ASHANTEE. 



61 



from Apollonia, Dix Covo, and all other parts 



of tlu- a^t lifl.m.^in^ to (iivnt I'.ritain. 



i I,- uml.Tttikes the responsibility of keep- 

 i;u a roiiil, titu-.-n tV.-t wide, clear of bush, from 



to the I'rah. 



5. Ho engages also to protect goods and 

 .audiso in transit between the Prah and 

 lade. 



ii. T!u> King is to prohibit human sacrifices. 



7. Finally, he promises to be at peace with 

 England forever. 



Captain Glover followed Sartorius to Coo- 

 masMf and Fommanah. General Wolseley, on 

 Fi'lirnacy 16th, recrossed the Prah, and on 

 February 19th made his triumphal entry into 

 Cape Coast Castle, whore the European mer- 

 chants and the natives had erected grand tri- 

 umphal arches. The Ashantee women, paint- 

 I'd black and white, swung green branches, 

 and sang triumphant hymns as each regiment 

 entered. Prahsu, which had been strongly 

 fortified, received a garrison of West-Indians, 

 and remained in telegraphic communication 

 with Cape Coast Castle. The English regi- 

 ments soon after embarked, and were at the 

 beginning of March welcomed in England by 

 grand ovations.- According to a return, issued 

 in July, the total strength of the force (exclu- 

 sive of native levies and West-Indian regi- 

 ments) engaged in the prosecution of the war 

 in Ashantee was 2,507 of all ranks : 297 offi- 

 cers, and 2,290 non-commissioned officers and 

 men. The casualties from disease numbered 

 511, and from engagements with the enemy 

 202. and after arrival at liome, up to the 81st 

 of May last, there were ten deaths from wounds 

 or diseases contracted in Africa. The total 

 number who died was eighteen officers and 

 fifty-three non-commissioned officers and men. 



The native allies with whom Captain Glover 

 had to deal are thus described by him: 



Sakety, chief of the eastern Kroboes, was the 

 only chief of the whole eastern protectorate whom 

 I found always ready, willing, and able to carry out 

 the orders he received, and I trust her Majesty's 

 Government may be pleased to mark its sense of 

 his most exceptional conduct. The chief of Abude. 

 in Aquapim, marched with me to Coomassie, and 

 rendered great assistance in providing carriers. His 

 conduct is exceptional also, and should be noticed. 

 The King of Eastern Akim, one or two chiefs, and 

 perhaps some hundred of his men, are the exception 

 that I am about to report, viz., that the eastern 

 Akirus are the most abject cowards it is possible to 

 conceive. They would neither scout, patrol, recon- 

 noitre, carry, nor flght. At Conomo I threatened to 

 burn tneir camp and drive them back to their women 

 across the Prah, and only spared them for the sake 

 of their king, a young man of twenty-one or twenty- 

 two years. Among the cowards of the protectorate 

 I should consider them preeminent. The natives 

 of the different tribes of the eastern district of the 

 protectorate I must report as truculent, disobedient, 

 and unreliable. That they can be got to flght on 

 some occasions I have seen : but, where there is 

 neither pride nor shame, you nave no sense of feel- 

 ing to work upon, save one their fear. There has 

 been one bright exception to this distressing report 

 of the eastern tribe of the protectorate. Two com- 

 panies of Christians, one or Akropong and the oth- 

 er of Christiansburg, numbering about one hundred 



each, under their two captain*, accompanied by Bible- 

 readers of the Basle Mission, attend a morning and 

 evening serrioe of their own dully, a bell ringing 

 them regularly to prayers. In action with the ene- 

 my at Adidume*, on Christmas-day, they were in 

 advance, and behaved admirably, since which they 

 have garrisoned the depot at Blappah. Their con- 

 duct lias been orderly and soldier-like, and they 

 have proved themselves the only reliable men of the 

 large native force recently assembled on the Volta. 



The success of the English expedition proved 

 a powerful blow to the rule and influence of 

 the Ashantee King. To understand the events 

 which followed the English expedition, it must 

 be remembered that, about two hundred years 

 ago, the Ashantees were a small tribe, vassals 

 of Denkera, then a powerful state, now part 

 of the English protectorate. The Ashanteea 

 being ill-treated, rebelled, gained their inde- 

 pendence, and founded Ooomassie. They were 

 surrounded by small kingdoms Becqua, Ko- 

 kofo, Mampon, Adansi, and Djuabin all of 

 which they conquered; but these states still 

 remained under their own kings, who paid 

 tribute to the King of Ashantee, contributed 

 soldiers when he went to war, attended the 

 capital at certain festivals, and were sum- 

 moned, as occasion arose, te councils, at which 

 each chief or king spoke in turn, according to 

 his rank. Thus the Ashantee nation was not 

 homogeneous, but composed of various king- 

 doms, which cherished the traditions of their 

 independent sovereignty, which were held to- 

 gether merely by the fear of punishment, and 

 which were prepared at any time to secede 

 from tyranny and taxation should any misfor- 

 tune befall the imperial tribe. This seceding 

 or separating process commenced before the 

 English troops were out of Ashantee. The 

 chief of Adansi and his people had been much 

 oppressed by Ashantee. He resisted the white 

 men, but, as soon as Coomassie had been taken 

 and the struggle decided, he determined to 

 throw off his ancient yoke and place himself 

 in the hands of the stronger and also more 

 merciful power. He met Sir Garnet Wolseley 

 in the ruins of Fommanah, his own capital, and 

 there made arrangements for migrating into 

 the protectorate. At the same time a rumor 

 reached the general that the chief or King of 

 Becqua desired to follow the example of Adansi. 

 Becqua is a powerful state, and its capital, 

 which the English troops destroyed, was not 

 much smaller than Coomassie. Finally, the 

 King of Djuabin sent in his submission to Glo- 

 ver, and afterward began negotiations with 

 the King of Eastern Akim, with a view to mi- 

 gration to that country. Subsequently Becqua 

 and Djuabin determined to hold their own terri- 

 tory, to cast off their allegiance, and to resist 

 any attempt that Oal-Oalli might make to sub- 

 due them. Becqua was supported by Denkera, 

 and Djuabin by Akim. Coomassie and its terri- 

 tory lie just between the rebellious states, and 

 if Kokofo and Mampon refused to assist the 

 Ashantees, the latter kingdom would be likely 

 to be reduced to its former elements, viz., a 



