Upon the transfer taking place, Mr. Pope Hennessey, the governor
of the colony, sent to the King of Ashanti saying that the English
desired peace and friendship with the natives, and would give an
annual present, double that which he had received from the Dutch.
At the same time negotiations were going on with the king for the
free passage of Ashanti traders to the coast, and for the release
of four Germans who had been carried off ten years before by Aboo
Boffoo, one of the king's generals, from their mission station on
British territory near the Volta. The king wrote saying that Aboo
Boffoo would not give them up without a ransom of eighteen hundred
ounces of gold, and protracted negotiations went on concerning the
payments of these sums.
At the time when Mr. Goodenough and Frank had landed on the Gaboon,
early in 1872, nothing was known of any anticipated troubles with
Ashanti. The negotiations between the English and the Dutch were in
progress, but they had heard that the English would not take over
Elmina without the consent of the inhabitants, and that they would
be willing to increase the payment made by the Dutch to the king
of Ashanti. It was known too that efforts would be made to settle
all points of difference with the king; and as at Abeokuta they
received news that the negotiations were going on satisfactorily,
and that there was no prospect whatever of trouble, they did not
hesitate to carry out the plans they had formed.
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