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(Secret.) Sir,
167
Inclosure in No. 303.
Garrison Office, Cape Coast Castle, May 2, 1878. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge your Excellency's despatch marked Secret, dated Government House, Accra, 20th April, 1878, immediately on receipt of which I communicated with Mr. Grant, the Acting Inspector-General of the Gold Coast Constabu- lary, and I have this afternoon conferred with him on the several points raised for our consideration by the Secret Circular of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 20th March, 1878.
2. I apprehend, your Excellency, that in the event of an outbreak of war, the forts and seaboard towns of this Colony would have a two-fold danger to guard against, viz.:-
First, a bombardment by a small hostile squadron or single cruizer.
Secondly, a landing party to enforce requisitions or seize supplies.
3. Protection from the first of these dangers, I regret to say, it is entirely beyond the power of the land forces to afford, as the forts are of an obsolete and somewhat tumble- down character, their armament is of the old smooth-bore pattern, in many cases unser- viceable, and they are therefore incapable of replying to, or affording any shelter from, the fire of rifled ordnance.
4. This being so I would suggest, for your Excellency's consideration, that some steps might be taken to mitigate the evils of a possible bombardment by a hostile cruizer, as under existing circumstances a single shell might cause tremendous havoc, especially in such towns as Accra, Cape Coast, and Elmina, where there is a large population and much valuable property.
5. I refer to the stores of gunpowder and highly inflammable goods, such as spirits, etc., which I am given to understand the merchants have in large quantities in their warehouses, and I am of opinion that it would be desirable, for the safety of the community, to insist on such gunpowder and inflammable goods being temporarily removed and put in positions of safety, either under cover from, or out of range of, an enemy's guns.
6. In most places this would not be a matter of very great difficulty, and it would be particularly easy at Cape Coast from the conformation of the ground.
7. The positions of the Imperial magazines at Fort William, and in the Castle, Cape Coast, would also be sources of danger in the event of a bombardment, and I intend, should war be declared, to empty Fort William on my own responsibility, as, from its position it is a tempting target, and is stored with (L.G.) powder, which, except for saluting purposes, is almost useless.
8. From the second danger to which I have referred, namely, the landing of a requisitioning force, I conceive that we have nothing to fear, as taking into consideration the difficulty of getting ship-boats through the surf at any time, a small force armed with breech-loaders, and supported by a couple of Howitzers or 7-pounder rifled shell-guns, should be able to render a good account of any hostile party that I anticipate their being ever called upon to repel.
9. I would, however, suggest, for your Excellency's consideration, that a redistribu- tion of the military forces now serving in the Colony would be, in the event of an outbreak of war, desirable, and that every port or sea-board town worth defending should be garrisoned by at least fifty infantry and two shell-guns, with their complement of gunners or acting gunners, if fully trained men are not available.
10. Not having any information at my disposal as to the value of the merchandize and other stores at any of the windward or leeward stations, I am not prepared to recommend to your Excellency what the places are, which it would be advisable to defend, but I am of opinion that Accra, as the head-quarters of the Government, should have, as a minimum, 200 infantry and four guns, whilst Cape Coast and Elmina might respectively be well defended by 100 men of the Imperial, or Colonial forces, and the same number of guns as for Accra.
11. From my experience of Fanti levies during the Ashanti campaign, I am inclined to attach no value to them whatever, with the exception of the Cape Coast Volunteer Corps of educated natives, raised, I believe, by Mr. John Sarbah, a native merchant; and if the same or a similar body of men could now be called together, they would be extremely useful as an auxiliary force, especially if it be found necessary to diminish the strength of the garrison of Imperial troops, now at this station.
12. Your Excellency will perceive that such defensive measures, as I have here outlined, are based on the matériel actually at hand, and I have carefully refrained from proposing anything that would involve expense or make demands on the Imperial
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