-^ Recent History 



between tribe and tribe and open a road to commerce with the 

 coast. President Barclay's conference of native chiefs (which 

 was succeeded by other meetings of Kru and Grebo chiefs from 



85. PRESIDENT G. W. GIBSON 



the eastward) markedly improved the trade relations of the 

 Americo-Liberian settlements with the western Mandingo and 

 Gora country and with the regions behind Cape Palmas. 



President Barclay's arguments against the French assump- 



301 



