Liberia 



«•-' 



faced with a serious difficulty. Since Louis Philippe had 

 become King of the French, vigorous measures had been 

 taken on the West Coast of Africa by the French Navy 

 against the slave trade, partly from a spirit of genuine 

 philanthropy, and partly because, owing to naval jealousy of 

 England, it was not desired to leave to Great Britain alone 

 the task of policing these waters. Witnessing the success 



56. GOVERNOR JOSEPH J. ROBERTS (AFTER- 

 WARDS president). FROM AN OIL 

 PAINTING EXECUTED ABOUT 1849 



from a commercial point of view which had attended the 

 establishment of Sierra Leone and other British colonies and 

 depots on the West Coast of Africa (especially since the 

 development of the palm-oil industry), it not unnaturally 

 occurred to the French Government that in this work of 

 suppressing the slave trade it was necessary to have points 

 d'appui on the coasts for their own cruisers, French footholds 

 pn the West African Httoral eastwards of Senegal. Up till 



186 



