African Histories and Modernities

Transcription

1 African Histories and Modernities Series Editors Toyin Falola University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX, USA Matthew M. Heaton Virginia Tech Blacksburg, USA

2 This book series serves as a scholarly forum on African contributions to and negotiations of diverse modernities over time and space, with a particular emphasis on historical developments. Specifically, it aims to refute the hegemonic conception of a singular modernity, Western in origin, spreading out to encompass the globe over the last several decades. Indeed, rather than reinforcing conceptual boundaries or parameters, the series instead looks to receive and respond to changing perspectives on an important but inherently nebulous idea, deliberately creating a space in which multiple modernities can interact, overlap, and conflict. While privileging works that emphasize historical change over time, the series will also feature scholarship that blurs the lines between the historical and the contemporary, recognizing the ways in which our changing understandings of modernity in the present have the capacity to affect the way we think about African and global histories. Editorial Board: Aderonke Adesanya, Art History, James Madison University Kwabena Akurang- Parry, History, Shippensburg University Samuel O. Oloruntoba, History, University of North Carolina, Wilmington Tyler Fleming, History, University of Louisville Barbara Harlow, English and Comparative Literature, University of Texas at Austin Emmanuel Mbah, History, College of Staten Island Akin Ogundiran, Africana Studies, University of North Carolina, Charlotte More information about this series at

3 Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhuri Whitehall and the Black Republic A Study of Colonial Britain s Attitude Towards Liberia,

4 Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhuri Kolkata, India African Histories and Modernities ISBN ISBN (ebook) Library of Congress Control Number: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

5 Dedicated to my students whom I had the privilege of having in my classrooms at Cuttington University and the University of Liberia for about a decade and a half

6 Foreword In the general literature on Liberia, one finds a significant corpus of material purporting to narrate the experience of the Liberian state and its people. Few have been the professional historians who have published in book form a product of meticulous research on the country s past. Rarer still are foreign scholars who have spent more than a decade teaching history, including Liberian history, at universities in Liberia. Using his many years of research on Anglo-Liberian relations at the Centre of West African Studies. University of Birmingham (UK), historian Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhuri builds upon David Foley s unpublished doctoral thesis, British Policy Toward Liberia, as he carries forward the story of not only the Liberian state s relations with colonial Britain from 1914 through 1939 but also how that relationship was impacted or shaped by what Professor Warren d Azevedo called tribal reaction to nationalism (d Azevedo, A Tribal Reaction to Nationalism, Liberian Studies Journal, Parts 1 3, ). In so doing, Pal Chaudhuri not only uncovers the specifics of the circumstances of the Liberian state largely during the World War I period but also uncovers the state s difficult relations with both its diverse peoples and its European colonial neighbours during this critical period. The British attitude toward Liberia is presented variously in the context of Anglo-German rivalry over trade with Liberia; Liberia s stance of neutrality and subsequent declaration of war against Germany; British machinations during the Liberia-Firestone negotiations that led to Firestone s vii

7 viii FOREWORD installation in Liberia beginning in 1926; the scandalous Fernando Po export labour crisis with overtones of native resistance to government policy; the Kru Coast unrest and its differential denouement; and the intense involvement of the League of Nations and the international community in Liberian affairs in the wake of the crisis. These are only some of the key issues that benefit from Pal Chaudhuri s meticulous research and professional historical assessment. Pal Chaudhuri employs a case study approach to the relationship between Liberia and Britain, and in doing so, he narrates a history of Liberia that is at once diplomatic, political, economic and social. As such, not only is one provided with details, but those details are analysed in a manner that explains the evolution of the Liberian state during the critical period covered. This is a critical period because a black colonial enclave state was seeking to establish its writ over a greater Liberia and such expansion elicited both internal (indigenous peoples ) and external (European colonial neighbours ) resistance. Pal Chaudhuri has crafted a serious account of a turbulent period in the history of Liberia when internal impulses/demands for incorporation were enmeshed in the politics and diplomacy of colonial imperialism. Though not undertaking this in any systematic manner, the study brings to the fore a critical mass of modern-educated indigenous Liberians who are conscious of their marginalization and prepared to assert their rights within the ambit of the fledgling Liberian state. The names of men like Didhwo Twe ( ), Francis W.M. Morais ( ), Nete Sie Brownell ( ), and Plenyono Gbe Wolo ( ) are among those given contexts as they played pioneering roles in the evolution and renewal of the Liberian state. Given the recent past of a country recovering from conflict, suddenly plunged in 2014 into the Ebola epidemic, and recovering from that calamity as well, Dr. Pal Chaudhuri deserves commendation not only for this singular contribution to a greater appreciation of the Liberian experience during the period covered but also for a contribution to the history of Liberia as a whole. Moreover, Professor Pal Chaudhuri s commitment to scientific and objective analysis of Liberia s past has inspired many of his students to pursue a higher education in history. This sets him apart from those whose scholarly encounter with Liberia seemed limited largely to

8 FOREWORD ix consulting archives in the West. I trust that readers will find the narrative and analysis informative and educational, edifying and rewarding, as did his students and colleagues at Cuttington University ( ) and the University of Liberia ( ). The Alfred Walter Negley Professor of Political Science Emeritus The University of the South, Sewanee, TN, USA June 2016 D. Elwood Dunn

9 Guéckédou 10 Koindu Mendekoma a ff ni Ma ia n da Suacoco BONG Gbarnga ge Ra n ) Ti m b o o Ra Pu SINOE Du Yibuke Jakakehn (Kaobli) Tiehnpo gbe Greenville Sinoe Bay Nana Kru Map No Rev. 9 UNITED NATIONS September 2014 RIVER GEE Fish Town Tawake Tutuke GRAND KRU Sasstown 10 D u b e ( Du o tu Shabli ng e to s Kopo The boundaries and names shown and the designations used on this map do not imply official endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations. 11 Galio Duabo Se hnkw eh Juazohn Bame 6 Taï Drubo (Dubwe) Pennoken Gbokohn 80 km 50 mi Zwedru (Tchien) ) Towai Town GRAND GEDEH ss Ce MA Barclayville LA ND Plibo Cape Palmas 8 5 Kodeke Nyaake RY Grand Cess 9 a CÔTE D'IVOIRE Kola be 30 v a ll a C avalla 20 Cr ee k Ca Gboleken G we n 0 40 Guiglo S as s Yepa Town ( Ces ATLANTIC OCEAN Duékoué lla Chayee RIVER CESS Cestos City International boundary County boundary National capital County capital Town, village Road Railroad Airport Binhouyé Toulepleu Toe Town Zleh Town Garpu Timbo 20 Gboyi Bolowhea Trade Town o Nu Tapita n Hartford Buchanan Zuolay Kangbo Edina Butlo NIMBA Gr Marshall 7 Bangolo Saclepea Zekepa Joh GRAND BASSA Monts des Dang Kpaai bo Harbel Danané ra nd St. Careysburg MONTSERRADO Zorgowee Ganta Flumpa Botota Kakata Man Sanniquellie Diéké Gbatala MARGIBI Biankouma ess a ul Glanlé an d C.P 8 Mt. Nuon-Fa Belefanai Salala BOMI Bensonville 0 Yekepa n N St Tubmanburg Bong Town Monrovia 5 Mt. Gletohn Salayea Foequelleh Bopolu Mecca Klay 6 Nzérékoré Zorzor a Vi Kpo Mountains Gbarma Sinje Lola Du Tahn LIBERIA ng Ra Ca va i zi eg on Fassama Gumgbeta Touba GUINEA n Robertsport an ge ro or M oa M M GRAND Bo Water Side Lake Piso f fa 7 Zigida Zuie ya Bombor Junction TieneMOUNT Sulima Lo wa GBARPOLU Belle Yella CAPE 7 iz og W be G Gorahun an o ol W ir go wi Daru SIERRA LEONE Zimmi Kolahun Mt. Wuteve LOFA Vahun 8 Santa e Kenema Foya Buedu La Ma 9 Macenta Voinjama on a Kailahun Pendembu Bo Lo 8 k Ma Nim ba 11 Sin 12 LIBERIA Nemeke Harper Tabou 7 Department of Field Support Cartographic Section Source: Courtesy of the United Nations xi

10 Preface The West African state of Liberia has always been a special case, with a history and development somewhat atypical of the African continent as a whole. It owes its creation to the joint efforts of the American Colonization Society and the government of the USA, which together established a settlement on Cape Mesurado in 1821 to provide a home for the free men of colour of the USA. The settlement was christened Liberia and the major town Monrovia after the US President James Monroe. The anomalous nature of the newly created political entity which, on occasions, behaved like a sovereign state created complications with the neighbours: the British colony of Sierra Leone to the west and the French colonies of Guinea and Ivory Coast to the north and east respectively. The declaration of independence and the formal creation of an independent republic out of the settlement in 1847 solved the problem. The world witnessed the birth of the first African republic. All this, however, did not happen in a vacuum. The land which the new state claimed as its territory was peopled by various ethnic groups who were a lot more in number than the handful of Americo-Liberians living on the coast. They spoke their own dialects, practised traditional African religion or Islam and did not have anything in common with the newcomers, who spoke English, practised Christianity and lived a Western lifestyle. When the local people realized the full implications of political control of the government at Monrovia over them, they were resentful. Misunderstandings verging on occasional conflict became inevitable. When Europe partitioned Africa, Liberia escaped any onslaught over her territory or sovereignty. Whenever the Cinderella republic faced a xiii

11 xiv PREFACE threat, it would approach its godfather, America, for help. Through visits of warships or through use of more urbane gestures, the USA posted a Keep Off sign on Liberian soil. Beyond this, the USA did not bother to extend her helping hand towards Liberia. When the country was sinking into an economic morass, the administration at Monrovia usually went to Britain for a loan or approached the German traders for rescue. The idea that expatriation is the best way of getting rid of free slaves considered to be troublemakers originated in England. Slaves emancipated by Lord Mansfield s verdict of 1772 were collected by the British abolitionists and sent to West Africa where a settlement was established in Freetown in The American Colonization Society and the US government emulated the British in establishing Liberia. England was the first country to grant recognition and sign a treaty of friendship with the Republic of Liberia. England felt that she had a moral obligation to support an endeavour which aimed at providing a life of liberty and freedom to a group of former slaves. Profession of sympathy for the victims of slavery, however, went hand in hand with the responsibilities that devolved upon Britain as the world s most significant colonial power. British colonial governments were not that inspired by the views of Wilberforce or Granville Sharp. Protection of British trade and investment in the global context always took precedence over other considerations. That is why Freetown, a home for the liberated slaves, soon became the Crown Colony of Sierra Leone. In Liberia too, when the American rubber baron Mr. Harvey S. Firestone obtained a lease of one million acres of land to plant rubber with the specific objective of freeing the American automobile industry from the stifling control of the British over production of crude rubber all over the world, Britain left no stone unturned to scuttle it. Similarly, for no reason at all, a small group of the British political left attempted to place Liberia as a mandated territory at the peace conference of Paris, completely ignoring the fact that only colonies of defeated countries of WWI were supposed to be placed under the mandate system and that Liberia was a loyal member of the Allied powers and paid a heavy price for declaring war against Germany, which shelled Monrovia from a submarine. Unfortunately, however, the voice of the small group grew louder and virtually became the official policy of the British Foreign Ministry when the League of Nations discussed a proposal of assistance for Liberia. On 18 May 1934, Anthony Eden, the Lord Privy Seal, at the 79th session of the Council of the League, asked the members to consider the expulsion

12 PREFACE xv of Liberia from the League. It would be a dereliction of duty to civilization, Anthony Eden continued in his rather impassionate speech, if the misgovernment of the native tribes by Liberia were to be allowed to continue, resulting, as it would infallibly result, in the encouragements of such evils as slave trading and the slaughter and maltreatment of the two million natives by the corrupt and inefficient oligarchy of Monrovia. The suggestion sounded like a resurrection of the blatantly racist views of people like Richard Burton who believed that Africans were incapable of taking care of themselves. Britain, which controlled the destiny of millions of Africans scattered over 2 million square miles of land in Africa, had difficulty in tolerating the existence of a republic run by blacks in Africa. A conventional study of the foreign policy of a state towards another is little different from a study of the attitude of a country towards another. The latter endeavour adds a new dimension to the investigation and widens the area of the hunting ground of information. All efforts have been made to fulfil this obligation. Public opinion in Imperial Britain was always a mixed bag. A larger section preferred to bask under the glory of the empire while a handful spoke, though in a rather muted way, of the injustice and iniquity involved in the system. Information available at the archives maintained by governments acquaints one with the decisions taken by a government of the day on a specific issue. However, a discerning historian, by carefully analysing the minutes written and comments made at all levels by officials of the Foreign Department, can have an insight into the various angles through which the issue was looked at. I have tried to make extensive use of these varying perceptions. British newspapers and magazines have a tradition of being vocal on global issues. Therefore, I have made a thorough search for information on Liberia appearing in contemporary English dailies and weeklies, especially specialized ones like West Africa and other ephemeral publications. Black intellectuals of Africa, the Caribbean Islands and the USA had always been very concerned about the welfare of Liberia and extremely sensitive about observations made about Liberia. Therefore, the views expressed in the articles written by them or others, in the pages of magazines like The Crisis, Negro World, and the Journal of Negro History, have been given due consideration. The conclusions arrived at, however, have always stemmed from my analysis, my views based on my lifelong research in the history of the country where I taught the subject for about a decade

13 xvi PREFACE and a half at both of the universities that existed at that time. Teaching in Liberia gave me immense pleasure because whom and what I taught both were very dear to me. I hope the book will confer some benefit on those whom I did not have a chance to teach as I was forced to leave Liberia in the wake of the onslaught on the University of Liberia by the military dictator Master Sergeant Samuel Kanyon Doe in August Kolkata, India Jyotirmoy Pal Chaudhuri

14 Acknowledgements The book is the product of many years of research which initially began at the Centre of West African Studies (CWAS), University of Birmingham, UK. Professor J. D. Fage, professor of African History and director of the CWAS at that time, was my mentor and I am greatly indebted to him for his guidance. I have profited immensely from his valuable suggestions. Some years later, I went back to the CWAS as John Cadbury Fellow and had the privilege of benefitting from the excellent facilities it offers to an Africanist. The scholarship and personal charm of Professor Fage attracted many outstanding Africanists to join the faculty of the CWAS, who, along with the research students, always attended the weekly seminars organized at the centre where scholars belonging to various disciplines working on Africa in universities of different countries of the world came as speakers. Participation in these seminars for years was a rare and rewarding academic experience for me. Papers presented and observations made at these seminars by CWAS faculty as well as visiting scholars contributed a lot to my understanding of Africa. At different stages of my association with the CWAS, I have had the privilege of listening to or personally interacting with many members of faculty. I would like to make special mention of some of these great Africanists: Douglas Rimmer, A. J. Hopkins, Elizabeth A. Tonkin, Peter Mitchell, Robin Cohen, Arnold Hughes, P.F. de Farias, Robin Law and Tom McCaskie. The staff of the PRO, London; the British Museum; the CWAS; the Main Library of the University of Birmingham; the State Department Archives, Monrovia; the W.V.S. Tubman Library of Cuttington and the xvii

15 xviii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Central Library of the University of Liberia have earned my gratitude for their assistance and cooperation. I could have never completed my work without the enduring support and unqualified cooperation of my wife, Maya, and our son, Pramit, who were the worst victims of this academic venture. It took away from them the time that was legitimately theirs. I am indebted to Dr. D. Elwood Dunn, a remarkable scholar and a highly successful minister of the government of the Republic of Liberia and, until recently, Alfred Walter Negley Professor of Political Science at the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, USA, for kindly consenting to write the foreword to my book. Lastly, Cheryl Haque, my secretary at the Institute for Civil Service Aspirants, Calcutta has earned my gratitude by typing the manuscript and efficiently handling all my computer-related problems.

16 Contents 1 An Outline of the Past 1 2 The British Foreign Office and Liberian Neutrality During World War I 33 3 The Sequel to the Declaration of War 73 4 British Reaction to the Firestone Investment in Liberia The Fernando Po Labour Crisis of The League of Nations Plan of Assistance The British and the Unrest on the Kru Coast An Improving Image Abroad Bibliography 253 Index 261 xix

17 A Note on Nomenclature 1. The book deals with British policy towards Liberia. For obvious reasons, I had to refer to the British Isles many times. Professor A. J. P. Taylor, in the preface of his book English History (Pelican 1970), writes, When the Oxford History of England was launched a generation ago, England was still an all-embracing word. It meant indiscriminately England and Wales; Great Britain; the United Kingdom; and even British Empire. Foreigners used it as the name of a Great Power and indeed continue to do so. I have used the words England, Britain, Great Britain, and United Kingdom interchangeably. 2. When I consulted the archival materials of the Foreign Office or the Colonial Office of the British Government, these were kept at the Public Record Office (PRO) at Chancery Lane in London or at its Annexe in nearby Portugal Street. Now the PRO has been merged and forms part of the National Archives (UK), which is located at Kew. I have referred to the PRO as the source of the archival materials obtained from London. 3. In the past, archival materials of the Liberian government were stored at the State Department Archives, Ashmun Street, Monrovia. These have now been shifted to the newly created Centre for National Documents and Records Agency at Sinkor, Monrovia. However, this book has mentioned the State Department Archives, Monrovia as the source of Liberian government documents. xxi

18 List of Tables Table 2.1 Vessels entering and clearing at all Liberian ports 58 Table 2.2 Revenue collected from customs duty in the Republic of Liberia (figures in US dollars) 58 xxiii