882.01 Foreign Control/627
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
With regard to the situation in Liberia, the United States Government will already be aware that the Liberian Committee of the League of Nations have, with the exception of the Liberian representative, adopted a complete plan of assistance to Liberia, to which the Finance Corporation of America have provisionally agreed: that the Liberian representative on the Committee has made a number of reservations to the proposed plan but has finally agreed to submit it to his Government: that the President of Liberia has been requested to summon a special session of the legislature to consider the plan; and that Dr. Mackenzie, who carried out on behalf of the League of Nations the pacification of the Kru Coast in 1932, will leave with General Winship in the early part of August to urge the acceptance of the plan upon the Liberian Government.
[Page 924]His Majesty’s Government are impressed by the fact that the solution of the Liberian problem appears to be dependent upon the measure of success achieved by the mission of General Winship and Dr. Mackenzie. With a view to facilitating their task His Majesty’s Government are therefore considering the possibility of letting the Liberian Government know that, in the opinion of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, it is essential that they should reach an agreement, and that, provided they do so, the present Liberian administration will be recognised by His Majesty’s Government. Recognition would, however, also be subject to the grant of a political amnesty by the Liberian Government, and in this connection there is some ground for belief that the Liberian Government are once more imprisoning and maltreating their political opponents on the ground that they have preached sedition.
Before giving any such assurance to the Liberian Government, however, His Majesty’s Government desire to learn whether the United States Government perceive any objection to the course proposed, and, further, whether they are prepared to take similar action at Monrovia.