us, at the time of this outbreak, we had been in possession
for more than two hundred years. And what had we done during that time?
The reader who is accustomed to the tale of British progress in our
Colonies and India, in fact, in any part where men of our race gather,
might well expect to find improvement here also. But such was not the
case. Cape Coast Castle at this moment was much the same as it had been
when we took it from the Dutch. No efforts had been made to clear the
forest, and to provide an open space. The town was as unhealthy a place
as could well be found. Trade flourished to a certain extent, but might
have been vastly improved. And lastly, we might have encouraged the
advances of the powerful Ashantis, and thereby gained a vast trade. We
might have opened up roads to the interior, and dredged the rivers, thus
enabling our own manufactures to find a market, and in place of sending
numerous presents to the reigning monarch of Ashanti, with a view to
conciliating him, we might very well have made a treaty with him,
whereby commerce might have been improved on both sides. Both those who
ruled British affairs on the Gold Coast practised a short-sighted
policy, with the result that we had come into conflict on at least four
occasions with the Ashantis, and on nearly all these occasions the
question between the two nations was one of commerce. The powerful
Ashantis were impatient of the white man's interference. We blocked the
way to the sea, and the people of Kumasi desired a free opening, by
means of which they might exchange home products for guns and other
items much in request by them.

And now the position was precisely the same, only the purchase of Elmina
had brought matters to a head. King Koffee had demanded the fort there,
claiming that it was his, and had been met with curt refusal. Then, it
is said, our Governor on the Gold Coast attempted to interfere with the
barbarous customs of the Elminas, a mixed race inhabiting the
neighbourhood of the town. This people had never encountered difficulty
on the same score from the Dutch, and they naturally resented the
action. More than likely also they were bribed by the Ashantis. But,
as has been seen, they promptly retaliated by throwing in their lot with
King Koffee, and by inviting him to invade the protectorate. And that
invasion had carried the Ashantis up to the very edge of Cape Coast
Castle, and had resulted in a bombardment of Elmi