882.00/861: Telegram
The Chargé in Liberia (Reber) to the Secretary of State
[Received 5:25 p.m.]
160. [Paraphrase.] This morning there called at the Legation a delegation of the Kru peoples, headed by paramount chiefs, from the coast to confirm the recent reports that frontier force soldiers had pillaged and destroyed their villages and to express their hope of aid from the United States Government against the oppression of the Liberians whose Government not only has failed to protect them but, under the guise of other charges, is punishing them because of the information they gave to the International Commission.
I was at the same time presented with a petition signed by more than 1300 [900?] paramount chiefs, chiefs and headmen of the Kru and other native tribes, who requested it be rushed to the United States Government “with the prayer that our appeal for aid in succor in this hour of great need will be heard and acted upon”.43 Reference is made in the petition to promises of protection which the natives received from the early colonization societies and which were repeated at its foundation by the Liberian Government, and the petition alleges these pledges never were kept and the Liberian Government is charged with cruelty, oppression, and the denial of the rights of the natives in Liberia. It concludes with the appeal: [End paraphrase.]
“Therefore we prayerfully petition the Government and people of the United States of America to use its good offices and influence [Page 373] towards the institution immediately of the reforms in Liberia recommended by the International Commission of Inquiry and thus bring relief to a million or more African native people who have suffered oppression and injustice for many years.”
The chiefs desire the names of the signers be always kept in strictest confidence as otherwise they feared retaliation on the part of the Liberian Government. The original of the petition follows by mail.44