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V 



IMPORTANT MILITARY WORKS 
Published by Henry S. King & Co. 



Ths OpBTBtioDi vf thi nnt AmiT. nndflr Chnvftl vod Gmbfo. By Majgt 

Von Sckklu Trans, by Col, C H, Vow Wiiight, Four Maps, 91. 
The Op«ntiou of tha Fint Aimj in Raitluni Tniuw ifminit TaUhBte. 



Ths Oamui ArtillD^ in tha Bittlu 



. Autriui CanJfT Exsnlie. By Captain 

Capuin W'. S CooKH, Price ^t. 
\ ViM»irt« ud Safuti. By Colonel R. P. Ai 

Ths FnnUl AttMk of lubntn. By Capuin LAyuANH. Translated by 
I Colonel Edward Newliigath Price u. 6^. 

I BlMiMrtary Milituy GwwrudiT, B«onnDitrinf , uid SkdtohlBf . By lieuteru 
J C. E. H. ViNCHNT. Price II, 6rf. 

1 Thus? Wouks bv Leeut.-Col. thb Hon. A. ANSON, V.C, M.P. 

I Tha AboliUiin of Fnrtihua, ud tbs Army B(«iilltion Bill of I?71. Prica 
I ArDT ItMaTTH ud Kilitia B«foTmi. Price Ona Shilling, 
The Story af Qw Bopamuiani. Price Siipence. 
Btndiea in the Heir Intutry Taatloa. By Major 
T™„.l«ed by Colonel ' ■■"•-" c— ■"■" P"~ 
mtiani from tha 
lied by Colonel 
Tha Amy of tho Nnth-Omniui Cnafedantiiin. ^y > I* 

Tlia Oparationi of tiia Oarmu Aimiai in Franoa, firom Badui to tha End of 

th* Vu of inO— I. By Major WM.Bi.iruB. TranE, E. M. JOHBS. ^. 

I Tha Opoationi nf the Bonth Anny in Jimiiuy and Tabniuy. im. By Count 

B. Von Warti»slkbb». Trans, by Col. C. H. VohVkicht. 61. 
! Haitr Intren 
Charli 

I Stndlai in Laadlnc Tinau. By Colonel Von Vefdv du Vebhois. Translated 
I ., by UeulenanlH.). T. Hri.I>¥ARD, Price 7r. 

Canin Field Duty. By Major-Gcneral Von Mirus. Translated by Captain 

Frank S. Russell. Price 71. &/. 
lUieiplina and Drill. By Captain S. Flood Pace. Price u. 

Henry S. Kihg & Co. 65 Corohill, and 12 Pateraoster Eow. 



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THE ASHANTEE WAK: 



A FOPULAB NASBATIFE. 



THE "DAILY HEWS" SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT. 



Heney S. King & Co., 
65 CoBNHiiiL, & 12 Pateekoster BoWj Lomdon. 

1874. 




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PREFACE. 

Only one history of the Ashantee War has appeared or 
is likely to appear — that by Major .Bra^kenbury. 

The following account is published for two reasons. 

1st, It attempts to provide a connected narrative of 
what took place, with descriptions of the country and 
scenes we passed through, which are beneath the dignity 
of history, but about which many are still interested. 

2nd. It attempts to answer a number of questions which 
everyone is still asking. This has been done by culling 
from the published official documents such matter as 
seemed to be of popular interest. 

Hence the book is inevitably somewhat late in appefu'ing. 



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CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

In England before the EzpedltiOD . 



The Vayago Oat. — The Landrng-. — Meetdugs with Chiefa. — 
LetteiB to Hk KingB, — The Carrier Question, — SnmmonB to 
the King of AshaQtee.— Thieatened Attack on Cape Coast . 

CHAPTER III. 

Further Interviews. — Sir Qamet and the Cape Coast Women. — 
The Fight at Eesamaik. — Sir Qamet applies for the English 
TroopB 

CHAPTER rV. 

The A^ihantecfl bre^ up their Camp at Muapon, sad are 
believed to' be falling back on the Prah. — A detached 
Body of them is twice Attacked by Colonel Festing from 
Danquah.— The First Time the Aahantee Camp at Bacabio 
is Eorprised and destroTOd. — The Second, Lientenant Wil- 
mot is killed. — Sir Qamet for the £iHt time moTCB to 
Abrakampa. — From all the Soatheia Posts the Ashantees 
are similarly harassed. — Qreat Depression among the 



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CHAPTER V. 

Abraikampa aitd subsequent Pursuit. — Sii Gsmet'e D 
Besolta obtained b; Opemtioaa up to Abrokompa 



CHAPTER VI. 

Sir Oaniet'a Reoovety. — The Sick on Boaid. — Captain Char- 

teris. — TlieEImina Chiefs aurrender.—TlieCamei Question. 

. — The Apopo Men and tlte BoDQja.—Th.e Fantee Policemen 

and the Cape Coaet Women.^Coloiiel Wood's Skirmiwh at 



CHAPTER VII. 

English Law or Not.— The Slarery Question. — A Growl about 
our Letters. — TTaiverBal Sense of Neglect. — Soreneaa at 
snpposed ElectioneeriugTaotica. —The Status Quo. — Captain 
Fremantle as a Fever Doctor 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Th« Ashanteea pasa the Prah. — The English lU^iinentB arriTO, 
and are sent to Saa again. — SaSeriogs of PriaonerB escap- 
ing from the Ashantees to us. — Reports from the Volt^— 
The Pioanini BrigBde. — The Sailors as OrorBeers. — The 
brilliant Governor. — The Governor who died for Faateea. 
-*-A deadly TT nlfc ^n>R imagMlary Ttf ^yin^ , , , 



CHAPTER IX. 

The Uarch to the Piah .... 



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CHAPTER X. 

The Camp st Piahen. — Envoys and Letters from the Siag of 
Afihantee. — Sir Garnet's Reply, — An Aahontee Messenger 
shoota himself. — Lord GiSord snrpriseB Easiamfln. — Sir 
Garnet's Ruse. — Alarm of the Envoys, — The Sailors at 
Work, — The Great Deeertion of the Carriers. — The whole 
Case considered 



CHAPTER XI. 

Fresh Meesengrera from the Sing. — A Royal Letter. — The Reply. 
— Mr. Kuehne. — The Ashantee Conatitation. — Rival Partiea 
in Coomaasie. — The Reward of Ashantee Allies. — As Ashan- 
tee "March Past." — Captain Hnyahe's lUuess. — The last 
Day on the Prah. — A quiet Stmday.— A Foneral in Camp . 

CHAPTER Xri. 

The Advance into Ashantee. — Essiaman. — Bed-Making. — The 
Forest changes Character. — A tropical Stream.— Aorow- 
fumn. — " Miied Pietlea, Esq." — A Night Scare. — The 
Croomen. — Native Gamblers. — The West tuili'in Enoamp- 
ment.^Tree-Root or Flower-Bank.— The White Prisoners 
are restored. — The mysterious Telegram of the Election 
Time. — Why did we halt again I— Mr. Bonnat.— TSie Fall 
of the Petiflh-Tree. — Omena and Port«nt« .... 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Were we surprised? — Attack upon Adubiaasie. — Onr Soouta. — 
Depopulation of Assim.^ — Lord Gifford anrprisesa Convoy. — 
The Attack upon Borboraasi. — Captain Nicol's Death , 



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CHAPTER XIV. 



. CHAPTER XV. 

Tlie Entry into and Qte Exit ttoai Coomasne 



CHAPTER XVI. 

Tlie Marob back. — Tlie King of AHhautee sends after na. — 
Captain Sartoiina's Ride. — The Break up of the Aiihaiit«e 
Kingdom. — ThePajment of the Indemnity at Fommanah. — 
The Sale of Loot at Gape Coaat.— The Wealth of Aahantee 
developed and n 



CHAPTER XVII. 
IN ENGLAND SINCE THE EXPEDITION. 
Causes of Confnaioii aa to iome of Uie Facts. — The Administra- 
tor and Qeneral. — The donble Expedition. — Was tlie Aehan. 
tee Wai mmeeeesary and unjust 1 



Appendix A 
Append^ B 



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THE ASHANTEE WAE. 



CHAPTER I. 

IN ENGLAND BEFOBE THE EXPEDITION. 

It may be reasonably doubted whether, in the month 
■of June, 1873, it would have been possible to have met 
in a drawing-room in London, except by the merest 
■accident, a man who knew more about Cape Coast 
Castle than tiiat it was somehow or other connected 
Tsith the aad and mysterious story of L. E. L. 

If any one in such a drawing-room had ventured to 
«xpress his belief that, in the course of the next ' six 
months or thereabouts, that part of the world would 
become the centre of interest for Englishmen, hardly 
4uiy one would have thought such an absurdity worth 
Ihe trouble of laughing at. 

Nor can it be Buid that any very sadden interest had 
been awakened in England as to the Gold Coast, and 
what was going on there, up to the 12th of SejAember, 
the date at which Sir Garnet Wobeley sailed from 
Liverpool. But during the summer months a languid 
attention began to be Attracted by the announcement 

a 

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2 THE ABHANTEE WAE. 

that ever since the begimting of the year, or rather 
before it, a barbanan army of indefinite numbers had 
been engaged in an invasion of territory under our pro- 
tection, that it had defeated in pitched battles all the 
native tribes attached to our alliance, and that it had 
finally settled down within the near neighbourhood of 
forts of which we had recently obtained possession. 

The circumstances of the case, as it appeared at thi» 
period, are worth noting, because in their broad features 
they have been singularly apt to repeat themselves in 
regard to each of the rtiany little wars in which we have, 
from time to time during the last half century, been 



The first phenomenon which indicated that pnbUe 
interest was beginning to be directed towards the part 
of the world in which the events above alluded to had 
been occurring, was, that the Times was deluged with 
letters from old inhabitants of the Gold Coast. The 
second was, that the Foreign Office was deluged with 
schemes for the defeat of the. barbarian enemy on th& 
most economical terms with the greatest possible 
rapidity. Those who were sufficiently aciju^ted with 
the ins and outs of our great modem Metropolitan. 
gossip-club to hear something of its more secret whispers, 
might have known that, in relation to that same G-old 
Coast, an amount of work was at that time being quietly^ ^ 
done, «nd an amount of information quietly coUected, 
chiefiy by one man in one office in London, of which the 
evidence was not so apparent at the time, hut was likely 
to become sufficiently conspicuous a few months later. 

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IN ENGLAND BEFOEE THE EXPEDITION. 3 

Just as the Autumn Mancenvres of the year were 
coming to an end, and aome time after Parliament had 
risen, it was amjiounced th£^t Sir Garnet Wolseley had 
been entrusted by the Government with the command of 
an expedition, which was inunediately to sail to the 
assistance of our thi'eatened settlement. The news was 
received rather with surprise tiian with any other feeling, 
for an event had recently been reported which had 
seemed to the public at home to imply that whatever ■ 
need for such an expedition might previously have ex- 
isted must have absolutely passed away. On Friday, the 
13th June, 1873, the Ashantee anuy had ventured to 
attack the old Dutch fortress of Ehnina, and thanks to 
the gallantry and skill of Colonel Festing, whfl com- 
manded a mere handful of Marines and natives, and of 
Lieutenant Wells, who had brought a party of blue- 
jackets to his assistance, the savages had been repulsed 
with very serious loss.* 

* Though the eveats of the day were so simple that it seems haidlr 
necessary to give a full account of what ooourred, we are unwillii^ to 
leave out the list of those who fought and suffered. 

List of Killed akd WonNDED. 

First Engagement. 
PriTate Charles Looie, 2nd W. I. Eegtment— killed. 
Ordinary Seamatt J. D. Jennings— severely wounded. 
Private Henry Petheia, K.M.L.I. j sii„i,tiv wnnnflal 

„ David A. Eooleaton, 2nd W. I. E^ment i ^^^^^ wonnded. 

Bn'oet Rtgaged. 



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i TEE ASHANTEE WAB. 

This exploit, though the news of it was received with 
that hearty applause with which EngliBhmen always 
greet the doings of their countrymen abroad, had ap- 
peared to most of us only the natural sequel and the 
natural termination of the previous events, The stoiy, 
as it had shaped itself in the minds of most of us at that 
time, was something of this kind. A horde of savages, 
rather more warlike than most of their ne^hhoiu^, had 
defeated the savage tribes about them, and had pursued 

Total killed in tUs engagement 1 

„ wounded 3 

„ of the ettemy killed (about) 20 

Seeend Engagement, 
PriTate W. Gouge, B3£i. I.— killed. 
AotinK Inspeotoi-Oeneial of Folioe, J. C. Loggie— aererdf and slightlT. 

wounded. 
Pnvate Honkan Badlie, Honsms-^seTerelj wonnded. 

^reei Engaged. 

OffioerB. Man. 

From ganison 7 266 

M tmta 8 62 

Totalpieseat 15 318 

Total killad in the engagement ... 1 

„ womided 1 3 

„ of the enemy killed (about) ... 2W 

Ibreei Engaged, 
Jto7»l Naval Brigade. 
B<7«1 Huine Ardllei;. 
Btnral Harine Light Infant^. 
2ild Weat India Begiment, Honesas. 

Tolnnteen (ia teooad engagement onlj) ; King of Agnafoo and men 
(in first ei^agement onlj). 
The nnall loss Ib entirely attributable to the fact tliat the whde 
engagement took place on open ground, where the superioi: range of 
tbe Snidexe had full pUj. 



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IN ENGLAND BEFOBE THE EXPEDITION. S 

their career of victory until they had met -with English 
troops, aqfl had been, as was natontl, defeated by them. 
Peace wo'nld of course follow, and there would be the 
end of it. - It is probable that the appointment of Sir 
Garnet to the command of the expedition was the first 
certain indication to people at home that that was not 
quite the end of the story. We, most of as, knew exceed- 
ingly little of the previous history of the Gold Coast, and 
were ready to accept as accurate statements of fact every- 
thing that was said by those who had been for a few 
years connected with the country ; and it must be &ankly 
admitted that very full advantage was taken of our 
credulity. 

For some two or three weeks the Timea was filled 
with a series of letters, of which the main assertions were 
somewhat of this kind. We had most wrongfully gone 
to war with the most amiable of monarcbs, whose one 
wish was that peaceful citizens, his subjects, should be 
permitted to pass through our territory without molesta- 
tion and have access to the sea, in order that they might 
carry on the harmless and important trade to which they 
were addicted. Moreover, this virtuous monarch, as is 
natural with all peace-loving kings, was occasionally 
troubled with disturbers of the public peace. To these, 
with a brutal malignity thoroughly characteriatic of our 
government at all times, we habitually gave shelter. 

It would hardly be too much to say that a feeling, in the 
main thoroughly honourable to Englishmen, sprang up 
throughout the country that we were putting forth our 
strength in an unjust cause, and that the sooner we could 

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6 THE A8HANTEE WAE. 

withdraw from the nnpleasant position into which we had 
been brought the better. It was abont this time that 
there fell into my band, by chance, a copy of one of the 
old accounts of Ashantee, which has since been re- 
published, which, as I read it, led me to suspect that all 
the facts of the case had hardly been brought out in the 
letters to the Times, and that as "Bowdich," the book 
in question, was not then very accessible, it might be 
worth while to draw attention to some discrepancies 
between the view of Ashantee politics and Ashantee 
character, drawn by imaginative friends in England, and 
the facts as they were related by an eye-witness, some 
years since. As there was reason to believe that no 
change- for the better had since Bowdich's visit taken 
place in the goTemment of Ashantee, and as that view 
has been fully confirmed by subsequent events, it seems 
worth while to reproduce the letter which was written to 
the Daily News in answer to the series in the Times. 
For the letter appeared at the time to have a culious 
effect. The men who had till then been writing to prove 
that, whatever might be the details of our quarrel with the 
King of Ashantee, we must on the broad issue be wrong, 
because the object of the King was obviously, from the 
general amiable character of Ashantee government, so 
entirely right and proper, suddenly shifted their ground. 
They asked, what could it matter how brutal and 
atrocious the government of Ashantee might be. The 
question was, what right had we to engage in a wrongful 
quarrel, with even the worst of kings ? It is obvious at 
once that the letter was not designed to meet that charge, 

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IN ENGLAND BEFORE TEE EXPEDITION. 7 

■for it had not previonsly been made. It will be dealt 
with afterwards. But as it appears to be abundantly 
'clear that we are not at present to be quit of the Gold 
Coast, it is worth while to record a protest against the 
-specious pleas under which our administrators will, in all 
probability, be hereafter chained with fomenting quarrels 
with Ashautee kings. As I am at present spetLking of 
what we knew beforehand in Kngland, it seems better to 
zaake the protest in this form ; the statements being, 
according to our most recent information, perfectly 
accurate. The letter was as follows : — 

" TO THE EDITOR OF THE ' DAILY NEWS.' 

"Sir, — The Times has in its recent leaders on the 
Ashantee War, advanced certain propositions the eotmd- 
DCBS of which few will dispute : 

" Ist. That a powerful tribe ought not to be interfered 
with in its endeavours to open free communication with 
the sea. 2nd. That our power ought not to be employed 
in enabling men to violate the laws of their own country 
with impimity. 3rd. That our Colonial policy at Cape 
Coast Castle, as elsewhere, ought to be one- esBentially 
pacific and defensive. 4th. That we ought not to allow 
our power to be employed in protecting certain feeble 
tribes in the endeavour to exact dues from, and to insult, 
a nation willing to be friendly to ourselves. 5th. That 
if the King of the Ashanteea had certain rights 
guaranteed to h im by the Dutch, we ought not to violate 
right against him, however inconvenient the principle 
may be to ourselves. 

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8 THE A8HAI4TEE 'WAH. 

" So far I think we ara all agreed. But it seems to me 
that there is yery great danger lest our universal agree- 
ment on these pointe should appear to imply that we wish 
certain things which the English nation is, I am certain, 
very far from wishing. One of those wh© hw vraitten to 
the Times has proposed that we should establish with the 
King of Ashantee ' an extradition treaty.' 

" That is a very pretty phrase. Let me remind yoor 
readers what it means. To understand it fully, the pur- 
pose for which the fugitives are required most be folly 
stated. 

" The King of Ashantee once a year assembles round 
him all the greater and lesser chieftains of his subject 
tribes. All are bound to appear. No notice of any 
kind is ever issued beforehand that accusations have 
been preferred against any. But during the year a 
system of espionage, almost Napoleonic in its perfection, 
has been carried on, chiefly through the agency of small 
boys. If, through this agency, or for any other reason 
whatever, the King has taken a dislike to any subject, 
his name will have been given shortly before this annual 
custom Secretly to certain executioners. Their business, 
is to creep up behind the unsuspecting victim, and in 
order that he may never speak again, to run a knife 
throt^h his mouth from cheek to cheek. He is then set 
aside for future torture and death as a sacrifice to the 
fetish who is the object of worship. But the fetish who 
can thtis be propitiated only by treachery and blood is far 
too greedy of human sacrifices to be satisfied by the 
offering up of those only who have really become 



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IN ENGLAND BEFOBE THE EXPEDITION. 9 

* snspect ' by tlie King. Slayes b}* hundreds (the 
number in one recorded instanca readied 2,000) are set 
aside to be also sacrificed. 

" Such is the preparstion. Now for the oi^e. 

" During the whde annual festival, pahn wine is served 
out lite crater, and aU ages and 6oth sexes join in lapping 
it up from the public vesselB in which it is exposed, till 
all become mad with intoxication, and most of the common 
people roll over one another iu helpless imbecihty. Bat 
for the chie& a different pastime is prepared. Their 
excitement, after the wine has been allowed to master them» 
has been turned into the cruel vein, first, by the display 
of all past trophies of their victories, chiefly the skulls 
of their foes, which are treated with every kind of con- 
tumely, then by wild dancing, by unlimited popping oK of 
fire-arms from morning to night, and by the hideous din 
of thousands of savage instruments. When the fury hf^ 
reached its height their victims are brought before them. 
These are then executed before their eyes, with every 
brutal ferocity of lingering torture and insult which 
savage cruelty thus lashed to fury can suggest. 

" I have spoken of this as an ' anniial ' custom. Once 
a year it is, indeed, held on a grand scale — once a month 
on a minor. But the opportunities for exercising cruelty, 
treachery, and lust, which the ingenuity of the fetish 
priests and of the Moorish advisers of the King have 
supplied, are by no means limited to monthly or annual 
' customs.' Whenever a man or woman of high station 
dies a certain lai^e number of slaves are sacrificed to the 
fetish, the blood being poured over the burial pit. 

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10 THE ASHANTEE TV^AE. 

That treachery may never be wantisg when this creature 
is worshipped, the freemen are also enticed around to 
have the honour of holding up the corpse. -Whilst thus 
employed one or more among them is struck from behind 
A blow which sends bim stunned into the pit, where he is 
then despatched. 

" This is the system which ' One who knows,' or, as he 
now calls himself, ' One who does,' would persuade us 
is so highly approved of by the victims that ' it suited 
the slaves as well or better than their masters.' One 
fancies one has heard that stor}' once or twice before. 
On the whole, I think experience has taught us that 
when spiders tell us that flies quite like to be caught and 
killed, it is as well to ask the ilies before we decide on 
handing them back to the spiders. In the present 
instance, however, the slaves have no doubt on the 
subject, for the death of a master is the signal for the 
flight of as many of his slaves to the bush as can by any 
means escape, lest they should be caught for the fetish. 
Nor is this all. At certain periods of life elderly men 
are liable to be seized, simply on account of age or on 
some similar pretext, that they may be sacrificed. 

'' Now that which I wish to di'aw attention to is this, 
that any ' extradition treaty ' would be valueless to the 
King of Ashantee which did not involve our surrender 
of victims such as each of those I have named. 

" The description I have given is no highly- wrought 
imaginary picture. It is told in cold terms by one who 
was actually present at most of the scenes I have 
named. He was so impressed by the ' natural dignity ' 

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IN ENGLAND BKFOEE THE EXPEDITION. 11 

of Ihe King of Ashantee, by the high skill in decorative 
and constructive art of the people, and by their wonder- 
ful fighting power, that he speaks throughout of this 
highly civUise'd people almost with admiration. Those 
who judge of men by their highly-finished houses, their 
gold and their sUver ornaments, by ' natural dignity' and 
fighting capacity, will, of course, speak with admiration of 
the whole system, and be silent about its real features. 
But I boldly challenge Sir Charles Adderley* to propose 
to the House of Commons an extradition treaty such as I 
have named, and I dare ' An Irish M.P.,' + or any other 
member of the House, to face bis constituents after 
having voted for it. I am not a lawj'er, but I quote good 
law for all that, when I say that that old judgment of 
Iiord Mansfield would apply, in which he refused to hand 
over a fugitive slave on an extradition treaty because 
' there was no law that would warrant it, and, if there 
were, there ought not to be.' If it were conceivable that 
any Colonial Minister could be so base as to sanction it, 
he would find no subordinates who would not resign office 
rather than carry it out, no member to support him iu 
the House, and no constituency agaiu'to return him." 

It will perhaps be convenient to give here, also, a 
compressed reproduction of two other letters which were 
written at a somewhat later stage in relation to the 
question of our actual quarrel with the ICing of Ashantee. 
They were, in fact, subsequently suppressed, not having 
been completed till I had left England, having under- 



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12 THE ASHANTSB WAE. 

taken the work of Special Correspondent to the DaUp 
News. On board the steamship "Ambriz," Sir Garnet 
Wolseley had brought for the use of his Staff ahnost all 
possible sources of information as to the preTious history 
of our relations with the Gold Coast. Many of these 
were confidential, and, of course, therefore not available 
for the use of newspaper correspondents. But, firom the 
papers presented to Parhament, and from other works 
eqtudly at the service of everybody, sufficient information 
was to be gleaned to make clear the general course of our 
dealings in the Colony. The more any one on board read 
of the detailed history, the more evident it became to them 
that our Colonial Secretaries, no matter to what party 
they had belonged, had been actuated by the principles 
which usually govern English gentlemen. There may, 
or may not, at times have been weakness — there certainly 
was nothing that could give even excuse for the assertion 
that we had adopted the policy of allowing the natives 
friendly to us to interfere with those who were hostile. 
The ground taken up in relation to the handing over of 
runaways from Ashantee was at once thoroughly manly 
and most moderate. Always readiness was evinced to 
restore to the King of Ashtmtee any runaways against 
whom hg would bring prooL All that was refused was 
the restoration of men against whom no specific crime 
supported by evidence was alleged, and who were asked 
for as victims for brutal rites. The anxiety of our 
Government to encourage the Ashantee trade with the 
coast was evident in every page of correspondence that 
had Ijeen published. 

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IN ENGLAND BEFOEE IHE EXPEDITION. 13 

The more we read the more conTinced we became 
that, as a rale, the honour of EnglaDd is aafer in the 
hands of ottr responsible officials than in that of the men 
with a grievance who, just at the moment when attention 
is suddenly attracted to a part of the world which haa 
been long buried firom public gaze, turn up to enlighten 
us on points as to which no answer can be given by the 
officials till long afterwards, and on which, therefore, the 
carpers have the immunity from criticism of a clergyman 
in the pulpit. I insert the letter chiedy because it will 
serve as a short statement of the causey of the war — the 
more accurate, perhaps, because it represents the facts 
rather as they were seen at the moment than as they 
appear now. The two unpubhshed letters have been 
thrown into one : — 

" Snt, — You have already kindly inserted a letter from 
me, in which I have endeavoured to discuss the question 
whether the government of Ashantee is one so amiable 
that, without studying the details of our past negociations 
with the King, we are bound to assume, on the authority of 
people whom we don't know, that the King of Ashantee 
ha« been plways ri^t, and our own administrators always 
wrong, in their respective objects. Will you permit me 
now very briefly to dispute certain assertions of fact as to 
the reason of our quarrel with the King which have 
become popular, aiid are directly contradicted by the 
plain evidence of papers that have been already laid 
before Parliament, and which are accessible to every- 
body who chooses to verify my assertions. 

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14 THE ABHANTEE WAR. 

" First. It is said that the King of Ashantee has 
invaded our territory because the Dutch used to pay hjm 
a stipend for Elmina, and we have refused to pay it to 

" The feet is that we refused to negociate with the 
Dutch for the transfer at all until we had received from 
the King of Ashantee a letter distinctly disclaiming all 
title of any kind to Elmina. In the same letter the Kin g 
declared, as the Dutch had asserted, that the money 
which they paid to him was only as a mark of ' friend- 
ship and goodwill.' On this we undertook to pay dovhle 
the stipend which the Dutch had paid to the King. But we 
expressly claimed the right to pay this only just as the 
Dutch had done, during the good behaviour of the King, 
Now unhappily it chanced that some three years before 
Addoo Boofoo, one of King Coffee's generals, had, with- 
out any excuse whatever, and in a manner singularly 
treacherous, carried away to Coomassie certain G-ermans 
and a Frenchman connected with one of the industrial 
missions sent out by Germany. Our Government at no- 
time treated the capture of these people as in itself a 
casus belli against the Ashantees, and in relation to the 
question of purchasing their freedom occupied the sound 
ground, that it woidd not do for us to pay money for the 
release of one set of captives which would certainly serve 
as an inducement to make similar captures in future. 
But the King could scarcely be considered to be in that 
condition of 'good behaviour,' which was required for 
the payment of his stipend whilst he was still in posses- 
sion of these men. Moreover, the case was aggravated 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE EXPEDITION. IIK 

by the fact' that we had allowed the Oenuan MisBion to. 
offer a sum of money, which after aome negociation had 
been settled at a thousand pounds, for the release of the 
captives. The King had agreed to this sum as adequate ; 
the missionaries had been sent down to the Prah, and 
the money to meet them there. By a treacherous 
attempt to obtain possession of the money without hand- 
ing over the prisoners, the King's emissaries had shown 
that the agreement to accept the money was a mere ruse. 
The captives were marched back again to Coomassie, and 
whi^t the King's envoys were still at Cape Coast nego- 
ciatiug in relation to these transactions, it was suddenly 
announced that the King had, without warning, invaded 
the Protectorate. It is pretty evident, therefore, that- 
the question of the payment of the stipend was not the 
one which caused the invasion. For the King was welL 
aware that what we had undertaken we should perform, 
and we had promised him double what he had previously 
received. 

" Secondly, there is a very strong impression that the 
cause of the war must be something other than has yet 
come out ; some provocation given or mistake made by 
our administrators which is being kept from the public. 
The invasion seems to have so little pretext and so little 
cause that everybody, with a kind of generous sympathy 
for the poor savage, is detenaiaed to invent causes and 
pretexts for him. I confess to believing that this feeling^ 
is simply due to our not appreciating the view which an 
Ashantee monarch necessarily takes of the respective 
conditions of peace and war. War is not a thing which 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



10 THE A8HAHTEB TAB. 

in Itis eyes requires to be excused. War is the thing 
which he has sworn at the time of h^ coronation to pre- 
pare for his country. It is a continued condition of 
peace for which some apology is needed. The oppor- 
tnnitj is the only excuse that is needed for war. 

" It must be remembered that this was the form of belief 
and habit of mind which it was the interest of the old 
slave-traders to instil into the minds of African tribes 
and African kings. Their success has in this respect 
been complete, and whilst the Moorish necromancers and 
fetish priests continue to be the guiding spirits in 
Ashantee politics, the only reason one need ask for an 
Ashantee king's going to war is, what were the chances 
of success which he thought that he foresaw ? 

" Now there were very strong reasons why the King of 
Ashantee should &ncT that the moment was singularly 
opportune for his invasion. 

" Without going into details, it will be sufficient to 
assert that a certain chief, Atchampon, had some time 
previously shown the weakness of the country, by 
travelling through it to Elmina with an excessively 
small body of Ashantees, and committing, both on his 
way and in Elmina, atrocities so frightful, that any 
but an entirely helpless people must have been stung 
to immediate revenge. This was shortly before the ces- 
sion to us of Elmina ; and though that change of govern- 
ment had been effected with the expressed concurrence 
of the people, a powerful party, secretly hostile to our 
role, was known to exist among the old Dutch Settle- 
ments. Moreover, a bitter feeling of jealousy existed 

n,gN..(jNGoogle . 



IV VSQLASD BBFOBE THE EXPEDITION. IT 

between the old ' Dutch ' tribes and the old ' English ' 
"^bes ; it was quite certain that, no matter how iinpartlitl 
the English Govenunent might be, the cession would be 
regarded both by the Dutch and English Fantees as a 
-triumph of the latter over the former. For the moment 
the assurances and the liberal action of the Government 
juight secure a peaceful transfer ; but it was quite certain 
Ihat a little sooner or later the EngUsh Fantees would 
lord it over their Dutch brethren, and that the Elmina 
tribes would fancy themselves slighted and neglected. 
■Our force on the Gold Coast, at all times exceedingly 
slender since the West Indian Eegiments had been reduced 
in nnmber, had not been increased in consequence of the 
-transfer. Thus, King Coffee saw before him a country, 
-the weakness of which, so far as the native tribes were 
-concerned, had been forcibly brought home to him by 
Tthe raid of Atchampou, which had been greatly extended 
"without any increase to its garrison, and containing 
elements of intestine discord, one of the parties to which 
— the Elmina tribes — had always been in friendly relation 
to himself. 

" Bnt if the circumstances of the country to be invaded 
:showed a weakness which offered him a chance, the 
resources of his own country had never been in a 
more favourable condition ; the quarrel which his great 
uncle had had with us about Governor Hill's refusal to 
restore an escaped victim agfunst whom the late king 
declined to produce any evidence, had never been satis- 
factorily settled ; and during the whole intermediate time 
the Ashantees had been engaged in ihe accumulation of 

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18 THE ASHANTBE WAB. 

gima and ammumtion, willi a view to &ture iuTasion. 
This process had been going steadily on during the whole 
course of the negociation, and whilst the King was 
declaring that he had no quarrel with white men. It 
may be noted, by the way, that the Ashantee principle is 
exactly the same as the old Roman one — ' Divide et 
Impera.' It is bo well understood on the Coast, that a 
short time since, when the King of Ashantee sent to 
inform one of the tribes that he had ' no quarrel ' with 
them, the tribal king, after native fashion, cut off the 
head of one of the messengers, and sent it back by the 
other, sayii^ that the same message had been sent by the 
Ashantees to his fathers, and that they had had reason to- 
me the confidence they had reposed in it. The Ashante* 
practice is, in fact, to write to each of the tribes whom they 
intend to attack, to say that they have ' no quarrel ' with 
them. It is almost the Ashantee manner of declaring; 
war, 

" The preparations actually made were probably 
larger than had ever before been known. Moreover, the 
tribes of the north bad been reduced to a complete state- 
of subjection. 

" Everjiiing, therefore, in the circumstances of the 
moment favoured the war project of the King. 

" To this it must be added that the desire for war was, 
in all probability, not so strong even in his mind as- 
in that of some of the war leaders. It is noteworthy that, 
whereas we hear a great deal of certain Ashantee tribes, 
eacit of which has its own king, it is seldom one of these 
kings who is the chosen war leader. It would almost 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



IN EKGLAND BEPOEB THE BXPEDITION. 19 

fleem as if there waB a War cabinet or court which 
snrrotinded the King, the members of which, though 
very influentiKl over a young monarch, have no assigned 
position and anthority during peace, but who become 
supreme in the field the moment war breaks out. It is 
thus to the interest of these war leaders, Adoo Boofoo, 
Amanquoitia, AtchaiUpon, &c., to be constantly leading 
expeditions. The present King has been only for a short 
time on the throne, and is therefore pretty certain to be, 
to a considerable extent, in the hands of these men. The 
old King had curbed in the war spirit to an extent that 
was certain to make it break out more powerfLdly when 
the reins of government fell into the hands of a young 

" Nor, with all these conditions tendiug in favour of 
a war policy, was there anything in the past history of 
their experience of our fighting quality to make them 
fear the issue. The King of Ashantee is rexK>rted to 
have recently asked, how could the Governor of Cape- 
Coast interfere with him ? The G-ovemor could not go- 
ont in the sun or in the rain without an umbrella ; how 
was he, then, to travel far enough to do him, the King of. 
Ashantee, harm ? The tradition of the defeat and death 
of Sir C. McCarthy is one of the most vivid that exists 
on the Coast. There was another time when the 
Ashantees surrotmded and attacked one of our posts, 
and obtained from it, by surrender, an escaped victim 
who had taken refuge there. Only as recently as '64 
we had marched an army to the Prah, and it had there 
melted away by disease, till we had ignominiously with- 

c 2 



20 THE A8HAMTKE WAR. 

drawn it, having utterly failed to enforce the conditions 
for the sake of which it had been moved there. 

" Therefore, as there was neither fear of our power to 
deter them nor, in their belief, present strength on the 
Coast to resist tiiem ; as the moment was, in truth, excep- 
tionally favourable ; as it seemed more fovourable even 
than it really was ; as the war party in Ashantee was 
exceptionally powerful at Coort, and as all preparation 
was complete, the Ashantees without warning invaded, and 
after long devastation alleged pretexts for their conduct, 
which were directly in contradiction of their own pre- 
vioQB statements. 

" This was in no wise strange. It would have been 
strange if it had not occurred. There is no need to 
seek for other reasons for the war. These were the 
reasons for it. When we are asked why we are at war 
with the Ashantees, the answer is simple. The Ashantees 
have thought it a suitable moment for making war upon 
us, and they have done it. If one eould imagine a future 
historian imbned with Ashantee principles writing their 
history, he would not dispute these facts. He would 
glory in them. Of course if the war turns out to have 
been a blonder on their part, that will considei'ably alter 
the complexion of the thing in their eyes. 

" Your obedient aervant. 



I am unwilling to delay the course of the narrative 
further by entering here into any detailed defence of 
these statements. Any one who will purchase of Mr. 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



IN ENGLAND BBFOEE TBS EXPEDITION. 31 

Hansard, 18, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Iim, a 
parliamentaiy paper, of just 4S pagSB in length, the 
number of which is " C 670," and the ^ce of which is 
lis. 6d., may verify every syllable c^ them for himself. 
But since the above letter was written, very strong reason 
has appeared for going more careMIy into the proofs of 
-the statements made. It is this : "Whilst we were on the 
Odd Coast, an article on the subject, in one of the oldest 
of oar magazines, excited very great interest. Its argu- 
ments were nowhere met and contradicted. The maga- 
zine went through a second edition in consequence of it. 
AVhilst these pages have been going through the press, 
a debate has taken place in Parliament (Tuesday, April 
28th; continued on Monday, May 4tli), in which it is 
perfectly evident that nearly all the speakers have 
supphed themselves with information, as to what took 
place, &om the magazine article, and not ^m the 
original documents. It is, nnder these circumstances, 
somewhat unfortunate that the two means of obtaining 
information differed much as black differs from white. 
It becomes, therefore, exceedingly important that this 
fact should be mftde clear ; and as many of my readers 
are, I believe, still intensely interested in the qnestion 
whether the Ashantee "War was, or was not, " unneces- 
sary and unjust," whilst others, weary of that subject, 
wish to hear rather what happened during the war itself, 
I propose to consider the question in a special appendix.* 
I think those who will take the trouble to follow me 
throngh lui examination of the question, will com« to the 
* See the last diapfer, " In Ebgliuid after the Eipedl t l on ." 

.,j-,Goo»^lc 



S2 TEE ASEANTEE WAB. 

Gonclnsiou that if the indictment which Mr. Froude is at 
present briitging against the Celtic Bace be founded on 
an inquiry into original documents as careleeB as that of 
the author to whose indictment against our statesmen 
Mr. Froude has lent the weight of his name, the former 
is as baseless as it is certainly savage and malignant. 

I ought to add that Mr. KnatchboU Hugessen's 
admirable speech on May 4th, ought to satisfy any one, 
who chooses to read it, of the accuracy of the statements 
I have made, though the above letter was written long 
beforehand from an entirely independent examination of 
the facts. Snt it is impossible in a speech to give ' 
references ; and such charges as Mr. Bowles has made 
can be met only by them. 

It might perhaps be well to pass directly from this 
preliminfuy notice of the circumstances preceding the 
war to the account of the expedition itself. But there is 
strong reason at the present moment, when everyone is 
tuH ot admiration of the victorious leader of tlie campaign, 
to endeavoiir to smooth the path of those who may be on 
some future occasion entrusted with similar duties, by 
preserving a slight reminder of the kind of difficulties 
which habitues of the Gold Coast endeavoured, before he 
left England, to throw in Sir Gai-net's way. Of conrse it 
was not a failing common to all who possessed informa- 
tion. But unhappily it is not the only instance in which 
something of this kind has occurred. Men see the 
opportunity which a little knowledge of the subject that 
is for the moment exciting public attention, affords them 
for personal notoriety. If they write to the papers 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



IN ENOLAJfD BEFOBE TEE EZFSDITION. 23 

everybody will talk about them, or at least about their 
letters. If they go quietly to the office in which the 
information in relation to the coming expedition is being 
silently tabulated, only a few will know how useful they 
have been^ In these days when garish dayhght blazes 
in upon our most sacred secrets, and accuatoms as to 
think that we do nothing unless we are known to do 
it, the temptation to do what is most to their own 
public credit is tremendous for the best of men. Under 
these circomstauces it does, I .confess, seem to me to 
be the bounden duty of everyone at the moment when 
an expedition under an able chief is being fitted out, to 
turn a deaf ear to all deti'actors. The one thing for 
every editor, and for everyone to whom a man with 
information whiepers his fears, is to say to him, "Sir, 
have you supplied that information to the man who 
ought now to receive all the assistance with which every ' 
Englishman can furnish him ? " 

The following letter was written in answer to a perfiect 
string of detractors. Surely it is important to remember . 
that it may not always happen that it is possible for an 
answer meeting all charges to be famished, however 
unfounded they may be. The very nature of the letter 
shows that the chance which would enable that kind of 
answer to be given must be a rare one, altogether 
irrespective of the men. An additional motive for ptib- 
lifihing it now has been furnished by the appearance of 
Mr; Stanley's late work. The use which Mr. Stanley 
has made of one of the &cts alluded to in it, removes the 
only doubt that might have lingered in the mind as to 

■ n,gN..(jNGoogle 



M TEE ABHANTSE WAE. 

whether it n-ould or vonld not be worth while to revive 
tiie question. 

" TO THE EDrroR OF THE ' DAIIjT KBW8.' 

" Sir, — ^Will you allow me space for a few, brief com- 
ments on the three letters which appear in to>day's 
Timet ' in relation to the approaching Ashantee cam* 
paign? 

" Mr. K. ' prefers * throwing ' some li^t upon the 
subject through the columns of the Times to having his 
letter shelved at the Colonial Office.' Will you allow me 
to suggest to him another method for imparting his valua- 
ble knowledge. I only do so because it has been adopted 
by several others, and has proved useful. I have, as it 
has happened, known of not a few letters which have been, 
addressed to Sir Garnet Wolseley containing suggestions, 
about the present expedition. Without exception they 
have all been acknowledged. Every portion of informal 
tion so obtained has, I am assured by those who knowr 
been recorded and carefully tabulated. Every book that 
could be obtained in London on the subject— and they 
are more numerous than is generally known — has been 
searched and precis made of it. It has happened to me 
myself to meet one long resident on the Gold Coast, who. 
recently spent hours in Sir Garnet Wolseley's office, 
si^iplying the most valuable information, and who, after 
collecting from others who had been with him everythii^ 
that they could offer, had added the weight of their 
names to his own as to what he suggested. TJnder these 
oircomstances, I venture to submit that Hr. K. would 



jNGoogle 



IN ENGLAND BBFOBE THE EXPEDITION. 2S 

have played a more generoQB part had he sent each infor- 
mation 89 he possessed to Sir Garnet, and had not 
assnmed without trial that his suggestions vonld be 
treated with contempt. 

" Colonel M. asBnmes, without any aathority whatever, 
that two English battalions are at once to be sent to the 
Oold Coast, and are intended to remain there for six 
months. As nothing whatever of the kind is in fact 
intended, Colonel M.'8 position is slightly ludicrous. 

" ' One who Knows ' has written two letters, the 
assumptions of which ai'e these : 

" 1. That any officer who has made any attempt what- 
ever to study during peace time the experience of past 
wars. Colonial,. Gold Coast, or other, mast be such an 
intolerable idiot that he is utterly unfitted for active 
work. The dehcate way in which ' One who Knows ' 
puts this is, that certain ' highly-educated officers ' are 
to go out on the expedition, and that 'it is a pity that 
their valuable lives should be thrown away.' 

" Assumption No. 2 is, that because a man like Sir 
Garnet Wolseley, who has fought in every campaign since 
he entered the service, is put at the head of the expedi- 
tion, therefore he will, of coui-se, neglect all past ex- 
perience; and that because he has given in the past 
exceptionally high proof of personal generosity, disin- 
terestedness, and readiness to listen to men in every 
way his inferiors, therefore he will now listen to nothing- 

"Let it be well noted that the charges which this 
anonymons writer brings against Sir Garnet are that his 
' abilities ' are ' so very transcendental in ' his ' own 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



tfi THE A8HANTEE WAR. 

eyes,' that he is very unlikely to accept advice from 
others. I have ah'eady stated that it is a fact directly 
within my own knowledge that in the present instance Sir 
Garnet has been most anxions to accept all the advice he 
could get. But I venture further to maintain that the 
accusation is exceptionally misdirected agtunst the general 
character of the man. Let me point out one Uttle fact 
in Sir Garnet's past history. When in the highly re- 
sponsible position of Assistant Adjutant-General at the 
Horse Guards, he recently competed for a prize for an * 
essay which was open to every young subaltern in the army. 
Whether that kind of condescension is usual among the 
chiefs of other professions I leave your readers to judge. 
But Sir Garnet's generosity did not stop here. He, pro- 
bably owing mainly to the feet of Ms being at the time en- 
gaged in hard practical work, did not succeed in gaining the 
prize for which he had competed. He was then jast on 
the eve of becoming the chief of one expedition, and had 
recently brought another to a most successful termination. 
The essays had been sent in ano<n}-mously, so that it was 
-entirely at the option of Sir Garnet, whether he allowed 
his name to be known or not. As a matter of fact he 
pubhshed his essay amongst a number of unsuccessful 
ones by men, many of whom had seen no service at all. ■ 
Lastly, no sooner was the present expedition announced 
than he conferred on his successful competitor the very 
best position which it was in Ms power to oflfer to a. 
snbaltem. 

" I ask your readers to judge between this man and Ms 
accusers, who is likely to weigh evidence with least 

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IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE EXPEDITION. 27 

personal feelii^ and prejudice ? These men make 
ftssertioDS wliich are, as any one may ascertain who asks 
the men who are really best known as having done good 
service on the Gold Coast, directly contrary to fact. 
They assert, that is to say, that tiose who have served 
on the Gold Coast have not been consulted. There is 
one man who served for years on the Gold Co^, who is 
well known in Ei^land, who has made important and 
useftil inventions since he came home, who is now in a 
most important position in London. Has or has not 
Major Bolton been consulted ? 

" The truth is, that it is unfortunately the duty of every 
man who has to conduct a practical enterprise, careftdly 
to we^h and balance all the evidence he receives. In 
doing so, as men naturally differ in opinion, he must 
reject the evidence of some. These men are annoyed, 
and write to the newspapers. Those who believe that 
^eir views are accepted do not write. Hence it almost 
always happens that just those views which a wise man 
would reject are nearly sare to be those which, on the 
eve of an expedition, are most prominently put before 
the public. 

" Let me therefore appeal to the public through you to 
adopt a rule the soundness of which no one disputes. 
An avowedly able man has been entrusted with the work. 
Trust him. If any who have information to supply 
happen to live, as those Times' correspondents have done 
who have given their names, at a long distance from 
London, let them understand that any information they 
can send will be gladly welcomed by a most unprejudiced 

■ n,gN..(jNGoogle 



28 THE A9HAOTEB WAR. 

man. It is too ungenerous, it is too nnwortliy of 
Englishmen, that man after man should vrite to complain 
that he individoally has not had his little crotchet 
attended to. Hen most face the fact that it is not easy 
daring the preparations for b rapid expedition to fish out 
the names imd localities of every man who has ever set 
foot on the Gold Coast. 

" Should you care to hear Airther from me, I think I 
CBB answer not a few of the practical objections that have 
been made ; but in a day or two Sir Garnet will be on 
the sea, and he mast trust to Ms own reputation and the 
generositj' of his countrymen to receive with hesitation 
aspersions behind his back. Detailed reply is not 
possible for him during the busy work in which he is now 
engi^ed for the nation." 



ji-vGooglc 



CHAPTER II. 

THE VOYAGE OUT. — THE LAUDING. — MEETINGS WITH 

CHIEFS. LETTEES TO THE KINGS. — THE CABRIEB 

QUESTION. 8UMUON8 TO THE KING OF A8HANTEE. 

THREATENED ATTACK ON CAPE COAST, 

On September 12th, Sir Garnet sailed from Itiverpool. 
He had hardly left Euglasd when news arrived which 
produced an impresuon throi^out the countxy that the 
«nterprise was a fyx more oecessary one tbui hitd at all 
been realised before. On August 14th, Commodore 
'Commerell, in attempting to cany on a survey of the 
river Prab from the month upwards, had lauded at the 
town of Chamah, and, after a conference with the natives, 
to all appearance .friendly, had proceeded up the river. 
Advantage had been taken of the nature of the shore by 
native treachery, the boats had been Hred upon, the Com- 
modore himself had been severely wounded, and few of 
the men had escaped unscathed. Almost immediately 
afterwards, in an attempt to destroy the boats of the 
ueighboniing village of Tacorady, the party of sailors 
who had been landed had been fired into from the neigh- 
bouring bush, and had suffered severely. There was 
no doubt that tiie effect of these disasters would be to 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



90 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

render all the tribes of the Coast distrustftil of our 
power, and in a country where the most powerful com- • 
mand the sympathies of all, to give the greatest possible 
advantage to the Ashantees, and disadvantage to our- 
selves in om- dealings with the natives. It ought, perhaps, 
to be added, moreover, that during the two or three 
previous weeks, the greater part of a body of some two 
hundred marines who had been sent out with Colonel 
Festing had returned to England completely broken 
down by their short visit to the Coast. From the time 
of the return of these men onward the deadllness of the 
country began to be realised, and the most sinister 
forebodings were from this time forward entertained as 
to the fete of those who were going out.* 

The ship had been prepared in a hurry. AH the cabins 
bad been recently repainted. She was badly caulked, 
and a very foul collection of bi^e-water had been accu- 
mulated in previous tropical voyages. The journey, 
therefore, had its unpleasantnesses, and not a few of the 
party had been ill long before the Afiican climate had 
hod a chance of telling on them. Still it happened that 
among the officers not a few friends who had seldom had 
an opportunity of seeing much of one another were now 
thrown together under circumstances such as give a 
greater opportunity for intimacy iu a few weeks than 
often occurs on shore in many months. Moreover there 
■was very much more to be done which directly bore on 
the enterprise in hand than can often be the case on a 



ji-vGooglc 



THE YOYAGE OUT, SB 

trip of the kind. The unique character of the enter- 
prise, the peculiar position of so large a body of officers, 
not connected in the accnstomed way with the routine 
duties of soldiering, going out in &ct almost to the 
unknown — all these things tended to give an air of 
adventure to the voyage which had its effect upon the 
spirit of everybody on board, so that, despite the misfor- 
tunes of new paint and intolerable odours, it may be^ 
doubted whether a more really agreeable time was often' 
enjoyed. 

At Madeira, the news of the disasters of Chamah and 
Tacorady which had already reached England some days, 
was received on board. 

At Sierra Leone, Sir Garnet landed and assumed 
his office as Commander-in-Chief of the West Africaa 
Settlements. 

The following letter, which refers to the events of the 
day, is now chiefly interesting as showing what at that 
time was the generally received idea about the future- 
conduct of the expedition. The beginning of the letter^ 
though it has now somewhat lost its original interest, 
is retained because it was one of the assertions made 
before we left England, that men of local knowledge had 
not been secured. The fact being that many who thought 
themselves specially qualified from local knowledge to be 
appointed to the expedition did not appear to be quite so 
admirable for the purpose when their claims were investi- 
gated. As the letter shows, not a few whose services were 
invaluable, and who did possess local knowledge, had 
been secored. 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



THE A8HANTEB WAB. 



" Sir Garnet Wolseley and the officers who accompany 
him have reached the head-quartei-s of our West African 
Settlements. To-day is a busy o&e. Sir Oaruet has first 
of all called on Mr. Berkely, the Govemor-in-Chie^ and 
presented the< letters which appoint him Commander- 
in-Chief of all the settlements, which include Sierra 
Leone, the Gambia, Lagos, and the Gold Coast. He is 
also to be Civil Administrator of the Gold Coast. Then 
arrangements are being made for the enlistment from all 
neighboming tribes of any men who are likely to be 
valimble on the Coast. Large numbers of artificers and 
of seiTants are already hired. The dark, nutty, oily faces 
are crowding on all hands eager to enlist, but it is very 
unlikely that any but the best will be accepted, for more 
than one man is with the expedition who knows well both 
Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast. Notably Comioissaiy 
O'Connor knows by face and name every man, woman, 
and child in the neighbourhood. He was here in in- 
numerable capacities for years, and his local knowledge 
has already proved invaluable. His loud, cheery voice 
was recognized and welcomed by hundreds at once on 
oar landing. Meantime, also, Major Home, B.E., is 
busy inspecting the artificers who have been engaged for 
him, and the stores of various kinds, which are better 
procured here than on the Gold Coast. Unfortunately 
many of the things which would be most useful on Uie 
expedition, require the work of Europeans, and it has 



ji-vGooglc 



SIB GAENET'S PLANS BECOME CLEAR. 33 

been liierefore necessary to cut some of these down to ii 
minimum. 

" Sir Gamet'a plan is becoming cleai-, and, as it is 
partially disclosed, it is abundantly evident that the 
difficulties si^gested by the croakers have by no means 
been ignored. Your readers may remember that those 
who were engaged at the time when the expedition left 
England in the amiable occupation of throwing cold 
water upon it, had endeavoured to place Sir Garnet 
between the horns of a dilemma. None of the Fantees, 
it was said, were capable of facing the Asbantees, there- 
fore none but white ti'oops could be employed with any 
*diance of success. But white troops, if kept on the 
Coast during all the unhealthy months which would be 
necessary to prepare the way for an advance up the 
coimtry, would infallibly perish. No middle way seems 
to have si^gested itself to the all-wise advisers of tlie 
public, who oddly enough happen to be, man for man, 
nearly the same as those who, on the strength of 
"West African experience, predicted the failure of our 
Abyssinian expedition from the opposite shore of the vast 
continent. 

" To the leader of the force a third plan has evidently 
approved itself, ' Let us,' he seems to have said, ' clear 
the way for the European force, set natives to make 
roads for them, have our officers on the spot beforehand 
to oi^anize the arrangements for them. Let us collect 
on the Coast as many of the more hai'dy tribes as we can 
muster. Let ns see to what extent we can trust to them 
when they see they have proper leaders, and when their 



jNGoogle 



3* THE ASHANTEE WAR. 

local jealousies are suppressed by union under English- 
men. Then at the last moment, when everTthing is 
ready, let us, if a hard fight becomes necessar}'-, have out 
our Enghshmen, use them for the actual fight, get them 
out of the country again at once, and vte have no reason 
to anticipate serious loss.' I only give this as a general 
impression of what is obviously now intended. Many 
details can only be settled on the spot. But the opinion 
of every one here, who beat knows the character of the 
people, seems to be that the moment a serious forward 
movement is made against them, the Ashantees will fall 
back, trusting to reinvade the country the moment then- 
assailants withdraw. If that is so, the soundness of Sir 
Garnet's plan is evident. As long as the Ashantees 
continue to fall back, he will have no Europeans exposed 
to the climate, but will make good roads which shall 
render their advance rapid when they do come. Should 
it become apparent &om minor skirmishes that he can- 
not trust the natives, then, and not till then, he wiU have 
out his English battalions. Should the Ashantees not 
offer serious resistance to the road making, it may be 
hoped that the English regiment or two which may be 
required will be able to go stra^ht to comparatively 
healthy comitrj', and not be a couple of months even in 
that. Captain Furse and Lieutenant Saunders are to go 
to the Gambia in order to collect men from a Mahom- 
medan tribe called the Jolliffs. Lieutenant Gordon, of 
the 93rd, remains at Sierra Leone to enlist Mandingos, 
another Mahommedan tribe near here. As I send this 
off the proclamation has been published which invites the 

n„jN.«j-v Google 



C.\PE COAST— 'AT LAST!' 36 

latter to enlist. Commissary O'Connor goes to Cape 
Palmt^ to enlist Croomen as labourers." 
The next letter speaks for itself; — 

" Off tiAPE Coast, OcUHier ^ind. 

" ' At last ! ' cries every one on board -what I cannot 
bring myself to call ' the good ship ' Ambriz. ' At 
last ! ' with a more than Kingsleyan gusto. 

" Your readers can hardly conceive with what satisfaction 
every one on board trusts himself to the tender mercies 
of a West African climate rather than to those of the 
West African Steamship Company. 

" So this is Cape Coast, Now, how is its first look to 
be brought before your readers ? 

" First : among the many confusions' of the past has 
been the mere name. Half of those who have written 
and taJked about ' Cape Coast Ciatle,' have left one in 
considerable doubt what it was — a town — a villf^e — a 
veritable castle, or what? Here, as it lies before us, 
the reason for all this is plain enough. There is a town 
— in a rambling sort of way, a considerable town. There 
is an appearance about the native huts, even at this 
distance — more than a mile — of squalor, irregularity, 
and dilapidation, such as seems more like that of village 
than of town poverty. But the feature, as one looks 
now for the first time upon the shore, is that grim old 
Castle that stands out white, grey, and almost ghastly 
between the green scrub-covered hills behind and the 
huge black boulder which in firont guards the base from 
the roll of the mighty Atlantic swell. The waves are 

D 2 

n,<jN.«j-,G00»^lc 



38 THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

HOW dashing over this rock and breaking upward against 
the Castle Esplanade itself, in a white cascade, that 
flakes for a moment or two in the too brilliant sun, and 
then leaves the grey castle, its lofty terrace wall, and the 
black base, in the glaring light, naked against the dull, 
chalky, monotonous sea below, and the molten canopy of 
sky and clouds above, so almost painfully forced on 
the eyes that one almost forgets the hills just seen 
behind. ' 

" No wonder that the Castle should have swallowed up 
the town, in the|recollections and expressions of travellers. 
The dirty white and pale earthy red buildings that crowd 
on either side seem almost as if enslaved to that threaten- 
ing and pretentious stronghold, that on the most pro- 
minent projection of the shore, claims possession of the 
ground. But what a sham it is I Imposing as the 
Castle looks, not one stone would be left upon another 
after a few hours' bombardment by any one of the ships 
that are now quietly riding at anchor here. 

" But if the Castle, which seems to guard the shore, 
is no defence for its possessors, the waves which seem to 
threaten it supply the want. No boat could land at any 
point that the eye can reach, but at one little nook 
behind the guardian boulder, at the Castle's foot. Even 
there, ais we hear, only boats of a special class — the 
long, flat-bottomed native canoes that are now crowding 
round the ship — can venture to face the surf. A few 
riflemen on shore, or even, as we have learnt to our cost 
elsewhere along this coast, a few ill-armed natives, may 
well make such a landing impossible. If we ever do 



ji-vGooglc 



CAPE COAST— THE FIRST VIEW. 87 

hand over this country to anyone else, it won't be a very 
easy matter to regain it from the eea against an unwilling 
European power. 

" Bat for the look of the rest of the town. .There are, 
evidently, as one throws the glass up and down it, some 
spacious houses, chiefly government buildings as we 
learn. These for the most part run inland &om the 
castle in an almost continnoos line, separated only by the 
gardens full of tropical trees and plants which are attached 
to them. Bound these are gathered many of the mer- 
chants' houses also ample and, at this distance, picturesque 
enough; all alike, government and private buildings, 
having that whity, stucco, almost pasteboard look which, 
oddly enough, impressed us as one of the most telling 
features of Sierra Leone. Though here wanting the 
setting given by the bright colouring of that lovely town, 
there is, to an English eye, something so unusual in this 
effect, that, dingy and unsubstantial as the appearance is, 
it yet seems suitable to the mysterious, unknown land 
which we are about to enter. Moreover, the general 
aspect of this part of the town, where each house, lai^e 
as it usually is, seems slight in construction, and, sepa- 
rated &om its neighbours, contrasts strikingly alike with 
the solid grimness of the castle and the crowded look of 
the native town, to right and left, where all the houses 
seem Uterally tumbled together. There is an appearance 
here for which yet I cannot fidly account, I am told it 
has something to do with the effect of the rains on the 
red earth, of which the native houses are bnilt. The 
effect, at this distance from shore, is as if a whole town of 

n,gN..(jNGoo^le 



3S THE ASHANTEE WAS. 

those rooQeBB cottages, whiclt in Ireland speak of some 
landlord'a evictions, had been gathered together, or 
rather thrown down in a reckless heap b; some huge 
giants, weary of such work. 

" If so, one might cany one's fancy further, and imagine 
that after their labours were over, the giants had lain 
dovrn and stretched themselves oat for their last rest, side 
by side, not far from the sea-shore. For all along the 
coast, as &r as one can see to oar right of the town, 
stretches a series of what look like huge green-covered 
tumoli. The appearance is quite imlike that of any 
other coast I ever saw. The curious little bills that he 
side by side one another, apparently with no systematic 
connection of any kind, with no regular watej* line, 
and with little, abrupt, uncertain slopes, covered by 
the by no means smooth-looking green — which is I 
suppose in reality the scrub or bush of the country of 
which we have heard so much — bound the actual beach 
itself, a reddish, sandy, or shingly line, against which, on 
this tideless shore, the white line of foam is incessantly 
widening or narrowing as the wave rises or &IIs. It 
must be remembered that the phenomena of the surf 
along this coast are a standing puzzle ; the swell which 
rolls in here is entirely independent of local storms, being 
often most severe in the calmest weather, while a steady 
current sets in all weathers eastwards towards the Bay 
of Benin." 

" Caps Ck)A8T, Odaber 2nd. 

" The process of reaching the shore from the ships is a 



ji-vGooglc 



WE LAND. 39 

somewhat curious one. A row of natives, all but if not 
quite naked, sits on either side, actually upon the gun- 
wale of the boat, each man with a sort of wooden trident 
or flat three-pronged blade at the end of a long handle, 
held perjiendicularly, the inner hand above the outer, 
facing the bow, digging their prongs into the water, 
apparently much on the principle instilled into Mr. Ver- 
dant Green, ' deep and jerkily.' The man nearest the 
bow who gives time jerks out at intervals a sort of shriek 
or song hardly pi-oducible upon paper, but something 
like ' Aaah, sirra ! ' As they approach the shore and 
get under the lee of the big black boulder which I have 
aheady desbribed, the boat is allowed to be chiefly carried 
in by the waves ; the captain of the boat, who stands at 
the bow, only keeping sufficient steerage way on till close 
in shore. He then lies off a Uttle, and avoids being carried 
in till a wave shows itself somewhat larger than usual. 
On this the boat is allowed to dash in and ground. It is 
necessary, however, to jump out very quickly or trust one- 
self to the care of a native, for the shore runs up so 
steeply that the boat can seldom be driven above the 
reach of the next coming wave. The entry has to be 
pretty skilfully managed, for the space of safe beach only 
extends for about three boats' lengths between rocks. 

" At about 4 o'clock Sir Garnet, with his personal staff, 
came ashore. The whole scene was provokingly sug- 
gestive of the fact that we had just entered upon thp land 
of Jim Crow — a land of sham and fanfaronade. 

" The town presents the appearance of a place that'has 
been got up to look as if it had been bombarded. If that 



jnGoo^Ic 



<0 THE ASHAKTEE WAH. 

had been the intention, the success in it would have 
been considerable ; for here men build not on sand only 
but of sand. The houses are made with a sort of mad, 
prodnced by the effect of the damp upon the sandy soil. 
Clay properly speaking, or brick, it is not, and the con- 
sequence is that each rainy season numbers and numbers 
of the houses come down. This year the rain has been 
exceptionally heavy, and the result has been almost the 
demolition of the native town. Flat roofs are used with 
every house. The tops of the walls have been often 
indented by the rains even when the roof has not come 
down. Thus the appearance from the- street below, even 
if the house is really standing, is as if a series of naked 
walla and roofless ruins were all that formed the native 
town. This effect is increased by the absence of glasa 
from the windows, which consist usually of mere holes in 
the wall. Altogether, the place that was immediately 
recalled to my mind was the 'Point du Jour' gate of 
Paris, just after the second siege, or rather, as I have 
said, a sort of immense theatrical representation thereof. 
" For the sense of sham was upon one all the while — 
a sense by no means diminished by the fact that, in order 
to do honour to Sir Garnet, the small force of West 
Indians and native poUce had been obhged to do double 
duty. There were not enough of them, even when well 
spread out, to line the. road the whole distance from the 
landing place to Government House. The consequence 
was, that, after having received the Governor on his 
leaping on shore (in a very literal sense), they were sent 
lip at a double by a back way, and, hot and panting. 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



THE LAND OF SHAMS. 41 

from the rapid change of poBition, were ready, on the 
arrival of the Head-Quarter party, again to present arms 
at the foot of the steps leading up to Government House. 

" To say truth, if one may venture without offence 
to suggest such a thing, the sense had been awakened 
also immediately on landing, hy the sight of the sable 
'kings,' who, under huge 'umbrellas,' were seated in 
front of the Castle, to greet Sir Garnet on his arrival. 
There is a certain solemn dignity about a native chief 
which I observe impresses some of my friends a good 
deal. To me it seems dignity of the purest stage type — 
& not ungraceful walk, a solemn wrapping of a mag- 
nificent cloak now and again around the figure, the arms 
from which the cloak hangs being lifted in a slow, statelj' 
manner, and brought round with a majestic sweep in the 
course of the operation. There is nothing that seems to 
signify power about their dignity, and knowing, as we 
did, that it has been our policy on the Coast for years to 
deprive these chiefs of all real influence, their very 
solemnity of manner left on me an impression of the 
theatrical, which harmonised weU with the other features 
of the first scene we have passed through here. 

"It is almost needless to add that the ceremony of 
Sir Garnet's investiture was of the simplest possible 
character. The letter appointing him was publicly read 
out ; he took the oaths, and the business was concluded. 
It may, however, Ije as well to mention that the constitution 
of these West African Colonies is somewhat pecoliar. 
The. letter does not appoint Sir Garnet to be definitely 
Governor of the Gold Coast, but onJy to administer the 

n,gN..(ji-vGoogle . 



*2 THE.ASHANTEE WAE. 

government dming the absence from the Gold Coast of 
Mr. Berkeley, the Govemor-in-Chief, whose head-quarters 
are in Sierra Leone. 

" Our policy in relation to all these possessions in 
Western Africa appears to have been to reduce the 
importance of the local officials at each of the minor 
gOTemments, that is to say, on the Gold Coast, at Lagos, 
and the Gambia, in order to keep the whole system of 
colonies as much as possible in the hands of one man 
— the Govemor-in-Chief at Sierra Leone. Thus, among 
many minor matters of the same kind, as Governor of 
the Gold Coast Sir Garnet is only entitled to be called 
'His Honoui',' but as Commander-in-Chief of the 
West African Settlements he is entitled to the higher 
dignity of being called ' His Excellency.' 

"Again, in most colonies not on the West African Coast, 
the Governor has under him a sort of prime mimster, 
who carries on most of the detail of government imder 
the sanction of the Governor, and is known by the title of 
Colonial Secretary. The constitution of the West African 
settlements does not sanction a 'Colonial Secretary' 
anywhere but at Sierra Leone. As, however, the ad- 
ministrator must to some extent he relieved of minor 
duties, a 'Collector of Customs,' with a large staff, is 
allowed to the Gold Coast. 

"Now it has of course been much more convenient for 
the administrator, and much more dignified also, to issue 
orders on minor matters through an intermediate channel. 
The result has been, that a practice has sprung up of 
dubbing the collector of customs ' Acting Colonial 



ji-vGooglc 



A FIGHT WITH VISORS D0W5I. 43 

Secretary,' and of allowing him to cany on duties in 
these little governnients jost as a 'Colonial Secretary' 
does in the larger colonies. I am told that a very pretty 
little battle, without a declaration of war, has been 
carried on in this matter between the Colonial Office and 
the several administrators. The administrators send 
home proclamations and other local papers, signed by 
their ' Acting Colonial Secretary,' the Colonial Office 
reply entirely ignoring the wrong title thns given, and 
refer to the paper of the ' Collector of Customs.' 

"Itis of course difficult to get at all the facts so soon after 
«ur arrival, but I am told that, under the present arrange- 
ments, it would have been difficult to change the policy of 
theAct constituting thegovemmental system, without gi-eat 
inconvenience ; and that accordingly it has been thought 
better to appoint Sir Garnet simply to administer the 
government ' during the absence of the Govemor-in- 
CMef,' giving the latter a hint not to visit the Gold 
Coast whilst Sir Garnet is there. Of course, the whole 
idea of placing the "civil and military power in the same 
hands during the war, would be upset if Mr. Berkeley 
were to arrive, and therefore inevitably assume the 
functions of Civil Governor." 

Immediately after landing. Sir Garnet proceeded to 
stumnon together the chiefs of the country, and to 
endeavour to excite the people to do themselves their 
utmost against the enemy who was in occupation of the 
whole country. It appears from the correspondence 
which has just been presented to Parliament, that sum- 
monses, of which the following may serve as a sample, 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



44 THE ASHANIEE WAR. 

y>eve written to all the more distant native kinga wlio 
were in our alliance, but who could hardly attend the 
Council at Cape Coast. Some confusion had already 
arisen as to which of the chiefs were to go with Captain 
Glover, and which were to be directly under Sir Garnet's 
orders. Allusion is evidently made to this in the letter : 

" GovKimussT House, Cafe Coast, 

■' October 5li, 18T3. 

" King Tando, — Her Majesty the Queen of England 
has sent me to aid you in your struggle with your here- 
ditar}' foes the Ashantees. In order that I may do so 
effectually, she has graciously placed me in command of 
the troops of the whole of her West African Settlements, 
find has intrusted me also with the administration of this 
Her Settlement on the Gold Coast. I now, therefore, in 
order that we may co-operate together for the defeat of 
the enemy, claim your ready and willing obedience as a 
good ally of Her Miyesty to all that I require of you. I 
desire that you assemble all your kings and chiefs and all 
your fighting men as soon as possible after this reaches 
you at Dunquah. I beg you to note that the place of 
assemblage is not Accra but Dunquah, and that you are 
to go at once thither, any orders to the contrary you may 
have received from any one else notwithstanding. At 
Dunquah you will find an English officer who will inform 
me of your wants in order that I may supply you witli 
munitions of war. 

" I trust, with your royal co-operation, ere long to 
drive the Ashantees out of all Fantee territory, and if 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



SIR GAENET'S LETTEES TO THE NATIVE KINGS. 4fi 

jon support me with all your power to chase them, if ■ 
uecessaiy, into their own country, and inflict snch a blov 
upon them that they shall he obliged for all time to come 
to maintain peace. 

" I am, &c., 
{Signed) " G. J. WOLSELEY, 

" Commander-in-Chief of the We»t African Army, and 
Administrator of the Gold Coast. 
" King Tando of Gomooah. 

Meantime, the officers who had arrived were divided 
into two "regiments," one under the command of Colonel 
Wood, y.C, which was to be stationed at Elmina, one 
under Major Ba^er Husaell, which was kept at Cape 
Coast itself. Those who were to be stationed at Elmina 
went on there at once. Those who were at Cape Coast, 
were, for a very short time, in the Castle, but almost 
immediately a house was taken for them on one of the 
neighbouring hills. This house was of considerable 
size, and conveniently situated for forming one of the 
defensive posts round the town. For at this time it was 
necessary to prepare for Ashautee attack. Bumours 
came in almost nightly that the town was about to be 
assaulted, that the Ashantees were moving down upon it, 
etc. The first work that was undertaken round the hill 
surrounding this place, known as " Prospect House," 
■was the clearing away of the thick jungle or "buah," 
which occupied all the ground outside the town, up to the 
very houses themselves, and consisted of tangled plants, 
low trees, bushes, creepers, and intertwining flowers. 



m Google 



i6 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

tisaally from six to teD feet high. The artificers and 
vorkmen who coold be enlisted on the spot irere imme- 
diately added to those from Sierra Leone, and the Castle 
and ground outside was soon alive with men busily 
engaged in carrying out the preliminary work necessary, 
under the orders respectively of Major Home of the 
Engineers and of the several control officers. Stores 
were being daily landed and put in order; troops of 
carriers, to carry to the front of the road as far as it had 
yet been completed, all necessary stores, were being 
collected and got into order. Huts for these stores on 
first landing *ere being bnsily proceeded with. All was 
bustle and activity. But even in these early days it was 
discovered that nothing could be left unwatched by 
Europeans. Everything had to be supervised under the 
full noon-day sun by the white men, and the work was 
not long in telling on them. I remember passing one 
day, about this time or soon after, a huge store, into 
which bags of rice were to be handed by a large party of 
some twenty or thirty natives. The commissariat officer 
who was superintending the operation had been called off 
for a moment, and, as if by common consent, the natives 
had quietly seated themselves upon the bags of rice which 
lay in the middle of the street. Only just near the door- 
way, as if to show that the work was stayed for no other 
reason than mere idleness, one or two out of the thirty 
were indolently, as I passed, lifting a single rice-bi^ up 
into the shed. 

On the 4th, three days after liis arrival. Sir Garnet, 
according to previous announcement, held a grand con- 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



"PALAVEE" WITH THE KINGS. 4T 

clave, or, according to Coaat parlance, " a palaver " with 
the chiefs, who had been siunmoHed from all directions. 

A marquee had been erected in the grounds in front of 
Government House, and at about 4 o'clock the chiefs 
began to crowd thither. It was by no means an easy 
matter to find accommodation for all, for each chief 
required that his stool should be placed for him. To 
deprive him of it was to rob him of the ensign of his 
office. Moreover, there were two native interpreters with 
each chief, and these, each with a large mace much of 
the nature of a parish beadle's, bad to be got in with 
their kings. It became therefore an elaborate and nice 
question bow, without insulting some chiefs, to get others 
within any possible reach of hearing Sir Garnet's words. • 
The crush, the jam, and the stifling heat of the marquee 
may be partially guessed. I- do not know that any one 
took the temperature, but it can scarcely have been less 
than 90°. 

Nor was the difficulty by any means overcome by Sir 
Garnet himself standing during the delivery of his speech. 
' The chiefs were thereby obliged to stand, but nevertheless 
the all-important " stool " had to be carried about with 
each, and the two interpreters had to be given space. 
As Sir Garnet delivered each sentence in £nglish, it was 
translated into Fantee by the Government interpreter, 
and his translation closely watched by each of the king's 
interpreters. Most of the kings were merely draped in 
one huge cloth, sometimes very handsome, wrapped 
round their otherwise bare figures. They wore usually 
very massive gold rings, and often other ornaments vei^' 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



48 THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

Landsome from the parity of the gold. Each chief in 
suGcession came round and shook hands with Sir Garnet, 
making as he passed a sweeping obeisioice, dignified in its 
way certainly, but to my mind partaking always of that 
mock heroic air of which I have ah-eady spoken. 

Sir (garnet's speech was as follows : — 

" I am very glad to meet so many kings and chiefs 
who are loyal aUies of the English nation. Her Majesty 
the Queen having been informed of the injuries that haye 
been infiicted on her allies in this part of the world by 
the Ashantees, who, without any just cause, have invaded 
your country, and having learnt that you were unable to 
repulse your enemies without assistance, has sent me to 
unite in one person the chief mihtary and civil adminis- 
tration, so that as a general officer I may be able to help 
you. The Queen is most anxious to assist you, and I 
am desired to tell you that she will give orders to have 
carried out whatever measures I consider necessary, after 
I have conferred with you all, for prosecuting the war 
against the Ashantees. Before I can form any opinion 
on the subject, it is absolutely necessary that I should 
learn from you what you can and what you are prepared 
to do for me. I can assure you that if you place all 
your available resources at my disposal and are loyally 
determined to fight your hej-editary enemies now, that I 
will guarantee to you that I, with God's assistance, shall 
drive them out of your territory, and that I will inflict 
such a terrible punishment upon them, that for all time 
to come you can have nothing to dread from them. My 



jnGoo^Ic 



SIR OABNErS SPEECH. 49 

intention is to chase them out of your country, and, if 
necessary, to pursue them into Asbantee territory. It is 
for yon, therefore, to consider to-day among yourselves, 
so as to give me information, without delay, of what yoM 
are prepared to do. Her Majesty cannot help those who 
will not help themselves, and unless you are determined 
to unite together cordially in your own defence and are 
ftdly prepared to make every necessary sacrifice for the 
prosecution of the war, I tell yon frankly that you must 
not look to the Qneen for any assistance whatever. The 
only interest her Majesty has here is to secure your 
happiness by ^reading amongst you the blessings of 
peace and civilization. This war is not her Majesty's 
war, but is your war. You must remember that the 
Ashantees declared in 1863 and 1864, when these troubles 
began, that their quarrel was with you, and not with the 
^English. Since then no peace has ever been formally 
made with the King of Goomassie. The forts that are 
•occupied along the coasts by her Majesty's troops are so 
strong that we can laugh at all attempts that may be - 
made by any one to capture them. Her Majesty might 
therefore, if she consulted her own interests, without any 
regard to the interests of the kings and chiefs of the 
«un-ounding peoples who are allied to her, content herself 
by keeping the troops within the forts, but she feels that 
to do so would result in your destruction, and she is 
therefore most anxious to assist you with advice, with 
able and selected officers, with ammunition, and with 
supplies of food to enable you to punish those who have 
ravaged your country. I want to know from you how 

■ 

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80 THE ASHANTEB WAE. 

many fighting men you can fiimiBb, and the date you will 
have them at Dunqaah. Yon must yourselves accompany ' 
your men, and remain with them whilst the operations 
last. I propose to give to each of you kings a subsidy 
of £10 per month for every 1000 fitting men yoa 
furnish, to supply you with ammunition, and, when the 
supphes of food shortly expected here from England 
arrive, I propose to issue daily, at Cape Coast Castle, 
provisions upon the following scale, for all the fighting 
men you supply, viz., a pint of rice and quarter pound of 
salt meat for each fighting man. Until those provisions 
arrive, I propose to issue to you in lieu thereof fourpence 
hal^enny a day for each fighting-man, and, in order to 
impress upon you the earnestness of her Majesty's desires 
to help you, I propose to issue to each fighting-man, 
through the chiefe recognised by the kings, a daily pay 
of threepence a day whilst their services are made use of 
in the field. I shall send with each king an Ei^Usb 
officer, through whom all payments and issues of stores 
will be made. He will he my representative with each cS' 
you, and will advise you upon all points. In telling you 
this, I must add, that you must obey the orders that I 
send to you, and that will be conveyed to you through 
the officer I -send to each of you, and that if my propo- 
sitions are met by you in the cordial manner that I 
anticipate, it is necessary that you should clearly under- 
stand that although I am prepared to act in her Majesty's 
name most liberally to you, I shall also be prepared to 
enforce in the most stringent manner the terms of onr 
agreement, punishing most severely all those who may 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



ais OABNvrs spbboh. si 

be guilty of disobedienoe or of unmanly conduct. When 
once yoQ take tfae field, I cannot listen to any excuses 
about your being anaUe to enforce your orders upon your 
own people ; yon must exert your authority, and I will 
support you in doing bo. War can only be made Bucceas- 
iully when the general's orders are strictly and promptly 
carried out, and I have to impress upon you most 
emphaticfdlj that I will not fail to enforce the orders 
that I may issue. When I am in a position to issue 
daily rattons to you, you must, without reducing your 
force in the field, make your own arrangements for the 
conveyance of the supplies from this place to the field* 
army, wherever it may happen to be, as I cannot under- 
take to .carry for yon either anununitioii or provisions. 
Her M^esty has been grieved to learn that you still 
continue to follow the barbarous practices of your 
enemies, and are atill in the habit of killing your 
prisoners and mutilating yonr dead enemies. Brave men 
in civilised nations never do so, and I have to ui^e upon 
you the necessity for putting a stop to these practices. 
My time is bo fully occupied that I have no leisure for 
frequent interviews with yon, I have therefore to request 
an early reply to what I have said to you. I shall be 
happy to see yon all when peace has been seculred, and 
to listen to all you have to say regarding yonr private 
aflEfiirs. Until that happy time has arrived, let ua all 
bend our thoughts upon the prosecution of this war that 
has been unjustly forced upon yon by the AshantecB." 

At the end of the speech it was annotmced by the 

a 2 

n,<jN.«j-,G00»^lc 



C2 THE ASHAKT£B VAB. 

interpreter that tlie " osiud present " would be made to 
the " kings." This present consisted of a certain quanti^ 
of gin, which, according to immemorial usage, appears on 
these occasions to have been issued to the chiefs. It 
woidd clearly not have been possible to have broken 
through the rule at that moment, but as meeting after 
meeting subsequently took place at which the chiefs 
begged for more gin, one began to doubt the advantages 
of the system. The present meeting ended by each 
chief again coming up to shake hands — ^this time with 
his face snffiised mth a kind of maudlin gi'atitude in 
prospect of the promised gin. 

It is worth while to note that Sir Garnet's proposal 
is to pay 8d. a day as pay, and 4^. for subsistence to the 
fighting men. At this time those who were enhsted for 
carrying earned Is. per day. This is on the third day 
after his arrival, and on the first occasion on which Sir 
Garnet had any means of indicating to what point in his 
future he is bending the most attention. In fiict, the 
terms were savagely attacked at home as being " feeble," 
because more was offered at Uiis time for the transport 
than for the fighting part of the native force. At this 
time some of the most active officers we had were engaged 
in collecting Croomen and other tribes who had a special 
and a just repntation for being those who were most 
dependable as carriers. It was not till many weeks later 
that Mr. O'Connor, who would have succeeded if any one 
could have done so, returned from the Croo country, 
having failed to enlist more than a few Croomen, for 
reasons which it would not now be possible to go into at 

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THE THIBD DAT.— THE GABBIER QUE8TI0X. 5S 

length. Yet, though this, which must have been one of 
the mam sources of traiiBport labour on which the 
G-eneral counted was cut off &om him, it is evident to any- 
one who will examine this speech, that the point on which 
he is most bent is the qnestiou of redacing the fiiture 
difficulties of transport. He arranges with the chiefs 
that all food, ammunition, and whatever is required for 
the natives, shall be tiansported by them, and that it is 
to be delivered to them only at Cape Coast. He cannot 
provide for the fiill transport necessary for English 
Eegiments, for he has had no promise that they will 
be sent out to him ; but he does his best to limit what 
will be required for their transport ; and by keeping the 
payment for the transport studiously higher than for the 
enlisted men, he gives the former a constant tendency to 
expansion. He apeaJts already in a despatch home of 
enlisting " 2,000 " men as carriers among the Fantee 
bibes, in addition to those on whom he relies from the 
other settlements of the Coast, and whom Mr. O'Connor 
has authority to enlist without restriction as to numbers. 
It will probably be admitted that, seeing &at at this 
time Sir Garnet had not even written his despatch home, 
given on a later page, in which he assigns reasons for 
demanding an English force, he had on first landii^ 
taken the question of carriers into consideration about 
as vigorously as even Mr. Stanley could have wished. 
Snt alack, he had not confided to newspaper correspond- 
ents what he had done, and those correspondents, who 
consider that the first of the seven deadly sins of a 
commander is not to communicate to them all that he 

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M TBE ASHAITC&B WAS. 

tiiinkB, moBt tuitiirally assume that as he told them 
nothing, he did nothing. The fects were not so. So 
much the worse for the facts ! But that is not alL It 
was about this time that Sir Qamet had an interview 
with one of the native kings, in which he explains why 
he is anxious as soon as possible to collect at Dunquah 
the native force which it is the ohject of the above speech 
to induce the kings to send there. 

Sir Garnet. — The more men he can turn out the better 
for him, for his coontrj, and for me. Tell him time is 
all important. The sooner we collect the people the 
sooner we turn out the enemy. I cannot wait. The 
reason why 7 am so atmous abovi, time w this : — I cannot 
collect suppUes of all Hndi at Mansv. a/nd Prahtu, and 
otkerplaces, normake a good road tiU I get the Aghantees 
away from Mampon. And till I make my road I cannot 
move my army against Ashantee. 

This remark was made some days later than the time 
I am at present speaking about, but as it was only on the 
19th, it explains clearly enough what was the object of 
all the preliminary operations in which the General was 
now* engaged. 

Before, however, any actoal movement against the 
" Ashantee Kingdom " was undertaken, the following 
summons was addressed to the King of Ashantee. Its 
contents will be read with interest as representing our 
" case " as against the king as put forward by the Q-eneral. 
It appears from the blue books that it had been at first 



jnGoo^Ic 



THE 8X7UMONS TO THE KIKQ OF ASHANTEE. » 

intended to have had the letter aent in Aahantee and 
English to the king, but that it Bobsequently was dis- 
covered that no proper written representation of the 
Fantee or Aahantee dialect existed. This prevented 
the summons from being sent off for nearly a fortnight 
later than it would otherwise have been : — 

" GovBBNUEifT HouBE, Cape Coabt, 

" OddUr 13iA, 1873. 

"Your Migesty, — The Queen of England has heai-du-ith 
profound concern of your recent doings, by which you 
ihave directly violated the Treaty concluded in 1881 
between Governor Maclean and the late Kmg of Ashantee. 

*' Her Majesty's successive Governors were engaged in 
peaceful negotiations with you for the- deliverance of 
strangers whom you had wrongfully seized and were 
holding captive : yet during the continuance of these 
negotiations when friends of the prisoners had consented 
to pay the sum demanded by you for expenses incuiTed 
on their account, whilst your Majesty's envoys were still 
at Cape Coast, suddenly, without warning given, or cause 
alleged, you invaded the territories of Her Majesty's 
allies and still continue to occupy them. You have 
killed or driven into slavery all upon whom you could 
Uy hands. You have even attacked Her Majesty's forts. 
All this you have done whilst professing to the last a 
desire for Her Majesty's friendship. It were but justice, 
therefore, that summary punishment should be at once 
inflicted upon yourself and upon your people. 

' ' But the Queen of England as she is strong is patient. 



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K THE ABHANTEE WKR. 

Her most Gracious Majesty is willing to believe tliat evil 
advisers, or it may be unfaithful messengers, have deceived 
jou. Sbe wishes only well to the great Asbantee people 
as to all the peoples of A&ica. Sbe would be glad to 
linow that peace and happiness were enjoyed by alL She 
is most anxious for the permanent establishment between 
your nation and her subjects and allies of those com- 
mercial and friendly relations, which are so essential to 
the well-being of all, and of which in a happier moment 
your Majesty once wrote that they are ' the best support 
of nations and the principal care of the wisest.' Sbe 
wishes that all misunderstanding or imaginary cause of 
grievance that may exist in your Majesty's mind should 
be removed. 

"She has sent me, therefore, reposing in me her 
fullest and most gracious confidence to arrange with you 
for the establishment of a lasting peace. As, however, 
it is not the custom of our country to discuss terms of 
peace with one who persists in an attitude of aggression, 
I have to require as preliminaries to negotiation : — 

" 1st. That, by the 12th of November next, you with- 
draw all your forces from the territories of Her Majesty's 
allies. 2nd. That you surrender up at once all men, 
women, and children, of every tribe and people at present 
in alliance with Her Majesty, whom you' have captured. 
3rd, That you give guarantees for Uie payment of ample 
compensation to all whom you have ill-used. 

"If you in good faith consent to these conditions I 
shall be ready to treat with you in a &iendly spirit, and 
to consider any reasonable proposals you may make. 

n,g.N..(jNGoo^le 



THE STTMMOIfS. 67 

But if vithin twenty days I have not received from you 
an assurance of your readiness to comply with Her 
Maj^ty's wishes, or if you have not, within the date 
already mentioned, withdrawn all your forces into your 
own territory beyond the Prah itiver, haYing given sach 
guarantees as may satisfy me for the fulfilment of the 
above-mentioned terms, I hereby warn j-ou to expect the 
full pimishment which your deeds have merited. 

" Rest well assured that power will not be wanting to 
that end. I can scarcely believe that you do not know 
how unequal would be the struggle which you invite. 

" Her Majesty's dominion reaches far and wide over 
the earth. Against you or your forefatliers she has 
hitherto never found it necessarj' to employ more than 
an insignificant part of the special forces which guard 
this petty comer of the vast i-ealms which own her 
as Sovereign, 

" When you recently assailed her forts, they were held 
only by a handful of men. Yet your people were repulsed 
with loss. How then when Her Majesty puts forth her 
might against you can you hope to I'esist her. 

" Be warned in time, lest in refusing to attend to my 
summons, you prepare misery for yourself and for your 
people. 

"I entreat your Majesty to be careful that the exact 
terms of this despatch are accurately conveyed to yon. I 
beg you to have it read to you on two different occasions 
by two different persons, neither of whom is present while 
the otherreads. In this way, I hope that you may avoid 
any risk of such misunderstanding as to the exact nature 

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■£8 THE ASHASTBE VAB. 

of the message sent to yoa, as I fear may have occnrred 

on some previous occasions. 

" I am, youi- Majesty's well-wisher, 

(Signed) " G. J. WOLSELEY, 

" Administrator of the Gold Coast, and Commander- 
in-chief of Her Majesty's West African Army. 

" His Hajest? Coffee CalcaUi, 
" King' of Ashantee." 

>Yliether or nut it would have been possible for any 
self-respecting government to remain in the position in 
which we were at this time placed, may be judged from the 
following two letters. They describe alarms that were of 
-almost daily recurrence, but in the present instance it 
woidd hardly have been possible for the threatened attack 
to have been substantiated on better authority. 

" Caps Ooabt, Odcber 6t!i. 
" I am very nnwUhng to trouble yom* readers with 
mere rumom-s. It is said that Cape Coast has been'just 
forty times in a panic from rumours that the Ashantees 
were about to attack it. But it would be idle to deny 
that at present the reports which reach ns have more 
form and substance than any wliich have been received 
for a very long time. Report after report has been sent 
by Captain Glover to the same effect. It is said, then, 
that the King of Ashantee, at the late 'Yam yam 
custom,' took 'the great oath' that he would move with 



jNGoogle 



WAfi'8 ALAKHB. S» 

Ids whole army apon Cape Coast, and remove from it the 
body of his late ancle or great nncle which is now there. 
' This has been reported at the same time from Ebnina 
and from prisoners taken in the front. It thns comes 
from many distant quarters. It ia confirmed by the fact 
that the details mentioned are jcorrect. That is to say, 
the Ashautees for a long time carried about the body of 
the) King's uncle as a charm. It vas captured hy the 
King of Denkera, and sent here by him to the house of a 
daughter of his, who was hving here as an Englishman's 
mistress. Moreover, as the yams are now just ripe, this 
is the tune of the custom always held, anj it is at the 
time of the custom that the King does take these oaths. 

" Cape Coabt, Odoitr Wi, 
" The hurried report I sent by yesterday's boat has 
received further confirmation. We hear from many 
different quarters, but especially from Captain Glover 
again, by the steamship Elmina, that the King of 
Ashantee has sworn that he will take Cape Coast Castle, 
or perbh with his whole army in the atttempt. Captain 
Glover reports that two separate reinforcements — one of 
20,000, another of 12,000— have within the 1^ few 
weeks crossed the Prah. Nothing better could he 
wished. All preparations have been made here to receive 
our friends if they come. The hush has been cleared, a 
scheme of defence drawn up, arrangements made for 
landing the marines at a moment's notice, and for the 
co-operation of the fleet. Authority in detail over the 
place itself is in the hands of Colonel Festing, who has 

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60 TEE ASHANTEE VAB. 

become bo thoroughly acquainted with it by his residence 
here. Mfgor Home, UM., has, with Colonel Festang, 
prepared a scheme of defence, and works of some slight ■ 
kind have been thrown up. The ontpt^t^ at Dunqnah, 
and Abbaye, and Napoleon, hare, been cleared ancl 
strengthened, and enclose an area of many square miles 
in front of this fort and within their protection. We 
have actually in Cape Coast 179 men of the West India 
Eegiment, all toldj 10 Marines; 100 armed native 
poUce, recently raised ; 289 in all. Tliroughont the 
whole settlement 795 men, and about as many more 
native volunteers." 

It turned out afterwards that the attack upon Cape 
Coast had actually been contemplated, but that the 
Ashantee minor leaders had reiiised to follow their 
general in so bold an enterprise. Famine prices mean- 
while prevailed in Cape Coast itself, for eveiy article that 
was not actually imported from the sea. 



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CHAPTER ra. 

FURTHER INTEEVIEWS SIR GARNET AND THE CAPE 

COAST WOMEN — THE FIGHT AT ES8AMAN — SIR GARNET 
APPLIES FOB THE ENGLISH TROOPS. 

Interviews between Sir Garnet and the " Kings " 
were now of almost daily occurrence. The scenes were 
always curious and interesting enough from the strangely 
unique character' they presented. These men, some of 
whom could certainly if they would, and if they were 
sapported by any real enthusiasm among their' people, 
tnm out five or six thousand %hting men a-piece, were 
never tuhamed to beg for a small present — a little gin — a 
couple of Sniders — ^the price of their passage &om a short 
distance. Nevertheless, there was always a certtun 
solemn and melancholy dignity about the chiefs, which 
contrasted quaintly with the little meannesses for which 
they were always ready. It seems worth while to pre- 
serve the record of one of these interviews, taken from 
the full report given in the parliameutaiy papers. 
Only the most characteristic parts have been extracted. 
(C. 892, p. 168). 

The chiefs and kings were assembled in tlie lai^e 
marquee already described, and except that the stools 

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62 THE ASHANTEE VTJlR. 

were broaglit into requisition for their natoral purpose 
th^ general character of the meeting was much as before. 
The " Mr. Thompson " of the dialogue was an educated 
Fantee, who, being got up in European clothes, looked 
for all the world much like a Christy Minstrel. He, like 
the others, spoke through an interpreter, all the kings 
being, as before, attended by their interpreters. 

Thompson, — ^Has been asked to spe&k for all chieis.- 
They are veiy thankfiil for what your Honour sud on 
Saturday. As they cannot see the Queen they accept 
the Governor as the Queen herself, and therefore they 
thank the Queen herself for the Crovemor's comii^, and 
for his speech. The Queen has remembered her former 
kindnesses to our fathers and mothers when she saved 
them, and now she is ready to save them again. When 
your Honour was appointed to come your Honour did 
not reiuse, bat came to our help, though you knew that 
this was a climate deadly to European health. For this 
we thank your Honour. "What your Honour said the 
other day was so important that had we been dead it had 
made us live again. We therefore ask God to strengthen 
yom* Honour as He has enabled you to come here, and 
that He will add life to yout Honour. We add, your 
Honour, that in order to express our feelings to your 
Honour, we call you our new Sir C. McCarthy. As Sir 
Governor McCarthy came to save us, so has your Honour 
come to save us. Yonr Honour asked for certain men. 
If they were ready they should have been now at your 
disposal. All the kings present have your Honour for 
king, and all our power is in your Honour's hands. 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



HOKE PALATES. 63 

When, however ire returned from the campaign and were 
short of food all our men went in search of food, and we 
found it hard to get them back ; we therefore heg your 
Honoorto help ns to get them back. All are at present 
engaged on their varioua trades. We ask your Honour 
to send white officers to get our men for us that we may 
move and attack our enemy. If we were at home amoi^ 
our people we should have no need to ask this; here we 
must. 

Sir Garnet. — ^How am I to do this ? 

Thompson. — We would aek your Honour to send a 
white officer with each king to assure the people that an 
English General has come to lead them. 

Sir Garnet.— Ih&t I will do. 

Thompson. — We thank your Honour. We ask pardon 
for speaking long. We look on your Honour as our 
father ; Uierefore, if we speak at length, pardon as. We 
wish your Honour to know that we do not look upon the 
Ashantees as our only enemies, but upon the Elnunas as 
even worse enemies. They bronight all this down on us. 
They invited the Ashantees to come. Even at this 
meeting people are present who will tell 'everything to 
the Ashantees. We have now stated what we were most 
anxious about, viz., the matter of assistance from yoor 
Honour in calling together our men. 

iSir Garnet. — Whenever kings are ready I will send 
officers. 

(Here occurred a general expression of contentment 
and pleasure all round the tent.) 

It is to be noticed that up to this time no single definite 

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«4 THE A8HANTES TAR. 

promise has been given by die chiefs. The on^ thing 
they have done is to express delist at what Sir Ganiet 
had ah'eady promised them, namely, that he would send 
a white officer with them. It is difficult to give an 
adequate expression to the look of general Batisfaction 
which stole over the faces of the " kings " as they 
received the definite asstu-ance that a white officer would 
be sent with them. It conveyed with such absolute 
clearness the information that the kings and the General 
viewed the question from a directly opposite point of 
view, the kings were evidently delighted, simply because 
they hoped the officer would save them all trouble. Their 
faces, which bad been somewhat anxious before, relaxed 
with an appearance of complete relief. 

A long discussion about details followed, the General 
endeavouring to obtain definite promises on which he 
could depend ; the chiefs evading as long as possible, but 
finally promising anything ; that course on the whole 
saving trouble. 

The following incident was strikingly characteristic. 
Hitherto all the promises to move had come from chiefs 
at some distance. Sir Garnet was anxious to hear about 
the Cape Coast people, who were supposed to be likely 
somewhat to influence the action of all. 

Sir Garnet. — I want to hear what the Cape Coast 
chiefs propose, and how soon they are ready to start 

Headman Attah, of Cape Coast. — We live with your 
Excellency. When your Excellency gives us the word 
to go, we start. 

Sir Qamet. — To-morrow ! I have a white officer at 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



CAPE COAST HEBOIBH. 85 

Donquah already. Aa soou as a large camp is formed I 
sh&U start thither myself and live there. 

King Attak. — ^We are here attached to the Governor. 
When the Governor starts, we start. Where he lays his 
head there we lay our heads. 

Not the Spartans addressing Leonidas the night before 
Thermopylte. Not — but there is no use in accmnulating . 
instances in which heroic utterances have been poored 
forth. It simply woold not have been possible for words 
to have been given with more dramatic effect and majesty 
than Chief Attah pot on in making these announcements. 
Only what they meant was that the Cape Coast people 
were afraid to stir till the General himself moved. It 
■was impossible to make any use of them, or to get them 
drilled as long as they remained in Cape Coast. The 
Governor's own presence in Cape Coast was inctUpen- 
sable for a long time to come in carrying oat the 
oi^^anization of work daily going on. The Cape' Coast 
men knew this well, and felt safe as long as they conld 
profess a desire to lay their heads where the Governor 
laid hia. 

The atter suspicion and distrust of these men baffles 
description; it recurred again and again. After Sir 
Garnet had gained his first success, this same Chief 
Attah and Thompson came together, solemnly to assure 
the General that the Ashantees were already across the 
Sweet Piver, and moving down on the town : that they 
had seen the women who had fled before the enemy, 
now close npon their heels. The story was simply 
without foundation. 

» 

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68 THE ASnANTEE "WAE. 

The following letter gives the story of the time when 
Sir Garnet made his first actual moTement against the 
Ashantees. It hegins hy speaking of two more efforts 
specially made hy Sir Cramet as to the actual inhabitants 
of Cape Coast : — 

" Caps Coisr Cisilk, Odoba- ISO. 

" Sir Garnet is trying, as you will have perceived from 
his interview with the kings, to coZleet at Dnnquah as 
large a force of natives as possible nnder their chiefs, an 
English officer being attached to each considerable body. 
But meantime he is also endeavouring to form a native 
force more entirely under the command of English 
officers. These are, as far as possible, formed of the 
Mohamedan tribes, who, as I told you, from Sierra Leone 
are being raised all aloi^ the Coast. 

" But it is important also to have a nucleus for the 
Fantee tribes. The Caj* Coast men appear very un- 
trustworthy, bat there is a sort of prestige attaching to 
the capital, which, as we hear on all hands, makes it 
prbbable that when the Cape Coast men turn out, other 
tribes wUl follow their example. Moreover, the people 
here have a kinfl of organization already. There are 
nominally eight companies of Cape Coast men, who 
have an existence which dates from the time of Sir C 
Macartney. Each has its captain with, at all events, a 
nominal right to summon them together. Sir Garnet 
has therefore had interview after interview with these 
Captains, and has endeavoured by the offer of higher 
wages and the fiattery of calling them his ' guard of honour* 

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SIR QABNET AND THE COLOUBED LADIES. 87 

to make them eager to enlist. They are ready enough 
to do BO all in their own good time, bat * to-morrow, 
and to-morrow, and to-morrow' ia the maxim and the 
practice of every one here. Accordingly they put o£f and 
put off, always arranging for another, and yet another 
interview. Sir Garnet's patience with them has been 
wonderful, while he has been doing all he could to instil 
into them an idea of the necessity for immediate action. 
One of the means set to work to stir up the men will 
amuse your readers. 

" It appears that it is a practice here for the women to 
set upon and belabour any men who are left behind when 
the tribe turns out for war. In order to take advantage ' 
of this Sir Garnet had a hint that he could not do better 
than have an interview with the ladies of Cape Coast, and 
urge them to see that then- male kind reaUy did turn out. 
The scene was one of the quaintest that can be imagined. 
In trooped the women into the reception room at Govern- 
ment House, their dark feces beaming over with the fun 
and pleasure which the unusual treat afforded them. 
Their teeth of pearly white appeared as the dark lips 
were lifted in the broad grin, which raised the comers of 
each mouth. All had taken immense trouble with their 
toilets, chiefly displayed in an effort of modesty veiy un- 
usual here. Their breasts were covered. A single huge 
shawl formed the entire garment of nearly all of them. 
Gold rings and gold fastenings for the shawl were dis- . 
played in unlimited profusion. The elaborate get up of 
the hair drawn into a kind of cockatoos' feather, often 
vith immense gdd fastenings, the brilliant colours of the 

F 3 

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68 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

wrapper worn round the body, the brown and glistening 
shoulders all bare, the bright sparkling eyes set in the 
well-polished usually dark nut-brown face, and in many 
cases the by no means uncomely features, the bare calv^, 
ankles, and feet, all produced a strange melange of savagety 
and handsomeness in the appearance of the crowd gathered 
in the drawing-room not easily forgotten. By the end of 
their visit the ladies had vowed most solemn vengeance 
against any man who remained behind when Sir Garnet 
called him out. 

" I &ncy, however, that neither the interviews nor the 
threats of the ladies would have been successM in senil- 
ing the men out to fight, had not Sir Garnet been himself 
able to strike a blow which has sounded &r and wide 
throughout the country. 

" It has been the boast of the Ashantees that though the 
white man could beat them in the open, where his a/rmt 
gave him the advantage, in the bush they would always 
have the best of it. That was the thing that was preached 
to iia ad naugeam before we left England by those who 
have lived on this coast before. It makes all the difference 
with what idea on this subject the troops who fight on our 
side, and the Ashantees respectively, go into the coming' 
contest. 

" There have long been all round Elmina, bands of 
Ashantees who remain at no great distance, and not 
itnfre<juently make excursions almost up to the town of 
Ehnina itself. The great object with which these have 
been kept there has been the supply of the Ashantee 
army, whose head quarters are at Mampon. Ammunition 

n,gN..(jNGoo^le 



asha:«tee coKTEUpr fob us. «a 

and anas were smugged in all along the coast, and liave 
been brought to certain villages almost on the sea-beach, 
especially three, which are distant from Ebnina respec- 
tively about fonr, seven, and seven and a half miles. 
These were Amquana, Akimfoo, and Ampenee. Thence 
the arms and ammunition were conveyed inland to a 
village called Essaman. It lies about four miles to the ' 
north-west of Elmina. 

" The Chiefs of all these four places (Essaman, 
Amquana, AMmfoo, and Ampenee) were, aboat ten days 
ago, summoned to appear before the Governor at Elmina. 
They sent off a messenger immediately to the Aehantee 
Camp at Mampon, asking what they were to do. The 
Ashantees replied, " White man very brave in the open. 
White man dare not touch you in the bush. The 
Ashautee army will protect you ; don't go.' It was also 
said openly, ' White man never dare go as far as Essaman 
in the bush.' Sir Garnet resolved to try that question. 

" The viU^es have long since been deserted by the 
women and children, and are now partly mere depdts 
for the Ashantees, partly defensible posts, whence they 
sally out upon all friendly natives. 

" It wBj? necessai^', however) to be carefiil to prevent 
information getting abroad of any movement fi^^inst 
them. For thi'ougbont all' this Coast, those who are 
friendly to us, and tibose who aid the Ashantees, live 
side by side. Only the other day, an attempt at 
Elmina to catch maraudu^ Ashantees, failed because 
no sooner had the message reached the force that was 
to be sent off, than up started an apparently friendly 

n„jN.«j-v Google 



70 THE ASHANTIE TTAE. 

villager that was living in the place, and bolting at fuU 
pace by a bye-path throngh the bash, was seen to give 
warning to the enemy. 

" It was ob-rioasly indispensable to employ a ruse for 
the purpose of concealing the General's intentions, and 
Ihig was most successfully done. 

"We have all heard lately that certain tribes on the Volta, 
the Aquimoos especially, have been engaged on a sort of 
pillaging raid. They recently burnt to the ground a 
factory belonging to Messrs. Swanzy, and a vessel which 
came up here a short time since from Captain Glover, 
brought reports that fires were to be seen all over the 
Volta country. 

" This prepared us all for news of certain troubles in 
that direction. True, we knew that Captain Glover 
had a definitely oi^anized force of some 800 men, armed 
with Sniders. True, half of these were those veiy 
Houssas in whom every one here and at home has learnt 
to believe. True, we ought to have known exactly by 
what sliips news could come from the Volta. But then, 
as an old Cambridge don of my acquaintance used to say, 
' Men are such fools.' And so, when rumour was set afloat 
after the true historic fashion, first to creep gently, and 
was then allowed to acquire force as it travelled, we were 
ready with open ears to receive it. I do not think that 
there were half-a-dozen people in Cape Coast who did 
not believe, by the morning of the 13th, that Captain. 
Glover was in serious difScolties, and that it behoved 
Sir Garnet to move down to his help. 

" Much the same news had spread at Elmina, and to 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



FIBST SIGHT OF THE HOUSSAS. 71 

encourage it, orders were issued, aboat three In the 
afternoon of the 13th, for all the troops there to be ready 
to march early the following morning upon Cape Coast, 
to replace those who were to be moved thence to the 
Yolta. Cots for the possible sick and wounded were 
despatched during the day to Elmiua, but excited no 
suspicion. The popular mind is not much given to the 
putting of two and two together, and the general stir all 
contributed to the idea of a Volta expedition. 

" Fortunately there was already at Elmina a more 
considerable force than any that has been there for a 
long time. On the llth (two days before), 130 Houssas 
had arrived from. Lagoa, off Cape Coast. On that day it 
had been signalled by the boat off Elmina, that Colonel 
Wood, who commands there, expected to be attacked in 
the coarse of the afternoon. As the announcement reaches 
us nearly every day as to some post or other, it would 
probably hardly have been noticed had it not given Sir 
Garnet a convenient excuse for an inten'lew with Colonel 
Wood, in which he could arrange details for Ihe ISth and 
14th. As it was, however, he and his Staff, and your 
correspondent with them, went off in the ' Bittern,' the 
ship which had brought the Houssas. We landed at 
Elmina with them. 

" Nothing need be recorded of that day, except the 
impression created on every one by the first sight of 
this splendid body of ' police,' as, much to their own 
disgust, they are still called. They had never seen a 
Snider till they embarked on the ' Bittern.' There they 
had seen the few in the possession of the sailors, and had - 

n,gN..(JNG0OglC 



72 THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

eagerly exumined them. Jttst after we embarked, one of 
these weapons was served out to eacl^ of them. Their 
eagerness and delight were onbounded. In a surpris- 
ingly short time they had learnt all the special 
mechanism of the piece, bo &r as loading and closing 
the breech were concerned. There was no mistake as 
to their determioation, if possible) to -rival the per- 
formances of their brethren on the coast, of whose 
doings they had heard everything,- and of whom they 
were most proud. 

" The whole 126 of these fine fellows had been that 
evening left at Elmina, and there were, on the ISth, in 
addition to these, about 100 men of the 2ud West India 
Begiment. 

" Sir Garnet's plan was this : — First to reinforce the 
force at Eimina by early dawn on the 14th, with about 100 
more of the 2nd West India Regiment from Cape Coast, 
with as many Marines as could be landed, and as manj' 
blue-jackets as coold be spared &om the fleet, and to 
march straight upon the inland village of Essaman; then 
to return towards the beach upon the three sea coast 
places of Amquana, Akimfoo, and Ampenee. Meantime, 
as soon as firing was heard at Esaaman, the fleet was to 
open upon Ampenee and Akimfoo. Thas it was hoped 
to prevent the removal of the stores from any of these 
places, and to destroy what had been collected for the 
Ashantees. 

"All this had been agreed upon between Captain 
Fremantle and Sir Garnet. It was also settled that 
sufficient blue-jackets should be luided to take over the 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



THE NIGST T0TA6E. T8 

ordinary duties ftt Cape Coast duiing the absence of the 
tisoal goiriaon. 

"It was nearly ten o'clock at night on the 18th, irhen 
Sir Garnet and ahont half of his Staff embarked on 
Ijoard the ' Barracouta.' The Marines were in this boat, 
the 2nd West Indians in the 'Decoy.' It was fully 
one o'clock when the 'Barracouta' steamed away from 
Cape Coast, just in the opposite direction to that in 
•which the sleeping town had a few hours before believed 
that she was going. 

" There was considerable delay in getting off the boats 
:from both vessels, when at length they were oppo&ite 
I^lmina. The night was pitchy dark. The only l^ht was 
ftom the sea, as the plashing of the surf-boats' paddles 
showed the jewel-like beauties of the phosphorescent 
water, the more glorious for the gloom around. Un- 
liappily, lovely as that appearance is among the waves, 
it is a pleasure to the eye, not a business'like aid to it. 

" Yet longer delay was to be endured. It was very 
nearly low tide, and for a time that seemed hours, but 
was certainly more than one, the boats stuck on the 
shelving beach, whilst wave after wave broke pitilessly 
upon those within. • * * * • 

" However, it is over at last. Elmina is reached, and 
after a brief halt, the whole column, including the 
Elmina force, is ready to march. The day has already 
broken, for it is neai-er five than four, Uie hour at which 
the march was to have begun. No news has as yet at 
all events escaped from Elmina. 

" For all around the town during the course of the 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



74 THE ABEAHTEE WAE. 

night a cordon of police Iiad been thzo^m, no prepara- 
tions having been made for the day's work till the 
drawbrii^e of the Castle had been raised. Then all had 
gone on quietly vithin. 

" The road at first lay through a flat marsh full of rank 
vegetation, and redolent of odours too horrible to be 
recalled. Notably it was necessary to wade through 
more than 200 yards of foul and pestilential water so 
inpregnated with filth that the stench never the whole 
day left a boot that had been dipped into it ; and now 
the pathway soon closed in, and often was not three feet 
wide. 

" The appearance of these bush-paths is quite un- 
like anything else in the world. In the middle is the 
actual track itself, barely wide enough to allow one man 
to pass. To right and left the bush has been often at 
some time or other cleared to a few yards in width, 
especially in the immediate neighbourhood of villages. 
Over this cleared ground there grow again immediately 
creepers and flowering plants iimumerable. Sometimes 
the space from the pathway to the dense bush is covered 
with one delicate green mass of feathery sensitive plant, 
which, as the rough foot of the passenger touches it> 
qnivers and cloaes before him. This, again, more often 
is interlaced with strings and ropes of creepers, some of 
exquisite delicacy, some of v^orous strengUi, which 
clamber, and tangle, and twist with one another in a 
strange confusion of colour and form. The commonest 
perhaps is a rich coloured marigold, not lovely in itself, 
but effective enough as it rambles over bush and thorn. 



jnGoo^Ic 



THE BEAXmEB OF A BDSH.PATH. T& 

and looks down upon the pathway from above. Masses 
upon masses, and ropes upon ropes, of pasdon flower, 
and every variety of shape, and tint, and aize, of yellow 
conTolvuIus, from the bright little jewel which seems to 
have concentrated in its . flower all the colour and 
brilliancy which is ^read over its larger rivals to those 
rivals themselves with their delicate tint and slender 
blossoms scarcely smaller than the paasion-cup itself 
which, wherever the view opens back a little for a 
moment, glows from the npper branches of the bush 
behind. At times the ground is all saf&on with one 
delicate plant ; at times it is all blue or purple with 
another, and now again they mix, and mass, and set one 
another off with those strangely artistic touches of which 
Nature, in her glory alone, is capable, while here and 
there white nodding bunches glisten from among the 
waving branches of one palm tree, or rich yellow cluster 
from another. And over all, the glowing sun is now fast 
throwing his evermore intenser rays which as yet only 
light up all these beauties, but will ere long fade and 
scorch them, till by night&Il, scarcely one flower will be 
. seen, where fifty seemed almost to light up the ground 
in the morning. All this display, glorious and varied as 
it is, crowds itself in between, or barely crests the top of 
bushes on either hand so dense, that they form walls 
usually almost as impenetrable as if they were rigid, 
though rigidity is the last quality which the eye attributes 
to their ever-changing form. For the most part, nothing 
is to be seen beyond the bank eight feet or so high, and 
a few yards back on either side. But here and there an 



jNGoogle 



78 THS A8EANTEE WAJL 

old pathway through the bush, over which the branches 
have stretched and tangled again into a dense roof that 
droops almost down to the leafy floor, gives a little light 
between, or would admit a dangerous passage to a lithe 
and ddlfttl foe. And nov and then the path a little 
widens, or the near bnsh a little lowers, and then are to 
be seen acres npon acres of ever-rambling, irregular, and 
various tinted green." 

' It is noteworthy that the wonderful beauty above 
described seems peculiar to only one time of the year, 
and even then for only a very hours of the early morning. 
Some months after we had been upon the Coast I sent 
a friend to one of these paths, where I had again and 
again seen such beauty, of which the above is only a very 
faint description. He, I believe, must have thought me 
a complete impostor; for when I went myself to see 
what the path was like next day, the whole appearance 
had changed. I had not myself visited the path for 
some weeks at the only time when the flowers showed in 
theii' glory, viz., the early hours after sunrise, and in tiie 
intorvening weeks the whole character had changed. 

" Throt^h such a path as this, there slowly moved 
during the early hoars of Tuesday, October the 14th, 
their every step impeded by this luxuriant vegetation, a 
gi-oup of men in garb, and look, and gait, as picturesque 
as it would be easy to conceive. In the extreme front, 
acting as guides, an Elmina native chief and a few men, 
their nearly, if not quite, nude figures, their dark skins 
and savage mien giving them just the look of the wild 
creatures one might expect to meet amid such a mad 



ji-vGooglc 



THE ES8AMAN HASCH. 77 

loxTiriance of nature. The Houssas close upon tliem 
their loose flowing tonic, loose trouser to the knee, 
their dashing, devil-niay-care air and jaunty step 
nnmistakable even at a distance. Wherever the bnsh 
to right and left was not so dense as to make it 
impossible that enemies should lorii, they glided in 
on either side, their Sniders tenderly nursed like 
irell-Ioved babies. Sometimes supporting tJtem, some- 
times next to them but separate, the white turbans and 
white tonics of the 2nd West India Begiment showed 
along the path or among the less dense bushes. Among 
both Hoossas and West Indians passed here and there 
the European officers — ^their grey Canadian home^on 
sombre in contrast to the more telling costumes of the 
men, but the short businesS'like sword oi^n in active 
employ for clearing away the bush, the revolver-belt, the 
all-important water-bottle, the stout gaiters, all gave an 
appearance which spoke the character of this most novel 
of enterprises. One fault of their attire, however, added 
to the telling effect. Most of them had as yet neglected 
to tone down the too conspicuous white of the pnggexies 
which covered their sun hehnets. All through the bush, 
at distances where nothing else could be seen, these 
showed throughout the day. 

*' In long thin queue behind there moved a body, small 
indeed, in number, but so strange in their variety and con- 
trast that, had it been an artist rather than a general who 
had to compose the order of march, he could scarcely have 
displayed them to more picturesque advantage. Thirty 
blue jackets, with their accustomed joUy air, next to the 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



78 THE ASHAKTBE WAIL 

small, sleek, submissiTe kroomen from Cape Palmas, who 
carried the 7-pounder gun whioh the seamen were to work. 
Bockets and all that belongs to them carried by a similar 
set. Laboorers with axes, some from Sierra Leone, 
some from the Gold Coast, came next, or as necessity 
arose, were pushed to the frront to clear the wity. Then 
the Marines, fine business-like soldiers as they are ; 
labonrers, some with ammunition, some with hammocks 
for the sick, and in the distance on the path more of the 
2nd West Indians, and more labourers, ended the long 
train of the small force. In all there were about 800 
men, of whom perhaps 170 were Englishmen and 330 
were native soldiers of one kind or other, the remaining 
SOO being labourers. 

" And now suddenly what is that that sounds at the 
head of the column without warning or alarm ? First a 
few shots fired, as we afterwards learnt, almost at muzzle 
point upon our advancing Houssas. Then bang, bang, 
bang, roll after roll of smoke, and all gets into that 
strangest, most weird, and most confused of all thii^s, a 
bush fight with invisible enemies. Our good Houssas, 
bold as men need be, are wild also. They fancy that 
they see in every bush a foe. No sooner have they thus 
seen, or imagined him before them, than with a wild 
shriek, ' Pish Ashantee ! ' and glaring eye, np goes the 
Snider, and that latest product of civilization in these 
most uncivilized hands is made to pour volley after volley 
as if in mere mad joy, high into the air. 

" Nothing wilder, nothing more ungovernable by mortal 
man, nothing more impossible to describe than the whole 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



A BU6H-PIGHT. 79 

a£bir now became, can be conceived. The HouBsa inter- 
preter was shot in tlie first few moments. Hardly any 
eommmtication was poBsible between the officers and &em, 
bnt by a stick sharply brought down before them, or at 
times upon their knuckles, when their zeal for the employ- 
ment of the weapon had reached the point of utter indif- 
ference to the object aimeoi at. Who shall say all the 
risks that were run that day ■ by officers or men from 
friendly shots in that all-concealing bush? Whatever 
danger there may have been from shots from the foe, was 
ftt least magnified in seeming tenfold by the incessant 
£ring of the Houssas. It was impossible during all 
this blaze of fire to judge whether the Ashaatees were 
yielding or not, for the firing of the breech-loaders 
ntterly drowned the dull sound of the natives' guns, 
onmistakable when heard from the long slow boom 
of the heavy charge of bad powder they invariably 
employ. 

" At length it slowly became evident that the 
enemy had yielded somewhat. When the fight first 
commenced, the head of the column in the ever-winding 
track had just reached the bottom of a valley only 
separated, as it turned out afterwards, by a single hill 
from the village of Essaman. ' The enemy had com- 
menced by a cross fire from both sides upon this pathway. 
They now fell back to near the crest of the hill. At 
this time they occupied also the village in the valley 
below, and extended all through the bush, on either side 
of the path, down the slope facing the village. 

" And so to settle tiie question the 7-pounder and the 

n,<jN.«j-vGoo^le 



80 THE ABEAifTEB WAB. 

rockets were piuhed np to the crest. A capital place 
was found. But alaa I the all-important weapons 
goon became the centre of only too much interest, 
and no fewer than three officers were gathered round 
them. In a moment from the dark bush no one knows 
how close in poured a volley of sings. Colonel Mc'NeiU, 
the second iq command, and chief of the staff, was 
terribly wounded — two arteries being cut in his arm, 
and he lost blood at it Ate that spoke of serious injury in 
such a climate. Captain Fremantle, whilst actually 
giving orders to the sailors at the gun, was shot in the 
arm. Captain Boiler, the head of the new intelligence de- 
partment of the expedition, was only saved by a prismatic 
compass at his side, which was broken to pieces. The 
rockets and the gon, however, maintained their position, 
and brought to bear a fire upon the village, which told 
with ^most decisive effect upon such of the enemy as were 
holding it. 

" A little before the gun had been got into position. 
Captain Brackenbnry and Captain Charteris had pushed 
out with some marines well to the right through the 
dense bush, and ahnost immediately afterwards Captain 
Buller with others to the ieft. These, often having to 
make a passage for tiiemselves with the invaluable 
Elcho sword, at length worked their way through. 
They had reached a point of the bush where there 
was nothing between them and the village, and where 
they were clear of such of the cover as was occupied 
by the Asfaantees. The only difficulty now lay in con- 
veying to those who wei'e plying the guns information as 

n,3N..(jNGoo^le 



THE BU8H.FIGHT. Bl 

to the necessity for stoppii^ in order to allow them to 
rush. So great was the crash and clatter of the Honasas' 
fire, that this was for a long time impossible. Before 
the signal had been perceived a small Tillage, far to the 
right blazing in the air, showed that the enemy had been 
driven back there also. This had been done by Lieu- 
tenant Woodgate and some Hoossas sent thither on 
purpose. 

" When at length Captain Brackenbury and Captain 
Charteris were able, on the cessation of the rocket fire, 
to enter Essaman, there was no one in it but a little 
«hild, afterwards taken care of by one of the officers. 

" It was about half-past eight. A cordon of sentries 
was thrown round, and the weary force bivouacked 
find ate such food as they had in a field outside the 
-village, where some little shade could be obtained from 
eorronnding bushes fifteen feet or more h^h. The 
Tillage had been set on fire. The flashes and explosions 
of the powder, stored in almost every house, and the 
blazing of the rum, created a light and heat that were 
perceptible even under that intense sun. 

" Nothing had been removed by the Ashantees. They 
~were firmly convinced that it would be impossible for 
-white men to reach it. 

" The heat was now becoming every moment more 
intense, terrible as it had been throughout all these 
operations. In about an hour the march was resumed. 

" Scarcely had it commenced when parties of Ashantees 
again made their presence in the bush felt by firing on 
the colunm. They were, however, immediately driven 



ji-vGoogJe 



82 THE ASHANTEE WAS. 

back. Shortly afterwards there was another brief halt in 

a village mined in the native war of 1870. 

"When again the force moved forward, it may be 
judged with what relief all passed along a pathway 
shaded by over-arclmig branches, which partly broke 
the intense severity of the sun. After a march withont 
incident the sea-beach was reached near Amquana. The 
village was found deserted, but ^le stores of powder 
and rum had not been removed, and the whole was soon 
blazing, spurting, cracking, and sending off bursts of 
deep black smoke which were, like those of Essaman, 
visible for miles along the coast. , 

" From hence at about two o'clock most of the marines 
and all the wounded, with any one else who had suffered 
too severely from tlie heat, were sent back to Ehnina along 
the beach. Captain Brett, however, witli 140 or so of 
the 2nd West Indians, and Captain Crease, with about 
twenty marines, volunteered to go on. Ten or twelve blue 
jackets still remained with the rockets under Lieutenant 
Maxwell, E.M., and, perhaps, 100 Houssas under Lieu- 
tenant Richmond, still marched with Sir Garnet and his 
staff. Lientenant-Colonel Wood continued to direct the 
operations. 

" The route now lay along the beach itself — a strange 
contrast in its weary monotony to the green and flowery 
pathway of the morning. If a little less wealth of vege- 
tation might have been acceptable at the earlier time, now 
underthat glaiing, scorching sun beating on that red grey 
beach which seemed the reflector of a furnace, anything 
of green, even to look at, would have been a relief. As it 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



AI/>SO THE 8GA-BEACE. 83 

was, between all the vegetation and the sea-sand there 
rose a high shingle hank, which throughout as com- 
pletely concealed the movement of the troops as it hid 
the features of the country from them. 

" After about an hour's march a welcome relief arrived 
— Captain Hext landed from the ' Decoy ' with water. 
The march Was again checked for a short time to let 
every one refresh himself. Captain Luxmoore brought on 
shore some more seamen and marines. 

" A small stream, through which it was necessary to 
wade up to the knees, had next to be crossed. Then 
Akimfoo was reached, found deserted, but ftill of stores 
like the others, and, like them, burnt. 

" Haifa mile farther on lay the village of Ampenee. Ap- 
parently it was deserted, and it had already been entered 
and burnt, when, first on one side and then on the other 
of it, down came the savages, and succeeded in wounding 
some Houssas. However, the Houssas on one side, then 
the SEiilors and marines on the other, gave them a recep- 
tion which soon decided them to leave their stores and 
village to their fate. The task was accomplished, but the 
day's work was by no means done. A long and dreary 
march had to he gone through back to Elmina. But the 
sun's heat had passed oS, and the march was not as 
exhausting as the rest had been. Sir Garnet returned 
the same night in the ' Decoy ' to Cape Coast. 

" When a general has contrived to bring to bear upon a 
portion of his foe every available man, when he has done 
so suddenly and unexpectedly, when he has selected for 
his blow just that part of his enemy's forces which is 

a2 
, n,<jN.«j-,G00»^lc 



Si THE A8H&NTEE VAB. 

most important to the latter, and has further provided 
that this shall be done with the least possible distress to 
his own men, he uiaj fairly be said to have achieved to 
perfection all his own share of the work. But unfortu- 
nately, for the carrying ont of any serioas military under- 
taking, one or two things besides a general are necessary. 
Either that general must have time to form the troops he 
is to employ, or he must have trained troops to start 
with, at all events in sufficient numbers to form a back- 
bone to the others. 

"We have not time for slow training in the present 
expedition. Everything must be achieved before the bad 
weather sets in in April, or must .be abandoned for this 
year. The one whole effort of the Ashantees will be to 
canse us delay till then. That is known to be their plan. 
Now the operation of the other day has unhappily proved 
to demonstration, that there are no troops but white men 
on whom one can thoroughly depend for such work. The 
utter wildness of the Honssas, and the conviction on 
the part of the West Indians that the Ashantees were 
superior to themselves in the bush, were demonstrated 
in a manner that left nothing to doubt. White troops we 
must have, and that speedily. They need not be exposed 
for any length of time in the bush. The work is not too 
much for them. Not one European soldier is known to 
have suffered from the exhausting work of the other day, 
endured in many cases from three or four a-m. to eight 
P.M. We have as yet heard only from England ' that it 
would be manslaughter to send English battalions at all ; 
murder to send them ' under some conditions or other 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



AN APPEAL FOE TOLUNTEEES. SS 

imagined by some of your coDtemporaries. lu Heaven's 
name then ask for a thoueand volunieeis from EngliBli 
officers. Charge the coste of the whole expedition to 
their private pockets. The insurance offices will make a 
clean sweep of their policies, the purchase commiBuonets 
will save thousands to the next budget. If in a weak 
moment some secretary of state promises them a free 
passage, a War Office clerk will illegally decide the 
question and refuse it. If they complain of bein({ 
cheated of what was distinctly promised them, and ask for 
inquiry, the ^ectator will announce that they were ask- 
ing for 'donatives,' and will explain to all the world 
that if they die it does not matter. 2000 of them will 
volunteer, and if you send us 500, Sir Garnet will lead 
them Tictoriously to any comer of Africa where he is 
allowed to take them. We will then cry Quits about 
Uie battalions who may continue to perform at Wimble- 
don or Aldershot. 

" It is known that the fight of the other day has 
produced immense effect. The Ashanteea have always 
believed themselves able to find out all that the white 
man did, and they were surprised. They beUeved tiiem- 
selves able to beat the white man in the bush, and it was 
in a purely bnsb-fight that they were beaten. The 
Fantees wanted a leader, and are delighted to find they 
have got one. The levies are slowly coming in. Those 
who actually enlist for the war are now known officially 
as ' Bnssell's Begiment of Foot ' and ' Wood's Begiment 
of Foot,' the one set being under the conunand of Major 
Bussell at Prospect House, near Cape Coast, the other 



84 THE A.SHANTEE W^AB. 

under Colonel Wood at Elmina. The former, however, 
as yet numbers only about 250, and the latter SOO men. 
There are besides perhaps 150 at Napoleon and 60 at 
Abbaye. Then there are in addition the levies coming 
in under the native chiefe to Dunquah. Our first fort has 
been completed at Mansue, is capable of being defended 
by sixty men^ and will hold immense stores of all kinds. 
The road there from this place has been much improved, 
but alack, neither traction engines nor railway can be 
used on any road that could be prepared in time. A 
message to that effect was sent by last mail to be 
telegraphed from Maderia, but we have since heard that 
the telegraph has broken dotm. It is a striking illustra- 
tion of the impossibility of getting accurate information 
before leaving England. Surely some one who had been 
' seven times to Africa,' or who ' knew,' or who ' did,* 
might have managed to let us know what our engineers 
found out in a week after we were here, that, within the 
time required, neither engines nor railway could be landed, 
and ih&t if they could be landed they could not have 
roads prepared for them." 

The remainder of the letter relates to the summons to 
the King of Ashantee already given, some of the facts 
about which began now to be publicly known in conse- 
quence of the incident below mentioned. "A summons has 
beenaddressed to the King of Ashantee, It has been opened 
in the camp at Mampon, and one of the coolest of answers 
returned. The General Amonquoitia sends his love to the 
Governor and does not wish to quarrel with him, only 
certain slaves of his master have behaved badly, and he 



ASHAITEEE IDEAS OF TBEATIES. 8T 

has come to fetch tliem. These are the Kings of Den- 
kera, Wassav, Aliiiu, and Assim. Now it happens that 
dn 18S0, these same Kings, aiding us against the Ashan- 
tees, enabled us to impose upon the King the only satis- 
factory treaty we have ever had with him. As theii- share 
of the success, their freedom fi-om Aehantee was 
^aranteed in the treaty to which the English Governor, 
they, and the King of Ashantee were parties. Our good 
£dend Amonquoitia is therefore quite ready to love us if 
we will only restore to him ' slaves ' forty years free, and 
break treaties, to which, for our own advantage — tb 
economise the forces we employed here — our faith was 
pledged. Some points in the Summons have leaked out ' 
as it was opened and talked ovei' in the Ashantee camp." 
The following " Instructions " issued to the officers 
who were sent as Commissioners to the Kings, will give 
An idea of the kind of work which had to be done during 
this time : — 

" Irutrucliom for , tm^loyed at Special QmmiuUmtr 

" with Sing of 

" QoVBENMEST House, Oetober 8, 1873, 
" 1. It cannot be too strongly impressed upon you that 
you are not dealing with educated or civihzed beings, and, 
consequently, the utmost good temper, affability, and 
patience, mingled with fixedness of pui-pose and deter- 
mination are of the greatest importance. 

" 2. You will give every assistance to the King to 
whom you are conmiiBsioned in the endeavour to collect 
kis fitting men. Should the King find it neceasary to 



jNGoogle 



M TEE ASHiNTBE WAS. 

resort to coercion, yon mil be careful that no pmushments 
repugnant to hnmanity are inflicted; and although yon 
most Boppoit the King and hie chiefs in the exercise 
of their authority, it is essential that all the pimishmentg. 
that may be necessary are inflicted by their order, and 
carried into execution by their people. Neither you nor 
policemen attached to you will have anythii^ to do with 
the infliction of such punishment. 

" 3. The terms promised for fighting men are as 
follows : Each King is to have a subsidy of 101. per month 
for eveiy 1,000 fighting men he fiimishes at the point of 
assembly, viz., Dnnqoah ; where they will be mustered 
on arrival, receiving pay from the date of leaving th» 
starting point at the rate of Sd. a day for every fighting 
man, and Bubsistence at tha rate of 4^d. a day. 

" 4. The Major-Oeneral has promised that he will 
ideal hberally with the chiefs and head men, and proposeft 
paying a monthly snbsidy for eveiy 100 men they find. 
You will have the goodness to report to me as soon as 
you have been able to form an opinion, as to the amounts- 
. yon Uiink they should receive ; remembering that, as a 
rule, no subordinate chief should receive as much as the 
King. Yon will endeavour to ascertain who the indi- 
viduals are who hold the real power in the tribe. 

" 5. Your interpreter is to receive 6s. a day, and Is. 
a day subsistence allowance, paid weekly. He will be 
found a hammock to the place where the King is to- 
collect his mdi, or will receive IDs. a day in lieu thereof. 
You will be provided with a hammock and bearers to the 
same place. Upon arrival there, you will send back the 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



OEDEBS FOB A WILD LIFE. B» 

interpreter's hammock and all tlie bearers nt once, but 
will retain your own hanunock. During all fiirtber 
movements bearers most be found for you by the King to 
-whom you are commissioned. You can give the bearers 
provided for you 6d. a day. The interpreter is not to be 
famished mth a hammock during any sabseqaent move- 
ments. 

" 6. You Tvill keep a journal of all your doings, and an 
accoimt of all your incidental ezpensea. You will report 
daily to me all you have done and hope to do ; demanding 
whatever money you To&y consider necessary for the success 
of your enterprise, and for the weekly payment of the 
interpreter and the two policemen attached for duty to 
jou. 

" 7- In conclusion, I have to urge dispatch upon you, 
and to impress upon you the neceBsity of leaving no stone 
unturned with the view of collecting all the forces of the 
King to whom you are commissioned, and of conducting 
them to Bunquah as soon as possible, where you will 
place yourself in personal communication with Lieutenant 
Gordon, 98th Begiment, in order to fix on the exact 
spot where the native levies under your direction are to 
be encamped. It is possible that M^or Bussell, 13th 
Hussars, may be La command at Duuquah when you 
arrive there ; if so, you will, of course, take your orders 
from him. 

" You will report upon the nature of the arms in pos- 
session of the levies you collect; and, if possible, get 
every man to take a hatchet or native cutlass with him, 
for clearing bush." 

n,3N..(jNGoogle 



VO THE ASHANTEB WAR. 

Before concluding this chapter, it will be well to ff.ve a 
letter which Sir Garnet, about this time, addressed to the 
Government, applying to have the English troops sent to 
him. The letter is in all ways so interesting that no 
apology is needed for here inserting it. But it, in fact, 
answers so many of the (luestions which have been lately 
put forward, that it is well to draw attention to the 
definiteness with which these are met in it. It will be 
seen that the question of the employment of white troops 
at all was left entirely in Sir Garnet's hands, and that 
the question whether or no a march upon Coomassie was 
or was not necessary, is met by a careful and very inter- 
esting historical inquiry into the motives which have 
hitherto prevailed with Ashantee monarchs in inducing 
them to a peaceful policy. Furthermore, I would 
especially draw attention to the last paragraph, from 
which it will be seen that as early as this date — the 
time when Sir Garnet was first applying for the English 
troops — he had pledged himself in these terms, " not to 
land one man more than I consider absolutely necessary 
for the success of my expedition." 



MAJOB-GENEBAI. SIR G. WOLSELEY TO WAR OFFICE. 

" Cape Coast Castle, Oetober 13, 1878. 
" Sir, — I have the honour to request that the troops 
(strength as per mai^in*) which, before my departure 

• Two battalioiu of tofantiy, 650 each (1,300) ; detachment Bojil 
ArtlUeiT, 60 ; detachment Bc^id Engfineers, iO ; Adminutxfttive aw- 
Tioe. 60 : totfti, 1,«60. 

The above nomber is exoliuive of oSoeia. Two Bnbiiltema (bat no 
Captains) to be mat with ^ Bt^al ArtiUeij, also a double propoitiaa 
ol non-commissioned officers to toko ohai^ of amall-aim ammunition. 



jnGoo^Ic 



SIE GAENET ASKS FOE TBOOPS. 91 

from England, I requested might be held m readiness for 
service in the Ashantee Expedition, may be dispatched 
to this station at the earUest possible date after the 
receipt of this letter. 

"In making this request, I bear fully in mind the 
instmctions which I had the honour to receive from you 
before leaving England, and I do not make this demand 
hastily, or without having fi-eely communicated with those 
who have experience on the Coast, and knowledge of the 
immediate circumstances. On the other hand, I remember 
your desire that my decision as to the emploj'ment of 
European troops should be arrived at ' as soon after my 
arrival on the Coast as I might be enabled to form it with 
sufficient knowledge of the eirciunatftncea and satisfaction 
to myself.' I have, therefore, consulted all those whose 
experience and knowledge was at my disposal, and I have 
studied the question in its various bearings. 

" From these consultations, and this study, results my 
firm conviction of the necessity for the employment of 
European troops, and of the perfect feasibility of employ- 
ing them without undue risk, for those purposes which 
your instmctions specify, namely, ' to fi-ee these settle- 
ments irom the continued menace of the attacks of the 
Ashautees, and to accomplish the ^rther objects of m^' 
mission.* 

" There is, Sir, but one method of freeing these 
settlements from, the continued menace of Ashantee 
invasion ; and this is to defeat the Ashantee army in the 
field, to drive it from the protected territories, and, if 
necessary, to pursue it into its own land, and to march 



93 THE A8HAHTEE VAB. 

victorious on the Ashantee capital, and show not only to 
the King, but to those chiefs who urge him on to constant 
war, that the arm of Her Majesty is powerful to punish, 
and can reach even to the very heart of their kingdom. 

"By no meana short of this can lasting peace be 
insured ; one truce after another may be made, but they 
will again and] again be broken, for the Ashantees have 
learnt to believe that they may with impunity invade and ' 
lay waste the protected territory, and dwell there nnmo- 
lested by the white man, till ihey arrive imder the very 
walls of our forts. 

" If the histoiy of former wars with the Ashantees be 
examined, it will be found that every sign of weakness, 
and every imsuccessfiil effort of onrs has been followed by 
renewed hostilities on their part ; and, on the other hand, 
that the show of military strength alone has brought 
peace. 

" It was Urns that the Ashantee advance to Annamaboe 
in 1807 was followed by the invasion of 1811, this again 
by the advance to Cape Coast Castle in 1817, when the 
Ashantees were bought off; and this by the insult and 
invasion of 1823. The sad failure of Sir Charles 
McCarthy's Expedition in 1824 brought the enemy to the 
walls of our forts, and again, in 1826, they renewed their 
attacks. Now for the first time they were not only 
defeated but routed ; and the signal victory of Dodswah 
freed the country for uLany a long year. The King of 
Ashantee sent to say ' that he found it was no use fighting 
against white men,' and the truce was declared which 
ended in the peace of 1831. 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



WHY WE IUlBCHED TO C00HAS8IE. »3 

" For twenty-five years, almost the time of a geueratioQ, 
thia lesson had its effect. Bat in 1853 the restless chiefs 
again urged on the King to war, and the perpetnal dread 
of invasion was renewed. Though happily staved off by 
the judicious measures of Governor Hill, and a show of 
strength, the invasion was kept hailing over the heads 
of the protected tribes, ^d the unmeasured threats of 
the King led to the expedition which was imdertaken in 
Governor Pine's rule, when a detachment of our African 
troops marched to, and encamped upon the Frah, and 
were left there inactive to softer and to die, till the wreck 
■which remained were recalled at the expiration of five 
months, three months of which had been passed in a 
severe rainy season. 

"From that day to this tl^ere has been no peace 
between the Ashantees and England. No strength has 
been shown by England, except defensive strength when 
oar forts have been actually attacked. Our Fantee allies, 
who fell hack before the enemy, have disbanded and 
become demoralized. They have lost their confidence in 
the English power of protection, and in proportion the 
Ashantees have grown bold and confident. Their forces 
lie in security within nine nules of our forts, and for six 
months they have lived on the produce of the land said to 
be protected hy us. 

'.' Her Majesty has confided to me the task of insuring 
a lasting peace. Past history, the experience of those 
who have watched the condition of the Coast, and my 
own observation of the actual stat« of afTairs, alike con- 
vince me that by no method but such signal chastisement 

n,3N..(jNGoogle 



M THE ASHANTEB WAE. 

as I hare desciibed can such peace be insured, and that 
such punishment cannot be inflicted without the aaBistanc& 
of British troops. 

"It cannot, I think, be doubted that under the 
influence of civilization and European protection the 
Fantee tribes have grown less warlike and more peaceful 
than formerly. Yet even in th«ir best times they were 
no match for the Ashantees, When left alone they were 
conquered and overrun, and when, later, English officers 
cast in their lot with them they could not be induced to 
turn out their whole strength, for I am able to state 
that the numbers reported as having taken the field 
. are enormously exaggerated, and that there were never 
10,000 men present imder arms. Sir Charles McCarthy 
was outnumbered by the cowardly defection of his native 
allies and the success of the earlier actions of tliis present 
year, and the presence of English officers failed to induce 
the natives to stand firm. On one excuse or another they 
retreated &om before the enemy, whom they now believe 
to be too strong for them, and against whom they are 
evidently very reluctant to flght. 

" I have held interviews with the kings. I have seen 
the greedy mercantile spirit in which the war is viewed 
by them and the excuses made to delay their departm-e 
for the field. They tell me they have little influence in 
rising their men, that their men prefer trading to 
fighting, and have gone to far countries to hide. The 
Cape Coast people actually claim the privilege of being 
the last to turn out to fight the invaders of their country. 
" In the face of these facts, ignorant as I am as yet of 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



SIR OABNET BEVIEWS THE PAST. B6 

the force which may be raised by the officers employed in 
recruiting along the Coast, whether it is to be counted 
by thousands or by tens only — ^ignorant as I most also 
for some time be as to what force the surrounding kings 
will produce— and the hour having arrived when on 
account of the advancing season my decision as to the 
need for European troops must . be made, it is impossible 
for me to say that my prospects are such that I dare 
undertake to caii-y out my mission with native forces 
only, nor woijld the G-ovemment or the country hold me 
excused were the valuable lives of the British officers 
who have volunteered for this expeditioq sacrificed, and 
the prestige of our country lowered by the desertion of 
these native forces, a result wUch I foresee is too likely 
were I to rely solely upon them, and give them no 
nucleus of fii'st-i'ate material to set them an example, and 
affisrd them a point on which to rally. 

" Under no circumstances, it appears to me, could I 
rely on such native troops alone to piu:sue the war into 
the enemy's territoij-. Nor would their presence serve 
to show the power of Her Majesty as would that of a body 
of English soldiers. 

" I am by no means the first high official in this Colony 
who has seen the ne<5essity for the employment of 
thoroughly disciplined troops to stop these perpetual 
Ashantee invasions. 

" In 1824, after Sir C. McCarthy's disaster, M. Dupuis 
ivrites as follows : — 

" ' Government will see the necessity of now doing 
■what ought to have been done long ago. Unless 3,000 

n,3N..(jNGoogle 



98 THE ABHANTEE WJJl. 

to 4,000 men are sent out to beat these saTages oat of 
hand, they will keep the cotmtry agitated tintil they effect 
the total sabjugaticn of the Coast.' 
'* In 1858 Governor Hill wrote : — 
" ' A disciplined force should be sent here, as I am 
perfectly satisfied that 1,000 men from the West India 
Begin^ent, with their bayonets, would do more than ten 
times that number of natives imperfectly armed and dis- 
ciplined.' 

" And in 1868, Governor Pine says : — 
" ' That his earnest desire is that a final blow shoold 
be struck at the Ashautee power, and the question set at 
rest for ever as to whether an arbitrary and a sangainary 
monarch shall be for ever permitted to insult the British 
flag and outrage the laws of civilization.' He goes on to 
recommend, ' that a force of 2,000 disciplined soldiers 
shonld be transported to these shores, so that, combined 
with a native force of npwards of 50,000 men, it might 
march straight on Coomassie.' 

"With these forcible opinions in support of the 
necessity of trained and disciplined ti'oops, and with 
your instructions before me, I consider it my dnty to 
state that, in my opinion, the desired efiect cannot be 
obtained by the employment of _ West Indian regiments 
alone. In the first place, the moral effect of their 
presence upon the Ashantees is not to be compared 
with that which a similar number of Europeans would 
exert; and, in the next place, they are not physically 
by any means as capable of withstanding the climate, 
still less exertion and fatigue. 

- n,3N..(jNGoo^.le 



"WHITE TE00P3 .OE BLACK TEOOPS. 87 

" It is a well-known fact here that Enrc^eans suffer 
from the climate less than black men £rom other localities. 

" The Medical Beport^ on the Expedition of 1861 say 
that 'Black troops have none of the hardihood and spirited 
endurance of the white man. They suffer more from the 
effects of the chmate on their arrival than white men do. 
They are not accustomed to very onerous duties which 
they had to perform on this occasion.' 

" And yon will find that Captain (now Sir A.) Clarke, 
in his Beport of 1864, strongly advocates the suhstitution 
of an European force for a "West Indian Begiment, owing 
to their suffering less from the climate, having more power 
of endurance, and being able to do the same work with 
fewer men. I might also refer yoa to the opinion of 
Colonel de Buvignes, that ' the West Indian troops are 
worse than useless, and are constantly embroiled with 
the natives.' 

" I have no wish to depreciate the West Indian regi- 
ments, but I could not enter upon my task with that 
confidence which is so necessary for success were I not 
supported by some of Her Majesty's English troops. 

" I consider therefore. Sir, that (1) the service required 
cannot be performed solely by any force indigenous to 
the country ; and (2) that the service for which I require 
these troops is of paramount importance to the main 
object of my mission — ^viz., the establishment of a lasting 
peace with the Ashantee nation. 

" But, Sir, I should still not apply for these troops, 
and I should even prefer to tell you that the mission 
entrusted to me is incapable of thorough accomplishment, 

a 

n,<jN.«j-vGoOglc 



98 THE A8HANTEE WAK. 

were it not that I am con-vinced that the Bervice for which 
I demand the European soldiers can be performed by 
them without ondne risk. I helieve, indeed, that the 
evidence upon this point is irresistible. 

" Two months, or nearly two months, must elapse 
before the troops can arrive off Cape Coast Castle. In 
that time the road which is now complete to Yancoomassie, 
will, unless the Ashantees have been more successful than 
hitherto in preventing its construction, be complete at 
last as far as the Prah, the native troops will have at- 
tained snch organisation as I can give them; the transport 
will be prepared for an advance ; and I may even hope, 
with the aid of the Houssas and these forces to have 
cleared the country on this side of the Frah. 

" I may therefore say that, on the arrival of the troops 
in these roads about the middle of December, all will be 
ready for their immediate advance into the enemy's 
country, and that they shall not be kept inactive for one 
single day. 

*' I would here again refer to the Medical Beports of 
1864, which say: — ' The effects of the climate depend, to 
a great extent, on the se,ason of the year.' Now, the 
weather at tliis present season is totally d^erent from 
that experienced during the rains. It is now bright and 
fine, without excessive heat, and it may be expected to 
improve from week to week. The troops would arrive 
soon after the commencement of that season of the year 
which your instructions describe as the most healthy, 
viz., the months of December, January, February, and 
March ; and as I guarantee that the operations in wliich 



ji-vGooglc 



HEALTH ON THE COAST. 99 

they wonld be engaged would not last more than about 
six weeks, or at the most two months, they might re- 
embark on board ship by the beginning or middle of 
February, and under no circumstances would they be 
required to remain on shore after the commencement of 
the unhealthy season. 

" In regard to the risk to European troops of a march 
up countiy at this season of the year, there appears to 
me to be a very strong probability, if not a demonstra- 
tion, that the country becomes more healthy as the coast 
is left. 

"Colonel Bird, then Acting Governor of the Gold 
Coast, speaks thus of the expedition in 1853 : — 

" ' Hitherto we have been led to believe the inland 
districts were too unhealthy for the European constitu- 
tion. This expedition has proved tlie fallacy of the 
beKef, During the last two-and-a-half months the 
officere who have been engaged on this Expedition have 
enjoyed better health than they have been accustomed to 
do on the Coast, and that in spite of exposure to son and 
rain, gi-eat bodily exertions and privations which a roving 
camp life such as theirs has been necessarily entails.' 

"I would also refer you to the Memorandum of 
Lieutenant-Colonel de Envies, date 25tli April, 1873, 
wherein he says : — ' I have to observe that many officers, 
myseK amongst the number, served without detriment to 
their health or constitution for long periods in West 
Africa ; I can safely say that it was only diuring periods 
of utter inaction on the Coast that I suffered from illness, 
though when in the interior, in the thick bush of the 
■ 3 



100 THE ASHAlfTSE WAB. 

Fontee country bordering on Ashantee, or in the forests 
of Aldm and Ashantee, vith privatioRS and long marches, 
sometimes 30 miles a day, living in mud huts at one 
time, at another in the open forests, I felt no ilt-effectsr 
neither did any of the officers who served under my 



" I might multiply similar evidence, but I am unwilling 
to increase the length of this despatch, for there are other 
points to be dealt with of great importance. 

" The ill-health of the troops engaged in the Expedi- 
tion of the Prah of 1864, and the sickness of the Royal 
Marines who were engaged in the early part of- the present 
year, have, I submit, produced an exaggerated alarm as 
to the general influence of this climate upon European 
health. 

"If the conditions of the Expedition of 1864 to the 
Prah be examined, they will be found so exceptional as 
to afford no grounds whatever for the belief that the 
unfortunate results of that affau' would be repeated in 
such an expedition as I propose. The Medical Reports 
of 1863 give the strongest proof of this. 

" From these Reports we learn the following facts : — 

" The troops composing the expedition were remark- 
ably bad subjects, they were not only West Indians, but 
they were from many causes, shown in these Reports, 
specially unfit for any severe work. They had landed at 
the worst season of the year ; they had been attacked by 
fever and dysentery immediately on their arrival at Cape 
Coast, and had not wholly recovered when marched up 
country. 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



8IE GAItNET'S APPLICATION COSTINUED. 101 

" They had everything against them ; heavy duties to 
which they were not accustomed, no excitement or interest 
of any kind, no enemy before them ; but they had worse 
food than usual, they were encamped on the banks of the 
Prah in extremely low and marshy ground. Yet even 
imder these conditions they were reported in March 1864 
AS in good spirits and fair health, busily employed in 
erecting stockades, completing huts, and constructing a 
bridge. 

" But the subsequent inaction did its work. Depression 
ensued, and the men became ill, though not till the rains 
commenced, which set in early and were very severe. 
The camp became a swamp ; and for three months 
longer were th€ troops kept inactive in this deadly 
spot. 

" The hospital accommodation was of the worst des- 
cription — men lying on the wet ground with pools of 
water under them. 

'* Under such conditions is it not to be wondered at 
that a single man escaped alive ? and is it not clear that 
this expedition affords no grounds for supposing that 
similar sickness would attack picked European troops 
actively employed on the line of march duringthe healthy 



" As regards the detachment of Boyal Marines who 
came out in Her Majesty's ship ' BaiTacouta,' and were 
aent home in the ' Himalaya,' I have, in the first instance, 
to observe, from personal inspection, that the accommo- 
dation provided on board that ship (the ' Barracouta ') for 
their transport, was not in any respect what European 

n,<jN.«j-v Google 



102 THE A8EANTE£ WAE. 

soldiers should be provided with in a voyage to the 
Tropics. There was no light and but little au:. The 
condeBser, which was constantly at work, was on the 
same deck and in the same compartment with the troops. 
The heat and emell from the steam-engine had &ee access 
to the place where they were berthed. 

" I ahonld not consider this proper accommodation for 
troops going even to a cold countiy, and I have good, 
ref^on for saying that the men landed in an exhausted, 
condition. 

"The Principal Medical Officer, Dr. Home, C.B., 
V.C, has investigated the question of the sickness of 
these Marines, and he informs me that he believes their 
sufferings were exceptional. 

" They landed at the worst season, and without pre- 
paration. They were crowded together in unhealthy 
dilapidated barracks at £lmina. 

"It was the tornado season and tents could not be 
pitched, and the Medical Officer at that time did not 
consider it desirable to expose troops to the rain, 
though Dr. Home is now of opinion that it.wonld have 
been better to do so than to have so crowded them 
together. They were exposed immediately on landii^ 
to the fatigue of a. long night march. They fought 
a veiy distressing action at Ehnina, and suffered 
privations of food and rest for some time after the 
action. 

" But far more potential in producing sickness than alL 
these causes was the fact that they were drenched with 
surf on landing ; and that the boats containing the party- 



ji-vGooglc 



WET THE HABINES StTFFEIlED. 103 

wtich left Cape Coast to be quartered at Elmina groimded 
on a sand-bank, irom which cause the men were detained 
for two honra under an excessively heavy downpoor of 
rain, most of them, it is believed, afterwards sleeping all 
night in their wet clothes. 

" These conditions are then, I submit, a? in the case 
with the expedition of 1863-64, so exceptional as to 
afford no grounds for the belief that similar sickness 
would attack picked troops actively emploj'ed on the line 
of march during the healthy season. 

" I have no desire to onderrate the risks to health 
caused by a prolonged stay in this climate, but not only 
do I find a remarkable unanimity of opinion here as 
to the possibility of undertaking a march of limited 
dwation into the interior under such conditions as I 
propose, but I think the existing conditions of health 
of the troops on this station show that such an e^teditlon 
does not involve great risk. 

" I would here remark that, uotwithstEuiding all the 
unfavourable conditions reported as regards the Boyal 
Marines, Dr. Home remarks that their entire non-effective 
list, all casualties included, was on the thirty-first day 
after landing only 17 per cent., the remaining 83 -per 
cent, being thoroughly effective. 

" In my despatch I drew your attention to the je- 
markable healthiness of the troops in camp at Napo- 
leon and Abbaye, as compared with those in barracks at 
Elmina. 

" On the 11th instant. Dr. Home reports, as under, of 
the troops at Cape Coast and Elmina. ' The health of 

n,3N..(jNG6ogle 



104 THE A8HAKTEE WAE. 

the troops in the command has improfcd with the partial 
cessation of the rains ancl morning mists (locally called 
smokes).' At Elmina the sick rate per cent, of strength 
is 6-76. At Cape Coast Castle 11-61 ' (West Indians in 
both cases). There is less sickness amongst the European 



" I have now before me the Weekly Return of Sick of 
the Abbaye Detachment of 100 men, from 4th to 10th 
October. It is blank. There was not one case of sick- 
ness. The sm^eon in chaise reports the detachment, in 
camp now from four to six weeks, as qnite healthy. 

" These facts prove clearly the fact that while sickness 
is diminishing throughout the whole Coast, by reason of 
&e improving season, it is far less in the camps inland 
than in the barracks on the Coast. 

" Since arriving here, I have received a letter, of which 
I enclose a copy, from Captain Thompson, Queen's Bays, 
in which he withdraws the opinion he had expressed to 
His Boj'al Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in- 
Chief, before leaving England, that Europeans could not 
live in the bush. 

" But, Sir, still more strong is the report of Dr. Home, 
V.C, C.B., the Principal Medical Officer, my responsible 
adviser on sanitary gnestions. 

" I beg to refer yon to his despatch to the Director- 
General of the Medical Department, by which it will be 
seen that he is of opinion that European troops may be 
employed withoat extraordinary risk, under those con- 
ditions which I propose — viz., that the men be landed 
the day they are to march, that every recc^nised sanitary 

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THE THIBD BATTALION IS DEMANDED. 105 

precantion be taken, as for as possible, and that the 
longest time the men will remam in the ootmtry is two 
months. 

"It now remains for me' only to r^at my request that 
as soon as possible after the receipt of this despatch, the 
troops above specified may be embarked for this station, 
and to add that, I attach the greatest possible importance 
to the men being selected for this service, and to good 
accommodation being provided for them on board ship, 
BO that they may arrive here in thoroughly healthy con- 
dition. 

" Should my request be complied with, and the troops 
be despatched, I undertake not to land them, if, in the 
time vhich must elapse before their arrival, circumstances 
should induce me to consider that the object of my mission 
can be accomplished without their aid, and fiirther, I 
undertake, should it seem possible to do with any smaller 
number, not to land one man more than I consider abso- 
lutely necessary to the success of my expedition. 
" I have, &x., 
" (Signed) G. J. WOLSELEY, Mc^or-Ge^ral. 

" The Bight Honourable the Secretary of 
State.for War, War Office." 

This letter is, it will be observed, dated the day before 
the fight at Essaman. Another despatch which went by 
the same mail, written after the fi^t at Essaman, which 
has apparently not been published, but which is referred 
to in a despatch in reply, applies for an additional 

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lOa THE ASEANTEE WAB. 

battalion eiqiressly in order to have a reliable force in 
hand in the event of heavy loaa during early engagements 
with the Adantees. Unhappily, such was the irregu- 
larity of the mails, that these two most important letters 
do not seem to have left Cape Coast till a fortni^t 
after they were written. 



jNGoogle 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE A8HANTEE8 BBEAK UP THEIR CAUP AT >UUPOIf, ANI> 
ABE BELIEVED TO BE FAIXINO BACK ON THE PRAH — A 
DETACHED BODY OP THEM IS TWICE ATTACKED BY 
COLONEL FESTINd FROM DUNQUAH — THE FIRST TIMt 
THE ASHANTEE CAMP AT ESCABIO IS SURPRISED AND 

DESTROYED THE SECOND, USUTENANX WILMOT IS 

KILLED SIR GARNET FOR THE FIRST TIME MOVES 

TO ABRAEAMPA — ^FROM ALL THE SOUTHERN POSTS 

THE ASHANTBES ARE SIHILAHLT HABASSED OREAT 

DEPRESSION AMONG THE ENEMY. 

We are now concerned with a series of movements all 
more or less desultoiy, but the important effect of which 
win be seen somewhat later. The following letters 
scarcely need comment. They show the way in which 
the plot developed itself under our eyes at the time, and 
as there are no errors of &ct to correct, may stand as 
they were written : — 

" Cape Coast Castle, October 26. 
" Great news has come in. A Fantee woman, who has 
been long a slave in Ashanteei and has been for some 
time the mistress of one of the Chie&, fled for fear of her 



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108 THE ASHAKTEE WAE. 

life from tlie jealousy of some of the women around him. 
She is most intelligent and clear. She has brought in 
full information, as she had been oft«n present at 
meetings of the Chiefs. The Ashantees have been 
utterly amazed at what they imagine is the presence 
of forces, all led by EngUehmeu, around them. They 
ascertained, at about the same time, that the new fort 
had been constructed at Mansue ; that there were native 
forces gathering at Dunquah ; that English officers were 
in all directions rising the tribes ; that forces were at 
Napoleon, Abbaye, and Abrakampa ; and that Essaman, 
Aldmfoo, and Ampenee had been destroyed. They held 
a Council of War ; it decided to retreat. They are, 
therefore, endeavouring to remove across the Frah all the 
slaves they have captured during their year of occupation, 
and all their plunder. Eeconnaissances were yesterday 
sent out on aU sides upon the former camp at Dunquah. 
At three to-day Sir Garnet starts in pursuit of them. 

" They are reputed by the natives at 80,000, but pro- 
bably do not number niore than 10,000 to 20,000 fighting 
men. Sir Garnet can in all, by the help of the ileet, send 
about 250 Sailors and Marines, 100 of " Russell's Native 
Regiment," about 70 of the 2nd West Indians, and 
perhaps 800 native levies. All, therefore, that he can 
hope to do is to intercept some isolated column. The 
moral effect of ike pursuit will be immense, but it can 
decide nothing. It is said that the King's great oath will 
be considered by the natives to be perfectly Mfilled if he 
can avoid making peace till the rainy season comes on, 
when Enghsh troops no longer remain here. He can 

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AK ASHANTEE C.VMP 8UBPEISED. 109 

then reinvade the allied territory, and again attack the 
forts. Indeed, it is said that he has deliberately arranged 
tha^ to ^eary out the patience of the English on this 
Coast, and to make them abandon it in despur. He 
assomes ^th absolute confidence that it will be quite 
impossible for us to force our way to Coomassie, and 
dictate peace to him there. The Betreat beyond the 
Frah is based upon this assumption. You must suppose 
us, therefore, from Ehnina, irom Napoleon, Abbaye, and 
from -wherever an English officer can gather natives, 
pushing on Dunquah, and thence eastward to drive in 
the enemy on our posts along the Mansne road. Thence 
we hope you will hear of us next." 

Meantime Colonel Festing, from the more advanced 
post of Dunquah, had struck in in aid of the movements 
from the South. 

" Cape Coabt, (Wcfer 31st. 
" Another heavy blow has been delivered against the 
Ashantees. Colonel Festing, under orders from Sir 
Garnet Wolseley, utoved from the camp at Dunquah, 
which has been the chief gathering point of the native 
levies for some time, and taking with him 600 of those 
not too dependable allies, and 50 of the West Indians, 
on Monday, the 27th, marched npon what was supposed 
to be the site of an encampment of one of the retreating 
columns of the enemy. The day previously Sir Garnet 
himself, taking with him 250 blue-jackets and marines, 
moved to Assaybo, ten miles from Cape Coast, in a 
northerly direction. On Monday, at break of day, he 

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110 THE ASHANTEE VAE. 

moved to Abrakampa, three miles farther, and somewhat 
to the west of the main Prah road. He was thus about 
12 miles from Diinquah, whence Colonel Festing's move 
was to be made, in fiill communication with him, and 
able either to support him in case of misfortune or, as 
■was hoped, to join him in crushing up the enemy in case 
of victory. It was impossible, moreover, to teU for certain 
by which road the enemy would attempt to move, and, as 
they have a special grudge against Abrakampa, that 
seemed one of the points which it was necessajy most 
securely to guard, when they were known to be in its 
immediate neighbourhood. However, on arriving at 
Abrakampa it was decided to remain there for that daj', 
in order not to disturb the secrecy of Colonel Festing's 
movements, and to be ready when the Ashantees passsd, 
as they almost inevitably would, more within reach. 

" On that morning. Colonel Festing marched stealthily 
through the bush or forest, along a track which goes by . 
the name of the Haunted Boad. It is said that no 
Ashantee dare venture along it ; nor would any Fantee 
either, except under the guidinginfluence of the European 
in whom he confides with a kind of idolatrous respect. 
It is in some way sacred to Fetish custom. And, as in 
the middle of the path we had the unpleasant fate nn- 
avoidably to tread upon the mouldering skeleton of a 
headless man, it is to be presumed that for Fetish pur- 
poses, at least, the road is entered. The character of the 
forest — ^for here it was forest, not bush, through which we 
passed — was altogether different to that which I described 
at Essaman. Indeed, each path seems to have a character 

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A WEIED PATHWAY. Ill 

of its o'wn Eilinost as distinct as each district. That of 
the Haunted Boad is weird And strange enough in parts 
to justify its name, hat in general wondroosly lovely. 
The special beauty, perhaps, in this one path, lies most 
in the intense luxuriance of fern life of ,ftll kinds. Ferns 
that cover all the ground — ^that crowd on every &llen 
stump which bars the path — that cover with rich fringes, 
fringe above ftinge, the trunks of every tree around. 
Ferns that bend and sweep from above, Uieir roots planted 
in the branches twenty feet or more overhead, their long 
wavy stems stretching down six feet or more towards 
one, as if to fan the traveller in the weary heat. Ferns 
small apd delicate. Ferns of every variety of tracery and 
form. And then, amidst all this, there clajnber, wind, 
and twine, creepers innumerable and of all variety, of 
aU colours, shapes, and sizes, and (if one dfured to criticise 
when one is bent in wonder at the glories around), 
seeming to fail in point of perfect beauty only in that 
the very wealth and redundancy of growth has over- 
crowded them and almost taken away the exquisite lines 
of their tracery by confiising them in too complex a 
mass of almost solid growth. 

" But now and then the pathway for a moment l^htens, 
and to right and left stand up, gaunt and bare, the long 
trunks of the huge cotton trees, leafless often for a hundred 
feet or more, their hard close wood refusing to admit the 
roots of any of the parasites that fawn upon the softer 
-smaller trees. And here and there among them stand 
leafless skeletons of younger trees evidently killed by the 
struggle of ten thousand things to find food and room 

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112 TEE ASHANTEE WAB. 

where scarce a hmidTed could find space in a less fertile 
soil and less prolific climate. 

" Or, again, another scene. Among the haughty leafy- 
headed cotton trees, and the meagre skeleton trunks, white 
and startling as they are, standing out stark and cold above 
the green mass beneath, there hang irora branch to 
branch huge ropes of wood, white and bare — creepers that 
have grown to a gigantic size, gradually lost all their 
green, and died. There they hang, often 20 or even 
40 feet of sheer bare wood, a good foot and a half round, 
looking for all the world like the main ropes of a mighty 
ship. What wonder that where such a strange scene of 
seeming blight breaks in upon the glorions green and 
colour of Uie rest the savage should fear to move ! 

" However, along this path that morning the tribe of 
Anamaboe, under the inspiriug presence of the white 
man, moved without feai'. As they stole along, silently 
watching every bush and cover, they happily pounced 
upon a stray Ashantee. He was soon made to understand 
that his life depended upon his conducting them safely 
to the unsuspecting camp. At length, about 12 o'clock, 
the camp was reached. Two volleys and a rush ! Into 
the camp went the Anamaboes ; out of it the Asbantees. 
Everything was left behind, except the weapons which 
the enemy had actually in their hands. The camp was 
soon burnt, and everything in it destroyed. 

" But now the foe was safely in the bush our men were 
almost in the open. He gathered without fear, and, accus- 
tomed as he has always been to victory, came on at once, 
pouring a very galling fire upon our men. Moreover, 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



COLONEL FE8TING 8UEPE18ES ASHANTEES. Il3 

everywhere, in order to keep even the best of the nativeB 
facing the dreaded enemy, the European officers had 
the double work of constantly exposing ^emselves, and 
of yet driving on the men. 

"It would evidently not have done tp allow night 
±0 surprise such a force,' in an unknown countryj open 
to the fire of concealed enemies, of numbers that could 
not be estimated. Colonel Festing determined to fight 
his way back to Dunquah. There he arrived before 
-dark, having had to fight every inch of the way, not 
without loss — 48 natives were wounded, 22 among the 
Anamaboes alone, 4 of the West^Indians. Colonel Fest- 
ing himself received a shght wound in the left thigh ; 
Captain Haynes, of the 2nd West India Kegiment, was 
wounded very slightly in the lower lip ; Sub-Lieutenant 
Filliter, slightly in the left th^h ; Sub-Lieutenant Lang, 
slightly in the left foot ; while the only serious wound was 
that of Captain Godwin, in the left groin. 

" At ojie time nothing kept back the attack of the enemy 
but the steady working of Captain Bait's seven Houssas 
with the 7-pounder gun and a rocket-tube. These men 
iave been trained entirely by Captain Rait since the, 
-ai-rival of the expedition on this Coast, and, except for his 
own immense personal exertions on this day, worked 
the gun and rockets entirely themselves. 

" When the allies saw that the guns were there they 
were happy ; when they were withdrawn, tliere was well 
nigh a panic. But at this moment the steadiness of the 
50 West Indians saved the column. Finally, the whole 
reached Bunquah, and found orders awaiting them, which 

1 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



114 THE A8HANTEE WAR. 

announced that Sir Garnet would move next day to 
Assanchi, another village on the Haunted Head about 
equally distant with Dunqiiah from £8cal)io, the point 
where the Ashantees had been surprised. The object of 
this movement was that, Colonel Festiug starting from 
Dunquah at the same time as Sir Garnet from Assanchi, 
the Ashantees dispersed on the previous day m^ht be 
completely hemmed in and destroyed. 

" Unhappily on that following morning nothing would 
induce the native allies to stir after their exertions of 
the previous day. They announced that they would be 
ready after breakfast,' then ready some time later, but 
never intended evidently to be ready at all. Sir Garnet, 
therefore, quietly encamped at Assanchi, on ground which 
had been recently occupied by the Ashantees, evidence of 
a large encampment still remaining there. But as recon- 
noitring parties thrown out in all directions iailed to 
show any Ashantees, the General returned to Abrakampa 
the same day, and on the 29th, marched backjo Cape 
Coast. Fifty maiines and sailors were, however, left 
behind at Abrakampa, as well as 100 of ' BusaeU's 
Regiment.' 

" Abrakampa ia specially obnoxious to the Ashantees, 
the King having been more zealous against them than 
most others. It is understood that Sir Garnet succeeded 
in one point to his great satisfaction. He contrived 
to make the natives do more than ihey had bargained 
for as their share of the work. Their idea, no doubt, 
is that the more fighting we do for them the better 
tiiey will be pleased. Sir Garnet's, on the conti'ory, is 

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EFFECTS PBODnCED AB YET. 11 

just to let them feel the sapport of white men every 
where, &Dd to leave, if possible, nearly all the work to 
them. However, nothing will prevent the brunt of the 
whole business from falling on the Emx>pean officers. 
No native Kings will move without their help ; no tribe 
will fight unless one at least is present ; no skirmish is 
successful unless they lead it. The spirit of the people 
does seem to be reviving, but it has been broken by 
constant defeat, and the process of awaking it f^ain is 
a slow one. I enclose a Proclamation which has just 
been issued by Sir Garnet, having reference to the 
events I have recorded. During our absence the ' Decoy' 
and 'Ai^s' went [down to Boutrie, and by help, partly 
of some men landed from the ships, and of a well- 
combined movement from the Fort of Dixcove, suc- 
ceeded in destroying that village which, like Ampenee 
tind the others, had been a great source of supply to the 
Ashantees. 

" One immense result has been secured by what has 
hitherto been done. Formerly the Ashantees obtained 
all their information and supplies from the Elmina side, 
and, being therefore in direct and constant communica- 
tion with those people, who were themselves in constant 
intercourse with Cape Coast, knew much more of our 
movements than we knew of theirs. Now the tables are 
turned. The Dunquah road passes throu^ the territory 
of tribes most hostile to the Ashantees, and therefore we 
obtain perfect information on that side, which is easily 
and rapidly communicated to Cape Coast by the best 
road in the country. On the Elnuna- side, since the 

I 2 

n,3N..(jNGoo^le 



lis THE A8EANTEE WAR. 

destraction of the villt^es, the Ashantees obtain no 
information without great difficulty, 

" Before Ua'ring the account of the proceedings con- 
nected with the surprise of the Ashantee camp, I must 
not omit to descrihe the train of ammunition caniere 
who accompanied Sir Garnet's column on the day of the 
march to Assaybo. It consisted entirely of women. 
There has been considerable difficulty in procuring a 
sufficient number of male carriers. The men are accns- 
tomed to act as carriers for hammocks, and very large 
Qombers of them are employed in that way ; but the 
1 are the regular carriers of the country, as far as 
concerned. It is no uncommon thing to see 
women coming into market with loads that run over 
100 lbs. in weight, carried on their heads. Beauty is 
not common at all, but a stateliness of carriage, due to 
the habit of holding the head erect in order to balance 
the load, is almost universal among the women of the 
country. 

" On the present occasion — a hot day's march — it 
was impossible not to admire the conduct of these 
women carriers. On each head was a box of ammuni- 
tion, as heavy as any man in the whole country would 
take for a day's march. On most of the hips, at the 
same time, was slung a child, carried, as all women carrj- 
them here, on a sort of attachment, fastened so as to give 
the child a seat, behind. It certainly was a strange 
contrast to the universal sloth of this country to see ihe 
load and the child bravely supported throughout a long 
day's march, and it seemed incredible that these little 

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THE WOMEN AS CAEBIEB8. 117 

woiuen should have strength to spare to give food as 
they moved along. They did if, however; and right 
l^uckily they stepped oat, more amenable to discipline 
than any of the men, keeping closer in their ranks, 
answering by a cheery smile to the o£Bcer's orders not to 
lose distance." 

I remember noticing an incident on this day which 
comes back vividly now. There had occurred one of those 
constant breaks and delays in the movement of the colanm 
which are inevitably incidental to the narrow and tangled 
footpaths, the long trains of transport, the fallen tranks, 
and other impediments which are constantly occurring. 
An officer had been sent up to see what was the cause of 
delay, and incidentally to close up all the intervening 
gaps of the column. At one place he observed an un- 
wonted hesitation among the women to move nearer to 
those in &ont. The poor httle women who had been 
shouted at from behiod were looldng round piteously, 
unable to speak English sufficient to explain their diffi- 
culty. As the officer passed the spot, he discovered that 
&e .c<danm had so halted that the part of it where they 
were was in the middle of a nest of the huge black ants 
of the country, and that the bare feet and legs were 
exposed defenceless to the savage attacks of the insects. 
' The scene was suggestive of the kind of difficulties which 
present themselves where there is no easy communication 
between those who have to direct movement and those 
who are directed. 

'.' They redeem the country do these people ; and if 
anij they could get rid of their husbands, and say 30,000 

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118 THE ABHANTEE VTAK. 

HoQssas could be imported into the country to replace 
the men, Bomething might be made of it. I fear, how- 
ever, that nature here employs the poisonous doees which 
she administers in such a way as to make an inverted 
natural selection of the feeblest and most miserable. 
Well, if here she is a murderesB, she is a siren, too ; and 
the mystery is, not that so many should have trusted 
themselves to her wiles, but that so few should have told . 
U8 how beautiful she is. For the scenery I have spoken 
of to yon is not merely tropical. It is to tropical 
scenery what the dells between the slopes of Dartmoor 
' are to ordinary English country. The intense damp 
generated by the equatorial heat acting on the constant 
sea breeze, tells in ten-fold degree as the same causes do, 
on a smaller ecale, in Devonshire." 

The following is the proclamation issued on our 
return : — 

" By his Excellency Sir Garnet Joseph Wolseley, 
Knight, Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of 
Saint Michael and Saint George, Companion of the Most 
Honourable Order of the Bath, Major-General Command- 
ing Her Majesty's Forces on the West Coast of AMca, 
and Administrator of Her M^esty's Forte and Settle- 
ments on the Gold Coast. 

" Gaiinet Joseph Wolbelet, 

" Major-General, Adminiatrator. 
" To all the kings, headmen, chiefs, and tribes of the 
Gold Coast, allies of Her Majesty the Queen of England 
greeting : I desire that you should know that imme- 

n,3N..(jNGoo^le 



PROCLAMATION. 119 

diately after the attack made upon Essamau and Ampinee 
and the destruction of those places by the English troopa 
under my conuuand, your enemies broke up their encamp- 
ment at.Mampon. Finding that they were unable to 
contend with us, either in the open or in the bush, 
they are now in fall retreat, endeavouring to return to 
their own country by Prahsue. One of their retreating 
columns has been attacked and dispersed by my troops, 
neftr Dunquah. They are trying to carry with them in 
their Aight all the goods of which they have robbed you 
— all the wives and children whom they have stolen from 
you. Men of the Gold Coast, will you allow this ? Will 
you let the hours slip by whilst your wives, your sons, 
And yonr daughters are being driven oif to slaughter by 
the flying enemy ? Will you not pursue them ? Now 
or never is the time to show that you are men. I, for 
my part, shall hold no man as the friend of Her Majesty, 
or as the friend of this country, who delays for one 
moment. You have nothing to fear, I hold the whole 
road from here to Monsue, so that they cannot assail it. 
Gather upon my strong forts of Dunquah, Abrakampa 
And Mansue. No one will venture to attack these points. 
Thence press onwards to the Prah, and oppose your 
■enemies as they are endeavouring to recross the river. If 
you now act quickly and with vigour, the fall of your 
enemy and the peace of your country will be secured." 

" Cape Coabt Castle, Notembtr 4ih. 
" We have all been startled and troubled in that strange 
■way in which men are startled by what they ought 

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120 THE ASHANTEB WAE. 

naturally to expect. One of oar companions on the way- 
out, and one who has been aa active as any since his 
landing, has been killed in a skiimish. Lieutenant 
■Eardley Wihnot, of the Royal Artillery, was a &ir, high- 
complesioned, aomevhat silent man, with a bright face, 
whose whole look spoke of health and activity. Since 
his arrival he had been employed under Captain Sait 
in getting the Houssas drilled as artillerymen, and they 
have, together, succeeded in getting good work out of 
these men, as was shown on the day when tlie Ashantee 
camp at Escabio was surprised. 

" Yesterday he had been employed on one of a series of 
reconnaissances in force, which were ordered to be under- 
taken simultaneously fram Abrakampa, Beolah, and 
Dunquah. That with which he moved marched from the 
last-named place, and the stor>' of what followed is 
precisely analogous to that of each skirmish in which 

■ the tribes of the Gold Coast have fought. Everything- 
that could be* done by skill in the ordinal scheme, by 
wise direction on the march, or by the individual courage 
and exertion of our officers, was done to deprive these 
chicken-hearted creatures of even an excuse for showing- 
the white feather. But so utterly do tliey fear the 

' Ashantees, that the moment liring conunences they sneak 
back, leaving our ofBcers and ihe Houssas with the 
rockets, exposed. Then the fire of the rockets and 
guns, the fairly well-suatained fire of the few Weat 
Indians, and such fire as it has been x>osBtbIe to get 
out of the natives, before they run, begins to tell 
upon the Ashantees, and they, in their turn, fall 

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WILMOrS DEATH. 121 

back, not however till more thau one officer has he&n 
wounded. 

" Usually during these afEairs one has no means of 
knowing that the Ashantees have suffered at all. The 
density of the, bush conceals the forces on either side. 
The Ashantees are not aware that they have inflicted loss 
on us, and it is impossible for us to be aware at the time 
how much they have really been injured and discouraged- 
It is usually not till a day or two afterwards that we hear 
&om the prisoners, who, after this kind of affair, are taken 
in great numbers, that the Ashantees have suffered terribly, 
and are becoming constantly more demoralised — all the 
more so because they fancy that they have not injured 
us at all, Wihnot on the present occasion was provided 
with rockets, and without the guns, which could hardly 
be carried along the wild path along which they ^vere 
moving. 

" He was completely in the front, when his seiTant 
suddenly pointed out to him some Ashantees close to 
him. A volley came. He was most severely wounded 
in the shoulder, but went on with the greatest pluck, 
endeavouring to prevent the men from giving way 
altogether : but he and his gunners were entirely de- 
serted ; the Ashantees got very close, and he was shot 
again, near the heart. The doctors all say that 
Wilmot's first wound must have been terrible agony, and 
almost enoi^ to render him incapable of holding on ; 
hut he knew well that if he gave auy sign of having 
suffered, it would he a signal for every Fautee to turn 
tail, andhe held on till the second shot actually felled him. 

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122 THE ASHANTEE W-Ut. 

It is the iirst loss among the pleasant company of the 
' Ambriz.' 

" On the day of the surprise of the Ashantee camp, 
tiescribed in my last letter, Wilmot had been left at 
Danquah, with one of the guns, and had been entrusted 
^■ith the work of completing the defences of that station, 
which had been traced out by Captain Huyshe. This, 
therefore, had been his first skirmish since be landed." 

" Novemher 8rt, 
" We had two small affairs on the 3rd near Abrakampa 
and Beulah respectively. They were, however, more 
ludicrous than warlike. At Beulah our glorious Fantees 
could be only forced to pass dead Ashantees by Lieu- 
tenant Eyre's threatening to shoot those who hung back. 
At Abrakampa a general stampede took place at a mere 
foraging alarm. A special con'espondent was knocked 
down, and borne hack in the stream, and it is needless 
to say has been subject to no small amount of chaff ever 
«ince about it. The Houssas were carried backward by 
mere force. No loss, however, took place, as the 
Ashantees were not in force. The Ashantee army is 
now in unmistakable retreat, their camps at Mampon 
having been burnt by our native allies soon after my last 
letter was sent. Sir Garnet's plan is to cut them off 
&om -aSV the country to the south-east and west, from 
which they, till he came, drew suppUes fireely and easily. 
He thus leaves them only the country over which they 
have abeady passed in their ravaging course . The Qeneral 
thus manages to get more out of our native fiiends tiian 



ji-vGooglc 



EEAl TTSE OF THE NATITB FOECES. 123 

they know of or bargained for. They are brave enough 
in the way of attacking six to one Ashantees dispersed 
to forage ; and as oar posts are strongly held by the few 
AVest Indians and by marines when threatened, our 
native allies do us much good by making it dangerous for 
the Ashantees to disperse for food. The effect on the 
enemy has been terrible. They are literally starving; 
and we fully believe that they may be forced by sheer 
want to carry out the threat which their chief has made, 
that he will attack Abrakampa, whose kjng they hate. 
As fifty marines and blue-jackets have been there for a 
fortnight, in anticipation of this event, nothing better 
could happen to us. It is almost too good to be true. 

" Every prUoner we get, and we now get them by 
twenties, speaks of frightfdl discouragement. Hard as 
it is for ue to get information, it is far easier now for us 
than it is for them, and the uncertainty they labour 
under as to our moyements and numliers, as well as their 
belief that they have not been able to injure us, whilst 
they have been so suffering, increases the despondency." 



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CHAPTEE V. 

ABRAKAMPA AND SUBSEQUENT PUKSUIT-:-SIR GARNET 'S 

IU.NES8 REBTJI.TS OBTAINED BY OPERATIONS OP TO 

ABRAEAMPA. 

Tbe letter which concludes the last chapter had been 
left, on the night of November 6th, imfinished, awaiting 
the mail. Nothing very exciting seemed in prospect. 
It happened to several who rose on the following morn- 
ing that their first information of anj-thing unusual that 
was stirring, was the sight of a body of some 300 sailors 
and marines on shore ready to march. 

The facts were these. The previous day, the long- 
expected attack upon Abrakampa had taken place. Major 
Bussell, believing himself amply strong enough to hold 
his own, had not sent off early information of the fact. 
After the firing had lasted some time, the officer com- 
man4ing the neighbouring post at Accroful considered 
himself bound to send in information to the effect that 
no news had been received at Accroftd from Abrakampa, 
bat that the latter village was imdoubtedly surrounded 
and exposed to furious assault from apparently the whole 
Ashantee army. 

The moment the news arrived, Captain Brackenbury 



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HTSTEKIOnS BETICENCE! I2S 

was sent on board ship. By tliree a.m. on the 7th, 
arrangements had been made for the landing of all 
available men from the fleet. But it was necessary for 
them to have their breaMasts. Landing and getting o£F 
took a coi^iderable time. To land at night on that 
shore is by no means an easy matter, and day-light does 
not break till 6 a.m. The consequence was that, though 
the understanding had been that the sailors vere to move 
oflf the moment they were ready, the start did not actually 
take place till 8 a.m., or rather later. 

Meantime the news having arrived at an hour when no 
one in the town was astir, there was naturally consider- 
able difficulty in finding time to send round to inform 
everyone of what had taken place. The Staff was at the 
moment unusually small, both Captain Buller and 
Oaptain McCalmont being ill, and Colonel McNiell 
being still on ship-board with his wound. None of these 
officers had been replaced. The Staff was therefore for 
the moment all doing double work. 

Anyone who has seen the way in which a body of men 
each with their special work, has to carry on its duties 
has ^ery little imagination if he cannot understand that 
it must often happen under the best of aiTangements that 
each one fancies that what he knows is known to all, and 
that sometimes that assumption may be mistaken. 
Hence information often does not reach some member 
who is busy on work which has not made it necessary for 
him to receive the latest news. The inconvenience is 
not a very serious one, and is easily remedied. It thus 
happened on the present occasion. 



126 THE ASHANTEE WAR. 

It happened also ou the present occasion that Mr. 
Stanley, the correspondent, did not receive information 
of the move. 

He lived a long way oflf in the town. He had shown 
no anxiety whatever to obtain information, having — so 
it was currently reported — informed Sir Garnet, when 
sitting next him as the general's guest at dinner, that 
he considered the whole business "a one-horse affair." 
Anyone who told him on former occasions of anything 
going on at the front was informed that he was " waiting 
for the march to Coomassie," Uie point being that he did 
not in the least believe we should ever get there. Still 
we all knew that it was totally contrary to Sir Garnet's 
wishes that any correspondent shoidd be kept in the 
dark when there was really interesting matter to be 
reported. 

It was with no surprise, therefore, that we heard that 
Captain Brackenbory had distinctly apologised to Mr- 
Stanley for his not having received information on the 
ground that so great was the pressure of work that more 
than one of the Staff had not heard of the move other- 
wise than casually at break&st. 

I confess I believe that this explanation .was really 
applicable in a great many other instances of " Mystery.'" 
Staff-officers may surely be allowed an ordinary share of 
human weakness. Most men, after they have been at 
work all day long on one subject, are a little bored when 
during the short time they have to get rest and exercise, 
they have to go over it all again, and to pick out care- 
fidly what can from what cannot be conununicated. The 

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THE FANTEE8 UNEXPECTEDLY AERIVE. 127 

incidents of daily life, even during a campaign, ai-e not of 
thrilling interest. There is not in the official papers the 
sUghtest eyidence that what was of general interest, and 
not strictly official, was kept back. In any case the 
subject is not of great importance. 

To return to more interesting matters, it is prol^ably 
difficult for anyone accustomed to EngUsh walking to 
understand how a march which was only ten miles long, 
and that occupied with halts nearly five hours, should 
have proved very exhausting. It certainly did prove so. 
The heat was exceptionally intense, and the hours- 
during which the march had to be made were exception- 
ally trying. Moreover, the first day's march immediately 
after landing is not likely to be found an easy one. 

Whatever may have been the cause, the fact un- 
doubtedly is that more men fell out firom exhaustion 
during that march than daring any other of the cam- 
paign. Anxious as everyone was to get on at once fi:om 
Assayboo, the first station, it was indispensable to wait 
there for some hours to allow the men to recover. 
Fortunately provisions and medical comforts of all kinds 
were ready in ample profusion. 

Whilst everyone was engaged in eagerly patching 
themselves up for the march into Abrakampa, suddenly, 
to the amazement of all, in trooped a whole crowd of 
armed natives, and among them the dignified foi-m of 
that stately Fantee chief Attah, who, as it may be 
remembered, was determined to " lay his head " wher- 
ever the Governor laid his. If strength in war could be 
estimated by numbers, the accession was considerable. 

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128 THE ASHANTEE TPAR. 

No fewer than 1000 Fantee warriors were added to the 
little band we had with us. 

Unhappily the story of the cause of their arrival 
scarcely tended to impress one with the idea that in 
other respects besides numbers the advantages of their 
coining would be so great. 

The use which the general steadily made of these 
Fantees from the beginning of the war as soon as he 
had ascertained their quaUty, and which he in fact con- 
tinued to the end of it as long as he employed them, 
was in principle the same. There was verj' little fear of 
then- allowing themselves to be much injured in any- 
fighting in the bush, and, therefore, if they could be 
pushed through any point where it was uncertain whether 
there were Ashantees or not, their flight would disclose 
the presence of Ashantees, while their advance would 
indicate the absence of any Ashantee force. If with 
them a very small force indeed were placed who would 
obey orders, it was possible to move up in rear of the 
enemy as fast as the advance of our plucky allies proved 
that the Ashantees were gone, and by clearing a space of 
ground round some fresh station to make it impossible 
for the enemy to recover the ground they had abandoned. 

It was with this object that, as sgon as the Ashantees 
were known to have left theii" camp at Mampon, the 
Fantees were pushed up to Beulah. That point had 
been cleared and intrenched. Thence the Fantees had 
issued and prevented the few dispersed parties of Ashan- 
tees who came to get food from gathering it. But as 
soon as it was certainly known that the whole or nearly 



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HOW TO USE THE USELESS. 129 

the whole Ashantee army was round Abrakampa, it 
became perfectly clear that they must have left points 
towards which the Fantees could be pushed on just as 
they had been to Benlah. 

To have, with such forces, attacked the Ashautee 
camp, except from a point specially, prepared for that 
purpose, would have been absurd. Nothing of the kind 
was intended. But it was quite possible to move up the 
Fantees in rear of the Ashantees, and then to have 
cleared ground as it had been done before. If this had 
been done the effect would have been that the Ashantees 
would, on their flight on the following day, have found a 
fortified position in their rear which they could not 
possibly touch. 

But the distinct orders as to the du'ection to be taken 
by the Fantee Chiefs had simply met with flat disobe- 
dience from them. Instead of moving from Beulah along 
the road which would have brought them directly into 
the rear of the Ashantees, where they would have been 
invaluable, because they could only meet with stragglers, 
they had chosen to come to Assayboo. There they were 
horribly in the way. They would have fled in panic if 
they had been allowed to attack the Ashantee army 
actually in position. As a matter of fact they had to be 
bustled on to Batteyan, the next station. There they 
were made to understand that the one thing for them to 
■do was to get out of the way in order not to impede the 
■200 marines and sailors who were now moved on to the 
relief of Abrakampa. 

Yet such mere children are these people, so utterly do 

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130 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

they look upon everj'thiiig as a play and joke, that their 
curiosity impelled them to crowd out to watch the 
passage of the troops, even though they knew that this 
idiotic inquisitiveness was hampering the relief of Abra- 
kampa at that moment. Even at that time, in order to 
keep them back clear of the road, it was necessary 
to threaten them with an umbrella in pantomimic show. 
Before this terrible weapon of war they bolted out of 
the way down everj' available avenue, and allowed the 
troops to pass on. , ' 

Instead of following the main road as he had hitherto- 
done when moving upon Abrakampa, the General struck 
on this occasion by a pathway which was supposed to be' 
clearer of any danger from Ashantee attack during the 
course of the movement. As we approached Abrakampa 
a pretty noisy fuailade was heard, and everyone was con- 
siderably puzzled as to what was going on in our front. 
It seemed as if we had struck upon the real' of the 
Ashantees, just in the act of making a &esh attack. But 
in little more than a quarter of an hoar after the first 
shots iiad been heard, the path suddenly opened upon 
the cleai-ed ground in fi-ont of Abrakampa, and from the 
village itself Itlajor Kussell, and several other officers, 
with him, came out to receive the General. The firing 
continued in a desultory way for some hours. 

The village lies on ground sHghtly elevated. The 
slopes round it on all sides had been cleared everywhere 
for about 100 or more yai-ds. In some places much 
wider distances had been freed from bnsh. But almost 
everj'where sharp ends had been allowed to remain where 

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CONDITIONS OF ABRAKAHFA DEFENCE. 181 

the baah had been cleared away. Movement, therefore, 
was not exceptionally comfortable over the broken ground, 
even for those who were well shod. But for the Asban- 
tees it was necessarily exceedingly slow and difficult. 
Their hare feet were much troubled by the short 
stakes. 

It came to this, therefore : they could move forward 
only very slowly : yet during the whole time of their 
advance they were perfectly exposed to the fire of bullets, 
which killed some of them the moment that they showed 
outside of the encircling bush. They could with their 
weapons do no injury to the defenders till within, at all 
events, twenty yards. Attack was therefore practically 



The cover under which the greater part of the garrison 
had lain for forty-eight hours was of the slightest possible 
description. A very slight bnishwprk or wooden shelter, 
or a little fall of the groimd hardly anywhere 18 inches 
high, a big log of a tree, or some accidental protection 
of that kind just sufficient for the men to lie down behind ; 
this formed nearly all the outer defence which connected 
the loop-holed houses. 

From this outer defence the garrison had never had 
the slightest occasion to fell back, for the enemy never 
succeeded in approaching it. Within, it is true, there 
was a sort of second line formed by a deepish ditch, and 
so on, but this had simply no practical effect upon the 
siege whatever. The only point which both foiled part 
of this inner line, and did also have practical effect on 
the enemy, was the chapel at one end of the vIUe^. 

K 2 

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132 THE A3HANTEE 'WAE. 

There a small gun had been placed, aud was worked by 
the naval brigade. This and the rockets proved most 

■effective aids. 

But the advantage of the defenders was the fact that 
great as the superiority of the Ashantees was in numbers, 
they could not get near enough to deliver any effective 
fire. Actually, therefore, no loss of life whatever took 
place as long as the men were lying behind shelter, 

-whilst the Ashantees had to go out into the open. One 
seaman was wounded in the eye by a chance shot enter- 
ing the tower of the church. A few of the West Indians 
and some of the Kossoos were killed during sallies, 
which the eagerness of the men made it unwise entirely 
to repress, though they involved almost certain loss — 
unwise to check these though they involved loss, because 
the risk connected with the siege lay in the constantly' 
increasing weariness of both ofBcers and men. 

Kept on the qui vive for forty-eight hours with every 
nerve strung to watch when the next attack would come, 
no part of the force could be spared for rest. The small- 
ness of their numbers imposed the necessity of constant 
fatigue upon every member of the ganison, whilst tlie 
Ashantees could relieve the attacking force as often as 
they pleased, and so constantly have dmost all their 
men fresh. Little more than five hundred men must 
thus be at a disadvantage against ten thousand, let what 
will be the weapons of the former. 

It was in these respects that the force which arrived 
with Sir Garnet was indispensable. That night all the 
officers were relieved at the outposts by those who had 



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KINO ABBAH AND THE ASEANTEES. 133 

come ap with Sir G-arnet. As far as possible the fresh 
arrivals among the sailors took up the duty from the 
men. But for the most part it was necessary to leave 
the men in the places in which they had heen since they 
kpew the groond. 

Scene after scene had occurred during the previous 
two days as dramatic as could well be conceived, notably 
when the King Abrah-Alrah, the finest and pluckiest chief 
we have yet seen, went out to a hUl, and during one of 
the short breaks in the Ashantee attacks, challenged and 
dared them to come on, and the Ashantees &om the bush 
answered back to his jeers that they were at breakfast, 
but would attend to him directly. Then, again, when 
the Ashantees from theii- ' perfect concealment sang out 
their war song load and clear, in fiiU unison of thousands 
of voices, and the Fantees replied to them over the echo- 
ing plain. 

On the ofBcers in particular the work had been very 
severe. Major Kussell himself suffering from fever. 
Captain Bromhead working with the men of Abrakampa 
itself, Lieutenant Gordon with his Houssas, Captain 
Gordon in command of one long wing. Lord Gifford 
^ways inexhaustible : all and each had work to do 
enough to pay out a dozen men in such a climate. 

The firing of the Ashantees, hfirmless as it had proved, 
had' been vigorous and sustained enough. Its chief 
effect had been to show how absolutely safe even a small 
force of our men would be whenever we could properly 
clear ground round them, and give them play for their 
weapons. It had, however, supplied most of the scenic 

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134 THE A8EANTEE WAK. 

circumstanceB of fighting very amply — ^the noise, the 
smohe, the picturesque and varied movement. 

I doubt, however, if in mere picturesque quaintness 
any outlook more curious than that of the night after Sir 
Garnet had arrived occurred during the seige. The 
dark natives, with their quaint dresses, lying round the 
huts of stucco-like sandy substance, that from their 
incessant readiness to fall, always add a speciality, in its 
way curioitsly effective to almost all these scenes. The 
line erf outer guards, such as they were, lying perhaps 
thirtyyards nearer to the bush, here coast natives, there 
men from the man-eating tribes of the Bonny coimtry, 
there West Indiana, a little further on the sailors, all 
ahke wrapped in the deep sleep of intense fatigue. 
Beyond, the few sentries crouching behind whatever 
stump or bush lay handy, and yet further on the dark 
hushes, within which lay the hordes of savages who had 
been for weeks preparing the attack which was now 
baffled, and was to-moiTow to recoil upon themselves. 
The moon that night was fuU, and was just faintly light- 
ing the whole scene, over which a daids, grey, unwhole- 
some mist had risen. Silence for the most part reigned 
supreme. But once or twice during the night at par- 
ticular points a sudden chatter broke out among the 
dense bushes, and could be distinctly heard at the out- 
posts, causing the few officers awake and on duty to 
move now and then towards one another, and compart 
notes in anticipation of possible attack. A few reports 
of these facts were sent in during the night, but it 
passed off quietly. 

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THE TISELE88 AGAIN. US 

The following morning was spent in perfecting the 
clearance round the village, where the events of the 
previous days had shown that inconvenient trees ham- 
pered view or fire. For this purpose most of the natives 
■were spread out, between the village and the bush filled 
■with the enemy. A very in-egular fire was kept up 
■occasionally at parts of the line. Captain Bait and 
Lieutenant Saunders were busy in fixing the rocket- 
Irough they had brought with them, so as to be ready for 
the fresh attack which all expected. 

But no attack came, and it began to be doubtful 
whether the whole force of the Ashantees were really 
there or not. The General resolved to employ the 
Fantees to dkcovei- whether the enemy had or had not 
really disappeared. It was clear that if they were there 
a few shots would be fired : the Fantees would run ; and 
ihere was some hope, at all events, that the Ashantees 
would pursue them so iar as to be brought within no 
great distance of the village. 

Orders were accordingly issued at a very eai'ly hour 
that as soon as the Cape Coast Fantees arrived from 
Batteyan they should be sent towards that pai't of the 
bush where there was the best chance of their entering 
it without much molestation from the Ashantees. But 
to give orders to these men was one thing, to get them 
to execute them rapidly was another. 

The Cape Coast tiibes up to this time had always 
boasted their prowess in the same grandiloquent style 
*B that in which they had addressed Sir Garnet on his 
first arrival. They had done nothing, but they had con- 

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136 THE ASHANTEE WAH. 

trived to give gi-and excuses for not doing it. The 
scene which -w&a about now to be enacted, derived all its 
comicality from this fact. 

Abont two o'clock, having delayed and waited as long 
as they possibly could, the men slowly dawdled out of 
Abrakampa, and moved, or pretended to move, in a sort 
of column out towards the bush. A crowd of officers 
had assembled to watch, and the expressions of their 
faces must have been anything but pleasing to the 
Fantees. Everyone looked and felt as if they were 
watching a, regularly prepared pantomime. 

How they managed it I don't pretend to understand,, 
but these worthies did somehow or other contrive to take 
minutes, quarters of hours, half hours in passing over 
that perhaps hundred and fifty 3'ai'ds of ground. Long 
■ before the first ten minutes were over the thing had. 
reached such a stage of farce that all the spectators were 
simply convulsed with roars of laughter. The situation 
of thejjoor creatures engaged really was tragic. Each man 
knew perfectly well that he was a cur, and quite equally 
weU that all his neighbours were. But only just before- 
they had beep addressed by Sir Qamet as they left tlie 
entrance, and had replied in the usual vein. There were. 
the laughing officers : moreover, forming up behind them 
abont a thousand strong as they were, there were fifty 
or so of those unpleasant Kossoos with drawn swords,, 
who did mean fighting, and if only they were allowed, 
would just as soon fight them as anyone else. 

So not having at all made up their minds which was. 
the least of the many evils before them, they slowly 

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THE FANTEE8 FLT INTO THE BUSH. 187 

straggled on till they drew out in a long line outside the 
bush, and a few yards from it. There they waited just 
ia the position in which, had there been any Aahantees 
to fire on them, they must have been destroyed. 

The situation had become too tantalising. Sir 
Garnet's orders had been positive that the officers were 
not to enter the bush unless supported by more depend- 
able forces than these Fantees, so there being no other 
way in which the scene could end, it finished off thus. 
The half dozen officers nearest the levies fairly charged 
at them with umbrellas, or Miything else they had in 
hand. Before these the Fantees rushed panic-stricken 
the other way in turn just a few yards into the bush. 
There they made the most hideous noise, but never 
stirred farther. 

This, however, had efiectually demonstrated that the 
Ashantees were, from that bush at all events, gone, and 
as soon as the news reached Sir Garnet he instantly 
ordered Lieutenant Gordon and his Houssas off in pur- 
suit to see how far they had fallen back. But meantime 
some stray shots had been exchanged on tlie opposite 
side of the village, between Captain Bromhead with 
the Abrakampa men and the retreating Ashantees at 
another paii of the camp. Along the line of retreat 
which was thus indicated. Lieutenant Gordon and his 
Houssas pursued. 

They found the Ashantee camp almost deserted, but 
evidently the desertion had been most recent. Pots full 
of soup were hanging from three-legged supports over 
the still blazing fires. Baskets sewn together for the 

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138 THE A8HAXTO \rAB. 

march, full of all sorts of household stuff, and out of 
Tvhich, not unfrequently, when the basket was cut open 
fowls would jump with loud cackle, lay sti-ewn on all 
sides. Guns and ammunition lay all about ; churs of 
state and other ai-ticlea that would not willingly have 
been abandoned were there, including drums of curious 
device, &c., &c. 

As, however, very few were engaged in that evening's 
work, which was both curious and characteristic of the 
kind of way in which such things had to be carried on, 
I have procui-ed, and here give a letter which was at the 
time written to friends at home by one of the officers 
who was employed with Gordon in the pui'suit. Having 
been written on the spur of the moment it gives many 
details such as often repeated themselves on other occa- 
sions when the huiried cu'cumstances of the time have 
prevented them from being recorded. 

" I was engaged in a queer scene the day of the flight 
of the Ashantees from Abrakampa. The Houssas under 
Gordon, who raised most of the others who were here, 
but which were taken away by Glover, and who has 
commanded the levies we now have ever since they 
arrived from Lagos, were sent out in pursnit {only about 
an houi" before dark, as ill luck would have it). I got 
leave to go with him. 

"I had to remain behind him a little in order to 
arrange that some spare ammunition should be sent up 
after us in case we wanted it. I had therefore to rush 
away after Mm full trot across the .broken bush-stubble 
we had prepared for the Ashantees. 

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AN OFFICER'S PEIVATB LETTEE. 18* 

" However, as mine, though a rough one, was rather a 
shorter cut than the Houssas with their bare feet could 
tal^e, I reached the middle of the column just at the 
«ntrance of the small path through the bush, along which 
they were pelting at a pretty considerable pace. The 
idiotic Fantees were the while banging away at nothing, 
and the Hoiissas every now and then catching the 
infection. After a little bit more pelting on as hard as I 
could along one of the rutty, almost impassable, paths 
you have seen described in the papers, I caught up 
Gordou, who having had to shout incessantly to ' cease 
firing,' was more out of breath than I was. A fact 
which I discovered to mj' no small satisfaction, as I re- 
member, at the moment. 

" I had hardly joined him when we had a specimen of 
the character of our brutal, though plucky, Houssas. 
A poor little sick boy, apparently already woimded, in 
any case, almost dying of disease and famine, lay by the 
side of the road. He was probably a Fantee prisoner of 
the Ashantees, and not himself an Ashantee. A Houssa, 
whom I could not distinguish, a few yards ahead of 
Gordon and myself, ran his speai- in mere wantonness into 
the stomach of the poor little wretch. I don't suppose 
I shall ever foi^et the look of agony with which the poor 
creature drew together his limbs and rolled himself over, 
lyelledout at the brute who haddone it, and asked Gordon 
whether it was impossible to stop that kind of thing. 

" He had not seen it, but said he always stopped it as 
far as he could. But we were hurrying on. The poor 
little wretch was soon left far behind, and it was im- 

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140 THE A8HAKTBE WAE. 

possible as we went to know who was the man. The boy 
w&s afterwards taken back to Abrakampa, and was just 
alive when we left. 

" We pushed on to the head of the column, and were 
soon afterwards joined by two young control otBcers who 
had slipped out of camp as volunteers. We now almost 
immediately came upon the site of the Ashantee camp, 
and found it, as it has no doubt been described in the 
papers. We passed on along the road through it. The 
Houssas almost immediately broke up to pillage. No 
orders or shouts or messages would bring them on, and 
in a short time, Gordon, the two control men, two 
Houssas, a Fantee boy who had attached himself to me, 
and myself, found ourselves three hundred yards ahead 
of the rest. 

" Just then, Gordon called out, ' look out for that 
fellow ahead on the road.' I had been looking to left 
and right as we advanced, and now turned my head in 
the direcliion he pointed, just in time to see the flash of 
a gun from an Ashantee who had coolly stopped alone 
on the I'oad to fire at our party. 

"It was about as plucky a thing as well could be. 
He must have seen on the road what looked like the 
head of oui- whole advancing column, and heaven knows 
there had been row enough behind to have made it seem 
like any given number. Any way, at this point the road 
was wide enough for two or three abreast, and he must 
have seen five or six of us, but he took his shot with such 
coolness that Gordon declares he changed his aim from 
one to another of us as we were coming towards him. 

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GOBDON-S PCfiSDIT AFT£B ABBAKAMPA. 141 

" Four of us potted at him, but he had tui'ned the 
corner the moment he had fired, and though we wounded 
him as we knew by the &esh blood in &ont, on stone after 
stone, we never caught him. 

" The shots brought up one or two men from behind. 

" In another minute or two a shot came out of the 
bush from our left, which, as Qordou declares, passed 
between his head and mine, when we were less than two 
yards apart. I did not notice the flash though I heard 
the shot, my attention being taken up at the moment in 
endeaTouring to stop the furious firing which was com- 
menced among the men who had come up. 

"We wanted to get the man taken alive, but it was 
impossible to advance into the bush or send any one in, 
because of the firing of the few men who were up and the 
immediate blaze in the distance of every rifle that could 
be hurried up, directed right into the place one wanted 
to go. 

"One wretched Fantee beside me on the path, 
crouched on his buttocks and fii'ed a shot just as Gordon 
and I were both yelling for the twentieth time to cease 
firing. I had an excessively heavy boot on and delivered 
him fairthe very heaviest kick I could give. He looked 
up pathetically at me, pointing to the place whence the 
man had fired. I had to repeat the heaviest kicks 1 could 
administer about five times before I could induce him to 
face the bush at all. 

" Finally, the Ashantee who had fired fl-as captured. He 
lay not ten 3'ards off the road behind a kind of wattled 
scre^, through which it was not easy to penetrate. 

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143 THE ASBANTEE VAB. 

" We advanced a little, but the lialf dozen men or so 
who were with ua were now completely separated from 
the remainder. Gordon had sent back a message to the 
Houssas by my boy, that those only who came on with 
us would have any of the plunder, that all would be taken 
away from those who remained behind to get it. It had 
hardly any effect. 

" About this time, well away to our ri^t front, some 
shots were fired, which appeared to indicate the presence 
of Ashantees in that direction. The two shots already 
sent at us seemed to show that there were stragglers, in 
what number we could not judge, close upon the road, 
and it seemed therefore necessary to try to get our party 
together before following on. Gordon went back to bring 
up the Houssas, and the two control men and I remained 
in front with a couple of Houssas. Gordon had the 
greatest difficulty in bringing up the men. In one case 
he fired at a box which one of tlie Houssas was sitting 
. on, after he had ordered him to come on. 

"By some such means as this he hustled on a small 
body, and as soon as the first arrived, we again went 
forward. 

" Our party being so small, our only chance was to 
keep up a semblance of force, and therefore as we ad- 
vanced we told off a man or two to fire occasionally into 
any thick bush to right and left, to keep any Ashantees 
who might be in front still on the run. The difficulty 
was to prevent wild firing, being instantly taken up 
in rear at nothing. As the paths incessantly wind, this 
ling in rear was a constant ganger to those in fixmt, 

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AM OFFICEB'B LETTBB. UZ 

and stopped any chance of searching the bush. Bat 
night was fnUing, and we arrived without incident at the 
first little village on the way. The stench there was un- 
like anything else I ever remember. We found afterwards 
that some frightfully bloody custom had been celebrated 
there, and this, under the torrid sun, was the reason of 
the odour. It was too dark to go further, and after 
capturing a prisoner 200 or 300 yards beyond the village, 
we came back, leaving aFantee chief and some ofhis men 
to occupy it. It was necessary in order to get him to 
remain, to post two Houssas as sentries with orders to 
use violence if any Fantees attempted to get away. 

" The Houssa sentries were certain to be able to keep 
any number of Fantees there, but the value of the Fantee 
hold on the village in case the Ashautees wished to come 
back, may be judged from that fact. However, the 
great thing was to let it be known we had st>me force 
there. 

" It probably prevented any attack, for the Ashantees 
seem very rapidly to have recovered from this their first 
panic, if panic it was. I am not quite clear from some 
prisoners' evidence which has since come in that the 
desertion of the camp was not simply due to the fact 
that the Ashantees had dispersed for want of food. 
However, (he subsequent effect was the same. 

" I have omitted to mention the capture of two or 
three men who were taken as prisoners. I can scarcely 
imagine anything more frightful than the appearance 
these men presented when they were first taken. They 
did not know white men were present. They did know 



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Ut THE A8HASTEE WAE. 

that if white men were not there, torture and death were 
before them. The effect was to make these poor creatures, 
half skeletons as most of them were, almost delirious 
with fear. ITiey could not listen to what was said to 
calm them. Their long thin fingers were stretched out 
tremhling all over and pointing first at one and then 
another of us, \yith incoherent chatter. 

" Usually the first action was to tear off their strings of 
beads, and hand them out as a peace offering. After 
that all became incoherent and iiTational. They evi- 
dently saw nothing for some time. Gradually it dawned 
on them that a white officer or two was present. Then 
«lowlj' calmness and relief settled down over their features. 
When they at last understood that they would be sent 
back to camp with a Hoiissa, who would be rewarded if 
they got in unharmed, and punished if they were hurt, 
they went almost with pleasure. 

" The tramp back after night had completely fallen was 
ahout as weird as you can fancy. Every step, for a mile at 
least, one trod upon something or other strewn on the 
path, either by the Ashantees in their flight, or by the 
pillaging Houssas. One saw nothing — not even the man in 
front of one. We four oflncers returned alone, and as we 
came upon one and another of the skulking natives, were 
somewhat nervously challenged by them. As we were by 
no means clear that the Ashantees had not dispersed for 
food, and intended to return, as we could only with great 
difficulty make oat our pathway back to camp, and each 
of us had more than one fall, while one had an unpleasant 
consciousnesa that if by any chance one of the chal- 



ji-vGooglc. 



OOEDON'S PUB80IT. US 

lenging men did fire at us, thoQgli be would almost 
certainly not himeelf do us any harm, he would awake a 
devil's delight of fire from all sides from the still dis- 
persed pillagers, you may imagine it was rather a relief to 
iind ourselves out upon the clearing in front of the vill^e, 
and challenged for the last time by a sentry whom Gordon 
had placed to Bee that none of the Houssas took back 
spoO with them into Abrakampa, in order that it might 
he fairly divided afterwards in proportion as they had 
stuck to him." 

My own letter to the DaHy Neics has been suppressed, 
in ordetr to give the above fuller accoimt. The Daily 
Xews letter had to be sent off in a great hurry, because 
on our return to Cape Coast on the following day we 
found that the mail was actually then starting. Its final 
sentences are, however, alluded to in the beginning of 
ithe next chapter. They announced Sir Garnet's trium- 
phal entry into Cape Coast. 

The General, who had endeavoured, as it will have 
been seen, to adapt all his proclamations, summonses, 
■&C., to the native character, endeavoured yet further to 
impress them, by having a chair, which was believed to 
he Amonquoitia's carried in front of hhn, together with a 
sacred cock, war drums, and various other selected 
portions of the spoil. As far as bowings, scrapinf;8i 
and other exciteinent, nothing could have been greater 
than the effect produced. Unhappily it was ail to end 
in smoke as far as any assistance from the natives was 
concerned. 



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146 THE A8HANTEB WAK. 

The followii^ lettera need little aHeration. Their 
interest is probaUy fresher from standing nearly as they 
■were written at the time. Some points in them to which 
it will be necessary to recur hereafter, depend for their 
interest on the fact that what was here written was- 
currently known in Cape Coast at the time. 

" Oafe Goasi Castlk, SoBemier 16th. 
"When I last wrote to you, my final sentences an- 
nounced Sir G-amet Woleeley's triumphal entry into Cape 
Coast. I said that the triumph was tmasually like a true' 
Itoman one, for that in all probability the actual weapons 
of war, certainly all the most prized personal belongings^ 
of the savage General, were carried before him. Of course 
the one object of the display was to impress the nativea 
and to bring about that result which alone will make the 
defeat before Abrakampa really decisive — a imiversal 
rising of the tribes in pursuit. Unhappily, we none of a» 
.knew how much in another respect the display followed 
the true Itoman type. The slave wels there whispering 
only too closely in the General's ear "thou too art; 
mortal." Under the burning sim of that most furiooa 
day, Sir Q-amet was suffering from a terrible kind of 
feverish headache, to which at ceri»in periods he has 
always been liable. The recurrence of it now can hardly 
be laid to the chaise of the climate, for Sir Garnet 
suffered from similar attacks during Uie Eed River ex- 
pedition, and has suffered from them even in London. 
They are a consequence of his service during the Burmese 
campaign, and come on whenever his strength has been 

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RBSULTS UP TO DATE. H7 

overtaxed by exceBsive head-work. It is by no means 
snrpHsiiig, tiierefore, that one of them should have 
occurred just when it did. The tax on the strength of 
the Chief of the present expedition has been something 
prodigious. 

"Let us for a moment consider what he lias done. 
True he has had a most admirably-selected body of officers 
working under him. But it must be remembered that 
since he arrived here, not one single white soldier has 
been added to the force upon the Coast, not one trained 
soldier of any description has been landed who was not 
on the Coast before. As if fate had determined to 
deprive him of every chance of success, it had happened 
that before Sir Garnet had been entrusted with the 
command of the expedition an order had been issued, 
in consequence of which Captain Glover was ailowed to 
remove from Cape Coast, and from the whole r^on 
threatened by the Ashantee army, not only every Houssa 
whom he (Captain Glover) had raised, but every one 
whom the exertions of that most inde&tigable of leaders. 
Lieutenant Gordon, had brought together, including 
many who had no wish whatever to follow the ' Father 
of the Houssas.' 

" The result was that at the moment when the 
Ashantee army was actually threatening Cape Coast, 
300 Houssas with all their Snider arms and accoutre- 
ments were removed from the town, and that eighteen 
Snider rifles was the whole store of arms available for 
defence when Sir Garnet landed. 

" Among the many absurd assertions made by people 

12 

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118 THE A8HANTEE WAB. 

TCho have trsTelled ' a dozen times to Africa,* or ' who 
know,' or, ' who do,' or ' who have spent 80 years in 
the conntry,' one only has proved true — the people of 
this Coast are as arrant cowards as absolute liars — as 
useless for any kind of work ae it was possible for their 
worst enemy to accuse them of being ; yet with such 
material as this, and by help of such levies as his officers 
have been abl^ in this brief time to I'aise along more 
distant parts of the Coast, Sir Garnet has succeeded 
in causing the Ashantee army' to break np its encamp- 
ment, aud finally to set about effecting its retreat as 
best it can, despite the fact that all the most solemn 
fetish oaths of the chiefs are thereby forsworn, and 
that numbers of them must according to custom die 
in consequence. Captain Crlover has had assigned to him 
fiill authority to enlist almost all those who are known as 
the really wai'like tribes of the Protectorate. Practically, 
the effect has been to leave to Sir Garnet only the refuse. 
It has been with this re&se that Sir Uamet has achieved 
all that has been done. If those warlike tribes had been 
at his disposal, the Ashantee army would at this moment 
be a thing of the past. As it is, though beaten and dis- 
organised, it is gaining time to recover itself in retreat, 
because the tribes under Sir Garnet's direction are so 
slow and indolent, that nothing will induce them rapidly 
to assail an enemy, even when he is known to be almost 
without ammunition, thoroughly cowed, and encumbered 
with prisoners. 

" It is worth while glancing back over the past, in order 
to see how it has been i>ossible for the General, with such 

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HOW. THE ASHANTKES FED. U9 

stuff aa he lias had at his disposal, to achieTe what he has 
done. 

"In the first place, one of the great puzzles of the 
whole situation upon our arrival was that eveiTthing 
appearefl to indicate that the Ashautee army was in great 
nnmbers, yet it seemed utterly impossible that great 
numbers could, under ordinary conditions, be fed with 
the means at their disposal. The mystery was soon 
explained ; unlike an ordinary army, which gets supplies 
only from its rear, and has to guard even those from 
attack,the Ashantees received supplies not only from both 
sides of them, bnt actually from the sea, far to their front. 
Ammnnition, as well as most other things, reached them 
by this means. This, afforded Sir Garnet his first oppor- 
tunity. By the blow struck at Essaman he utterly cut 
off the source of the supplies which the Ashantees had 
been drawing from that side. 

" One other element of the (question was in his favour. 
Miserable aa are the tribes of Cape Coast and its neigh- 
bourhood, it appeared pretty certain that behind slight 
defensive works, under English of&cei's, and with the 
ground in the front well cleared, they would be able to 
resist very considerable Ashantee numbers. If the posts 
were well selected it might be possible very greatly to 
restrict the necessary Uumber of them, and therefor^ to 
employ to advantage within them the few Houssas still 
left, such few of the more warlike tribes along the Coast 
as it has been possible to get within the time together, 
with a few of the 2nd West Indians, and in exceptional 
instances, some of the Marines and Blue Jackets. Of 

,,,. Google 



IfiO TEB ASmSTEE WAB. 

tbis Sir Garnet aext took advantage. By forming 
along tlie Mansu Road a aeries of strong stations, he 
restiicted the Ashanteea as mnch on the eastern as he 
had ahready done on the western side. 

" The combined effect of these operations soon forced 
the Ashantees, for want of food, to break up tibeir camp at 
Mampon and move further north, in search of some more 
easy conmiunicaUon with food-supplying districts. 

" Lnmediately this had occoired another chance pre- 
sented itself. The Cape Coast men, now that the 
Ashantee army was ^rly retreating, could be pushed up 
near enough to them on the west to cut off any stragglers 
who came out to collect food. Thus, on the western side 
the Asbantees were now not only cut off &om the coast 
whence they drew distant supplies, but even their near 
foraging was almost put a stop to. 

"Altogether the hostile army began to find itself 
serioasly hampered. One portion of it became detached 
from the rest, was surprised in its camp, near Dunquah, by 
Colonel Festing, and again subsequently attacked and 
forced to fight with great loss. Sir Garnet's object now in 
fact became to harry any of the ouUying portions of the 
Ashantees, especially in order to induce them to expend 
as much ammunition as possible, now that they could 
not get &esh supplies. 

" For a full • fortnight, moreover, he must have 
anxiously watched for the chance of the Ashantees 
being forced to attack Abrakampa. It lay directly on 
the road along which they intended to move. Their 
chief was especially obnoxious to Amonquoitia, and it 



vGoogIc 



PIFTT TO ONE. Ifil 

"wae known that he had solamnly swom to attack it. 
But then it was equally well known that he had sworn to 
-attack Cape Coast, and had been prevented fay the ntinor 
-chieftains quietly announcing that in that case he might 
attack alone, they did not relish the big guns. For a full 
fortnight the Ashantees lay close at hand, and it must 
have been a daily question with tha General, whether it 
was right any longer to expose fifty Marines and Blue 
Jackets to a life of idleness in the bush. 

" The condition of things was in one way amusing. 
Everybody was speculating on the chances of the Ashantees 
attacking Abrakampa, and, as almost always happens after 
-a day or two, the popular voice derided the notion that 
what had not yet taken place ever could be expected to 
-occur. Only on the night when the attack was actually 
made, a number of officers outside the General's pei^onal 
staff were dining at Gorermnent House. It is positively 
reported that more than one of them oflFered to bet fifty to 
one that Abrakampa was never attacked. Those who were 
possessed of more accurate information, though nothing 
-could persuade outsiders of the fact that they were light, 
were quite ready to take the bets. Within four hours the 
news arrived. 

" An order had been despatched two days before for 
the recall of the Bine Jackets, Sir Garnet not feeling 
that he would be justified in retaining them there 
longer, when the greatest risk is from delay in a bad 
-climate, not from the enemy. It had been cancelled the 
previous morning on the receipt of fresh news of the 
jprobabilify of attack. Bat the cancelling order did not 

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163 TBB A8HAIITEE TTAB. 

reach in time, and it was on his own responsibility that 
Major Snssell retained the Blue Jackets, as he, of course, 
did when the attack actually took place. For the whole- 
local defence the credit is entirely due to Major Eossell 
and the officers under his orders." 



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CHAPTER VI. ■ 

SIB GABNET'b recovery — THE SICK ON BOARD — CAPTAIN" 

CHARTERIS THE ELMINA CHIEFS SUEHENDEU — THE 

CARRIER QUESTION THE APOPO MEN AND THE BOJiNYS 

THE FANTEE POLICEMEN AND THE CAPE COAST 

WOMEN — COLONEL WOOd's SIORJIISH AT FAISOO. 

"Cafe Ck>AaT Castle, Nrnj. 2^d. 

" Sir Garnet Wolseley is completely restored to health, 
and has resumed work a^ain at Government House. I 
mentioned to you in my last letter that it had been 
thought better for himto go on board the ' Simoom,' where 
Captain Feile gave up to him his own cabin. As nothing 
of any very exciting character has occurred since my 
last letter, I shall, before reporting what has taken |dace, 
give you an account of matters comiected with the sick 
on board that vessel, which has naturally been the centre 
of interest during the great«r part of the intermediate 
time. 

" Sir Garnet landed yesterday. This morning, at 2 
A.M., the ' Simoom ' steamed out of harbour with her 
sick on board, bound for St. Helena. Our first batch of 



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1« THE A9HAKTEE WAE. 

«ick and wounded has thus left Cape Coast on their way 
homewards, thoi^h for the - moment they arci oddly 
enough, journeying yet farther south. 

" The ' Simoom,' which has been for years employed 
as a transport vessel, has, as your readers are aware, 
during the present expedition acted as the hospital ship 
of the station. A considerable number of slight fever 
«ases have passed through her, both of officers and men. 
Not having been or^inally intended to be used as a 
hospital ship at all, she is miserably iU-fitted for the ■ 
purpose. Gradually the close low cabins between decks 
became almost impregnated with fever, and there can be 
little doubt that more than one case of illness among 
^ the officers was aggravated by the poisonous atmosphere 
■which was developed. 

" Under these circumstances it became a necessity 
that the ship should receive a thorough airing. It 
happens, moreover, that the last three mail-boats home- 
wards have been infected by cases of yellow fever, deaths 
having occurred on board. The result has been that 
invalids whom it had been intended to send home to 
£ngland have been detained here week after week. It 
was therefore agreed upon between Sir Garnet, Deputy 
Inspector-General Home, the principal medical officer, 
and Commodore Hewett, that the ' Simoom ' should go 
off to St. Helena. She will thus have a charmii^ trip 
along the line of the southern trade winds, and will meet . 
the Cape mfil, which reaches St. Helena on the 2nd. 
Those patients who are to go to England or Madeira 
will have a capital ship to go home in instead of one of 

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CAPTAIN OEAEIXBIB. ISA 

these pestiferous A&ican boats. Moreovec, several on 
"board will be entirely set up by a five wedis' trip, and 
be fit for duty immediately on her return. 

" Colonel M'Neil sails in her. He has been well 
enough for the last three weeks to have gone homeward, 
but has been kept here by the want of a heEiItliy vessel to 
retom in. The only hope for a thoroi^h restoration to 
health after such a wound as his, Ues in his getting off 
to a healthy climate. But he is already well on the way to 
recovery. He hopes to remain a short time at Madeira, 
and to return with the English troops, or soon after 
them. The most serious case on board is that of Captain 
Charteris, Lord Elcho's eldest surviving son. He had 
been £ar from well for some time before be went on 
board the * Simoom,' but did not allow it to be found 
«ut. 

" He had promised his father, before leavii^ England, - 
that he would return at once if he were attacked by 
fever, and he would not admit to himself that he was ill, 
lest it should be supposed to be necessary to send him 
off directly. At last, however, threatenings of dysentery 
forced him to go on board. He appeared to be getting 
better, but suddenly fever came on, and in his case, 
unlike any of the others, there was hardly any inter- 
mittence of the symptoms. The fever raged for nearly 
four days without any apparent abatemenf, and without 
Jhis being able to obtain sleep at night. It was found 
necessary to shave his head and apply a blister. This 
gave some relief. He obtained sleep, and for the lost 
two days before the ship sailed he was undoubtedly 

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lis THE ASHAKTEE WAB. 

better. He looked forward to the voyage with a degree 
of pleasure, which showed how stroi^ upon him was 
the sense of what he had suffered at Cape Coast. He 
returns to England with positive orders not to come 
back again. 

" Of the others on board, the doctors are those who 
have suffered most seriously. Dr. Connellan has had 
fifteen attacks of fever in four months, and, as may 
be supposed, has been comjdetely prostrated by them. 
Dr. Irwin, who has been devoted to a degree past all 
praise in his attentions to those on board, has com- 
pletely succumbed for the time. Dr. Leigh has suffered 
only slightly, and is already nearly well. Captain God- 
win's severe wound produced fever, but he is now well 
enough to go home. Lieutenant Clraves has been ill, 
but now only requires the sea voyage to set him up again. 

" Most of the cases among the marines and seamen are 
exceedingly mild, and it is quite expected that the sea 
voyage will make them perfectly well again. They have, 
in fact, been subjected to verj- Kttle exposure of any kind, 
being almost always on board, and the utmost precau- 
tions having been taken as to their health. 

"The whole stnun of the expedition has at present 
necessarily fallen on the officers. Every portion of work 
in constructing huts, clearing bush, and preparing camping 
grounds, has tb be done under then* personal superintend- 
ence, or it is absolutely neglected by the lazy natives. 
Every levy that is raised from a native tribe implies that 
some white officer has had to travel immense distances, 
and go through the weaiy work of endless ' palavering ' in 

. n,3N..(JNG00glc 



CAPTAIN CHABTEBIS. IfiT 

this exhauBtii^ climate. In each fight the mere self- 
expoaure is only a very amitll part of every officer's duties. 
The constant necesBity for shouting to stop reckless firing, 
the constant necessity for some of the relatively small 
number of white Officers to be always everywhere at the 
same instant, the iacessant efforts to encourage onr 
chicken-hearted Fantee allies — these are what strain to 
the utmost. Though these efforts have resulted in a 
degree of success which has amazed every one who knew 
the place before, it would be absurd to suppose that such 
success must not to a certain extent be paid for both in 
the life and health of some of those who have to perform 
«uch harassing duties. 

" Captain Charteris, the General's aide-de-camp, who 
has been the first to suffer seriously from the climate, had 
been, up to the time of his illness, everywhere witli Sir 
Garnet, full' of enei^-, and carrj-ing on most exhausting 
duties in a most cheery manner. 

"I have described in former letters the long marches 
in single 'file through the dense bush, and over miserably 
rutty pathways, over which one is fortunate if, with the 
continual checks to the column in the shape of marshes 
and huge fallen trees across the path, one advances at the 
rate of two miles an hour. Wearisome enough they are 
for every* one. But, in consequence of the checks which 
-continually occur, the men to whom they are most weari- 
some are the staff officers, who have to push on to the 
front to ascertain the cause, to remedy the defect, and to 
drop back again to their place near the General. 

" The pathway is often a gutter over which every one 

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1» THE ABEAHT^ TTAR. 

straddles, the boshes closing in on both Bides, hardly 
allowing one man to get in front of another, even by 
selecting his passing points, and in most cases absolutely 
forbidding two to be abreast. When, then, a break 
suddenly occurs in the column, or some false alarm has 
taken placC) or the whole force has been delayed by the 
slow passage of the men in front over a marsh, it becomes 
necessary to ascertain what, in fact, has happened. All 
that is seen is, that those nearest have stopped, and that 
no order to advance passed on from behind produces any 
effect. 

" It is indispensable that some one should be s^nt to 
the front. But the process of getting there is, it may 
well be imagined, of the roughest. Scarcely is it possible 
to imagine anything more iatigoing, with the temperature 
a little under 90 degrees in the shade. It is, I believe, 
considered to be a nice point whether it be more tiring to- 
the officer to bid the man in front to let him pass, and 
incessantly to repeat this as he moves along, or to take 
his chance of jtmiping in and out among the patches where 
the bush is a little clearer, with almost the certainty of 
coming upon some half cat stakes at each step. This 
kind of work had been carried on up to the time of his 
illness by Captain Charteris, and during one of the most 
fatting of the later marches, that from Abrdiampa to 
Aasanchi and back, he wi^ suffering, in addition to the 
ill-health he had been concealing, from lameness, due to 
raw blisters on the feet, without allowing it to be dis- 
covered till the work was over. 

" Before passing away from the subject of the sick, it 

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THE SICK AND THB "SIMOOM." 1» 

voold be most nnjust not to say a word as to the kinduesa 
and care which all the officers of the ' Simoom ' hare 
bestowed upon them. Their praise is in the month of 
every one who comes ashore. Captain Peile himself has 
done everything that man conld do for those in his ship. 
But I must once more refer to the nnrenuttii^ exertions 
of Dr. Irwin, who has completely exhausted Himself and 
brought on fever by his daily and n^htly devoticai to all 
the sick. His tenderness has been as remarkable as his 
skill and enei^. 

" Meantime on shore the Ashantees have been slowly 
retreating. False rumours had arrived and obtained 
some currency that Amanquatia and a considerable pro- 
portion of them had made their way across the Prah. 
But it is 'now known that these were felse. A variety of 
skirmishes, too insignificant to be worth narration, have 
occurred round Mansue. Surgeon Gore was, however, 
^ain slightly wounded in moving along the Dnnquah- 
Mansue road. ' 

" One most amnsing incident took place. A control 
officer was moving along the road with an escort of a 
Fantee pohceman and two Hoossas. Suddenly his 
hammock stopped. He looked out and found the Fantee 
women carriei^, who were conveying his stores, huddled 
together in the road, and, crouching behind them to 
obtain shelter, was his Fantee policeman. There are, 
probably, not a dozen Fantees in the country who would 
not have similarly crouched behind the women in a 
moment of imagined dai^er. But the conclusion is 
perfect. The two Honssa police, who had not at first 

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160 THE ASEANTEE WAB. 

onderstood the case, went forward and found that five 
unarmed Ashantees were across the path. They gave 
chase, but failed to catch them. 

" The main body of the Asbi^tees are now somewhat 
to the west of the main road, rather further north than 
Mansue ; but a considerable number of them are probably 
still trailing behind. It is calculated that they move 
about five miles a day. If there were any chance of 
raising these misei'able natives, they might now be taken 
and destroyed ; but the natives give no sign of rising, 
and the whole situation is as annoying as it possibly can 
be. About 1,000 of the native aUies, 150 of the 2nd 
West India, and 50 Houssas are at Mansue. But the 
force is not adequate, with the certainty of native 
cowardice, fairly to attack the Ashantees, yet there they 
are, known to be almost without ammunition, though 
in great numbers, their army lying near us like a ripe 
ftpple which one has just not length of arm enough to 
reach. 

" The road is progressing. A considerable bridge had 
to be made across the Okee river just north of Mansne, 
which has made the work slow. But the bridge is com- 
pleted now, and though all further work has to be done 
under protection of strong parties for defence, we get on. 

" One of the best chances of doing the Ashantees 
mischief has rather suddenly disclosed itself. It is 
known that about 200 of them have been sent to Chamah 
with gold dust to get ammunition. The Wassaw people 
have taken their ' great oath ' that neither they nor 
theii' gold dust shall escape. If so, the Ashantees are 

n,3N..(JNG00glc 



THE ELMISA CHIEFS. 161 

likely to remaiu verj slenderly supplied witli that, most 
in^rtont article, ammunition." 

"Capb Coast Castle, Hob. 2Ti/i. 

" The success which has attended Sir Garnet Wolseley'ij 
operations and the forced retreat of the Ashantees ai'e 
beginning to produce their effect npon the hitherto hostile 
tribes. Yesterday the chiefs of nearly all the villagea in 
the Elmina district arrived in a humble frame of niindat 
- Cape Coast, under protection of a body of police. They 
begged for terms and for permission to return to their 
villages. Of course it is very important to encourage as 
many of these people to come to terms as possible. 
Nothing would so much tend to restore confidence in om' 
power, and nothing would so much weaken the Ashantees, 
as our peaceable possession of the whole Coast line. At 
the same time it would not do to let off too easily these 
tribes, seeing that they swore allegiance to Her Majesty 
entirely of their own free will only two years ago, and 
have almost ever since been plotting with the Ashantees. 

" The detemunation arrived at on the subject will there- 
fore probably appear sound to all. It was as follows : — 
In the first place the General refused to receive the chiefs 
himself, but deputed Capt^ Buller, the head of the 
Intelligence Department, to see them. Captain Buller 
has had all the negociations with them which have led up 
to their submission. He received in the ordinary course 
infonnation as to a general disposition on their part to 
«ome in, and succeeded in satisfactorily encouraging it. 
He was now desired to inform them that they had 

u 

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162 TEE A8HA2«TEE WAK. 

deserved, and must expect to receive, panislunent, bat 
that every allowance would be made for their having 
yielded to bad advice. In &Gt, that to a great extent their 
punishment would depend upon their future behaviotir. 
" They were required therefore, in the first place, as a 
proof of their loyalty, to send into Cape Coast by Sunday 
night SOO carriers, to be employed permttnently on the 
road. When that had been done all might come in with- 
out molestation to Elmina. These 300 carriers are, in 
fact, to be paid at exactly tlie same rate as all the others 
employed. This question is now becoming the one of the 
greatest impoi'tance. The number actually enlisted for the 
transport work is about 2000, but in addition to these there 
pass daily backwards and forwards along the road 500 
men, who are ordered to be sent in from among the use- 
less armed le^-ies of the tribes. They reach Dunquah in 
one day, and Mansue the next. Each carrier takes a 
little more than 501bs., besides hi& own necessaries. A 
very considerable accumulation is thus being rapidly 
made at Mansue, which has long since been completely 
reaJiy for the reception of all stores, both of food and 
ammunition. Everything appears to indicate that all 
distances have been exaggerated. We were told here 
that it was nearly 120 miles to the Prah. The extreme 
advanced post is now about 50 odd miles from here, at 
Sutah. There seems every reason to believe that Prahsue 
is not more at the utmost than 80 miles beyond it, and 
there seems no reason whatever to doubt that by the 
time that the English troops arrive, the road will have 
been completed as far as Prahsue, and tliat everything 

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SHAKING INTO ORDEE. 183 

iiU along the road will be ready for the passage of the 
Frah by Jannary 15th. I have described in former 
letters the preparations which are being made for the 
health and convenience of the troops. 

" It mnst be remembered that work is now going on 
at a continually and rapidly accelerating rate. It would 
hardly have been possible to advance rapidly beycind 
Mansue till the Ashantees had retreated considerably 
north of it, because of the necessity for armed parties 
to protect the workmen if the enemy be in force. These 
greatly increase the length of road to be sapervised. 
Therefore, since everything that has to be done must 
be looked after by an ofKcer the whole time, or the 
natives will simply jabber and stop work, these parties 
diminish the amount of work that can be done exactly 
in proportion as they increase the length of road oc- 
cupied by the workers, for the simple reason that there 
are not Engineer officers sufficient to overlook so much 
ground. The retreat of the Ashantees has thus con- 
siderably facilitated progress in this respect. 

* " The inflow of carriers and labourers from various 
soorces continues. The men who were employed are 
beginning to understand that their comfort depends on 
their steadiness and attention. All is getting more per- 
fectly into order. Moreover, it was formerly necessary 
to keep up considerable numbers of native armed forces, 
who, miserable as they are in the field, could be employed 

> The date of tJiia letter Blionld be noted. It nill be seen that at this 
time, that is within a, week of Sir Oamet'a lecovei; from, the tUnees 
whi<^ immediatelj succeeded Abrakampa, the native leriea were already 
being empl^ed ^moet entiieljr on traas^rart, 

M 2 

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lU THE ASHAHTEE WAB. 

pretty snecess&lly behind the defensive works along the 
road. That need has now passed away. They can, there> 
fore, be used as labourers. 

" Sir Garnet's plan of using the levies to form a cordon 
round the Ashantees has done its work. The Ashantees 
have been forced by it to iall back. All that we now 
require is to push on the road rapidly. The native levies 
are no longer required in the only places where they 
could be trusted. Moreover, our more dependable forces 
are daily in one way or another increasing. 

" Thus, by the very steamer which carries this letter, 
there have to-day arrived from Bonny River about 120 
' Opopos,' accuatomed to the Snider. All of these have, 
moreover, been under fire, and belong to a very warlike 
tribe. It is a quaint illustration of the kind of material with 
which the work has to be carried on, that 50 men of the 
Kossoe tribe, whose arrival I mentioned some time ago, 
are deadly enemies of these new arrivals, who are soldiers 
of the King of Bonny. As the Opopos are said to be 
cannibals, it will be necessary to keep the two tribes at 
very different points, lest the question of food supply for 
these troops should be settled in a singular manner at 
the expense of the expedition. 

" Every one who has to do with them is full of the 
praises of the sword-armed Kossoes. You may remember 
diat when they landed they indulged here in a demonstra- 
tion so extrav(^ant in its form, that most of us, judging 
too closely from European analogy, rather took for granted 
that these men were not worth much; but refusing, as 
they do, to be equipped with firettrms, and trusting to 

n'gN'PtlNGOOgIC 



PE00BE8S AS TO CAHBIEB8. 18S 

tlieir native swords, they have everywhere proved a most 
available and troBtworthy force. 

" The effect of these and other arrivals is to i-ender 
OS daily more independent of the services of the irregulai' 
native levies for fighting purposes. 

" At the same time it must be remembered that when 
Sir Garnet first came here the whole population of the 
entire country that was friendly to us was dispersed in 
concealment through the bush. As long as the Ashantees 
maintained their aggressive attitude, the people were too 
panic struck to be easily enticed from their concealment 
on any consideration. Isolated as they were, they were 
yet able to continue their most profitable employment 
of making palm-oil, and could dispose of it by secret 
channels. 

"Now, however, they are rapidly returning to their 
villages, and are much more accessible. Experience has 
taught them our power. On all hands, therefore, the 
prospect of rapid increase to the numbers who come in is 
improving. Only three days ago Lieut. Bolton, from 
one point alone, brought in 500 men. These will all 
be employed as carriers. 

".It will illustrate the general improvement in our 
prospects of getting men, if I speak somewhat more fully 
of Lieut. Bolton's doings. He has, during all this time, 
been labouring through such dense bush country, that it 
- was scarcely possible to transport'food for himself. Bather 
thwarted than aided by the native king, who had promised 
to Sir Garnet everything that the most unctuous of flat- 
terers could have invented, he has had hinLself to hunt 

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166 THE ASHASTEE WAS. 

Eibont for the men in such wretiched places that, partly 
from bad food and partly from the places he haa been 
in, he has returned covered with terrible ulcers and 
threatened with scurvy. NevertheleBS, with the turn 
that things have taken now, he is convinced that he 
could almost immediately bring £i-om 1000 to 2000 men 
if he goes back again. 

" We have now been so long without news from home, 
that we cannot judge how you are looking at the question 
of an advance beyond the Frah. I must, therefore, once 
more point out that the situation has in one respect in no 
way changed. The King of Ashantee, if he be alive — his 
people, if he be not — are as firmly convinced as ever that 
in their own homes they are unassailable. They calculate 
that we cannot carry on operations for more than six 
months. When that time is over, either this year or 
next, they will again invade and make amends for any 
defeats they now sastain. No defeats this side of the 
Prah will shake this conviction, rooted as it is in the 
minds of Ashantees and Fantees alike. 

"Every penny that has been spent on the present 
expedition might as well have been thrown into the 
sea, if we are not to advance upon OoomasBie. We 
cannot retrgat with honour without that, for both Fantees 
and Ashantees will firmly beUeve that the latter have 
gained all that they wished for. If we are prepared to 
retreat with complete disgrace, it would have been better 
to have sent out no expedition at all. 

" No one here is eager in behalf of the Fantee tribes 
themselves. Most of those who have been employed on 

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NEED WE GO TO" COOMASSIE) 167 

the expedition echo the words in which Mr. Bright has 
declared that the sooner we abandon such an utterly 
worthless set, the better. But every one hopes that for 
once Kngland will not spend enormously, I'etreat with 
discredit, and find herself forced to repeat the operation 
hereafter. 

" For that will be the result. You cannot live on this 
OodLst, ' trading with those who wish to trade ' with you, 
unless you erect around you a protecting wall of tirm 
native conviction tliat it is a dangerous afTair to assail you 
unjustly. 

" Our bill of health has certainly not been verj' satis- 
fiictory. Last mail. Dr. Home reported that 48 per cent, 
of the officers who came out with Sir Garnet, or followed 
him within a fortnight, have been down with fever or 
other illness, including wounds — on an average ten days 
each. Since then, Mr. Irving, the Deputy-Controller, 
and almost, therefore, the most indispensable man out 
here, has been laid up, but is now all but well. However 
as yet no one except Captain Charteris, and some of the 
doctors, have been much the worse for tiie fever attacks. 
I ought perhaps to notice that Lieut. Bolton was not 
included in Dr. Home's estimate.; nor was any one who 
has been ill but not absent firom duty. These represent 
a considerable further contingent. Of the marines on 
shore, the percentage was, at the same time, about 22. 

" Nevertheless, the firm conviction of all the medical 
men, and of every one here besides, from personal obser- 
vation, is, that if the English troops land and go without 
check, except the actual fighting, up country and back, 

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168 THE ABHAKTEE WAH. 

tliere will be liardly any sickness to speak of. The healthy 
season lias hardly yet begun. The second rain season ha» 
been exceptionally unhealthy. The officers, hare snffered 
from excessive fatigue and exposure ; the MarineSt from 
the almost more fatal cause of long delay in Abrakampn, 
doing nothing — a delay necessary but costly. 

" Beconnaissances have been carried on daily, but the 
i-esult has been practically nil. One is hardly able to 
think that all the energy that might be expended has 
been put forth at the advanced post of Mansne. Twice 
reconnaissances sent out have simply worked in a circle, 
and got back into the main road again. However, the 
Ashantees have not yet got far a-head. It will be sufB- 
cient indication of their whereabouts, to say that they 
will probably not get across the Prah for a week." 

" Caps Coabt Castlk, Hit,. Ath. 

" We had a rather biisk little skirmish on Thursday, 
the 28th. I mentioned to you that daily reconnaissances 
of the enemy's position were being made. One of these 
was conducted by Colonel Wood on the occasion in 
qnestion. It consisted almost entirely of his own rcgi- 
m^it of native levies. The whole strength was under 
300 men. They came upon some of tlie Ashantees on 
the southern or near side of Faisoo. These were soon 
driven in, and Faisoo was occupied bj- Colonel Wood. 

"But it soon appearedthatthe force upon which he had 
struck was one of the main divisions of the hostile army. 
According to the best estimate we have eince been able 
to obtain of it, the numbers were not leas than 10,000. 

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THE 8KIBMI8H AT FAISOO. 169 

Eridently it was Colonel Wood's du^ to fall back. He 
had only been sent out to obtain exact information, and 
his force was much too small to continue the engagement. 

" For fullj two hours his Kossoos and Houssas had 
fought capitally. , But when the enormous numbers of the 
enemy began to overlap and to threaten to surround him, 
the most difficult part of his task began. It waa neces- 
sary' to withdraw his almost undisciplined troops. 

" Scarcely any situation more difficult could have been 
found had his men been highly trained. Savages are not 
accustomed to such delicate operations as feeling the 
strength of an enemy, and then withdrawing. They 
don't understand the value of the inf«rmation they thus 
supply to the officer who has the handling, not of them 
only, but of various other forces. The actual delicacy 
of Colonel "Wood's task may be therefore estimated. 

" No doubt the right thing, if it could have been 
managed, would have been to cover their retreat by a 
small body of the "West Indians. But the number of 
our West Indians, who are actually available, is very 
small. It was especially advisable to tiy the value of oui* 
more highly-trained levies. Moreover a force of West 
Indiana, who had been ordered up as a support, airived 
somewhat later than had been expected. 

"However, to cut a long story short, neither Kossoos 
nor Houssas approved of the alow, orderly, measured 
I'etreat which their officers would have prescribed to 
them. They thought that, as they were to get away 
from the enemy, the sooner they accomplished that 
business the better. The retreat became a run, and it 

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170 THE ASHANTEE WAR. 

required Uie utmost exertionS of the officers to prevent 
the mn &oiq becoming a pamc-stricken rout. Order 
was, nevertheless, with much difficulty preserved, and no 
mischievous result probably happened &om the too 
hurried pace of the retreat. For the men dou't look 
upon such things from our point of view, and will pro- 
bably be not discouraged in consequence of it, as Euro- 
pean troops would undoubtedly have been. 

" Unluckily a further incident occurred, only too likely 
to be indicative - of what will happen hereafter. As 
'Wood's Regiment' was retreating in this very un-English 
style, they came upon a party of carriers who had been 
sent out under the escort of some of the West Indians to 
bring the supplies after them. The movement appears to 
have been caused by the same misunderstanding of orders 
as had brought the West Indians so late upon the field. 
In any case the result was singularly unfortunate. The 
moment the carriers saw the retreating force, they took for 
granted they had been defeated. Down went all the 
burdens and off darted the carriei's into the bush. 

" It was too late that night to collect all that they had 
dropped. Fortimately the Ashantees had had more than 
they bargained for. They did not venture on a pursuit, 
and accordingly there was no difficulty in collecting the 
following morning almost everything that had been lost. 
The only articles finally reported missing were two 
packages, consisting chiefly of condensed meat, and one 
officer's hanunock. There was also one barrel which had 
been broken open, tmd some of its contents taken out. 

" It is needless to say that Cape Coast, which is war- 

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COLONEL WOOD'S SKIEMISH. 171 

ranted on any given occasion to breed rumours, bred them 
fast enough in the present instance. All sorts of disasters 
had, of course, occurred. Should any of these romours 
find their way into print, you will know exactly what they 
are worth. 

" On the whole, looking at tiie thing calmly, there can be 
little doubt that we gained very considerable advantages 
by this little affair. It is by no means so easy a matter 
as some of your readers may fancy to ascertain the exact 
position of several thousand savages in the kind of 
country we have here. The bush around Mansue and 
Faisoo differs considerably from most of what I have so 
often described. It is more clear of underwood, and the 
large trees are more numerous. But, on the other hand, 
swamps and bogs are much more freqoent. To push, 
therefore, along the narrow unmapped paths, the cha- 
racter of which is, I hope, by this time familiar in 
England ; to be ready to get men rapidly to the front 
when danger arises ; to move through ground where 
nothing can be seen twenty yards, often nothing five yards 
a-head ; to do this with a force ins^ificant in point of 
numbers, which must not therefore be compromised in a 
serious fight ; not to allow the movement to be checked, 
by dispersed stragglers, but really to find outVhere force 
actually is, all this is no easy task. 

" It must, moreover, be admitted that it is one which 
has not hitherto been accomplished very satisfactorily since 
the enemy passed Mansue. Reconnaissance after recon- 
naissance had returned without ascertaining exactly where 
the real strength of the enemy near Mansue lay. Empty 

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17S. THE ASHASIBE WAK. 

camps have been met with, but not the enemy. The 
result, therefore, of this one as to its main object has 
been decidedly good, because it> has shown that it is 
possible, with these leries, to sustain a fight at veiy great 
odds, and, despite the dense bush, to find out the true 
position of the enemy by pushing in on him. For the 
rest, it has proved again, if it wei-e necessary to prove 
it, that thoroughly trustworthy troops are indispensable 
for the more delicate operations of a campaign of this 
kind. The absence of piu^uit by the Ashantees appears 
to indicate great present weakness on their paii, probably 
due to extreme want of ammunition. 

"We are anxiously looking for oui- next mails from 
you to know whether we are or are not to have English 
troops sent to ua. Sir Garnet WoISeley and Major 
Baker, the Assistant Adjutant-General, have gone up tlie 
country to inspect the vaiious posts and stations, and 
to see exactly in what condition all the posts for the 
European troops are. As, however. Sir Garnet has an 
admirable way of keeping his own plans to himself, and 
does not always mention all that he intends, not a few 
of ua suspect that more is brewing than appears on the 
surface. If an order suddenly came down for all the 
Marines and Blue Jackets available to land and move up 
to the front, and for the staff, which has not gone with 
the General, to join him, it would surpiise few liere. 
The position of the enemy, as known, in general terms is 
most tempting, and we cannot help suspecting that more 
than half of the General's object is to ascertain whether 
an eflfective blow can be struck. The quickness with 

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QDE8TI0KS AND ANSWEBS FROM HOME. ITS 

wliicli he has gone to the front indicates this, even if 
nothing else did. It is verj- much like his first visit to 
Ehuina, at which he prepared for the Essantan busiaese. 
The enemy are still this side of the Prah, and vithin 
reach of Faisoo, now occupied by us. 

"The mails of this station are wildly erratic. T^ 
Joar days ago we had not even received answers to our 
letters from Sierra Leone, and not a word in an«wer to 
anything from hence.* Now we find in the newspapers 
just received a fresh cause of doubt as to the extent to 
which we can trust to communication with England by 
the mail steamers. Three steamers left on the 9th and 
loth of September, succeeding one on the 6th, just after 
we had arrived here. We were assured that one boat in 
particular — the ' Soudan ' — was quicker than any of the 
others, and would be at home days before them. Lo and 
behold, one correspondent, who had been in the depths of . 
despair at missing the ' Soudan,' finds his letter has 
appeared on the 3rd, whilst those that went by that 
much-trusted boat appeared on the-4th. Correspondence 
hence is slightly irregular. 

* Again I wlslt to dnw attentioB. to the date of this letter, December 
4tli. I shal] have a wotd toaayhy and b? aa to these dates. 



jnGoo^Ic. 



CHAPTER VII. 

ENGIiISH LAW OR NOT — THE SLAVERY QUESTION — ^A GEOWL 
ABOUT OUK LETTERS — UNIVERSAL SENSE OF NEGLECT 

— S0EENES3 AT SUPPOSED ELECTIONEERING TACTICS 

THE STATUS QUO CAPTAIN FEEMANTLE AS A FEVER 

DOCTOR. 

The followii^ letters, with the exception of the few 
notes I have added here and there, and with some aup- 
pression of matter which has now lost its interest, will, I 
Hunk, be more interesting as they stand than if they were 
now rewritten. With the exception of the first part about 
the slavery question, they are, in hardly any case, a state- 
ment specially of the writer's own views, but almost only, 
even where they express strong feeling, descriptive of what 
was at the time felt by all on the spot, with very little, 
difference of opinion. The rest chiefly relates to local 
facts, better given as they were seen at the time. 

" I observe in all that comes from England a curious 
puzzle as to certain facts connected with our position in 
relation to this Coast. I propose, therefore, as no very 
exciting events are at this moment in progress, to men- 
tion briefly how they look close at hand. In the first 



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A NATIVE COURT, ITS 

place, Cape Coast is not uader English law. We 
have, no doubt, an English magistrate, and a snperior 
judge. Certain cases, chiefly relating to English resi- 
dents and to their dealing with natires, are brought 
before the. latter and tried by jury, native or English, as 
the case may be, according to EngUsh law and custom. 

" But the judge, in addition to this function, exercises 
that of ' judicial assessor,' as it is called. He has, that is 
to say, a court in which he meets the native chiefs and 
kings, and, giving them his advice, obtains from them 
their opinion as to the true construction of native law 
and custom. In this court all cases involving native 
usage are tried. 

" "We do not pretend to have annexed and to govern 
as by English law that vague territory the Protectorate ; 
hut, by treaty with ttie chiefs, we confer on them the 
advantage of our English sense of justice and orderly 
administration. The advantage of this to them they 
cordially recognise ; but the cession of jurisdiction 
having been voluntary on their part, we are obliged to 
conform to some extent, if we accept it, to native usage. 

" At what point this conformity of ours ought to stop is 
a nice question. We have ceiiainly carried it pretty far. 
Among the many anomalies of the Gold Coast, a case 
which recently came on here is certainly one of the 
strangest An English judge sitting in the judicial 
araessor's court had to try a case in which property was 
involved. The whole question turned upon whether the 
claimant to this estate was or was not a slave, because if 
he were a slave, then, according to the law necessaiily 

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ITS THE A8HANTBE WAR. 

administei'ed by the English jadge, he conld bold no 
property. 

" The subject, however, is not one for hysterical 
shrieking. The facts mast be calmly investigated, how- 
ever revolting the whole subject maybe to our English 
ideas. Kow those who instituted, and those who have 
continued, the present state of things, have a good deal 
to say for themselves, even from the point of those who, 
like myself, look upon slavery as a thing so utterly 
accursed, that no quarter can, under any conditions, be 
given to it. Suppose you had to abolish slavery in a 
country like this, yon have this initial difficulty to begin 
with, that the entire social fabric is so founded upon it — 
the idea of slavery is so engrained in the minds of the 
whole people, that the slaves themselves have no occupa- 
tion to fall hack upon, and notbing.to live upon if it were 
abolished. 

" Of coui'se that has been siud of slave states before. 
But here you have not two alien races, one holding the 
other down, but a race living simply on what, under 
our rule, may not unfairly be said to be, in a modified 
degree, patriai'chal principles. We found a slaverj' 
like that which exists now in Ashantee. That is to 
say, the chief use for which slaves were kept was to 
be killed at fetish sacrifices, and to be employed as the 
chief method of barter. We have reduced it by one 
simple law to a condition in which, theoretically, the slave 
can select for himself slavery or freedom. Whenever a 
slave comes into a judge's court and proves that he has 
been beaten or illtreated, he ip set free. All evidence is 

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SLAVERY AS IT la 177 

of course received from the slaves aa mach as from free 
persons. 

" There can therefore, I think, be no question that our 
action in the past has been very beneficial. We could 
sot abolish slavery throughout the Protectorate because 
■we had not the means to enforce our order. We have to 
all intents and purposes given every slave who appeals to 
<mr protection, freedom. Slavery without any power of 
coercion is little more than a name. It could not practi- 
cally exist. Unfortunately there are still some rejects in 
which, as one views the case near at hand, the practical 
abolition of the wrong does not seem complete. I am quite 
ready to a^pree with those who Uiink that if you want to 
abolish slavery you must do it by such means as will 
change the belief of the people on the snbject — especially 
•of the slaves themselves. Bat then that does not quite . 
cover a case which some of those have since our arrival 
actually seen — a master with three or four strong men 
-carrying back to his house a girl who had run away from 

" The difficulty usually is, of course, as to the evi- 
dence. The sentiment of the slaves, as much as that of 
the masters, is against rmming away. Hence the power 
of the masters, though kept within certain limits, is 
much greater practically than it is by law. I should be 
florry to assert positively that coercion of a pretty 
vigorous kind is not carried on within some of these big, 
straggling, isolated, silent bouses, which may well hush 
ories from all outside of them. 

" One need hardly say that the masters declare that 



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178 THE AaHANTEE WAB. 

they have no power over their Blaves iinder the rules we 
have introduced. That would of course be said. The 
truth is that a turbulent, refractory slare, who is a 
strong man, and can and will earn his own Bring, 
has the remedy very well in hia own hands; and, as- 
I have seen in instances since we anived here, cannot 
be coei-ced if he desii-es his own liberty. Bat I am 
by no means equally convinced of the possibility of ' 
a female slave, who does not like her position, changing 
it. The greater tendency of women to look upon 
whatever they are accustomed to a3 right, so that pro- 
bably all the rest would be i^ainst one who wished 
to go ; the difficulty of winning an honest livelihood if 
she made her escape; the possibility of cn^hing her 
resistance with less turmoil — all these things most cer- 
tainly surrotmd any woman who is not well treated, with 
much greater difficulty than would attend the escape of 
a man. As far as I can at all make out, mistresses use 
the whip pretty freely amot^ troublesome maidens. Bnt 
there is no direct evidence obtainable of the fact. 

" Of other iniquities connected with the sj-stem, pro- 
bably not due to it, there is ample eridence. It is no- 
uncommon thii^ for a mistress simply to sell her slave, or 
let her for a certain period to a man. The girl thus dis- 
posed of is, perhaps, not very unwilling. Morality here is 
of the very loosest. Moreover, the gul thus let is, according- 
to native parlance, ' married ' for the time to the man to 
whom she is thus hired. It is in accordance with 
native custom as to marriage, that the girl who is to be 
married is simply handed over in return for a dowiy. 

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HANQIKS WITHOUT SOVEEEIGKTY. 179 

If she cbooaes to emancipate herself &om her marriage, 
she has only to return her dowry. It is prohable that 
the mcidents I have quoted are, as I have said, not due 
to slaverj but to the habits of the people. At the same 
time the broad fact is that these things do in the natives' 
eyes receive a certain amount of sanction &om Ei^^lish 
rule by the non-abolition of slavery: 

" Under our treaty with the chiefs, we send poUcemen 
expressly enlisted by us and in our pay, through the 
whole protected territoiy, right down to the Prah — ^we 
arrest, try, and, if necessary, bang criminals in any pai-t 
of this country. It is useless to deny, therefore, that we 
exercise over it all the ordinary rights of aovereignty. 
Granted, that we do not claim as possession any ground 
but that which is occupied by our forts. Nevertheless, the 
thing is, to a very great, extent, a sham. The territory 
we have hitherto ruled extends to the Prah, under what- 
ever legal fictions we may have veiled the fact. As to 
the past, it is not worth while to inquire too nicely. But 
of this I am entirely convinced. From the moment 
this war is over, we must adopt one of two courses, 
either, as Mr. Bright proposes, we must absolutely abandon 
all connection with this coast, or we must assume dis* 
tinct sovereignty, abolish slavery, and organise a native 
police of sufficient force to keep order throughout these 
broad protected lands, which we at present govern, 
whilst we pretend that we do not j which we yet 
nominally rule, whilst we do not regtdate anything 
within them — a perhaps almost unintelligible sentence, 
which, nevertheless, in both its incongruities, pretty 

hS 
n,gN..(jNGoo^le 



ISO THE ASHAKTEE WAB. 

exactly representa the anmtelligible anomalieti of oar 
present position. Govemment of Ashantee, according 
to Ashantee ideas, may be a mighty fine thing in its 
way. But how if those ideas involve slavery on English 
ground ? 

" To turn to a neV subject, we really have been 
treated very badly in the matter of news from home. Her 
Majesty's ship ' Active ' left England a week later than 
the last mail we had before I last wrote to you. Applica- 
tion was made to the Post Office by the Admiralty for the 
mails to he sent to her. This was done a foil week 
before the vessel sailed. The Post Office has some rule, 
sound enough no doubt in ordinary times, against send- 
ing mails by men-of-war. Accordingly, the notice sent 
by the Admiralty was entirely ^ored, some formal 
clerk's answer was returned, and we lost a week of 
private letters. By all means let the Post Office stand , 
on its dignity in those cases, numerous as they are, in 
which its duties are admirably performed by its ordinary 
agents. But a very little inquiry would have supplied 
the Post Office with certain information of the fact that 
no mail steamer could start for Cape Coast for Hiree 
weeks, though the service is nominally weekly. A very 
little inquiry would have farther convinced them that 
there could be no doubt at all that the ' Active * would 
arrive here with much greater certainty than an ordinary 
mail steamer. Yet the Post Office, with their right ' 
of monopoly, interfered to prevent a ship-of-war &om 
conveying to men engaged on active service any letters 
from home. No notice was issued that letters sent 

nigN^tJi-vGoOglc 



so LETTBUSt ISl 

expressly for the ' Active ' would be sent by her, or if 
any such notice was issued, no troable was taken to make 
it public. 

"At the same time the Post Office, either by the 
carelessiiesB with which it advertised facts, or by actual 
neglect to advertise them at all, practised what, had 
it been done by a private company, would have been 
almost on indictable swindle. They allowed it to 
be inferred that a weekly mail goes to Cape Coast; 
accordingly, all friends in England have written letters 
by each aominal post. All these arrived together, and 
as the weight of such letters is excessively small, the 
Post Office pocketed nearly three times what it ought to 
have done by the transaction. We can't tell here what 
notices may have been issued at honie. You will be able 
to judge of that better than we can. The fiicts as, we 
have them are as I have told you. I can speak positively 
as to the fact that it was the Post Office, and not the 
authorities under whom ihe ' Active ' s^ed, who were 
to blame for that part of the transaction. 

" The worst of it all is, that the effect of this, combmed 
with the carelessness as to the provision of a proper hos- 
pital ship, of which I have already written to yon, and 
various other matters, too small to be worth recording, but 
very galling nevertheless, produces a very bitter feeling 
here, which almost inevitably tends to take off the edge of 
that eager energy with which our officers, all volunteers as 
they are, have been working. Eather, perhaps, it has 
made them set their teeth with a kind of savage deter- 
mination. But for all that, it is mischievom. 

..i-,Gt)ot^lc 



IS2 TEE ASHANTES WAK. 

- "I nndertake to say, that, if you asked any officer 
here, fixmi the general himself to the youngest subaltern, 
they would all, in one form or another, express their 
belief that the expedition is being conducted on the 
following plan : — Economy and curtulment in everything 
that tends to the health or convenience of the expedition, 
till the English regiments arrive, then lavish expenditure ' 
for their comfort. No one is jealous of this latter. 
Every one is anxious to strain every nerve to make it 
certain that our glorious battalions shall not suffer from 
this terrible climate. If it were a question between the 
comfort of ofKcers and men, I can answer for it, every 
vote would be given for the latter. All feel that they 
come here as volunteers, and that they must be quite 
ready to take their chance. They enjoy the hard work 
and the roughing more than any other part of the busi- 
ness. But — ^it may be very stupid — Englishmen abroad, 
who are quite ready to go through any amount of discom- 
fort or risk, do care to feel that in little things England 
is not utterly indifferent to them. They do — childish, 
perhaps, it may be — hate to be made the sport of petty 
party tactics; and the feelii^ here at this moment 
universal is, that officialdom at home — not the statesmen 
at the head of affiurs, but the underlings, who think it 
their duty to covrtou to the men in power — do believe, 
and act on the belief, that it will be popular to stint and 
snub such representatives of the [upper classes as the 
officers are supposed to be, and that it will be equally 
popular to be lavish for the regiments. 

" The feeling may be partly, perhaps simply, a sort of 

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THE 23m. and "DONATIVES"! lU 

'Crave for sympathy fi-om home, bat it is a very prominent 
fact at present, and it is idle to deny that circumstances 
give considerable colour to the complaint. Howevei-, we 
have happily nearly reached the season when provision for 
the English troops is to be made. The Cape mails ai'e to 
«all regularly ; a fast dispatch boat is, as repoi-t goes, to be 
placed at the governor's disposal. Once a fortnight a 
boat is to be ready to take the sick off on a cruise, or to 
St. Helena, or home, as circomatauces may requii-e. 
Means of making ice, the greatest of all luxuries here, 
and which will indeed be a novelty to us, are to be sent. 
Bnmoure even of some effort to get the telegraph com- 
plete have reached us. We shall, no doubt, have no 
further grievance against the Post Office. 

" Another matter nearly concerning us is reported 
itam home. A great grievance is made out by several 
newspapers against the officers of the 23rd, because of 
their petition setting forth tiie injury which they conceive 
they have suffered as regards their position when going 
on service &om i-ecent changes, regulating the method of 
promotion. Now on the main question it is certainly 
not my business, at tliis distance from home, to say any- 
thing. But there is one particular note in the cry 
agunst them, the flagrant injustice of which a recent 
incident out here may perhaps expose as much as a loi^ 
discussion could possibly do. Their detractors say there 
is something unsoldierlike and mercantile in men who 
are ordered on service considering the question of their 
moneyed rights in relation to death vacancies. Whether 
^y are right or wrong in their estimate of those rights, 

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lU THE A8HANTEE WAB.' 

is entirely beside the question. That is a matter which 
is being investigated before a proper tribunal. Bnt the 
real gravamen of the charge lies in an accosation which 
it does not come within the province of the court to deal 
with. There is a sort of popular assumption that a 
soldier ought to be — that he can't be very eager for his 
work if he is not — a careless, dashing, arrogant SOTt of 
fellow, much too thoi^htless to consider whether his 
funily will lose or not by his sudden death. 

" The Spectator constantly appeals to this sentiment, 
as, for instance, when it asserted that the army were 
asking for ' donatives,' when they said, apropos to the- 
purchase question, 'We think we have been cheated of 
what was promised us, and ask that our complaint may 
be investigated by any impartial tribunal.' I will not 
meet this assumption by the direct denial of its truth 
which it merits. I will only say this. Just lately here 
every officer has been sending in to Captain Brackenbnry, 
the Assistant Military Secretary, the names of the persons 
to whom they wish news to be commtmicated in the event 
of their death, and to whom their proper^ oat here is to ■ 
be sent. 

" I am disposed to add another &ct, of which your 
readers already know something. The payment on the 
increased risk of insurance by officers coming out here 
hw been so heavy, that when all pay and allowances 
for the expedition have been thrown ifa against it, most 
of those who have come out here will be very heavy 
losers by the whole transaction. Of course, the extra 
payments made are an index of the amount of precaution. 

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A lUCKT EaOAPE. 18S 

taken by the haram-scaruiu creatures for the event of 
their sndden death. 

" It is all yery absurd and very irreconcilable, of course ; 
only, as no one can at all events accnse those who volun- 
tarily came out here of any hesitation about going on 
service, it slightly mars the accuracy <^ the assumptions 
on which the attack on the 28rd was bi^ed." 

fCAPB OoABT Cabii^ Dec Btt, 
" I wrote to you a long letter by the ' Benin,' which 
went home .yesterday. She is to call at fewer ports, and 
is said to be a much faster vessel than the ' Goi^o,' which 
has now arrived ; but the captain, the doctor, and the 
engineer, are said to be all dead of some fatal disease- 
probably, of yellow fever. Under the circumstances, it 
seems quite an open question which of the two ships 
may get home first. We now know that Colonel Wood 
retreated just soon enough to escape from great danger. 
Two iiomense ambuscades on either side had been pre- 
pared for him, and the retreating Ashantees had hoped 
to draw him into these. As it was, the Ashantees, as 
one always finds out afi^er one of these engagements, 
suffered far more than we could possibly have supposed, 
especially from the rockets. These seem to have dealt 
terrible destruction. The effect has been to hurry their 
retreat. 

"We now occupy Faisoo, whither to-day the whole 
of Wood's regiment has been pushed, while Bossell's 
regiment now occupies Mansue. The Ashantees are 
reported to have received firesh supplies of powder, 

,,,. Google 



186 THE A8HANTEE WAE. 

and as bananas and plantains are new plentifully found 
at Faisoo, either the retreat must have been very 
hurried ; or| as is more probable, their needs have to a 
great extent been otherwise sappUed. In other words, 
thanks to our losing all the more warlike tribes by the 
detachment of our forces to Captain Glover, we have 
been deprived of the opportunity of destroying the enemy, 
when almost any trustworthy force would have enabled 
us to do so'. 

" Thousands of natives are now gathered at Dunquah, 
but they are so chicken-hearted that their value is 
almost nil. All real fighting has to be done by the 
2nd West Indians, the Kossoos, Houssas, &c., and the 
few organised natives in Biissell's and Wood's regi- 
ments. The latest reports give Russell's regiment at 
about 450 men, and Wood's 500. Of the West Indians 
150 are now available at the htint. There are also Itait's 
artillery of 50 men and about 3,700 native allies. 

" We have now heard of Eait's artillery, of which one 
gun was drawn by oxen, having actually reached the front. 
The consequence is that orders have been sent to Cape St. 
Vincent to get mules, oxen, asses, or anything that will 
draw or carry. We were so positively assured before 
we came here by those who had been twenty times to 
Coomassie, or 100 times to Africa, ' that no kind of 
draught or pack animal woidd live here,' that decency 
demaCnded some attention to the assertion. However, it 
does not much matter. We have ascertained the fact 
soon enough ; for the pack animals, and still more the 
drai^ht, will be chiefly useful along the made road, so 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



SICKNESS AND ITS CAUSES. 187 

that, till it was ready, it was just as veil we should not 
trouble about them. 

" I am sorry to report that about thirty Marines and 
Slue Jackets have to be invalided home. I incline to 
think that though the result has been unavoidable it is 
easily to be accounted for, without giving cause for alarm 
as to the safety out here of the English troops. There 
■are two sorts of causes which force themselves upon one, 
as mainly responsible for all the illness which takes place 
out here. 

" The first is excessive exposure and over exertion in 
the son, with bad food, bad quarters, and generally depress- 
ing, conditions. The first set of Marines who came out 
here in the ' Simoom ' suffered horribly from thesb. The 
■officers who had been sent to the native kings, and 
generally those who have been employed on the early 
iMugh work, have also suffered. 

" But there is another cause obviously imder oui* eyes, 
as fatal — inactivity ; the being in a dangerous climate 
with nothing to occupy the mind. This has been the 
inevitable fate of those few Marines and Blue Jackets who 
were indispensable to the security of the posts in the 
front. 

" I can speak on the authority of one of the very best 
and most careful doctors out here, when I say, that if the 
English troops can move rapidly up throi^h the country, 
have their hands full when they get to the front, and come 
back again quickly, no evil will happen to them from the' 
climate. This he has said to me since these last Marines 
were invalided home. 



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188 THI ABEANTEE WAB. 

" Two curious fncts are worth recording in this matter. 
The ' Barracouta ' men had had for some time a daily 
increasing sick list which had reached twenty-two. 
Captain Fremantle had the crew op on the quarter-deck, 
and addressed them thus : — * Yon men are all going 
about with yonr heads under your arms. Every one of 
you is expecting all day long to get fever. Now, I tell 
you that if you are such geese as that you will all get it. 
it you hold up your heads none of you will.' Next day 
the sick list had fallen to sixteen. The other is one of 
the few sound pieces of advice I heard of before we left 
England from one of the few old Gold Coast inhabitants, 
who really did supply good advice. 'No one,' he said, 
' but volunteers ought to go out there, men or officers, 
and not a soul who cannot read or write. Men who 
can't read and write have nothing to occupy their minds, . 
and they brood and die. Men who are not volunteers 
think it very hard they should be sent there against their 
will, get nostalgia, and die.* " 



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CHAPTER Vni. 



THE ASHAKTGES PASS THE FRAH — THE ENOLISH BEOI- 

UENT8 AUBIVE, AND ARE SENT TO &EA AGAIN 

SUFFEKINaS OF PRISONERS ESCAFtNQ FROM THE 
ASHANTEES TO DS — REPORTS FROM THE VOLTA — THE 
PICANIKI BRIGADE — THE SAILORS AS OTEBSEEBS — 

THE BBILUANT GOVERNOR THE GOVERNOR WHO 

DIED FOR FANTEE8 — A DEADLY HULK — THE lUAQI- 
NABY MARCH. 

Two events now occurred, each of immense import- 
ance in tlie condnct of the war, and the &ct>s as to which 
reqnire noting. By abont the 5th or @th of December 
we obtained definite i^oof that the Ashantees had en- 
tirely abandoned the Protectorate. By the 10th and 
11th of December the English regiments arrived. 

It will have been observed that in bis application tor 
the English troops, quoted on page 90, Sir Garnet 
nrged that they shoidd be sent as rapidly as possible. 
It wonid have been impossible for any Cabinet to have 
acceded more promptly to such a request than did that 
which received the application. The troops were sent 
at once. 

But it is to be noted that Sir Garnet, in a despatch to 



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ISO THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

Lord Kimberley, dated October the ilst, inunediately 
ftfter the tight at Essaman, and by the same mail which 
carried the application for troops, writes thus ; — 

*' I mentioned to your lordship in writing by last mail 
that I intended to apply to the Secretary of State for 
War for the contii^nt of English troops which was to 
be held in readiness. A full statement of my motives 
for that application has been despatched by the present 
mail. But I find myself compelled to ask for a battalion 
in addition. The motive for my doing so ia this. Our 
road ha-ving reached Mansue, I can advance no further till 
I have cleared all Ashantees out of the whole territoiy 
included between the Mansae road to the east, the Prah 
on the west, the sea to the south, and, roughly speaMng, 
a parallel of latitude through Mansue to the north. 

" My e^erience on the 14th has taught me that I can 
place no dependence on the character of any native levies 
that may be raised. 

" The Houssas, and even the 2nd West Indian Begi- 
ment, were so excitable that, had I not been accompanied 
by the small European contingent, I should have been 
fortunate had I escaped disaster. 

" I am, as I have already stated, egoally doubtful as 
to the nnmber of native levies that may be raised within 
the required time. 

" Hence I am uncertain whether I shall be able to 
andertake any serious operation until the arrival of the 
English troops. I have at present 100 West Indian 
troops and 150 Marines as the sole force on which I can 
rely. 

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WHY TEHEE BATTALI0I7S VEEE DEMANDED. 191 

" Thus, while adhering to my original eatimate of the 
number of Eiiropeen troops who will be required for an 
advance beyond the Prah, should that become necessary, 
I iind myself compelled to apply for an additional Euro- 
pean regiment. For, as I must employ tiiese regiments 
not only in any advance beyond the Prah, bat in pre- 
liminary operations to make clear the way for that 
purpose, I mast anticipate losses, perhaps serious ones^ 
before I arrive upon that river. I need, therefore, some 
means of making up my strength to the full foive on 
which I had at iirst based my calculations, and I ant 
convinced that an additional regiment will be a. moderate 
and indispensable reserve to allow for this purpose." 

It will thus be seen that Sir dtamet, in applying for 
three battalions, desired to be prepared for an event the 
possibility of which was at the time he wrote one of the- 
things for which he was bound to be ready.- Tiie 
Ashantees might offer a very serious resistance on the 
Cape Coast side of the Prah. 

He used his utmost exertions to render this impossible, 
and he succeeded in inducing the Ashantees to retire 
without offering a very serious resistance at this point. 
But it would have been criminal six weeks beforehand to 
base demands upon any assumption of that land. It 
was necessary, therefore, for him to ui^ that the troops 
should be sent as rapidly as possible, in order that he 
might be able, if necessary, by their aid to turn the 
Ashantees out of the protected territory, and then to 
march upon Coomassie aa soon as stores had been collected 
at tke front sufficient for that purpose, 

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1B2 THE ASHAKTEE WAB. 

But hy the time the troops arrived the Asfaimtees had 
just been driven out of the territory. The troops were 
not needed for that purpose, end Sir Garnet had pieced 
himaelf not to employ the troops on shore in that deadly 
climate for a day .more than was necessary, or to employ 
s man that could be spared. The troops were therefore 
immediately ordered oat to sea again, vhilst stores were 
heing accnmulated at the front. 

The following letters, which in consequence of the 
delays in the muls did not leave till the middle of 
December, describe the situation at the time of the 
arrival of the troops. 

•■ Cape Coast Oabtls, Ste. 15. 
"The 'Himalaya* came in on the 10th with the 
-second battalion Bifle Brigade on board. The friends of 
officers and men will be glad to hear that had &ey been 
in England they coiild hardly have looked in better con- 
'dition and more healthy. I heard from an officer a faint 
grumble that his men were very crowded ; but I suspect 
what was meant was only the usual amount of ship- 
crowding, and I heard nothing at all that tended to show 
that they had been crowded in the sense in which the 
Marines who originally came out in the ' Barracouta ' 
-were crowded. Your readers will remember that those 
Tmhappy men were said to have been literaUy condensed 
t(^ther with the water, their berths being next to the 
fires of the condensing apparatus. Nor was there any- 
thing like such packing as went on in that most dehghtM 
of vessels, the steam-ship ' Ambriz.' In any case, no 

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TSE ENOLISH TBOOPS ARBIVE. 193 

one on board the ' Himalaya ' looks any the worse for it. 
Many of ihe officers landed, called on Sir Cramet, and 
had a look at a town of which it is to be hoped they will 
never have much opportunity for &rUier inspection. 
They don't see it as it was two months ago. The 
Sanitary Committee has done wonders. By pure, 
unmitigated, present filth we seldom now have our noses 
or eyes offended. The WBt«r supply arrangements from 
the huge condensers axe perfect ; and if we only had the 
use of the ice machines which they brought with them, 
life in these respects would be verj- endurable. There 
is, however, a kind of deUcate aroma of poisonous 
nastiiiess, which always hangs over the town, and of 
which our visitors will no doubt report to you the un- 
pleasant features. I ponfess myself that my nose rebels 
against it almost more than against more palpable odours. 
It always suggests the years during which the dead have 
been buried under these sandy houses, houses -of which 
a certain number have been annually washed down upon 
the corpses, and then nest year rebuilt &om the same 
materials, impregnated as may be imagined. The 
practice of burying has been stopped, but the rebuilding 
has been going on at a wonderful rate during the last 
two months, thanks to the money which has been in the 
meantime poured in upon the town. What, when we 
landed, I ventured to describe as a town that looked as if 
it had suffered from a heavy bombardment, now hardly 
contains an unroofed house. The appearance is no doubt 
much more respectable, but it maybe tjuestioned whether 
Hie constant stirring of the filtJiy soil has tended to 

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104 THE A8KAKT££ WAR. 

health. However, such as it was, ihe Bifle Brigade in 
general had not much time to look at it, for the following 
day, before the arrival of the ' Tamar,' the ' Himalaya ' 
sailed off on a cmiee in search of health. The reaaou 
for this, as it wiU explain the cause why the ' Tamar,' 
which, with the 28rd, arrived on the 12th, has since 
followed the same course, is worth a word or two. 

" It is generally understood that Sir Qamet Wolseley, 
when applying for the English battalions, undertook that 
they should not be employed on shore for a day more 
than was necessary. In any case, it is obvious that, as 
the exact moment when their services would be most 
valuable, could not possibly be calcolated upon six weeks 
ago, it was necessary to provide for their being here at 
hand as soon as they should be wanted, and yet necessary 
also to prevent them from passing under the moat fatal 
of all trials in this country — a period of idleness before 
work could commence. As it is possible to get into the 
most delicious of all climates within a few days' sail from 
here, nothiug better for health's sake could be desdred. 
Unfortunately, it is scarcely possible for the troops to get 
to any veiy healthy spot where they can land within the 
time. We have every hope that in a fortnight or little 
more all will be ready for them to move straight up to 
Prahsu, and thence on for the final march and grand 
tussle. The result is that both Rifle Brigade and 23rd 
are condemned to take the unpleasant physic of a fort- 
night's ennui on board ship. As a cramped passengers* 
cabin on board ship is trying to the temper, a few growls 
must be expected. Those on board would be angels, not 

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lENNUI AS UEDICINE. 19S 

soldiers, if they enjoyed their present fate, just as they 
hoped they were going to land for hnsinees. Bnt the 
physic is, from the point of view which it may be 
expected that friends in Enghmd will take, most 
necessary. If they are to be saved from getting ill they 
must endnre the ennui. 

" Meantime, the whole country np to the Prah is in our 
pOBSeBsion. By the time I write, two guns and one 
howitzer are doubtless on the Prah. Two days ago they 
.were only twelve miles from Prahau. The road to Prahsu 
itself will be completed by the 20th of this month. The 
Ashantees in their hurried retreat to the Prah have 
widened it so much that much work is saved. This is in 
Itself a sign that the Ashantees retreated faster than 
calm decision would have led them to. When the natives 
move at their ordinary pace they follow one behind 
another. When anxiety to get fast away produces crowd- 
ing, they tread down the bush to right and left and thus 
widen the path. The last path which I saw thus 
widened was the one near Abrakampa, along which 
G-ordon followed the Ashantees. It had been trodden 
down by our gaUant allies in a panic they indulged in just 
before the siege, when Mr. Winwood Keade was carried 
away by them. 

" We have, however, positive information received 
fixim prisoners that their retreat was very much hastened 
by the heavy losses they inourred in the skirmish Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Wood had with them on the 27th. They 
say they don't like fighting with the men with the schou- 
schon (the rocket). The road, moreover is found to be 

O 2 

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196 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

covered vith the remains of those who fell. At some 
pointB the stench is terrible. At Prahsu many had 
crawled aa far as the bank, bnt could not get off. 

" From all we can now gather it seems probable that the 
Ashantee army have, to a great extent, dispersed to'their 
homes. A considerable number have, however, followed 
the chiefs to Coomassie to celebrate a great " custom," 
as it is called. They have held many " customs " at 
different places on their way, but the prisoners assure 
us that several of the chiefs have not had their pro- 
portion of slaves massacred for them yet. Accordingly, 
all the chiefs are taking back as many slaves as possible 
in order to be able to make presents of them to those of 
their friends who have lost relations at the war. The 
efforts which the slaves make to escape, and the terrible 
sufferings they undergo after they have got into the 
bush, and before they come to our posts, would have 
famished Mayne Reid with wonderAil materials. They 
are heavily shackled, and their best chance is usually to 
watch an opportunity when their masters have been 
suddenly called off to a skirmish, or have fled from some 
attack. If they succeed m avoidii^ detection, and get 
free from their masters, they are too much afraid of our 
worthy allies to venture in till they are sure of the pre- 
sence of white men. They hang about in the bush, and 
often are only forced at last by sheer starvation to take 
their chance and give themselves up to our outposts. 
At Abrakampa those who came in were skeletons, but 
near and beyond Mansue there are numerous plantations 
as yet untouched, on which they live tolerably. One 

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RETBEAT BY TOECH-LIOHT. 187 

voman gave herself up about the beginning of the 
month, who bad actuaUy seen the Ashantees passing on 
the 27th, 28th and 29th. They crossed in a set of 
canoes of which we have now possession, but the 
capacity of these is so small, that they ivill be of com- 
paratively little use to us. She says that those who 
crossed on the 29th came away by night on the 27tli, 
carrying torches, iq a great hurry to escape. All seems 
to indicate that thouf^ they are certainly not utterly 
demoralised, and will probably give us yet some stiff 
resistance in their own country, they have a very whole- 
some fear of the white man impressed upon them. A 
thorough good beating on their own soil will probably 
settle the question. We have also beard some interest* 
ing details from another escaped prisoner, who happened 
to be a well-educated slave of an Elmina man, and who 
has been with the Ashantees almost since their first 
movement on Elmina, when be was captured. It 
appears that in addition to his other losses, Amanqnaitia 
at Abrakampa lost all the gold dust for paying his 
troops. What became of it we do not know ; but he 
was obhged to send to Coomassie for fresli supphes, and 
for reinforcements. These reached him just two days 
before Colonel Wood's reconnaissance. He endeavoured 
to get his men to attack us, in obedience to a I'eitcrated 
order from the king that he should do this, and then 
proceed to attack Cape Coast. But they utterly 
refused, and all he could induce the new comers to do 
was to remain where Colonel Wood attacked them." 



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198 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

" Cape Ooast Castle, Ikctmbtr l^tk, 
" I sent iay letter off rather in a hurry yesterday, in 
consequence of its being suddenly announced that the 
mail steamer was to leave an hour before the time at 
first intended. I have, therefore, several items of infor- 
mation still to supply, and, moreover, we have to-day 
had news by the ' Africa ' from Captain Crlover. Our last 
reports show that he has about 6000 men in all, who are 
now on the left bank of the Volta. He expected, at the 
time the steamer left, to mcrve about the 20th, in three 
' columns, to punish the Ahwoonahs. It is probable that 
this operation will take about seven or eight days, and 
he will hardly be back upon the Volta till nearly the 
27th. A very simple inspection of the roughest map 
will show your readers that this fact makes it simply 
impossible for him to move up along the Volta and 
thence across to the Frah in time to co-operate with Sir 
Garnet's advance &om Frahsu, which is intended to 
commence on the 15th January. 

" It is rumoured that positive instructions arrived 
from home by last mail, which placed Captain Glover in 
all respects under Sir Garnet's orders. If so, it is 
probable ^at, should Captain Glover not find it possible 
to be upon the Frah in time to co-operate with Sir 
Garnet, if he pursues his present route, he will be 
ordered to move directly upon the Pi-ah in a north- 
westerly line, across Akim. This will no doubt enable 
him to assist in the invasion of Ashantee. But there 
can now be little hope that he will be able to take with 



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THE STOEE QUESTION AGAIN. 199 

ttim in his invasion any considerable force derived from 
the Volta country. The sole motive for the employ- 
ment on the Volta of the invaluable force of HousBas, 
who would otherwise have been available for the cam- 
paign on the near side of the Frah against the 
Ashantees. 

" However useful Captain Glover's force may prove 
hereafter — and under so able a man there can be no 
question that all that is possible will be done — it cannot 
but be that the same advantage would have been obtained 
from that force hereafter had it been first employed at 
and round Cape Coast. No good can now have been 
gained by its temporary transference to a region from 
which no increase of strength has been obtained. The 
result must of course be tembly disappointing to a very 
able man, and to the splendid set of officers whom he 
took with him. No want of energy on their part has 
been the cause. They have struggled splendidly against 
impossible circumstances. The one mistake which Captain 
Glover appears to have made, lay in fancying that with 
half-a-dozen Englishofficers, and trusting entirely to native 
assistance, he could accomplish his task withia a given 
time. Though he has had to deal with incomparably 
the best tribes of the Protectorate, the attempt has failed 
in consequence of native sloth and native procrastination. 

" The one subject of anxious thought and careful plan- 
ning here now is flie question of stores and their transport. 
To limit what everyone takes with him to the very mini- 
mum, to accumulate as much as possible as far to the front 
as it can be pushed, to prepare everything so that the 

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200 THE ASHANTEE WAR.' 

EngliBh troops may move up without check, except such as 
is occaaioned by the actual fighting — these have been the 
tlifficultiea. At present the only point towards which every 
effort is bent, is the accumulation of means of transport. 
The women have, perhaps, on the whole, furnished the 
lai'gest and most constant supply.. The Ficanini Brigade 
— each little thing carrying 25 lbs — has contributed its 
share. As fast as tribes have been sent in by the officers 
commissioned to the native kings, all but the more 
warlike (who number very few) have been dra^d into the 
Control Department. But as fast as &esh men are poured 
in, more desert. The country is so densely overgrown, 
that it is impossible rapidly to catch those who make off. 
As soon as the men have made as much money as they 
care to get at the time, or the women as much as will 
buy them the cloths they want, they make off. The 
moment tlie men think they run any risk, they drop their 
loads and I'un. The difficulties in such a country are 
enormous, for the two horns of the dilemma are these ; — 
If you employ Europeans to look after them, those 
Europeans must be all day out in the sun, and suffer 
seriously. If you don't employ European officers, 
nothing is done. 

" To increase the number of overseere, various skilled 
seamen have been landed lately ft'om the fleet, to take 
charge each of the special department of which he 
knows most — carpenters to act as carpenter non-com- 
missioned officers, engineers, as engineer non-conmiis- 
sioned officers, and so on. As these men have been 
accustomed to work with Croomen on board, they are 

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McCAETHY OR MACLEAK. 301 

better for the work than non-commissioned offlcera 
would be who had been sent straight out from England. 
Sometimes, however, they are a little too easy-going, the 
Croomen to whom they have been accustomed being much 
more dependable than the natives they have now to deal 
with. I met a good-natured fellow the other day, who 
was standing by his cot, all his bearers having deserted 
him on pretence of having had nothing to eat. He had 
some twenty miles to go that day, but seemed fully 
confident that his bearers, over whom he had no possible 
hold, would all return in ample time to carry him. I 
hope his confidence was justified ; , I could not wait to see 
the event, but I fear he will yet suffer fi.om too large a 
faith in the native character. 

" They are curious people, however. A remark in one 
of the English papers we have lately received, su^ests 
an explanation that one may give you of what must have 
struck many at home as most ourioas, and which certainly 
at the time sorely puzzled us. You will have obsei-ved 
that in their original speech to Sir Garnet Wolseley on 
his arrival here, the natives compared him to Sii' C. 
McCarthy. To those of us who heard it, the expression 
was the more startling, because it had been privately 
reported beforehand that they were in the greatest 
delight with what Sir Q-amet had said to them, and by 
way of doing him the highest honour they could, in giving 
htm, according to their custom, some name out of their 
past history, had selected that of Governor Maclean. 
Now Maclean was avowedly the brilliant Governor here 
who kept order at small cost, and under whom the 

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302 THE ASEAKTBE WAB. 

Colony most floorisbed. Of McCarthy, all that could 
be said was that be fought most bravely, but perished 
with his army. We thought at the moment that it must 
have been said by a mere slip, and many an ' absit omen, ' 
passed our lips. But strangely enough we heard after- 
wards that at the great meeting at Accra, under Captain 
Glover, the one oath by which all the great chiels swore 
allegiance to Her Majesty was by ' Sir C. McCarthy's 
day,' or ' Sir C. McCarthy's coat.'' An explanation 
still more strange was, however, added — 'Because he 
who swears this oath and breaks it, says that Sir C. 
McCarthy died in vain for his country.' Clearly not the 
briUiantly-successfid man, but the man who struggled to 
the utmost for them and failed, is the one who has 
impressed the imt^ination of these people. 

" One would be half inchned to suspect some mis- 
sionary influence at work. But in the first place the oath 
is avowedly a kind of heathen one ; it is jnst where the 
missionaries have least penetrated that the oath is in 
full force. Moreover, it is curious that the Ashantees 
themselves are said to carry about with them Sir C. 
McCarthy's bones as one of the sti-ongest fetishes 
they have. It is he whom they too most admire. 

" There is another curious fact of the same kind, I 
am' not sure whether it has not already been reported, 
but it is worth recording in this connection. 

" When the women of Cape Coast were engaged in 
driving out those men who had endeavoured to skulk 
away and hide, to escape being sent to the field, the words 
they used, accompanied of course with various epithets of 

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. DEATH ON BOAKD. lOS 

abase, were — ' Wliite men dying, in the front ,for your 
country, and you stop here behind. A» Jesm Ghrwt died 
/or us, BO white man is dying for you, and you desert 
him ! ' It was the night after Wilmot's death, -which of 
course at the time added greatly to the point. I forbear 
comment, because I think the facts are in many ways so 
curious that they are better left to your readers' own 
consideration. 

" The ' Africa,' which takes this home, is the first ship 
that has- passed us for a long time which has not lost 
men from some very formidable kind of fever. The 
' Africa' herself had so much sickness on board, that she 
refused to take up passengers at Lagos. 

" I mentioned to you in my last letter that on board 
the ' Benin,' when she passed here, her captain, her 
engineer, and her doctor were all dead. The case of 
these steamers is becoming quite terrible. This- is the 
second captain who has di^d on his voyage out and back 
to here. Steamer after steamer passes which is in fact a 
floating charnel-house. Our old boat — the 'Ambriz' — 
had had, when she last passed Sierra Leone from here 
thirteen deaths on boai-d. The curious fact is that they 
all seem to contract the deadly fever, whatever it may be, 
—whether the yellow fever or not — in or near the Bonny 
Kiver. Now, only by last mail, as I understand, a. 
despatch arrived from the Consul at the Bonny, saying 
that the place was entirely healthy for Enropeans. An 
explanation has, however, been offered me, the truth of 
which certainly deserves to be inquired into. 

"It is said that outside the mouth of the Bonny River 



2M THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

is an old coal hullc, whence all the ships obtain their 
supplies of all kinds, especially their coal. It is said 
that coal notably, and other materials partially, under the 
constant rain and heat of that station, become hotbeds of 
fever. It is noticed that all who go on board this hulk to 
get stores &11 victims. All vessels which lie oflf her get 
infected." 

The tennination of the letter relates to a carious cir- 
cumstance. It has somehow come to be believed in 
England as an undoubted fact of this part of the history 
of the War, that at about this period Sir Garnet moved 
up to the front with " 500 sailors and marines." Where 
that mysterious force came firom, or where it went to, 
nobody seems to know. It appears, so far as I can make 
out, to have vanished into thin air after it left Cape Coast. 
The truth is that the whole thing was a baseless Cape 
Coast rumour. It is one of the illustrations of the diffi- 
culty of combating these things after they have once got 
credence. The movement never was carried out at all. 
It was probably reported home by some one at Cape 
Coast, who knew that the men on board ship were lield 
in. readiness to go, and thought that if he reported they 
actually had gone, he would be beforehand with anyone 
else when they marched. Unfortunately they did not 
march, for the reason here given. , 

" I omitted to explain in my yesterday's letter why the 
movement upon the enemy before he crossed the Prah — 
which your readers may remember I anticipated when 
Sir G-amet went up country — did not take place. Every 
available man in the fleet was for ten days held ready to 

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SIE GAENET'S NOTES. 205 

land, but it was a nice calculation in this way, that any 
force up country before the grand advance, involvea 
a naste of stores, and, therefore, a loss of time. The 
yery rapid retreat of the enemy made it not worth while ■ 
to use up Btores in what could not be a very deciBive 
movement. Hence, only so much force of native levies 
as is indispensable is kept near the front, fiity maidnes 
and blue jackets being still there as a moral support. For 
the rest, the fewer there are to the front the more rapid 
our accumulation." 

Notes issued for the use of the Troops by order of Sir 

Garnet Wolseley. 



" The climate is much better and more pleasant in 
the interior than on the sea-shore, and if ordinary 
precautions are taken, there is no reason why any of the 
troops should suffer in health during the few weeks they 
may have to remain in the country. 

"The officers must see that tea or chocolate, with a 
little biscuit, be provided for their men every morning 
before marching, and the quinine will be served out by 
the medical officers. During the heat of the day, when 
marching late in the morning, commanding officers may, 
at their discretion, allow the patrol jackets to be taken 
off and carried by the men. These can be easily carried 
slung behind under the waist-belt. Immediately that the 
march is over, or that any long halt takes place, Uiese 
jackets must be put on, for a chill when the body is 
heated is above all things to be avoided. 

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JOfl THE A8HANTEE WAS.. 

" The following maxims ahould be impressed upon the 
men : — 

" 1. Never allow the body to suffer from a cMU, and 
there will not be much chance of your ever being sick. 

" 2. Never expose the head uncovered to the sun, and 
when halting or on sentry, get into the shade, if possible. 

" 8. "When camping for the night do your best to 
construct a raised sleeping place even a few inches off 
the ground. Examine the camps of the Ashantees on 
the road to the Prah, and copy .their plan of making 
bedsteads. They are easily and quickly made, and 
. sleeping off the ground is a great preservative of health. 

"4. If any irregularity of the bowels is experienced, 
go at once to the doctor for a dose. 

"5. Never drink water until you have filtered it. 

" The operations beyond the Prah will last only a few 
weeks, and the Major-General reUes on the manliness of 
the soldiers and sailors to keep them out of hospital, as 
long as they have strength to march. The battalion that 
is composed of the best men, and that is best looked after 
by its officers, will send the fewest sick men to the rear. 

BUSH-FIGHTIKG. 

" The theatre of operations will he a great forest of ■ 
gigantic trees, with an undei^owth of bush varjTng in 
thickness. At some places men can get through the 
bush in skirmishing order, at others they will have to 
use their sword bayonets to open a path for. themselves. 
All the fighting will be in skirmishing order, the files 



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SIR GARNET'S NOTES. 20T 

Iteing two, three, or four paces apart, ftccording to cir- 
cnmBtances. 

" When once thus engaged in a fight in the bush, 
officer commanding battalions, and even officers com- 
manding comptmies, will find it difficult to exercise much 
control over their men. For this reason it is essential 
that the tactical unit should be as small as possible. 
Every company will therefore be at once divided into 
four sections, and each section will be platted under the 
command of an officer or non-commissioned officer. 
These sections once told off are not on any account to be 
broken up daring the war, nor are their commanders to 
be changed except nnder extraordinary circumstances, 
and then only by order of the officer commanding 
the battalion. ■ All details of duty will be performed by 
sections, or when only very small guards or pickets are 
required, by half sections. 

" In action, as a general rule, three sections only of 
each company will be extended, and tiie fourth will form 
a support in rear of the centre of the company's 
skirmishing line, and at forty to eighty yards from it. 
Care must be taken that the support never loses sight of 
its own skirmishers, and that it conforms to their move- 
ment ; but its commander must never allow it to become 
mixed up with the skinulshers unless it be ordered for- 
ward by the officer commanding the company. The 
captain wiU always be with the skirmishing bne exercis- 
ing a general control over it, and as the enemy only fight 
in loose skirmishing order, it wiU seldom be necessary to 
bring forward the support into the skirmishing line. 



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208 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

" Fighting in the bnsh is very like fighting by twilight. 
No one can aee further than a few files right or left. 
Oreat steadiness and self-confidence are therefore re- 
quired from every one engaged. The Ashanteea always 
employ the same tactics. Being superior in numbers 
they encircle their enemy's flanks by long, thin lines of 
skirmishers, hoping thereby to demoralize their oppo- 
nents. The men engaged in om* &ont line should not 
concern themselves about these flank attacks. They 
must have the same confidence in their general that he 
has in them, and depend upon him to take the necessary 
messores for meeting all such attacks either in fiank or 
rear. Each soldier mast remember that with his 
breech-loader he is equal to at least twenty Ashantees 
wretchedly armed as they are with old flint muskets, 
firing slugs, or pieces of stone that do not hurt badly 
at more than forty or fifty yards range. Our enemies 
have neither guns nor rockets, and have a superstitious 
dread of those used by ns. 

" In action the two comrades forming each file must 
always keep together, and the officers and non-commis- 
sioned officei-a commanding sections will use their 
utmost endeavours to keep their sections from mixing up 
vrith those on their right and left. 

" If daring the advance through the bush fire is un- 
«xpectedly opened by the enemy concealed behind cover, 
the men will immediately drop on the knee behind trees, 
or any cover that may be at hand, pausing ^ell before 
delivering their fire, and taking care to fire low at the 
spot from which- the enemy were seen to fire. All firing 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



OFFICIAL INSTEUCTIONS. 20* 

against ft concealed enemy should be very slow, and 
officers and non-comimssioned officers in command of 
sections must spare no efforts to prevent the men wast- 
ing their ammunition. It must be expLtined to the men 
that owing to the difficulty of transport, the supply of 
ammunition beyond the Prah will be very limited, and 
that every shot fired which is not deliberately aimed, not 
only encourages the enemy, who would soon learn to 
despise a fire that did them no injury, but seriously 
affects the efficiency of the force, for if ammunition were 
to run short, a stop would be put to our ftirther advance. 
The major-general must rely upon the intelligence of the 
soldiers and sailors to husband their ammunition, without 
any efforts from their officers being reqtured. 

" The advance will be made along narrow paths, where 
'the men can only inarch in file, and sometimes only in 
single file ; when an action commences the troops on the 
-centre path wiU deploy to the front into nVirmiflliing 
order, either to the right or left of the path, as ordered, 
upon the leading file ; the rear section of eacJb company 
will always form the support, and officers commanding 
companies will be careful to lead these deployments so 
that their &ont may always be as nearly as possible at 
right angles to the path they had been marching upon. 
All officers will remember that the &ont will, as & 
general rale, face north by west, and when at any dis- 
tance from the path, they must guide the direction of 
their advance by compass. 

" Officers commanding battalions and companies will 
not order any bugle call to be sonnded in camp, or on. 

r 

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310 THE A8HAKTEE WAA. 

the marcli north of the Prah, except to repeat those 
sounded on the main road by order of the Major- 
General commanding, and these, if preceded by any- 
special regimental call, will be repeated only by th& 
battalion concerned, and by any battalion that may be 
operating between the main road and the corps indicated 
by the call. When any call is not preceded hy any 
regimental call, it may be repeated by every bugler 
within hearing, except those that may be on duty with 
the baggage-guard. Whenever the advance and double 
JB sounded, it is to be understood to order a general 
advance of the whole front line. The men will then 
advance, cheering, at a fast walk, making short rushes 
whenever the nature of the ground will allow of their 
being made. All such advances will be preceded by a 
heavy fire of guns and rockets. 

" On reaching a clearing in the course of an action, or 
when the enemy is iu the immediate neighbourhood, the 
troops will not cross over the open space until the clear- 
ing has been turned, and the bush on both sides of it 
has been occupied. 

" When once a position has been gained, it is to be- 
held resolutely. In warfare of this nature there must be 
no retreats. 

" No village or camp is to be set on fire', except by 
order of the major-general commanding. Officers and 
men are reminded of the danger and delay which occur 
if a village is set on iire before all the ammunitioB and 
baggage have made their way through it. 

" All plundering and unnecessary destruction of pro- 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



OFHCIAI IN8TE0CTIOH8. 311 

perty are to be strictly repressed ; officers are beld 
responsible tliat when a village or camp is occnpied, 
their men are kept together, and prevented from 6is- 
persing to seek plunder. 

" The importance of kindness from all ranks to the 
friendly natives who are employed as carriers, cannot be 
too strongly urged. If the carriers are Ul-treated, the 
troops run imminent risk of being left without food and 
ammunition. 

" It mnst never be forgotten by our soldiers that 
Providence has implanted in the heart of every native of 
A&ica B superstitious awe and dread of the white man 
that prevents the negro from daring to meet us face to 
face in combat. A steady advance, or a charge, no 
matter how partial, if made with determination, always 
means the retreat of the enemy. Although when at a 
distance, and even when under a heavy fire, the 
Asbantees seem brave enough from their practice of 
yelling, and singing and beating drums in order to 
fri^ten their enemies of their own colour with whom 
they are accustomed to make war, they will not stand 
against the advance of the white man. 

" English soldiers and sailors are accustomed to fight 
against immense odds in all parts of the world. It is 
scarcely necessary to remind them that when in our 
battles beyond the Frah they find themselves surrounded 
on all sides by hordes of howling enemies, they must 
rely upon their own British courage and discipline, and 
upon the courage of their comrades. Soldiers and sailors, 
remember that the black man holds you in superstitious 

p 3 

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212 THE ASBjUTTEE VAB. 

ave ; be cool, fire low, fire slow, and charge liome, and 
the more niunerous your enemy, the greater will be tiie 
loss inflicted apon him, and the greater your houoor in 
defeating him. 

" By Order, 

" G. R. GEEAVES, 

" Colonel, Chief of the Staff." 



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CHAPTEK IX. 

THE HAKCH TO THE PBAH. 

At last the time had come when the advance was to 
be made, first to the Frah and thence onwards. The 
following letter, after a short account of the condition of 
things which immediately preceded the morement, giv^is 
a description of the country through which the whole 
force had to march on their way to the Prah, and of 
the stations they halted at. 

In fact the movement of the white troops was inter* 
mpted. But it will be more convenient to give the 
account of the conntty and of all the places con< 
secutively, and to speak afterwards only of the deky 
which occurred &om the desertions of carriers. 

f PiuHSU, Jmmary \d. 

" Before I describe oar march to the Prah, I will briefly 
refer to other matters. I warned yon some time since 
not to be alarmed by any reports [that onr preparations, 
were backward. Preparations always seem backward till 
near the end. Sir Oamet'fi tour of inspection was of 



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21* THE ASHANTEE WAK. 

course not without its effect. Still more recently a 
general stir has been given to sanitary arrangements all 
along the line, hy the dispatch from Cape Coast Castle of 
the recently-appointed Dr. Tnrton to report upon those 
subjects. That most enei^etic sanitary officer has 
perhaps left his track rather too clearly behind him, 
marked by somewhat indignant faces and rather angry 
growls. It is not pleasant to men who have been putting 
forth their utmost exertions and using their best skill 
during the burden and heat of the day, to be told by a 
man who arrives at the eleventh hour that eveiything 
they have done requires improvement ; it is not pleasant, 
but the upshot is of excellent advantage to those who are 
to be marched along the road. Things to which men 
have gradually allowed themselves to get accustomed, 
strike a newcomer more vividly. Again, the whole 
organisation of labour and transport was, on the arrival 
of the last batch of officers from England, placed under 
the charge of Colonel Colley, one of the very ablest men 
in the service. The advantage gained has been enormons. 

" Nothing could have exceeded the energy and vigour 
displayed by Commissary O'Connor, under whom, in one 
sense, the transport hitherto has been ; but his services 
have been ui^ently required the whole time at Cape 
Coast Castle itself, where, as ship after ship arrived, 
their contents had first to be stored, and then sent to the 
front again by gang after gang of labourers. 

" To stand next Mr. O'Connor on the tall steps of the 
main staircase from the court of the Castle to the building 
itself, has been during all these months to attend at a 

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COUHIBSABT O'CONNOB. 315 

most interesting and able adminifitration of the rough 
and ready justice which beseems the time and the people. 
Headman after headman coming down from the front 
has been detected hj Mr. O'Connor's shrewd and ready 
wit, and properly fined or otherwise pnnished for the 
taaveiy or laziness of which he has been guilty. Yeiy 
striking indeed is the scene &om those steps, one most 
symbolic in all ways of our power and our dealings on 
this coast. Above is the one young Englishman; directly 
beneath him the crowding natives, oi^anised and working 
steadily enough under their several chiefs, whom they 
nevertheless would not obey for an hour were the Euro- 
pean head withdrawn ; in the middle distance, the dark 
rock and the raging surf that almost beats up over the 
Castle Esplanade itself; beyond, the stately ships of our 
fleet riding quietly at anchor, typical of the present and 
ever available reserve of strength that calmly backs each 
English will in the work that has to be done. I doubt 
if many a dockyard has been better organised, or more 
quickly and more safely cleared of its teaming stores, 
than that Castie yard. 

But all this did not help our one great difficulty — the 
constant readiness of the carriers to desert as soon as 
money enough has been made. Moreover, on the 
other'band, fresh labourers have been poured in also, of 
whom, perhaps, the most important recent contingents 
have been an additional 700 from the disaffected 
Elmina districts and nearly 400 from King Blay, more 
being promised since his country is now clear of 
Asbantees, who have fidlen back from there also beoanse 

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SIS . TEE A8EAKTEB WAR. 

ot oui> advaace to the Prah. The arrangement of all 
these constaDtly fluctuating supplies of labour and their 
distribution at the points where they are most required 
yt&a an indispensable task. It ia thb which has been 
allotted to Colonel CoUey. 

" We have at this moment also been relieved from what 
has been a terrible misfortune to the expedition. Imme- 
diately after Sir Garnet's recovery, Mr. Irving, the deputy* 
controller, was taken ill, and had one of the longest bonts- 
of fever almost any one has suffered from. Fortunately, 
however,' he was sufficiently recovered by the time Sir 
Garnet returned from Uie front to himself proceed on a 
tour of inspection of the all-important department over 
which he pcesides, and which, including thS transport, 
commissariat, and pay department, is for the moment the 
very one on which everything Hnges. He was still on 
his tour when Colonel CoUey arrived, and they were thu» 
able satisfectorily to arrange everything tc^ether. From • 
the combined effect of all these causes on an organisation 
which has now got into smooth water, the progress of th& 
last few weeks has been out of all comparison more rapid 
than that of any that have preceded them. To take one 
instance out of many. When Sir Garnet last went to- 
Sutah, the whole place was nothing better than a filthy 
native village, of odours too terrible to think of, that had 
been dismantled by the Ashantees. There were but two 
huts, and those miserably and hurriedly finished. The 
place he had to dine in let in the rain, and no arrange- 
ments for cooking, for the hospital, for water, or the 
hundred other needs of camp life, had been made. When 

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STATIOHS ON THE MAHCH. 217 

ire passed the other day everything -wm ready for the 
expected troops. But I will tell of Sotah when I come 
to it in due course on onr march, and -will, in this pre- 
liminary explanation of the change which has recently 
come over the fece of things, only further add that nature, 
too, has been cfaangii^ her face most notably with the 
coming on of the dry weather. 

" The stations for the European troops between Oape 
CoAst and the Prah are as follows : — 

"1. Inquabim ; distance, station to station, sis miles ; 
from Cape Coast, six miles. 

" 2. Accroful ; station to station, six miles ; from Cape 
Coast, twelve miles. 

" 3. Yancoomassie (Fantee) ; station to station, ten 
miles ; from Cape Coast, twenty-two miles. 

"4. Mansu, ten miles; from Cape Coast, thirty-two 
miles. 

" 6. Sutah ; station to station, nine miles ; from Cape 
Coast, forty-one miles. 

"6. Yancoomassie (Assin) ; station to station, twelve 
mileB ; from Cape Coast, fifty-three miles. 

"7. Barraco; station to station, ten miles ; from Cape 
Coast, sixty-three miles. 

" 8. PrahsQ, on the Prah ; station to station, six 
miles ; from Cape Coast, sixty-nine miles. 

" These distances are probably throughout slightiy 
nnderstated. On Friday, December 26th, Sir Garnet's 
staff moved to Inquabim. He himself remained behind 
till the following day, with Colonel Greaves, the chief of 

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218 THE A8HANTEB WAE. 

Iiis staff, and Major Baker, his assistant adjutant-general. 
On the followii^ day he moved a double stage, and 
caught up his staff at Accrofiil. The Naval Brigade 
started also on Saturday, the 27th. On the 1st of January 
the European troops moved by half battalions. As soon 
as the Naval Brigade had passed Mansu, on January 1st, 
the 2nd West Indian Regiment moved on &om Mansn. - 
Thus the advance of the troops has taken place in nine 
detachments along the road. Between each of the sepa- 
rate detachments there was an interval of a day's march. 
I propose, therefore, now to describe the march of tha 
first body, the staff, as a representative of all the others. 
"Of the first part of the road, the first and second days' 
march, I need say little, escept by way of making more 
clear the character of the rest, by contrast. Your readers 
are already familiar with the mamelons of sandy, disin- 
tegrated granite, covered with low growing tangled bush, 
which form the scenery of the coast. Along the main 
Toad itself there are throughout these first two days' 
march few snatches of much' beauty. The flower or 
fern-covered paths, which I described to you in my letters 
about Essaman and Escabio, are all among the less 
frequented parts of the country. Here, where our path to- 
wards Coomasfiie lies, all is, if one may venture on such an 
expression, almost desolate green. Those of your readers 
who know anything of some parts of Southern Scotland, 
notably of Yarrow, will understand my meaning. Indeed, 
sometimes when within one of the longer and deeper 
valleys, still and lifeless as they often are, with opening 
dells on all sides, as still and lifeless as themselves, I 

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THE PIEST DAT— TO INQUABIM. 213 

bare had Yarrow forcibly brought to my mind, deapite 
the lack of Yarrow stream, and despite the height to 
which the bash grows. For, looking down upon the 
surface of the green itself, it ia so densely packed that 
one does not' realise how &r below lies the ground on 
which it grows. 

"The road along all this part is, to my mind, the most 
exhausting that the troops will pass over, though the 
pathway is better than anywhere else, almost as good as 
any Macadamised English road. The molten sun beats 
down upon a track unsheltered by any overgrowing 
branches, and the pale sand glares up to the molten sun. 
The hills are steep, though short ; and the track, follow- 
ing old native paths, climbs them with the rigid sternness 
of a Koman road, though without its directness, for our 
Cape Coast roadway bends incessantly with objectless 
irregularity. Your readers will observe that all danger 
of the troops being exposed to the sun's heat oil this 
part of their journey has been avoided by making the 
first two stages very short. If the stages here had been 
very long, it would have been impossible to get the day's 
march finished before night set in. Nothing is more 
miserable than an arrival after dusk in. camp. Candles, 
like all other bulky ancles of transport, are a luxury 
Bot to be much indulged in. But by havii^ the stages 
very short, the first march is made in the pleasant hours, 
the camp is reached in the daylight, and the day's work 
done before the sun's heat becomes powerful. Thus the 
men on first landing are allowed two easy days' work to 
get them into training for the rest. 

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S20 THE ASBANTBE TAB. 

" The camp at Inqnabim, like moat of the others, lies 
jnst upon the niain road. It is npon the left of the 
pathway, and consists of a series of bamboo huts. The 
ndes of these are formed of split bamboos, placed closely 
edge to edge, the roof being thatched with the broad 
leaves of the palm, the leaf not very different for this 
purpose from that of the cocoa-nnt palm. The officers' 
hnts are constmcted'for fonr in each, the interior space 
being about eleven feet by fourteen feet. The walls are 
about six feet high ; from the top of these the roofe rise 
about another six feet to the pitch of the span. The 
men's huts are abont fifteen feet across, and seventy 
yards long. As the slant of the roof is the same as that 
of the officers, they therefore rise nearly three feet 
higher, and are proportionately more airy. Along the 
whole length of the men's huts, on either side, a slanting 
platform, sloping from the walls inwards, and about six 
feet from the wall towards the centre, is formed of split 
bamboos. This leaves a passage about three feet clear 
in the middle. The platform, which almost exactly 
resembles the ordinary guard-room sleeping shelf in 
Sn^and, is intended for the men to place their blankets, 
&c., upon while sleeping. The men are thus raised at 
the head more than three feet from the ground, the 
most important precaution which can be taken in this 
climate against malarious infinences. 

" Here one of the great Crease's filters is set up. This 
fitter was the invention of Captain Crease, of the Royal 
Marine Artillery. He has been serving on this coast ever 
since the war broke ont in the spring, and has been for 

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THE STATION AT INQUABIM. 221 

fiome time undertaking the dutjes of Colonial Engineer. 
He lias recently been invalided home, or to Madeira, the 
final destination depending on his health at Madeira- 
The peculiarity of his filter is, that it turns out from one 
end beautifully pure water as fast, or almost as fast, as 
ordinary stream or tank water can be supplied at the 
other. It thus furnishes at each station at which it can 
be set np an almost unlimited supply of beautifid drink- 
ing water. The difficulty is that each filter weighs two 
and a-quarter tons, and lq a country where no draught 
animals can work, where the ordinary man's load is 
sixty pounds, snd men are not accustomed to march 
working together in draught, that difficulty is a serious 
one. It was oy^rcome, however, by the steam -sapper, 
which took up this filter to Inquabim, and another to 
Accrofol. 

" Crease's filters have also been eatabhshed at Yan- 
coomasie (Fantee) and Mansu. At the latter place, 
two smaller filters, each a little over a ton, supply the 
place of a single lai^e one. Thus, throughout the first 
half of the road, ample and excellent water is procurable. 
At thelatter stations — Sutah, Yancoomassie (Assin), and 
Barroco — a number of smaller filters have been provided. 
The water is boiled before being passed through the 
filters, and is stored in tanks, in order that a good 
supply may be ready for use as required. 

" Cooking places have been prepared at each station. 
That there may be no delay, when a half battalion arrives 
whilst the food is being prepared for the men, the cooks 
are to be sent on beforeliand. Thus another precaution 

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222 THE ABEANTEE WAS.. 

is taken against one of the great risks of the climate, a too- 
long empty stomach, which is, more than anything else, a 
preparation for receiving injury from mdaria. Wash- 
honses at Inquabim, as elsewhere, are arranged in special 
hnts of their own ; for it is necessary to avoid any water 
from being poured upon the ground on which men are to 
sleep, since all damp tends to produce malaria. 

" I have been thus elaborate in describing what is the 
case at Inquabim, because the differences at other 
stations not already noted in the above description may 
now shortly be mentioned, as I describe our htdt at each. 
The Inquabim camp wasi as I have said, reached by the 
staff on the evening of the day following Christmas-day. 
The character of the second day's march scarcely differed 
from the first, though now, here and there, sometimes in 
clumps, sometimes singly, cotton trees began to show 
their lofty heads amidst the general low-growing scrub 
and green ; and as the one march was made in the late 
evening, the other in the early dawn, there was just the 
difference between the pale glimmer of the one passing 
off into the darkness of night, over the landscape, and 
the grey mists of the opening day. By the time we 
reached Accroful the mists had passed away, and the son 
was faring out into the full blaze of the garish day upon 
the still unsheltered road. 

Accroful, the site formerly of a more than ordinarily 
well-bnilt native village, is on a small hill, sufficiently 
high to give a view over the bush for some consider- 
able distance round. There is nothing, however, in 
the prospect which for this country can be said to be 

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THE SECOND DAY'S MABCH— TO ACCROFUL. 223 

very worthy of description. A curious, and in some 
respects typical, sight met our eyes as we entered the 
village. Ou the right of the road stood the hare stump 
of a broken cotton tree, twenty feet high. Upon it, were 
gathered a3 thickly as they could find room, perhaps a 
dozen turkey buzzards, the great scavenger bird of the 
district. I have never seen so many together before. 
Settled as they were upon the white, forsaken-looking 
tmnk, the only living things except the green lizards that 
we had seen since we left Cape Coast, they seemed the 
very symbol of desolation in this sword and famine- 
stricken land. Dysentery, famine, fever, savage rites, 
and the absence of all medical skill in the treatment of 
sick and wounded, have left the birds of late an only too 
plentiful harvest in the Ashantee camps, and along the 
line of their retreat. But throughout the land the 
merciless hordes on whom they have lately fed had dming 
the earlier months of the year left ample food for 
them. 

The better native huts at Accroful, instead of being 
pulled down altogether, as has been usually found neces- 
sary elsewhere, have been whitewashed, their thatch 
removed, and a high span roof of palm-leaf erected over 
them. All the other arrangements are at least as perfect 
as those at Inqnabim, but the general air of the place, 
if a little more scorching, is cheerier and brighter. 
Inquabim lies among the bush, with no sort of soil in 
partjculai' — that is to say, the bush has been trodden 
down into loose, dusty, whitish sand, producing an 
almost indescribable agglomerate. At Accrofol, on the 

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224 THE ASHAITTEE WAB. 

contrary, the gronnd has a clean, coui't-yard like look. 
The soil is of reddish granite, sand and gravel, while the 
numerous trees that have been left for shade, and an 
erection here and there of huge amkrella-shaped thatch 
to give shelter in the open from the sun, give the whole 
the general effect of a Gennau Flaza. 

After leaving Accrofcl the bush becomes higher, the 
sun's rays can no longer pierce straight down, but are 
constantly broken by the tall trees or the close shrubs. 

We begin to enter upon that varied and ever-changing 
luxuriance of v^etation which, as I have often been 
told, becomes the characteristic of the country a few 
miles inland firom the coast. I ventured to say in my 
letters about the inarch &om Abrakampa to Assanchi, 
and the fight of Escabio, that each pathway seemed to 
have characteristics of its own, in which it differed from 
every other. But one thing I had not then fully 
realised; we were like Gulliver among the grasses of 
Brobdingnag. I told you that it seemed to me as if 
nature were almost choked by her own wealtii and luxuiy 
of growth ; as if shapes the most delicate had, from 
their infinite number and their incessant struggle to 
crowd in where all space was already occupied by hun- 
dreds of others, become matted and packed almost into 
formlessness. I had no conception how great a change 
could be made in the view by a few feet added to one's 
stature. I cannot say that the manner in which we on 
the present occasion achieved this result was a very 
dignified one. We were travelling on nothing more 
poetical than mules scarcely distinguishable £:om the 

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THE NATIVE CAHP AT DUVQUAE. 2iS 

domestic donkey ; but even donkeys place one's eyes a 
foot or two hi^er in the air, and enable one to realise 
to some extent wliat would be the scene that wotdd lie 
before them were we passing along upon the Brob- 
dingnagian animals that befit the place. From the back 
of an elephant scene after scene of glorious beauty 
would disclose itself. But even as it was, not un- 
freqnently where we could just see over the near bash 
or where, passing oyer some higher ground, we could 
look down upon the scene below, glade after glade of 
every varied tint, &om the brightest to the darkest green, 
was displayed ; groves of yellow green plantain would 
open out a pure refreshment to the eyei and under 
their long, smooth, almost stemless leaves here and there 
would shoot up in contrast, tall stems headed with 
Inch, deep-coloured flowers, pxu:ple below, scarlet above. 
.Again these latter in masses, among the bright plan- 
tain leaves, would at times rise over the vhole ground, 
their briUiancy softened by the nearer parts of the broad- 
leafed grove, set oflf by the more distant ; or else a well- 
formed plant of the same bright flower would stand out 
alone, just enoi^ to set off the coolness to the eye of 
the soft l^t reflected from beneath the let^ shade. 

" Not yet have we, for the most part, entered into any 
land of trees. The tall trees are still rather the accident 
of the landscape ; their silvery grey a telling contrast to 
the InxuriaiLce of other colour. But here and there a 
bright lilac covered with blossom shows itself. 

" In the midst of this kind of couptiy Dunquah is 
reached. The wide camp, standing on high ground, 

q 

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326 THE ASHAi'TEE WAE. 

gives fall view to just those features of the landscape 
which I have been describing as partially seen before. 
Dunqtuth, given up to the native camp, and the point 
towards which they have been all gathered, is on that 
aeconnt, for fear of many native mischiefs, not to b« 
employed for Europeans. 

" "We passed on towarda the first Yancoomaasie — that 
in Fanteeland — the third European post. Here all was 
ready. At this station an attempt had been made to 
build the huts on a new plan, in order to save material. 
Some, therefore, had been made one way, some another. 
In one or two, split bamboos had been replaced by 
coeoa-nnt ptOm leaves, laced round the side with withies 
or rods. The shelter is just as good; but in one or 
two huts there we fonnd the thatch not quite im- 
pervious to rain. A little more will, however, set that 
light. In other respects preparations were much 
the same as at Inqoabim and Accrofol. Yancoomaasie 
(Fantee) lies low. The bush around it closes in the 
camp almost as in a ring-fence. Nothing can prevent 
th6 rich foEage from yielding lovely bits of light and 
shade ; but of view beyond the near bush Uiere is none. 

" Continuing our route thence the following morning, 
we soon passed under the delicious shade of arcades of 
various trees that had evidently not been careles^y 
planted. Some mission-house, probably long since de- 
stroyed, had doubtless been there. It was a curious 
phase in this tmcultivated land to find all the most 
dehcious shrubs. We passed beneath a whole avenue 
of frangipauni matted- and growing together overhead. 

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THE FOUETH DAT— TO MAKSUE. 827 

Then beneath the ample shade of a vast bamboo, the 
length of whose covering mass measored thirty yards 
long, with thickly-matted foliage above, fully eight feet 
deep, the arch below being another eight feet high in the 
clear. Here and there, where some Tillage clearing had 
been made, would come a patch where the dark masses 
of the hash around would meet the foreground in 
brightening yellow green, and dark della within would 
be lit up with rich candelabra-like plants that stand nine 
feet high, and send out on all sides green branchlets 
ending in flame-like flowers. These, and the scarlet' 
headed spikes I have spoken of amoi^ the plantain 
groves, are nearly our only relics of the flower glory 
which struck every one so much at Essaman. Whether 
it is only the difference of the locality I hardly know. 
Seasons are uncertain matters here. Many, things, if wd 
are to bdieve common report, come three times a year 
into fruit and flower, so that one is by no means sore 
whether to assume that the flower season has gone by 
for the year, or only ceased for a time, I suspect also 
that the country around Manaue and beyond, is never so 
rich in mere flowers as either some of the pathways of 
the Coast or of the Abrakampa country. 

" Up to Mansue, shade had all the morning been needful 
and grateful to us. Sut from Mansue, our next point on- 
wards, the sun is hardly seen at all in the forenoon, and 
we he^ to enter into the forest land, where, if he showed 
above, his rays would be so mellowed as to have no power 
to harm. Mansue has been our great central dep6t. Full. 
fift)r-fiTe head of cattle are there ; stores of all kinds have ' 

«s 

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238 THE ASEiNTEE WAS. 

been accnmulated ; the preparfttions ure more complete 
pediaps here than anywhere else along the line. The 
huts are veiy mnch of the Inquabim type. Excellent 
liathing is to be had in the River Okee, which flows cloae 
by the camp, and a great treat it is in this climate. . The 
site is not on very high ground, and is completely snr- 
rounded.by woodland, but the effect is altogether dif- 
ferent from that of the . bosh-encircled Yancoomassie 
(Fantee). At Mansoe the nndei^owth has been cleared 
away, and fine trees standing well apart mark our entry 
upon the outskirts of the great belt of forest which 
reaches hence to the Prah. The 2nd West India Begl- 
ment, and nsually nearly 2,000 natives on various 
duties, have been here for many weeks, so that there 
has been no lack of labour for all purposes, and the 
«flect ct this ia very viable. 

" " At eveiy station each night, fires had been lighted. 
-Outside most of the huts, and others on whatever side 
malaria threatened. Fires in the tropics may seem 
strange to those who are not accustomed to anch 
climates, but onr great need here is dry air, and half the 
iniftBnift ia checked if bright fires bum all ni^t. These 
give a certiun picturesque air to any encampment, but the 
effect is far more striking when a fair-sized camp like that 
At Mansue is lit up by them. The natives, who are not 
allowed to occupy the European ground, bivouacked on all 
sides romid at some distance, down the slopes covered 
by the forest, and well away firom the completely cleared 
camp-ground. The smoke of their fires rose amid, the tall 
^iai^ht-stemmed trees. It was a br^t, clear ni^t, on 

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A CAHP 80BHB. 2S9 

which the Great Beu on one side and the Southern Cross 
on the other were at one time brilliantly shining down 
together. The moon was not qoite fall* hnt in perfect 
brilliancy^ Her calm and delicate light playing over 
the open square and the leaf-oorered huts contrasted 
strangely with the more lurid flashes from the huge camp 
fire in the centre, round which the general and his staff 
were chattii^ and smoking after dinner. 

" The eflects of the rough-made wooden hats as they 
stood Jaintly oat in the clear moonlight all round the 
camp, or where lighted up for a few moments by the 
flashing flames of the camp flres, as some huge log was 
thrown on to give &eah blaze, changed from moment to 
moment. The forest lines were even more varied, for 
the faint haze within the Im&re from the rising smoke of 
the many native wood fires, caught reflections both from 
those fires themselves invisible to us, and from the nearer 
flashes of the huge piles on the open ground, and here and 
there received through the forest streaks of the delicate 
moonlight. 

" Our start next raoming was more than usually early. 
The sun rises almost all the year round at 6 a.m. Our 
marches therefore had been timed to commence at six' 
each morning, bat on the present occasion there had at 
one time been an intention that we should make a doable 
• march, and thoa'gh this had been countermanded, many ^ 
of OS had been called too early to make it worth while to 
delay the start. The n^t, so br^t in its early hoars, ' 
had ended towards morning in the most pitchy darkness 
■we had had. The route lay now directly through dense 

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330 THE ASHANTEE WAS. 

forest, which made the darkness even deeper ; the only 
thing which showed out clearly being the sandy pathway 
itself, looking almost white in contrast to the. gloom, 
while here and there the fire-flies flittering ii^ and out 
Eunong the undergrowth traced the shape of the green 
bank of creeper and shrub on either side. — But the mule 
starts, and evidently dreads something in its path. A 
black streak of some kind lies right across the road &om 
side to side. In the deep darkness, and against the white 
path, the streak looks broad and black enough. It is 
only a colony of the huge ants that are making their 
accustomed travel over the road, ajid crowding and 
clambering over one another till they form an almost 
solid bar of insect bodies. The mule has passed -many 
of them in the light, but such a night as this makes all 
things that are seen at all seem large and threatening. 
It takes much patience to get the frightened animal to 
pass it at all. 

" Gradually the darkness passes into a misty grey 
tbat gives to every forest shape a new and uncertain 
aspect, imposing in its vagueness. We are parsing 
down into the clay or bastard clay of Sutah, a region 
of damp and mist almost perpetual. Before this region 
is quite reached the chief features of the forest are the 
festooning creepers that hang from tree to tree, trhile 
each trunk is fringed by foliage, almost always of the long 
oval vanilla shape, sometimes actually of that plant, bat 
oftentimes of some much larger kind, with leaves the size 
of three men's hands, that, draping the bare trunks often 
for 80 or 100 feet, change the whole cbaractet of the 

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THE SIXTH DAT— TO TANCOOMAflSIE (AS8IN). 231 

ferest, hiding the l^ht silrery bark, and leaving all below 
one mass of ev^-Taried green. 

" When once the clay has been reached we enter upon 
a region of moas and fern, where every fallen tree or 
broken trouk becomes instantly covered with various 
forms of parasitic growth. The orchidB, not yet very 
numerous, begin to shotv themselves, and the heart's- 
iongue ferns make glorious crowns — one I remember well, 
that must have been lifted full a hundred feet in air, and 
then hung almost as it seemed unsupported on a slender 
iwig, the crown itself a full four feet across, rich brown 
i>elow and velvet green above. 

" Sutah, our next camp, is now as trim and neat and 
veil finished as any other along the road. Here a clear- 
ance of the undei^owth has left the white forest trees to 
dow themselves in all their stately growth. Being the 
ate of an old village, there haa been breathing ground in 
past time for the trees themselves, and here and there a 
<otton tree, instead of runiung naked upwards, has thrown 
out branches that give almost the shape of English tree 
beauty with all tropical luxuriance. The place is some- 
what tow, however, and the eye therefore pierces only a 
short distance into the forest. 

" Onr next march was over a bad part of the road. 
Originally water or marsh, of odom's unendurable, it haa 
been covered by trees which there has been no time to 
place with care, and in many places bog, deep bog> 
still remuns. Two hundred men, however, were, when 
we passed, still employed in improving it, and the dry 
weather (we have bad only one shower since we left Cape 

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2«a THE ASHANTEE 'WAR, 

Ooast on the 26th December) haa done more than all tli& 
work. 

" YancoomasE&e (Assin) has an ad-rantage in point of 
beauty peculiar to itself. It stands on high ground, 
but instead of looking, f^Dnnqoah does, over slopes that 
TTind away below it, it has around it an outer amphitheatre 
of hills, or partial amphitheatre, for, on the northern side, 
where Colonel Wood's fight took place, there is a complete 
break. The village is an old one, and therefore the trees, 
having had breath, are finer, one big cotton tree almost 
rivalling an oak In its gnarled bendinge and branches. 
One or two fine mahogany trees and an African oak or 
two begin to appear. Here we spent New Year's eve. 
A nigger company, not requiring paint to make them 
look it, performed round a camp fire for our benefit, a : 
small boy beating an old empty store box by way of 
Castanet with wonderful skill. 

" The road from Yancoomassie (Fautee) to Barraco, the 
last stage before that to the Prah, passes through a forest 
land of which the characteristic is the peculiar delicacy 
of the tracery of the creepers and of the whole wood. 
The land has been left for many a long day to its natural 
struggle for existence, and there has not been space for 
lull growth and development anywhere. There is Ho 
grandeur, but much beauty, in the forms which thus hang 
in fairy-like threads of ^een. How is one to break away 
£rom that word, or how describe the infinite variety of 
light and tint that Inrks within it ? 

" Here and there throu^out our march this feature of 
orer-luxnriant forcing, tending almost to feebleness yet 



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THE SEVENTH SAT—TO BABRACO. 3S» 

refinement of growth, had presented itself. Bat in other 
places it oome by snatches. Here it was typical of 
nearly the whole day'a march. Of coarse the villages do- 
not mark precise points where change in a characteristic 
featmre of this kind takes place, nor most I in any case be 
supposed to imply that there is a sharp point at which 
each of the varieties of forest scenery I have described on 
the march passes into the other. They shade off by slow 
degrees, but it is most striking how markedly distinct 
where all is forest are the broad features of the several 
portions through which one pasBes. With this reserva- 
tion I shall endeavour to complete my description of the 
road to the Prah. 

" Among this overcrowded forest land, the very pro- 
duct of over-nursing in Dame Nature's most luxurioua 
and pampering mood, there appear at intervals, at no 
great distance off the road, large open spaces encircled' 
by fine robust trees, that show out the bolder and the 
grander, for the mere trellis-work between them and as, 
as we travel on the road. These, according to all that 
one can learn, are the sites of old village clearings — 
of villages of which not a vestige remains; that have 
been swept away in some devastating raid of the 
Ashantees, perhaps a hundred, perhaps two hundred 
years ago. For during all that time horde upon horde 
of these reckless destroyers have poured over the land, 
sweeping it with a completeness of which we have 
present experience in the absolute abandonment of every 
village actually upon the road we have passed through. 
The extent of this desolation may perhaps be judged 

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3tt THE ijBHAHTEE VfAR. 

from the fact that, according to the best evidence we now 
have, there were actnally something like 60,000 Fantees 
assembled in the great fight of the spring against'the 
Asbantees ; while, according to the same evidence, the 
impoesibility we now find in gathering them together is 
really due mainly to the loss of life during the interven- 
ing months ; partly because of the actual slangfater, and 
partly because of the Bmall-pox, dysentery, and famine 
which followed in its train. The land now is utterly 
depopulated, and it bears everywhere the signs of many 
such previous depopulations. The old clearings I have 
8poken of, as indicated now only by the more stately 
forest growUi around them, are, perhaps, the most striking 
instance, of past devastations. .In the villages which have 
lately been left without inhabitants, tlie creepers, that 
have decked with a strange and many-coloured beauty the 
crumbled walls or open wood-work of the rains, show 
how soon nature will agaia cover over and profit by the 
present desolation. 

" It must not be supposed that all here is strange and 
tropical; oftenamongthehouseshomelyv^etablemarrows 
run riot over half a village ; a mounttun ash peers out 
among the forest trees ; or, as ff to greet us with memories 
of many a cosy En^^h farmstead, the elder-berries hang 
their clusters over our heads. But these have, perhaps, 
been more common in the earher part of our march, and 
I recall them now rather in thinking of the features that 
are general throughout than those that are special to this 
portion of the road. The roadway itself is no longer 
quite BO bad as during the last stage, but it most be 

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THE SAILOBS. AND SIE GABNET AT BABBACO. U6 

admitted that tbe first part beyond Yancoomassie (Assiii) 
and the whola road ^m Sutah to it are the worst of the 
whole qiarch. Still I have known many an English road 
deeper in mad. Soon, moreover, we leave the clay, and 
gain the sandy reach, which extends hence to the Frah, 
furnishing one excellent road throughout. 

" At Barraco we came upon the detachment of English 
sailors, who had been there for three weeks, all cheery 
and healthy as men need be. When I first met them 
they were bathing in the river which flows near. But 
they were in their glory at night, when a huge camp 
fire, that would have paled every one that the natives 
had kindled during our Whole march, was blazing ; two 
or three great tninka being laid above It. Round this 
there gathered that night, the first of the New Year, on 
the one aide the General and his staff, with the officers 
of the sailors and marines, and round all the others the 
blue-jackets and marines themselves, while one after 
another stepped out to sing the best songs they knew. 

" The march &om Barraco to Frahsu is about the 
shortest of all, little more than six miles, and its natural 
character hag been much affected by the amount of 
clearing that has been made for the enormous quantity of 
palm leaves and split wood of all kinds that has been re- 
quired for the great camp at Prahsu ; the number needed 
for each hnt being almost incredible. Perhaps it is 
because of this clearing — always, as it seems to me, an 
improvement to the beauty of nature in this country — 
that one observes it, perhaps it is a natural fact, but here 
we seem to have entered into the very region of orchids* 

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336 THE ASHAKT^ WAS.. 

At times they seem almost to form the covering and 
foliage of every second tree, and everywhere they give a 
wonderfol variety to the tints of the landscape. The 
excellent road gave leisure to enjoy their beauty aach as 
for Bome miles before we had hardly had. 

" At length here is Frahsu, a place, as we well know, 
little more than a fortnight ago one dense mass of bosh 
to the river's bank. Now, on the left or southern side, 
a trimly.hutted camp has arisen for about 3,000 men, 
with lai^e open space in the middle, broken only by the 
filter-shed whence pure water can be obtained. The 
amount of work that had been done was the one thing 
which first impressed us all. The broad stream lay wide 
before us. All who had previously seen it admit that they 
had not realised its beanty till now when space was given 
fi-om which to view it. Bat we are to be here for some 
time, and further opportunities will occur for describing 
this, our half-way bouse to Coomassie." 



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CHAPTEE X. 

THE CAMP AT PBAHBU — ^ENVOYS AND LETTERS FBOU THE 
KINO OF ASHANTBE — SIE OABNBt's HEPLT — AN ASHAN- 
■ TEE MESBBKGEB SHOOTS HIM8EU — ^LOKD GIFFOBD 
SUKFKISES ES8IAMAN — SIR OAHNEt'b KUSE — AUIBM OP 
THE ENVOYS — THE BAILOBB AT WOHK — THE GKEAT 

DESERTION OP THE CAKBIEB8 THE WHOLE CASE 

CONSIDERED. 

On January 2nd, the daj that Sir Craraet reached the 
banks of the Praht the stream which it was supposed 
that no white man would ever be able to cross, envoys 
arrived from the King. They brought back an answer 
from Coomassie to the sonmious addressed to him from 
dape Coast. 

It consisted (C. 894, p, , 56) of two letters from the 
King of Asbantee, which will serve as admirable speci- 
mens of the King's usual style of correspondence. 

It should be noticed that the originals were written 
in English by Mr. Dawson, a Fantee who h&d. been sent 
up to Coomassie by Colonel Harley in order to interpret 
a former message to the King, and who had ever since 
been forcibly detained in Coomassie in company with the 
other prisoners. 



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388 TH£ ASEANTEE WAIL 

According to evidence aalweqnentl; received from 
MesBTg. Bnnse^er and Kaehne, tite 6ennan missionaries* 
and Mr. Bonuat, the French Factor of the German 
mission, who were soon afterwards, as will be seen, in 
our hands, it appears that on all occasions the letters 
were most carefully read over to the King in their 
presence. They all declare that there could be no 
mistake at all as to the &ct that both the letters written 
to the King, and those sent by him, were accurately 
known to the King, and that the letters from him were 
the genuine expressions of what he wished to say. 

It will be convenient to comment on and explain the 
two letters after they have been given. 

" EuvAaai, Novembtr 2G, IS7S. 
" Sm, — Your honour's letters by the man captured at 
Assanchi, bearing the dates October 18 aqd the 1st 
instant, I have safely received, and have the contents 
read and interpreted correctly to me. It is true that 
there exists such Treaty as your honour refer between my 
predecessor and late Governor McClean. Being aware 
of it, and having no palaver with white men, my good 
Mends, I only directed my General Amanqoatia against 
the black men, who are my own slaves, and now revise 
to serve me. I was incited to take this step fay the 
message Attah, alias Mr. Henry Flange, brou^t to me, 
' that in four monUis time the Administrator-in-chlef 
was to take my power away for Kwarke&am,' the King of 
Denkera. Of course, I could not bear to hear this, and 
I therefore sent to fetch him, Kwarkefram. Bat fonce I 



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KINa KOFI'S LETTEE8. !» 

heard his death, which has pacified me, and heard that 
my anoies were proceeding to attEick the forts, I inune* 
diately sent, about twenty days ago, ere your honour's 
letters reached me, one of my Captains, ' Busnnunom 
Inteknra ' by name, to call back Amanquatia, forbidding 
his attacks upon the forts, as that would iucor the dis- 
pleasure of yon, my good Mend. Bespecting the deten- 
tion of your honour's messenger, Mr. Dawson, and the 
Europeans, it is because my Captain who brought them 
disapproved my sending them to the coi^ ere the money 
is sent. If, therefore, your honour would send it aa 
early as you can by the return of the bearers of this, 
Mr. Dawson will be allowed to start directly with 
tiiem. 

" (Signed) Kofi Kabeeasee, his X marki. 
" By the Linguists, 

" Kofi Buaki, his X mark. 
" Aeossi Apha, his X mark, 
" Yaw Nankwi, his X mark. 
" Witnesses to the signatures : 
" (Signed) Fh. Eamsetek, 

" M. G-. Earkivat. 
" His Honour Colonel Harley, C.B., 

" Administrator of Her Majesty's Forts and 
" Settlements on the Gold Coast." 

" Edhabbi, December 2i>, 1873. 
"Mr GOOD Friend — Your Honour by this will find 
that my letter dated 24th ultimo had been returned back 

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240 THE A6HANTEB TAE. 

again to CoomasBie. The cause of this is the attack 
made t^n my army on their way back, when I had 
oi^ered, by your Honour's desire, their retnm home, 
and litereby killed all their sick men and took away all 
their property. Eq>eciaUy finding in that at Fosoo one 
of your HoDoor's officers among them, whose hammock 
and provisions my men took after defeating them. This, 
. of course, pains me very much, as I did not foresee a 
trick in it; and also having written your Honour to 
acquit yon with my having no war with white men, bat 
ihe bUck people. However, considering your Honour 
fis my good friend still, I send one of my Court Criers, 
Sssen Kuekn, and another man, Kudjo Fodwin, to 
accompany one of Mr. Dawson's men, Assradu, to ask 
your Honour's answer to my first letter, respecting the 
giving me back Assins and Denkeras, and at the same 
time for some explanation for these last attacks upon 
m^ people. I beg to say that I have given them only 
fourteen days to perform their journey in and out. 
■ " We are, &c., 
" (For King Kofi Kalkaree), 
" liifignists, 
" (Signed) Yaw Nantwi, his X mark. 
' " Kofi Buaki, his X mark. 
" ViNESE Appea, his X mart. 
" KwABiNA AuFBUENSA, his X mark. 
" His Honour Colonel R W. Harley, C.B., 
" Administrator, &o., &c., &c." 

It will be remembered that, in Sir Garnet's summons, 

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ASHANTEE TIEW OF TE1ATIE8. 241 

he appealed to ttie treaty made by Governor Maclean 
with the Ashanteea (given hereafter on page 407), by 
which " the black men " whom the King here speaks of 
as his " own slaves " were declared to be free from the 
Ashantees. The use the King makes of the treaty is 
thoroughly characteristio of the feeble cmining by which 
he was always trying to deceive iia, and by which Le 
invariably outwitted himself. 

He tries to imply that there is, of course, this treaty, 
therefore he and the white men are friends, and there- 
fore the white men will not, of course, help the " black 
men " though by this treaty they are bound to do so. 

The message which '' Plange brought to me " is, it is 
almost needless to say, purely apocryphal. It was, t s 
will be seen hereafter (p. 262), alluded to in the original 
letter which the King wrote, alleging his reasons for 
invading the Protectorate after he had about four months 
been engaged in that operation. That no English 
Governor would have ventured to send such a message 
need hardly be said. Of course, a Fantee might have 
invented any message. But the direct evidence of all the 
white prisoners is to the effect that the message was 
never delivered at all by this man Plange, and that 
the whole story was precisely one of those which 
the KJTig gets up whenever he wants a pretext for 
invasion. 

The remainder of this first letter promises exactly 
what we had been led, before we landed in Cape Coast, 
to expect {see the letter to the Daily News &om Sierra 
Leone, p. 34), that is to say, that the King would at once 

B 
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242 THB ASHANTEE WAE. 

withdraw all his forces, intending to reinvade on the first 
opportunity. Sir Gramet's summons had obvionsly anti- 
cipated this, for his demand was not merely that the 
King's army should be withdrawn before a certain date, 
but that it should be withdrawn after all prisoners had 
been surrendered and guarantees given. 

It is evident, moreover, that up to the date of this 
letter (November 25) no news had reached the King as to 
t'le disasters which bad befallen his army. 

When be wrote the second letter he bad been informed 
of Colonel Wood's attack at Faissoo, and the reason why 
this bad been mentioned to him is plain. The leaders 
could not have told him that previously they had been 
Buccesafal, for they would have been a-sked to show spoil. 
Now they are able to produce the things dropped by the 
carriers, and so for a short time longer keep bjm in the 
dark. 

The General's reply is too long to give in foil, but it 
will be easy to give all the extracts of general iaterest. 
It points out the above facta, except that apparently not 
wishing to dispute the king's assertion about Plange, he 
contents himself with saying that that message was 
ne*'er sent. The reply further cites the facts that the 
king's generals having attacked English troops at Elmina 
and Abrakampa, the General could only believe that the 
king desired to carry on the war. 

" I determined, therefore," it goes on, " to drive your 
army behind the river Prah, which I have done. 

" I do not think your captains have told you the truth 
regarding the events which have taken place in this 

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8ia QASNET'S EEPLT. US 

ootmtry siuoe my tirriyal, and I believe ihey have concealed 
ftom your Majesty the numerous defeats they have ex- 
perienced froiQ small bodies of the troops under my 
command. When Amonqnoitia attacked Abrakampa, there 
were only fifty white men there, yet, after two days' fight- 
ing, he was forced to retreat in confusion with great loss, 
and many of your war drums, chiefs' chairs, and other 
mihtary trophies, besides much baggage, were captured 
by my troops. As regards the attack upon your retreat- 
ing army at Faissoo, it was made only by a small party of 
my uadrilled black troops, who were ordered to fall back 
as soon as they found where your army was ; yet it 
caused the whole of the Ashantee army to retreat in the 
utmost haste and confusion, leaving their dead and dying 
eveiywhere along the path. 



" I wish to impress upon your Majesty that hitherto 
your soldiers have only had to fight against black men, 
helped by a few Englishmen. If, however, you should 
now be so ill-advised as to continue this war, your troops 
will have to meet an army of white soldiers. 

" These white troops are now on their march from 
Cape Coast for the purpose of invading your territory to 
enforce compliance with my just demands, which I shall 
presently lay before you ; and I warn you that 1 intend 
to invade your country by the Wassaw road, the Prahsu- 
Assin road, the Prafasu-AMm road, and the road leading 
from Bagow in Eastern Akim direct to Juabin and 
Coomassie. 



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244 THE ASEANTEE WAB. 

" 10. The Queen of Sngland has placed ample forces 
at my disposal to crush the Ashantee nation, but, as I 
told you in my previous letter, she is as patient as she 
is strong. 

" Her Majesty is desirous that a permanent peace should 
be estabUshed between her subjects and the Ashantees. 
She is desirous to promote in every way free intercourse 
between your people and the towns of Elmina and Cape 
Coast Castle, and all the other towns under her protec- 
tion, with a view to the promotion of trade between the 
two nations, and the establishment of a lasting peace 
between them. 

" 11. Your Majesty is completely in error if you believe 
that the Queen's object in obtaiuing possession of the 
Dutch forts was to cut you off from communication with 
the coast. She wishes that when your subjects come as 
peaceful traders, every protection should be afforded to 
them ; and when peace is finally established, she will do 
all in her power to prevent all hindrance to trade between 
the two nations. 

" 12. Her Majesty is still willing to believe that you 
have been deceived by designing people, as in the case 
of the fictitious message said to have been delivered to 
your majesty by Mr. Plange. She is anxious to avoid 
shedding more Ashantee blood, knowing how your army 
has already suffered. Yet she cannot submit to leave 
without redress such violent aggression as that lately 
perpetrated by your army upon her aUies, at a time when 
you were professing to lie engaged in friendly negotia- 
tions with the British authorities. 



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THE TEHM8 NOW PROPOSED. 2« 

" 13. I shall therefore be prepared to make a lasting 
peace with you upon the following terms : — 

"1st, That you deliver up forthwith all the persons, 
both European and African, that you have wrongfully de- 
tained as prisoners at Coomassie, together with all the 
men, women, and children carried off into captivity from 
this country by your army. 

" 2nd. That having unjustly forced this war upon the 
Queen of England, thereby entailing immense expense 
upon her, you will pay her Majesty 50,000 ounces of ap< 
proved gold. 

" 3rd. That a new Treaty of Peace be signed at Coo- 
massie, to which place I would proceed for that purpose 
with a sufficient force of white 'soldiers ; and that pre- 
vious to my going there, you deliver up to me such 
hostages for my safety as I shall name hereafter, when I 
learn that your Majesty has accepted the terms now 
offered. 

" 14. This war has already entailed many defeats 
upon your armies. You have lost thousands of men in 
battle, and irom want and disease. I am well aware of 
all these facts. You are surrounded by hostile tribes 
who long for your destruction. Be warned in time and 
do not listen to the advice of evil coimsellors, who for 
their own purposes might urge you to continue a hope- 
less struggle against an army of white men, a struggle that 
can only lead to the destruction of your military power, 
and that must certainly bring great misery upon your 
people and danger to your Majesty's dynasty. 

" 15. As I am about to march into your territory to 

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248 THE A8HANTEE WAS. ■ 

enforce, if necessary, the terms of peace here proposed, I 
have to request that the messengers whom your Majesty 
may send with the answer to this letter, be ordered to 
carry a white flag plainly displayed at the end of a staff, 
in order that they may be known by my scouts to be 
friendly messengers. 

" 16. Being most anxious that your Majesty should 
know the exact contents of this letter, I have to request 
that you wLU cause it to be read and interpreted to yoa 
at different times by two interpreters, neither of whom 
should be present when the other is interpreting the 
letter to your Majesty." 

A writer on the campaign says that Sir Garnet showed 
at a later stage "vacillation," because he reduced a 
demand for gold which he had made. It will therefore 
be convenient to give here the following extract. I have 
put in in italics the sentence of most importance on this 
point. " Vacillation " was at least deliberately intended 
and its reason assigned long beforehand. The other 
parts of the extract are interesting for other reasons : 

" I trust that the letter will receive your Lordship's 
approval. 

" In it, as in my former letter, I have been guided by 
the instructions I have received from your Lordship. 
The sum I have named is, I have reason to believe, 
within the resources of the King. I have preferred to 
make it moderate in order not to goad the King to any 
prolonged resistance ; but owing to the limited informa- 
tion at my command as to the amount of gold at his 
disposal, it is possible that during negotiations I may feel 

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VACILLATION ! I 247 

it neceteary to reduce it. I believe the stipulation that 
the Treaty shall be signed at Cooma&sie, and that I 
should proceed there with an escort of English soldiers . 
to sign it, to be essential. 

*' It will convince the Ashantees themselves, as well 
as all the neighbouring tribes, that her Majesty's troops 
can penetrate at will into the heart of their country to 
compel them to accept the terms demanded from them. 
It will thus, I believe, leave a permanent and most 
beneficial effect far and wide throughout these regions." 

The Ashantee messengers were detfuned at the Prah 
till the 6th. The following extracts from letters to the 
Daily News show what went on on that day and in the 
meantime, in addition to the work of completing the 
camp, accumulating stores, erecting filter-sheds, com- 
pleting huts, &c. : — 

Oavf, Peabsu, Jan. 6. 

" The bridge, not without some difficulties &om native 
labour, has been pressed on. We have been enjoying the 
most delicious weather since we have been here. The 
Harmattan has set in, and the thermometer was to-day at 
75 degrees in the shade at 11 o'clock. The nights are 
really cold. 

" The first blood has been shed in Ashantee land, and 
the first Ashantee weapons captured. On the 6th, Lord 
Gifford, who now commands the scouts, was pushing 
on as far as the village of Essiaman, twelve miles beyond 



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us . THE ASHANTEE WAR. 

the Prah. He saw smoke in the village in front of him, 
let his men load, and advanced hoping to surprise those 
■ within ; but the men he had sent round to intercept the 
retreat of the few holding the village were fired on, and 
he was obliged to return the fire. Only eight Ashantee 
scouts occupied the village. One was killed, the rest 
escaped, leaving two women prisoners. One of our 
scouts was wounded, five slugs being put into or through 
him. The women say there are no Ashantees nearer 
than Quisah. The scouts found in Essiaman had, accord- 
ing to their evidence, been down to the Prah on the 2nd 
of January. 

" They had, in fact, accompanied the envoys, who on 
that day came to Sir Garnet Wolseley with letters from 
the King of Ashantee. 

" The envoys were kept till the 6th, on which day the 
bridge over the Prah was completed. On the 4th they 
were allowed to see the practice with the Gatling gun. 
That night one of the Ashantee escort shot himself. It 
was said at first that he had done so because he thought 
we should bill him, and the other envoys declared that 
they had tried in vain to persuade him that white men 
would not do so. Afterwards it appeared that he had been 
so frightened by the Gatling that he had said that if 
white men had those weapons resistance was useless. 
The otlier envoys said tliey would report him to the King 
of Ashantee, and the fear of death by torture made birn 
kill himself. 

"He w(« buried on the further sijle of the river, to the 
great delight of the envoys, who were most anxious to 

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SIB GIBNET'S BUSE. 249 

have him buried in his own land. Each man threw dnst 
on the body, as in a Jewish-funeral. 

" On the 6th, at early dawn, the Naval Brigade, which 
has been here since the Srd, and which marched from 
Cape Coast Castle without one man falling out, was sent 
three miles on the Coomassie road- Major Russell's, the 
regiment which defended Abrakrampa, had the previous 
day moved to Atobiasi, eight miles beyond the Prah. 
These arrangements having been made, the envoys were 
allowed to cross the Prah by the bridge, which had not 
been begun when they arrived. They overtook the 
sailors on the march, and, beheving that the invasion 
of Asbantee by white troops was beginning, were un- 
mistakably alarmed. They were most anxious to delay 
the movement by any possible pretext, promising that 
the white captives should be returned if the operations 
were suspended for a week. 

" By the time they arrived at Atobiasi Major Russell 
had cleared and entrenched a large space, large pQes of 
boxes of rice were stored, trunks of trees laid along to 
form a defensive work, an excellent stream of water being 
under the protection of this fort. The envoys were 
passed on from escort to escort, and found at Essiaman 
a similar clearing and defensive work being made. 
Finding our advance so great since their arrival the 
envoys became so alarmed that they told Lord Gifford 
he would receive a messenger in four days. I was 
anxious to see what difficulties the road involved, and 
followed them to Essiaman. 

" As far as the first river beyond the Prah (three miles) 

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250 - THE ASHAKTEE WAE. 

the road is marshy and bad. After that it becomes 
better than moat native roads, but is up and down hill. 
Beyond Atobiasi to Essiaman it is the best native road 
I have seen, traced along the sides of the hills, and neither 
rutty nor up and down. Beyond Essiaman there is another 
bad bit. The forest varies, but in its general character 
it is not dense in underwood. Along the road not a few 
skeletons lay still unburied. A quarter of a mile or so 
off the road were villages where the Asbantees, ofteti in 
some numbers, had laid themselves down to die, ap- 
parently of starvation. In many cases beside the corpse 
rested the stick which had supported the traveller to the 
last. 

" The village at Atobiasi had to be abandoned because 
of the intolerable stench of the dead, and a separate -site 
selected a quarter of a mile off. By the time I left 
Essiaman, Lord Gifford's force, with an excellent stream 
near it, tested by a medical officer, was secure from all 
attack. To-day he has pushed on beyond Ansah, vrhich 
is entrenched; and Eussell occupies Essiaman. The 
blue-jackets, who were only sent out on the 6th to impose 
on the envoys, returned the same day." 

The returned sailors are soon after hard at work. 

" The most cheery sight by day, and notably in the 
evening, is the work the sfulors are doing on the further 
bank of the Frah. Our bridge-head, as the work is 
called, which is to protect our bridge and secure our 
stores on both banks, is advancing rapidly. The sailors 
BO thoroughly enjoy the felling of the trees and the setting 
fire to everything in reach, that their cheery presence 

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THE 8AIL0E3 AT WOEK. MI 

alone would give life to the picture. But there are 
scenes of iinmistakable and rare beauty, when the flame 
catches the creepers that hang from some densely- 
corered tree and blazes up" them for a hondred feet or 
more. 

" Generally the trunks will not catch, hut stand out like 
martyrs patient amidst the roaring flames. But now and 
then a resinous palm tree blazes up and strange effects 
are brought out. To-night a pillar of fire shone out 
behind a huge green bush that was standing between the 
fire and us, which lighted but was not burnt by the blaze. 
Above, a perfect fountain or cataract of sparks went into 
the air, and sputtered and flamed out, adding one to the 
many flashing lights that were reflected down into the 
smooth water of the broad river flowing between, whilst 
to the right or up the stream the moon, in full beauty, 
was throwing down her cool and placid image into the 
shade beyond a bend of the river, sheltered by the inter- 
vening forest from the hot reflection of the burning wood." 

The following extracts relate to a matter which it will 
be convenient now folly to enter into. If ever facts 
were curiously misunderstood, they were so in the 
present instance. Fortunately the explanation need not 
be lengthy. 

The flrst is on January 8th : — 

" Great difficulties have been caused by the immense 
desertions of the native carriers. These Fantees are too 
lazy to work as well as too cowardly to fight, and would 
rather be slaves of the Ashantees for ever than carry our 

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262 THE A8HANTEE WAE. 

loads with good pay for six weeks. But vigorous steps 
have been taken, the authority of the chiefs has been 
employed, and the men who have deserted have been 
turned out of their villages. The two West India 
Begiments and Wood's Begiment are for the time 
employed, with extra pay, as carriers, and are doing the 
work well and cheerily. The ftifle Brigade is stopped on 
the march at Barracoe and Yancoomassie (Assin). The 
42nd is at Mansue and Yancoomassie (Fantee). The 23rd 
were to have remained on board, but the order did not 
reach them in time. We have had only one day's rain 
since we left Cape Coast Castle." 

The second is seven days later, January 15th : — 
" Our difficulty about transport has been nearly mas- 
tered. The services of the 23rd will now certainly not 
be required, and only 100 of them are to be moved up to 
the front, but for the whole force that will move, transport 
and accumulated stores will be ready by the 22nd, so that 
the whole mischief that has been done has been a week's 
delay. The Colonel of the 42nd asked the 300 men of 
his detachment who were quartered with him, if any of 
them would volunteer to take loads from one station to 
another, in order that all might get quicker at the enemy. 
One himdred and fifty men volunteered, and without any 
ill effects did actually, by taking the loads in wheel- 
barrows, two of them turn and turn about at the barrow, 
do five negro men's work to each two. The General, 
however, the moment it was reported to him, ordered it 
to be stopped, as he is firmly convinced that in such a 
climate men cannot do such work without future injury. 



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SIR ASDEEW CLARKE'S PROPHECY. 253 

Apropos, it is cuirently reported that Sir Andrew 
Clarke, who was supposed when the war began to be 
the great anthority upon the coast, declared to Sir 
Garnet that it was absurd for him to talk about marching 
a white regiment to the Prah, because every white man 
would require eight hanuuock-bearers for the whole 
diBtance. In fact, apart from the story about the 42nd, 
only the other day Captain Baker, the Inspector of 
PoUce, walked here in three days or less, for he started 
late on the first day, and came in early on the third, 
which, for 73 miles, would not be bad going in England." 

Two points are raised hy these extracts. The first 
the break-down of the transport ; the second, the fact 
that the 42nd found themselves in front of the 28rd, 
though they had arrived last. The latter admits of the 
shortest explaiiation, and may therefore be dealt with 
first. 

The 42nd, whilst at sea, suffered from an attack of 
epidemic erysipelas. The doctors recommended as a 
necessary remedy that they should be landed. There 
was not room at Cape Coast for the quartering satis- 
factorily of one whole European regiment, much less of 
two. At the time that they returned from their voyage to 
Cape Coast, the transport arrangements were in a well- 
advanced condition. There was no sign at the moment 
that it would make the least ultimate difference which 
of the three regiments were pushed up first. Accord- 
ingly the 42nd happened to be upon the road in front of 
the 23rd, when it was suddenly announced that, as if by 

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264 THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

a spontaneous movement simply — ^thouBands of carriers 
had deserted. Probable as native desertion undoubtedly 
was, the position of the regiments could hardly have 
been determined, on the . assumption that it would of 
course occor. To be ready for an emergency is one 
thing, to assume its certainty is another. Among the 
remedies that were adopted, and among those which it 
win be necessary to discuss in relation to that question, 
it was ordered that the last regiment should remain at 
sea. It thus happened that the 23rd was that last regi- 
ment, BJid that it and not the 42nd were left behind. It 
would not have been possible to have interchanged the 
places on the road. 

To turn to the other matter. That our great difficulty 
would be the carrier question had always been told ua. 
That there was the greatest possible risk that when it came 
to the passage of the Prah the natives would desert was 
a fact familiar to every one. The question was not of 
anticipating these facts, but how were they to be met in 
case they actually occurred. 

There is something so amusing about the manner in 
which the proceedings of a general are usually discussed 

the present is not in the least an exceptional instance 

that it is worth while to notice it here even as a mere 

illustration. The above facts were, as I have said, 
matters o{ the very commonest notoriety ; at least, from 
the time of our touching at Sierra Leone. Yet when the 
very fact has occurred which everyone thought probable, 
it is assumed that the General whom, nevertheless, 
everybody speaks of as an exceedingly able man , has been 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



"WHEEE KV^ the CHAIKS?" 2M 

taken utterly by sarpriae. In other words, the Qeneral 
is at one and the same time both the greatest fool in his 
anny, and the ablest man in it. Is not this sheer un- 
meaning nonsense ? Surely a general of Sir Garnet's 
calibre may be assumed not to be utterly absolutely 
wanting in all common sense. The facta need to be 
considered on some other basifi than that. 

Supposing, however, for a moment that the d-eneral 
had seen as far as the prophets who always are able to 
show — not that he is liable to human error, not that 
under difficult circumstances, where every choice is hard, 
he may possibly have not chosen the one in which no 
trace whatever of human error occurred, but that he was 
a natural bom fool, for that is the plain English of what 
the charge, if it had any substance at all, would come to, 
what would he have done — what would his critics have 
wished that he should have done ? 

One of these gave in very plain terms an answer which 
does certainly offer a possible solution. " Where are 
the chains ? " was the question which a distinguished 
African traveller asked upon landing at Cape Coast : 
" Where are the chains ? " he repeated, when the diffi- 
culty was mentioned at the Frah. 

Whether or not it Tisould have been possible for an 
English general to have enfdrced the presence of the 
carriers for his array in that manner, may be safely left 
to be decided by the public at home. 

But assuming that solution not to have been possible, 
was there no other which would so far overcome what 
must always have been a difficulty as to enable him to 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



266 THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

meet the objects which he had been sent out to fulfil. 
The answer is that there was, and that it was success- 
fully adopted by the General without detriment to any 
one of these objects. 

That one necessity was to attend from the very com- 
mencement to the question is obvious. Whether or 
no that was done, I leave my readers to judge. The 
" carrier question " has been repeated ad nauseam as the 
one object of anxiety from the time of our first landing 
(see ante, pp. 53 and 54), or even earlier onwards. 
Every man who could be in any way procured was 
enlisted. At a very early date Sir Garnet informed 
" Lord Kimberley that the chief advantage of the native 
gatherings at Dunquah was to create an impression 
of force, and then to furnish him with carriers. Every 
effort that could be made short of force to induce the 
sending in of carriers, or of fighting men, who could be 
. turned into carriers, was employed. This became, after 
a very short time, indeed, the chief object of all procla- 
mations, letters, missions of officers to the kings. 

To say that force ought to have been used in turning 
out the natives from the first is very easy. That may 
have been Sir Garnet's opinion too. But how can you 
use force when you have not got it ? 

When Sir Garnet landed, the whole Houssa police- 
force — the only one that could possibly have been 
employed on such a service — had gone to Accra. As 
Sir Garnet writes to Lord Kimberley about the time 
that the natives have shown that they do not intend to 
come in freely, " 100 West Indians " were the sole force, 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



THE BBEAK-DOWN OP TEANSPOBT. 287 

in' addition to indispensable garrisons, which he had 
available at all. 

Even supposing what would be inconeeivahle, that Sir 
Oamet could have thou^t of employing vhite men' on 
such a duty as hunting after OBtives in the bosh, 

- which would infallibly have laid them all low with ill- 
ness, he had not authority to do so. The only white 
men available at tbat<time were the sailors and marines. 
The orders of the Admiralty would absolutely, have pro- 
hibited their use on such a duty, . , ' 

Wood's and ftuBsell's regiments had to be slowly 
formed and organised, and would have been simply lost 
in such an attempt. 

It comes to this, therefore, that any effort to force the 
natives to contribute their quota would, have been a 
hopeless attempt to hunt through the bush made by 
100 West Indians in search of 8000 carriers. It would 

- have been necessary to abandon all attempt to turn the 
Ashantees out of our territory. The road coold not 
have been proceeded with, for the troops, which- enabled 

■ it to advance, would have been withdrawn. 

Kow it has been already shown (p. 54) that the one 
object which Sir Garnet set before himself in all his early 
efforts against the Ashantees was so to clear them out of 
the ■ Fantee territory as to enable him to collect those 
whom he required, and to push on his road. 

Till the road advanced the stores could not be pushed 
up it. The point at which the greatest accumulation of 
. stores had to be made (Prahsue) did not, even when all 
the force we had was employed in pressing the Aahantees, 

a 
n,,Nr..i-,Gooj^le 



m TEB ASHAITTBE WAR. 

ftU into oar hands till the beginning of December. Till 
then stores could not be accumuhited further up the 
road Ulan Maiume. 

The next point, in addition to the mere enlistment of 
as many men as possible, was to be ready to meet the 
difficulty of desertion whenever k did occur. It was 
impossible to foresee exactly at what moment the deser- 
tion would take place, but it was essential to have at 
hand an available force to act as soon as the thing did 
occur. 

I>aring the whole time we were there, first Capt^n 
Thompson, and subsequently Captain Baker,, were 
engaged in oi^anising as effective a police force as could 
be formed. By the time the desertions took place it 
was fit to act. Before the great desertion the Ist West 
Indians had arrived, and they were employed at once, 
as will subsequently be seen, in putting a stop to 
desertion. 

Moreover, farther, the problem that now lay before the 
General was, with the resources in hand, to conuder 
how most effectually to cany out tckat he had been 
ordered and had undertaken to do. 

The question, therefore, of interest is, what bad he 
been ordered, and vhat had he undertaken to do ? 

He had received no instructions from home, nor had 
he ever set it before himself as an object to bum the 
Bantoma. Tn his instructions from home, a very 
remarkaUe passage had occurred. It' comprised a 
BiTagnlwr pi«diction which, thot^h not in form verified, 
did, in fiust, exactly meet the situation in which the 

n,gN..(jNGoo^le 



SJ)KD UMBEBLET'B AHTICIFATION. i09 

Oenecsl at a later stage found biniBelf. Writing on 
November 24th, Lord Kimberley had said : 

" 8. Yon were infoimed in my despatch of October 6, 
Ihat a satiB&otory state of things would be obtained if 
you oonld procnre an honourable peace, or eouM inflict, 
in d^auU of aueh peace, on effeciMol chae&aemei^ on the 
Aahattiee force. 

" 11. If yoa shonld inflict a severe defeat on the 
Ashantee army near or beyond the frontier, the occq- 
palion of the capital mi^t, perhaps, be effected without 
much difficnlty ; bat it is probable that the result might 
be a. complete break up of the King's Govermnent and 
power. In sach an event, yon might find yourself in 
poBseBsion of Coomaasie, without any government or 
mler to treat with, and a$ it would be wholly otU of Uu 
qaetHon to keep Ev/ropean iroopt in a itate of inaetivUiy 
in tM inferior, you mi^ht be compelled to return without 
having obtained a fvU tecarity for the eetabUahmettt of a 
latUng peace." 

Sir Garnet, in his own application for troops, had urged 
as the motive for employing them that the only " method 
of freeing these settlements from the continued menace 
of Ashantee invasion is to defeat the Ashantee army Id 
the field, to drive it from the protected territories, and, if 
necessary, to pursue it into its own land ; and to march 
victorious on the Ashantee capital, and show, not only 
to the King, but to those chiefs who urge him on to 
constant war, that the arm of her Majesty is powerful to 
pnnish, and can reach even to the veiy heart of their 
kingdom." 

as 

nign^PdNGoOgle 



2S0 THE ASHAKTEE WAB. 

It is plain, therefore, that hia daty vaa to expend just 
80 much time as was necessary for these porpoaes and 
no more. The accumulation of stores for the ma)-ch 
-was a mere question of time — by delaying a little longer 
he could make any further accumulation that was neces' 
saiy. But all unnecessary delay impHed additional ex- 
posure of officers and men. 

The problem was jnst to accnmulate so much ston of 
fdl binds-rnot as would enable birn to bum the Ban- 
toma, not as would enable him to keep European troops 
an hoar longer than was necessary in the capital — ^but 
just sufficient to enable him to give reasonable oppor- 
tunity for peace being made, and then to leave, having 
shown that her Majesty's arm was " powerful enough to 
reach her enemies in the very heart of their kingdom," 
and by one signal act of vengeance to save thousands of ' 
lives, and years of misery to thousands more. The ques- 
^on is, did or did not he succeed in this adaptation of 
the conditions to the end ? , 



jNGoogle 



CHAPTEB XI. 

3Elt£SH UESBENOEBS FBOM THE KINO — ^A BOTAL I^TTBR — 
THE BSPLT— UB. KDEHNE— <rHE ASHAHTBE CONSTI- 
TUTION — BSVAL PARTIEB IN COOMASSIE — THE REWABD 
OP AflHANTEB AZXIEB — AN ASHANTEE " UABCH PABT " 
—CAPTAIN HUXSHe'B ILLNESS — THE LAST DAY ON THE 
PBAH — ^A QDIET SUNDAY- — A FCNEBAL IN CAMP. 

The following extracts &om the letters to the Dail^f 
News need no introduction ; an occasional note has been 
jidded, but for the most part it is obvious from their 
nature, that the less they toe altered at home the more 
accurate they are likely to be. 

It will, however, be convenient to give first the letter 
from the King of Ashantee and the reply, which were 
&t this time received and read. It may be noticed that, 
for some reason or other, some of those who have dis- 
cussed Sir Garnet's correspondence with the King before 
they have condescended to read it, have chosen to dub 
each letter that Sir Garnet wrote an " ultimatum," and 
they have then, on the strength of this title, which they 
have themselves invented for the letters, imagined that 
he changed his mind, and wrote another and yet 



jNGoogle 



262 THE ABKANT^ WAS.. 

another "ultimatum." A reference to the correspon- 
dence itself showB that there is no basis for this notion. 
It will be seen from the extracts themselves that, 
w^e Sir Garnet did not delay his movements for one 
moment, or alter his proceedings in any way in conse- 
quence of the King's promises, he continued to m^e on 
him that he only desired definite pledges and solid 
guarantees on which he could rely. It will be seen that 
step by step the King always yielded a little, but never 
gave sofBcient guarantees to induce the General to act on 
them. This, and not any change of views on the General's 
part, caused the continuance of the correspondence, as 
the army steadily advanced as rapidly as the nature of 
the country would permit. 

« Kxntimx, January 9, 187^ 
(Verbatim.) 

" My good PaiEia), — ^I have received your Excellency's 
•letters by my messengers. 

" Its contents, terms of peace, coincided with my feel- 
ings, the showing of which I send you one of the detained 
Europeans with my messenger Owoosookoko. 

" That we may have everything properly arranged, I 
beg to ask your Excellency to send one officer to accom- 
pany my messenger who comes with the white flagj 
Owoosookoko, to hear what I have to say to your 
Excellency. 

" I really believe, your Excellency, that the message 
by Mr. Plange could not have come from the then 
Governor, which I regret, that he has caused this mis- 



ji-vGooglc 



ANOTHEE LETTEE PEOM THE KING. 2U 

onderstandiBg and disastroosneBS. Anunankwatea also 
has acted contrary to my orders ; he had no instractions 
to attack any of your Excellency's forts, much less the - 

Igltni'nn fort. 

" To prevent any fiirther misandaiBtaiidiugB, I btg 
that your Excellency will not proceed farther than whore 
your Excellency's forces have reached, for fear of meetings 
some of my captains as to cause any fighting. 

" Regarding Mr. Dawson and the rest of your Ezcel-i 
leno/a people, I beg to say Mr. Dawson being the only 
one here I have to write and interpret your Excellency's 
letters properly to me, I beg that you would allow hia 
staying here for the short time until everything is settled,' 
that he may bring them all to your Excellency. 

" Begging to remain your Excellency's obedient 
servant. 

*' For His Majesty Kofi Kalltare, 
" (S^ed) PoKU Knekd, his X mark, , 

Chief lAnguUt, , 
" Akwessi Apka, his X mark. 
" KoBi BuAKE, his X mark. 
" Yawoo Nankwi, his X mark. ■■ 
" KwABiNA AupuENSA, his X maxk. ■ 
"Kofi Owooso, his X mark. 
''Major- General Sir G. J. Wolealey, C.B., &c., &c., &c.", 

" Jamuary 13,ISH. 
" King, — I have to-day received your Majesty's letter of 
the 9th instant, and Mr. Kuehne has also reached my 
camp. I am glad to find from your letter that your 



jVv Google 



Mi THE ASEANTEB WAB. 

Majesty has resolved upon peace ; bat before I can enter 
into any negotiations whatever with your Majesty, it is 
essential that yoa should convince me of the sinceri^ of 
yonr intentions by at once sending to me the other 
prisoners now hdd by you. As your Majesty wishes to 
have an interpreter left with you while peace is being 
arranged, I have no objection to your retaining Mr. 
Dawson at Coomossie for the present, but I must inune- 
diately have back all the Europeans besides the natives 
from Accra, Aquapim, Ehnina, and the Fantee territory 
now held captive in Aahantee. The fact of your Majesty 
having already detained two messengers from the former 
Governor, prevents me at present from entertaining yoor 
request to have an English officer sent to you. 

" I stated in my letter of the 2nd instant, the general 
terms upon which I am prepared to treat with yom^ 
Majesty, and until these terms are compfied with, I 
cannot halt any of my four armies. The advanced guard 
of this army has already crossed the Prah, and the other 
three will shortly invade your kingdom at three other 
points, as- explained in my last letter. 

*' Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria is as 
anxious aa your Majesty can be for the establishment of 
a lasting peace between England and Ashantee. But in 
order that peace may be lasting, it is essential that your 
Majesty and your people should learn that you can no 
more prevent an army of white men marching into yoor 
territory, whenever your Majesty's hostile proceedings 
make such a step necessary on our part, than yoa can 
stop the sun from rising every morning. 



ji-vGooglc 



MB. EUEHNE. 26S 

. " Mr. Knelms is sendinff with this a letter to liia 
Ijrother Gcnoan Missionariest with silver coin to tlie 
traloe of six otmces of gold dnst to de&ay any necessaiy 
expenses of tlieir jooniey to my camp. 

" I am, King, your true friend, 

" (Signed) G. J. Wolsblet." 

The following describes the circumstances under which 
Oxe letter arrived : — 

" On the 12th arrived at oar outposts, and on the 13th 
came into camp fresh letters from the King of Ashantee, 
and Hr. Kuehne, one of the missionaries. The King 
expresses in general terms a wish for peace, and Mr. 
Kuehne's return is unconditional, as a proof of his good 
mtentiona. Sir Garnet, wo are assured, gathers from the 
tone of the letters that the other captives will very soon 
be sent back. AVe hear, also, that this result has been 
obtained without the smallest concession on Sir Garnet's 
part. The King has been greatly alarmed, does not like 
to come to terms with us, but will gladly do anything 
else that will prevent us from pressing him too hard. 

" It will be remembered that the effect has to a great 
extent been produced by the manaer in which the mes- 
sengers who came before were imposed upon by the sham 
march of the Naval Brigade. It would have very much 
injured the effect had the new messengers discovered that 
the white troops were not yet across the Fra^. Orders 
had therefore been issued tbatthese men should be retained 



jNGoogle 



3M TE£ ABHAinEE.WAB. 

at the oatposta, and the iinswer was sent baok the same 
erening. The object being of course to impreas Qie 
enToys Trith the notion that Sii' Garnet was very near to. 
the advance post where they wer^ received. Otherwi^ 
they would fancy that our advance had been not very 
rapid. The deliberate detention of the first set of - 
envoya, the rapid return of the second answer, made it 
seem to the second set of envoys that the time in reality 
occupied in taking the King's letter to the Prah and Sir 
Garnet's answer back to the outpost was only the time 
for d^beration which according to the previous pre- 
cedent the General would allow himself. 

"We are told that the men had been aent chiefly 
with the object of seeing the Gatling gun, of which 
they had heard so much. The King could not believe 
the report of his first envoyst and seat one of his rela- 
tions near in the succession to examine. A& the Gat- 
ling gnn is not to be sent up to the front, it being by no' 
medns our most effective weapon for bnsh fighting, it was 
not within handy hail of them. 

" The reports which Mr. Knehue brings are, of course, 
of the most intense interest. His personal narrative of 
his long captivity since 1869 may perhaps for the 
moment wait, his observations as to present &cts being 
so important. 

" It is a remarkable circumstance that, long as he has' 
been in the country, he has never succeeded in get- 
ting any Ashantee to talk politics. It is against their 
strictest rules to say one word about such thin^ to 
strangers, and he professes himself entirely unable to 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



IN COOUASSm DUBINO TEB WAB. 367 

answer absolately any of the nutuy qoestiona which It 
would be so veiy interesting at the present moment to 
have clearly Bolved aB to the relative powers of the King, 
the chiefe, the fetish priests, and the Ashantee people.' 

" He is certainly a very intelligent modest man, but I 
incline to think a little better at the art of reporting 
npon separate facts than upon col^ting them. He saya 
that it has sometimes appeared to him as if the King was 
quite absolute- — he could kill whom he liked, fine whom 
he liked, and order what he liked. At other times tba 
chiefe seemed to have immense power, and even at times 
the general feeling of the pure Ashantee people had 
influence ; and be speaks as if this made the problem 
very confbsed. He talks as if not aware that this feature^ 
at all events, is not a new incident in history. His 
further description is just such as one would expect 
with a people in a primitive condition of organisation, in 
which, even more than in old-established countries, the 
successful and those who chime in with the popular 
feeUng of the moment are always strong ; while those 
who are most directly responsible for failure are weak. ' 

" Thus he says tliat before the war he believes the King 
could not possibly have -resisted the wish of the chie& 
for it, and that the mass of the people were eager for it, 
in order to obtain ' atofcedia,' a word signifying, in strict 
translation, ' things for which one does not pay.' But 
now the chiefs have returned from the war, bringing 
with them only seventy captives, whilst he (Mr. Kuehne) 
saw no fewer than 285 coffins of chiefs, great and small, 
carried in procession. They brought back no ' atofcedia.* 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



SGS THE AfiHAKTEE WAB. 

Now, therefore, he says the King has power enough to 
fine for their failure every chief who was engaged against 
us, and he has done so. 

V These very chie& axe now the loudest advocates for 
peace. There was even a time during the ycBX when 
(he chiefe wrote back begging to be recalled, bat when 
the King replied, ' No, they wanted war ; let them have 
war.' 

" The King at present appears to be swayed by the 
■ following influences : — 

" His mother has bom the first detested the war, and 
used her utmost iufloeuce, which is very considerable, over 
her son to prevent its occurrence ; to cause the recall of 
^e army ; and now to induce him to accept our terms. 
On the same side the chie& who have been fitting 
Sgainst us range themselves .without exception. The 
King, moreover, is seriously alarmed himself. 
. " On the other hand, there are, as might be ^expected, a 
certain number of Maratbanomakoi, who have known only 
war with the interior, or the wars with us in 1864 or in 
older times, when they have almost invariably been able 
to boast of success, and who, now being too old to fight, 
lianter the younger men on their degeneracy ; a cert^n 
number of chieis who were not engaged tfiis time agunst 
OS, through various causes ; a set of men who have all 
their Hves hung round the King, flattering him to the top 
of his bent as invincible, ' the white man slayer,' &c. 
Then, too, there are a not inconsiderable number of men 
^ho have been resident in and about Coomassie all their 
lives, and look upon it as the centre of the u 



ji-vGooglc 



PASTIES IS ASKkSTEE. 269 

" All these parties Mr. Kuehne describes in the clearest 
and adds that the great difficulty is for tfa^ 
young King to do any act by which he admits himself 
beaten and humbled. He will do almost anything if h« 
can aroid that. But nothing will be of the least ub^ 
unless he is made to let this he apparent in the very 
plainest manner. The moment we were gone, the olil 
boastful spirit would return, and invasion on the first 
opportunity follow again. 

"Mr. Kuetme's description of the scenes daily occurring 
in Coomassie pass all belief in their horror. I would not 
trouble your readers with them if I did not think it 
necessary they should understand what sort of a Gtovem- 
ment this is. Mr. Kuehne says that no day passes with- 
out slaughter in the streets of innocent slaves and &eed- 
men. He speaks of it as a common incident to be 
sitting in the doorway, or walking in the street, or look- 
ing on at some spectacle/ when the next man la suddenly 
seized by executioners, who run a knife through hia 
mouth from cheek to cheek, so that he may never speak 
t^ain. He refused ever to witness the horrible orgies, but 
it was impossible to avoid seeing the dead bodies which 
are left daily to he in the streets, while the pigs feed 
on them in the public thoronghfEire, drawing them about 
with every conceivable effect of horror and indecency. 
There is one huge chamel house, or block, over which 
for ages the vultures have never ceased to hover and to 
swoop down into. The stench of this is so fearful as to 
make passage within a very considerable distance of it 
almost unendurable. Here the great sacrifices are made, 

n„j„.,,-.CH)0^le 



S70 THE ASHAKTBE TTAB. 

as many as 200 at a time having been recently put to 
death within it in one day. 

"Altogether, independently of these sacrifices daily on a 
small scale, frequent on a grand one, excuses for slaoghier 
are never wanting. There is a certain place where each 
of the past Kii^ of Ashaatee has a room, and where 
daily food is placed for them. Into the actual presence 
of the skeletons of the Kings no one but the King 
himself ever enters. Bat it constantly occurs that the 
wretched mad roof of some one of these chambers 
tumbles in. Then the King himself goes down with the 
necessary labourers, and sees it repaired. All beddes 
the King who have thus been there are slaughtered. 
There are a variety of duties of this kind which, as soon 
as performed under order, entail death on the workers. 
Mr. Knehne speaks of these as of daily incidents, though, 
of coarse, there are momentary lolls, and the degree to 
which they are done at different times differs immensely, 
"^^en spirits have to be exorcised, the plan is to 
take small children, tie them up in cloth, and drag them 
through the streets all day. As a rule, the great object 
is that no victims shall die before the evening. In the 
case of great criminals, the man is &stened through the 
cheeks, as already mentioned, ropes are attached to the 
two ends of the knife, and execntiouers proceed to slash 
his flesh with knives all day, with the understanding that 
if the victim dies before the evening the executioner is 
' put to death. The ordinary victims are simply left to 
endure the agony of the knife throu^ |the cheeks sitting 
in a room till nightfall. Women and men appear to be 

..j-,Goo»^lc 



THE HEWAM) OF ASEANTEE ALLIANCE. 371 

taken for these purposes abont equally, except that the 
vomaQ is rather the more valuable animal to her master, 
being both a better worker and useful in other ways, and 
.therefore when slaves are given for sacrifice the men are 
-more often handed over. 

" The population appears to consist in about equal parts 
of Ashantees and siaves, with a few freedmen, whose con- 
dition does not differ much £rom that of the slaves. It 
is on the slave population that the greater part of the 
slaughter &]Is, and as they are constantly recruited by 
all sorts of devices from surrounding tribes, the diminu- 
tion of numbers is not so rapid as it would otherwise be. 

" At the time when Mr. Kuehne was captured, Ado 
Boofoo was nominally in negotiation with some friendly 
tribe of Crepees as to the number of men they were to 
furnish to the King for war purposes. He called them 
to consiilt with him, and having got them into his power, 
drove all of them, with all their women and children, 
before him to Coomassie, nominally that the 'palaver 
might be settled before the King.' AH, to the estimated 
number of S,000, have since been made slaves, or have 
been slaughtered. 

" But if ihe smallest reliabee is to be placed upon the 
figures of the travellers of the beginning of the century, 
even upon those who have put them at the veiy lowest, 
the decrease of the population has been something 
amazing, even vrith all that such a system implies. It 
is positively believed by the captives that the Ashantee 
army could not muster at the beginning of the war 
bmore than 40,000 men, and that the whole anqy abso- 



372 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

lutely was poured into the Protectorate. It must be 
remembered that Bovdich, giving full details, put this 
force in 1817 at more than 200,000 men. This may 
then have been something of an exaggeration, but Mr. 
Knehne himself is more inclined to think that the con- 
stant slaughtering has actually depopulated the comitry. 
For though the slaves suffer most from the mere sacrifices, 
and are partially replaced, there is a most minute systeiu 
of ordinances decreed by the King, which make almost 
any man in Coomassie liable to be treated as a criminal 
at almost any moment. Criminals so brought before the 
King, even if for the moment pardoned, the offence 
being sl^ht, are put aside or else merely noted for exe- 
cution when the King next wishes for victims for thi& 
sacrifices who are of Ashantee blood. Thus the slai^hter 
in the course of the year of pnre-blood Ashantees alone 
is considerable ; and, taken together with the iucessant 
wars, would account for almost any diminution of popu- 
lation. For the last year nearly all the pure Ashantee- 
males have been absent. ' ' . 

" Mr. Kuehne saw the army on its return inarch past 
the King in the great square, with all the wild gesticula- 
tion and the noise recorded by Bowdich sixty years Ago. 
They passed'one behind another at considerableintervals, 
each chief dancing before the King as he passed, so that 
very small numbers would occiqiy a very long time. It 
in fact took the whole day in passing. Immediately 
afterwards the whole force was allowed to disperse. 
There bad scarcely been time for most of thorn to reatdt 
their homes when the King heard of onr being upon the 

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CAPTAIN HTTTSHE'S ILLNESS. 27» 

Prah, and endeavoured to summon his people together 
again. It was no easy task, and he has not as yet "suc- 
ceeded to any extent. The people are thoroughly sick 
of the contest for the time, and as the chiefs wish for 
peace, too, the passive resistance is enormous. Mr. 
Kuehue does not helieve that there are more than 200 
men between us and Quisah. 

" Gakp, PaAHSCE, January 19. 
"It must be admitted that Sir Gomel's Head-quarter 
StafT has not been lucky. A fourth is now added to the 
Hst of those who have necessarily to go home from it. 
The best we can any of us hope is, that he may reach 
home safely. Captain Huyshe, of the Rifle Brigade, 
under whose superintendence the map made by the 
officers of the expedition has been compiled, and who 
was the author joinfly with Captain Brackenbury of the 
little work on Ashantee, copies of which have just 
reached us, has now been for some days suffering from a 
combined attack of dysentery and fever. There is no 
hope whatever of hia being able to do more work on the 
expedition. To say that that is the worst, we fear, would 
be to speak too hopefijily. He will be left here on Sir 
Garnet's advance to the front. There is no doubt thfit 
he contracted the terrible miasmatic poison during his 
excursions to out-of-the-way places in carrying on the 
work of mapping out the country. He was left behind, 
far from well, when the Head-quarters moved here from 
Cape Coast. He seemed to have picked up again after 
he joined this camp ^ but a long excursion into a bad, 

T 

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27* THE ASHAKTEE WAE. 

swampy region laid him up again, and he is now in the 
lowest possible state. 

" One is not disposed at such a moment to discuss 
theories, but speaking of Captain Huyshe's illness natu- 
rally suggests his little book. In case any men should- 
still be coming out to this country from any cause what- 
ever, I think it is right to note that experience on this 
expedition has certainly not bpme out the assertion 
made in Captain Huyshe's sketch of precautions to be 
taken on the Gold Coast, that ' cold tea will be uni- 
versally allowed to be the best beverage for working 
upon.' Cold tea may be an excellent beverage for 
Canada — where, as it has been pithily said, you may live 
upon the air itself and upon the climate. It is not on 
adequate support in a country where man must live in 
despite of the climate. 

"No universal rule. can be given. "What is one man's, 
meat is another man's poison here, if anywhere. Dog- 
matism is simply out of place. Yet there never wa& 
a case in which everybody was so thoroughly deter- 
mined to dictate to his neighbour exactly what he' ought 
or ought not to do, in utter ignorance of his previous 
life, temperament, and constitution. 

"Excessive drink has, no doubt, lost many a life on 
this coast. Excessive abstinence or priggishness, in 
some form or other, has, I suspect, cost a great many 
more. 

" As far as I have been able to judge, constitutions apart 
and special weaknesses apart, those have hitherto come 
o$ best here who have had plentj* of exercise irithont 



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CONDITIONS OF HEALTH. 2T» 

excessive exposure, plenty to occupy their minds without 
excessive brain-work, and plenty of good food and good 
liquor, too, without over-indulging in either one or the 
other. Those who have been most <5areful in taking 
precautions whenever danger has seemed to threaten, 
either from personal feelings or exceptional circumstances 
of risk ; who have instantly taken the best advice they 
could get, and have yet known their own constitutions 
well enough not to trust entirely to general rules — those 
who have been able to Combine this with no fear of any 
chance symptoms that may have shown themselves, and 
who have followed, generally speaking, the course of 
living recommended by the best doctors, which in essen- 
tials never differs very much — these men seem to me, as 
far as I have been able to observe, to have lived in the 
most favourable manner. 

"The number of those who have escaped altogether is • 
now very small indeed : of those who came out in the . 
' Ambriz ' they may be easily counted on the fingers. 
I by no means, therefore, mean that any one has ful- 
filled all the above conditions; but, as far as I have 
seen, men have been, generally speaking, well or ill in 
proportion as they have been able to fulfil them or not. 

" There can, I think, be now no question in anyone's 
mind who hf» seen the whole course of experience here, 
that quinine has been a most important and powerful 
'prophylactic,' as it is called — has, that is to say, helped 
to ward off fever, when used in small doses taken regu- 
larly, and that pyretic saline has been a very admirable 
corrective of the defects of quinine in this respect. 

T i 



ST6 TEE ASHANTEE WAB. 

" No one oi^ht to come to the Gold Coast who is liable 
to panic about himself : who is so mad as to fancy he can 
live without care where other men die ; or who has the 
least tendency to dypsomaaia, or to any form of syplulitic 
disorder. Nothing has as yet occnrred to show that 
ipen with good constitutions, who are not necessarily 
excessively exposed, and who will take every precaution 
which science suggests, need fear to come, at all events 
during the healthy months. I make this statement after 
much discussion with several of the medical men who 
liave been throogh the expedition, and I think it repre- 
sents shnoat the unanimoos opinion of those I have 
spoken to. 

" I incline to add further on my own responsibility 
the fallowing remarks. An Englishman's idea of ' good, 
sound food,' as he calls it, is apt to be unlimited 
quantities of solid meat. I have said already, that 
plenty of wholesome food is essential here ; and, in fair 
proportion in that food, meat is no doubt necessary. 
But I certainly do think that, as iar as my observa- 
tion has gone, men are the better here for a diet 
as mixed as possible, in which the fruits of the conntry 
— oranges, bananas, limes, &c. — play a reasonaUe part, 
and in which full advantage is taken of the facilities 
which now exist for importing English tinned vegetables. 
I fancy even that men are not the better for meat three 
imes a day. Sut that I hope our expedition is now 
to nearly drawing to its end that no more men will be 
coming out, I should be disposed to get yoo to ask 
the Lancet for its opinion on this subject, for it is 



A aUIET SITNDAT IN CAMP. 2TT 

obviooaly one not entirely dependent on exceptional 
local conditions. < 

" We had yesterday, wliat certainly has not been a 
characteristic of the Sondaya of the e^iedition so far, 
a very quiet day. I don't know how it has happened, 
bat it certainly has been the case, that hitherto oar 
Sundays have been usually days of great excitement, if 
not of hard work. Again and again either some mail has 
come in or gone out on Sunday, or some piece of impor- 
tant news has arrived on that day. Yesterday, on Ute 
contraiy, all the circumstances seemed to surest calm. 

" The scene on the further bank of the river has been 
ever since our arrival a very busy one — ^trees being felled, 
earth thrown up for the field-work that now protects our 
bridge; carriers streaming across with heavy loads on 
head ; the sailors with their easy swinging air and their 
palpable delight alike in work and in destruction; the 
crowds of natives similarly employed, not doing a tenth 
of the work of the tars, bat with their naked figures and 
dark, glistening skins adding life and variety to the 
whole. 

" The sounds have well matched the sights — the con- 
stant sharp thud of the axe, the cracking of the 
branches, the great crash of some hnge tree whose trunk 
first shrieks and rasps as it strains to its fall ; then the 
sudden roar of the brush and sweep of its vast head 
through the air, the crack-crash crash-crack of the 
branches as they force their way through the hanging 
creepers or the close set foliage of neighbouring giants 
of the forest, and at last settle down with slowly sab- 

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278 THE ASHASTBB WAE. 

siding clatter lunoDg the etiff stems of the dense under- 
wood — tb^e, and with them the crackle of burning 
branches, and at time^ the loud roar of the upward 
rushing flames, as they catch some creepers more resinous 
than usual, and burst on, often for a hundred feet or more, 
as it seems' almost pure fire in the air, so slight is the 
hf^nging foliage on which thej feed. 

" But on Sunday last all was in contrast. The sounds 
were hushed. The carriers, as it chanced, needed a 
day of rest, and were not to be seen trooping over 
the bridge. The earthwork was finished, and no work- 
men were laboorii^ within it. Sufficient space had 
been cleared on the further bank to make ua safe 
from any efforts of the Ashantees, and to make it im- 
possible for them to live on the opposite bank with^ 
out exposui'e to the full fatal effect of our deadly weapons 
should they- ever venture there. More than that, even 
the warlike suggestions of the cleared bank and the 
completed earthwork had had their excitement taken out 
of them, for we knew that our outposts were pushed well 
out beyond the dreaded rampart of the Adansi hills, 
nearly forty miles to our front. The river is almost to a 
fault quiet and placid in its flow, scarcely in the whole 
length of nearly a mile that runs along the camp, rippling 
over half a dozen atones, low as it now is in its bed. Not 
a breath of ur was stirring. The day was one of those 
of which we now have very many — not overpowering, 
but of jnst that sultry calm and steady heat which gives 
a sense of lethargy and enjoyment in the dolce far niente. 

"Ifwe have disturbed the unbroken calm of parts of the 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



GREEN BVBETWHEBE. 27j 

forest that gave no sign of the previous steps of man, we 
bare also imported here many signs of placid English 
life. No part of the scene that day brought out the (luiet, 
peacefid look of everything more effectively than the 
cattle, -which stood lazily browsing on the opposite bank 
in such shade as they could get, and on such poor grass 
as they could find, or bathed themselves with un- 
mistakeable delight in the stream below us, stretching out 
their necks to get the fall enjoyment of the cool relief. 

" The foreground, looking from the camp-side of the 
river's bank towards the other, has perhaps been a Uttle 
marred in beauty by the scorching it has undei^one. 
The creepers looked browned, and the trees, with their 
blackened baiks, have too much the aspect of coining 
death upon them to compare with the fresh beauty of 
the forest beyond. But it is impossible to exaggerate 
the improvement in the effect of the general landscape 
which the clearings on all sides have made. 

"Before the foreground had been cleared, the view 
seemed throtUed by the intense luxuriance of the myriad 
crowding plants that struggled together for every inch 
of soil and every breath of air. One could see nothing 
but this block and jam of nature, if one may venture 
on such terms. Now, everywhere the near mass of 
green being cleared, and space and distance being gained, 
one looks from one variety of shape and tint to another, 
the ricliness and constant change of which it is not 
possible to picture in words. For almost all is green. 
Here and there a rich brown crown of orchids, or the 
red berries of the akee, or the bright tints of the lUac, 



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SSO THE ASEjUi'TEE WAR. 

change the prevaihng hue. But how can one giTe adequate 
expression to the change and contrast between the hri^t 
and brilliant light green of the sweeping terraces in which 
the tamarind spreads its leaves^ the deep dark green 
of the overshading canopy of the bamboo, the waving; 
leaves of the endless varieties of palm, the stately ma- 
hogany, the giant cotton tree in both its different forms 
of sUk and common cotton, Uie one in trunk and growth 
almost like a silver plane, and with hght, almost faint, 
green leaves, the other rearing its stately dark head often. 
for 150 feet or more sheer without branches, and then 
spreading its shade aloft far and wide, high above all the 
other trees of the forest ? Green, green, all green — yes, 
and often enough one has found it wearisomely green, 
too — andj yet with such wonderful variety for all that,, 
that words cannot convey it. 

"However, green is the tint to make a landscape 
perfect in calmness and placidity. Colour, unless it be 
towards evening that of the setting sun, tends to give 
one something active and positive in the enjoyment 
of beauty. The lazy eye is not wearied by green ; it is 
the unsatisfied wi^ to enjoy that makes green weari- 
some. On that calm Sunday the mere greenness of the 
view added to the general lazy look that seemed to pos~ 
sess everj-tbing. 

*" In the evening the contrast between this one day and 
the past many was, perhaps, even more striking. The 
sights, if not the sounds, of evemng have been fully as 
lively as those of the day. It has been then that most of 
the ti'ees have been set on fire simultaneously before the 



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CAPTAIif HUTSHB^ DEATH. Ml 

men have left, and the reflection of Uie flashing light into 
the cahn -water below has been in strange contrast to the 
qoiet moonlight streaming down almost alongside of it. 
Moreover, the glorious camp-fire that has always blazed 
in the lines of the Naval Brigade has hghted up the huge 
cotton trees behind in a strange, weird fashion, and from 
beneath them the load jet most melodious voices of the 
tars seated round the fire have sent forth song after song^ 
till night has long closed in. 

" This evening nothing rivalled the quiet soft light 
which the moon was pouring down upon the smooth 
river lazily flowing thirty feet below us. The tree» 
showed out partially high above either bank, whei-e the 
li^t streamed down on them, but for the most part seemed 
merely to form a dark deep bed, whose course was 
marked by the occasional gleam of some bright star on 
the water, near 200 feet below the shadowy lines of the 
leafy forest-tops that in the still night barely nodded 
to one another across the river. The sailors' songs were 
hushed, and, partly by accident, there was over the whole 
evening, as there had been over the whole day, a sti'ange 
stillness." 



"Sealing, Jan. 1B(A. 
" The above had not been flnishedwhen the news stole 
round the camp that Captain Huyshe had passed away. 
It came suddenly upon us, for he had been barely a week 
ill in any perceptible degree. But the end was not 
sadden. Fever had succeeded dysentery, the violent 



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^62 THE ASHAHTBE WAR. 

excitement of the fever had been eacceeded by exhaus- 
tion, and he had no strength to rally." 

"EesiAiiAN, Jan. 20(ft. 

"This morning the body was quietly buried with 
military honours. His own regiment, the Bifle Brigade, 
■was in camp to do him the last services. The grave lies 
in as beautiful a spot as could have been found for it any- 
where. As head-stone, a really grand cotton tree, at the 
foot, a most lovely reach of the river, rich with every form 
of tropical foliage and tropical beauty A large space has 
l)een cleared round it, and will be railed in. The General's 
movements coiild not be delayed, and be had started an 
hour or two before the funeral took place. I waited to see 
the end, then followed the Head-quarters. 

" The Naval Brigade moves with these, and makes a 
'Change, such as your readers may fancy, in the charaeter 
of the march since we moved down upon the Prah, and I 
found myself often almost alone with the Head-quarters. 
, 1 described the road to Essiaman in my former letter, and 
need only now mention further that the character of the 
forest, generally speaking, resembles that part of the wood- 
land on the other side of the Prah where I noticed the 
fllose, intertwining, delicate tracery of creepers, varied with 
enormous trees. The road has been all put into order 
by the Ei^ineei-s, and is now excellent, except in the first 
ihree miles." 



jNGoogle 



CHATTER Xn. 

'rUK ADVASCE INTO ASHANTEE — ESSIAUAH — BED-HAKZNO' 
— THE FOREST CHANGES CHARACTER — A TEOriCAI. 

STREAM — ACBOWFUltU " MIXED PICKLES, ESQ." — A 

NIGHT SCARE — THE CROOMEN — NATIVE OAHBLEBS — 

THE WEST INDIAN ENCAMPMENT TREE-ROOT OR 

FLOWER-BANK — THE WHITE PRISONERS ARE RESTORED 
— THE MYSTERIOUS TEI.EaRAM OF THE ELECTION 

TIME WHY DID WE HALT AGAIN? MR. BONNAT 

THE FALI, OF THE FETISH-TREE— OMENS AND PORTENTS. 

The following letters describe the moTement from the 
Prah to the foot of the Adanai hills : — 

"Caup MoiNBKt, POOi OF Adansi Hills, Jan. 1%rd. 
" Essiaman is now ahuost over-fortified. In addition 
to the slight outer earthwork, which I mentioned when I 
visited the place just after our scouts had entered it, 
there is now a formidable stockade of very solid timber, 
with loopholes and proper arrangements for firing through 
them, fit for a garrison of about a company to defend, bat 
protecting storehouses and huts of considerable extent. 
The stockade is, in fiict, thrown round the old native 



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884 THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

village, and capital shelter the native huts give. This is 
not the proper Ashantee country, but part of old Assin. 
Now it ia one of the specialities of building peculiar to the 
Aasins that they always construct the floors of their hats 
of, an apparently very solid kind of burnt earth or brick. 
This raises the inner floor of the hut nearly a foot ofiF 
the ground, and being itself both dry and easily cleaned, 
it is a wonderful security against the miasma which, 
according to all evidence, clings very closely to the 
soil.* 

" There was not, however, sufBcient accommodation for 
everybody within the inner intrenchment, and on the 20th 
the Naval Brigade slept under the shelter tents which we 
carry with us. Your readers will understand that this is 
the flrst time that any troops, except the native regiments, 
have slept under tents, and not under huts, everything up 
to the Prah having, as I have explained, been made 
beforehand. Very perfect protection overhead, however, 
is, as I think the Lancet will support me in saying, not 
the most essential thing in this climate. It ia necessary 
to have just enough outer shelter to keep off the night 
dews and any chance shower during this dry season, but 
the essential thing is that everybody should be kept off 
the ground. This is, now that it depends on the men's 
own exertions, a rigidly enforced rule of the camp. 
Every man makes his own wattle bed well oflE the ground, 
and as we &om the Frah to Coomassie ai-e never out of 
tlie forest, there is never the least difficulty about getting 

.0 AaliaQtee proper tbat ' 



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FOBEST BED-MAKING. 285 

sticks for the purpose. Of course, aa we are now moving ■ 
up half battalion by half battalion as far as the Adansi 
Hills, the Naval Brigade preceding, the major portion of 
this work of bed-manufacture falls on our handy Bfulors, 
who whip together their beds with wonderful rapidity, 
leaving to the less apt soldiers only the task of a few 
repairs and additions. 

"Naval discipline is always a little different from 
military, and bed-making is simply enforced among the 
'sailors b; turning any man out at nine o'clock at night 
to make his bed then if he has not made it before. 
It is an error that he is not likely to repeat, for by 
nine it is pitchy dark, and the process of hunting for 
sticks and tying them together under all the difficulties of 
night in a forest, stumbling at every step over half broken 
stumps just when one begins to be very sleepy after being 
ap soon after four o'clock, is not a pleasant one. Onr 
more closely watched soldiers would have had to make 
iheir beds under the eye of a corporal or sei^eant. 

" Captain Frank Russell, who is here as a special service 
.•officer, having unfortunately been unable to do duty ever 
since his arrival in consequence of having hurt his foot, 
has been left to prepare Essiaman for the other troops, 
80 that huts may be ready for them, or for nearly all of 
them, as they arrive. 

" After leaving Essiaman the country very soon changes 
its character in a curious manner. I said that the por- 
tion of the forest on the Prah side of Essiaman resembled 
in general appearance that part of the road on the Cape 
'Coast side of the Prah, where the excessive hot-house 

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SM THE ASEANTEE WAS., 

forcing seemed by the struggle for every patch of earth 
which it induced to have starved almost each particular 
tree and creeper, so that the general appearance was that 
of the most delicate and tangled tracery, almost im- 
penetrable from the extent to which everything was in- 
terlaced one with another; but admitting of a pretty 
distinct view, and giving very little shelter fi-om buUets. 
But almost directly beyond Essiaman this characteristic, 
which is indeed not permanent throughout the previous 
part from the Prah, gives place to forest land in which the 
undergrowth becomes so insignificant, as scarcely to 
equal that of an ordinary English coppice wood. There 
is scarcely anything to impede passage at all beneath the 
lofty trees, whioh for the most part are not of very great 
girth, thongh here and there a monster of enormoas 
growth shows itself. 

" For a long time I was completely puzzled how to 
account for this. The soil was no doubt somewhat 
drier, but the accomulations of vegetable debris con- 
cealed its character, and it mi^t be that the apparent 
dryness was merely due to the weather. Just as for 
a short distance the characteristic ceased ihe cause 
was explained. 

" One heard miexpectedly as one moved forward the 
purling and rippling sound of water making its way 
over broken and irregular rocks, and in a short time 
■we reached the Fumasn river, the first stream really- 
pretty in itself, in the fall and break and plash of its. 
waters I mean, which I have seen in this conntiy. The 
bridge over it is about twenty yards wide, and as one. 

n,,jN..,j-, Google 



A fiOGEf BTBBAM. 2Sr 

stands on it and looks either way along the stream, the 
little Bcene is as perfect of its kind as one could wish. 
The reach looking npwarda i8 perhaps 100 yards long. 
It does not form a regular waterfall, but is broken 
throughout by big black boulders, orer which the clear 
water flashes under the tropical sun, and in the stiller 
pools between reflects the masses of vegetation that, 
fiinge its banks. At the end of this reach the stream is 
lost to sight beneath huge trees that bend together over 
the bank, while from out of the darkness beneath the 
water glitters upon a broken terrace of rock, from which 
it descends upon the boulders and passes on between or 
over them to the bridge. Rising sheer behind the angle 
of the stream is a hill of some considerable height^ 
covered from head to foot by tier upon tier of every 
variety of tropical plant and tree ; while at the moment 
I was lookii^ at the wonderful spreading mass of rich 
foliage, all was lit up by the intense light and blaze of 
the almost vertical sun. 

" The rocks explained the poverty of the undergrowth 
of the forest. It is clear that the tremendous rains, 
have almost washed bare the surface of the rock, and 
carried down to the banks of the streams themselves 
all that there was for the low-growing shrubs to live 
upon, so that even the damp hot-house temperature- 
cannot force the feebler plants into any size, though 
the larger forest trees, striking their roots deep down 
through chinks and crannies into which the earth has. 
been washed, find food and life enough." 



jnGoo^Ic 



SBS THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

" Oaup Moihbbt, Ja/nuary TSrd. 
" I only intend this to be a direct continuation of my 
last letter, but I have been obliged to despatch what I had 
already -written from this same place, and to-day I write 
in the utmost uncertainty as to whether this will catch 
the same ship at Cape Coast, or will follow Jong after- 
wards, or whether, as I am neai-ly certain must in some 
cases have happened with my letters, the tail will arriTe 
before the bead. 

"I was describing our journey from Essiaman to 
Acrowfumu, and had just spoken of the Fumasu river. 
The next stream, the Parakoome, which is crossed and 
recrossed by the path again and again between this point 
and the Adansi hills, has a very different character at the 
different points at which it is passed. Where one first 
meets it, soon after leaving the Fumasu, it is a most 
characteristic tropical stream. It seems to have struck 
through a layer of some soil softer than is general in 
the part of the country we were now marching through. 
The forest was proportionately dense along its course, and 
from the bridge one could scarcely see a yard of the 
thick muddy water, so closely did the foliage overarch 
and close down upon it, forming throughout a sort -of 
tunnel of leaf and branch, under which the stream passed 
darkly on, even its direction only barely distinguishable 
by the slight depression in the wood, where the boughs 
bent in over it on either hand. 

" The distance after the stream has been passed to the 
end of the day's stage was not very gi-eat, and, except 



IIIXED PICKLES, ESa 2S9 

that for a short time again there was more undergrowth; 
there was not much to notice. 

" Acrowfumu is a fair-sized clearing — like most of the 
others — on a moderate-sized hill, with an excellent stream 
of water flowing at the foot. The native hats, not more 
than a dozen in number, are almost exactly of the same 
. kind as those at Essiaman. The entrenchment here has 
not been thrown roimd them, and has not been made of 
the solid stockade work of that of Essiaman. A small 
earth-momid has been thrown np, and on the top of it a 
simple wattle fence haa been erected. This is amply 
sufficient to give protection against any possible Ashantee 
attack attempted over the open. It is easy for the men 
behind to fire through the interstices of the wattle. 
Within this shelter a lai^e shed, thatched with palm 
leaves, has been erected, giving ample space for the 
stowage of stores. On th©* 21st, however, most of the 
stores had been pushed up to the front towards Quisah. 
The General and his staflf therefore occupied the empty 
store shed, whUe part of the Naval Brigade took up their 
quarters in an excellent hospital of palm-thatch filled 
with wattle beds, covered with inch-thick native matting 
— to my mind the most comfortable, because one of the 
coolest, beds one can sleep on in this -climate. The re- 
mainder of the stulors pitched their tents, and built 
their beds as usuaI, while the Croo-boys and the other 
carriers slept on the hill-side round. 

" Commodore Hewett had this evening joined the 
General amidst the cheers of the sailors, who had pre- 
pared a surprise for him in the shape of a smnll black 



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290 THE ASHANTEE WAS,. 

page boy. This youth, about two feet high, had been 
rigged out in full sailor costnmei with a cap, in front of 
which H.M.S. Active stood out in letters almost big 
enough to cover the whole little head. The boy bad 
been strictly drilled to stand up to the full of his dimi- 
nutive height at " attention " to salute, and on being 
asked his name, to reply with the utmost gravity and 
solemnity, ' Mixed Pickles, Esq." 

"We had all gone to bed at the early hour which 
suits both our early morning starts and the economy in 
candles which it is necessary for the sake of saving 
transport to practise. In the middle of the night we 
were all roused by a furious noise that sounded like a 
mid stampede of cattle, and as we supposed implied 
only that either cattle were being driven through to the 
front, or, at worst, that a few had broken loose, and 
would be canght in the morning. But the chatter and 
the jabber of natives soon began to make itself heard 
above the noise of rushing feet, and as soon as some of 
us began to peer outside a strange scene presented itself. 

"It appears that the Croomeu had heard some whistle 
in the woods, or had imagined it. They had instantly 
come to the conclusion that the Ashantees were upon 
them, and rushed madly inwards, utterly unable to see 
where they were goii^ ; stumbling, shrieking, hustling, 
and, wherever they could get space, rushing none of them 
knew where. A mad scene, which, in the darkness and 
among the weird shape of the forest trees, pictured itself 
to the imagination rather than the eye, which saw little 
but the nearest moving bodies, helplessly governed 1^ 

n„jN.«j-vG00glc 



A WILD SCARE. 291 

their fears, and passmg in and oat amid the dsrk shades. 
Fortunately the Croomen did not know where to go for 
safety better than by drawing nearer to their white pro- 
tectors ; and the sailors remained admirably quiet ; for- 
' tunately, too, the Croomen had not even native guns in 
their possession, so that not a shot was fired. Otherwise 
the scene might have become a very unpleasant one. 
As it was, a few officers, the General himself among them, 
were able before long to restore order. 

" These Croomen are fimny fellows. They work 
splendidly; they gamble recklessly; they run without 
the smallest provocation. 

" The other day, in marching up from Cape Coast, 
some cattle appeared upon the road in front of them ; . 
instantly the cry of ' Ashantee ' was raised. Down went 
all the loads, and nothing could stop the panic-stric&en 
mob till they reached the station from which the^ had 
started in the morning, the Ashantees being the while a 
full hundred miles and more away irom them. 

" At Prahsue it was no uncommon sight to see a Croo- 
man appear one day decked in the most goigeous array 
with which money could provide him ; the following 
day most of the finery would have disappeared ; and the ' 
third day a naked Crooman, with a native cloth for sole 
covering, would present himself. An inspection of the 
garments of the man's friends would disclose the fact 
that his gorgeous array had passed off, the head-gear to 
one, the pantaloons to another, and so on. A few days 
afterwards our friend would, by the same process of 
nightly gambling on the high pay he received from the 

U 2 , 

ogle 



292 THE A8HAMTEE WAE. 

Control, be reinvested with a quite novel kit, that lately 
adorned the backs of many of his comrades. Our pay 
has not been of quite unmixed advantage to the people 
ofthis coast. 

" The Croomen, nevertheless, keep up an admirably 
perfect discipline among themselves. Unlike the pure 
Gold Coasters, and especially unlike the Fantees, they 
have a gre^t idea of the dignity and duty of work. It 
is hardly ever necessary for a -white man to have one 
of them punished. They work under head men, who 
come down mercilessly on any neglect of duty. The 
stampede &om the cattle which I have mentioned was 
thus instantly taken up by their own leaders, and the 
men punished without any action on the part of the naval 
authorities. The alarm at Acrowfamu is believed to 
have been due to the fact that the Croomen were as usual 
gamUing far into the night, and getting into the state of 
strained excitement natural to high play were unable to 
beai: the ordinary sounds of night in a forest. 

"From Acrowfumu to Moinsi the character of the 
forest is much like the latter portion I have described; 
little underwood, a soil in this dry weather almost 
parched, occasional huge trees, more often great length 
but little girth of trunk. About half way, or six milea 
from Acrowfumu, we came upon the camp of the 2nd West 
Indians, Colonel Webber being in command. 

"It is close to where the Parakoome again crosses the 
road short of Ahquansraimu. It is a capital camp, on the 
slope of a long sweeping hill, so that all moisture drainB 
well off it, but little has as yet been done beyond clearing 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



A LOVELY FLOWER-BANK. 233 

it. The place will not be a permaDent encampment, the 
force being only kept here as a gecnrity on this side 
of the Adansi Hills until our hold of the road along 
the whole line and onr reconnaisBances in front are more 
perfect. 

"Almost immediately after passing it, one again crosses 
the Parakoome, and for a moment enters upon a scene 
all the more striking because of the barrenness of the soil 
for some distance beforehand. Whether the river has 
stmck through and helped to enrich an already more 
bountifully covered 'part of the ground, or whether some 
old village built here to take advantage of the stream has 
caused human and vegetable d^brU to be accumulated, 
and supplied the one thing that was. lacking, I hardly ' 
know. Certain it is that just as one approaches the 
stream, and as one passes it, one comes on either hand 
upon rich fern and flower-covered banks, the more graceful 
because the road here winds with great rapidity, giving 
at each turn a change and variety to the scene. 

"The little stream itself goes clean and clear, over some 
shingly pebbles, and bends in and out above and below 
the road among foliage rich enough to deck, not crowded 
«nongh to conceal, it. 

"Immediately after crossing, one of the richest banks 
of flowers which I have here seen presented itself ; 
the chief featm'e being a gay plant, whose name I do 
not know, very like a cowslip in the actual flower, but 
with a blight white leaf standing out as if part of the 
■flower itself behind each flower-head, and the plant 
growing in luxuriant masses on stems six or seven feet 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



39( TEE A8HANTEE WAB. 

high ; the whole intertwined with ferns and creepers 
imaamerable. 

The bank had a curions look — ^roota stood out from 
it as from the base of a fallen tree, and by the irregu- 
liiiity and ruggedness they gave to it added much 
to its picturesqueness and beauty. Yet the whole ap- 
pearance of a bank, and not of a huge root, was there* 
from the completeness with which Nature had dressed 
every nook and cranny. I was rather puzzled, and went 
round off the road to the back of the bank, to find plainly 
enough stretching along behind it for, perhaps, sixty 
yards, the quite rotten carcase of an old foreat-king — 
now no longer, except by its mere shape, distingnishahl« 
from a mound of rich earth, and covered all over with 
rich, hi^-growing moss and ferns and plants of all 
lands." 

We now come to a curious incident of the war. Oddly 
enough the Ashantee monarch at this moment repeated 
the poHcj which had been pnrsned by King Theodore in 
Abyssinia. He yielded without conditions one of the 
most important holds he had hitherto had upon us, and 
then immediately prepared to attack us. 

Scarcely had Sir Garnet arrived at Moinsi, at the foot 
of the Adansi Hills, when all the white prisoners were 
sent back, together with the following letter from the 
King:— 

EulUsaiE, Jamiary 21, 1S74. 

" My Good Friend, — ^I send my messengers, Court 
Crier Buede and Pessa Denyaw, to bring the remaiuing 
detained Europeans, having made np my mind to pay 

n,gN..(JNGO0gle 



EINO COFI IS OBIETED. IM 

£ddoo Bofio the sum, lOOOZ., he Hsked, rather than 
aUowing this small amount to make up a quarrel 
between us. 

" I beg at the same time to acquaint your Excellency 
my grief respecting the rapid advancement your Excel- 
lency's forces are making in my territory since I have 
written your Excellency of my having coincided with the 
terms you offered in your letter, X thought, as a friend 
who wishes not any disorder id the country, would have 
stopped their progress and patiently allowed matters to 
be amicably settled between us. I beg also to say that^ 
^ce I, have no quarrel of any kind with your Excel' 
lency, you would stop the progress of the forces, and let 
us go on with peaceful negotiation. I will make Am- 
mankwatia, who has acted contrary to my instructions, 
pay the amount your Excellency ask if yon only keep 
patience and stop the advancement of the forces. He- 
specting the Fantees, &c., your Excellency demand, I 
beg to say that, after we have amicably settled the 
matter between us, I will hand them to Mr. Dawson to 
bring. to your Excellency. Trusting your Excellency 
will exercise patience and let us go on with peaceful 
negotiation, with my best respect. 
"We are, &c., 

" (For His Majesty Kofi Kalkaree) 

" (S^ped) ' Yan Nankwi, his X mark, 
" KuEKU PoKU, bis X mark, 
" Kofi Buake, bis X mark, Lingmstg, 
" His Excellency Major-General 

" Sir G. Wolseley, C.B., K.C.M.G., &c." 

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29< Tim ASHAXTEE WAK. 

It nill be seen that the king nndcrtakea uncondition- 
ally to accept all the conditions plroposed to him, and 
yieldB tiie very point as to which ereiyone was natorall; 
most neiToiis, because it was the one as to which it was 
most impossible for as to take any steps to avert a 
cfttastroplie. Onr'entry into Coomassie would hare been 
a gloomy one had it been prefitced by a slao^ter of tiie 
white prisoners who had so long been nnjnstiy detained 
in Cofonassie. "With these men in our camp every one 
fdt tiiat all the tnunp cards were in our hands, whatever 
the King might do. If be fought then, we beat him, and 
entered Coomassie victorious. If he gave way, it would 
be becanse our previoos successes had had even more 
effects than we could have anticipated. 

It happened that just at this moment we were at 
such a date from the time when Parliament had been 
'' ordered to meet for dispatch of business," that by exer- 
cising the utmost possible rapidity, a notice of our posi- 
tion conid just reach home in time for its announcement 
to be made in the Queen's speech. "Whether the King 
were sincere in his protestations or not, it was certain, 
therefore, that the Government and the comitry would 
wish to have news of what had occurred sent to them 
with aU despatch. It was arranged, therefore, between 
the Commodore and Sir Garnet that a t«legraphic mes- 
sage stating the bare facts should be sent to Cape Coast, 
that thence the swiftest steamer on the station should be 
9ent to Gibraltar to send on the news to England. 

It was this telegram which was received in England 
on February 5th, in the midst of the election contest 



ji-vGooglc 



THE MTSTEEIOUS TELEGRAM OF FEB. STH. 297 

which, beiDg sent to the papers appeared so mysterious 
in its isohition, that it was more than half suspected — 
sa^ is the heat even now-a-days during such times — of 
being an electioneering dodge. 

The circumstances are curiously dramatic. This 
telegram was sent to adorn a Queen's speech, which was 
never deHvered, for the opening of a Parliament, which 
never assembled, to announce a promise of peace, that 
was not fuIfiUed. - 

Under the circumstances it is worth giving as it 



" Sir G. Wolseley to the Earl of Kimberley. — {Received 
February 5.) 

iTdtgrapMc.) ADAHSI HiLLS, January 2i, 1B71. 

" King win pay indemnity I have demanded, amount- 
ing to 200,0002. He accepts the terms offered. 

'' The white prisoners are all now with me. 

" Shall halt a few days at Fommaoah, which is about 
thirty miles from Coomassee. Everything goes on welL" 

Whether or not, however, the General was himself 
deceived by the King's promises, his reply to the King's 
letter will testify. 

" Krao, — Your Majesty and all your Chiefs know weU, 
from past e^erience, that the promises of an English 
Governor are never broken. Whatever he says he will 
do, he does. I have in all my letters to your Majesty 
aasored you that the Queen of England desires above all 



■V Google 



SM THE ASHAinXE WAB. 

tbings to have peace firmly eetablished between her 
Bubjects and yours ; and I liave told yon that I wish 
only for yonr good. I am therefore surprised and 
grieved to find that you iiave not sent back all the 
prisoners that I demanded. 

" I intend to go to Goomassie. It is for your Majesty 
to decide whether I go there as your friend or as your 
enemy. 

" If I go there as your enemy, I shall march at the 
head of an irresistible English army, and I [must again, 
remind you of the consequences that this may have 
upon your Majesty's dynasty and upon the Ashantea 
Idngdom, 

*' If your Majesty sincerely wishes me to go to Goo- 
massie as your friend, you must give me the following 
guarantees of your good faith:— 

" 1st. All the native prisoners still in your hands 
must be forthwith returned to me as demanded in my 
last letter; but as your M^es^ mshes to retain Mr. 
Dawson as an interpreter, whilst negotiations are going 
on, I have no objection to his remaining at Goomassie 
for the present. 

" 2nd. The following hostages must be at once c^eUvered 
up to me : — 

" 1. Pi-ince Menaa, your Majesty's heir. 

" 2. Your Majesty's mother. 

"3. The heir of the King of Juabin. 

" 4. The heir of the King of Kokofoo. 

" 6. The heir of the King of Mampon. 

" 6. The heir of the King of Becqua. 



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THE KINO WWTB8 AOAIS. S8> 

" 3rd. One half of the 60,000 ounc^a of gold to b& 
paid by your Majesty as an indemnity must be sent to 
me inuuediately. When these guarantees are given to 
me, I shall halt this army at the places where it may 
then happen to be, and I shall also send orders to halt 
to the armies now moving by the Wassaw path, and from 
Frahsue, Aldm, and fi'om Eastern Akim. 

" I shall then proceed to Coomassie with an escort of 
only abont 600 English soldiers, in order to make a 
Treaty of Peace with, your Majesty. The sooner I 
receive these guarantees, the sooner will my armies halt ; 
and in order to allow your Majesty to fulfil my demands, 
without trouble, I ahaU only advance very slowly with 
this army during the sext few days. 

" Your Majesty knows very well that yon can safely 
rely npon the fulfihaent of any prtmiise that I may make. 

"I assure you that the hostages shall be well ti-eated 
as becomes their position, and that they shall be sent 
back into Ashautee territoiy with due honoor as soon as 
all the terms of peace offered by me have been complied 
with, and my armies have recrossed the Prah into 
Fautee territory, which they will do as soon as the 
Treaty of Peace has been signed. An officer of rank 
has conferred with your messengers, and I shall have 
much pleasure in conferring with your Majesty person- 
ally when I arrive at Coomassie. 

" I am. King, your true &iend, 
" (Signed) G. J. WoLSELEr, 
" Mt^or-General and AdministTator, Gold Coast. 

FOKXAHAU, Ja/nvitry 2i, 187*. 

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SOf THE ASHAMTBE WAE. 

" P.S. — As Mr. Dawson has asked for money, I send 
him i£20 in silver by his servant. 

" G. J. W. " 

The halt at Fomnianah, which now ensued, has been, 
absurdly attributed to a further " break-down ". of 
the transport. Nothing of the kind occurred. It 
was simply due to the necessity for accumulating a 
iresh depot of stores after our rapid advance from the 
Prab. 

Hostile movements along a narrow pathway are not 
exactly like autumn manaeuvres. In the latter, as we all 
know, stores are calmly sent forward into the supposed 
enemy's country, there to await the issue of the contests, 
and if these terminate in a manner inconvenient for the 
control, an umpire readjusts the difficulty. Bat if anything 
of the kind had been done in the present instance, it is 
to be feared the Ashantees would not have paid proper 
respect to the umpire. 

It was necessary before any stores could be sent 
forward at all, to have a small force to guard the 
points to which they had to be sent. But when on all 
grounds, military, political, and sanitary, it was advisible 
to make a rush, with the whole of our little army, for 
such a position as the Adansi hills, all that could be 
done at first was to get up stores sufficient for food from 
day to day. . 

Already in pushing up supplies at all so far, ere we 
left the Prah, the length over which the army extended 
from its advance posts to its main bpdy was nearly 



jNGpogle 



THE HALT AT FOMMANAH. 301 

forty miles. To extend it farther would have been im- 
possible. 

Already the absence of resistance on the part of the 
Ashantees had been taken advantage of to enable the 
force to move in four days over the intervening forty 
miles, instead of in ten, as it had been necessary to calcu- 
late originally that it would have to do. The mere daily 
supply for such a rapid, move was a considerable tax on 
the resources, even when the largest possible ajnomit of 
carriers were at work. Ten thousand were, as it will be 
seen immediately, actually employed along the road from 
Cape Coast up ; but with even sach a force as this to 
accumulate beyond the Adansi Hills, in excess of the 
daily consumption sufBcient for a rapid march forward* 
was a matter which naturally occupied some days. 

As, however, the halt was an obvious necessity now, it 
was just as well that the King should receive an impres- 
sion that the General intended to do all he could to 
oblige him, and though Sir Garnet did [not during the 
whole negotiation halt for ten minutes in consequence of 
the unguaranteed promises of the King, he naturally 
took advantage of the necessary delay entailed by the 
necessity for collecting stores, to promise that he would 
for a few days move slowly. This promise had the 
double advantage of not letting the King know that we 
could not move at more than a certain rate, and of 
covering the strong hand with the soft glove in dealing 
with him. The following letters relate to this time, 
and to the evidence which we now received of what was 
going on in Coomassie:— 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



308 THE ASEANTEE WAB. 

"HoiHSi, January S3r£ 
" As you will have already received the official report 
by the ' Sarmatian ' of the arrival of all the prisoners 
from CoomasBie here to-day, and learnt that the King 
is ready to accept all the terms proposed to him, only 
beg^g Sir Garnet not to advance further, I send yoa 
now the intermediate links in the course of events, and 
the statements of the prisoners as to the condition of 
things in Coomassie. 

" Mr. Bonnat, the French prisoner, appears, as we had 
already been informed, to have used his eyes and ears, 
'K'hilst others sulked at being prisoners ; hence we have 
gleaned &om him a good deal of fresh information. It 
appear^ that immediately the Ashantee army was allowed 
to disperse, the people were in such terror at our antici- 
pated pursuit, long before they had heard we had crossed 
the Prah, that they packed up all they could carry with 
them, and went in flocks to the interior. Hence the 
Chiefs appear to he almost alone in Coomassie. Mr. Bon- * 
n&t describes meeting after meeting as taking place in 
the King's palace, at which Chiefs and Kings started up 
in a violent state of excitement, and professed to be able 
and willing to kiU everybody who opposed them, and then 
sunk down agun, conscious that they could do nothing. 

" Mr. Bonnat estimates that their losses from all 
causes in the campion were two-thirds of their whole 
alrmy. This was believed among the Ashantees, and 
corresponded with the number of Chieis who had died. 
Mr. Bonnat is convinced that, though the King may now ' 

..i-.Gooj^le 



UB. BONNAT. SU 

be only trying to gain time, yet he cannot, if lie wishes ji, 
oppose our entry seriously. Mr^ Bonnat'represents, too, 
the whole people as atterly sick of all the barbarities of 
Ashantee rule, and believes that if we enter Coomassie, 
and leave any mark of our having been there, the effect 
would be an exodus of vast numbers into the Protec- 
torate. 

" On the other hand, the pride of the Chie& is soch 
that, if we do not enter Coomassie, they will not acknow- 
ledge their defeat, and may even attempt an invasion 
Again when they have had time to recover. It seems 
probable that the fetish priests are alarmed, and are most 
■anxious for peace. Omens succeed omens in a most 
suspicious manner. 

. " Mr. Bonn&t confirms the report that the great fetish 
tree fell on the day Sir Garnet Wolseley's first answer to 
the King left Prahsue.* To test the prospects of the 
invasion two men had knives run through their cheeks 
and were tied up in the woods to die. The priests said 
that if the men died soon, it would be well for Ashantee. 
If they took long to die, all would go ill. They lived or 
were kept alive, one for five days, the other for nine. 

"Capt^ Qlover has not been heard of yet on this 
side of the Pi-ah. On the 14th he had about 900 men 
with him, and was going to cross next day. He has had 
a most mountainous and difficult countiy to cross. 

" The native tribes who were to have moved up on 
our left— that is, to the east, under Captain Dalrymple — 
-have utterly refused to stir, alleging all sorts of excuses. 

■ Hist li alio CD the day wben Qia wliite nan Snt oioned aw Ikah. 



904 THE ASHiNIEE 'WAR. 

Tribes which were to have moved under Captain Butler 
delayed and pat off so long, and hehaved bo badly, that 
he himself crossed the Frah on the day ordered, with only 
■ twelve pohcemen. But when they found that he was quite 
determined to leave them, and, if necessary, return to 
the General at Prahsue, they at last croBsed the Prah with 
500 men, on the 19th or 20t1i. They have now advanced 
twenty nules into Ashantee territory, and stragglers are 
daily coming in. 

"The story which has just reached ns as to how this 
has come about, capitally illustrates the kind of work 
which it haB fallen to the lot of those officers to do who 
have been attached to the various native chiefs, in the 
hope of raising the tribes. Captain Butler, in his 
anxiety to induce the chie& to pass, had, as I have.said^ 
on the 15th, with the officers of bis party and twelve 
policemen, crossed to the northern bank. Bat for his 
amoes and canoe-men he was dependent on the native 
chiefs. AVhen, therefore, he had passed to the northern 
bank, his csnoe-men immediately deserted him, and 
returned to their tribe. 

" On the enemy's bank of the Prah — ^with no force 
which would enable him to advance — with no carriers 
to convey the food indispensable for European life 
— ^he determined to make one more effort to induce 
the kings to move with him — ^to repass, the river, 
and to inform them that if they did noi consent to 
move, he shonld return to the General, and report thai 
they had deserted him* fiat he had. nothing to cross 
witii. His resource did not fail hi^u He managed to 

n,,N;.,i-,Gt)0^le 



A QUEEB BOAT. 306 

employ a waterproof sheet and a frame that chaiiced to be 
handy. With these he constructed a temporary boat, 
sufficient to enable him to reach the further bank with 
what was indispensable. 

" The kings had become somewhat alarmed by his 
actually leaving them, and on his reappearance before 
them in this quaint fashion, they crossed the river with 
the 600 men above mentioned. 

" All the officers with Butler, and he himself, have 
been down with the fever. But all are well and at 
duty again. 

" The Ei^lish regiments in advancing from Cape 
Coast have left about 200 men on the way with very 
slight cases of fever. No cases among them have as 
yet been at all severe, but it is necesaary to leave the 
men behind in consequence of the temporary debilitating 
effect. Few men so left vrill see CoomasBie," 

The following summary of the late movements will be 
conveniently placed here : — 

" FoHHAif AH, Jan. 2Uh, 1 p.m. 

" Immediately after the last mail left the whole 
difficulty about the carriers came to an end. 

" Thanks almost entirely to the vigorous steps taken 
by Colonel Colley, and to the admirable management of 
that officer, eight thousand carriers are now working 
steadily upon the road. The operations will, in fact, not 
have been delayed at all, because had the troops con- 
centrated on the Frah been obliged to drive back the 
Ashantees step by step, and move forward only after the 

X 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



M6 THE A8HANTEB WAE. 

. gronnil had been thoroughly examined, the road made, 
and provisions collected, they could not have moved 
more than at about four miles a day. Now we hold 
Quisah and Fommanah, the one half a mile, the other a 
mile and a half on the further side of the Adansi Hills. 
Here the concentration of the troopa will take place. 

" The troops moved by three stages, each about eleven 
miles long, &om Prahsue to Moinsi, at the southern foot 
of the Adansi Hills. First, from Prahsue to Essiaman ; 
second, from Essiaman to Acrowfumu ; third, Acrowfuma 
to Moinsi. The head-quarters, with the Naval Brigade, 
and the first battalion of the Hiile Brigade, reached 
Moinsi on the 20th. The other battalions follow in 
succession. The road has been admirably made, and 
every stream bridged completely to Fommanah by the 
Engineers.' The road, with the exception of the three 
miles nearest the Prah, is better than that between Cape 
Coast and the Prah, along which! the G-eneral's carriage, 
drawn by natives, moved the whole distance. Even the 
portion for three miles this side of the Prah has been 
covered with a sort of bastard but very bad corduroy. 
It was terribly swampy at best. 

" At Atobiasi, Essiaman, Acrowfumu, Moinsi, Quisah, 
Fommanah, and at two points between Acrowfumu and 
Moinsi, entrenchments have been made to be held by 
small forces and protect the stores. Store-houses have 
been also made, and some huts. Those who cannot 
thus obtain shelter have large ;tents, under which wattle- 
beds, keeping the men well off the ground, are con- 
etructed. 

nigruPtJi-vGoOgle 



STATE TaiALS IN FAHTBE-LAHD. SOT 

" The AdaDBi Hills fell into onr handa on the 16th. 
Lord Grifitord, poshli^ up mth his sconts, found the 
Ashantees in possession, but succeeded in fr^htening 
them into ftilling back by snrrounding ihem and threaten- 
ing an attack. On the 18th Major Russell, finding Qoisah 
unoccupied, entered it with bis regfanent, and entrenched 
it. Wood's regiment and Bait's Artillery were pushed 
up together on the 15th in support." 



"FoiauHAH, Jan. 25lh. 

" Bnssell, Wood, and Rait have been poshed on a few 
miles in advance, hot the main force will probably, be 
here for a day.or two, whilst supplies are being sent on. 
Ten thousand carriers are now on the road. Colonel 
Coney's vigour and success with them are beyond praise. 
He undertook the task when it had just become a serious 
difficulty, and by a combination of energy and care for 
the men has succeeded in placing it on a proper footing. 
The whole matter was put into his hands. He redressed 
all grievances, chieSy due to the carelessness of native 
officers, saw that the men had proper food, and intervals 
of rest. Then he surrounded with West Indian senti-ies 
the villages to which deserters resorted, and thus made 
escape impossible. 

" Meantime, the most flagrant cases of desertion have 
been tried in the Native Court by the Judicial Assessor, 
and sentences of death have been passed by the kings. 
The General has, however, not allowed any of these to 
be carried oat. The u^n are kept as prisoners at Cape 



vGoogIc 



SOS THE ASHAHTEE WAR. 

Coast Ciist]«, and no decision on their coses has been 
giTcn. 

" At the present rate of advance the war will be over 
before anything is decided about them. Perhaps this 
may be the General's object.* The sentences have of 
themselTes produced a great effect." 

* TMb was in fact bo. IC is etated in a despatoh of abont this date. 



jNGoogle 



CHAPTEE Xrtl. 

WERE WB SUEKUSED ? — ATTACK DPON ATOBIASI — OOK 
BC0DT8 — DEPOPULATION OF ABSIM — LOBD GIFFOBD 
STIBPIUSES A CONVOY — THE ATTACK UPON BOBBOBASSI 
CAPTAIN NlOOt's DEATH. 

One of the most cnriouB results of the erratic nature 
of the postal service from the Gold Coast was this. It 
is now almost impossible to convince anyone that we 
were not surprised, or something very like smprised at 
Amoaful. The reason is ^17 simple. The more 
important events were telegraphed, or in some way or 
other sent home as rapidly as possible. The intermediate 
ones which led ap to them, did not arrive till the intense 
interest of &esh events had caused these minor matters 
not to receive attention. 

That we were in no sense surprised the next extracts 
prove abundantly. The first was, as will be seen, in the 
post and mialterable, five days before the attack at 
AmoaAil. In it the general locality is accurately defined. 
In the subsequent letter, two days later, the site of the 
coming fight is elaborately described. I think I am 
not wrong in stating that Captain Buller, as head of the 



■,Gt)0^le 



310 THE ASHASTEE WAR. 

intelligence department, had informed Sir Garnet before 
we left the Prah, that Amoaful would be the aite of the 
coming fight, and that the Asbantees would, if beaten 
thei'e, make a serious resistance once more, and once 
only, before we entered Coomassie. For the rest the 
letters speak for themselves. 

" FouuAHAH, Jan. 25tA, Midnight. 

" The outposts are poshed on as &r as the Bahrein 
Kiver. The King of Adansi, whose palace is now 
occupied by Sir Oamet Wolselej and the staff, is known 
to be lurking about, but be cannot be in very great force, 
and we shall probably look him up in a day or two. If 
any important fight takes place it will probably be about 
twelve nules from Coomassie. They can hardly get 
their troops together nearer, and they would not have a 
bad position about there. We ought to be there in about 
five days or sooner. 

"This station and the whole country on this side of 
the Adansi Hills are most healthy." 

"FOMMANAH, Jan. 27tA. 
" We have had a sl^it brush with the Ashantees, 
chiefly important as showing that they are making efforts 
to collect their army again, and that the success of our 
negotiations is likely to depend on the rapidity with 
which we are able to advance. I mentioned to you at 
the close of my telegraphic message by last mail that it 
was intended to beat up the quarters of a certain chief of 
Adansi who was known to be prowling about ; the said 

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THE ATTACK ON AT0BU8I. 311 

chief having the strong indacement for action which is 
afforded by the fact that the General and his staff are in 
full occupation of his palace at Fommanah. 

" It had been ascertained by onr scouts that some force 
— apparently a considerable one — lay to the west, towards 
the Wassaw and Denkerah road, thus threatening our 
left on the advance. Abortion of this force was known 
to be in occupation of Atobiasi. There is a certain 
road — that which I have above spoken of as the Den- 
kerah and Wassaw road — which is marked in your home 
maps " {Le., on the maps in use in England previous to 
the corrections made in consequence of the expedi- 
tion) " fts slowly converging with the main road towards 
Goomassie. According to the best of our belief at 
present, the two in fact meet at a point a little 
north of Becwa or Becqua (the Bequoi of the old 
map *)i which is in reality about a mile west of Amoaful. 
The whole line of villages — Humassie, Atobiasi, 
Ambimbingua — is thus in reality &om a mile to two 
miles distant from the main road ; not twelve or thirteen 
as it is i-epresented in the map. * A tnunpet at Becqua,' 
say the scouts, ' is heard at Amoaful.' , 

" The force of scouts which was to lead the attack on 
Atobiasi the following day slept on the evening of the 
25th in a cleared and entrenched space at Kiang Booasu. 
Along the Bahrein lUver. were Gussell's regiment and 
Bait's Artillery. In the morning of the 26tb the Naval 
Br^de and two companies of the Bifles were pushed 



JNGoogle 



313 THE MHA14TBE WAB. 

out in support of the native regiment in case of accidents. 
Long, however, before their arrival within gun-shot, the 
whole affair was settled. The scouts crept stealthily up 
to the village, which was found to be still occupied, but 
in much less considerable force than had previously been 
the case. The main body of those who had held it, and 
who are variously estimated at 500 or 1,000 men, had in 
fiiot deserted the place, and only about 50 were left in 
occupation. In a short time the scouts had nearly 
snrroimded them, and rushed in as usual, completely 
surprising our careless foe. The Ashantees, taken 
utterly unawares, bolted out of the village, leaving some 
anns behind, and abandoning it altogether. Only a stray 
shot or two came &om them at all in the village ; and it 
was not till they gained rising ground outside to the west 
that they commenced a pretty brisk fire &om the bush. 
This was, however, soon silenced by our men, who 
chased them for half a mile or more. Two Ashantees 
were killed in the village. The number left in the bush 
is as usual very uncertain. 

*' Two prisoners were made, one of them being the 
head scout of the King of Adansi, a man against 
whom our scouts had a special grudge. They first 
met with him in the present campaign at Essiaman, 
when that village was captured ; then again at the 
time when the Adansi ' Hills were seized ; and all 
along he has made himself so very conspicuous on the 
opposite side, that they had sworn to catch him. I fear, 
however, that, despite their acknowledgment of his 
skill, no very generous feeling as against a worthy rival 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



SAVAGINa WITH A TENGBAKCE. 318 

in the art of war had spnu^ np. Nor is this much to 
be wondered at. He and some of onr Bconts in former 
days bad lived together in Essiaman. Both he and they 
are AsBima. They have warmly eapoused oar cause — Ite 
that of the Aahantees. It is a quarrel in which, amon); 
these natives, the hittemess of all domestic wars has no 
possible paUiation. 

" The Ashantees have umply cleared out the whole 
of this Asum conntiy so absolutely, that there is 
no population whatever. From the Prah to the 
Adansi Hills we scarcely met with a sign of present 
htunan life, except the few Ashantee scoots. Those of 
your readers who have glanced at the new edition of 
'Bowditch,' which has, I observe, just appeared in 
England, will find that he speaks of towns of 11,000 or 
4,000 inhabitants as freely met with at different points in 
the course of his journey. Allowing the utmost margin 
for inaccuracy in bis calculation of numbers, and for 
exaggeration, there is simply no kind of comparison 
between the numbers that must have existed in his day 
in the Ashantee country and those which exist there now. 
If ever any army left behind it ' a desolate wilderness ' it 
is the Ashantee. 

" It is not to be wondered at, therefore, if there is not 
much love lost between those Assims who have joined 
Ds, and those who, accepting the yoke of the conqueror, 
are fighting on that side. 

" Our best scouts by far consist of some twenty or thirty 
Assims, who know every inch of the ground right up to 
Coomassie, who are most savagely keen in their eager- 

n,gN..(JNGOOgk 



SU THE, A8HANTEE ITAE. 

ness to get at the ABlumtees, and who are hy no means 
to he de&pieed as skilful and silent hush-gghters, who, 
as the Ashautees have again and again found to theilr 
cost, can steal round a position and report upon it with- 
out heing detected, or can gather onder theii- admirable 
leader, Lord Gifford, for a surprise which has never yet 
with them failed of success. 

" Similarly our best fighting men by fer are those 
Houssas who have been slaves among the Ashantees. 
They are the very pith of our two drilled native regiments. 
Unhappily there are not many of them. 

" It is of some importance to us to clear this left-hand 
road, independently of the more immediate security of 
our own march. For it is along this road that oar 
gallant allies &om Wassah and Denkerah are by Way of 
coming ; and slender as is the hope that tbey may 
make any demonstration of use to us on that side, it is 
quite certain that if we left any Ashantee force occu- 
pying a village directly in their front, they would run 
away from it. 

" The fact of these Ashantees having gone oS to the 
West is rather a curious one. If there be an Ashantee 
army, and the prisoners solemnly declare that there is 
one, it is somewhere north of Amoaful. It is beheved to 
be gathering under the chief of Mampon, who has, ac- 
cording to some accounts, replaced Amonquoitia, while 
others say that Amonqnoitia is still in command. 

"Our outposts have to-day pushed on to Madjawe. 

Major Bussell's regiment is somewhat off the road, 

. moving on our left. The Naval Brigade is at a capital 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



LOKD GIPFOBD aUSPHiaEa A COmrOY. 315 

clearing at a village at Medownea. This is about balf-a- 
taile to the right or east of Kiang Booasu." 

" Jawuary ZSfA. 

" To-day Lord Gifford, striking off to our left, came 
upon the rear of a convoy, ^hich had been taking stores 
from Coom&ssie to a place on our left west of Essang 
Quantah. It appears that the King of Adansi has 
collected a force of something less than 1000 on our 
left, about three miles from Essang Quantah. Three 
prisoners were captured, who all declare that the King 
of Ashantee' is collecting all the forces he can, but that 
they are ordered to keep off the road, and not to act till ' 
the King has decided what he will do. There seems no 
doubt that our next operation will be to beat up the 
quarters of this party. 

"It must be remembered that though the King has 
written so peaceably, we have not as yet the slightest' 
guarantee for his fulfilmeiit of his promises, and that all 
our past dealings with Ashantee show that the King is 
ready to promise anything, on the simple principle that 
he can always break hia word." 

"Camp Detchlasu, Januaryi^th, 18T4. ' 

" My last letter closed with the announcement that we 
should in all probability be soon engaged in looking after 
a body of Ashantees, which was gathering in a threat- 
ening manner upon our left flank. This morning a 
reconnaissance in force was undertaken under Colonel 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



SIS THE ASHANTEE WAE. 

H'Leod's orders. Lord Gtfford's sconts, the Anamaboe 
men, the Nav&l Brigade, and the 100 men of the 23rd 
were sent ont to a place which turned out to be about six 
miles in a sonth-westerly direction from Essang Quantah, 
and nearly due west of Kiang Booasn. 

" The road at first lay through one of the ordinary 
bosh paths to the village which had been attacked the 
other night, Adabiassie.* Except the plaintun gardens 
on either side of the road, there is nothing to characterise 
this part of the route and distinguish it &oiu other bush 
paths. Bound Adubiaesie cocoa-nut trees and other 
^ns of cultlTatiou were apparent. The distance to this 
point from Kiang Booasu, which had beep the point of 
rendezToos for the morning, was about two miles and a 
quarter. The start had not been very early. Colonel 
McLeod, who commanded the force, had himself to come 
back to Kiang Booasn from Ahkankoassie before the 
movement commenced, and Lieutenant Knox, who went 
in charge of two rocket trou^s and the corresponding 
portion of Bait's Artillery had had to return from the 
same distance. 

"It was therefore ftUly eight o'clock when the column 
left Kiang Booasn, a hill station commanding a view 
comparatively extensive for this forest land, and of the 
type with which your readers must be by this time 
familiar. It was past nine before the column had gone 
through what had two days before been the village of 
Adubiassie. That village had been burned after the 
fight of the 27th, in the belief that no other course 
* See foot-note, p. 311. 



ji-vGooglc 



ATTACK ON BOBBOBASSIK SIT 

would insnre the safety of the road, and impress on the 
AshanteeB a conviction of our having done all we in- 
tended in driving them out of it. 

"But the General was exceedingly anzioas that there 
should be no question at all as to the fact that the 
Ashantees were holding these villages against us with 
distinctly hostile intent. The other day orders had been . 
given that no shots should be fired unless the Ashantees 
fired first, because, as the King professes peace, though 
he gives no securities or guarantees, it was very important 
that nothing should be done which should seem to force ' 
fightii^ upon the Ashantees. But it is very questionable 
whether, in the excitement connected with the rush upon 
Adubiassie, the rule was strictly observed, and whether 
the first shots, at all events, were not fired by our people. ^ 
Stringent orders had, therefore, been issued that to-day 
no fire sbonld be opened unless the Ashantees resisted 
seriously. Moreover, orders had been given prohibiting, 
in this instance, the burning of the village. 

"It is necessary to fully realise this and the exact 
nature of the whole situation, in order to understand 
clearly what followed. It must be remembered that the 
King had promised to do all that was demanded of him : 
that in the meantime we have no pledge, but the word of 
a man who habitually lies, as a part oi the regular 
scheme of his policy : that our scouts report that an 
Ashantee force is being pushed up on our left, far in rear 
of our advanced troops, in a position to threaten our 
most delicate line of supplies, dependent as it is on the 
courage of Fantee carriers, who would drop all loads and- 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



S18 TEE ASHAKTEE WAE. 

rtm, if an Aehantee showed or a shot wae heard by them. 
The importance of not driving the King to ^ht if he 
really means peace : the importance of not allowing our- 
selves to be deceived and destroyed by starvation most 
be realised at the &ame time. 

*' With a fill! knowledge of these orders, the little force 
passed the cinders which represented the remains of the 
village of Adnbiaseie, and pressing forward for another two 
hours or thereabouts, reached a point at which two roads 
diverge. The undergrowth had become intensely dense, 
on^ of the sure signs of approach to a native village, 
where old clearings have given a chance to fresh plants. 
The guides, for some reason still unfathomable, declared 
that the Ashantee force was to be found hy moving along 
V one of these roads.* The distinct indication of voices, 
heard clearly through the forest, caused the guide's 
opinion to be overruled, and the men passed down the 
other. 

" In a short time the scouts had spread out round 
the village of Borborassie, and it was clear that a con- 
siderable niunber of Ast^mtees — ^probably about 600 — 
were within, all unconscious of our approach. The 
Anamaboe men were in &ont. They have behaved better 
than any Gold Coast tribe we have had, and on the 
present occasion by no means disgraced their reputation. 
Orders were given to rush into the village, and in a short 
time the Anamaboes, preceded by Lieutenant Wood, Sir 

* It is ueoeMBi; to remaik that on this 
oommuided bj Lord Gifloid, but ooljr b j 
chuige U cbaiwiteiislaa. 



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CAWAIN NICOL'S DEATH. 319 

Oamet's ude-de-camp, who liad been lent for the oc- 
casion to Colonel M'Leod, were in the village and upon 
the sniprised Asbantees. 

" Captain Nicol was in command of theae men. In 
accordance with the previous orders, he began at once 
to nse his utmost exertion to prevent his men from 
firing, and to explain, by sign, to tbe Asbantees that if 
they did not fire they would not be fired upon. But 
the scared enemy had gathered behind the first shelter 
. that presented itself — ^had fled in panic from the village, 
or was issuing, man by man, from the houses. As 
Captain Nicol was conspicuous . in the middle of the 
clear space of the village, pistol in band, endeavouring 
to keep his men quiet and to prevent fire on either side, 
he afforded s convenient aim to some Ashantee, who 
issued at the moment &om one of the bouses, and he 
fell dead on the spot. 

" The Asbantees bad no notion of giving up their 
village vritbont defending it fiercely, and a fire on both 
udes soon commenced, which, as the Naval Brigade 
immediately came up, soon ended in the enemy having 
to turn tail, and make the best of his way into the bush. 
Twenty prisoners, mostly small boys and female slaves, 
were captured in the village, one poor girl, whose master 
Baw that she would fall into our hands, receiving half-a- 
, dozen slugs &om the Asbantees themselves. She has 
however not suffered fatal injury from them. Twelve 
kegs of powder were taken and destroyed, as were also 
. fifty flint guns. There were also captured two sheep, 
some chickens, and other spoil, including an umbrella, 

n„jN.«j-vG00glc 



S20 THE A8HANT££ Wi^. 

Trhich afterwards proved to be Eaaamanquautah's. The 
men, having driven the Ashanteea well off, aat down to 
break&8t in the vilhige, and aoon after a messenger, 
mider a small escort, waa aent off with a report to the 
General at Petchiaan. 

" But the Ashanteea are very quick in recovering 
themselves &om a first alarm of this kind. Before the 
messengers had started the village had already been 
surrounded by bodies of Aahanteea at different points, 
and, in a short time, moat of the party of natives who had 
been sent out with a message to Sir Garnet had returned, 
reporting that one of their number had been killed, one 
pounded, and that they could not force their way 
through. 

" Soon the shouts of the Ashantees at different points 
gave indication of the parte of the bush in which 
they had most thickly gathered, and rockets were 
poured into them with the effect, at all events, of 
silencing their clamour and of alarming them consider- 
ably. An immediate advance upon the bush was 
obviously neceaaary. 

The enemy were driven back and swept out weat* 
words, with quite insignificant loss. A few of the 
Anamaboea were wounded. One sailor was, it is feared, 
mortally, and two others were alightly wounded. The 
nombers of the enemy who fell are, aa usual, almost 
impoaaible to estimate ; those who have been out here 
the shortest time, and Who have experienced least of this 
kind of fitting, being, as nsual, disposed to put them at 
the lowest figure. They can hardly have &iiled to be 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



RETURN FROM B0BB0SAS8IE. Sai ' 

for these kind of affairs somewhat heavy ; and if I may 
judge by analogy, we shall probably hear much more oi 
them a few days hence. Of course, as the village was 
not burnt, the enemy were able to return to it on oar 
departiu%. A small party of them even ventured close 
upon our rear-gnard ; but they received firom the Naval 
Brigade so smart and steady a volley, that they never 
ventured to show again. 

"The presence of Essamanquantah with this force— 
a fact which is testified to by all the prisoners, and of 
which the captured umbrella, which has been recog- 
nised independently by many witnesses, is of itself 
sufficient proof — appears to show conclusively that 
serious work w^ intended to be done by it. Essamau- 
quiintah is an old chief, who was the teacher in the art 
of Ashantee warfare of Amonquoitia, their late general, 
and the respect in which he is held among them ia un- 
doubted. 

" One of the prisoners declares that the force was 
cooking provisions that day, with a view to an attack 
to-morrow upon Adubiassie, of which they supposed that 
we had retained possession since it was attacked the 
previous day. The place and neighbourhood will, of - 
course, be reconnoitred by our scouts to-morrow; but we 
fully expect that the effect of this day's work will have 
been completely to clear our left flank, and to leave 
the General free for the operations which must now 
certainly have to be undertaken on the direct road to 
Coomaseie. 
"All accounts agree that a serious Ashantee force is 

T 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



SS2 THE ASHAHTEE WAS. 

being collected between Becqua* and Amoafal. This is 
the sitoation which I some time ELnce indicated to yon 
as the probable one for the site of the coming battle. 
Meantime, to day, at head-quarters, important matters 
had been going on. Fresh messengers had arrived &om 
the King with a letter, and an answer had been returned 
to him. The contents of neither one nor the other have 
been made public, bnt the General has allowed it to be 
known that the tone of the letters is, as uaoal, pacific ; 
bat that the King gives no gnarantees, and is doing all 
he can to obtain delay. 

" A curiona story has also been placed at the service of 
correspondents. I do not know that a neater instance of 
a valuable hint, conveyed under circomstances of difficult 
by an ingenious man, has often been recorded. 

" It appears that the last time that envoys were sent 
back to Coomassie, a letter was also sent to Mr. Dawson, 
who has been a captive there ever since he was sent up to 
negotiate the deliverance of the German missionaries. 
The letter was from Captain Buller, the head of the 
intelligence department, and simply contained a small 
sum of money for which Mr. Dawson had asked by way 
of something to live upon. It is understood to be 
obvious from the letters received that Mr. Dawson has 
been very closely watched this time. As, however, the 
King had been informed that the money to Mr. Dawson 
had been sent to the latter, the King was to a certain 
extent interested in allowing Mr. Dawson to acknowledge 
the receipt of the money. This, accordingly, Mr. Dawson 
* See foot-note, p. 311. 

nigN^PtJi-vGoogle 



2 COIL U. 11. 333 

did in & letter to Captaui Buller, which consisted of atx 
acknowledgment in simple terms of the receipt, and then 
concluded something in this wa? : * The King's letter 
accompanies this by the same messenger. Please seo' 
2 Cor. ii. 11.' Tour readers may judge of the temptation 
it was to officers engaged in very serious basiuess, re- 
«eiying at such a moment a notice of this kind, to throw 
it aside as a pious ejaculation somewhat irrelevant. I 
dare say some of your readers already remember that the 
words in fact are, ' Lest Satan get an advantage of us, 
for we are not ignorant of his devices;' about as neat a 
hint of intended treachery as w&s perhaps ever passed 
under circumstances of equal difficulty. 

" Two iacts axe very noticeable : One that the King 
was perfectly &ank with the missionaries, and put no 
difficulties in the way of their communicating anything 
to us that they pleased. The other this : It happens 
that a Fantee boy servant to Hr. Dawson has been sent 
down each time that envoys have come, because, as he 
speaks English and Ashantee well, he is able to see that 
they get what they want when they are here. This time 
the envoys threw every possible difficulty in the way of 
any communication being made by this boy to anyone in 
our camp. There can be Uttle doubt that the cause of 
the change is that, till the missionaries left, no efforts, or 
successful efforts at all events, had been made to collect 
an army. Since then vigorous steps have no doubt 
been taken, and the King is most anxious to conceal how 
&r these have been successful. 

" Before passing away &om the events of this day, I 
T3 

r,: ..I .Gooj^le 



S34 THE ASHANTEE WAH. 

ought to notice that the case of Captain Nicol is in 
many ways a curious and a sad one. He was adjutant of 
the Hants Militia. He lived here a life of penurious 
isolation, almost upon the rations served out to him in 
a climate where life largely depends upon good ample 
food. The reason was known to few of us ^ after his 
death. It appears that he had come out here simply in 
the hope, or at least largely actuated by the hope, of 
being able to save money out of the high allowances for 
the expedition, which have very barely covered the extra 
expenses of most of the ofBcers, in order to get money 
which might contribute to the education of his children, 
of whom he has several. A subscription of about seventy 
pounds for the widow and children was raised the same 
evening among the officers of the head-quarter staff of 
the expedition, a subscription which will doubtless be 
largely increased out here. I should not have ventured 
to trespass upon ground so private with any other object 
than tiiat of asking for some assistance for the fund at 



ji-vGooglc 



CHAPTER XIV. 



The fcdloving letter describes what now took place — 
the main fight of the campaign. The letter itself was, 
however, as will be seen, not written till some days 
afterwards, when ample time had admitted of a careful 
correction of first impressions. Beyond, therefore, a 
few additions given in the course of it, the description 
scarcely needs serious alteration. 

As will be seen from the narrative, ooi stations in 
rear were attacked for the first time on the day of the 
fight itself. .The road had to be cleared, and escorts 
had to be sent along the line fi-om station to station, and 
hence the post completely down to Cape Coast was for a 
short time no loiter sent daily, bat only as convenience 
served. It will be seen that our first regnlar post back 
was not from Amoafiil, where we slept the day after the 
fight, but from Agiammn, the station whence we some 
days later dashed at Goomassie. 

The fact is that now we began to reap the full benefit 
of that careful defensive preparation of the stations the 
whole way, up from, the Frah, which has been noticed 
in t^e previous letters. 



vGoogIc 



326 THE ASHANTEE WAS.. 

A strange delusion, due mainly to those wild Cape 
Coast rumours, which have been already noticed, sprang 
np in England that at this time we were " surrounded 
and cut off." The sense in which it was true was 
simply this, that the Ashantees did attempt their usual 
tactics, those of surrounding the force which they assul 
in action, aud of sending other troops to pass beyond 
them, and attack our posts in the rear. 

But these were the very tactics of the enemy which 
had from the first been anticipated, aud for which all 
preparation had been made. 

Abrakampa had shown conclusiTely that the smallest 
force holding a post round which the bush had been 
cleared, and where, therefore, the superior range of onr 
weapons might be made to tell, could drive back any 
number of Ashantees. Hence our line of communica- 
tions from the Prah to Amoaful, along which posts were 
placed at frequent intervals was absolutely safe, no 
matter what the enemy might do. 

For the fight itself the one simple principle on which 
the action was conducted was that of maintaining 
throughout " an open square," not that is a square in 
the Euclidean or parade sense of the term, but each a 
position of the army that from whatever side attack 
came, there was a force facing towards that side ready 
to receive it. It was the only method by which a small 
force could meet the attempt of a much larger one to 
get round it. No effort was made to prevent the 
Ashantees from doing this, only they were so received 
that it did them no good whatever. 

n,„N.«j-vG00glc - 



AMOAFCL—THE MAIN ATTACK. 8ST 

"AaiAinrx, twxi.tx Jtuia fbom CooxAsan:, J'tSruary 9nd. 

" On January Slet we had a severe general en^^gemeat 
with the Ashantee army at Amoafal. The King's promiseB 
were merely treacherous. He had been expending the 
whole time he could gain in preparing for fighting ub, 
and in collecting his army. "We moved at early dawn' 
upon the village of Egginassie, and as our scouts entered 
that place at eight A.iii., the first shot was fired from an 
Ashantee ambnsh, which was, however, placed on too 
high ground, bo that all the shots went over the heads of 
our levies. 

' ' Immediately foUowing the scouts, the 42nd Regiment 
entered Egginassie, and pushed through it beyond. The 
road led almost due north towards a point about a mile 
distant from Amoaful, where it was well known to us that 
a considerable Ashantee camp had been formed. Of the 
exact position and character of this, a most accurate 
report had been furnished to the Intelligence Department 
by a scout, who, for twenty pounds, had gone there on the 
night before. The 42nd and the eighty men of the 2Srd 
Begiment now up with us, were under Sir Archibald 
Alison's orders, and to them was intrusted the task of 
forcing the enemy's position in the direct front. 

"As, however, the Ashantee tactics are always the 
same, and consist in on attempt to draw on their enemy 
in front while they push one or both his flanks through 
the dense bosh, great preparations had been made for 
this. Half the Naval Brigade and Bussell's regiment 
were to clear and protect the left, while the other half of 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



328 THE ABKANTEB WAE. 

tlie Naval Brigade and Wood's regiment guarded the 
r^ht. The SiBe Brigade was retained as a reserve in 
the General's own hands. Bait's two guns, under his own 
orderS) were with Sir Archibald. A rocket trough was 
with each of the flanking parties. 

" These arrangements, however, were some time in 
developing themselves, because of the slow progress which 
alone can be made in moving out &om a narrow path. 

" The first company of the Bifle Brigade was sent oat 
in skirmishing order throu^ the bush, and had soon to 
be supported by the second, and not loi^ after by 
another company. Engineer labourers, moving with 
them, cut down the bush partially to aid their- advance. 
The resistance offered to them by the Ashantees, com- 
pletely concealed in the bush and knowii^ the groond 
perfectly, was even at first considerable, but it was not 
till a marshy piece of ground about 800 yards from 
Ingelasa -was reached that the really serious opposition 
was experienced. 

" By this time five companies were already skirmishing. 
The slt^s were dropping thick and fast, and there was a 
moment or two when the men's nerves were certainly in 
a very ticklish condition. There is something very un- 
pleasant about shots that come suddenly out — sometimes 
singly, sometimes in loud and continually repeated bursts 
from places that a moment before gave no indication of 
haman life; but when in addition to this the ground 
became so marshy and shppery that in the movement 
forward eveiy step served to disclose the position of the 
men to the perfectiy concealed foe, the situation was 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



TEE FOBTT-SBCONS AND RAIT. I2> 

trying. Fortimfttely the enemy were pitching in sings 
and not ballets, or scarcely a man of tlie Black Watch 
woold have lived to tell the tale. As it was, there were 
few of the officers who did not receive a scratch. 

" Major Baird was seriously wounded ; and although few 
of the other officers' wounds were of a disabling character, 
several were by no means pleasant. Major Macpherson, 
among the number, was hit in several places. The greater 
part of the 105 wounded men of the regiment were struck 
during the pause and delay, whilst it seemed impossible 
to subdue the fire of the Ashantees, and equally impossible 
to advance over the marshy ground and through the dense 
bush with snch a rush as was necessary to make diem 
give w&y* It was at this critical moment that Captain 
Bait's gun — there was no room for two — came into action 
at fifty yards from the enemy on the direct line of 
advance. The shells fired at that short distance with 
deadly effect soon forced the enemy to clear the road. 
In a moment, as they gave way upon their own left upon 
the road, the 42nd pushed them on fi:om thence along 
the whole line, and they began to yield another fifty 
yards or more, and Uait's guns again came into action 
against the enemy, who had at once taken up a fresh 
position, OS the bush prevented the Black Watch firom 
pursuing quickly. 

" Again the enemy perforce gave way before the shells 
along the road. Agaih the 42nd took instant advantage 
of it, and the enemy rolled back. The men were now in 
snch high spirits that the terrors of the bush were no 
more. Sir Archibald saw that the moment had come. 

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830 THE ABHANTEE WAR. 

He ordered the pibrocliB to sonnd. , Down together with 
a ringing cheer went the splendid regiment under his 
orders straight at the concealed foe. No savages could 
have stood sach a chaise when the opportnnity for 
deliTehngithad&irlfccnne. Away bolted every Ashantee 
in front of them ; away down one hill and up another on 
which stood the village of Amoaful itself. Along the 
road Bait's little guns pelted after the eneniy. As often 
as he tried to torn in his Sight np the hiU the gons went 
hardly lese quickly than the flying enemy, thot^;h each 
had to he carried on by the Honssas and put down again 
for acHon. 

" By twenty minutes past eleven the village was in onr 
hands, and Bait had sent telling shells after the retreating 
enemy as he was racing along the broad expanse of ground 
which had formed a portion of the Asfaantee camp, and 
was wider and clearer than in almost any village we had 
yet reached. But though Amoaful was in our hands, the 
fight was by no means over at other points. 

" Colonel M'Leod, as soon as Bussell's first company, 
the Houssas, had arrived, sent them out to the left into 
the bush, while the Engineer labourers cleared round the 
village, and cut a road as far as it was possible to advance^ 
It had been intended that roads should be cut on either 
flank parallel to the advance of the 42nd and 23rd, bat 
the time required for such an operation made it impos- 
aible that the movement should progress rapidly xmder 
the very heavy fire which was immediately met with by 
each of the fianking parties, as soon as it was thrown ont. 
Captain Buckle, of the Boyal Engineers, fell mortally 

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THE FiaHT ON THE LEFT. 3S1 

wounded almost iomiediately, and died not long after- 
irards. His head man of the laboorera wad killed on the 
spot, and sereral others fell rapidly, woonded. By a 
rather unpleasant mistake the wonnded instead of being 
qnietly carried off to the houses, were left at the entrance 
of the Tillage, so that whilst the men were arriving in cold 
blood, the hrst sight that greeted their eyes was that of 
^eir wounded comrades. After their blood was up it 
would not have mattered a bit, but it did not tend at the 
time to make the uncertain loss which was taking place 
in the bush seem less serious. 

"The HouBsas on clearing out of the village with 
the left column, and after a somewhat irregular ex- 
change of fire with the enemy on that side, found 
a not very inconsiderable force 'in front of them 
on the brow of a hill, up which they crept, and drove 
them back by a rush. Captain Gordon, as usual, 
led them splendidly, succeedii^ despite the concealment 
of the bush in coming upon the hill at such an incline 
that the enemy could not meet him, and though much 
more namerouB, yielded rapidly to the curious race of 
which they hold so many slaves. The Ashantees, how- 
ever, were not long in creeping back to their old quarters, 
as the Houssas were moved off iiirtber northwards in 
order to be nearer to the central attack. The Opobo 
company shortly afterwards had to repeat the operation, 
and on this left side the fight was during the greater part 
of the time not very vigorous, the Ashantees soon making 
it plain that they intended to direct their main effort not 
upon this but upon our other flank. 

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332 THE ASHAirrte WAE. 

" Nevertheless the fire was more than once resumed 
fiercely on this foAe also, and not a few womided were 
hronght in both from the various companies of Bnssell's 
regiment and from the part of the Naval Brigade which 
snppcnrted them. For the moment I will leave this part 
of the action, with the miderstanding that &om the time 
when Colonel M'Leod's force came up — about half-past 
^ght — for several hours this intermittent kind of fighting 
was going on, whikt the road intended to be parallel to 
the main line was being cot. This road, in &ct, in the 
process of making, gradually tended off towards the east, 
with results very fortunate, to be hereafter noticed. 

" The Gleneral himself reached E^inassie aboat nine 
o'clock. Fire was at that moment poured in on both 
^des of the village, the other troops havii^been disposed 
as I have already described. Wood's regiment and the 
remaining half of the Naval Brigade were thrown oat at 
a very short distance into the bush on the right and 
right front, holding the vicinity of the village. There was 
no mistaking the loud pop of the Ashantee guns, and at 
limes it was wonderful how steadily maintained and 
persistent their fire was. Very large numbers most have 
been present, in the judgment of the coolest heads on 
our side, for it was impossible that a fire so sustained 
coold have been kept up with the difficulty they have in 
loading, unless those who fired off the muskets were con- 
stantly relieved by men from behind. The bad powder 
and the slugs no doubt saved us from very heavy loss, but 
it was even for the coolest very nervous work." 

The actual loss does not at all fairly represent what it 

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HOW PISTOLS WEEE KOT USED. 33» 

wa^ to the men engaged. Daring the whole expedition 
no white soldier to my knowledge showed at any moment 
a want of readiness to expose his life or take his 
chance in any one respect. But it would he quite absurd 
to pretend that the weird nature of the fighting : the- 
suddenness, the utter uncertainty of the fire did not pro* 
duce a strained condition of nerves which, on more than 
one occasion, caused among our men a disposition to 
relieve their feelings by a sudden burst of fire. The one 
thing which pace Mr. Stanley, it was the effort of the 
officers everywhere to obtain, was "low and slow fire." 

It was not in the least the case that officers were 
going about with pistols in their hands firing in line with . 
their men in the ridiculous manner represented in the 
popular prints. Nothing of the kind happened. One 
or two very young officers may have made such a mis- 
take. 

But except under very imusual circnmstances the 
pistols were, in fact, hardly ever used by the officers 
when not on detached work. When with their men the 
one thing which officers were engaged in doing was in 
directing them, in endeavouring to keep them perfectly^ 
cool in restraining their fire. Ahnost always the diffi- 
culties which impeded advance were these. 

It was impossible to see the enemy at alL Fire, 
therefore, had to be directed against the point where the 
enemy was believed to be. But whilst the intense clatter 
of breech-loader firing was going on, it was impossible 
to know certainly whether the Ashantees bad fallen back 
or not. For osu^y their fire was completely subdued 

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U4 TSE ASHAKTEE WAB. 

during tiie actaal continuance of oars, and broke oat again 
the moment oars ceased. The falls of the groibid were 
absolutely hidden by |the bueb, and If tiie enemy took 
fall advantage of this it might well happen that oar fire 
produced hardly any effect unless delivered at very close 
range. Hence the greatest delay was certain to be &om 
any fire which broke ont on oar side, as it sometimes 
did by a kind of infection when there was little or no fire 
on the opposite side. For till it ceased it was impos- 
sible to tell whether the Ashantee fire were really sub- 
dued or not, and therefore advance was impossible. 

The one thing that was always essential for the officers 
was, therefore, a perfect cahuness and coolness, not 
merely personal, bat infectious, if one may venture so to 
say. And here it was that there was brought home to 
one the quite incalculable value of the presence of men 
too much accustomed to tile circumstances of action to 

be even momentarily, or apparently, disturbed by them. 
There probably never was a Mnd of fighting, the actual 

danger of which was more likely to be exaggerated in 

the minds of men who were new to the sounds and sights 

of such things. 

One incident of the General's own conduct in relation 

to this is too suggestive and too typical of the man to be 

omitted. 
The first order that had been issned on his entering 

Egginsssie had been that the bash round it should be 

cleared away. The men were busily engaged upon this. 

The houses at the time were unloopholed. Hence as 

it appeared the only effect of clearing the bush would be 

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A CttAEACTEEISTIC INCIDENT. 336 

to leave the Ashantees cover whence they could fire, 
whilst the defenders of the Tillage, not being able to 
fire thioi^h the unloopholed hoases woold have onlj 
the cleared, unprotected space from which to reply. 
These facts seemed bo patent that one of Sir Oamet's 
staff ventored to draw his attention to an omission which 
appeared due to an oversight where so mach had to 
be attended to. The result was simply to show that 
the General had deliberately omitted the precaution lest 
it should seem as if there were danger of our having to 
&llback. 

It was the only thing daring the whole day which 
indicated that he was in the least anxious as to the effect 
upon oar native troops of the prolonged resistance of 
the Ashantees. When a little later news came in that 
the village of Quaman in our rear had been attacked 
during the heat of the engagement, and iha,t the 
Ashantees were threatening the whole road between as 
and it, he received the information with an easy indifFer- 
ence — the calming effect of which at such a moment 
upon the men around, who did not hear what the General 
qaid, but did, amidst the excitement produced by scared 
carriers and returned convoys, look anxiously to his face 
may be imagined. 

But to return to the narrative. 

"After a time the aounii of the firing ronnd Ingelasn 
die4 away for Ihe moment ; but report after report kept 
coming in from every part of the field of how each regiment 
fancied that in the dense bush another was firing into it. 
In a few cases some accidents of the kind may have 

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386 TEE A8HAKTEB WAS. 

occurred ; but in the great majority these reports repre- 
sented rather the inevitable confusion of all such fighting 
than any actual loss from this cause. In more than one 
instance men were convinced that they had been firing 
into friends by mistake, and the firing was for a moment 
hashed, only to give to the Ashantees an opportunity of 
which they immediately availed themselves to pour in 
fresh sings. 

" The fight bad not been going on long before every 
one became convinced that the resistance we were to 
meet with was very much more serious than had previously 
been anticipated. All now saw that King Coffee had 
been elaborately plotting a long scheme of treachery, and 
the extent to which the fighting and the direction of every- 
thing was conducted in the dark, made all feel hopelessly 
uncertain as to the possible numbers of the foe. It was 
soon clear that the main force was being thrown upon 
our right flank, or from the east, immediately outside Uie 
village of Egginassie itself. 

" Towards the east -north-east rises a steepish hill 
of no great height. About two hundred yards along* 
the main or northern path comes in the head of tt- 
valley which spreads out beyond the bill round the 
north-eastern side of In^elasu, and has for its other 
crest a bill which runs out between tiiis valley and the 
swamp I have already spokes of as so tronblesome to 
the 42nd. Along the northern bend of the hill, just- 
outside Ingelasu lay half the Naval Brigade, admirably 
handled by Lieutenant Mann, and very steady. Along ibs- 
eastern Eace reached two companies of Wood's regiment. 



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THE FIGHT OK THE EIGHT. «T 

the remainder being on the farther flank of the Naval 
Brigade, extending along the main road. 

" Thus in this corner a kind of rectangular turn was 
given to our position, the Naval Brigade being on 
one face of the valley I have already spoken of, and 
part of "Wood's regiment on the other. In the valley 
below, and issuing from it upon the main road on 
the one hand of the Naval Brigade position, on the 
other, sweeping still further round upon the slopes 
above Ingelasu, as opportunity oflered, swarmed the main 
body of the enemy. To this comer throughout the 
whole fight he clung with a pertinacity which iq presence 
of the tremendous fire poured in seemed incredible. The 
rockets were plied at him here in vain, and nothing seemed 
to reduce the vigour of his fire from this point. The 
nature of the ground was not then known to us, or the 
mystery might have been much less. There can be no 
doubt that the iall of the ground was such that most of 
our bullets must have here passed harmless over bis 
head, the Bush rendering it completely impossible to judge 
of the nature of the hills at all. At the same time, from 
this point he crowded into the Bush lining . the road, and 
kept up thence an intermittent fire upon the road itself. 

" In advancing. Sir Archibald had left behind him at 
first ihiee companies, but all these, instead of in reality 
serving as a reserve to ah attack upon Amoaful, had 
to be in succession brought to bear upon the force of 
the enemy, who was threatening the main road from 
the right. Even between these immense gaps occurred,, 
and they were not nearly sufGcient to hold the road. 

» 

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388 THE A8EA14TEE TVAR. 

" Just at this time, first the scouts f^r a moment, then 
a sapporting company of the Rifle Brigade, sent out by 
Sir Gtamet, and finally, a considerable proportion of 
Colonel M'Leod's force, gradually came in too, and the 
companies of the 42nd and 2Srd, who were fronting east- 
wards. Colonel M'Leod's force had, in fact, struck back 
into the main road. For the time the left was clear, and 
this movement of Colonel M'Leod's force feeling in to the 
east was most opportune. The enemy having failed to 
break in upon our right, made another and yet another 
attack upon Ingelasu, all attempts being, however, met by 
a fire which he could not resist. Finally, towards half- 
past 12, the Opobos having cut their way through the 
Bush — one man firing his rifle while another cut — 
gradually arrived within charging distance of the top of 
the hill. They were then supported by a company of the 
Kile Brigade. With a loud war song they went right at 
the Asbantees, who bolted in every direction before the 
charge ; and tbeir line being once broken on this flank, 
they gave way everywhere. The last shot was fired about 
a quarter to two, a pretty furious fusilade having lasted 
ever ^ce eight. 

" Our wounded number nearly two hundred ; * of dead, 
officers and men, seven. We have buried over a hundred 
dead bodies of the enemy. Numbers lie about still in the 
Bush, and are only found at intervals. The AshanteeB 
make very great efforts to bury their dead, and to carry 
their wounded back ; therefore, those buried by ns only 
represent those they could not carry away. Their losses 
* A Eerfont trndet-cstimnte. 

■ n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



THE DETACHED BODIES. 3» 

in killed and wonnded moat thua have been very large 
indeed. Scarcely was the fight over when news came that 
gome small guerilla band had attacked Qnaman, the next 
foit to IngelasQ. We afterwards heard that the efiect had 
been a scare among onr carriers, who immediately dropped 
their bondles in the coafnsioQ. Many of us have lost 
property of some importance to us. These guerilla 
attacks are becoming &eqnent all along the line, but the 
strength of onr posts and strong escorts prevent them 
from being a serious mischief. 

" We have just heard from Captain Butleri He has 
had one or two sttccessM engagements on a small scale, 
in which his men behaved well. He has now 1,600 men 
with him, and is near Angafhl, 

" Oar latest news from Captain Glover is of the I7th, - 
when he was at Obogoo, having had to &gfxt his way into 
it, but being now delayed for want of ammunition. Obogoo 
is about twenty miles from the Frah. 

"On February 1st, Sir A. Ahson attacked and destroyed 
Becwa, a large town a mile on our left, and forming part 
of the hi^e Ashantee camp of the previous day. The 
Ashantees had done a good deal to prepare for attack, and 
were in some numbers, but they were evidently cowed. 
Our losses were one sailor, and one of the best scouts, 
both killed on the spot, and several wounded. 

"To-day we have had nothing but a pure pursuit, as far 
as this; the little resistance offered beingveryfaint-hearted. 
To-morrow or next day we hope to reach Coomassie." 

It should be noticed in relation to the above account 
of the attack on Becwa, that the management of the 

Z 3 
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3*0 .THE ASHANTBE WAE. 

whole actual fighting was left in the hands of Colonel 
M'Leod, Sir A. Alison only bringing ap the resei-ve. 
The town, the largest we came upon anywhere except 
Coomassie, was captured by Russell's regiment and the 
Naval Brigade, the entrance having been seized by the 
scouts almost unsupported. The Houasas, who were 
next to the scouts, were for once fairly cowed, and lay 
on their stomachs in the very entry of the town, actually 
blocking all passage. The sailors had to advance over 
tiiem. 



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CHAPTER XV. 

THE ENTKX INTO AND THE EXIT FBOU COOHASSIE. 

The following letters describe the eTents whicli now 
followed. A few notes will complete the narrative of 
the facts. 

'•CooMAaeiK, PA. 6ih. 
" A hnge pole is at this moment standing in the centre 
of the main street of Coomassie, and on it is waving an 
English flag in front of the qnarters of an Ei^Iish General. 
That has been gained by five days' continnons fightii^, 
the loss of about a dozen lives, and nearfy 800 wounds. 
Immediately after my last letter was written from Agia- 
mum, the CreQeral formed a ' flying column ' for the final 
rash upon Coomassie ; that is to say, that, instead of 
any longer being dependent upon the regular supply of 
provisions fi-om the rear, sent on from secoiely fortified 
post to post, be took with him supplies for about five 
days, and went forward as rapidly as he could fight bis 
way on. The motive is obvious. The General must 
have seen from the events of the 2nd February, when we 
marched on in one almost uninterrupted pursuit, the 
enemy never dariug seriously to contest our progress, 



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342 THE ASHANTEE WAR. 

that the one thing to be done was to strike while the iron 
WHS hot. If we g&ve the Asbantees time to collect their 
, scattered forces and to bring up those that had not yet 
been engaged, our work might be donbled ; but it was 
now impossible to tell at what point we might have to 
fight, nor, therefore, how &r it would be possible for as 
to advance. Hence we required to be &ee to select our 
halting point. 

" "What this practically inTolves, however, I doubt if 
many of your readers yiho have not seen the kind of 
thing would imagine. 

" Our trail of reserve amlnnnition alone occupied 
about a third of a mile. Then there was, besides, the 
reserve fimmmiition that followed with each regiment ; 
and then, besides that, all that was required for actual 
oookii^ for every one in the force. Then the medical 
necessaries and provisicniB for our five days' march, 
both for the whole force, white and black, and for the 
carriers. Thus, though every man was left behind who 
could possibly be spared, though no shelter-tents were 
brought, though the men had nothing but what they could 
carry, besides a few great coats taken for them by some 
natives ; thou^ the officers had nothing but what one 
servant, their only one for all purposes, could carry, oar 
train was immensely long. 

" We were passing through a country where it was im- 
possible to search more than a few yards to right and 
left, because to do more would involve such terrible delay 
that the whole object of our advance would be lost. 

" We had to contend against an enemy whose especial 

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PHOM AOIAUUH ONWABDS. 84S 

skill lay in ingenionsly contrived ambnshes, and in creep- 
ing along the flanks of an advancing force, to attack at 
unexpected points. 

" I am, of course, myself speaking after the event, and 
endeavouring to draw your readers' attention to the 
broad features of the case, in order that, realising the 
difficulty beforehand, they may better appreciate the care 
and skill by which it was overcome. For the points now 
so evident, were precisely those which it was the duty of 
the General to foresee and meet. 

" Our advauced guard, consisting of Wood's and 
Russell's regiments and two companies of the Bifle 
Brigade, had, your readers may remember, been pushed 
forward a mile and a half or more,'80 that we were able to 
start as soon as the Naval Brigade, which had been 
goarding the way for the convoy from Amoaful to come 
in, had arrived. Nothing could have been more weird 
and curious tiian the scene which the little jVfrican villaj^e 
presented before our departure. A change in the arrange- 
ments of the mail had obliged me to sit up &r into the 
previous night to ^lish my last letter to you. 

" The troops had been delayed considerably by the 
care which was necessary to the advance-guard in search- 
ing the road, and the consequent alow march of that 
body. It had been also necessary to wait to ascertain 
that the way was clear before orders wei-e despatched for 
the convoy to start from Amoaful. Night had therefore 
fiillen before the natives had nearly all arrived with their 
loads, and most of them had lain down just as they were, 
crowded and packed in the one main street and the small 

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34* TEE ASEAITTEE WAB.. 

side streets as closely as theyand the bundles on which most 
of them lay could be stowed. A pale moon had arisen to 
give evidence of the huddling which had been necessitated 
by the previous darkness. At the end of the village the 
engineer labourers, still at work upon the clearing and 
defence of the place, had lighted a huge fire, and were 
dimly visible and unnaturally large in the distance passing 
to and fro in front of the nearer forest trees, whose out- 
line stood out in strange fitful brightness and contrast 
to the deep shade behind, apparently deepened not 
lightened by the Sashes of the uncertain log fire, which 
at one moment burst out into a roaring blaze, and at the 
next lolled down, and almost yielded to tJie faint moon- 
light which just permitted the outline of the remainder 
of the scene to be apparent. 

"The next morning the start was not very early, 
because of the necessity, which I have already noticed, 
of WEiiting for the Naval Brigade, the guardians for the 
previous night of the road from Amoaful. The advance, 
too, wa^ excessively slow, for the enemy contested almost 
every foot of the way ; successive ambushes followed 
one another at each point of the path ; while at one place 
where a stream with rocky and slippery bottom opposed 
difficulties to our rapid advance, a somewhat serious force 
was assembled. Out of this, after perhaps half an hour's 
fight, the Ashantees were driven, chiefly by the Rifle 
Brigade, the natives having become so excitable and 
nervous from the conditions of the previous work, that 
little reliance could be placed on either Wood's or Bussell's 
regiment, despite all the devotion of their officers. 

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KIMG COFI IS "CONFUSED," , 345 

" The scouts, however, under Lord Gifford, continued 
as uBual to perform iavaluable work. Thanks mainly to 
their admirable detection of every danger, the enemy 
were gradually turned out of each position which they 
attempted to occupy, and were at last obliged to leave us 
in undisputed possessioii of both banks of the river Dah. 
On the way more messengers from the King arrived, bat 
the contents of the letters were not made public. We 
only know that they made no difference in the march, so 
it is presumed that they offered no satisfactory pledge." 

These letters have been since published in all news- 
papers. There would be no interest in giving them in 
full, as the enlargements of style, of which ample speci- 
mens have been given, become wearisome. The King 
declared that Sir G-amet's rapid advance "contused 
him." The letters were accompanied by others from 
Mr. Dawson, who now took upon himself to entreat the 
General, for the sake of the safety of the prisoners, not 
to advance, bat to accept the King's promises, and not 
move upon Coomassie at all. 

It is difficult quite to guess at all the motives of this 
jnan's actions. His letters read almost as if he were 
yielding either to threats or promises of the King's, and 
writing what he knew were wasted words. It is impos- 
sible that he could have been quite fool enough to believe 
that the General woald halt because he wrote thus. 

The General, however, at the time when the letters 
were received, found that it would be impossible for us 
to pass the Ordah that night with all the army, as the 
construction of a bridge was necessary. 

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3M THE ASHANTEE VAK. 

Accordingly, he promiBed the King in reply that he 
iroold halt that night at the Ord&h, and if the hostages 
he named were sent, vonld advance with only an escort 
to Coomaasie. 

" It was nearly fonr o'clock by the time we fairly reached 
the river. The two native regiments were passed across 
at once to hold the other side. Bnt for the white troops 
a good bridge had to be made. This was immediately 
commenced by the Ei^ineers ; but by six o'clock a 
tremendous down-pour of rain came on before the shelter- 
huts and woodwork beds which the men were making 
could be completed, and involved for the time a cessation 
of work at the bridge itself. Nothing much more 
miserable than that night could well be conceived. It 
"was very unlucky to get our first heavy rain since we left 
Oape Coast on the first night on which we were short of 
changes of clothes. HoweTer, everybody was in the 
highest spirits, knowing that ^e end was near. The rain 
continued with little intermission till two in the rooming, 
when the Engineers immediately recommenced work, and 
before it was wanted had conBtnicted a really capital 
bridge over a river about thirty yards wide. 

" On the morning of the 4th our troops crossed the 
Ordah by this bridge, and in a very short time the most 
advanced troops were fiercely engaged with very large 
numbers of the enemy. These -bad crowded into two 
valleys on either side of the road, from which it was 
exceedingly difficult to dislodge them, &om the impos- 
sibility of telling how the ground lay and the extent to 
which the shots passed over their heads. 

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" There is a village, Ordahsu, about a mile &om the 
river, and it was arranged that as soon as we had 
obtained pcmsession of this the convoy shoold be moved 
ap into it and parked, and that then the advance shoold 
go forward. It was about seven a.m. that the first shots 
were fired. It must have been about 9'SO that news was 
sent back to Sir Garnet that Ordahsu was in our hands. 
The enemy were, however, still in possession of all tiie 
bush around beyond a short distance from the villi^, 
though we occupied all the first thirty yards or more of 
the forest on every side. 

" As soon as the news reached Sir Garnet, he ordered 
the road on either side to be lined by the troops, and the 
convoy to be passed up between them. The precaution 
. had hardly been taken when its necessity became apparent. 
The enemy was working down the road on both sides 
from the village. Happily the attempt was made too 
late. Before the convoy was in, an attack was made 
upon the road from both sides at once, bat the Ashantees 
could not face our bullets, and the men of the convoy, 
after lying down in the road for about half an hour whilst 
the fight in their behalf was going on, were able to enter 
the village in safety. 

" Both the Bifle Brigade and the two native raiments 
were now so exhausted that it was necessary to replace 
them in the advance by the 42nd, who went forward 
along the direct route to Coomassie, forcing the enemy 
before them. The 23rd remained to aid in the defence 
of the village. Meantime the enemy continued almost 
without intermptioQ his attacks upon the place, and 

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31S THE ASHAKTEE WAS. 

renewed those upon the road along which the uative 
regiments, who had served to guard it after the 42ud had 
been poshed forward, were gradually moving up into 
Ordahsu, the Naval Brigade bringing up the rear ; aud 
having several men wounded and two killed in the 
work. 

" Lieutenant Eyre, who has acted throtigbout with the 
utmost gallantly as Colonel Wood's adjutant, had lost 
his life shortly before in leading a charge into the bush. 
Several men were wounded. 

" Gradually the Naval Brigade replaced the Bifles in 
the protection of the village. Half ^e battalion was 
sent on to support the 42nd, and by a quarter to two, 
after the advance had gone forward nearly two hours, 
news came back from Sir Archibald Alison, 'We have 
taken all the villages but the last before entering Coo- 
massie. The enemy is tlyiag panic-stricken before us. 
Support me with half the Rifles and I enter Coomasse 
to-night.' The Rifles had already been sent on. The 
convoy was immediately started. The slugs were, how- 
ever, still being poured in. One struck the Q-eneral'a 
faehuet and lodged in his puggerie ; others falling at the 
same time among his staff. But the news soon reached 
the men. The sailors gave one lusty cheer. The native 
regiments caught it up in their ovm way. The enemy, 
evidently expecting to be immediately attacked, poui'ed 
in one more round, and then never fired another shot. 
Apparently they had bolted in terror. But it was not 
worth our while to ascertain. The road to Coomassie. 
was clear and our convoy was safe. The rest of the way 

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I 



THE DASH AT C00MAS8IE, 349 

was mere march, for the most part very rapid, occasion- 
ally checked by physical obstacles." 

A very simple movement has here been curiously mis- 
understood. 

We have been several times told that the General's 
"sudden order" to move up the stores into Ordahsu 
was "very much," for some mysterious reason, "ad- 
mired." The fact is, that the order was not " sudden " 
at all, but that it was part of the arrangements neces- 
sary from the moment when the General's movement 
irom Agiamum was decided on. 

It has been e^lained that we were now carrying with 
us all the food and ammunition on which we were to 
rely till we returned to Agiamum. The General had 
deliberately abandoned his long line of commnmcatioos 
elaborately established, and guarded as far as Agiamum, 
and had dashed at Coomassie. 

It was in itself about as bold a stroke ss has ever been 
made, and its nature has evidently not yet in the least 
been realised at home. It was precisely one of those 
nice calculations in which moral causes, the effect of 
previous iighting, &c., and a cautious examination of the 
condition of supplies, &o., have all to be taken into 
account. It was one of those nice balances of chance 
producing certainty, in which the whole interest of the 
game of war, as a game, consists. 

But it was essential to us that we should never extend 
oiu: little force over so much ground that the enemy might 
be able to break in at any improtected spot. Hence, 



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SfiO THE ABEANTEE WAIL 

as will liave been uoticed above, tie moment the General 
knew tbat Ordahsa was securely in his hands he passed 
up the convoy, between troops lining the road; but 
fortbef advance was delayed till the convoy was in 
Ordahsn. 

Even among officers, I have observed that the nature 
of this movement has not been understood. "Why 
were we not allowed to get on at once out of Ordahsn ? 
We could have driven the Ashantees in front of ns long 
before." 

The answer is, t^t the force which, under Sir A. 
Alison, first seized upon Ordahsu, was necessary to hold 
it as long as the convoy was moving from the Ordah to 
Ordahsu. If, as no doubt it was long before quUe pos- 
sible for them to have done, they had pushed on, there 
would have been no force left to maintain the fight round 
the whole circle of Ordahsu, and to line both sides of the 
road fixim the Ordah. We had under 1400 white men 
at AmoafuL The number at Ordahsu was at least 
S50 men less. A force of 1000 men cannot be in- 
definitely stretched, and hence the necessity for not 
allowing the head to get too far away from the taiL The 
moment the convoy had advanced far enough on the road 
to enable the sailors, who formed the reargnard, to move 
near enoogh up towards Ordahsu, the 42nd were sent 
forward. Similarly, the moment the two native rcigi- 
ments and the sailors were able to take up the dnty of 
guarding Ordahsa, half the Bifle Biigade was sent on. It 
had been done long before Sir A. Alison sent back to 
ask for it. 

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A. SXBAKOE PABADE-SCBNK SSI 

Thus the delays which occurred on this day up to the 
time of our leaving Ordshsu were only those that were 
inevitable. 

" Near the entrance to Coomassie two letters came 
from Mr. DawBon, which, it is understood, begged in 
piteous terms for delay for the sake of his own safety. 
Some delay appears to have occurred in consequence, the 
circumstancee of which are not very clear to the outer 
world. It does not appear to have been the General's 
wish, yet it undoubtedly took place, and very much 
inconvenienced ns by allowing night to fall before all 
entered. The men who had been an hour or two before 
hotly engaged i^ainst as met the advanced guard in the 
most impudent manner, cooUy sauntering up to them 
with arms in their hands, and saying, ' Thank yon, 
thank you.' They also offered water, which was utterly 
refused. 

" The scene was of the strangest kind. Our txoops 
quietly formed up on the barrack square, and then gave 
three cheers for the Queen. Meantime every street and 
avenue was thronged wi^L armed natives, now looking 
sulkily on. Of these no notice was taken except that 
stringent orders were immediately issued to treat the 
people with kindness, and to forbid all plundering." 

The whole evening the scene was as weird as can be 
conceived. Darkness soon fell completely. The troops 
had entered on a side which brought them into a broad 
main street, with fine trees in the midst of it. Quarters 
had barely been told off, during the brief interval of 
partial light. In all directions over the part of the town 

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3E2 THE ASHANTEB WAE. 

assigned to them, the troops were to be seen inter- 
mingled with the inhabitants, who came to stare at what 
was going on. Gradually camp fires and torches began 
to appear all over this part of the town, and the crowds 
that seemed to be moving among them were multiplied 
tenfold by the dimness and uncertainty of the night. 

No one had hitherto had, since early morning, any other 
food than gnch as they conld carrj' about them. There 
was no regular plan of the town in existence. Mr. Daw- 
son, whether deliberately or not it is dif&cult to say, 
proved an utterly untrustworthy guide. The town waa 
of unknown extent and unknown population. There 
were known to be at least ten main thoroughfares lead- 
ing out of it in all directions. The circuit was at least 
four miles. The whole of this was surrounded by all- 
concealing bush. Our force consisted of about 1000 
Europeans and of some 400 natives very much shaken. 
Yet the General has been gravely blamed for not having 
placed sentries round the town to stop aJl egress from it 
dwing pitchy darkness. And the excnae for this is, that 
Lord Napier having captured a walled town on a pre- 
cipitous hill, put se&tries over the gates, through which 
alone egress or ingress was possible. Such is criticism I 

It may be safely asserted that it would have been, 
under all the circumstances, as reckless to have attempted 
this in the one case, as to have omitted it in the other. 

To return to the letter. 

*' The night fell before the troops were anything like 
settled, so that all that could be done was to see to the 
actual safety of the force. It was impossible to search out 

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THE FIRES IN COOMASSIE. 3S3 

all the secret craunies of a considerable town. Hence 
nombers of onr native followers pillaged daring the 
night with torches in their hands, and numerous fires, 
probably chiefly due to the cai-elessness of the marauders, 
broke oat. 

" Of course these were attributed to the Asliantees. 
In one sense, I incline to beKeve that . Ashantees 
had a hand in them. In a town where 'terror' 
is not voted as the ' order of the day,' but is actually 
the permanently established order of decades if not 
centuries, and where no man inows when, on some 
frivolous pretext, his mouth may be run through from 
cheek to cheek, there must be plenty of old grudges to 
redress, even independently of those of the number of 
slaves who know well that they have only been kept for 
future sacrifices. Moreover, there was one set of inha- 
bitants of Coomassie who were certain to do what 
mischief they could. 

" The Fantee prisoners had been liberated on the day 
of our entry, amid the most frantic excitement and 
display of gratitude on their part. It is more than 
likely that they largely ' spoiled the Egyptians' as soon 
as theii' first transports of joy and gratitude were over. 
In any case, when, the following day, they, with the two 
native regiments, went back from Coomassie, they carried 
with them a very suspicious amount of property. 
Mr. Dawson, despite his panic-stricken letters, had been 
found when we entered walking free about the streets, 
t^e other men being fastened to the most enormous logs. 
His property on leaving was very large." 

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SM THE ASBAMTEE WAR. 

The following letter describes the events of the next 
few days. In order not to interrupt the current of the 
narrative it will be convenient to notice here that Sir 
Oamet, in his despatch home, assigned as one reason 
for leaving Coomassie without setting on fire the burial- 
palace of the Kings, the sudden down-poor of rain 
which, as will be seen, now followed. 

Since then something almost amounting to a charge of 
want of veracity has been made against the General, 
on the ground that he, in fact, left because he was 
short of provisions. 

Now a statement half true is alwa,ys exceedingly difB- 
cult to reply to. It is quite true that Sir Garnet could 
not have remained very long in Coomassie. As will be 
seen from what has been said on p.. 269, he could not, 
consistently with Jiis instructions from home, or with 
his declared intentions, have contemplated anything of 
the kind. His movement upon Coomassie, carrying 
five days' provisions, was based on the intention of not 
remaining there longer. It was avowedly a sharp, bold 
stroke, intended to finish up the campaign — to accom- 
plish in the shortest possible time the objects he had 
been sent to accomplish. But on the day we left 
Coomassie there was still sufficient supply for two or 
three days more — thanks partly to hu^e quantities of 
food of a kind sufficient for the native carriers taken in 
Coomassie itself. 

It was the two days' rwn which, by making it certain 
that our return journey would at first be very slow and 
very distressing, determined the exact period at which 

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LIFE VERSUS ISDEMNITY. MS 

the return should he commenced, and appears to have 
decided the Oeneral not to destroy the Bantoma, or pnt 
additional pressure on the King. 

Both one and the other of these coiild have been done 
— at the cost of life and health to many more of the 
European force. The question was, had the General the 
right to sacrifice more life and health in obtaining fi'om 
the King additional money, or in carrying out a destruc- 
tion which might certainly [more completely effect the 
breaking-up of a kingdom which it was his object, and 
that of the Government, if possible, to preserve, but 
could in no way increase the demonstratioii of our power 
to punish. 

One more question has been raised. Sir Garnet, it 
is said, left Coomassie without having secured the- 
retreat of Captain Glover's force. The fact is, that he 
had secured, not Captain Glover's retreat, but his 
advance, by the completeness of the defeat which he had 
inflicted upon the Ashantee troops, and that he knew this 
well. For the situation in which the two forces were 
placed, he was in no way responsible. It had not been 
his doing that two isolated armies had been dashed at a 
single kingdom. He took the only means in his power 
for cMnmunicating with Captain Glover, for it appears 
that he sent messengers by every opportunity that pre- 
sented itself. It can hardly be maintained that he 
ought to have dashed into the bush with his troops in a 
wild-goose chase after a body of whom he had heard 
nothing for twenty days, as will be seen below. It was 
no fault of either commander that communication was 

A i.2 

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3GS THE A8HANTEE WAR. 

broken between them. It was simply due to the nature 
ot the country. But the fact rMuains that no eommuni- 
cation had for three weeks passed from either side, and 
under such Gircumstances it was inevitable that each 
should act independently of the other. 

{On the way back.) 

"AoiAMUM, Feb. Ith. 

" The fires of the night having been with much 
difficulty suppressed, the following day was spent in 
efforts to get the King to accept clemency and to agree 
to our terms. Every attempt vr&s met by cunning 
efforts to gather powder and guns from the town, with 
the obvious design to gain time for such mischief as 
could still be done us. The King could not believe in 
our honesty, he being utterly faithless himself. He 
was assured that his town and palace would be destroyed 
if be did not come ; but that every wish existed to saye 
tliem if possible. Nothing would do. 

"Meantime heavy rain came down throughout the 
afternoon of the 5th, and again such deluges during 
the night from the 5th to the 6th that the General 
decided he could no longer wait to daUy with one 
whose whole action had been only treacherous. The 
streams were rising in our rear; the wet weather 
threatened to be unhealthy. Our purpose could be 
as well secured by a signal act of . vengeance as by 
any treaty. Indeed, from a merely selfish English 
point of view, it was almost certain that the effect of the 
destruction of Coomassie would he of infinitely more 

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THE "BAinOMA." S67 

advantage to ns than any parchment writing conld be. 
The tribes of the whole coast d*wn to Lagos on one 
■hand, and Sierra Leone on the other, and for miles 
inland, would dread the Power that destroyed Coomassie, 
and would look apot) a treaty almost as a eign of 
weakness. It was a qnestion between the lives of oar 
soldiers and the preservation of the Ashantee kingdom. 
If we could have saved the latter we should have done it, 
but as the King so chooses it wHl fall ; for which, for my 
part, I confess I say, ' Thank heaven.' 

" For some time it was announced tiliat the General 
intended to destroy the ' Bautoma ' also. This is a 
place, about a mile and a half out of the town, where 
the ashes of former Kings of Ashantee repose. Its 
destruction would have involved three or four homrs* 
delay, and greatly lengthened our following day's march. 
The vengeance of the destruction of the town would be 
certainly sufficient to break the aggressive power of the 
Ashautees, probably sufBcient to destroy them as a 
nation. Farther vengeance we did not need. To have 
destroyed the Bantoma, one of two things would have 
been necessary: either to delay our troops when the 
weather was broken, or to have omitted all attempt to 
induce the King to save his city and negotiate with us. I 
cannot think that the nation would have held the General 
blameless had he pursued either of these latter courses. 

" The town and palace were utterly destroyed on the 
morning of 6th, as soon as the greater part of the 
troops had left the place. 

" The march back that day was a terrible one. The 

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358 THE ASHAJTTEE WAE. 

rains had made every stream of double the deptli it 
had been when we passed before, and had convei-ted 
the trach in many places into' a horrible swamp.' In, 
one x>lace, where we had gone almost dry-shod before, 
tJiera was a reach of 500 yards of water knee-deep 
tbroughont, and in one place over which a bridge for the 
European troops had to be thrown, neck-deep. "When we 
reached the Ordah, the bridge was standing, but the 
water was knee-deep over it. The river was still rising, 
and it was only by allowing the clothes of part of the 
Rifle Brigade and the whole of the 42nd to be carried 
over for them by coolies while the men waded or swam, 
that the force could be passed over that night at all. 
The bridge gradually gave way', so tliat the paaaage 
became slower and slower tUl five o'clock, when the more 
rapid process was, to the men's great delight, adopted. 
The Naval Brigade and headquarters came on here the 
game night. The 42nd and Ei£e Brigade came in this 
morning. Our faces are towards home. We hope to 
saU for England in a fortnight. 

" I have given no description of Coomassie — a short 
one will suffice. It is a cliamel-house, in no part of 
which is the odour of recent human slaughter unper- 
ceived. I do not use a term of my own, but one which 
, is simply the term naturally employed by everybody here 
ip speaking of it. It is a place into which it would not 
be worth the trouble of any one to go if it did not take 
80 much trouble to get there. The streets are broad, 
witli fine — some very fine — trees adorning them. The 
whole place is filthy. The houses for the most part of 

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ATTACKS ON THE POSTS. 359 

the ordinary Ashantee type, raised brick floors, an irre- 
gular kind of thatch above, open doorways, low roo&, 
only one floor. The palace is a huge, rambling, ugly, 
stucco kind of affair. Handsome wood-work chairs and 
curiosities of various kinds, native cloths, worked often 
with handsome embroidery, sometimes formed into 
umbrellas, sometimes not, were the articles of most 
interest within it. 

" Much had been removed. Everything was packed 
up. A small quantity of things was selected by prize 
agents^ and is being carried down to Cape Coast. Most 
was destroyed. The object of the expedition, however, 
was future peace and respect for the name of England 
throughout this part of the world, and it has been amply 
achieved. 

" Of Captain Glover we liave heard nothing since the 
17th, the day of his successful engagement near the Prah. 
Captain Butler, after a successful advance as far as a 
point not far distant from Amoafol, was paralysed by a 
senseless panic among the Akims, and is, we believe, 
now awaiting our return along the main road. Captain 
Dalrymple is coming in also with some forces from the 
West. Several of our posts along the road have been 
imsuccessfuUy assailed by the Ashantees, Notably Fom- 
manah was attacked whilst held by a very slender garrison 
on Februarj" 2nd. The place was large and rambling, 
the hospital was at one end of the town, and the most 
defensible part at another. Fortunately the Ashantees 
themselves set fire to it, and were not afraid to present 
themselves in the broad streets of the town. Colonel 

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8S0 THE A8HAXTEE WAR'. 

CoUey, the ubiqnitouB, arrived hot from the Ggbt at 
Amoafol, and from diiying the ABliantees back from 
Qoaman, with a small escort. The Ashantees were shot 
down in the streets, the fire exposed them to onr breech- 
loaders as it cleared them out of the houses ; the enemy 
' was driven off. Then the place wag cleared and made 
impregnable against any Ashantee force. 

" Colonel CoUey, with an extraordinary instinct for the 
spot where fighting is going on, arrived at midday on the 
Srd, jost as the fight was taking place on that day, and 
remained tUl the way into Coomassie was forced on the 
4th, retttming on the 6th to keep the way clear all along 
the line." 



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CHAPTER XVI. 

THE IfABOU BACK — TH£ KING OF A8HANTEE SENDS AFTER 
US — CAPTAIN SABTOBIUe's BIDE — THE BREAK OT OF 
THE ABHANTEE KINQDOU — THE PAYMENT OP THE 
INDEMNITY AT FOUMANAH — THE SALE OF LOOT AT 
OAPB COAdT — THE WEALTH OF A3HANTEE DEVELOPED 
, AND UNDEVELOPED. 

The following letters descriptive of the incidents 
whicli now occurred, and gaining mnch of their interest 
from the impressions of the moment, may be left as they 
were written. What were then "impressions" turned 
out, with the exceptions noted, to be &ctB, but other- 
wise no alteration is needed : — 

" Detchiaso, Ftbrvary OUi. 

" A fresh envoy has arrived from the King. The facts 
appear to be as follows : 

" The King has been thoroughly frightened by the 
destmction of his Palace. Captain Glover is still believed 
to be advancing.* The latest news respecting him arrived 
just after my last letter had gone oflf. He was then 

U the Sth, 80 that 



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362 THE ASHANTEE WAK. 

about twenty miles from Coomassie, and wrote on tlie 
28th of January, that he had had one trifling skirluiah, 
in which two natives were wounded, but no serioua force 
appears to have opposed his advance. Here a false 
report has reached us, vid Cape Coast Castle, that he 
was at Juabiu on the lOth of last month. The facts are 
as 1 have said. 

" The King having no force with which to meet 
Captain Glover, and believing that we have only come 
back in order to move along another road, destro}'ing as 
we go, and thinking, in all probability, that be is threat- 
ened with enemies to the north and all round him, has 
sent down this messenger to say that he is ready to do 
whatever Sir Garnet Wolseley wishes. At least it is 
presumed that is what he has come to say, for he must he 
aware now that he cannot eave himself by any other 

" One great advantage gained by the present event is 
that means are alforded for communication with Captain 
Glover. The King is very anxious to get an order sent 
to him to halt. As his Majesty has no one now about 
him who can read to him it is the safest and quickest 
means of sending to Captain Glover to forward the letters 
by the King's messenger. What, under these circum- 
stances, will be done has not yet been made generally 
known, but if some portion of the force delays its march 
to tlje coast till negotiations are over, it wotild appear 
natural, in any case it ia pretty certain, that delay will 
not be allowed to the King ; but if, after all, a treaty 
were drawn from him, it would make the work, at all 

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CAPTAIN SABT0BIU3 BIDES IN. 363 

events in appearance, more complete, though I inclme to 
think that it is no longer a matter of much consequence 
what treaties the King of Ashantee makes. 

" The disintegration of his kingdom has begun, even 
more quickly than any one could have expected. The 
King of Adansi, the guardian of the very entrance of the 
kingdom, has sent in to beg for leave for himself and his 
people to emigrate to the Protectorate. They say they 
do not like the King of Ashantee, who is always cutting 
off heads, and if they could they would have come over 
to us before. 

"Captain Butler and Captain Dalrymple have now 
each come in, the one from the east, the other from the 
west, to join Sii- Garnet Wolaeley, all the chiefs and 
people whom they were leading having deserted tiiem. 
Nothing more miserable and contemptible than the 
conduct of these people can be conceived. Those with 
Captain Sutler ran thirty miles in two days without 
assigning any reason whatever for their panic." 

<■ FoKKANAH, Feb. 12. 
" Captain Sartorius has just ridden into the camp with 
twentj- men from Captain Glover, after one of the most 
adventurous journeys ever recorded. He started fi-om a 
point, as he believed, seven miles from Coomassie at 
12.30 P.M. on the 10th, expecting to find Sir Garnet 
Wolseley in Coomassie, and therefore taking no food 
with him. After travelling eleven miles, night fell, and 
he found himself at a village still seven miles from 
Coomassie, to the south or south-east of it. All sorts of 



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36* THE ASHANTEE WAR, 

rumours prevailed. They had heard in Captain Glover's 
camp on the 8th that Coomassie had been captured on 
the 4th. The news had been obtained from prisoners, 
but when the small party had left Captain Glover's force 
about three miles behind, some women were met who 
told them that Coomassie was burnt, and that Sir Garnet 
Wolseley had returned. Captain Sartorius sent word back 
to Captain Glover of this, adding that he would go on, 
and if Sir Garnet proved to be only a day's journey off, 
would follow him, but the men were fired upon imme- 
diately after leaving. He recalled them, and no news 
was sent back to Captain Glover. 

" On the morning of the 11th Captain Sartorius moved 
on towards Coomassie, about two miles outside of the 
town. He met. a woman, who informed him that the 
King and his " young men " were in the town, raging over 
the destruction of the place, and anxiotis for revenge. 
However, believing that he was now about as far from 
Sir Garnet as from Captain Glover, he resolved to push 
on. He entered Coomassie on the north side, and found 
the burnt and razed town entirely deserted. He reports 
the destruction of the Palace to have been most complete. 
Here and there a wall was standing, and in one place a 
staircase. All were in such a rickety condition that the 
first gale would blow them down. 

" Captain Sartorius pursued his journey. The floods 
had completely subsided. The bridge over the Ordah 
had, however, been washed away. Where the long stretch 
of water had troubled the troops all was dry, hard ground, 
and only a small stream indicated the channel which had 

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CAPTAIN SAKTOEIUS'S HIDE. 886 

proved so difBcult to pass. The odours along the path- 
way, due to the many still unburied bodies, and in places 
the bodies still lying in the road, would, he says, have 
ser^'ed to guide him, had not the road, broad, and in 
comparison with the bush tracks to which he had been 
iiccustomed ahnost worthy of Macadam, left him in no 
doubt as to the line Sir Garnet AVolseley had followed. 
A few Ashantees occasionally showed themselves, but all 
fled as he approached them. Not a shot was fired at 
him all day, and at night he reached Amoaful. 

" There he found a wounded Houssa who had fought 
on the Ashantee side, and the man gave him, as if ob- 
tained from Houssa report, the false intelligence that all 
the Houssas were 'coming down.' This Captain Sartorius 
understood to mean that some order of which he had not 
heard had been sent to Captain Glover to send down all 
the Houssas and Yorubas. The man also told him that 
Sir Garnet Wolseley was no great distance off. Accord- 
ingly, this morning he continued his journey, and reached 
this place about 12.30 p.m., having travelled with only 
his twenty men, each with forty rounds, for fifty-five 
miles through the heart of the Ashantee kingdom, from 
the &rther side of the capital. 

" He repoi'ts that since the skinniah on the 26th ult. 
near Odumassie, the advance-guard of Captain Glover's 
force had on the 2nd inst. a fight with Ashantees, 
at the passage of the Asnoom River. None of the 
officers were touched ; but five natives of Captain 
Glover's force were killed, and sixteen or seventeen 
wounded. No dead Ashantees were afterwards found. 

, . i;„jN.«j-vGoo^le 



3S6 THE ASHANTBE WAE. 

This soTinds as if the Ashantees there, as we fonnd 
after the battle of Amoafnl on the 31st, had, from 
the time of that action, not Tentored to si&j near 
the fire of oux Sniders, as they had done beforehand, 
though they still held their ground with considerable 
pertinacity as long as the fire was kept up mutually 
at some distance. 

*' Captain Sartorias's account of the conduct of the 
native levies shows them to have behaved with as 
despicable cowardice as the worst specimens we have 
seen here. The only dependable force appears to 
have been the body of 700 Houasas and Yorubas, 
who conducted themselves with their wonted pluck- 
All the tribes of Akim, Acra, &c., which have always 
been reputed to be the most warlike of the Protec- 
torate, appear to be in reality as worthless as the rest.' 
They all hung back, and would do nothing till they heard 
that Coomassie had fallen. That news spread like wild- 
fire, and their numbers be^m to increase with the most 
marvellous rapidity, even before Captain Sartorius left. 

" The King of Duabin had sent in his submission to 
Captain Glover, who, believing Sir Garnet Wolseley to be 
in Coomassie, had required the King to lay his petition 
before the General. A comparison of dates seemed at 
first to show that the mess^enger who reached Sir Garnet 
at Detchifuu was, in fact, not from the Kingof Ashantee 
at all; bat the messenger from the King of Dnabin.* H 
so, a chapter of accidents would have occurred at the 



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THE BRZAK-UP OP ASHANTEB. ' 387 

last moment most fortanate for Captain Sartorius. It 
is probable that Sir Garnet Wolseley would not have 
halted here but for the chance which seemed to present 
itself of completing, at all events in appearance, the 
work, by getting the King to sign a treaty of peace. 
Had, therefore, this mistake of the messenger in dehver- 
ing Ms errand not been madei Captain Sartorius's ven 
turouB ride must either have been extended to the Prah, 
or he wotdd have had to return by the way he came. 

" Meantime, on all hands the signs of the break-up of 
the kingdom multiply. The Wassaw and Denkera tribes, 
as soon as [the news of the actual fall of Coomassie 
reached them, became as valorous as they had been 
cowardly before, and now, wheu the, officers who had 
been attached to them have all left, they have turned up 
at this place in considerable numbers. I mentioned to 
you in my last letter that the King of Adansi had pro- 
posed to surrender himself, and with all his people to 
enter the Protectorate, He has now made a much more 
satisfactory arrangement ; he has met the Wassaw people 
on their march up, and has sworn with them the great 
oath that they shall give him reception in their country, 
and that he and they shall live as one people. As this 
would diminish pro tanto the power of the Ashantees, 
and increase that of the tribes in alliance with ourselves, 
while it involves ns in no new responsibilities, nothing 
better could have taken place." 

"Bkcwa, Feb. 12, sBCTiinff. 
" A slave of one of the chiefs has come in to-day, and 

n,gN..(jNGoo^le 



363 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

reports that aJl the Becva people are endeaTourlDg to 
persuade their King to give in his submission on his own 
account. The King, he says, has not yet given his 
decision, though he has not refused. On all occasions 
these people are so slow in taking any definite action 
that it seems in the last degree improbable that the King 
will come in before Sir Garnet goes, but it matters ex- 
ceedingly httle. There are several great divisions of the 
Ashantee kingdom — Becwa, Adansi, Duahin, Kokafoo, 
Mampon, and some others. Of these Becwa is the 
largest, and it is wavering, Duabin, the next in import- 
ance, has already submitted.' The King of Adansi is 
actually now in our camp, and is ready either to move 
with his people into the Wassaw countrj-, or, if Sir Garnet 
wishes, to remain where he is ; but in any case he for- 
swears entirely allegiance to Ashantee. The Ashantee^ 
themselves, hy the very summuy mumer in which they 
deal with those who have ever wavered, have taken care 
that no man shall venture thus to come over who does 
not seriously intend to oppose them. The King of 
Mampon has, as we now know positively, been killed in 
lighting against us. Their general, Ajnanqimtia, is also 
dead. , 

" The King of Ashantee was declared hy a prisoner 
captured by Captain Glover's force to be hiding with his 
mother. The story has the more probability from the fact 
that it was only let out hy the man in a drunken mood, 
and that circumstances of detail are added. It is said 
the King took with hun as servants only four Crepees, 
the tribe which Adoo Bofoo, as your readers will remem- 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



THE KING OF A8HANTEE BENDS THE GOLD. 369 

ber, treated with such outrageous treacherj and cruelty, 
when the missionaries were captured. Fearing lest the' 
^ves who owed him so little should betray him, he 
killed them all as soon as they had carried for him what 
he required," 

Fib. 13. 
" It turns out, after all, that the messenger received 
at Detchiasu was &om the King. An Ashantee has 
arrived to-day biinging the 1,000 ounces of gold de- 
manded, as an earnest of his master's intentions. He 
has come empowered to sign in the King's name, and 
undertakes that the King shall sign afterwards, a treaty 
of peace, in which the King accepts all the terms im- 
posed on him by the General. The terms of peace have 
not been made public,*' but it may be safely inferred 
that they include some declaration on the King's part 
that he haa no rights of any kind about Elmina. More- 
over, it is probable that everything that was sworn to in 
1831 by the then King of Ashantee will be now promised 
again under circumstances much more likely to prevent 
the promises from being broken. The only question is 
whether the treaty does not come too late to save the 
Ashaqtee kingdom from complete collapae. ■ Nearly half 
the nation has been involved in the overtures made by 
different chiefe ; and considering the pure terrorism by 
which the monarch's rule has been maintained, it seems 
as likely as not that fear of the consequences of again 
passing under his power may act as a most disintegrating 
element in the future. The Ashantees altogether seem 
* These Iiftve^ of oonne, sinoe been pablished, and are well-known. 
B B 

n„jN..^,i-,Gt)Ot^le 



3T0 TH£ A8HANT£G WAB. 

to form a congeries of tribes rather than a single hoiiio> 
geneous nation. The treaiy is much more important for 
the sake of saving the cotintry from complete anarchy, 
than for any use it will be in preventing future invasion. 
The collapse of Ashantee power'ia too complete for that 
to be a matter for any consideration. 

" The gold could hardly have been paid over at a spot 
at once more picturesque and more telling from the 
associations of the campaign. The camp here repre- 
sented our possession of the very key of the entrance to 
the kingdom, 'and our successful resistance to the most 
serious attempt of the Ashantees upon our most vulner- 
able point — the line of our communications. Here, too, 
it was that the General, at the commencement of the 
serious part of the campaign, paused for four days after 
receiving the messengers of the King who brought back 
all the white prisoners, and falsely promised, in their 
master's name, his complete submission to all our terms. 
In this way, if a point dramatically perfect at which the 
first tangible proof of the real submission of the Ashantee 
King should be made could have been selected, this 
undoubtedly ought to have been the one. 

" Fommanah, situated on one of the lower terraces of 
the Adansi Hills, but on ground still of considerable 
elevation, has round it to the south, south-east, and 
south-west a semi-circlet of wooded heights. The spar 
of ground on which the villt^e once stood, and on which 
the only house now remaining, is the Palace of the King 
of Adaosi— -now used as a hospital — extends from the 
base of the upper hills almost at right angles to their 

nign^PiiNGoOglc 



THE F1.YINQ OT£R OF THE GOLD. 371 

general coarse for about 150 yards in a directly northerly 
line, and then bends up a little to the east for another 
150 yards. It is &om 50 to 100 yards wide throughoTit. 
To north, nortii<west, and north-east, the ground slopes 
down in a gentle incline, of which 50 yarda on erery side 
have been cleared of bush, while, from immediately 
below, the forest trees lift their tops almost to the level 
of the hill. 

" This was the scene of the fiercest attack made 
by the Ashantees upon onr communications, when, 
on February 2ad, Captain Duncan, Royal Artillery,* 
being in command of the post (till the arrival of Colonel 
Colley), the enemy under command, as we have since 
learnt, of Essaman-Quantah, moved up from the north 
and north-west, actually getting into the village, and 
pushing through towards the southern end of it, entered 
the houses to which fortunately they set fire. The con- 
valescent sailors in hospital did excellent service, the 
ground immediately in &ont having been cleared by 
Captain Duncan's prevision on the day before. A fort 
bad been constructed at the extreme north point of the 
village, BO that as the two posts which it was necessary 
to defend were at the opposite ends, it became essential 
to hold, as far as possible, the whole village against 
tiiem, the houses having been left standing, and the two- 
ends rendered defensible, because, though this involved 
some risk, it left an excellent station for our troops. 
Since the fight, however, the ruin begun by the Ashantees 
has been completed. In place of the houses, wattled 
* ITpoii Ci^tain HoiUt's beins wounded, whioh oooniied eiul7 in thoS^it. 

BBS 

..\-.Goog\c 



372 THE ASEiNTEE VAB. 

hats for the men hare been, made everywhere, the fort 
and hospital have been strengthened, and no force the 
Ashantees could bring against it wotdd give them a 
chance, if the garrison had food and water. 

" On the part of this spur or terrace nearest to the 
Adanm range, and between it and the palace hospital 
have been erected the Head-quarter hats. Among 
others, a broad open shed has been raised by simply, 
thatching over with plantaia leaves and palms a trellis- 
work roof, supported on four large poles. Beneath the 
shade of this wall-less hut, the rustic and very rough 
table has been made which serves the Staff for breakfast 
and dinner. It has been simply formed by fastening 
together without any kind of smoothing lai^e logs placed 
side by side, and supported on perhaps half-a-dozen 
rough wooden posts below. 

" It was opder the shade of this mess-hut, and between 
it and the adjoining one, the General's, that the gold^ 
which was the sign patent to all men of the submission 
of the Ashantee King, was paid over and weighed. 

" The Government gold taker had been brought tip 
from Cape Coast to be ready for any emergency of 
the kind. He sat on one side receiving the precious- 
metal ; on the ' opposite sat some sis or seven of 
the Ajshantees, romid a large white cloth of native manu- 
facture, filled with gold plates and figures, nu^ets, 
bracelets, knobs, masks, bells, jaw-bonesi and fragments 
of skulls, plaques, bosses — all of the metal as pure as it 
can be, and of an endless variety of shape and size. All, 
or almost all, of these have through them.a fine hole for 

n„jN.«j-vG00glc 



THE PAYMENT OP THE GOLD. 373 

threading to form necklaces or armlets. Besides these, 
door ornaments and golden nails were thrown in, and a 
nmnber of odds and ends that most have been wrenched 
oflF in the hnrry of escape from the palace, and which 
now added qnaintness to the rich handfuls that were 
poured into the balance.* 

" A few officers were standing round mider the mess- 
roof watching the process. Around the place a cordon 
of sentries had been thrown, composed partly of the 
Fantee police, whom Captain Baker has now in admi- 
rable order, and partly of the 1st West Indians, in the 
ordinary white man's uniform of the expedition, with 
the to them utterly useless helmet. Thus the compo- 
site creatures looked neither flesh nor fowl, while they 
in pure delight at the garments they have been put into, 
claim to call themselves in their pride " the black 
!Europeans." Behind gathered on every little vantage 
ground of hillock or fallen hut as many natives as could 
get a chance of viewing the sight. 

" There will be many on the coast who will report to 
their dying day how they were present when the great 
King of Ashantee sent his messengers to humbly present 
gold to the white man, to ask him for peace, and how it 
was paid upon the northern side of the Adansi hills, on 
the spot which the Ashantees had vainly tried to take 
again, because they fancied that tiie white man was not 
strong enough to fight near the Ordah, and at the Adansi 
hills upon the same day." 



jNGoogle 



S7« THE ASHAITTEE WAB. 

"Cape Coibt Cabtlb, Feb. 27. 

*' The centre of interest at Cape Coast during the last 
few days has been the room in whiqh the small quantity 
of ' loot ' brought back from CoomasBie has been gathered 
for the purposes of inspection and sale. I scarcely know 
whether to say that accident or arrangement has pretty 
evenly divided between Cape Coast Castle and London 
the golden spoil that is or was for sale. Your readers 
may perhaps remember the account which I gave of the 
material of which the portion of the indenuiity sent by 
the King to Fommanah consisted. The sale at Cape 
Coast did not include any of this, but merely the King's 
property which had been found in the palace by the prize 
agents, and a certain quantity which had been taken 
from the hangers-on of the army after they had left 
Coomassie, together with a small amount which had 
been given up under Sir Garnet's orders by those officers 
who had had private opportunities for securing a share 
on their own account. 

" No one in England will find it hard t^ understand 
the peremptory necessity vrhich induced the General to 
prohibit the soldiers &om touching anything in Coomassie, 
even though everything was to be devoted to the fiames. 
A force of perhaps 900 men, in the centre of Africa, 
dependent solely on their discipline and the effective use 
of tiieir superior weapons for their triumphant position, 
if not for their very safety, in the heart of a kingdom of 
native warriors accustomed to centuries of victory, would 
have been exposed to terrible risk had any cause what- 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



THE 8A1£ OF TH£ LOOT. 37G 

BTer tended to break up the unity and militaiy effective- 
ne&8 of their organisation. It ia utterly impossible to 
tell to what lengths of indiscipline the spirit of plunder, 
if once allowed to break loose, maj' lead even the most 
perfectly disciplined of troops. But it did seem a little 
' too absurd when, just as we were about to devote the 
place to the flames^ a huge heap of costiy clothes and 
other valuable spoil was simply lying untouched in &e 
main street of Coomassie, taken as it had largely been 
from the released Fantee prisoners, who had occupied 
their time since their escape &om prison in spoiling the 
Egyptians with a vengeance. Sir Oamet felt thiSj and 
permitted a few officers and soldiers to pick over the 
heap and take what they could carry away. A few things 
had also been collected at different stations along the line 
of march by different men. On our reaching Amoaful, 
however, on the return journey, an order was issued re- 
quiring that all these private spoils should be produced 
before the prize agents, and either re-purchased by their 
possessors at a fixed price or handed over for sale, 
together with the articles that had been collected by the 
prize agents daring the night before our departure from 
Coomassie. Equity, no doubt, required that this should 
be done, since the soldiers had, for the most part, had 
no opportunity of obtaining their share. But it was not 
a little amusing to observe the look of horror with which 
more than one of those who held possession of some 
souvenir to which they had become attached entirely 
without respect to its value, learnt the price that was 
fixed upon it by the gold assayer. Every little ornament 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



8T6 - THE ASHANTEE WAR. 

in Coomassie is almost recklessly mended and patched 
■with gold. Common pieces of crockery which might be 
perhaps repaired in England by the not very elegant 
process of sewing in brass wire are found quite as roughly 
or even more roughly repaired in Coomassie, but with 
gold instead of brass. 

" The effect is not in the least better; the difference in 
price as determined by an assajer may be imagined. It 
really was a serious misfortune in some ways that it was 
impossible to pick up any little innocent articles costing 
a few pence or a few shillings which the men oonld carry 
away. The total value of everything was by no means 
as great as might have been expected. When the prize 
agents entered the palace they found everything from 
top to bottom packed for removal. The women, charac- 
teristically perhaps of their sex, had evidently put more 
faith than the men in the certainty of the fulfilment of the ' 
Fetish predictions which foretold the fall of Coomassie. 
For days, if not for weeks, before our arrival, they must 
have been engaged in getting everything that was possible 
removed. The consequence was that at first it warf antici- 
pat^d that the entire sum realised by what was found in 
the palace wonld not have exceeded £2,000; but the 
"Faxttee prisoners and the native offscourings of Coomassie 
were, as it may be well supposed, not to be kept from a 
tolerably effective course of pilfering during the whole 
time we were there. The things subsequently taken from 
them liimished, thwefore, no inconsiderable addition to 
the total. When brought down to Cape Coast, the desire 
of every one to have some relic of the expedition caused 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



the price to nm up in a very marked degree, and it is 
probable that the sum realized by the aale of the prize 
property in all will have amoimte<i to nearly £6,000* 
-The golden omaments delivered over at Fommanah not 
being prize are to be sent home to England for sale, and 
if the desire in London for some memorial of this ireird 
camptugn be at all as keen as it iras at Cape Coast, I 
should imagine that the 1,000 ounces will probably 
fetch at least half as much again as their Yolue by 
we^ht.* 

'*1 described in my former letter the character of the 
goods which will go to London. Those at Cape Coast 
were naturally somewhat different ; perhaps the most 
Taluable single item was a curious bronze representation 
apparentl)' of an Ashantee procession or battle. It Coqa 
sists of a series of very elaborate figures on a brbnz< 
stand. No one at Cape Coast knew how this somewhat 
exceptional piece of property came into the hands of the 
Ashantee monarch, but it was generally believed to be a 
piece of native work, perhaps carried out under the 
instruction of some of the European workmen who were, 
a few years ago, for some time resident in Coomassie, in 
connection with the mission established there. This will 
not make its appearance in England, for after a rather 
fierce competition it was knocked down to a Bussian 
prince, whose name, though I believe it is familiar enough 
in England in connection with the present expedition, I 
will not venture to put on paper, as indeed no one has 



jNGoogle 



«7S TEE ASHAlfTEE WAB. 

Tentnred to pronounce it out here; En pasgant, I may 
mention that the said prince arrived with most unlucky 
accuracy, 'just in time to be too hite.' He reached the 
Prah just as the news arrived that Sir Oamet was on his 
return from Coomassie. 

" For the rest there were numbers of native cloths, 
the exact value of which was a matter of serious dispute 
amongst the ladies, white and black) of Cape Coasts 
That is a subject upon which I shall not venture to 
pronounce an opinion. Some of thefli were certunly 
. excessively fine in texture, and the colours appeared to 
my uninitiated eye to be permanent and good. But I 
cannot pretend to think that much taste was displayed in 
any of them, and I doubt if they are really as typical 
representatives of native manufacture as many other 
portions of the goods for sale. There were an immense 
number of common Ashantee clay pipe-bowls and pipes^ 
a few silver-worked pipes, and two pipes which had 
belonged to the King himself, of which the bowl in 
each case consisted of solid worked gold of very curious 
pattern, while the stem was elaborately entwined with 
pure gold wire worked into various devices, and with 
a golden mouthpiece. The competition for these was, 
as it may well be beheved, from their entirely unique 
character, very severe. The number of ornaments used 
by the ladies of Coomassie, and especially by the King's 
favourite wives, was very great, chiefiy in the form of 
golden necklaces, breastplates, earrings, armlets, rings, 
&c., the work being almost always without addition of 
stones or onythii^ for which it is employed as a setting 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



THE WEALTH OF ASBAKTEE. S7S 

— so tax as I know, not even the lichly-coloured beetles 
of the country being used for this purpose. The most 
effective articles, to my mind, were those in which the 
simple rough ingots were used sometimes almost by 
themselves, sometimes in contrast with the more finely 
wrought metal. Of course, a considerable number of 
articlee of European manu&cture were on sale. A sword, 
which had been presented by the Queen to the King of 
Ashantee, was, perhaps, the most interesting of these. 
There was a curious piece of old plate, however, with the 
crest of some old English &mily almost battered out by 
wear and rough usage. Altogether, if a collection were 
made, on loan, of the articles purchased at the sale and 
brought to England, and it were exhibited, together with 
the bullion sent over as part of the indemnity, I think 
there would be considerable interest attaching to it as a 
display of native manufacture, though the money value of 
the goods would probably rather disappoint expectation. 

" It was not a little amusing to us in Ashantee land 
to hear of the astonishment in England at the tri£ii^ 
amount of the indemnity demanded from the King. It is 
evident that the wealth of the country has been enor- 
mously over-estimated in Europe. It is no doubt diffi* 
colt to realise the character of a kiagdom which literally 
consists of forest, with a few patches of cultivated ground 
surrounding the sparsely scattered villages. 

Ashantee, under a proper system of cultivation, would 
be capable of supporting an enormous population, and 
the numbers in the country itself, as it at present 
exists, are no doubt out of all proportion to the area 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



380 THE ABHAHTEB VAIL. 

of grotmd actually at present cnltiTated ; for the richness 
of the soil and the natore of the climate make every litde 
patch enonnonsly prodnctire, while the inhabitants are 
able to exist on the very sorriest of diet. But Trhen an 
idea of indemnities is formed on a kind o^ mental com- 
parison with the milliards demanded of snch a conntry 
as France, even the .existunce within its territory of gold 
mines of almost incalculable natural wealth, does not 
render a nation, circumstanced as I have described the 
Ashantee people to be, capable of sustaining a compa- 
rison in which they shall be anywhere at alL Any notion 
that has been formed of the natural wealth of the gold- 
fields of the Coast is probably not over, but vastly under, 
the mark. Concurrent reports of officers sent to very 
different portions of the country lead to the conclusion 
that there must be at least patches of no inconsiderable 
extent upon the Gold Coast which exceed in mineral 
wealth anything that we had known an3nvhere else in the 
world. Such was the report that was brought after his 
travels among Uie tribes of Eastern Wassaw by Captain 
Thompson within the first two months of our arrival on 
the Coast. The story which Captain Butler has fur- 
nished of what he has seen in Ashantee country proper, 
to the west, during the' continuance of the invasion which 
he conducted, is even more taking. 

" As I have every reason to hope that Captain Butler's 
experiences in this, as in other respects, will be narrated 
by the pen which has so brilhantly described the far 
different regions of the ' Great Lone Land ' and the 
' Wild North Land,' I must not spoil their interest for 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



GOLD-FIELDB OF THE OOAST. 881 

fiitare readers. But I may at least whet their cariosity 
by saying that 1 hare heard Captain Butler express hi^ 
belief that if the gold miiieTS of the regions which he has 
Jmown had the faintest conception of the nature of the 
veins of gold which permeate the country in which he 
recently was, not all the fears of African climate, or of 
Ashantee treachery and cruelty, would prevent an immi- 
gration which must ere long completely change the face 
of these regions, whatever terrible loss of life occurred 
during the earlier period of settlement. Captain Butler 
has had no inconsiderable experience of some of the 
richest goldfields of the world, but he says that he has 
never seen yet any country which could have paid for the 
labour necessarily expended in obtaining the ore, by the 
rude processes in operation in Ashantee. Whereas the 
ordinary system in a decently-managed goldfield is to 
make one shaft down to the vein till it is struck, and then 
to work along it ; in Ashantee the method adopted is to 
make a succession of entirely independent holes, which 
are dug completely through the soil to a depth in many 
instances of thirty or forty feet. Of course something 
must be allowed for the reckless expenditure of barbaric 
and especially of slave life, but when every reduction is 
made the inherent wealth of the country must be pro- 
digious. But natural wealth is one thing, and accumu- 
lated, accessible property is quite another. The mis- 
take which Alva made in the days of the tyranny over 
the Netherlands has never been yet so thoroughly 
exploded but that some relics of his notion still haunt 
the public' mind even in the nineteenth century. It is 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



3B2 THE A3HAHTEE WAS. 

always half believed that a barbaric and despotic moQarch 
who can lay his hand at will upon the property of any 
one of his subjects when he pleases, must have at any 
^Ten moment enormous and tangible resources. Cer- 
taivly the facts in Ashantee, at all events, are directly 
contrary. 

" There can be no question whatever that if, during 
the last fifty years, such rule and order had been esta- 
blished in Ashantee as would have permitted the steady 
development throughout even that short period of the 
population and resources of the country, its wealth would 
have been such that £200,000 would have been indeed 
a fleabite as an indemnity. As a matter of fact, those 
who investigated on the spot with all possible care the 
, probable sum which it was possible to exact from the ■ 
King have assured me unanimously that the one grave 
doubt in their minds is whether the King could actually 
pay so large a sum at all. The largest sum which has 
ever previously been demanded from any Ashante^ King 
was that which the triumphant Governor Maclean, in a 
moment of complete victory, succeeded in exacting. It 
consisted of 1,000 ounces of gold, to be paid over only 
as a security for good behaviour, under a promise, which 
was actually fulfilled, that it should within a limited 
named period be returned. It is said to be still one of 
the greatest puzzles of Ashantee casuistry what conceiv- 
able motive induced the English Governor ever to cany 
out this latter part of the arrangement. He had pro* 
mised it, of coarse. In the name of all Fetishes what 
had tihat to do with it ? " 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



CHAPTER XVn. 
IN ENGLAMD SINCE THE EXPEDITION. 

CAtTSES OF CONFDSIOX A3 TO SOME OF THE PACTS — THE 
ADMINISTRATOR -AND GENERAL — THE DOUBLE EXPEDI- 
TION WAS THE ASHANTEE WAR UNNECESSARY AND 

UNJUST? 

After all, the true object of writing is not merely to 
place on paper a statement of certain &cts, but if possible 
to convey the truth as to those fects to the reader. It 
■ has happened oddly enough from a variety of circum- 
stances, that there has been in relation to the Ashantee 
War a hitch in this respect due to some very curious 
circumstances. 

For one thing, we at the Gold Coast proposed to send 
home certain information, but the winds and waves, 
the telegraph, and, generally speaking, an incalculably 
erratic mail service, disposed of what we sent in the 
funniest way. Every one knows how tantalizing is the 
process of waiting from month to month for the parts of 
an exciting novel coming out in a magazine. But how if 
the February number came out before the January, and 
the March number appeared so quickly after the January - 



ji-vGooglc 



381 THE ASHAHTEE WAS.. 

iimt, the February number being quite forgotten, the 
March events were supposed to be a sort of direct continu- 
ance of the Januaiy ! How if, moreover, as fast as one. 
number appeared all the earher ones were for practical 
purposes lost and forgotten, and this kind of hodge-podge 
was all the while going on ? 

Supposing, now, the [novel were republished in con- 
nected and complete form, what would happen ? "Would 
not all those who had read it in its earlier stage be apt to 
skim the pages which they fancied that they knew, and 
therefore to derive their chief impression of the whole 
purport and gist of the story Irom the confused muddle 
of the earlier form of the tale ? 

Now that is very much indeed what has happened this 
time, not in relation to any one of those accounts of the 
war which have been sent home, but in relation to the 
general upshot and idea of the wac as it has reached 
England. The official despatches appear to have arrived 
in an even more hopelessly inconsequent order than the 
newspaper letters. It is really almost pathetic to look at 
the way in which the despatches arranged in the order of 
their reaching England fit in crossways upon one another. 
The entanglement is something amazing. 

Hence I have ventured to give this chapter the heading 
of " In England since the Expedition," because gradually 
since our return we have found out what the errors were 
which have become current in consequence of this erratic 
communication and of some other causes, 'and may hope 
to point out more effectually what the truth is, now that 
we know them. 



ji-vGooglc 



A GENEEAL '^WITHOUT INSTEnCTIONS." 3Si 

The means that one has of knowing what people are 
thinking generally at home are very complex. The 
ordinary talk of society ; the broad assumptions of news- 
papers, i&c., &c. One is necessarily dealing with the 
ephemeral, and must therefore allude to ephemeral matter 
which is usually supposed to die away at once — a suppo- 
sition which, in BO iar as its ' effects are concerned, I 
believe contains an enormous exaggeration. 

First, then, to deal with a mistaken assumption of very 
great importance, which has strangely attained currency, 
but the currency of which is not attributable to our 
erratic postal- service. 

In making a speech at the Mansion House, Sir Garnet 
— obviously in disparagement of his own merits — pointed 
out how great an advantage it had been to him to be able 
to deal with King Coffee as diplomatist as weU as General. 
This remaa'k has been attacked on two grounds. One 
of these attacks has been answered by the narrative, and 
may be left safely to it now that the letters which actually 
passed have been given. This consisted in the charge ■ 
that the King outwitted the General, not the General the 
King. 

The other was raised by the Spectator. The writer 
assumed that the General meant that he had been left 
and ought to have been left entirely without "instruc- 
tions." One feels considerably puzzled how to deal with 
a very curious mistake made by a paper which exercises 
so lai^e an influence. It is not surprising that ladies at 
dinner-parties, and even men of considerable poHtical 
ei^erience, should on such authority speak as if it were 



n,gN..(jNGoo^le 



3S8 THE ASEANTEE WAR. 

possible that sncb a thing could hare occurred. In &ct 
it would have heen simply impossible, under any condi- 
tions whatever, that a General should be so commissioned 
to act without orders. Sir Oamet was furnished with 
elaborate instructions, both by Lord Kimberley and by 
Mr. Cardwell. These are to be read by those who desire 
to examine them in C. 89J, pages 140, 141, 142, 143, 
and 144, but it does not seem necessary to give them 
in full. As is acknowledged again and again in the 
course of the correspondence, Sir Garnet's action was 
nothing but the faithful and exact carrying out of those 
instructions, in so far as they were sufficiently explicit for 
his guidance, so that their nature may be gathered from 
his conduct. 

As has been noticed in the course of the narrative 
(page 90, &c.), the responsibility of deciding on the 
necessity for the march to Coomassie, and of the sending 
of Enghsh troops, was so far left to him tliat he was 
required to state his reasons for considering the one 
advisable and for f^ing for the other. But even in this 
insttince, the Government reserved the right of decision. 

As to the nature of the treaty he was to make, he was 
furnished with instructions as precise as could have been 
possibly given beforehand. The only instance in which 
Sir Garnet, finally forced by facts," modified his exact 
adherence to these, was in the case of the alliance with 
the King of Adansi, a modification which has since been 
universally approved and for which the General never- 
theless apologised as being simply inevitable to-avoid the 
massacre of the tribe. 



ji-vGooglc 



THE FACTS OP THE CA3E. S8I 

It is almost curiously the case, tiiat in nearly every 
despatch the terms " In accordance with the instructions 
received from your lordship " are repeated. 

One little passage in the correspondence will, however, 
perhaps best bring this out. It happened that at one 
period the Government became alarmed by the comments 
which were made at home on their preparations, and in a 
despatch, in many ways noteworthy, wrote thus : — 

" The Earl of Kimherley to Sir G. WoUeley. 

" DowHiHo Street, Oct. 6, 1873. 

" Sir, — The preparations which have been made by 
the Military and Naval Departments to place you in full 
possession of all the means necessary for success in 
your important missioQ, have given rise to very numerous 
conjectures and speculations as to the intentions enter- 
tained by her Majesty's Government. 

" It is not necessary for me to warn you against beiag 
misled by expressions which will not fail to reach you, of 
these unauthorised anticipations, and to insist again upon 
the cautions which have been conveyed to you in former 
despatches. • * * "— C. 892, p. 62. 

This was written, it will be observed, before the Go- 
vernment had had time to receive any reports of what the 
General had done. 

It elicited a reply, in which the following occurs : — , 



vGoogIc 



388 THE ASHANTEE WAE. ■ 

" Sir 0. WoUeley to the Earl of Kimherley. — (BecfltDcd 
December 1.) 

"GOVEBNUENT HOITBE, OA^ COAST, 

"lfm,i, 1873. 
" Mr Lord,— I have the honour to acknowledge yoor 
1 idahip's deepatch of the 6th October, 1873, In refer- 
ence to it I beg to assure you that I shall certainly not 
allow myself to be iufluenoed by any of the numerous 
conjectures and speculations as to the intentions enter- 
tained by her Majesty's Government, which, as you 
rightly assume, have reached me &om many quarters. 
Your lordship will, I trust, have been able before this 
despatch arrives in England, to assure yourself that in 
eveiything which I have done, since I landed on this 
coast, I have kept carefully before me the instructions 
which have been given me by her Majesty's Government- 
• • • • .._(;. g92, p. 247. 

To which the following is the reply : — 

" The Earl of Kimberlep to Sir Q. WoUeley. 

" DOWNIHO Stbbet, Dee. 3, 1873. 

" Sir, — I have had the honour to receive yourdespatch 
of the 4th of November, acknowledging my despatch of 
October 6. 

" I have much pleasure in assuring you that her 
Majesty's Government have every reason to be satisfied 
with the manner in which you have executed your instruc- 
tions since you assumed the administration of the Gold 
Coast Settlements. • * • • "_C. 892, p. 255. 



jNGoogle 



"IN SEASONS OF GEEAT PEHIL." 889 

In aJl which it will be observed thattbe " instructions " 
are assumed on both sides to be the guiding principles 
under which the General is bound to act, and that the ■ 
sole question is as to the manner in which they have been 
carried out. I have probably said enough as to the strange 
assumption that a Government in employing a General 
as their agent in political matters necessarily abandons 
all control over him. As to the real issue, which ia 
whether " in seasons of great peril " 'tia or 'tis not " good 
fliat one bear sway," if history has the faintest pretence to 
be " philosophy teaching by example," there never was a 
matter in which her lessons were more precise and clear. 

It is not enough to compare the campaigns in Abyssinia 
and Ash|intee with those in New Zealand and the Cape. 
That marvellous story, never yet rightly told, of Su- John 
Moore and Mr. Freere, where none can dispute the ability 
of the statesman employed ; the story of Marlborough and 
the States General ; the story of Wellington's campaigns, 
all din, din, din the same inference into one's ears. There 
is scarcely another axiom as to which histoiy has not some 
janing notes or some cross lights to puzzle eai- or eye. 
Here there are simply none. And everywhere it is also 
clear that in so far as there is any fear in the matter, the 
fear for a government is not lest the General should 
exercise his faculty too freely in judging what modifi- 
cations he may introduce into their programme, but 
rather lest he should feel bound by it somewhat more 
rigidly than the "politicals," as the Spectator calls those 
who introduce the dual government, which has never but 
in one case — that of the Chinese campaign, which &om its 



jVvG.OOgle 



890 THE ASHAHTEE WAE. 

peculiar features furnishes no analogy — ^been anything but 
mischievous. ' ' 

A subject very analogous has become strangely con- 
fused, largely in consequence of the order in which events 
reached Ei^land. 

In personal admiration for Captain Glover and the men 
who worked with him, I yield to no one. It happens that 
I had the good fortune to send home to England the 
narrative of Captain Sartorius's ride, given in the last 
chapter, by the next post after he rode into the camp at 
Fommanah. It was the only letter that reached any 
Enghsh newspaper giving a fiill account of it, I do not 
think that either the public who then read it at home 
thought, or that those who now read it wiU think that it 
was written by one who, having no eyes for any but the 
expedition he was with, failed in admiration of the work 
of those who toiled at a distance &om us. 

It may therefore excite some sui'prise that I should have 
retained both this letter and thbse earlier ones in which 
regret is expressed that force should have been removed 
from Cape Coast to go to the Volta. 

In part, of com-se, it was a matter of honesty to do so. 
But in truth my behef is hs strong as ever that double 
expeditions are an utter mistake ; and despite the brilliaut 
qualities which Captain Glover and his officers have dis- 
played, I believe that the present expedition illustrates 
that fact more clearly than most. 

Captain Glover's force was made up of certain Honssas 
who were raised on the Gold Coast, 800 bging removed 
from Cape Coast to be takei^ to Accra ; of a large number 

n,gN..(JNGOOgk 



DOUBLE EXPEDITIONS. 391 

Bent chiefly through the exertions of Captain Leea from 
Lagos ; of a very small additional number of Houssas and 
Yorubas enlisted at Accra, and of native tribal levies. 

The sole motive for removing from Cape Coast to 
Accra the Houssas and Yorubas, and for not instead 
bringing all to Cape Coast, was tfae hope of raising the 
Volta tribes. 

On the day when. Coomaasie fell. Captain Glover was 
twenty-flve miles distant from the whole area in which the 
decision was really being fought out, accompanied by no 
forces of any value whatever, but less than 800 Houssas 
and Yorubas. He had been detained there by want of 
supplies, in consequence of the excessive difficulty of the 
country over which he had passed. He was entirely 
separated from eommunication with the General ; and 
had it not been for the completeness of the destruction 
of the Ashantee power, must have been exposed to 
terrible danger. 

Had Captain Glover been alone in the country under- 
taidng an expedition on his own account, carrying out a 
scheme which he had designed alone, there is no question 
whatever of the ability with which his task would have 
been accomplished. In fact he started a month before 
Sir Garnet, with an independent scheme of his own, 
which he was never able, from want of time, to work 
out, because the larger scheme subsequently propounded 
was designed to be accomplished within a given time. 

For the safety of the European troops, the home 
Government had imperatively required that Sii- Garnet's 
mission should be accomplished by a given date. Unless, 

n,gN..(jNGobgle 



392 THE ASHANTEE WAB. 

therefore, by tliat date Captain Glover was able to co- 
operate, his services would be rendered too late. 

The effect of two distinct schemes being thus on foot 
together at the same tjme, was that forces which mi^ 
have been effectually employed for months, only came in 
to affect the decision at the last moment. 

The deduction may be, that if you can secm^ two men 
so loyal to one another and to the public cause as Captain 
Glover and Sir Garnet, you may by luck hit off a success- 
iul cooperation. But had Sir Garnet's force not been 
independently powerful enough to secure the objects for 
which it was sent. Captain Glover's separation from it 
would have caused most serious mischief. 

That the double expedition occurred at all was not 
exactly anybody's fault. Least of all was it either the £inlt 
of Captain Glover or Sir Garnet. It was due to a chapter 
of accidents, but to Buch a chapter as a nation will be wise 
to avoid in the future if disaster is not to follow. 

To turn to another matter. I have already undertaken 
to give chapter and verse for my reason for adhering to 
the story I have told in the beginning of this work, of the 
causes which led to the war, in so far as they are different 
from those currently believed. Here there is no doubt at 
all as to the source of the error which has gradually crept 
over public opinion in the matter. As I have noticed 
already on page 21, a debate has taken place in the House 
of Commons (May 4th ultimo), in which all the speakers, 
save one, showed, without any pretence at concealment, that 
their knowledge of the merits of our quarrel with the King 
of Ashantee was derived from an article which appeared 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



HANCING A HINISTEB IN 74. 398 

in ihe January nTmil)er of " Fraser's Magazine," under the 
heading, " The Ashantee War unnecessary and unjust." 

Nor is it veiy surprising that that article should have 
heen supposed to have been based, more than is ordi- 
narily the case with papers of the kind, on an accurate 
examinatioD of original authorities. The writer begins 
by speaking as if he himself were one of those rare speci- 
mens, a " single man who will be at the pains of wading 
through blue books with a mere honest purpose of 
arriving at the truth." His tone throughout is one of 
high moral indignation. He desires to invoke the 
penalties of olden time upon ministers who err. He thus 
explains what he considers to he the success of his 
article : " What we have shown is, that English ministers, 
as at present chosen, do betray their country, aud that 
they do it with careless confidence in their impunity, 
which is quite terrible." He accounts for this by the 
fact that " the notion of its being possible that a minister 
who betrays the interest or sullies the honour of his 
country is a criminal to be terribly punished, is lost." He 
writes, in feet, throughout like a demigod, himself inca- 
pable of human error, who cannot for a moment under- 
stand that men may be Hable to frailty which is not 
criminal, and who, burning under a sense of righteous 
indignation, rejects with passionate scorn all that experi- 
ence which has gradually led our generation to think that 
when men commit mistakes, or write or say that which is 
not distinctly in accordance with fects, it is better to 
assume, at all events in words, that they intended to do 
their best, but failed, 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



391 THE ASHAKTEE WAB. 

It mast geem hard to be believed, what ia the fact 
nevertheless, that this immffculate man has made some 
very gross blnndera. Of these I propose now to give 
specimens. Into the question of the Straits of Malacca I 
do not intend to follow him. The value of what he says 
in relation to it must be judged by the accuracy with 
which he has quoted the documents to which he appeals. 

He passes, however, from certain assertions in relation 
to this question of the Straits of Malacca to an elaborate 
account of the nature of Hie rights of the King of 
Ashantee over Elmina. 

When a man expressly claims to be that one rare indi- 
vidual who examines original papers, ought he or ought 
he not to explain, or at least to hint, in what respect his 
statements are distinctly based upon those papers, and 
where he writes from pure imaginative d priori reasoning 
what he thinks very likely from analogy to be true, but 
what is directly contradicted by evidence, the value of 
which he does not attempt to upset ? 

He says that the Dutch " had no sort of r^ht or pre- 
tence of right to sell the territory and tribes of their pro- 
tectorate to any other power," because of the contrary 
" light of the King of Ashantee, recognised by them as it 
was." 

Is it not almost incredible that the man who thus 
writes should have read the follovring word^ written by 
the Dutch Governor on first hearing" that the King of 
Ashantee laid claim to any such "right": " I am 
extremely siirprised about the contents of the letter in. 
which the Ashantee King pretends the sovereignty (by 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



A DUTCH EECOGNITION. 396 

tribute) of Elnuna, and I can a^ure your Excellency that 
this revelation is quite new to me." "I declare that 
neither the King of Ashantee nor his ancestors have any 
rights over the ports, and as I had the honour to state, 
the annual payment of a certain sum was not an acknow- 
ledgment (4 kings of Ashantee rights on the ports, but 
was paid entirely to encourage the trade." " The King 
of Asbantee has no recognised claim upon the t«rritory 
or people of Elmina." " In former times I have given 
myself much trouble to send (sic, no doubt "search" is 
intended) the records of past years, and I am bound to 
confess that I never found the slightest proof that the 
King of Ashantee has a claim of sovere^ty on our forts, 
but that the money has been always paid to him by name 
of subsistence." " At all events, if a transaction, as he 
mentions, exists, he must bave the documents which will 
prove his claim, and if it is right it must have, been 
stated in the convention by which the West Indian Com- 
pany handed these possessions to the government in 
1791, where it is not mentioned. Some years ago I have 
seen bis pay-notes, I bebeve up to 1760, and there is 
only mentioned that the bearer gets for his subsistence 
two ounces of gold dust monthly." 

Of tbe action of the Dutch in relation to this question, 
and of their opinion of ^e King of Asbantee's rights, the 
statement that the King of Ashantee's rights were 
" recognised " by the Dutch is tbe only one made by a 
man who has read tbe above extracts, and who asserts his 
belief that no one hut himself will take the trouble to 
read them. It is true that a little earlier he has said : 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



39S THB ASHANTEE WAB. 

" The Dutch themselves had recognised it by continuing 
the payment of that tribute," apparently implying that 
this is the recognition he snbseqnently refers to ; but 
there is not the slightest hint from beginning to end of 
any of the following facts : — 

1. That the Dutch put forward an elaborate argument, 
supported by historical docnmenta, to show that the King 
of Ashantee's claim was entirely fictitious. 

2. That they altogether repudiated the assertion that 
-the " pay-note " held by the King of Ashantee gave him 
any other claim than that to receive a pension during good 
behaviour. 

8. That the " pay-notes " are a thoroughly understood 
and recognised means on the Coast by which a powerful 
and rich government retains its influence over the petty 
tribes. As a matter of feet no one can have been on the 
Coast without seeing nxmibers of them issued by us held 
by small chiefs, each of whom thoroughly understands that 
he is a subject pensioner rather than a receiver of tribute. 
If every chief to whom we pay a sum of money as long as 
he behaves well were to claim Cape Coast as his " by 
right," it would have to be divided into yards and inches 
to satisfy them. ^ 

So much then as to the recognition by the Dutch of the 
claim of the King of Ashantee. 

The next assertion is that our business, if we desired to 
"promote commerce," was "manifestly to befriend the 
Ashantees, to stand between them and the exactions of 
the Coast tribes, and to secure to them at least the one 
outlet they had always possessed for their trade." 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



TEE CBIME OP THE COLONIAL OFFICE. 397 

That asBertion might easily have been made in Englaiid 
before the war. It is not neceesary to answer it now. 

Two paragraphs ma; be left to contradict one another. 
In one the writer sneers at a civilization which consists in 
the importation of rum and gonpowder, cheap newspapers, 
and partisan government. In the next he declaims 
against a system of finance which depends entirely upon 
custom duties levied only and solely upon wines, ales, 
beers, spirits, tobacco, firearms and gunpowder. 

He incidentally shows why it was indispensable to have 
only one Government npon the Coast. The Dutch did 
not tax these articles, but did malce money in other ways, 
to which it is not necessary here to refer. Hence we 
could neither find a revenue for the improvement of our 
colony nor keep the importations of those articles which 
we wished to restrict within any bounds whatever. 

We now come, however, to that portion of the article 
apon which the whole grave charge is really founded. 
To any one who reads it with care and compares it with 
the originals on which it is based, it is perfectly evident 
that the whole cause and reason of the furious attack 
here made, not upon, be it observed, the errors of the 
Colonial Office, but upon their crimea, is due to the fact 
that in turning over the pages the writer has carelessly 
omitted to notice a particular document, ile declares 
that Lord Eimherley stultified himself; because it was not 
till " three days after the convention for the transfer had 
actually been signed, and when consequently it was im- 
possible that the claim of the King of Ashantee could be 
settled before its conclusion," that Lord Kimberley wrote 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



S9B THE A8HANTEE 'ffAE. 

to insiBt that the Dutch should procure a repudiation of 
those claims. 

The facts are as follows. On February 3rd, 1871, 
Lord Kimberlej, aware that the King of Ashantee bad 
written to claim " Elmina as his by right," has a letter 
written drawii^ the attention of the Foreign OflBce to 
this, and urging that nothing definite should be settled 
with the Dutch till a distinct renunciation from the Kii^ 
has been procured by them. 

The Foreign Office agree to this, and a conversation 
and correspondence takes place between onr Ambassador 
at the Hague and the Dutch Minister for Foreign ASairs, 
in consequence of which the Convention is " signed " at 
the Hague on Februa^ 25th, 1871, on the express under- 
standing that the Dutch shall, belorethe Convention is 
ratified, proctu-e a distinct disavowal of bis claims by the 
King of Ashantee. In other words, the terms are agreed 
upon but are not formally completed, expressly in order 
that documents which the Dutch solemnly undertake to 
procure shall be produced. 

Immediately on receipt of the news of this, three days 
after the Convention has been thus provisionally agreed 
upon. Lord Kimberley writes to give this information to 
our Govemor-in- Chief of the West African settiements. 

Eight months later, on the 16th December, 1871, the 
Govemor-in- Chief at length forward a document which 
he has received through the Dutch Governor fi-om the 
King of Ashantee, in which the latter writes, " These are 
to certily that the letter addressed to his Excellency 
H. T. Ussher, the Administrator of Her Britannic 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



WAS THE ASHANTEE KING'S 'APOLOGY* WOETHLESS. 3Sfl 

Majesty's Settlements on the Gold Coast, dated Coo- 
massie, 24th Novemher, 1870, by me, Coffee Calcalli, 
King of Ashantee, reside at Coomassie Kingdom, was 
tot^y misrepresented on the part of parties entrusted 
with the writing and the dictating. I therefore do 
solemnly declare, in the presence of your Excellency's 
Ambassador, Mr. H. Plange, profession writer of the 
Government Office at St. George d'Elmina, and my 
chiefs, that I only meant board wt^es or salary and not 
tribute by right of arms from the Dutch Government." 

So httle is it true that the formal signing at the Hague 
necessarily involved the carrying out of the transfer that, 
in the letter in which this distinct withdrawal of his claim 
by the King of Ashantee is forwarded, our Govemor-in- 
Chief urges that the ti-ansfer shoidd no longer be delayed 
— nothing further having been done during the intervening 
eight months. 

On the receipt in England of this letter, and not tUl 
then, this declaration of the King of Ashantee as to the 
ntdlity of his own claim having been thus received, 
ratifications were exchanged at the Hague. 

All these facts are, as I have said, plain on the (ace of 
the documents to which Mr. Bowles has appealed. 

"Ratifications exchanged at the Hague, February 
17th, 1872," is plainly printed on page 43 under " Signed 
at the Hague, February 25*ii, 1871." 

The letter of Governor- General Sir A. Kennedy (on 
p. 31) contains the sentence: "I would in conclusion 
earnestly recounnend that the completion or abandon- 
ment of the proposed transfer be pressed upon Hie 

i:,gN..(jNGoo^le. 



400 THE ASHANTEE WAS. 

Netherlands' governmeat," plainly showing the nature of 
the two transactions, even if this terrible censor of poli- 
tical conduct was not sufficiently aware of the ordinary 
meaning of political terms to understand them otherwise. 
It was, of course, quite competent for Mr. Bowles to 
have declared, serious as the charge would have been, 
that the document called the " certificate of apology " of 
the King of Ashantee was an impudent forgery on th« 
part of the Dntch. It was not competent for him to set 
himself forth before the public as the one reader of 
ordinal documents, and to ignore its existence. 

To prove that it was not a forgery, but the genuine 
expression of what the King of Ashantee said at the time, 
happens to be at present much more easy than is usual in 
the case of dealings with savage tribes. 

The Dutch Governor was not content with extracting 
it from the King, but also elaborately referred to this 
apology subsequently in a letter to him (p. 35), and it 
happens that we have now the evidence of all the white 
prisoners who were at Coomassie, that especial pains were 
taken there on every occasion to have men present before 
the King who could accurately interpret letters sent to 
him ; so that these gentlemen do not think it possible for 
him to have been deceived. Yet in no subsequent letter 
does the King allude to this apology in order to repudiate 
it, and it was not till the 20th March, 1873, after his 
troops had been for four months engaged in ravaging the 
whole country up to Tim lin in a and Cape Coast, that he 
again put forth any claim to Elmina. When he does 
again refer to it, it is in the following form : — - 

n,gN..(jit/G00glc 



WHY THE EING WAS "ANQaT." 401 

" His MajeBty states that, he being the grandson of 
OsBai Tutu, he owns the Elminas to be his relatiTes, and 
consequently the fort at Ehnina and its dependencies 
being his, he could not understand the Administrator-in- 
Chief's sending Attah {alias Mr. H. Flange) to tell him 
of his having taken possession of them for Quake Fram, 
and noti^dng him also that in four months, he, the 
Administrator, would come to Ashantee to take away 
power from Mm. 

" He states that he has been made angry by this, and 
it was this which led to hia sending his great captains and 
forces to brii^ Tij ni Qnake Fram, of Denkerah, who dares 
to take his Elmina fort, &c., and also the Assins and 
Akims, who are his own slaves, and who have united with 
the Denkerahs to take power from him. 

" His Majesty further states that your honour's 
restoring him these tribee, viz., Denkerahs, Akims, and 
Assins, back to their former position as his subjects, and 
also restoring the Elmina fort and people back in the 
same manner as they were before, will be the only thing 
or way to appease him, for he has no quarrel with white 
men ; but should your Honour come in to interfere, as 
he hears you are, that yon have not to blame him, 
because he will then start himself." 

He here puts forward along with this claim a story 
about the man Plange, which, as has aheady been shown, 
is according to the best evidence we have been able to 
obtain purely fictitious. He insists on his r^hts over 
tribes which had been for forty yeai's independent. 
Moreover, while he here distinctly claims £lmina, he as 

s D 

n,gN..(jNGoogle 



402 THE ASHANTBE WA£. 

distinctly asserted, when he fonnd himeelf hard pressed, 
that the attack upon that town had been made against his 
orders by his general (see p. 263). 

In other words, the question of "right" is not one 
which he consideTB at all. His whole diplomacy is 
based on a savage cunning which makes him always 
assume that others are as careless of records, and there- 
fore as forgetful as himself. He puts forward on each 
occasion whatever plea appears most convenient and most 
plausible, heing utterly indifferent to the &ct that the 
mere comparison of his own letters with one another 
shows that he does not even attempt to write in one what 
is consistent with that which he has written in another. 

The King's letter putting forth his own pleas for inva- 
sion, is a sufficient answer to a loi^ and involved story, 
which Mr. Bowles has brought forward as to the arrest 
of Atchampon and the destruction of Elmina. 

To put the facts as tiiey really were to show by direct 
proof that Mr. Bowles blundered as much in his use of 
the documents which relate to these events as to those I 
have already referred to would be easy, but would be 
wearisome, A writer who claims to appeal to evidence, 
and deals with it in the manner I have shown, does not 
deserve to have his further appeal to it treated with the 
same respect; 

I shall content myself with stating the case as it 
actually occurred in few words. Mr. Bowles has asserted 
that the consent of the natives of Elmina to the truisfer 
ought to have been obtained and was not. 

The answer is that that assent was obtained, and in this. 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



■WHY THE ELMINA8 FOUGHT 1 



very simple maimer. The natives were told that whether 
they wished it or not the Dutch did intend to withdraw 
from the Coast. On that point the natives had clearly 
no right to put in a veto. We said " you can accept our 
protection or not, as you please, but you ■ must consider 
what your position will be in regard to hostile tribes if 
you repudiate our protection and all other protectors have 
left." 

That argument was decisive. The natives felt they 
had no choice but to accept our protection, because they 
would in the distracted condition which would prevail 
upon the Coast if European influence were withdrawn, be 
destroyed by other tribes. They all swore allegiance to 
Her Majesty, some of them no doubt with much secret ill- 
will, but distinctiy for the sake of their own advantage, 
and with no other coercion than the necessity which their 
quarrels with other tribes imposed upon them. 

Then when the Ashantee King invaded, they saw the 
prospect of an alliance which might save them Irom us. 
They began to make predatory attacks upon all who 
remained loyal to our ilag. After cruelties innumerable 
hid in this way been perpetrated, they were summoned 
again to present themselves to show their loyalty, and to 
surrender their arms, or to accept the consequences; 

They, confident in the support of the Ashantees, chose 
the latter alternative, and the result was the destruction 
of their part of Elmina, and the defeat which on June 
13th Colonel Festing inflicted on the allied Elminas and 
Ashantees. 

Once more, Mr. Bowles asserts that Lord Kimberley, 
D D 3 

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^M THE ASHANTEB WAS, 

having made it a condition that Atchampon should be 
removed from Elmina before the transfer to us took 
place, we nevertheless accepted the transfer without in- 
sisting on the removal of the Ashantee chief. 

Mr. Bowles has been misled by the fact of a subsequent 
aiTest of Atchampon. He was removed from Ehnina 
before the transfer, but unhappily he was not removed 
from out of reach of the territory, being sent only to 
" Half Asinee," whence he could, without passing 
through Fanteeland, enter Ashantee. It was undoubtedly 
a mistake on the part of the Dutch authorities that this 
was done. But the conditfon which Lord Kimberley 
prescribed was carried out, and so this, like each one of 
Mr. Bowles's accusations, falls to the ground. 

The reason why the Elminas, though they accepted onr 
rule, did not wish to do so, is simple enough. They had 
been for years engaged in savage wars with the Fantees, 
whom we protected. The chief object of our arrange- 
ment with the Dutch was to put a stop to these wars. 
We were therefore precisely placed in the proverbially 
difficult position of peace-makers. It, is not quite the first 
time in history that those who have laboured for peace 
have found as a result that men prepared for battle. 

The Elminas considered our coming as a sign of the 
victory of the Cape Coast people : the latter regarded it 
in a similar hght. There lay the difficulty^ 

In short, our adminstrators have had a most intricate 
and arduous task upon the Gold Coast, and one as to their 
execution of which they have needed not carping criticism 
but generous sympathy. Criticism is go easy — ^Art is »o 

n,gN..(JNGOOglC 



THE END. 409 

difficult. I write in the interest of no party. In the 
results which hare been brought about both parties have 

had their share. 

During the early half of the century our conduct was 
certainly not much to our credit, but I believe, firmly, 
that in the efforts which have been made to extricate us 
from the false position in which we had been placed by a 
too-long delay in taking decisive action our statesmen 
have nothing but the ordinary liabilities of human frailty 
to regret, and very much to. be proud of. If ever there 
was a war necessary and' just it was that which ended in 
the destruction of Coomassie. 



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APPENDIX. 

APPENDIX A. 

The foUowing is the list of officursraferTOdtoonp, 30 :-^CoIonel 
M=NeiU, T.C. C.M.G. Colonel on the Staff; Major T. D. Baker, 
16th Begiment, Asedstant Adjutant- Oeueral ; Captain Eullor, 60th 
Bifles, Deputy AsHiatant Adjutant-Oeueral ; Captain HuyBhe; 
Bifle Brigade, Deputy Asdetant Quarter- Master-General ; Captain 
M'Calmoiit, 8th Hussars, Aide- de- Camp ; Lieutenant Hon, A, W. 
Charteiis, Coldstream Ghoante, Aide-de-Camp ; Capt^n H. Biack- 
enbury, Eoyal Artillery, Assistant Military Secretary; Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Evelyn Wood, 90th Light In&ntry; Major B. C. 
Bussell, litth Hussars ; Major Home, Boyal Engineers ; Captain 
Bait, Boyal Artillery; Lieutenant Saunders, Boyal Artillery; 
Lieutenant Wilmot, Boyal Artillery ; Lieutenant Maurice, Boyal 
Artillery ; Captain Bromhead, 24th Begiment ; Captain Godwin, 
103rd' Begiment; Captain furse, 42nd Begiment; Lieutenant 
Hart, 31st Begiment; Lieutenant Gordon, 93Td Highlanders ; 
Lieutenant Dooner, 8th Begiment; Lieutenant Woodgate, 4th 
Begiment; Lieutenant Towushend, 16th Begiment; Lieutenant 
Lord Gifford, 2ith Begiment ; Lieutenant Bichmond, SOth Begi- 
ment ; Lieutenant Graves, IStli Begiment ; Lieutenant Eyre, 90tli 
Light Infantry; Lieutenant Bolton, 1st West Indian Begiment; 
Mr. Irvine, DeputyOontroUer; Commissary O'Connor; Commissary 
Bayenscroft ; Deputy Commissary Walsh ; Assistant Commissary 
PitB-Stubbs; Deputy Paymaster Potter ; Assistant Paymaster Ward; 
Surgeon-Major Jackson; Surgeon Atkins. — Thirty -five in alL 

By the next ship. Captain Buckle, Boyal Engineers ; Captain J. 
Nicol, Adjutant, Hants Militia, came out. 

Thus twenty-nine "combatant officers" in all started at the 
commencement with Sir Garnet on his expedition. Of these, eight 
are now (May 21et) dead — half &om wounds, half from climate. 
Only two of the thirty vere not at some time or otlier most 
seriously, if not dangerously, ill : seven were wounded besides those 
who died, 

Thdrty-dght officers in all are now, July 9th, dead, out of the 
whole force. The number of men is comparatively very small, 
but not easily asoertaiaable. 



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APPENDIX B. 

The following has b»n often referred to in the text :— 

Trtoty of Peace and Commtrce with Aihanfee and Fanlee Chiefs. — 
Cape Coait Castle, April 27, 1831. 

Wb, the Undesigned, namely : — The Governor of Cape Coast 
Castle and British Settlements, on the part of his Ifajeetj the Eiog 
ef England ; the Princess Akianvah, and tiie Chief Qiiagna, on 
tlie part of the King of Ashantee, Agge^, "K"ing of Cape Coast, 
Adookoo, King of Fantee, Amoaoo, "King of Annamaboe, Chibboo, 
King of Dintara, Ossoo Okoo, King of Tufel, Animinee, King of 
Wassaw, Chibboo, King of Assin, the Chie& of Adjtuoacon and 
Essacoomah, and the other Chie& in alliance vith the King of 
Great Britain, whose names are hereunto appended, do consent to. 
and hereby ratify the following Treaty of Peace and of I'ree Com- 
merce between ourselves and such other Chiefs as may hereafter 
adhere to it. 

AbticleZ. 

The King of Ashantee having deposited in Cape Coast Castle, in 
the presence of the above-mentioned partios, the earn of 600 onnoes 
of gold, and having deEvered info the hands of the Governor two 
yoang men of the royd family of Ashantee, named Ossor Ansah, 
and Ossoo In Qnantamissoh, as security that he will keep peace 
with the said rartiea in all time coming, peace is hereby declared 
betwixt Uie said King of Ashantee and all and each of the Parties 
aforesaid, to continue in all time coming. The above eecurities 
shall remain in Cape Coast Caetle for the space of six years from 
this date. 

ARTICLE n. ' 

In order lo prevent all quarrels in Aitnre which might lead to 
the infraction of this Treaty of Peace, we, the Parties aforesaid, 
have agreed to the following mles and regolatioQB for the better 
protection of lawful commerce: — 

The paths shall be perfectly open, and ft«e to all persons engaged 
in lawful traffic ; and persons molesting them in any way whatever. 



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or forcing them to purchaBeatanypartioalar market, orinfluendng 
them bj any uii£uz meana whatever, tihaJl be dedared guilty of 
ioMnging thia Treaty, and be liable to the Bevereat ptmiabment. 

Fanyarring, deuouBcing, and awearing on or by any person oF 
thing whatever, are hereby atiactly forbidden, and all pereoDS 
inMnging this rale shall be rigoronely punished; and no maBt«ror 
Chief shall be answerable for the ciinieB of his serranta, unless 
do'ne by his orders or consent, or when iinder his control. 

As the King rf Ashantee has renotinoed all right or title to any 
tfibute or homage from the Ejngs of Dinkara, Assin, and others 
formerly his snlg'eots, so, on the otiier hand, theae Partiee are 
strictly prc^bited &om inanlting, by improper speaking, or in any 
other way, their former master, sooh conduct being calculated to 
produce quarrels and wars, 

All Ipalavers are to he decided in the manner mentioned in the 
terms and conditions of peace already agreed to by the Parties 
to this Treaty. 

Signed in' the Great Hall of Cape Coast Castle, this 2Tth day of 
April, 1S31, by the Parties to this Treaty, and sealed with the 
great seal of the colony in their presence. 

L.s.) GEonoE Macleait, Oovemor. 

8.) Akiamtah, her X mark. Princess of A»hantee. 

B.) QCAODA, his X mark. Chief of Ashantee. 

a.) Agoert, his X mark. King of Cape Coast. 

L.8.) AnooKOO, hia X mark, King of Fanlee. 

S.) Amonoo, his X mark, King of Annam^oe. 

a.) Abookoo, his X mark, Chief of Acomfee. 

L,8.) Ottoo, hia X mark. Chief of Abrah. 

L.s.) Chibboo, his X mark. King of Assiiu 



THE END. 



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