CHAPTER XII 



IND EPENDE N CE 



AFTER the communication from the American Colonisa- 

 tion Society in January, 1 846, Governor Roberts decided 

 that the only way of saving the special character of 

 the Liberian colony was to declare it to be an independent 

 Negro republic. He obtained the assent of the mother societv 

 to this proposition. It was then submitted to a council of 

 Liberians, and voted for by a large majority on October 7th, 

 1846. Nearly all the local opposition to this scheme came, 

 curiously enough, from the people in Grand Basa. 



The news of this decision was not received by the British 

 Government with any disfavour ; on the contrary, it seems to 

 have been intimated that, provided Liberia constituted itself a 

 definite State with definite responsibilities, it would receive full 

 recognition from the British Government. Through the spring 

 and early summer of 1847 the Liberians continued to discuss 

 the question of independence. On May i8th an ordinance for 

 administering justice in the State of Maryland was passed, and 

 preparation was made to declare Maryland an independent State 

 simultaneously with Liberia.^ July 8th, i 847, was declared a day 

 of public thanksgiving in Liberia, to mark the conclusion of 

 the efforts which had been made to draw up the terms of the 



^ No recognition was afforded by foreign Powers to the independent status of 

 Maryland. It seems to have been reahsed that its fusion with Liberia was an 

 inevitable and a desirable event. 



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