The Sun.
London, England, 1824-05-27 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

4, - A.SHANTEES. . •
Ma; XJDlToit—liatiring sent to you some day4s
since artaccount of the Ashantees, I tiow for-
ward a,,brief sketch: of their first war with the
British, which occurred in 1806. This account
is chiefiy,copit!td from ALEREDITICS Gold Coast
it was an. attack of , the 'Ashantees upon the
Fantees anti their Allies, that brought the former
for the . first time in contact -wit-11 the-Engliih at
Anamaboe. The progress of the Ashantees as
far as Ahralt.,, capital of the. Fantees, -and only
20 miles from the sea, induced the Governor of
Cape Coast Castle to provide for the security of
the place. The Ashantees having succeeded in
capturing the Dutch fort of Amsterdam, felt so
much elated with this success, that their Gene-
ral .treated. the message of the Governor with
great haughtiness ; saying, that when, the Go-
verner,,. Mr. White, would send him W barrels of
gun-powder and 100 muskets, he would.be told
what the designs of the King were. Mr: White,
feeling no inclination to comply with this demand,
treated the messengers with politeness,. but in-
formed them candidly, that if the Anamaboes,
against which the • Ashantees were then march-
ing, should seek his protection it would be grant-
ed, and that if the King's army came near the
fort with hostile intentions, it should be :fired
upon.

•
Meanwhile, the people of the town began to be
alarmed, and eagerly sought the protection of the
Governor, which he not only • readily promised
them, but, moreover, gavoiltent useful directious
for their defence, .and offered to take in as.many
of the old men, women, and children, as the fort
would hold, and to place the rest close to the
walls,. under protection of- the gUns. At this
time, -neither Mr. White nor the inhabitants of
the town had correct ideas, either of the actual
force of the Ashantees, nor of their courage and
ietrepidity. in war. It vraa.supposed, that in the
latter respect they resembled the natives of the
coast, and that far from seeking conquest, even
at the very muzzles of guns, they would dis-
perse upon the first regular discharge of-artillery.
A better and a more Correet 'opinion: of their
'brivery, was soon formed, by shewiug .from the
fort how a .party of them, greatly inferior in
number, sustained an attack of the town's .people.
This encounter was soon followed by an unex-
pected attack of the King of Ashantee• upon the
town, which the blameable confidence of the
Anamaboes enabled him to make. Alarm and
confusion now prevailed, and the fort was
soon filled with women and children. The
contest was maintained for souse time with ob-
stinacy, but, even though some of the great
guns of the fort were- fired, in the hopes of• in-
timidating the assailants, they entered the town,-
and not only 'pursued the Anamaboes to the -sea
shore, 1,, here they made a great slaughter of them,
but even tookall the women and children outside
of •the fort prisoners, notwithstanding a brisk.
fire of grape-shot wits opened upon them. The
Governor, one officer and ten men, were wounded,
but only one ,was killers.. .•
It. became soot) evident that ,the enemy was
bent upon the. capture of the fort, the garrison of
which was 'now reduced to less than thirty men,
whose situation appeared desperate- in the ex-
treme. The • precision .with which the enemy
fired, soon reduced. the, effective force of it ; the
contest was continued with singular bravery and
perseverance, until night put an end to the at-
tack, . This moment of respite was employed by
the garrison, in preparing for a renewal of the
contest; and
,more time was afforded for this
purpose', by the Ashantees, who employed
themselves in completing the destruction of the
Anamaboes. But no sooner was this accomplish-
ed, than, with loud shouts and amazing determi-
nation, They advanced against the fort to the very.
muzzle of the guns. They were received by a well.
directed fi re,w hich destroyed vast numbers of them,
without seeming to check their ardour : but they
at length withdrew, after losing en immense
number of their men. Although the fort was
Completely blockaded, the enemy did not mani-
fest any further hostile intentions, and matters
bore a snore promising aspect.
In the mean time, the governor of Cape Coast
Castle ,being informed of the state of affairs at
Anamaboe, sent immediate assistance, and-this
reinforcement was suffered to laud without any
opposition by the Ashantees, who :fired, how-
ever, upon the canoe that had lauded the troops,
• and wounded one seamen. The Governor • hav-
ing sent orders that a flag of truce should-be sent
to the King to attempt a reconciliation, a white
flag was lowered from the walls, whose appear-
ance was hailed, with transports of joy• by the
people, who loudly praised their King, and ex-
pressed their joy at the prospects of peace.—
The flag of truce was received with the custo.
mary respect, and three of the King's tnessen-
gers having accompanied it at its return, a com-
munication was opened with the army, and upon
souse concessions being made on boils sides, it
was hoped that perfect understanding would be
speedily restored, and to forward this, it was
agreed that a conference should take place be-
tween the King and Colonel Torrane, Governor
of Cape Coast Castle, at Anamaboe. On the
oppoieted day, 'after visiting each man of rank
in succession, the Governor and his suite were
introduced to the King, who received them with
dignity and politeness, and soon after returned
the visit. Ile was of the middle size, Well'
made, perfectly black, with, regular features,
and an open, pleasing countenance. His dress
was plain, but his manners were pleasing;
After this
in-
dicative of a good understanding. and

conference, in which the King displayed much
frankness„ every confidence was placed in hirn
and in his army, a, free admission was allowed
into the castle, and the King repeatedly ex.
pressed his wishes to make such Arrangements as
would secure the future welfare of the country,
and the regulations of trade, but he pertinaciously
refused to make peace with the Fantees. Hosti-
lities were therefore continued, and the arms of
the Ashantees were still_ crowned with success/
but sickness soon compelled them to bend their
course ,hosnewards.

In l 810;the Fantees, having greatly recovered
from their losses, attacked several of their neigh.
Lours, which induced the King of the Ashantees
again to send his armies towards the coast, where
they appeared at the beginning of 1811. The
Ashantees met at first with 'some- reverses, but a
more powerful force being dispatched, under•
the command of A pakoo, a celebrated gerieral,their
efforts were now Joore successful ; but the revolt
of several of the neighbouring Kings put a• stop
to their progress, and enabled the Fantees to re-
cover much of their former power. And it is the
opinion of Mr. Meredith, that if they were not
kept in awe by the Ashantees, they would prose
very troublesome neighbours to the British esta-
blishments upon the coast.

A. P.

TURKEY AND RUSSIA.

(From the Allgemeine Zeitung of May HI)

BUCHAREST, MAY 4.—(By Expross.)—Tar-
tars from Constantinople have just brought us
the news that the Divan has consented to the
evacuation of the Principalities. The Austrian
Consul immediately sent an express to Vienna
'with the news. But as this evacuation has been
so often announced, it is I►o wonder that many
people still refuse to believe it, though this time
they are probably mistaken.
ODERSA, APRIL 28.—According to accounts
from Constantinople of the 20th inst. Lord
Strangford is, said to have gained rather more in-
fluence at the Porte, because, as they affirm, he
has promised the Turkish Ministry that all
officers in the English service who were with
Lord Byron, .or in general among the Greeks,
shall be recalled by an order of the King of
England ; and that if they do not obey, they
will be deprived of their pay and their commis-
sions. The Divan, as we hear, has been pleased
with this determination ; and a belief was again
excited that the Noble Lord, after presenting
his note respecting the evacuation of Moldavia
and Wallachia, will at length attain this object
of his long and zealous exertions.

(From the Brussels Oracle.)

AUGSBURG, MAT 16.—The merchants o
liamburgh have received notice from Copenhagen
that they shortly expected i❑ the roads of that
city a Russian squadron, consisting of several
men-of-war. In order to weaken as much as
possible, the effect which this news had caused,
it had been endeavoured to make it believed at
Copenhagen that these Russian ♦essels will not
pass the Sound, their only destination being to
'cruise in the Baltic.

We have letters before us of a very recent
...late from St. Petersburgh, in which it is stated
that the Russian Cabinet was much dissatisfied
'with the conduct of the Ottoman Government
relative to the political part of M. Minziacky's
mission. It is inferred that very important mat-
ters will be discussed in the conferences at
Prague between Count Nesselrode and Prince
Aletternich in June next.

BA.YONNE, MAY 18.—Madrid is tranquil. The
publication of the amnesty is impatiently ex-
pected, which was said to have been signed on
the sth. This proves that the Journal des Debuts
was misinformed.—A circular of the Supreme
Council of War orders that 36,000 men shall be
raised (by ballot), who are to serve eight years.
—The Gazette contains a long article on Secret
•Societies.