The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-23 00:00:00

DUTCH SLAVE-DEALING IN AFRICA.

A correspondent of the Pall Mall Gazette, writing
from Cape Coast Castle, exposes the slave-dealing
practices of the Dutch in that quarter :—" At the
present moment, the Dutch are at open war with
some of the native tribes on the Gold Coast on this
account. Until last year the English protectorate
extended over a wide territory belonging to the
Fantis, the Denkeras, the Wassaws, the Assins,
the Akin; the A quapims, and the Accraa, all of
whom had succeeded in throwing off the yoke
of Ashanti. The only exception to this indepen-
dent combination on the part of the coast
tribes was the Elminas, who, at the insti-
gation of the Dutch, preferred to remain subject
to Ashanti. The reason of this policy on the part
of the Dutch was no secret. Through the Elminas
the King of Ashanti communicated with the coast
—they offered indeed the only opening in that
direction in the line of independent and hostile
tribes ; and the interest of the Dutch in this com-
munication arose from its importance to the
traffic in ' emigrants' or ' apprentices' upon which
they depend for keeping up the slave labour of
Java. Such was the state of things last year,
when a treaty was negotiated between ourselves
and the Dutch. By this treaty,' writes the cor-
respondent, the British Government, on the sug-
gestion of the Dutch Government, exchanged
certain British forts to the westward of Cape
Coast Castle for certain Dutch forts to the
eastward. Geographically speaking, the arrange-
ment was a good one; each nation has now a con-
tinuous strip of coast, while previously the forts
were mixed up in ludicrous confusion, and the town
of Accra belonged partly to one Government and
partly to the other. But, unfortunately, the natives
appertaining to the aforesaid British forts did not
desire to be handed over to the allies of their ene-
mies, the Ashantis, who certainly, in the event of a
war with that nation, would not have given them
assistance, nor even their good wishes. At Ap-
pollonia, Dix, Covo, and Saccondeo they protested ;
at Commenda, a very turbulent and very patriotic
little village near Elmina, they refused to accept
the Dutch flag. Whereupon they were bombarded
by a Dutch man-of-war ; and the Fantis laid siege
to Elmina. The siege is now converted into a
blockade, and the inhabitants are beginning to suffer
the horrors of imprisonment and famine. At first
sight it appears scandalous that the natives of a
British protectorate should (in spite of British in-
fluence) attack a town which bears the flag of a
friendly power. But then it must be remembered
that these people are acting in self-defence. We
cannot send troops into the interior to defend
their frontier from invasion ; they know that
our Ashanti expedition will never be re-
peated. Can they be blamed, therefore, for acting
as they do ? Supposing that England, Scotland,
and Wales were independent kingdoms, and that in
time of war France were to threaten an invasion,
would the two former countries permit Wales to
acknowledge itself subject to France, to pay an an-
nual tribute, and be satisfied with promises
of 'strict neutrality ?' Such is the position
of the Fantis. It is to be regretted that they
have shown so little deference to our remon-
strances. But then they are fighting for their
homes. The Dutch Demand that we shall force
the Fantis to suspend hostilities. We must con-
quer the country then ; or rather we must exter-
minate its inhabitants. There is, however, a very
simple way of obtaining peace without resort to
such desperate measures. The present war be-
tween the Fantis and the Elminas—this war which
is so mortifying to us, and so dangerous to the
Dutch and their native allies—can be ended
by the Dutch whenever they please. They
have only to permit the Elminas to enter into
an alliance offensive and defensive with the
Fantis to defend the coast territory against
invasion. Is it unatural that they should
do so ? The Elminas and Fantis are actually
the same people ; they are kinsmen and neigh-
bours ; their real interests are the same. The
Ashanti is a foreigner, and an hereditary foe.
Yet, incredible as it may appear, the Elminas
have refused to abandon the Ashanti alliance
in spite of the strenuous exertions of the acting
administrator in the first place, and again within
the last few days of Sir Arthur Kennedy, the
governor-in-chief. But everybody here knows
why the Elminas, or rather Dutch, prefer the
old time-dishonoured custom of paying ground
rent to the King of Ashanti. Emigrants' are re-
quired. It is Java and Java only which feeds the
treasury of the Hague. Java eats a great many
lives (I beg to refer the reader to Max Havelaar,'
a Dutch book full of revelations upon the subject)
and requires annual replenishments. Ashanti sup-
plies Elmina, and Elmina supplies Java. Slaves
are brought to the Fort of St. George d'Elmina,
are purchased at a set price per head, and are con-
fined in dungeons till an opportunity arises for ex-
hortation." The King of Ashanti, the correspon-
dent adds, now holds captive three British subjects,
a messenger from the Governor, sent a year ago,
with a friendly message and a present ; Mr. Watts,
a missionary agent (coloured), and Prince Ansab,
as he is commonly called, an educated Ashanti of
the royal family, who is, however, a Government
employe at Cape Coast Castle. An envoy from
the King had intimated that on the intercession of
the Dutch Governor the prisoners would probably
be released, but that dignitary declined to inter-
fere, on the ground that he had received instruc-
tions from his Government to preserve a strict neu-
trality,