Earl Grey writes a prolix letter to the Times criticising
the necessity of the march to Coomassie, and doubting whether Ashantee will not one day have another fight, but suggesting that the best way to govern the Protectorate, 250 miles long by 100 miles wide, is to assume the complete sovereignty of the colony, but govern mainly through the native chiefs. That is good advice, provided the native chiefs are trustworthy and exer- cise any appreciable influence, but if not, why not follow out the Indian policy, and replace them by a few European and many dark magistrates,who can gradually enforce a simple system of law? The chiefs who refused to aid us have forfeited their rights, and in Jamaica, Guiana, and Sierra Leone we have plenty of men compe- tent to supersede them. The policy of working through such agents as these " Kings " always looks the easiest at first, but always proves the most cumbersome in the end, especially when it is necessary to exact revenue. A single Anglo-Indian civilian accustomed to govern, and unscrupulous about clearing away jungle, would in five years turn this territory into a fairly organised province. What should make it more difficult to govern than the Sonthal Pergunnahs, where, till Sir George Yule took them in hand, the people were just as barbarous, as suspicious, and as unsettled ?
