The Ashantee Expedition began to advance on the 9th inst.
The troops to be employed have all arrived at Cape Coast Castle, and the despatch of stores to Prahsu, eighty miles to the front, has been at once commenced. The sub- ordinate chiefs in the Colony are hearty in their approval of the enterprise, and have, as a beginning, brought up four thousand strong porters, who commenced their march on Monday in a procession two miles long. The porters, who are female as well as male, carry 200,000 lb. weight of goods, or 50 lb. each, including, we imagine, their own food. Guarding them and the depots they will form will be the first task of the Expedition, which, we repeat, is a little undermanned, and far too cheerful in its view of the difficulties to be overcome. Communication with Coomassie has stopped, but it is under_ stood that the chiefs of Ashantee are resolved on battle, and it is rumoured that they have deposed " King " Prempeb, and replaced him by his mother, a virago who detests the whites. In Africa, as in Asia, Queens make good rulers in an emergency, as they do not calculate chances, and never dream of giving way.
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