Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
The Ashanti expedition of 1873–4 provides a remarkable illustration of the use of military power in colonial policy. At a moment when the whole basis of Britain's West African policy was being questioned at home an Ashanti invasion of the states on the Gold Coast in 1873 brought about a calamitous decline in British prestige in the region. The tiny neglected British settlement on the Gold Coast, and the so-called ‘protectorate’, which even experts did not understand, suddenly received unwelcome publicity, which led finally to a reluctant exercise of military power. Sir Garnet Wolseley's march to Kumasi was one of the military dramas of the Victorian age.
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18 For the genesis of this idea in France see Catala, R., ‘La Question de l'échange de la Gambie Britannique contre les comptoirs français du Golfe de Guinée de 1866 à 1876’, Revue d'Histoire des Colonies (1948), XXXV, 114–18CrossRefGoogle Scholar; see also Hargreaves, J. D., ‘The French Occupation of the Mellacourie 1865–67’, Sierra Leone Studies, no. 9 (12 1957), 3–15Google Scholar; Kimberley's refusais are in Minutes, 16 Aug. 1870 (on Law Officers to C.O., 13 July 1870, Gambia correspondence: C.O. 87/98d.); 10 May 1871 (on Kennedy, to Kimberley, , 11 04 1871Google Scholar, C.O. 87/99) and 31 May 1873 (on P.O. to C.O. 23 May 1873, C.O. 87/106).
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32 Ibid. Minute by Kimberley (after 20 March) and draft for Harley. This can be regarded as Kimberley's Gold Coast policy had the Ashanti war not intervened. Its main points were: (1) definition of responsibilities; (2) defence—Britain to defend the coast, Africans to defend the interior; (3) revenue from customs, stipends for the Chiefs; (4) expenditure on vernacular education, roads, and the development of administration with Africans in subordinate posts.
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35 Report on Invasion. Capt. Brett, 19 April 1873, W.O. 32/826, file 076/233. When Kuhne was released from captivity in 1874 he confirmed that Dunkwa was the peak of the Ashanti attack. Shortly after the victory he met Kofi Karikari in the street and saw him dance with joy. After the reports of sickness and defeats there was no more dancing (Reade, , Ashantee Campaign, 103).Google Scholar
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52 The Marines from England who arrived on 9 June, made Elmina their base, but they found the part of the town occupied by the ‘King's party’ was pro-Ashanti. The Legislative Council decided on 12 June to make this party surrender its arms and the operation was planned for dawn on 13 June. When no arms were forthcoming at the appointed hour, Festing gave another half-hour, and then opened fire. At this point the Ashantis appeared (Festing to W.O., 18 June 1873, W.O. 32/826, file 076/320). Reade viewed this incident as the turning-point of the war. The Ashantis failed to achieve their objective Elmina and after the battle were only awaiting permission to return (Ashantee Campaign, 225).
53 Drus, , Kimberley's Journal, 40Google Scholar; 3 Hansard, , CCXVII, cols. 267–8, 308.Google Scholar
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61 Kimberley said of Glover: ‘he is one of those exceptional boasters who have proved that boasting and solid qualities sometimes go together’. Earlier in the year Glover had tried to get the job of the Governor-in-Chief in West Africa (Glover, to Kimberley, , 15 04 1873Google Scholar, Sierra Leone correspondence: C.O. 267/325).
62 Knatchbull-Hugessen, E., The Political Diary of Lord Brabourne 1858–1888 (by courtesy of Lord and Lady Brabourne), (1870–1873), IV, 634–5.Google Scholar
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67 Clarke had been grateful to Glover in 1864, when, by making sure that he got to sea in a bout of fever, Glover probably saved Clarke's life. Vetch, R. H., Life of Sir Lieut.-General Andrew Clarke (1905), 82Google Scholar, and Glover, Lady E., Life of Sir John Hatoley Glover (1897), 118–20Google Scholar, disagree as to whether this took place on the Gold Coast or at Lagos.
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71 Glover was appointed ‘Special Commissioner to the Native Chiefs of the Eastern District’, and was instructed to raise an African force in the Accra and Volta region, to create a diversion in the flank and rear of Ashanti, and so to force them to retire from the Protectorate.
72 This memorandum has not been found and therefore can only be roughly dated. In May 1873, when there was growing publicity in Britain, Lieut.-Col. Evelyn Wood found Wolseley poring over Dutch maps of Ashanti and was told ‘there was a king there who required a lesson to bring him to a sense of the power of England’ (Wood, E., From Midshipman to Field Marshal (1906), 1, 254–5Google Scholar). Wolseley's biographers say ‘As soon as difficulties arose on the Gold Coast, Sir Garnet prepared for Mr Cardwell a memo, on the situation’ (Maurice, F. and Arthur, G., The Life of Lord Wolseley, 61–2Google Scholar). Wolseley himself wrote: ‘Mr Cardwell had in confidence already informed me that he would like me to go there should it be determined to undertake active operations against the invading Ashanti.… I submitted privately to Mr Cardwell a rough outline of a military scheme…’ (A Soldier's Life, 11, 262).
73 Ibid. 362–3. This plan was carried out.
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104 ‘Measures taken at home’, Wolseley Papers, W.13, p. 14. Maurice, who quotes the dispatch to the War Office (Ashantee War, 90–105), specially jiotes that it was dated the day before Wolseley's first operations. The dispatch was apparently delayed in the mail office until 27 Oct. (Melville, C. H., Life of General the Right Hon. Sir Redvers Buller (1923), 1, 61).Google Scholar
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115 Undated Memorandum in Carnarvon Papers, Public Record Office, Gifts and Deposits: P.R.O. 30/6/85. Reade was also very critical of Wolseley, (Ashantee Campaign, 187–8, 229, 231, 289, 291, 338, 353)Google Scholar, and Stanley criticized Wolseley's conduct in Kumasi, (Coomassie and Magdala, 229).Google Scholar
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142 It still existed in 1915, when Claridge wrote. See Gold Coast and Ashanti, 11, 183–4, for his view of the effect of the 1874 policy.