3-066-003 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Government House, Cape Coast, 1874. 'The tide of contemporary interests has already begun to drift public attention far away from the Gold Coast [now Ghana]; but the local capital of the British settlements in that part of West Africa, which was the centre of so many excited feelings at the commencement of this year, is a place still claiming historical remembrance in the future, though its political importance may soon become a thing of the past. It seems likely, indeed, that the seat of Government will hereafter be removed from Cape Coast Castle to some less unhealthy place of abode for British official gentlemen. The old range of buildings, not without a certain stateliness, in which the representatives of England have dwelt since the time of Charles II., will perhaps be deserted or demolished. We now give a view of Government House, with its garden front, sketched by Mr. Melton Prior, our Special Artist with Sir Garnet Wolseley's expedition. In this garden, on Oct. 4, two days after his landing, Sir Garnet convened a meeting of the Fantee kings and chiefs, assembled under two marquees, to discuss their joint action in the Ashantee War. Those native auxiliaries were of no service in the field'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.