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The political officers of the Protectorate will be the best judges of the steps to be taken; and, if they are active and prudent, we shall hear no more of the Kumasi bugbear. In their present condition our African colonies are colonies only because they are administered by the Colonial Office.
Andrew Swanzy's evidence before the House of Commons in 1816: 'Gold is procured in every part of the country; it appears more like an impregnation of the soil than a mine. His long captivity at Kumasi, where to a certain extent he learned the Oji speech, familiarised him with the native processes; and thus a Frenchman taught Englishmen to work gold in a golden land where they have been domiciled true fainéants for nearly three centuries.
The late Prince Owusu, before mentioned, deposed before the authorities of our Protectorate as follows: 'At Kumasi I was ordered to eat the skull of the late King of Gyáman, which was kept there as a trophy from the conquest of Gyáman; but I did not do it. He also asserted that, in 1879, a white man, Nielson, and his interpreter, Huydecooper, had been sent by an intriguer to Gyáman, bearing a pretended message from the British Government and the Fanti chiefs, enjoining the King to conclude peace with the Ashantis, and to restore their 3,700 captives.
This commander-in-Chief of the Ashanti forces in 1873-74 had publicly sworn in his sober senses at Kumasi, and in presence of the new king, Kwámina Osai Mensah, that he would perforce reduce Adansi, the hill-country held to be the southern boundary of Ashanti-land.
This Tando, which some moderns have represented as an independent stream, divides it from Ashanti-land, lying to the south and the south-east. Dupuis places the old capital, Bontuko, whence the Gyámans were formerly called 'Bontukos, eight stages north-west of Kumasi; and the new capital, Huraboh, five marches beyond Bontuko.
In fact, such ardour was shown that the Ashantis, scared out of their intentions of scaring, began to fear another English invasion. 'The white men intend to take Kumasi again! they said; and perhaps the reflection that 48,000 ounces of gold were still due to us suggested a motive. They had been making ready for offence; now they prepared for defence.
Prince Owusu, nephew of the King and heir to the doughty Gyáman kingdom, fled from Kumasi to the Protectorate, and reached Elmina on January 18. He appeared in great fear, and declared that a son of the chief Amankwá Kwomá and three 'court-criers, or official heralds, were coming down to the coast on a solemn mission to demand his extradition.
Queen Kokofu had threatened that in case of hostilities she would go over to the British. The Queen-mother, a power in the country, which has often kept the peace for it and plunged it into war, threatened to take her own life and here such threats are always followed by action. In fact, the peace-party had utterly overthrown the war-party. The mission left Kumasi in May.
Captain Lonsdale, who has spent some time in Kumasi, reports that the Caboceers have built huts instead of repairing their 'palaces. Moreover, he declares that the story of sacrificing girls to mix their blood with house-swish is a pure fabrication; the Ashantis would no longer dare to do anything so offensive to the conqueror.
He was found hanging in the 'bush' behind Elmina Castle. Most men supposed it to be a case of suicide; a few of course surmised that he had been kidnapped and murdered by orders from Kumasi. During the worst times not a single English employé of the mines had left his post to take refuge in the Axim fort.
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