For record
Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. September, 1897.
Page 121
SECRET.
No. 171 R.
GOLD COAST.
GOLD COAST,
C.O.
No. 117. Secret.
RECORD
Defence Report revised to February, 1897.
Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.
THE Report on the Defence of the Gold Coast Colony, revised to December, 1896, received with a covering despatch of the Governor, dated the 30th December, 1896, was printed, with certain alterations in arrangement, by the Colonial Defence Committee; but the Committee did not remark on this Report, as in a later despatch, dated the 3rd February, 1897, the Governor informed the Colonial Office that he was having it rewritten. The rewritten Report, with a covering despatch of the Governor, dated the 11th March, 1897, has now been referred to the Committee. It does not differ materially from the one formerly received and printed. The distribution shown of the forces of the Colony is different, being the result of mobilization for the last Ashanti expedition. A final paragraph has been added to the effect that any first-class Power having the command of the neighbouring seas could effect a landing at numerous places along the coast, and that it would then be a matter of climate and loyalty of the natives whether the invasion would be successful. Several new points are also raised in the Governor's covering letter, which is printed as an Appendix to these Remarks.
2. The Report, as it now stands, does not constitute a satisfactory Defence Scheme, such as has been prepared for most other parts of the Empire, to show clearly the purposes for which their military forces are maintained, and the manner in which it is proposed to employ them in the various war contingencies that may arise. The question which a Defence Scheme for the Gold Coast should answer is:- Supposing that war were to break out to-morrow between Great Britain and a Maritime Power what possibility is there of hostile action being directed against the Colony, what form is such action most likely to take, and what measures should be adopted with existing resources to oppose it?
3. With regard to the first part of this question, it appears to the Colonial Defence Committee that the strategic conditions of the Colony are generally as follows:-
Accra and the Gold Coast Colony are open to attack by the garrison of the French Colonies of Senegal and the Soudan. These consist of some 1,100 Europeans and 5,500 natives, mostly scattered in small detachments over a large area, where the inhabitants are often hostile. Probably not more than 1,000 men could be collected for an expedition, even at the cost of abandoning some of the recently acquired territory in the Soudan, while, owing to the great distance and the difficulties of communication, the assembly of such a force would require several weeks. On the other hand, the French forces which would be available for an attack on British Colonies in West Africa are likely to increase rather than to diminish in the near future, while concentration for such an attack might precede the outbreak of hostilities, and might be considered to justify the temporary abandonment of parts of the Soudan. Dakar is a fair naval base about 1,500 miles from Accra.
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