File No. 882.00/572
The British Embassy to the Department of State
The British Embassy have the honour to acknowledge the memorandum from the Department of State, dated the 23d instant, on the subject of the political situation in Liberia, and the possibility of a movement in that country with the object of replacing President Howard.
His Majesty’s Government fully concur in the view that, should any such development occur, the selection of Mr. Howard’s successor should be left to the choice of the Liberian people. The reports received at this Embassy, of which a brief summary was communicated to the State Department in the Embassy’s memorandum No. 482 of November 8, appeared to indicate that there was, at the time at which they were written, a party among the Liberians in favour of the return of Mr. Barclay to the Presidency, and it was to this movement that reference was made in the last sentence of that memorandum.
Washington , November 27, 1917.