The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-04-03 00:00:00

THE WEST COAST OF AFRICA.

A paper was read in London, on Tuesday evening,
in the African Section ef the Society of Arts, by Mr.
Andrew Swanzy, entitled "Civilisation and Progress
on the Gold Coast of Africa, as affected by European
Contact with the Native Inhabitants." The chair
was taken by Mr. Hyde Clarke.

The writer stated that he purposed to consider the
nature, past and present, of the two races, and he
selected as the most suitable locality the Gold Coast,
because it was among the parts of tropical Africa just
visited, and had ever since been constantly inhabited
by Europeans. The paper then proceeded to give an
account of the commerce between Europe and the
Gold Coast, commencing with the earliest records of
the Rouen Trading Company, formed in the year
1366, and the Portuguese Expedition in 1465, which
was followed by the general establishment of the
Portuguese Colony there, until the massacre of
the colonists and garrison by the Accras. The
Dutch were the next to appear on the scene in 1655,
when they constructed a fort at Cape Coast, and after
various struggles with the Portuguese, they obtained
many important points along the coast, most of which
they retained till the year 1868, when the eastern forts
were exchanged for some of our western ones, and
latter when they ceded all their Gold Coast possessions
to the English. The trade on the Gold Coast was fixed
by the paper as being commenced in the middle of the
16th century by some independent adventures, pro-
bably from Bristol. Later on the Royal Company
of Adventurers was founded, which was succeeded in
1672 by the Royal African Company which was again
succeeded by the African Company of Merchants.
The character of the natives was next dealt with, and
the paper quoted accounts of John Leo (Leo Africanus),
the famouri Moor, who travelhd CTIg a large part a

Africa; Bosman, who wrote in 1700, and Le Pere
Rabat, all of whom gave a very unfavourable descrip-
tion of the characteristics of the natives. The next
page in the history of the Gold Coast, the paper said,
was stained with the blood and tears of its people ; the
middle of the seventeenth century marked the opening
of the slave trade, a traffic now justly-held as the most
disgraceful occupation in which man could engage, and
fraught with misery and disaster to Africa. It
was useless to contemplate the painful scenes
enacted during the 160 years which terminated in
1807, when the inhuman traffic was declared illegal.
Its entire suppression required some time, even
on the Gold Coast, and it had only been extin-
guished completely at Whydah within the last fifteen
years. The paper then recounted the Ashantee wars
from 1807 to 1824, and the change wrought by Mr.
Maclean during the twenty years of his government.
It next went on to consider whether any and what
means had been resorted to by European nations to
extend civilisation and religion to the Gold Coast,
and, referring to the latter, they would find that the
attempt to establish missions was repeatedly tried,
but within till quite recently proved unsuccessful.
The work of the Wesleyans was and had been for
some years partially shared by the Basle Mis-ion.
and it was impossible to overrate the good effected
by the society. With regard to education and Chris-
tianity, the paper stated that its first introduction
had brought with it a train of evils till then un-
known. Several instances of the misuse of education
were given by the writer. As education was extended
they might reasonably hope that it might be used for
nobler purposes. Hundreds of young natives had now
received its great advantages where tens formerly pos-
sessed them; hence they would be compelled to turn
their attention to other pursuits besides commerce,
and they would become more modest in their de-
meanour to all around them. The subject of fetishism
occupied a large portion of the paper' the writer
regretting that sufficient time could not be allotted
by Sir Garnet Wolseley to the destruction and vio-
lation of the headquarters of fetishism at Coomassie.
It was an opportunity of striking a blow at that cruel
system from which it would never completely recover.
In conclusion, the paper said that, in comparing.tlie im-
perfect accounts of early writers of the moral condition
of the Gold Coast with what was now found, there was
a very great improvement. Direct theft, either with
or without violence, was now extremely rare, and in
all probability was never very common; drunkenness
and its attendant vices were also very exceptional, and
the writer believed the poorer classes were compara-
tively exempt from any glaring crimes. Among the
peculiar characteristics of the natives were mentioned
the entire absence of any sense of shame, and also of
the instinct of pure love. A young man was never
known to walk out with the young woman of his
choice, and such a thing as kissing was utterly un-
known. With regard to the question of domestic
slavery, the writer only referred to it in order
to express his opinion that the European
traders took no part in the petitions presented
to her Majesty and Governor Strahan against its
abolition. He believed that the authors of the
petitions and the active members of the Fantee con-
federation were identical. The residents might have
objected to the mode in which the abolition was
effected, but they all admitted the impossibility of re-
tracing the step. The result was, however, clear,
that thereby great additional responsibility was
incurred by her Majesty's Government. Just and
firm measures would be required, and it would be
useless to introduce into such a state of society the
delicate machinery of the English laws. Special
laws would have to be passed suitable to the circum-
stances of the people. The Africans had been justly
called children, and for years to come they would re-
quire the guidance and discipline suited to childhood.
The Rev. Mr. Schenck, of the Basle Mission, and
others, also spoke on the subject of the paper.