of opinion amongst themselves was at once put aside, and it was
unanimously agreed to defend every foot of Ashanti soil from invasion.
Mensah was desirous of making one more effort in the cause of peace,
and after some discussion it was decided, not without much opposition,
to send an embassy, consisting of deputies from every district of
Ashanti, with Prince Buaki at their head, to endeavour to arrange
matters with the Colonial Government; while, in accordance with the
decision at which they had arrived not to tamely submit to invasion,
from 12 to 15,000 men of the Bantama district were called out and sent
to Amoaful to watch the approaches to the capital, and arrangements
were made for the immediate calling-out of the whole army in case of
emergency. Thus we see that the first mobilisation took place long
after the downfall of the war-party, that it was intended solely for
defence, and was caused by the very natural construction which the king
and his chiefs placed upon the events occurring in the Colony.
Prince Buaki and the deputies left Coomassie on April 3rd, and had
arrived at the village of Akankuassi when a messenger overtook them
with instructions from the king to stop. What was the cause of this
sudden change in the original plan decided upon by the entire nation
in council? News had been brought to Coomassie that the men and
stores, which had been collected at Mansu by the Colonial Government,
were beginning to be moved on to Prahsu. The king, conceiving that the
Government was fully determined on war, thought that the next move
would be from Prahsu to the Adansi territory, perhaps to the Adansi
hills; and, concluding that it would be useless to make any further
overtures for peace, he stopped the embassy, so as to spare his dignity
as much as possible, and prepared to exhaust all the resources of the
kingdom in a struggle which he foresaw would be for very existence.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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