No. 322.
Mr. J. H.
Smyth to Mr. Evarts.
Monrovia, Liberia , May 12, 1879. (Received June 16.)
Sir: I have the honor to inform you that the adjournment of the northwest boundary commission without definitely determining to which government the disputed territory belongs, together with the refusal of the British commissioners to be bound by the decision of the arbitrator, have caused much uneasiness among the Liberians and the aborigines from Cape Palmas to the river San Pedro, a distance of 150 miles of Liberian territory.
The unrest of the Greaboes and Kroos, who are very numerous, has culminated in a union, and the severance of their connection with the republic. The tribes, after conferences between themselves, have prepared and forwarded to the government a circular announcing their secession.
The government is powerless to coerce these people who have seen fit to throw off their allegiance. The defenders of the past and present [Page 718] policy of the government place the responsibility of this act of the natives upon the English traders, whom they accuse of hostility to Liberia. Prominent members of the present administration find the cause in the general neglect of the interests of the natives.
I am, &c.,