"Dieterle and Eisenschmid to Basel with Copies of Freeling's Letter and their Reply to him"

The court case took place from 17th to 21st December in Accra. Dieterle and Eisenschmid repeat the point about the bribing of witnesses by Ata and mention Sam. Gyima as having played a sad role. They say their problem is defending Asante without taking the whole court proceedings to question. They do not want to take David Asante out of Akim - he may have not acted always with the highest tact, but it would do the mission considerable harm to do so, and the Governor has appeared to act primarily with the objective of keeping the peace in mind. Buhl's subsript assesses the situation in Kibi from the side of the Okyenhene in an orthodox way, adding a point not overtly stated by other commentators that the building of large new stations in Begoro and Kwahu manned by Europeans has added to his hostility to the mission. People made too much of his appearing interested in becoming a Christian, too. Over the judgement in his case against Asante, Buck says that he has heard from the Governor himself that he wants to maintain political peace in the country at any price., and Buck urges the point that the accusations made by the Governor against Asante are exaggerated. It is no light thing, too that the Okyenhene must bear his own costs. Another attitude of the Governir is that you cannot expect so much tact and intelligence from an uneducated man like the Okyenhene as you should be able to expect from a man with the education of Asante. However, he believes that Asante has been too much involved with people and things to which a straightforward missionary calling would not lead him - the settling of disputes and other side-issues. This is not only his opinion - other missionaries who have stayed with Asante in Kibi have said the same thing.

26.12.1877

03.01.1878

26.12.1877-03.01.1878

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