The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-12 00:00:00

If you have been able to resume your duties, you Nvi

have received my despatch of May 23, addressed t; Acting
Governor Hackett, and will be aware of the instructions
which, under the urgent and peculiar circumstances of the
case, I feel it to be my duty to convey to him on the part of
her Majesty's Government for providing for the health and
comfort of her Majesty's forces on the Gold Coast.

In that despatch I expressed the hope which her Ma-
jesty's Government entertain that " the display of forces
made during the last few months will not have been with-
out its due effect, both on the Ashantee enemy and on the
friendly native chiefs, and that the cessation of the rains
may not bring with it the necessity for a renewal of warlike
preparations on your part to defend yourself or the friendly
native population from wanton attack.
It is, however, necessary to consider the possibility that a
very opposite state of things may present itself to you at the
close of the rainy season. The unfortunate circumstances
of the present year may encourage the Ashantees in the
design they appear to have entertained of renewing their
invasion when the season for military operations shall return.
I think it right therefore to convey to you the general views
of her Majesty's Government upon the measures which, in
concert with the officer commanding the forces, you should
take to provide against that danger.
The duty of defending the extensive territory included in
the Protectorate can only be satisfactorily discharged if the
chiefs to whom it belongs are united and resolute in their
own defence. If they are not united, and will not take upon
themselves the principal part of the exertions necessary, it
will not be possible to defend them without exposing the
Queen's forces to the risk of a deadly climate, and to the
hazard of being virtually defeated by the disastrous conse-
quences of that climate, before they have been able to bring
the native enemy to the issue of arms.
_ _

The proper course therefore is to take every possible means
for bringing the chiefs to an united and decided system of

defence, and for this purpose to give them advice, to supply
them judiciously with military stores, and in concert with
the officer in command of the forces to furnish them with

such assistance as he may be able to afford, without expoe-
ing his officers and men to any protracted residence in the
interior, especially at the unhealthy season, and without
weakening his force upon the coast so as to endanger the
safety of the settlements themselves. I must repeat the
caution which I conveyed to you in my despatch of the 23d
ult.—that you should avoid, if it be in your power, the ne-

cessity of bringing to the settlement anumber of the Queen's
troops too great to be properly accommodated on the coast,
Instructions to the same effect will be sent by the
Seeretary of State for 'Wet to Lieutenant-Colonel Conran,
and I shall request the Lords Commissioners of the Ad-
miralty to direct the attention of the commodore on the sta-
tion to the possibility that you may find yourself again en-
gaged in measures of defence against an invasion by the
King of Ashantee. Since, however, th© experience of the
past year has exhibited in so strong a light the great difil-
culties which attended operations on the part of her Ma-
jesty's forces, I rely en your using every exertion to avoid
a renewal of the war, You have already received from the
Duke of Newcastle the full expression of his approval of
your conduct in respect of the origin of the late war—l
mean your refusal to surrender to a cruel death the two
refugees demanded by the King of Ashantee; but that ap-
proval I now desire to repeat ; and I take the opportunity of
[
impressing upon you the great importance of your being
clearly in the right in any case of difference which may
hereafter arise. I trust that you will be careful to assure
yourself that you are acquainted, as far as possible, with all
the circumstances that may be alleged on either side, and
that you will not permit yourself to become involved in any
hosti.L° operations until you shall have first exhausted every
legitimate mea:4 of preserving peace.—l haYe, &c.,
ApwARD cAnnwaL,
poyerncr Pine, 4S;c.