882.51/1185

The Chargé in Liberia (Bundy) to the Secretary of State

No. 103

Sir: I have the honor to report that the Department’s cable reply No. 38, dated July 30 [August 2], 6 p.m., to Legation’s cable No. 48 dated July 23, 2 p.m., was not delivered to me until the evening of Aug. 12. The message was so mutilated that it was the afternoon of Aug. 14th before a sufficiently accurate text could be deciphered to permit the Legation to address a note to the Liberian Government expressing the views of the Department as to the proposed amendment of the Loan Plan.

[Page 89]

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.

I have [etc.]

Richard C. Bundy
[Enclosure]

The Liberian Secretary of State (Barclay) to the American Chargé (Bundy)

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.]

Edwin Barclay
  1. Not found in Department files.
  2. Enclosure hereto.
  3. Not printed.
  4. Not printed.