THE ASHANTEE WAR.

Evening Star, Issue 3390, 2 January 1874, Page 3

THE ASHANTEE WAR.

ARRIVAL OF SIR GARNET WOLSELEY. (From\the Telegraph's Special Correspondent.) Cape Coast Castle, Oct, 5. Sir Garnet Wolseley arrived here in good health on Thursday last, the 2nd of October, on board the steamship Ambriz. Our anx lously expected Commander-in-chief landed, with the whole of hi-t staff, at half-past four in the afternoon, under a thundering salute, and walked up from the shore to Govern-ment-house side by side with Colonel Harley, attended by a guard of honor, and warmly welcomed by the Cape Coast population—white, black, and parti-colonred. In the evening Sir Garnet, with the newlyarrived officers from the Ambriz. dined with Colonel Harley ; bat of course no very serious discussions were held at this entertainment of welcome. On Friday, however, the following day, the commander-in-chief lunched by appointment with Colonel Harley ; and a long conference was then held, which lasted many hours, upon the state of the Colony ; the position of affairs ; and the whereabouts, numbers, and intentions of the Ashantee army. One of the results of this prolonged council was that an assembly of the Fantee kings and chiefs was summoned f«r the next day (Saturday) to meet the British commander, and hear what be had to say to them about the war. Accordingly, at 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon, their sable Majesties gathered together under the shade of two large marquees, pitched in the garden of Government-house. As far as titles went the group was certainly “ right Royal,” and I much doubt if so many monarchs have been brought together since the times of Joshua. There was the King of a place on the road from A gab ; the King of Goomah, a Fantee principality lying eastward; the King of Abrah or Babra ; wflh the Kings of Annaroaboe, of Cape Coast, of Commenda, of Akkinee, of Wassaw, and Agwafoo. In reading this grand list,* however, it is necessary to banish any ideas of Royalty derived from the “ Almanach de Gotha.” A plainer set of majesties morally and physically could not well be imagined. Along with this mob of dusky sovereignty had come their various chiefs and attendants, and the tents were accordingly well filled with perspiring ebonv, when Sir Garnet Wolseley entered, at halfpast fonr, surrounded by his staff, all dressed in the neat and soldier-like uniform of th* “ Cape Coast Army.” The commander, whose youthful appearance seemed to strike the native mind, was duly introduced to each of the African potentates, and shook hands with them, and with the principal chiefs. They then clustered ’round him in a dark and silent circle, while Sir Garnet addressed them in some very plain sentences. He began by telling his audience that the war was their war, and not the war of Her Majesty the Queen of England. They must, therefore, stand ready, one and all, to help themselves against the common enemy in a manly and becoming fashion. If they had’ spirit enough to fight the Ashantee in earnest, he (Sir Garnet) would aid them with all his powers to drive the invader out of their lands. But there must be no mistake about the matter. Englishmen were not going to bravo trouble and danger for the sake of cowards or idlers ; they themselves must fight, and fight stoutly; and each king must bring into the field and place under English orders as many warriors as possible. If they all showed alacrity and courage in this, the Queen had graciously given orders to provide the Fan tee contingents with European officers as leaders—one to every thousand arra°d men—and also with money and food to keep their people in the field. Ten pounds per month would be paid to each king for every thousand fit fighting men whom he should contribute, and a further allowance of threepence a day, with rations, for every, soldier, or fourpence halfpenny if rations were found by-the king In the former case, however, they must fetch the food, which would be supplied from Cape Coast Castle. AH'this having been made clear to the comprehension of their Majesties, Sir Garnet passed to another subject. He charged-tbem, in the name of the Queen, to abstain in future from their hideous and disgusting custom of mutilating the dead bodies of their enemies. It is the habit in these African wars with the belligerent Fantee to cut off the heads—or at least the ears—of those whom he kills, and otherwise to mangle the corpses of the foe ; while the Ashantee prefers to possess himself of the lower jawbone as a trophy. The British commander said that these practices were utterly offensive to him, and snch as no brave soldier ought ever to perpetrate. Sir Garnet ended the address by telling the kings that his time would be far too fully occupied to permit him to hold palavers with them every day, but he hoped that they would, upon leaving, go away at once to their ( towns, and get their warriors marshalled and prepared directly. He would gladly see 'them all again, and have some more “ war-talk,” when they came back at the head of their fighting men.

After this speech the black kings and their chiefs were dismissed with various presents, not one /6f them returning a single word, or in any, way whatever signifying acquiescence or satisfaction. This, of course may be Fantee etiquette on such occasions— I am'not sufficiently familiar with Court life hereabouts to pronounce an opinion—but the ring of odorous/ royalty seemed to me to, break up in a very sullen and gloomy way. The fact is, I Relieve, that the kings do not like to have the war called their war ; their wish and hopje is that the Queen of England would let them sit down quietly with their rum bottles and their yams, and order her soldiers to do all the objectionable fighting for them against the terrible Ashantoe, To my m/nd they are a wretched, lazy, worthless,, apathetic crew, these Fantee kings and warriJprs, ndrwill anything short of fire and the sword get them to stir ontdde tho : r dwelling* ; unless, indeed, their women, who are muon the “ best men” of the lot, thrash them pver the threshold, which has happened /before now in times of war. Trade and foar combined seem to have demoralised the jeoast Fan tees, taking out of them what fighting stuff they ever possessed. They are exceedingly covetous, and in this respect the subslidy offered to them will, no doubt, have som/e effect; for though LlO per month for l.ftOO men, with 44d per diem for pay and subsistence, does not sound large to Furopean ears, it is handsome here. The amount, mldeed, may he described as enormous in Ffhntee currency ; and if anything brings our ptjecioms allies hereabouts into the held this

ought to doit. If it fails, Sir Garnet Wolseley will be obliged to insist upon each town and village furnishing its quota to the auxiliary force, and when he gets the men he will have to drive them to the front if necessary. They will fight like other people when they see that they must do it, or have the Asbaatees pouring into their fields and villages. Wnat, then, many of your readers may ask, has been done on the Gold Coast up to the present time? Let me answer briefly. First of all, Elrnina and the other disaffected towns have been bombarded, with this result, that the adherents of the British Government have been eliminated from the seething mass of variously disposed natives, and the rest have been turned into open foes. Seconc ly. a blockade ot all the British ports on the Gold Coast, excepting Cape Coast Castle itself, has been established, although I am bound to admit that it is violated every day by the canoes and land carriers all along the coast, and still more openly at Assiuee, where the French have a small settlement. Third, two outposts, breastworks that were falling into decay, have been restored, one at iSapoleon, north of Cape Coast Castle, at a distance of about seven miles, and the other at Abbaye, north of Minina. It is true that the forts are too far from the camp of the enemy to give him any serious trouble; aud as yet we have not .been able even to make a reconnaissance from them, but they will be very valuable. Fourthly, a force of 125Houssas, in addition to 200 who had been previously got together at £agos, has been formed, and shipped off to Captain Glover, at Accra; whi'e another Native force, 500 strong, of the so-called Armed Police, recruited from every tribe of the coast, has been made, and is at present employed to garrison the outlying forts at Axixn, tsecondee, Dix Cove, Annamaboe, Saltpond, and Elrnina, as well as to defend the laborers working on the various lines of road that are being laid down, under the command of officers in the service of the Colony. Lastly, twenty-five miles of good road, affording space 'enough for troops marching four abreast, and for the passage of heavy ordnance, have been made in the* direction of Coomasaie. This is absolutely all that has been accomplished— except some slight fighting, of which more anon—and it is as much as could be effected in this climate. Not even Peter the Great could carry out his ideas here. There is hardly one man in a hundred who is not set aside by a week’s experience in the bush, and each time the broom changes hands it sweeps in a different way. With these perpetual changes you cannot get persistency of plan, and hence our great want is not so much energy as unity of action. Some of our new brooms, I can assure you, have swept in a very original manner. The difficulties of an officer who takes a party of men for any distance into the bush cannot be exaggerated. JHe must do everything for himself —even run his own errands, and have the direful prospect of death by starvation staring him constantly in the face. In this damp, warm atmosphere nothing will keep. Supplies must be sent every three days, and if by chance the carriers forget to start, fall asleep by the way. or are intercepted by the Ashantecs—or, what comes to the same thing, by fear of the Ashantees, inducing them to eat the provisions they are charged to carry. Heaven help the officer and his men. The Native kings—our “ brave allies” —will never for a moment think of stirring a finger to help—not they, nor their subjects cither, Of course, they could be made to do so by the dread alternative of burning their villages if they refused to lend a hand, but then what would tender-hearted Britons at Home say to such a thorough policy ? If complain-, is made that more has not been effected, t pray my country men at Home to remember the circumstances under which the work proceeds, (To he continued )