I inclose herewith as additional evidence of the fact, an extract from The
Observer, Monrovia, June 12, 1879, the manifesto forwarded by the chiefs to
the Liberian Government.
[Inclosure 1 in No. 31.—Extract from the
Monrovia Observer, Thursday, June 12, 1879.]
Manifesto of the chiefs of the G’ Debo tribes east
of Cape Palmas.
We, the undersigned kings and chiefs of the tribes between the river
Cavalla and river San Pedro, considering that our mutual security and
the prosperity of our country require that we should he united in
friendship did, on the 2d and 3d days of April, 1879, meet together at
Grand Taboo, and having referred to the matter of our country which is
fraudulently claimed by the Republic of Liberia, on the pretense that it
was purchased by or for them, and of which we have been kept in perfect
ignorance all these past years, until it was first brought to our
knowledge by an official order dated November 8, 1877, from Jos. T.
Gibson, superintendent of Cape Palmas, to Messrs. Julio and Lehmann to
leave river Taboo in five days, and to stop nowhere in any part of our
country which they claim. But we would not allow them to comply to that
order; and five days after, viz, 13th November, Mr. J. T. Gibson came
down with the United States ship Essex to river Taboo, and when our
chiefs were on board they were menaced if they refused to comply with
the demands of Liberia; and lately by the arrival of the United States
flagship Ticonderoga March 8, 1879, do hereby bind ourselves to the
following resolutions, which have been mutually agreed to by the kings
and chiefs undersigned:
Resolved, We shall never acknowledge the authority
of the Republic of Liberia on the pretense that our country was
purchased by Dr. Hall or any other person.
Our chiefs when on board of the United States flagship Ticonderoga, off
river Taboo, were offered $100 per year to take the Liberian flag.
Resolved, We shall never accept it.
Resolved, We consider our people under the
protection of England, whose flag was sent to us many years ago by that
government, and which we will fly and also call upon in our present
difficulty.
Resolved, We from this date stop all trade and
communication with the Republic of Liberia until this question about the
rights of our country is settled to our entire satisfaction.
The following are the names of the kings and chiefs:
(Eighteen signatures.)
Grand
Taboo
,
April 5,
1879.
