¹ See, for example, Gocking, Roger, “Creole Society and the Revival of Traditional Culture in Cape Coast During the Colonial Period,” IJAHS 17 (1984), 601–6Google Scholar; Rathbone, Richard, “The Gold Coast, the Closing of the Atlantic Slave Trade, and Africans of the Diaspora” in Palmie, Stephan, ed., Slave Cultures and the Cultures of Slavery (Knoxville, 1995), 57–62.Google ScholarBoahen, Adu, Ghana: Evolution and Change in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (London, 1975), 45Google Scholar, shows that as early as 1834, Kojo Tsibu, the ruler of Denkyira sent a petition to the Secretary of State for Colonies contesting a fine of £200 imposed on him by the British authorities for having engaged in ritual human sacrifice; The African Times, (London), (23 March 1865), 116Google Scholar, points out that in 1842 the people of Cape Coast “had subscribed large sums” for the purpose of sending a deputation to “place their case clearly before” the 1842 Select Committee that was studying the issue of slave-trading in the confines of the forts and castles; and African Times (23 February 1867, 91Google Scholar, shows that John Aggrey of Cape Coast sent a petition directly to the Secretary of State for Colonies about the conduct of Colonel Conran, the Administrator of the Gold Coast. For the Governor's reply see African Times)23 November 1868), 56.Google Scholar

² See for example, Ranger, T.O., “Connexions Between ‘Primary Resistance’ Movements and Modern Mass Nationalism in East and Central Africa,” JAH 9 (1968), 437-54, 631–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Mazrui, Ali and Rotberg, Robert, eds., Protest and Power in Black Africa (New York, 1970)Google Scholar; and special issue on protest and resistance, Journal of Southern African Studies 4/1 (1977).Google Scholar

³ Scott, James C., Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance (New Haven, 1986).Google Scholar This deals with polemics of peasant responses to capitalist exploitation and deprivation, and the strategies they used to safeguard their well-being and justify their responses. The setting of the study is a wet rice village in northern Malaysia. Scott argues that deprived peasants used “weapons of the weak,” including foot-dragging, pilfering, and sabotaging of machines to maximize their limited, controlled resources and bargaining power.

⁴ See, for example, Vail, Leroy and White, Landeg, “Forms of Resistance: Songs and Perceptions of Power in Colonial Mozambique,” American Historical Review 88 (1983), 883–919CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and McGarry, Georgia, Reaction and Protest in the West African Press (Cambridge, 1978).Google Scholar

⁵ For studies of the British abolition of slavery and pawnship in the Gold Coast see, for example, Grace, John, Domestic Slavery in West Africa (New York, 1975), 33–39Google Scholar; Dumett, Raymond, “Pressure Groups, Bureaucracy, and the Decision-Making Process: The Case of Slavery Abolition and Colonial Expansion in the Gold Coast, 1874,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 9 (1981), 193–215CrossRefGoogle Scholar; McSheffrey, Gerald M., “Slavery, Indentured Servitude, Legitimate Trade and the Impact of Abolition in the Gold Coast, 1874-1901: A Reappraisal,” JAH 24, (1983), 349–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Dumett, Raymond and Johnson, Marion, “Britain and the Suppression of Slavery in the Gold Coast Colony, Ashanti and the Northern Territories” in Miers, Suzanne and Roberts, Richard, eds., The End of Slavery in Africa (Madison, 1988), 71–116Google Scholar; Robertson, Claire C., “Post-Proclamation Slavery in Accra: A Female Affair” in Klein, Martin and Robertson, Claire C., eds., Women and Slavery in Africa (Madison, 1983), 220–45Google Scholar; Perbi, Akosua A., “A History of Indigenous Slavery in Ghana from the 15th to the 19th Centuries,” (Ph. D. thesis, University of Ghana, 1997)Google Scholar; Akurang-Parry, Kwabena Opare, “Missy Queen in her palaver saves de Gole Coase slave is free”: Abolition of Slavery/Pawnship and Colonial Labor Recruitment in the Gold Coast (Southern Ghana), 1874-1940,” (Ph.D. thesis York University, 1998)Google Scholar; idem, “The Administration of the Abolition Laws, African Responses, and Post-Proclamation Slavery in Colonial Southern Ghana, 1874-1940” Slavery and Abolition 19 (1998), 149-66.

⁶ This group comprised literate Africans and diasporic Africans, including Afro-Caribbeans and African-Brazilians. They were the opinion leaders, described as the new elites, the social elites, and the Western educated elites. See for example, Nadel, S.F., The Concept of the Social Elites, International Social Science Bulletin 3 (1956), 413–515Google Scholar; Kimblc, David, A Political History of Ghana 18S0-1928 (Oxford, 1963), 135–41Google Scholar; McCarthy, Mary, Social Change and the Growth of British Potver in the Gold Coast (Lanham, 1983)Google Scholar; Lloyd, P.C., Africa in Social Change (New York, 1967), 125–31Google Scholar; Foster, Philip, Education and Social Change in Ghana (Chicago, 1968), 48–69Google Scholar; Following Foster, ibid., 68, the usage of the term “African intelligentsia” does not mean that they were a “relatively homogenous group. My usage suggests “a considerable heterogeneity within the educated group itself.” For the return of diasporic Africans to the coastal areas of West Africa, see for example, Rathbone, , “Gold Coast,” 57–62.Google Scholar

⁷ For the colonial correspondence on the anti-abolition petitions, see Further Correspondence Relating to the Abolition of Slavery on the Gold Coast, Parliamentary Papers, 1875, C. 1159 (hereafter C. 1159).

⁸ See, for example, Kwabena Opare Akurang-Parry, “Slavery and Abolition in the Gold Coast (Southern Ghana): Colonial Modes of Emancipation and African Initiatives,” Ghana Studies, forthcoming.

⁹ See, for example, Kimble, , Political History, 303–04Google Scholar; Dumett, and Johnson, , “Gold Coast,” 80.Google Scholar For a fuller account see Kwabena Opare Akurang-Parry, “It is a Question Which Must be Dealt with Completely and Thoroughly:' The Gold Coast Colonial Government's Preparations for Abolition of Slavery and Pawnship,” submitted to Legon Journal of Humanities.

¹⁰ See for example, C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl. in No. 1; and C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2 and Encl. 3 in No. 2.

¹¹ McSheffrey, “Slavery;” Dumett and Johnson, “Gold Coast;” and Akurang-Parry, “Administration of Abolition Laws.”

¹² Dumett, and Johnson, , “Gold Coast,” 78–82Google Scholar; Grace, , Domestic Slavery, 34–39Google Scholar; McSheffrey, , “Slavery,” 354–64Google Scholar; and Perbi, , “A History of Indigenous Slavery,” 262–70.Google Scholar

¹³ The Gold Coast Colony was established by the British after the defeat of Asante in 1874 in the Anglo-Asante war of 1873-74. Broadly, the Gold Coast covered the area between Asante and the Atlantic ocean. The Gold Coast was divided into two administrative and geographical spheres: the Colony and the Protectorate. The Colony was the coastal enclave that had contact with the Europeans from the fifteenth century. The Protectorate, the interior region between the coastal belt and Asante, was first brought under European rule in the late nineteenth century. Until 1901 the boundaries between the Colony and the Protectorate remained nebulously defined. See Carnarvon to Strahan, 20 August 1874, No. 2 in For a fuller account, see Lucas, C.P., Historical Geography of the British Colonies (3 vols.: Oxford, 1894), 3:197–215.Google Scholar

¹⁴ McSheffrey, , “Slavery,” 359–60Google Scholar; Dumett, and Johnson, , “Gold Coast,” 86–88Google Scholar; Affrifah, Kofi, “The Impact of the Christianity on Akyem Society,” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana 16/1 (1966), 75–82Google Scholar; Smith, Noel, The Presbyterian Church of Ghana, 183S-1960 (Accra, 1966), 115–17Google Scholar; Addo-Fening, Robert, “Akyem Abuakwa, 1874-1943: A Study of the Impact of Missionary Activities and Colonial Rule on Traditional State,” (Ph.D., University of Ghana, 1980).Google Scholar

¹⁵ Perbi, , “Indigenous Slavery,” 260–61.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Kwabena Opare Akurang-Parry, “The Many Faces of Anti-Slavery Ideology', Chieftaincy and Colonial Rile in the Gold Coast: The Case of King Enimil Kwao of Wassa Fiase, 1875-1895,” submitted to IJAHS

¹⁷ Akurang-Parry, “It is a Question.”

¹⁸ Peter Haenger, Slavery and Slave Emancipation in the Gold Coast, forthcoming, Chapter 3.2. I thank Paul Lovejoy of York University for making this unpublished manuscript available to me. It has no pagination, therefore, chapters are cited in this study.

¹⁹ See the definition by Coleman, James S., Nigeria: Background to Nationalism (Berkeley, 1958), 178Google Scholar, “particular responses to particular imperial measures deemed oppressive or onerous, rather than fundamental challenges to imperial rule or positive affirmations of the objective of … self-government.” For a comprehensive perspective on protest, see Mazrui, /Rotberg, , Protest and Power, 1185–96.Google Scholar

²⁰ African Times, 23 September 1868, 35Google Scholar; and African Times, 23 November 1868, 56.Google Scholar

²¹ African Times, 23 March 1865, 116Google Scholar, for a commentary on a petition in 1842; and African Times, 23 February 1867, 91.Google Scholar

²² The Western Echo (Cape Coast), 28 November 1885, 4, noted that “inhabitants of Ebnina and adjacent villages have petitioned the Colonial Secretary for the release of their King, who is a state prisoner at Sierra Leone.” Western Echo, 9 December 1885, 2, noted that the “inhabitants of Saltpond sent a petition to the Government asking among other things for a Colonial School in the town, so that more facilities for intellectual progress might be placed in their reach;” Western Echo, 30 January 1886, 4, discussed a meeting held to “consider the advisability of a deputation being sent to England.” The Gold Coast Methodist Times (Cape Coast), 31 August 1897, notes about Axim Petition—Lands Bill of 1897.

²³ African Times, 23 February 1867, 91Google Scholar; and Western Echo, 8 May 1886 4.Google Scholar

²⁴ See the Memorial of Sierra Leoue Residents at Lagos to Commissioner Ord in African Times, 23 February 1865, 98Google Scholar; Sierra Leone Petition Against Governor Blacknall's Ordinance Abolishing Trail by Jury in African Times, 23 March 1867, 109-11, continued in African Times, 23 April 1867, 114-15; and Petition from Sierra Leone to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs in African Times, 23 July 1867, 11-15. For a petition from Lagos to the Colonial Office, see Rowe to Derby, 19 February 1884, No. 27 in C. Further Correspondence Respecting the Affairs of the Gold Coast, Parliamentary Papers, 1885, C. 4477 (hereafter C. 4477). For the original text of the Lagos petition see C. 4477, Hood and Others to Lieutenant Governor, 18 January 1884, Eucl in Encl. 1 in No. 27.

²⁵ By the 1870s the West African press had become a booming industry as well as a whetstone of political activity, exemplified by the publication of issues regarding the anti-abolition petitions published in The Gold Coast Times (Cape Coast), 23 February 1875; and Gold Coast Times, 31 March 1875. The history of the West African press dates back to the first decade of the nineteenth century. Initially it functioned under the aegis of European officials and published government or official gazettes. For a historical account of the West African press, see McGarry, , Reaction and Protest, 1–17Google Scholar; Jones-Quartey, K.A.B., “Thought and Expression in the Gold Coast Press,” Universitas 3 (1958), 72-75, 113–16Google Scholar; idem. History, Politics, and the Early Press in Ghana (Accra, 1975); Omu, Fred, Press and Politics in Nigeria, 1880-1937 (London, 1978)Google Scholar; and Spitzer, Leo, The Creoles of Sierra Leone: Responses to Colonialism, 1870-1945 (Madison, 1974), 108–47.Google Scholar See the petition of the King of Cape Coast to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies in African Times, 23 February 1867, 91; and the publication of the Gold Coast anti-abolition petitions, in African Times, 1 March 1875. This issue also contains summaries of the Daily News (London), 8 February 1875Google Scholar; and Daily News, 11 February 1875. See Gold Coast Times, 31 March 1875, for commentaries on the anti-abolition petitions in British newspapers.

²⁶ African Times, 23 April 1868, 115. For an account of the Anglo-Dutch exchange of forts in the Gold Coast and the reaction of the Fante states, see Kimble, , Political History, 222–56.Google Scholar Petition of W.C. Finlason to Governor Blackall, the Governor in Chief of Her Majesty's Possessions in West Africa in African Times, 23 November 1867, 54-55; William Hansen's petition for compensation for losing his slaves in the course of abolition in Gold Coast Despatches from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 46, National Archives of Ghana, Accra (hereafter NAG/A) 1/1/44; and Gold Coast Despatches from Governor to Secretary of State, 20 August 1877, No. 206, NAG/A ADM 1/1/21.

²⁷ Petition of W.C. Finlason to Governor Blackall, the Governor in Chief of Her Majesty's Possessions in West Africa in African Times, 23 November 1867, 54-55; William Hansen's petition for compensation for losing his slaves in the course of abolition in Gold Coast Despatches from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 46, National Archives of Ghana, Accra (hereafter NAG/A) 1/1/44; and Gold Coast Despatches from Governor to Secretary of State, 20 August 1877, No. 206, NAG/A ADM 1/1/21.

²⁸ African Times, 23 September 1864, 35, the people of Elmina sent a petition, under-signed by the King, chiefs, merchants, and other residents of the town” to “His Grace the Dutch Minister [sic]” in Holland. The petition stated that Hendick Doyer, the new governor, who had replaced the affable Governor Van Hien was not suitable to head the Dutch Government at Elmina. For a second petition on the same subject from the people of Elmina, see African Times, 23 March 1865, 109. For similar collective petitions see Western Echo, 30 January 1886, 4Google Scholar; and Western Echo, 8 May 1886, 4.Google Scholar

²⁹ The Cold Coast Independent (Accra), 28 January 1898; and The Gold Coast Aborigines (Cape Coast), 29 January 1898.

³⁰ African Times, 23 June 1866, 132; and African Times, 23 August 1866, 20-24.

³¹ African Times, 30 June 1873, 147-48.

³² African Times, 23 December 1864, 72. For a fuller account see Kimble, , Political History, 344–45.Google ScholarC. 4477, Hood and Others to Lieutenant Governor, 18 January 1884, Encl. in Encl. 1 in No. 27.

³³ For Asnfu Agyei's petition through the European merchants, see To G.J.H. Lyall and all the European Merchants at Cape Coast, 19 July 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 66 in Papers Relating to Her Majesty's Possessions in West Africa, Parliamentary Papers, 1876, C. 1402 (hereafter 1402); C. 1402 Lintott and Spink to the Colonial Office, 31 August 1875, No. 66, was the European merchants' letter to the Colonial Office regarding Asafu Agyei's letter and it also included the European merchants' notification of Governor Strahan about Asafu Agyei's petition; and C. 1402, To Osai Mensah, 4 August 1875, Encl. 2 in No. 66, was the Merchants' reply to the Osai Mensah.

³⁴ African Times, 23 November 1866, 52.

³⁵ African Times, 23 February 1867, 91; and C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2; Gold Coast Times, 17 June 1882; Western Echo, 30 January 1886, 4; and Western Echo, 8 May 1886.

³⁶ African Times, 23 February 1867, 91; Kimble, , Political History, 215–21.Google Scholar

³⁷ Gold Coast Times, 17 June 1882.

³⁸ Western Echo, 11 July 1886, 4.Google Scholar For a detailed account of the petition or memorial to be carried by the deputation, see Western Echo, 8 May 1886, 4.Google Scholar

³⁹ African Times, 23 June 1866, 132Google Scholar; and African Times, 23 August 1866, 20–24.Google Scholar See also McGarry, , Reaction and Protest, 1–3.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ Western Echo, 11 July 1886, 4.Google Scholar

⁴¹ McSheffrey, , “Slavery,” 350–51.Google Scholar

⁴² For the text and general correspondence on the petitions, see C. 1159.

⁴³ C. 1159, Carnarvon to Strahan, 19 February 1875, No. 4; African Times, 1 February 1875, 20.Google Scholar See Gold Coast Times, 3 March 1875Google Scholar, for critical opinions of the British press.

⁴⁴ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, No. 1; and C. 1159, Carnarvon to Strahan, 19 February 1875, No. 4.

⁴⁵ Kimble, , Political History, 340–55.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ African Times, 23 October 1866, 39–40Google Scholar; African Times, 23 February 1867, 91–95Google Scholar; African Times, 23 April 1867, 119Google Scholar; African Times, 23 May 1867, 126Google Scholar; and Crooks, J.J., Records Relating to the Cold Coast Settlements from 1750-1874, (London, [1923]1973), 378–79Google Scholar, as well as Kimble, , Political History, 217–20.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ Western Echo, 8 May 1886; and Western Echo, 11 July 1886, 4.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Gold Coast Times, 30 November 1874; and Strahan to Carnarvon, 7 November 1874, Encl. in No. 13 in Further Correspondence Relating to the Abolition of Slavery on the Gold Coast, Parliamentary Papers, 1875, C. 1139 (hereafter C. 1139). For a fuller account see Akurang-Parry, “It is a Question.”

⁴⁹ African Times, 1 March 1875.

⁵⁰ See for example, C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl. in No. 1.

⁵¹ Dumett, /Johnson, , “Gold Coast,” 108.Google Scholar

⁵² Perbi, , “Indigenous Slavery,” 260.Google Scholar

⁵³ See Akurang-Parry, “Missy Queen,” ch. 2; idem, “It is a Question.”

⁵⁴ Haenger, Slavery and Slave Emancipation, chapter 4.1.

⁵⁵ Betts, Raymond F., The False Dawn: European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century (Minneapolis, 1975), 232–33.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ Gocking, , “Creole Society,” 602–04Google Scholar; Lloyd, , Africa in Social Change, 130–31Google Scholar; de Graft-Johnson, K.K., “The Evolution of Elites in Ghana” in Lloyd, P.C., ed., The New Elites of Tropical Africa (London 1966), 104–09Google Scholar; Margaret Priestley, “The Emergence of an Elite: A Case Study of a West Coast Family,” in ibid., 87-99; idem, West African Trade and Coast Society. A Family Study (London, 1969).

⁵⁷ Rathbone, , “Gold Coast,” 57–63.Google Scholar Within the African-Caribbean groups were repatriated African soldiers who had served in the Dutch East and West Indies. They were “predominantly Moslems” and settled between Elmina and Cape Coast. The African-Caribbean group also included African-Jamaicans recruited by the Basel Mission and Africans drawn from the British Caribbean serving with the British West Indian Regiment. The African-Brazilians included those deported in 1831 and 1835 following a series of slave revolts in Brazil, and who settled between Cape Coast and Winneba. This group also included Christians who intermarried with the local African elites.

⁵⁸ Priestley, “West Coast Family;” and idem, West African Trade.

⁵⁹ de Graft-Johnson, , “Evolution,” 108–09Google Scholar; Priestley, , “West Coast Family,” 88–89Google Scholar; idem. West African Trade.

⁶⁰ Rathbone, Richard, “Gold Coast,” 57–58Google Scholar; Priestley, , “West Coast Family,” 891; idem, West African Trade, 129-57; and Haenger, Slavery and Slave Emancipation, chapter 3.Google Scholar

⁶¹ Priestley, , “West Coast Family,” 89Google Scholar; idem, West African Trade, 129-57; and Haenger, Slavery and Slave Emancipation, chapter 3. Rathbone, Richard, “Gold Coast,” 59–62.Google Scholar See as well Priestley, “West Coast Family;” de Graft-Johnson, “Evolution,” and Lloyd, , Africa in Social Change, 130–31.Google Scholar

⁶² Rathbone, , “Gold Coast,” 62.Google Scholar See also Priestley, , “West Coast Family,” 93–99Google Scholar; idem, West African Trade.

⁶³ Gocking, , “Creole Society,” 604.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ Priestley, , West African Trade, 158–73.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ African Times, 23 September 1868, 35.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ For a fuller account of diffusion of innovations, see Rogers, Everett M., Diffusion of Innovations (4th ed.: New York, 1995), 5–37.Google ScholarPubMed

⁶⁷ Ibid., 36.

⁶⁸ African Times, 23 September 1868, 35.Google Scholar For the Governor's reply to the petition, see African Times, 23 November 1868, 56.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ See African Times, 23 September 1868, 35.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ Gold Coast Times, 17 June 1882.

⁷¹ Little, K.L., “The Significance of the West African Creole for Africanist and Afro-American Studies,” African Affairs 49 (1950), 109–19CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Shepperson, George, “Notes on Negro American Influences on the Emergence of African Nationalism”, JAH 1 (1960), 299–312CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Essien-Udom, E.U., “The Relationship of Afro-Americans to African Nationalism”, Freedomways 2(1962), 391–407Google Scholar; and Martin, Tony, The Pan-African Connection: From Slavery to Garvey and Beyond, (Cambridge, 1983), 3–29.Google Scholar

⁷² For the Bond of 1844, see Kimble, , Political History, 194–95Google Scholar; and Boahen, , Ghana, 40–42.Google Scholar

⁷³ For various reports on the Anglo-Asante war of 1873-74 and slavery see African Times, 29 January 1874 to about 29 August 1874 issue, barely two months before Governor Strahan promulgated abolition. For the preparations for abolition on the Gold Coast see Akurang-Parry, “It is a Question.” See Dumett, “Pressure Groups,” for British parliamentary debates and British public opinion that shaped British abolition policy for the Gold Coast.

⁷⁴ For a fuller account see Akurang-Parry, “It is a Question.”

⁷⁵ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl. in No. 1.

⁷⁶ The captains were the leaders of the asafo or commoner groups. For a recent study of the asafo in southern Ghana, see Lee, Ainsah “Social Protests in the Gold Coast. A Study of the Eastern Province in the Colonial Period,” (Ph.D., University of Toronto, 1993).Google Scholar C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl. in No. 1; and C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2.

⁷⁷ African Times, 23 May 1867, 127.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ C. 1159, Srrahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. in No. 3.

⁷⁹ Ibid; C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1.

⁸⁰ Grace, , Domestic Slavery, 36–37Google Scholar; Kimble, , Political History, 303–04Google Scholar; and Perbi, , “Indigenous Slavery,” 260.Google Scholar

⁸¹ Kimble, , Political History, 135–41Google Scholar; Foster, Education and Social Change; and Gocking, “Creole Society.”

⁸² Jones, Adam, “Female Slave-Owners on the Gold Coast” in Palmie, , Slave Cultures, 100–11Google Scholar; and Haenger, Slavery and Slave Emancipation, chapter 3.1.

⁸³ In 1873, during the Anglo-Asante war, the “Native Ladies of Cape Coast” appealed for assistance “for the purchase of arms and munitions of war in order to aid the fighting-men in retaking the field against the enemy; and therefore beg to call on foreign ladies and gentlemen residing here to lend their pecuniary assistance according to their ability.” See African Times, 29 April 1873, 116.Google Scholar See also African Times, 30 June 1873, 142.Google Scholar In the course of the popular opposition to the Lands Bill in 1897, women protested. Gold Coast Methodist Times (Cape Coast), 31 July 1897, 1, quoting the “Somerset Country Gazette newspaper of 5th June” wrote: “When His Excellency W.E. Maxwell was here last, he was obliged to have ‘an armed body guard almost continually with him.’ The reason given for this martial display is that ‘several hundred women dressed in all manner of costumes, and with painted faces marched round the Government Castle at Cape Coast’ that ‘they chanted a dirge using expressions hostile to his excellency’ that ‘after marching round two or three times the women sat down all round the Castle and remained there all day keeping up the dirge the whole time.’ ‘So high was the native feeling “on account of the New Land Bill.” It should be noted that the Gold Coast Methodist Times refuted these details, asserting that the women did march round the Castle, but “paraded some parts of the town from 10 am to 12 and went again at 2pm, that “only one woman painted here face with spots of white and red clay and charcoal,” and that “one woman had on a pair of old trousers and a coat, all the rest were in their usual costumes.”

⁸⁴ See for example, ibid., discussion of the Ladies' Christian Association that had organized an essay competition.

⁸⁵ Boahen, , Ghana, 61Google Scholar, shows that in 1897 women of Accra demonstrated against house tax and sent petitions of their grievances to the Colonial Secretary.

⁸⁶ Dumett, /Johnson, , “Gold Coast,” 80.Google Scholar

⁸⁷ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl in No. 1; and C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2.

⁸⁸ Ibid., Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. in No. 3.

⁸⁹ Ibid., Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl in No. 1.

⁹⁰ Ibid.

⁹¹ Ibid.

⁹² African Times, 1 March 1875. For a fuller account of Brew see Priestley, , West African Trade, 158–73.Google Scholar

⁹³ Kimble, , Political History, 91.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ In the first issue of the Gold Coast Times, Brew wrote “We have embarked on this undertaking without any previous experience of the dangers and troubles attendant upon Editorship; but, since we have mustered sufficient courage to test them, any apologies on our part would be out of place. Once engaged in an enterprise we hold it our duty not to turn back…” See Gold Coast Times, 28 March 1874; and Jones-Quartey, , “Thought and Expression,” 72.Google Scholar

⁹⁵ Ibid., 73.

⁹⁶ Ibid.

⁹⁷ Priestley, , West African Trade, 166.Google Scholar

⁹⁸ Priestley, , “West Coast Family,” 89Google Scholar; and idem, West African Trade, 166-67.

⁹⁹ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, No. 1.

¹⁰⁰ For a detailed account of the Fante Confederation, see Agbodeka, Francis, “The Fanti Confederacy 1865-69” Transactions of the Historical Society of Ghana, 7(1964), 82–123Google Scholar; idem, African Politics and British Policy in the Gold Coast 1868-1900 (London, 1971), 15-33.

¹⁰¹ Haenger, Slavery and Slave Emancipation, chapter 3.1.

¹⁰² African Times, 23 September 1868, 35Google Scholar; and African Times, 23 May 1873, 128.Google Scholar

¹⁰³ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, No. 1. and C. 1159, Carnarvon to Strahan, 19 February 1875, No. 4. For an account of the Colonial Office's negative opinions of the African intelligentsia in the Gold Coast, niul how it blamed them for opposition to colonial rule in general, see Kimble, , Political History, 87–105.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁴ Western Echo, 11 July 1886, 4.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁵ For the accusations from the Colonial Office, see McSheffrey, , “Slavery,” 351.Google Scholar

¹⁰⁶ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, No. 1.

¹⁰⁷ Ibid. See also Gold Coast Despatches from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 476, NAG/A ADM. 1/1/44.

¹⁰⁸ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 3 January 1875, Encl. in No. 1. See also Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2.

¹⁰⁹ When William Hnnsen of Accra in 1877 wrote directly to the Secretary of State for Colonies, his expressed reason, among other things, was that the colonial government would not give him fair hearing. Sec Gold Coast Despatches from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 476, NAG/A ADM. 1/1/44.

¹¹⁰ See for example, C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2. See also, Gold Coast Despatches from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 476, NAG/A ADM, 1/1/44.

¹¹¹ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2.

¹¹² Ibid.

¹¹³ Ibid.

¹¹⁴ Ibid. See also Gold Coast Despatches from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 476.

¹¹⁵ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 8, 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2.

¹¹⁶ Ibid.

¹¹⁷ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. in No. 3.

¹¹⁸ Ibid.

¹¹⁹ Gold Coast Despatches, from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 476, NAG/A ADM. 1/1/44.

¹²⁰ See Akurang-Parry, “Slavery and Abolition.”

¹²¹ Ibid. See also Gold Coast Despatches from Governor to Secretary of State, 20 August 1877, No. 206, NAG/A, ADM. 1/2/21.

¹²² See for example, Foster, , Education and Social Change, 68.Google Scholar

¹²³ Gold Coast Despatches, from Secretary of State to Governor, 7 July 1877, No. 476, NAG/A ADM. 1/1/44.

¹²⁴ Ibid. Hansen's submission for compensation was not only based on his loss of slaves. He also traced his family's military and material contributions to the British authorities in the Gold Coast, starting with the Anglo-Asame war of 1824 and his own participation in the Anglo-Asante War of 187.3-74. Also, he pointed out that his family had been instrumental in, preserving the stability of the Gã states during the precolonial period. For example, when George Maclean arrived in 1831, his father “helped [Maclcan] with 50 men (probably slaves) to garrison the forts effectively.”

¹²⁵ Ibid.

¹²⁶ Gold Coast Despatches from Governor to Secretary of State, 20 August 1877, No. 206, NAG/A, ADM. 1/2/21.

¹²⁷ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, No. 1. Sec also, C. 1159, Carnarvon to Strahan, 19 February 1875, No. 4. This view pervaded official thinking, especially in cases where Africans resorted to British constitutional methods to uphold their interests. See for example, Gold Coast Despatches from Governor to Secretary of State, 1880-81, 5 April 1880, No. 100, NAG/A, ADM 1/2/24.

¹²⁸ C. 1159, Strahan to Carnarvon, 8 January 1875, Encl. 1 in No. 2; and C. 1159, Carnarvon to Strahan, 19 February 1875, No. 4.

¹²⁹ Gold Coast Times, 23 February 1875; Western Echo, 8 December 1885; Western Echo, 30 June 1886; Western Echo, 23 October 1886 The Gold Coast Express (Accra), 14 December 1895; Gold Coast Express, 14 September 1897; The Gold Coast Chronicle (Accra), 22 December 1894; Gold Coast Chronicle, 12 April 1901; and Gold Coast Aborigines, 29 April 1901.