At conference between the President and the Legislature it was definitely
decided that amendments were necessary before the Plan could be accepted
by Liberia. For this decision and the amendments the President is
entirely responsible. The methods he used to get control of the
Legislature have already been reported in Legation’s cable No. 58 [59] of Aug. 21st but will be made the subject of
another despatch. Copy of the Legation’s note of Aug. 14th communicating
to the Liberian Secretary of State the advice and solemn warning of the
Department is herewith transmitted as enclosure No. 1.18
The Legation is reliably informed that this note had not the slightest
effect on the course the President had apparently already determined to
take except perhaps to cause him to redouble his energy to have the
Legislature omit to act on the loan plan and pass two joint resolutions;
one, authorizing the President to continue negotiations with the United
States Government on the basis of amendments incorporated in the
resolution; and two, authorizing the President to appoint a commission
of three members to go to Washington to secure the acceptance of the
amendments by the United States Government and appropriating the sum of
twelve thousand dollars ($12,000.00) to defray expenses of said
commission.
After the Legislature adjourned on Aug. 17, the Liberian Government sent
in a note dated Aug. 21st its reply to the Legation’s note of Aug. 14th.
Copy of the Liberian Government’s note of Aug. 21st is herewith
transmitted as enclosure No. 2.19
The Legation refrains from comment on this note, although it might well
be regarded as most extraordinary, except as to the last paragraph
thereof in which a charge of the violation of official propriety is made
against it because of the alleged publication of official and
confidential despatches addressed to the Liberian Government by the
American Government through the Legation, before being officially
communicated to the Liberian State Department. This charge is wholly
untrue and a statement by the Legation relative thereto was made to the
Liberian Secretary of State on Aug. 25th, please see enclosure No.
3.20
On this matter the Legation desires to make this further explanation to
the Department of what actually happened. The Legation’s note of Aug. 14
(Saturday) was delivered in person to the Liberian Secretary of State
about noon of that day. At the same time I sent him a personal note
asking, in view of the importance of the official note, for a conference
with him during the course of the afternoon. No reply came to either of
these notes and at 5:30 p.m., I sent the General Receiver a copy of the
official note, for his information,
[Page 90]
which had been delivered to the Secretary of State
at noon. About 6 p.m., Mr. Worley and I conferred. It seemed likely in
view of all that had transpired that President King would suppress the
Legation’s Note until after the adjournment of the Legislature, then
expected on Monday Aug. 16. So I gave my sanction to the proposal for
Mr. Worley to call the vice president and one or two more members of the
Legislature and acquaint them with the substance of the note. This was
done and under the circumstances we believe it was entirely justifiable.
Now whatever may happen as a result of having disregarded the
Department’s advice and solemn warning the Liberian Legislature and
people cannot plead ignorance as an excuse.
[Enclosure]
The Liberian Secretary of State (Barclay) to the American Chargé (Bundy)
Monrovia, August 21,
1920.
402/D
Sir: I beg herewith to confirm my
acknowledgment of the Legation’s Note dated August 14, 1920, which
advises the Liberian Government that in consequence of reports which
had reached the Department of State at Washington that the idea
appeared to be gaining currency in Liberia that particular persons
have assumed the initiative in steps taken or to be taken by the
Government of the United States for the rehabilitation of the
Republic and that the opinion seems to be entertained that certain
amendments and alterations of the Financial Plan as submitted to the
President of Liberia on June 15th, 1920, appear necessary to
harmonize its provisions with views held by many of the responsible
officials of the Liberian Government, you were instructed to advise
the Government of Liberia that the proposed changes in the Loan Plan
as originally submitted to the Liberian Government would if accepted
render impossible any realisation of the result desired, and to say
by way of solemn warning to the Liberian people that if the friendly
advice of your Government is rejected and the Loan Plan altered it
may be necessary for the American Government to remove its
objections to the establishment of a mandate over Liberia which it
consistently continues to oppose.
The contents of the Legation’s Note have been most carefully
considered by the Liberian Government, and in reply thereto, I beg
to make the following observations:
The Government of Liberia at the moment when they were giving their
most serious and careful attention to the Proposed Plan for
[Page 91]
the financial rehabilitation
of the Republic submitted to them by the American State Department,
have been greatly perplexed by the Legation’s despatch above
referred to, contents of which would appear to vary so widely from
the terms of previous despatches dated November 6, 1918, April 28,
1920, and July 17, 1920 transmitted by the Legation to this
Department. In these despatches it is both expressly stated and
clearly implied that the Loan Plan, upon its completion, would be
forwarded to the Government of Liberia for its consideration, and
that the Legation was prepared to forward to Washington such
enquiries and observations thereon as the Government of Liberia
might desire to make. The Liberian Government feel themselves
justified in the assumption, based upon the tenor of the Legation’s
despatches just referred to, that the Plan as originally submitted
was not to be taken as expressing the irrevocable views of
Washington. The opinion was, it is felt, rightly held that the
American State Department was still open to the consideration of
such observations as the Liberian Government might make, and that
the Plan as submitted furnished the basis for an exchange of views.
The Liberian Government were all the more convinced of the
correctness of this opinion, because the Loan Plan as originally
submitted differed in essential respects from the terms of the
Memorandum of the Liberian Government dated September 24, 1918,21 and prepared in
conjunction and with the approval of Mr. McBride the then Financial
Adviser and General Receiver, in which had been set out, in
compliance with requests from Washington, the precise objects and
purposes to which it was desired to apply sums advanced from the
proposed credit; and also because this Plan as submitted adversely
affects in some of its terms the sovereign status of the Republic of
Liberia, concerning the maintenance of which Washington has from
time to time consistently declared its solicitude.
If, as seems to be suggested in the Legation’s Note now under reply,
the Plan submitted to the President of Liberia on June 15, 1920, had
been intended for the peremptory acceptance of the Liberian
Government and not for its deliberate consideration, it is felt that
the Liberian Government might have been made acquainted with this
view in that spirit of friendly candor which has of late years been
so marked a characteristic of the relations between the two
Governments. It is worthy of note, however, that the American
Minister when handing this Plan to the President of Liberia
distinctly stated in his address on that occasion that he had been
instructed to submit that document to the consideration of the
Liberian Government. This phrase was understood to mean that the
Minister
[Page 92]
has been instructed
to submit the Proposed Financial Plan to the deliberate and careful
scrutiny of the Liberian Government with a view to receiving this
Government’s expression of opinion as to its acceptability or
non-acceptability. It was in this sense that the document was
received by the President of Liberia.
The Legation cannot ignore the fact that the Plan is, in form not a
proposal of the United States Government made to the Government of
Liberia. Rather, it is a document in which the Government of the
Republic would appear as voluntarily surrendering certain important
functions into the hands of an irresponsible Receivership, and
investing this Receivership with a veto upon the exercise of certain
sovereign and constitutional powers by this Government and its
constitutional officers. These functions and powers the Government
of Liberia have never expressed themselves as being prepared to
surrender. In fact, throughout the whole course of the protracted
negotiations which have preceded the establishment of the credit, it
has never been intimated to the Liberian Government that a surrender
of such powers was a condition precedent to the release of advances.
It has always been the understanding of the Liberian Government that
officials loaned to this Republic by the Government of the United
States were to function through the constitutional officers of the
Liberian Government and not to supersede these officers. It is
inconceivable that the Liberian Government could reasonably be
expected to accept without examination or scrutiny, without enquiry
or the expression of an opinion, a Plan which departs in so great a
degree from customary loan proposals, and which differs from the
express desires of Liberia previously communicated to Washington and
which carries upon its face provisions that would, if accepted,
effect in an unauthorized manner fundamental changes in the
constitution of this Government. The Government of Liberia therefore
feel themselves bound to point out the several respects in which the
scheme as submitted is in their opinion impossible of complete
acceptance, and to suggest amendments, not with the object of
“harmonising the provisions of the plan with the views held by many
of the responsible officials of the Liberian Government”, as is
alleged in the Legation’s Note, but for the purpose of coordinating
this plan with the terms of the Liberian Constitution and with the
express desires of the Liberian people.
It is difficult, therefore, for the Liberian Government, in the
absence of any formal expression on the Plan made by them to the
Legation, to understand what causes have necessitated the Legation’s
Note of August 14, by which the door of intercourse between two
states, until now in most intimate relations, appears to be
incontinently
[Page 93]
closed and
which suggests the possibility of the withdrawal of the traditional
friendship of your great Government.
The Liberian Government have heretofore given and will continue to
give the most careful consideration to advice and solemn warnings of
the American Government; but it certainly cannot be denied that the
Liberian Government, being so vitally interested in the results
desired to be achieved in Liberia by the Government of the United
States, have the right to express their views with the same
frankness and with the same confidence that they will be heard, as
is employed by the Washington State Department in transmitting its
views to Monrovia. Else, what becomes of that status which the
American Government has so often expressed itself as desiring to
retain for the Republic?
It is with the gravest concern, therefore, that the Liberian
Government find themselves confronted with the alternatives stated
in the Legation’s Note, and they would be more than gratified if
advice were forthcoming that the interpretation which they have been
compelled to give the literal wording of that document is
mistaken.
The Liberian Government fully recognise the importance to the
Republic of the friendly and benevolent interest of the United
States Government. They are not prepared except for the most
imperative reasons to surrender that friendship. They must,
nevertheless, retain the privilege of placing their views before the
American Government whenever it seems desirable to them so to do,
and without the intervention of any intermediaries except such as
they may select. Although the Legation’s Note of August 14, seems to
deny to Liberia this sovereign privilege the Liberian Government
cannot believe that this denial is expressive of the final views of
Washington on the question of intercourse between our two
Governments.
In closing this despatch, Mr. Chargé d’Affaires, I have to express my
profound surprise at the fact that the contents of official and
confidential despatches addressed to the Liberian Government by the
American Government through the Legation should be made public in
Monrovia before they are officially communicated to this Department.
The latest instance of this breach of official propriety which has
been brought to the attention of the Department is the publication
of the contents of your Note of August 14, 1920, before the document
was received at this Department. The Department is most reluctant to
believe that this publication had been made of deliberate intent,
but is compelled formally, as it has already done informally, to
protest against these incidents.
With sentiments [etc.]
