Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 5, 1892

Mr. Lincoln to Mr. Foster.

Legation of the United States,
London, August 5, 1892. (Received August 15, 1892.)

No. 735.]

Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Instruction No. 806, of the 12th ultimo, in reference to the protectorate announced by France over a region including certain territory hitherto recognized, as belonging to Liberia and inclosing a copy of an instruction, dated June 4, ultimo, upon the subject, sent to Mr. Coolidge.

I took immediate steps to have an interview with Dr. Blyden, the Liberian minister here; and on the 28th ultimo I had a long and interesting conversation with him.

The result of it in substance is that after I had confidentially acquainted him with the purport of the above-mentioned instruction to Mr. Coolidge he expressed his great gratification upon the friendly action of the United States on behalf his country, and proceeded to give me an account of the present status of the matters mentioned in your instruction. As to the French threatened encroachment upon the territory between the River San Pedro and the river Cavally, he said that the president of Liberia was vigorously maintaining the Liberian actual occupation and that he (Dr. Blyden) greatly hoped that this fact, in connection with the representations of the United States to the French Government, would avert any actual aggression in that particular quarter.

As to the “Hinterland,” the situation is peculiar. Dr. Blyden told me that it is under the sway of a powerful native ruler, a Mohammedan called the Almamy Samadu (called Samory by the French), with whom the Liberians are on friendly terms, and with whom they have old treaties, giving them an outlet for settlement. The French, however, claim a protectorate over Samadu’s territory by virtue of treaties of 1887 and 1889, which he disputes on the ground that their provisions were misinterpreted to him as giving to the French only certain rights of trade; and the dispute has resulted in an actual war now being carried on.

Dr. Blyden expressed himself as believing that there was no good ground for apprehending any British encroachment upon Liberia, or its “Hinterland,” but he called my attention to the British acquiescence in the French claim upon the territory of Samadu. This is seen in the Parliamentary paper, “Africa, No. 7 (1892),” issued in June last, of which I inclose two copies herewith.

I have endeavored, without success, to obtain a map which would elucidate all the points of this paper; the best that I can find is called “The British Possessions in West Africa,” by Edward Stanford, published in 1890, a copy of which is also inclosed.

It will be seen in the above-mentioned paper, that in December, 1891, and in January, 1892, Lord Salisbury directed Mr. Edgerton, then in charge of the British embassy at Paris, to explain to M. Ribot that the acknowledgment of the notification of the treaties on the Ivory Coast and of the French protectorate resulting therefrom, which covered the Liberian territory between the Rivers San Pedro and Cavally, was not to be taken as prejudicing the claim, of Liberia to the territory between those rivers.

I was not able, after my interview with Dr. Blyden, to secure an interview with Lord Salisbury until yesterday, when I acquainted him orally with the purport of the instructions to Mr. Coolidge, and asked him whether Her Majesty’s Government had made any representation to the French Government on the subject beyond what was shown in the above-mentioned paper, and to which I have referred. He replied that nothing further had been done. I did not, in view of the expected immediate change of the Government, enter upon the subject of any possible future action of Her Majesty’s Government in that direction. I did, however, mention the subject of a possible extension of British interests in the country behind Liberia, and he gave me to understand that Her Majesty’s Government had no intention of going beyond the limits indicated in the parliamentary paper already referred to. As I have already said, this seems to recognize distinctly as under a French protectorate all the “Hinterland” of Liberia.

Since my interview with Dr. Blyden, I have received from him a communication, dated the 30th ultimo, of which a copy is inclosed herewith. As he did so personally, I venture to call special attention to his suggestion as to the resumption of visits of our naval vessels to Liberia.

I have, etc.,

Robert T. Lincoln.

[Inclosure in No. 735.]

Mr. Blyden to Mr. Lincoln.

Legation of Liberia,
London, July 30, 1892.

My Dear Colleague: I sent you yesterday a correct map of Liberia, officially authorized.

The portion of West Africa occupied by the Republic is considered the most important, so far as productiveness and commercial possibilities are concerned, of all West African countries, and is rapidly improving by the industry and energy of the colonists, both in agriculture and commerce. Two or three steamers a week, from Liverpool, Hamburg, and Havre visit the Liberian coast for purposes of trade, besides sailing vessels from the United States, Holland, and Norway. They bring European and American merchandise, and carry away coffee, sugar, palm oil, palm kernels, rubber, ivory, hides, various gums, piassava, and a little gold.

The scramble by European powers for African territory threatens to curtail our already limited domain, especially in our “Hinterland,” and prevent the expansion of the Republic eastward, the direction which the immigrations into Liberia from the United States are taking.

If the French succeed in conquering Almamy Samadu, or Samory, and taking his country, they will claim territories over which Samadu has nominal jurisdiction, but which were connected by treaty to Liberia several years ago. This would be a very serious matter, considering the constant immigrations, though now on a small scale, of American negroes into Liberia, seeking room in the land of their fathers, and the prospects of much larger immigration in the not distant future.

It was with considerable satisfaction, therefore, that I read the extracts from the dispatches from your Government which you confidentially submitted to me, showing the stand they had taken as Liberia’s next friend.

I think that, in view of the qualified acceptance by the United States Government of the action of the Brussels conference, it might be in the range of its privileges to suggest to the powers such an arrangement as shall allow Liberia, considering its origin and character, the right of expanding interiorward, as far and as fast as accessions of civilized negroes from the Western Hemisphere will permit, and enable the Republic to exercise effective control, in the interest of commerce and civilization and of regular government, over tribes of the same race on that portion of the continent. I do not think that any European power could, in fairness or justice, object to such an understanding, especially if the extension is to be within the spheres of their influence not effectively occupied.

I hope that you will be able to induce your Government to afford Liberia the advantage of the presence on her coast of a United States vessel of war for a fortnight at least twice a year—say in the months of March and October—not to take part in enforcing any of the laws of Liberia, but simply in a complimentary and friendly manner. Some years ago this custom was observed by the United States Government, and was a great help in establishing the prestige of the Liberian Government among the native tribes, and in the eyes of foreign traders, whose constant effort in those days it was, through their opposition to the revenue laws, to undermine the authority of the Government among the aborigines.

The new President of Liberia, Hon. J. J. Cheeseman, is making every effort to liberalize the commercial policy of Liberia and to bring the aborigines more and more within the operation of that policy; and the visible interest of the United States Government in the progress of Liberia would do a great deal to strengthen his hands and to deter a few foreign traders in remote districts, who are still disposed to infringe the revenue laws of the Republic. I hope it may be possible for an American man-of-war to visit Monrovia and other ports of Liberia in the month, of October next.

Believe me, etc.,

Edward W. Blyden.