ABSTRACT
The first Governor had been killed at Nsamankow less than two years after arriving on the coast. Akantamasu, however, was followed by interminable negotiations, continually endangered by the obstinacy of the Fante the Osu people; and it was five years before peace was signed. In 1828 the Government decided to abandon the coast, now that it was possible to do so without appearing to be driven out by the Ashanti. A warship was sent to remove the merchants their property, Ricketts was ordered to demolish the forts and retire to Sierra Leone. Maclean’s first task was to conclude the peace negotiations, which were making no real progress whatever. The allies trusted that the Ashanti were so broken by their recent defeat that they would tolerate any insults; the Ashanti were brooding over what they considered British treachery in allowing the Fante and the Osu people to defy them when they themselves had loyally carried out the terms of the armistice.
