27. Provoking War
Governor Hodgson’s speech did not go down well with the Ashanti, to say the least. It was like an extraterrestrial arriving in Mecca, addressing a throng of Muslim religious leaders and other faithful, and requesting that they take him to the Kaaba so he could defecate atop it.
It was unfortunate that Hodgson was so ignorant about his audience and what made them tick. For generations, the Ashanti had been West Africa’s most badass tribe. Pride alone would have kept them from knuckling under without a fight. A less oblivious governor would have known that the Ashanti would never willingly produce the Golden Stool – symbol of their state and people, past, present, and future – for a foreigner to sit upon and defile.