The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1873-10-10
THE ASHASTEE WAR.

e 1hE AS0ANE6E Wan.
Il Although little attention has bee
given on this side of the AtIant {
i. says the New York Times, to tn
. Warlike expedition which England
has undertaken to the Gold COaE
! of Africa, there are consideration
in connection with 1t which are o
, considerable interest to Americans
The enterprise is not in any respec
similar TO the Abyssiuian campaign
That was for the purpose merely o
reseuing British subjects and othe
Europeans retained as prisoners il
the hands of q simi-barbarous chief
When once their release was secures
the object and the immediate result
of the expedition were complete.
But this war upon the Ashantee
more nearly resembles one of tn
various steps by which so much o
India has been attached to the Bri
tish crown, It viii not end with the
punishment fa warlike and trouble
some race of savages, but will lead,
perhaps, to annexation of territory
and certainly to the advance Of
civilization into a thickly peopled
district OF Africa, and to the de.
veiopment OF new resources for
trade and commerce.
This territory, or part of it, OF
the Gold Coast was fOrmely held by
a corporation Of traders known al
the "African Company" and twice
during that occupation the Ashantee
1 King made descents upon the forts
and settlements. It is about fifty
years since the British government
took over the possessions from the
Company, and their first experie nee
of it was an impressive one. The
Governor, Sir Charles Mccarthy,
shortly after entering upon his du-
ties, started on an expedition into
the intetior for the purpose of ne
goCiating, but he and his party
were suddenly surrounded by a
band of 10000 Ashantees and cut to
| pieces. This led, after two or three
| years, to hostile reprisals, and the
result was defeat and dethronement
of the King at the battle of Accra.
The new monarch bought q peace,
gave hostages from his own family,
| signed q treaty, and restored the
head of Sir Charles McCarty
swathed in silk cloth and covered
with Arabic charms. From that
time no actual warfare took place
till now, although dissatisfaction
and constant breaches Of faith in
the fulfillment of the terms of the
treaty have prevailed. A conflict
has long appeared to be inevitable !;
but it was precipitated by the re.
cent trerty with the Dutch, by which
LI.rnsoo v1orNSAvH 0F kau
has been transferred to England.
The Ashantees ar one of the most
powerful of the African nations,
numbering about three millions, of
which 100000 are fighting
men, described as athletic and war
like. The government is q despot-
ism, the religion fetishism, modi-
fed by the teachings of African
Accommodation. The people are
advanced in some of the arts, and
the upper classes are especially no.
ted for a few of the amenities of
more civilized nations. But their
customs are of the most cruel char
acter. Every tWenty-one days q
fete takes place, when, naddened
by rum and wine made from a
native palm, the natives commit the
most horrible atrocities. They eat
the hearts and drink the blood of
their conquered enemies, and when
q freeman dies, slaves are killed to
"wet his grave" When the king
dies, human sacrifices, we are told,
amount to thousands. In fact it is,
SIS q traveller in the country has de-
scribed it, a land of murder.
Yet the natural wealth of the
place is great. The climate is health.
full, except along the coast the land
is rich, the vegetable production
luxurious and abundant, and the
wealth in minerals, especially gold,
apparently very great. The Kings
palace is gorgeous with silk and
gold decorations of the finest cloth,
and he himself moves abroad
through his capital attended by two
thousand counsellors, freemen, cap
tains and other attendants with all
the emblaZonment of eastern mag
nificence.
But Coomassie, the capital, is to be
destroyed, the King is to be dethron-
ed, and the Ashantee power is to be
broken beyond redemption. Such
is the order that has gone forth
from the British government, and
all necessary resources are being
made available to carry that order
into effect. The difficulties are far
greater thsn they were in Abyssinia.
The road to Coomassie lies through
120 miles of dense forest, teeming
with malaria of the worst kind, fill
ed with venOmous reptiles, and es-
pecially adapted to ambuscades on
the part of an enemy whose num-
bers are overwhelming and with
whom recklessness of life is a most
prominent popularity.
But the undertaking is worth
the danger. The success of the
expedition means the strength ening
of the British power, but it also
means the opening up of a very ex-
tensive region of African
world. Timbuctoo is the centre of
regions of Guinea. This has hither-
to been exclusively native, but with
the extinction of the Ashantee pow
er it becomes the property of any
nation that chooses to share it
Castle. 1t Is not, then, difficult to
forsee that, with commercial GEN.
tire developing on the west, and an
other at Zanzibar, on the east, the
spread of civilization, the abolition
of slavery and barbarian savagery,
the unfolding of the lUng-hidden
| wealth of the intervening continent,
is but q question of comparatively
short time. The unhealthiness of
the western coast is due to causes
that may IN a great measure be
overcome by human means; it is
not an insurmountable difficulty !;
and althogh it may, and certainly
will, increase the danger of the ex-
petition now setting out, it will not
interfere with the development of
trade, the extension of railways,
and the new enterprise that will be
opened to mercantile nations by its
success 9.
A LUCID EXPLANATIoN.-"Sa
said darkey to lis ebony brother,
chow am it dat dis yea telegraf car
ries de news fro dem wires"
"Well, Cesar, now s'pose dar am
dog free miles long"
'Nebber was such 8 big dog
don't BELIEF dati"
"You Jess wait q mint; Use only
illustratin', you stupid niger
Now, dis yea dog, you see, jes put!
mis- front feets on de Hoboken sho,
, and he puts his behind feet on d.
New York sho'."
s'Yes, sab"
3 "Now, s'pose you walk on dis YET
E dogs tail in New York"
t eyes, sah."
HHa,l bark wnnif he 2n