File No. 882.00/541

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador

No. 1298

Excellency: Your excellency is familiar with the difficulties which have beset the Government of Liberia for some time past in resisting the insurrection of the native tribes along the Kru coast. In the latter part of the year 1915 the situation became so alarming that the Government of the Republic besought the assistance of this Government in urgently requesting that an American naval vessel be sent to Liberia, hoping that the presence of a man-of-war in proximity to the seat of trouble would have a repressing effect on the revolting Krus.

At this juncture of stress and need, the Government of the United States, in carrying out its national duty to the Liberian people, who, by the efforts of this Government, were established in Africa on the pathway to sovereign statehood, despatched the U. S. S. Chester to Monrovia and it is confidently believed that the presence for several months of this vessel off the Kru coast acted as a great moral aid to the Liberian Government in subduing the rebellious natives and bringing about law and order in the Republic.

With these facts in mind I now have the honor to inform your excellency that reports have reached the Department that certain arms and ammunition were landed at Bettu from the British steamer Prahsu on or about February 3, 1916, for the use of the native tribes then in rebellion against the Liberian Government. The first rumor of the shipment of munitions of war from Sierra Leone on board the Prahsu were discredited by the Department, but later, upon receipt of additional information supported by affidavits reiterating the allegations, the Department is constrained to give weight to the report and to bring the matter to your excellency’s attention.

His Brittanic Majesty’s Government has at all times lent its hearty assistance in maintaining the integrity of the Republic of Liberia and the Department feels confident that this report of the landing of arms and ammunition from the English steamship Prahsu for the use of the Kru tribes in their uprising against the Liberian Government will be thoroughly investigated and, if the facts are found to be as represented, prompt steps will be taken to prevent a repetition of any act on the part of a British subject tending to thwart the operations of the Liberian Government and the friendly interest manifested by our Government in its success.

I have [etc.]

Robert Lansing