shantee was engaged in a war with the king of Gaman. The Ashantee
army was routed. The news of the disaster was hailed by the Fantis on
the coast with the most boisterous and public demonstrations. This
gave the king of Ashantee offence. The British authorities were quite
passive about the conduct of the Fantis, although by solemn treaty
they had become responsible for their deportment. The Fantis grew very
insulting and offensive towards the Ashantees. The king of the latter
called the attention of the authorities at the Cape to the conduct of
the Fantis, but no official action was taken. In the mean while Mr.
Dupuis was not allowed to proceed on his mission to the capital of the
Ashantees. Affairs began to assume a very threatening attitude; and
only after the most earnest request was he permitted to proceed to the
palace of the king of Ashantee. He received a hearty welcome at the
court, and was entertained with the most lavish kindness. After long
and painstaking consideration, a treaty was decided upon that was
mutually agreeable; but the self-conceited and swaggering insolence of
the British authorities on the coast put it into the waste-basket. The
commander of the British squadron put himself in harmony with the
local authorities, and refused to give Consul Dupuis transportation to
England for the commissioners of the Ashantee government, whom he had
brought to the coast with the intention of taking to London with him.

A war-cloud was gathering. Dupuis saw it. He sent word to the king of
Ashantee to remember his oath, and refrain from hostilities until he
could communicate with the British government. The treaty stipulated
for the recognition, by the British authorities, of the authority of
the Ashantee king over the Fantis. Only those immediately around the
fort were subject to English law, and then not to an extent to exempt
them from tax imposed by the Ashantee authorities.

In the midst of these complications, Parliament, by a special act,
abolished the charter of the African Company. This put all its forts,
arsenals, and stations under the direct control of the crown. Sir
Charles McCarthy was made governor-general of the British possessions
on the Gold Coast, and took up his head-quarters at Cape Coast in
March, 1822. Two months had passed now since Dupuis had sailed for
England; and not a syllable had reached the king's messenger, who, all
this time, had waited to hear from England. The country was in an