The people drew their supplies from
various points on the coast, principally, however, through Elmina,
a Dutch settlement, five miles to the west of Cape Coast. The
Ashantis could not be called peaceable neighbors. They, like the
Dahomans, delighted in human sacrifices upon a grand scale, and to
carry these out captives must be taken. Consequently every four or
five years, on some pretext or other, they cross the Prah, destroyed
the villages, dragged away the people to slavery or death, and carried
fire and sword up to the very walls of the English fort at Cape
Coast. Sometimes the English confined themselves to remonstrance,
sometimes fought, not always successfully, as upon one occasion
Sir Charles Macarthy, the governor, with a West Indian regiment was
utterly defeated, the governor himself and all his white officers,
except three, being killed.
In 1828 we aided the Fantis to defeat the Ashantis in a decisive
battle, the consequence of which was the signature of a treaty, by
which the King of Ashanti recognized the independence of all the
Fanti tribes. In 1844, and again in 1852, a regular protectorate was
arranged between the British and the Fantis, the former undertaking
to protect them from enemies beyond the borders, and in turn
exercising an authority over the Fantis, forbidding them to make
war with each other, and imposing a nominal tribute upon them.
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