File No. 882.51/504.
The American Chargé d’Affaires to the Secretary of State.
Monrovia, November 30, 1912.
Sir: In confirmation of my cable to the Department dated November 28, 8 a.m.,1 concerning the attempt of Mr. Lange to exercise the functions of Receiver of Customs and at the same time continue to act as German Consul, I have the honor to make the following report.
On November 27 the General Receiver, Mr. Reed Paige Clark, issued a formal notice to all the Receivers that the first official session of the Receivership would be held on November 28 at 10 a.m. At the appointed time all three Receivers met the General Receiver at the office of the Receivership. I am informed by Mr. Clark that he, as General Receiver, read a formal notice opening the meeting, and declared that from this date, November 28, the Receivers had entered upon the active performance of their duties under the Refunding Loan Agreement, and asked if the Receivership should proceed to business. At this juncture Mr. Sharpe, English Receiver, and Mr. Wolf, French Receiver, inquired whether or not the General Receiver and each Receiver was present solely in his capacity as Receivers [sic]. A poll of the Receivership brought out the fact that Mr. Lange was still exercising the functions of German Consul and retained his [Page 695] position as German Vice Consul under an exequatur granted by the Liberian Government. It was then suggested by the General Receiver that the Receivership might consider purely formal questions and leave all matters of reorganization to a future meeting. Mr. Sharpe, English Receiver, asked what formal business the General Receiver purposed taking up at this meeting. The General Receiver stated his program and by mutual consent the meeting proceeded in accord with that program.
I have been reliably informed that both the English and French Receivers had asserted their intention to leave the meeting if it developed after its opening that the German Receiver still retained his consular functions. This break was probably avoided by the General Receiver keeping the meeting purely formal in its nature.
I am further informed that the English and French Receivers were acting under instructions from their respective Governments, and that the Liberian Government had been advised by the British and French consular officers here of the position of their Governments with respect to this matter, sometime before the first meeting of the Receivership was called.
Immediately after the meeting Mr. Reed Paige Clark, General Receiver, officially advised the Liberian Government of the meeting and of the presence of all the Receivers. (See inclosure No. 1.) Upon receipt of this information the Liberian Government transmitted a despatch to Mr. Lange in which it pointed out the failure of Mr. Lange to comply with the conditions of the understanding between the Imperial German Government and the Government of Liberia with respect to his relinquishing his consular functions, and advised him that in view of what had transpired the Liberian Government would be constrained to regard him as having surrendered his consular functions from that day, November 28. Inclosure No. 2 gives the complete text of the Liberian Government’s despatch.
As defining his position with respect to this matter, Mr. Lange had filed a communication on November 28 with the Liberian Government in which he stated “that after the Receivership had been called together this a.m. I am sending my resignation as imperial German Vice Consul to my Government. The Imperial German Consul Freiheer von Grote will, as your Government has already been informed, arrive on the 8th of December and until that time I can not give up to act, as I was ordered by my Government, as Imperial German Consul.” (See inclosure No. 3.) The Liberian Government regarded this statement as totally unsatisfactory and proceeded without any reference to it to forward Mr. Lange the communication referred to above as inclosure No. 2.
Inclosure No. 4 is a copy of Mr. Lange’s second communication to the Liberian Government dated November 28, 1912, with respect to the exercise by him of the dual functions of Receiver and Consular Officer. In this communication Mr. Lange states that he has not received any orders from his Government with respect to relinquishing his consular position and interprets the Liberian Government’s despatch (inclosure No. 2) to mean that he will not be recognized any longer as Acting Imperial German Consul. It is interesting to note that in inclosure No. 3 Mr. Lange has signed himself as Receiver of Customs, Republic of Liberia, and in inclosure No. 4 he has signed himself as Acting Imperial German Consul.
[Page 696]With this evidence in hand it can not be doubted that Mr. Lange intended to retain his functions as Consular Officer while performing his duties as German Receiver of Customs. This, of course, the Liberian Government regarded as a complete violation of the understanding and proceeded to take the action referred to above (inclosure No. 2) as that measure of self-defense which the situation seemed to require.
I am [etc.]
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