hey had proven themselves to
be a most heroic, intelligent, and aggressive people. The Fantis lay
stretched between them and the seacoast. The frequent invasion of this
country, for corrective purposes as the Ashantees believed, very
seriously interrupted the trade of the coast; and England began to
feel it. The English had been defeated once in an attempt to assist
the Fantis, and now thought it wise to turn attention to a pacific
policy, looking toward the establishment of amicable relations between
the Ashantees and themselves. There had never been any unpleasant
relations between the two governments, except in the instance named.
The Ashantees rather felt very kindly toward England, and for
prudential and commercial reasons desired to treat the authorities at
the coast with great consideration. They knew that the English gave
them a market for their gold, and an opportunity to purchase
manufactured articles that they needed. But the Fantis, right under
the English flag, receiving a rent for the ground on which the English
had their fort and government buildings, grew so intolerably abusive
towards their neighbors, the Ashantees, that the British saw nothing
before them but interminable war. It was their desire to avoid it if
possible. Accordingly, they sent an embassy to the king of the
Ashantees, consisting of Gov. James, of the fort at Akra, a Mr.
Bowdich, nephew to the governor-in-chief at Cape Coast, a Mr.
Hutchinson, and the surgeon of the English settlement, Dr. Teddlie.
Mr. Bowdich headed the embassy to the royal court, where they were
kindly received. A treaty was made. The rent that the Fantis had been
receiving for ground occupied by the English--four ounces of gold per
month--was to be paid to the king of Ashantee, as his by right of
conquest. Diplomatic relations were to be established between the two
governments, and Mr. Hutchinson was to remain at Kumasi as the British
resident minister. He was charged with the carrying out of so much of
the treaty as related to his government. The treaty was at once
forwarded to the home government, and Mr. Dupuis was appointed consul
of his Majesty's government to the court of Ashantee. A policy was
outlined that meant the opening up of commerce with the distant
provinces of the Ashantee empire along the Kong Mountains. In those
days it took a long time to sail from England to the Gold Coast in
Western Africa; and before Consul Dupuis reached the coast, the king
of A