Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress with the Annual Message of the President, December 2, 1872, Part I
No. 255.
Mr. Turner to Mr. Fish
Monrovia, Liberia, Nov. 1, 1871. (Received Dec. 12.)
Sir: Inclosed please find correspondence between this legation and the “provisional chief executive committee” now administering the affairs of government for the republic of Liberia.
I have, &c.
Mr. H. Johnson to Mr. Turner.
Sir: I have the honor to acquaint your excellency that the sovereign people of Liberia having, on the 26th day of the present month, deposed President Roye, the government of Liberia will be provisionally conducted by a chief executive committee and the chiefs of departments, until the arrival at the government of the vice-president of the republic.
I beg to inclose herein a copy of the manifesto issued by the provisional government under date of October 27, instant.
I am, &c., &c.,
manifesto.
The sovereign people of the republic of Liberia, while recognizing the principles that all government is formed for the welfare of those who compose it; that all power is inherent in the people; and that “whenever the conduct of those to whom it has been delegated begins to bring about disorganization and ruin, it is the right of the people at once to resume their delegated power,” are, nevertheless, inclined to state the motives which have prompted them in adopting an unusual course. They, therefore, set forth:
That the unconstitutional acts of President E. J. Roye have been calculated to tyrannize over the free people of the republic, and bring ruin upon the country.
President Roye has, contrary to the constitution, proclaimed himself President for four years, although elected for only two years.
When the legislature of the republic, by its vote of January last, declared that the constitution had not been amended so as to lengthen the presidential term to four years, he has, by proclamation, forbidden the usual biennial election to be held, and ordered his officers to prevent the citizens of the republic from exercising their constitutional privilege of holding an election.
He has threatened with death those who might be thus disposed to exercise their right as citizens.
He has distributed arms and munitions of war, and has not ceased his efforts to procure armed men to crush the liberties of the people.
His efforts to perpetuate his incumbency, in violation of the constitution, and against the will of the people, have been the occasion, in one or two instances, of the destruction of life and property. Those efforts have, moreover, manifested themselves in briberies, tending to corrupt the people, and to ingraft on their political life evils which, if allowed to grow, will destroy the nation.
He has “ruptured and broken the friendships of years, and made wounds that may never be healed in the life-time of this generation. The beautiful banks of the St. Paul’s, where peace and industry once plied their busy hands, have been bristling with the bayonets of men ready to take each other’s lives.”
He has contracted a foreign loan, contrary to the law made and provided, and, without an act of appropriation by the legislature, he has, with his officers, been receiving the proceeds of that loan.
[Page 328]He has ignored a fundamental principle of the constitution making the executive legislative, and judicial departments of government distinct and separate. He has appointed to an executive office a citizen clothed with senatorial power. Invading the courts of justice, he has assumed to dictate the selection of jurors, thus interfering with the even-handed justice of the judiciary.
Every effort to induce him to desist from his unconstitutional course has been unavailing. Threats and entreaties have been alike lost upon him. He has turned a deaf ear to the remonstrances from all the counties of the republic.
When the people have risen in their might, he has, upon the entreaties of his friends, given his written promise to resign at an appointed time; but, regardless of that written promise, he has declared the people in a state of rebellion, and attempted to escape to foreign countries, with the officers of his government, clothed with their full power, in order to wield against ns in other lands a power which at home he had employed in vain to crush the liberties of the people.
The forbearance manifested by the people, far from having a tendency to cause the President to desist from his tyrannical course, was only complicating the difficulties and protracting the struggle between the President and the people. Firmly convinced by his utter disregard of promises that, so long as President Roye occupied the presidential chair, he would not cease his efforts to perpetuate his incumbency, and knowing that he was daily expecting means to enable him to triumph over the people; knowing moreover that, “when a people have failed to act in a prompt and energetic manner, they have lost their liberties, and not unfrequently their lives and property;” and fearing that it might be fatal to await the assembling of the national legislature, the people decided to act at once in the matter: Therefore,
On the 26th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred, and seventy-one, and in the twenty-fifth year of the independence of the republic, the sovereign people of Liberia did, by their resolutions in the city of Monrovia, joined to the resolutions from the other counties of the republic, depose President E. J. Roye from his high office of President of Liberia; and did decree-that the government shall be provisionally conducted by a chief executive committee of three members and by the chiefs of departments, until the arrival of the constitutional officer at the seat of government.
The sovereign people of Liberia, while deploring the one or two instances of the destruction of life and property, nevertheless console themselves with the fact that, with the exceptions already named, the important step which they have taken has not been attended with the shedding of the blood of the citizens and the tears of widows and orphans. And with grateful hearts they bow before the God who rules the destinies of nations and who has assisted them to avert from their country the sad calamities that have not unfrequently attended such proceedings in other lands.
- C.B. DUNBAR,
- R. A. SHERMAN,
- AMOS HERRING,
Chief Executive Committee.
By the chief executive committee:
H. R.
W. Johnson,
Secretary of
State.
Mr. Turner to Mr. Johnson.
Monrovia, Liberia, October 30, 1871.
Sir: I have to acknowledge the receipt of your dispatch bearing date October the 28th and addressed to “his excellency the United States minister resident,” and conveying information to the effect that on account of the deposal of “President Roye,” “the government of Liberia will be provisionally conducted by a chief executive committee until the arrival at the seat of government of the vice-president of the republic.”
In reply, permit me to re-assure the government of Liberia that the policy of strict neutrality with reference to any internal disturbances that may now exist within the republic of Liberia will be strictly adhered to by the Government of the United States. Please accept the indebtedness of this legation for manifesto inclosed in your dispatch.
I have, &c.,