CHAPTER III.
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_Proceedings and Incidents until the Third Dispatch to Cape Coast Castle._
_Coomassie, May 22nd_, 1817.
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.
GENTLEMEN,
THE important objects of the Mission, and the safety and prosperity of the Settlements, have this day demanded our public dissent from our superior officer, Mr. James; to prove the act tutelary to these objects, can be our only justification.
The Mission has engrossed our thoughts and exertions from the moment we were honoured by the appointments; we have felt that the credit of the Committee, the character of the service, and the good of our country were associated in the enterprise; and that we were personally responsible for these important objects, to the extent of our industry, fortitude, and ability. Our reflections naturally associated obstacles commensurate with the importance of the objects affected; and to overcome the former in a manner auspicious to the latter, we conceived to be the duty expected from us, as composing a Mission originated to remove a portion of the formidable barriers to the interior of Africa. We anticipated prejudice, intrigue, and difficulty, as inevitable; as obstacles to invigorate and not to sicken our exertions.
At Dadasey, on Wednesday the 14th instant, we received a present from the King, of two ounces of gold, a sheep, and thirty yams, with a second appointment to enter his capital the succeeding Monday. When within a short distance, the messenger who announced us, returned, to desire us to wait at a croom until the King had washed. We were permitted to enter soon after two o’clock, and the King received us with the most encouraging courtesy, and the most flattering distinction. We paid our respects in turn, (passing along a surprising extent of line) to the principal caboceers, many of remote, and several of Moorish territories; and all of these encircled by retinues astonishing to us from their numbers, order, and decorations. We were then requested to remove to a distant tree to receive their salutes; which procession, though simply transient, continued until past eight o’clock. It was indescribably imposing from the variety, magnificence, and etiquette: its faint outline in Mr. Bowdich’s report, will impart our impression of the power and influence of the monarch we are sent to conciliate. The King as he passed, repeated his former condescensions.
The next morning (Tuesday) the King sent to us to come and speak our palaver in the market place, that all the people might hear it: we found him encircled by the most splendid insignia, and surrounded by his caboceers: we were received graciously. Mr. James, through his linguist, declared to the King’s, (who are alone allowed to speak to him in public) that the objects of the Mission were friendship and commerce; impressed the consequence of our nation, and the good feelings of the Committee and Governor towards the King, as would be testified by our presents; he submitted the wish of a Residency, and of a direct path. The King enquired if we were to settle the Commenda palaver; the reply was, no! He rejoined, “that he wished the Governor of Cape Coast to settle all palavers for him with the people of the forts, and that he had thought we came to make all things right, and so to make friends with the Ashantees.” The King had previously observed, as literally rendered, that “the forts belonged to him,” meaning (as the context, and the whole of his sentiments and conduct have confirmed) nothing humiliating to our dignity and independence; but simply, that the advantages derived by the Fantee nations from the forts, should now be his. He desired the officer to be pointed out to him who was to be the Resident; and then enquired if that was all our palaver, he was told yes: he said he would give us his answer the next day.
Soon after we returned to our house, the King’s linguist delivered this message. “The King knows very well the King of England has sent him presents; if you wish to be friends with him you must bring these presents to his own house, and shew them to him and his friends, and not give them before all the people.” This, in our judgment was a policy, to prevent any favourable bias of the body of caboceers and people anticipating the King’s and his councils satisfaction of our motives and professions.
We attended: all the curiosity the packages excited could not incline the King to regard them, until he had desired distinctly to understand who had sent them, the King of England, or the Governor. He was told, the Company to whom the forts belonged under the King; the interpreter seemed to render it the King individually; it was more intelligible, and the agreeable impression it made was striking. The presents were displayed. Nothing could surpass the King’s surprise and pleasure, but his warm yet dignified avowal of his obligations. “Englishmen,” said he, admiring the workmanship of the different articles, “know how to do every thing proper,” turning to his favourites with a smile as auspicious to our interests, as mortal to the intrigues of our rival. Much of the glass was broken; Mr. James expressed his regret, and offered to procure more; the King replied, “the path we had come was bad and overgrown, that we had many people to look after;” and waved our excuses with superior courtesy. He desired the linguists to say, “this shewed him that the English were a great people, that they wished to be friends with him, to be as one with the Ashantees; that this made him much pleasure to see, (and to repeat again and again,) that he thanked the King of England, the Governor at Cape Coast, and the officers who brought the presents much, very much.” He made very liberal presents of liquor to our people, and delivered the distinct presents to his four principal caboceers in our sight.
We learned from Quashie, the Accra linguist, the favourable reports he had collected through his intimacy with some of the principal men. All the caboceers, he said, had thought we had come for bad, to spy the country; the King thought so too a little, but much fetish was made, and all shewed that we meant well, and now the King thought so; the mulatto sent by General Daendels, directly after Mr. Hydecoper, and who arrived just before us, had sent to the King for a pass to go back, and the King told him, that he would give him this message, “that the King had thought to do good to the Dutch, but now he sees their white mens faces, he should do good to the English.” This mulatto man (who is not in the service, but a free man of Elmina town) visited us afterwards, and his complaints and sentiments confirmed these reports in our favour.
On Wednesday morning the King’s sisters (one the caboceer of the largest Ashantee town near the frontier) paid us a visit of ceremony, and retired to receive our’s in return; their manners were courteous and dignified, and they were handed with a surprising politeness by the captains in attendance.
Mr. James being indisposed, we went by invitation to see the chief captain’s horse, when the King sent to us to say, he was walking that way, and requested us to get our chairs and wait, that he might bid us good morning. Directly he saw us he ordered the procession to alter its course, and stopped to take us by the hand. The procession consisted of about 2000 men, and was marked by all the suit and parade of royalty. The caboceers that day in attendance appeared as warriors, being divested of the rich silks of the preceding day; the executioner, the master of the bands, and the cook, were in the train, with suits which shewed the importance of their offices; the latter was preceded by a massy service of plate. Mr. Bowdich’s report will be more particular.
The king sent his messenger this morning to repeat, that he thanked the King of England and the Governor very much for yesterday.
The King was much pleased when Quashie, the Accra linguist (who is our only intelligible medium,) attempted to describe the use of the sextant; consequently, when Mr. Bowdich saw the King’s chief captain this morning, he offered to shew it to the King, with the camera obscura and telescope; the captain said it would please the King, and reported, that the King was much pleased with us, that he liked to be friends with the English, that he wished to make pleasure with us, and would send for us by and by to do so. We have been particular in these lesser circumstances, as they are the evidence of the King’s good feelings, and of the fair prospect of the consummation of the Mission, superior to all the prejudice and intrigue opposed to it.
We were sent for to the King’s house; he was only attended by his privy counsellors; he expressed much delight at the camera obscura and instruments. He said, “the Englishmen knew more than Dutchmen or Danes—that black men knew nothing.” He then ordered our people to be dismissed, said he would look at the telescope in a larger place, that now he wished to talk with us. He again acknowledged the gratification of Tuesday, and desired Mr. James to explain to him two notes which he produced, written by the Governor in Chief at the request of Amooney, King of Annamaboe, and Adokoo, Chief of the Braffoes, making over to Saï, King of Ashantee, four ackies per month of their company’s pay, as a pledge of their allegiance and the termination of hostilities. The impression seemed instantly to have rooted itself in the King’s mind, that this was the Governor’s individual act, or that he had instanced it; his countenance changed, his counsellors became enraged, they were all impatience, we all anxiety. “Tell the white men,” said the King, “what they did yesterday made me much pleasure; I was glad we were to be friends; but to day I see they come to put shame upon my face; this breaks my heart too much. The English know, with my own powder, with my own shot, I drove the Fantees under their forts, I spread my sword over them, they were all killed, and their books from the fort are mine. I can do as much for the English as the Fantees, they know this well, they know I have only to send a captain to get all the heads of the Fantees. These white men cheat me, they think to make ’Shantee fool; they pretend to make friends with me, and they join with the Fantees to cheat me, to put shame upon my face; this makes the blood come from my heart.” This was reported by his linguist with a passion of gesture and utterance scarcely inferior to the King’s; the irritation spread throughout the circle, and swelled even to uproar.
Thus much was inevitable; it was one of our anticipated difficulties; it was not a defeat, but a check; and here originates our charge against Mr. James, whom we declare to have been deficient in presence of mind, and not to have exerted those assurances and arguments which, with a considerate zeal, might at least have tended to ameliorate the unjust impression of the King, if not to have eradicated it. Mr. James said, “the Governor of Cape Coast had done it, that he knew nothing about it, that he was sent only to make the compliments to the King, that if the King liked to send a messenger with him, _he was going back and would tell the Governor all that the King said_.” This was all that was advanced. Was this enough for such a Mission to effect? the King repeated, “that he had expected we had _come_ to settle all palavers, and to _stay_ and make friends with him; but we came to make a fool of him.” The King asked him to tell him how much had been paid on these notes since his demand—that he knew white men had large books which told this. Mr. James said he had seen, but he could not recollect. Nothing could exceed the King’s indignation. “White men,” he exclaimed, “know how many months pass, how many years they live, and they know this, but they wont tell me; could not the other white men tell me.” Mr. James said, “we never looked in the books.”
We were not so indiscreet as to expect or wish Mr. James to commit himself by _promising the satisfaction_ of the King’s wishes; but dwelling on the expense and importance of the Mission, on the expectations it had excited, and feeling the reason of the King’s argument, that its object should be to settle all palavers if we wished to be good friends, we conceived we but anticipated the feeling of the Council and of the Committee, in our anxiety for Mr. James to offer to communicate with the Governor by letter, and to wait his reply, with a confidence that his good feeling towards the King, his instructions from England, and his own disposition, would lead him to do every thing that was right to please him.
Mr. James’s embarrassment had not only hurried him to extricate himself as an individual at the expense of his own dignity and intellect, but, which was worse, he had thrown the whole onus of this invidious transaction on the shoulders of the Governor in chief, against whom the King’s prejudice would be fatal to all, and whose interest in his honour was most flattering to the King, most auspicious to us, and the hopes of the Mission; not only the future prosperity, but the present security of the Settlements hung upon this, and the dagger was at this moment suspended from a cobweb. Mr. Bowdich urged this in the ear of Mr. James, urged the danger of leaving the King thus provoked, the fatal sacrifice of every object of the Mission, the discredit of the service, the disgrace of ourselves; Mr. James replied, “he knew the Governor’s private sentiments best.” The Moors of authority seized the moment, and zealously fanned the flame which encircled us; for the King looking in vain for those testimonies of British feeling which presence of mind would have imposed, exclaimed, as he turned his ear from the Moors, “I know the English come to spy the country; they come to cheat me; they want war, they want war.” Mr. James said “No! we want trade.” The King impatiently continued, “They join the Fantees to put shame upon my face; I will send a captain to-morrow to take these books, and bring me the heads of all the Fantees under the forts; the white men know I can do this, I have only to speak to my captains. The Dutch Governor does not cheat me; he does not shame me before the Fantees; he sends me the whole 4 oz. a month. The Danes do not shame me, and the English 4 ackies a month is nothing to me; I can send a captain for all; they wish war.” He drew his beard into his mouth, bit it, and rushing abruptly from his seat exclaimed, “Shantee foo! Shantee foo! ah! ah!” then shaking his finger at us with the most angry aspect, would have burst from us with the exclamation, “If a black man had brought me this message, I would have had his head cut off before me.” Mr. James was silent.
Gentlemen! imagine this awful moment, think what a fatal wound menaced the British interests; the most memorable exertion of the Committee, the pledge to the Government of their energies, of the zeal and capabilities of their officers, this important and expensive Mission falling to the ground, the sacrifice to supineness; the Settlements endangered instead of benefited, ourselves disgraced as officers and men, our key to the Interior shivered in the lock, and the territories of a great and comparatively tractable prince shut against us for ever. Could we be expected to look with indifference on these sacrifices, to risk nothing to avert them; to be auxiliary to the triumph of the intrigues and duplicity of our rival, which you know to have been exerted even to our destruction? Not a moment was to be lost; Mr. Bowdich stood before the King, and begged to be heard; his attention was arrested, the clamours of the council gradually abated: there was no interpreter but the one Mr. James brought from his own fort, and no alternative but to charge him promptly in the Governor’s name, before reflection could associate the wishes of his master, to speak truly. Mr. Bowdich continued standing before the King, and declared, “that the Governor wished to gain his friendship more than he could think that we were sent, not only to compliment him, but to write what he had to say to the Governor, and to wait to tell his answer to the King, and to do all he ordered; to settle all palavers, and to make Ashantees and English as one before we went back. That the Governor of Accra was sick, and in pain, and naturally wished to go back soon, but that himself, and the other two officers would stay with the King, until they made him sure that the Governor was a good friend to him. That we would rather get anger, and lose every thing ourselves, than let the King think the Governor sent us to put shame on him; that we would trust our lives to the King, until we had received the Governor’s letter, to make him think so; and to tell us to do all that was right, to make the Ashantees and English as one; and this would shew the King we did not come to spy the country, but to do good.” Mr. Bowdich then assured Mr. James that no outrage on his dignity was meditated; that we should continue to treat him as our superior officer, but that we felt the present act imperative, as our duty to the Service and our Country.
Conviction flashed across the countenance of the interpreter, and he must have done Mr. Bowdich’s speech justice, for the cheerful aspect of the morning was resumed in every countenance. The applause was general; the King (who had again seated himself) held out his hand to Mr. Bowdich, and said, “he spoke well; what he spoke was good; he liked his palaver much.” The King’s chief linguist came forward and repeated his commendations with the most profound bows; every look was favourable; every where there was a hand extended. The King then instructed his linguist to report to Mr. Bowdich, personally, his arguments respecting the books. “That he had subdued the Fantees at the expense of much powder and shot; and that, in consequence, all their notes were his: that he had only to send a Captain to bring all their heads, that he did not want to do no good, and keep the books; he would do more for the forts than the Fantees could; that the Dutch Governor did not cheat him, but gave the four oz. a month. That he wished to be friends with the English; but that the 4 ackies a month put shame upon his face.” To this Mr. Bowdich replied, that he could only say he knew the Governor would do what was right; that he could not say more until he heard from him; but that he would write every word the King said; and he was sure the King would see that the Governor would do what was right. We shook hands and retired.
All the Fantees being detained by the King, Mr. Bowdich and Mr. Hutchison went in the evening to the chief captain to request a messenger from the King to Cape Coast; about two hours afterwards he reported the King’s reply almost literally as follows: “The King wishes you good night; this is his palaver and yours, you must not speak it to any one else, the white men come to cheat him. The King recollects the face of the white man who spoke to him to day, he likes him much, he wishes he would talk the palaver; the King likes the other white men who stood up with him very much; he thinks the Governor of Accra wishes to put all the wrong on the Governor at Cape Coast, and not to tell any thing. The King thinks that not right, and he sees you do not like that. You must not speak this palaver again; ’tis the King’s palaver, and yours; the King’s captain will speak right to the King what you say, and you shall have a messenger.”
We again affirm positively, that Mr. James made no offer to communicate with the Governor, but spoke only of his return, which we know he was meditating at the expense of the treaty, and every object of the Mission.
Referring to our detail previous to the serious business of to day, you will find every circumstance to have been encouraging, and in our opinion, auspicious to the consummation of the Mission. Yet at that moment, unclouded as it was, we know Mr. James, by his own confession, to have written to head quarters with a gloom which existed only in his own imagination; this letter did not go from the detention of the Fantee bearers. We believe firmly, that had there been no interference on our part at the critical moment, Mr. James would have returned forthwith to Cape Coast, without effecting one object of the Mission, and that the future good of the Settlements would not only have been sacrificed, but their present security endangered.[5]
Mr. James may write that Mr. Bowdich rose with great warmth: this we deny, and affirm that he displayed no more than a temperate zeal, considerate in its declarations, and respectful even in its dissent from Mr. James. The attention of the King was arrested by the novelty of a white man addressing him in the oratorical manner of his own country, but it was not until the linguist had conveyed the arguments, that the King held out his hand and the applause was general. Mere observations whispered in the ear of the linguists had lost all effect, and would not have answered the crisis.
Mr. James has talked, and perhaps written much of the King’s suspicion, but we must contend that much of this is misnamed, and is no more than that deliberate policy which is a pledge of the durability of the confidence it precedes. Certainly there has been suspicion, but not more than must have been expected, not more than was commensurate with the important novelty which challenged it. It has been confessed here, that our political rival has exerted all his address to vitiate our objects in the eyes of the King, to convince him our ostensible views were pretences; our real ones dangerous and unjust; that we sought sovereignty, not commerce. The Moorish chiefs and dignitaries by whom the King is surrounded, whose influence is powerful, not only from their rank but their repute, naturally urged these arguments against unbelievers and competitors in trade, and their extensive intercourse has unfortunately possessed them of facts to the point of our ambition. Let these considerations be weighed, let our account of the King’s general deportment be again referred to; let us impress, that he has never once adverted to our destruction of his troops before Annamaboe, or of the critical situation of the fort; that he has evinced a disposition to a sound understanding, by veiling every irritating retrospect, by acknowledging every conciliatory circumstance.
We do not presume to enter our opinions into the important question of the King’s demand of the whole of these two notes; we have advanced nothing but our assurance that the Governor will do what is right, and we have pledged our lives to convince the King of this; the importance of the Mission would have claimed a more valuable pledge.
Whilst we impress the surprising power and influence of the King, we must do him the justice to acknowledge the convincing manner in which he urged the injuries and forbearance which preceded the Fantee war; his willingness to do every thing for the forts, and the conduct of the Dutch Governor in giving him the whole of the four ounces, were impressively and ingeniously associated.
To wear away suspicion, Mr. Bowdich has ceased his enquiries and observations for a time. The resources for intelligence of the Interior are infinite. Timbuctoo has been visited by most of the sojourners, and a mass of valuable information may be gathered with caution.[6] The eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites will be regularly observed by Mr. Bowdich, and the mean longitude reported; the want of a good watch imposes considerable trouble.
We have reflected on what we have done, and if we are so unfortunate as to be visited by your and the Committee’s displeasure, we shall console ourselves in our reluctant change of pursuit, by the satisfaction of our own minds of the honourable zeal of our motives.
We most respectfully solicit our recall, as we cannot implicate our character and our responsibility with Mr. James’s judgment and perseverance in prosecuting the Mission, of the consummation of which we cannot agree to despond. We could not reconcile ourselves to the sacrifice of one of its important objects to our personal apprehensions (supported as we are by authority and circumstances) whilst the recollection of the illustrious energies of an enterprising traveller, forlorn and destitute, appeals to our spirit, and impresses the expectations of our country. We are, &c.
(Signed)
T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
W. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
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_Coomassie, May 24_, 1817.
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL, CAPE COAST CASTLE.
GENTLEMEN,
THE act our former letter has avowed, and we would presume (after the most deliberate reflection) to add justified, has made it our duty to communicate (independently of Mr. James) the circumstances of the interval we may await your pleasure.
If this duty had not been imposed on us by the act in question, the imminent fatality engendered in the debate of to day, and quickened by the ardor of the captains, would have demanded from our private as well as our public feelings, the most energetic representations (as auxiliary to those of Mr. James,) in impressing the calamities and the sacrifices which menace the Settlements and the Mission, to secure your serious deliberation, as the only preventive we can look to with confidence.
Yesterday we were conducted some way without the town to an assembly of the Moorish caboceers and dignitaries, who exert every device against us. A chapter was read from the Koran, and we were ordered to swear by that book that we had no rogues palaver, and that we had put no poison in the King’s liquor. We severally refused to swear on the Koran, but offered to do so on our own prayer books. The King’s linguist mediated, and asked us if we would only strike that book three times, and then declare as much, because the Moors said, that book would kill us if we lied. We did this, and were about two hours afterwards ordered to sit without our house and receive the following present from the King:
One bullock, 2 pigs, 8 oz. of gold, for Mr. James.
One sheep, 2 oz. 4 ackies of gold, for each of us.
To each of the numerous Fantee messengers, 10 ackies of gold.
To our cooks, a large assortment of pots and country vessels, 100 large billets of wood, 100 yams, 100 bunches of plantains, four of sugar cane, four (24 gallon) pots of palm oil, three jars of palm wine.
To the soldiers, 10 ackies of gold.
To the Accra linguist, 10 ackies of gold.
On Saturday we were summoned to the King, and waited as usual a considerable time in one of the outer courts of the palace, which is an immense building of a variety of oblong courts and regular squares, the former with arcades along the one side, some of round arches symmetrically turned, having a skeleton of bamboo; the entablatures exuberantly adorned with bold fan and trellis work of Egyptian character. They have a suit of rooms over them, with small windows of wooden lattice, of intricate but regular carved work, and some have frames cased with thin gold. The squares have a large apartment on each side, open in front, with two supporting pillars, which break the view and give it all the appearance of the proscenium or front of the stage of the older Italian theatres. They are lofty and regular, and the cornices of a very bold cane work in alto relievo. A drop curtain of curiously plaited cane is suspended in front, and in each we observed chairs and stools embossed with gold, and beds of silk, with scattered regalia. The most ornamented part of the palace is the residence of the women. We have passed through it once; the fronts of the apartments were closed (except two open door ways) by pannels of curious open carving, conveying a striking resemblance at first sight to an early Gothic screen; one was entirely closed and had two curious doors of a low arch, and strengthened or battened with wood-work, carved in high relief and painted red. Doors chancing to open as we passed, surprised us with a glimpse of large apartments in corners we could not have thought of, the most secret appeared the most adorned. In our daily course through the palace there is always a delay of some minutes, before the door of each of the several distinct squares is unlocked; within the inmost square is the council chamber.
To day, after the delay of nearly an hour (which seems an indispensible ceremony) in the outer court, (where different dignitaries were passing to and fro with their insignia and retinues,) we were conducted to a large yard, where the King, encircled by a varied profusion of insignia, even more sumptuous than that we had seen before, sat at the end of two long files of counsellors, caboceers, and captains; they were seated under their umbrellas, composed of scarlet and yellow cloth, silks, shawls, cottons, and every glaring variety, with carved and golden pelicans, panthers, baboons, barrels, crescents, &c. on the top; the shape generally a dome. Distinct and pompous retinues were placed around, with gold canes, spangled elephants tails to brush off the flies, gold headed swords, and embossed muskets, and many splendid novelties too numerous but for a particular report, which will not be neglected. Each had the dignitaries of his own province or establishment to his right and left; and it was truly “Concilium in Concilio.” When we recollected the insignificant, though neat appearance of the few Ashantee towns we had passed through on the southern frontier, and even the extent and superior character of the capital, this magnificence seemed the effect of enchantment.
We have intruded this sketch to impress the power and resources of the monarch we are to conciliate, and to anticipate in some degree the delay of Mr. Bowdich’s report, the transcription of which must yield to the present momentous communication.
The King having decided a cause then in course, by which one of his captains was condemned to death for cowardice, ordered the question of the Annamaboe and Braffoe notes to be resumed. The several Fantee messengers were heard, the King of Annamaboe’s, Amooney’s, and Payntree’s (the interior caboceer) having joined us in the path. They appeared all equivocation and embarrassment, as Quashie’s interpretations confirmed; they were incompetent to answer the King’s linguists, and unable to use the few uninterrupted intervals which were allowed them to any purpose: it seems they would not acknowledge what the full amount of these notes was. Mr. James was asked, he said “white men’s heads were not like black men’s, and he could not recollect; but he thought 4 oz. and 2 oz.” He did not offer to learn from the Governor. Several impassioned harangues were made by the King’s linguists and counsellors: the King said, “he had 4 oz. from Elmina, and 2 oz. from English Accra; was it not putting shame upon him to send him 4 ackies from Cape Coast?” The Cape Coast messenger (Quashie Tom had absented himself) spoke again with great trepidation; the King could not conceal his emotions; his counsellors became clamorous; in an instant there was a flourish of all the horns; all the captains rose and seized their gold headed swords from their attendants; the head general snatched Mr. Tedlie’s from his scabbard; numerous canopies crowded one upon the other in the background, as if some considerable personages had arrived; there was nothing but commotion, wrath, and impatience. The captains, old and young, rushed before the King, and exclaimed, as Quashie reported, (who seems to have been afraid to tell us all, and was restrained by Quamina) “King, this shames you too much; you must let us go to night and kill all the Fantees, and burn all the towns under the forts.” They then presented themselves successively with their bands of music and retinues, and bowing before the King, received his foot upon their heads; each then directed his sword to the King (who held up the two first fingers of his right hand) and swore by the King’s head, that they would go with the army that night, and bring him the books, and the heads of all the Fantees. Each captain made the oath impressive in his own peculiar manner; some seriously, some by ridicule, at our expense, and that of the Fantees, pointing at our heads and ears, and endeavouring to intimidate us by the most insolent action and gesture as they held out their swords. The old general (Apokoo) who swore the last, after he had done so in the most expressive manner, threw Mr. Tedlie’s sword to him, over the heads of the people with contemptuous defiance. The number was so great, that we thought this awful ceremony would never finish.
The King left the council a short time. In the interval, Quamina Bwa (our guide) told Accra Quashie to beg Mr. James to speak to the King when he came back, and try and appease him. Mr. James did so, but without the zeal, presence of mind, or argument the crisis demanded; it was not adequate even to ameliorate the King’s impression of the Governor and the English; it was no more than he said at first. The King took not the least notice of it, but declared angrily, that “if he did not see white men’s faces he would cut off the heads of every Fantee messenger on the spot.” Some sheep and gold were then brought forward and presented to the Captains, and the King rose abruptly from his chair. In this anxious moment we reflected that the mulatto of General Daendels had a long audience of the King just before we were received; no resource was to be left untried, that was manly and appropriate. Mr. Bowdich stepped before the King, and declared through the linguist, “that he wished to speak what he knew would make the King think that the Governor would do him right, and was his good friend.” The King said he would hear him speak in the house; we retired amidst the insults and menaces of the assembly.
About two hours after, we were summoned, and, as is the etiquette, kept some time in waiting; in this interval, Mr. James said that our situation being very critical, it was a pity any difference should be observed, and that he thought it much better to be reconciled. Mr. Bowdich replied, that he could not think it possible our sentiments to be delivered to the King could differ at such a moment; that if they did we should assimilate ours to his as much as possible; but feeling the necessity for the greatest energy, for every address and argument for the conviction of the King, we must, for the public good, continue our assumption of the privilege of strengthening his declarations by our own until our recall, that we should be tender of his dignity, but that it being a difference on a point of public duty, we could not compound it, but would take the consequences. We were received; the King’s aspect was stern; he prefaced that “he did not wish to make war with the English; but that the 4 ackies a month shamed him too much; that the captains said to him, King! they cheat you, they put shame on you; we will go to night and bring you the heads of all the Fantees; that he was forced to say to them, I beg your pardon, but as I see the white men’s faces, I beg you to stay till to-morrow, when they can write to the Governor, and they will tell me themselves what he says; then if he does not send me Amooney’s and the Braffoes books, you shall go and kill all; that he had been obliged afterwards to dash them sheep and gold to make them stay until the white men got the Governor’s letter.” Mr. James assured the King “that the King of England and the Governor wished to be friends with him, to do all that was right; and he thought in his own mind that the Governor would give up the books.” The King took no notice, and continued serious: the moment called for the most energetic appeal to his reason, for every imposing argument and circumstance. There was a long pause; Mr. Bowdich rose, and charged Mr. James’s linguist to interpret truly. We took the precaution of making notes of this speech, feeling we should be particular where we pledge our honour, and volunteer our affidavit; it was as follows.
“We swore yesterday as the King wished, to day we wish to swear as we should before our own King.” The King held up the two first fingers of his right hand as he did to the captains. “We swear” (presenting our swords and kissing the hilt, as the most imposing form that occurred to us) “by our God, and by our King, and we know the Governor of Accra will do the same, that we mean no bad to the King, that the King of England and the Company ordered the Governor to send us to make the Ashantees and English as one, that we are sure the Governor will do the King right, and that when we write him all the King says, we will write also that we think the King’s palaver good. We were sent to make the English and Ashantees as one, because our’s is the greatest white, your’s the greatest black nation, and when two great nations are friends, it makes good. I came out in the ship that was sent to tell the Governor this, and when he heard it, he said it gave him very much pleasure. The King of England and the Company thought the Governor should send to the King, to send some of his great men to Cape Coast, that we might be safe; but the Governor said, no! there was no occasion, and wrote to the King and the Company that he could trust all his officers in Ashantee, because the King’s honour made them safe, so we came without sending, because we knew the King was our true friend.
“The Governor wished always to do the King right, but the Fantees never would tell him what was right, so he wrote to the King of England to send him some presents, that he might send his own officers to the King, and hear properly from the King’s own mouth what was right, because the Fantees never would tell him what was true, or what the King said. When the Governor reads what we shall write him, then he will know the truth for the first time. We shall stay to make the Ashantees and English one, and we pledge our lives to the King, that we speak a proper palaver, and when we speak true before God and the King we cannot fear.”
There were repeated and general applauses as each sentence was interpreted; the King smiled, and desired his linguist to say to Mr. Bowdich as Quashie interpreted, “The King likes you, you speak a proper good palaver, you speak like a man, the King wishes to be a friend to white men; he thinks white men next to God.” Here the King raised his hands to heaven, and then covering his face, Quashie continued to interpret. “The King thanks God and his own fetish, that they have sent him white men to talk proper like this to him, and when you three white men go back to Cape Coast, and the Governor has bad put into his head, and think you did wrong, then if you want any thing to eat, send a messenger to him and he will send you plenty, for the King thinks you do right to God and him, and to your King, and to the Governor, and that you will get much honour when you go back; so the King thanks you, and says you speak well.” The King then asked Mr. James if he would swear on his sword like us, as we said; Mr. James did so. The King made an observation which it seems we cannot convey to you in its full force, or nearer than, that he liked the three white men because they always stood up to speak, and pushed forward to get what they wanted. Many auxiliary observations were afterwards offered casually by each of us, to confirm his change of sentiment. The Fantee linguists attempted to intimidate the linguist Quashie of Accra, but ineffectually; this man is invaluable from his influence and intelligence, he is our only safe medium, and interprets to the King anxiously and impressively.
The King appeared much pleased, and made us a long speech. “The King says the Fantees are all rogues, the Governor knows that very well; the King thinks they always put bad palaver in the Governor’s head, he always tells his captains so; he is sure you come to do him right. The King wishes all good for the English; he swears by God and by the fetish, that if the English could know how the Fantees serve him, and all the bad they do, they would say his palaver was good. The King speaks true.” He then gave us an outline of the Fantee war, which must have convinced even the most prejudiced, of his injuries and forbearance, and their injustice and cruelty.
The King says, “if the English trust to him, he will take more care of the forts than the Fantees can, he will do them great good, he does not want to do nothing. He will send the English his trade; he will send them good gold like what he wears himself, (shewing his armlets,) not bad gold like he knows the Fantees make, his people don’t know how to do that, the Fantees do it in their own houses before they give it to white men. If at any time the English in the forts are in want of any thing to eat, and send to him, he will send them every thing. To morrow is Sunday, but the next day is Monday, then he will give you a proper messenger.”
We cannot do justice to the King’s sentiments either in detail or in expression; they were incredibly liberal, and would have ennobled the most civilized monarch; they seemed to break the spell which has shut the Interior. He begged us to drink with him, and Mr. James agreed in the toast of “May the Ashantees and English always be one;” it pleased him, and he begged us to touch his glass with ours. He then turned suddenly to the Fantee messengers (who were trembling in the rear) and said, “you made me very angry with you, and I am very angry with you, but never mind, come and drink some of my liquor.”
Our critical situation demands the delivery of our sentiments on the subject of these notes; we do so with diffidence and respect. The services of the Braffoes, who hold the one, are merely nominal, their enmity nugatory from their political situation; the issuing of a fresh note to Amooney will be but a small addition to the expenditure, and even the expense of renewing them both cannot be weighed with the prevention of another Fantee war, of the destruction of a whole people, and the ruin of our Settlements in their defence, with the defeat of the intrigue and devices of our rival, and the acquisition of the confidence of a powerful and liberal monarch, whose influence may perfect the views of the British Government on the Interior. We hail the circumstances as auspicious, even in the present serious moment.
Mr. James confesses that he desponds of consummating the objects of the Mission; we do not; we would be responsible for all of them, but we diffidently await your decision. We must claim this momentary calm of the King to ourselves, because it only affords us the credit, or rather the justification of having done our duty, which we are resolute in repeating Mr. James has not. What has been said through Mr. Bowdich is here reported faithfully; we have not committed the Governor or ourselves.
Gentlemen, our situation is critical; if your answer determines the King on war, we are his prisoners; if, as we cannot doubt, the valour of our countrymen again retards his progress by defences as memorable as that of Annamaboe, we may be the victims of an irritated soldiery, though we feel it would be with the reluctance of a generous prince, who is not independent, but, unfortunately, controlled by a military despotism, which deposed his brother and invested him.
But, Gentlemen, if in your better knowledge and reflection, you cannot consistently with your honour and your trust, meet the King’s demand, the history of our country has fortified our minds with the illustrious example of a Vansittart, and his colleagues, who were situated as we are, when the dawn of British intercourse in India was scarcely more advanced than its dawn in Africa now; and their last request to their Council is our present conclusion to you—“Do not put our lives in competition with the honour and interests of our country.”
We are, &c. &c.
(Signed) T. EDWARD BOWDICH.
W. HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
_Coomassie, May 28th_, 1817.
TO THE GOVERNOR AND COUNCIL.
GENTLEMEN,
ON Sunday the King visited us at our quarters, and expressed much gratification with the trifles we presented him individually, and our solicitude in explaining some plates of botanical and natural history, which he sends for frequently.
On Monday we had a public audience before the Captains, (whose ill-will has been acknowledged,) when two messengers were ordered to accompany one of ours to Cape Coast, with the letters to the Governor, and were impressively sworn; they received their instructions in a speech from the linguist of nearly two hours; it seemed to be intended to conciliate the Captains at the same time.
In the afternoon the King sent for us again, and said he wished to dictate a letter to the Governor. Mr. James wrote the sense of the King’s expressions, but was obliged to leave off from indisposition. The King would not trust it out of his hands. Yesterday evening it was concluded, when the King proposed to make his mark, and insisted on repeating it in the direction. We have taken the pains to preserve this curious letter verbatim, which from its length, and our constant interruption, we are compelled to reserve with many curious particulars for the General Report.
We are anxiously waiting a summons to hand our dispatches to the messenger. Nine days are allowed for the journey to Cape Coast, and nine for the return. The whole time has been gradually extended, by intreaty of the Fantee messengers, from eighteen to thirty days.
Mr. Hutchison is ill with a bilious attack, and several of the people with a fever and dysentery. The heat is very powerful here, but Mr. Bowdich and Mr. Tedlie continue in excellent health.
We would recommend the sending up a common green silk umbrella, and a Company’s dirk, as presents to the King’s favourite nephew.
Our confinement to the house is rather irksome; we are not allowed to walk in the town without Captains accompanying us.
12 o’clock. The King sent to say Mr. Bowdich must come to the palace, and mount the chief captain’s horse, and shew him how Englishmen ride. Mr. Bowdich went, and by the King’s desire gallopped up and down the opposite hill. The King expressed great anxiety when the horse was made to play his tricks; and when Mr. Bowdich persevered, and made him gallop back and alighted, the King sent him word that “he rode like a proper man, that he stayed on the horse well, and made him do proper.”
4 o’clock. The King sent for us at two, to make some additions to the letter, and to seal it in his presence. A long prayer was uttered by a Moor after the sealing of the letter, and we were called back to be again impressed with the example and justice of the Dutch as regards the books. Mr. Hutchison’s illness prevented his attendance to day. The messengers are to go to night.
May 29th, 3 p.m. The messengers and the Fantee bearers, have been delayed in consequence of the death of a person of rank, and their assistance in the custom. I am now assured that they will leave Coomassie at 4 o’clock.
In reply to the request we urged to Mr. James, that he would dismiss our hammock men, as they had been of so little service to us in coming up, and were a considerable expense; he impressed that it would be contrary to your instructions.
Only one message from the King to day, and that a private one to Mr. Bowdich, with permission for him to ride: he went all round the town, which he considers to be about three miles in circumference: the King afterwards sent him word, that to-morrow he must ride on a cloth only, as he had heard the English did.
We are, &c. &c.
(Signed) T. E. BOWDICH.
H. TEDLIE.
P.S. Mr. James had a severe relapse of fever last night, and was very ill this morning; at 10 o’clock a.m. he had the cold bath, and some febrifuge medicine. Mr. Hutchison is rather better, the soldiers also, but the hammock men continue much the same.
* * * * *
SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies, to_ JOHN HOPE SMITH, _Esquire, Governor in Chief of the British Settlements on the Gold Coast of Africa._
THE King sends his compliments to the Governor, he thanks the King of England and him very much for the presents sent to him, he thinks them very handsome. The King’s sisters and all his friends have seen them, and think them very handsome, and thank him. The King thanks his God and his fetish that he made the Governor send the white men’s faces for him to see, like he does now; he likes the English very much, and the Governor all the same as his brother.
The King of England has made war against all the other white people a long time, and killed all the people all about, and taken all the towns, French, Dutch, and Danish, all the towns, all about. The King of Ashantee has made war against all the people of the water side, and all the black men all about, and taken all their towns.
When the King of England takes a French town, he says, “come, all this is mine, bring all your books, and give me all your pay,” and if they don’t do it, does the Governor think the King of England likes it?[7] So the King has beat the Fantees now two times, and taken all their towns, and they send and say to him, you are a great King, we want to serve you; but he says, Hah! you want to serve me, then bring all your books, what you get from the forts, and then they send him four ackies, this vexes him too much.
The first time he made war against the Fantees, two great men in Assin quarrelled, so half the people came to Ashantee, half went to Fantee. The King said, what is the reason of this, so he sent his gold swords and canes to know why they did so, and the Fantees killed his messengers and took all their gold.[8] After they fought with the Elminas and Accras, the Fantees sent word to the King they would serve him; the King sent word to the Assins, if it is true that the Fantees want to serve me, let me hear; after that they sent to say yes! they tired of fighting, and wanted to serve him, he said, well, give me some gold, what you get from the books, and then you shall hear what palaver I have got in my head, and we can be friends; then he sent some messengers, and after they waited more than two years, the Fantees sent word back, no! we don’t want to serve the King, but only to make the path open and get good trade: this vexed the King too much.
Then the Fantees sent to a strong man, Cudjoe Coomah, and said, “come, let us put our heads together against the King;” after that, when the King heard this, he sent one, not a great man, but his own slave, and said, well you will do, go kill all the people, all the Aquapims, and Akims, and all; and so he killed all, and after he killed all he came and told him.
When he sent against Akim, the people in Akim sent word, that they told their head men not to vex the King, but they would not mind them, so he killed the head people, and the others begged his pardon.
When the King went to fight with the Fantees they sent this saucy word—we will kill you and your people, and stand on you; then they did not kill one Ashantee captain, but the King killed all the Fantee captains and people. They do not stand on him.
That time, after the King fought, all the Fantees sent word, well we will serve you, but you must not send more harm to hurt us, we don’t want to fight more, but to make good friends with you. Then the King said, what caboceer lives at Cape Coast and Annamaboe, what books they get from the forts, let them send all, and then we can be friends. And the King sent word too, if my messengers go to Cape Coast fort, and if they bring pots of gold, and casks of goods, then I can’t take that, _but I must have the books_.
After that the King sent word to the Governor of Cape Coast and the Governor of Annamaboe, well! you know I have killed all the Fantees, and I must have Adocoo’s and Amooney’s books, and I can make friends with you, good brother and good heart; but now they send four ackies, that is what makes the King’s heart break out when he looks on the book and thinks of four ackies, and his captains swear that the Fantees are rogues and want to cheat him. When the white men see the Fantees do this, and the English officers bring him this four ackies, it makes him get up very angry, but he has no palaver with white men.
All Fantee is his, all the black mans country is his; he hears that white men bring all the things that come here; he wonders they do not fight with the Fantees, for he knows they cheat them. Now he sees white men, and he thanks God and his fetish for it.
When the English made Apollonia fort he fought with the Aowins, the masters of that country, and killed them; then he said to the caboceer, I have killed all your people, your book is mine; the caboceer said, true! so long as you take my town, the book belongs to you.
He went to Dankara and fought, and killed the people, then he said; give me the book you get from Elmina, so they did, and now Elmina belongs to him.[9]
The English fort at Accra gave a book to an Akim caboceer, called Aboigin Adjumawcon. The King killed him and took the book. The Dutch fort gave a book to another Akim caboceer, Curry Curry Apam. The Danish fort gave a book to another Akim caboceer, Arrawa Akim; the King killed all and took their books.
This King, Saï, is young on the stool, but he keeps always in his head what old men say, for it is good, and his great men and linguists tell it him every morning. The King of England makes three great men, and sends one to Cape Coast, one to Annamaboe, and one to Accra; Cape Coast is the same as England. The King gets two ounces from Accra every moon, and the English wish to give him only four ackies for the big fort at Cape Coast, and the same for Annamboe; do white men think this proper?
When the King killed the Dankara caboceer and got two ounces from Elmina, the Dutch Governor said, this is a proper King, we shall not play with him, and made the book four ounces. The King has killed all the people, and all the forts are his; he sent his captains to see white men, now he sees them, and thanks God and his fetish. If the path was good when the captains went, the King would have gone under the forts and seen all the white men. The Ashantees take good gold to Cape Coast, but the Fantees mix it; he sent some of his captains like slaves to see, and they saw it; ten handkerchiefs are cut to eight, water is put to rum, and charcoal to powder, even for the King; they cheat him, but he thinks the white men give all those things proper to the Fantees.
The King knows the King of England is his good friend, for he has sent him handsome dashes; he knows his officers are his good friends, for they come to see him. The King wishes the Governor to send to Elmina to see what is paid him there, and to write the King of England how much, as the English say their nation passes the Dutch; he will see by the books given him by both forts. If the King of England does not like that, he may send him himself what he pleases, and then Saï can take it.
He thanks the King and Governor for sending four white men to see him. The old King wished to see some of them, but the Fantees stop it. He is but a young man and sees them, and so again he thanks God and his fetish.
Dictated in the presence of,
T. EDWARD BOWDICH,
WILLIAM HUTCHISON,
HENRY TEDLIE.
* * * * *
May 30. Apokoo sent us a present of 30 ackies of gold and some fruits.
June 1. The King sent to desire Mr. Tedlie to bring his instruments and medicines, and explain their uses to him; he was shrewdly inquisitive, and presented Mr. Tedlie with 6 ackies of gold in approbation of his intelligence.
June 4. The King paid us a visit at our quarters, and expressed himself highly gratified with some botanical engravings: he said white men tried to know so much they would spoil their heads by and by. We were allowed to take a walk in the town to day, in charge of two captains. We had scarcely passed the palace when two men were decapitated for cowardice: three others had been executed during the night.
June 5. Bakkee, to whom our house formerly belonged, had been sent the second in command of the army with which Appia Danqua invaded Fantee the second time, in pursuit of the Akim and Aquapim revolters. Wearied of the procrastination and labours of the campaign, he inconsiderately observed to a public messenger, that, as the King had declared when he invaded Fantee in person, that he would have the head of every Fantee caboceer, and yet returned with a part only; so he could not be expected to forego the enjoyment of the riches and luxuries of his home, until every revolter was killed. On his return to the capital without leave, he was charged with this, and not denying it, was stripped of all his property, and hung himself. Aboidwee our present house master was raised to Bakkee’s stool, or seat in council, to which 1700 retainers are attached.
June 9. The King sent us two sheep and a large quantity of fruit; his nephew also sent us a sheep.
June 11. We were invited to attend the King’s levee, on the Adaï custom, and were presented with a flask of rum and a fat sheep. This walk was a great relief, for the longest court in our quarters was not more than 14 feet.
June 12. The King sent us a large Hio sheep to look at; it measured 4½ feet from the head to the insertion of the tail, which was two feet long, its height was three feet, and it was covered with coarse shaggy hair.
June 13. The King sent for us late at night; he assured us he wished to think well of the English; and that if Cape Coast was not so far off, he should send messengers daily to wish the Governor good morning, but the Crambos (Moors) and his great men thought we came to do bad, and spy the country; so he sent for us when it was dark, that they might not know it. He had only two persons with him. Mr. James was too ill to attend.
17. The King sent a present to our quarters of
2 ounces of gold to the officers.
20 ackies to our people.
10 ackies to our linguists.
1 hog, 1 sheep, and a profusion of plantains and oranges.
This was his reproof of a disgraceful attempt to borrow money of him for our subsistence; of which Mr. Hutchison, Mr. Tedlie, and myself, had publicly disclaimed our knowledge and sanction. Nothing could be more injurious to our dignity.
18th. Mr. Tedlie having ventured to walk a few yards without the town, was arrested by a captain, with about 100 followers, who detained him in his house whilst a message was sent to the King, who desiring Mr. Tedlie to be brought before him, enquired if he had his small box (compass) in his pocket, and finding he had not, affected to reprove the captain severely, for supposing either of us could wish to run away, whilst the King was our friend. After this we seldom went out.
21st. Bundahenna, one of the King’s uncles, begged him for permission to go and make custom for some relatives whom he had lost in the last Fantee war, as he feared their spirits were beginning to trouble him. The King subscribed four ounces of gold, two ankers of rum, one barrel of powder, and four human victims for sacrifice, towards this custom. We received a present of 11 ackies of gold from Quatchie Quofies household.
26th. We received a present from a captain called Oöossa Cudjo, of 10 ackies of gold, and another from Jessinting, of the same quantity, a sheep and some plantains.
28th. The King sent us a large quantity of plantains and oranges. Apokoo, one of the four greatest men in the kingdom, hearing his mother’s sister was dead, killed a slave before his house, and proceeded to her croom to sacrifice many more, and celebrate her funeral custom; but, when he found, on opening her boxes, that the old woman from her dislike of him, had thrown almost all her rock gold into the river, and that he should only inherit a number of hungry slaves, he sacrificed but one more victim, and made but a very mean custom.
29th. Attended the King’s levee, and were presented with a flask of rum, and a fat sheep. The King sent us word that he would be glad to let us walk out, but there were many bad people who would kill us if they could. We were gratified by an invitation to visit Odumata, one of the four aristocrats; he begged us to drink palm wine with him, and ordered a large jar of it to be sent to our servants. He told us he was the first captain who fought with the English at Annamaboe; and that if the books were not sent, he would be the first to do so again; he asked us if we would take him to England to see our King, and engage to bring him back again; for, having sold an immense number of captives as slaves, he expected some of them might recognise him, and call out to the King of England to stop him, because he had sent them out of their own country.
July 2. A girl was beheaded for insolence to one of the King’s sons, and a man for transgressing the law by picking up gold which he had dropped in the public market place, where all that falls is allowed to accumulate until the soil is washed on state emergencies.
3rd. This morning one of the King’s sons (about 10 years of age) shot himself: his funeral custom was celebrated in the afternoon, and a smart fire of musquetry was kept up until sun-set, amidst dancing, singing, and revelry; two men and one girl were sacrificed, and their trunks and heads were left in the market place till dark. The mother of this child, a favourite wife of the King’s, having added crime to a continued perversity of conduct, had been put to death; the boy was banished the King’s presence from that time. This morning he had stolen into the palace for the first time, and the King desiring him to be removed, observing that he had, doubtless, as bad a head towards him as his mother had shewn; he replied, that if he could not be allowed to come and look at his father, he had better die; half an hour afterwards he destroyed himself privately, by directing a blunderbuss into his mouth, and discharging it with his foot. The keeper of the royal cemetry was this day imprisoned. His wife was soon after charged by the council with making fetish to turn the King’s head; she replied that it meant no more than to make the King think better of her husband; but they insisted that she invoked the Fetish to make the King mad, and she was executed.
5th. A loud shout from our people announced the return of the messengers from Cape Coast Castle, after an absence of thirty-eight days.
[Footnote 5: “The government of the country is a military despotism, and I have this day received private information, that it is already settled, that if the refusal of the notes occasions a war, and any one is hurt or killed by the forts, our lives will be the forfeit.” Mr. James’s Dispatch.]
[Footnote 6: “In the present suspicious state of the King’s mind respecting us, I fear it would be impolitic to make the enquiries you ordered in your instructions. I think it will be more prudent to leave them to time. Mr. H. if he remains, will be able, from time to time, to obtain such information as they can give, without creating that suspicion which would certainly arise from any questions put at the present moment. I have kept Mr. H’s hammock men, as it is yet uncertain whether he will remain.” Mr. James’s Dispatch.]
[Footnote 7: This is an extraordinary impression, that all the towns in Europe are supported like those under the forts, holding notes from their governments for annual stipends.]
[Footnote 8: Here the King’s linguist ceased, and by his desire requested us to repeat all the King had said, he was much pleased with our accuracy, and begged us to take some refreshment, (spirits and palm wine were introduced in silver bowls) fearing he had kept us too long without eating, and, would continue the letter to-morrow. He locked up what had been written, and heard it read again the next day, before his linguists continued.]
[Footnote 9: The King always spoke of the acts of all his ancestors as his own.]