Osei Bonsu Part 2

34, The Asante king questions British motives in ending the

siave trade.

Not all Africans welcomed British attempts to end the trade in slaves. The

Asante king, Osei Bonsu, for one expressed doubt that those who were opposed

to the trade were influenced by humanitarian reasons. For his part, he argued

that he had never enslaved people except through war (and then not wars fought

for the purpose of getting slaves but for other reasons entirely), and that it was

necessary for him to sell war captives lest they rise against him. Osei Bonsu

expressed these poinis in a discussion in 1820 with Joseph Dupuis, sent by the

British to be their counsel in the Asante capital city of Kumasi. Dupuis had

been instructed by his superiors “to nurture the seeds of an accidental friend-

ship as an essential preliminary step to the advancement of certain hopeful

expectations connected with the manufacturing and commercial interests of

Great Britain.” Osei Bonsu wondered what he would trade with if he could not

trade slaves for European manufactured goods.”

Part 1: Africa in the Era of the Slave Trade

“Now,” said the king, after a pause, “I have

another palaver, and you must help me to talk it. A long time ago the great king liked plenty of trade, more than now; then many ships came, and they bought ivory, gold, and slaves; but now he will not let the ships come

as before, and the people buy gold and ivory only. This is what I have in my head, so now tell me truly, like a friend, why does the king,

do so?” “His majesty’s question,” I replied, “was connected with a great palaver, which my instructions did not authorise me to dis- cuss. I had nothing to say regarding the slave

trade.” “I know that too,” retorted the king,

“because, if my master liked that trade, you would have told me so before. I only want to hear what you think as a friend: this is not like the other palavers.” I was confessedly at a loss for an argument that might pass as a satisfactory reason, and the sequel proved that my doubts were not groundless. The king did not deem it plausible, that this obnoxious traf- fic should have been abolished from motives of humanity alone; neither would he admit

that it lessened the number either of domes- tic or foreign wars.

Taking up one of my observations, he re- marked, “the white men who go to council with your master, and pray to the great God for him, do not understand my country, or

they would not say the slave trade was bad. But if they think it bad now, why did they think it good before. Is not your law an old law, the same as the Crammo [Muslim] law?

Do you not both serve the same God, only you have different fashions and customs? Crammos are strong people in fetische, and they say the law is good, because the great God made the book; so they buy slaves, and teach them good things, which they knew not before. This makes every body love the Crammos, and they go every where up and down, and the people give them food when they want it. Then these men come all the way from the great water [Niger], and from Manding, and Dagomba, and Killinga; they stop and trade for slaves, and then go home.

If the great king would like to restore this trade, it would be good for the white men and for me too, because Ashantee is a coun-

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try for war, and the people are strong; so if you talk that palaver for me properly, in the white country, if you go there, I will give you plenty of gold, and I will make you richer than all the white men.”

I urged the impossibility of the king’s re- quest, promising, however, to record his sen-

timents faithfully. “Well then,” said the king, “you must put down in my master’s book all I shall say, and then he will look to it, now he

is my friend. And when he sees what is true,

he will surely restore that trade. I cannot make war to catch slaves in the bush, like a thief.

My ancestors never did so. But if I fight a king, and kill him when he is insolent, then

certainly | must have his gold, and his slaves,

and the people are mine too. Do not the white kings act like this? Because | hear the old men say, that before I conquered Fantee and killed the Braffoes and the kings, that white men

came in great ships, and fought and killed many people; and then they took the gold and slaves to the white country: and sometimes they fought together. That is all the same as these black countries. The great God and the fetische made war for strong men every where, because then they can pay plenty of gold and proper sacrifice. When I fought Gaman, I did not make war for slaves, but

because Dinkera (the king) sent me an arro- gant message and killed my people, and re- fused to pay me gold as his father did. Then my fetische made me strong like my ances- tors, and I killed Dinkera, and took his gold,

and brought more than 20,000 slaves to

Coomassy. Some of these people being bad men, I washed my stool in their blood for the fetische. But then some were good people, and these I sold or gave to my captains: many, moreover, died, because this country does not grow too much corn like Sarem, and what can I do? Unless I kill or sell them, they will grow strong and kill my people. Now you must tell my master that these slaves can work for him, and if he wants 10,000 he can have

them. And if he wants fine handsome girls and women to give his captains, I can send him great numbers.”