“caboceers” retired to their own towns to await the issue, and Mensah
took advantage of this to gather round him all his adherents and
strengthen his position. Before, however, the ambassadors returned
to the capital with the reply of the Lieutenant-Governor, messengers
arrived there with the news that Houssas and officers were at Prahsu
building a bridge. This report, which originated in the despatch
of a few Houssas to Prahsu to watch events, while it confirmed the
worst apprehensions of the court party, seemed to the war party to
evince a disposition on the part of the Colonial Government to meet
them half-way, which they considered exceedingly suspicious. In all
their former wars with the British they had taken the initiative, and
over-run the country between the Prah and the sea with their victorious
armies. Even in the disastrous war of 1873-4 they had, for more than
six months, held entire possession of the western half of the colony,
with the exception of two or three towns on the sea-board, which were
protected by the forts and gunboats. They wished for war it is true,
but they wished to enter upon it when and where they pleased, and
were not at all prepared to have it carried into their own country.
That they expected this to be done is evident from the message sent
by the king on February 6th to Mr. Newenham, the constabulary officer
stationed at Prahsu, to the effect that he hoped to receive timely
notice before the British forces marched on Coomassie. They remembered
the advance of European troops which followed the building of a bridge
over the Prah on a former occasion, therefore when told that a bridge
was now being built, they jumped to the conclusion that the Government
must have some considerable force at hand. The more hot-headed members
of the war party wished to invade Adansi at once, so as to dispute the
passage of the Prah, but some of the more recent adherents of this
group changed sides once more, thus strengthening Mensah’s hands; and
the result of the next “palaver” was the despatch of the peaceful and
apologetic second message, which was delivered at Cape Coast Castle on
February 8th.
The day after this second embassy had left Coomassie, the
ambassadors with the golden axe returned with the letter from the
Lieutenant-Governor, refusing to comply with the demand which had been
made for the surrender of Awoosoo, and two days later an important
“palaver” was held. The two parties were now fairly matched, and
the discussion lasted for several days, each section endeavouring,
by eloquence, taunts, threats, and promises, to win over wavering
opponents to its own side. While victory was still trembling in the
balance news arrived at Coomassie that the Government was arming the
Fantis and the Assins, and was about to invade Ashanti with these
auxiliaries. This rumour was entirely without foundation, but its
effect in Coomassie was prodigious. Neither the war nor the court party
could hear patiently that their old enemies, whom they had conquered
time after time, and whom they considered to be slaves and women, were
about to carry war into their territory; a terrible orgie broke out,
the death-drum was beaten, slaves were sacrificed, all the Assins and
Fantis in Coomassie were “put in log,” and night closed upon a wild
scene of madness and intoxication.
Had not this report been immediately contradicted war would have
been inevitable; but next morning it was declared to be unfounded
by a messenger from Prince Ansah who opportunely arrived, and who
also brought the news of the sudden arrival of troops at Cape Coast
from Sierra Leone. The strength of the reinforcement was greatly
exaggerated, and it was said that thousands of Europeans were _en
route_ from England and daily expected. The war party then began to
think that, considering the divided state of the nation, they had
been a little too hasty in their declaration of hostilities, and that
it would be better to temporise. The queen-mother, who possessed
enormous influence, threatened to commit suicide “on the heads”[5]
of the principal chiefs of the war party if they persevered in their
intentions, and this threat sealed the fate of their party. Most of
the bellicose chiefs returned to their own towns to sulk in dignified
silence, and Mensah had things entirely his own way. To show how
pacific were his intentions he said, at a palaver which was held at
this time, “It is said that white men are coming across the Prah. We
have done nothing, we have no quarrel with them. Let us sit still;
and, if they wish to fight, let them fire the first shot.” A party of
Ashantis whom he had sent to take possession of a gold-mine situated
in Adansi territory, and the ownership of which was the subject of a
dispute, were also recalled, in order that there might be no pretext
for saying that he was interfering in the affairs of tribes who were
independent The day after the above statement of his intentions
Mensah sent his third message to the Lieutenant-Governor, explicitly
stating that he had no hostile design. This message was, as we have
seen, delivered on February 18th; thus, twenty-five days after the
declaration of war, it was known to the government of the Gold Coast
that Mensah desired peace, and that there was no prospect of an
embroilment; but by that time the first alarming telegram had already
reached England.
After the decision of the Lieutenant-Governor to do nothing till the
arrival of his superior, the Colony was disturbed by several groundless
alarms. One of these was to the effect that the king was calling out
his army, and had posted a strong force at Ordahsu; while, according
to another, which was current on March 2nd, the Ashantis had crossed
the Prah in force, and had reached Dunquah. The author of these false
reports was never discovered, though suspicion fell upon a trader, who,
having a large supply of goods on hand, wished to keep others from
importing. This man was also suspected of sending that telegram from
St. Vincent which surprised England with the intelligence that the
Ashanti army was within three days’ march of Cape Coast.
But, although there was little or nothing to be feared from the
tribes beyond the boundary of the Colony, there was a great deal of
dissatisfaction amongst the protected tribes. The chiefs of Accra, on
being called together to state what quota of men they would be prepared
to furnish in case of war, flatly refused to raise any men for the
defence of the protectorate until their king, Tacki, was released from
imprisonment at Elmina. This refusal was committed to writing and the
document signed by forty-eight of the most influential chiefs of the
district. I have already referred to the critical state of affairs in
the western extremity of the Colony, and to the east the Awoonahs began
to make preparations; so energetically, too, that the chiefs of Addah,
who had promised to raise some 4,000 men, now said that they could not
leave their own country, as, were they to do so, the Awoonahs would
pillage their towns and carry off the women and children.
These facts were rude shocks to the Government. Theoretical Governors
had fondly nursed the belief, until it had grown into an article of
faith, that the years of peace which had succeeded the events of 1874
had induced the various tribes in the protectorate,--distinct though
these were by language, traditions, and customs,--to bury their several
grievances and become a homogeneous people, and now it was only too
evident that the mere rumour of possible hostilities with Ashanti
had alone been sufficient to bring again into prominence all their
inter-tribal enmities, and make each nation suspicious and jealous
of its neighbours. The world can now judge how far any proposed
combination of the protected tribes against Ashanti would be likely to
be successful.
On March 4th the Governor of the Gold Coast Colony, Sir Samuel Rowe,
arrived at Elmina, accompanied by some half-dozen of the Sierra Leone
armed police, a number of Kroomen, who had been engaged as carriers,
and several officers temporarily in Colonial employ. By the 12th the
Chief Justice had arrived from Accra, and the Governor was sworn in.
After this ceremony had been performed everybody expected him to say or
do something to re-open communications with the king, to whose peaceful
message of February 18th no answer had yet been returned; but, instead,
nothing was talked of but meetings of friendly chiefs and the raising
of native levies. A demonstration to the Prah was mooted, which, had it
been undertaken, would have been quite useless, for the now independent
kingdom of Adansi intervenes between that river and Ashanti; while the
dreadful mortality of the war of 1863 should have taught that no body
of men ought to be encamped at Prahsu, if any other equally suitable
locality could be found. As the king had said he desired peace, there
did not seem any necessity for a demonstration at all; though, if one
were undertaken, the Adansi hills, being at once comparatively healthy
and on the southern frontier of Ashanti, would be the proper point at
which to make it.
The old rumours of preparations in Ashanti were revived. It was
reported that a messenger from the king of Adansi had brought
intelligence that the army was being called out, and a letter from a
German agent at Addah, one of the last places for obtaining authentic
information from Coomassie, was gravely quoted in support of the theory
that, in spite of all peaceable protestations, Mensah still meant war.
Many people began seriously to think that the Governor intended to
force on a war, while others, who were more behind the scenes, surmised
that Sir Samuel Rowe was merely raising the Ashanti bugbear in order
that he might obtain more credit for laying it.
It was evident that the Home Government thought we were fighting for
dear life, for on March 13th the hired transport “Ararat,” with sick
and wounded from Natal, put in to Cape Coast, _en route_ for England,
to pick up our wounded. Happily we had not prepared any, and the ship
went away as it had come.
Earlier than this, however, namely on March 6th, the Governor had an
interview with Enguie and Busumburu, who had remained at Cape Coast
since the beginning of the complication. He addressed them to the
effect that the British Government did not wish to conquer Ashanti,
but rather that the Fantis and Ashantis should live in peace together,
and was as ambiguous and encouraging as he could well be. The Ashantis
replied that they had brought their message to Prince Ansah, and they
wished to give it to the Governor through him.
Accordingly, on March 8th, Prince Ansah came to Elmina, and the
ambassadors through him proposed that a portion of the embassy might
be allowed to return to Coomassie, to carry a special message to the
king. The Governor replied that he considered this request should be
made by the ambassadors in person. This was done on the 11th, when
the ambassadors stated that they were very anxious to send a message
to the king, and requested permission to send three of their number
to Coomassie. The Governor said that he had no objection as long as
it was clearly understood that the message which they carried was a
private one from themselves, and not from him, and that they made that
matter perfectly clear to the king. Next day the messengers left for
Coomassie, their departure and the final settlement of the Ashanti
difficulty having by the above diplomatic subterfuges been delayed for
six days.
In the meantime, King Mensah at Coomassie could not at all understand
what was taking place. He had sent to Cape Coast to say he had no
intention of making war, and, instead of any reply being vouchsafed, he
had been told that he must wait for an answer until the arrival of the
Governor. That event had been duly communicated to him by his agent at
Cape Coast, but still no message came, and his pacific declaration was
treated with contemptuous silence. To say that he was not pleased at
this would but feebly express his feelings on the subject. Never before
had a message from an Ashanti king been received in such a contumelious
manner; the majority of the chiefs were of opinion that it was a
premeditated insult, and some went so far as to urge him to soothe his
wounded dignity by an appeal to arms. In fact had the Government been
desirous of war they could hardly have adopted a line of policy more
likely to have produced that result. Mensah, however, was sincerely
desirous of peace, and he despatched fresh messengers to Cape Coast,
who, as an appeal to the Government was thought to be useless, were
instructed to solicit the good offices of the traders, both European
and native, to place matters on a friendly footing between the colony
and Ashanti.
These messengers left Coomassie before the news of the Governor’s
arrival had reached there, and arrived at Cape Coast on March 10th.
They were four in number, and were named Osai Bruni, Yow Ewoah,
Quarmin Insia, and Dantando. Their arrival, and the object of
their mission, concerning which they made no secret, were at once
communicated to the Governor by the District-Commissioner, but they
were allowed to remain in the town unnoticed until the 13th, when they
of their own accord went over to Elmina. There they asked permission
to submit to the Governor the message that they intended to deliver to
the merchants. After further unnecessary delays they were allowed to
do so on March 16th, and were then informed that the Government had no
objection to their delivering such a message, but they must clearly
understand that this permission could not in any way affect any action
which the Government might afterwards think proper to take.
On March the 18th a meeting of traders was held at Cape Coast, and
the following was the message delivered--“The king sent us to come to
Prince Ansah and say ‘Let our family differences be at an end.’ He sent
us to Prince Ansah for him to take us to the merchants of Cape Coast
Castle for them to help the king, and say to the Governor that if he,
the king, had done anything wrong in the matter of the message with
the axe, that he, the king, asked that the Governor should pardon his
mistake.” They further declared that Mensah was willing to do anything
to maintain peace, and asked that a European officer might be sent
to Coomassie to see for himself that no preparations, either overt or
secret, for war were going on.
After this meeting of the mercantile classes the Ashanti messengers
again had an interview with the Governor, who told them that he had
nothing to do with the message they brought, that what the merchants
might have said was their own business, and that the words of the Queen
could only be sent to the king through the Governor. He then added that
they were to remember that the difficulty between the king and the
British Government had not yet been settled or cleared up in any way,
and dismissed them with the customary formalities.
The messengers started on the return journey on March 20th, and no
understanding between the Government and the king had been arrived at.
In fact matters had become further complicated, for the manner in which
these friendly overtures had been received could not be regarded in any
other light than as a rebuff, and the Governor’s concluding words could
only be construed as a thinly-veiled threat. European residents in the
Colony now began to regard the state of affairs as really serious, and
for the first time held the opinion of the departing envoys, that the
Governor, for some reason of his own, was bent upon forcing on a war.
FOOTNOTES:
[4] _i.e._ write a letter.
[5] To commit suicide “on the head” of a person means that the
intending suicide invokes the name of that person before putting an
end to his own life. The person whose name is thus invoked occupies,
according to local custom, exactly the same position as if he had
killed the suicide with his own hand, and is liable to be mulcted in
damages and subjected to all the extortions of a family “palaver.”
CHAPTER XIV.
Arrival of Reinforcements--Sanitary condition of Cape
Coast--Culpable neglect--Meeting of Chiefs--The Messengers from
Sefwhee--Expedition to the Bush--Its effect upon the Ashantis.
Upon the same day as that upon which the Ashanti messengers had their
interview with the traders of Cape Coast the hired-transport “Humber”
arrived with the Second West India regiment from the West Indies; so
that, in addition to the intelligence that their mission had been a
failure, the envoys were enabled to communicate to King Mensah the
unpleasant news of the arrival of fresh troops, which fact, of course,
could only tend to confirm him in the opinion he had formed, that an
invasion of Ashanti territory was intended. With the Second West India
regiment came Colonel W. C. Justice, who assumed command of the troops
in West Africa, and the advent of this reinforcement raised the total
force available for active service to about 1,200 men, consisting
of some 950 disciplined West India soldiers and 250 men of the
semi-disciplined Houssa Constabulary.
As there was no room for the new arrivals from the West Indies, either
in the Castle or in the huts at Connor’s Hill, they were quartered,
partly under canvas on the drill-ground to the west of the town and
partly in hired buildings in the town itself. In 1873 no troops were
put on shore until their services were actually required, and, when
so landed, great care was taken to provide them with camping-grounds,
or huts, far removed from the neighbourhood of native towns; and it
is much to be regretted that it was not possible to adopt similar
precautions on this occasion, for the amount of sickness which ensued
amongst the officers and men of the Second West India regiment
quartered in the town was appalling.
The town of Cape Coast is one of the most filthy and unhealthy known to
the civilized world. In 1872 we find Governor Hennessy thus writing of
it--“It was my disagreeable duty to tell the late Administrator that I
found the town of Cape Coast ... to be the most filthy and apparently
neglected place that I had ever seen under anything like a civilized
Government.” That description answers perfectly even at the present
day. After the Ashanti war of 1873-4 some attempts at improvement were
commenced during the administration of Governor Strahan; but on the
removal of the seat of government to Accra these were discontinued,
and the condition of the town is now as bad as ever. With a population
of some nine or ten thousand native inhabitants, addicted to the most
repulsive habits, Cape Coast does not possess any system of drainage,
or even the most primitive requirements of sanitation. Festering heaps
of pollution, and stagnant pools of foul water, lie among and around
the houses; while every by-street, passage, and open space, is used
by the natives as a place in which to deposit their offal and refuse.
The town can indeed boast of one surface-drain, built of masonry and
about a foot in breadth, which was originally intended to carry away
the water of a contaminated brook, and drain some plague-breeding
pools in the lower part of the town; but the genius of a colonial
engineer who constructed this colossal work in 1875 so planned it that
it stands some two feet above the level of the surrounding earth like
a wall; and as water in this part of the world has not yet acquired
the art of climbing up a vertical height it runs anywhere but where
it was intended to. Besides, after rain, this insignificant rivulet
becomes a stream three or four feet deep and several yards broad. The
fringe of bush all round the town is defiled to such an extent as to be
almost impassable, while to the east of the castle, and only 450 yards
distant from it, is a rock on which has been deposited the accumulated
corruption of years, and which, by local regulation, is still put to
the same use. With such surroundings it can be imagined that it avails
but little to keep the Castle, and buildings in actual occupation by
Europeans, in a proper sanitary condition.
In addition to all the foregoing increments to the natural healthiness
of the climate, droves of swine and goats wander about the town at
will, and at night share the interiors of the houses with the natives
and their fowls; and although an ordinance has been passed to put a
stop to this, and could easily be put in force, it is not so enforced,
upon the extraordinary ground that it would not be pleasing to the
natives. Either we govern the Gold Coast or we do not: if the latter
let us at once acknowledge the fact; but if the former, it is the
first duty of a Government to put a stop to practices prejudicial to
the common weal, irrespective of any consideration as to the result of
their action in gain or loss of popularity.
The following is an instance of how we manage matters in this part of
the world. In January 1879, while I was at Accra, an ordinance was put
into my hands, entitled the Towns, Police, and Health Ordinance, one
clause of which provided for the seizure and destruction of all pigs
and goats found at large, and for the punishment of their owners. I was
told it would come into force on February 1st of the same year, and
was desired to take all necessary measures. Accordingly I sent for the
principal chiefs and told them that from February 1st any such animals
found in the streets would be impounded and the owners fined; and that,
consequently, they must build styes or make enclosures, or adopt some
plan for keeping them confined. They did not like it, of course, for
your Gold Coast barbarian is the most conservative creature in the
world and would rather do almost anything than change old habits; but
they saw it had to be done, and on February 1st not a pig or goat was
to be seen at large. This happy state of things continued till February
3rd, when a high Colonial official came in from Christiansborg, and, in
the course of conversation, said that this ordinance, commonly known
as the Pig Ordinance, was not to be put in force. I asked why not; and
was told that the Government thought it would not do, that the people
would not like it, and there might be a disturbance. I replied that
it had actually been in force for three days, and that there had been
no difficulty at all; but it was of no use, and I had to send for the
chiefs and tell them that they could let their animals run loose again,
and of course the nuisance became as great as ever.
Thus at Cape Coast, as at Accra, a ridiculous fear of offending native
prejudices and losing popularity has prevented the Government from
enforcing sanitary regulations. The consequences of such a state of
things would be deplorable in a temperate and healthy climate; what
then must they be in a climate which is notoriously the worst in the
world? An instance of how this climate, when sanitary arrangements
are not made, affects Europeans, may be found in the case of the 104
Marines who were sent to the Gold Coast in 1873. Soon after their
arrival 63 per cent. were on the sick-list, and on July 31st the whole
detachment had to be sent home, having lost 18 out of their number,
or at the rate of 17·30 per cent. per six months. It is the opinion
of medical men, well qualified to judge, that nearly half the deaths
on the Gold Coast are caused by the shameful neglect of even the
most elementary sanitary principles, and if this be the fact, when
one remembers the hundreds of valuable lives that have there been
sacrificed, it must be acknowledged that successive Governors, who have
permitted this state of things to continue, have much to answer for.
Colonial officials endeavour to explain away this strange apathy on the
part of administrators by saying that the Colonial Office is so tired
of hearing the very name of the Gold Coast that that Governor is most
praiseworthy in its eyes who allows things to jog along quietly without
bother; and that, as the attempt to enforce sanitary measures would
cause trouble and expense, no one cares to make it. If this be the
true interpretation of the enigma then indeed the Colony is in a bad
case, as it is not sufficiently inviting to induce Governors who may,
through the possession of private means or influential position, be
independent of the office, to go out, and so the present condition of
affairs will continue. For my part, however, I am inclined to attribute
this policy of _laissez faire_ partly to the craving for popularity so
often exhibited by Governors, and partly to the fact that many of them
have risen to that position from subordinate posts on the Gold Coast,
and that their residence there, and years of use, have dulled the sense
of strangeness and disgust which a newcomer at once experiences.
On March 20th I was relieved from my command at Anamaboe, returning
to Cape Coast to take up some new duties, and next day I went over to
Elmina, where a meeting of the Executive Council was to be held, and
where Colonel Justice was to take the oaths and his seat as officer
commanding the troops.
From what occurred at that meeting it was evident that the Governor was
fully alive to the evil consequences that might ensue from his combined
policy of “masterly inaction” and ambiguous warnings, and that he was
also determined to continue in the same path. After the events that had
occurred had been recapitulated, a conversation took place amongst the
members of the Council, in the course of which the Lieutenant-Governor
exactly described the position by saying that the Ashantis had sent
a formal message and were awaiting a reply, but that the Governor
had thought it right to wait a little before giving his answers. He
then added that, in his opinion, the Governor was acting wisely. This
expression of opinion was, perhaps, what was to be expected from a
subordinate under the circumstances; but if it was his _bonâ fide_
opinion it is difficult to understand by what process of reasoning he
arrived at it. The longer the Governor delayed sending his reply the
longer the Colony would remain in an alarmed and unsettled state, and
the longer trade would remain at a standstill. Besides this there was
the danger of all communication between the king and the Government
ceasing, and of the Ashantis being driven into war through fear of our
aggression. These dangers were understood and pressed by the members of
the Council; Captain Hope asking if it would not now be better to send
a message up and conclude the matter; and Colonel Justice inquiring if
European officers might not be sent up to negociate. The Chief Justice
was of opinion that the Ashantis were thoroughly frightened, and wished
to do all in their power to avert war; that they seemed to believe that
we intended to take Coomassie, and that great care would have to be
taken to prevent them declaring war with a view to prevent an invasion.
All these sound reasonings and suggestions were, however, over-ruled
by the Governor, and the Council adjourned _sine die_, leaving the
conduct of negociations entirely in his hands.
Everybody well knew by this time that there was no prospect of a war
unless we took the initiative, and the well-known peace proclivities
of the political party then in office at home put that out of the
question. Universal astonishment, therefore, was felt when it was known
that on March 23rd the Governor had interviewed representatives from
different tribes and chiefs in the protectorate, and had asked what
contingent of fighting-men or carriers each could furnish. Apollonia,
Axim, Akim, Assin, Anamaboe, and Elmina, were represented, and the
delegates unanimously replied that all their men were fighting-men, and
that some consultation would be necessary before they could say how
many carriers they could furnish.
Two days after this meeting it was generally known that the Governor
intended visiting Accroful and Mansu, and an officer started for the
latter town with 145 Kroomen to prepare huts. Daily, after March 25th,
quantities of stores and materials were forwarded to Mansu, _viâ_
Effutu, a route which was chosen because it avoided the town of Cape
Coast, though it was longer than the ordinary one through that place;
and it was evident that a small expedition of some kind was being
prepared, concerning which the military were, for some unintelligible
reason, to be kept in the dark. In fact, when at this time Colonel
Justice informed the Governor that he proposed going, without an escort
and accompanied by only two officers, as far as Mansu to examine the
road, the latter wrote that the Ashantis knew everything that was going
on, that they fully understood the difference between civilians and
military, and that, in his opinion, such a visit as that proposed would
at once put the settlement of the difficulty beyond the possibility of
any other than a settlement to be brought about by a resort to military
force; yet all the time men and stores were being sent up country,
under the conduct of military officers, thinly disguised as civilians,
because they were temporarily in Colonial employ.
As, if the matter were finally to be settled peaceably, a palaver
would have to be held with the Ashantis either at Elmina, Cape Coast,
or Accra, it seemed an extraordinary proceeding for the Governor,
under existing circumstances, to go up country at all. As the
Ashantis knew everything that was going on they would know all about
the concentration of supplies, carriers, and Houssas at Mansu; and,
naturally inferring from this, and from the fact that no answer had
been returned to two peaceable messages, that the Government intended
to go to war and endeavour to crush them, they would sink all their
political differences in the face of a great national calamity, and
become once more a united people. Some said that the Governor was
going to meet the envoys, whom rumour said were coming down, but
such speakers forgot that that would be a most derogatory proceeding
on the part of an individual representing Her Majesty: others even
asserted that he intended, despite the well-known pacific tendencies
of the Home Government, to bring on a war for some purpose of his own.
Those, however, who had had the benefit of a former experience of the
Governor, knew that he was possessed of an uncontrollable mania for
playing at soldiers and commanding small expeditionary forces composed
of policemen and carriers, and that this was the real reason of the
proposed movement. So inopportune was the time he now selected for this
pastime that only by the merest chance, as we shall see later, did he
escape from rendering a peaceable solution of the Ashanti difficulty
impossible.
On March 27th forty Sefwhee messengers, with two state-swords, who
had arrived at Cape Coast on the previous day, had an interview with
the Governor at Elmina. It was said they asked for powder, lead, and
muskets, as they feared an immediate attack of the Ashantis; and two
of them afterwards informed us that a large Ashanti force had appeared
on their frontier near the point where the Ashanti territory abuts on
both that of Gaman and Sefwhee.
On April 4th the Governor left Elmina for Mansu, taking with him two
of the Elmina chiefs, Prince Ansah, and the Ashanti envoys, Enguie and
Busumburu, who had remained at Cape Coast ever since the commencement
of the palaver. On the 8th news reached Cape Coast privately that
an Ashanti embassy, the principal member of which was Prince Buaki,
husband of the queen-mother, had left Coomassie to sue for peace; but
the messenger who brought this intelligence added, that, on account of
news received from the coast, the embassy had suddenly stopped before
reaching the northern frontier of Adansi. This report, coming so soon
after that of the Sefwhees, seemed to foreshadow a new departure on the
part of the king, and many people began to think that we should have a
war after all.
What was really occurring in Coomassie may now be told. We have seen
that Mensah, despairing of receiving any consideration at the hands
of, or an answer from, the Government, had despatched messengers to
solicit the intervention of the traders; that these had not succeeded
in effecting anything, but had witnessed the arrival of the Second
West India regiment from the West Indies. When these men returned to
Coomassie with their intelligence, Mensah was thrown into a condition
of extreme perplexity: both his peaceable message to the Government
and his appeal to the traders had been alike ineffectual, and,
notwithstanding his repeated pacific overtures, he heard of nothing but
the landing of troops and preparations for war. With Ansah, Enguie,
and Busumburu at Cape Coast, he was kept fully informed concerning
everything that was occurring, and messengers passed backwards and
forwards between the sea-board and Coomassie almost daily. The news
of the meeting of his ancient foes at Elmina on March 23rd, and the
purpose for which this meeting was convened, was at once conveyed to
him; next he heard of the departure of Houssas and carriers with stores
for Mansu, of the preparations going on at that place, and of the depôt
being formed there; and there seemed a consecutiveness in all that
had happened since the arrival of the Governor, beginning with the
contemptuous silence with which his message was treated, which could
only point to the one conclusion that the British had fully made up
their minds to invade Ashanti and overthrow the kingdom. An important
palaver was accordingly held at Coomassie, at which every chief of note
in the nation was present; and the result was that every difference
of opinion amongst themselves was at once put aside, and it was
unanimously agreed to defend every foot of Ashanti soil from invasion.
Mensah was desirous of making one more effort in the cause of peace,
and after some discussion it was decided, not without much opposition,
to send an embassy, consisting of deputies from every district of
Ashanti, with Prince Buaki at their head, to endeavour to arrange
matters with the Colonial Government; while, in accordance with the
decision at which they had arrived not to tamely submit to invasion,
from 12 to 15,000 men of the Bantama district were called out and sent
to Amoaful to watch the approaches to the capital, and arrangements
were made for the immediate calling-out of the whole army in case of
emergency. Thus we see that the first mobilisation took place long
after the downfall of the war-party, that it was intended solely for
defence, and was caused by the very natural construction which the king
and his chiefs placed upon the events occurring in the Colony.
Prince Buaki and the deputies left Coomassie on April 3rd, and had
arrived at the village of Akankuassi when a messenger overtook them
with instructions from the king to stop. What was the cause of this
sudden change in the original plan decided upon by the entire nation
in council? News had been brought to Coomassie that the men and
stores, which had been collected at Mansu by the Colonial Government,
were beginning to be moved on to Prahsu. The king, conceiving that the
Government was fully determined on war, thought that the next move
would be from Prahsu to the Adansi territory, perhaps to the Adansi
hills; and, concluding that it would be useless to make any further
overtures for peace, he stopped the embassy, so as to spare his dignity
as much as possible, and prepared to exhaust all the resources of the
kingdom in a struggle which he foresaw would be for very existence.
So far this was the result of the Governor’s bush expedition, and it
was a result which had been very generally expected. Captain Hope
in a letter to the Admiralty, dated Elmina, April 3rd, said:--“The
expedition of the Governor is, in the opinion of some people,
calculated to arouse their suspicion of us, as, although of course
strictly within our territory, it is on the road to Coomassie, and
might be looked on as an advanced guard.... Active precautionary
measures have by no means ceased, in fact a general feeling of
uneasiness is springing up, probably due to the protracted negociations
going on.” The Home Government too were not quite easy in their minds
as to what the consequences of their agent’s action might be, for
in a despatch from Lord Kimberley, dated April 29th, we find these
words:--“The remarks of the Chief Justice, that he had heard at Accra
that the Ashantis seemed to believe that the white men intended to take
Coomassie, and that great care should be taken to prevent them from
being driven into war through fear of our aggression, appear to me to
deserve careful attention. It would be lamentable if a collision were
to arise from any misunderstanding of this kind, and I have no doubt
that you will take every means to remove from the mind of the Ashanti
king any apprehension which he may entertain of an aggressive movement
on our part.”
At the time of writing that despatch Lord Kimberley little knew how
very nearly his worst fears had been realised, and that the Governor,
instead of taking every means to remove apprehension from the mind of
the king, had done everything calculated to increase it.
CHAPTER XV.
A Trip to Prahsu--Mansu--A Fiendish _Réveille_--Bush
Travelling--Prahsu--The King of Adansi--Masquerading Costumes--The
Camp--Strength of the Expedition.
On April 11th Colonel Justice, Lieutenant D. M. Allen (Acting
Engineer), a Commissariat officer, and myself, started from Cape Coast
about 5 a.m. in hammocks for Mansu, where we had heard the Governor
was. Shortly after noon we reached Accroful, 13¾ miles from Cape Coast,
where the road from Effutu joins the main road; and there we found
Captain Lonsdale, the late Commandant of the Lonsdale’s Horse of the
Zulu war, holding a palaver with the king of Abrah, from Abracampa. His
object was to obtain five hundred carriers to transport a frame-house
from Elmina to Mansu for the accommodation of the Governor, and we
inferred from this that the latter intended making a lengthened sojourn
in the bush. We halted for an hour at the house of the local mission
preacher, which was, as usual, the best in the village, and then pushed
on to Dunquah, where we stayed for the night.
Next morning we were off again at daybreak, and, after a three hours’
halt at Inkrau during the hottest part of the day, reached Mansu,
35½ miles from Cape Coast, at 4·30 p.m. On our arrival we found that
the Governor with all his following had gone on to Prahsu, to which
place it was decided we should follow, and the village would have
been entirely deserted but for an officer of the constabulary, who
had arrived the day before from Elmina _viâ_ Effutu, with some 70
Houssas, and who was waiting to rest his men. The native inhabitants
had all been ejected from their dwellings, which, after a little
preliminary cleaning, had been appropriated by the officers who formed
the Governor’s retinue; traces of whose stay were still existing
in the piles of beer and brandy bottles, and in the ridiculous and
inappropriate names, such as “Rose Villa,” which were daubed on the
swish-walls of the houses. In the centre of the town was a large shed,
built of bamboo and palm-leaves, and open at the sides: this was called
the Palaver House, and had been erected in the anticipation of the
Governor here meeting the Ashanti envoys; but, as they had not arrived,
it seemed that no palaver would be held here after all, and the rows of
bamboo seats for the retinue, with a bamboo throne for His Excellency,
flanked by more lowly seats for his immediate satellites, were doomed
to waste their sweetness unused. We had the honour of occupying the
gubernatorial residence, which was an ordinary swish-hut, to one side
of which an appendage like a gigantic birdcage had been added, which,
while it kept the vulgar herd at a respectful distance, permitted of
their gazing through the bars at royalty within, in much the same
manner as the British public would gaze at a new and strange beast in
the gardens of the Zoological Society at Regent’s Park.
Next morning, shortly after 4 a.m., we were wakened from a sound sleep
by the roll of drums and the shrieking of half-a-dozen fifes: it was
the Houssa “band” playing an untimely _réveille_. They were supposed
to be playing that old point of war which begins “Old Father Paul came
from the Holy Land,” but their acquaintance with it was limited to the
first two bars, which they repeated over and over again. As the sound
first penetrated our half-awakened senses we tried to keep it out and
go to sleep again; then, finding that that was useless, we waited in
expectancy for them to go on with the rest of the tune, and after
the first two bars had been played over and over again for about ten
minutes we were in a very fair state of nervous excitement. Soon the
effect of this began to grow irritating; we commenced saying “Tum tumti
tumti, tumti tumti tum,” to ourselves time after time; then we tried
to shake that off and count; but we counted the thing ten, fifteen,
twenty, thirty times, and still the infernal tum tumti tum went on in
the same endless monotony, while we dressed by fits and starts in the
dark, hoping and praying that the Houssas would either go on to the
next bar or leave off altogether. The torture rapidly grew worse and
worse: it seemed to rake up all our nerves, and every repetition went
through us like a galvanic shock, while we could not go and implore
the Constabulary officer to put a stop to it because we knew that it
was as balm and consolation to his wounded military spirit. We tried
to give our minds to other subjects, but it was out of the question,
and conversation was impossible; our eyes became wild, our brows
haggard, and we were rapidly approaching a state of frenzy, when, after
half-an-hour’s torture, we fled from the demoniacal sounds. We passed
the Houssas, marching up and down outside our habitation, blowing away
vigorously with their cheeks distended to their utmost capacity, with
our fingers in our ears, and rushed off into the damp forest path. What
a universal sigh of relief we gave when we were out of hearing, but the
diabolic rhythm went on in our minds long after that, and by 10 a.m.
one of our number was down with fever. If any one should think that
our nerves were unduly sensitive, let him get somebody to play on the
piano, for half-an-hour without a single pause,
[Illustration: Music]
and then see how he feels at the end of the performance.
We crossed the Oki river by a felled silk-cotton tree, and stopped
at Sutah, or, as the natives call it, Fittah, in the middle of the
day for breakfast; after which epicurean meal Colonel Justice and the
Commissariat officer went on, while I waited for the invalid, who, as
he knew how to treat himself, would be able to go on as soon as the sun
lost its force. About 4·30 p.m. he was pretty well and we started off;
the sunlight faded imperceptibly into moonlight, and with no casualties
worse than occasionally staking ourselves on the stumps of trees left
standing from three to four feet high in the middle of the path, we
reached Yancoomassie Assin about 9 p.m.
Through our delay at Sutah I made a discovery as to which portion
of the twenty-four hours is the most suitable for travelling in the
bush. As travelling during the heat of the day renders one liable to
“touches” of the sun and heat apoplexy, most Europeans in West Africa
who have to go anywhere start at an unearthly hour in the morning,
before it is light, and then go on until ten or eleven o’clock, when
they breakfast. In my opinion this is a mistake. All night long a heavy
dew has been falling, and as you walk, or are carried along, showers
of dew-drops fall upon you from the overhanging trees, sufficiently
heavy to make you wet and give you a chill; then, as the sun begins
to gain power, all kinds of exhalations and noisome vapours rise from
the rank and wet vegetation, and various overpowering stenches salute
the olfactory nerves, while for the last two hours of your journey you
are baked in your hammock. Now none of these things are conducive to
health in such a climate as that of West Africa, and they might all be
avoided by travelling, say from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., when the sun has been
drying the forest all day and drawing up the miasma, while no dew to
speak of has begun to fall. Should there be no moon, a native torch,
made of dry palm-stems, can be manufactured anywhere in a few minutes;
and the only objection I have ever heard urged against choosing this
time for journeying is that it is not pleasant to enter a village,
and have to choose a hut to sleep in and prepare the evening meal, so
late; but this is easily reduced to a _minimum_ by sending on your
boys an hour ahead of you to prepare for your arrival. It is not as
if there was anything to be seen during a trip to the bush, for few
people, who have not experienced it, can understand the loathing with
which one regards the endless monotony of the forest, through the dense
rank vegetation of which one moves on day after day, as if between two
lofty walls of foliage, without seeing a single glade or break in the
sameness. Of course I refer here to the feeling of those accustomed to
the country, for to a newcomer there is a certain amount of novelty,
and consequently interest, in such scenes.
The number of villages which have sprung up along the Prah road
since the close of the last war is surprising, and evinces a feeling
of security on the part of the natives of which their minds would
have been sadly disabused had the Ashantis followed up their hostile
declaration by vigorous action. All these might, from a negro point of
view, be described as thriving, as a few acres of ground round each
had been cultivated, and some of them could boast of considerable
plantations of plantains; but of course very little more is grown than
is actually required for the inhabitants themselves. Passing through
a village one is again immediately swallowed up in the mantle of the
forest for an hour or so, until another group of huts relieves the
eye like an oasis in a vast vegetable desert. Water abounds, and the
fertility of the soil is marvellous; inhabited by any other race of
man this country would surpass the whole world in agricultural wealth,
but, as it is, it is lost to mankind, and there is every probability of
its remaining so, as it is hopeless to endeavour to induce a negro to
work. If some energetic Governor would only introduce sanitary reform
and Chinese labour, the Gold Coast would soon become very different to
what it now is; but the motto of all previous administrators, except
perhaps Governor Maclean, seems to have been “_Apres moi le déluge_.”
We left Yancoomassie Assin about five in the morning of the 14th, and,
breakfasting at Barraco at noon, approached Prahsu about 4 p.m. As we
drew near we could hear the “boom boom” of trade muskets keeping a
straggling fusillade ahead of us, and the hammock-men began to grow
nervous, while our servants commenced complaining because we had not
allowed them to bring rifles with them. We had not the remotest idea
of what was taking place, but as no reports of rifles were heard in
reply we concluded it was nothing of hostile import, although a Houssa
sergeant whom we met informed us that it was Ashantis who were firing.
Passing through a gap in the fence which inclosed the camp we found
the men of the Houssa Constabulary drawn up in two lines, facing each
other, as if waiting as a guard of honour for somebody; though as there
were very few men, only about ninety in all, an interval of five or six
yards had been left between every two men, so that they might take up
more ground and make a more imposing show. We thought at first that it
was a polite attention on the part of the Governor, and that these men
were drawn up to receive the officer commanding the troops, but we
soon found out our mistake; they were paraded for the reception of that
omnipotent African potentate the king of Adansi, who was now crossing
the river, and the reports of whose retainers’ muskets we had been
hearing.
About an hour after our arrival the king and his followers crossed the
river in safety, and, entering the camp, proceeded between the two
so-called lines of Houssas towards a bamboo and palm-leaf palaver-shed
which had been erected in the centre of the camp. Altogether there
were one hundred and fifty of them, consisting of the king, chiefs,
and dependents, fifty of the latter carrying muskets, and the rest the
usual barbaric state utensils, viz., swords, umbrellas, pipes, stools,
fans, fly-whisks, and chairs covered with brass nails. There was not so
much native goldsmiths’ work exhibited as is usual on such occasions,
and the silk of the tent-like state umbrella was very dirty and much
torn, which seemed to denote that his majesty’s exchequer was not in a
flourishing condition.
I thought I might as well hear what would be said, so I walked towards
the shed, where I found the Governor’s retinue sitting placidly upon
rum-kegs, which were standing on end, placed in rows behind a Madeira
chair intended to support His Excellency’s frame. The Adansi rabble
faced this at a little distance, while to the left were Enguie,
Busumburu, and the Elmina chiefs, who had come up from the coast
to swell the official following. I shook hands with a few friends,
appropriated a rum-keg, and sat down too. Presently a whisper ran
through the retinue, and all stood up with blanched faces and uncovered
heads, and gazed with an aspect of the most profound respect towards a
little dwelling of sticks to which our backs had been turned. I looked
round to see what was the cause of all this apprehension, and perceived
the Governor coming slowly towards us, supported by his favourite
disciples.
These, two in number, and the Governor himself, were attired in
eccentric costumes, which formed a curious contrast to the ordinary
garments of civilisation worn by the rest of the Europeans present;
and they somehow reminded me, first, of the three tutelary deities
of pantomime, Messrs. clown, harlequin, and pantaloon, and then, on
further reflection, of the three Graces. His Excellency wore a blue
Norfolk jacket, garnished with a medal and star, and immense scarlet
trousers, tucked into long yellow boots, reaching nearly to the knee,
and furnished with large brass spurs, which are, in West Africa, so
exceedingly useful for goading the stubborn hammocks to increased
speed. Wound round his helmet was a fragment of a gaudy Cashmere shawl,
and one obsequious attendant held an umbrella over the august head,
while another flourished a horse-tail to drive away the impertinent
radical flies. On the right hand, but at a respectful distance from
his chief, marched the principal satellite, attired in an eccentric
costume of grey, adorned with much braid, which reminded me forcibly
of those grotesque uniforms in which, in the early days of the
volunteer movement, martial men-milliners astonished the public and
gave full scope to their genius. On the left hand stalked the secondary
satellite, clothed in an antique scarlet patrol-jacket, upon which gold
lace had been scattered with a wild and lavish hand; while the tight
blue trousers, also embellished with gold lace, came to a tasteful and
appropriate termination in the recesses of long Wellington boots.
I looked at the two Ashanti envoys, Enguie and Busumburu, who, having
resided at Cape Coast for some weeks, would know that Europeans did not
usually attire themselves in such gorgeous apparel, to see what they
thought of this masquerade. The courteous Busumburu in vain tried to
conceal a smile under a well-dissembled cough, while the sneer which
disfigured the countenance of the truculent Enguie made it appear more
repellent than ever. As for the Elminas, they smiled at each other but
said nothing, for such vagaries as this had caused the Governor to be
known at Elmina by the appellation of the Bush Chief; but with the
Adansis the magnificent display seemed to go down pretty well, though
of course they would be set right, after the palaver, by those who knew
all about such things.
Waving his majestic hand condescendingly to the crowd of cringing
and awe-stricken courtiers, His Excellency took his seat, and, in
case any malign spirit of evil should direct a waning sunbeam at the
gubernatorial head through the thick roof of palm-leaves, the umbrella
was still kept in requisition, while the fly-whisk was plied more
energetically than ever. To my great disappointment, after all this
preparation and excitement, there was no palaver at all; the usual
salutations, hand-shakings, and compliments, were gone through, and
then the Governor told the Adansi king that as it was getting rather
late he would hear next day what he had to say.
The camp at Prahsu occupied exactly the same site as did the old one
of 1873; there was a rough fence, or rather hedge, like what is known
in some colonies as a stump hedge, bounding three sides of it, while
the fourth was bordered by the river. The inclosed space, about 300
yards by 120 yards, was covered with a number of wretched huts made
of bamboo and palm-leaves, the flimsy roofs of which afforded no
protection either from rain or sun, while the walls afforded about as
much concealment and privacy to the inmates as does a birdcage to its
tenant. The larger sheds were for the accommodation of the European
officers, though better shelter was to be found in the poorest village
on the road, and scores of little “lean-to” habitations, made of
brushwood and palm, were dotted about for the use of the labourers,
Kroomen, Crepes, and Fantis, some eight hundred of whom were in
camp. The Acting-Engineer and I fortunately obtained possession of a
bell-tent (which had evidently been pitched by an amateur), and so had
a better protection overhead than that afforded by the gridiron-like
roofs of the huts; some Houssas knocked up a bed of palm-sticks in a
few minutes, and we made ourselves as comfortable as circumstances
would permit.
Strange to say, although the Colonial officer still pretended that
hostilities were possible, if not probable, no measures had been taken
for defending the camp in the event of an attack; there was not even
a shelter-trench along the river bank, and, as for the stump-hedge on
the other sides, that formed no obstacle, and could be passed through
at any point that one chose. The further bank of the river had not
been occupied by us, yet no attempt had been made to clear the bush
immediately opposite the camp; and, as dense forest grew down to the
edge of the water, an enemy could easily line the bank unseen, and,
the river being only 189 feet broad, bring such a fire to bear upon the
camp as would make it perfectly untenable. It was easy to see that the
expedition was under the management of an amateur in military matters,
and it was an exceedingly fortunate thing for all composing it that the
Ashantis were so peaceably inclined.
In the evening I sought for relics of the last expedition. There were
not many left. The bridge had totally disappeared, and a dilapidated
pontoon, with the inclosed grave of Captain Huyshe, were the only
vestiges of our former occupation of this site.
The total force of the expedition in the camp, I learned, was 899,
consisting of 13 European officers, 107 Houssas, 59 clerks and
servants, 9 Sierra Leone police, 173 native chiefs and followers, and
the remainder carriers. Taken as a whole it formed an imposing display,
and was quite sufficient to confirm the Ashantis in their impression
that it was the advanced guard of some large expeditionary force.
CHAPTER XVI.
Regulating the Sun--Arrival of the Ashanti Embassy--The
Palaver--Ciceronian Eloquence--A Diplomatic Fiction--A beautiful
simile--Physiognomies--Unhealthiness of the Camp.
Next morning I was awakened by a loud detonation, the echoes of which
had scarcely died away when I heard a voice shout “His Excellency
has arisen.” This important declaration was at once followed by the
_réveille_, played by four separate bugles in different parts of the
camp; and, as I knew that there were not four corps in the encampment
over night, I thought troops must have unexpectedly arrived, and
so went hurriedly out of my tent to ascertain. I found that we had
received no sudden accession to our strength: one bugler was blowing on
behalf of the Houssa Constabulary, another for the half-dozen Sierra
Leone policemen whom the Governor had brought with him, a third for the
three or four Fanti police who were at Prahsu, and a fourth for the
Kroo labourers. As the area of the camp was rather circumscribed of
course one bugle would have been quite sufficient, but then how much
glowing military ardour would have been lost for want of use.
I next proceeded to find out the cause of the explosion and the
shouting which I had heard. I learned that every morning, directly
His Excellency stepped out of bed, a small cohorn mortar, which stood
in front of his residence, was fired, an attendant exclaimed for the
benefit of the uninitiated, “His Excellency has arisen,” the hour was
made five o’clock, and everybody set their watches right. Thus, in
addition to his many multifarious duties, the Governor daily undertook
the arduous and god-like task of regulating the sun.
At noon the Governor, followed by the Adansi chiefs, went out into the
bush, from which they returned about half-past three, and at four the
promised palaver took place in the palaver-shed. It consisted merely of
the exchange of a few complimentary sentences, and was in fact a dummy
palaver, held for the benefit of the public, as His Excellency had had
two hours of conversation with the Adansi king in the bush, and had
transacted all the real business there.
At about seven o’clock on the morning of the 16th Ashanti messengers
arrived on the further bank of the Prah, and, shortly after noon, the
Ashanti embassy, consisting of Prince Buaki-tchin-tchin, and delegates
from some of the principal districts of the Ashanti kingdom, crossed
the river amid great beating of drums and blowing of elephant-tusk
horns. Shortly before five the Ashantis, some two hundred and sixty
in number, came in procession through the camp, where the Houssas were
drawn up for their reception, in the same way as on the occasion of the
entry of the king of Adansi, only, as those that we had met at Mansu
had since come up, there were now more of them; while to swell the
martial pageant all the six hundred labourers were drawn up in line
near the palaver-shed with their various implements, those who had old
cutlasses for cutting bush being placed in the front, and those with
spades and pick-axes more in the rear. Each Ashanti chief or deputy
walked under his umbrella, or was carried in his chair on the heads
of his slaves, and was followed by his own retainers parading their
different insignia; and the whole body proceeded to the palaver-shed
and sat down.
At five the Governor made his appearance, attired in the same singular
manner as before, and walked to his seat through a lane of obsequious
and bowing officials, supported by his two satellites of grotesque
appearance. One of the retinue said to me in a stage whisper:--
“His Excellency is a remarkably fine speaker. Listen carefully now, for
you will hear some wonderful oratory.”
I said--“Oh! really.”
“Yes--the political leaders at home might well learn a thing or two
from him. He especially prides himself upon his manner of addressing
natives, who, as of course you know, are themselves excellent orators,
and avoid tautology and all such errors.”
I accordingly took out my note-book and put down every word that fell
from the august lips. The following is what I wrote: it did not seem to
impress the natives much, but then no doubt it was like casting pearls
before swine; the retinue listened to each word with rapt attention,
and subdued and respectful murmurs of applause greeted each fresh
exhibition of rhetorical eloquence, which they considered worthy of a
combined Cicero and Demosthenes.
Prince Buaki rose and said:--
“I give my compliments to His Excellency.”
_Rowe._ “I am glad to see you here. It is always a pleasure for the
Government of the Gold Coast to receive an envoy from the king of
Ashanti. You do not meet me at home, but out here in the bush; but as
you meet me here on your journey you are welcome. I hope your journey
has been fairly comfortable.”
_Buaki._ “Yes, it was comfortable.”
_Rowe._ “I hope you have not had rain on the way.”
_Buaki._ “No.”
_Rowe._ “I am glad to hear that, for rain makes the roads bad in this
country. I don’t think we can hope to have fine weather long. What do
you think?”
_Buaki._ “I think so too.”
_Rowe._ “I hope it will not come on for a few days more; it is not
nice to have rain. I hope you found your people well that were left
behind.”[6]
_Buaki._ “Yes, they are well.”
_Rowe._ “They have come here from Cape Coast. They travel in the bush
more comfortably than I do.”
_Buaki._ “Just so.”
_Rowe._ “We may look for rain in about three months I suppose. How many
months? Two, or three?”
_Buaki._ “Yes.”
_Rowe._ “During that time any one who has a house stops in it.”
_Buaki._ “Yes.”
_Rowe._ “I don’t like to be caught by rain in the bush. I don’t mind
being here in the bush when it is fine. I’m afraid I can’t do much here
to make you comfortable.”
_Buaki._ “I quite understand that.”
_Rowe._ “Still I am glad to see you, and, as far as I can, I will do my
best for you.”
(A pause, and Buaki asks permission to speak.)
_Buaki._ “Your Excellency’s friend, the king of Ashanti, sent me to
see you. While on the road I and my followers were taken sick, so that
I had to delay coming down till we were well. I met the sword-bearer,
Yow Mensah, at Yan Compene, who told me that you were waiting for me,
and I sent him back to say I was coming. I am sorry I did not meet you
at home, but I was ill by the way. I wish to know what time you will
appoint for the business on which I have come.”
_Rowe._ “With regard to that I must see how long it will be necessary
to remain here, and then I shall have an opportunity of seeing about
the matter we have to talk over.”
_Buaki._ “Very good.”
_Rowe._ “It is always a pleasure, and has been as I know for many
years, to the English Government of the Gold Coast to receive
messengers from the king of Ashanti when they are sent. What I am now
going to say has no bearing on the point, but, as you have come to me
as a special messenger from your king, and as I have already said that
I am glad to meet you with a message from your king, I am going to say
to you what I said to the former ambassadors, before your arrival. That
is: the message I bring with me from the Queen of England is a message
of peace, that I am to govern her people, and whilst I am to govern
them I am to defend them, and take care of them, and have authority
over them. I am also to live on friendly terms with her people.” (To
this the interpreter added:--“The Queen is ready for peace or war,
whichever you like.”)
_Buaki._ “I have come down to stop all those small leaks in the roof
which have been giving trouble of late. If I cannot do this, we must
have a new roof.” (The interpreter rendered this--“I also have come for
peace.”)
_Rowe._ “I will think over the business I have to do in this part, and
then I will arrange when and where I can assemble the officers of the
Government who are fitting to be present when this matter is discussed.
As I said before, the rain is coming. I hope you did not suffer from
the rain.”
_Buaki._ “I did not.”
_Rowe._ “I hope all your people are well.”
_Buaki._ “They are all well. I thank you for the care you have taken of
my people.”
_Rowe._ “I am glad they gave me a good name to you. I hope you found
the road fairly comfortable?”
_Buaki._ “I was very comfortable on the road. I am sorry that my
sickness prevented my meeting you at home.”
_Rowe._ “I hope you will be well soon, and I hope you are not in a
hurry to go home. You may feel a little tired after your journey and
may want rest.”
The palaver then terminated.
The sickness of which Buaki spoke was only a diplomatic fiction, and
in speaking of the sword-bearer, Yow Mensah, he unwittingly let a cat
out of the bag which the Governor would have much preferred keeping
in confinement. As we have seen, the embassy left Coomassie on April
6th, but only arrived at Prahsu on the 16th. Now Buaki well knew
that no one would believe that eleven days were required to traverse
the seventy-three miles of actual distance from the capital to the
river, and not wishing, in the interests of his mission, to inform the
Governor of what had really taken place, and let him know how nearly
he had made war inevitable, he started the story of having been ill to
account for the delay, which, as I have already shown, was caused by
Mensah’s order. The Governor had somehow gained an inkling of what was
really happening in Ashanti, and, to use the words of a high Colonial
official of much experience, seeing that it was no time for further
buffoonery, and that peace and war were trembling in the balance,
he gave up his supposed dignified attitude of reserve, and, taking
the initiative himself, sent Yow Mensah to the envoys to say he was
waiting for them.[7] Of course they then came on at once, just as
another embassy would have come in response, if at any time after the
Governor’s arrival in the Colony a similar message had been sent. Since
the Governor had after all to re-open communications himself, it is a
pity that he did not do so earlier, instead of keeping the whole Colony
in suspense; and if he had not been so fortunate as to hear of what was
taking place, and so had not sent the sword-bearer on, it is impossible
to say where the mischief would have ended. This narrow escape from
hostilities only shows how exceedingly dangerous it is to indulge in
any ambiguous action where barbarous races are concerned.
At the termination of the palaver, Buaki and his followers rose and
walked round the shed, shaking hands in turn with every European
present. As Buaki repeated this ceremony with the Governor, the latter
said, through the medium of the interpreter:--
“You see I am not a mud-fish.”
One of the retinue immediately nudged me and said:--
“There! Did you hear that?”
I replied “Yes.”
“Ah! it’s a beautiful simile, now, isn’t it?”
I said “I don’t quite see how.”
“What? You don’t see it?”
“No.”
“That’s strange. You’ve been acquainted with the Coast a long time,
too. Well, the mud-fish is a stupid kind of fish, that, instead of
trying to escape, buries itself in the mud, and allows itself to be
easily caught by the hand. The Governor used the expression to mean
that he wasn’t a fool.”
About ten minutes afterwards one of the innumerable secretaries
remarked to me:--
“Did you catch that wonderful simile of His Excellency’s about the
mud-fish?”
“Oh! yes,” I replied.
“You know what it means, of course?”
“Yes; the mud-fish is a stupid kind of fish that, instead of trying to
escape, buries itself in the mud and allows itself to be easily caught
by the hand. The Governor used the illustration to mean that he wasn’t
a fool.”
“Oh dear no. You’re quite wrong. I’ll tell you what it is. The mud-fish
is a cunning kind of fish which, when pursued, stirs up the mud all
round, to make the water thick, so that it can’t be seen. The Governor
said that he wasn’t a mud-fish, meaning that he had no necessity for
hiding his whereabouts.”
This man had hardly moved away before another came up to me, and said:--
“What did you think of His Excellency’s simile of the mud-fish?”
“Oh! I didn’t think much of it.”
“What!! You didn’t think much of that marvellous simile? Why not?”
“Because nobody seems to know what it means.”
“Well, I know, and I will tell you what it means--it is most ingenious.
The mud-fish is a fish covered with venomous spines, which cause nasty
wounds if you happen to touch them. The Governor said he was not a
mud-fish, to re-assure Buaki, and let him know that he was not going to
hurt him.”
In the evening a high Colonial official said to me:--
“A pretty simile that of the Governor’s about the mud-fish, wasn’t it?”
“Yes; but its meaning doesn’t seem very clear.”
“Doesn’t seem very clear? Why, my dear fellow, it is patent to the
meanest intellect. The mud-fish is a worthless kind of fish that nobody
would take the trouble to catch: the Governor used the comparison to
mean that he was somebody of importance.”
I have not made up my mind which of these interpretations to adopt; the
reader can take any one he likes, but it seems to me that there is a
good deal of haze about the subject.
The Ashantis, like the Adansis who had arrived on the 14th, were
accommodated with exceedingly airy sheds in the camp, and this
accession to our numbers brought up the sum-total of occupants to
something over a thousand. The envoys had brought with them two or
three small, but apparently heavy, boxes, and these were supposed
to contain gold dust, which the king had sent as an earnest of his
desire for peace. Prince Buaki was a fine-looking man over six feet in
height; I had known beforehand that he must be a handsome man, since
the ladies of the blood-royal in Ashanti are only allowed to form
connections with strikingly presentable men, so that, as the female
branches take precedence of the male in furnishing heirs to the throne,
the comeliness of their kings may be, as far as possible, assured; but
I was not prepared to see such an unusually good specimen of the negro
race. I was much struck too with the wonderful difference between the
physiognomies of the chiefs and those of their followers and slaves, a
difference which is barely perceptible among the tribes who have long
been subject to us, such as the Fanti; but which, among the independent
inland races, the most careless observer cannot help noticing. The
chiefs have almost invariably a look of intelligence, and are generally
of a fine physique; but the retainers and slaves possess features and
characteristics of a very low type indeed. This of course is chiefly
due to the principle of selection, as, for generations past, the
chiefs, who are able to pick and choose, have selected the best-looking
women for their wives, while the vulgar herd have had to take what
they can get. On the sea-board this has been done also, but there the
formation of an intermediate trading-class of natives, between the
chiefs and the lower orders, has blended by imperceptible gradations
the distinguishing characteristics of the two extremes. It is worthy of
notice that the women whom the chiefs choose are those who, according
to European ideas, possess the largest share of good looks; which goes
far to prove that we have a common ideal of beauty, and that, in spite
of the popular belief, negroes do not regard mountainous cheek bones,
flattened noses, uptilted nostrils, and blubber lips, as the true types
of loveliness.
The following Ashantis of note were in the suite of Prince Buaki. Yow
Badoo, personal attendant of the king, Yeboa, representative of the
royal family of Ashanti, two sons of the late King Quaco Duah, and
the brother and son of Prince Buaki. The chiefs of Becquai, Mampon,
Kokofuah, and Insuta, each sent a representative, as did Awooah, chief
of Bantama, the Ashanti general; the remainder of the embassy consisted
of the usual personal attendants, with a sword-bearer and four
courtiers. The districts of Archwa, Assomyah, Denyasi, Inquantansi,
and Inquaransah, were unrepresented: the last-named is one of the most
important in the Ashanti kingdom, and, next to Kokofuah, furnishes the
largest contingent for the army. A representative from the Amoaful
district arrived in the camp next day.
As the kingdom of Ashanti is divided into ten large districts, it is
clear that the embassy represented only half the nation, which in fact
was to be expected, and as at least three of the districts represented,
namely, Becquai, Bantama, and Amoaful, had originally been amongst the
foremost of those forming the war-party, and had only been persuaded to
remain passive through the king’s personal influence, the prevailing
state of feeling in Ashanti could be very fairly guaged. Indeed,
looking at the vast preponderance of the “war” over the “court” party
it is a matter for surprise that Mensah should have been able to bring
the difficulty to an amicable settlement, and this difficulty was by
no means lessened by the fact that Prince Buaki himself was strongly
in favour of hostilities. That the king’s task was further made more
onerous by the extraordinary action of the Colonial Government I have
already shown.
The day after the meeting between Sir Samuel Rowe and the Ashanti
envoys it was made known that in a few days the camp would be broken
up, and that all its occupants,--officers, labourers, carriers,
police, Adansis, and Ashantis,--would proceed to Elmina, where a final
palaver was to be held to settle the Ashanti question. As the Governor
now said that he had all along intended settling the matter on the
sea-board, either at Acra, Cape Coast, or Elmina, his bush expedition
only seemed the more extraordinary; as, apart from the political evil
consequences that resulted from it, and the great expense to which the
Colony had been put to no purpose, by being compelled to provide for
an army of labourers and hammock-men, and to defray the extra cost
of bush-life, he had, as it seemed, without any reasonable cause,
imperilled the healths, if not the lives, of a number of European
officers, by encamping them, without proper shelter or comforts, on the
banks of the miasmatic Prah.
Fortunately the rains had not set in as early as usual, but Prahsu was
quite sufficiently unhealthy for all ordinary purposes: after dark, a
cold, wet, white mist shrouded every object, and to venture outside
one’s tent at night was to become saturated with moisture and chilled
to the bone. Had the rains set in the consequences would have been most
disastrous, as, if the river had overflown its banks ever so slightly,
the camp would have been inundated, while the wretched habitations that
had been provided would not have kept out a smart shower, much less a
heavy tropical downpour. Sometimes the mist was so dense that, standing
on one bank, one could not see across the river, and the muddy flood
rolled on under its mantle of vapour, as under a shroud through the
rifts of which the moonbeams faintly struggled in a deathly silence,
broken only now and then by the weird cries of the tree-sloth, which,
to a fanciful mind, might sound like the wailing of a spirit of one of
the many scores of Europeans whose lives have been sacrificed to the
spectral stream. The approach to the camp, on the side where the main
road came in, was in an indescribable condition of filth, which might
easily have been prevented had proper precautions been only taken at
first; and on the other sides, where the forest had been cleared, the
rank vegetation had been allowed to lie where it fell, putrefying and
poisoning the air.
Had there been much mortality at Prahsu a storm of indignation would
have burst out in England at a camp having again been established there
in spite of the warnings of history; but, because no deaths occurred
actually on the spot, the breaking of the West African golden rule was
not the less-advised; this rule forbids, except in cases of urgent
necessity, the removal of Europeans from the health-giving sea-breezes
and from such poor comforts as the wretched Colony affords.
FOOTNOTES:
[6] Meaning Enguie and Busumburu.
[7] This man had arrived from Coomassie on March 30th and informed the
Governor that Prince Buaki was to come down.
CHAPTER XVII.
Another Interview--Atassi--An Importunate Investigation--A
Shocking Accident--Yancoomassie Assin--Draggled Plumes--An
Unintentional Insult--A Scientific Experiment--The Palaver at
Elmina--Our future Policy--Recent Explorations on the River Volta.
On the morning of the 17th of April the Governor had a chair and a
table taken out into the forest and had a private interview with Prince
Buaki. At this private interview, after a few preliminary compliments,
Buaki said that the whole of the difficulty had arisen from the
ignorance of the Lieutenant-Governor, and that had Governor Ussher been
living there would have been no trouble of any kind. He asserted that
Enguie was not instructed to make any threat, such as the threatened
invasion of Assin, that in making it he had made a mistake, but that
the Lieutenant-Governor had also made a mistake in not sending to
Coomassie to know the meaning of the message he had received, before
writing to England that the king of Ashanti meant war.
Buaki added--“As for the axe, I am old enough to know the meaning of
every symbol in my country, and I know that on no occasion has the
golden axe been used by the Ashantis as the sign of a declaration
of war. We have in Ashanti two symbols, both of which are used when
we declare war. One of these is a sword. When that sword is sent to
another people by the king of Ashanti, that is a declaration of war by
Ashanti. The other is a certain cap. If a messenger were charged to
declare war in the event of his ‘palaver’ being unsuccessful he would
be entrusted with that cap by the king, and if he did declare war he
would put on that cap, and that would be a proof that the declaration
came from the king. The true meaning of the axe is this. It is a
fetish. When the axe has been sent on any mission, that mission has
always been successful, and we believe that it has some mysterious
power which causes any request, that is supported by its presence,
to be granted. The Lieutenant-Governor did not know the meaning of
the axe, or the ways of our country; neither do the Fantis, yet the
Lieutenant-Governor accepted the word of the Fantis before that of our
people.”
In conclusion he said he had come to make submission in the name of the
king.[8]
About a mile up stream from Prahsu is the village of Atassi, where
there is another ford by which one of the divisions of the Ashanti army
crossed in the invasion of 1873. Atassi itself consists of a group of
some twelve huts, and there is a road, which would, for the country,
be very good were it not slightly swampy in parts, leading to Assampah
Neyeh, the first village on the road to the coast. The banks of the
river are at Atassi of equal height, and for this reason, and because
there are several large silk-cotton trees on either bank on which
hawsers might be stretched to work subsidiary raft-bridges, it seems a
more suitable spot for moving a force across the river than Prahsu; it
is besides nearer.
I was amused one day at hearing an individual of that ubiquitous genus
which goes about asking questions at the most unseasonable times,
set down by a native. An Ashanti youth had been drowned while the
embassy was crossing the river, and the father of the lad was sitting
by the riverside mourning for his dead son, when this individual
went up to him, and began, through the medium of his Fanti servant,
cross-examining him, with a view to ascertaining what ideas the natives
have of a future state of existence. He poked the chief in the ribs
with his walking-stick and said, airily:
“So your son was drowned this morning, eh?”
The Ashanti disdained to answer in words, and gave him a look which
would have pierced the epidermis of a rhinoceros, but which failed to
make any impression on this man. He continued:
“Let me know your ideas of a future state. Do you believe that there is
a new life for the soul after death?”
Still no answer, only an angry glitter began to appear in the chief’s
eyes.
“Now, do you expect to meet that boy of yours in Hades, eh?”
A muttered curse from the Ashanti.
“Look here, don’t get sulky now. Tell me what your religious belief is.”
No answer.
“Oh! very well. Don’t say anything if you don’t want to. I expect your
son is having a nice time of it now. Pretty hot down where he is now,
eh?”
Then the chief rose, and, majestically throwing his cloth around him,
said to the Fanti:
“Why do the English allow idiots like this to be at large?” and went
away to try and find some place where he could brood over his loss in
peace.
One morning the whole camp was convulsed with horror by an accident,
which, had it been followed by serious consequences, would have been
too awful to contemplate. One of the retinue was playing in his hut
with a new toy, to wit a loaded revolver, when he accidentally
discharged it. Some malignant demon at once directed the bullet towards
the exact spot where would have been the august head of His Excellency,
had he been at breakfast; but fortunately he was not there, and the
missile sped harmlessly on through a tent, scattering the four or five
Fanti clerks who were writing inside. Everybody turned out in alarm and
shuddered to think of what would have been the fate of the expedition
and the Colony if the gigantic intellect which directed all these
stupendous operations had suddenly ceased to be. For future security
a guard was at once placed over the Governor’s hut, His Excellency
held a _levée_ to assure his well-wishers that he was unharmed, and
a deputation of native Colonial officials waited upon him to read an
address congratulating him upon his narrow escape, and pointing out,
from the fate of the late Czar and the recent accident, that crowned
heads, alike in Europe and Africa, were in these days menaced by
insidious perils. I do not know what was done to the culprit, but the
Queen’s Advocate said that an action for high treason would not lie,
and so I believe he was only found guilty of culpable negligence.
Early on the morning of April 19th we thankfully bade adieu to Prahsu
and started for the coast. The Ashantis and the Adansis were to leave
on the same day, and the Governor, who was down with fever, and
his retinue, in a few days’ time. Halting for a couple of hours at
Inyaso, we reached Yancoomassie Assin about half-past one, where,
as the Commissariat officer had an attack of fever, we stopped.
Half-an-hour after our arrival a heavy tornado, accompanied by thunder
and lightning, passed over the village, the violent gusts of wind
tearing the thatch off the houses, limbs off trees, and levelling
whole groves of bamboo, while the rain fell in continuous sheets.
While the storm was still raging the Adansis came in, being met by
the chief of the place with the usual drumming, dancing, shouting,
and horn-blowing, while some of his ultra-loyal followers brandished
union-jack pocket-handkerchiefs fastened to sticks. As the rain ceased
the Ashantis appeared on the scene, and the Assin chief seated himself
in his state-chair, supported by his retainers with the state-swords,
while each Ashanti chief, or delegate, with his followers, filed
before him shaking hands and then passing on. When this was over a
tremendous drumming commenced, and the Assin potentate performed a
grotesque _pas seul_ in the centre of a circle of gaping admirers;
being followed, when he had finished, by the king of Adansi, who threw
in some complicated steps, to cut out his predecessor, which positively
made the unsophisticated Assins gasp for breath. This mighty monarch at
last sank back exhausted into a chair, and some of the Ashantis came
out and skipped round; Buaki, however, seemed to be above this sort of
thing, and, instead of cutting insane capers, contented himself with
walking round the circle and waving his hand affably to the lookers-on.
I left this gay and festive scene, and was going back to the house
which we had appropriated for our use, when I saw one of the
masquerading costumes, which had at Prahsu made its wearer the cynosure
of all eyes, hanging up wet and draggled on a tree. Alas! alas! what a
wreck was there! The rain had soaked the garments through and through,
and little puddles of brilliant dyes were forming on the ground
underneath, while the glory of the lace and braid was destroyed for
ever. I found the unhappy owner trying to dry himself in an adjoining
house; he had come down in charge of the Ashanti embassy and had been
caught in the tornado in the forest; everything he possessed had been
saturated with water, and he had had two narrow escapes of being
crushed by immense dead silk-cotton trees which had fallen across the
road. I felt sorry to see him in such a pitiable condition, but somehow
I could not help mentally comparing him, in his then garb, with a
magnificent peacock that had lost its tail.
When the natives had finished their demonstration outside, Buaki came
with two or three of his supporters to pay us a visit in our hut. He
drank our sole remaining bottle of beer with much gusto, although it
was his first experience of malt liquor; and we were getting along very
nicely when a slight _contretemps_ occurred which entirely destroyed
the harmony of the meeting, and shows how necessary it is that everyone
who has anything to do with natives should have some knowledge of their
prejudices and modes of thought. Prince Ansah was interpreting, and
Buaki had just affably said, in compliment to us, that he was very fond
of soldiers, when some one asked:--
“Do you shoot much in Ashanti?”
This was duly interpreted, and Buaki drew himself up and said:--
“How? What do you mean?”
“Do you go out into the bush much to shoot birds and deer?”
This being explained to him, he said to Ansah:--
“Does this white man think that I am a common fellow to have to work
for my living?” and got up and went out in great dudgeon.
It is needless to say that the Ashantis have no idea of sport.
We left Yancoomassi Assin early next morning and reached Mansu about 5
p.m. There we found Lieutenant Swinburne, R.M.A., one of the Governor’s
retinue, who, while the others had been looking after squads of
Kroomen, had come across country from Accra by unknown paths on foot,
a feat never before performed by a European. As the maps of the tract
that he had crossed had been compiled from imagination and native
reports, he was able to rectify many startling errors.
We were off again early next morning, reaching Dunquah about 4·30 p.m.
The sun had been exceedingly powerful, and as the forest terminates a
short distance out of Mansu, giving place to the shadowless bush, we
had had our heads well roasted, for it is impossible to wear a helmet
in a hammock, and the awning, formed of a single piece of thin calico,
affords no real protection. The water at Dunquah, which is obtained
from shallow wells, is notoriously bad even for the Gold Coast, being
of the colour of weak coffee, and filtering has no visible effect on
it. On our upward journey we had experienced some of the ill effects
resulting from drinking this beverage; but now we had with us a
scientific surgeon who assured us that he knew how to purify it, and,
while dinner was being prepared, he set to work at an earthen-pot
full of muddy water. When we sat down to our meal we were agreeably
surprised to find our tumblers full of clear water, and it was such an
unusual luxury that we each seized a glass and raised it to our lips.
The result was startling: the Commissariat officer jumped up, ejecting
the fluid from his mouth and exclaimed:--
“Good heavens--I’m poisoned.”
I had a most horrible taste in my mouth, and tried to say, “What’s the
matter?” but found I could only make a sound like “mum--mum--mum”;
while the others demanded an immediate explanation and an antidote from
the man of science.
He said it was nothing: it was only something he had put in the water
to purify it: it was quite harmless.
That was all very well, but it had made us all feel ill, and what he
had used was such a violent astringent that I could not partake of any
of the dinner except the soup, and that I had to take through a straw.
The surgeon appeared very proud of his achievement, though it seemed to
me that it was not of much use to purify water for drinking purposes
if it was made undrinkable in the process. I have no liking for such
theoretical scientists.
We reached Cape Coast next day at noon, where we found that during our
short absence seven officers had been invalided to England, all but one
of whom had been living in the hired houses in the town.
On April 28th there was a formal meeting at Elmina between the Ashanti
embassy, the Adansis, and some of the chiefs of the protectorate,
among the latter being the King of Abrah, King Blay of Apollonia, and
the local chiefs of Elmina; and on the 29th the final palaver between
the Government and the Ashantis was held at the same place for the
settlement of the Ashanti question. Every European who could be pressed
into service was summoned to swell the Governor’s following; even a
number of officers being asked for from Cape Coast, in full dress, to
make a more gorgeous display.
After the usual preliminaries, Buaki rose and said:--
“I have brought a message from the king of Ashanti. News has come to
the king that the Queen of England thinks he is going to make war
against the Government of the Gold Coast. Whoever told the Governor
this is quite wrong. He has no cause of quarrel with the Government of
the Gold Coast, and, if he has no quarrel, why should he make war? The
king wishes to remain at peace with the English, whom he has found to
be his good friends; and he has sent me therefore with this message.
As he found that through somebody’s foolishness, or mistake, the
Government of the Gold Coast had thought that he wanted to make war,
which was quite wrong, and as he knew that they must have spent much
money, he sent down a sum, not to pay for the expenses which they had
incurred, but as a proof of his friendship with his good friends the
English. The king says he desires peace only and never meant war, and
that if he had meant war he should have given the Government of the
Gold Coast notice, as he hopes the Government of the Gold Coast would
do to him. I bring a thousand bendas[9] for the Government.”
(Prince Ansah here began talking to Buaki.)
_Rowe_ (_to the Interpreter_). “What is Ansah saying to Buaki?”
_Ansah._ “Buaki has left out part of the message, and a most important
part.”
_Rowe._ “Does not Buaki come direct from the king with a message to me?”
_Ansah._ “Yes.”
_Rowe._ “How then do you know his message better than he does himself?
I think your interruption is very unseemly.”
_Ansah._ “Buaki told me his message when he first arrived at Prahsu. He
has now omitted something he then told me.”
_Buaki._ “It is true what Prince Ansah says. I have, through my old
age, forgotten a part of my message. It is about the golden axe. The
axe belongs to the fetish: it is a sign of the fetish. In the time of
Governor Maclean there was a dispute concerning a man: the axe was
sent, and the end was peace. Under Colonel Torrane a difference arose
and the axe was again sent. The matter was settled amicably. To two
other Governors the axe was sent, and the end was peace. In the present
case the axe was sent as belonging to the fetish, to obtain our desires
peaceably. It is in fact a sign of an extraordinary embassy. There are
those who have said the axe means war: so the king has heard. It was
not so. It is not so. Take no heed of this; the king of Ashanti only
wishes for peace.”
The representative of Awooah, chief of Bantama and general of the
Ashanti army, said:--
“My master is the greatest captain of the king’s army. If we had been
going to war would not my master have known before others? But he knew
no such thing. Let it be known to the Government of the Gold Coast that
the king of Ashanti has many enemies near home, and it is they who have
endeavoured to embroil him with the English, so that they might seize
their opportunities. Why should we fight with the English? They are our
good friends. I, my master, and my king, only wish for peace.”
The representative of the Kokofuah district then rose and said:--
“Why should we quarrel with our good friends the English? If we want
salt, we get it from Europe; if we want cloth, we get it from Europe;
and if we want powder to fire at a custom, where do we get it from?
Why, from Europe. I and my master only wish for peace. Why should we
fight the Government of the Gold Coast, so far off, when we have many
enemies close at hand ever ready to fight?”
The representatives of the dukes of Ashanti, and of various chiefs and
districts, all then spoke in succession to the same effect.
_Rowe._ “I have listened carefully to what you have to say. Even a
little thing between the Government and the Ashantis, though in itself
small, soon becomes serious. This is a most serious matter, and I shall
have to think over it, and will appoint a day on which I shall give my
answer.”
_Buaki._ “I assure Your Excellency that what I say is true.”
_Rowe._ “Had I not thought so I would not have listened so carefully.”
(_To the Interpreter_). “Ask him if he has the gold with him.”
_Buaki._ “No, but while I am here the gold will come.”
On May 3rd a review of the troops and Constabulary was held for the
benefit of the Ashantis, after which the Governor informed Buaki, that,
if he would hand over the two thousand ounces of gold-dust, the whole
question would be referred to the Home Government for settlement.
About twelve hundred ounces were accordingly paid on May 23rd and the
remainder on June 8th, Buaki, at his own request, remaining at Elmina
as a hostage for the payment; and the whole sum is now in the hands
of the Government. On July 16th Awoosoo, the Gaman refugee, committed
suicide by leaping from the walls of Elmina Castle, for which act the
Ashantis are no doubt much obliged to him; and, had they known that
he was going to make away with himself so conveniently, they probably
would not have troubled to send the embassy with the golden axe to
demand his surrender.
The Ashanti question of 1881 is now at an end, but war with Ashanti
has, however, only been postponed, and is, sooner or later, inevitable,
unless we make a new departure in our Gold Coast policy, and, instead
of regarding the Ashantis with suspicion as probable foes, enter into
close and friendly relations with them. By establishing a British
resident at Coomassie we should place matters on quite a different
footing; and if we were to appoint a port to which the Ashantis might
resort for trade, without having to employ the despised Fantis as
middlemen, there would be no further friction. One of the members of
the Buaki embassy said to me, on this subject:--
“Give us a town on the coast, say Moree.[10] Let it be ours; let us
have a road of our own to it. If you say it is to be half-a-mile broad
we will make it so. Then we can come there to trade without having
anything to say to those women, the Assins and Fantis, who are really
our slaves, and only saved from destruction by you English. Do this,
and there will be no more trouble.”
Of course the Ashantis are really desirous of avoiding the payment
of customs dues on imported goods, partly on account of the duties
themselves, but principally because they consider that, being an
independent people, they ought to have a port of their own. This
non-payment does not seem to present any insuperable obstacles; goods
thus landed duty-free would have to traverse the protectorate by a
prescribed route, and a Colonial officer stationed at the point at
which they would cross the frontier could examine the permits and
see that everything was intact, thus smuggling would be made almost
impossible. Were we to make this concession, a European resident would
willingly be received in Coomassie, and the presence of such an officer
would be the most effectual check upon human sacrifices that could be
devised. It is difficult to see by what principle of equity we arrogate
to ourselves the right of levying upon goods, intended for the use of
an independent nation living beyond our borders, the same duty as is
levied upon goods which are to be offered for sale in the Colony. It
is just as if France should impose her tariff upon goods consigned to
Switzerland, and merely passing through French territory.
By adopting such a policy I am convinced a lasting peace with Ashanti
would be assured; and it certainly appears easier to found a peace upon
the good-will and interest of the Ashantis themselves than to endeavour
to keep them in check by forming a precarious combination of inferior
native tribes, each one of which is jealous of the others, and the most
powerful of whom, probably the Gamans, would, in the event of Ashanti
being totally crushed, assume the position now held by that nation in
West Africa, and necessitate the formation of a new combination against
them. Should we, as is most probable, pursue our present policy, the
end is not difficult to see. Continued friction and a species of
armed neutrality cannot be kept up with a haughty and warlike race of
savages with impunity; the Ashantis will continue arming themselves
with improved weapons, and on the death of King Mensah, should he not
first be dethroned, a monarch less peaceably disposed will ascend the
throne, some pretext of quarrel will soon be found, and another Ashanti
war will take place. Of course the Ashantis will be crushed, though
not without much expenditure of blood and money, but what shall we do
then? Shall we annex their territory or again retire? If the former,
we shall find ourselves face to face with the warlike Mohammedan tribes
of the inland plateau; and if the latter, the present state of affairs
will continue, if not with Ashanti as the dominant power, with some
other tribe that has stepped into its place.
In the much-to-be-deplored event of future hostilities with Ashanti,
recent explorations made by Mr. McLaren, of the firm of Messrs. Alex.
Miller Brothers, seem to show that the Volta river is the proper base
of operations. That gentleman, in October 1879, crossed the rapids on
the Volta, between Medica and Aquamoo, in the steam-launch “Agnes,”
which was the first European-built craft that had ever reached the
latter town. Prior to this the rapids had been considered impassable,
but it is now known that in ordinary seasons they can be passed by
steamers of sufficient power, drawing six feet of water, from the
beginning of September to the middle or end of November.
The Volta itself has been found to be navigable to the falls of
Klatchie, from 300 to 350 miles from Addah; but it is by its principal
confluent, the Afram, that Coomassie should be approached. The Afram
discharges into the Volta at the town of Ourahei on the western bank
of the latter, about 130 miles from the sea, and to this town, prior
to the invasion of Crepe by the Ashanti general Adu Buffo in 1869,
great numbers of Ashantis used to resort for purposes of trade, Ourahei
itself being only six days’ journey from Coomassie through an open
grassy country. The Afram is both wide and deep, though a good deal
obstructed by snags and fallen timber, and flows through Kwâow, at a
distance of six hours’ journey to the north of Abeliffi, which place
is only four days’ easy journey from Coomassie. Further than Kwâow the
Afram has not yet been explored, but natives report that it has its
source in a lake. If this be the case the lake must be either the Busum
Echuy near Djuabin, or lake Burro to the west of the desert of Ghofan,
far to the north-east of Coomassie. Its general direction from Kwâow is
north-west. Even should the Afram be navigable no further than Kwâow
troops could there be disembarked, where there would be only four days’
marching, as against ten or twelve from Cape Coast to Coomassie, and
that too through open country in which the Ashanti never appears to
advantage as a soldier.
In the present year, 1882, signs have not been wanting to show that
the Ashantis are still pursuing their astute and unscrupulous policy
with that unwearying tenacity of purpose which has ever distinguished
them. A war with the Gaman party which supported King Ajiman was one
of the first important events of the year, and now at the time of
writing it is reported from Cape Coast that the Adansis are flocking in
large numbers across the Prah, complaining that, in their own country,
neither their lives nor property are safe from Ashanti aggression. In
fact, the Ashantis, having learned for the first time during the scare
in 1881 that we were not bound by any treaty obligations to defend
Adansi, are now beginning to feel their way, with a view to recovering
their dominion over that territory: this done, the last vestige of the
treaty of Fommanah will have disappeared. They will undoubtedly compass
their ends before long unless checked by us in some way; which, as
the doctrine of non-intervention still prevails, is not probable. The
prestige the Ashantis will gain will be great, British influence beyond
our borders must proportionately decline, and we shall find ourselves
in exactly the same position as we were in 1873; with this difference,
that the Ashantis will be better armed, and, having learnt wisdom from
past reverses, will know better how to cope with us should we again
attempt to advance on their capital.
FOOTNOTES:
[8] It is worthy of note that Buaki was very careful not to allude in
any way to the wasp’s nest that had accompanied the axe, and which was
the more important symbol of the two.
[9] A benda is two ounces.
[10] A village about five miles to the east of Cape Coast.
THE END.