Liberia <«- 



Sir Arthur Havelock that he would intercede with the British 

 Government for the line of the Mano River instead), but that 

 Britain should repay to Liberia all the sums which could be 

 shown to have been spent by her since 1849 in acquiring 

 territories west of the Mano. 



The treaty was signed, and Havelock returned to Sierra 

 Leone with the British gunboats ; but these terms aroused 

 most violent opposition, and the Senate rejected the treaty 

 soon afterwards. The Liberians declared themselves willing to 

 submit the matter of the disputed territories to arbitration. 

 Floods of eloquence were poured forth in the Liberian press, 

 some of it very true and very touching, but all futile in face 

 of this incontestable fact, that paper rights cannot always remain 

 paper rights in Africa, and that claims to political control must 

 be supported by evidence of the control being sufficient to 

 maintain law and order and the recognition of sovereign rights, 

 at any rate after a reasonable lapse of time. The hardness of 

 Liberia's position arose from this, that if it had been a mere case 

 of keeping in order turbulent blacks, she might have been able 

 to show that she possessed sufficient resources for that purpose. 

 But the dispute about the Mano, Sulima, and Gallinhas 

 territories really arose from Liberia not daring to use her 

 force to restrain within limits of law and order the arrogant 

 English traders who had established themselves on the confines 

 of her territory and who had refused to obey her regulations. 



On September 7th, 1882, Sir Arthur Havelock returned 

 with the gunboats and demanded a ratification of the treaty. 

 The Liberian Executive opposed to him two arguments. If 

 the contested territory was British, why did the British 

 Government claim from Liberia an indemnity for acts of 

 violence amongst the natives which had taken place thereon ? 

 If, however, Liberia acknowledged her responsibility, as sh? 



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