882.20/474: Telegram
The Minister in Liberia (Walton) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 3—4:45 p.m.]
48. The Liberian Government concurs with observations made in Department’s 27, June 28, 5 p.m. Assurances have been given me that no agreement will be entered into for external military assistance unless both Great Britain and France are principals. Nor will Liberia give further consideration to present French proposal regarding the strengthening of Liberia’s internal defense.
I have been given to understand that a motivating reason for Liberia seeking a military alliance was to preclude the possibility of [Page 600] an excuse for a “friendly invasion” as a “precautionary measure”; and that this step would not have been taken had not Liberian Government misinterpreted Department’s telegrams of March 25th and April 18th.
I am inclined to suspect that Dakar, which experiences great difficulty in realizing that Liberia is a separate sovereign state, has had much to do with the initiation of the French proposal. Recently Dakar undertook to negotiate with Liberia a radio agreement. The Liberian Government, to avoid establishing an undesirable precedent, insisted on Quai d’Orsay’s participation.