You are desired to acquaint yourself with the former inquiries made at the
time of the French attempt to control Kent Island, in the Manna River, and
with the grounds on which our friendly intervention on behalf of Liberia was
based. We exercise no protectorate over Liberia, but the circumstance that
the Republic originated through the colonization of American citizens, and
was established under the fostering sanction of this Government, gives us
the right, as the next friend of Liberia, to aid her in preventing any
encroachment of foreign powers on her territorial sovereignty, and in
settling any dispute that may arise. The southeasterly boundary at the river
San Pedro has never been questioned, and has the powerful sanction of
general admission for many years. I will thank you, therefore, to ask the
foreign office whether there is any foundation for the report that France,
through its officers on the coast, has assumed to treat with Liberian tribes
as independent; and you will endeavor to ascertain, if so, whether
Lieutenant Aroux’s so-called treaty is in disparagement of Liberia’s
sovereign rights in that territory.
[Inclosure in No. 67.]
Mr. Smyth to Mr.
Bayard.
Legation of the United States,
Monrovia,
Liberia
,
December 7,
1885. (Received January 12, 1886.)
No. 149.]
Sir: I have the honor respectfully to furnish
you the following information: On the morning of the above date I was
called upon by Mr. Secretary Barclay, and was informed by him that there
was apprehension felt on the part of His Excellency the President, and
also by himself, that the French had been tampering with the chiefs in
the Liberian territory southeast of Capo Palmas, at a place which is
about 70 or 100 miles distant from Cape Palmas, at Berriby, to the end
of making a treaty with the Greboe native race in that locality.
The circumstances of the above information were these: The gunboat Gabès,
commanded by Lieutenant P. Aroux, steamed into the Monrovia Roads on the
2d of December, 1885, and said commandant paid a visit of courtesy to
the President, December 3, 1885. In the interview which the commandant
had with the President, mention was made of the fact that on the voyage
from Gaboon he, the commandant, had stopped at Berreiby, and that he had
landed, and by his further statement gave the President the impression
that Berreiby was considered by him (the commandant) as without Liberian
possessions. To this erroneous impression His Excellency promptly and
clearly stated that Berreiby was a portion, of Liberian territory, and
defined the southeast boundary as extending to the river San Pedro.
Subsequent to the departure of the Gabès for St. Vincent, Cape do Verde,
information was received, through a subagent of the German firm of A.
Woermann, resident here, that the commandant, P. Aroux, had made a
treaty with the native chiefs of Berreiby.
[Page 299]
An attempt was made in 1879, by the influence of a Frenchman resident of
Paris, to have his Government exercise a protectorate over Liberia, and
in 1884 Kent Island, in the river Manna, was occupied by a French firm,
and a lease was taken from a native subect of Liberia of a part of the
land on the south bank of said river. As to the matter of a
protectorate, on representations made by me to the Department, and
inquiries made at the foreign office at Paris, as a sequence, by the
Minister of the United States, there was a prompt disclaimer made by the
foreign minister of any such desire or purpose on the part of his
Government. As to the Kent Island affair, after I had advised your
predecessor, the Hon. Mr. Secretary Frelinghuysen, concerning the
matter, and the Government of Liberia had communicated the facts to the
French Government, the Liberian Government was advised that the
unauthorized act of lease by a French citizen of Liberian territory
unlawfully would not be countenanced by France, and that Liberia had no
cause to fear contention on the part of the French Government as to
claim upon the territory in question.
Now, as to the present affair, in the light of European effort to possess
African soil, and France particularly, it is judicious in Liberia that
she advise our Government at once of apprehensions felt of French
territorial encroachments; and I call attention to this matter at the
instance of the Liberian secretary of state, and in keeping with
instruction contained in your predecessor’s No. 52, diplomatic series,
dated Washington, October 9, 1884. In this connection I beg to state
that the secretary of state also informed me that an act was to be
passed at the present session of the Legislature authorizing the opening
of a port of entry at San Pedro, and some intermediate point between
there and Capo Palmas.
On account of this recent visit of the French commandant, the more recent
report concerning his action, his secretiveness as to any conduct on his
part other than an authorized (by the Liberian Government) visit to
Berreiby, and the impossibility of communication with that portion of
the coast by Government and hearing from the chiefs up to the time of
this writing, there has been no verification of the report concerning a
treaty.
As an indication of the possible accuracy of the above report of French
encroachment, a review of the action of France in the rear of where
Liberia now is, in the latter part of the eighteenth century (see
supplement to my No. 52, diplomatic series, November 15, 1879), and
subsequently with reference to Liberia, will tend to satisfy you, sir,
in the absence of immediate direct corroboration, that the information
or report is not incredible, and seems to point to the possibility of
history repeating itself with regard to France in the matter of
Liberia.
I have, &c.,