The Secretary of State to Minister Lyon.

Sir: I inclose for your information and the files of the legation copy of a correspondence relative to the request made by the Liberian envoys in this country that the United States invite the Government of Great Britain to cooperate with it with a view to assuring the perpetuity of Liberia.

I am, etc.,

Elihu Root.
[Page 696]
[Inclosure 1.]

The Liberian Commission to the Secretary of State.

Sir: Referring to our interview with you to-day we have the honor to transmit herewith copies of documents from the files of the state department, Monrovia, under dates March 8 and 13 and 13th July, 1897, being copies of the promemorias from your Government and Great Britain and of the dispatch from your minister to Liberia relating thereto.

We beg leave to repeat our request that your Government would take the initiative toward inviting Great Britain to join with the United States in an arrangement that will give some definite shape to the deep interest she so generously expressed in the perpetuity of Liberia and which received the sincere approval of your Government.

We beg again to thank you for the very kind assurances expressed in this relation.

With our high consideration, we have, etc.,

  • G. W. Gibson.
  • James J. Dossen.
  • Chas. B. Dunbar.
[Subinclosure 1.]

Minister Heard to the Secretary of State of Liberia.

Mr. Secretary. It is my privilege to present these promemorias exchanged between the United States and Great Britain at Washington.

The one from the United States, which I have the honor to represent at this court, gives me profound pleasure to present to the home of my ancestors.

The one coming from Great Britain increases my admiration of Her Majesty’s Government as a favor of justice and equity.

By these promemorias you are assured that any unfriendly encroachment upon your territory in future will be regarded by these powers as an act against their earnest protest.

The United States desires Liberia to remain an independent and distinct nation, and to resist all encroachment toward absorption, guaranteeing her sympathy to this end, assuring her that the friendship which has so long existed between the United States and Liberia remains unshaken and grows more intimate daily.

In expressing these good feelings, I am authorized to convey personally the warm affections of the new President of the United States of America for Liberia and her future prosperity.

I ever remain, faithfully and sincerely,

William H. Heard,
Min. Res. Con. Gen.
[Subinclosure 2.]

The British Ambassador to the Secretary of State.

[Pro memoria.]

The undersigned is instructed by his Government with reference to repeated encroachments on the territory of the Liberian Republic to submit to the United States Government fche following suggestions:

It might prove of service to the Liberian Republic and encourage it to resist absorption by a foreign power were the Governments of Great Britain and of the United States to make a joint declaration of the special interest taken by them in the independence of that Republic.

Julian Pauncefote,
H. B. M. Ambassador.
[Page 697]
[Subinclosure 3.]

The Secretary of State to the British Ambassador.

[Pro memoria.]

Having reference to the confidential pro memoria submitted by his excellency the British ambassador, on the 8th of March last, and being desirous, in view of the circumstance of that Republic being an offshoot of the community of the United States, and to show toward it a kind spirit and all proper sympathy, the United States for its part declares the special interest taken by it in the independence of the Republic of Liberia and the concern it must feel should any prospect of its absorption by a foreign power develop in the future.

The Government of the United States is gratified to perceive from the British promemoria of March 8 last that Her Majesty’s Government entertains a similar special interest in the independence of the Liberian Republic.

John Sherman.
[Inclosure 2.]

The Secretary of State to the Liberian Commission.

Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of the 11th instant, in which you inclose copies of the pro memoriæ exchanged between the British ambassador at Washington and the Secretary of State of the United States, and dated respectively March 8 and 13, 1897, concerning the special interest taken by the Governments of Great Britain and the United States in the independence of Liberia.

In connection with these documents you request that this Government “take the initiative toward inviting Great Britain to join with the United States in an arrangement that will give some definite shape to the deep interest she so generously expressed in the perpetuity of Liberia.”

In reply I have the honor to state that the ambassador of the United States at London will be instructed to open with the Government of Great Britain the subject of contributing to the welfare of Liberia, making the communication of March 8, 1897, from the British ambassador at Washington, the basis of negotiation.

I have, etc.,

Elihu Root.