal not only exon r
, , e
ated but even praised to a great extent for what he had
e
,

done I n 1 8 2 8 the Government had abandoned th Gold

.

Coast as an undesirable and useless Possession and it was

e
,

solely due to Maclean s wise administration that British

’

influence had been so xtended and strengthened and

the co untry as a whole brought into so satisfactory a
condition that the Crown now found it worth while to
,

revert to its former policy and resume control .

Thus the long and eminent services o f Captain Maclean

at last received some o fficial recognition His duties .

now were to sit with the Chiefs in all cases in which

Africans a lone were concerned and to try such cases with
them in ac cordance with the Fanti Customary Law in so
far as this w as applicable and not at variance with th e
general princi ples of Bri tish j ustice The Secretary of .

State in his d espatch d efining the j urisdiction of the

,

Assessor laid down that his duties were to consist in

,

combining wit h an impartia l investigation of the cases

brought before him a mitigat ion o f the severity of the
,

sentences which in such cas es would be awarded by

, ,
.
 MACLEAN V I N D I CATED

native j udges in the event of conviction

, and the ,

Assessor was to be specially cautioned of the necessity

” 1
for a lenient exercise of the discretion entrusted to h im .

This mode of administering j ustice was identical with that

originated and for so many years carried out by Maclean ,

and it thus came about that the very methods which he

h ad inaugurated but which had been so much cavilled
,

at were now sanctioned and legalized by an Act of Parlia

,

ment and continued under Crown rule

e
.

Th Crown moreover adopted Maclean s policy in ’

e
, ,

dealing with th problem of domestic slavery ; for no

active interference with the system was made but the
e
,

Judicial Assessor continued to use his influence to ensur

good treatment to the slaves and discourage by every
m eans in his power t h ose defects and abuses that at times

occurred The o ld di fficulty that had always been felt

.

still existed namely that the British had no legal claim

e
, ,

to territory or j urisdiction beyond th a ctII a l forts and ,

although some argued t h at the boundary extended to the

limit of the range of the guns this was too vague a de ,

finition to be of any practical benefit The principle .

laid down by Lord J ohn Russell therefore still held go od , , ,

that if the laws or usages of those countries tolerate

slavery we have no right to set aside those laws or usages
,

except by persuasion negotiation and other peaceful , ,

means .

In 1 84 3 a carriage road built by Henry Barnes of

e
,

Anamabo from that town to Akrofu a distance of t n

e
,

miles was completed I t had been begun three y a is

, .

earlier and was intended to facilitate the transport o f

timber to the coast for shipment Barnes having been ,

the first to engage in this trade in 1 8 3 0 .

1
nta ry Pa pe
Parliam e r Re
port of S e
le e
ct Com m itt,
eon Wes t A lrica ,

1 8 65 , p 43 8
. .
 CHAPTER XXV

DI S TU RBA N C E S O N THE C O AS T
1 8 44 TO 1 8 49

CO MMA NDE R H ILL had not long been Governor when he

determined to make some agreement with the Fanti
Chiefs whereby they might be brought under better con
trol and their relations with the Government be more
clearly defined . To this end a treaty was drawn up
and explained to them to which they readily agreed and
, ,

it was signed at Cape Coast on the 6 th of March 1 844 .

This treaty is usually referred to as the Bond of 1 844 and

reads as follows

BO ND 6 T H M ARC H 1 844
e
,

Whereas power and j urisdiction hav been exercised

for and on behalf of Her Maj esty the Queen of Great
Britain and Ireland within divers countries and places a d
,
’
j acent to Her Maj esty s forts and settlements on the
Gold Coast ; we chiefs of countries and places so referred
,

to adj acent to the said forts and settlements do hereby

, ,

acknowledge that power and j urisdiction and declare that ,

the first obj ects of law are the protection of individuals

and of property .

2. Human sacrifices and other barbarous custom s

, ,

such as p a nyaring are abominations and contrary to law

, , .

3 Murders robberies and other crimes and o ffences

.
, , ,

will be tried and enquired of before the Queen s j udicial ’

officers and the chiefs of the districts moulding the custom s ,

of the country to the general principles o f British law

e
.

Done at Cape Coast Castle before his Excellency th

45 2
 DISTU RBAN CES O N TH E C OAST

1 8 4 4 1 8 49 a party of Ashantis was returning through A ssin

8 44 ,
e
—
1

C HA R xxv
with trade goods from th coast when a woman carrying ,

a few gallons of rum who was a little in advance of the

,

ot h ers was suddenly attacked by an Assi m who knocked

e
, ,

h r down and t h en throwing her into the bush left her

, ,

for dead and carried the rum back to h is village The .

ot h er Ashantis on reaching the village and failing to find

e
,

the woman there as they had xpected went back to ,

search for her They found her lying in the bush but
.
, ,

though still breathing she was quite unable to speak

,

and died soon afterwards Near the body t h ey found a

.

piece of cloth which h a d been dropped by the murderer .

Taking this with them they returned to the village where

, ,

they showed it to several people saying they had found ,

it lying on the road and were afraid they might be sus

ee
p ct d of having stolen it if it were found in t h eir posses
sion A man soon claimed it as the property of his brother
.
,

who was then sent for but denied that it was h is It was .

proved however to belong to him and he was at last

e
, , ,

forced to acknowledge it ; whereupon the leader of th

Ashanti party explained the circumstances in which it
had been found and accused h im of the murder He was .

at once sei z ed and taken before the Chief of the village ,

who sent him to Chief Chibu of A ss in who however said

e
, , ,

th case was far too serious for him to deal W ith and sent
the man under escort to the Governor at Cape Coast .

O n their arrival in Kumasi the Ashantis of course ,

reported what h a d happened to the King The news .

was speedily confirmed and feeling ran high against the

A ssins whose independence since 1 8 3 1 had always been
,

a sore point with the Ashantis Their resentment was .

soon turned against the Governor also for he had omitted

to comply with the customary rule of etiquette by sending
to inform the King of his assumption of government and ,

now as time went on and nothing was heard from h im

,

about this murder they regarded his silence as more than

,

a sligh t and an actual infraction of the treaty of 1 8 3 1 .

Th ey knew that the criminal was in his c u stody and ,

expected him to notify the King o fficially of the murder of

 FEARS O F I NVAS I O N

oneof his subj ects within the protected territory and

then punish the o ff ender in accordance with the terms
of the treaty He did neither and after waiting a reason
e
.

able time th King called a meeting of all his Chiefs to

,

consider wh at should be done .

There was in Kumasi at this time a Wesleya n m is

sionary George Chapman who had come up with Mr
, ,
.

Freeman in August 1 84 3 and been living in the town ever

since He was on very friendly terms wi th the King and
.

Chiefs and being about to return to Cape Coast was asked

, , ,

to be present at this meeting in order that he might hear

’
all that passed and be able to state the King s views to
the Governor The Chiefs after hearing the statement
.
,

of the leader of the trading party and learning that the

King had received no message from the G overnor were ,

greatly excited Two o f them stood up and asked per

.

mission to take the great oath that they would at once

lead their men against the A s sins and ex terminate them
but they were over ruled by Kwaku Dua who said that
-
,

since Mr Chapman had consented to act for them they

.
,

m ust first wait and see what the result of his negotiations

might be but he promised that if redress was not forth

coming he himself would lead h is army against the A ss ins
,

and go t h rough and through their country until no living

thing was left in it .

On reaching the frontier at Fomana all the Ashantis ,

with Mr Chapman were turned back by the Chief who

.
,

had orders from Kumasi to close the road and allow no

one to leave the kingdom until the dispute had been
settled O rders had also been sent to the Ashantis then
.

trading on the coast to buy up all the guns and am m u ni

tion they could find and return at once to the capital .

Parties of men heavily laden with these warlike stores

were met all along the road and when Cape Coast was ,

reached the traders were found in a state of great alarm

and fearing an immediate invasion The discovery had .

just been made that every store had been depleted of

powder while even in the Castle there was only enough
,

to fire a few rounds of cannon and no more was expected

 D ISTURBAN CES O N TH E C OAST

for at least three months Worse management cannot .

be imagined and if the Ashantis had advanced they must

,

have had everything their own way .

The Governor alone ridiculed the idea of an Ashanti

invasion and professed to believe that it would be easy to
defeat any army the King could send with or
Fantis and A s sins Mr Chapman s statements however
. .
’

, ,

soon dispelled this absurd idea so t h at when three Chiefs ,

’
arrived a little later with the King s message they found
him prepared to treat the matter seriously The mur .

derer was sent up to the place where the crime had been
committed and there executed in the presence of the
King s messengers who t h en returned to Kumasi and
’

e
,

reported that the terms of th treaty had been kept and

the murder avenged Thus what at o n time threatened
.
,
e
to involve the country in another war was satisfactorily
and easily settled by compliance with the perfectly just
demands of the Ashantis and removing their fears that
the English were about to disregard yet another treaty .

Towards the end of 1 8 4 5 Commander Hill resigned his

appointment and was succeeded in the follo wing year by
e
Commander Winni tt R N Mr James Lilly 1 having
, . .
, .

acted during the interval .

In 1 846 a company fight occurred at Elmina which ,

assumed such a serious aspect that it was only by firing

e
e
the Castle guns that it could be stopped and thirty peopl
were kill d and on the 6 th of September in the sam e
year a serious riot broke out at Accra between the people
2
o f James Town and those of the Dutch town during ,

which the greater part of the latter was burned and several
lives were lost on either side
e
.

Early in 1 84 7 Governor Winni tt visited A b om i and ,

o n the 5 th of April concluded a treaty

3
of friendship and
commerce with Gi z u the King o f Da h om i A year later
e
.
,

in 1 8 4 8 as a result of a motion by Lord Fermoy in th

,

1
e
Co lo nia l S u rg on a n d A cting S cr tary to th G ov rn or ee e e .

2
British Accra
eeee ee e
.

F or fu ll t x t s
e
3
R port of Com m itt of H ou s of Com m ons
App ndix 3 , p 41 9
. .
 D ISTU RBAN CES O N TH E CO AST

himself was again allowed to go He and his fellow .

traders now bribed the A wu nas to assist them and they

e
,

forced their way into th fort which was in a very bad

,

state o f repair and compelled the sergeant to surrender

,

the slaves he had taken S ome men under an officer

.
, ,

were therefore sent from Christiansborg to repair the

fort preparatory to t a king steps to punish the people
for this act ; but while this was being done a quarrel ,

broke out between the garrison and the A wu nas who ,

came up in great force and blockaded it .

Mr Schmidt had now succeeded Mr Wilk ens as

. .

Governor and so soon as he heard of this outbreak set

, ,

ou t in person for Kitta with about 1 2 0 men and entered

the fort without Opposition The Chiefs were sent for

.

and asked to explain the ir conduct They asked for .

time in which to prepare their answer and returned to the

town promising to bring their reply the next day ; but
instead of doing so they collected their men and laid
,

siege to the fort The town was bomb arded and laid
.

in ruins but the garrison were soon reduced to great

,

straits and were on the verge of starvation when the French

ee
,

warship A b ill put in and relieved them j ust in time

e
.

The Governor then returned to Christi a nsborg and gr at

preparations were made to crush the A wu na s A large
e
.

force was collected and a m a n of war the Om n sent

,
- -
, ,

o u t to assist ; but the A wu nas disheartened by the last

,

struggle and the damage then done to their town and

property were in no mood for further hostilities and sued
,

for peace This was granted on payment of a fine a nd

.
,

the slave traders then remov ed to Popo .

O n the 2 2 nd of May 1 8 4 7 Maclean died of dysentery at

’
Cape Coast after t h irteen days illness and such was the ,

universal respect that he had inspired by his long and just

administration both as Governor and J udicial Assessor
, ,

that for fourteen days after his death every store was closed
and a ll business in the town suspended while the people ,

held a great funeral custom in h is honour and the dis

charges o f musketry were almost continuous Nor was .

this feeling confined to the inhabitants of Cape Coast ,

 D EATH O F MACLEAN

but it extended equally throughout the whole Protectorate 1 8 44 —

1 849
and even penetrated beyond its borders into Ashanti C H A P . . xxv

The Ashantis had long regarded Maclean as their friend

and protector ; for he had never refused to listen to any
just complaint nor failed to give them satisfaction and ,

their traders had always been able to travel through the

Protectorate to the coast wit h out fear of molestation or
robbery and with a degree of general security that they
had never known before The King indeed had con
ee
.
, ,

sid r d h is friendship of such paramount importance that

e
h had been in the ha bit of making regular sacrifices in
order to ensure its continuance For weeks and mont h s
.

after his death parties continued to arrive from the out

lying districts and every Chief considered it h is duty to
,

take up a position in front of the Castle gate and fire

several volleys as a mark of respect for the memory of the
late Governor before proceeding to attend to his business .

Maclean was buried in the courtyard of the Castle where ,

”
a large sto ne slab bearing the initials G M may still . .

be seen marking his resting place alongside t h at of L E L

-
. . .

Mr J C Fitzpatrick succeeded him as J udicial Assessor

e
. . . .

Th mere forfeiture of his gold by Maclean h a d h a d

no effect on the conduct o f Kwaku Ak ka but Governor
Hill had been unable to take any further proceedings
against him because the senior naval ofiic r on the statione
refused to co operate with him Akka therefore was
e
-
.
, ,

still in open revolt when Commander Winni tt arrived

at Cape Coast He made several attempts to open com
.

m u nicatio n with him in the hope of inducing him to listen

to reason and moderate his conduct ; but in vain Akka .

im prisoned his messengers and openly defied his authority .

But these acts were as nothing compared to the outrages

he committed soon afterwards whic h quickly brought
,

m atters to a crisis and forced the Governor to take decisive

action against him Besides o ffering a reward of two

.

ounces of gold for every head brought to him and murder

ing a party of Wassaw traders who had come down Akka ,

went still farther and kidnapped a number of the people

of Axim who were of course Dutch subj ects and also
, , , ,
 D ISTU RBAN CES O N TH E CO AST

waylaid and murdered the French Commandant of Assini .

Finally he sent a message t h reatening to attack Cape

,

Coast Castle raze it to the ground and dine o ff the

, ,

Governor s liver The Governor therefore determined to

’
.
, ,

raise a sufficient force and march against him It was .

known t h at Akka had about well armed men whereas -

,

the only troops on the Gold Coast were the single company
of the I st West I ndia Regiment that had been sent from
Sierra Leone and about thirty armed police I t was .

necessary therefore to call upon the Chiefs for assistance

, , ,

and t h ey responded to the appeal so well that the only

e
di fficulty th Governor found was in limiting h is force to
reasonable numbers and refusing th services of those wh o e
were not required without giving o ffence An expedi .

tio na ry force o f between and men was thus

quickly raised and left Cape Coast o n the 2 4th of March
1 84 8 .

I t is over a hundred miles along the beach from Cape

1
Coast to Axim but the whole of th troops had reached e
there by the 3 rd o f April and entered the enemy s country ’

three days later The A p ollonia ns disputed the passage

.

of the Ankobra River on t h at day the 6 th but were driven , ,

back and a similar attempt to check the English advance

at the A b m u ssa River the day after was equally u nsu c
e
c ssfu l Having been decisively defeated on two occa
.

sions the enemy quickly realized that further resistance

e
,

was useless and sought to make terms Akka had fl d .

and hidden himself in the bush the advancing troops

e
—

firing on his body guard as he left A t a b u but his many

—

cruelties and consistently oppressive rule had not tended

to win the love of his subj ects nor increased their anxiety
to run any serious risks on his behalf and still further , ,

stimulated by the o ffer of a reward of 1 00 ounces of gold ,

they now sei z ed and surrendered him as the price of peace .

An old captain named Bahini who had been instrumental

, ,

in his capture was elected by the people to succeed h im

, ,

T wo division s o f F a nti Alli s u nd

1
e eMe B die Cru iksh ank a nd
et We gim e
n dia R e nt u nde
r ssrs . ro

ee
Francis S wan zy, a nd a com p a ny o f th tI is s r
Li u t na nt Bin gh a m .
 D ISTURBAN CES O N TH E C OAST

1 8 4 4- 1 8 4 9
t h ey seen Akka successfully defying the Government
C HA P ""V whereas the ease and promptitude with which the n c s e
e
,

sary force had been raised and th rebellion crushe d could e

not fail to have a very beneficial e ffect on them 1 .

I n 1 8 4 8 an attempt was made in accordance with ,

special instructions that had been sent out by the Secretary

o f State to induce natives of the Gold Coast to go as fre
, e
emigrants to the West Indies I t was hoped that they .

would obtain an extensive practical knowledge of tropical

agriculture whic h would prove useful when t h ey returned
,

after a few years Not h ing came of the scheme however

e
.

for neither th Chiefs nor the people themselves were in

favour of it The Chiefs because they failed to appreciat
.
, e
or foresee its possible advantages and estimated their own ,

power and importance by the number of men they had

under their command or as domestic slaves in their retinues ,

and the people because t h ey already h a d plenty of land

e
,

in their own country wh ich produced all t h y required , ,

and were averse to leaving it for any problematical benefits

to be obtained in a strange one
e
.

Governor Winni tt had received special instructions

to put down h uman sacrifices by every possible means ,

and a ffairs on the coast now being quiet he left Cape

, ,

Coast with Mr Freeman and an escort of one company of

.

the I s t West India Regiment and the band under Captain

e
,

Powell on the 2 8 th of September 1 8 4 8 for Kumasi wher

e
, ,
.

he hoped to be able to come to some agreement with th

King of Ashanti for their abolition I n this he met with .

no success but Kwaku Dua s eized the opportunity of the

Governor s presence in his capital to try to regain his
’

authority over the A ssins and asked that they might

now be returned to him The Governor promised to .

consult the wishes of the people them selves and be guided

by t h eir decision and accordingly on his return to Cap e
e
, ,

Coast sent fo r the A ssin Chiefs and told them of th

I t a ppea rs th a t th e A p o llo nia ns were m a de to be a r th e cost of th e
,

e x pe
1

ditio n for th e re is a n entry in o ne o f th e tte

o ld l e r b o ok s at Ch ris
tia ns b org C a s tle th a t th e Ap o llo nia Ch ie fs o n th e
-
,

1 6 th o f May 1 848
h a d m a de th e m se lve s re s p ons ible to th e Cro wn fo r th e su m of
”
4s 5 5d . .
 EFFECTS O F SCH OO LS AN D M IS S I O NS 46 3

King s request But they preferred to remain under

’
.

Britis h protection and the King was soon afterwards

,

notified by Acting Governor Fitzpatrick that they had

elected to remain as they were and must therefore be , ,

considered entirely independent of Ashanti This visit .

to Kumasi the first ever undertaken by a Governor was

, ,

not a very politic measure ; for it was claimed by the

Ashantis that the Governor by coming to see their King , ,

had admitted his own inferiority The coast tribes too .

, ,

regarded the matter in much the same light for on the

Gold Coast and especially in Ashanti where court etiquette
, ,

is always most strictly observed it is ever the inferior who,

visits his superior All things considered therefore this

.
, ,

visit probably did more harm than good .

When the Basel Mission first began work o n the Gold

Coast they confined themselves to Christiansborg but a
little later one of their missionaries Ries visited Kumasi
, , ,

but met wit h no success The Society then began to work

e
.

among the tribes in th Volta River district in the hope of

ultimately being able to penetrate to As h anti by this
route and in 1 86 4 Klauss crossed th river and founded
,
e
a station on the top of a hill at Anum
e
.

The effects of th establishment of a school at Cape

Coast and of mission stations both there and elsewhere
now began to manifest themselves While it would be .

unjust to blame the missionaries for all the results that

were directly or indirectly the outcome of their settlement
in the country it cannot be denied that the first comers
,

at any rate seem to have been actuated b y a very large

amount of indiscreet zeal and but little foresight ; and
though it must be remembered that they had very many
difficulties to contend with they did undoubtedly though
, ,

quite unintentionally bring about some distinctly u h

,

fortunate results These men were strangers to the

.

country knew nothing of its people and allowed their

, ,

anxiety to gain converts to lead them into error In .

stead of taking the trouble to study the beliefs the people

already held and then trying to eliminate the defects from
their creed and engraft something better in their place ,
 D ISTURBAN C ES O N TH E C OAST

they rashly and erroneously concluded that because they

made use o f certain inanimate obj ects in connection with
their worship they must be idolaters and the whole system
,

essentially corrupt a conclusion that a little careful study

and enquiry would have given them good reason to modify -
.

I n their e fforts to gain converts therefore they tried to , ,

expunge every trace of these natural beliefs before pro

pounding a faith which to an African cannot be easy to , ,

understand and thus left the maj ority of their subjects

,

floundering in a sea of doubt and m ystification from which

they frequently tried to save themselves by grasping once
more at their own beliefs while many of those who adopted ,

Christianity had a most perverted idea of what it really

was .

I t was at this time too when education was first intro

e
, ,
”
d u c d to any large extent that the Coast scholar ,

appeared This term is usually regarded and commonly

.
,

used as one o f contempt or derision ; but if it is applied

e
,

indiscriminately in this sense a great inj ustice is don .

O n the Gold Coast as in other parts of the world the

, ,

amount of knowle dge acquired by di fferent individuals

varies within the widest possible limits from the man who
e
,

can merely read or write or perhaps scrawl h is own nam ,

in the most laborious and imperfect manner to men who

e
,

have acquired a thorough mastery of the English languag

and read widely Such men have educated and trained
.

their minds to such a degree that their opinions especially ,

when given o n subj ects concerning their own people and

customs must always carry weight and be entitled to th
,
e
greatest resp ect These men are thoroughly well educated
‘

.
,

and their services in various capacities are invaluable and

indispensable But they are exceptional It is to th
. . e
yout h who either from a disinclination for honest work
, ,

or from a mistaken idea that by acquiring a smatteri ng

o f th e
rudiments o f education and aping the European
in dress and manners believes that in some mysterious ,

way he will add to his dignity and better h is position that ,

the term sch olar is correctly applied in its local and

restricted sense He it is wh o having learned sufficient at
.
,
 D ISTUR BANCES O N TH E C O AST

a very few wh o adopted Christianity in all sincerity and

their numbers slowly increased ; a fact which seems to
have been largely due to the more politic and temperate
conduct o f Mr Freeman . .

The pagan inhabitants of the Gold Coast are remark

able for their easy going tolerance as regards their own
-

religion and that of others This is mainly attributable .

to the fact that most o f the Gold Coast deities are local or
individual ones whose sphere of influence and power is
,

limited so that while a few are revered by a whole district ,

others are only worshipped by single communities families ,

or individuals as tutelary gods I t would be considered a

e
.

foolish act o f supererogation for anyone to waste his tim

by worshipping the local gods of another district who were
too far away either to help or molest h im though should , ,

he travel thither and t h us come wit h in their sphere of

influence he would probably think it good policy to pro
e
,

p itiat them with some small offering These e arly Chris

e
.

tians however became imbued with a fanatical zeal in th

e
, ,

cause of their new faith and a contempt for their form r

beliefs that led them into extremes and the missionaries
e
,

seem to have made no attempt to curb them I n the nd .

these people went to such lengths that they quite over

stepped the bounds o f all reason and ordinary toleranc e
,

and so exasperated the pagan community that serious

trouble arose and nearly involved the whole country in
a religious war .

Mission stations had been opened at several places away

’
from the Society s headquarters at Cape Coast and amongst ,

them was a small school at Asafa where there were about ,

ten or fifteen converts This village was near Mankesim

.
,

where the great fetish B ra fo dwelt and which might , ,

therefore be regarded as the religious headquarters of all

,
1
Fanti This fetish was consulted by persons from far
.

and near and its priests drove a very lucrative business ,

d ebe e e
b y th go d B ob o wis i of Win
d e
e geel de
B ra fo is s ai to h av
de e
1
n a pp o int
b a Hi ll
e e e
wh o is a
eee be
ity to a ct a s h is
M ke f
n , n ra , p u ty in m inor m att rs .

b g
H wa s ro u h t to a n s im rom A
e e E ll
s h a nti, wh r h h ad n point d
o u t b y th l l
o ca p ri s ts
( is ) .
 RELI GI O US D I STU RBAN CES

so that it cannot have been at all pleasant for them to see

their god repudiated in the immediate neighbourhood of
his shrine But although this doubtless gave rise to a
.

certain amou nt of ill feeling they took no active steps to -

,

interfere with the Christians The latter on the other .

,

hand in 1 849 moved from their own to another small

, ,

village still nearer to the sacred hollow in the forest in

,

which the go d wa s believed to dwell Here they began

. .

’
to abuse and ridicule B ra fo s worshippers and even went ,

so far as to clear the bush in the immediate neighbourhood

of the sacred grove and make their farms there
e
.

This was more than th priests were prepared to stand .

The credit of the deity and their own easy means of making
a livelihood were endangered and they therefore called
e
,

upon th Chiefs a nd people to defend the honour of their

god They h owever did not consider it necessary for
.
, ,

them to take any action for they were convinced that ,

Brafo would speedily avenge himself without human aid ,

and it was not until they had been disappointed in this

belief and had seen unusually good crops growing on the
Christians farms even after one of them had shot an
’
,
1
antelope in the sacred grove itself that they felt it in ,

cumbent upon them to do something A counci l was .

therefore held at which it was agreed that the Chiefs should

,

combine to defend the honour of the fetish Adu the .

,

King of Mankesim who lived on the spot was appointed

e
, ,

its immediate guardian but he received th moral su p port ,

of all the other Chiefs who promised to share with him ,

the responsibility of any action he might find it necessary

to take .

Soon after this arrangement had been made one of the ,

fetish priests a member of one of the less important

,

grades j oined the Christians and he with two others

, ,

entered the sacred grove and ou t several poles there for

building purposes The priests so soon as they heard.
,

of what had been done went to Adu and called upon him ,

to punish these men and he having collected his people , , ,

went by night to the village in which the Christians were

S a cre
d to B ra fo 1
.
 D ISTU RBAN CES O N TH E C OAST

1 8 44- 1 8 4 9 then living and reaching it at daybreak burned it and

, ,

a r . x x v carried ten of the Christians prisoners to Mankesim .

These men had been going out of their way to look for
trouble but now that they had succeeded in finding it they
e
,

were of course the first to complain and the matter was r ,

ported to the Governor who had known nothing of what was

,

going on He at once sent a soldier to Mankesim su m

.

moning Adu to Cape Coast to explain his conduct while ,

the J udicial Assessor realizing that the Chief would hardly

,

have ventured to such lengths unless he had received great

provocation and taken a particularly serious view of the
matter tried to save further trouble by sending privately
,

to A m onu the King o f Anamabo and asking him to use

what influence he had with Adu to prevail upon him to
comply with the Governor s summons and not make ’

matters worse by a refusal The fetish priests in the .

,

meantime were endeavouring to persuade Adu to drown

,

the r enegade ; but he refused and on the arrival of the ,

Governor s messenger fixed a day on which he promised to

’
,

come to Cape Coast and bring his prisoners with him at ,

the same time guaranteeing their personal safety and

explaining that he could not come at once as he required
time to collect his people A seco nd messenger was then
'

sent to order him to come to the Castle immediately who , ,

on his arrival at Mankesim found Adu on the point of ,

starting and accompanied by all the Fanti Chiefs who h ad

promised him their s u pport and a great number of followers .

O n reaching Anamabo the Chiefs wrote to Mr Bannerman

e
, .
,

who was then Commandant of the fort pointing ou t th ,

di fficulty they would find in maintaining so many of

their people in Cape Coast and begging that the Judicial
Assessor would come to Anamabo and settle the case there ,

promising at the same time to abide by whatever decision

eh might give This request was granted and the Assessor
.
, ,

on his arrival at Anamabo found the whole of the Fanti ,

Chiefs collected there with about of their pe0p1e .

The facts were quite clear and were not disputed by

either party It was admitted that the Christians had gone
.

o u t of their way to insult the fetish and been guilty of

 D ISTURBANCES O N TH E C OAST

men and the remainder of the people had been waiting

,

outside the gate to hear the result of the trial So soon .

as the Chie fs left the fort and the decision was made
known many of these people seized their arms which
, ,

they had previously h idden in the houses in the town and ,

Adu was quickly surrounded by at least armed men ,

who raised h im up on their heads and carried him through

the streets defiantly proclaiming him the protector of their
,

god and bearing a few kegs of powder before h im as an

intimation that he was prepared to fight This demon .

s tra tio n had been arranged by some o f the Chiefs unknown ,

to the Abras and A nam a b o s and the hearing at the latter s

,
’

town had been specially requested with the object of

avoiding the presence of any troops and in the hope of
awing the Assessor by these means into giving a decision in
accordance wit h their wis h es .

The Assessor fearing they might perhaps proceed to

,

extremes and h earing occasional S houts recommending

,

the massacre of the Christians came out and ordered A du

,

to come down from his palanquin He obeyed but was

.

immediately hurried away by his pe 0p 1e who thought the

e
,

Assessor was about to make him a prisoner while th ,

A nam ab os fearing some harm might befall the Assessor

, ,

seized their arms and ranged themselves by his side where

upon the others seeing they had not a ll the force on t h eir
,

s ide at once scattered and fled up the roads towards t h eir

e
,

villages A m onu now began to feel anxious about th

.

payment of the various sums for wh ich he and Otu h ad

m ade themselves responsible and followed Adu in th e
hope of being able to persuade him to return He over .

took him a t Great Kormanti n where Adu turned up on

,

him and reviled him as a traitor to his god and the compact
they had all made when they met in council at Mankesim ,

a dding that he had only agreed to come to Anamabo to

have the case heard because he had been convinced that

the Fantis were so firmly leagued together o n this poi nt
t h at the Assessor would never dare to give j udgment
against h im Since he had done so however and Am ou n
e
.
, ,

a nd O tu had been foolish enough to encourage and ab t

 D EF IANCE O F ADU

him by standing sureties for the various payments he'

Adu intended to allow them to pay

, .

For four months Adu maintained an attitude of armed

defiance collecting large quantities of powder and lead and
, ,

cutting war paths through the bush deaf alike to the ,

remonstrances of the Governor and the persuasions o f

those Chiefs wh o sided with the authorities Many of the .

Ch iefs openly supported Adu and camped near the fetish

grove where they kept a constant guard lest any attempt
,

should be made to destroy it or arrest their champion .

Otu and A m onu though willing to redeem their promise

e
,

a nd pay th fine were not called upon to do so ; for it

,

was felt that such a termination of the a ffair would be

most unsatisfacto ry and the Governor preferred to let
,

m atters wait until time and the inconvenience cause d

e
by th unsettled state of the country should bring the
revolted Chiefs to reason It would moreover have been
e e
.
, ,

xtremely risky to attempt to use force for it would hav ,

been necessary to call on som e o f the Chiefs for assistance

and it was impossible to know on whom to rely The nature .

of the quarrel caused it to be universally regarded as a

religious question and few if any of the people would
, , ,

have d ared to take up arms against B ra fo .

Eventually the interruption to trade and the generally

,

disturbed state of the country caused such universal dis

content that the Chiefs who had a t first supported Adu
were inclined to be less enthusiastic in his ca u s a nd the e
,
'

Governor considered the time had come when an e ffort

m ight be made to settle the quarrel He accordingly sent .

for the King and Chiefs of Cape Coast and after telling , ,

them that he was about to lead an expedition against Adu ,

called upon them fo r assistance At this as had bee n .

,

expected they demurred ; pointing out t h at although

, ,

they were willing enough to fight for the Government on

a ny ordinary occasion yet they regarded this as a very
,

different matter and dared not take up arms against the

Brafo fetish They therefore begged the Governor to
.
, ,

defer his plans for another week to give them time to send
a final deputation to Adu This suggestion was readily
.
 DISTUR BANCES O N TH E C OAST

ag reed to but a great S how of military preparations was

,

m ade by continually exercising the troops and serving out

ammunition Adu s long resistance had been solely due
.
’

to the fetish priests whom he had consulted on each occa

,

sion when messengers had reached him but as they now ,

saw that it would be useless for them to try to hold out

any longer they informed him that the fetish said he

,

might go without fear Adu accordingly came to Cape

.

Coast attended by most of the Fanti Chiefs and a large

retinue The greatest excitement prevailed in the town
.

and every precaution was taken to guard against any

e
repetition of th disorderly scenes that had taken plac e
at Anamabo Fort William which commands the Castle
.
,

and town was garrisoned by an offi cer and a party of

,

gunners the whole of the Castle garrison was kept under

arms all sentries were doubled a request that the case
e
might be heard outside th Castle was refused ; and the
Castle gate was placed in charge o f an o fficer s guard wh o ’
,
,

h a d orders only to open the small wicket and to admit

none but the principal men .

O ver six hundred of the chief men in the country assem

bled in the Castle Hall and after the Linguist of the Cape
,

Coast deputation had related what its members had done ,

Adu was brought forward and thro wing his handkerchief ,

down at the Governor s feet in token o f s u bm ission ac

’
,

knowledged his error and begged for mercy pleading that ,

he had not acted in his own interests but rather in the cause
of the whole Fanti race and in defence of his faith H . e
further said that he thought the J udicial Assessor was
prej udiced against him and asked that his case might be
reheard This was done and the Governor magistrates
.
, ,

and principal Chiefs having retired without the Assessor

,

to consider their j udgment confirmed the decision that

,

had been given at Ana m abo Adu wa s then required to

.

d eposit fifty ounces of gold in the Castle as security for his

good behaviour for two years but was not otherwise
e
,

punished for his disobedience The fin and compensa .

tion to the Christians were then paid and this long drawn
e
-

ou t dispute was finally s t at rest .

 CHAPTER XXVI

THE P O LL TA "

1 8 5 0 T o 1 8 5 9

IN by Letters Patent dated the 2 4th of January

1 8 50 , ,

the Gold Coast was separated from Sierra Leone and

constituted a separate government with Executive and ,

Legislative Councils for the management of its a ffairs .

During 1 849 the Danish Government had expressed

1
their willingness to dispose of their Possessions on the
Gold Coast and negotiations had been opened which
,

resulted in the purchase of all their forts and rights in the

country by the English for the sum of Unfortu
e
na t ly the records were not included and were removed
to Denmark I t was hoped that the dep a rture of the
.

Danes would facilitate the introduction and collection of

2
Customs duties on imports and that the sum thus raised
would m ore than suffice to meet the extra expenditure
which the maintenance of these forts would entail It .

was also found that the anxiety of the Danish Government

to dispose of these Possessions was so great that if England ,

refused the o ff er it would be made to others Powers They .

had in fact already been o ffered to Mr Forster of the firm

, , .
,

of Forster and Smith then trading on the Gold Coast on

, ,

condition that he would hoist the Danish flag and keep

the forts and other buildings in repair and there was ,

every probability that the French would be given the next

opportunity of acquiring them I t was felt therefore .
, ,

1
I t wa s costin th
e e
g e pe e
ledy e
f e e e leyi g
m r a nn u m to m a inta in th m .

Th Da n s h a d a dt du ty on
e
1
r a r us o co - op ra t in v n a
im port d s pirits .
 TRANSFER O F DAN I SH F O RTS

that it might possibly lead to a renewal of the slave trade ,

or at least to increased di fficulties in its prevention if ,

these forts passed into the hands of any person or nation

less sincerely anxious than the English and Danes were
to abolish it Their acquisition was moreover desired
.
, , ,

because although the relations of the English and Danes

,

with one another had on the whole been very friendly ,

doubts had arisen within recent years as to the extent of

their respective j urisdictions and a dispute in reference to
,

the districts of Akim and Akwapi m had been in existence

e ver since 1 8 3 8 I n fact this question was constantly
.
,

cropping up but had never been definitely settled

, .

All the arrangements for the transfer of the forts having

been completed Governor Winni tt left Cape Coast on
, e
the a6 th of February 1 8 5 0 with Mr Freeman wh o acted .
,

as his secretary and Dr Dolce and went to Accra to take

, .
,

them over but owing to the illness of the Danish Governor

Mr Carstensen it was not until the 6 th of March that the
.
,

actual ceremony took place O n that day the various

e
ee
.

of ficers including Mr S ch a m ar z the Dutch Commandant

, .

o f Fort Cr ve Co ur left Accra at nine o clock in the ’

,

m orning and marched in procession to Christiansborg As .

they entered the Castle a royal salute was fired by the

Danish garrison the Danish flag was hauled down and

e
, ,

the Union J ack hoisted in its place and saluted by Fort

Cr ve Ccnu r and J ames Fort In th courtyard they e
e
.

were met by Governor Carstensen th o fficers of the ,

Danish garrison and the principal inhabitants o f the town

a nd the keys of the fortress were formally handed over .

The Chiefs were then admitted and the transfer was ex

plained to them to which though naturally sorry to see
, ,

the Danes go after having lived under their flag for s o

m any years they raised no obj ection Mr Bannerman
,
. .

was left at Christiansborg as Civil Commandant with ,

Lieutenant Stokes and a small detachment of troops to

1
e e e ee ee e ee e
e
Gov rnor Winni tt wrot t a wish g n ra lly x pr ss d h r
e ee e
to m
in this cou ntry ” a s king th a t Ch ristians borg Ca stl s h ou ld b r nam d
e e e e eE
G y Ca s tl e,

eCa stl G r y, a ft r a rl G r y, wh o was th n

ee
"

e e e
r or
S cr tary o f S ta t fo r th Co loni s .
 TH E PO LL TAX

1 8 5 0 18 5 9
— garrison the Castle and th next morning the Governor , e
ca n . x x v; started on a tour of inspection through the other places
belonging to Denmark He was accompanied by Captain .

S ch iio ning who had been appointed by Governor Carstensen

,

to hand t h em over .

Teshi Fort which was in bad repair was taken over

, ,

the same day and Ningo Fort which was little more than
, ,

a ruin the day after O n the 1 2 th Kitta was reached

e e
.
, ,

and th British flag hoisted on Fort Prinzenstein 1 Th .

town itself was still in ruins never having been rebuilt

e
,

since th bombardment in 1 847 and the people were now ,

living in another town about two and a half miles away .

They came in to see the Governor however and received , ,

permission to return and rebuild their old town under the

fort provided they showed proper respect to the British
flag O n the i sth Adda Fort which was also in urgent
.
,

need of rep air was taken over and from there the journey
, ,

was continued through Krobo and Akwapim to Akropong

and other towns the party returning to Accra on the z i st
, .

None of the Chiefs or people at any of the places visited

had raised any obj ections to the transfer which was thus
e
,
"
f
quietly effected without any t o u b r l
The property thus acquired included Christiansborg
3
Castle and a Martello Tower and burial ground a f w e
ee
-

hundred yards to the west of it two houses at Fr d ricks ,

borg about a mile inland and a large tank in the town

ee
, , .

There were also the four forts Prinzenstein Fri d nsborg , , ,

Konigstein and A u gu s tab org at Kitta, Ningo Adda and

ee
, ,

Teshi respectively ; Fr d ricksga or the plantation in the

ee e ee
,

Akwapim Mountains ; and Fr d ricks nopl and Fr d rick

stadt the abandoned plantations near Akropong and
,

Dodowa .

All former attempts having proved abortive the ac ,

qu isitio n o f the Danish Settlements was deemed a favour

F iv e brass gu ns from th is fort we re s u bse ntly rem ov e
d to Cape
qu e
1

Co a s t Ca stle
Afte r th e tra ns fer th eG ove rno r m o ve d to Ch ristiansborg Castle
.

wh ich th e ca m e G ov e
rnm e nt Hou s e
1

n be
, ,

G ove rnor Ca rste nse n wro te s om e o f h is le tte

.

rs from
ve ste n th is to we
1

in Accra wh ich m ay h a ve be e r o r th e
Castlere na m e
Fort Pro
,
”
, d , .
 TH E P O LL TAX
’
the roof of Mr Fitzpa trick s house and the six militiam en
.
,

he had with him were nearly all seriously inj ured while he ,

himself received a severe blow in the eye with some weapon .

e
In the end he was compelled to release his prisoner
, ,

and then d manded the return of the British flag Another .

Chief Amaki however who h a d throughout been doing

, , ,

his utmost to preserve order implored him not to take

e
,

th flag from t h em and a few days later Bahini and the

,

other ringleaders of the riot surrendered themselves and

were taken to Cape Coast and tried Bahini was sentenced .

to two years imprisonment another man to six months

'
, ,

and the remaining three received forty eigh t lashes each in -

front o f the Castle .

In 1 8 5 0 an attempt was made to grow cotton on the

Gold Coast and an American was sent out to supervise
the plantations 2 cotton bushes were planted near
Cape Coast but the di fficulty of obtaining labour s oon
,

caused the business to be abandoned A few years earlier .

,

large quantities of coffee h a d been grown but this h ad ,

had to be given up for the same reason The plantati ons .

had been worked principally by pawns and after this ,

system was discouraged it was found impracticable to work

them any longer to advantage
e e
.

Governor Winni tt died on th Coast on the 4th of

1

December 1 8 5 0 and after Mr J ames Bannerman h ad , .

2
acted as Governor for twelve months Maj or S J Hill ,
. .

was appointed in O ctober 1 8 5 1 During his administration

an important measure was passed which went farther than
anything else had yet done to define the true relations in
which the Government and people stood to each other .

3
The failure of Customs duties had made the Home Govern
ment anxious to devise some other means of raising a per
manent revenue for the support o f the Settlements and ,

Lord Grey had moreover laid down that the people

O f dys e nte
, , ,

u te rra Le
rno r o f S ie one
1

Afte rwa d s Lie n a nt Co lo ne l a nd G ove

ry .

Th e G o ve p orted th a t o win g to th is fa ilu reth e we

1

rnor re re re
r -
.

fu nds a va ilable to p a y th e s a la rie s o f th e

,
no ,

Com m a n d a nts o f Anam abo

Winne ba Kitta a nd D ix cov e a nd th e cto r o f Cu s to m s s om e
Co lle
,

wh om we re
of
s a id to b ein re
, ,

a l wa nt .
 TH E P O LL TAX O RD I NAN CE

should be expected to contribute something in return

for the protection a fforded them A general meeting of .

the Chiefs was therefore held at Cape Coast on the

, ,

1 9 th of April 1 852 to consult with the Governor and

,

other o fficers how this obj ect might best be attained .

This meeting first of all resolved itself into a Legislative

Assembly with power to enact laws and then passed several ,

resolutions which were embodied in a document which

was signed by the Chiefs and approved and confirmed by
the Governor This enactment became known as the
.

P011 Tax Ordinance and was formally adopted by the

Legislature as a legal ordinance of the Settlements Its .

chief provisions were as follows

. I That t h is meeting composed of his Excellency
,

the Governor his council and the chiefs and head men of
, ,

the countries upon the Gold Coast under British protection

, ,

constitutes itself into a legislative assembly with full

powers to enact such laws as it shall deem fit for the ,

better government of t h ose countries .

. 2 That this assembly be recognised by Her Maj esty s ’

Government as legally constituted that it be called the ,

Legislative Assembly of native chiefs upon the Gold Coast ,

that it be presided over by his Excellency the Governor ,

who shall have the power to assemble prorogue and , ,

adjourn it at pleasure and that its enactment sanctioned ,

and approved of by the Governor shall immediately ,

become the law of the country subj ect to the approval

,

of Her Maj esty the Queen and be held binding upon the
,

whole of the population being under the protection of

the British Government .

3 That this Legislative Assembly being thus duly

e
.

constituted having taken into consideration th a dva n

,

tages which the ch iefs and people derive from the pro
e
t ction a fforded them by Her Maj esty s Government
’
,

consider it reasonable and necessary that the natives

generally should contribute to the support of the Govern

m ent by submitting from time to time to pay such taxes

as may be determined upon by the maj ority of the chiefs

assembled in council with his Excellency the Governor
,
.
 TH E PO LL TAX

That it appears to the chiefs at present assembled

4 .

in council that the most productive the least burthen

, ,

some and the most equitable tax which in the present

,

state o f the country can be levied would be a poll tax ,

-

upon the gross amount o f the population enj oying the pro
e
t ction o f the British Government .

5 That entertaining the views here expressed the

.
,

chiefs and head men do for themselves and their people , ,

voluntarily agree to pay annually to the Government the

sum of i s sterling per head for every man woman and
.
, , ,

child residing in the districts under British protection .

6 That the collection o f the tax be confided to o fficers

.

appointed by his Excellency the Governor assisted by the ,

C hiefs who in consideration of annual stipends to be paid

, ,

to them by the Government agree to give in their several , ,

districts their cordial assistance and the full weight of their

,

authority in support of this measure and to aid the tax ,

gatherers in taking a census of the population and in col

e
,

l cting the tax .

That the revenue derived from this tax after

1 1 .
,

payment of the stipends of the chiefs and other expenses

attending its collection be devoted to the public good
e
,

in th education of the people in the general improvement ,

and extension of the j udicial system in a ffording greater ,

facilities of internal communication increased medical ,

aid and in such other measures of improvement and

,

utility as the state of the social progress may render

necessary and that the chiefs be informed of the mode of
e e
,
'

its application and ntitl d to o ffer such suggestions on

,
” 1
this point as they may consider necess a ry
e
.

O th er provisions referred to th details of collection

and auth ori z ed the Governor to collect the tax for the
2
current year A meeting of the Kings of Accra Chris
.
,

tia nsb org Akim Akwa pim and Krepi and other Chiefs
e
, ,

of th eastern districts was held at Christiansborg soon

e
Parliam Pa p er Report 0/ Com m ittee1 8 6 5
T e e e e
1

p rop os e
d Bro die
ntary , , , p 42 0
. .

Cru iksh ank as Ch i f Coll ctor to

pe e
1
h
e
G ov rn or
su l
rvis a t a sa a ry o f £6 00 p r a nnu m .
 TH E PO LL TAX

Parliamentary grant had been appropriated to giving

presents to the Chiefs whenever they had been sent to or
for and they had also been tre ated with more S how of
,

respect for their station Thus while his reason acknow

.

ledged the j ustice his self esteem was flattered by the

,
-

condescension o f the Government At present however .

, ,

there is no fund appropriated for purposes of this nature ,

and the Government is only now known to the Chiefs as

the instrument of their correction and the abridger of ,
”
their privileges They added that it would be per
e
.

f ctly impossible to govern the immense population of

the Gold Coast without the instrumentality of the Chiefs
and recommended a legally constituted deliberative
assembly to be called the Assembly of Native Chiefs
, ,
’

to be appointed to meet at Cape Coast Castle twice every

year for the purpose o f framing with the assistance of th , e
J udicial Assessor and other Magistrates such laws as Shall ,

when sanctioned and confirmed by the Governor become

” 1
generally binding upon the Natives of the Country .

The members of this Assembly were to receive a small

annual stipend from the Government Governor Hill .

doubtless had this letter before him and was to a great ,

e
extent acting on the advice contained in it for he him
,

self in his despatch to th Secretary of State on the subject

,

o f the P011 Ta x O rdinance dated the 2 3 rd of April 1 8 5 2

, ,

wrote The Natives h aving agreed to the payment of

this small Ta x I was puz z led as to the manner in which
,

I could frame any law making it binding on the Chiefs

and People to fulfil their promise as possessing no terri ,

toria l j urisdiction and the Natives not being British

Subj ects it was o u t o f my power to frame any Ordinanc
,
e
a ffecting them Under these circumstances and with a
.

view to future legislation I considered it advisable to form

the Native Chiefs into a Legislative Assembly placing
”
myself at their head He added that the
. scholar
class consisting of
, certain educated Natives with no
real pretensions to any power were in the practice of
assuming an authority with the pe 0p 1e that did not belong
Lette
r bo ok a t Ch r is tia ns bo rg Cas tle
1 -
.
 TH E G O LD C O AST C O RPS

to their position by such means exercising an undue

,

influence with the Chiefs and Headmen and generally ,

opposing in an underhand manner the e fforts of the

” 1
Governor He said that he well knew they had done
all they could to Oppose the Poll Tax O rdinance and that ,

this opposition had been successfully overcome by placing

e
th chiefs in t h eir proper position and bringing them into
direct communication with the Executive .

Now that there seemed to be a reasonable prospect

of raising a revenue in the country it was decided to ,

dispense with the services of Imperial troops and enroll a

local corps to be called the Gold Coast Corps to garrison
e
, ,
2
th forts It had been found that the men of the i st West
.

India Regiment who had been doing this duty since 1 8 4 3

, ,

did not stand the climate well and it was thought that ,

by enlisting natives of the country it might be possible

to provide a more efficient force This corps was to .

consist of 3 00 men trained as artillerymen They were

e
.

arm ed with an E nfi ld carbine and sword bayonet wore -

,

a Zouave uniform similar to that of the West I ndia Regi

3
m ent and were paid 7 d a day
, The officers were given
. .

'
com m and of a company after three years service and their
m aj ority at the end of six or a captain could retire on ,

a pension of £ 1 5 0 a year .

The only natives of the Gold Coast who were likely to

enlist in this corps were runaway S laves or pawns and ,

Major Hill h a d received orders not to return any of these

e
m n to t h eir masters Hith erto these instructions had
.

not caused any trouble for s laves would not run away ,

u nless they could obtain employment and if suddenly ,

em ancipated could only steal or starve Cruikshank .

,

whose work was published at this time says that nearly ,

1
eeb k Ch i i b g C le
L tt
He e d h lf e Regi e we e e d C pe
r- oo at r s t a ns or a st .

1
dq
he e de A A b d D e
a u art rs a n a th
C m nt r s ta tio n at a oast,
a nd

d i g h i G e ip
t
e
r m a in

h ee
r at ccra , na m a o, a n ix co v .

M j Hill w d M j
l ee
3

l Re
g i e we epp i e h ee he
a or as a om t a or ur n s ov rnors h t
pp , r
fC l d p i
l ee e
i ut

e Th e bl h e
nants o o nt ta ns t
nd h e e
o o nia m nts r a ca , r ot rs
ig
eq ely i
i u t nants t w
d by e e el ee
b
h e edj
sta

e e
, a t r ns ns . is m n a s su

th eeE pe e get j e
u nt
p i th r ta ns t i ut na nts , on
s ncr a s ca r a u tant,
,

r u ro d i d
an s r an -
m a ors , a n s x ru m m rs .
 TH E P O LL TAX

all the crimes on t he Go ld Co ast were com m i t ted by rum .

way slaves wh o lived by theft and p l u nder and always

ga ve the s ame excuse for t heir conduct namely that th y e
e e
, ,

had no on to look after and support them No on .

appreciated t heir position be t ter than the slaves them

selves ; and when Dr Madden during his visit to the
e
.
,

Coast told a number of these men at Accra that they wer

,

e
free they i m mediat ly asked him to pro vid for th ir
, e e
s u bsistence saying that if the Government freed them
e
,

e
and did not intend to support them they would c rtainly ,

st arve and would m uch prefer to remain as t hey w re .

B y a diplom atic fiction it was supposed that no slavery

,

of any kind could by any possibility exist within the

limits of British j urisdiction and consequently that any
e
, , ,

slave or pawn became i m mediately free by virtu of

e
entering on of the forts and standing on purely British
soil This was of course an extreme View wh ich whether
.
, ,

theoretically correct or not was most unsuited to the ,

circumstances and needs of the case and bound to cause

difficulties M aj or Hill ho we ver decided to enlist these
e e ,
.
,

ee
men in th new corps and th reby nearly brought about
a serious outbreak ; for it no sooner be cam gen rally
k nown among the slaves an d pawns that this employment
was open to them than nu m bers of them came to the
e
,

Castle and the Go v ernor acting up to the strict lett r of

, ,

his instructions refused to hand them back to their masters

,

and enlisted them as soldiers These men or at least .

,

t he maj ority of t hem were not Fant is or members of any

e
,

coast trib bu t Wangaras Gonj as G ru ns h is Dagom bas

, , , ,

a nd others who had been captured or taken as tribute

and sold by the As ha ntis They were collecti vely known .

on the coast a s Donkos

e
.

The wealth of many of the Chiefs and principal m n

consisted almost entirely in sla ves and it can readily b ,
e
understood that they regarded this sudden det ention of
their property which was agains t all precedent and all
e
,

Government as nothing less than pure robb ry A great

, .

outcry wa s raised and for a time affairs looked v ery threat

cu ing and a serious outbreak was imminent The Chi fs . e
 TH E PO LL TAX

18 5 0 18 5 9
—
had then been placed under the immediate supervision
C HA P x x vx of Anfu O tu the King of Abra who was made responsible
.
,

for their conduct and this control had been maintained

,

until 1 8 4 3 when the A ssins having behaved well had been

, , ,

released from further surveillance .

Kuj o Chibu who was dissatisfied with the way in wh ich

,

he had been treated on several occasions and conceived ,

rightly or wrongly that the Government was ignoring

,

the power and dignity of the Chiefs too much now took ,

advantage o f the King s anxiety to regain his authority

’

over his people to obtain from him a bribe of 400 ounces

of gold by promising to assist him in compelling them to
return to their former allegiance for the A ssins them ,

selves were to o much alive to the advantages and freedom

they now enj oyed to have any intention of willingly
renewing their submission to the arbitrary rule of Ashanti .

These proceedings reached the ears of the Governor and ,

a soldier wa s sent to summon Kuj o Chibu to Cape Coast to

give an account of his conduct This messenger was .

detained by the Chief and a small detachment under an

,

officer then made a forced march by night and reaching ,

h is village at daybreak arrested Chibu and brought him

,

to Cape Coast
.

The Fanti Chiefs were assembled to sit with the Governor

and Judicial Assessor to try him He was charged with
e
.

t h ree distinct o ffences first sending a man as a prison r

e
,

to the King of Ashanti well knowing that he would b

sacrificed second receiving a bribe from the King and
,

endeavouring to persuade his Captains to accept part of

it in order to bring them under Ashanti rule and third
e
,

setting th authority of the Governor at defiance by

detaining the soldier and telling him that he intended to
throw off h is allegiance and return to Ashanti and that ,

he did not care for anything the Governor could do Chibu .

was found guilty on every count and sentenced to be de

posed and imprisoned in the Castle for life while Kobina ,

Ga biri another Chief who was also convicted of disloyalty

, ,

to the Government but in a lesser degree was punished

, ,

b y the imposition of a small fine .

 KUJ O CHI B U ’
S P O S ITI O N

e
A f w weeks later the allied Chiefs petitioned the
,

Governor for Ch ib u s release and restoration to his stool

’
.

While fully admitting his guilt and the j ustice of his punish
m ent they considered that he now realized the enormity o f

e
,

his offence and was anxious to have an opportunity of r

e
d eming his character and they b lieved that if this was
,
e
given him he would cause no further trouble AS a .

guarantee o f his good conduct they proposed that the

e
n phews of every Chief and Headman in A ssin who were
e
,

th rightful heirs to the several stools should be delivered ,

to the Governor as hostages so that the matter might

e
,

b kept constantly before the minds of the Chiefs and

people and it would be impossible for any repetition of
e
th se offences to occur They also undertook to make .

a good road such as the Governor should approve from

, ,

Cape Coast to the River Pra and that those A ss ins who ,

were still living o n its nort h ern bank should cross and
settle within the Protectorate To these terms the .

Governor agreed and Chibu was released in O ctober 1 8 5 2

,

and with all his Chiefs and Captains renewed his allegiance
, ,

to the Government .

Chibu however on h is restoration to his stool found

, , ,

him self in an awkward predicament for by accepting a

bribe from the King o f Ashanti he had by native custom
bound himself to serve him and he well knew that his
e
,

failure to do so would not be overlooked At th same .

tim e he had sworn allegiance to the Government given

e
,

hostages for his good behaviour and still had vivid r co l ,

lections of his recent narrow escape from lifelong im

prisonment He tried to reconcile these two opposite
.

positions by openly preserving an appearance of fidelity to

e
th Government and at the same time continuing his
,

secret intrigues with Kumasi while he cast about him for

som e scheme whereby he might carry out his obligations

to the King without incurring the vengeance o f the Govern
m ent and Fanti allies The King of Ashanti meanwhile
.
, ,

knew that his anxiety to regain his power over the A s sins
had betrayed him into these underhand dealings and ,

that he could not therefore appeal to the Governor for

, ,
 TH E P O LL TAX

redress but must either continue as he had begun or be

,

content to lose the 400 ounces of gold that he had paid .

I n accordance with h is idea Kuj o Chibu now proposed ,

to the King that he should send a party of Ashantis to

Dunkwa for the ostensible purpose of making custo m
for Chibu the late King o f Denkera wh o had at on tim e , e
been his subject and that this party on its way back
, ,

through A ssin should assist him to escape to Ashanti

,

and compel h is people to accompany him In this way .

he hoped to satisfy the King and at the same time delude

the Go vernor with the belief that he was being forced to
Kumasi against his will This scheme was approved by .

the King who therefore wrote to the Governor on the

,

2 6 th o f March 1 8 5 3 informing him that he was sending a

e
,

party down with his brother A tj i m p on to make custom

for the late King of Denkera and asking him to send a ,

soldier to be present during the ceremonies at Jukwa to

preserv e order This letter was sent by A tj i m pon s
. e '

party which numbered about 3 00 armed men ; but they

,

no sooner reached Y a nku m asi A ss in than the pe 0p 1e began

to suspect treachery while Chibu fearing discovery and
, , ,

in order to keep up the fiction of h is fidelity to the Govern

ment pretended to be alarmed and fled to Dunkwa where
, ,

he placed himself under the protection of the Chief of

Dominasi His alarm however may not have been
.
, ,

entirely feigned I t was possibly genuine enough and

e
.

inspired by his doubts as to what kind of reception h

might meet with in Kumasi and whether the King would
really be prepared to overlook h is failure to carry out his
part of the first agreement The Ashantis advanced a day s ’

e
.

march beyond the River Pra to F su where they were ,

stopped by the Chief wh o suspecting the real purpose

, ,

of their visit said he could not allow so large an armed

,

party to pass through his district and at once communi

e
ca t d with the Governor
e
.

A tj i m p on no w tried to obtain permission to proceed

’
to Cape Coast and there personally obtain the Governor s
perm ission ; but before anything had been agreed to ,

Ensign Brownell and a detachment of forty men who had

 TH E P O LL TAX

of this agreement had been complied with and about 400 ,

Ashantis were at once collected and escorted within their

e
lines ; but A tj i m p on still made excuses maintaining ,

that he could not leave until their property had also been
restored
e
.

A tj i m p o n s escort was still receiving daily reinforce

’

ments and it was known that a second army under one of

,

the King s sons had arrived and was encamped a short

’

distance in rear of it Maj or Hill therefore sent another

.
, ,

letter to Mr Brownell conveying an ultimatum to the

.

Ashantis and informing them that all their people s pro

,
’

perty would be collected and restored as soon as possible ,

but that the invading force must retire and the British
troops be permitted to leave their camp within twenty
four hours or he should consider war declared Pre .

p a ra tio ns were at once made to compel obedience to these

orders should they be disregarded In response to a letter
ee
.

from the Governor Commander Has s ltin arrived in

e
,

Cape Coast roads with H M S s B ritom art and A l cto and

. . .

an army of over Fanti allies was sent to Dunkwa

under the command of Captain M Co u rt who took one ‘
,

officer and 1 00 men of the Gold Coast Corps two field ,

pieces and four rocket tubes with him Troops were also
-
.

requisitioned from Sierra Leone and the Gambia and

men of the West I ndia Regiment asked for while ,

orders were given to Captain M Cou rt that in the event ‘

,

of his being attacked he was to retire steadily on Cape

Coast so as to draw the enemy within range of the forts

and avoid all risk of being himself surrounded and cut off
in the bush .

The Fantis had learned the advantage of combination

at Dodowa and instead of flocking to the forts for pro
e
,

t ctio n as t hey had formerly done on the first rumour

of an Ashanti invasion now answered the call to arms
,

and took the field readily enough so that the allied force ,

encamped at Dunkwa was quickly swelled to over

men These preparations undoubtedly had a good effect
e
.

and went far towards convincing the Ashantis that th

coast tribes would not be the easy prey they used to find
 TH E ASHANTIS R ETI RE

them . The forces however never came into collision

, ,
.

On the night of the 6 th o f April a messenger arrived in

e
,

th Ashanti camp bringing orders from the King for

e
Atj i m pon s return
’
This messenger protested that the
.

King had no quarrel with the Government and said he

would like Mr Brownell to wait and see his men recross
e
.

th Pra so that he might be able to report their departure

to the Governor
e
.

On the 9 th the Ashantis broke up their camps and r ,

crossed the Pra o n the follo wing days The threatened .

war was thus averted without a single S hot having been

fired and an Ashanti army for the first time in history
,

had assembled and retired without giving battle ; but

e ven though no engagement had taken place and war had
never actually been declared the interruption to trade
,

was estimated to have involved the Cape Coast traders

in losses of between and and twelve
sm all villages in Assi m and a number of farms h a d been

destroyed .

It was afterwards ascertained from the reports of Mr

'

Laing the Wesleyan missionary then living in Kumasi

, ,

that although the roads to the coast were carefully closed

e
after A tj i m p o n s force had left the capital yet the King
’
,

gave out that they had only gone to make custom for Kuj o
e
Chibu and that th second force was despatched because
e e
h had heard that A tj i m p o n had been stopped A tj i m . e
pon left Kumasi on the afternoon of Tuesday the i 5 th of
March and would have S lept that night in one of the
villages j ust outside the capital probably Kasi where
e
— —

h would have remained on the Wednesday also as this

was a fetish day I t was therefore Thursday th i 7 th
.
, ,
e
before he resumed his j ourney and it would have been ,

im possible for him to have reached and crossed the Pra ,

advanced another day s j ourney been stopped and then

’
, ,

sent back a messenger to Kumasi by the time the rein

forcements were despatched on the z i st This argument .

has been advanced as conclusive proof of the King s real ’

intentions ; b u t it must be remembered that the Ashantis

e
ar not entirely dependent upon messengers for their
 TH E PO LL TAX

information but can communicate with each other by

drumming and other rap id means and if the news of
e
,

A tj i m p o n s reception in A ss in w a s sent in this way it

’

would have reached the capital in a remarkably short time

a few hours at the outside so that these facts are not
— -

in themselves sufficient to prove that the King s in ’

tentions were so purely hostile from the outset that he sent

a second force to the support of the first before he heard
from the latter The point however is o f no great im
.
, ,

portance for there is no room to doubt the King s main

,
’

obj ect and the fact that he had allowed himself to be

,

beguiled by Chibu was no excuse for his conduct .

O n the i 6 th of April Kuj o Chibu and Kobina Gabiri

were tried by the allied Chiefs assisted by the Judicial ,

Assessor in the camp at Dunkwa and having been found

, ,

gu ilty of treason were condemned to death They were

, .

beheaded on the 1 8 th in the presence of of the allies ,

and Boaben and K wow Abadu were then elected to the

vacant stools .

This is the first occasion on which a King of Ashanti

ever contravened the terms of a treaty Kwaku Du a .

himself was known to be a peaceable man a fact to which ,

the satisfactory termination of the a ffair was probably

due ; but although the King is the nominal head his ,

power is no t absolute but is controlled to a great extent

,

by his Council and it was no uncommon thing for som e

,

o f the Chiefs when excited to take rash oaths as to what

they would d o which they afterwards felt bound to t

,
e
deem In this way a peaceable King might easily be
.

overruled in h is Council and forced into a war for which

he had no p ersonal inclination Whether this is what .

happened in the present case is doubtful but it seems more ,

likely that the King having allowed his anxiety to regain

,

his dominion over the A ssins to betray him into listening

to the wiles of Kuj o Chibu then found that he had gone
,

too far to retract Whatever Kwaku Dua s personal

.
’

inclination may have been there is no doubt that the ,

Ashanti Chie fs as a whole were bent on war Sergeant .

Hay of the Gold Coast Corps wh o had been sent to Kum asi
,
 TH E PO LL TAX

that they might not think that I have done wrong in

these matters and refusing to sign the new treaty as
,
,

I have already given you my reasons o f the same ”

e
.

In this letter the King with a diplomacy by no m ans ,

peculiar to Africa altogether ignored his o ffence in having

,

listened to the overtures of Kuj o Chibu and laid stress

on his own grievances in the case He however plainly
e
.
, ,

avowed what his real object had been in sending A tj i m pon

to A s sin and it was evident not only from his letter bu t
, , ,

also from Mr B la nkson s account of what had passed in

.
’

Kumasi that he had declined to admit the necessity for

,

a new treaty because he clearly saw that any such adm is

sion would necessarily imply that he had broken th e
former one and he feared this might be made the ground
,

o f a claim for compensation He also referred to the .

,

cases of a soldier at Accra and a niece o f A m onu the King

o f Anamabo who had cursed him some time previously
, ,

an o ffence for which Ashanti law prescribed the punish

ment of death but which the J udicial Assessor had p r e
e e
,

su a d d him to overlook He evidently regarded thes .

infractions of the treaty by persons under British proteo

e
tion as a fair s t off against his own o ffence The King
-
.

also asked that a British Resident might be stationed in

Kumasi and as there was no European officer who could
,

be spared an educated African George Musgrove was

, , ,

sent up .

In 1 8 5 3 the first Supreme Court Ordinance was passed .

It provided for the administration of j ustice in causes

both civil and criminal and established courts under a
Chief J ustice This O rdinance confined the jurisdiction
.

within Her Maj esty s Forts and Settlements on the Gold

’

”
Coast but in 1 8 5 6 this j urisdiction was extended by an
,

O rder in Council to the “ Protected Territories in all

cases in wh ich Her Maj esty might exercise ( powers and
j urisdiction ) without the co Operation of any native chief -

”
or authority The same order empowered the Governor
e
.

to make regulations by O rdinance with respect to th

ex ercise o f the above mentioned powers and j urisdiction
-
,
”
provided that equitable regard be paid to local custom s .
 FAI LU RE O F TH E P O LL TAX

The offices of Chief J ustice and J udicial Assessor were

held by one and the same person and his j urisdiction , ,

therefore was practically extended to all cases

,
.

The first payme nt of the p oll tax had been made without
demur ; but though it had been estimated that it should
raise a revenue of a year 63 1 d the amount, . .
,

collected in 1 8 5 3 was the highest sum that was ever

,

actually produced and the payments fell o ff very rapidly

,

u ntil they finally ceased in 1 86 1 when only £ 1 5 5 2 3s 4 1d , . .

was obtained The total amount collected during the

.

years from 1 8 5 3 to 1 8 6 1 both inclusive was

, 1 03 8 d , . .

Great complaints had been made even as early as 1 8 5 4 , ,

of the manner in which the tax was collected but the real
cause of its failure was malversation ; for a portion of the
m oney was improperly used for the payment of salaries

instead of being wholly devoted to local improvements

for the benefit of the people as had been arranged No
e
, .

census had been taken and th collection of all t h is money

,

was entrusted principally to local agents employed for

e
th purpose These men worked quite independently of
e
.

th Chiefs beca use it had been feared that if the collection

,

of the tax were left to them they might use it as a means

,

of oppression and extortion It does not seem to have

.

occurred to anyone however that such practices were ,

quite as likely to arise and in fact did arise in the case

, ,

of these paid collectors and it is probable that even if

the Chiefs had acted in the same way the people would ,

have taken it better from their n a tural heads t h an from

e
m n who had no political status or authority and against

whom they had no constitutional remedy if they abused

the powers given them It was doubtless a choice of
.

evils but the greater o f the two was the one chosen The
,
.

collection o f any such tax in such a country would at best

e
b a most difficult task and could only be attempted
,

with any hope of success through the heads of the people .

This tax really received its death blow when Sir Benj amin
Pine who was Governor in 1 8 5 7 established municipal
, ,

corporations for they also collected taxes in the di fferent

districts and the two demands clashed They in turn .
 TH E P O LL TAX

185 0 185 9
-
lapsed under the next Governor and were extinct by
C HA P . xx w 1 86 0 .

Early in 1 8 5 4 the payment of the poll tax was for the

first time openly resisted In the first week in January .

Mr Cruikshank who was acting as Governor during the

.
,

temporary absence of Maj or Hill visited Christiansborg ,

and informed the Chiefs that it was time for the tax to
e
b collected again They asked for the usual permission
.

to retire and consult together and promised to bri ng their ,

answer in the course of the next few days but when Mr .

Bannerma n sent for them after Cruikshank h ad returned

to Cape Coast they having decided not to pay the tax
, ,
,

flatly refused to enter the Castle and as he declined to , ,

come ou t to them returned to the town O n the i 4th of

, .

J anu ary over armed men assembled near the Castle

e
and in spite of th persuasions and arguments of th e
,

traders publicly confirmed the resolution they had already

,

passed .

Mr Cruikshank then returned to Christiansborg and

.

the garrison was reinforced with the intention of compel

ling the people to submit but before anything more was
done Maj or Hill arrived and with the help of messengers
, ,

from the Kings of Akim and Ak wapim who had been sent ,

to reason with the rioters peace was finally restored at ,

a meeting held at Labadi on the 6 th of March and a small

fine was then exacted from the people for the disturbanc s e
they had made .

Some months later however more serious riots took , ,

place O n the afternoon of Sunday the 2 7th of August

.
,

Captain B ird while walking from Christiansborg Castle

,

towards Accra met some men rolling a puncheon of rum

,

e
on which no duty had been paid and promptly seized it .

This was no sooner reported in the town than the peopl

e
turned out and attempted to rescue the rum from the
soldiers who were removing it to the Castle and aft r , ,

a fierce struggle in which stones were freely thrown and

,

many blows struck succeeded in recapturing it and driving

the soldiers into the Castle Lieutenant Brownell had .

recently arrived in Christiansborg to collect the poll tax ,

 TH E PO LL TAX

within about thirty yards of the walls and here the hunters ,

and all the best shots entrenched themselves and kept

e
up so brisk and accurate a fir that the garrison were quite
unable to work their guns and by noon the batteries were
. e
silenced The S cou rg was now bombarding Teshi but ,

the garrison could not signal to her for help because the ,

flag staff halyards had been cut by a shot from one of the
-

besiegers This damage however was repaired at con

ee e
.
, ,

sid rab l risk and the S cou rg returned in the evening and
, ,

after shelling the houses in which the enemy had concealed

themselves bombarded the whole town
, During that .

night the defences of the Castle were improved so as

to a fford better protection to the gunners and on the ,

i 4th and i 5 th the bombardment was continued while the

e
,

S cou rg sailed for Cape Coast returning o n the i 7th with

,

another o fficer and fifty more men of the Gold Coast

Corps and fresh supplies for the garrison Having once
e
.

more bombarded Christiansborg S h sailed on the 1 9th ,

and burnt Teshi .

The people had now deserted the town and retired to

the bush The whole place was soon plundered by th
. e
soldiers and the houses near the Castle were pulled down ;
yet though the town had been reduced to ruins and th e
e
,

people had lost all their property the casualties wer

e
,

very few The Christiansborg pe0p 1e lost only five m n

.

and two women while six men had been killed at Labadi
,

and a few more wounded at each of the places attacked .

The Castle garrison however o u t of a total strength of

e
,

131 ,lost seven killed and had twenty three m or -

wounded including Captain Bird and Lieutenant Hu nt

,

Grubbe
e
.

Governor Hill arrived on the 2 7 th of O ctober with m or

warships and reinforcements from Sierra Leone intending ,

to land some marines and attack the pe 0p 1e in the bush .

But through the intercessions of King Taki this project

e
,

was abandoned and after the heirs to th several stools

e
,

had been delivered to the Governor as hostages peac ,

was concluded The people however did not return to

.
, ,

Christiansborg nor attempt to rebuild their houses until

 TH E KR O B O REB ELLI O N

som e time later when Mr Freeman the Wesleyan mission

, .
,

ary was Civil Commandant

,
.

In 1 8 5 5 Accra narrowly escaped a similar fate due to

a like cause and a Commissioner was sent in 1 8 5 6 to
,

enquire into and report upon the local state of a ffairs

e
.

H found that although the Accras were loyal enough

in a general sense yet they positively refused to pay
,

the poll tax and in 1 8 5 7 a mob of the townspeople plu n

,

dered the French factory in J ames Town

1
.

In 1 8 5 7 the designation of the Gold Coast Corps was

changed to The Gold Coast Artillery Corps and the ,

colours of the uniform and facings were changed A late .

Lieutenant of the O smanli Horse Artillery was attached

to the regiment for one year as Instructor of Artillery ,

and was then succeeded by a regimental Lieutenant as

Instructor of Musketry .

In 1 8 5 8 O logo Patu the Chief of South Western Krobo

, ,

led a rebellion against the Government This also owed

e
.

its origin partly to th strong obj ection the people of the

e
east rn districts had to paying the poll tax and partly to ,

a quarrel with O d onkor Azu the Chief of Eastern Krobo , ,

whom Patu attacked The Gold Coast Corps under

.
,

Major Bird who was Acting G overnor was moved to ,

Accra and contingents having been raised in Accra

, ,

Eastern Krobo Akwapim and Akwamu the whole force

, ,

was concentrated at Prampram early in September On .

the 1 1 th an advance was made and on the i 3 th the army ,

encamped near the Krobo Mountain but the Akwapim ,

contingent deserted the same night O n the i 8 th Captain .

Brownell led a small detachment and attempted to occupy

a height overlooking O logo Patu s town but the enemy ’

drove him back and then attacked the British camp but ,

were repulsed wit h great difficulty after an engagement

lasting two hours .

Reinforcements were now sent for and by the 1 9 th of ,

October a large force had been collected and a fresh advance

was made .Nearly men were now concentrated
at Saddle Hill about a mile and a half to the south of the
N o w Messrs S wa n zy s J am e
,

s T o wn F a ctory
’
1 .
.
 TH E P O LL TAX

K robo Mountain and in the face of this overwhelming

,

force O logo Patu surrendered He and some of the other

.

Chiefs were imprisoned as security for the payment of a

fine of which was imposed on the people but barely ,

half of this su m had been paid when they succeeded in

making their escape owing to the inexcusable carelessness
,

of the o fficer in charge of them

e
.

In 1 8 5 9 a serious riot took place between the B ntil

and I ntin Companies at Cape Coast The Captains were .

prosecuted and the Court ordered that every Company

,

in the town should within one month send into the Castle
, ,

all the flags they wished to use in future when the Governor ,

would substitute others for such as were objected to and ,

the colours and patterns of every approved flag would be

’
registered in the Secretary s o ffice after which the use of
,

any other would be severely punished I n the light of .

subsequent events however it would appear either that

, ,

this order was never enforced or that the registration of

,

all lawful flags at this early date was soon forgotten .

 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

o ffere d them The public however showed them no

.
, ,

sympathy and in fact cordially hated them so that by

, ,

the oth they were compelled by want of provisions to lay

down their arms and were then sent for trial by General
Court Martial to Sierra Leone O ne of the ringleaders .

was s h ot and another a private sentenced to death

,
1
, ,

and sent back to Cape Coast where he was executed on ,

the i 3 th o f November Two more were sent to penal .

servitude for life and forty eight received various sentences

,
-

o f imprisonment Twenty one marines under Lieutenant

.
-

O gle of the Royal Marine Ar tillery were then drafted int o

the Castle as a safeguard against any further outbreaks ,

and order was restored .

Since the last threatened invasion by the Ashantis ,

although the eastern districts had been in a disturbed

state owing to the resistance o ffered by the people to th e
payment o f the poll tax the remainder of the Protectorat , e
had been unusually quiet The various Chiefs were on .

good terms one with anot h er their relations with Ashanti ,

were perfectly friendly and the whole country was in a

e
,

very prosperous condition Trade had never been mor .

flourishing : numbers of Ashantis arrived on the Coast

daily bringing gold ivory and other produce which th y
, , , e
exchanged for European goods and now that the rebellion
in the east had been put down by th Krobo war the ou t e ,

look was exceptionally brilliant and everyone was con

e
,

fid n tly looking forward to a time of general peace and

prosperity These hopes however were soon dashed to
.
, ,

the ground by the occurrence of a fresh dispute with

Ashanti and the country was soon afterwards involved in
,

a nother war which as an example of blundering incom

e
, ,

p otence and hesitancy and a sequence of unfortunat ,

mistakes is unique in the history of the Gold Coast

, .

The trouble originated as follows : Kwesi Janin a ,

’

Captain and subj ect of the King of Ashanti was alleged to ,

have found certain rock gold 3 which by Ashanti law , ,

e
b glewh de d th ea ss em bly a t Ca e e
H was
e
1
Th
r Hill B a rra cks o n th eroth o f N ov e
p Coa st
m be
u r o s ou n ,

s h ot a t To w

e e
r .

1
D j a nin or G a ini .
a
N u gg ts .
 KW ESI JAN I N

hould have been surrendered to the King , instead of

e
s

which he had retained it for his own use S ome of th .

King s messengers happened to pass through his v illage

’

soon afterwards and his wife had given information against

e
,
’
him swearing the King s oath that the charges sh made
,

were true Janin at once confirmed the oath thereby

.
,

appealing for the matter to be he a rd before the King s ’

tribunal and the messengers accordingly ordered the

,

parties to accompany them to Kumasi to ha ve the case

.
, e
settled J anin howe v r possibly because he was conscious
,

of guilt now began to make various excuses for delaying

e
,

his depa rture pu t ting the messengers off first for ight
,

d ays then for ten and las t of all for fifteen after which
, , ,

as he still refused to proceed to Kumasi the King s men ,

’

felt convinced o f his guilt a n d returned to the capital and

,

reported wha t had happened to the King Further .

m essengers were then sent to bring the parties before the

Court ; but J anin had anticipated this and fled into the
Protectorate before they could reach his village taking ,

s everal of his pe 0p 1e with him About the same time .

,

too a slave boy wh o was returning to Kumasi with h is

,

master escaped and fled to A s sin whence he was sent ,

d own by the Chief to the Governor .

Early in December 1 8 6 2 messengers from the King ,

arrived at the Castle to make a formal demand for the

return of these fugiti v es Amongs t them was the bearer

.

1
of the Golden Axe showing that the matter was regarded
,

as one of more than ordinary import a nce An enquiry .

was held in the Cas tle Hall at which the slave boy com ,

p lained that he had been ill treated by his master and that
-
,

having sworn the King s oath that he would not return to

’

A shanti he would certainly forfeit h is head if he were sent

,

back J anin also protested that he was innocent of the

e
.

charge preferred against him and ass rted that it had been
e
,

made solely because h was a rich man and that the King ,

ee e
This m bl m a tic a x wa s th o u gh t m u ch o f b y th As h antis : it e
ee
e e e ee e
1

e
was said to h av b n u s d a s a w a p on b y o n o f th ir arli st Kings
eee e
b for th introdu ction of fir a rm s and wa s k pt with and carri d in e e
e eee e
p roc ss ion b fo r th G old n Sto ol .
,
 TH E FI FTH AS HANTI WAR

1 8 00 1 8 6 4
—
had invented this excuse to ruin him and confiscate his

e
property .

XXV I I
. Governor Pin fiva s fully alive to the difficulties of the
positio n and in h is despatch to the S ecretary of State
,

on the 1 0th of December 1 86 2 wrote : The refuge ,

a fforded to runaway slaves and pawns under the British

flag has during my long experience proved the source
, ,

o f the greatest i rritation and annoyance to native Kings

and Chiefs and the wound the most di fficult for Her
,
’
Maj esty s representative to heal Gladly wo uld I try
.

an experiment and send back these subjects to Ashantee ,

for if confidence were once created between this Govern

ment and Ashantee the greatest obstacle in the way of
,

amicable relations between u s would be removed ; and

if against the old man there were the slightest shadow of
a prima facie case of criminality my course would be
-
,

clear ; but as it is I dare not deliver him up much less

, ,

the runaway boy Their blood would be upon my head ;

e e
.

and yet I feel that I am estranging if not a p rating , ,

the most powerful King on this Coast and upon whom , ,

”
according to his ideas I am committing a gross injustice
, .

Consequently although the messengers o ffered to swear

,
’
the King s oath that if J anin were returned he would
receive a fair trial and even if found guilty would not be
’
inj ured nor the slave boy s life forfeited the Governor
, ,

told them that he could not consent to deliver them unless

he was furnished with definite evidence of their guilt and ,

the men then returned to Kumasi

e
.

Many people expected t h at war would be the immediat

result of this refusal but the King following the custo
e
,

mary policy of Ashanti would not resort to hostiliti s

,

until he had convinced himself that he could not gain

h is ends by diplomacy O n the i 7 th of February th
. e
messengers returned and were received in the Castle Hall
o n the following day A letter was also sent by the Ki ng
.

to the Dutch Governor at Elmina complaining of the

treatment shown him by the English but h is offer to send
e
on of his officers to Kumasi to mediate in the dispute
,

was refused At the meeting in the Castle the chief

.
,
 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

1 8 60 1 8 6 4
—
tha t t he tre a ty referred to was t he Tripartite Treaty of 1 83 1 ,

C HA P in which the mark of Qu agu a appe ars on behalf of the

.

XXVII King I t is true that there is no article dealing with the

.

mutual surrender of criminals in this treaty ; but this is

the document in which the vague allusion is made to
the terms and conditions of peace already agreed to
as defining the manner in which all fut ure disputes w re e
to be settled It must be remembered too that the King
.
, ,

could not read the treaty for himself and would be de ,

pendent upon what he was told by Qu agu a and his

other representatives and if any further verbal or written
,

agreement had been made at that time they would ,

probably have included its terms in t heir general account

of the whole transaction and thus have led the King to,

believe and very probably them selves have believed

, ,

that such agreement was part of the actual treaty

itself
.

Apa rt from all this there is in fact evidence that som e

e
,
'

uch agreement or understanding r ally did exist Crnik .

shank who wrote only ten years before these events

,

took place says “ Another di fficulty which ou r Gold

,

Coast Go vernment has to contend against is the disposal

of runaway slaves from As hantee It was stipulated in .

e
our treaties with the King that h is fugitive subjects should

e
be redeli vered to him in the same way that Fante s
flying into his dominions were to be restored to th
Governor This arrangement was necess ary to prev nt
.
e
malefactors escaping punishment But in many cases .

the runaway Ashantee seeks a refuge from the fate which

is likely to overtake him at the murderous customs which
are often taking place at Coomassie and a natural r e
e
,

p u gna nc is of course felt about surrendering him

.
, ,

Under these circumstances the Go vernor is obliged to ,

mediate as he best can and refuses t o deliver up the

,

runaway excep t upon condition of sufficient securi

,
ty
being gi ven that his life will be spared The secu rity .

’
for their safety is simply the King s great oath taken '
,

o n his behalf by his messengers There is no instance

.

known of this oath given under such circumstances being

 MACLEAN S PRACTI CE ’

violated . Cruikshank had spent eighteen years in the

country had been J udicial Assessor a nd had also acted
, ,

a s Governor and had such an intimate knowledge of Gold

,

Coast affairs especially during the period of Maclean s

,
’

administration that it is ridiculous to suppose that he

,

would have made such a statement as this unless some

s uch agreement actually existed ; nor is it likely that
Maclean who was so anxious and did so much to restore
,

law and order arid to ensure j ustice to all would have ,

om itted to make some such arrangement as this to prevent

the escape of criminals I n fact Maclean himself wrote

.
,

in a letter dated the i 6 th of December 1 8 3 7 to the Com

m itt e
e of Merchants in London : I have seldom known
any but criminals to seek the protection of the British
flag and even these I have very rarely delivered
,
having
alm ost always made it matter of personal favour with
the King tha t he should allow them to be redeemed for
a sum of money I n no case whatever have I ever delivered
.

up a fugitive without receiving undoubted security for

his personal safety ; I almost always indeed stipulate , ,

for the personal appearance before me of the party at

s tated periods Moreover no person is given up merely
.
,

because he is the subj ect of a foreign Ch ief ; it must be

shown he has been guilty of some crime or that there
e
,
” 3
x ists against him some j ust claim Maclean therefore .
, ,

had given up criminals and others after their personal

s afety had been guaranteed and the procedure described
,

by Cruikshank is so exactly in accordance with the state

m ents made by the King in his letter that there can be

no doubt that this claim was genuinely made and if not ,

made under any actual agreement was at any rate accord

ing to established precedent Colonel Na gtgla s too who.
, ,

served for many years under the Dutch Government and ,

was Governor of their Possessions in 1 86 9 and 1 8 7 0 wrote ,

in a letter dated February 1 8 7 4 There is an agreement

in existence between the local British Government and
e
th King of Ashanti either oral o r in writing that on
, ,

Cru iks h an k v o l ii p 2 3 6 7
e e
e
1 —
.
, .
, .

2
R p f C om
ort o m itt part 11 p , . 1 44 .
 TH E FI FTH AS HANTI WAR

both sides runaway prisoners for crime should be

”
delivered .

Since writing the above a despatch written by Governor

e
,

Winni tt to the Secretary of State on the 4th of June

1 8 5 0 h a s been found in o n e
of the old letter books at -

Christiansborg Castle which settles this question beyond

,

all doubt He wrote I believe your Lordship is per

e e
.

f ctly aware that since th close o f the war with Ashantee

an understanding has existed between the British Local
Government and the King to the e ffect that all runaways
from Kumassie are to be delivered back to the King upon
application made by him to the O fficer administering
”
the Government He went on to explain that this
.

arrangement had at times given rise to serious doubts

in his mind but that considerations for the peace of the
,

country had been su fficient to overcome his reluctance

to adhere to it In one case he had resisted such a demand
.

in reference to a slave woman who had been ill treated -

and run away but the King had threatened to close the
,

paths and cut o ff all communication with the coast and ,

he had been compelled to give in .

Taking these independe nt statements in conjunction

’
with the King s letter it is evident that the claim now
,

made by Kwaku Dua was one that he was perfectly entitled

to make and was in fact made in accordance with an
,

agreement or compact of some kind that actually existed

and had been repeatedly acted upon for many years Nor .

can it be denied that the crime of which Kwesi Janin

e
was accused was a serious o n according to the laws of
e
Ashanti I t is on of those specially mentioned by Bow
.

dich Ashanti was at this time an entirely independent

.

kingdom and only bound to the British Government by

treaty obligations and although Mr Pine was u n .

doubtedly actuated in what he did solely by feelings of

humanity it is very questionable h ow far he was justified
,

in the circumstances in refusing to comply with the

K ing s request after his duly authorized messengers had
’

o ffered to follow the usual precedent and take the King s '

oath that the lives of the refugees would be spared So .

 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

their oldest laws was not a crime known to English law ;

,

and this fact seems to have altogether blinded him to the

view that Ashanti was an independent State over whose
laws the English had no control whatever The real .

question then would be whether this agreement provided

, ,

for the extradition of all criminals irrespective of the ,

nature of their o ffences or only for the surrender of those

,

charged with certain classes of crime There is the .

strongest evidence that there was some such understand

ing and if this was so and only certain crimes of which ,

this wa s not one were covered it would surely have been

, ,

admitted and the right o f refusal in this case pointed out .

If there was no extradition treaty the Governor could not

be asked to give up fugitives except in accordance with
the precedent that had undoubtedly been set ; if there
was he could not refuse
,
.
l

The Governor s decision however was fully approved

’
, ,

by the Secretary of State who in a despatch dated the, ,

4th of March I 86 3 laid down that

, no law should authorize
such delivery to the authorities of a country in which
j ustice is not fairly administered except in the case of
”

,
”
heinous crimes clearly proved though this direction was ,

qualified by the statement that if it were necessary for

the Chiefs to hand over fugitives for their own safety ,

su ch action should be carried out by the Chiefs themselves ,

but no British authority should be involved in their

surrender except in cases where clear j ustice required it .

Whether or not the present was a case in which clear justice

required the surrender of J anin is a point upon which there
is room for a diversity of opinion but this extraordinary
qualification o f the general principle laid down shows that
the Secretary of State felt no more sure of his ground than
the Governor did At any rate seeing that the Chiefs
.
,

were under British protection and amenable to Govern - o

ment control it is difficult to understand how they could

,

have adopted the course here recommended and have

handed over fugitives without the consent of the English
being at least implied The S e cretary o f State however
He
,

r fe
h a d a pe ct righ t h o we
ve
r to de
,
.

m a n d proofs
1
.
, ,
 EXTRAD ITI O N REFU S ED

knew nothing of the King s second message or of the alleged

'

agreement and actual precedent in such cases and asked ,

to be informed what is the actual practice with reference

”
to persons taking refuge in the protected territories .

Ellis in his account of what happened at the meeting

,

with the Ashanti envoy says that many of the merchants

, ,

with Commodore Wilmot strongly supported the claim ,

of the King but the headmen o f Cape Coast w ho it was

, ,

said had been bribed by Dj a nin and others of the ,

m erchants were against it The Governor also was of

,
.

Opinion that the fugitives should not be surrendered so , ,

as a matter o f course the o fl

,
‘
icia l members of the Council
voted with him and it was finally decided by a considerable
,
" ’
m ajority to reject the King s demand The Governor 1
.
,

in his despatch o f the roth of March 1 86 3 however says , , ,

it was the unanimous opinion of all present that my

’
compliance with the King s request was impossible .

In his evidence before the House of Commons Committee

in 1 8 6 5 when asked why he had not sent Janin away he
, ,

admitted that Governor Hill had established a precedent

for such a course and said , I suggested it till I was tired ,

I begged them to let me send h im away The Palaver .

Hall contained a hundred and fifty natives deeply

interested in it and they protested when threatened to
, , ,

send him back by force ( to Ashanti ) I told him that it .

was his duty to obey his lawful King I pointed out that ,

he would not inj ure him but simply j udge him and do him
,

justice . A little later he says The general sentiment ,

of the meeting was the greatest horror at my even hesi

”
tating to protect the man .

In the face of these conflicting statements it is very

diffi cult to decide what really did happen Ellis evidently .

took his account from a letter written by Dr Horton .

to Earl Granville the Secretary o f State for the Colonies

, ,

dated Cape Coast Castle 1 2 th November 1 86 9 in which ,

“
,

the following passage occurs The case of the King of

Ashantee was set forth in a speech by his war axe bearer -
,

which was remarkable for its fluency rhetorical power

Ellis History of th e
,

1
,
Gold C oa s t p 2 2 6 , . .
 TH E FI FTH AS HANTI WAR

and argume nt ative clearness There was a divisi on .

amongst the members Many of the merchants with .

,

Commodore Wilmot strongly urged the claim of the King

,

o f Ashantee and recommended that Gamin should be

,

delivered up whilst the Chiefs of Cape Coast wh o had ,

been bribed by Gamin and some of the merchants were ,

of a contrary opinio n Co m modore Wilmot endeavoured .

to influence them by showing them how prosperous the

,

country then was and the evils of war and clearly pointed ,

o u t that if they went to war with Ashantee it would take

, ,

fifty years to bring the country back to its then condition

,
e ee e
but qu ot hom in s tot s nt ntta the voice of the multitude
'

prevailed and Gamin was quietly allowed to remain in

,
”
the Protectorate Dr Horton was alm ost certainly
.
1
.

present at the various meetings and was writing from his ,

o wn knowledge of what took place but this letter which ,

is a summary of events written some years later does ,

not go into the details of the several palavers This is .

evident ; because Commodore Wilmot did not arrive on

the Coast until the 2 9 th of March and cannot therefore ,

have been present at this first meeting The Governor .

really seems to have been very doubtful what to do and ,

to have hesit a ted and changed his mind more than o nce ,

fin a lly giving way to the clamour of the people .

O n the arrival of Amankwa Akuma in Kumasi with the

’
Governor s second message of refusal a meeting of the ,

Council was held at which it was unanimously decided

,

that such an insult and disregard of obligations could only

be avenged by war I t is not known whether Kwaku
.

Dua himself was inclined to hostilities or not He was .

certainly the most pacific ruler who ever sat on the Ashanti
Stool but in any case he was bound to be overruled by his
,

Chiefs But although war was then and there decided

.

upon its actual commencement had to be postponed for

,

a time in order to enable the King to replenish his stock

,

o f powder and other necessaries I t was indeed commonly .

reported on the coast when parties of Ashantis first began

,

to cross the Pra that the King himself knew nothing of

ee e
,

1
Horton L ,
tt rs on th G ld C
o oas t, pp 5 4 5 5
. , .
 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

which no compensation was made on their release gave ,

the King a further excuse for war In addition to all these

.

troubles the Governor was left without any European

,

civilian to assist him and had to rely upon such help as

,

the naval and military officers could give him while they ,

themselves were preparing to take the field and were already

fully occupied with their own duties .

Nearly all the troops were at this time stationed in

Accra Prampram Pong and other places in the eastern
, ,

district where they had been sent to enforce payment of

,

the fine imposed on the K rob os for their recent rebellion .

The Governor therefore visited Accra collected every ,

available man and returned with them to Cape Coast on

ee
board the A dv n tu r early in April She had left Lagos .

with an o fficer and a hundred men of the and West India

Regiment who had j ust been relieved and were returning
,

to the West Indies but in view of the threatening state

of a ffairs they too were disembarked and detained at
, , ,

Cape Coast to reinforce the garrison .

Rumours were now current of the presence of marauding

bands of Ashantis in the northern districts and four heads ,

were sent to Cape Coast Anamabo Winneba and Accra , ,

which had been taken by the allies from Ashantis whom

they h a d caught pillaging their farms Supplies of arms .

and ammunition were then issued to the allied Chiefs for

their protection but they were strictly enj oined to commit
,

no hostile act except in case of absolute necessity No .

actual declaration of war had yet been made and it was

therefore decided at a meeting held in the Castle on th
,
,

e
3 o th of March to send a messenger to the King to ask what
,

his intentions really were and whether these incursions

of his people had been made with his approval Prince .

A nsa h aving volunteered his services was sent up on this

, ,
.

mission A fortnight later it was arranged that Major

e
.

Cochrane should at once take the field and form an n

trenched camp some thirty miles from the coast in order
'
to be in a better position to observe the enemy s move
ments to give confidence to the allies and provide a nucleus
, ,

around which their forces might ra lly He left Cape Coast .

 BATTLE O F ESSI KUMA

for this purpose on the 1 7 th of April and reached Mankesim

two days later .

The regular forces on the Coast did not exceed four

hundred men all of whom were urgently needed by Major
,

Cochrane Guns and men were therefore landed from the

.

wars h ips for the protection of Cape Coast : 1 2 8 o fficers

and men from the R a t tl s na k occupied the Castle Forte e ,

William and Barnes house on Prospect Hill and raised

’
,

an entrenched redoubt named Fort Frederick on Connor s ’

Hill while thirteen men were landed from the R a ng r to

,
e
ga rrison Fort Victoria Provisions for six weeks were
.

landed and stored in the Castle and Anamabo and Dixcove

Forts the gates and buildings were repaired and four
, ,

additional guns sent to Dixcove Two large camps were .

formed by the allies the G om oa s and A gu nas occupying

Essikuma while the D nk ra s Abras A ssins and the
,
ee , , ,

detachments from Cape Coast and Anamabo established

th emselves at Mansu Messrs G B la nkson Hughes . . .
, ,

W E Davidson W Finlason S C Brew and Robert

. .
, .
,
. .

Hutchison all raised small contingents from their own

fam ilies and retainers and j oined the army in the field .

In the meantime the Ashantis had completed their

preparations and their army cross d th Pra and invaded
, ee ‘

the Protectorate in three divisions The first numbering .

,

about men entered Wassaw with orders to hold the

ee
,

D nk ras and Wa ss aws in check but to avoid any general

e
,

ngagement if possible the second strong and hav ,

ing similar orders advanced from Prasu and followed the

,

m ain road through the very centre o f the Protectorate ;

while the main body under Awusu Kokor a relative of

e
, ,

th King crossed the river a little later and entered Akim

, .

This force advanced rapidly through Western Akim Wi th

ou t meeting with any opposition until it reached Essikuma ,

where it suddenly fell on the allied camp and after a ,

stubborn resistance lasting six hours in which many fell ,

on either side the allies were completely routed .

,

Hearing that Anamabo was threatened Major Cochrane ,

m arched the whole of his force there at the end o f April

bu t after waiting three days without seeing any sign o f

 TH E FI FTH AS HANTI WAR

the threatened attack returned once more to his camp,

at Mankesim O n the 7 th of May he moved through

.

Denkera to Bobikuma where a number of the allies had,

collected after the battle of Essikuma The Ashantis .

were still encamped at the latter place which lay about ,

fourteen miles to the north west of Bobikuma Anything -

.

more disgraceful and incompetent than t he subsequent

conduct of Maj or Cochrane can hardly be imagined .

O n the l o th of May the Ashantis advanced to within

a quarter of a mile of the camp of the allies and a slight ,

skirmish took place between the m and the native scouts ,

in which several of the latter were killed A general .

engagement was now confidently expected for the next

day and there was a reasonable prospect of victory as
, ,

the native contingent at Bobikuma numbered nearly

men ; but to the astonishment and indignation
o f the entire force both regular and native Major Cochrane
, ,

issued orders for the whole of the former and the greater
portion of the latter to retire to the village of A dij um a ;
and this retrograde movement was carried out on the
day follo wing while the gallant commander himself pro
e
ee
,

c d d to the sea coast town of Mumford -

O n the rath .

of May the remnant of the native contingent left at

Bobikuma was attacked in force by the As hantis at two
o clock in the afternoon and by fiv o clock the allied
’
, e '

natives were completely routed losing very heavily , .

The town of Bobikuma was destroyed and had Awusu ,

K okkor pushed on to A dij u m a the disorganised force

there waiting without orders and without a commander
, ,

would no doubt have been swept away before him Fortu

e
.

na t ly however
, he did not follow up h is success but
, ,

after destroying upwards of thirty towns and villages in

the neighbourhood retired unmolested on the 2 4th of May
,

to Akim S waidru a town on the southern frontier of

e
,

Ashanti Akim , and close to the River B irrim the east rn

-
,
”
tributary of the Prah .
1

The small portion of the allied force who were thus

deserted at Bobikuma and left at the mercy of the enem y
Ellis History of th e
1
, Gold C oa s t pp 2 2 8 9 , .
—
.
 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

he had sent an insulting message back by the messengers

to the King o f A shanti and it is said cut off one of their
,
”
heads besides ill treating the others
,
-
If then it were .
, ,

true t h at A j im a n had been guilty of this outrage against

his messengers it is not surprising that the King should
,

have demanded h is head The Governor however seem s

.
, ,

to h ave known nothing of this at the time and wishing to , ,

receive some confirmation of the accuracy of this m essage ,

asked Prince Ansa to visit the Ashanti camp and inform
the general that he would hold no parley with anyone
but a duly accredited Ashanti who must come to th
British camp with a flag of truce but that if the m essage
, e
had been correctly delivered the Ashanti army m ust ,

immediately leave the Protectorate and full compensation

be paid for all the damage it had done .

Realizing that Maj or Cochrane was unlikely to be of

any great use to him in the field Mr Pine himself escort d , .
, e
by a small body of volunteers under Captain Finlason ,

proceeded to the camp at Aj umako where he arrived on ,

the 2 7th of May and found about men under arm s .

The Kings and Chiefs bitterly complained of the way in

which Major Cochrane had deserted and betrayed Akini
the Chief of Bobikuma but readily agreed to supply th e
e
,

necessary transport if another advance were made by th

Governor or Captain Williams On the sth of J u n . e
Maj or Cochrane apparently shamed into doing som ething
,

by the Governor s activity arrived in camp from Mum ford

’

e
,

bu t brought only twenty men with him so that a furth r ,

delay was caused while the remainder of his force was

sent for and there was no possibility of commencing th e
e
,

advance for some time In this way all h Op of m aking

e
.

a successful attack on the enemy or cutting off his retr at

was destroyed . The rains were now coming on and ,

previous costly experience had taught the Ashantis that

campaigning during the wet season only entailed disease
and disaster to their troops Awusu therefore so soon . ,

a s he had received the Governor s message and confirm ed

’

Before anyth ing more could

h is own decided to retire
e
.
,

be done news was brought to the allied camp that th

,
 FAM I N E

Ashantis had already recrossed the Pra and were on their

way back to Kumasi , taking a number of Fanti prisoners
and jawbones with them .

“Thus disgracefully terminated the campaign of 1 8 6 3 .

Through mismanagement to use no harsher term the , ,

Ashantis had been allowed to attack the allies in detail

and win two battles and to remain for over eighty days
,

in one of the most fertile districts o f the Protectorate ,

burning ravaging and slaying The disappointment and

,
.

shock to Governor Pine were so great that he was taken

seriously ill in the camp at Denkari near A dj u m ako , ,

where he had gone to inspire and encourage the natives ,

”
and he was brought down to Cape Coast almost lifeless
1
.

Maj or Cochrane returned to Cape Coast on the 2 sth of

June the regulars reoccupied the forts and the allies
, ,

were dispersed during the rainy season During their .

stay in the Protectorate the Ashantis had burned over

thirty towns and villages and destroyed an enormous
number of farms besides killing several hundreds of the
,

people The laying waste of so much fertile country and

.

the absence of the people from their farms in other parts

led to much distress and want foodstuffs were at famine
rates and the price of corn rose from as 6d to 1 3s 6 d
, . . . .

a bushel .

The people su ffering from famine and loss of property

, ,

and smarting under an undeserved defeat now renewed ,

their complaints against Maj or Cochrane and by petitions , ,

and indignation meetings constantly clamoured for h is

,

removal Commodore Wilmot wrote to the Admiral on

.

the i 4th of August that he had to report the entire failure

of the expeditionary force under Maj or Cochrane in doing ,

anything towards either meeting the Ashantis in the field

or assisting the allied Kings and Chiefs to do so The .

entire milit ary force was placed at the disposal of the

commanding offi cer for this purpose and it was on this ,

account alone that I o ffered to garrison the Castle and

defend the neighbourhood The season has been a most .

wonderful one with scarcely any rain and v ery cool

Ellis History of the
.
,

1
Gold Coa st p 2 3 0
, , . .
 TH E FI FTH A SHANTI WAR
'

Every advantage h a s been given to the commanding

o fficer for field operations as far as the weather was con
cerned and the Kings and Chiefs under our Protectorate
,

were ready for advancing I am sorry to say however .

, ,

that all these advantages have been thrown away but , ,

’
far worse the prestige of ou r support has been lost
, ,

and the British power brought into contempt It will .

be for the Government to enquire into the cause of this

inaction and I feel very deeply the humiliation we have
,

su ffered in consequence Much ill feeling existed against

.
-

the Dutch also for having permitted the Elm inas to send
regular supplies of arms and powder to the Ashantis while
they were actually occupying portions of the protected
country and it was clear that the Dutch Governor Colonel
, ,

Elias had been in regular communication with Awusu

,

Kokor for one of his letters addressed To the Captain

,

General of the Ashantee army at war against the British

had been intercepted I t was no t opened but the mere
.
,

fact that such a correspondence was going on was

sufficiently significant .

Although he had been so hampered by all these numerous

difficulties so that the campaign had ended disastrously
,

to the English and without a single success or effort on

their part as a redeeming feature yet Governor Pine under ,

stood more clearly than anyone else seems to have done

what were the real needs of the case and was firmly con
e
,

vinc d that the time had come when a decisive blow must
be struck at the power o f Ashanti if any hope of permanent
peace and prosperity o n the Gold Coast was to be enter
e
ta in d . There were only two courses open one was to
continue to recognize Ashanti as an independent power
and treat it as such the difficulties attending which would
,

have been very great owing to past misunderstandings ,

and would have steadily increased as time went on and

the power of the English grew and extended the other
was to conquer it and by a firm and j ust rule gradually
,

eliminate what was objectionable and foster and encourage

what was good in it There was no practicable middle
.

course .
 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

force as to embolden me to sanction such an enterprise

,
,

for I feel that any other measure must necessarily be

incomplete
e
.

These proposals were severely criticized by the Tim s

as follows : What good can come out of that " If w e
capture Kumasi a couple of English regiments will be
,

needed to hold it If we destroy it we destroy at once

.
,

the commercial value of Cape Coast I t would likewise .

be the grossest political blunder to underm ine the power

and authority of the King of Ashanti Instead of
.

h arbouring culprits against his Crown instead of disregard,

ing the treaties between himself and us instead of trying ,

to sap the foundations of his throne we should strive to ,

cultivate acquaintance with him by the tranquil arts of

” 1
peace . These arguments were absolutely sound If .

it had been possible to establish a friendly understanding

or alliance with Ashanti and treat it as a friendly power ,

that would have been the best course but the objection
e
was that the d iflicu lti s attending such an arrangement
between two nations so far removed from each other in
the scale of civilization would have been enormous and
most difficult to avoid .

The correctness of the main opinion expressed by Mr .

Pine however was fully vindicated by the events that

, ,

followed ten years later ; but the Home Government

decli ned to sanction any such ex pedition and the Duke of ,

Newcastle replied I am not insensible of the encourage

ment which the unfortunate inaction of the troops and
native allies under Maj or Cochrane s command may afford
’

to fresh aggressions by the Ashantees but the proposal

of a regular invasion to be made upon that nation and Of ,

a m arch upon their capital is too serious to admit of my

,

encouraging it I will merely say at present that I should

.

feel very averse to its adoption except in case of overruling

,

necessity and a lso after the report of some more competent

,

military commander than anyone from whom there has

yet been an Opportunity of obtaining an opinion at the
”
Gold Coast
Qu ote ly Hayfo rd s Gold Coa s t N a tive
d in Case
.

1
I ns titu tions p 2 64
’
. .
,
 G O LD C O AST C O RPS DI S B AN DED

Some troops were sent out however and Maj or Cochrane

, ,

was superseded by Lieutenant Colonel Conran wh o arrived

-
,

at Cape Coast on the i 3 th o f August on board H M S

ee
. . .

M ga ra with 49 5 men of the 4th West India Regiment ,

wh o brought up the total strength of the regular troops on

the Gold Coast to about 700 men These men relieved .

the naval brigade by which the Castle and forts had been
garrisoned and further reinforcements were promised
, .

On the z i s t of the same month Colonel Conran disbanded

1
the Gold Coast Corps which apart from having mutinied
, , ,

had given a great deal of trouble for some time past and
was considered quite useless and unreliable .

On the 1 9 th of August a messenger arrived from Kumasi ,

bringing a letter from the King and zoo Dutch subj ects ,

who had been in the capital during the invasion and were
now returning to Elmina They were probably men who
.

had been engaged in the supply of arms and ammunition .

’
The King acknowledged the receipt of the Governor s
letter written in J une but said that he could give no reply
,

to it until he had met his Chiefs in Council and completed

the funeral custom for those who had fallen in the war ,

and again promised that Q u a rqu a h should come down

and explain the alleged treaty for the return of refugees .

The Governor s reply was a refusal to hold any further

’

com munication with him until he had received a specific

answer to h is former letter and compensation had been paid

for the damage done by the Ashanti army I t was thought .

that this letter had been sent merely to gain time and tha t
the Dutch subj ects were sent down to curry favour with
their Government and ensure a further supply of powder
and arms Everyone expected that the Ashantis would
.

renew their attack on the Protectorate so soon as the

rai ns were over and in order to oppose their advance and
,

All volu nte e re d to s erve du ring th e Ash a nti inv a sion Du ring th e
twe lve Co rp s 2 0 office rs ou t of 5 7 h a d d ied th e
ye
1

ars e x is ten ce o f th e
.

com m iss ions o f 6 Ens ign s h a d be en ca nce lled 4 oth e rs res igne d or we re
’
, ,

su persede d with in a fe w we e ing g a ze

ks o f b e tted 6 ou t of 1 1 S e rg e
,

African s e rvice of n ine

a nt

Maj ors die d with a n a ve ra ge

,

African s e ve e
m o nth s a n d 2
m ore we re inv a lid ed with a n a ve ra ge rvic of fi m onth s

(Maj or J J Crooks )
. . .
 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

the same time restore the confidence of the allies in

'

at

British protection it was decided to form a camp on the

,

R iver Pra which could be used as a base for the collection

,

o f stores preparatory to an advance into the enemy s

’

territory should this be found practicable and necessary .

I t was also known that small bands of the enemy were still
lingering in the Protectorate near the Pra and on the oth ,

of O ctober messengers arrived from the King of Denkera

bringing a fresh Ashanti jawbone and reporting the oc
currence of a slight skirmish between his pe0p 1e and one
o f these parties O ne of the objects of this advanced
.

camp therefore was to free the Protectorate of these

, ,

predatory bands and show the King that the English

were still prepared to fight and resist his encroachments .

An Ashanti Captain too who had been sent to Atta the

, ,

Chief of Akim during the last invasion to ask him to return

to his former allegiance was now released , This man .

had been sent down by Atta to Accra and before his de

e
,

livery a t Cape Coast had been on a cru is of some months '

duration on Commodore Wilmot s ship and it was hoped ’

,

that his account of all that he had seen and of the prepara
tions that were being made might induce the King to
make some such concessions as might lead to the conclusion
of peace .

A camp a nd supply depot were first formed at Mans u

on the 2 nd of Janu a ry 1 8 64 and garrisoned by 1 00 men
under Captain Mackay who cleared the bush and fortified
,

the position They were followed on the 2 sth by the

.

men of the z u d and 4 th battalions of the West India

Regiment under Captain Knapp wh o arrived at Mansu ,

on the 3 i st and Colonel Conr an and his sta ff reached the

e
,

camp the day after Messengers had been sent to th

.

various Chiefs asking them to cut roads for the passage of

the troops and transport of stores and this work had been,

done so promptly and so well that a twelve pounder gun -

was taken up to the Pra on its wheels without once being

taken to pieces By the 8 th of February the whole Of
.

the troops from Cape Coast were encamped near the river
at Prasu , where they commenced the construction of a
 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

appreciate any di fference that might have been held to

exist between the responsibility of the Crown and that of
the representatives of trading corporations Moreover .

the views they now held and which it must be admitted

,

were to a great extent j ustified by past events were by ,

no means conducive to any great faith in British promises

nor likely to favour the success of any negotiations .

I t was known from an Ashanti deserter who had taken

refuge with the King of Denkera e arly in March that ,

although the preparations at the Pra were perfectly well

known in Kumasi the Ashantis did not for a moment
,

believe that the troops would ever dare to cross the river ,

and that a second invasion had been planned and would

e
b carried out during the next dry season regardless of
these defensive arrangements The invasion of Ashanti .
,

however was too great an un d ertaking and the provisional

e
e e
, ,

permission that had at last b n a ccord d was encumbered '

by too many conditions and restrictions to justify any .

advance being made with the troops yet available and it ,

was therefore necessary to await the arrival of the promised

reinforcements before anything more could be done .

They were expected daily ; but week after week went by

without their arrival and though the troops encamped
e
,

on th Pra were at first kept in good health and spirits

by the novelty of their surroundings and their constant
employment in clearing the bush erecting stockades for ,

the fortification of the camp and building a bridge yet , ,

when the rains set in early in March and the men camped ,

on low swampy ground were more or less confined to their

,

tents and huts the climate and exposure combined with

, ,

their enforced idleness soon began to tell ; fever and

,

dysentery broke out and by the end of the month twenty

,

five per cent o f the men were in hospital .

A ll the necess a ry preparations for the advance had now

been completed at Prasu Meat for seventy days and biscuit
.

for forty two for

-
men had been collected there ,

besides 2 00 rounds of ball cartridges for each man and

two 1 2 pounder howit z ers and ten rocket tubes with
- -

ammunition in proportion The delay was caused solely .

 REI N F O RCEMENTS

by the non arrival of the promised troops and as the

-
, ,

m edical reports from the camp grew more and more

alarming ,
it was decided to withdraw three companies
to Cape Coast leaving two to garrison the camp at Prasu
,

and one at Akim Swedru These movements had no

.

sooner been carried out than the Ta m ar arrived o n the

9 th of April bringing the long expected reinforcements

-

to the number o f 6 74 officers and men of the West I ndia

Regiment principally of the i s t and 4th battalions
, Mr . .

Pine s health had in the meantime broken down under

’

e
th continued strain and anxiety compelling him to go
e e
,

for a cruise in the R a ttl s na k and the rains h aving fairly

e
,

s t in ,
it was necessary to suspend all field operations
until they were over The Governor and civil o fficers
.

had moved into the town when the military establishment

was increased but many of these new troops had to be
,

quartered in hired houses also as the accommodation in

e
,

th Castle was still insufficient .

It was now decided that these newly arrived troops

sh ou ld relieve those who had been garrisoning the camps in

e
th bush ; but this change was attended with the most
disastrous results The obj ect of course was to replace
e
.
, ,

th men who had su ffered so severely from disease by

others who were in the best possible condition ; but al
though this seemed reasonable enough a t first sight it ,

was in reality anything but a wise measure Although

e
.

th West Indians are descended from West African stock ,

they have to a great ex tent lost their immunity and when ,

they first arrive in the country are a ffected by the climate

nearly as much as Europeans Their immunity however
.
, ,

is very quickly reacquired and the men who had been

,

stationed in the b u sh for several months and escaped were

now practically reacclimatized and in fact represented

e
,

th survival of the fittest They were infinitely better

e
.

able to perform the necessary duty of guarding th stores

at Prasu than these new arrivals who were still in their ,

m ost susceptible condition The two companies o f the

.
"

I st West India Regiment who relieved the detachment

at the Pra towards the end o f April soon demonstrated

 TH E FI FTH ASHANTI WAR

the truth of this fact for before they had been a month
,

in the b u s h fo u r o fficers out of seven and 1 0 2 men out of

,

2 1 4 were on the sick list There was no proper hospital

-
.

accommodation in the camp the whole place was more ,

or less under water for days together the men were

,

unable to dry their clothes o r properly cook their food ,

and there was next to nothing for them to do and no news

or excitement to stimulate them I n these circumstances .

it was not surprising that the number Of sick rapidly

increased It was therefore decided to reduce the strength
.

of the detachment to 1 00 men o nly and the remainder

left for Cape Coast on the 6 th of J une .

I n the meantime the Home Government alarmed at

e
,

th great loss of o fficers and men somewhat hastily decided ,

t h at all operations against Ashanti should cease and that

e
,

th troops should be withdr awn This intelligence reached .

the Gold Coast in the middle of J une and was received ,

with the greatest consternation I t was h ard upon .

Governor Pine whose theory as to the practicability of

,

invading Ashanti was now generally held to have been

proved to be incorrect and whom many people did not ,

hesitate to charge with the responsibility of the loss of

life which had taken place it was hard upon the troops ,

who after months of weary waiting saw the reward of

patience close at hand only to be deprived of it and it
,

e
was particularly hard upon the protected tribes who saw ,

t h emselves about to be once more abandoned to th ir

foes I n truth the failure of the expedition was due to
.
,

the vacillation of the Home Government and that alone ,

.

First it would not sanction an advance into Ashanti

territory and then it accorded a conditional sanction
,
.

Troops were sent over in driblets so that the first arrivals ,

h a d to wait doing nothing for those who were still to

, ,

come Then having by its lack of decision made an

.
'

expedition before the commencement of the rains

impossible it impatiently put an end to the operations
, ,

because sickness prevailed during the rains There was .

no reason why the original scheme should not have been

adhered to As the rains ceased the troops would have
.
,
 TH E FI FT H AS HANTI WAR

the intelligence of o u r home Ministers The prestige

.

which had attached to the English name from the battle

of Dodowa until the death of Maclean was now gone and
,

the question once more came to be debated whether Great

Britain should maintain or abandon her connection with
’
the Gold Coast Commodore Wilmot s predictions were
.

fulfilled this war had in a short time reduced the country

, ,

from the most satisfactory and prosperous condition it

had ever been in to the opposite extreme Disappoint .

ment misery and mutual recriminations now replaced

,

the hap p iness and good will of former years and trade was ,

at an absolute standstill Many of the merchants became

.

bankrupt and those who contrived to weather the storm

,

at all only did so with the greatest difficulty and their ,

resources were crippled for many years .

1 W o ls e
le
y vo l ii p 2 5 7
, .
, . .
 CHAPTER XXVI I I

EFFE CT S O F THE W A R
1 86 5 TO 1 86 7

THE recent campaign had caused such a scandal and ,

involved such a loss of prestige and so much expense and

sickness amongst the troops employed that th Home , e
Government once more began seriously to consider whether
it was worth while to remain any longer on the Gold Coast ,

and a Special Commissioner Colonel Ord R E was sent

, ,
. .
,

ou t to obtain information about the management and

prospects of the Settlements there and in other parts o f

West Africa I t was pointed out to him in his instructions
.

that the settlement of t h ese places by Europeans in the

ordinary sense of th eterm had never been contemplated
bu t that the Government had only intended to encourage
e
th legitimate commerce of British merchants to protect ,

trade by the occupation of a number of detached posts ,

and at the same time to put a ch eck on the Slave Trade ,

h uman sacrifices and other barbarous practices that

had been customary among the people Colonel Ord .

was to report to what extent these Objects had been

attained by the local Government and what moral influence
was exercised by it over the pe 0p 1e : he was also to try
e
to devise some plan either by limiting th present x p ndi
,
ee
ture or by introducing some system of taxation of the
people whereby the Settlements might be made self
,

supporting without their e fficiency being impaired .

Colonel Ord landed at Cape Coast early in 1 86 5 and

interviewed the Chiefs on the 2 5 th of February O n his .

return to England in March he reported that so far as the

,

5 31
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

suppression of the Slave Trade and the protection and

encouragement of lawful commerce were concerned the ,

local Government had satisfactorily attained the objects

for which it had been kept up and that a great deal had
,

also been done towards the final abolition of human sacri

e
fic s torture for witchcraft and other barbarous practices
, ,

which though not yet unknown o n the Gold Coast were

, ,

nevertheless o f comparative and increasing rarity The .

establishment of British Courts had also done much to

mitigate the evils of domestic slavery and check any
tendency towards undue oppression and severe punish
ment by providing a means of appeal I t was admitted .

that the occupation of the country was costly both in

lives and money and that the wars in which the Govern
e
,

ment had so frequently been involved were mainly t

sponsible for this expense not only directly but also
, ,

indirectly by the interruption and damage they caused

to trade While admitting however that
.
,di fferences
,

or collisions with the natives have occurred wh ich greater

forethought or j udgment might perhaps in some instances
”
have prevented stress was laid on the fact that when
,

ever settlements are brought into contact with warlike

and lawless savages such complications as have occurred
,

on the West Coast are by no means infrequent and are ,

”
generally productive of financial and other difficulties .

The unsatisfactory condition of the Gold Coast and

other West African Settlements was j ustly attributed to
the absence of any definite and permanent policy in their
administration and the relations o f their Governments
with the people Colonel Ord therefore proposed that
e
.

they should all be placed under o n central authority and

controlled by a Governor in Chief who should be stationed
- -
,

at Sierra Leone The main obj ection to this arrange m ent

. ,

which had caused the separation in 1 8 4 2 namely the

e
—
,

absence of any certain and speedy means of int rcom m u ni

e
e
cation between the difi r nt Settlements had now ceased —

to ex ist The presence of the Dutch and their continued

.

unwillingness to come to any agreement for the imposition

of Customs d uties combined with the failure of the poll
,
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

over the protected tribes were not to be undertaken lightly .

I t would have been quite impossible for him to guarantee

the safety of the people and this they understood as well
,

as he did all he ever undertook to do and all that they ,

ever expected him to do was to assist them when occasion

,

arose so far as lay in his power This was the condition .

of a ffairs until 1 8 5 2 when the P011 Tax Ordinance was

,

passed The provisions of this measure certainly gave

.

the pe0p 1e a stronger claim on the Government than

they had ever had before and had the payments then
agreed to been regularly made it might fairly have been ,

contended that they were entitled to a greater degree of

protection than had formerly been contemplated These .

payments however had not been maintained and the

, , ,

people having broken their part of the contract could

, ,

no longer claim any of those benefits that they migh t

otherwise have derived from it I t is quite clear h owever .
, ,

that they never had expected anything like complete

protection nor supposed that the Government would
,

fight their battles for them All that they required was .

that when they were attacked they might be assisted by

the provision of arms and ammunition and that th , e
Government would send its troops to form a nucleus
around which their own forces might rally and provide ,

o fficers to lead them The Fantis in early times h ad

.
, ,

been anything but celebrated for their courage in war ;

but in recent years and in fact ever since 1 8 2 6 they had
, ,

done much to retrieve their character and had always ,

been ready to take the field when occasion arose and do

their share of the figh ting .

The fact that the Government was contemplating the

abandonment of the country soon became known on th e
Gold Coast where it caused the greatest alarm No one
,
.

knew better than did the people themselves the value to

them of the protection they enj oyed o f whatever degree
e
—

it migh t b and they fully reali z ed that if the English

e
—

once withdrew it would not be long b fore the Ashantis

,

again invaded their country and established their dominion

e
ov r the whole Gold Coast Had the English gone it is .
,
 C O MMITTEE S REC O MM EN DATI O NS
’
535

doubtful whether the Dutch would have remained and ,

even had they done so their presence would have made

,

no di fference to the plans of the Ashantis At best a .

,

period o f fearful confusion and bloodshed must have ensued ,

and whether the Ashantis were ultimately successful or

not about which however there can be little room for
—
, ,

doubt there would have been an immediate renewal

—

of the Slave Trade which the people still regarded as the

,

legitimate and natural business of the country and to ,

which they would surely have returned so soon as the

restrictions imposed by the Government were removed .

Petitions signed by hundreds of Chiefs and others were

forwarded to the Governor in which it was said : , We
wish the continuance of the English protection and it is
impossible for us now to express in terms sufficiently
strong our desire that the English Government should
continue with us and not leave us To leave us now would .

be like the parent forsaking his offspring before being able

”
to care for itself .

The Committee finally arrived at the following decisions

first that it was impossible for the British Government
,

to withdraw wholly or immediately from its Settlements

, ,

and engagements on the Gold Coast ; second that all ,

further extension of territory or assumption o f Govern

m ent or new treaties granting protection to the tribes

would be inexpedient but that the policy o f the local

,

Government should rather be to encourage the people to

e xercise those qualities which might in course of time , ,

render it possible for the management of their a ffairs to

be left more and more in their hands and eventually enable
the Government to withdraw This policy of non exten .
-

sion ,however was no t to be considered an absolute

,

prohibition of measures which in peculiar cases may be , ,

necessary for the more efficient and economical administra

tion of the Settlements already occupied The third .

recommendation was that all the West African Settlements

should be united under o n e
central government at Sierra
Leone with local Administrators in each As a result of
e
.

this the Gold Coast once more becam a dependency o f

,
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

Sierra Leone the Governor in Chief visiting it once a year

,
- -

and the Administrator communicating with the Colonial

O ffice only th rough him .

These recommendations entirely reversed the policy

that had grown up in recent years They were in reality .
, ,

quite impracticable and in the end caused much local

,

trouble. Committees of the House of Commons cannot

stop the working of natural causes Neither peoples nor .

individuals ever stand still They either go forward or

.

they go back and if a white race not decaying in itself , ,

keeps a hold among and is brought into daily contact

with natives it must by a law of being which overrides
, ,

all Parliamentary dicta neither stand still nor go back

, ,

but extend its influence and widen its empire When the .

Committee prefaced their report with the admission that

the British Settlements and engagements in West Africa
could not at once or wholly be abandoned they practically ,

gave up their case for impossible as wa s immediate or

,

total abandonment it was perhaps less impossible than

,

for the English to remain in Africa without still going

forward Their recommendations therefore were for the
.
,
”
most part still born -
This summarises the whole
.
1

question of the rise o f British j urisdiction on the Gold Coast .

Coming in the first place as traders pure and simple the ,

English had built their forts and factories but had never ,

acquired any territorial rights in the country either by ,

conquest o r otherwise beyond the actual sites on which

,

these forts stood and even these had originally been

,

granted by the Chiefs and the English had paid ground

rent for them until events brought the deeds or notes
into their hands Strictly speaking their j urisdiction
.
,

ceased at the gates of the forts but by a process of gradual

and almost imperceptible extension by usage and ,
”
sufferance their authority had come to be very generally
,

recogni z ed far beyond these stri ctly legal limits and this ,

extension of power wa s the natural and unavoidable out

come of their continued presence in the country and of
the long contact of a stronger and more viril race with a e
1
Lu cas , p . 1 30 .
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

directly endangered British prestige was never at a lower

.

ebb and several of the Chiefs wh o maintained that they

, ,

had only given up a portion of t h eir authority and sub

e
m itt d to British control in return for the compensating

protection a fforded them against their enemies began to ,

show symptoms of revolt but were promptly called to

,

order Many partly educated men obtained copies of the

.

minutes of the proceedings of the House of Commons

Committee and either because their education was
, ,

insufficient to enable them to grasp the true meaning of

what they read or because they wilfully picked out those
,

passages that seemed best adapted to suit their own ends

and deliberately suppressed the context thereby obscuring ,

and distorting their sense gave their less enlightened

,

countrymen a very erroneous view of the case .

The special point upon which these men fixed and

e
,

which they made th text of all their agitations was the ,

Committee s recommendation that the people should

’

gradually be trained in the management of their own

a ffairs so that the Government might ultimately be able
,

to withdraw if the necessity arose This recommendation

e
.

had been made to hold o u t some h Op to those who h ad

urged the immediate abandonment of the country and its ,

true spirit and meaning were sufficiently clear from the

evidence upon which it was based Sir Benj amin Pine .

had said that we cannot govern that country and if ,

we cannot help the Chiefs to govern it we should be better

”
away and he went on to explain that this fact was largely
e
,

due to th unhealthiness of the climate and the conseq uent

di fficulty in maintaining a sufficiently large establishment
to admit of the appointment of magistrates all over the
Coast I t was necessary therefore that the people should
.
, , ,

to a great extent be ruled through their Chiefs and his

, ,

advice was that they should be gradually accustomed

to manage their own a ffairs by giving t h em municipal
institutions by making them drain their towns and take
,

care of their local a ffairs so that within a given time ,

it might be half a century and it might be a century we ,

should be free to a great extent and they might then ,

 REV O LT O F AGGR I

manage their own a ffairs but such management even

,

t h en was to be by the people directly subject to our

Government Nothing could have been clearer than this
.

and the plainly stated finding of the Committee that it was

i m possible for the Government to withdraw which had ,

been arrived at only after a careful consideration of all

the circumstances and claims of the people was in ,

itself sufficient to negative the construction that was

now put upon this passage The scholars however
e
.
, ,

ntirely ignored these important explanations of the late

G overnor s meaning and made it appear that the Home
’

Government had actually recommended if not ordered

e
, ,

th almost immediate withdrawal of all British control ,

a nd that the local Government was therefore acting in , ,

a defiant and unj ustifiable manner in endeavouring to

m aintain its authority .

The mass of the Ch iefs and people dependent as they ,

were upon the small educated community for their in

formation and seeing their statements apparently supported
,

by the recent announcement that they must not expect

any further protection can hardly be blamed for the
,

S pirit of unrest that they s h owed This however was .

, ,

s oon quieted and the majority of the Chiefs behaved

,

ex tremely well in what cert ainly were very trying circum

s tances . John Aggri the King of Cape Coast however , ,

became surrounded by a number o f more or less educated

a nd designing men who probably hoped to benefit them
,

s elves by any changes that they might succeed in bringing

‘

a bout,
and lending too ready an ear to the bad advice
they gave him caused the Government a great deal o f
,

trouble and ended by procuring his own downfall Aggri .

h imself was a prot é g é of the Wesleyan Mission and always ,

a lluded to himself as the Christian King of Cape Coast

b u t he was quite illiterate and could only speak a few
words of English so that the numerous extraordinary
,

letters that were written in his name must have emanated

principally from these advisers some at least of whom ,

were undoubtedly clever men possessing an extensive ,

k nowledge o f the English language which they might have ,

 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

put to a better purpose than the deception of their natural

ruler and their less accomplished fellow countrymen ,

Aggri in short seems to have been a mere cat s paw

, ,
’
-
.

I n January 1 8 5 6 the people of Cape Coast had deposed

their King K ofi A m issa wh o had succeeded Joe Aggri
,

( Bru pu ) but was not o f the blood royal and until the ,

z i s t of January 1 86 5 they had not appointed a successor

but finding themselves prej udiced when meeting the people

o f other districts by the fact that they had no Head Chief

of their own they had then elected this J ohn Aggri ( Essien)
, ,

who was a member of the original royal family His

e e
.

ns toolm n t was formally recognized by Governor Pi ne

in February and trouble arose almost immediately after
,

wards from the action of one of his magistrates Martin , ,

who imprisoned one George Bla nkson Wood for an alleged

contempt of his Court a charge that appears to have
,

had some foundation in fact Wood however claimed to .

, ,

be a British subject having been born with in a few yards

,

of the Castle and after some very intemperate corre

ee
,

s p o nd nc ,
in which he denied all right of appeal from his
o wn to the Britis h Court Aggri at length declined to treat
,

with the Governor any longer A careful examination .

of thi s correspondence shows that Aggri s advisers had a ’

pretty clear perception of the subtle and gradual means

by which British j urisdiction had been extended by
Governor Maclean and his successors ; but they did not
choose th eir words any too carefully in referring to them ,

and while there was a certain foundation of truth beneath

all that they said they persistently attributed every
,

action of the Government to the worst possible motives ,

and while grossly exaggerating and emphasizing the

,

defects of the system were careful to avoid any acknow

,

ledgment of or reference to the undoubted benefits that

they had derived from it To give them their due Aggri
.
,

and his friends were patriots but woefully indiscreet and

,

misguided ones wh o either could not or would not state

,

their case fairly nor carry out those negotiations that

might have led to a satisfactory settlement of the dispute
without resorting to veiled threats and o ffensive insolence .
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

that they themselves are under the Queen and are pro
ee
,

t ct d by her ; that wherever the Governor resides in

Cape Coast they considered as the Castle That knowing .

these things the people think it unnecessary for the

,

Governor to make such a request viz that they should —

.

sign a document giving land to the Queen when the Queen ,

had for a series of years g iven and granted the said lands
”
without any question on their part In the end .
1
,

Wood took action against Martin in the British Court and

obtained j udgment for £ 1 9 which Aggri paid under
protest .

Aggri nex t sent messengers to all the neigh bouring

Chiefs urging them to join h im in opposition to the Govern
,

ment but they would have nothing to do with him and ,

wh en on the l o th of April 1 8 6 5 j ust prior to his departure

, , ,

for England to give evidence before the House of Commons

Committee the Governor summoned all the Chiefs to a
,

meeting under tents at Cape Coast and enquired wh ether

they wished to side with Ag gri and sever their connection
with the British Government or not the question was ,

met with an unanimous denial The only Ch iefs living .

within a reasonable distance who failed to attend this

meeting and record their wishes were Aggri and the other
Cape Coast Chiefs Aggri however sent Martin as h is
.
, ,

special envoy to England where he gave evidence before

,

the House of Commons Committee and in explaining the ,

’
Chief s grievances had the audacity to try to represent
,

him as the exponent of all the other Kings and Chiefs on

the Gold Coast though they as has been seen had declined
, , ,

to recognize him and even considered it presumptuous on

his part to h ave sent for them ; moreover their refusal ,

to contribute anything towards the heavy expenses

incurred by Martin s mission involved Aggri in still further
’

di fficulties Another complaint that was made by Martin

.

was that the growing custom of employing advocates

had so increased the attendant expenses that the British
Courts were no longer accessible to the pe0p1e yet though ,

he represented these advocates as a positive curse to the

Parliam e
1
nta ry Pa pe
r K ing A gge
ry p 45 , , . .
 R I O T AT CAPE C O AST

country Aggri soon afterwards employed their leader

,

as his private secretary and chief adviser .

While the relations between the Government and Aggri

were thus strained an unfortunate a ffair took place at
,

Cape Coast of which he and h is p arty gladly availed

,

th emselves as an additional pretext for abusing the

Government At this time owing to lack of proper
e
.
,

accommodation elsewhere o n company of the 4th West ,

India Regiment was quartered in a hired house in Low

Town and on the night of the 4 th of September 1 86 5
,

a serious riot broke ou t between the soldiers and the

townspeople The annual Yam Custom or Black Christmas
.

e
had been kept that day and most o f the fishermen and
,

others who lived in that quarter of the town were much

e
xcited by th quantity of drink they had consumed during
its celebration The orgies attending this custom indeed
.
, ,

were only too often the cause of serious disturbances all

over the Coast and it was at these times especially t hat
,

the disgraceful fights between rival companies occurred .

Th us only the year before in 1 8 6 4 such fights had taken

, , ,

place at Sekondi and Komenda in the former o f which ,

fourteen men had lost their lives while at Komenda ,

Numbers 1 and 5 Companies had fought o n the

3oth of O ctober and fourteen or eighteen men h a d been
,

killed and nearly a hundred more wounded The next .

year j ust before this riot at Cape Coast a similar outbreak

, ,

at Mumford had resulted in the death Of four men and

the wounding of not fewer than sixty others and these
casualties would have been very much heavier still had
e
not Mr B ntil interfered and succeeded in putting an early
.

stop to the conflict .

This riot at Cape Coast was largely due to the j ealousy

that existed between the townspeople and the soldiers .

The latter having none of their own countryw omen with

,

them had roused the anger of many o f the Fantis by the

,

liberties they took with their wives slaves and pawns , ,

m any of whom had attached themselves to the soldiers ,

who with their pay and rations were able to provide for
, ,

them better than their own husbands and owners Soon .

 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR
’
after six o clock in the evening j ust as it was getting dark , ,

some soldiers who were passing through Low Town were

suddenly attacked with sticks and stones by the Fantis ,

whose estimate of their wrongs had been greatly magnified

by drink and several small parties of soldiers soon became
,

involved in the fray O ne of them Private Beckles .

, ,

had his arm broken and the soldiers who were greatly
, ,

outnumbered ran to the barracks and reported what had

,

happened to the Adj ut ant but though Maj or Ivey

immediately went out with a s m all party of troops every ,

thing was then found quiet Soon after his return h ow .

,
’
ever at about seven o clock Private B roffit was brought
, ,

in on a stretcher : he was insensible and at the time was ,

believed to be dead while another man Private Wheeler

, , ,

was missing and was never found nor his fate ascertained
,

with certainty The greatest excitement now prevailed

e
. .

Th troops were of course furious at the loss of their com

e
, ,

rades the B ntil Company turned out and began beating

their drums and as many o f the soldiers were known to
, ,

be still in the town a party was marched ou t to protect

,

and recall them The Administrator Colonel Conran

.
, ,

accompanied these men but other disturbances occurred

e
between th people and isolated parties of soldiers who were
still in the town in which a Fanti named J ohn S a ni z was
,
e
killed and fifty eight men and five women wounded most
-
,

of t h em but slightly Several more soldiers were also

.

wounded
e
.

At the inquest on Sa m ie l a v rdict of wilful murder was ,

returned against Private King who had been seen amongst ,

a party of soldiers who were assaulting him He was tried .

,

found guilty and sentenced to death However some .

,

fault was found with the j udge s charge to the j ury part ’

of the evidence was considered unsatisfactory ; the jury

were alleged to have been drunk when they returned to
Court to deliver their verdict and the scene in Court to ,

have been most disgraceful The death sentence was . ,

therefore commuted to one of imprisonment for life and

, ,

on the whole of the facts and minutes of the trial being

laid before the Secretary of State he gave it as his opinion ,
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

had been sent down to issue a proclamation on the i 6th of

January 1 8 66 setting forth that the King of Ashanti had
e
sued for peac and that peace was accordingly declared
and proclaimed By no African nor a ny other custom is
e
.

it usual for the victors to s u for peace and this ridiculous ,

announcement was as futile and contemptible as the

conduct of the campaign that preceded it had been The .

King of course was most indignant when he heard of the

, ,

false construction that had been put upon his action and
lost no time in making it known that so far from his ,

having sued for peace he had merely sent messengers

,
’
down in response to the Governor s overtures and now
declined to enter into any further negotiations until his
original demand fo r the surrender of Janin h a d been
acceded to .

The excitement caused by the riot at Cape Coast had

barely cooled when the people made preparations for a
pitched battle amongst themselves which had it not been , ,

prevented by the timely interference of the Governor and

e
th troops must have resulted in far greater bloodshed
,

and loss of life than had attended the former disturbance .

A dispute arose between two companies numbering to ,

get h er about men over some insult that h ad been

e
,

o ffered by one to th other at a funeral custom and on the ,

i 7 th of January 1 86 6 one company marched out fully

armed and wit h flags flying to the battle ground at the -

head of the lagoon where they waited for their rivals to

,

come and take up the challenge This they at once pre .

pared to do and were actually marching through the town

,

for this purpose when the Governor hearing what was going
e
,

on ran to Gothic House and turning o u t th hospital

, , ,

guard compelled the men to proceed by a more circuitous

,

route . He t h us gained time to call out the troops and

took t h em at the double to the lagoon Here t h ey split .

into t h ree divisions one of which halted at its eastern end

, ,

while the other two doubled along either shore In thi s .

way a collision between the opposing forces was prevented

and several Captains of the A na fu Company were captured
as they tried to escape by wading across the lagoon Aggri .
 D EFIAN CE O F O R TA B IL

and his Chiefs had also turned o u t and did their best to ,

quell the disturbance but they had clearly lost all control
,

over the people and could have e ffected nothing without

the assistance of the troops .

One of the most important and influential Chiefs in the

e e
P1 ot ctora t Orta b il King of Gomoa was now ill advised
e
" -
, ,

nough to listen to the persuasions and misrepresentations

of Aggri s secret messengers and attempted to defy the
’

Government He first of all overran the country of a

.

neighbouring Chief named Hamm a with an army of 5 ,000

e doing much damage to property and killing three
e
m n ,

m n Hamma fled to Cape Coast for protection a warrant

.
,

was issued for the arrest of the murderers and two con ,

stables who were sent to execute it met the Chief and his

people at An amabo on the 2 2 nd of March Ortab il was .

th en on his way to Cape Coast to settle the dispute between

h imself an d Hamma and flatly refused to permit the arrest
Of the men Later in the day he arrived at Amanfu on the
.

outskirts of Cape Coast accompanied by an armed force

,

of 5 00 men and a party o f nine police was again sent out

,

to demand the surrender of the accused but after being

rather roughly handled by some of Orta bil s men they were ’
,

compelled to return without the prisoners Orta bil swore .

by M Carth y and several other oaths that he would never

‘

give them up and t h at any attempt to seize t h em would

cause bloodshed adding that h had come to Cape Coast e
e
,

of his own free will and that th Governor had not men
e nough to bring him .

By the time the police had reported these proceedings ,

Ortabil and Aggri were seated in council together under

a tree at Pa prat m e
in the centre of the town surrounded ,

by all their people The Governor therefore went out

.

with twelve constables and about a hundred men o f the 3 rd

West India Regiment and having halted them at a dis
, ,

tance O f about two hundred yards from the spot where the
Chiefs were sitting advanced unattended and demanded
,

Ortabil as his prisoner This decisive action seems to have

.

overawed the Chief and convinced him that he had gone to o

far for he promptly surrendered and the people ran away

,
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

all directions He was marched to the Castle where he

e
in .
,

remained a prisoner in o n of the o fficer s quarters until ’

e
th 2 6 th when having acknowledged his fault and craved
e e
, ,

pardon he was released on payment of a fin of twenty fiv

e
-
,

ounces o f gold and depositing a further twenty fiv ounces -

as security for h is good behaviour for the next two years .

Soon after the publication of Colonel Conran s peace ’

proclamation a war broke out in the eastern district

, ,

which owed its origin to the intrigues of a native slave

trader named Geraldo de Lema This man had been one
e
.

o f the domestic slaves o f a Brazilian named Cesar C r u ira

q
Lema wh o had carried o n an extensive slave dealing
e
-
,

business at Voj i a village som three miles to the east of

,

Kitta where he had kept a large establishment Geraldo

, .

de Lema whose real name was Geraldo de Vasconcellos

, ,

h a d been liberated and acted a s his agent for the purchase

of slaves at Adda Lema had died in December 1 86 2 .
,

leaving a large fortune all of which had been acquired in ,

the Slave Trade but though the greater part of this was
in Lisbon and Bahia he had a considerable amount of ,

money in doubloons and other property in V0j 1 and still

more in Adda All this Geraldo seized and taking his
.
, ,

old master s name and wife continued the business on his

’
,

own account .

In 1 86 5 Geraldo while still at Adda grossly ill treated

, , ,
-

one of the principal Chiefs of the town and the pe0p1e ,

thereupon drove him away plundered his property and ,

confiscated all his slaves He then went to Voj i where he .

,

persuaded the A wu na s to adopt his quarrel They pro

e
.

vid d him with an army o f between and men ,

which he led against the Addas but on reaching the banks

o f the River Volta opposite the town in April 1 86 5 he found

his passage barred by the boats of H M S s Dart and L e

e
e
. . .
,

und r Captain F W Richards He t h erefore turned north

. . .

ward and following the course of the river reached Pong

, ,

which he sacked and burned thereby not only dislocating

the whole of the trade of the eastern district but stopping ,

the navigation of the river also

e
.

The Accra traders began to complain of the damag

 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

pursuit Taki however refused to obey and as he was

.
, , ,

universally recognized as the paramount Chief of the

eastern district the pe 0p1e all sided with him and the
,

proj ect had to be abandoned Captain Humphrey how .

,

ever begged the Chiefs to remain on the ground that had

,

been deserted by the enemy so as to guard the passage of ,

the river until the remainder of the army could be ferried

across D a w u na the Chief of Christiansborg who had
.
, ,

been sent to Copenhagen and educated by the Danes some

forty years before and is said to h ave been a very sensible
old man a lone consented saying he was a British subject
, ,

and would not be dictated to by a King who lived under

the Dutch and had brought Dutch flags into camp He .

sent his men across the river and was about to follow
them but was eventually overruled bv the others and Cap
, ,

tain Humphrey seeing the uselessness of trying to help the

,

people so long as they defied h is authority withdrew h is ,

detachment to Adda .

The command thus devolved once more upon Lieutenant

Herbert wh o called a meeting of all the Chiefs at which
, ,

he explained the impossibility of his remaining with them

unless they were willing to obey his orders and eventually ,

prevailed upon them to listen to reason The remainder of .

the allied army was then ferried across the river and on ,

the 3 rd of April the whole force started in pursuit of the

enemy Having crossed the Toji River on the 4th the
.
,

a rmy which now numbered about

, men remained ,

encamped in the palm forest until the 1 2 th when it again ,

advanced but with so little precaution and in such bad

,

order that it was soon afterwards attacked in a narrow

defile surrounded by thick bush by about A wu nas ,

who appeared without the least warning in front and on

bot h flanks simultaneously The carriers with the baggage .

and supplies nearly all of whom were women had with

e
, , ,

the greatest carelessness been placed at the head of th ,

column with a quite insufficient escort and their sudden ,

and precipitate flight through the armed men wh o were

following naturally threw everything into confusion The .

ammunition howitzer and rockets were nowhere to be

,
 D EFEAT O F TH E A WU NA S

found and even had they been available the panic

, ,

stricken carriers were so mixed up with the fight ing men

that not a shot could have been fired at the enemy The .

baggage was abandoned and numbers of the allies were shot

down at close quarters but the A wu na s were so badly off
e
for ammunition that they wer firing small stones instead
of bullets or the slaughter might have been even greater
,

than it was The utter rout of the whole force was only
.

averted by the King of Akwapim who led about of h is

e
,

m n through the bush and suddenly fell on the A wu nas in

the rear thus giving the Accras time to rally A ha rdly

, .

contested battle then ensued during which a g u n which

,

had at last been brought up by the allies wa s captured and

reca ptured no fewer than s ix times but after two hours ’

desperate fighting the A wu nas were put to flight and pur

sued with terrible slaughter for several miles Gerald o de .

Lema himself was severely wounded during the action ,

and the losses of the allies amounted to 6 5 killed and 3 20

wounded of whom 1 5 0 subsequently died

, The allies now .

refused to advance any farther They were worn out by

.

their exertions and thought the decisive victory that they

had just gained was sufficient and although Lieutenant
Herbert first ordered and then b gged them to follow up e
their success by marching a gainst the Awuna towns they ,

retired to the Volta recrossed it o n the 1 4th and at once

, ,

dispersed to their villages .

The Go vernment was quite a s slow as were the Accras

to take advantage of this victory and made no attempt to
,

come to any settlement or demand compensation from the

Awu nas for many months I t was not until the following
.

October that Colonel Conran visited Jella K offiand o ffered

them terms these were the surrender of Geraldo de
Lema and the payment of an indemnity of dollars
to the Accras Had these deman ds been made immediately
.

after their severe defeat it is more than probable that the

,

Awu nas would have been only too glad to ha v e acceded to

them but while the Government had been allo wing the

e
m onths to slip by without taking any action O sai Kwaku ,

Dua had made good use of the time and so soon as h , ,

 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

heard of their defeat had sent messengers to the Awunas

,

and Akwam u s who were also being threatened by the

,

Accras o ffering them the assistance o f Ashanti This

, .

o ffer had been eagerly accepted by both tribes wh o had ,

sent hostages and presents to the King so that the Awu nas ,

were now in a position to refuse the demands made upon

them and said they could not surrender de Lema as he ,

was a stranger in their country nor would they pay any ,

indemnity because they said they themselves had suffered

,

the heaviest losses in the war Nothing more was done at .

the time but an Ashanti army was sent against the Krepis
,

who were allies of the Accras as a temporary measure and , ,

its general was given instructions to enter the Protectorate

so soon as a favourable opportunity presented itself .

Meanwhile A ggri though warned at the time of Ortabil s

,
’

arrest that any further misconduct on his part would lead

to his deportation to Sierra Leone and although he had ,

now been deserted by many of h is earlier supporters con

e
,

tinu d in his fo rmer defiant line of conduct imprisoning ,

people and keeping them in log in dungeons beneath his

house denying the Government any right of interference
, ,

refusing to stand up in the presence of the Governor in -

Chief and declining to meet the local Administrator He

,
.

now wrote d irectly to the Governor in Chief at Sierra - -

Leone informing him that he intended to raise a military

,

force from amongst his people and forwarded a petition ,

in which he objected to a nd abused every act of the local

e
Gov rnment .

Kwow Amo u n the King of Anamabo also tried to imitate

, ,

Aggri s methods and began to imprison and flog people

’

merely on the advice of the fetish priests and with no

pretence of a proper trial A fine was imposed on him by
.

the magistrate at Anamabo but he refused to pay it A ,

.

visit by the Governor however quickly brought him to

, ,

order for though he hid himself the arrest of some of ,

h is Chiefs compelled them to produce him and he was ,

then fined and cautioned .

I n December 1 86 6 Ag gri reached the end of his tether .

O n the 6 th of that month he addressed a letter to Colonel

 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

that he did not know who Colonel Conran might be He .

admitted however that he had sent the letter and finally

, , ,

promised to be at Government House by four o clock a ’

,

promise that was never fulfilled The next morning his .

arrest was quietly e ffected and he was at once put on

,

board the mail steamer Ca la bar and sent to Sierra Leone .

His chief adviser Hughes fled to Elmina and Martin and

, , ,

his party also ran away when they found the people were
preparing to call them to account for having caused so
much trouble by their false reports Two days later a .

proclamation was issued declaring Aggri to be no longer

King and abolishing his Courts and prison and the Governor ,

then called a meeting of the Chiefs and people at which ,

he explained to them what had happened and order was ,

once more restored .

Aggri was not only an ignorant and arrogant but also ,

a very foolish man He su ffered for his weakness in being

.

too easily led by those whose education should have enabled

them to give him sound advice instead of continually mis
leading him and teaching him to entertain such false
ideas Even after h is arrival in Sierra Leone he continued
.

to act in a very absurd manner but was allowed to remain

,

at large on condition that he did not leave Freetown and

showed himself to the police when required The final .

decision of his case was left to the Secretary of State who , ,

in confirming his deposition and exile wrote The ,

anomalous position of the British Government on the Gold

Coast a ffords no general principles for the decision of such
questions as the present I can only look to the history Of
.

the place . In return for protection we expect deference

to o u r authority . I t would be inconsistent with the
proper precautions to be observed at Cape Coast and with ,

t h at resistance which it is our duty to offer to the renewal ,

under the very walls of our forts of the cruel punishments

e
,

and exactions of native Chieftains to allow A ggr y to ,

”
resume his former position A g gri therefore remained
.
1

at Sierra Leone and was granted a pension of £ 1 00 a year

by the Government until April 1 86 9 when the memory of
nta ry Pap e
Pa lia m e r K ing A gge
, ,

1
r ,
ry pp 1 0 1 2 , .
—
.
 G OVERN O R B LA C KA LL S
’
TREATY

these events being less vivid he was permitted to ret u rn ,

to Cape Coast though not of course as King

, .

O n the oth of April 1 8 6 7 Maj or Blackall the Governor ,

in Chief visited Accra on a tour of inspection and afterwards

-
,

sailed down to Jella Koffi with the avowed object of

concluding a peace with the A wu na s They were then .

engaged with their Ashanti allies in pillaging the towns and

villages in Krobo and had again succeeded in entirely
,

stopping the navigation o f the Volta and closing the roads

into Krepi The only A wu na s whom the Governor now
.

saw were the Chief of the small village of S trongb i and one
Joh n Tay a native trader of Jella Koffi who came on
, ,

board his vessel and after some discussion agreed to sign

, ,

a treaty of peace on behalf of their countrymen These .

men were absolutely unauthorized to treat for peace and ,

were quite insignificant persons so that this treaty when ,

completed was not worth the paper it was written on and

was only fit to be classed with Colonel Conran s absurd ’

proclamation of peace with Ashanti It was immediately .

repudiated by the A wu na s so soon as they heard of the

transaction .

On the 2 7 th of April 1 8 6 7 O sai Kwaku Dua who was ,

then planning another invasion to avenge the non surrender -

of Janin died in Kumasi and in the absence of any brother

, ,

or nephew was succeeded by his great nephew K ofi Kari

,
-

kari Kofi Karikari was the eldest son of Efu a Kobri who
.
,

was the eldest daughter of Efu a Sapong the sister o f O sai ,

Kwaku Dua Kwaku Dua had quarrelled with Efu a

.
l

Sapong and sent her a silken cord advising her to hang ,

herself wh ich she did In addition to Efu a K obri she

,
.
,

left two other daughters and a son Op oku The latter wa s ,

.

soon afterwards accused o f aspiring to the stool and was ,

put to death in the manner customary with princes of the

’
blood by having his neck broken with an elephant s tusk
e e
.

The actual ns to olm nt of the new king however was , ,

delayed by disturbances in Kumasi which nearly involved

Ashanti in a civil war O n the death of a king of Ashanti
.

the princes of the blood were allowed by custom to take

1
Vide
v ol ii p 2 69 a nd ge
. nea l o gica l ta ble
, . Appe
,
nd ix D , .
 EFFECTS O F TH E WAR

the life of any subject but on these occasions although ,

the members of the royal family used to kill many people ,

even shooting them down in the streets they usually ,

managed to preserve sufficient self control in the selection

-

o f their victims to avoid causing the death o f any person

o f importance or of anyone having influential relatives

,

who might be able to avenge him O n the death of Kwaku

e
.

Dua however on of the princes B u a kj i A su killed a

, , ,

nephew of Asamoa Kwanta against whom he is said to have

,

had some private grudge and the old general was so in

e
,

fu ria t d by this murder that he gathered his adherents

around him and made immediate preparations for war .

K ofi Karikari thus found himself in the very awkward

position of having his Commander in Chief and a powerfu l
- -

section of h is people in Open insurrection against him ;

but after an interval of some months peace was outwardly ,

m a de by the surrender o f A su and his two sisters to the

general for sacrifice though he still declined to enter the
,

palace and continued to live in retirement .

I t was generally believed by the Ashanti Chiefs that

the late King had died o f a broken heart because he was
still unavenged in the matter o f Janin and they declared ,

he should no t be buried until satisfaction had been taken .

This suggestion however was overruled by K ofi Karikari

e e
, ,

but he swore at his nsto olm nt My business shall be

war and promised to wipe o u t the insult at the earliest
,

possible opportunity in fact these internal disturbances

,

in h is kingdom and the continued disaffection o f Asamoa

Kwanta alone prevented the immediate despatch of another
army against the Protectorate .
558 ANGL O DUTCH EXCHANGE
-
or TERRITO RY

expenditure of some to from Government

funds The salaries paid to the Dutch officials were very
.

small and they were allowed to supplement them by private

,

tra ding but as they used the forts as warehouses and had
no rent to pay and imported their goods duty free u m
, ,

official traders were quite unable to compete with them

and any import duties that might have been recei ved by
the Government must consequently have been so small as
to be scarcely worth taking into account It was indeed
.

only at times when the English and Ashantis were at war

that any considerable trade was done at Elmina for the
As hantis then purchased all their supplies from the Dutch ,

a fact that clearly made it to their interest to foment any

quarrels that might arise and caused them to be regarded
with continual suspicion by the English who doubted their
,

sincerity and would have been only too glad to see them
leave the Coast .

The chief reason that had induced the Dutch to remain

on the Gold Coast at all was that they were in the habit of
purchasing slaves from the King of Ashanti and sending
them to serve as soldiers in J ava and their other East
Indian Possessions They had for years past kept a n
.
, ,

agent in Kumasi whose duty it was to collect and purchase

any slaves of whom the King wished to dispose and send
them to Elmina where they were asked if they were willing
,

to serve as soldiers and then shipped to the East Indies ;

but although this form was gone through and the men
enlisted ostensibly as free agents they knew well enough
,

that they had been bought as slaves and it is alleged that

they did not understand a word of the language so that
e
,

the whole proceeding was an absolute farce They wer .

presumably not Ashantis at all but members of northern

,

tribes who had been captured in the numerous small wars

and punitive expeditions in which the Ashantis engaged or ,

paid as tribute by one or other of its northern Dependencies .

The Englis h indeed freely accused the Dutch of indirectly

, ,

fostering the Slave Trade by these means Now that the

.

export Slave Trade had been abolished the price of slaves

,

had fallen and these men were obtained at the small cost
,
 D U TCH RECRU ITI NG

of forty dollars each the purchase money being credited

,

to the King so it was said in diminution of a debt that he

, ,

owed to the Dutch Government and which they would

otherwise have found it very difficult if not impossible , ,

to collect By remaining at Elmina therefore the Dutch

.
, ,

not only collected regular instalments of a sum that must

otherwise have been written off as a bad debt but also kept ,

open an economical and never failing source of supply o f

-

recruits for service in their East I ndian Dependencies .

Some of these men were brought back to Elmina and

pensioned when they became too o ld for further service ,

and gradually formed a settlement on the slopes of a hill

in the town which is still known as Java Hill These men
e
.
, ,

whether Ma h om d a ns or pagans when they went out

e
,

were Mah om d a ns when they returned and it was their

presence in Elmina that first led to the immigration of
other Moslems from the interior and the formation of a
Hausa colony .

Some such arrangement for recruiting the Dutch East

India forces had certainly been in existence since 1 8 3 6 ,

and possibly for an even longer period In a despatch .

to the Committee in London dated London 2 7 th Septem

, ,

ber 1 8 3 6 Governor Maclean referred to the Dutch Govern

,

m ent having adopted measures for recru iting their East

India military force from among the natives of the Gold
Coast
. To provide a sufficient and constant supply of
recruits for the military forces of Java from among the
natives of the Gold Coast ( who out of their own country
e
ar the best black troops in the world ) has I have reason ,

to know been long a favourable obj ect with the Dutch

,
”
Government .
1

All negotiations for an equalization of duties having

failed an e ffort had been made as far back as 1 8 60 to
,

arrange an exchange of territory and the Dutch had then ,

agreed to accept all the Settlements of the English that

lay to the west of the Sweet River in exchange for their
own to the east of it so that each Government migh t have
,

an uninterrupted stretch of coast and be able to make any

S a rba h 1
.
 5 60 ANGLO DUTCH EXCHANGE O F TERRITO RY
-

1 8 67 1 8 68
—
Customs regulations it desired along its own seaboard with
cn u . x x xx o u t risk of interference from the other It was found .
,

ho wever that some of the people living under British

,

protection in rear of the western half of the coast objected

to being transferred to the Dutch and the project had ,

therefore been abandoned This very important fact now

.

seems to have been forgotten or if it was remembered at

, ,

all the anx iety of the Government to raise a revenue in the

,

country was allowed to outweigh all considerations of

j ustice to the people who lived under its protection .

O n the sth of March 1 8 6 7 a treaty was signed in London 1

and ratified on the 5 th of J uly making the very exchange

that had been rej ected seven years earlier The English .

ceded to Holland the whole of their Possessions to the

west of the Sweet River that is Apollonia Dixcove ,
—
, ,

Sekondi and Komenda together with their Protectorate

,

over Denkera and Wassaw and received in exchange the

,

Dutch Settlements at Mori Kormantin Apam and Dutch

, ,

Ac cra which lay to the east of it

, .

This exchange of territory though presumably and ,

professedly made with a desire to improve the condition of

the country and consequently to benefit its people caused ,

endless trouble and was in fact a monumental piece of folly

, , ,

and inj ustice that the slightest regard for the interests
and prej udices of the people or for the probable result of
such a change would have prevented The reasons that .

had led to the rej ection of this very scheme in 1 860 were
fully as strong in 1 8 6 7 and it would have required no
great penetration but merely the exercise of a little or
,

d inary common sense to have convinced anyone who had

,

the slightest knowledge of the country that the people

would be as much opposed to it now as they had been then .

I t was only necessary to consider for a moment what this

exchange of territory actually involved The cession of .

the forts themselves was a comparatively trivial matter ;

but the transfer of the Protectorate over the various tribes
who were now to be handed over to another nation as if
they were the slaves and actual property of the Govern
1
For fu ll te
,
x t se
eHorton Lette
rs on t
,he
Gold Coast p iv , . .
5 62 AN GL O DUTCH EXCHANGE O F TE RRITORY
-

plies their surrender to the Dutch who charged a tax on

, ,

certain produce placed their unfortunate owners in the

,

extraordinary position o f having to choose between

voluntarily abandoning these valuable dependencies and
paying a tax on their food to o n European nation whilee ,

they themselves were living under the protection of and

owed allegiance to another .

Such radical changes in the national sympathies of so

“
many di fferent peoples and such a complete reversal of
the politics of nearly every tribe on the coast were more
th a n co u ld reasonably be expected
i
yet in spite of these ,

very valid obj ections and with an utter disregard for the
,

wishes of the people plainly expressed in 1 8 6 0 and for the

, ,

j ustice of their case the Government calmly proceeded to

,

carry out this change without so much as consulting those

whose interests it so vitally affected let alone attempting ,

to gain their consent to it and when the news first reached

their ears and they petitioned against it praying the ,

British Government not to desert them their claims to ,

consideration were completely ignored The Authorities .

seem to have imagined that because the people lived over

the graves of their ancestors for whom they entertained a
,

degree of respect amounting almost to veneration they ,

could be relied upon not to leave their individual districts ,

and that that was all that need be thought of Considering .

the way in which the whole business was conducted and

ee
,

that its effect must be to expose the Fantis D nk ras and ,

Wassa ws to an early attack by the Ashantis the Govern ,

ment certainly had no grounds for surprise or complai nt

when these changes evoked the most determined resistance
and caused a general rebellion which kept the country in
a state of civil war for years .

The treaty came into force on the I st of January 1 86 8 ,

but it was not until December 1 8 6 7 a few days before ,

the actual transfer took place that the first and only
,

reference was made to the people Mr Ussher who had . .

,

recently succeeded Colonel Conran as Administrator of the

Gold Coast then issued a proclamation stating that this
,

exchange of territory h a d been arranged and was about to

 ITS I N J U STI CE

be carried o u t and sent a circular letter to those Chiefs 1 8 6 7

,
—
18 68
whom it a ffected informing them that the protection that C HA P
, . x x xx

had hitherto been given to them by the English would be

abandoned and that they must henceforth look to the
,

Dutch to whom they were to be handed over

, .

Major Blackall the Governor in Chief arrived from

e
- -
, ,

Sierra Leone to effect the transfer and was m t at Accra by

e
Colonel Boers th Dutch Govern or At four o clock on the ’

ee
, .

afternoon of the 4th of J anuary 1 8 6 8 the Dutch flag on

Fort Cr ve Cc u r was lowered and the Union Jack hoisted
in its place and saluted by the guns of the other forts and
the warships in the roads This fort was afterwards r
. e
paired and renamed Ussher Fort Apam Kormantin and .
,

Mori were in like manner handed over to Major Blackall ,

wh o finding the people raised n o obj ections arrived at the

, ,

very premature conclusion that the transfer of the wind

ward forts to the Dutch could be effected wit h equal ease
e
.

H therefore returned to Sierra Leone leaving Mr Ussher ,

.

to hand them over The two cases however were entirely

.
, ,

different the Dutch subj ects on the eastern seaboard had

always been on friendly terms with the English the change ,

did not materially a ffect their interests and they were ,

perfectly willing to transfer their allegiance O n the .

western coast on the other hand the English subj ects

e
, ,

were all opposed to th change and determined to resist it

as far as possible though it fell to the warlike K om nda s
,
e
actually to commence the open rebellion and prolonged
period of distraction which ended in compelling the Dutch
to sell their Possessions and leave the Gold Coast for ever .

Komenda was the first place to be visited and here ,

it was that the first sign of the coming storm appeared At

e
.

this time the K o m n da s were still in an unsettled state ,

owing to the continued disagreement between the various

companies ever since the great fight in The first

rumours of the proj ected change were absolutely discredited ;
but they were soon confirmed and in the face of this,

greater danger a mass meeting was held at which all minor

disputes and quarrels were amicably settled and peace was
m ade between the rival parties in the town The subj ect .
5 64 ANGL O D UTCH EXCHANGE O F TERRITORY
-

of the transfer then monopolized the attention of the

pe ople and the receipt of a message warning them to
,

prepare for the visit of the two Governors soon convinced

them that there was no time to be lost in deciding what
line they would take Meetings were held at which it was
.

unanim ously agreed that the Dutch flag should be refused

at any cost and Kwaku I nkru m a the Chief of the town
, , ,

swore to rej ect it O n the arrival of the Governors Mr

.
, .

Ussher explained to the Chief and h is Co u ncillors what

had taken place and Colonel Boers then proceeded to
,

assure them of the good intentions of his Government

towards them promising them various improvements and
e
,

expressing the h O p that they would serv e the Dutch as

l oyally as they had the English Kwaku I nkru m a was .

then called upon for h is answer and having first retired ,

with his Councillors to talk the matter over returned and ,

said that as he and his people had been under the English
from time immemorial had fought with them in their wars
,

and always owed them allegiance he could not now adopt ,

a policy so Opposed to that o f his ancestors and must

therefore decline the o ffer of the Dutch flag Whether or .

not this answer was wholly unexpected is doubtful but

the Governors decided to temporize and proceed to the
other windward forts first h Oping that when these had
e
,

been transferred the K om nda s would not venture to

O ffer resistance alone and that time would put matters
,

straight They therefore left for Sekondi promising to

.
,
’
return a fortnight later to receive the Chief s final answer
ee
.

Although the D nk ras and Wa ss aws flatly refused to

acknowledge Dutch authority preferring if the English ,

withd rew their protection to incur the risk of an Ashanti

invasion unaided the other tribes on the coast line were
,
—

di fferently placed They obj ected to the change as strongly

e
.

as did the K om nda s but were for the most part compelled
,

to submit There were of course both English and Dutch

.
, ,

forts at Komenda but the former had no t been occupied

for many years and the latter had been no more than a
,

dismantled ruin since 1 7 8 2 so that the people were able to

,

o ffer an open resistance all possibility of which was denied

,
5 66 ANGLO DUTCH EXCHANGE O F TERRITORY
-

party but with the exception of a few onlookers who were

there to watch the proceedings on behalf o f the fiv com e
e ,
e
p a ni s no o n else was pre sent Mr Ussher reminded the . .

Chief of the reason of their visit and impressed upon him

that the transfer of the other Settlements having already
been completed no amount of resistance on his part could
,

avail him anything but would on the contrary only in

, , ,

volve him in serious trouble Kwaku I nkru m a replied .

that he had now reconsidered his former decision and was

ready to receive the Dutch flag which was then handed ,

to him and formally accepte d

e
.

Th party then set out for the fort to hoist the flag .

N othing was to be seen of the fighting men who were still ,

concealed in the bush j ust outside the town but the street
was filled with crowds of excited women who paraded up ,

and down shouting abuse at the Chief and it was only

, ,

with di fficulty that a passage was forced through them to

the fort and the flag h oisted News of this crisis had in
.

the meantime been c arried to the five companies who ,

quickly formed t h emselves into three divisions one of ,

which advanced along the beach from the western side of

the town while the second came up through its streets
, ,

and the third through the bush immediately in rear of it .

Th ey were now seen bearing down upon the party at the

fort fully armed and in hostile formation Their aspect
, .

was so threatening that the Governors had no doubt that

d iscretion would be the better part o f valour ; the hated
fl ag was at once hauled down and the party ran for their
e
,

boat and put o ff to the ship j ust before the K om ndas

charged down upon the spot Had the flag been left flying
.

a nd the Governors remained where they were it is more ,

t h an likely that the whole party would have been cut to

p ieces The people then turned to vent their fury on the
.

Chief and his few adherents who were loudly abused and
,

w ould probably have been very roughly handled if not ,

k illed had t h ey not fled for refuge to Dutch Komenda

, .

At daybreak the next morning a strong party of seamen

w a s landed and going to the fort again hoisted the flag ;
e
, , ,

but the K o m nd a s had not relaxed their watch and were

 TH E FANTI C O N FEDE RA TI O N

quickly on the scene Neither party however seemed

.
, ,

ready to fire the first shot and a fter some time h a d been ,

spent in mutual recrimination and a few attempts by

individuals to reach the halyards had failed the com
e
,

pani s retired and left the Dutch in possession The sailors

e
.

then set fir to the town and taking the Chief and h is , ,

Councillors with them for safety put off to their ship , ,

which then bombarded the town and returned to Elmina

a few days later

e
.

In th meantime the other tribes encouraged by the

e
, ,

prompt and determined action o f the K om nd a s and ex ,

a sperated by the bombardment of their town met at ,

Mankesim where a great Council of Chiefs was held at

, ,

which it was unanimously agreed that as all their protests ,

had been disregarded and matters had proceeded to such

ex trem ities the time had come for them to combine and
,

resist by force of arms the occupation by the Dutch of any

o f t h ose to wns that had hitherto been included in the

British Protectorate This combination was j oined by

.

the Chiefs of Assi m Wassaw Denkera Gomoa Winneba

, , , , ,

Mankesim and Abra and became known as the Fanti

,

Confederation : it also included the A nam a b os but the ,

people of Cape Coast living as they did under the Castle

,

guns were compelled to remain openly neutral though

, ,

secretly in sympathy with it The Confederation had no .

sooner been formed than an Elmina j awbone was received

e
from the K om nda s as a formal intimation that they were
at war and news reached the camp a f w days later of an
,
e
a ttack which the Elminas had made o n an outlying village ,

where they had killed several former British subj ects and
captured others whom they paraded in triumph through
,

the streets of t h eir town The immediate i nvestment of.

Elm ina was therefore decided upon The Abras marched .

to Efutu that same day where t h ey were quickly j oined by

eee
,

th D nk ra s and the combined force t h en moved to Simio

,
.

The other Ch iefs who had j oined the Confederation followed

with their people in rapid succession and the Elminas soon ,

found themselves reduced to great straits for food .

The Dutch now had their hands to o full at Elm ina to

56 8 AN GL O DUTCH EXCHANGE O F TERRITO RY
-

be able to make any further move against the Kom ndas e ,

who were thus left to their own devices and took to piracy
and kidnapping Owing to the famine in Elmina large
.
,

supplies of provisions had to be fetched from the windward

e
ports and the K om nd as made a practice of lying in wait
,

for the returning canoes which they chased and captured

, .

I n these sea fights large numbers of people were sometimes

e
engaged but the K om nda s were almost invariably suc
e
c ss fu l and many of them amassed considerable wealth
,

by these means some of which is said to remain in different

,

families in the town to the present day Any money or

e
.

valuables taken were kept the women were sold and th

, ,

men decapitated
e
.

The English who were as much ala rm ed as were th

,

Dutch by the widespread rebellion their action had evoked ,

though it inconvenienced them less were at their wits end ,

’

to find some means o f restoring order Every effort was .

made to prevent the sale of arms and ammunition and ,

those wh o had not yet j oined the Fanti Confederation were

warned against taking any part in the movement while
those Chiefs wh o though already in arms were still under
, ,

British protection were called upon to explain what they

,

meant by making war upon a friendly Power Their

e
.

answer was simple enough They pointed o u t that th

e
.

K om n d a s and others who had been handed over to the

Dutch against their will were not the slaves of the Govern
ment but had rather been its allies that the Government
,

had even paid a yearly rent for the ground on which their
fort at Komenda stood for so long as it was occupied and ,

that they could not therefore understand by what process

of reasoning the present action of the Government could b e
j ustified nor did they intend to desert their friends at
,

such a time j ust because the English chose to do so .

The Elminas were now so closely blockaded that they

could do but little and although the Ashantis wh o ,

would not otherwise have failed to make the most of such

an excellent opportunity to reinvade the Protectorate ,

were prevented from doing so at present by the latent dis

a ffection in Kumasi K ofi Karikari sent to Colonel Boers
,
5 70 ANGLO DUTCH EXCHANGE O F TERRITORY
-

quite unexpected their onslaught was met in the most

,

determined manner by the allies on the left who held them ,

in check until they received reinforcements from the

centre and then after a battle lasting about five hours
, , ,

drove the Elminas and the Dutch troops who were support
ing them back into the town with considerable loss The .

outskirts of the town and the Dutch camps fell into the
hands of the allies and were burned but though several
attempts were made to fire the town itself it was saved by ,

the guns of Fort Conraa dsb u rg whi ch soon compelled the

e e
,

Fantis to retire During all this time th K om ndas and

.
,

others on the left had known nothing of what was going on ,

and the Abras and some others in the centre either from ,

j ealousy or because they had at last been won over by the

persuasions of Mr Freeman who was still in their camp
.
, ,

had taken no part in the fighting so that considering the , ,

amount of success that had been gained by the small

portion of the confederate force that was engaged there ,

can be little doubt that a combined attack such as had been

contemplated would have resulted in the destruction of the
greater part of the town This failure of their plans .
,

together with the inactivity of the King of Abra who was ,

regarded with great suspicion and the e fforts of Mr , .

Freeman to bring the war to an end and e ffect a reconcilia

tion now induced the people to raise the blockade on the
,

understanding that their quarrel would be finally adj usted

by the Administrator Th Abras were the first to leave
. e ,

marching some ten miles that same afternoon ot h ers

left before evening and on the following day the remainder
,
'

o f the investing force br oke up and retired .

The final settlement o f the di fferences between the

Fanti Confederation and the Elminas having been left
in the hands of Mr Ussher a meeting was soon afterwards
.
,

arranged and held at Elmina at which the English and ,

allied tribes were represented by Mr Simpson the .

Collector of Customs Mr Freeman and Mr Dawson the

,
1
.
, .

Secretary of the Fanti Confederation The following .

U n der th e
Adm in istrators th e
re wa s n o Colo nia l S e ta ry h is du tie
cre
be ing pe d b y th eCo lle
1

rform e
s ,

ctor o f Cu s to m s .
 TERM S O F PEAC E

terms of peace were then drawn up and agreed to by the 1 8 6 7 —

18 6 8
Elminas C HA P . x x xx

.1 That hostilities between the two parties should

immediately cease .

.2 That the Elmina Ashanti alliance should be sus

-

pended for six months .

.
3 That the Elminas should be allowed free intercourse
with and an undisputed right of way through the countries
, ,

of all the tribes belonging to the Fanti Confederation .

It was hoped that the trouble would be brought to an

end by this agreement but the Fanti Confederation at
once rej ected the terms and very reasonably required that
the alliance between the Elminas and Ashantis should be
broken o ff altogether and not merely held in abeyance for
,

a few months and then renewed to involve them in a fearful

vengeance for recent events by bringing down an Ashanti
army to the support of the Elminas This however was .
, ,

more than the Elminas would consent to Apart from the

e
.

facts that they regarded themselves as near relatives of th

Ashantis that their town was in fact deemed an integral
, , ,

part of the Ashanti kingdom and that any such repudiation

,

o f an alliance that had ex isted from the earliest times

would certainly involve them in trouble with that people

they were even now and had been during the wh ole war
, ,

in communication with Kumasi They well understood .

,

therefore that it was only the existence of internal troubles

,

o f a temporary nature that had led to their being u m

provided with assistance and that the exercise of a little

more patience on their part would soon put that right and ,

consequently though t h ey had been ready enough to

,

promise a limited suspension of the alliance if t h at would

afford their enemies any satisfaction they were by no ,

m eans prep a red to abandon it altogether nor in fact to , , ,

d o anything that might cause them personal inconvenience .

They therefore flatly refused to consider the suggestion of

the Fanti Confederation and the negotiations fell through
,
.

The blockade of Elmina however was not renewed

, , ,

though the allies kept such a close watch on it from the

s urrounding villages that the people were unable to go far
5 72 ANGL O D UTCH EXCHANGE o r TERRITO RY
-

from the town and were nearly as closely confined as they

had been during the organized investment Their suffer .

ings at this time were very great their farms had all
been plundered and destroyed and they were now entirely ,

dependent on such produce as could be grown in the

immediate neighbourhood of the town and on the fish
and other supplies brought in by the few canoes that still
e
ventured to s a and succeeded in escaping the vigilance of
e
the K om nda s When driven by famine to make foraging
e
.

sorties on the surrounding villages which were but irr gu ,

larly guarded skirmishes took place with varying results

, .

The Elminas however took care to attack only those places

, ,

that were for the time unprotected and usually went in

e
,

su fiici nt numbers to ensure success : they would then

return loaded with provisions and parade the heads of
those whom they had killed through the streets of their
town .

This state of a ffans continued unchanged for the next

six months until Sir Arthur Kennedy who had succeeded ,

Maj or Blackall as Governor in Chief arrived at Cape Coast

e
e
- -
,

o n board H M S L on the 2 7th of O ctober This was his

. . . .

first tour o f inspection and he was confident of being able

,

to put an end to such an unsatisfactory condition of things

and restore order t h roughout the country With this .

obj ect in V iew another meeting was arranged to take place

,

at Elmina at which he might be present with the Dutch

,

Governor to talk matters over with the Chiefs of the town .

This meeting was held in the Castle e arly in November ,

and the Governor then explained to the Elmina Chiefs

that their political position and that of As hanti were not
what they had formerly been and that they must therefore,

be prepared to regard current events from a rather di fferent

standpoint from that to which they had hitherto been ac
customed He pointed out that the recent exchange of
.

territory had brought many former Dutch subj ects under

the English under whose protection they were perfectly
,

content while those tribes who had been transferred to the

,

Dutch were bitterly opposed to the Ashantis and would

never be willing to j oin the Elminas in their alliance with
5 74 ANGL O DUTCH EXCHANGE o r TERRITO RY
-

but he had felt so confident that he had attained his object

and succeeded in bringing a di fficult negotiation to a
satisfactory ending that he was greatly disappointed by,

his failure O n his return to Cape Coast therefore he

.
, ,

informed the Chiefs of the Fanti Confederation that they

were now at liberty to take any action they wished against
the Dutch tribes and it thus became lawful for anyone to
,

do that for which Kwaku Atta and K ofi Amoa had been

outlawed and ruined only seven months before .

O n the 3 oth of December a small detachment of Dutch

soldiers from Elmina made an attack on Eguafo They .

were driven back however the sergeant in charge was ,

killed and seven prisoners and three breech loading rifles

,
-

were taken besides five women who had accompanied

,

them as carriers .
1

While the central and western districts of the Gold

Coast had been convulsed by the Dutch Komenda and -

Fanti Elmina wars Geraldo de Lema had not been idle ;

-
,

but ever since the repudiation of Governor B la ckall s

,
'

treaty by the Awuna Chiefs had kept the eastern districts ,

in such a disturbed state that the continual small skirmishes

and constant pillaging of villages and plundering of farms
had almost depopulated some parts of the country and
put an entire stop to all trade Sir Ar thur Kennedy .
,

therefore went to Accra and on the l o th of November in

, , ,

conj unction with Captain Glover R N the Administrator ,

. .
,

o f Lagos tried to restore order by o ffering a reward of £200

,

for the surrender of de Lema and when this failed to , ,

produce the desired result caused his house at Voj i to be ,

bombarded and destroyed by Captain J ones of H M S

e
. . .

P rt I t was then decided to attempt the passage of the

.

Volta bar in the Colonial steamer Eyo This dangerous .

bar had never before been crossed by any steamship ,

although at least one sailing vessel had entered the river

many years before for in Norris map of Dahomy and ’

”
its Environs published on the I s t of March 1 7 9 3 a note
, ,

a ppears that the tremendous breakers at the mouth of

the R Volta have prevented Vessels from entering till
.

1
Horton .
 TREATY WITH THE A WU NA S

very lately when an American brig made good her passage

,
”
and found 1 0 or 1 2 feet water o n the Bar With great 1
.

difficulty and no little danger the feat was accomplished

in safety and the sudden appearance of the steamer in
,

the river whence they had always thought themselves

,

immune from any possibility of attack so alarmed ,

the A wu nas that they promptly came to terms and a ,

treaty was concluded on the 1 3 th of November and signed

by the contracting parties on board the Eyo Besides .

providing for the immediate cessation of hostilities and

the freedom of trade o n the Volta this treaty appointed
,
1

the Governor in Chief final referee in all future matters of

- -

dispute .

e e
Vid N orris m a p in D a lz l s His tory of D a h om y e
e eee
pe
’

e e
’

e e
1 .

2 f ll
F or u P
t x t vi d l
a r ia m nta ry P i g
a p r , C orr s pond nc R ct n
e
s

th A s ha n ti I n va Si on p art 11 , p 6 4
, . .
 CHAPTER XXX

THE AS H A NT I I NV AS I O N O F KR EP I A ND THE DUTCH

K O M END A W A R

I T h as already been shown that it was only the occurrence

of internal dissensions in Kumasi after the death of the

late King that had prevented the As hantis from seizing the
favourable opportunity presented by the confusion follow
ing the exchange of territory for a renewed invasion of the
Protectorate Towards the end of 1 86 8 however the
.
, ,

local tension had become somewhat relaxed and although ,

the old general As amoa Kwanta still remained in retire

ment the King decided that it would now be safe to make
,

a further e ffort to avenge the refusal of the British Govern

ment to surrender Janin and began to collect arms and
,

ammunition for another war Many of these were obtained

.

from beyond the Gold Coast and A m a tifu the King of

, ,

K inj a b o ordered
,
muskets on behalf o f the Ashantis
from one of Messrs F and A S wa nzy s representatives
. . .
’
,

who was in his country at this time .

1

This new invasion was to be carried ou t by the com

e
bin d movements of three distinct forces O ne of these . ,

e
numbering men under A d u Bo ffo was at once sent ,

across the River Volta with orders to acquire territory b

yond the eastern frontier of the Protectorate where it was ,

not expected that the presence of an Ashanti army would

attract the serious attention of the Government This .

’
army was then to await the completion of the King s other
plans before advancing any farther A second division .

was to make an attack on the western side ; while the

Rea deA frica n S ke
1
, tch B ook v o l 11 p 3 5
, .
, . .

5 76
5 78 T HE ASHANTI I NVASI O N or KREPI

amongst these tribes that there seemed every probability

that some of them would soon become involved in the
struggle This was a contingency that the Government was
.

anxious to avoid at any cost The war was at present .

being carried on beyond the limits of the Protectorate and ,

the Authorities had no wish to see it brought nearer home

nor to find themselves directly embroiled in it Mr . .

Simpson the Acting Administrator therefore determined

, ,

to find out what was the real state o f a ffairs Leaving .

Cape Coast in February 1 8 6 9 he landed at Accra on the ,

i sth ,
and after learning all he could from the local Chiefs
,

and traders went up country to investigate matters on the

,

spot He reached O dumasi on the sth of March and soon

.
,

found that the reports that had reached him had not been
exaggerated He therefore decided to try to weaken the
.

invading force by detaching the Akw am u s from their

alliance with Ashanti so as to give the hard pressed Krepis -

some indirect assistance With this object in view he.

sent for the Chief of Akwamu and when he refused to Obey, ,

the summons went to see him in person This bold pro

e
e
.
,

c ding met with initial success for the A kwam u s over ,

come by his arguments and persuasions at once signed a ,

treaty by which they renounced their alliance with Ashanti .

News o f this proceeding quickly reached the ears of

Adu Bo ffo who immediately hurried to the spot and found
,

no di fficulty in inducing the fickle A kwa m u s to reconsider

their decision which they promptly reversed and r
, , ,
e
p u dia ting the treaty they had j ust made with Mr Simpson .
,

calmly informed him that he was their prisoner Mr . .

Simpson s position was anything but pleasant ; his hut

’

was actually set on fire the same night and for a time he ,

was in great danger ; for although many o f the Akwa m u s

were anx ious to send him to Kumasi as a peace offering to —

K ofi Karikari after their recent disa ffection and a token

of their continued loyalty to him the maj ority clamoured ,

for his immediate execution which would undoubtedly ,

have been carried out but for the intervention of Adu

Bo ffo Mr Simpson had come to the Akwa m u s camp of ’

e
. .

his own accord as th representative of the British Govern

 CAPTU RE O F M I SSI O NARI E S

ment and as a proposer o f peace and not to make war ,

.

’
It was therefore contrary to the Ashantis code of honour xxx

to allow any real h arm to befall him and it was also ,

contrary to their present policy to do anything that might

precipitate trouble with the Gold Coast Government before
their preparations for the contemplated invasion had been
completed Adu Bo ffo therefore refused to permit the
.

A kwam u s eit h er to execute or detain their prisoner and ,

as he was supported by a large army and they had no

wish to call down the wrath of K ofi Karikari upon t hem
selves they h a d no alternative but to submit and the
, ,

Administrator was released after having been ke pt a state

prisoner for fiv days e .

At this time the Basel Mission station at Anum was

,

occupied by two missionaries Frederick Augustus Ram —

seyer who had his wife and infant son with him and
1

e
, ,

Johannes K iih n The fighting wh ich had been continued

.
1
,

almost without intermission since the release of Mr Simp .

son daily drew nearer An um and on the 9 th of J une the

, ,

missionaries were warned that a battle was imminent that ,

the town was about to be deserted and that the time had ,

come when they must decide whether or not they would

make their escape while the way was still open The .

Chief was ready to give them carriers but they rather ,

obstinately refused to take his advice The next day .

,

however they thought better of it and decided to retire

,

to Ho where there was another mission station ; but it

,

was now too late and when they applied to the Chief for
e
,

h am m o ckm n they found he was marching out to oppose

,

the enemy s advance and wanted every available man

’
.

The missionaries were thus left alone on their hill over

looking the empty town but those at Ho Messrs Miill r ,
. e
and Hornberger had been wiser and retired in good time
,
.

On the morning of the 1 2 th a party of Ashantis came

e e
,

up to the house and requ sting the missionaries to a com

G o ld Coa st in 1 8 6 4 a nd a rrive
,

A S wiss wh o h a d co m e to th e d in
2 9 th o f D e
1

Anu m on th e cem be
A SI le
s ia n wh o a r iv ed o n th e
r 1 86 8 .

2
Co a s t in 1 8 6 6 a nd in Anu m in A pril
r

da ine K u h ne eh
86 9
e
ye
1 .

R am s w r a s an or dm iss iona ry, a m rc a nt .

 5 80 T H E AS HANTI I NVAS I O N O F KREPI

1 8 69 pany them marched them away to be brought before A du

,

ca n . xxx Bo ffo Ho was t aken on the 2 5 th of the same month and

.
,

M Bonnat the French factor of the mission wh o had

.
, ,

foolis h ly remained there in fancied security after the others

had fled was taken prisoner Accord ing to Mr Kuhn s
,
. . e
’

statement to Winwood Reade he had stayed behind to ,

sell powder and arms to the Ashantis ; they however , ,

took them for nothing and him also The s tation was .

plundered and burned and the bell which cras hed down
e
, ,

from th blazing ruins o f the chapel was afterwards carried

e
,

to Kumasi as on of the principal trophies of the campaign .

The sufferings of the captives from Anum during their

ee
march with their Ashanti escort were very great They .

were placed in the charge of on A g a na a drunken and ,

brutal sla ve of Adu Boffo who with h is son Kobina , , ,

discovered a never failing source of amusement in bullying

—

and terrifying his unfortunate prisoners They were .

pitilessly hurried along insufficiently shod often over , ,

rough ground and under a blazing sun past burning villages ,

and the headless corpses of the slain with little to drink ,

and less to eat and compelled to keep up with their

,

ca ptors on marches of about thirty miles a day while ,

during the whole time they were a prey to constant fears

of execution Although these fears proved to be ground
.

less they were none the less alarming a t the time and
, ,

anxiety for the child who daily grew weaker for want of
,

his proper food added mental anguish to their bodily

,

su fferings .

The treatment of these unhappy people has repeatedly

been cited as conclusive proof of the worst possible in
s tincts of cruelty a nd brutality in the As ha nti character .

This seems most unfair but the reason for it is not far
to seek It is mainly because these occurrences are of
.

comparatively recent date and are fairly well known to

residents on the Gold Coast and in Europe wherea s other ,

cases having happened at a more remote period or

, ,

having been less advertised are either forgott en or u n ,

heard of by the maj ority o f those wh o hold these opinions

e
.

There can be no doubt too that a gen ral S pirit of hostility

, ,
5 82 TH E AS HANTI I NVAS I O N O F KREPI

were of a nat ure that an Ashanti or any other African , ,

would be unable to appreciate I nured from his youth up

e
.

to a life o f almost Spartan simplicity and enduranc ;

accustomed to cover long distances b arefooted and at a
rapid pac e
often with a heavy load on his head used to
—

the heat of the tropical sun a nd to d rink but little on the

march seldom eating much until evening and often taking
, ,

his first meal then able to sleep almost anywhere and to

digest the coarsest food ; it would never occur to an
Ashanti that his prisoners su ffered any more from fatigue
and thirst or insufficient protection for their feet than he
himself did and he might find it hard to reali z e such a
,

thing were it explained to him .

From an Ashanti point of view the missionaries were

treated extremely well and they themselves mention ,

numerous acts of kindness that they received but which ,

it is very unlikely would have been shown to any African

e
.

O f their escort even with the exception of A g a na and his

,

son they say as time wore on they became our best

,

friends and treated us with as much consideration as was

,
” 1
possible in our forlorn condition O ne of them was
e
.

ready to carry th child but it would not leave its father s

e
'
,

arms and after a time even Ag a na carried a gourd of

,

water from which they might drink on the road A rough .

shelter was built wh enever they halted to shield them

from the su n and crowd and though at fir st they were ,

ironed at night as a precaution agains t escape they were ,

provided with a hut in which to sleep and given a woollen

quilt and some other things that had been taken from
the missio n station So long as they were still in the
.

enemy s country food was naturally scarce for the whole

’
, ,

district had been ravaged by war for months past ; but

after crossing the Volta o n the 2 7th of June and entering1

As hanti there was usually a sufficient and often an abun

,

dant supply The King too sent ou t presents from

e
.
, ,

Kumasi but they were usually appropriated by Ag ana

,
.

O n the whole therefore although the missionari es are

, ,

entitled to every sympathy it seems hardly j ust to hold

ye
e ep
,

1
R am s r and K iih n , . 29 .
11
A t A wu rah a i .
 DUTCH K O M EN DA WAR -

up their captors to the unbounded execration that I s

commonly their lot or to advance the conduct of an in
e XXX
,

dividual ru ffian like A g a na as typical of Ashantis generally .

With frequent halts of several days each the party

e
passed A b tifi and reached Totora si o n the 3 I st of J uly
,

Here the child who had only been kept alive by a diet of
,

eggs succumbed to his privations on the 7 th of August

, .

The King had been told of his illness and had tried to
Obtain a milch cow in Kumasi but without success a ram ,

and other presents however were sent ou t to the prisoners

, , .

From Totora si they were taken through Jabin to A ba nkoro ,

a small village close to Kumasi where they remained for ,

about six months There they were j oined on the a 7th of

.

August by the party bringing M Bonnat

e
. .

In the west the war between the K om nd as and the

,

Dutch still dragged on After the demolition of their town

.
,

the people had retired to their bush villages making their

e
,

headqu arters at Kw sikru m whence they regularly sent ,

out parties of scouts whose duty it was to watch the

,

beach and give timely warning of any movements of the

enemy One of these parties soon discovered that the
e
.

Dutch Kom n d a s were plundering a barn in the deserted

town and they were attacked and driven o ff They and
e
.
,

the A m p nis and people of the other coast villages then

fled to Elmina and left the K om ndas free to make their e
plans and preparations and carry them o u t quite nu
Observed .

The Dutch now sent troops along the beach to subdue

e
th rebels ; but they e ffected nothing for the Komenda ,

scouts were on the look o u t and had called up the com

e
,

pani s long before the town was reached After a battle

e
.

lasting little more than an hour the K om nd as again ,

retired to their bush villages while the troops took posses ,

sion of a large house that still stood in the town This .

they garrisoned but did not take the precaution of clearing

e
,

th surrounding bush so that the enemy s sharp shooters

’
-
,

continually harassed them creeping up close to the house,

and fi ring a volley and falling back again before their

presence was eve n suspected It did not take t he Dutch .
5 84 TH E ASHANTI I NVASI O N O F KREPI

long to realize that this was a very o n sided kind of e -

warfare and they therefore determined to undertake an

e e
,

expedition to th bush attack the K om ndas in their

,

villages and thus put an end to the struggle

,
.

During the evening before the day fixed for this attack
e
several shells were fir d in the direction of Kw sikru m e ,

e
'

to drive out the K om nd as which however did them no , , ,

harm and next morning the Dutch force marched inland

e
, .

This was a movement for which the K om ndas were quite

unprepared never dreaming that the Dutch would venture
,

to attack them in the bush and they would have been ,

taken completely by surprise had not the troops been seen

by a party of scouts who were on their way down to dis
cover the cause of the firing on the previous evening .

They immediately hurried back to their camp and raised

the alarm but although their headquarters were at
e
K w sikru m numbers of their men were stationed at
,

Abransa and other villages which lay some distance away

, .

Messengers hurried o ff to summon these men while the ,

small force available on the spot turned o u t to hold the

Dutch at bay until the reinforcements could come up .

The sound of firing set these outlying companies on the

road long before the messengers reached them but after
a hardly contested fight the K om nda s ran sh ort of ammu
, e
nition and were compelled to retire leaving the Dutch ,

soldiers in possession of the village Having burned the .

place the troops returned to the beach boarded their

, ,

vessel and returned at once to Elmina .

1

During these times many slight skirmishes took place

e
between the K om nda s and the Dutch troops without
much damage being done on either side O n one occasion
e
.
,

after the K om nd as had retreated to the bush the Dutch ,

broke up and burned every canoe that they could find in ,

the hope of putting a stop to the piratical excursions of the

enemy ; but fresh canoes were promptly obtained from
Kafodidi A brobi and other villages and matters then
e
, ,

went on very much as before Moreover the Kom ndas .

, ,

e
e e e t i ty b t th ed ef hi battle
e
be
ef gh t th e h f J y 869
1
Th r is s om u nc r a n a ou at o t s bu t it is
,

s a id to h a v n ou on 1 ot o a nu ar 1 .
5 86 TH E ASHANTI I NVASI O N O F KREPI

kept under cover and lay down behind a ridge of sand

high up o n the beach to see what would happen next .

The firing had ceased before they arrived ; but they had
not been waiting long when they saw a boat leave the ship
and approach the shore taking soundings as she came , .

She had been sent to try to discover the entrance to the

lagoon or river which was marked on an old chart as
opening into the sea as it was thought this would afford
,

the safest landing place for the troops As she neared the
-
.

beach she was lost to sight for a few moments between the
,

rollers and a man of the Wom bil Company named Kwesi

, ,

Kum in his eagerness to see what had become of her stood

, ,
’
up He was seen by the boat s crew and immediately
.

shot dead This acted on his comrades like an electric

.

shock and abandoning all further attempts at conceal

, ,

ment they rose as one man and charged down on to the

,

beach .

This sudden appearance of large numbers of an enemy

whom they had fondly believed to be miles away in the
bush so startled the sailors that they lost control of their
,

boat and she immediately capsized in the surf Her crew .

consisted of two officers and nine men who now found ,

themselves struggling in the broken water and struck out

. e
for the shore O nly fiv of the seamen however succeeded , ,

in reaching the beach the others being either drowned or

e
,

shot down by the K om nd a s as they struggled through the

surf O ne of the survivors who resisted capture was
.
, ,

killed by a blow on the head with the butt end of a musket

e
,

but the others were all secured by the waiting K om ndas

and hurried off into the bush The ship was powerless to .

help them and weighed anchor and returned to Elmina

to report the disaster These prisoners were treated with
e
.

the utmost brutality and one of them died under th ill

,
1

usage of his captors

e
.

The K om nd a s now reported this success to the heads

of the Fanti Confederation who sent messengers ordering ,

that the prisoners should be well treated but on no account

be given up until a sufficient ransom had been paid
e
.

1
Vid p 58 . 1 .
 D UTCH SAI L O RS RANS O M ED

Colonel Na gtgla s sent to the Acting Administrator Mr 1 8 69 , .

Simpson telling him what had happened and begging am p

, . xxx

him to use his influence with the people to secure the

speedy release of the Dutchmen Mr James Davies the . .
,

Acting Collector of Customs was sent from Cape Coast to

e
,

the Komenda camp at K w sikru m on this mission but as , ,

no ransom was o ffered he failed to secure the release of

,

the prisoners Mr George Bla nkson o f An amabo who was

. .
,

a member of the Legislative Council was then sent as the

e
,

representative of the Government accompanied by J ohn ,

Hammond and George B la nkson j unior repres nting the ,

Fanti Confederation After a great deal of haggling over

.

the price it was eventually agreed that the prisoners

,

should be released on payment of 3 0 0 ounces of gold dust -

by the Dutch Government Two of them were then .

handed over while the remaining survivor was retained

,

as security for the payment of the ransom Colonel

e
.

Nagtgla s accompanied by his aide de camp Captain L

,
- —

Jeune then came over to Cape Coast He was met at the

,
.

Sweet River the Anglo Dutch boundary by an escort o f

— - —

the I st West India Regiment and remained in Cape Coast ,

for five days paying the ransom and receiving the third
,

prisoner on the 1 sth of J uly He was then escorted on

e
.

board the Dutch warshi p A m s t l amid the hostile demon

strations of the Cape Coast mob with whom a Dutch ,

Governor was anything but a popular person in these

troublous times
e
.

Every success scored by the K om nda s was hailed with

delight by the people of the other towns that had been
transferred all of whom were regarded with great suspicion
,

by the Dutch as being connected with the Fanti Con

federation The loyal Dutch subj ects living in those towns
.

that had originally been their Settlements were also

bitterly hostile to all Fantis and this latent enmity was ,

soon fanned into flame by the pe0p 1e of Dixcove who ,

m ade no secret of their antipathy to Dutch rule and their

joy at the successes of the K om nd a s though living a s e , ,

they did under the guns of a Dutch fort they could not ,

indulge in any open demonstrations The B ushua people .

,
588 TH E ASHANTI I NVASI O N O F KREPI

too instigated by one Appia Esilfi of Elmina demanded

, ,

all the Fantis in Dixcove for execution and actually seized ,

four Cape Coast men who had been living for several years
in a village near Butri The Chiefs however refused to
,
.
, ,

comply with these demands but though they rescued ,

those who had already been taken from execution Esilfi ,

sold them all as slaves Soon after this on the 6 th of .

,

June 1 8 6 9 the Elminas living in Bushua caught a pawn

,

belonging to a Cape Coast trader at Dixcove and a n

e
,

n o u nc d their intention o f putting him to d eath in revenge

for what the K o m nd as had done e He was rescued by .

Captain P W Alvarez the Dutch Commandant of Butri

. .
, ,

who so it is alleged told the Bushua people that if they

, ,

had really killed the man he should have considered their

action fully j ustified and have taken no notice of it but ,

that as the execution h a d not yet been carried out he must

, ,

protect him O n his return to the fort he summoned all

.
,

the Chiefs and people of Dixcove and forbade them to leave ,

the town unless they wore a small Dutch flag in token of

their loyalty or he would not be responsible for their lives
, .

From all accounts it is fairly evident that the Dutch

at this time had been rendered desperate by their continued
troubles with their new subj ects and were ready to adopt ,

any means however ruthless to compel them to submit

e
, ,

to their authority The passive resistance of the Dixcov

.

people had made them especially obnoxious to the Dutch ,

who seeing that they had them at their mercy determined

, ,

to make an example of them and inflict upon them a

portion o f that punishment which they so ardently but
vainly desired to administer to the K om nd as Captain e .

Alvarez therefore supplied the B u tris between whom and

, ,
—

the people of Dixcove there was a long standing feud -

with ammunition and arranged with them that they should

,

make an attack on the town while he in order to cripple , ,

the Dixcove people as much as possible went round with ,

a p arty of soldiers on Sat u rday the 1 2 th of J une and ordered

all traders and others to hand over their stock of powder
and lead for removal to the fort I n due course they .

arrived at the house of a wealthy native trader named

590 TH E ASHANTI I NVASI O N O F KREPI

tion for the losses they had sustained could ever be ob

ta in e
d by Messrs Swanzy and others nor was Captain
.
,

Alvarez suspended from duty Mr W E Sam Messrs . . . .

, .

Swa nzy s agent at Dixcove who made every e ffort to pre

’
,

vent bloodshed had written to Mr Cleaver the firm s

,
.
,
’

agent at Cape Coast informing him of the probability of

,

an attack on the town ; but when this letter was referred

to Colonel Nagtgla s he assured him that there was not
the slightest ground for alarm and when Mr Ussher , , .

subsequently lodged a formal complaint the Dutch ,

Governor could only account for the issue of ammunition to

all the A h a ntas except the Dixcove people by saying that
, ,

he was afraid the Wa ssaws were about to attack the town .

There was not the slightest ground for any such belief and , ,

even if there had been the Dixcove pe 0p1e themselves

,

should presumably have been the firs t persons to be armed

e
.

The terrible barbarities perpetrated by A tj i m pon

during his march along the coast and his subsequent stay
in Elmina combined with the apathy of the Dutch under
, ,

whose forts many of them took place show better than ,

anything else how complete was the absence of all law and
order as a result o f this long continued warfare A tj i m -
. e
pon was a man in whom all the worst traits of the Ashanti
character were emph asized with scarcely any traces of its
redeeming features a man with little or no self control -
,

but a certain amount of low cunning he had bestialized ,

himself by frequent debauches the effects of which were ,

plainly recorded on his face and gave himself up to u n ,

licensed cruelties he was in fact a tyrannical bully who

e
, , , ,

ap art from his pride of race had few instincts above thos
e
,

of a brute He like A g a na was altogether exceptional

e
.
, , ,

and can no more be taken as a type of the Ashanti rac

than Jonathan Wild or J udge Je ffries could be put forward
as typical Englishmen .

When he left Kumasi at the end of 1 8 6 8 the roads ,

between Ashanti and the Coast were all closed by the Fanti
e
Confederation and h had therefore been forced to travel
,

by a very circuitous route Having passed through A woin.

,

he was detained for four months in K inj a bo and when at ,

 A TJ I EMPON S ATR OCI T I ES
’

last allowed to proceed as a result of an interchange of

messages with Kumasi went on to Assini whence he made
, , XXX
his way through Apollonia to Ax im where he arrived at the ,

end of O ctober 1 86 9
e
.

A tj i m p on announced that he had taken an oath before

leaving Kumasi that he would put to death every English
man and Fanti with whom he chanced to meet and it must ,

certainly be admitted that he did his best to carry this

out He had not been in Ax im more than a few days when
e
.

he seized an unfortunate Fanti who was living in th town ,

dragged him to the market place and there within three -

, ,

hundred yards of the walls of the Dutch fort first cut out ,

his tongue and then be h eaded him This cold blooded and .
-

brutal murder was committed quite openly and in broad

daylight yet it failed to evoke the least remonstrance from
,

the Dutch Commandant As a matter of fact the Dutch .

,

very seldom concerned themselves with such matters or ,

made any attempt to control the more objectionable

customs of the people even at their headquarters Wh en .

the official messenger from Kumasi had arrived in Elmina

to announce the death o f O sai Kwaku Dua he had been
e
,

publicly sacrificed according to custom and th Dutch had ,

done nothing A few days after the commission of t h is

.

murder on the 1 4 th of November Mr Cleaver Messrs

, ,
.
,
.

Swanzy s agent landed at Ax im wit h Captain Dale of the

'

e
,

brig A lliga tor to transact some business and A tj i m p on ,

promptly sei z ed them both and prepared to put them to

death also This however was rat h er more than even a
.
, ,

Dutch Commandant could close his eyes to and thorough ly , ,

alarmed at the prospect of the complications that would

arise if he allowed two Englishmen to be murdered pra e
tically in his presence he at last bestirred himself and
e
, ,

with some difiicu lty prevailed upon A tj i m pon to release

them .

The news of these acts was the signal for a general

exodus of all the Fantis living in the coast towns under
Dutch rule who fled precipitately to Denkera or Wassaw
,

and the towns o n the English seaboard A tj i m pon s e ’

e
.

Opportunities therefore were few ; but some Fantis r

, ,
59 2 TH E ASHANTI I NVASI O N O F KREPI

mained here and there and these he rigorously sought out

, .

O n reaching Sekondi where the Dutch S ekondis had

,

already beheaded an Accra man after first cutting ou t h is

tongue he found that six Fantis who had been living there
,

had sought the protection of the Dutch flag and were even
e
,

then in the fort Nothing daunted however A tj i m pon

.
, ,

demanded the surrender of these men by the Commandant ,

and actually received them Two of them were put to

e
.

death in front of the fort but the Dutch wars h ip A m s t l

e
,

arrived the next morning A tj i m pon was sent for and the
, ,

other four were taken from him and sent to the Governor
at Elmina
e
.

From Sekondi A tj i m pon passed along the beach by

Shama and Komenda where he narrowly escaped being
,

attacked by this warlike people who being still in their , ,

bush villages on account of the war with the Dutch did ,

not see his party until it was too late to intercept it Six
e
.

Fantis living in A dj u a p nin when they heard of this ,

monster s near approach tried to escape in canoes to Cape

’
,

Coast but one of these was captured by two canoes from

Elmina and its three occupants were brought back to
e
A tj i m p on who beheaded one man beat a woman to death
, , ,

and would have murdered the remaining man also had he

not succeeded in slipping his ha nd from under the staple
by which he was secured in log and making good his
escape into the bush
e
.

O n the following day A tj i m p on entered Elmina with

the head of his latest victim carried in triumph before
him and was accorded a perfect ovation Here again
, .
, ,

Fantis who had thought t h ey would be safe under the

Castle guns were beaten to death At Elmina itself
e
.

where stand strong fortifications bristling with fiv muzzle ,

-

and breech loading heavy cannons where Dutch marines

-

and Batavian regulars with their improved rifles in vast

, ,

numbers occupy every stronghold of the town where two

,

men o f war at her roadstead ride at anchor with their

e
- -

broadsides c o mmanding every portion of the town ven

e
—

here A tj i m p on s atrocious acts and the voice of the dead

’

e
,

and dying cry loudly for vengeanc against the civilized

,
 CHAPTER XXXI

NE G O TI ATI O N S WITH THE DUT C H A ND AS HA NTI S

1 8 70 To 1 872

’
THE capture of Europeans by Adu Bo ffo s army and their
removal to Kumasi caused th British Authorities on the e
Gold Coast much anx iety and so perplexed them that for
,

some time they were quite unable to decide how to act .

The Governor has been blamed because he did not im

mediately secure their release by the payment of an
exorbitant ransom ; but the position was a peculiar one ,

and when all the circumstances of the case are considered

it is at once apparent that the Government was in no way
bound to interfere .

I n the first place none of the prisoners though Euro

, ,

peans were British subjects ; nor had they been living

,

wit h in the Protectorate when they were captured but at a ,

place quite outside the sphere of British influence M . .

Bonnat moreover had actually been preparing to supply

, ,

the As h antis with powder and arms with which to continue

his war against the Krepis with whom he himself was living
,

o n friendly terms . Nor was Ashanti in any way amenable

to the British Government I t was an entirely independent
.

Power and although the war in which these prisoners had

,

been taken was doubtless only a preliminary step to the

renewed invasion o f the Protectorate no actual attack had ,

yet been made upon any British tribe and the Government ,

was not directly involved in the struggle O f the tribes .

that were implicated the A kwam u s were the only people

,

to whom they had any right to dictate and they had ,

thrown off their allegiance and j oined the Ashantis Had .

5 94
 H O STAGE S GIVEN

the prisoners been in their possession the Government

e
,

would have been j ustified in adopting th strongest measures

to compel their release but they were subservient to the
Ashantis and had neither captured the prisoners nor had
,

they now got them in their possession nor within their

control The Governor therefore regarded the matter as
e
.

on in wh ich he could no t interfere officially but decided ,

to use his influence uno fficially and indirectly to secure the

release o f the captives at the first opportunity I t was a .

very di fficult question and it is doubtful if he could have

,

done much more with the limited means at his disposal .

To have made demands that he was unable to enforce

would have been worse t h an useless and to have tamely ,

submitted to extortionate demands for a ransom would

only have brought h is authority into contempt while he ,

certainly could not have paid any such sum from Govern
ment funds without special authority from the Secretary
of State Any such payment moreover would have
.
, ,

establis h ed a most undesirable precedent and have supplied ,

a direct incentive to the Ashantis to make furt h er similar

captures wh enever the opportunity arose .

In the meantime Adu Bo ffo had got into serious difficu l

e
,

ties I n O ctober th gallant Dom pri had inflicted a

e
.

severe defeat on th Ashantis whose losses had amounted

,

to about fifty per cent of their entire force and had ,

also succeeded in intercepting more t h an one convoy of

ammunition from Kumasi The Accras K rob os Akwa .
, ,

pims and Akims stimulated by the repeated appeals of the

,

missionaries in O dumasi and of the Krepis were preparing

e
,
’
to go to the assistance of the latter and th enemy s ,

position was already so precarious and t h reatening that

both Adu Bo ffo a nd the King of Akwamu became seriously
alarmed and believing this sudden activity to be due to
, ,

fears for the safety of the Europeans decided to send ,

hostages for them These hostages amongst whom was

.
,

Adu Bo ffo s son K wa m in Op o ku were given to the King

’
,

of Krobo in N ovember who soon afterwards handed them

,

over to the Governor at Cape Coast .

’
A larming accounts of Adu Bo ffo s defeat and danger
59 6 N EG OT IAT I O N S WITH D U T CH A ND AS HANTI S

had in the meantime reached Kumasi and the King sent ,

to recall h im ; but before he recei ved the summ ons the ,

deli v ery of hostages had already induced the eastern trib es

to withdraw their forces for they belie ved it wa s only a
,

preliminary step to the release of the missionaries which

would speedily follow Adu Boffo s position was ther
.
’
e
fore much improved a nd he was able to remain in Krepi
,

and regain much of his lost ground The King s alarm for.
’

the safety of his army had also induced him to send to the
Governor o ffering to exchange prisoners and the Ashantis ,

who were detained in the Protectorate had been collected

and sent to Prasu with Maj or Brownell under the im
pression tha t the Europeans would be given up Many .

delays occurred however and Major B rownell wh o was

, ,

kept at Prasu for seven and a half months suffered the ,

greatest incon ve nience from want of provisions and the

absolute impossibility of obtaining any meat at a ll This .

was due to the action of the A ssin Chiefs who were opposed ,

to the surrender of these As hanti prisoners and wished to

keep the roads closed so that they might retain all the -

trade in their own hands and reap heavy profits as middle

men The delay enabled the King to get news of Adu
.

Bo ffo s later successes and when the exchange at lengt h

’
,

took place on the and o f March 1 8 7 1 the only prisoners ,

obtained were Fantis amongst whom was Prince Ansa

, ,

who had been detained in Kumasi since the 1 7th of Septem

e
b r 1 86 7 The excuse given for not releasing the mission
.

aries was that the King could not give them up until their
captor Adu B o ffo had returned and made his report ; but
, ,

the true reason probably was that they were far too im
portant a diplomatic card to be readily parted with so
long as a ffairs were in their present unsettled state .

The exchange o f territory with the Dutch in 1 86 8 had

not been followed by any o f those benefits that they had
expected for themselves while the English had been so
,

involved in their subsequent quarrels with the people that

they too had derived little or no ad vantage from the change
, , .

The whole country had been in a state of co nfusion ever

since the transfer took place The Dutch had never b en
. e
59 8 N EG O TIATI O NS WITH DUTCH AN D ASHANTI S

terms with Ashanti and at whose headquarters the only

,

Ashanti force that had as yet entered the Gold Coast

itself was even then stationed
e
.

A tj i m p on still continued to commit various outrages

from time to time and on on occasion sent a strong ,
e
party of Elminas across the boundary into British territory ,

where they destroyed a small Village and advanced to

within three and a half miles of Cape Coast before retiring .

To prevent any more raids of this kind the people of Cape ,

Coast and Mori had then formed a camp near the Sweet
River .

Early in 1 8 70 an incident occurred which plainly shows

e
,

the lengths to which A tj i m p o n was prepared to go and ,

the readiness with which the King and people of Elmina

fell in with his wishes O n the 1 2 th of March Mr W C .
, . . .

Finlason a white J amaican living in Cape Coast went over

, ,

to Elmina to see Mr George E Em insa ng one of the . .

,

members of the Dutch Legislative Council He arrived at .

about four o clock in the afternoon and was accompanied

’

e
,

on shore by Captain Webber of the brig A lb rt by which ,

’
he had come At a little before eight o clock that evening
.
,

while they were sitting with Mr Em insa ng in his house a .

,

number of Elminas burst into the room and demanded to

know what Mr Finlason was doing in their town ordering
.
,

him to appear at once before the King Mr Em insang . .

dismissed them saying they were about to go for a walk

,

and would call on the King if possible Soon after this .

,

the three went out and after paying some calls reached , ,

Mrs Bartels house where they were again interrupted by

.
’
,

the Elminas who demanded to know why they had failed

,

to appear before the King After some discussion they .

went away but returned half an hour later headed by the

e
,

King himself with whom was A tj i m p o n

, .

The King Kobina Edj a n accused Mr Finlason of

e
, , .

h aving written against the Elminas in the Africa n Tim s ,

o f being the Secretary of the Fanti Confederation and of ,

having come to Elmina as a spy all of which he denied .

Crowds of Elminas collected outside the house while the ,

King continued to abuse Mr Finlason and at midnight .

,
 RES C U E O F FI NLA SO N

A tj i e ’
death drum was beaten his executioner
e
m p on s
-
,

ntered the room armed with knife and club and Mr , .

Finlason was on the point of being put to death when a ,

bugle suddenly sounded a Dutch officer sprang into the,

room sword in hand and calling to Mr Finlason took him

, , .
,

o utside w here a gu ar d of I 5 0 Dutch soldiers was waiting

'

with fixed bayonets to escort him to the Castle This .

interruption had been so sudden and unexpected and their ,

prisoner h ad disappeared so quickly that the King and

e
,

A tj i m pon had barely realiz ed what was happening until

it was all over and were far too astonished to be able to
,
’
o ffer any resistance A t ten o clock the next morning
.
, ,

Mr Finlason wa s escorted to the quay by Ca ptain Alvarez

e
.

and a party of 2 00 soldiers and put on board the A lb rt ,

whence he was remo ved to the Dutch warship K roopm an

o n the l 6th and t aken back to Cape Coast .

All these circum s tances combined to make the speedy

a cquisition of the Dutch S ettlements desirable but anxious
though the Dutch now were to get ou t of the country before
their losses became e ven greater the Home Government ,

e
was determined not to take over their Possessions until it
was assured that there would be no opposition from th
people and had no intention o f becoming involved in any
,

s uch troubles a s the Dutch had had ever since 1 8 6 8 The .

loca l officials however were far less cautious and although

, ,

it was almost cert ain that the propose d transfer would be

the signal for fresh and even more serious outbreaks they ,

seem to have been so imbued with the idea that their

position would be improved by the cha nge and so con
e
,

vinc d of the ad v antages they would obtain from the

control of an uninterrupted line o f coast that they thought ,

they could regard the risk as purely nom inal They took .

very little trouble to forecast the probable result but did

e
,

verything they could to forward the negotiations ap

e
,

par ntly leaving Ashanti out of their calculations alto

gether and only thinking of the war party in Elmina .

S ir Arthur Kennedy and Mr Ussher were both suspicious . ,

but readily allowed their better j udgment to be o ver

ruled .The acquisition o f the Dutch Set tlement s had of ,
6 00 N EG O TIATI O NS WITH DUTCH AN D ASHANTI S

course been the ambition o f the English for many years

, ,

and now that the opportunity had at last arisen it would ,

naturally have been hard for them to have had to reject

it ; yet they had sufficient warning of what the result
was likely to be and accepted assurances that they woul d
,

never have believed in other circumstances j ust because ,

they happened to coincide with their own wishes It was .

natural but most unfortunate

,
.

The negotiations commenced in November 1 869 and

continued until early in The chief di fficulties were
the suspicion of an Ashanti claim to Elmina and the
e
presence of A tj i m pon and his followers in the town which ,

to some extent supported it The relations between

.

Ashanti and Elmina at this time were of the most vital

importance in estimating the probable effect of the transfer ,

and could quite easily have been ascertained There was .

,

in fact an undoubted alliance between them and accord

, , ,

ing to native custom Elmina was regarded as an integral

,

p art of the As hanti kingdom .

As in the case of all the earlier forts the ground on ,

which Elmina Castle stood had been leased from the Chiefs ,

a nd a Note issued for the monthly instalments of the

ground rent This Note had been given in the first place
-
.

to the Chiefs of Elmina but had been captured by the

e
,

K om nd a s and from them passed into the hands of the

King of Denkera from whom it was taken by O sai Tutu of
,

Ashanti in the war of 1 6 9 9 or 1 700 Ever since then the .

Dutch had paid the rent to the Kings of Ashanti During .

the blockade of Elmina in 1 80 9 its inhabitants had sent ,

a message to the King of Ashanti informing him of their

plight and an army had been despatched to their assistance
,

in 1 8 1 I In 1 8 1 7 the English Governor had definitely

.

recognized the Ashanti King s authority over Elmina by

’

instructing the o fficer in charge o f the British mission to

Kumasi to complain of the ill treatment the people of -

"
Cape Coast have experienced from those o f Elmina ,

which he suggested was due to their presuming on t heir

Vide Parliam entary Pa pe Cesszon o/ theD u tch S e m e
ttle
Fe
1 nts
'

r , ,

bru ary 1 8 72 .
 60 2 N EG OTIATI O NS WITH DUTCH AN D ASHANTIS

e
1870 187 2
—
facts it is di fficult to understand how Colonel Nagtglas
,

ca n . xxx: could have deni d the existence of this Ashanti claim or ,

how Sir Arth ur Kennedy could have been induced to

accept his explanations I t only shows how eager every
.

one concerned was for the proj ected change how grossly ,

ignorant they must have been of the history of the country ,

and how little trouble can have been taken to learn the
actual facts Colonel N agtgla s wrote not only alleging that
.
,

the Elminas would give no trouble but even denying the ,

existence o f any treaty or official engagement between

”
Elmina and Ashanti Taken absolutely literally t h is
.
,

may have been true there was no written treaty unless the ,

Note for the rent could be so described He was forced to .

admit however that the Dutch paid twenty ounces of gold

, ,

annually to the King of Ashanti but tried to explain away

e
,

this very significant fact by saying that th pay note taken

ee
-

from the D nk ras h a d been issued by the Dutch West

India Company to the Chief of D nkira h to encourage e
the trade for slaves gold dust and ivory,
-
The King of .

Ashantee has no recognized claim upon the Territory or

”
people of Elmina Yet the English had issued such
.
2

Notes themselves and had paid the King of As hanti on

,

them in an exactly simil ar way and had on more than one ,

occasion had trouble enough over some of them to have

impressed the fact permanently on their minds There .

was small excuse therefore for the ready credence they

, ,

now gave to this ingenious explanation Mr Ussher . .

alone seems to have had some inkling of the true state of

a ffairs O n the l 6 th of December 1 8 7 0 he wrote a Private
.

and Confidential letter to the Governor in Ch ief in - -

,

which he said : I do not wish to impute any unfair

dealing to the Government of the King of H olland upon
this Coast but I think it is of the highest importance that
e
,

such a point as the on I mention should not be lost sight

of as an unsatisfactory settlement might again involve us
,

in a troublesome and protracted war with Ashantee

such as was the case when Governor John Hope Smith
1
nta ry Pa p e
Parliam e r Cess zort of D u tch S e
ttle
m e
'

,
nts p 4 , . .

2
I bzd .
 ASHANTI CLAI M T O ELM I NA

refused some fifty years a go to continue the yearly tribute

e
, ,

paid by the British forts to the Ashantee King by right of

”
his conquest of F ant e .
1

In November 1 8 70 the probability of the transfer was

made known to K ofi Karikari wh o lost no time in showing ,

that he at any rate considered Elmina a part of his king

, ,

dom In a letter dated the a4th of November 1 8 70 he

.

wrote to Mr Ussher : I beg to bring before your Ex

ee
.

’
c ll n cy s kind consideration regarding the Elmina if it is ,

included in the change The fort of that place have from

.

time immemorial paid annual tribute to my ancestors to

e
th present time by right of arms when we conquered I ntim ,

G a ckidi King of Denkera

, Intim Ga ckidi having pur .

chased goods to the amount of nine thousand pounds

from the Dutch the Dutch demanded of my father
, ,

O sai Tutu I for the payment who ( O sai Tutu ) paid it full
, ,

the nine thousand pounds and the Dutch de

livered the Elmina to him as his own and from that time ,

K ofi
”
tribute has been paid to us to this present time 2

e
.

Karikari thus made it perfectly clear that h at least

considered t h at he had a definite claim to Elmina and ,

that that claim was a long standing one In the course .

o f nearly two centuries of oral tradition it is not surprising

that the exact details should have become distorted but

e
,

th allusions to Intim Dakari of Denkera and Osai Tutu

s how clearly enough to what the King was referring and ,

it is of course quite possible that some such monetary

transaction may also have taken place though it is rid icu ,

lous to suppose that either O sai Tutu or anyone else would

h ave paid for an annual bounty of £2 0 unless there

e
,

was some ot h er advantage attached to it This letter was .

referred to Colonel Na gtglas who profess d to be ex

ee
,

tr m ly surprised at its contents and reiterated his ,

assertion that the money was not paid as tribute or ground

rent but merely as a subsidy to encourage trade and
,

maintain friendly relations He also referred Mr Ussher

. . .

to Cruikshank s work saying that it gives the best idea

’
,

1
e '

C s szort o f D u tch eee

S ttl m nts , p . 12 .

2
I bid , p
. . 1 3 .
6 04 N EG O TIATI O NS WITH D UTCH AN D AS HANTI S

of the mutual relations between the King of Ashantee and

”
the Governments and nations o n the seaboard .
1

This appeal to Cruikshank seems singularly unfortunate

and at once raises the suspicion that Colonel Nagtglas
cannot have read this author very carefully while the ,

English Authorities seem to have been content to take

his word on the subj ect without making any attempt to
refer to the book and check his assertions Cruikshank s .
’

statements bearing on this point are very plain He shows .

what these pay notes really were by saying a ground

-

rent paid to the Chiefs and Headmen of the several towns

,

where forts were built seems to have been the general

,

nature o f European tenure o n the Gold Coast With this .

payment was coupled the necessity of giving monthly pay

”
notes .Referring to the conquest of Denkera by Osai
1

Tutu he says
, O ther advantages attached to this
conquest The Dutch Government paid the King of
.

Denkera a monthly Note for Elmina Castle which became ,

the perquisite o f the victor and to this day the Kings of ,

”
Ashantee enj oy the same I n another place he writes
.
1

It has been mentioned that the Europeans paid to the

native Chiefs a ground rent for the forts as well as monthly
-
,

Notes to several of the Chiefs These payments were .

evidently regarded by the natives as an acknowledgment

of their s overeignty of the country and that our establish ,

ments were held on sufferance not by conquest or purchase ,

.

When the King of Ashantee conquered Denkera the pay ,

note which the King o f Denkera held from the Dutch for
Elmina Castle was transferred to the conqu eror In like .

manner the Notes for Accra fell into his hands on the
conquest of Akim These were to him additional con
.

firm a tion of his right of sovereignty over the countries

which he had conquered written proofs in fact to which he
, , ,

and his successors might always appeal in the event of

” 4
cavil or dispute .

These statements are so plain and place the holders

o f these Notes so clearly in the position of landlords and

1
e
C ss ion o f D u tch S elee
tt m nts , p . I 3 .

1
Cru iksh a nk, vol i, p. . 28 .
1
I bid .
, p .
5 1. 1 I bid .
, p n . o.
6 06 N EG O TIATI O NS WI TH DUTCH AN D AS HANTIS

between them and the Administrator either in Cape Coast

or at the Sweet River He met the Kings Chiefs and .
,

principal townspeople of Elmina Shama and Sekondi in ,

the Castle on the 1 9 th Colonel Nagtglas and some other

.

Dutch o fficers were also present The King of Elmina .

made it abundantly clear that although he was ready

enough to cease from further hostilities and was indeed
sincerely anxious for peace he was equally determined ,

never to come under the English flag and thus live on

common terms with his hated enemies the Fantis He .

maintained that he h a d already conquered t h em four

times under the English flag and said that he could never ,

consent to put himself under a defeated flag He and .

his people had moreover su ffered so much as a result of

, ,

the previous exchange of territory that he was very averse

to any further proceedings of a similar nature
e
.

During the whole of this time A tj i m p on was still in

Elmina though the English had frequently asked for his
,

removal and indeed made it a necessary preliminary con

dition of the purchase of the Dutch Settlements Colonel .

N a gtgla s therefore had tried to obtain his recall by writing

e
, ,

to th King and in order to give some proof of his sincerity

,

and allay the suspicions of the English arrested h im on ,

the i 4th of April 1 8 7 1 and imprisoned him in the Castle .

A month later however he was released on swearing that

, ,

he would return to Kumasi within thirty days but failing

e
,

to fulfil this promise was r imprisoned Many Ashanti

,
-
.

traders V isited the coast during this cessation of open

hostilities but as it was found that many of them were
purchasing munitions of war which would assuredly have
caused them to be molested by the British tribes on their
return j ourney thus still further complicating matters
e
, ,

a proclamation forbidding th sale of any such goods was

issued on the 1 7 th of O ctober .

While these negotiati ons were going on Adu Bo ffo was ,

still in Krepi and having met with some successes had

, , ,

once more stopped the navigation of the Volta He had .

left a small garrison of Ashantis and A kwam u s on Duffo

Island about fifty miles up the river who acted in concert
, ,
 e
ATTAC K O N D U FF O I S LAN D

with Geraldo de Lema and attacked any cano s tha t tried

to pass The Accras determined to dri ve these men out
.
,

and Mr Ussher left Cape Coast on the 2 5 th of April 1 8 70

e
.

in on of the Lagos Colonial steamers with a few Lagos ,

Hausas and thirteen men of the 1 st West India Regiment

to assist them He wa s j oined by the Adminis trator o f
.

Lagos Captain Glover and the party ascended the river

, ,

in the small steamer E cho whi ch had been equipped with ,

a gun rockets and a mortar The steamer anchored about

, .

ten miles below the island while the native army camped ,

along the river bank O n the day fixed for the assault
-
.
,

the Accras were sent along the eastern bank near whic h ,

the island lay while the steamer moved slowly up to its

,

western side Rockets were fired into the enemy s village

.
’
,

which was soon in flames and numbers of the enemy were ,

then seen retreating up stream in hundreds of canoes but

though they were fired u p on from the steamer the maj ority ,

of them made good their escape and hid themselves in

the thick cover along the banks of the river Two days .

later the Accras landed on the island under cover of the

e
,

fire of th steamer s gun and mortar and advancing in '

, ,

three long lines beat it from end to end Many of the

,
.

enemy were killed an d hundreds of bodies floated down the

river many more were taken prisoners their leader blew ,

himself up according to As hanti custom when he sa w the

day was lost and the remainder escaped either in cano s or
,
e
by swimming .

Exaggerated reports of this defeat soon reached Kumasi

and induced the King to o ffer to exch ange the missionaries
for the hostages held by the Government Accordingly .
,

Maj or Brownell was once more sent up to Prasu in charge

of them The force that had been driven o u t o f Duffo
.

Island however wa s but a small detachment of Adu

, ,

Bofl o s ar my and he and h is main body were quite u n

'
’
,

affected by the battle and very soon afterwards defeated ,

the Krepis in a decisive engagement in which the gallant ,

Dom pri was amongst the slain Some , however allege . ,

t hat Dom pri was in reality shot by the Accras wh o were ,

jealous of the fa vours that had been shown him by English

60 8 N EG O TIATI O NS WITH D UTCH AN D AS HANTIS

Governors The news of this success once more turned

e
1
.

the scale and K ofi Karikari again refused to exchang the

,

prisoners until Adu Bo ffo had returned to give his account

o f the campaign and their capture .

I n the west Am atifu the King of Kinj a b o had been

e
,

j oined by o n of the S efwi Chiefs and their combined force ,

had attacked the A pollonia ns but had been defeated and ,

driven off .

The Convention for the cession of the Dutch Settle

ments had been signed by the plenipotentiaries at the
Hague on the 2 sth of February 1 8 7 1 and its ratification ,

was only being delayed on account of the doubts about

Elmina which was still under suspicion of being feudatory
,

to Ashanti The Dutch were most anxious for the arrange

.

ments to be completed and in May sent Henry Plange a

, , , ,

native clerk in their service to Kumasi to obtain from ,

the King a withdrawal of h is claim and to threaten him

with a discontinuance of his subsidy if he refused to make
it Plange arrived in Kumasi at the end of June at the
.
,

same time as the British Administrator s messenger ’

Crawford Ashanti and British ( native ) messengers were

.

constantly passing backwards and forwards at this time ,

not only o n account of the negotiations for the release of

the missionaries but also because the King had a complaint
,

against Kobina Fua the King of Western Akim and was ,

threatening to make war on him .

Plange found the missionaries in the capital when he

arrived They had been removed from A ba nkoro in
.

February 1 8 7 0 to one o f the Kumasi villages and ,

thence in the following December to the city itself They .

lived in the buildings of the Wesleyan Mission that had

been establis h ed by Mr Freeman with a native catechist
.
,

named Watts whom he had left in charge and who had

been detained by the King for the past seven years On .

the 2 nd of September Mrs Ramseyer gave birth to a .

daughter an event that caused great satisfaction to the

,

Ashantis who regard the birth of a female child to an

,

enemy in Ashanti territory as a good omen whereas the

e e ed e
,

1
t no t at n o f ch a p t r .
6 10 N EG O TIATI O NS WITH DUTCH AN D ASHANTIS

good will or feeling towards the Dutch Government on

-
, ,

the Gold Coast Settlement in Elmina Fort Castle or fort

e
, .

“ Tradition tells us that Ashantee and Elmina ar

e
5 .

relations ; o ffspring of one mother ; they ar brethren ;

also they are not to have hostilities against each other by
oath of allegiance .

6 In conclusion I must acknowledge t h at the afore

.
,

mentioned letter dated Coomassie 2 4 th November 1 8 70

, , ,

about my communication to his Excellency H T Ussher . .

,

concerning Elmina Fort is a vague formal or nominal

e
, ,

expression th sentiments of which I therefore must now

,

write that the whole is a mistake .

Signed in the presence of the Ambassador and the Chiefs ,

Coomassie i 9 th August 1 8 7 1
. .

his
( Signed ) CO F FIE X CA L CA L L I
mark
King of Ashantee
Reside at Coomassie Kingdom .

C h iefs
his
( Signed ) I N S U A S X Po x o o
mark
his
B O O A C HI E X TU R TS I N
mark
his
Y O A R " N Y C HW I E
mark
( Signed ) H P L A N G E Ambassador .
,
.

This extraordinary document was delivered to

Lieutenant Colonel Y H Fergusson who had relieved
e
-
,
. .

Colonel N agtgla s as Acting Governor of Elmina on th ,

i sth of November and a copy of it was immediately

,

forwarded to Mr Salmon who was now administering the

.
,

Government at Cape Coast I t was of course the very .

, ,

thing that was wanted h a d it been genuine ; but u n

fortunately there are good grounds for believing th at it
 FLAN GE
’
S M I SSI O N

was a forgery and its ready acceptance by the English

,

after their previous doubts and suspicions was a mistake

that was attended by important and far reaching results -
.

The most that can possibly be said for it is that it may

possibly have been a most distorted and grossly exaggerated
’
version of the King s oft repeated statement that he had
-

never conquered the Elminas but that they were his ,

relatives and allies This statement now seems to have

.

been twisted into a disavowal of any claim to Elmina

Castle which was an entirely di fferent matter and it is
,

impossible to believe t h at the King if he ever put his

e
,

mark to t h is document at all had any suspicion of th ,

true import of its contents It is far more likely however

.
, ,

that the whole t h ing was produced by Plange himself .

It is true that the King and Chiefs of Elmina as well as ,

Prince Ansa and the two Ashanti messengers A birifa and

Kotiko who brought the letter from Elmina all acknow
, ,

ledged it but none of t h em can h ave had any real know

ledge of it as they had not been in Kumasi when it was
,

alleged to have been written There are on the other .

,

hand several reasons which apart from the extreme

, ,
’
improbability of the King s having made any such admis
sions j ustify doubts of its genuineness
,
.

The missionaries were in Kumasi during the whole

period of Flange s stay but they h a d never seen or heard
’ "

of this document and were certain t h at he h a d completely

,

failed in his mission and obtained no concession whatever

from the King Plange did not leave Kumasi until the
.

4th of September whereas this paper wh ich should have

, ,

completed h is business there purported to have been ,

signed on the 1 9 th of August so t h at it would have been ,

more than ever remarkable if the missionaries h a d known

’
nothing of its existence Moreover it was the King s
.
,

invariable practice to send for them to read and interpre t

every letter before he put his mark to it and it would h ave ,

been very strange if he had omitted to do so in this instance ,

when signing what would have been by far the most

important document of them all Th whole thing was . e
in the handwriting of Plange who had doubtless been ,
6 12 N EGO TI ATI O N S WITH D UTCH AN D AS HANTI S

I mpressed with the importance and absolute necessity of

obtaining some retraction of this kind and was unwilling
to return to Elmina and admit that he had failed .

There is no reason to suppose that the Dutch officials

suspected any decepti on : in fact there is presumptive
e
,

proof to the contrary for Colonel F rg u sson at once wrote

to the King acknowledging the receipt of this document
, ,

quoting the principal heads of its contents and informing

e
him of the release o f A tj i m p on with a request for his ,

immediate recall 1
This letter moreover was really sent
.
, ,

for it arrived in Kumasi in the middle of December and

was taken to the missionaries to be read and the mere ,

fact that such a letter was written shows at once that the
Dutch Governor at any rate was not conniving at a fraud
e
.

What reply if any th King made is not known but two

, ,

letters were received from him by the British Administrator

e
,

on dated the same day as the Certificate of Apology

and the other a little later both of which contained ,

passages that were scarcely consistent with this alleged

renunciation of all claim to Elmina and should have raised
doubts o f its genuineness and have led to further enquiries
being made In the first of these letters the King wrote
.

I wish yo u can see and settle all the Elmina Question

e
,

as I cannot have access for my pe 0p 1e to go ther , and

the Fante as are molesting them a great deal which is not ,

good The Elminas are my friends and relations

. .
1

In the second he wrote There is also another important

question which I wish to bring before your Excellency s ’

notice that is the Elminas which may it please your

—
,
—

Excellency to take into serious consideration and cause

to settle up all the differences and hostilities between
e
e
the Fa nt s and the said Elminas I n the meantime I .

h to go further to remind your Excellency concerning

the property of some pe0p1e of Elmina captured and plu n
e
e
,

dered by the A ssins or Fa nt s said to be thereabout ,

seventy three ( 7 3 ) persons and three hundred o u nces

-
,

eee e e e
Vi d l tt r d a t d S t G o rg d E lm ina , 2 8 th ebe 8 7
e
1 ’

eee
. of N ov m r 1 1 ,

eee e
C ss ion of D u tch S ttl m nts p 3 5 , . .

2
Vzd l tt r d a t d Ku m a s i l g th o f Au g u s t 1 8 7 1
, tbzd .
, p . 29 .
 CHAPTER XXXI I

THE F A NTI C O N F EDE RATI O N

1 87 1 To 1 8 72

IN 1 an attempt was made by a few men to evolve

87 1
from the o ld Fanti Confederation an organized scheme for
the improvement of the condition of th people and the e
introduction of self government
-
but the Authorities ,

finding it difficult to foresee where this movement might

end became alarmed and took strong measures fo r its
,

immediate suppression .

This Confederation though only now assuming definite

,

shape had been in existence for several years and really

e
,

owed its origin to the disgraceful fiasco of 1 86 3 when th

e
,

incompetence of the military commander and th small

amount of attention paid by the H ome Government to the
excellent advice of Governor Pine had combined to destroy
all faith in the ability of the English to defend those tribes
who had been relying upon them for protection These .

events coupled with the o fficial intimation that followed

,

them t h at the people must rely on their own unaided

e ff orts to repel any future invasions unless the safety of the
,

forts themselves was imperilled soon convinced the Fantis

,

that something must be done and that since no tribe was

,

strong enough to stand alone against Ashanti they must ,

put their own quarrels on one side and combine their forces .

This was the real ori gin of the movement ; but the ill
advised proceedings of Aggri and the unsettled state of
the country immediately after the war had prevented
anything more being done at the time The transfer of .

1 86 8 by which certain towns and districts formerly under

,
 O RIGI N O F TH E C O N FEDERAT I O N 615

the English were without any consideration for the wishes

,

o f the people concerned unceremoniously h anded o ver

,

to the Dutch and their inhabitants indirectly threatened

with annihilation by the Ashantis at once convinced the ,

Fantis tha t what had until then been perha ps lit t le more
than a suspicion of impending danger was a serious reality ,

c a lling for immediate action Then followed the mee ting .

of the Kings and Chiefs at Mankesim and the firs t forma ,

tion of the Fanti Confederation as a definite body I ts .

objects in t his its e arliest form had been first to advance

, , , ,

the interests of the whole Fanti nation and second to , ,

combine for o ffence and defence in time of war Their .

e fforts to attain these obj ects and to resist the attempts

o f the Dutch to assert their authority over thos wh o had e
unwillingly been transferred to them have already been
detailed The Confederation at this time was in an
.

embryonic state with no definite code of laws for its

,

regulation and was moreover torn by internal quarrels

e
, , ,

and dissensions Anfu O tu the King of Abra was th

.
, ,

acknowledged leader of the Fanti nation but Edu the , ,

King of Mankesim in whose town the Confederation had

,

first come into being had tried to constitute himself its

,

official head and considerable ill feeling between the two -

had resulted .

e
The Accras had t aken no p art in this movement but
the losses they had sustain ed during the troubl s in Awuna
soon convinced them that they too must adopt some , ,

measure for properly organizing their resources The .

Accra Chiefs were rich neither in money nor men and

when any expedition had to be undertaken it was upon ,

the sla ves and subscriptions of the traders and educated

community that they mainly relied D u ring the Krepi .

war the Administrator Mr Simpson had asked the Chiefs

e
, , .
,

to supply 2 000 m n to go to the assistance of Dom pri

,

but though they had readily undertaken to collect this

force and had been given a hundred pounds to aid them
in their preparations they had never been able to fulfil
,

their promise and at a meeting held on the 1 2th of Au gu st

,

1 86 9 h ad plainly admitted that they wer p owerle ss to e

 TH E FANTI C O N FED ERATI O N

do anything without the assistance and co Operation of the -

educated community This had resulted in the formation .

o f an association of the latter on the 1 3 th o f August ,

under a president and managing committee of six which ,

was known as the Accra Native Confederation without ,

whose advice and consent it was agreed that the Chiefs

should no t act either in peace or fo r war .

When the Fanti Confederation was first formed at

Mankesim its principal aim had been to obstruct the
,

action of the Government by offering armed resistance to

the transfer of British Possessions to the Dutch Naturally .
,

therefore it had aroused the opposition o f the Administra

,

tor Mr Ussher wh o had no wish to see the whole country

,
.
,

convulsed by civil war nor to find himself involved in the ,

troubles of the Dutch Whatever his private opinion of .

the rights of the case may have been therefore he was ,

bound to discountenance the proceedings of the Confedera

tion absolutely and o n the 1 8th of J uly 1 8 6 8 he had
,

written to the Chiefs then assembled at Mankesim Your

conduct has been such that I can no longer have any r e
lation with yo u As you volunt arily thr ow off your
.

allegiance yo u must not be surprised that I accept your

,

act and treat you until you come to your senses as apart
, , ,

from Great Britain I n case o f war with the Ashantees

.
,

a s you will have provoked it you will bear the brunt ,

” 1
thereof without help from Government Mr Ussher . .

was of co u rse bound to see that the transfer was made

, ,

peaceably if possible and had no other course open to him ,

but later when the blockade of Elmina had been raised

,

and the Confederation wa s no longer engaged in open

hostilities against the Government it was definitely recog
e
,

niz d by Mr Simpson wh o had relieved Mr Ussher while

.
, .

the latter went on leave He had sought its assistance .

to secure the release o f the Dutch sailors wh o were being

e
held by the K om nd a s and had also visited its officers at ,

Mankesim The convention for the release of these

.

prisoners had been ratified by Colonel Nagtglas Mr ,

.

Simpson and Mr R J Ghartey the President of the Con

, . . .

1
Horton L , ee tt rs on th e
G ld C
o oa s t, p 31. .
 TH E FANTI C O N FEDERATI O N

resolutions etc of the Government of examining any

, .
, ,
1

questions laid before it by the ministry and by any of ,

the Kings and Chiefs and in fact of exercising all the , , ,

functions of a legislative body .

Articles 2 1 to 2 5 dealt with education .

A rticle 2 6 That main roads be made connecting v arious

.
,

provinces or districts with one another and with the sea

coast etc .

Article 3 7 That in each province or district provincial

.

courts be established to be presided over by the pro ,

v incia l assessors .

Article 4 3 That the officers of the Confederation shall

.

render assistance as directed by the executive in carrying

out the wishes of the British Government .

Article 44 That it be competent to the Representative

.

Assembly for the purpose of c arrying on the administra

,

tion of the Government to pass laws etc for the levying , ,

.
,

o f such taxes as it may seem necessary .

It will be seen that the avowed obj ects of the Con

federation were excellent though great doubts must exist ,

about its power to accomplish them The intention of its .

promoters seems to have been to establish a form of self

government secondary and subservient to British a u
th o rity ; and this Constitution with other docume nts ,

bearing on the subject was handed to the Administrator

e
, ,

Mr Salmon on the 3 o th of November with a letter r

.
,

questing him to forward them to the Governor in Chief - -

for the information of the Secretary of State It was .

afterwards alleged by those concerned that the Constitu

"
tion h a d been forwarded for approval but nothing of ,

the kind was stated in the covering letters and Mr Salmon ,

.

of course refused to forward them officially while Sir ,

Arthur Kennedy described the movement as too absurd

”
and impracticable to be seriously considered Assuming .
1
,

however that there never was any intention of acting on

,

t h is Constitution until after the approval and sanction

le
a r wh e
th e
r th eBritish ee e w
ede
1
I t is no t c G ov rnm nt or th i r o n is

d
eei
I nt n .

1
F anti Conf d ra t on, p . 1 .
 ARRESTS

of the Government had been obtaine d it was ob viously ,

o u t of the question that any such sanction coul d h ave been

given to it as it stood for excellent though it u h ,

doubtedly was in some respects it was quite impossible in ,

others and even included districts such as Komenda

, , ,

which at this time were nom m a lly Dutch Possessions Its .

working moreover would have been utterly impracticable

e
, ,

unless th whole country was united in the matter which ,

was not the case and the imposition of taxes on produce

, ,

which was proposed would probably have caused its almost

,

immediate extinction The whole Constitution seems to .

have been framed by a few educated and semi educated -

men primarily no doubt for the good of their country

, ,

but seconda rily for the benefit of themselves and it was

alleged that many of the Chiefs whose marks were appended
to the documents had no knowledge of their contents
and had not even b en present at the meetings e
e
.

Mr Salmon wh o se ms to have regarded the whole of

.
,

these proceedings as a personal insult and to have entirely

lost h is temper promptly came to the conclusion that he
,

was face to face with a dangerous conspiracy and took

immediate steps to nip it in the bud According to some of .

the correspondence 1 he certainly seems to have acted,

hastily and none too wisely and certain incidents do no t ,

particularly redound to h is credit A stormy scene

ee
.

followed th p r sentation of the documents and at about ,

half past ten the same night the officers of the Confederation
-

who had brought them W E Davidson J F A m iss a h , . .

, . .
,

and J H Brew were arrested on a charge of treason and

. .
,

confined in the gaol at Gothic House Warrants for the .

arrest o f the others were issued the nex t morning and some
of them were executed ; b u t a few days later all the
accused were liberated on entering into recognizances in
that they would not leave Cape Coast .

All these events were duly reported to the Secretary of

S tate wh o however took a far less serious view o f the
, , ,

case and promptly ordered the release of the accused from

bail and the stay of all proceedings against them In
r F an tz Conf de e
.

Parliam e
1 Vzde ntary Pape ration , .
 TH E FANTI C O N FED ERATI O N

his despatch dated the i 6 th of January 1 8 7 2 he wrote

As the information before me does not lead me to attach
so much importance to this movement I cannot but ,

regret that persons claiming to h old o ffice under the

Confederation should have been arrested although they ,

were subsequently and apparently after a short interval

, ,

released on bail ; and if o n the receipt of this despatch

the proceedings wh ich the Administrator contemplated
in the J udicial Assessor s Court should not have taken ’

place you will instruct him to stay any proceedings and

,

to free the parties from bail There is hardly room for

e
.

question that some o f th Articles in the Constitution of

the Confederation were practically inconsistent with the
j urisdiction o f the British Government in the protected
territory I think the Administrator might have confined
.

himself to issuing a proclamation warning British subjects

from taking office under the Confederation and stating ,

that t h ose who did so would be held responsible for their

acts He would have been quite right also in declining to
.

recognize in any way the Constitution until the Articles

”
had been approved by Her Majesty s Government ’
.
1

A proclamation was issued on the 1 2 th of February

’

1 872 but the Secretary of State disapproved of the ih

tro d u ctio n o f the words deeming the s o called Constitu -

tion to be subversive o f those relations which have for a

long time past subsisted between Great Britain and this
"
country and certainly leading to a discontinuance thereof
,
.

Mr Ussher again on his return to the Coast issued another

.
, , ,

proclamation on the 9 th o f March threatening any

person committing overt acts on the part of the Confedera
tion with prosecution but this also was disapproved of .

O n the arrival of Mr Pope Hennessy the new Governor

.
,

in Chief a deputation waited upon him to express their

-
,

views with reference to the Confederation and subsequently ,

presented a memorial on the subj ect in which they ex

1
,

plained their scheme and contended that at this time at ,

any rate the Confederation was not intended to supersede

,

1
eeti Fu ll t e tb
eei
F a nti C onf d
ee
2
ra on ,
3 p . 1 . x t, zd .
, p 40
. .

1 F anti Conf d ra t on, pp .

51 tq s .
 TH E FANTI C O N FEDERATI O N

and it was not until later that anything more was d one .

The Fanti Confederation however thenceforth ceased to

, ,

exist.

The rise and fall of t h is movement was attended by

the greatest ill feeling and friction between its promoters
-

and the local Government This was mainly due to the .

intemperate conduct of Mr Salmon and to the fact that.

, ,

whatever may or may not have been their real intention ,

its promoters never made it clear until it was too late that
they thought the sanction and co operation of the Go vern -

ment were in the least degree necessary Their earlier pro

e
e
.

c d ing s certainly gave colour to the belief which was —

probably correct that they had promulgated their Consti

—

tu tion and begun to act upon it before submitting it even

for the information of the Authorities The Con .

federation too was probably connected in the A d m inis

, ,

tra tor s mind with the memory of those troublous times

’

that had first called it into existence and this may have ,

done much to influence him against it .

So far as its promoters were concerned this later develop ,

ment of the old Fanti Confederation owed its origin to

the same causes that had prompted Aggri and his advisers
to cause trouble a few years earlier They placed upon .

the second recommendation of the House of Commons

Committee of 1 86 5 a construction that it had never been
intended to convey ; and this recommendation as has ,
.

been shown had moreover been practically nullified by

,
1

the first admission of those who made it No attempt .

had ever been made by the local Government to follow

the policy mapped out by this Committee but with th ,
e
single exception that the Gold Coast had been placed and
remained under Sierra Leone every one of I ts r com m nda,
e e
tions had been disregarded The Committee had dis .

countenanced any further extension of territory and all

new treaties ; yet part of the Dutch Possessions had
already been taken over and negotiations were almost
completed for the purchase of the remainder and new ,

treaties had been made with the A wu na s O nly once h ad .

1
Vi d e
pp .
5 36 a nd 5 37 .
 G O VERNM ENT S P O LI CY ’

the Home Government made any attempt to check this

tendency to ignore the recommendations of the Com
m itt e
e .It had been admitted that the Government had
no territorial rights beyond the walls of its o wn forts ;
and when Colonel Conran in O ctober 1 8 6 5 issued a pro, ,

clamation defining the limits o f British territory as ex

tending to a distance of a cannon shot or five miles from -

each fort the Secretary of State had promptly ordered

,

him to recall it and in a subsequent despatch dated the

, ,

z an d of December 1 86 5 told him to avoid any expression

,

which bore the appearance o f extended j urisdiction over

”
territory at the Gold Coast This order however was .
1
, ,

never obeyed and it was admitted that the Authorities

,

had for years exercised the right of disposing o f land

around the forts without a ny protest from the people ;
e
indeed th Government would h ave been powerless had
,

its j urisdiction been rigidly confined within its strictly

legal limits and the British could not have maintained
,

their authority on the Coast at all but would have been ,

forced either to retire or to revert to their original position

of mere store keepers That the Home Government
—
.

admitted t h is in later years is quite clear from the wording

e
of th Convention for the exch ange of territory with the
Dutch in 1 8 6 8 The first Article reads
. The boundary ,

between the possessions o f Her Britannic Majesty and

those of His Maj esty the King of the Netherlands will be
a line drawn true nort h from the centre of the mouth of
the Sweet River as far as the present boundary of the
Ashantee kingdom and the Government thus
.
1

definitely assumed possessions east of the Sweet River

e
from th sea coast to the River Pra .

The passage by which the promoters of the Fanti Con

federation chiefly j ustified t h eir proceedings was that
recommending t h at the obj ect o f our poli cy should be to
encourage in the natives the exercise of t h ose qualities
whic h may render it possible for us more and more to
transfer to them the administration with a View to o u r
”
ultimate withdrawal But since the English were about
.
,

1
H
o rto n , ee
L tt rs on th e
G ld C
o oa s t, p . 1 55 .
2 I bid .
, p . Iv .
 TH E FANTI C O N FEDERATI O N

1 8 7 1 1 87 2
—
to buy ou t the Dutch it was abundantly e vident that their
,

ca n . policy had changed and that they no longer had any in

,
xxxh
tention of leaving the Gold Coast I t was therefore absurd .

to expect them to take any steps to facilitate a withdrawal

that they no longer contemplated The local Government .
,

moreover had never evinced any willingness to grant the

,

p eople any such concessions ; nor was it really possible

that they could have done so to any great extent The two .

Authorities must inevitably have clashed and it had never ,

been intended even by the Committee o f 1 86 5 that the

people should do more for many years at any rate than , ,

learn to regulate their own towns Certainly no such .

ambitious scheme as that now put forward had ever been

tho u ght of .

But although the local Authorities had throughout been

absolutely opposed to the introduction of even such minor
forms of self government as this presumably regarding
-
,

them as dangerous beginnings the extent of whose growth

they were unable to foresee the Secretaries of State seem ,

to have been quite ready to countenance them In 1 869 .

Lord Granville wrote recommending tha t the natives

should as much as possible be brought to know the ln
e
, ,

trica ci s of the civil go v ernment o f the Coast with the ,

ultimate view o f placing them in responsible governmental

"
position . This of course wa s written at a time when the
1
, ,

policy laid down by the Committee was still being followed .

In 1 8 7 2 Lord Kimberley wrote Her Majesty s Govern ’

ment have no wish to discourage any legitimate e fforts on

the part of the Fantee Kings and Chiefs to establish for
themselves an improved form of government which indeed ,

it is much to be desired that they should succeed in doing

but it is necessary that all p a rties concerned should under
stand that as long as they live under the protection of
Great Britain the protecting Government must be con
e
s u lt d as to any new institutions which may be proposed
"
.
1

The people therefore were not so much to be blamed

e
, ,

for what they did in formulating this scheme as for th ,

Horton L ee e
e
e
1
, tt rs on th G old Coa s t p
, . 28 .

1
F anti Conf d ra tion, p . 1 4 .
 CHAPTER XXXI I I

THE T RA N S FE R OF THE DUT C H S ETTLE M ENT S

THE treaty for the cession of the Dutch Settlements to

1

England was ratified at the Hague o n the 1 7 th of February

1 872 . Besides the actual transfer o f the forts it provided ,

that no natives wh o now came under British p rotection

should be blamed or punished on account of any quarrels
they might have entered into while they were still under
the Dutch and that any of the former Dutch subjects
,

might within a period of six years be free to move to

, ,

any other Dutch Possession or foreign cou ntry Special .

1

reference was also made to the Africans freed from

military service in the Netherland Transatlantic posses
"
sions ,
and an additional stipulation was subsequently
1

added that if at any time the British should permit the

recruitment of free labourers on the Gold Coast and their
exportation to other British Colonies the same privilege ,

shoul d be allowed to the Dutch The price to be paid was

.

the value of the stores in the forts nothing being charged —

for the buildings themselves which was to be assessed

—

by a commission of Dutch and English o fficers it was

subsequently fixed at 13 6 1d . .

O n the 2 nd of April Mr Pope Hennessy the Governor

,
.
,

in Chief arrived at Cape Coast from Sierra Leone on board

e
—
,

the Colonial steamer S h rbro to carry o u t the transfer ,

and the following extracts from the instructions given him

clearly show what were the intentions of the Home Govern
F o r fu ll te
x t vide
Ce ch S e m e
ttle
Article
1
ss ion of D u t
Article
nts p 4 3 , . .

1
II . IV 1
.
 I NSTRU CTI O N S

ment at this time and that they at least still had some
, , ,

s uspicion abo u t Elmina .

Her Maj esty s Government in concluding this treaty

’
, ,

have done so in reliance on the power of the Dutch Govern

ment to transfer the forts to the British Authorities peace
ably and without giving rise to any acts on th part of
, e
the native tribes under Dutc h protection on the occasion ,

o f the transfer which might lead to open hostility as ,

unhappily occurred in I 86 8 Her Maj esty s Government

.
’

have no intention of assuming a British Protectorate over

those native tribes without their consent I wish to .

call your particular attention to the Elminas You will .

endeavour to ascertain in conj unction wit h the Governor

,

o f Elmina whether the departure of the Dutch and the

, ,

occup a tion of the forts by the Britis h are likely to cause ,

any movement on the part of the Elminas which might lead

to open violence They s h ould be distinctly told that they
.

will not be required to place themselves under British pro

e
t ctio n ag ainst their will and a similar communication s h ould
e
,

be made to all the tribes ov er whom th British Protector

ate wh ich was relinquished in 1 86 8 formerly extended
, , .

The obj ects which Her Maj esty s Government have ’

through out had in View in negotiating this treaty are not

the acquisition of territory or the extension of British
e
power but th maintenance of tranquillity and the pro
,

motion o f peaceful commerce on the Coast and nothing

could be further from t h eir wish t h an t h at a treaty made
wit h t h ese objects should be carried into cfi ct by violent e
measures At the same time t h ey trust that by j udicious
e
.
,

and cautious management th excitement wh ich may

possibly arise upon an event of so much importance as the
e
retirement of th Dutch from the Coast may not lead to
any serious difficulties ; and I need not say that they
would greatly regret that arrangements which they believ e
are calculated to be of much benefit to the whole p op u la
tion by putting an end to old feuds and difficulties in
, ,

separable from the division of authority which has hitherto

prevailed on the Coast should be frustrated by the,

j ealousies of the native tribes .

6 28 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH S ETTLEMENTS

But you will on no account employ force to compel

the natives to acq u iesce in the transfer of the forts and
if you find that the attempt to assume possession of the
forts on the part of the British Authorities would probably
be followed by resistance on the part of the surrounding
native tribes you will not accept the transfer of the forts
, ,

but will report the circumstances to Her Maj esty s Govern ’

”
ment and await further instructions
,
.
1

O n the 4th of April Mr Pope Hennessy went over to ,

.

Elmina and had a long conference with the principal in

habitants and the representatives of the nine companies .

The Chiefs of Shama and other places were also present and ,

when the Governor promised that certain regulations that

were in force in Cape Coast with reference to the keeping
o f pigs in the town and other matters would not be ex

tended to Elmina the people expressed themselves as quite ,

satisfied and it was arranged that the actual transfer

,

should be carried out on the following Saturday the 6 th ,

of April .

O n the day appointed for the ceremony the Governor

e
,

in Chief arrived o ff Elmina on board the S h rbro a cco m

e
-
,

p ani d by the Administrator o f the Gold Coast Mr

ee
.
,

Ussher on board the Colonial steamer N lli and escorted

e e e e e
,

by H M Ss R a ttl s na k and S agu ll The R a ttl s na k

. . . .

saluted the Dutch flag with twenty one guns ceremonial -

,

visits were exchanged with the o fficers commanding the

’
Dutch warships lying in the roads and at eleven o clock ,

the Governor in Chief the Administrator and Commodore

e
e
- -
, ,

Co m m r ll V C C B landed at the steps opposite the

, . .
, . .
,

water gate of the Castle where a guard of honour had been

-
,

drawn up to receive them Here they were met by .

Governor Fergusson and his Sta ff with the principal ,

inhabitants of the town A procession was quickly formed .

,

and entering the Castle by the main gate proceeded at

, ,

once to the Council Chamber where the Kings and Chiefs ,

of Elmina Shama Sekondi and other places included in

, ,

the trans fer were assembled Governor Hennessy pro

e
.

d u c d the Convention and the Captains of the nine ,

1
Tra nsf r ef D o u tch P oss ei
ss ons , e
tc
.
part i p 7 , . .
630 TRANSFE R O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMEN TS

e
twenty fiv men of the zu d West India Regiment under
-

Captain Sheppard Dixcove by twenty one men under ,

-

Lieutenant Wilkin and Sekondi by twenty one men under

,
-

Lieutenant Hopkins The Dutch troops who had occupied .

them were embarked on Loo No troops were .

stationed at Shama or Butri for these forts had long been ,

unoccupied but the flag was hoisted on them early in the

,

follo wing August Those Dutch o fficials who had com

e
e
.

'

p l t d five years service on the Gold Coast received pen

sions while those with less service but who were still fit
, ,

for duty were given appointments in Java and Surinam

e
,

as vacancies occurred b u t the Dutch Colonial Offic

made no provision for them in the meantime and many ,

o f them are said to have fared very badly .

Thus the Dutch finally left the Gold Coast where they ,

had occ u pied Settlements continuously for 2 74 years The .

Castle of St George and Fort Conra a dsb u rg at Elmina

.
,

Fort St Anthony at Ax im and Metal Cross Fort at Dixcove

.
,

were all in excellent order Fort St Sebastian at Shama

ee
.
,

Fort Orange at Sekondi and Fort B a t nst in at Butri

e
,

only needed a few repairs ch i fly to the roofs but all —

the other forts that had formerly existed along the wind
ward coast such as Groot Fredericksburg and Fort Doro
,

thea were mere ruins and Komenda Fort was still in the
, ,

condition to which the bombardment of 1 86 8 had reduced

it while the Dutch Fort Vredenburg h a d been u nin
,

habitable for nearly a century Elmina was by far the .

s trongest place ; for in addition to the Castle which the ,

Dutch had greatly extended and improved during t h eir

occupation and Fort Co nra a d s b u rg which they had built
,

to defend it there were all the other smaller forts or re

,

d oubts that had been erected from time to time to assist

in defending the town from the attacks of the Fantis On .

the summit of a steep hill overlooking the salt plain to the

north of Fort Conra a dsb u rg was a pentagonal stone fort
Fort S com aru s and a smaller circular stone fort known ,

as Fort Java stood on the hill of that name ; while on

,

s ome rising ground about half a mile to the east of the town

towards Cape Coast stood Fort Nag tglas another square ,

 RI O T AT ELM I NA

redoubt surrounded by a moat O n the western side on .

,

the neck of the peninsula on which the Castle stood was ,

Fort de Veer a squ are redoubt built of stone and between

,

this and Fort S com a ru s on a patch of rising ground to the ,

left front of Fort Conra a dsb u rg stood yet another circular

ee
fort Fort B a t ns t in These smaller forts mounted two
, .
,

o r three six pounder guns each and with the exception of

-
, ,

Fort Na gtglas were in fairly good co ndition requiring

, ,

only a few trifling repairs to put them in a satisfactory

state of defence .

Elmina had been in the possession of the English for

but three weeks when a most disgraceful riot occurred
in th e
town Commodore de Haes His Netherland
’
.
,

Maj esty s Commissioner had arrived on board his flagship

e ee
,

the A dm ira l d Was s na r on the 7 th of April and on the ,

’
a6 th landed at seven o clock in the morning He was met .

by Mr G E Em insa ng an Elmina and ex member of the

. . .
,
-

Dutch Legislative Council who had been left as Civil

Commandant by Mr Pope Hennessy and by Lieutenant
e
.
,

Joost of th Dutch army They went at once to Emin .

sang s house where the Commodore had arranged to meet

’

e
,

the Chiefs and settl the distribution of a sum of

g u ilders that the Netherlands Government had promised
them as compensation for the losses they had su ffered
e
during th war with the Fanti Confederation All the .

Chiefs attended t h is meeting with the exceptions of the

King Kobina E dj a n and the Captains of Numbers 6 7 and ,

8 Companies Having handed in their statements of

.

losses the Chiefs left at half past nine and Em insa ng and
,
-
,

J oost started to accompany the Commodore back to the

landing stage They had nearly reached the bridge when
-
.

they were met by a large crowd consisting of part of

Number I Company and Numbers 6 7 and 8 Companies , ,

all armed with guns and carrying their flags and drums .

This crowd quickly surrounded the Commodore s party ’

,

and there within 1 5 0 yards of the Castle several shots were

, ,

fired Lieutenant J oost was pulled back by someone wh o

,

seized his coat knocked down by a blow with the butt end
,

o f a musket and shot a s he lay on the ground Em insa ng .

63 2 TRAN S FER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMEN TS

e
escaped into Mol naar s house near by while the Com
’

e
,

m o do r and his aide de camp wh o had also been knocked

- -
,

down in the scuffle fled to the Castle Lieutenant J oost

, .
,

wh o had been mortally wounded in the thigh was ,

carried in about ten minutes after they had reached safety

and died on the following afternoon S ome further rioting .

took place in the town which resulted in the death of at

e e
,

least on man and when the Commodore wished to r

,

embark soon after ten o clock a strong escort wa s necessary

’
,

to accompany him to h is boat .

Mr Ussher hurried over from Cape Coast immediately

.

o n hearing o f this disturbance arriving in Elmina at four ,

o clock the next morning Em insang wh o was still shut

’

e e
.
,

up in Mol na ar s house was relieved of h is oflic by

’
,

Lieutenant Gerrard wh o also replaced Ca ptain Turton as

,

O fficer Commanding the Elmina garrison Governor .

Hennessy , wh o arrived from Lagos on the and of May tried ,

to lay all the blame for this unfortunate a ffair on Captain

Turton maintaining that he ought to have led h is men
e
,

into the town and quelled the riot but ap art from th
fact that he had no right to take any such action unless
and until he was called upon to aid the Civil Power his ,

whole garrison only amounted to four sergeants a drummer , ,

and fifty six rank and file and it would have been the
-
,

height of madness to have left the Castle practically u n

defended while he marched a few men against a large and
excited armed mob The Secretary o f State therefore
.
, ,

refused to admit that Captain Turton s conduct was open '

to censure expressing the Opinion that he had taken a

,

correct view o f h is position and that there might have ,

been serious risk in sending so small a body o f troops into

the town 1 .

Accounts di ffer as to the true cause o f this riot It .

wa s at first attributed to Mr Pope Hennessy s impolitic .

’

action in appointing Em insang Civil Commandant of

Elmina It was well known throughout the whole Coast
.

that none but the most insignificant stations were ever

administered by natives and s uch an appointment coul d
Capta in Turto n was re d a t E lm ina e
arly in Fe
,

1
instate bru ary 1 8 7 3 .
6 34 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

Haes that this was correct and in accordance with the

, .

orders that had been given the men conceived the idea ,

that the Lieutenant was either showing favouritism or

retaining the greater part of the money that they should
have had for himself Although it is perfectly clear that
.

there was not the slightest ground for this suspicion the ,

belief seems to have taken a firm hold on the workpeople ,

and t h ey had already used threatening language to J oost

himself and had visited the Commodore on the subj ect
that very morning O nce the riot began therefore it
.
“
, ,

was a comparatively short step from their smouldering

discontent and personal feeling against J oost to Open
violence and there can be very little doubt that he was
,

intentionally shot by some of these dissati sfied work

people in the crowd Their annoyance at Em insa ng s .
’

appointment also led to his being singled o u t for some

rough usage but he seems to have completely lost his
,

head and to have imagined his danger to be far greater

than it really was .

This is the explanation of the origin of this a ffair that

is in accordance with the evidence given at the inquest
but there is yet another version still current in Elmina
which describes Em ins a ng as the real object of attack
and the wounding of J oost as a regrettable acci dent .

According to this account E m insa ng had incurred the dis

,

pleasure of the King and Chiefs by arranging that this

meeting at which the distribution of the compensation
,

grant was to be discussed should take place in h is house

, .

They regarded this as a great presumption on his part as ,

any such meetings had always been held in the Castle and ,

maintained that if this was no longer possible owing to ,

the change of flags the meeting should have been held in

,

the King s house Em insa ng also seems to have been

’
.

s uspected of intriguing to secure the control of this f u nd ,

and possibly to gain a portion of it for himself and there ,

are those wh o allege that the companies had been assembled

to go to his house and order him not to interfere in the
arrangements So it came about that when they met the
.

Commodore s party E m insa ng was at once singled ou t for

’
,
 K O B I NA E D JA N

attack whereupon he tried to save himself by taking hold

e
,

o f Lieutenant Joost and only fled into Mo l naa r s house

’

when that o fficer was dragged away from him This .

version given by persons who were living in Elmina at the

,

time and who point out that both the Commodore and
,

Lieutenant Joost were new arrivals and strangers against

whom they could have no complaints is certainly reason ,

a ble ; and although as has been mentioned it is hardly

ee e
, ,

borne out by the evidence given at the inquest it n v rth ,

less receives some support from Em ins a ng s subsequent ’

conduct ; for his evident alarm and absolute refusal to

leave the house in which he had taken refuge certainly
point to his having had some suspicion that it was he and
not the Dutch officers w h o h a d really been attacked .

Kobina E dj a n s position at this time was of course very

’
, ,

unsatisfactory ; for although he h a d been deposed by a

p ortion o f his subjects and this destoolment u nco ns titu
, ,

tio na l though it was had been formally confirmed by the

,

Dutch Governor yet he was still regarded as King by the

,

remainder of h is people O n the 9 th of May however this

.
, ,

state of a ffairs was brought to an end Governor Hennessy .

was then visiting Elmina and sent his clerk to call the
King and Chiefs to meet him in the Castle Kobina E dj an .

refu sed to come and explained that he had been deposed by

,

Governor Fergusson and the people of the Garden Town

e e
,

and that although h had been present at the transfer h ,

had not been recogni z ed as King and had taken no part in ,

the ceremony Although he distinctly stated t h at it was

e
.

o n account of his opposition to th English flag that he had

been deposed Mr Hennessy then and t h ere reinstated him
,
.

wit h out further enquiry saying Kobina E dj a n I recog

, , ,
”
ni z e you as King of Elmina He was then saluted by the
.

G overnor s order and left the Castle in his palanquin It

’
.

is of some importance to bear these facts in mind when con

e
s id ring the King s subsequent conduct though it must be
’
,

mentioned that there is some disagreement between the

several accounts of what h appened at this inter view The .

version j ust given however seems to be the correct one

, , .

Four men Kwaku Tawia K wam in Fosu Kobina

—
, ,
636 TRAN S FER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

Akroma and Yow Kesi were arrested and put on their trial
e
—

for the murder of Lieutenant J oost The trial lasted thre .

days ending on the 2 9 th of J une when the j ury after

, , ,

having tak en three and a quarter hours to consider their

verdict found all the prisoners guilty with the exception
, ,

o f Akroma who was discharged The King tried every

, .

means to persuade the Governor to commute the sentence

of death passed on the other three to o n o f imprisonment e
or fine ,
but without avail and they were hanged on the
,

2 2 nd o f J uly on a gallows raised on the Castle battlements

overlooking the town and afterwards buried in the yard .

So soon as it became known o n the Coast that Adu Boffo

had returned to Kum asi renewed e fforts were made to
,

secure the release of the missionaries which it was con

e
,

fid ntly expected would soon take place but although the

King himself really seemed disposed to let them go Adu ,

Bo ffo flatly refused to d o anything o f the kind At a .

meeting of the Council held in Kumasi o n the 1 7 th of

February he had first of all refused to part with them at
e
,

all and then demanded th enormous ransom of

,

ounces of gold ( equivalent to O f all the Chiefs

who were present at this meeting the Kings of Mampon ,

and Adansi alone said that it would be better to let them

go quite free if they went at all and pointed out that if
,

they were not released the Ashantis must prepare for war .

’
Adu Bo ffo s demand was refused but although the
Governor wrote saying that he could not even think of
exchanging money for men he o ffered to pay a ny actual
,

expenses that Adu Bo ffo had incurred not exceeding a ,

thousand pounds which sum was to be provided by the

,

Basel Mission The superintendent of the mission had

.

agreed to this arrangement but very j ustly complained

,

of the Governor s action in having allowed the Ashanti

’

hostages to go free while requiring him to pay for the

release of the captives for whose safety they had been given .

There can be little d o ubt that at this time the King

himself wa s in favour of peace and the fact that war ,

subsequently ensued was due p artly to h is youth and the

pressure brought to bear upon him by the older and more
638 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

things in quite the same light as more civilized peoples

with him leniency is usually a mistake and firmness ,

combine d with the most scrupulous j ustice is the only

policy that pays in the absence o f overwhelming force ,

which last is the argument he understands best of all .

This vacillating and irresolute attitude therefore only , ,

had the e ffect of showing the Ashantis the kind of man

with whom they had to deal and from this time forth war ,

was secretly decided upon though a temporizing policy ,

had to be adopted at first to enable them to replenish their

stock of powder lead and salt which had been sadly
, , ,

depleted by Adu Bo ffo s long campaign ’

.

Ever since the exchange of territory in 1 8 6 8 and even ,

before then the Apollonian district had been in a dis

e
,

tu rb d state and constantly distracted by civil wars which ,

had impoverished the count ry destroyed all trade and , ,

completely closed the roads from Axim to Assini This .

state of a ffairs was primarily due to the feud between

e
the B yins who had rejected the Dutch flag and whose
e
,

town had been bombarded and the A t a b u s who had , ,

accepted it there was however a second and older cause

, ,
.

Prior to 1 86 8 Afu one of the Captains of Kwesi Amaki

, ,

the King of Apollonia had rebelled against him and kept

,

up a civil war for many months until in the end the English ,

had interfered and sei z ed and imprisoned him in Cape

Coast Castle When these districts were transferred to the
.

Dutch in 1 86 8 however Afu had been released and imme

e
, , ,

d ia t ly renewed his war agai nst Amaki whom he eventually

, ,

conquered and drove into French territory It was at .

about this time that the Dutch Commandant abandoned

Apollonia Fort and retired to Ax im Afu then burned .

Beyin and several more of A m a ki s towns wrecked the ’

,

fort and spiked the guns and was preparing to follow his ,

enemy to Assini when he was assassinated by one of

,

A m a ki s people O n the death of Afu Amaki returned to

’
.
,

Beyin but K wam in Blay a brother of the deceased rebel , ,

took up the q u arrel and established himself as Chief of

e
A t a b u whence he ruled the whole country from the
,

Ankobra River to within a few miles of Beyin He had .

 AFFAI R S I N AP O LL O N IA

been attacked by the A x im s in 1 8 70 but they had found

his town so strongly stockaded that they had been unable
to take it and had been driven o ff with great slaughter .

Blay was supported by the people o f E dikru m on the

western side of A m aki s territory towards Assini and Amaki
’
,

by the A ssinis and A x im s and to some extent by the

Ashantis This was the position of affairs when the Dutch
.

reti red
‘

Apollonia had never been occupied since the acquisition

o f the Dutch Possessions a nd matters had recently been ,

made worse by the murder of some of Blay s people by ’

the A x im s This had occurred in May 1 8 7 2 when a

.
,

messenger who had been sent with presents to the Chiefs

was returning from Beyin with Administrator Ussher s ’

stick He was accompanied on the road by a party o f

.

Blay s people and it was these men who had been m u rdered
’
,
.

This outrage the loss of trade the danger o f disputes with

, ,

the Ashantis the closure of the road and the possibility

, ,

o f co m plications with the French who sent weekly mail ,

runners from Grand Bassam and Assini to Axim and had

already demanded protection for them in British territory ,

all combined to make the final adjustment o f these quarrels

necessary and it was therefore decided to send a special
,

mission to the various Chiefs for this purpose .

Captain Dyer of H M S Torch and Doctor J ohnson the . . .

Acting Civil Commandant of Axim were chosen for t h is ,

duty and were accompanied by Mr Molenaar a Dutch

, .

mulatto of Elmina as interpreter During August they

, .

visited all the principal towns in the disturbed district and

held palavers with the King of Axim Blay Amaki and , , ,

their respective Chiefs Flags were given to them and

e
.
,

each o n undertook to keep the road open through his

o wn district but one and all were loud in their complaints
,

against the others Blay naturally complained of the

.

murder of h is people in May and said that Am aki was a ,

great rogue while Am aki described h is enemy as the son

,

o f a slave and a rebel and the King o f Axim refused to ,

recognize Blay at all or to treat with anyone but Amaki .

Eventually however it was agreed that both Amaki and

, ,
6 40 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

Blay should send spe cial envoys to Cape Coast where th ,

e
Administrator should settle their disputes O n their way .

there these envoys met the King of Axim who did not
, ,

wish to be specially represented and agreed to be bound

by anything that Am a ki s messenger might arrange ’
.

Peace was made at Cape Coast and it was agreed that as , ,

Blay had been established for so long in the Ankobra

district he should be recognized as its Chief but rank
, ,

below Ama ki .

When the o fficers of this mission reached Axim on the

1 4 th of August the King produced a six pound shot which

e e
-
,

he said wa s on of two that had been fired through on of

the houses in the town from the evening gun the night
before Strict enquiry was made and it was found that
e
.
,

o f the soldiers o f the 2 nd West India Regiment wh o

e
on

garrisoned th fort had h a d two shot in his possession and .

,

h a d also been seen to put something into the gun He .

was sent to Cape Coast on board the Torch for trial a nd

apologies were made to the King who was assured that ,

I t had only been a foolish act of mischief o n the part o f

some of the soldiers After this however strict orders .

, ,

were given that the gun which was fired at nine o clock ,
’

every night was in future to be fired to seaward

, .

Several other long standing disputes were also settled -

at this time The K rob os and Akwapims had long had

.

di fferences and a meeting was arranged by Captain Lees

, ,

the Civil Commandant of Accra for their discussion This , .

meeting which was held on the z i st of August at S assabi

, ,

was attended by the Kings and Chiefs o f Eastern and

Western K robo Akwapim Accra and Christiansborg , , ,

and after a long conference peace was made and a treaty

, ,

o r agreement entered into and signed by all the parties

1
.

There were also threats of civil war in A s sin where the ,

King Chibu Daku had given o ffence to his Chiefs and

, ,

people fully , of whom were already in arms They .

were induced to come to Cape Coast however where they ,

arrived early in September with about 8 00 followers .

For th efu ll te t o f this d o cu m e

nt videParliam e
nta ry Pa pe
ei
1

e
e
x r , ,

D u tch P os s ss ons , A s ha nt I n va s ion , pa rt i p , . 1 43 .

 642 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

1 87 2 thing new if the Fantees were to come here " This was
1
CHA P spoken amid thundering applause The Bantama Prince
. .

"""I I I then shook h is fist in Flange s face and in the most o ffen ’
,

sive and insulting language threatened war The Queen .

Mother said I am only a woman but would fight the

, ,
’
Governor with my left hand I am but a small Chief .
,
’

said another yet shall the Governor pale before me ;

,
’

‘
while many voices cried Whoever sells fixes the price
'

, , .

We had trouble enough to get these goods here ; if the

Governor will not buy them he may leave them At last , .
’

there was a frantic and united cry of We will not give ‘

them up Let him fetch them with fire and sword ; we

.

will kill them while the King turned angrily to Plange ,

adding If you wish I can show you my supply of pow

, ,
”2
der . During this stormy scene the King of Mampon
’
,

alone had remained quiet : he it was who had already

advocated the liberation of the missionaries without any
ransom and to him Plange now turned for help asking
, ,

him to try to quell the excitement and uproar That is .

”
a good word said the King ; we will now break up
, ,

and the meeting came to an end The Ashantis evidently .

realized that they had been premature in showing their

real intentions ; for the Linguists came to Plange and
told him that he need not inform the Governor of what
had occurred which in fact he never did The King
, , ,
.

also sent for him the next morning and apologized for the
scene The fact was that war having already been
.
,

secretly decided upon the question of the amount of the ,

‘

ransom was no longer one of great importance to the Chiefs ,

who were merely using it as a means of prolonging the

negotiations indefinitely so as to gain time for their prepara
tions These on account of the di fferent fetish ceremonies
.
,

that have to be performed and the necessity for a ccu m u

lating a sufficient store of war materials before they are
cut off from their sources of supply are always lengthy ,
.

Am kwa
ee e eee ee e
1
an Tia .

Ku h n p 1 8 0 A m or x t nsiv v rba tim r port

e e e
e e e
R am s y r
e
a nd
1
.
, .

ting x tra ct d from F l a n g s priva t j ou rn a l is g iv n b y

e ee
o f this m
’

Bra ck nbu ry, A sh anti Wa r, v ol i, pp 4 3 ts q . . .

 REM OVAL OF A TJ IEMPO N

O n the 1 3 th of O ctober Owusu Kok u Kuma a nephew , ,

o f Prince Ansa , arrived in Cape Coast with a large retinue ,

and delivered a letter from the King demanding

ransom K ofi Karikari however had pro vided him with a
.
, ,

second letter in which he agreed to accept the

, that
had been o ffered but had told him not to deliver it until he
,

h a d first satisfied himself that the larger sum would not

be fort h coming These letters had been written for the
.

K ing by Plange who contrived to let the Governor know

,

their contents and thus ensured his holding out The .

second letter was accordingly produced at a later meeting ,

and the ambassador then demanded payment before he

returned promising that the captives would then be
,

released Mr Salmon however who was now administer

. .
, ,

ing the Government , absolutely refused to accede to this

request , and it was finally arranged that the money should
be paid over to Mr F C Grant of Cape Coast to be hel d
. . .

in trust for the King until the missionaries had been set
free This was done and a letter sent to inform the King
e
.

o f th arrangements that had been made

e
.

The King had also asked that A tj i m pon might be sent

back to him This Chief was still in Half As sini whither
.
,

he had been banished by the Dutch but though he had a ,

few of his people with him the vast majority of them

e
, ,

numbering over 7 00 inclusive of women and children wer ,

still in Elmina He wo u ld have been disgraced if he had

e
.

returned to Kumasi without them while they I n the sam , ,

way dared not go back without him ; and since it was

, ,

obviously impossible to send s o many people to j oin him

in Assini it was decided to bring A tj i m p on to Cape Co ast
, e .

His removal was additionally desirable because so long as ,

he remained in Half Assini he was a constant source of

danger and was known to be doing his utmost to foment
,

quarrels amongst the western tribes and incite them to

acts of disloyalty and rebellion The duty of bringing
e
.

A tj i m p on to Cape Coast was entrusted to Colonel Foster

the I nspector General of the Armed Police who went to
ee
-
,

Half As sini on board H M S Coqu tt with fifty of h is . . .

Hausas and landed soon after daybreak The Chief of .

644 TRAN S FER O F TH E DUTCH S ETTLEMENTS

the town was called sentries were p o sted around A tj i m

’
, e
pon s house and the c ompound was then entered After
, .

a long speech to the Chief o f Half Assini whi ch lasted about ,

an hour and cannot have been very pleasant hearing for

his guest who was shown in the worst possible light
e
, ,

Colonel Foster suddenly turned to A tj i m p on and told him

that he must go with him to Cape Coast The Chief sprang .

up from his seat and as quickly sat down again abs olutely ,

astounded H e flatly refused to do anything of the kind

.
,
’
and the Colonel s repeated assurances that he meant what
he said and that if he did not go willingly he would cer
,

ta inly be taken by force failed to shake his determination

, .

A sign was therefore made to the Hausas outside who ,

filed into the compound and surrounded the party which

e
, ,

in addition to A tj i m p on Yow himself consisted of his son

,

B u a tin Yow Kodia and ano t

, her Chief and ten attendants
, .

The p risoners were hurried d own to the beach where they ,

made desperate e fforts to resist being embarked but soon ,

found that struggling W as of no avail and were hustled

into the surf boat and taken O ff to the Coqu tt A few ee .

armed Ashantis had been seen near the house and others
watched the proceedings on the beach but they kept well ,

away and did not o ffer to attack the Hausas The prisoners .

were landed at Cape Coast on the 2 8th of O ctober and a ,

strong escort was required to take them from the landing

e
place and protect A tj i m p on from the fury of the populace ,

who accord ed h im anything but a flattering reception .

The feelings of hatred and the wish for revenge with

e ’
which A tj i m pon s barbarous conduct had inspired all
Fantis now made it di fficult to ensure his safety on the
j ourney to Kumasi and it was not until the 1 2 th of De
ee
,

c m b r that he and his party were allowed to leave Even .

then they had to be smuggled o u t of the town at three

’
o clock in the morning accompanied by an escort o f Hausa
Police They were stopped at Daman by the Abras and
.

again at Y a nku m asi by the A ssins who refused to allow

,

them to pass until a letter and stick had been sent up by

the Governor but they were at length put across the Pra
o n Christmas Day and their escort then returned to Ca pe
,
646 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

possession of white men It also seems that Plange had

.

written privately to the Administrator saying that the

Ashantis were not to be trusted and advising him to
e
,

refuse to pay the ransom or to liberate A tj i m pon until

the captives were actually in Cape Coast This letter .

must have been opened and its contents made known to

the messengers possibly by Prince Ansa with whom
—
,

they always stayed for the King knew all about it and
—
,

was very angry with Plange for having abused his position
as an ambassador sent to arrange peace by interfering in
this way The King too may have had some suspicion
.
, ,
”
about the Certificate of Apology This accounts for .

the ill treatment Plange received ; for the Ashantis are

-

always most punctilious in their conduct towards am

b assad ors and this is the only instance known in which
e
,

on has ever been roughly handled O n the o ther hand .

,

the whole business may have been arranged merely in

order to get the missionaries out of the way while the
army mobilized for they had no sooner left the capital
than everyone commenced open preparations for war ,

and while they were at Fomana a constant stream of

carriers passed up the road with loads of powder rum and ,

salt but when they reached Kumasi again on the i 4th

o f December they found the whole place silent and almost

deserted for the army had marched out on the 9 th

, .

While these events had been taking place in Kumasi ,

a dispute between the European traders and the Chiefs

and people had very nearly brought about a serious dis
e
tu rb a nc in Cape Coast I t had been the custom ever since
.

Europeans had established their first trading posts in the

country to pay a commission to those Chiefs and influential
natives who provided their customers from the interior
with food and lodging and brought them to their stores
e
.

This commission was half an a cki in the ounce about —

3 per cent o u the gold ivory and money they brought

—
.
,

There were no inns in the town where these people could

have stayed and this arrangement had always worked
,

well I t was an inducement to the Chiefs and others to

e
.

ncourage these traders to come down and to treat them

 RI O T AT CAPE C OAST

well and it pleased the latter to be entertained apparently

,

free of charge when they came to the coast towns for , ,

although of course it was they who paid this commission

in the end it was done in such an indirect way that they
,

did not notice it It must also have been of some a dva n

.

tage to the traders to have their customers looked after

and guided to their places of business by these local age nts ,

who being well known ga ve some kind of guarantee for

, ,

the good conduct and honest dealing of their guests .

Most o f these traders from the interior were of course , ,

Ashantis wh o ever since the roads had been closed during

, ,

the last war had ceased to visit the coast and been com
ee
,

p ll d to obtain their supplies from the more distant

market of Assini so that for the past eight or nine years
,

there had been no tra de on which to pay this customary

commission Now however the opening of the road and
.
, ,

the removal of the embargo on the sale of munitions of

war by Mr Hennessy had resulted in a great influx of
.

Ashantis and trade was as brisk as ever ; but the Euro

peans headed by Mr Cleaver the agent for Messrs F
, . . .

A Swanzy tried to evade payment of the commission by

.
,

saying that they had abolished the custom some years

before whereas it had been the total absence o f this u p
,

country trade that had caused it to lapse automatically .

The Fantis of course would not put up with this they

, ,

were still providing the visitors with food and lodging ,

and would have been out of pocket unless they recovered

their expenses from the Ashantis themselves But the .

Akan peoples besides being most hospitably inc

, lined are ,

essentially conservative and very averse to innovations or

modifications of old standing institutions of any kind -
,

and it would have been most difficult to persuade either

party to make this change I t would almost certainly .

have caused ill feeling on the part of the Ashantis who

-
,

would have suspected that they were being imposed upon ,

and would thus have damaged the reviving trade After .

a time as the agents of the vari ous firms showed no dis

,

position to come to any arrangement with the people the ,

latter boycotted their stores .

6 48 TRANSFER O F TH E DUTCH SETTLEMENTS

O n the morning of Frid ay the 2 sth o f O ctober a

e
,

number o f men posted themselves opposite the d oor of ach

store as it was opened and molest d people wh o tried to e
pass in and out to trade in s ome cases taking the goods
,

they had bought from them The crowd gr adually ih .

’
creas ed and Number 2 Company s drum was beaten but
e
, ,

although nearly every abl bod ied man in the town was
e e
-

ou t and the greatest excit ment prevailed not a singl

e
,

man was armed and the only approach to violence wa s th

,

throwing of a little sand and gra vel at some of the traders

wh o were on the ir way to Government Ho u se to complain .

A small body of u n arm ed police that was sent ou t was

e
forced back by sheer w ight of numbers but Mr Salmon
e
.
,

soon arrived o n the scene with J udg e Chalmers and a f w

e e e
armed polic and p rsuad d the peopl to disperse quietly e
and leave the disputed point in abeya nce until it could be
enquired into and settled The Secretary of State in his
.
,

despatch on this subj ect said he considered it desirable

e e
,

that the allowanc s in question should be paid by th

local Governmen t to the Chiefs according to the cus tom ,

a nd the amount thereof be afterwards recovered from the

”
merchants and requested the Administrator to consider
,

and report in what way this m a y most conveniently be

done ”
I t is di fficult to s e
e
how the local Government
ee
.

could have ass s s d the amounts due to individuals and ,

there appears to be no record of anything further having

been done in the matter The rapid supervention of the
.

As hanti war and the stoppage of all trade would have

closed the incident fo r the tim and the subsequent con e
,

quest of As hanti and declaration of the Go ld Co ast a s a

Colony would materially have a ltered the view o f the cas e .

Colonel Harley was appointed Administrator in Novem

1

ber and one o f his first acts wa s to s t apart a large piece

,
e
of land o the western side
n o f Cape Coast as a cemetery 1
.

The land was bought and cleared by the Government and

1

We st I nd ia R egim e
This is th e m ete ry O ppo s it th e epre se
1

ce
nt.

nt High Cou rt
He re find th e Au th oritie eve
1

we
.

s bu ying l and n th ou gh it wa s to
be set apa rt prim arily for th e u se o f th e pe e e
1 —

op l inst a d of ava iling

th e m selve s o f th ea d m is sion f orm e rly m a de th a t th e ee
—

e
G ov rnm nt h a d
a righ t to dis p os of lan d in Cap e Coa st ( Vide
.
p .