10 
MISSION TO ASHANTEE. 
capital, you will of course see the King, and deliver him the various 
presents in the name of the African Company, to be received by 
him as pledges of the harmony and friendship which is ever to 
subsist between them ; and also of his good will towards the 
natives residing under the protection of their different forts. You 
will not fail to impress upon his mind, the great power, wealth, and 
consequence of the British nation, and how much it is the interest 
of himself and his subjects, to promote and perpetuate their present 
free intercourse with the water side. In the course of your inter- 
view many circumstances will doubtless occur, which will suggest 
various other matters. proper to be mentioned to the King, all which 
I shall leave entirely to your own discretion. 
You will acquaint the King, that in order to secure a correct 
communication between him and myself, I request his permission 
to allow an officer to reside constantly at Commassey, who will 
defray all his own expenses, and for whom you will build a house 
without loss of time. A carpenter, bricklayer, and cooper are sent 
with you, and you will leave them with Mr. Hutchison, who will 
remain as Resident. On your departure you will give him full 
instructions in writing for his future government, a copy of which 
you will deliver me upon your return. 
You will keep an exact diary of every circumstance possessing 
the least interest, a copy of which you will transmit me by every 
opportunity. 
In the course of your stay in the Ashantee country, you will 
embrace every occasion of becoming acquainted with the politics 
of that nation, of ascertaining its extent and boundaries, the power 
of the King over the hves and property of his subjects, the pro- 
bable force he could bring into the field, the number of his allies, 
the sources and amount of his revenues. Whether he is tributary 
to any other power, and what nations in his neighbourhood are 
