CHAPTER V.
* * * * *
_Proceedings and Incidents until the Signing of the Preliminaries to a General Treaty._
[The Governor’s reply to my communication on the subject of the Commenda palaver, reached me on the 27th of August.]
_Cape Coast Castle, August 11_, 1817.
T. E. BOWDICH, ESQ.
SIR,
I ENTERTAINED a confident hope that no further mention would have been made by the King concerning the Commendas, after the receipt of my letter, and I am sorry that he should allow so insignificant a set of people to protract in the least the settlement of our union. As it is my particular wish to remove this impediment, I have used every endeavour to bring the affair to a conclusion, and trust the King will not suffer it to be invincible. The Commendas are also naturally anxious for its termination, but their poverty is so great, that they have it not in their power to comply with his demand. They have acknowledged their fealty to the King, and have agreed to pay the sum of 120 oz. of gold, of which, messengers are sent by his nephew to enquire whether he will accept. This, with the sum they have been unavoidably obliged to promise the principal persons deputed to negociate this business, will increase the sum to at least 150 oz. The many proofs the King has had of my friendly intentions towards him, and the consideration of the benefits that will accrue to him from his alliance with the English, will, I hope, induce him to concede to the terms offered by the Commendas. A refusal must be considered as an avowal of his determined resolution not to conciliate the affair, and as the indigent circumstances of these people, make it utterly impossible for them to pay a larger sum, you will, should he persist in exacting more, procure his permission to leave the country, and return with the other officers as soon as you can. To sacrifice the Mission, after the heavy expences which have been incurred, and when we are induced to believe that every other object is propitiated to our utmost expectations, should be avoided if possible; but if he insists on a larger sum being levied from the Commendas than has been offered, there remains no other alternative. The dignity of the flag must be the superior consideration to all others.
The King has no need to doubt in the least the sincerity of the Cape Coast people, they are his friends, and have every inclination to continue so; and I am convinced his nephew will, on his return, confirm this report to him.
I will make known to the Committee his request for a crown and clothes, and I have no doubt but it will be complied with.
I am, Sir,
your most obedient Servant,
JOHN HOPE SMITH.
_Coomassie, Aug. 29_, 1817.
JOHN HOPE SMITH, ESQ. GOVERNOR IN CHIEF, &c. &c. &c.
SIR,
I HAVE the satisfaction to enclose a copy of the Preliminaries to the general Treaty, as signed this day by the King in Council, adjusting the Commenda palaver, agreeably to your letter of the 11th, which did not reach me till the 27th instant.
I proceed to acquaint you with the transactions of the interval.
The charge of a political Embassy, in a part of the world where respect and security are founded upon the opinion imposed by our conduct, exacted a spirit and dignity, which might have been abated in insinuating a Mission through the country for scientific purposes, but the inviolability of which was inseparable from the improvement and safety of neighbouring settlements. Since my last dispatch, I have been obligated to resist various encroachments, of which I shall mention two or three to justify my treatment of them.
The death of Quamina Bwa, our Ashantee guide, in the early part of the last week, creating an idle, but popular superstition that he had been killed by the fetish for bringing white men to take the country; I was applied to in the King’s name, to ameliorate this impression, by contributing an ounce of gold towards the custom to be made by the King for his repose. I refused on two grounds; first, that Quamina Bwa had himself unjustly incensed the people against us, by panyaring[10] their provisions in the King’s name, for our subsistence, and defrauding them of the gold we gave him for the payment: secondly, that the rites of customs were unnatural to our religion, which bound us, at least, not to encourage them. Fifteen persons had been sacrificed the week before (in a custom for the mother of a captain) with aggravated barbarity.
Several of the principal men having applied to me to send to Cape Coast for silks, to be paid for on receipt at Coomassie (a very dangerous and impolitic indulgence), I impressed, indignantly, that I was not sent as a trader to make bargains with them, but as an officer to talk the palavers with the King.
These circumstances, and a personal chastisement of some insults from inferior captains, which was provoked after much patience, influenced ex parte representations, which, though they may not have sickened the King’s regard, induced hauteur and neglect. In proceeding to the King’s house on public occasions, which I never did without the flag, canes, and soldiers, we had been expected to make way for the greater retinues of superior captains, who would rudely have enforced it; and after soliciting audiences for two days, I was kept in waiting above an hour in the outer courts of the palace. On the last occasion of the latter treatment, knowing that it was affected, I returned to our quarters until I received the King’s invitation; representing to him, that as an officer dignified by an authority to make a treaty with him in the name of the British Government, I could not submit to disrespectful treatment at the Palace, nor allow the English flag to give place to any but himself; that, if it merely affected myself as an individual, my esteem for the King would induce me to compromise these points of etiquette with his captains; but, according to the custom of England, I dared not; for if I did, my sword would be taken from me on my return to Cape Coast Castle. It produced the desired effect; the gong gong proclaimed in every street that all captains must make way for the flag; and at the monthly levee of the captains (the Adaï custom) the King’s linguists were deputed to us first, with the customary present of a sheep and rum; and presented us the first to pay our compliments to the King, being followed by Amanquateä, Quatchie Quophi, Apokoo, and Odumata; the four captains composing the Privy Council, or Aristocracy, which checks the King. The first (whose power approximates to that of the Mayor of the Palace under the early French dynasty) sent his linguist and gold swords to compliment us on the ground. I determined to take advantage of this impression, and of the comparative facility of intercourse, and demanded an audience to discuss the treaty, a copy of which I enclose, and hope my additions will be satisfactory. I have the King’s assurance that it shall be formally executed in eight days; when all his tributaries will be present for the yam custom, and when I hope to make the King of Dwabin and its dependencies a party, whose power is equal to the King of Ashantee’s.
To resume—the audience was granted; and I read the treaty before the King and his Council, submitting it article by article, to their consideration. It was debated the whole of that and the succeeding day. I considered that if I could get the treaty discussed and executed in this favourable interval, removing the Commenda palaver from the situation of an obstacle, and reserving it as the first proof of the King’s disposition to coincide with you in what was reasonable and just, I might, on the receipt of dispatches, gain the better terms for that people.
On Saturday the 22d instant, I was summoned to declare the articles of the treaty before the assembly of captains, who were seated with their attendants and warriors in the large yard of the palace, with all the imposing pomp and military parade, which had before been collected to subdue us, in the scene of the declaration of war. The King’s sisters, with the females of his family, were seated, with their numerous attendants, on an elevated floor behind. The deputies from the Fantee towns in the interior, were placed within hearing, and the crowd was almost impervious: the most ghastly trophies were mixed with this blaze of ostentation. We were seated near the King immediately opposite to his linguists.
In reading the treaty, I paused after every article, leaving it to be formally repeated to the King through his linguists, and then sat down whilst it was discussed by the assembly. It is not necessary to repeat the various debates; and I will only notice that Amanquateä, through his linguist, proposed the renewal of the Slave Trade as a sine qua non;[11] this, however, as I had all along declared it to be impossible, was at length over-ruled, but with considerable difficulty. It was also proposed to attach a fine to the infraction of the treaty; but this I resisted as derogatory to the dignity of the contracting parties; and urged, that as the King and his dignitaries would consider his oath as sacred, as you and the Government would mine, I considered no _infraction_ of the treaty could take place; though it might possibly be _offended_ by the conduct of his subjects, or of individuals under British protection, which was provided for, and must be visited accordingly by the authorities pledged to the treaty.
I had declared from the first, that it would be expected that the King should swear in the form of his country to the fulfilment and preservation of the treaty, and that his oath should be attested by his principal captains, from my anxiety to fortify to the utmost, a measure not only valuable to commerce but to humanity, in averting the renewal of a war, recorded by indelible marks of carnage and devastation.
At the moment I expected the King to execute the treaty, a fresh design was disclosed, in a long speech from the chief linguist, setting forth the wrongs the King had just received from the people of Amissa, who had scourged his messengers, and couched their insulting defiance in the foulest language; yet, he said, the King did not want to invade the Fantee country for the sake of one town, and therefore I must stay and assist him to settle that palaver; he would then readily swear to the treaty. I replied at length, declaring particularly that I could not, and would not recognize the Amissa palaver; that the King vitiated the compliments he had been pleased to pay me, in expecting me to be such a fool as to involve you in the palaver of a people, over whom you neither possessed nor desired authority; and that if I had not a right to think better of the King, I should view such a proposal as evasive of the treaty, and final to the hope of a thorough understanding.
The chief linguist rejoined, that I had declared in announcing the treaty, that it was the wish of the British Government to put an end to war, and for the King to have no occasion to trouble the Fantees; whereas, if the people of Amissa were not persuaded to retract, the King must send a captain to destroy them, which could be done at a word, and this perhaps would make another war. I urged that the Fantee towns under the British forts must be considered distinctly, and that those, and those only, were viewed by the Government and the treaty; yet, for the cause of humanity, I would request you, for the King, to advise the people of Amissa better, through some medium, which I hoped might do good, but if disregarded, you could not even repeat it: that was all I could promise, and if that was not enough, our negociations were at an end. No! that was not enough, I must stay and see the palaver settled.
We immediately rose, and I declared as impressively as I could, that as the officer of the King of England, your orders only could be obeyed by me, that I dared not remain or allow myself to be stopped, even if I should be killed on the path, for my life was not my palaver, but the King of England’s. As I bowed to retire, the linguist exclaimed, that the King promised to see me again in an hour.
I used the interval for reflection, and resolved to act upon the conclusion, that nothing but an undaunted resolution could check these encroachments, which were to be attributed to the Government rather than to the King.
The hour having fully expired, I sent a cane to Adoocee, the chief linguist, to desire the audience; he sent me word that the King was asleep, and no one dared to awake him. I then went to Odumata (who resides within the palace) and repeated to him, that I was determined to go, if the King did not keep his word and see me; he said I could not; I rejoined, I would, and left him. I then went to Adoocee’s house, declared the same, and received the same reply. I left a cane in waiting at the palace, with orders to quit and return to me at 4 o’clock, (which allowed altogether four hours instead of one) if he was not dispatched with a message in the interval. No notice was taken; there was no alternative to my making good what I had said. The views of the Mission were at risk, but they would have been too dearly purchased by such concessions, and I was sanguine, rather than apprehensive of the success of the measure I adopted; without spirit and fortitude nothing was to be done.
I ordered all the baggage out, planted the flag, and giving the soldiers’ muskets to the officers, converted them and the artificers into bearers, as well as our own servants, for I saw the previous dismissal of my own people was considered a hold on me. I ordered the linguists to declare to the party publickly, that I would flog any man who attempted to leave the town in debt; I paid all they confessed, by advances on their pay to the amount of 10 ackies: this gave the greatest publicity to our movements.
The King’s uncle, Bundaenha, and another superior captain came in form to entreat me to stay, whilst they affected to address the King. I saw through this, and that I might presume on it; holding the watch in my hand, I promised to wait half an hour, and no longer. They returned within the time to conduct me to the King, but after being kept unusually long in waiting, the answer to my remonstrance through the linguists, was, that the King was very busy hearing a great palaver; I saw they lingered still in their hope of my submission. I sent the two canes to tell the King that mine was a great palaver, and ought to be heard, not only from its importance, but because he had passed his word that it should; that after a King disregarded his promise, it was useless to wait any longer. Returning to our quarters, I ordered the people to load the baggage.
At the moment of starting, a royal messenger ran up, to say the King was waiting to see me. I dismissed him with the message, that I could not stop, unless a person of consequence was sent to promise for the King. The King’s uncle came, and assured me the King would receive me himself at the entrance of the palace. We went, and were instantly ushered into the presence of the King and his captains, who were debating by torch light: the clamour and deportment of this assembly might have been subduing, had it been novel. The uproar having abated, the King demanded, through his linguist, why I had determined to leave so suddenly, and whether he had not behaved well to me, adding to much declamation, that he knew the King of England and the Governor wished to please him, and would not countenance the act. I replied, that “I had not only gone the full length of my instructions to please the King, but exceeded them; and all that I had to fear was, that you would not approve my remaining a moment after he had trifled with me. The King’s behaviour to me, as an individual, I should always be proud to speak of, but his respect of the Embassy was a very superior consideration. Every thing he wished had been done, and now he tried to impose a palaver on me, with which you had no more to do than with the Buntooko war. The King had promised me to settle the point of the treaty, I waited the discussion patiently, he pledged his word to see me that evening, he had avoided it; I had said I would wait no longer if he did not keep his word; no English officer dared to break his word, if he did, he lost his sword.” Much declamation ensued, but the King’s conviction silenced the assembly, and realized the triumph I expected. He said, what I told him was true, that he was very sorry, but he had too much to think about; he liked the Law (the Treaty) very well, but begged me to wait a little longer till all his captains came. I received his promise to see me the following day. The next morning the head linguist came in form to acquaint me that some palavers had arrived in the night, which had made it necessary for the King to go to Berramang (a croom about five miles to the N.E. on the road to Sallagha, the capital of the Inta country) but he had orders to furnish us with the King’s hammock-men, if we were inclined to follow him the next day. We did so, and I enclose an extract from my diary, with the circumstances of the day, as they do not affect the point in question: on taking leave in the evening, the King promised that I should hear from him the next day.
Apokoo, who had been left in charge of the town, visited me in form by the King’s orders, with the criers and insignia, to assure me there should be no more impediments to the treaty, and that the King would return the next day. The evening was productive of another disturbance, from my resistance of an indignity. The Cape Coast messenger arriving, informed me that the dispatches and letters were retained by Adoo Bradie’s messenger, who accompanied him. I sent the canes to Apokoo’s to demand them, but ineffectually; I then went myself, and insisted on the delivery; he said it could not be allowed until the King returned to the capital. I protested so strongly against the act, that he sent for the chief linguist (Adoocee) and after a palaver, they promised to send me the letters on my return to the house: I left the canes in waiting. The time allowed having expired without the receipt, I went again to Apokoo’s, who referred me to Adoocee. I went to him, and he said he dared not interfere in the business. The Cape Coast messengers refusing to do so, we proceeded instantly to Adoo Bradie’s house, and finding the messenger, demanded the letters, and obtained them. I had scarcely read them, before Adoocee came with some captains, and about 100 persons, (being then 9 o’clock) to demand my delivery of your letter to his charge, until the King’s return. I indignantly refused, asserting my authority, and criminating such a request as injurious to the rights of the meanest subject of the King of England, and an insuperable affront to you. He tried threats and entreaties alternately; the former I treated with contempt, the latter I regretted I dared not yield to. The palaver was prolonged till 10 o’clock at night. I determined not to lose ground. The King did not arrive until the evening of the next day, I sent three canes with my compliments on his return, and received his with an appointment of an audience the next (this) morning.
We were sent for early, the affair of the letters was opposed to me. I repeated my declarations to Adoocee, and added, that I should not think of leaving a Resident, if such were the forms of the Ashantee Court. The Ashantee messengers declared that you had ordered your letters to be delivered to the King. I said that was impossible. The King was very gentle, but such was the suspicion of the assembly, that they requested me to swear on my sword, that I had not altered any part of your letter; I did so, prefacing the act as such a suspicion merited. I then read your letter, abating nothing of its spirit and firmness, and laying stress upon your disposition to benefit the King, and the proofs you had given. I concluded my illustrations with the declaration, that you did not settle the King’s palaver from fear, but from friendship, as it remained with him to prove. I submitted the preliminaries in form, for rejection or acceptance. After an ardent debate among the captains, they were executed and attested, and I lose no time in forwarding the copy. I left a duplicate with the King, as I shall of the treaty.
The King intends to dispatch a messenger directly to empower Adoo Bradie to receive the gold, and hopes you will recommend the people of Commenda to restore any of the slaves in their possession belonging to Elmina, although that is not his palaver.
The King desired me to communicate his best thanks for your handsome treatment of his nephew, whose reports have been very flattering.
I urged my intercessions for Quamina Bootaqua, until the King vouchsafed me his assurance that he would pardon him.
I have the satisfaction to inform you, that I have been able, privately, so far to conciliate the Moors, as to have witnessed their forwardance of the certificates[12] to the Interior, with their own letters of recommendation indorsed.
I advocated the merits of the Castle linguist, De Graff, as you desired, and successfully. I flatter myself this will anticipate the arrival of the King’s, and the Cape Coast messengers.
I am, &c. &c.
T. E. BOWDICH.
_Preliminaries of a General Treaty, to be made and entered into by_ THOMAS EDWARD BOWDICH, _Esquire, for the Governor and Council of Cape Coast Castle, and on the part of the British Government, with_ SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA, _King of Ashantee and its Dependencies._
1st. The King accepts the offer of the people of Commenda, through the Governor in Chief; namely, one hundred and twenty ounces of gold for himself, and the customary fees to his embassadors, as a settlement in full of all demands.
2nd. The people of Commenda shall acknowledge their fealty to the King, and be entitled to all the benefits of his protection.
3d. The King shall authorize some responsible captain to receive the gold, from the hands of the deputies of the people of Commenda, at Cape Coast Castle.
4th. It is hereby agreed, that every palaver is now settled preparatory to the General Treaty, which shall be executed forthwith.
Signed and sealed this twenty-ninth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventeen.
The mark of SAÏ TOOTOO QUAMINA. X (L. S.)
T. E. BOWDICH. (L. S.)
In the presence of
WILLIAM HUTCHISON.
HENRY TEDLIE.
ADOOCEE, Chief Linguist.
APOKOO, Keeper of the Treasury.
QUAMINA QUATCHIE, } } Linguists to the Mission. QUASHEE APAINTREE, }
_Extract from Diary._—Monday, 25th August, we started soon after seven o’clock, and proceeding in a N.E. direction, crossed the marsh close to the town, where it was about two feet deep and one hundred and fifty yards broad. We travelled the path to Sallagha, through a beautiful country, abounding in neat crooms (of which we passed through seven), the sites spacious, and environed by extensive plantations. The path was wide and so nearly direct, that the eye was always in advance through beautiful vistas varied by gentle risings. The iron stone still prevailed.
The King received us in the market place, and enquiring anxiously if we had breakfasted, ordered refreshment. After some conversation we were conducted to a house prepared for our reception, where a relish was served (sufficient for an army) of soups, stews, plantains, yams, rice, &c. (all excellently cooked) wine, spirits, oranges, and every fruit. The messengers, soldiers, and servants were distinctly provided for. Declining the offer of beds, we walked out in the town, and conversed and played drafts with the Moors, who were reclining under trees; the King joined us with cheerful affability, and seemed to have forgotten his cares. About two o’clock dinner was announced. We had been taught to prepare for a surprise, but it was exceeded. We were conducted to the eastern side of the croom, to a door of green reeds, which excluded the crowd, and admitted us through a short avenue to the King’s garden, an area equal to one of the large squares in London. The breezes were strong and constant. In the centre, four large umbrellas of new scarlet cloth were fixed, under which was the King’s dining table (heigthened for the occasion) and covered in the most imposing manner; his massy plate was well disposed, and silver forks, knives, and spoons (Colonel Torrane’s) were plentifully laid. The large silver waiter supported a roasting pig in the centre; the other dishes on the table were roasted ducks, fowls, stews, pease pudding, &c. &c. On the ground on one side of the table were various soups, and every sort of vegetable; and elevated parallel with the other side, were oranges, pines, and other fruits; sugar-candy, Port and Madeira wine, spirits and Dutch cordials, with glasses. Before we sat down the King met us, and said, that as we had come out to see him, we must receive the following present from his hands, 2 oz. 4 ackies of gold, one sheep and one large hog to the officers, 10 ackies to the linguists, and 5 ackies to our servants.
We never saw a dinner more handsomely served, and never ate a better. On our expressing our relish, the King sent for his cooks, and gave them ten ackies. The King and a few of his captains sat at a distance, but he visited us constantly, and seemed quite proud of the scene; he conversed freely, and expressed much satisfaction at our toasts, “The King of Ashantee, the King of England, the Governor, the King’s Captains, a perpetual union (with a speech, which is the sine qua non) and the handsome women of England and Ashantee.” After dinner the King made many enquiries about England, and retired, as we did, that our servants might clear the table, which he insisted on. When he returned, some of the wine and Dutch cordials remaining, he gave them to our servants to take with them, and ordered the table cloth to be thrown to them and all the napkins. A cold pig, cold fowls (with six that had not been dressed) were dispatched to Coomassie for our supper. We took leave about five o’clock, the King accompanying us to the end of the croom, where he took our hands, and wished us good night. We reached the capital again at six, much gratified by our excursion and treatment.
Mr. Tedlie had brought Quamina Bwa (our guide) into a very advanced state of convalescence; but he so eagerly betook himself from low diet to palm oil soups, and stews of blood, that he soon relapsed, and a gathering formed on his liver, aggravated not a little by the various fetish draughts he swallowed. Seeing there was no other chance, Mr. Tedlie, who is a very skilful operator, would have scarified the liver; but although I had great reason to rely confidently on his judgment and ability, I thought our situation too critical to run such a risk. A Fantee boy having fractured his leg, and his dissolution appearing inevitable, the parents, in great distress, applied to the surgeon of an English outfort, who amputated the limb, and after much wearying attendance, to the surprise of every one, restored the boy to health. The family then brought him into the fort, and laying him down in the hall, addressed the surgeon (who was in charge of the fort) thus; “As Master cut off poor boy’s leg, and so spoil poor boy for work, we come to ask Master how much he think to give poor boy to keep him.”
Quamina Bwa was fetished until the last moment, and died amidst the howls of a legion of old hags, plastering the walls, door posts, and every thing about him, with chopped egg and different messes. I forget how many sheep he had sacrificed to the fetish by the advice of these harpies. The King sent him a sheep and a periguin of gold, when he heard he was ill. This man had settled the palaver with Mr. White, after the blockade of Cape Coast, in 1815, the third invasion of the Ashantees, and was universally odious, for his cruel extortions; these being reported to the King, he was disgraced; and being very extravagant, became much involved. Being at Payntree, he prevailed on Quamina Bushmaquaw to allow him to conduct us, to retrieve his finances a little. Excepting Adoocee, the King’s chief linguist, he was the most plausible villain I ever met with.
The head of an Akim caboceer arrived in Coomassie about this time. The King and the Ashantee government had proposed that every croom of Akim should pay 20 periguins of gold as an atonement for their late revolt. Ten periguins were advanced immediately by each, and the other moiety was excused until after the harvest; but Aboidedroo caboceer of Manasoo resolutely refused to pay a tokoo. The King’s messengers, however, appealed to his people with so much address, that they rose upon their caboceer, killed him, and sent his head to the King, with the 20 periguins required.
[Footnote 10: Seizing.]
[Footnote 11: Presents from two Spanish slave ships were received through the Mulatto Brue on the 16th instant; they were general, but I can only particularise the following:
To the King, 3 pieces of cloth, 1 umbrella, and a hat.
To the chief linguist, 1 piece, do. 2 flashes liquor.
To the 4th do. (Otee) 1 do. 2 ditto, do.
To Odumata, 2 do. 2 ditto, do.
To Quamina Bwa, agent for the purchase of the slaves, 2 pieces of cloth, 1 umbrella, and 1 Dane gun.
]
[Footnote 12: For a copy of these certificates vide the opposite engraving.]