Historical Society of Nigeria
THE 'IWE IROHIN', 1859-1867
Author(s): Fred I. A. Omu
Source: Journal of the Historical Society of Nigeria, Vol. 4, No. 1 (December 1967), pp. 35-44
Published by: Historical Society of Nigeria
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OFTHEHISTORICAL
JOURNAL SOCIETY IV NO.I
OFNIGERIA VOL. DECEMBER
I967
THE 'IWE IROHIN', 1859-1867
by
Fred I. A. Omu
, University
of History
Department of Lagos
i N 1800,therewas no newspaperin WestAfricabut by themiddleof thenine-
teenthcentury, a substantialnumberof newspapershad been established.They
wereas a ruleephemeralbut theywerevigorousand informative. The earliest
of these was the SierraLeone Gazettewhichwas foundedby officers of the
SierraLeone Companyand whichexperiencedalterationsand restorationsof
name until 1827 whenit was givenup.1 In 1822, the Gold Coast Gazettewas
establishedin Accra and patternedafterthe FreetownNewssheet.Four years
later,the LiberianHerald was inauguratedin Monrovia by Charles L. Force,
an AmericanNegro printerwho had migratedto Liberia underthe auspices
of the MassachusettsColonizationSociety of Boston, U.S.A. During the
secondquarterof the nineteenth centuiy,theseforerunners weresucceededor
strengthened by a flourish Nigeria,too, playeda notable
of newspaperactivity.2
partin thesepresspioneeringefforts. On 23rd November,1859 the Iwe Irohin
was foundedat Abeokutaby Rev. HenryTownsend,a missionary fromExeter,
England.It was firstpublishedas a Yoruba-languagefortnightly but it became
bilingualwhenan Englishlanguagesupplement was added fromMarch 8, 1860.
In October1867,it came to an abruptend.
In partbecausetheIwe Irohinis usuallydismissedas a religiousas well as a
vernacularpublication,and also because it has been naturallyovershadowed
byits muchbiggerand moreeconomicallyambitioussuccessors,the paper has
not been properlyevaluated.Among writerson Nigeriawho have mentioned
thepaper,onlya fewspecialistsshow an understanding of its character.3From
thestandpoint ofmodernAfricanhistoriography, a foreign-inspiredand foreign-
editedpublicationmaynot be an ideal subjectforseriousstudy.But in viewof
the factthatearlyNigeriannewspaperenterprise has begunto attractserious
attention,it is essentialto providea balanced pictureby investigating the root
oftheIndigenousNewspaperMovement.4The purposeof thisarticle,therefore,
i C. H. Fyfe:"TheSierraLeonePressintheNineteenth Century", SierraLeoneStudies
,
No.8.June1957,pp.226-236.
2 H. B. Cole:'The PressinLiberia", ThePressin WestAfrica, Report byCommittee on
Relations
Inter-African (DakarSeminar)1960,pp.51-69;K. A. B. Jones-Quartey:
"Sierra
Leoneand Ghana:Nineteenth CenturyPioneersin WestAfrican Sierra
Journalism",
LeoneStudies. December 1959.pp.230-244.
3Thenotable exceptionsareS.O. Biobaku:TheEgbasandtheirNeighbours, 1842-72
(Oxford
1957)andJ.F. AdeAiavi:Christian inNigeria
Mission 1841-1891 (London.1965).
4 Fora historyoftheindigenous Newspaper Movement from theearliesttimestothebegin-
ningoftheSecondWorldWar,seeFredÏ. A. Omu: TheNigerian Newspaper Press
,
1859-1937: Astudy inorigins
,growthandinfluence
, Ph.D.Thesis,Ibadan1965.
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is to describethenatureof theIwe lrohinand to recordand examinethepaper's
role and place in Nigerianhistory.Informationon the internalhistoryof the
paper is fragmentary but itemsin the survivingback numbersof the paper
a
present fairly effective picture.
To understandthe Iwe lrohin , we mustlook at certainaspectsof the history
of the Britishanti-slavery movement.Indirectly, the movementstimulatedand
encouraged the growth of a readingpublic at Abeokuta. The nucleusof this
literatepublicwerethe liberatedAkus, the storyof whosereturnto Nigeriain
the nineteenth centuryis too familiarto requireretelling. Whenthe requestof
theAbeokutagroupof immigrants fora missionary was grantedand Townsend
sentfromSierraLeone, the expansionin the numbersof literateswas assured.
For the missionariesfounded Sunday and primaryschools which provided
instiuctionsin the Yoruba and Englishlanguages.Furthermore, in providing
opportunities for technical training, the missions encouraged Africans to learn
new skills and to acquire the literarylearning that inevitably went with such
an exercise.Statisticaldata on the make-upof the Abeokutapopulationat the
periodunderconsiderationis not available. Burtonsuppliessome estimatesof
the immigrantand convertpopulationsat Abeokuta in 1861.1 He puts the
formerat 2,000 and the latterat 1,500.He further adds that the day schools
contained a total of 265 children,2 out of an estimated total populationof
150,000.3 Whatever other conclusions arise from these figures,therecannot
have been more than about 4,000 Christians at Abeokuta in 1861 and a large
proportion of these were illiterate.It is significant that of the eighteenmarriages
conductedaccordingto the ritesof the Churchof Englandin 1859,onlythree
persons(a man and twowomen)could signtheirnames.For theperiod1859-63,
sixty-four marriageswere conducted; twenty-two men and fifteenwomen
(total 37) signed their names.4 However, newspaperpublishedat Abeokuta
a
at that time would not be directed solelyat the local audiencebut would have
a constituency which included not only mission stationsin the interiorof
Yorubaland but also the island of Lagos which boasted a rapidlygrowing
literatecommunity.5
In thesecondplace,theeffective use to whichtheBritishhumanitarian move-
mentput the newspaper in the mobilization of opinion in favour of theirprog-
rammesestablishedthe newspaperas an essentialinstrument of missionwork
outside Britain.The era of the humanitarianmovementhad coincidedwith
remarkablechanges in Britishnewspaperhistory;a technologicalrevolution
associatedwithFriedrichKoenig, the expansionof the readingpublic as well
as theincreaseddemandforself-education, all had interacted one upon another
i R. F. Burton:Abeokuta andtheCameroons Vol.I, (London,
Mountains, 1863),pp. 170,
246-7.
2 TheC.M.S.attendance for1863wereas follows:
figures Owu52;Igbein 55;Ikija67;Ake
137.
3 Burton quotesT. B. Freeman
as putting
thepopulationofAbçokuta in1842at45,000 and
alsoT. J.Bowen(1858)at80,000.Abeokuta, p. 170.
4 Seetablesforperiod1848-63inIwelrohin
, 5 February,
1864.
5 SeeFredI. A. Omu: TheAnglo-Atrican,1863-65,NigerianMagazine,No.90,September
1966,pp.206-212.
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and transformed the characterof the newspaperwhichbecame a major agency
of organizedpubliccampaignsand widespreadenlightenment.1 The prevailing
situationmust have made some impressionon Britishmissionariesgoing to
Africaand the emphasiswhichthe humanitarians placed upon pamphletand
newspaperpublicity and propaganda elevated the printingpress into an im-
portant machine of missionaryenterprise.
Little wonderthat printingpressesand mission-inspired newspapersproli-
feratedin missionstationsin West Africa. In Liberia, from 1836 to 1846,
Africa'sLuminary , a bi-monthly journal,was publishedby the Committeeof
the MissionarySocietyof the MethodistEpiscopal Churchin New York and
printedbytheMethodistMissionPressin Monrovia.2 In SierraLeone in 1843,
theWesleyanMissionarySocietybroughtout the SierraLeone Watchman and
twelveyearslaterassociatedthemselves withthe C.M.S. in startingthe African
and SierraLeone WeeklyAdvertiser .3 In the Gold Coast (Ghana) in the late
the
fifties, Wesleyans established a printingworkshopand foundedtwo news-
papers, the Christian Messenger theExaminer
and .4 In Nigeria,thefirstprinting
press was installed by the Presbyterian Mission when theyarrivedin Calabar
in 1846.Eightyearslater,Townsendfittedup a printing pressand inaugurated
a printing schoolin themissioncompoundat Abeokuta.Therefore, in proceed-
ing in 1859 to a
publish newspaperwhich, as he claimed,5 would engenderin
the Egba people the habit of seekingfor information by reading,Townsend
couldbe seenas a linkin a chainof missionary journalistswho soughtto encour-
age the spread of education and enlightenment in Africansocieties.Neverthe-
less, it would be over-simple and misleading explain the establishment
to of
the Iwe Irohinsolelyin philanthropicterms.
In his Abeokutaand the CameroonsMountains , R. F. Burton,a notorious
anti-missionary explorer,alleged that Townsend was a news-vendor priorto his
a
becoming missionary.Pouring ridiculeon the influence of missionaries in
Africacomparedwith theirlowly status in theirhomeland,Burton stated:
. . themissionary holdsa peculiarpositionin theselands.At homea carter,a
blacksmith, cobbler,hecomesouttoAfrica. . . 'to foundempires,
or a andtocreate
nations'.Whilstone Mr T ringsthe bell for the Western Times in thestreets
of Exeter,theother,a missionary, holdsin his handsthe destiniesof Abeokuta
. . ."6 The Western Timeswas publishedbyTownsend'sbrotherwhowas a printer
and it would seem,therefore, thatTownsendhad connectionswithjournalism
a
as youth. It seems probablethathe had a hiddenwishto run a newspaper.
The second, and more important,considerationcan be explainedby an
internalcontradiction in Europeanmissionary enterprise in Africa;Townsend's
career at Abeokuta a
provides spectacular illustration of thiscontradiction.By
i FrancisWilliams: Estate
Dangerous , TheAnatomyofNewspapers (NewYork,1958);H.W.
Steed:ThePress(London, 1938).
2 E. U. Oton: PressmLiberia:A casestudy,Journalism ,Vol.38,No.2,Spring
Quarterly
1961(University ofMinnesota, U.S.A.).
Minneapolis,
3 C. O. 267/258,
HilltoLabouchere, 17December, 1857,Enel.1.
4DavidKimble: APoliticalHistoryofGhana(Oxford, p. 162.
1963),
5G. Townsend: Memoir ofRev.Henry Townsend
(London, 1889),p. 85.
6Burton, op.cit.,pp.245-46.
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livingamongthepeopleto whomhe went,associatinghimselfwiththeinterests
of the convertcommunity, penetrating into theirlivesand striving to improve
theireducationand outlook,and by deliberately establishingcordial relations
with constitutedauthority,the missionarygraduallyacquired influence;he
became at least partiallyassimilatedinto the societyand his attitudein both
domesticand foreignaffairs becameconditionednotprimarily bytheimmediate
interests of missionworkbut by theoverallinterestofthesociety.Nevertheless,
themissionaryfeltconvincedthathis enterprise mightfailifeducatedAfricans
successfully challenged his influence. He, therefore, tendedto manoeuvrefor
position notwithstanding the resultant African frustration.
Townsend'spoliticalsentimentwas compoundedof supportfor Abeokuta
and a strategydesignedto safeguardEuropean missionaryinfluenceagainst
Africanthreats.The 1850'switnessedunsettledrelationsbetweentheEgba and
theBritishcaused by differences of thoughtabout thepriorclaimsof Abeokuta
and Lagos, whichrespectively represented missionaryenterprise and trade,as
centresof Britishinfluence.Co-operationbetweenAbeokuta missionariesand
the Lagos consulsdid take place but it was generallyfitfuland uneasyand by
1860,it had becomeobviousthatthetradershad triumphed.1The timewould
seemto have been opportunenot onlyto educatethe Çgba 'nation'in hostility
to theBritishin Lagos butto mobilizepro-Abeokutaopinionamong Europeans
in Yorubaland and C.M.S. supporters in the UnitedKingdom. Furthermore,
Townsendwas highlyinfluential in Egba politics;he was fortenyearsthehono-
rarysecretary oftheAlake and it is allegedthathe was a memberoftheOgboni.
The growthofAfricaninfluence, epitomizedbytheriseofSamuelAjayiCrowther,
posed a seriousthreat to European missionarypower and it must have been
consideredessentialto impressEuropeansin Yorubalandand overseaschristian
friendswiththe forceof European missionarypropaganda.It is thusclear to
whomthe Englishappendixwas addressedand its importanceforTownsendis
revealedbythefactthatfromthetimeitappeareditalmostentirely overshadowed
the Yoruba sectionwhich increasingly became practicallyan abridgedversion
ofthesupplement.
The Iwe Irohinbore the title"Iwe Irohinfunawon ara Ģgbaati Yoruba"-
a newspaperforthe Egba and the (Oyo) Yoruba. A fortnightly,2 the paper
sold fora hundredand twenty the
cowries, equivalent of one penny. An annual
subscription was two shillings.At the
first, paper seems to have ignored
the familiarcolumnarrangement, appearingas pages of a book, but it soon
afterwardsappeared in two equal columns with occasional small headlines
whichalmostmergedwiththegeneralbodyofthetype.Unlikethecontemporary
Early Dawn in Sierra Leone whose translationsfromEnglishwere done by
Europeanmissionaries, theYoruba partof theIwe Irohinwas entirely translated
by Çgba converts.This had theadvantage thatthe regulartranslationof a large
i Biobaku,op.cit., J.F. AdeAjayi:"British
passim; of Lagos,1851-61",
Occupation Nigeria
Magazine,No. 69,August1961,pp.96-105.
2Atthestart, was
publication very irregular.
Only oneissuewas in as well
printed January
as inFebruary. issuecameoutafter
Thelatter 43days.
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quantityof materialwas possibleand the exerciseservedas a usefulmeans of
preparingthe translatorsforothermore importanttranslations.1These trans-
lationshad all thedrawbackswhichcould be expectedfromthem.Worstof all,
wordswhichdid not translatewellwereleftin theiroriginalformand thismust
to incompleteunder-
have givenrise to the skippingof lines and, therefore,
standingof the educationalmattercontained in the newspaper.
The didacticessaysin the Iwe Irohincovereda varietyof subjects,ranging
fromworldgeographyto spelling.Two examplescan be given:
A yearis themeasureofone revolutionoftheearthroundthesun; thisrevo-
is a periodof 100years.We
lutiontakesplacein 365 days,6 hours.A century
countourlivesby years,butwe reckontheworld'shistorybycenturies.2
Propernamesshouldeitherbe spelt exactlythe same as theyare in the
languagefromwhichtheyaretaken,or at least,alteredaccordingto rule. It
was an instanceof spellingrun wild to writeTamahana for Thompson,
WiremuforWilliams,PiripiforPhilip.3
This type of elementaryknowledgewas taughtamidst appeals urgingthe
people,particularly theimmigrants, to make a practiceof increasingknowledge
by reading "useful books". It continuallylamentedthewidespreadindifference
ofAfricansto generalreadingand soughtto intimidate thepeopleintoabandon-
ing their lethargyby the suggestion that sickness and death resultedfrom
and
ignorance ignorance resulted from to
inability read books and newspapers.
The paper stressedthe value of good primaryeducation,arguingthatwithout
it futureprosperitywould be impossible.4 By drawingcomparisonsbetween
salariesof educatedpeople and the wages of labourersat Abeokuta,it drove
homeits argumentsabout the worthof educationand predictedthatthe time
would come whenignorancewould be feltto be a reproachand whenparents
who deprivedtheirchildrenof earlyeducational advantageswould be blamed
forit. Towards its last days, it called for a boardingschool for girlswhere
'childrencan be taughthabits,feelingsand principlesin advance of the female
convertsand betterthan can be done in mixed day schools'.5
It is difficultto determinethe preciseimpact of these persuasiveappeals.
Those who made efforts to read themwould have heardthemin and outside
thechurchand, in any case, such people did not usuallyrequireto be inspired
by newspaperarticlesbeforetheysent theirchildrento school. The natural
targetwas thenon-christian populationbutthesecould not read and apparently
did not knowabout thenewspaper.In so faras thepapermade any noticeable
impact,it was not in its educationalarticlesbut in its politicaljournalism.
The Iwe Irohinhad barelybegunwhenwar brokeout betweenthe Egba and
the Ibadan in 1860. Beforethe crisis took this violentturn,Townsend,in
1IweIrohin, 5 March,
1863.
2 IweIrohin
. 3 March,
1866.
3Ibid.,5 May,1865.
4Ibid.,5 October. 1865:2 February,
1864;22June,
1861: 22April,1863:5 August, 1867.
5Ibid.,2 February,
1867.
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associationwithConsul George Brand of Lagos, had triedwithoutsuccess to
persuadethe Egba to mediatebetweenIbadan and Ijaye. Even afterhostilities
began,he entertained thehope thatpressurecouldbe broughton thecombatants
to terminatethe war. In an 'Addressto the ForeignResidentsin Lagos, Abe-
okuta and the Yoruba Country',the Iwe Irohinwarnedof the economiccon-
sequencesof the war and called upon the commercialcommunity to stop the
war and war alarms and to establishpeace betweenthe various 'tribes and
townships'in Yorubaland.The paperthoughtthatthewarswerebroughtabout
by 'mere jealousy or covetousnessamong the native chiefs'and urged the
foreignresidentsand merchantsnot to remainpassive spectatorsbut to do
somethingby whichtheirinfluencemightbe feltand theirvoice heard. In its
view,the Europeanscould achievetheirgoals eitherby presenting themselves
as a unitedbodyto thechiefsbyfrequent of or
interchange messages byjudicious
use ofpresents.1
These ideas had a favourablereceptionand from Manchester,Thomas
Clegg, a prominentmerchant,wroteto suggestthe settingup of a mercantile
body to be called 'The Abeokuta CommercialAssociation or Chamber of
Commerce'whichwould at once be a tradingsocietyand a Europeanpressure
group.2 An Abeokuta Mercantile Association was eventuallyset up with
Henry Robbin as Presidentbut by this time Townsend,presumablyanxious
for political reasons to identifyhimselfmore positivelywith the Egba war
effort,had shed his mediataryrole. As was to be expected,the Iwe Irohinnow
took up attitudeswhichin retrospectcould not have been improvedupon by
the mostpugnaciousof Egba patriots.It took the listsagainstunnamedpeople
who allegedlyarguedthatAbeokuta'sentryinto thewar was "an aggresiveact
entirelyunjustified"and proceededto analysethe causes of the war: first,the
Egba werebound by allianceand formerobligationto assistIjaye and it would
have been a breach of faithnot to join the war; secondly,Ibadan and Oyo
were in alliance withDahomey,the annual alarm of whose invasionswas "a
standinginfliction upon the people of Abeokuta"; thirdly, Ibadan had invaded
Egba territory destroying and pillagingvillages.Lastly, the Ibadan had been
seeking to obtain wealth and powerby war and the Egba were suspiciousthat
the Ibadan soughtto establishtheirsupremacyover them.3Historianswould
now hesitateto endorse these conclusionsbut the point is that the analysis
reflectedthe degreeto whichTownsendhad becomecommittedto one side in
the war. For mostof the engagements of the war theIwe Irohincarriedgraphic
and triumphant accountspresentedas if the engagements werebetweenEuro-
pean armies, thus revealing an inevitable characteristicof newspapersedited
by Europeans in Africa. Towards the last years of the war, the Iwe Irohin
lamentedsome of its social and economicconsequencesand made a passionate
appeal forpeace4 but thiscan hardlydetractfromthe factthat the paper was
indisputably partof the Egba war effort,a rallyingpointforanti-Ibadanforces.
i Ibid.,8 March,1860.
2 Letter ofT. Cleggdated21June,1860toIweIrohin 1860.
, September,
3 IweIrohin. 5 Julv.1860.
4 See,forexample, issueof24April,1865.
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If theparticipation of the Iwe Irohinin the Ijaye War enhancedthe political
position Townsend,its reactionto the Americanimmigration
of schemeesta-
blishedhim as the unrivalledarbiterof Egba affairs.The delegatesof the
National EmigrationConventionof Coloured Men in the United States, Dr
MartinR. Delany,a formernewspapereditor,and RobertCampbell,a trained
printer, gave publiclecturesat AbeokutaunderEuropean auspices and Camp-
bell helpedto reorganizeTownsend'sprintingworks,a debt whichthe latter
repaid four years later when he recommendedone of his printersto print
Campbell'snewspaperin Lagos.1 These courtesies,however,did not reduce
theanxietiesof the European missionariesover the treatywiththe Alake and
his chiefscontractedin December,1859.2Disturbedabout possible American
Negropoliticalrivalryand anxiousto exploitthe opportunity to the disadvan-
tage of the Crowthers who had witnessed the treaty,Townsend shrewdlyblew
up the growing conflict over the treaty to crisis proportions the process
in
a of
arousing populartempest indignationagainst the treatyand the Crowthers
whichinspireda successionof eventsculminating in the expulsionof Crowther
juniorand in the Alake's repudiationof the treatyin February1861.
For Townsend,who believed in going the whole hog, these developments
amountedto no morethan the last nail in thecoffin of the emigrationscheme.
The Coffinmust be consignedto the uaves and to achieve this,he published
thetreatyin theIwe Irohinand followedthisup withtwo leading articlesthat
are remarkablefor theirvigour. In the firstarticle on 25 March, the paper
attackedtheprovisionsforthe givingof land to thesettlersand fortheirself-
government on the groundsthatno guaranteewas offeredfortheirfulfilment.
It observedthattheAbeokutasocietywas developingin an encouraging manner
thanksto christian influence and assertedthat"thosewho have laboured in the
workof civilizationand Christianity . . . shouldbe assuredthat theirworkshall
notbe marredby the influxof any people, strangers to thecountry."
In the second editorialon 5 April,the paper again attackedthe treaty - in
particular ArticleI whichgavethesettlers therightto occupywhatwas described
as "territory. . . not otherwiseoccupied"- as a violationof Egba land tenure
in whichunoccupiedand thereforeunowned lands did not exist.
Turningto the emigrationscheme,it remarkedthat the introductionof "a
body of well-to-doand well-principled immigrants fromAmericawould be of
verygreatadvantage". These would not need a specialtreatyas theywould be
wellreceivedand welltreatedin so faras they"observedthemorallaw of God",
and did not meddlewithdomesticaffairs.But presumablybecause Townsend
knew what had happenedin Sierra Leone wherethe settlersfromAmerica,
Canada and the West Indies put on arrogantairs of superiority,3 the paper
feltthatDelany's groupwould be bad company.Creatingamongthe Egba an
1FredI. A. Omu:"TheAnglo- African,
1863-65",Nigerian , No. 90.
Magazine
2 Fordetailsofthetreaty, see Nigerian , 26 November,
Advocate 1923; Burton,op.cit.,
pp.267-268.
3Arthur Creoleciom
T. Porter: (London,1963), : ine tstaDiisn-
passim;J.JJ.Hargreaves
ment LeoneProtectorate
oftheSierra of1898",Cambridge
andtheInsurrection Historical
JournalVol.xii,No. I, 1956,pp.56-80.
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image of Negro Americancolonistsas the quintessenceof sub-racialdiscrimi-
nationand of foreignsubversionof Africanvalues,and at thesametimebetray-
ing Townsend's deep-seatedracial prejudices,the paper stated:
The introductionof a largenumberof freeblacksfromAmericafilledwith
certainnotionsoffreedom, and contempt
republicanism, fortheiruncivilized
fellowmen,withwhomat a distancetheyclaima relationship,
butwithwhom
theywillnotsitdownand dwellas brethren ofthesamefamily,cannotbutbe
attendedwiththegreatestdangerto thenativegovernments and people. As
sucha movementcan onlytake place by thecountenanceand pecuniary aid
of whitemen,whitemenshouldbecomeanswerableforit and regulateit.
Townsend's coup de grace against the political influenceof the Crowther
familyexacerbatedthe divisionin themissionand as mutualhostility mounted,
Townsendwas summonedto England for consultations.In his absence,Dr
A. A. Harrison,a Cambridge-trained missionaryphysician,who apparently
did not share Townsend'spoliticalambitions,conductedthe newspaper.This
helps to explainwhythe paper was almost silentwhen Townsend'sidea that
Abeokuta, and not Lagos, should be the instrument of Britishpolicyin the
area was finallyrejectedwiththe annexationof Lagos to the BritishEmpire.
The Iwe Irohinmerelyreportedtheeventwhichit was, it said, "glad to hear".1
As the cession strainedAnglo-Egbarelations,it was hardlysurprising that
politicalcontroversy again featuredin the paper when Townsendreturnedto
Abeokutain March 1862. Unfortunately, almostall the back filesforthisyear
are missing,2but thereare bits of evidencewhichsuggestthatthe Iwe Irohin
exertedconsiderableinfluenceon the Lagos Government.Alan Bums in his
Historyof Nigeria, cites the issue of 4th October to substantiatehis opinion
thatthe paper caused "much injury... to Britishprestige".3Indeed,so unsett-
ling was the paper that in DecemberGovernorFreemanlodged a complaint
againstit withthe Colonial Office.4Less thantwo yearslater,he was to accuse
the paper of aggravatingproblemsof foreignpolicy.5Severaltimesin 1863,
the C. M. S. authorities,
promptedby Colonial Officedispleasureat the Abe-
okuta press offensive, cautionedTownsendto exerciserestraint.6
The intervention of the C.M.S. authoritieswas fairlyeffective for the Iwe
Irohinwithdrewfrom attackingLagos openly and instead concentratedon
publishing'slanted' reportsof minorand violentclashes betweenLagos and
Abeokuta.7The methodof attackthus became muchmore subtle even when
the targetwas Townsend's local enemies.For example,when Crowtherwas
appointedbishop in 1864, Townsend's bitternessand frustration found weak
1 IweIrohin , 24 August.1861.
2 Therewouldseemtobeonlythree surviving - January
issuesfor1862 24and
5,January
May19.
3 ÍLondon.1948 V o. 254.
4 C. S. O. í/1.Freeman toNewcastlef%
Decemher 186?
5 C. S. O. 1/1,Freeman toČardwell,
9 June,1864.
6 VenntoTownsend, 23March,1863(C.M.S.papersonmicrofilm, ofAberdeen
University
Library).
7 See,forexample, issueof22February,1864.
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expressionin the reprintof relevantand contradictory commentsby two
Britishnewspapers.The Iwe Irohingave a columnto theRecordwhichsupported
theappointment and twoand a half columnsto the AfricanTimeswhich cond-
emnedit.1
A majorconsequenceof theeventsof theprecedingfouryearswas a remark-
able declinein Townsend'spoliticalstatureat Abeokuta.The Britishannexation
of Lagos and its aftermath exacerbatedEgba distrustof the Britishand demo-
lishedthe former'sfeelingsof friendship and gratitudeforthe latterand thus
the basis of Townsend'sinfluence.With the rise in 1865 of the Egba United
Board of Managementunder G. W. Johnsonwhich the Iwe Irohin totally
ignored,Townsend reached the nadir of his influence.These developments
werereflected in a drop in the fortunesof the newspaper.Beforethis time,it
had been paying its way, supplementingits sales with profitsfrom book-
binding,job-printing (forsome commercialhouses and forgovernmentoffices
in Lagos) and advertisements.2 Not that the sales had been substantialeven
by contemporary standards- the leading nationalist newspapersin Lagos in
the 1880s sold from200 to 300 copies at 6d. each; indeed,it would seem that
mostconvertshad to be persuadedto buy the paper and those of themwho
subscribedto it did not oftenpay up.3 However,the paper now increasingly
becamea shadowof itsformerselfand in orderto attractmoresales,Townsend
decidedin 1866 to publishboth parts of the paper on different days.4 This
measure,however,did not produceany permanentresults.In otherwords,the
Iwe Irohinwas alreadycollapsingwhenrelationsbetweenAbeokutaand Lagos
becameso bad that elevendays afterthe paper's issue of 2nd October,1867,
a popularrising(the ifole)broke out occasioningthe expulsionof Europeans,
the lootingof the missionbuildingsand the destructionof the printingpress.
The Iwe Irohinceased and it was not untilabout sixtyyearslaterthata news-
paperwas again establishedat Abeokuta.5
In a sense, the newspaperswhich were establishedat Abeokuta fromthe
1920s,beingpart of the indigenousnewspapermovement,in partderivedtheir
inspirationfromtheexampleof theIwe Irohin.Midwayin itslife,thepaperhad
stimulated in Lagos the foundationof the Anglo-African , the fatherof newspa-
perswhichgrewand developedin that island from1880 and began to spread
intotheprovinces'in the 1920s.It is noteworthy thatsomeofthesenewspapers,
thosethat werepublishedin vernacular,patternedtheirformatof 6i-8i after
the Iwe Irohin.The indigenousnewspapermovementdevelopedat the timeit
1 IweIrohin , 4 May,1864.Also5 September, 1864.
2 IweIrohin , 22January,1863.Thepaperdidnotbegintocarry advertisements
until1861.
On thewhole,theadvertisements wereveryfew - a sprinkling
ofpatent medicinesand
manufactured goodsinsertedinthemainbyS. J.Peters ofAbçokuta andW. Mallalieu
andCo. ofLondon. A wholepagewascharged tenshillingsandhalfpage,sixshillings.
3 See,forexample, theattacks on generalindifferenceto newspaperreading,IweIrohin
,
5 August, 1864,22June, 1865.
4 TheEnglish section
onthe4thandtheYorubaedition onthe20thofeachmonth.
5 In September, 1926,A. Fçlarinestablisheda monthly journal,theTheEgbaNational
Harper. ItdiedinSeptember, 1927.Thiswassucceeded byD. O. Oke'sAbeokuta Weekly
Newsin 1934andS. K. Adenekan andD. A. S. Bamgboye's Osumare Egba(7 December,
1935-5December, 1936).
43
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did partiallybecause a substantialnumberof skilfulprinterswereavailable to
undertakethe printingof the newspapers.At Abeokuta where printinghad
been one ofthenewskillsintroducedbytheAnglicanmissionaries, theestablish-
ment of the Iwe Irohinrevitalizedthe printingschool and thus swelledthe
numbersof apprentice-printers some of whom printedsome of the earlyna-
tionalistnewspapers.In general,it could be said thattheIwe Irohinintroduced
more educated Africansto what had become an intrinsicpart of enlightened
societyin Europe and otherlands and what was to becomethe chiefweapon
by whichthe educated Africanswere to exercisetheirpower of participation
in theirowngovernment.
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