The Irish Members on Thursday, in pursuance of their policy
of veiled obstruction, in a debate on Supply, raised the question of Ashantee, and drew from Mr. Chamberlain a full reply. The Government of Ashantee, he declared, had become an "intolerable nuisance" to the whole West Coast. The country, which is potentially rich, has been completely ruined by intertribal wars, and by " King " Prempeh, a bloodthirsty savage who kept up human sacrifices, and not only killed but tortured thousands of innocent persons, whose fresh bones were found in the sacrificial groves when our troops entered Coomassie. He also kept up a new system of slave-raiding. It was absolutely necessary to replace his atrocious rule by the Fax Britannica, and to that end an expedition was necessary. It had to be a powerful one, because Prempeh had asked assistance from Samory, the Mussulman Sheilcn in the Hinterland, and because it was powerful there was no bloodshed. Mr. Buxton, who answered Mr. Chamberlain, said he also, when in Office, had assented to the war, but he should have waged it in a different spirit, to which Mr. Chamberlain retorted that he did not
understand "shamefaced war," and that the only grievance Prempeh had to complain of was that his allowance of spirits ought to be larger. Mr. Chamberlain's plain speaking will be appreciated in the country.
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