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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.
Governor Sir Samuel Rowe, with his usual good fortune, landed at Elmina on March 9, exactly the right time. The attempt to intimidate had ignobly failed, and had recoiled upon the attempter. King Mensah, in order to remove all suspicions of intending a campaign, had resolved to send coastwards the most important and ceremonious mission of the age. It was to conclude a kind of Paix des Dames.
The utter failure of the scare is an earnest that, under normal circumstances, while King Mensah, a middle-aged man, occupies the 'stool, we shall hear no more of 'threatened Ashanti invasions. But the true way to pacify the despotism is to allow Ashanti to 'make a beach' in other words, to establish a port. This measure I have supported for the last score of years, but to very little purpose.
About mid-February the 'situation' notably changed. Messieurs Buck and Huppenbauer, two German missionaries who were making a 'preaching-tour, reported from Kumasi that King Mensah was afraid of war, and that his kingdom was 'on the point to go asunder. The despot, with African wiliness, at once threw the blame of threatening Assin upon his confidant, Saibi Enkwiá.
It was headed by Prince Bwáki, step-father to the two royal brothers, Kofi Kalkali and Kwábina Osai Mensah, and the number as well as the high rank of the retinue made it remarkable. At Prahsu, where the envoys were met by Governor Rowe, a preliminary conversation took place.
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