Liberian Studies Journal

VOLUME XXVII 2002 Number 2

LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL

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LIBERIA

MONSERRADO MARGIB1 ,-6°N 6°N-

Geography Deportment 10°W sow Unndersty of Pttsburgh of Johnstown

Published by THE LIBERIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION, INC.

VOLUME XXVIII 2003 Number 1 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Editorial Policy

The Liberian Studies Journal is dedicated to the publication of original research on social, political, economic, scientific, and other issues about Liberia or with implications for Liberia. Opin- ions of contributors to the Journal do not necessarily reflect the policy of the organizations they represent or the Liberian Studies Association, publisher of the Journal.

Manuscript Requirements

Manuscripts submitted for publication should not exceed 25 typewritten, double-spaced pages, with margins of one-and a-half inches. The page limit includes graphs, references, tables and appendices. Authors may, in addition to their manuscripts, submit a computer disk of their work preferably in MS Word 2000 or WordPerfect 6.1 for Windows. Notes and references should be placed at the end of the text with headings, e.g., Notes; References. Notes, if any, should precede the references. The Journal is published in June and December. Deadline for the first issue is February, and for the second, August.

Manuscripts should include a cover page that provides the title of the text, author's name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and affiliation. Anonymous referees will review all works.

Manuscripts are accepted in English and French.

Manuscripts must conform to the editorial style of either the Chicago Manual of Style, or The American Psychological Association (APA), or Modern Language Association (MLA).

Authors should send their manuscripts for consideration by regular mail or e-mail attachments to:

Amos J. Beyan, Editor Liberian Studies Journal Friedmann Hall, Department of History Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 269-387-2664

All Book Reviews should be mailed to: Phyllis Belt-Beyan, Associate Editor Liberian Studies Journal College of Education, Teaching, Learning & Leadership 3418 Sangren Hall Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008 E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 269-387-3898 PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor VOLUME XXVII 2002 Number 2

LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Guest Editor D. Elwood Dunn Sewanee - The University of the South

Editor Amos J. Beyan Western Michigan University

Associate Editor Phyllis Belt-Beyan Western Michigan University

Book Review Editor Tim Geysbeek Grand Valley State University

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD:

William C. Allen, Virginia State University D. Elwood Dunn, Sewanee - The University of the South James N. J. Kollie, Sr., University of Liberia Alpha M. Bah, College of Charleston Warren d'Azevedo, University of Nevada Momo K. Rogers, Kpazolu Media Enterprises Christopher Clapham, Lancaster University Yekutiel Gershoni, Tel Aviv University Thomas Hayden, Society of African Missions Lawrence Breitborde, Knox College Svend E. Holsoe, University of Delaware Romeo E. Philips, Kalamazoo College Coroann Okorodudu, Rowan College of N. J. Henrique F. Tokpa, Cuttington University College

LIBERIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Phyllis Belt-Beyan, Western Michigan University, President Mary Moran, Colgate University, Secretary-Treasurer James Guseh, North Carolina State University, Parliamentarian Yekutiel Gershoni, Tel Aviv University, Past President Timothy A. Rainey, Johns Hopkins University Joseph Holloway, California State University-Northridge

FORMER EDITORS Al-Hassan Conteh Amos J. Beyan C. William Allen Edward J. Biggane D. Elwood Dunn Svend Holsoe Jo Sullivan

Edited at the History Department, Western Michigan University

The Editors and Advisory Board gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Diether H. Haenicke, Institute for International and Areas Studies, the History Department, and the Department of Teaching, Learning, and Leadership, Western Michigan University.

INTRODUCTION

by E. Elwood Dunn 5

THOUGHTS ON LIBERIAN STUDIES by Svend E. Holsoe 7

THE SIERRA LEONE/LIBERIA BORDER AREA DURING A DECADE OF CONFLICT by Marilyn Silberfein 13

THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL BANK IN FINANCING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN POSTWAR LIBERIA by Francis L. M. Horton 23

SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS IN POST-WAR LIBERIA by Reginald A. Hoyt & Alexander L. Peal 39

A refereed journal that emphasizes the social sciences, humanities and the natural sciences, the Liberian Studies Journal is a semiannual publication devoted to studies on Africa's oldest Repub- lic. The annual subscription rate is US$40.00, US$15.00 for students, and US$50.00 for institutions. It includes membership in the Liberian Studies Association, Inc. All manuscripts and related matters should be addressed to Dr. Amos J. Beyan, Editor, Liberian Studies Journal, Friedmann Hall, Department of History, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008. Subscriptions and other business matters should be directed to Dr. Mary Moran, Secre- tary-Treasurer, Liberian Studies Association, Inc., Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Colgate University, 13 Oak Drive, Hamilton, New York 13346-1398. E-mail: [email protected]

Introduction

This special issue of two issues in one has been made necessary to enable the Liberian Studies Association to fulfil its obligation of releasing two issues of the Liberian Studies Journal per annum. We apologize to the subscribers of the Liberian Studies Journal for the release of only two volumes out of the required six volumes during the editorship of Al-Hassan Conteh from 2001 to 2004. We endeavor to solve this problem by publishing together Volume 27 Number 2 (2002) and Volume 28 Number 1 (2003). This will be followed by the

combined publication of Volume 28 Number 2 (2003) and Volume 29 Number 1 (2004). The first special issue features four articles and ample important documents. The articles cover social, political, and issues facing post-conflict Liberia ranging from the environmental to banking challenges.The documents are archival troves on contending versions of the controversial 1955 elections in Liberia. As I have had cause to do before, I thank Editor Amos J.Beyan and other members of the Edito- rial Advisory Board of the Liberian Studies Journal for calling upon me to render this service to the journal.

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVII, 2 (2002)

Thoughts on Liberian Studies

Svend E. Holsoe*

It has been good to meet old friends, and to make new ones. Since I am moving toward elder status, and since it is over 50 years ago that I first went to Liberia I appreciate being invited to say a few words. Having been involved from the beginning in what is now the Liberian Studies Association and its Journal, it might be worthwhile to look back for a few moments, before making some comments about the current situation in Liberia, and what might be done in the near future. In the 1960's a group of individuals were either finished or were finishing their graduate studies. We were all interested in Liberia, but we were scattered and without a forum to gather, present, or publish our research work. As early as 1965, while in London, I met David Foley, who at the time was finishing his dissertation at the Lon- don School of Economics. I floated the idea with him of starting a journal. He was interested, but as with me, we were still in the midst of our research and trying to finish our degrees. In the spring of 1967, having completed my dissertation, I began searching for work. I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a position at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, to join their Sociology and Anthropology Department, and to begin an African Studies Program. I accepted the offer. It was only much later that I learned that Gus Liebenow, known to many of you, who at the time was the Founder/ Director of the African Studies Program at Indiana University, had suggested me for the position. It was while at DePauw that I began thinking again about starting a journal. I had no experience in such matters but thought it worthwhile to create an outlet for Liberian research. I spoke to and corresponded with others who were involved in Liberia. All of them were enthusiastic for a journal, though I have to say that Gus Liebenow gave me pause. "Yes," he said "it would be a good idea, and I can add it to my collection of first issues of journals, which are never published again." That was a challenge. So, with a grant of $600, received from the Aquinas Fund, a source suggested by the administration at DePauw, the journal was begun. It was just enough to cover the printing of one issue in what was expected to be two issues a year. It was a gamble whether there would be enough subscribers to cover the costs. However, there were and so the first issue came out in the fall of 1968, with David Foley as co-editor. Those

Professor Emeritus of Anthropology, University of Delaware and founding Editor of the Liberian Studies Journal. This paper is the "Luncheon Address" that was given by Porfessor Holsoe at the 34th Liberian Studies Association Conference held at the University of Pennsylvania on April 13, 2002.

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVII, 2 (2002)

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were the days before computers, and all of the early issues were typed, and some even by me. This need not be a history of the journal, except to say that, many hardworking individuals have sustained it through the years. It is not an easy job, but it continues, as you well know, to this day. And though Gus Liebenow was wise in many ways, and predicted many things, on this matter, happily it can be said, he was wrong. And I know that before he died, he acknowledged and was pleased that the journal survived. Several of you here have served to make this achievement a reality. Today, Al-Hassan Conteh continues the tradition. The second component of the story concerning Liberian Studies is that of the annual conferences. Martin Lowenkopf, Zamba Liberty, and James Gibbs were all at Stanford University in California at the same time. They organized the first gathering of Liberianists in the late summer of 1969. Although I cannot remember the number of people who were in attendance, nevertheless it was sizeable and the conference lasted for several days. There was a wonderful synergy. Most of the early scholars of Liberia were there, and I think most came away with the feeling that this had been a truly special and energizing experience. So the following year, the idea continued at Indiana University, mainly organized by Gus Liebenow. Again, it was a great success. They are good at organizing conferences at Indiana. Some years later, we would return again. It is not necessary to name all of the conference locations, but there have been many. I, however, would like to mention that in holding the meetings at the University of Delaware in the summer of 1971, there was a slightly different pattern from the usual form. The idea was that after the actual conference we would gather informally at least once a day to discuss a particular topic. That was an especially interesting experience. From that point on, these informal meetings continued. At about this time, I started both the Liberian Studies Monograph Series and the Liberian Studies Working Papers. Although there was no formal organization, for the sake of something, I called it all the Liberian Studies Association in America. For many years, I saw to it that a conference was held each year and many kind people took up the challenge and hard work that goes into organizing a conference. Finally, we all began to feel the need for a more formal organization. After several attempts, the Association, as we know it today, was created with a set of by-laws and a proper legal status. More recently I have been involved in a project concerning Liberian research materials. For many years I ran the Institute for Liberian Studies from my home. In 1998, after having received offers from several institutions including the Library of Con- gress, the Schomburgh Collection of the New York Public Library, and the Virginia Historical Society, I choose Indiana University. There were many reasons for this choice; however, Indiana had some creative ideas about how the collection might be made available to others electronically. One of my concerns through the years was how people

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in Liberia could have access. With the new technologies available via the Internet, it idea is now feasible. The work on the collection is in the beginning stages, and the materials are in the process of being catalogued. Once the decision was made that Indiana was the place for the collection, others have decided to add their materials. To date, Warren d'Azevedo and William Siegmann have made major donations. In addition, there are papers from several Liberians, including the late Bai T. Moore. Others have made a commitment to donate their collections as well. What is in the process of being created is a unique and major repository of multimedia materials concerning Liberia. Indiana University has decided that this is a significant addition to its research resources and has agreed to be support- ive of the work and to sustain the materials in optimal conditions. I am particularly grateful to this very special institution, and particularly thankful for all of the work that Ruth Stone has done through the years. My purpose in talking about these things is two fold. First of all, if one has the will to do something, it often can be done. There were many naysayers along the way, but the projects happened. And today, much of that work continues. Secondly, although at times there have been sharp differences of opinion, the annual meetings of the Liberian Studies Association have been civil. The organization has been able to stay clear of party affiliations and politics; it has been able to remain a forum for the expression of differing ideas. This has been a very important lesson. It is possible to differ and yet cooperate. It is one of the great challenges, which Liberia faces today. Today, there is a great tendency to fictionalize. Each person wants to head his or her own group. At its core, there is the issue of delegating power to someone else, and trusting that they will represent one's concerns and interests. Just look at the number of people who have wanted to be elected president in recent years. Many have had concerns about the leadership of various presidents in office, but when it has come to creating a united political front to forcefully challenge, it has not occurred. There are, no doubt, many reasons for this phenomenon. Some of you know my own speculations about the issue of trust versus distrust; cooperation is difficult to achieve. In society there are many bases upon which to create factions, whether it be gender, age, ethnic affiliation, religion, status, just to name a few. How does one create a sense of unity, whether it be as a Liberian for the well being of all of the people of the country, or as a member of a smaller entity? How does one establish a democracy and democratic values, where the individual, as such, is special and unique, where personal ideas are respected for their value in finding solutions to problems, and where trust can be placed in individuals to do work for the good of the society, rather than just themselves? These are just a few of the core issues which have to be addressed and achieved before it will be possible to create stability and some sense of confidence for the present and future.

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I believe that in order to understand how to bring about change you have to understand the reality that exists. Here one of the core issues being addressed by participants of this conference is the creation of a democratic society. I think we can all agree that democracy, as we think of it, is not working in Liberia (and elsewhere for that matter). Why? Why is there a disconnect between a constitution (or, road map, to use Judge Willia Wagner's phrase) that is seemingly freely agreed upon, and the current reality? We can turn to history as Elwood Dunn and Byron Tarr did yesterday, as one way, but I think it is necessary to look more carefully at the institutions and social systems that the vast majority of the population originates from, which Elwood Dunn did touch on. There is a very strong tendency to think that "we," - whoever we are - who are propounding something, know what is right, and it should be obvious to everyone that this is the best idea, or "naturally" correct idea, or God given way. Or, that all it takes is "education" for people to incorporate the ideas or institutions as part of their being. The core values, with which people have been raised, are just that - "core." It does not mean that they cannot be changed, but most changes that do "stick" involve a group of people who lead others from a familiar base to a new situation or a new version. There is too much invested in those core values, to be pushed aside easily. In addition, you create psychological and social confusion if the change occurs too quickly and without rootedness with the past. Now most social scientists know that culture is significant and important, and that it can be powerful in shaping behavior. The panel yesterday on Liberian children in American schools clearly demonstrated the power of culture, change, and what some of the consequences may be. But, most of us get hung up on the facade of what appears to be the political and social system in existence in places like Liberia. After all, most of us, whether African and non-African, have been socialized into the values of the West through our formal education. For a variety of reasons, the values and systems of the African ancestral cultures are treated as if they do not exist, can be manipulated easily, or else they become idealized and lose their connection to the actual reality that exists on the ground. The investment it takes to understand what is actually happening in a Liberian community or group of communities is expensive. But, I would argue it has been the lack of understanding, or taking seriously, those realities, and thus has been one of the prime reasons why many of the development projects, which have occurred in Liberia, and for which enormous sums of money were spent, turned into utter failures. So, to return to the subject of Liberian Studies, I urge you as scholars to take up some of these basic issues in order to understand the process of laying out true "road maps" for the country and Liberian society. Remember, also that Liberia's interior is not entirely homogenous. Cultural varia- tions and differing social structures are a reality. The system of governance, which existed in western and central Liberia, was completely different from that of eastern

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and southern Liberia. Remember also, that at a minimum, Liberia had 16 local languages, and some linguists would argue that there were many more. Languages are in some ways reflections of what is culturally important in the particular societies, and thus indicates the complexity of Liberian society as a whole. Although I suspect that we all think that we know what we mean by democracy and a democratic society, it is worth stopping and thinking about what it entails at its core. It is not enough that we just know what is right, as I have said, but it is critical for social change process to know from whence one is coming and to know where one is going. It is a different road map from what Judge William Wagner spelled out yesterday. The Liberian Studies Association with its annual meetings and its journal have provided through the years, a place where ideas can be addressed and discussed. The Liberian Collection at Indiana University will be a place for research. The challenge now is to move creatively, by small steps to achieve some of the necessary goals of understanding Liberia. The motto of a well-known political party was "deeds, not words." One may not have agreed with what the party did, but certainly it had a worthy motto. If there is a will, even single individuals can make a change. These deeds need not be large; the point is to do something. Research and dissemi- nation of that work is one contribution. I know many of you invest time and money in supporting family members, and that is noteworthy. It has often been said that greatest benefit that occurred from the Peace Corps in Liberia was not so much the particular projects with which the individuals were involved, though that was often important. Rather, it was what individual Americans learned about themselves and what they did for individual Liberians. Many Liberians have benefited in many ways, some small and some large. Today, many returned Peace Corps members continue to be involved through the Friends of Liberia organization. Their annual teacher workshops in Liberia are small but significant actions. They have also been very important in their lobbying work in Washington with the U. S. Government. I know that I may be beating a similar drum as our American president concerning volunteerism, but it works. You, as a single individual can impact a particular person's life with only a small sum of money. I know, because I have done it. You can also affect a small community by assisting in the building of a school or clinic, and sustaining a teacher or clinician, or finding materials for a classroom, or medical supplies. I know, because I have done it. This is not to place myself on a pedestal, but it is to say, as an elder, that all it takes is a will and a little time, and occasionally a little money. Yester- day, we heard of the splendid work that the people of Dayton are doing, and of the way in which Elaine Peabody is making her contribution. I know that many of you are doing a great deal as well, but there are more possibilities, even in those regions of the country difficult to access because of a lack in infrastructure or persistent terrible conditions.

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To sum up, each person who works toward understanding, toward unity, and reconciliation as well as caring for Liberia contributes to the welfare of the country and, most importantly, to the people. The critical thing is not to just talk about it, but to do something. I wish you all, and Liberia, well.

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The Sierra Leone/Liberia Border Area During a Decade of Conflict

Marilyn Silbafein*

Introduction The conflict that plagued Sierra Leone for over a decade began along its eastern border with Liberia. Zones of insecurity conform to a basic spatial logic as tensions frequently emerge along borders. There is a basic spatial logic in the emergence of border areas as zones of insecurity. In part, this pattern derives from the pre-colonial period when political leaders focused on core areas that could be readily administered and controlled while exerting fluctuating levels of authority on more remote territory. This administrative system led to the emergence of concentric rings of control which worked well given the African reality: a relative abundance of land, the ability of state residents to flee from excessively coercive situations, and the cost of asserting authority with distance (Herbst 2000: 55-56). In colonial and post-colonial states the same gra- dients could be observed; the more economically viable and accessible areas became the focus of economic development while remote and less promising areas emerged as sources of migrant labor. Colonialism did, however, usher in one basic change in the meaning of territorial control. Rather than being imprecise and often changeable zones of transition, boundaries became recognized, with some areas of contention, as precise lines that could be demarcated and mapped. The colonial system ensured that these lines would almost always be recognized and respected. In the period after independence, the Organiza- tion of African Unity (OAU) performed the same function (Herbst 2001: 94, 102). In effect, governments were considered legitimate within their designated boundaries as long as they controlled the capital city and the apparatus of government, even if there were chunks of territory where they had relatively little influence or authority.

The Conflict in Sierra Leone Since border areas in Africa were not subject to firm centralized control or interest, they provided an ideal location for insurrections to germinate. In the case of Sierra Leone, conflict began in 1991 in the remote southeast regions of the country, where

Professor Marilyn Siberfein is a Professor of Geography, Department of Geography and Urban Stud- ies at Temple University. Her interests include the spatial aspects of peace and reconciliation in Africa, settlement processes and other aspects of rural development. She earned her Ph.D. in Geography from Syracuse University.

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVII, 2 (2002)

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anti-government sentiment had already developed due to isolation, neglect and simmering local disputes (Richards, 2001). The instigators, who labeled themselves the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), consisted of disaffected young Sierra Leoneans whose numbers had been swelled by fighters from Liberia and Burkina Faso. One of the initial RUF targets was the Kailahun District, which the national railroad once served. It suffered from increasing isolation when the party in power, with its roots in the north and west of Sierra Leone, decided to terminate the rail service in the 1970s. The second focus of the insurrection was the Pujehun District where a local chiefdom dispute had festered and stoked antigovernment sentiment (Zack-Williams 1999) (Fig- ure 1). The RUF had actually been formed in Liberia under the tutelage of Charles Taylor, who was then in the midst of fighting his own civil war for domination of the Liberian state. Taylor's ambitions seem to have included control of Sierra Leone's diamond resources. His support and training of the RUF undoubtedly furthered this goal. He might also have been interested in absorbing part of southeastern Sierra Leone, to which Liberia had historical claims, especially since this area was a relatively rich part of the country due to a concentration of the more lucrative cash crops, cocoa, coffee and, in Pujehun, piassava (Alao 1999) (Figure 1). The initial area of RUF infiltration was along the border. The boundary zone continued to play a critical role in the incipient conflict. The RUF could trade diamonds for weapons and other supplies with their Liberian confederates and could slip into Liberia for further training or to escape from any serious threat. The fact that the Sierra Leone government never was able to control the long and porous border doomed its effort to terminate the insurrection, although it periodically claimed to have reestablished its presence throughout the country. Those in political power in Freetown took almost a decade to accept the futility of fighting a war against a foe with not only an escape hatch, but also the capacity to regroup and rearm with impunity. The conflict gradually moved inland from the border area (Figure 1). The RUF had several strategies for expansion based on the sympathies of the local population; they stole, looted and kidnapped children and young adults in unfriendly villages while in other cases they simply co-opted villages into their territory. Thus, their ranks increased through both voluntary and forced recruits who were trained in bush camps and alternately threatened and rewarded with the spoils of battle. The RUF focused on resource-rich locations as well as areas that were more accessible or sympathetic. A strategy of intimidation was incorporated into its arsenal; it became easier to terrify peasants into abandoning their homes than to occupy a village by force. At some point the RUF began committing atrocities that became its hallmark, in part to convince the peasantry that rapid retreat was preferable to confrontation (Abdullah, 1998). The RUF occupied more territory between 1991 and 1992 aided by the ineffec- tiveness of the Sierra Leone Army (SLA), which lacked sufficient training, equipment, or even the motivation to function as a deterrent. It was not until local militias such as

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the Kamajors were organized, and new fighters drafted - many of who were Guineans or anti-Taylor ULIMO fighters from Liberia - that an effective counter-offensive was mounted. When it became too costly for the RUF to hold onto extensive territory, it quickly adopted a different spatial strategy. Rather than defending villages or even towns as it expanded out from the east and south of the country, it dispersed more widely through the national territory, establishing at least six major bases and several smaller ones (Butcher, 1992) (Figure 2). At this point, the RUF went into a typical guerilla warfare mode and the pattern of refugee retreat became more complex. No area of Sierra Leone was immune to RUF attacks, and the economic viability of the state suffered several setbacks. The RUF took over the most productive alluvial diamond areas, the rutile and bauxite-mining areas were attacked and closed down and agriculture was severely disrupted. Between 1993 and 1996 the relative fortunes of the government and the RUF changed several times. Initially, the government forces were able to recapture large areas of Kailahun Province, in part because the close link between the RUF and the Taylor regime in Liberia was temporarily disrupted when dissident groups captured the Liberian side of the border. In spite of this setback, the RUF still had sufficient resources to regroup as they gradually extended their range toward Freetown. By June 1995, the government had given up on the SLA and it decided to contain the RUF by contracting mercenaries. This approach proved relatively effective and the government moved back into much of its lost territory including the diamond-producing areas (Abdullah and Muana, 1998). The position of each of the protagonists continued to fluctuate. An election was held in 1996, followed by a treaty with the RUF that called for the cancellation of the contract with the mercenaries known as Executive Outcomes. Clashes still occurred however, and in May 1997, elements of the SLA organized a successful coup against the elected president, Tejan Kabbah (Reno 1997; Gershoni 1997). Confirming suspi- cions of SLA/RUF collaboration, the RUF was invited to join the illegal government, whereupon the president and many of the educated elites fled amidst widespread international condemnation of the coup. This time, it was the West African joint forces, ECOMOG, that pushed back the SLA/RUF, known as the Junta, and restored the legal government by February/March, 1998. As the RUF retreated back to the border with Liberia, it reestablished its links to Taylor, now the elected president of Liberia. The illicit diamonds for weapons trade had become quite intricate with smugglers in Gambia and Burkina Faso functioning as intermediaries as the diamonds moved toward Antwerp, London and Tel Aviv. At the same time, numerous Eastern European countries plus North Korea provided weapons on demand that eventually found their way to the RUF (Figure 3) (Goreux, 2001). This clandestine trade played a critical role in one last major confrontation. Once ECOMOG, the SLA and the militias had retaken most of the cities and towns in

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Sierra Leone from the Junta in 1998, the establishment of authority in more remote rural areas was seen as a mere mopping up operation. In reality, the RUF quickly rearmed and reorganized so that by December, 1998, it was possible to break out of the border region and reclaim almost all the northern parts of the country. By Christ- mas, the RUF had moved further west and were able to enter Freetown following a series of horrific battles. Although ECOMOG recaptured Freetown and held onto the south, and some eastern chiefdoms, the country was gripped by a pervasive sense of insecurity. The rapid fall of northern and part of eastern Sierra Leone reflected not just the strength of the RUF, but also the poor performance of the newly reconstituted national army, which had folded under pressure. In light of the army's inadequacies, ECOMOG was unwilling to sustain substantial losses, and, in some cases, withdrew ahead of RUF advances.

The Process of Peacemaking In May 1999, the RUF agreed to a ceasefire. By this time, the Freetown government had accepted that both sides could not prevail militarily. Sierra Leone had no allies willing to counter the RUF/Liberian alliance. There appeared to be no choice but to demobilize and disarm, allow amnesty for combatants, and participate in a government of national unity that included the head of the RUF, Foday Sankoh. The RUF agreed to be part of the unified government, but refused to release its grip on the territory under its control (Figure 4). The only progress to report after almost a year was the deployment of U.N. peacekeepers; first in areas administered by the central government, and then, gradually, in towns like Makeni and Lunsar that were still under RUF occupation. One important development had taken place during this period of stagnation. In January 2000 the Heart of the Matter was published by Partnership Africa Canada. It revealed that Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire had been exporting diamonds at a level far above their productive capacities. The study called for tighter regulation of the diamond industry and an embargo against countries that were obviously serving as a conduit for diamonds smuggled out of the RUF controlled areas of Sierra Leone (Smillie et. al., 2000). From this point forward, part of the effort to end the RUF insurgency focused on disrupting the exchange of gems for weapons. This effort built on the U.N. boycott of UNITA diamonds from Angola, and on a series of conferences on the role of diamonds in perpetrating conflict, the first of which was held in Kimberly, South Africa in May 2000 (Hirsch 2001). While the international community finally began to examine the financing of the RUF rebellion and similar insurrections, the disarmament phase of the Sierra Leone peace treaty was being undermined by the RUE A new arsenal was being built up even as the old one was being surrendered at demobilization sites. The arms purchases were, in turn, being financed by ongoing RUF diamond digging in the key producing areas, which remained beyond the purview of the United Nations Special Mission in Sierra

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Leone (UNAMSIL), as it advanced further into RUF territory (Farah, 2000). RUF operatives also continued to interrupt the flow of food aid, setting up illegal barricades and even stealing weapons (Onishi, 2000: Al 0). This unpromising situation deteriorated rapidly in May 2000 as UNAMSIL was scheduled to finally deploy in the diamondiferous region of Kono. At the same time, the last ECOMOG troops in Sierra Leone were about to turn over their posts to the U.N. Peacekeepers. This propitious moment provided the RUF with an opportunity to abrogate the peace process by capturing 500 newly arrived Zambian peacekeepers. Following this attack, the RUF leader, Foday Sankoh, fled his home leaving behind documentation on over 2000 diamonds, worth about $150,000, that he had obtained through RUF mining activity, and evidence of efforts to trade diamonds for arms in South Africa (Crossette, 2000). These events were widely expected to a familiar scenario: UNAMSIL would withdraw, ECOMOG would continue its pullout and the RUF would expand once again, possibly occupying the whole of Sierra Leone. That this situation did not materialize and that the cycles of RUF advance and retreat was finally broken was due to the following factors: 1) The presence of British troops, which landed in Sierra Leone in sufficient numbers to deter another RUF invasion of Freetown. 2) The problems encountered by the RUF as it participated in an expanded conflict that Liberia had instigated in Guinea. The government of Guinea countered this aggression with force that included bombings from helicopter gunship. 3) The growing isolation of Liberia as the international community first withdrew aid and then imposed selected trade and travel sanctions in response to increasing knowledge of Liberia's role in illegal diamond and weapons sales and in ongoing support for the war in Sierra Leone. The U.N. remained in Sierra Leone, eventually increasing its allocation of peacekeepers to 17,000, while British soldiers continued to protect Freetown. The RUF retained control of the area under its influence in the north and east, but with resources depleted by the absence of a trade relationship with Liberia, its situation became precarious. A year after its original confrontation with the U.N., the RUF was finally coaxed into an agreement that ended hostilities and allowed the free movement of people and goods everywhere. In order to bring the interminable conflict in Sierra Leone to a conclusion, a gradual, step-like process was designed, whereby the establishment of disarmament centers would follow meetings of the RUF, government, and UN representatives. Actual disarmament was carried out in two districts at a time; one district dominated by the RUF was matched with an area dominated by the government (Figure 4). This phase was followed by a sensitization program, the deployment of police or the SLA, and the evaluation of each chiefdom to determine if it was safe for resettlement. These activities

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were interspersed with the collection of civilian arms, efforts to train former combatants and other initiatives. Inevitably there were setbacks, including dislocated individuals who did not want to return home to villages that were isolated, deserted, or lacking in services and at least partially destroyed. The security issue remained: people in dispersed communities perceived themselves as unsafe, arms caches were still hidden and petty crimes were becoming increasingly common in large towns and cities (supplemented by a spate of piracy). Yet, the peace building process moved forward starting with the more manageable districts, so that by the end of February 2002, all of the provinces of Sierra Leone had been declared safe for resettlement except for Kailahun where the conflict began.

The Border in 2002 Many challenges remain to achieving long-term peace and security in Sierra Leone in spite of the extraordinary commitment of the international community. Dealing with the vulnerability of the border region is one of the high priority goals for the Sierra Leone government. Authority has to be restored along the frontier with Liberia given the function of the border as the weak point in the eleven year effort to defeat the RUF, and the loss of income due to the smuggling of diamonds to Liberia. The national army, now known as the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces (RSLAF), began patrolling along the Liberian border in January 2001, at the same time Liberians increased surveillance on their side of the boundary, to prevent the infiltration of dissident sympathizers. In both cases, though, the troops have been too spread out to dominate more than a few miles at any one time. In 2002, activities along the border began to be mediated by the Mano River Union (MRU), which was in the process of being revived. This organization was originally supposed to strengthen cooperation among the members, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, but in reality these countries have been contributing to each others' internal conflicts. After the King of Morocco convinced the three heads of state of the MRU to come to Rabat, they held a follow-up summit in March and the foreign ministers met on April 8`11. They decided that their states would participate in joint border patrols at specific points beginning April 15, so as to increase confidence and decrease the flow of contraband weapons. These initiatives were temporarily pushed into the background by the May elections in Sierra Leone, which President Kabbah won, but the border situation resumed its importance shortly thereafter. As of the end of July, only eight chiefdoms in Kailahun were still considered to be unsafe for resettlement, and by the end of August, this number had been reduced to two (Figure 5). Yet, in spite of this ostensibly optimistic assessment, the border region was actually becoming more insecure as a result of a simmering Liberian insurrection. By early 2002, the rebel Liberian United for Recon- struction and Development (LURD), an organization of dissidents waging a war against

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the Taylor government, was pushing forward from bases in the northwest and west of the country (Figure 5). The spread of insecurity in Liberia was particularly disturbing to those who had worked to end the conflict in Sierra Leone. There was concern that Sierra Leone's hard won peace could be derailed by a spillover from the fighting in Liberia, and that Taylor still harbored a vision of regional hegemony and a willingness to export violence. If it was not quite the Greater Liberia of the previous decade that Taylor had in mind, he at least appeared to be seeking access to regional resources and influence over leaders of nearby states (Cobb, 2002). Even Kofi Annan expressed the fear that a cycle of violence could continue to transmit conflict back and forth between Sierra Leone and Liberia and even Guinea (Annan, 2002). The Liberian insurrection impacted the border zone in several ways. Perhaps the major problem has been the growth in the number of Liberian refugees, sometimes totaling one hundred refugees a day (or 20,000 between January and June of 2002). Unfortunately, the civilian refugees functioned as a cover for army deserters and militia members who might have been involved in smuggling or illegal activities, and it has been critical to separate out civilians and move them from the border as quickly as possible. Temporary camps had been established at locations such as Zimmi (Pujehun) from which refugees could be moved to a transit station at Blama (Kenema District) and then to more permanent camp near Bo (Figure 5). The transfers did not always run smoothly; many refugees preferred staying near the border close to relatives or to their farms and villages. Even those refugees willing to move often found the process onerous and time consuming. During September 2002, the problem abated somewhat as most refugees either returned home or agreed to resettle in the interior. Refugees aside, the border area has been plagued by quasi-legal and illegal activities including border crossings by both LURD members and army soldiers. Among those who have escaped across the border have been highranking officers, public officials, and chiefs (Sankoh, 2002). At least 70 military deserters had been disarmed by August 2002, and a plan was in place to move them to a separate facility in western Sierra Leone near Port Loko. Other soldiers have carried out clandestine trade, which sometimes included the buying and selling of diamonds. When patrols have encountered illegal exchanges taking place in Kailahun or Pujehun, traders typically have fled back to Liberia (Human Rights Watch July 11. 2002). A common variant on this theme has been the illegal recruitment of new members by both LURD and the army militias. Bonuses have been offered to those willing to sign on, and many former RUF and militia members have been responsive. These opportunities appeared attractive, especially given the lack of alternative opportunities and the failure of training programs for excombatants to incorporate all of the eligible candidates (Farah, May 15,2002). Many of the illicit border crossings have been more sinister. Since the militias affili- ated with the Liberian army have frequently not been paid, they have been forced to

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scavenge for survival, which sometimes translates into cross-border raids in search of food, other supplies and even labor. The most serious of these incursions occurred in July 2002 and resulted in the kidnapping of 46 Sierra Leoneans who became designated porters to carry looted goods back to Liberia. Most of those abducted, including young children, have not returned to their home villages in spite of lengthy negotia- tions. These events provoked enough outrage that the Liberian government promised, with very limited results to date, to better control its side of the border. The Taylor regime then agreed, and subsequently reneged on its commitment to a joint fact-finding mission. The build-up of cross-border transgressions during the first six months of 2002 caused the UN to increase the number of peacekeepers stationed at the border and even to introduce aerial patrols in response to call for greater security in this area (Human Rights Watch, July 11, 2002). At the same time, the RSLAF and the police organized more patrols and established new headquarters along the border. Unfortu- nately, both of these groups have not been very well equipped, and their ability to play their respective roles has been undermined by bickering over jurisdiction and accusa- tions that some police were profiting from inflated customs payments (Kamara, Sept 11, 2002; Saffa, Sept. 16, 2002). Furthermore, even with increased coverage, only about 32 out of approximately 150 crossing points are patrolled any way, leaving many openings unguarded. In any case, the border of Liberia and Sierra Leone remains an insecure place. On the Liberian side many villages are deserted, IDP camps are placed near the road to allow for a rapid relocation if necessary, and checkpoints are widespread. In Sierra Leone, many local officials are still caught up with border-related problems and have fallen behind in carrying out resettlement and the rehabilitation of local communities. It is estimated that in Kailahun District at least half of those displaced have not yet been able to return to villages still lacking in housing, services and water supplies. The solution to this impasse may lie in a negotiated peace in Liberia. One peace conference held in Burkina Faso in July 2002 included the LURD and many groups that are part of civil society, but no representative of the Taylor government. Taylor himself organized a conference in Monrovia in August to promote peace and reconciliation, but the LURD did not attend nor did any of Taylor's rivals who felt that their safety would not be protected. ECOWAS has also held meetings to discuss measures to bring about peace without success. Meanwhile, the peace initiative associated with the Mano River Union also continued as individual member states followed up on earlier commitments. Between Sep- tember 10th and 3rd 2002 discussions among the three member countries were held in Freetown. They decided that a peace caravan was needed to travel along the boundaries of Liberia and Sierra Leone and Guinea and Sierra Leone. The caravan would contain at least 20 officials from each country, especially those involved in security issues, and would feature members of the non-functioning Mano River Union Secu-

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rity Committee. This effort was meant to send a signal that the border was no longer closed due to war, rather that free movement of people and goods would be encouraged (UN, OCHA, Sept 12, 2002). Evidence has also continued to emerge indicating that Liberia has not stopped importing arms in spite of the renewal of U.N. sanctions. Other countries, including Niger and Chad, have been involved in this illicit exchange as well. With these weapons and with the income derived from extensive logging, Liberia has remained a threat to peace in Sierra Leone and in the region as a whole (Global Witness, Sept 2002: 4-5). The situation is further complicated by the existence of an interconnected coterie of young men who share the experience of war and who see conflict as their only source of income and opportunity. The outbreak of hostilities in the Ivory Coast in September 2002 immediately attracted a contingent of former RUF, and Sierra Leonian and Liberian militia members eager to take advantage of a perceived new opportunity for enrichment (Barrie, Oct 2, 2002). With the expansion of hostilities the impasse may finally be coming to a head. Only with an end to the predatory Taylor-dominated state can the border regions of Sierra Leone, as well as Guinea and Ivory Coast, finally begin to experience security and the potential for economic opportunity.

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REFERENCES

Abdullah, Ibrabim. 1998. "Bush Path to Destruction: The Origin and Character of the Revolutionary United Front, Sierra Leone." The Journal ofModern African Stud- ies 36, 2: 203-235. Abdullah, Ibrahim and Muana, Patrick. 1998. "The Revolutionary United Front of Sierra Leone." In Christopher Clapham, ed., African Guerillas. Oxford: James Currey Ltd, pp 173-192. Alao, Abiodun. 1999. "Diamonds are Forever. But so are Controversies: Diamonds and the Actors in the Sierra Leone Civil War." Civil Wars 2, 3: 4364. Anderson, Rory. June 11, 2002. "Africa's Weak States: U.S. Policy Options in Liberia." Report on the Hearings of the Senate, Subcommittee on Africa. Annan Kofi. June 24, 2002. "Donors Must Urgently Build a Post-UN Security Force in Sierra Leone." Agence France Presse (AFP). Barrie, Ibrahim. Oct. 2, 2002. "Rebel Mercenaries Head for Ivory Coast." Stan- dard Times (Freetown). Bernath, Cliff and Sayre Nyce. June 25, 2002. "Crossing the Mano to Safety and Uncertainty." Refugees International. Butcher, M. March 2-8, 1992. "Hard Road to Democracy." West Africa 3734: 374. Cobb, Charles. May 24, 2002. "Cycle of Conflict in Mano River Threatens Sierra Leone Peace." Interview with All-Africa Corn. Crossette, Barbara. May 14, 2000. "Sierra Leone Rebel Leader Reportedly Smuggled Gems." New York Times. A7. Farah, Douglas. April 17, 2000. "Diamonds are a Rebel's Best Friend." The Wash- ington Post. Foreign Service. May 15, 2002. "Salving deep Wounds, Sierra Leoneans Vote." Washington Post. p. A16. Gershoni, Yekutiel. 1997. "War Without End and an End to a War: the Prolonged Wars in Liberia and Sierra Leone." African Studies Review 40,3: 55-76. Goreux, L. March, 2001. Conflict Diamonds. The World Bank, Africa Region Working Paper Series, No. 13. Harman, Danna. June 3, 2002. "Liberian Conflict Threatens Region." Christian Science Monitor. Sept. 18, 2002. "Sierra Leone: The Path from Pariah to Peace." The Christian Science Monitor. Herbst, J. 2000. States and Power in Africa. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Hirsch, J. L. 2001. Sierra Leone. Diamonds and the Struggle for Democracy. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

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Human Rights Watch. July 12, 2002. "The Jury is Still Out." A Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper on Sierra Leone. July 19, 2002. "Deteriorating Human Rights Situation in Liberia." International Crisis Group (ICG). April 24, 2002. "Liberia: The Key to Ending Regional Instability." Executive Summary and Recommendations. July 12, 2002. "Sierra Leone After Elections: Politics as Usual?" Report No. 49. August 19, 2002. "Liberia: Unraveling." Briefing Paper. Issa, Mohamed. Sept. 11. 2002. "Lord Rebels Infiltrate Kono." Standard Times. Johnson, Cristo. June 3, 2002. "Sierra Leone Captures Raiding Liberian Troops." Reuters. Kamara, Saidu. Sept. 11, 2002. "MP Urges Border Security Agents to Unite." Standard Time. Onishi, N. April 5, 2000. "Sierra Leone Poses Test for U.N.'s Africa Policy." The New York Times. P A10. Reno, William. May, 1997."Privatizing War in Sierra Leone." Current History: 227- 230. Richards, P. 2001. "Are Forest Wars in Africa Resource Wars." In N. Paluso and M. Watts, ed., Violent Environments. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Saffa, Bob. Sept 16, 2002. "In Kailahun Police Officers Become Custom Collec- tors." Standard Times. Sankoh, Osman Benk. May 8. 2002. "Liberian Government Officials Seek Asylum in Sierra Leone." Concord Times. Smilie, Ian, Gberie, Lansana and Hazleton, Ralph. Jan. 12, 2000. "The Heart of the Matter: Sierra Leone, Diamonds and Human Security." Partnership Africa-Canada. Tostevin, M. Feb. 14, 2002. "Rumor and Plot Theories Bubble in a Tense Liberia," Reuters. U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR). May 1, 2002. "Liberian Refu- gees Relocated in Neighboring Countries." July 26, 2002. "Briefing Notes: Liberia." U.N. Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). July 31, 2002. "Sierra Leone: Humanitarian Situation Report 01-31 July, 2002." Sept 12, 2002. "Guinea-Liberia-Sierra Leone Peace Caravan Planned." U.S. Committee for Refugees. July 26, 2002. "Upheaval in Liberia and Repatria- tions to Sierra Leone: Findings and Recommendations." Report on a four-week site visit to West Africa, June-July, 2002. U.S. Senate, Hearings of the Subcommittee on Africa. June 11. 2002. "Africa's Weak States: U.S. Policy Options in Liberia." Report by Rory Anderson, Africa Policy Advisor, World Vision U.S. Zack-Williams, A. B. 1999. "Sierra Leone: The Political Economy of Civil War 1991-1998." Third World Quarterly 20, 1: 143-162.

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The Role of the Central Bank in Financing Economic Development in Postwar Liberia

Francis L. M. Horton*

Introduction I share the view that the task of rebuilding Liberia, from social, physical, and administrative infrastructure perspectives, is neither simple nor easy, but does definitely prove to be arduous and very complex. I agree with the prognosis that it is practically difficult and almost impossible to realistically fathom the social costs relative to the affect of the Liberian civil war. Therefore, conferences, such as this one, which focus more on the ROWS than the WHYS, are important, relevant and indispensable for addressing the prospects and problems incidental to rebuilding Liberia. While there could be some moral merit in the common adage of "MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL," it must be recognized that modern society, which has progressively evolved as a consequence of all sorts of "revolutions" including the Industrial Revolution, has its foundation structured on "capital." According to Webster's New Encyclopedia of Dictionaries, capital means: "ready money" as it relates to FINANCE. Conversely, however, it was Shakespeare who so profoundly wrote: "FOR THEY SAY IF MONEY GO BEFORE, ALL WAYS DO LIE, OPEN". This paper is organized as follows: Sections 2 and 3 discuss central banking in the contexts of economic development and financial institutions' supervision in Liberia. In Section 4, I present an overview of the financial environment of pre- and post-war Liberia. This is followed by the prerequisites for creating the infrastructure for national economic development in Section 5. Section 6 concludes the paper with some suggestions on the role of the Central Bank in fostering economic development in post-war Liberia.

Central Banking in the Scheme of Economic Development Central Banks, as a rule, are not necessarily established to extend direct fmancing for commercial ventures and private sector development. While generally, they might provide various forms of financial instruments to facilitate the public sector via various types of financial institutions and banks, they established to function as oversight

Ms. Francis L. M. Horton is a private and public sector initiatives consultant; former deputy governor - National Bank of Liberia; former chairman - National Investment Commission of Liberia; former chairman - Monrovia City Council; former acting executive vice president and director Bank of Liberia.

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVII, 2 (2002)

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institutions with the responsibility to supervise, monitor, and regulate banks and financial institutions. Primarily, they are charged with protecting the financial and monetary interests of the public at large and helping to stimulate economic development. In any economy where banks provide depository services for their customers, either in the form of DEMAND (checking) or SAVINGS, the issue of instituting measures for protecting the depositors, whose only evidence of leaving their funds with banks, is simply a Deposit Receipt, should always be paramount to the custodi- ans of the public trust. [?] Therefore, the importance of a supervisory and regulatory body with optimum autonomy to exercise its authority as such, is indispensable for ensuring all money entrusted to a bank is secure. Within the scheme of economic development, a central bank's duties, responsibilities, and authority is dependent on the country's enabling laws, political environment, public policies, and on the bank's internal administrative and organizational structure, including its financial controls and staff. In this regard, a central bank, by its very nature, is meant to espouse advising neutrality and independence, exercising administrative prudence, justice and fairness, exhibiting professional accountability and effi- ciency, and possessing the de jure capacity to ensure that the laws upon which it operates and functions are enforced, and that sound policies are implemented. Central banks are also known to be Banks of Issue: they control the supply of money (currency) based on economic needs (demands) and circumstances. Additionally, they serve as government's bankers and provide advice on monetary issues especially as they affect fiscal policies and systems. Hence, it is common that most central banks are given the tools or mechanisms, within the framework of the laws, to supervise, monitor, regulate, and examine all banks and other financial institutions within their jurisdictions, as well as issue currency. The next section looks at the significance of these tools.

Banks and Financial Institutions' Supervision in Liberia The history of institutional banking in Liberia dates back to the country's founding in 1847. However, for the purpose of this paper, I shall focus on the post-World War II development of the financial sector from the incipiency of the first majority owned, indigenous, Liberian owned banking institution in Africa south of the Sahara: the Bank of Liberia (BOL). The Bank of Liberia was founded, initially, as the Liberia Savings and Loan Asso- ciation in 1954. Prior to its existence, there was the Bank of Monrovia (BOM), which was owned by Firestone Company. Since the 1940s, BOM had served as the depository of the Government of Liberia and the only banking institution in the country. The founding of the Bank of Liberia was not without apprehension, fear, resentment, opposition, and skepticism. Nonetheless, the bank increased the competitive nature of Liberia's financial environment, free enterprise and democracy itself, albeit only in the marginalized financial sector of the Liberian economy in 1954. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 26 THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL BANK

The Bank of Liberia's entrance into the economy paved the way for other banking institutions, including the Chase Manhattan Bank and the International Trust Com- pany Bank. As freelance banks, these institutions functioned as a de facto Department of the Treasury, which later became the Ministry of Finance. In reality, there were no specific banking and financial institution laws or guide- lines to directly govern these institutions' activities. The risks therefore, to depositors and institutions were high, and thus, the financial sector was vulnerable to the judicial system's interpretation of the bank/customer relationship. The banks imposed their own conditions on deposits and depositors, interest rates, fees and commissions, bor- rowings and borrowers, employment and employees, customers and services. The public lay vulnerable to the whims and fancies of banks. The Government of Liberia (GOL) could take arbitrary actions against the banks. The newly growing financial sector of Liberia necessitated introducing appropriate controls and protective mechanisms Thus, GOL authorized two acts in 1974: the Act to Authorize the Establishment of a National Bank of Liberia and the Financial Institution Act. The Act establishing the National Bank of Liberia gave the Bank certain powers with the purposes of regulating the availability of money, to promote monetary stability and a sound financial structure conductive to the balanced growth of the economy. The Financial Institution Act would guide the National Bank in controlling and regulating "financial institutions in Liberia and matters connected therewith and incidental thereto". It specifically addressed the issues of definitions of the various types of financial institutions doing business in Liberia, financial requirements and limitations relative to capital reserve account, audit and inspection, conflict of interest, seizure, liquidation, and reorganization of financial institutions. In 1999, GOL reorganized the National Bank of Liberia (NBLinto the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) with the authority to license, inspect, issue, regulate, seize, liquidate and reorganize financial institutions. It also had the authority to issue currency and regulate reserve requirements. One might assume that the basis for the financial sector reform was predicated on the need to provide a viable functioning financial system after Liberia's first seven years of war and to power by a newly elected government in 1997.This reform would facilitate appropriate changes to cope with post-war circumstances and would, therefore, brought clarity to government currency and exchange rates policies, re-established a functioning inter-bank clearing system, re-capitalized the bank and the infusion of liquidity in local and foreign currencies, resolved the issue of the banks' minimal reserves, improved its bank examination and supervisory activities, introduced more realistic licensing prerequisites, and instituted internal and external risk management criteria for itself and the banking community. In retrospect however, the NBL's oversight responsibilities extended to ten (10) banks by December 1979 and twelve (12) by 1989, and after 1997 to twelve (12) banks, eight of which were non-operational and subject to its regulatory determina-

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tion, while one of the remaining four has since been ordered to "cease to exist" by the Central Bank and is now under liquidation.

An Overview of the Pre- and Post-war Financial Environment of Liberia The volume of financial activities over time is presented in Tables 1 and 2. Table 1 shows the comparative trend of increases and decreases Credit, Deposits, Reserves (minimal, foreign, domestic, etc.), Government Debts, Trade Balance, Foreign Exchange Rates,

on December 31, 1979, 1989, 1999, and 2001. The figures in Table 1 indicate an adverse effect of the civil war, and to some extent, the aftermath of the earlier military coup d'etat on the central bank, financial sector and the economy, as a whole. Table 2 shows the names of functional banks over time. By the close of the 1980s, the Liberian banking system consisted of the National Bank of Liberia (NBL), as the Central monetary authority, and 12 functioning banking institutions. Three of these banks provided development investment lending, while, the other 9 were commercial banks. Seven were foreign owned, including one with about 20% government share. GOL owned two of them, and the remaining three had private and indigenous ownership. Included in this latter number was a financial intermediary, which was having liquidity problems. In December 1999, the Governor of the NBL submitted a proposal to reform the banking sector to the Special Presidential Commission for Review, which enumerated the features of the banking sector as follows: 1. There were 12 licensed commercial banks of which four (4) were operational; 2. Deposits of the 8 closed banks total L$330 million; 3. NBL had no domestic or foreign reserves; 4. Unnecessary exposures of commercial banks to risk of loss of transactions and unwarranted expenditures and non performing credit portfolios have marked the operations of most banks; 5. The liquidity squeeze of the banks created a serious mismatch between their statutory liquidity requirements and total deposits; 6. Depositors of commercial banks were not paid on demand; 7. Vault cash loss during the civil crisis was paid by NBL to commercial banks in the amount of L$150 million; 8. NBL had to grant advances to help salvage ailing banks; 9. At September 15, 1997, the Government's medium term loan with NBL stood at L$714.0 million; 10. The currency situation of a hybrid system led to the parallel market trading at L$40.00 to US 1.00; 11. Two bank notes were being used in different areas of the country, the "JJ Rob- erts" and the "Liberty" which created a trading problem.

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External sources, including the IMF and World Bank added the following in November 1997: 1. Of the four operating and 8 closed commercial banks, none of the eight had been liquidated due to lack of capacity; 2. During the civil war, the market value of the Liberian dollar deteriorated to L$ 80.00 to US $1.00; 3. The NBL was using the commercial banks' reserve deposits; 4. NBL was hardly capable of performing its responsibilities.

Some Prerequisites for Creating the Proper Environment and Infrastruc- tures for National Economic Development I believe that there are several factors, which are essential to the sustainable economic development of any nation. First and foremost, there must be VISION. Sec- ondly, that vision has to be transformed and defined into realistic and achievable OBJECTIVES, GOALS, and TARGETS, which must be contained within a well- formulated and implementable STRATEGIC PLAN. In modern management, whether asocial or commercial, strategic planning has become indispensable to achieving reasonable development, growth, and prosperity. Fundamentally, strategic planning, especially for the economic development of a country, requires the government to apply the methodology of survey, research, investigation, analysis, and evaluation of the prevailing conditions and circumstances of the economy or the sociology of the nation in order to derive at a sound, representative and adaptable Economic Development Plan or Program. I first heard the analogy of "money to water" from Dr. Romeo Horton, the founder of the defunct Bank of Liberia, Incorporated, when after the 1980 coup, he alluded to "money" being like "water" since it tends to also find its level or niche by flowing to wherever the environment is comfortable, safe, secure, and offers the best possibilities for its use or application. Similarly, if a country, seeks economic prosperity, then it has to create an environment where various political, economic, social and religious activities can be attracted and perpetuated within a national framework of law and order, justice, liberty, confidence, and respect for the rights of the individual. These are inescapable criteria for sound and sustainable economic and social development.

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Table 1 FINANCIAL SECTOR PRE & POST WAR LIBERIA STATISTICAL OVERVIEW BY DECEMBER 31 OF THE INDICATED YEAR (Millions of Liberian dollars, except where otherwise indicated)

1979 1989 1999 2001 Total Banks Deposits 113.0 198.0 1,669.9 1,274.0 Demand /deposits 65.9 118.3 1,247.9 851.6 Savings/ Time Deposits 47.1 79.4 419.0 422.4 Money in Circulation 80.2 250.0 648.1 943.1 Total Liquidity 162.4 301.3 2,274.5 2,119.0 Commercial bank loans 184.9 156.4 1,760.2 958.2 Agriculture bank loans 16.1 21.3 739.7 67.3(4) Loans Trading, Construction, Transport/Comm Banks 101.6 42.1 79.3 71.0 Total Loans - Mining 0.9 5.1 0.1 Total Loans - Manufacturing 12.1 4.3 0.5 0.1 Government Debts with NBL/CBL 115.2 673.0 34,606.1(3) 42,343.6 Government Debts with Commercial Banks 2.8 9.8 358.1 580.9 Banks Reserves with NBL/CBL 257.1 380.2 Banks Excess Reserves with NBL/CBL 29.8 NBL/CBL Obligations to IMF 39.8 275.0 25,479.4 31,259.4 NBL/CBL Obligations - Savings Bonds N/A 34.8 46.8 49.2 Government's Deposits with NBL/CBL 28.8 25.3 71.0 34.0 Governments Deposits with Banks 19.5 25.4 165.4 122.8 Total Assets - NBL/CBL 85.1* 782.0* 25,800.0 44,200.0 US Dollar to Liberia Dollar Exchange (End of Period) 1.0 1.3 39.5 49.5 Foreign Reserves 35.7 32.5 Domestic Reserves 50.7 197.8 169.6 1,397.3 Per Capita Income (national) (US$) 473.3 455.4 146.5 155.6 Average Banks Lending Interest Rates (Percent) 18.4 14.1 18.6 22.5 Average Banks Savings Interest Rates (Percent) 8.0 6.7 6.2 5.4 Balance of Trade (Millions of US $) 30.1 246.7 -150.9 -87.8* * Estimate PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 30 THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL BANK

2/ Agricultural sector only 2/ Level of credits declined in 2000 due to settlement of L$676.9 million in the rubber sub-sector 3/ Increased debts to CBL due to the shouldering of all NBL debts by Government as well as revaluation 4/ Includes clearing, reserves and others NOTE: Data for 1999 and 2001 presented as prevailing market exchange rates. These Statistics were received from the Research Department of the Central Bank of Liberia by Fax on March 18, 2002

Table 2 FUNCTIONING BANKING INSTITUTIONS PRE POST WAR LIBERIA

1979 1989 1999 2001 Bank of Liberia Citi Bank Citibank Chase Manhattan ITC ITC ITC NHSB NHSB ** ACDB ACDB * >I< Tradevco Tradevco Tradevco Tradevco LFTC* LFTC* ** LBDI LBDI LBDI LBDI BCCI BCCI FCIB ** FUAB ** Eurobank ** Rovia ** LUBI ECOBANK ECOBANK IBLL *Banking Financial Intermediary ** Subject to liquidation, reorganization or re-capitalization

Attempts at development without a plan that envisages the needs, conditions, and circumstances of a particular society, can only lead to an exercise in futility. Liberia's approach to meaningful economic development must provide those basic infrastruc- tures, which will lend to facilitating a development process so that the people of the country can exercise their freedom of speech, political franchise, practice their religion and culture, engage in entrepreneurial endeavors, and raise the level of education.

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...... FRANCIS L. M. HORTON 31

Economic development in Liberia must be grounded in good planning and effective implementation of relevant policies and programs. But economic development without financial facilities is like cultivating the soil to grow food crops without any seeds to plant. Money is a necessary evil for those who think of it as such, but a strong functioning financial system is necessary for the economy of Liberia to grow and develop. Therefore, money for financing project and programs must be seen as indispensable elements for sound economic development. Banks must mobilize capital in the form of personal, consumer, business, and mort- gage loans. Government also needs financing for its socioeconomic programs. Banks and financial institutions play crucial roles in fostering economic development because they are focal points in the accumulation and distribution of the capital resources of an economy. Because of the sensitivity of the industry, the Central Bank is necessary for regulating and protecting the interest of the public. It must ensure that the public's funds are obtainable if and when they are demanded. It must also regulate this sector to avoid usury by banks charging indiscriminately high interest rates for borrowed funds and other services. Therefore, if trade, commercial, industry, social welfare, and religious activities are to prosper in an environment that is safe and secure, then a central bank must exist as an integral part of a properly functioning legal and financial system. Such an environment requires socio-economic amenities such as sufficient supply of electricity and water, a good sewage system, efficient communications, adequate housing, roads and transportation, and proper educational and health facilities. Social welfare provisions must be made for the disabled, infirmed, and aged to live a wholesome functioning life as part of the economic development efforts. Consequently, every leadership of Liberia has the responsibility to ensure the appropriate atmosphere for economic development. Its success in this regard is primarily dependent on having a clear VISION, translated and defined into a social and economic development plan for the country. On the other hand, the people's responsibility lies in the democratic choices they make in selecting their leader and in giving their support through private development initiatives.

The Role of the Central Bank in Fostering Economic Development in Postwar Liberia The CBL still lacks the financial capacity to efficiently perform in accordance with its mandate as contained in the Articles of Incorporation and the Financial Institution Act and also needs the moral credibility to exercise its oversight responsibilities as a Central Bank. The conditions confronting the NBL after Liberia's first civil war and the financial sector, included destroyed administrative facilities, loss of cash in vault, inability of Government to settle overly extended obligations to the banks, demoralized staff, looted PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 32 THE ROLE OF THE CENTRAL BANK

and destroyed banking institutions, lack of capital resources to service local and foreign obligations, delinquency in banks' excess reserves settlement, a practically collapsed central government, and more than 70% unemployment rate. Other adverse conditions include poverty at its highest rate, per capita, zero balance in foreign reserves, a displaced population and refugees, abandoned and damaged real-estate, reduced foreign and domestic trade and commerce, flight of professionals and a dys- functional judicial and security system. These conditions significantly reduced the means for enhancing economic development in post-war Liberia as was evident in pre- war Liberia, which had the minimal conditions for financing and disseminating resources into the economy. The challenge, now, is to revamp and create a strong and progressive economy where the private sector exists in a free enterprise or market driven system that would allow the financial sector to operate under the rule of law, the effectively allocating the resources of the country, within the framework of a Master Economic Development Plan. This calls for a strong and credible Central Bank to function independently of political influence and promote monetary policies that cater to sectoral lending to stimulate consistent and sustainable growth in the agriculture, construction, trading, service, manufacturing sectors. It must also use regulatory tools including interest to contract, constrict, and expand the monetary system so as to curb inflation, deflation, recession, and depression. Further, if the Central Bank of Liberia is to play a significant role in economic development in post-war Liberia, it must maintain its statutory mandate to serve as the government's principal depository and banker, but on the basis of standard customers/banker relationship. The Central Bank should participate in the Management of local and foreign funds to ensure foreign currency liquidity. I see the role of the Central Bank of Liberia in economic development to continue as stipulated in its Legislative Bill of Incorporation and the Financial Institution Act. These governing documents, in my opinion, are adequate and sufficient in giving Banks the authority, responsibility, and rights to exercise and execute its oversight role. Finally, let me emphasize that my specific suggestions regarding the role of the Central Bank of Liberia in financing economic development in Post-war Liberia pre- suppose three pertinent factors. First, the election of a national leadership that has a clear, lucid, and concise VISION for the sound socio-economic development of Liberia and whose vision is translated into a constructive STRATEGIC NATIONAL DEVEL- OPMENT PLAN. Second, the existence of a government that exhibits the political will to implement a constructive strategic socio-economic development plan within the framework of sound economic principles, prudent and judicial practices, profes- sionalism and moral codes of conduct. Third, a people committed to civility and progress through industry, which according to Webster, is "labor for useful purposes." Therefore, my specific suggestions regarding the role of the Central Bank of Liberia (CBL) in economic development in post-war Liberia can be categorized and summed up as follows:

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1. Advisory, Consultative and Policy Formulation Role In this role, the Central Bank of Liberia serves as a principal advisor and consultant to GOL on financial and monetary matters. Appropriate policies relating to monetary matters should be formulated and implemented. Under the post-war conditions described above, its policy measures and consultative role concerning the revitalization of the financial sector, could be mainly geared toward: 1.1 Laying out a plan to deal with the existing Banks that have not yet been liquidated, reorganized, or re-capitalized and to monetize dormant deposit accounts. Deposits of the eight, closed banks as of the beginning of post-war Liberia according to the Governor's proposal to the Commission were supposed to have been stated as high as L$330 million. This amount, if recovered, could immeasurably resuscitate a depressed and stagnant economy in the rubber, palm, cocoa, coffee, farms, real estate, and other indigenous commercial sectors. 1.2 Developing strategies for settling and restructuring the government's debts to banks and to creditors with the view of accessing new sources of capital to stimulate the system through the infusion of liquidity. The Central Bank of Liberia's Finan- cial and Economic Bulletin, Volume 2 of January - March 2001 states under its Public Debt heading: "The country's heavy debt burden now constitutes a formidable obstacle against efforts toward national reconstruction and economic recovery. Since 1989, when the civil war broke out in the country, the national debt service payments stopped and by December 2000, the total estimated debt (both external and internal) of the country was put at US$2.79 billion, 65.5% of GOP" Hence, the infusion of liquidity, especially through the settlement of domestic debts by Government, could then be plowed back into the economy and could spur revitalized new economic activities in the agriculture, trading, real estate, and other sectors. Debt retirement calls for ingenuity and commitment from the debtor (government). Urgent actions should be taken by government to redeem the long outstanding Savings Bonds due to the public since the 1980s. 1.3 Promoting the establishment of new banks particularly indigenously owned banks, including development oriented banks that encourage institutionalized savings and the expansion offinancial services to rural communities. At the close of 1979 there were 10 banking Institutions. Ten years later by 1989, there were 12 banking institutions, and by 1999, there were only 5 operating banks with about 7 banking institutions insolvent and yet to be liquidated, reorganized or re-capitalized as require by law. Every effort must be exerted not only to increase the number of banks but also to have their services expanded to rural communities and a public education campaign on the importance of savings to the improvement of personal, corporate, and public sector's financial worth. Cooperatives, savings clubs, credit unions and "susus ", should be

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encouraged as traditional sources of capital mobilization and deposits in banks. Consideration should also be given to the rescheduling and restructuring of debts by customers to the banks with the view of liquidating non-performing loans. 1.4 Directing the flow of capital to the essentialproductive areas of the economy such as agriculture, mining, construction, utilities, etc. The agriculture sector forms a major portion of GDP. Logging and rubber productions are the great foreign exchange earners. Policy measures need to be directed towards financing arrangements for converting these exports from raw materials into secondary and finished products that increase the foreign earning capacity of the Liberian economy.

2. Supervisory & Regulatory Role In this capacity, the Central Bank of Liberia, would continue to serve as a watch- dog to make sure that the banking institutions within its jurisdiction comply with the various rules, regulations and laws as laid down by the Financial Institution Act and operate in accordance with each individual institution's adopted policies and procedures consistent with governing statues. These regulatory and supervisory responsibilities are at all times significant but with respect to the prevailing post-war circumstances, the following tools or mechanism should be more cautiously but at the same time rigidly effected to stimulate, control and regularize the sector and economy: 2.1 Imposing relevant interest rates, which augur a viable financial sector and in term stimulate sound economic development and growth. Rates that significantly affect trade and commerce and consequently the cost of living include: 2.1.1 Lending Rates 2.1.2 Deposit Rates 2.1.3 Rates for Discount and other Investment Securities: Deposit interest rates levels determine the attractiveness of capital into the banking system while affordable lending rates encourage bor- rowing to finance consumer needs for various enterprises. Discount mechanisms and securities market are also means of mobilizing capital. Interest rate manipulation is one of the principal mechanisms for stabilizing and stimulating economic growth and expansion. 2.2 Stipulating reasonable Minimal Reserve Requirements for banks in accordance with prevailing economic circumstances. Any Excess Reserves that the Central Bank holds for commercial banks adversely affects the liquidity of the banking system in so far as extending credit and meeting the demands of deposit customers. Also excessive Minimal Reserve Requirements can impose liquidity

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hardships on banks and, in turn, on the productiveness of the financial sector in financing economic development projects. 2.3 Ensuring that realistic Internal Ratios including the following are maintained by the various banks: 2.3.1 Cash in Vault to Deposits - Banks that receive deposits should always maintain sufficient levels of cash on hand to meet the withdrawal demands of their customers. A satisfactory or appropriate ratio should necessarily be determined on the basis of certain economic indices such as those which would tend to cause inflation, recession, or depression relative to money and credit supply, productivity and employment. 2.3.2 Loans to Deposits - These ratios should consistently imply a satisfactory margin between Loans and Deposits of banks to prevent an insolvent situation occurring where depositors cannot receive their funds in a timely manner. The determination of this ratio must always be dependent on factors, which relate to the types of deposits (time, etc.) capital sufficiency, types of loans, as well as other relevant economic indicators. 2.3.3 Capital to Assets - Sufficient capital should always be maintained by banks to ensure a cushion for unforeseen deterioration in their asset base such as loans in order to reasonably meet liabilities in the form of deposits. Determining an appropriate ratio is contingent on the quality of the loans portfolio, percentage of core deposits, retained earnings, and other economic factors. 2.4 Implementing realistic Foreign Currency Exchange Regime - Up to 1980, Liberia's currency was on par to the United States dollars (one to one). Since the 1980 coup, when the Liberian five-dollar coins and five-dollar notes were introduced and subsequently the introduction of denominations of L$10, L$20, L$50, and L$100. Liberian currency parities have substantially risen especially during the war to as high as US$ 1 to L$ 80. Exchange stability and currency strength are dependent on a variety of economic factors but, particularly, on export earnings, which could be improved by value added exports and by the Central Bank's limited access to all foreign earnings. 2.5 Overseeing and maintaining Inter-bank Clearing House standards for the various banks and its efficient operations - The effectiveness of the banking system is directly related to how expeditiously banks' negotiable instruments, such as checks, are processed and routed between one another because these items are essential to daily and routine commercial and personal financial transactions. The Clearing House System of banks' items has to remain efficient and effective to facilitate trade, commerce and daily routines in the country.

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2.6 Pursuing regular, frequent, consistent, and effective Data Processing Systems to evaluate and monitor the management and operations of various banks. - In the context of globalization, technology has become an indispensable factor. Trade, commerce, and industry are completely dependent on modern technology for viable sustenance. The Central Bank's supervisory and regulatory role would be immeasurably enhanced with an up to date Management Informa- tion (MI) System to monitor, evaluate, assess and execute its central banking functions. 2.7 Instituting a regular, frequent and effective examination process of all banks to ensure their adherence to banking laws, regulations, and procedures especially to preempt insolvency, fraud, and mismanagement - As most of the banks are profit oriented, the Central Bank's examination functions are necessary to institute preventative and proactive measures with regard to mismanagement and fraud, in the interest of the public as depositors and shareholders of the banking institutions. Therefore, examinations must be periodically frequent and spot. 2.8 Structuring the Central Bank of Liberia's Internal Administration and Opera- tions to cope with its Supervisory , Regulatory, Advisory, Consultative, and Depository functions- The Central Bank's organizational structure should be reflective of its objectives and purposes as stated in its Incorporation Act. Besides other functional units there should be units to facilitate its POLI- CIES, EXAMINATION, REGULATORY, ADVISORY, CURRENCY ISSUES, CLEARING, DEPOSITORY, and CATALYTIC functions, as man- dated by law. 2.9 Supervising and regulating the flow of money to meet the demands and needs of the economy - Inflation is definitely a consequence of the infusion of currency into the economy without due consideration to basic fiscal and monetary factors such as the levels of domestic productivity and export generated revenues. Therefore, currency or money supply should be predicated on the results of an evaluation of need.

3. Depository and Catalytic role The Central Bank of Liberia must fully assume its role as the Government's main banker so that its capacity to regulate and stimulate the financial sector and thereby the national economy, can be enhanced. This role has the following implications: 3.1 Government's foreign and domestic revenues should initially, be deposited with CBL and then soundly applied within an overall Strategic Economic Plan. 3.2 CBL must be in position to offer the Government, through the Ministry of Finance, basic and professional financial and banking services in the areas of

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deposit accounts and short and medium term loans that are based on feasible development proposals and operational needs. 3.3 CBL in conjunction with the Ministry of Finance and consistent with a National Economic Strategic Plan must allocate foreign and domestic resources to stimulate trade, commence, and industry in the private and public sectors.

Conclusion The question regarding the Central Bank of Liberia's role in contributing to economic development in post-war Liberia, is basically dependent on how effective it is in exercising its oversight responsibility, which is directly related to the country's social and political condition. Further, the Central Bank's capacity to finance economic development will require that it functions within a political and economic climate that permits it to prudently and independently supervise and regulate the financial and banking sectors. It must do so by utilizing the various monetary tools at its disposal, in order to mobilize capital from deposits and other sources, and to apply the mobilized capital toward sector lending. The primary objective is to stimulate financing of private and public sector needs, especially those that are pertinent to sustainable economic development. Spe- cifically, the tools or mechanism that are at the Central Bank's disposal, include the determination of lending and deposit interest rates among the institutions under its jurisdiction. They also consist of determining the various ratios to ensure solvency and liquidity within the system. In addition, Minimal Reserve Requirements when soundly applied or imposed, can influence the level of liquidity of Banks as well as the Central Bank itself which in turn has an impacting affect on increased economic activities in the country. Realistically we cannot ignore the Herculean task the Central Bank of Liberia faces in post-war Liberia to properly fulfill its mandate. It has to confront an economy that is stagnant; a significant number of its major contributors to foreign and domestic trade and commerce. Equally relevant are the number of banks, which have become operational since the war. These disturbing factors are compounded by the fear of perceived insecurity. Recent sanctions by the United Nations (UN) have adversely exacerbated a rather unfavorable national socio-economic situation for the country. I have attempted to define the role of the Central Bank under the prevailing precarious circumstances and have enumerated its mandate as the national banking authority. The principal issue, in my view, is creating and inducing a stable and condu- cive, political climate that encourages banking institutions encourage enterprises and individuals to operate, co-exist and perform. These conditions, I believe, should precede economic development and are therefore the right causes of the Central Bank's positive and constructive role in economic development. I have proposed three main categories of these roles: 1) Advisory, Consultative and Policy Formulation, (2) Supervi-

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sory and Regulatory; and (3) Depository and Catalytic. These are the specific roles of the Central Bank of Liberia in enhancing economic development based on the realistic conditions, which exist in postwar Liberia.

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Searching for Solutions in Post-War Liberia

Reginald A. Hoyt d Alexander L. Peal*

Introduction The international conservation community recognizes Liberia, and the Upper Guinea Forest in particular, as a global priority. More than any other nation in West Africa, Liberia has retained 43% of its tropical lowland (Sayer et al., 1992); it houses a significant component of the world's biodiversity. Species of particular concern include forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis), jentink's duiker (Cephalophus jentinkz), zebra duiker (Cephalophus zebra), pygmy hippopotamus (Hexaprotodon liberiensis), chimpanzee (Pan trogolodytes), diana monkey (Cercopithecus diana), red colobus (Procolobus badius), black and white colobus (Colo- bus polykomos). In addition to mammals, Liberia boasts approximately 600 species of birds, of which 88 are restricted to primary forest (Gatter, 1997). Liberia's forests have not been well studied by biologists. The discovery of the Liberian mongoose (Liberiictis kuhni) in 1958 (Martin, 1991) demonstrated that Liberia's forests might hold more secrets. However, the future of Liberia's forests and wildlife is far from certain. The civil conflict of 1989 to 1997 set back the conservation advances of the 1980s. It set the stage for the economic collapse that currently threatens Liberia's people, forests, and wildlife.

Pre-War Conservation Activities Conservation activities in Liberia made major advances in the 1970s and 1980s. For example, the Government of Liberia created the Forestry Development Authority (FDA) in 1976 by an act prescribing Liberia's national forests as "a permanent forest estate made up of reserved. areas upon which scientific forestry will be practiced." In 1983, the People's Redemption Council (PRC) created Sapo National Park by its Decree No. 73 (Sayer et al).

We would like to thank the following individuals and organizations that provided generous finding and support to the projects outlined in this paper: the American Zoo and Aquarium Association's Conservation Endowment Fund, the Beneficia Foundation, the Catherwood Foundation, the Critical Ecosystme Fund managed by Conservation International, the Docent Council of the Philadelphia Zoo, the Philadelphia Zoo Chapert of the American Association of Zoo Keepers, EroSport, the staff and volunteers of the Philadelphia Zoo, and Mrs. Susan Reed. Special thanks go to Mrs. Jill Frayne and Ms. Katherine Reed, interns within the Conservation & Science Department of the Philadelphia Zoo who have contributed so much to making the Zoo's conservation program a success. Finally, the authors wish to thank the Forestry Development Authority and the Government of Liberia, without whose support none of this work would have been possible.

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVII, 2 (2002)

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1992). It is Liberia's only National Park. The Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia (SCNL), Liberia's first environmental non-governmental organization (NGO) was founded in 1986. Working in partnership, the FDA, and SCNL collaborated with international NGOs to create a model conservation program at Sapo National Park that relied upon community awareness and extension versus strict law enforcement. By 1990, 23 local villages were participating in both tree nursery and bean farm projects with no direct financial support, attesting to the strength of the cooperative relationship. Further, the FDA was developing a Tropical Forestry Action Plan for Liberia in 1990. This plan recognized the need for: 1) local land-use management units, linked to national forests, which would formulate and implement management plans with the FDA; and 2) that there was a need to foster the development of conservation expertise within the FDA (Sayer et al., 1992). While management practices for the forest and the National Park during this time could be questioned, it was clear that conservation efforts were being made and that conservation was on the government's agenda (Garnett, 2000).

Civil Conflict and its Impact on Conservation Shambaugh et al. (2001) identified several ways in which the environment is impacted by conflict. Impacts identified included: 1) habitat destruction, with its accompanying impact on wildlife, 2) pollution, 3) impacts on conservation efforts by both governmental and non-governmental agencies, 4) the cycle of conflict, environmental degradation and poverty; and 5) the host of political, social, and economic impacts that follow armed conflict. While each of these points could be illustrated by examples from the Liberian conflict, this paper will address only a few examples. The displacement of thousands of people during the conflict had both positive and negative affects on habitat destruction in Liberia. In heavily contested areas (e.g. Sinoe County), people fled the country or were displaced. Under reduced pressure from farming and hunting, the forest and wildlife rebounded. In other areas of Liberia, where refugees were concentrated, forests were severely degraded by cutting for fire- wood and charcoal production, while the harvest of bushmeat (wild game) depleted wildlife stocks. Throughout the civil war, timber harvesting played an important role in financing the conflict and resulted in the construction of a new road in 1992 through the once remote Krahn-Bassa National Forest, thus linking the towns of Buchanan and Greenville. This and subsequent new roads have provided access to slash and burn agriculturists and bushmeat hunters, further exacerbating the environmental impact of logging activities. Unfortunately the management of logging activities by the FDA has been impaired by a reduced capacity to enforce existing regulations. With the collapse of the pre-war government came the cessation of many civil society services. While FDA personnel continued to go to work each day, all conservation activities halted and personnel seldom received their pay. The same was true for

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SCNL, which was dependent upon international NGO support for its existence. Nei- ther the FDA nor SCNL could continue the conservation programs within areas of conflict or without external financial support. Therefore, conservation efforts within Liberia's forests and at Sapo National Park essentially came to a halt. The cessation of conservation activities in a country torn by war may seem to be prudent; however, there are clear linkages between political, social, economic and environmental impacts of conflict with each feeding into one another to create a cycle of conflict, environmental degradation, and poverty (Shambaugh et al., 2001). Envi- ronmental degradation via the disruption of governmental and non-governmental agency activities, war-time and post-war rushes for resources, the breakdown of civil society, and the human health aspects all may promote poverty, which in turn may foster further civil conflict.

Post-War Challenges By the end of Liberia's civil war, the country's infrastructure was in ruin, and the economy and civil society had collapsed. As with many countries that are recovering from conflict, the economic desperation of postwar Liberia has fostered a "gold rush" approach to natural resource extraction. While Liberia retained 43% of its forests intact prior to the war, it is unclear how much has been lost during and after the conflict. A forest reassessment being undertaken by Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International, and SCNL may provide some new insights; however, it is clear that deforestation has increased dramatically in recent years as multi-national logging companies have harvested at unprecedented rates, and that the forests that were once the pride of the National Forest system are now under great threat from logging activities. The capacity of the FDA to scientifically manage Liberia's forest reserves has been greatly reduced. Some may see new roads as economic and social benefits, but the construction of vast networks of logging roads through forest reserves also serves to fragment habitat, and to create avenues for settlement and for unregulated extraction of wildlife resources. These factors combined are threatening the future of Liberia's forest and wildlife resources. While the liquidation of forest and wildlife assets may appear to be the solution to national short-term financial needs, the long-term impacts upon Liberian society may be far-reaching. To promote the long-term management of Liberia's natural resources, it is essential that the Government of Liberia and NGOs resume conservation programs immediately. The primary challenges impeding the resumption of conservation activity in Liberia include: Lack of up-to-date data; Lack of awareness; Lack of capacity within both governmental and non-governmental agencies;

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Lack of empowerment for individuals and communities to address environmental issues; Poverty. The remainder of this paper will discuss the strategies that the Philadelphia Zoo, in partnership with SCNL and the FDA, has undertaken to address Liberia's conservation needs.

Philadelphia Zoo/SCNL Partnership: A Case Study The Philadelphia Zoo began its One With Nature conservation program in 1992. Among the first projects was the development of "Adopt Sapo", a program designed to provide direct support to conservation efforts at Sapo National Park, Liberia's only national park. While there was no staff or activities at Sapo National Park at the time, it was believed that the war was nearly over and that conservation activities would soon resume. This proved to be overly optimistic as the war continued for several more years. The Zoo's interests, while still focused to a great extent on Sapo National Park and the adjacent communities, would broaden over the years. In an effort to maintain Liberia's professional capacity for the implementation of conservation programming, the Zoo first chose to support the retention of the trained staff remaining within the FDA and SCNL. This was seen as a prerequisite for the resumption of conservation activities when the war ended, and was undertaken in collaboration with the US-based Society for the Renewal of Nature Conservation in Liberia (SRNCL). The Zoo's financial commitment to SCNL and the FDA, while small, was significant insofar as the conflict had driven out all of the large international conservation NGOs which had been essential to the development of both agencies. The Zoo had essentially taken on a smaller scale, surrogate role. Through the war, the Zoo served as a surrogate international NGO by providing supplemental stipends to SCNL and FDA staff, as well as uniforms, office materials, equipment and a vehicle used to promote the development of conservation programming. Once the war had ended, the Zoo hoped to encourage the resumption of conservation programs by the large international conservation organizations by supporting a "Post-War Conservation Assessment", which SRNCL was to implement in early 1997. The goal of the assessment was to evaluate the impact of the war on Sapo National Park and the capacities of SCNL and FDA to resume conservation activities. It was hoped that the resulting report could serve as a primer for the resumption of large-scale conservation activities in Liberia. The results of that assessment were rather startling. While protected areas often suffer during times of conflict (see Blom et al., 2000 and Shambaugh et al., 2001), Sapo National Park had suffered little damage during the war and the wildlife of Sinoe County had apparently rebounded under reduced human exploitation. The area had been hotly contested by rival factions and most of the civilian population had fled the country or to other parts of Liberia. This provided a respite from harvesting for Sinoe

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County's wildlife; however, the construction of a logging road through the Krahn- Bassa National Forest was of grave concern. Timber had served as an economic driver for the conflict, and this new road would likely serve as a corridor for the further degradation of the forest and wildlife by settlers and hunters. Observations over subsequent years have proven that those concerns were warranted. The 1997 "Conservation Assessment" laid the foundation for the Zoo's future conservation activities in Liberia. Since 1997, the Philadelphia Zoo, in partnership with SCNL and the FDA, has taken a broad-based approach to its conservation endeavors. While the benefits of a more focused avenue of action are clear, the multiple priorities of conservation in post- war Liberia have demanded a broader approach by the Philadelphia Zoo. This approach has focused on building on its existing relationship with the FDA and SCNL, but has also expanded its circle of partners to include many others in Liberia and among the international conservation community. Both the FDA and SCNL suffer from greatly reduced post-war capacities for addressing the conservation needs of the country. However, there is a need for direct conservation action at all levels of society from individuals to the highest levels of government. We believe that action will only come with awareness and empowerment, and have therefore worked to promote these traits at all levels of society. We further believe that poverty is the root cause of environmental degradation and that it must also be addressed when determining the conservation actions needed to control extrac- tive activities (e.g. bushmeat). The primary challenges to the resumption of conservation action in Liberia have been identified above. The Zoo, in partnership with SCNL, the FDA and others, has undertaken a number of projects which we feel have helped create a framework from which to address these challenges. Below is a summary of the Zoo's projects as they relate to the current challenges to the resumption of conservation activities in Liberia.

Lack of Data: Conservation Assessment-1997 Described above, this project provided much needed data for the establishment of priority actions for the future and helped to promote the conservation needs of Liberia to an international audience. It is believed that this project may have been instrumen- tal in promoting the return of international conservation NGOs.

Cestos River Pygmy Hippopotamus Survey-1999 Led by SRNCL and SCNL, and funded by Wildlnvest, this project demonstrated the importance of the Cestos River watershed as a conservation priority, and brought to light the growing threat from unregulated bushmeat harvesting. While the forest along the Cestos River was essentially untouched by logging activities, hunters associated with a large logging camp downstream were having a major impact upon wildlife diversity. This project was the direct catalyst for the development of the hunters and bushmeat surveys described below. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 44 SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS IN POST-WAR LIBERIA

Hunters Survey-2000 In an effort to evaluate the distribution and relative abundance of selected mammal species within southeastern Liberia, the Zoo conducted interviews with hunters in Sinoe and Rivercess Counties in partnership with SCNL and the FDA. This survey identified the need for greater wildlife law enforcement and resulted in the development of the "Liberia's Protected Wildlife" poster. The poster, produced at the request of the hunters interviewed, provides a framework from which to promote the obser- vance of current wildlife regulations.

Sinoe County Bushmeat Survey-2001 The unsustainable exploitation of wildlife for commercial purposes has become a global concern (see Bakarr et al., 2001; Barnett, 2000; Reynolds et al., 2001; and Robinson & Bennett, 2000 for detailed discussions), and is recognized as the greatest immediate threat to the survival of many species. The "Sinoe County Bushmeat Sur- vey" is an on-going project that seeks to better understand Liberia's bushmeat industry from the perspective of the rural communities, and also evaluates the impact of hunting upon local wildlife populations. Hunters from three villages in Sinoe County provide daily information on wildlife harvest and use. See Frayne and Hoyt, in this volume, for a preliminary report on this work.

Urban Public Opinion & Bushmeat Survey-2002 This project takes the Zoo's interests in wildlife utilization and public opinion to a broader, national scale. In early 2002, over 2,300 interviews were conducted in eight communities throughout Liberia. Twenty students from the University of Liberia and Cuttington University College conducted the interviews under the supervision of staff from SCNL, FDA and the Zoo. This is the first component of a countrywide effort that will include a "Rural Public Opinion & Bushmeat Survey", to be conducted in 2003. These projects will assist in identifying the key components driving the bushmeat trade in Liberia and assist in developing strategies to promote the sustainable management of Liberia's wildlife resources.

Lack of Awareness: Public Awareness Campaign-1997 During the 1997 "Conservation Assessment", led by SRNCL and SCNL, a public awareness campaign was also undertaken. The goal was to promote peace and the resumption of conservation activities. Bumper stickers reading "Restore Peace and Sapo National Park" were widely distributed. The print and radio media of Monrovia were also broadly used to promote awareness of the "Conservation Assessment" and the need for conservation action.

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"Protected Wildlife of Liberia" Poster-2001 Interviews with hunters in 2000 demonstrated that there was a need for greater awareness of Liberia's existing wildlife regulations. Hunters interviewed repeatedly requested that a poster be produced illustrating those species protected by law. In early 2001, a prototype poster produced by the Zoo in collaboration with SCNL and the FDA was distributed in Sinoe County. The success of this prototype resulted in the large-scale production of an updated version of the "Protected Wildlife of Liberia" poster in 2002, which was widely distributed throughout Liberia in conjunction with the "Urban Public Opinion & Bushmeat Survey". This poster will also be utilized during the proposed "Rural Public Opinion & Bushmeat Survey" and the "National Public Awareness Campaign" that are to be conducted in 2003.

Presidential Meeting-2002 In January of 2002, Conservation International (CI) and several partners, including the authors, were granted a meeting with his Excellency, President Charles G. Taylor. The purpose of this meeting was to present an environmental position paper written by CI on behalf of a consortium of environmental groups. The position paper was intended to promote awareness and action related to a list of conservation priorities for Liberia. The meeting was also initiated to discuss action steps that may be taken by the Government of Liberia in partnership with the conservation community. This meeting resulted in a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between CI and the Government of Liberia calling for, among other actions, the establishment of a protected area system that would encompass more than 3.7 million acres of Liberian forests, protecting at least 30% of the remaining forest cover. While the writing of this MOU is a clear indicator of the impact of this meeting, it is also a step towards promoting public awareness of the importance of the conservation issues facing Liberia.

"Forest Football League" In an effort to promote awareness and to demonstrate that communities adjacent to Sapo National Park can benefit from their relationship with the Park, a "Forest Football League" is currently being formed via a partnership between SCNL, the FDA and the Zoo. The League will be made up of eight teams, incorporating participants from the communities adjacent to the Park. With each team being named after an endangered species, it is hoped that the games will not only provide recreational opportunities for the communities but also a chance to promote awareness and positive conservation action.

Pilot Public Awareness Campaign-2002 As a component of the "Urban Public Opinion & Bushmeat Survey" a pilot public awareness campaign is to be implemented in Monrovia during the months of April through June 2002. Utilizing a variety of media (print, radio and street theater), the PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 46 SEARCHING FOR SOLUTIONS IN POST-WAR LIBERIA

goal will be to evaluate the effectiveness of public awareness campaigns in changing public knowledge or opinion. Following the awareness campaign, students from the University of Liberia and Cuttington University College will conduct a post-campaign survey in Monrovia to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign in changing responses to the "Public Opinion Survey". The campaign will focus on specific issues addressed by the Survey, and will seek to measure changes in responses from pre- and post-campaign surveys.

National Public Awareness Campaign-2003 The results of the "Pilot Public Awareness Campaign" of 2002 will be used to formulate a "National Public Awareness Campaign" for 2003. A consortium of governmental and non-governmental participants will develop a unified plan to promote conservation messages to the Liberian public. The messages will be transmitted to the public via a variety of media, and the results will again be measured by a post-campaign survey. This campaign will serve as a rallying point for all conservation partners in Liberia and will seek to bring conservation issues to the collective consciousness of Liberia, where they may be addressed in a collaborative manner.

Capacity Building/Governmental & Non-Governmental Agencies: WarTime Support As described above, the Zoo provided in-kind and financial support to SCNL and the FDA through much of the civil conflict. This support assisted in the retention of trained professionals by SCNL and the FDA. These trained professionals now serve as the core personnel for the development of conservation programming in Liberia.

Post-War Capacity Building While large international NGOs have returned to substantial amounts of assis- tance to promote capacity building within the FDA and SCNL, the Zoo has provided on-going support via in-kind donations of field and office equipment, and resource materials that are of a more modest nature. The Zoo has recently begun to expand its circle of conservation partners in Liberia, engaging in minor capacity building efforts.

Empowerment: Community Relations Officer The FDA's 1990 Tropical Forestry Action Plan for Liberia recognizes the need for empowering local communities to manage their forest resources. Further, the IUCN (McNeely, 2001) stated that "putting conservation tools in the hands of the people ... will be the most reliable bulwark against conflict and insecurity." With these concepts in mind, the Zoo and SCNL developed the "Community Relations Officer" (CRO) program in 2000. This program engages individuals from the rural communities adjacent to Sapo National Park to serve as liaisons between the communities and those

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governmental and non-governmental agencies seeking to conserve the Park and its resources. However, the ultimate objective is to empower the communities to manage their natural resources in a sustainable manner and to engage them in the management of Sapo National Park. This program has expanded from a single CRO to two individuals who now provide environmental awareness programming to local communities, serve as conduits for communications, and who gather on-going data essential to the development of conservation strategies that recognize the needs of the local communities.

University Student Development Although the retention of trained professionals was clearly essential to the resumption of conservation activities in Liberia, there is also a need for the training of professionals for the future. As expected, Liberia's institutions of higher learning have also been greatly impacted by the war. In an effort to encourage students to select conservation-oriented careers, the Zoo has included opportunities for students to participate in conservation programs. Both components of the "Public Opinion & Bushmeat Sur- veys" and the "Public Awareness Campaigns" utilize students and seek to provide opportunities for career development. Future programming will seek to develop stron- ger partnerships between the Zoo and institutions of higher learning in Liberia, with the goal being to empower Liberia's universities and students to better address the conservation issues facing their nation.

Poverty Ultimately, poverty alleviation is a key element in the implementation of a conservation strategy in Liberia. While the Zoo has no capacity to provide large-scale employment or development opportunities, it does seek to provide jobs whenever possible. The "Community Relations Officer" and "Public Opinion & Bushmeat Sur- veys" have created both long-term and shortterm employment opportunities. How- ever, these efforts are not sufficient to produce lasting impacts. Conservation initiatives must be partnered with large-scale development programs to find solutions to poverty that also incorporate means of addressing long-term conservation goals. Responsible natural resource management will ultimately serve both poverty alleviation and conservation goals.

Conclusions The above discussion has attempted to demonstrate the array of efforts jointly implemented by the Philadelphia Zoo and the Society for the Conservation of Nature of Liberia to address the priority constraints on the reactivation of conservation action in post-war Liberia. These efforts by no means represent the totality of conservation action undertaken in Liberia by a host of conservationists. Nor is this paper intended

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to ignore the significance of the contributions of others. Certainly the contributions of Conservation International, Fauna & Flora International, and World Wildlife Fund- WARPO, among others, dwarf the financial commitment of the Philadelphia Zoo. The authors' only intention is to demonstrate the complexity of conservation issues faced by Liberia and how this non-traditional partnership between the Philadelphia Zoo and SCNL has evolved over time to support conservation action in Liberia. The success or failure of conservation efforts in Liberia will be determined by the strength of partnerships within and outside of Liberia. This has been a chronology of just one partnership. Existing partnerships must be strengthened and new partnerships formed among those who have not traditionally worked together. The future of Liberia's natural treasures depends on partnerships that recognize the roles of individuals, communities, local and national government, industry, and local and international conservation, development and human health organizations. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) concluded at its 2000 meeting in Amman, Jordan that peace is a pre-requisite for effective long-term conservation, and that conservation contributes towards the maintenance of peace. The responsible management of Liberia's natural resources, via a private and public partnership, will lay the groundwork for lasting peace and prosperity for the people of Liberia.

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References

Bakaar, M.I., G.A.B. da Fonseca, R. Mittermeier, A.B. Rylands and K.W. Painemilla (Eds.). 2001. Hunting and Bushmeat Utilization in the African Rain Forest: Perspec- tives Toward a Blueprint for Conservation Action. Washington, DC, USA: Conserva- tion International. Barnet, R. (Ed.). 2000. Foodfor Thought: The Utilization of Wild Meat in Eastern and Southern Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: Traffic East/Southern Africa. Blom, E., W. Bergmans, I. Dankelman, P. Verweij, M. Oeten and P. Wit (Eds.). 2000. Nature of War: Biodiversity conservation during conflict. Leiden, Netherlands: Netherlands Commission for International Nature. Gatter, W. 1997. Birds of Liberia. New Haven, CT, USA: Yale University Press. Martin, C. 1991. The Rainforests of West Africa: Ecology-Threats-Conservation. Basel, Boston, Berlin: Birkhauser Verlag. McNeely, J.A. 2001. New Directions for the 21st Century. Gland, Switzerland: IUCN-The World Conservation Union. Reynolds, J.D., G.M. Mace, K.H. Redford and J.G. Robinson (Eds.). 2001. Con- servation of Exploited Species. Cambridge University Press. Robinson, J.G. and E.L. Bennett (Eds.). 2000. Huntingfor Sustainability in Tropi- cal Forests. Columbia University Press. Sayer, J.A., C.S. Harcourt and N.M. Collins (Eds.). 1992. The Conservation Atlas of Tropical Forests: Africa. The World Conservation Union/Simon & Schuster. Shambaugh, J., J. Oglethorpe, and R. Ham (with contributions from S. Tognetti). 2001. The Trampled Grass: Mitigating the impacts ofarmed conflict on the environment. Washington, DC, USA: Biodiversity Support Program.

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LIBERIAN STUDIES JOURNAL Guest Editor D. Elwood Dunn Sewanee - The University of the South

Editor Amos J. Beyan Western Michigan University

Associate Editor Phyllis Belt-Beyan Western Michigan University

Book Review Editor Tim Geysbeek Grand Valley State University

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD:

FORMER EDITORS Al-Hassan Conteh Amos J. Beyan C. William Allen Edward J. Biggane D. Elwood Dunn Svend Holsoe Jo Sullivan

Edited at the History Department, Western Michigan University

DOCUMENTS 55

ARCHIVES DOCUMENTS OF THE POLITICAL TURMOIL OF 1955

By D. Elwood Dunn

The presidential election of 1955 was perhaps the most hotly contested in the First Republic (1847-1980) since the Roye episode of 1870/71, the latter resulting in the overthrow and assassination of President Edward James Roye (1869-1871). In office then for a decade, President William V.S. Tubman (served 1944-1971) was challenged in 1955 by his predecessor, President Edwin J. Barclay (1930-1944). The charges and countercharges of the campaign season and their aftermaths involving the incumbent True Whig Party candidate Tubman, and Independent True Whig Party candidate Barclay have yet adequately to be analyzed. A masters thesis defended at Howard Uni- versity in 1960 (Townsend Lucas "The Liberian Presidential Election of 1955") took a first good cut. A government version of a fallout of that election, "The Plot That Failed." sheds little light. In the course of archival research in the U.S. and Liberia over the past several years I stumbled upon several documents touching that important event or series of events in the political history of Liberia. They follow in sequence: 1. "Special Message of William V.S. Tubman, President of Liberia To The Extraor- dinary Session of the Forty-Third Legislature of Liberia" (Monrovia, Liberia, June 13, 1955). Tubman here is merciless with his predecessor opponent, Edwin Barclay. 2. A Statement from Barclay "To The Partisans of The Independent True Whig Party and Citizens In General" explains the events then lived. 3. Official Report of William V.S. Tubman To The Legislature In Extraordinary Session On the Incident Of The Assassination Attempt, June 22, 1955, Execu- tive Mansion, July 11, 1955. 4. United States Embassy Foreign Service Dispatch from Monrovia to Washing- ton entitled "Attempted Assassination of Liberian President," U.S. Embassy, June 26, 1955). 5. William V. S. Tubman's Confession from BTC. 6. Independent True Whig Party's Statements and Activities in 1955.

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVIII, 1 (2003)

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Special Message Of William V. S. Tubman President of Liberia To The Extraordinary Session Of The Forty-Third Legislature of Liberia

Monrovia, Liberia June 13, 1955

June 13, 1955 Gentlemen: Because of a nugatory paper filed by Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated candidate for the Presidency of Liberia at the General Elections held throughout the Repub- lic on the 3rd day of May, A., D. 1955, called by him "Bill of Exceptions" and filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the First Judicial Circuit, Montserrada County, in which false, malicious and derogatory paper he represents to the Honorable the House of Representatives causes and reasons why he claims it should not declare William V. S. Tubman, President Elect of the Republic of Liberia, and that the Presidency should be awarded to him Edwin Barclay, notwithstanding the said William V. S. Tubman President of the Republic of Liberia received of the total votes cast at the said election more than ninety-nine one half (99 1/2) percent as, against him the said Edwin Barclay who received less than one half of one percent of the total votes cast, you have been convoked in this Extraordinary Session to consider and dispose of the unconstitutional, illegal and deliberate attempt of the said ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate Edwin Barclay, to usurp the office of President of the Republic, by stealth and artifice in requesting the House of Representative to award him the Presidency of Liberia despite the fact that the people of the country have by their virtual unanimous vote for William V. S. Tubman, placed upon him the said Edwin Barclay their oppro- brium.

Liberian Studies Journal,XXVIII, 1 (2003)

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Both of your Houses have been convoked in. Extraordinary Session because under the Constitution, neither House can be in Session more than two days without the other; nor does the Constitution provide for the convoking or convening of one House without the other; and also further, because the said ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate Edwin Barclay in the identical nugatory paper filed by him and called "Bill of Exceptions" prays that the President be impeached and that he be awarded the Presidency. This unconstitutional, illegal and outrageous effrontery against the free and unre- stricted will of the People by the said Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate, involves, in my opinion, a violation of the Constitution, the Election Laws of the Country and certain social principles. Hereunder I quote word for word the nugatory paper hereinabove referred to, filed by the said Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate at the General Elections held on May 3rd last past; and immediately following the said nugatory paper, my Observations and Recommendations, for your consideration and disposal.

REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA MAY 10, 1955

To: The Honorable The House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia Monrovia

In re:

Quadrennial Election of May 3, 1955.

Edwin Barclay, Presidential Candidate of the Independent True Whig Party R. L. CONTESTANT

VERSUS CONTESTED William V. S. Tubman, Presidential Candidate ELECTION of the True Whig Party,' R. L. RESPONDENT

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BILL OF EXCEPTIONS

The Bill of Exceptions and Protest of Edwin Barclay, Presidential Candidate of the Independent True Whig Party of Liberia for the Presidency of the Republic against the alleged Election of William V. S. Tubman, Presidential Candidate of the True Whig Party of Liberia shows:-

1. That the True Whig Party not having registered as is required by the Election Law of the Republic, in that the required minimum number of partisans (300) three hundred does not appear in their Petition of Registration, said Party has no legal status in law as an organized Political organization; as such it had not right to nominate a Candidate for the Presidency nor to submit a name to the electorate for Election to said office of President of the Republic nor to otherwise participate in any shape or form in respect to performing acts and functions relating to the Presidential Campaign and voting of Ballots for Election which took place on May 3, A. D. 1955 being the day and date prescribed by law for the holding of said Quadrennial Election of the Republic of Liberia. In so doing, the voting which took place in favor of the said William V. S. Tubman, True Whig Party Presidential Candidate, at the instance of the said True Whig Party was ILLEGAL, UNFAIR and IRREGULAR; and consequently a flagrant violation of the Constitution and the Election Laws of the Republic of Liberia in such cases made and provided.

2. That during the early part of the Campaign the Independent True Whig Party did serve due and timely notice on the said True Whig Party of their failure to organize themselves into a regular Political Organization in keeping with the expressed provision of the law passed and approved December 19, 1945, since this would have been the proper means whereby said Party could have been legally vested with authority through its Partisans to vote, and otherwise participate at the aforesaid General Quadrennial Election; but the said True Whig Party ignoring and disregarding the aforesaid challenge of legal status, filed with the said Election Commission, was permitted to continue to participate and take part in said campaign, without investigation or restraint; and further the aforesaid True Whig Party did file a paper in the office of the Elections Com- mission entitled; "objections to Certificate of Nomination of the Independent True Whig Party," in which document, it requested the said elections commission to eliminate the names of certain Candidates of the Independent True Whig Party who had been regularly notified to the Elections Commission by the Inde- pendent True Whig and Reformation Parties the same being the nomination of names of certain Candidates who were being canvasses for election and which act on part of the aforesaid True Whig Party, was illegal, unfair and unjust.

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3. That incident to count two (2) SUPRA, and the illegal objections filed in the office of the said Elections Commission, the aforesaid Commission did constitute itself, without warrant to law, a tribunal; to HEAR and DETERMINE said objections; at which hearing notwithstanding the submission of the Indepen- dent True Whig Party in form of a jurisdictional motion, substantially maintaining that the said self-styled tribunal had no legal authority to act as it had assumed to do, the said Elections Commission, in the persons of two of its members, the third member not being present, assumed summarily to dismiss the Motion filed by the Independent True Whig Party; the Chairman remarked at the time exceptions were intimated and appeal announced that the Indepen- dent True Whig Party could appeal if it wishes, but that, meanwhile, he would carry out his decision.

4. That the said Elections Commission then (proceeded) to permit the True Whig Party to exercise the privileges of a legally organized political Party; and having nominated the said William V. S. Tubman as its Presidential Candidate, did illegally canvass his name before the electorate and vote for his election to said office at the various polling booths of this Republic, contrary to law.

5. That the said Elections Commission in willful violation of the Election laws of this Republic and to the prejudice of the rights of Contestant, did prior to its supplying the several Sheriffs with Ballot Boxes place numerous ballot-papers already marked for the said William V. S. Tubman in said ballot boxes and so mutilated some of the ballot papers that the only name of Candidates appearing on the ballot were those of the True Whig Party Candidates, contrary to the implications of the Election Laws aforesaid and to the denial of the rights of Contestant to a FAIR, FREE and SECRET ballot.

6. That the Chairman of the Elections Commission contrary to law, accompanied the said Candidate William V. S. Tubman on his canvassing airplane trips around the country for the purpose of distributing ballot boxes already packed with remarked ballot papers to the different precincts, thereby showing his bias and his lack of political neutrality, notwithstanding his Oath under section five (5) paragraph two (2) of the Election Laws of Liberia."

7. That said Candidate William V. S. Tubman is violation of section sixty-seven (67) of the election law aforesaid participated officially in the conduct of the election, and used his authority as President to employ every agency of the State to support and forward his candidacy and the activities of the True Whig Party.

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8. That the said William V. S. Tubman under cover of his office as President, exercised undue influence, coerced, intimated and threatened citizens in general and particularly members of the Opposition Party by:

(a) Slanderously declaring publicly that anybody who called Barclay's name in the campaign would be held guilty of sedition and would be punished summarily.

(b) Arbitrarily and unlawfully causing citizens to be imprisoned if they were found canvassing for the Independent True Whig Party of using Contestant's name as a Candidate.

(c) Causing Independent True Whig Partisans to sign already prepared "Denunciations" against the Independent True Whig Party as a condition precedent to their being released from jail, thus illegally coercing them under duress to abjure their connection with Contestant's Party.

(d) Illegally sending and stationing numerous detachments of Soldiers of the Liberian Frontier Force, to various polls supplied and equipped with guns with fixed bayonets, revolvers, hand grenades, tear gas bombs, and other dangerous weapons, implements of war, under the pretence of keeping order, but which was intended to carry out his craftily planned game of regimentation and compulsory process procuring votes at the various polls and voting booths, and by the means aforesaid did under force and fear coerce and intimidate voters, who voted for him contrary to law.

(e) Authorizing, on the eve of the Election unlawful arrests of many leaders of the Independent True Whig Party in their localities and their imprisonments without legal cause and without their being admitted to bail.

(f) Authorizing and ordering under cover of his office as President the torturing of men who declared their opposition to William V. S. Tubman.

(g) Offering bribes through his agents to partisans of the Independent True Whig Party with the object of seducing them from their allegiance of the Independent True Whig Party.

(h) Maintaining illegally a state of Martial Law over the country during the election with the purpose of intimidating voters who desires and intended to vote for Contestant.

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(i) Having citizens dismissed from jobs with private employment if they expressed support of Barclay.

9. That the Election Officers at various polls, who were all members of the True Whig Party, effected the result of the polls by:

(a) Refusing to permit citizens suspected of being partisans of the Independent True Whig Party to cast their ballots in person and without being influenced by the said election officers.

(b) Forcibly taking ballot papers from citizens, marking them for Candidates of the True Whig Party and depositing them in the ballot boxes without the free will and consent of the voters.

(c) Refusing to place into the ballot boxes papers marked by voters suspected of or intending to vote for Contestant and tearing up ballots marked for Contes- tant.

(d) Putting ballots into the ballot boxes for persons not present at the polling booths but whose names were called from lists whereupon ballots were deposited into the ballot boxes by the election officers in such manner as would cover the number of names so called.

(e) By publicly declaring at some booths that no Barclay partisans would be permitted to vote at those booths.

(f) By refusing admittance to and ejecting from polling booths official representatives of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, thus preventing them from discharging their legal duties of inspecting the voting acts and the general conduct of the several polls, as the law prescribed.

(g) Inspecting ballots already cast.

(h) Permitting Children, persons under age and men not owning real estate property to cast ballots at the polls.

(i) By not opening the ballot boxes for inspection at the beginning of polling at some polling booths as the law directs.

(j) By not sealing ballot boxes whilst voting was going on.

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(k) By falsely declaring a totality of voters at some polls as having being cast for William V. S. Tubman when in fact numerous voters had cast their ballots for Contestant.

(1) By having ballot boxes and the voting in various booths supervised and controlled by high official of Government, such as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, L. K. Johnson, and other devoted officials of the Tubman-Govern- ment, who are also avowed members of the True Whig Party. All of which illegal and unfair acts sponsored by the Elections Commission dramatized the entire election into a unilateral or Ex-Parte performance for the True Whig Party.

(m) Ballot boxes discovered to contain an overwhelming majority of ballot papers for Contestant were opened and the said ballot papers for Contestant taken out and burnt. For these and numerous other violations of the Election Laws of the Republic of Liberia Approved December 19, 1945 whereby no real Election was held on the 3' day of May, A. D. 1955, I do take exceptions and protest; and further, do also herby contest the right of William V. S. Tubman to be declared duly and legally elected to the office of President of Liberia and submit that said office be awarded to Contestant; or should such a decision not be reached, a new election be ordered, fairly supervised and impartially conducted and held with safeguards against all of the violations committed, and as have herein been set-forth; since indeed, said open and willful violation of the election laws and Constitution of the Republic openly and intentionally made and committed by said William V. S. Tubman, would furnish substantial grounds for his impeachment because any President found guilty of such high-handed arbitrary abuses as in this case, becomes, IPSO FACTO, DISQUALIFIED AND UNFIT for the high office of President and consequently William V. S. Tubman cannot be legally permitted to rule over the people of this Nation. Respectfully submitted; (SGD) Edwin Barclay NATIONAL STANDARD BEARER INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CONTESTANT WITNESSES:

(no signature) (no signature) Thomas H. Johnson Elsie L. Holder

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(SGD Sciaka Sirleaf - his x cross (SGD) Thos. C. Lomax Sciaka Sirleaf

(Sgd) Gonowo Cooper - his x cross Gonowo Cooper

Rel'ed May 17, 1955

(Sgd) Isaac R. Woods Clerk of Court

OBSERVATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

WILLIAM V S. TUBMAN, President of the Republic of Liberia and named as Presidential Candidate of the True Whig Party, denies the right of Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Par- ties, to contest or protest the declaration by your Honorable Body of his Election as President of the Republic of Liberia, for the following Constitutional and other legal reasons, to wit: 1. Under the Constitution and Laws of this Republic, there are no provisions, nor is it permissible for any defeated candidate for the Presidency, after an election has been duly held, to interpose or file a contest or protest against the declaration of a successful Candidate for the Presidency as a result of the Election Returns throughout the Republic and to pray the Honorable the House of Representatives not to declare such successful candidate elected. The Declaration of the President Elect of Liberia after an election, is a duty made compulsory and mandatory on the House of Representatives by the Constitution; and only after the Members of that Body, according to Section Five (5) of Article V of the Constitution, have sorted, counted and declared the votes for the President, "if no person shall appear to have a majority of such votes, the Senators and Representatives present, shall, in convention, by joint ballot, elect from among the persons having the three highest number of votes, a person to act as President for the ensuing term." There are no such provisions of the Constitution or Statutes of the Republic for a contest or protest to be entered against the declaration, by the House of Representatives, of a President apparently elected. To the contrary, the Constitution prohibits it. The representations and prayer of Edwin Barclay, gloriously defeated, Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, that the said office be "awarded" to him or should such a decision not be reached, "a new Election be ordered," is, to say the least, a brazen and audacious attempt to attain the high office of President by subtle artifice in utter disregard and in flagrant violation of the Constitu-

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tion; for under the provisions of the same, if no candidate appears to be elected, the House of Representatives has no authority whatever to order a new election, nor to declare or award the office of President to any other candidate, than the one who by the Returns of the Election, appears to have a majority' of the total votes cast. 2. If the Honorable the House of Representatives is not satisfied that the apparently elected candidate has been legally elected by a majority of the votes cast, they together with the Senate, in convention, by joint ballot, have the Constitutional authority to elect from among the number of persons having the three highest number of votes, a person to act as President. It is ridiculous, audacious and notorious, therefore, for Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated candidate for the Presidency, to present to your Honorable Body a prayer requesting you to award him the Presidency and thus do an unconstitutional act. It is clear by his conduct in so petitioning your Honorable Body, that he is, a monomaniac over the Presidency and concerning the magnificent success of William V. S. Tubman over him in the General Elections of May 3rd, A. D. 1955. 3. The Elections Statute of Liberia, passed and approved December 19, 1945, provides for contests to be filed before either branch of the Legislature only in cases against the election of apparently elected candidates for the House of Representatives and the Senate; and the particular House of the Legislature affected by the Contest is empow- ered to try and dispose of same in keeping with the provisions of the Act of the Legis- lature of 1869, governing and controlling Contests; but never a contest or protest against the declaration of an apparently elected Presidential candidate. 4. The said Edwin Barclay, Contestant, and the ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, by the purported Bill of Exceptions filed, purporting to protest the election and declaration of William V. S Tubman, President of the Republic of Liberia and President apparently elected, is a veiled, subtle, disloyal, unpatriotic, treasonable and seditious attempt on his part, smarting under his saddest and most shameful and crushing political defeat in the General Elections of May Third (3rd) A. D. 1955, to an interregnum and cause confusion and disruption of this century old, orderly, peaceable, uninterrupted and law- abiding democratic institution. Were your Honorable Body to ignore and violate the Constitution, as requested by him, by ordering a new Election or awarding him the Presidency when he received less than one-half of one percent of the total votes cast throughout the country at the last General Elections, the Government of Liberia would be disorganized and a vacuum created similar to the situation which he, Edwin Barclay, Contestant, treacherously engineered and schemed by unconscionable artifice in the period 1929 to 1930, and by which means he treacherously and illegally obtained the office of President by operation of a Statute that was never enacted by the Legislature, never approved by the President, nor passed by Limitation. He shall never again in this enlightened day become a political impostor, incubus and octopus on the people of this land.

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5. I present for your constitutional and legal consideration the fact that my name, as Presidential candidate, William R. Tolbert as Vice-presidential candidate and the names of all of the candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives of the True Whig Party for Montserrado, Grand Bassa, Sinoe, Maryland and Grand Cape Mount Counties, and for the Territories of Marshall and River Cess, as well as those of the candidates for the Legislature of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Par- ties., including the names of Edwin Barclay as Presidential candidate and Nete-Sie Brownell as Vice-presidential candidate for the Independent True Whig and Reforma- tion Parties, together with one candidate for the Presidency who ran as an independent candidate and one candidate for the House of Representatives who also ran as an independent candidate, were printed on the same ballot papers and voted for by eligible voters at every voting poll or booth throughout the country, on the same day and time at the Election of May Third (3rd) A. D. 1955; and all candidates of the Indepen- dent True Whig and Reformation Parties received the same number of votes as their Presidential candidate, Edwin Barclay, except their Senatorial candidate from Montserrado County who received a greater number of votes than the Presidential Candidate, Edwin Barclay, or their Vice-presidential candidate Nete-Sie Brownell. I further declare that the Vice-presidential candidate, the Senatorial candidates and candidates for the House of Representatives of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties have all conceded defeat and accepted the election of the Vice- Presidential, Senatorial and candidates for the House of Representatives of the True Whig Party as a result of the election returns, though, under the Constitution and Statutes of the' Republic, provisions have been made for Legislative Contests. If the elections, were conducted irregularly, illegally and corruptly as falsely, designedly, wickedly and maliciously represented by the ingloriously defeated, inordinately ambitious, envious and monomaniacal Edwin Barclay, why did not these defeated candidates who are partners with him in political distress and defeat and who legally had the right to contest, but have accepted the defeat, file contests? It is self-evident, therefore, that the paper filed by him is a last resort again to endeavor to usurp the high office of President by treachery and artifice which will never again be permitted to occur. 6. The ingloriously defeated candidate of the Independent True Whig and Refor- mation Parties, is an odious character in civil and ecclesiastical law and not eligible for the Presidency of Liberia he being nullius filius - the son of nobody - a Bastard, having no heritable blood, legal, natural nor political vide: Deuteronomy, 23 Chp. 2nd Vs. and BLD - Bastard. This involves a social question. 7. The said monomaniacal, Edwin Barclay, Contestant, is an atheist and not eligible to become President of Liberia in that the Constitution of the Nation requires that the President take a solemn Oath, or Affirmation before he enters upon the execution of his office, which Oath or Affirmation is administered upon the Holy Bible or some other Book; Contestant cannot be bound by the Constitutional Oath of the

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Office of President of Liberia because he notoriously does not believe in the existence of God and denies that there is a God. 8. The paper filed by the said ingloriously defeated candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Edwin Barclay, Contestant, does not present a correct venue; it is loosely addressed to "The Honorable the House of Representatives of the Republic of Liberia" without naming the Session nor the year, and is entitled "Contested Election" instead of Contest or Protest to the declaring of William V. S. Tubman as President Elect, which renders it invalid for want of a proper venue. 9. The said ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent, True Whig and Reformation Parties, Edwin Barclays, was illegally certified to the Elections Commission, and his name illegally noted upon the Ballot in that the said, certificate certifying him as Presidential candidate stated that he had been "chosen" Presidential candidate and not nominated, as will more fully appear by a copy of said certificate hereto attached, marked Exhibit "A" and made a part of these Observations; the reason being that the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties failed abjectly to gain following in any County except for a negligible group in Montserrado and Grand Cape Mount Counties and the Central Province. In Grand Bassa, Sinoe and Maryland Counties as well as in the Eastern and Western Provinces, they had no organization nor any adherents, nor did they obtain a single solitary vote at these places in the last General Elections. 10. I further present that Contestant's Parties certified to the Elections Commis- sion, names of persons from the last above named Counties as candidates for the Senate and House of Representatives and such persons wrote directly to the Elections Commission and sent copies of their letters to the Independent True Whig and Refor- mation Parties informing them that they were not members of their Parties and had not been nominated by said Parties, especially so, since no conventions were ever held in their Counties by the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, as will appear from copies of letters above referred hereto, marked Exhibit "B" and made a part of these Observations. 11. The recognizance filed before your Honorable Body by the ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Par- ties, Edwin Barclay, is insufficient and inadequate to cover the cost that has to be involved in the hearing and disposing of his purported Contest or Protest, since, because of the extreme urgency and extraordinary nature of the proceedings instituted by him, it has been necessary that an Extraordinary Session of both Houses of the Legislature - the House of Representatives and the Senate - be convoked to dispose of his purported Bill of Exceptions and Prayer for Protest and Impeachment, the expenses of which, in mileage, per diem pay and other expenses of Members of the Senate and House of Representatives, their Ministerial and Clerical Staffs, Pages, sta- tionery and supplies, with mileage and per diem pay for witnesses from all over the country which will run into several scores of thousands of dollars, all costs under the

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Statue, should he lose his Contest or Protest, shall be assessable against and collectable from him and/or his Sureties. The One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) mentioned in the Statute in cases of Con- tests, refers to Legislative Contests, where the entire structure of the Government is not attempted to be disrupted and disorganized. I therefore pray that recognizance in the sum of at least Seventy-five thousand ($75,000.00) Dollars be required of Contes- tant before his Protest be proceeded with. 12. The said paper filed by Contestant as a recognizance required by the Election Statute is anullity, it not being approved by any Judge of the Circuit Court, a Bail Commissioner nor any other person authorized by law to receive bail, nor is it accompanied by a certificate from the Bureau of Revenues certifying that the Sureties whose names are attached thereto are free-holders and house holders to the value of the amounts stipulated therein. The proceedings instituted the monomaniacal Contestant are invalid and should be dismissed. 13. The said Bill of Exceptions of Contestant raises and presents, although illegally and badly pleaded, issues of law and fact, and is, therefore, required by Law to be supported by an Affidavit, which rule of pleading the Contestant having totally disregarded and failed to comply with, filed a paper called Bill of Exceptions raising issues of law and fact without verification or oath of any kind. The said Bill of Exceptions is thereby rendered void, ab initio, and should be dismissed. 14. The representations made by the Contestant in his purported Bill of Excep- tions, claiming that the True Whig Party is not registered as is required by the Elec- tions Law of the Republic, is a deliberate and wanton disregard for truth, in that, the Petition of the True Whig Party for Registration as a Political Party was duly Probated on the 20th day of January, A. D. 1947, and Registered on the 24th day of January, A. D. 1947, in the City of Monrovia by order of the then Commission of Probate of the Monthly and Probate Court for Montserrado County, S. Raymond Horace, who was a Senatorial candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties and was defeated in the same last General Elections along with Contestant, Edwin Barclay, shows upon its face that the True Whig Party was duly registered and Probated according to Law, as a political party with more than three hundred (300) names appearing thereon as will appear more fully from the Certified copy of the said Petition of Regis- tration, attached hereto and marked Exhibit "C", as well as the minutes of the said Probate Court, also attached hereto marked Exhibit "D" and forming a part of these Observations. 15. The contention of the Contestant to the effect that the names of three hundred (300) partisans of the True Whig Party do not appear on their Petition of Registration, can constitute no legal grounds or reasons for the annulment of the Returns of the last General Elections when more than Two hundred forty-four thousand (244,000) partisans of the True Whig Party and other eligible voters polled their ballots for the Presi- dential candidate of the True Whig Party who is named as Respondent in these pro-

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ceedings. The fallacy of Contestant's representations in this respect is not only apparent but conclusively self-evident. 16. If the names of three hundred (300) partisans of the True Whig Party did not appear on the Petition for Registration, which is actually not the case, and the Petition was admitted to probate and registration without Objections, and upon that instrument of Registration the True Whig Party has operated and functioned and elected Presidential, Vice Presidential and Legislative candidates in the General Elections in 1952 without protest or contest, by what legal process of reasoning could the Contes- tant question the legality of the instrument of Registration of the True Whig Party at this time? 17. The representations of the Contestant made in count two (2) of his purported Bill of Exceptions, to the effect that the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, at the early part of the Campaign, did serve due and timely notice on the True Whig Party of their failure to organize themselves into a regular political organization in keeping with the expressed provisions of the Law, passed and approved December 19, 1945, is another distortion and misrepresentation of facts. The Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties did, when defending against the Objections filed by the True Whig Party to the certificate filed by the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties before the Elections Commission certifying that their candidates had been chosen, raise the question of the non-registration, of the True Whig Party. The True Whig Party, answering at the time, made profert of a certified copy of Instrument of Registration and the Minutes of the Monthly and Probate Court of Montserrado County, ordering the registration of the True Whig Party; and with the issues in the matter thus joined, the Elections Commission entered ruling and decision of the True Whig Party was regularly and legally registered as will appear from the said ruling and decision of the Elections Commission hereto attached, marked Exhibit "E" and forming a part of these Observations. 18. Not content with the Decision of the Elections Commission, to radical and reckless Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties applied to the Equity Divi- sion of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court, Montserrado County, praying for an Injunc- tion against the True Whig Party to enjoin them from functioning and participating in the General Elections last past as a Political Party among other reasons, assigning as cause that the said True Whig Party was not registered. The Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit Court denied the Writ, holding that the True Whig Party was Registered; a copy of which ruling is hereto attached, marked Exhibit "F" and forming apart of these Observations. 19. Pursuing their contention still further, the Independent True Whig and Refor- mation Parties applied to the Justice in Chambers of the Honorable, the Supreme Court for a Writ of Mandamus and a Writ of Prohibition to prohibit and inhibit the True Whig Party from functioning in the General Elections last past, one of the grounds being that the True Whig Party was not registered. The Justice in Chambers denied the

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Petition; and the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, now endeavoring to pursue their invalid, imaginary, trumped up, unscrupulous and reckless conten- tions beyond the limits of the absolute infinitum, now presents the same question before your Honorable Body as cause for invalidating the General Elections - a prepos- terous, audacious and, unreasonable contention, unsound in law and fact. A copy of the ruling of the Justice in Chambers referred to supra is hereto attached, marked Exhibit "G" and forming apart of these Observations. 20. The True Whig Party, having obtained more than Ninety-nine and one half (99 1/2) percent of the total votes cast at the last General Elections as against less than one half of one percent of the total votes cast in favor of the combined Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, that is to say, two hundred forty-four thousand, eight hundred seventy-three (244,873) as against one thousand, one hundred eighty-two (1,182), vividly reveals the untenability of the contention now being urged by the two combined Parties and the Contestant, in an attempt to affect adversely the virtual unanimous preponderance of the will of the people of Liberia expressed by their suf- frage through the ballot. 21. The issue raised in count three (3) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant, the ingloriously defeated Edwin Barclay, Presidential Candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, to the effect that the Elections Com- mission constituted itself, without warrant of law, a tribunal to determine the Objec- tions of the True Whig Party to the Certificate certifying the names of candidates of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, as having been "chosen" and not nominated to be placed on the ballot paper, is without legal justification; in that, the Election Laws of the Republic specifically provide that all candidates nominated for Elections shall be certified to the Elections Commission. It follows as a natural sequence and legal necessity that, if names must be certified to the Elections Commission of the candidates to be placed on ballot papers for all political parties as well as independent candidates, objections to any name for causes not otherwise specifically made the subject of investigation and determination by the Legislature itself, such as, property qualification, residence in the county or province which the candidate is, supposed to represent, the number of years required by the Constitution and such other Constitutional issues, the Elections Commission is warranted and authorized by law to hear and dispose of objections, if there be any, such as the objections raised by the True Whig Party to the names of candidates "chosen" by the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, and not nominated in accordance with the provisions of the Election Statute. Not to have raised the question in the first instance before the Elections Commission and to have raised it for the first time, before any other tribunal would have constituted Waiver and Laches. 22. I further submit, as to count three (3) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant, that the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties failed to act in conformity with the Statute, but instead, notified the Elections Commission that they

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had "chosen" Presidential, Vice-presidential, and Legislative. Candidates; all five of the "chosen" candidates certified to the Elections Commission by the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, from Grand Bassa and Maryland Counties respectively, promptly entered into direct communication with the Elections Commission, informing them that they, the chosen candidates, were not members of the Indepen- dent True Whig and Reformation Parties; that they had not even been approached nor their prior consent obtained, to become candidates of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties; and that they were members of the True Whig Party and would not run as candidates for the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties. Fur- ther, that no conventions were held by the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties in the Counties of Grand Basss, Sinoe and Maryland, the Eastern and Western Provinces; and that the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties have not even been organized in those Counties and Provinces. Because of these protests and denunciations, the True Whig Party, therefore, inter- posed Objections before the Elections Commission to the insertion of the names of such persons an the ballot paper; and the National Chairman of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties addressed a letter to the Elections Commission expressing his agreement that in the case of those candidates who had notified the Elections Commission that they declined to become candidates for the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, their names were not to be inserted on the ballot papers. Bigoted, monomaniacal Contestant, Edwin Barclay, therefore, is estopped from disavowing the acts of his own Parties National Chairman as illegal, and it was legally within the jurisdiction and competence of the Elections Commission to have decided whether or not the names of such persons should be inserted on the ballot papers against their will, knowledge and consent. Copies of letters referred to above are hereto attached, marked Exhibit "H" and forming a part of these Observations. 24. I further submit as to counts two (2) and three (3) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions that even if Contestant's submissions with respect to the certificate of Nomi- nation of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties were true, they are irrelevant to and have no bearing on the issue of the present proceedings in that the objective of the said proceedings being to determine the legality of the election of William V. S. Tubman and not to determine the rights of any of the said purported "chosen" candidates for the Legislature of the Independent True Whig and Reforma- tion Parties, wherefore said pleas being bad for irrelevancy should be dismissed. 24. The said Contestant, in count five (5) of his purported Bill of Exceptions, falsely represents to your Honorable Body that the Elections Commission, in willful violation of the Elections, Laws of the Republic and to the prejudice of the rights of Contestant, did, prior to its supplying the several Sheriffs with the ballot boxes, place numerous ballot papers already marked for William W. S. Tubman in said ballot boxes,

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and so mutilated said ballot papers that the only names appearing on the ballot were those of the True Whig Party's candidates. The enormity of the falsity of this diabolical misrepresentation can be easily ascer- tained by your Honorable Body on examination and inspection of all of the ballot polled at the last General Elections which will be presented to you in the respective ballot boxes that will be brought to you for declaring the Returns of the Elections as is required by law. The Elections Commission has never done such an act, and there was no necessity for even attempting to do such, because, from the beginning and throughout the campaign, it was perfectly clear that the Contestant was no possible competitor of the True Whig Party's Presidential candidate, nor were his Parties competitor of the True Whig Party. 25. I further submit that Contestant, being in knowledge of the fact that numerous ballot papers already marked for William V. S. Tubman had been put into said ballot boxes and said ballot papers were so mutilated that the only names appearing on the ballot were those of the True Whig Party candidates, as falsely alleged by him, and he failed to have raised objections or to have called the attention of the Elections Com- mission or call on any Court of Law or Equity having competent jurisdiction to prevent such illegal performance, but remained silent, which is evidence either of acquiescence or of the nonoccurrence to the acts which he now complains against but participated in the election and after being and smashingly defeated, now comes before your Honorable Body and represents the falsehood contained in the aforesaid count, the monstrosity of which is unparalleled is any political campaign and is con- vincingly apparent; the doctrine of Estoppel, Lashes and Waiver operates against and precludes him. 26. In count six (6) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant, he alleges that the Chairman of the Election Commission, contrary to law, accompanied me on my canvassing airplane trips around the country for the purpose of distributing ballot boxes already marked to the different precincts, thereby showing his bias and lack of political neutrality. A greater and more notorious fabrication has never been conceived, built up, made, expressed and written, which shows the depth of the depravity of the mind of monomaniacal Edwin Barclay, Contestant. Neither the Chairman of the Elections Commission nor any other member thereof ever accompanied me either on airplane, over land, motor car, ocean, river nor any other canvassing trips, and I challenge the Contestant to produce any evidence to substantiate or verify his deliberate and wanton distortion of the truth in this respect. 27. I made no canvassing trips for the whole period of the campaign. More than ninety-nine percent of the People of the Country for more than two years presented Resolutions, Manifestoes and other documents requesting, memorializing and com- manding me to accept to become Presidential candidate for a third term; and after two years of their importuning me and waiting for my reply, I gave my consent; hence, there was no necessity for me to have made canvassing trips as is alleged by the Contestant.

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I did visit the County of Grand Cape Mount to open and dedicate a school building and Grand Bassa County to open a 45-mile stretch of road that had been constructed. I also visited Sinoe County to inspect and open a piece of road that had been constructed from Greenville to Juarzohn as well as to inspect a Hospital that was under construction in that county. I visited Maryland County, my home, to inspect and adjust some contention between the workmen and the Official Board of the Meth- odist Church that is under construction and to inspect my personal building projects that are also under construction. 28. The allegations and averments contained in count seven (7) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, are wholly untrue and erroneous, for as a Presidential candidate, I took no part in the conduct of the election as such candidate, but as President of the Republic of Liberia, I approved of vouchers, requisitions and warrants to meet the expenses of the Elections; I performed such other acts as President as are required of me by Law, and approved Regulations issued by the Elections Commission to ensure the orderly, fair and legal conduct of said Election in keeping with Section 125 of the Election Statute which provides that "the Elections Commission, with the approval of the President, may make regulations for carrying out this Act and prescribe forms far use under this Act." The regulations issued by the Elections Commission and approved by the President were authorized by Section 125 of the Act above cited, for the purpose of carrying out and executing the provisions of the Act. A copy of said Regulations is hereto attached, marked Exhibit "I" and forming a part of these Observations. 29. The said averments and allegations in count seven (7) of said purported Bill of Exceptions are wholly unintelligible, obscure, vague and uncertain in that it fails to allege any specific act of candidate William V. S. Tubman that would constitute a violation of Section 67 of the Election Statute, or in what way or manner he participated in the election; therefore, for want of certainty, the said count of the purported Bill of Exceptions should be expunged from the records. 30. I Deny the further allegation of the ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Edwin Barclay, contained in count eight (8) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions where he states that I, under- cover of the office of President, exercised undue influence coerced, intimidated and threatened citizens in general, and particularly, members of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties by: "(A) Slanderously declaring in the public that anybody who called Barclay's name in the campaign would be guilty of sedition and would be punished summarily." This allegation is one of the many other false and mendacious techniques employed by Contestant and his henchmen throughout the campaign. I deny emphatically and categorically ever having uttered or written any such stupid and senseless declaration, publicly or privately, and challenge the ingloriously defeated Contestant, monomaniacal Edwin Barclay, to prove the said allegation.

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31. Section "B" of the said count eight (8) of Contestant's Bill of Exceptions in which it is alleged that I arbitrarily and unlawfully caused citizens, to be imprisoned if they were found canvassing for the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties or using Contestant's name as a Candidate, is another deliberate, fallacious machina- tion of the Contestant; and, if such were true, why have not the Vice-presidential, Senatorial and House of Representatives candidates of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties made protests and filed contests against the election of their opposite True Whig Party candidates for the same reasons as the odious and mendacious Edwin Barclay had done? I challenge the Contestant to adduce proof of the truth of this allegation. Further, the said Sub-section "B" is uncertain, vague and obscure, in that it fails to mention the names of the citizens or a single one of them, whom I am alleged to have arbitrarily and unlawfully imprisoned because they were found canvassing for the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, or using Contestant's name as candidate, and therefore should be expunged from the records. 32. As to Sub-section "C" of count eight (8) of the aforesaid purported Bill of Exceptions, which alleged that I caused Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties' partisans to sign already prepared denunciations against the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties as a condition precedent to their being released from jail, thus illegally coercing them under duress to abjure their connection with Contestant's Party, it is another unconscionable and atheistic misrepresentation that only the depraved mind of the Contestant is capable of contriving; and I deny the truthfulness of the allegation and challenge Contestant to produce proof of his false and mendacious averment. 33. The said, Sub-section "C" is also obscure, vague and unfounded because it fails to state specifically the names of the Independent True Whig and Reformation partisans, or any of them, whom he alleges I caused to sign already prepared denunciations against the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties. An allegation of this character should name with certainty the partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties or at least some of them who are alleged to have been coerced by me; failing to do which, renders the said Sub-section "C" of no legal effect, and evinces the fallacious nature of the allegation. 34. Reference is also made to Sub-section "D" of count eight (8) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Contestant, in which he charges and alleges that I under cover of my office as President, illegally assigned and stationed numerous detachments of the Liberian Frontier Force soldiers to various polls, supplied and equipped with guns, with fixed bayonets, revolvers, hand grenades, tear-gas bombs and other dangerous weapons - implements of war - under the pretense of keeping law and order, but which was to carry out acts of craftily planning, and to the end of procuring votes at the various polling and voting booths and by means afore-

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said, did, under force and fear, coerce and intimidate voters who voted for him, contrary to law. Answering this exaggerated and entirely false allegation, I submit that at the beginning of the Campaign, in the months of October and November, A. D. 1954, when I was out of Liberia on official visits abroad, Contestant, Edwin Barclay, as National Standard Beater and Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Refor- mation Parties, together with other leaders of said Parties, did conspire, by threats, circulation of false rumors alleging that dangerous people called "heartmen" were walking at nights to capture and murder innocent persons, and to extract their hearts and that it was certain leaders of the True Whig Party, to wit: R. A. Henries, R. F. D. Smallwood and others, who were engaged in these wicked devices. As a result of this extremely vile, wicked, false and unique political device, the people in the city of Monrovia were horrified and terrorized; no one could be found at nights after six o'clock in the streets or in any places of amusements. Every morning a new rumor was circulated by the "Independent", the Newspaper of the vicious Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, in fly-sheets which they called "FLASH". On one occasion, they maliciously alleged that the head of well known way-side evangelist had been seen in a bucket half filled with blood, and other similar wicked rumors, whereby the whole city of Monrovia was moved and kept in perpetual unrest, excitement and confusion. Investigations into these rumors revealed that they were totally false. For example, the evangelist aforesaid, whose head was supposed to have been seen in a bucket half filled with blood, was subsequently found to be still alive, well and hearty, and carrying on his usual exhortations on the corners of the streets and is even today still alive and still preaching. The intention of the attempts of these pseudo-political incorrigibles was to overthrow the Government of Liberia and seize power by force. The cabinet, under the direction of the Secretary of State who was in charge of the Government, was thereby forced to take speedy action to cope with the wicked plans of the conspirators, because of which he organized and maintained a Security Guard composed of the Police Con- stabulary for Monrovia which, being inadequate in number and equipment for a 24- hour day duty, was augmented by officers and men of the Liberian Frontier Force, which is also a frontier police constabulary, to do a 24-hour police duty in the city of Monrovia; which said Security Guard was instituted, as aforesaid, because of the ultra vires acts of Contestant and his followers and was maintained prior to, during and, since the aforesaid elections. 25. I further submit as to the said Sub-section "D" of count eight (8) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Contestant, that when the election was near and the regulations for the conduct of the election were issued by the Elections Commission and approved by the President of Liberia, and the same were promulgated, this Security Guard, composed as aforesaid of the regular Police of

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the city of Monrovia and a detail of the Liberian Frontier Force, which is a Frontier Force organization, was ordered by the President of Liberia, William V. S. Tubman, to police the polls, where the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties had carried on ceaseless acts of lawlessness, such as taking prisoners by force from the Police and from confinement in the District of Tappita, Central Province, dropping anonymous pamphlets in the Capital and perpetrating divers other crimes, and, as appears from the regulations issued, for the conduct of the election, they were charged to execute the provisions of such regulations irrespective of party affiliation. This act of Government was, therefore, legal, advisedly and timely ordered and executed, and fell squarely within the Police Powers of the State. 36. The said allegations contained in Sub-section "D" of count eight (8) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant are greatly exaggerated, in that the Police Constabulary, including a detail of the Liberian Frontier Force assigned to special duty in the City of Monrovia, were armed with guns, revolvers and tear-gas bombs so as to competently and effectively cope with and handle any situation that might have arisen on Election Day at any of the Voting Polls. Especially was this necessary when four days before the election eighteen (18) cases of Dynamite were stolen from the Capitol construction project together with a large number of Dynamite caps and fuses. 37. Besides exercising the police powers of the State, the overt acts of Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Refor- mation Parties, on several previous occasions and at previous elections, more than justified the precautionary measures taken at the elections where he was a candidate, and the representative of two political parties, for it is a patent fact and common knowledge that, at a quadrennial election held in the City of Monrovia, the year of which is to me unknown, because he, the said Edwin Barclay, went to a poll in the City of Monrovia to vote and while he was handing in his ticket, a Kru man by the name of Nahgbae Wreh simultaneously handed in his ticket, the said Edwin Barclay kicked the man-Nahgbae Wreh, in the lower part of his stomach, which sent the. man to the ground into a state of unconsciousness, he was taken to Dr. R. G. Fuszek for treatment and died within three months thereafter. This is evidence of reputation and the general character of the Contestant, the identical Edwin Barclay, who was Presidential candidate and National Standard Bearer of the combined Parties aforesaid, and who was leading a ruthless, lawless and disloyal opposition. 38. At the same election where Contestant, Edwin Barclay, kicked the man, Nahgbae Wreh and he died, one Jo Nah who was a member of the People's Party, was wounded with a razor by a True Whig Partisan and the wound as bleeding profusely; the case on being reported to the Contestant, Edwin Barclay, who was at the time President of the Nation, his reply was, "Let him die." Quite unlike the attitude and action of the late President Daniel Edward Howard, during whose first election when a man named William Lawrence shot and killed David Findly at the polls on election day in May,

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A. D. 1911, in Montserrado County, although the slayer was a supporter of Candidate Howard, and the slain was in opposition to him, the late President Howard refused to reprieve the aforesaid William Lawrence before or after conviction but signed his death Warrant, remarking that he did not tell Lawrence to kill anyone to make him President. 39. More recently Contestant, Edwin Barclay, during the campaign, when the edi- tion of his loose, irresponsible, and reckless paper called "Independent" was banned by the Legislature for want of a responsible and objective Editorial Staff, spoke to his puny group of adherents and charged them that, "It is time for us to take up arms," meaning it was time for them to start a revolution, William V. S. Tubman, President of the Republic from that day determined that Government would be prepared to quell and subdue any riot, conspiracy or revolution that Contestant may undertake, which is another tangible and justifiable reason for the policing of the polls. 40. Sub-section "D" of Count eight (8) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant is vague, uncertain and obscure, in that it fails to state at what particular polls soldiers of the Liberian Frontier Force, armed and equipped with implements of war, as alleged by Contestant, were stationed, which was essential to have been alleged. Further, that while guns, revolvers, hand grenades, tear-gas bombs are implements of war, they are also implements and equipments used by Police and soldiers of every description, to prevent and quell riots, conspiracies and rebellions. Everyone who desired to and was eligible, went to the polls and cast his ballot without hindrance in secret on Election Day and everyone who saw the election, testified that it was the most orderly, peaceful, quiet and fair ever witnessed in this Republic. Contestant, Edwin Barclay, did not witness the election because, as he wrote to the Editor of the "Liberian Age" in a draft article prepared by him, that he was told by his partisans "not to go to the polls as he would be, assassinated," hence, acting upon that wild rumor, he did not go to vote and did not see what happened - a coward. The fact of the case is that Edwin Barclay, has already assassinated himself by his many overt, unconstitutional, lawless, vicious and wicked acts when President as mentioned supra in counts 37 and 38 hereof. The blood of those loyal citizens murdered without due process of law by his autocratic and godless administration; cries out for vengeance, the penalty of which he may escape here but not yonder - -the yonder in which he does not believe. Contestant, Edwin Barclay is therefore his own assassin and is likened unto Giant Despair in John Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress. 41. The allegations made in Sub-section "E" of count seven (7) of the Contestant's purported Bill of Exceptions are deliberately fallacious for, as President or Presidential candidate, I did not on the eve of election, or at any other time previous to the Elec- tion order the arrest of any of the leaders, partisans or adherents of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties in their localities; or their imprisonment, or illegally caused such to happen; although Contestant, Edwin Barclay, himself did commit acts that were criminal, previous to the election, such as, inciting his partisans to

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revolt, and issuing a check to one V. S. Onemegba in the sum of twenty-five dollars ($25.00) to obtain a passport to go to Lagos, Nigeria, British West Africa, and affect the killing of several leaders of the True Whig Party including the President of Liberia; for which acts he should have been arrested, indicted and tried but because I was determined to prevent even legal arrests of Contestant to be made before the election so as not to give him an excuse for not going before a People whom he had oppressed, derided, persecuted and tortured for thirteen long years and take the tremendous, humiliating and annihilating defeat that I know awaited him at the polls from the People of Liberia. I therefore each time refused to permit a warrant to issue against him then. 42. Referring further to Sub-section "E" of count seven (7) I submit that it is indistinct, obscure, and vague in that, like all of the other counts and Sub-sections, Contestant in presenting his trumped up, framed up and false allegations, made use of generalities which are impossible of proof, or answer. If Contestant knew that the allegations referred to in Sub-section "E" were true, he was bound in keeping with law, to have mentioned the names or some of the names of the partisans of the Indepen- dent True Whig and Reformation Parties and their localities whom he alleges were imprisoned without legal cause and without being permitted to give bail by the Presi- dent. 43. Besides the justification for policing the polls under Police Powers and the other reasons mentioned hereinabove, Mr. B. T. Bracewell private Legal Counsel for Mr. Edwin Barclay and also Legal Advisor of the Independent True Whig and Refor- mation Parties sought audience with me through the Vice President, W. R. Tolbert and others which was granted him and the tape recording machine was put into action. Mr. Bracewell informed me that Mr. Edwin Barclay had engaged the services of a large number of Liberians who served in the British Army during World War II in Burma and had given them arms, ammunition and other equipment and accoutre- ments landed by a ship at night on the beach near old Kru Town and that it was Mr. Barclay's intention to have these people start a riot in the city on Election Day; further, that a large number of Kru men had formed a plot to cause riots and rebellion and that the situation was serious. After listening to Mr. Bracewell's expose', I came to the conclusion that every precautionary and preventive action was necessary to be taken to curb, almost before it started, any maneuver or attempt of this vicious monomaniac to disturb the peace, order and tranquility of the Government of Liberia at the present time. Should Mr. Bracewell deny this conversation, I will send forward upon your request the tape recording of the same. 44. Section "F" of count seven (7) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant is an outright and deliberate falsehood when he alleges that the President of Liberia, under cover of his office as President, ordered the torturing of men who declared themselves in opposition to him.

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It is a known fact that the President does not have the spirit, tendency nor the character of torturing and inflicting bodily pain and misery on people, even, his arch- enemy, Edwin Barclay, nor of ordering or permitting it to be done. His propensity as are generally known, are those of sympathy, tolerance and mercy within the limits of human endurance and legal propriety. On the contrary, it is Edwin Barclay, the ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Contestant, who is universally known to be an un-Holy tyrant evidenced by his ordering the indiscriminate and illegal arrest of peaceful citizens without warrant or without their being furnished with copy of the charges against them, as he ordered and saw executed in the cases of F. W. M. Morais, John W. N. Scotland, Edwin Hodge, Pride Davis, Alhaj Massaquoi, James Wiles, Nathaniel V. Massaquoi, James Cassell, James Holder, Kolli-Selleh Tamba, Joseph Holcomb, and numerous other citizens from time to time during his Reign of Terror from 1930 to 1943, some of whom he deported to the military camp Barclay Training Centre for as long as two and three years, without trial or due process of law. Pride Davis and others died in the concentration camp at Belle Yalla and John Wesley Scotland died on the beach enroute to Belle Yalla under military torture, while James Wiles became a virtual imbecile after his torturing confinement in the military camp Barclay Training Centre and up the time of his death he never again regained normality. 45. Sub-section "G" of count seven (7) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant, Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Inde- pendent True Whig and Reformation Parties, which charges the President of Liberia with offering bribes through his agents to partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties with the object of inducing them to depart from their allegiance to the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, is a brazen disregard for truth and morality. The President of Liberia did not need to offer bribes directly, nor indirectly through agents to seduce partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reforma- tion Parties from their allegiance to said Parties, because the plurality of Partisans of the True Whig Party as compared with the fragmentary numerical number of partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, was evidenced thoughout the last campaign when the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties were unable to obtain a solitary partisan or adherent in the Counties of Grand Bassa, Sinoe and Maryland, the Eastern and Western Provinces, reveals the folly and senselessness of the averment contained in said Sub-section "G" of count seven (7) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions. 46. To the contrary it was Edwin Barclay who offered bribes to several True Whig partisans endeavoring to get them to mismark ballets and mislead illiterate voters, as evidenced by the approach made by him to Mr. Randolph Outland of Brewerville. When Mr. Outland refused to comply with his request, he had his Attorney at Law, the same Mr. Bracewell, to demand payment from Mr. Outland of an amount owing to him Edwin Barclay by the said Mr. Outland.

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47. The reckless matter alleged in the said Sub-section "G" should not receive the legal consideration of your Honorable Body because it is obscure, vague, uncertain and unintelligible, in that it fails to name the agents or any of them through whom it is alleged that the President of Liberia offered bribes to partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties. It also fails to name the partisans of the Indepen- dent True Whig and Reformation Parties or any of them to whom bribes were offered by the President of Liberia through his agents, as falsely and maliciously alleged in the said Sub-section "G" of count seven (7) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay. 48. The averment contained in Sub-section "H" of count seven (7) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay, Contestant charging that the President of Liberia maintained illegally a state of Martial Law over the country during the election for the purpose of intimidating voters who desired to vote for Contestant is false, misleading and untrue. Here, as in the preceding counts and Sub-sections of the purported Bill of Exceptions aforesaid, Contestant Edwin Barclay records another of his palpable, erroneous, malicious and mendacious statements. No state of Martial Law ever existed in the country before, during nor since the General Elections last past; although, the President had been granted the power by the Legislature to declare a state of emergency, if it became necessary, and to suspend the Writ of Habeas Corpus. The opposition by Contestant and his feeble group of adherents could not gain momentum, force nor sufficient strength anywhere in the country to have started or created a situation that could not be coped with and immediately suppressed by the orderly arms of the law and the Police powers of the State. There was organized and, established a Security Force, as aforesaid, growing out of the repeated acts of the said Contestant and his small number of partisans who attempted to excite and incite confusion, unrest and terrorism among the people. 49. The allegations made in Sub-section "I" of count seven (7) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay, Contestant, to the effect that the President of Liberia had citizens dismissed from jobs with private employment if they expressed support for Edwin Barclay is a peculiar averment as the President would have no authority to have citizens dismissed from jobs with private employment because they expressed support for Edwin Barclay, or any other person. Thus this Sub-section is totally without the bounds of reason and should therefore be expunged from the records. 50. Further, Sub-section "I" of count seven (7) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant, Edwin Barclay, is that it fails to name any of the citizens whom he alleges the President of Liberia caused to be dismissed from jobs with private employment because they expressed support for Edwin Barclay, nor has he named any of the jobs from which such persons are alleged to have been dismissed nor the names of any of their employers. 51. The complaint made against the Election Officers at various polls whom he, the Contestant, Edwin Barclay, charges with affecting the result of the polling by (A)

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refusing to permit citizens. suspected of being partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties to cast their ballot in person and without being influenced by the said Election Officers, is a manifest fabrication and a deliberate falsehood for, if such were the case, the Contestant would not have received the negligible and infini- tesimal number of votes which he did receive at the polls and booths on last Election Day, candidates and partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties and partisans and candidates of the True Whig Party associated together peaceably, orderly and were permitted to pass strained to the different polling booths and in secrecy to mark their ballot papers, fold them and deposit them into the ballot boxes. This process of voting at the last election is universally known throughout the country and can be testified to by thousands of citizens who voted, to have been the fairest, most peaceful and orderly election ever held in the country. 52. As to the said Sub-section "A" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Excep- tions of Contestant, Edwin Barclay, it is evident that the same presents no triable issues in that it fails completely to name any of the citizens suspected of being partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties whom he alleges the Election officers refused to permit to cast their ballot in person and without being influenced by the Election Officers; nor does it name the polls, nor any of them, where partisans of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties were prevented from casting their ballot in person, nor the names of any of the Election Officers who are alleged to have indulged in such practices. The Sub-section is, therefore, a nullity and presents no issue that your Honorable Body can pass upon. 53. Sub-section "B" of Count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exception of Con- testant, Edwin Barclay, which alleges that the Election officers at the various polls forcibly took ballot papers from citizens, marked them for candidates of the True Whig Party, and deposited them in the ballot boxes without the free will and consent of voters, is an indigestible fabrication even to any rational mind, in that it is not likely anywhere for any election officer to take ballot papers from a citizen desiring to vote and mark it for the opposition candidate. The question then arised how would the Election Officers know for whom a citizen was about to vote before he had marked his paper? At each voting poll and, booth, several compartments were cut off for the benefit of secrecy and only, one person was admitted into each compartment at a time, marked his ballot, folded it and polled it. It is impossible therefore that the Election Officers committed the acts charged in Sub-section "B" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant, Edwin Barclay. 54. The said Sub-section "B" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions is of no legal effect for vagueness, indistinctness and unintelligibility, in that it fails totally to name the citizens, or any of them from whom ballot papers are alleged to have been forcibly taken, marked by the Election Officers for candidates of the True Whig Party, and deposited in the ballot boxes without the free will and consent of the voters. It also fails to name the Election Officers or any of them who are said to, have

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indulged in the practice complained against by Contestant in the Sub-section "B" aforementioned. 55. For the same reasons of indistinctness, vagueness and unintelligibility stated in these Observations against Sub-sections "A" and "B" of count nine (9), I interpose them against the averments contained in Subsection "C" of the aforesaid count in which Contestant alleges that Election officers refuse to place into ballot boxes, papers marked by voters suspected of or intending to vote for Contestant and tore up ballots marked for Contestant. 56. So vague, false and uncertain are the allegations contained in the aforesaid Sub- section "C" that Contestant himself has failed and neglected, because he could not, to name the voters or any of them whose ballots the Election Officers at the various polls allegedly refused to place in the ballot boxes, or any of the polls or booths whereat this practice is alleged to have been carried on. 57. Like in the preceding Sub-sections "A", "B" and "C", Sub-section "D" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions which, charges of the putting of ballots in ballot boxes for persons not present at the polling booths, but whose names were called from lists, whereupon ballots were deposited into the said, ballot boxes by the Election officers in such numbers as would cover the number of names so called. I submit that this is another willful, vicious and mendacious averment. No such thing ever occurred. 58. The said framed-up, fabricated misrepresentations of Contestant as pleaded in Sub-section "D" of count nine (9) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions cannot claim the legal consideration of your Honorable Body in that they are wild, reckless, uncertain, indistinct, vague and obscure allegations which fail to mention the names of the persons not present at the polling booth, the names of one of the polling booths, nor the names of Officers referred to in said Sub-section "D" abovementioned, the aforesaid Sub-section "D" should be expunged from the records. 59. As in the preceding Sub-sections of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant, Edwin Barclay, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, the averment made in Sub-section "E" of count nine (9) that Election Officers declared at some booths: "No Barclay partisans to be permitted to vote," fails woefully to state whether or not "Bar- clay partisans" were permitted to vote. Citizens are not permitted to vote or not to vote because of partisanship but because of their eligibility and their having registered to vote. Therefore, the averment made and contained in Sub-section "E" of Contestant, Edwin Barclay's purported Bill of Exceptions, presents no issue that would affect the election. 60. The said Sub-section "E" of count nine (9) of the said purported Bill of Excep- tions, of Contestant does not name the Election Officers nor any of them, the specific booths or any of them whereat was made the framed-up declaration claimed by him to have been made that "No Barclay partisans would be permitted to vote at those booths." Hence said Sub-section "E" as aforesaid should be expunged from the records.

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61. In Sub-section "F" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions, Con- testant, Edwin Barclay, further falsely alleges that the Election Officers refused admittance to, and ejected from polling booths, official representatives of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, thus preventing them from discharging their legal duties of inspecting the voting acts and the general conduct of the several polls as the law prescribes. If these representations were true the Contestant should have immediately reported the matter to the Elections Commission who, under the law controlling Elections, would have given relief. But he has failed totally to have brought this complaint to the Elections Commission but interposes it here before your Honorable Body in the first instance, which is not permitted under the Election Statute of the Republic. 62. Contestant in the said Sub-section "F" of count nine (9) of his purported Bill of Exceptions has failed and neglected, in keeping with the rules governing pleadings, allegations and averments, to name the official representatives of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, or any of them who were refused a admittance to and ejected from polling booths; or the polling booths from which they were ejected by the Election Officers and thereby prevented from discharging their legal duties of inspecting the voting acts and the general conduct of the several polls as falsely and wickedly alleged by Contestant. The said Sub-section "F" also fails to give or mention names of the Election Officers or any of them who committed the offense presented by Sub- section "F" of count nine (9) and therefore should not claim the consideration of your Honorable Body. 63. The slack, loose and unintelligible statement made in Sub-section "G" of count nine (9) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions of Edwin Barclay, Contestant, to the effect that Election Officers inspected ballots already cast, is insufficient, vague and bad and presents no triable issue in that, it fails to state at what voting polls or booths ballots were inspected, after being cast, or who inspected the ballots already cast, that is to say, the names of the Election Officer or Officers who engaged in the inspecting of ballots already cast. 64. I submit that if as Contestant Edwin Barclay alleges, official representatives of his Parties were refused admittance to, and ejected from polling booths and thus prevented from discharging their legal duties of inspecting acts and the general conduct of the several polls, how could he or any of his Parties' official representatives, know that ballots already cast were inspected when neither he nor his official representatives were, as he alleges, permitted admittance to but ejected from the polls? Contestant, Edwin Barclay, thereby makes himself a public and notorious fabricator; or he has come before your Honorable Body with flimsy, unfounded, vain and monomaniacal hear-says. 65. As At Sub-section "H" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant, Edwin Barclay, in which it is alleged that the Election Officers permitted children, persons under age and men not owning real estate property to cast ballots at the polls, this is another one of the usual indiscriminate, unscrupulous and vile

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misrepresentations common to Contestant, generally and particularly, in his purported Bill of Exceptions. If, as he alleges, children, persons under age and men not owning real estate property were permitted by the Election Officers to cast ballots at the polls, he should have named the children, persons under age and men not owning real estate property, who he alleges were permitted to cast ballots at the polls; also the names of the Election Officers who permitted the illegal voting as alleged by him. Failing to have so done, makes it impossible for your Honorable Body to take cognizance of his false, malicious and mendacious allegation. 66. Under the Election Laws of the Republic not only citizens who own real estate property may vote, but also men and women who own huts and pay the Hut Tax; so that the simple allegation that men not owning real estate property were permitted to cast ballots, would constitute no violation of the Election Laws of the Country. 67. The matter pleaded in Sub-section "I" of count nine (9) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant, in which he pleads that the Election Officers effected the result of the polling by not opening the ballot boxes for inspection, at the beginning of polling at some polling booths as the law directs, I contend, and reasonably and logically that if the result of the Election in my favor were obtained by the act of Section Officers not opening the ballot boxes for inspection before polling began at some polling booths, the Contestant was obliged and compelled to name such polling booths at which the Election officers did not open the ballot boxes. Since he admits that it was only at some polls that ballot boxes were not opened for inspection, where and which of the polls and who were the Election Officers at those polling booths that affected the result of the election? Not being mentioned, presents nothing that your Honorable Body can intelligently pass upon with any degree of certainty whatever. Said count should, therefore, be ruled out as a nullity. 68. Contestant being afraid of assassination because of what some of his partisans told him, remained at home and did not vote or visit any of the polls to see or know what actually happened and, according to his purported Bill of Exceptions, representatives of his parties were not permitted at the polls and voting booths and were ejected and persons suspected or known to be members of the Contestants combined Parties were not permitted to vote; how does he then know that ballot boxes were not opened before polling began? The averments in the several counts and sub-sections are con- tradictory and should be expunged from the records. 69. The allegations contained in Sub-section "J" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant in which, he alleges that the ballot boxes were not sealed while voting was going on, is another notorious, willful and mendacious misrepresentation and since Contestant charges that the ballot boxes were not sealed while voting was going on, it was incumbent upon him, under the law of pleading, to have specifically averred how and by what means the ballot boxes were not sealed; so as to present an issue on this subject that your Honorable Body could reasonably and fairly

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compare with the Statute, which he contends, requires ballot boxes to be sealed while voting is going on. The said count should therefore, be dismissed. 70. The opaque allegation in Sub-section "K" of count nine (9) of he aforesaid purported Bill of Exceptions which charges that the Election Officers falsely declared the totality of votes at some polls as having been cast for William V. S. Tubman when in fact numerous votes had been cast and balloted for Contestant, raises no question that could adversely affect the Returns of the said General Elections in favor of Con- testant, in that, he does not allege or charge that because of these alleged acts of the Election Officers a majority of the voters at some polls had cast and balloted for Con- testant; but simply alleges that "numerous" voters had cast their ballot for Contestant at the polls. It ought to require a majority of votes to be cast and balloted for the Contestant and not "numerous" ballots, before such a charge can adversely affect the Returns of the Election. 71. In the said Sub-section "K" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Excep- tions, Contestant has utterly failed and neglected to mention the names of some polls at which he claims that the Election Officers falsely declared a totality of votes for William V. S. Tubman when in fact numerous voters had cast and balloted for Con- testant; nor the names of the officers at such some polls who made the false declaration alleged by him to have been made, or the names of the numerous number of voters who, according to him, cast ballots for Contestant and were declared as having cast ballots for William V. S. Tubman; nor does the said count mention any names or number nor any names of the polls or voters at those polls nor any of the Officers. This renders the said Sub-section and count of no legal effect since it presents no triable issue. 72. The objection presented against the General Elections in Sub-section "L" of count nine (9) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant does not plead any matter that could be legally effective, in that, it charges that the Elections officers had ballot boxes and the voting in various booths supervised and controlled by high Officials of Government, such as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, who are also avowed members of the True Whig Party. I emphatically deny that any high official of Government including Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, L. K. Johnson supervised and controlled ballot boxes and voting in various booths or in any of them. Assistant Secretary of the Treasury L. K. Johnson, and other high officials of Government were recommended to the Sheriffs at the polls and the Elections Commission to function at poles and polling booths simply as representatives of the True Whig Party in keeping with the requirements, and the privileges granted to Political Parties by the Election Statute; and this constituted no violation of the Election Statute or regulations nor were the rights or interests of Contestant, or his party affected thereby. 73. Sub-section "M" of count nine (9) of the said purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant which charges that ballot boxes containing an overwhelming majority of ballot papers in favor of Contestant were opened and such ballot papers were taken

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out and burnt, is a flagrant device, an artifice manufactured and framed up by Contes- tant to veil his face and that of his Parties against the annihilating ignominious and stigmatic defeat and contempt hurled upon them by the Electorate of the country on May third (3rd) last past. And said allegation carried not an iota of truth but is fraught with falsehood and misrepresentation. 74. The said Sub-section "M" of count nine (9) of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the Contestant is obscure, indistinct, uncertain and vague, in that it, fails to mention specifically at what polls or voting booths, ballot boxes discovered to contain an overwhelming majority of ballot papers for Contestant, were opened and said ballot papers taken out and burnt; and it fails further to state who were the Election officers at those polls where the alleged taking out and burning of ballot papers for Contestant occurred. For want of certainty and specificity in this respect, said Sub-section and count nine (9) should be ruled out and expunged from the records. 75. All of the charges contained in the purported Bill of Exceptions in count nine (9) and its Sub-sections against the Election Officers are offenses made punishable by the Election Statute and hence should be first reported to the Elections Commission or some judicial forum. Contestant being in possession of the facts as complained of by him against the Election Officers in said count nine (9) of his purported Bill of Exceptions has not, in the first instance, made any complaint to the Elections Com- mission nor to any judicial forum for the offenses mentioned in his said Bill of Excep- tions so as to give the said Election Officers the right of confrontation and copy of the charges against them and a fair, impartial and speedy trial. The fact being that no such thing ever occurred during the election anywhere; if they had happened, complaints should have been filed with the Department of Justice, Justice of the Peace or other judicial functionaries having competent jurisdictions. The charges wickedly represented against Election Officers should not be given consideration by your Honorable Body nor could they adversely affect the returns of the Election because they are not acts alleged to have been committed by the President of Liberia nor by anyone acting for him as alleged. 76. No copy of the purported Bill of Exceptions of the proposed Contest as filed was forwarded to the President of Liberia by the Contestant nor by the Clerk of the Circuit Court in which the same was filed nor was the said Clerk directed by the Contestant to furnish or have forwarded to the President a copy thereof: a fundamental principle upon which all pleadings are found which is that of giving notice. For want of notice, therefore, the said Bill of Exceptions should be dismissed and Contes- tant ruled to all costs. 77. I submit further that as to Sub-sections (A), (B), (C), (D), (E), (F), (G), and (H) of count nine (9) of the aforesaid purported Bill of Exceptions of Contestant, Edwin Barclay, the said counts are materially defective, and do not furnish a premise upon which your Honorable Body could grant unto him his prayer not to declare the President, regularly and legally elected President of the Republic of Liberia, because

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the leaders of the said Sub-sections of count nine (9) are neither averments nor allegations setting forth or stating that the number voters alleged to have been eliminated or obstructed by the Election Officers or by the President of Liberia or his adherents, supporters or high officials of Government were of such that the result of the election would have been different if they had voted; nor does the purported Bill of Exceptions plead that, if the alleged election votes cast for the President be taken from the total votes cast in his favor at the said Election, then the total number of votes remaining in favor of the President, would reduce the number of his legal votes to that of or below the total number of votes received by the Contestant which of necessity is required by the law controlling Legislative Contests to be pleaded. Wherefore, the contention of Contestant is, without legal merit and is deserving of no consideration by your Hon- orable Body. 78. The said Contestant did name William V. S. Tubman, Presidential Candidate of the True 'Whig Party, as "Respondent," whereas, under the Election Statute in cases of Legislative contests, Plaintiff is called "Contestant" and, the defendant "Contestee." Contestant in his anxiety and reckless maneuvering and scheming denominates hates the True Whig Party's successful candidate as "Respondent." Therefore the said purported Bill of Exceptions is bad and framed contrary to the language of the Statute. 79. The monomaniacal, ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate of the Inde- pendent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Edwin Barclay, Contestant, prays your Honorable Body that the Office of President be "awarded" to him, Contestant. He is an optimist with unbridled audacity and devoid of a sense of decency, morality and propriety. The Honorable the House of Representatives, nor any other judiciary or political functionary or forum in a nation can "award" the Presidency to any man or candidate, the present incumbent not the exception. The office of President is obtained by election by popular and majority votes of all the electors voting at a Gen- eral or Presidential election. Having once obtained the Presidency by treachery in 1930, Contestant vainly imag- ines that he can, after being defeated in the polls by William V. S. Tubman by a majority vote of more than ninety-nine one half (99 1/2) percent of the total votes cast at the election held throughout the country on May third (3rd) 1955, be awarded the Presi- dency by your Honorable body. This kind of undue, unmerited and wishful desiring of favor can not be extended to him nor to any other citizen by your Honorable Body. 80. As to Contestant's alternative prayer that, should such a decision not be reached, a new election, be ordered, I submit that your Honorable Body has no authority under the Constitution to order a new election, for under the provisions of the Constitution, if there be any doubt or question raised in the mind of the Honorable Members of the House of Representatives as to who has obtained the election, after counting the votes, you, in convention with the Senate, by joint ballot, decide which of the candidates obtained the highest number of votes and it is out of the question and competence of your Honorable Body to order a new election to elect a President.

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Even should a President die in office no new election is held to elect a successor, but by operation of the law, the Vice-President succeeds to the Presidency. 81. The indiscriminate, reckless and unconstitutional prayer of the Contestant indicates his disregard for the Constitution when he prays that your Honorable Body would "award" him the Presidency or call a new election in face of the expressed provision of the Constitution which provides how a President shall be elected and what shall be the course of procedure in case the returns of the election create a doubt as to who is elected President. In the present case there is no doubt about who is elected President, William V. S. Tubman having received two hundred forty-four thousand, eight hundred seventy- three (244,873) votes as against Edwin Barclay, the ingloriously defeated candidate, Contestant, who received only one thousand, one hundred eighty-two (1,182) votes of all the ballots cast at the election of May third (3rd) A. D. 1955, it is a piece of brazen audacity and vicious moral temerity for him to appear before the House of Represen- tatives raising any question whatever to the Returns of the Election in which he was so crushingly, smashingly and ingloriously defeated. 82. The prayer of the said monomaniacal Contestant, Edwin Barclay that the allegations, averments and charges falsely, maliciously and loosely presented; by him in his purported Bill of Exceptions, furnish sufficient grounds for the impeachment of Wil- liam V. S. Tubman as President of the Nation, is another and further concrete evidence of the moral depravity, degenerate, atheistic and vicious mind of Contestant, Edwin Barclay. Under the Constitution the sole power of presenting Bills of Impeachment is with the House of Representatives and not with a defeated candidate for the Presidency, a political party or a group of citizens; impeachments are instituted, under the Constitu- tion, solely by the House of Representatives; no Petition, Bill of Exceptions, Com- plaint or Memorial can initiate or institute impeachment proceedings. 83. Contestants request and prayer for impeachment of the President is an anomaly and the most ridiculous and absurd aspect of Contestant's purported Bill of Excep- tions is that upon the Returns of an Election where the people of the Nation have expressed implicit confidence in the Presidential Candidate, William V. S. Tubman, by voting his election by a majority of more than ninety-nine and one half (99 1/2) percent of the total votes as against that of Edwin Barclay of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, who received less than one-half of one percent of said total votes cast, that he should have the nerve and temerity in such circumstances and before the will of the People has been executed by the Inauguration of the man of their choice, to ask for his impeachment. Such a course of conduct connotes and indicates more than a state of monomania, but also evinces pyromania, madness, moral depravity, degeneracy and simple stupidity; and your Honorable Body can take no Constitu- tional or legal cognizance of such a ridiculous request or prayer.

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In support and verification of the facts enumerated in count thirty-four (34) of these Observations, I attach hereto two (2) copies of issues of "The Independent", the Newspaper of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Vol., 1, Nos. 10 and 11, dated November 27 and December 14, 1954, respectively, and marked Exhib- its one (1) and three (3) and two (2) copies of "Special Flash" dated November 29 and December 13, 1954, respectively, marked Exhibits two (2) and four (4) and forming a part of these Observations. 84. The utter reckless, vicious and wicked designs of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties at subverting the lawful authority of Government and creating internal unrest, terrorism and rebellion as well as at bringing the Nation into international disrepute is incontrovertibly demonstrated by the false and lawless propaganda methods employed by them during and throughout the Campaign in the publication and circulation of vile, false, scandalous, vituperative and slanderous matters through their Newspaper called "The Independent" together with fly-sheets called "SPECIAL FLASH" before they were banned. Copies of which are appended hereto in verification of this representation and marked Exhibit five (5). In these malevolent publications above referred to, the independent True Whig and Reformation Parties aforementioned, in an attempt to avoid criminal responsibility for such publications and the penalty of the Law in such cases provided, in several instances, failed to include in the masthead of their publications the names of their Editorial Staff and Contributors of their articles. When their attention was called to their illegal methods by the Department of Justice, their Standard Bearer and now ingloriously defeated Presidential candidate, Edwin Barclay, attempted to justify the same but nevertheless gave assurance that in the names of the Editor or Editors would appear thereafter in the issues. The Editors turned out to be irresponsible persons such as Mrs. Bertha Corbin, Mr. C. Adolphus Richards, Mrs. Diana Coleman-Cooper and Mrs. Georgia Coleman- Cole, who, when called upon by your Honorable Body to answer for a false and hid- eous publication made against your Honorable Body, denied any knowledge of the particular publication; Mr. C. Adolphus Richards, Associate Editor stating that he never even saw the manuscript before it was printed because his association with the paper was simply nominal; Mrs. Diana Coleman-Cooper and Mrs. Georgia Coleman- Cole, holding that their connection with the Newspaper was restricted to social and domestic affairs and that they were not Editors for political matters, which fact being verified by the titles appearing on the Newspaper showing their connection with the said Newsorgan, they were by you exculpated. Mrs. Bertha Corbin who is known to be a confirmed radical, an eccentric, erratic and irresponsible person, even though its Editor-in-Chief, disclaimed any knowledge of the particular publication which appeared in the Columns of the Newspaper called "The Independent" whereupon your Honorable Body correctly held her responsible as Editor-in- Chief and imposed a fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) upon her,

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or imprisonment until the fine is paid and also banned the said Newsorgan until the said Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties procured a responsible Editorial Staff. 85. That Mrs. Bertha Corbin, the Editor of the News called "The Independent" is an irresponsible, eccentric and erratic person as hereinbefore alleged, is conclusively evidenced by her conduct after her imprisonment for failing to pay the fine of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) imposed on her, by declaring herself an American Citi- zen and appealing to the United States Government for an American Passport as an American Citizen maintaining that she never denounced fidelity to that Government or took an Oath of Allegiance to the Liberian Government, notwithstanding the fact that she lived in Liberia for more than twenty-eight (28) years as a Liberian Citizen. Furthermore, knowing well that she had taken an oath of Allegiance to the United States Government as recently as January 15, 1953, she was, in 1954, a Signatory to the Articles of Association of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, and functioned as Editor of the Political Newsorgan of the ingloriously defeated Inde- pendent True Whig and Reformation Parties in the last campaign by and with the assignment and approval of Edwin Barclay as Standard Bearer and S. David Colemen as National Chairman of the aforesaid ingloriously defeated Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties. See Exhibit "5A," Department of Justice records of Conver- sation. 86. I summit that the selection and appointment by Edwin Barclay and S. David Coleman, Standard Bearer and National Chairman, respectively, of the ingloriously defeated independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, of an inept person such as Mrs. Bertha Corbin who was known to them to such at the time of her appointment, unquestionably indicates their foul designs and plans to conduct an illegal, irresponsi- bly, reckless campaign; knowing fully well that the people of the country would never support any party led by them, nor candidates nominated by them. With their Editorial Staff declared irresponsible and their foul Newspaper called "The Independent" banned until they could procure responsibly Editors for the same, the little group of willful and deliberate miscreants (leaders of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties) bent on pursuing their vicious propaganda sought for and did engage the services of one Abraham Kamanda who is also another inept, ultra- radical, eccentric, erratic and irresponsible individual of characteristics and tempera- ments exactly similar to those of Mrs. Bertha Corbin. Upon Government taking action to prevent him from functioning as Editor of the aforesaid Newspaper called "The Independent" of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties because of his being an alien and an inept, irresponsible, eccentric and erratic person, by institution of Deportation Proceedings against him, the said Mr. Kamanda, knowing himself to be an alien, fled and went into hiding. This is concrete evidence of the irresponsibility of Mr. Kamanda and proof positive of the deliberate intention of the little clique of defeated, jealous, envious, desperate and

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willful men representing no opinion but their own, to disregard law, constituted authority and any principle of morality and decency to subvert and bring into disrepute the constituted authority of Government. More than the above, they recruited into the service of their same Newspaper called "The Independent" other inexperienced, irresponsible and criminal alien ex-convicts such as Jacob Odugbe, residing within the Republic upon a fraudulent Permit of Resi- dence, as writers, and printers without regard for Law, order or common decency to write, print and publish indiscriminate, reckless and false charges not only against the candidates of the True Whig Party in the Campaign, but also the Government and People of the Republic of Liberia. 87. Further still, before, during and since the last General Elections, at which the people of the country by their virtual unanimous votes polled against the said ingloriously defeated Edwin Barclay and Nete-Sie Brownell, Presidential and Vice Presiden- tial candidates, and all other candidates of the Independent True Whig and Reforma- tion Parties to show their resentment and condemnation of their vile and despicable conduct, the aforesaid leaders and adherents of the Independent True Whig and Ref- ormation Parties - the same little clique of vile men - have persisted in their criminal and lawless conduct, and disregard for any principle of morality and have resorted to the typing and mimeographing and clandestine circulating of anonymous pamphlets and bulletins containing false, derogatory and criminal charges against the three Coor- dinate Branches of Government with intent in so doing to stir up and create uprising, unrest and contempt far the Government of Liberia amongst people of the country to bring her into disrepute and public ridicule. The most recent of the above referred to anonymous mimeographed pamphlets being that which charges the Chief Justice and other Justices of the Supreme Court, except Justice Anthony Barclay who is a First Cousin, of the ingloriously defeated Presidential Candidate, Edwin Barclay, with acts and conducts unbecoming Justices, specifically, mentioned that while proceedings for Mandamus and Prohibition prayed for and instituted by the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties were pending before the Honorable the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice and other Justices named in the said anonymous mimeographed pamphlet were invited by the President to spend the weekend at his farm which allegations are totally false, for neither the Chief Justice nor any of the Justices mentioned in said pamphlets visited the President's farm upon his invitation or request, or spent a weekend there during the pendency of the causes above mentioned. See attached Exhibit marked "5B". 88. On the other hand, Justice Anthony Barclay is the only Justice of the Supreme Court who could be and is considered as being bias and acting partially and corruptly by his failure to recuse himself from sitting on the Bench and participating in the hearing of the above named causes on grounds of consanguinity, he being the First Cousin of the inglorious defeated Presidential Candidate Edwin Barclay, who is the principal party-in-interest in the proceedings of Mandamus and Prohibition pending

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before the Honorable the Supreme Court of which he the said Anthony Barclay is an Associate Justice. 89. I further submit for the information of your Honorable Body that so outrageous and defiant has been the conduct of this little clique of pseudo-political miscreants that even Mr. Samual T. A. Richards, who started the opposition to a Third Term in his Newspaper called "The Friend" and permitted the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties to have his Press and Printing Office for the printing of political matters for the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, became so disap- pointed, disgusted and astounded at the vile and illegal conduct of the leaders of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties that he locked the doors of his Print- ing Office, refused to permit them to operate it further and published an article in Volume 6, issue Number 9 of "The Daily Listener." Dated the 31" of May, 1956, denouncing, repudiating and condemning the conduct of this little clique of which he was once a part, but could no longer continue his identity therewith, because of the avowed intention of its leaders to disregard the will and decision of the People of the Country by overt acts of Sedition and Treason. A copy of that issue is appended to this Message in verification of this Statement for your information and marked Exhibit six (6). 90. In conclusion I submit that all of these lawless, reckless and mendacious acts perpetrated by the Leaders of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties are public and notorious facts of which your Honorable Body should take legal and official notice. Foreseeing the tendency of these unscrupulous leaders of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties at the beginning of the campaign, your Honorable Body granted the President Emergency Powers authorizing and empowering him to cope with any situation that might arise; in this you wisely acted and in the interest of the security of the State, but the conduct of the leaders of the disloyal and vile Oppo- sition Parties that called themselves "INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG AND REF- ORMATION PARTIES" proved that while they had the spirit, intent and desire to create a state of emergency, they lacked the momentum, force, power and following of a sufficient number of citizens to effect it. Their every effort and attempt failed and was defeated and curbed by the Security Forces and Police Authority of the State and I am happy to inform you there was no necessity to invoke the Emergency Powers granted.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based, therefore, upon the foregoing Observations, I submit the following recommendations for your earnest, considerate and expeditious action:

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(1) That the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties be outlawed and declared by Act of the Legislature dissolved for causes shown hereinabove and sub- stantiated by the written Exhibits and Annexes hereto attached; and that you impose such penalty that you may deem proper, for any future violation or disregard of this Statute.

(2) That the Elections Statute of 1945 be amended to authorize the immediate cancellation of the Registration, and dissolution of any Political Party which, during and after any political campaign, indulges in propaganda or other acts subversive of Government or that may have a tendency to affect the orderly and peaceful administration and conduct of Government at home or abroad, or a political campaign during or after any election.

(3) That the publication of any anonymous writings in favor of any Political Party, besides being subjected to the penalties already provided by Statute, he made cause for outlawing of the particular Political Party in whose, favor such anonymous publications are made, except such Political Party in writing demurs, denounces and repudiates at the time of publication, the contents of such anonymous writings and give general publication to these demurrers, denunciations and deprecations of the contents of such anonymous writings.

(4) That the deliberate and willful conduct of Justice Anthony Barclay on the Bench of the Honorable the Supreme Court in causes in which his First Cousin, Edwin Barclay, is the principal party-in-interest as specifically referred to in the former part of this Message, be taken cognizance of and appropriate action taken.

(5) That a Statue be enacted to repeal the present law which provides that any foreign woman who marries a Liberian citizen becomes automatically a Liberian citizen and to provide that a Liberian citizen who weds a foreigner as his wife, the said foreign spouse continues to be regarded in law and equity as a foreigner and not entitled to any of the benefits, privileges or involvements of citizenship, except she renounced her allegiance to any and all foreign Governments and takes an Oath of Allegiance to the Government of Liberia, conditioned however, upon the existence of no constitutional inhibition that would have prevented her from becoming a Liberian citizen if she had not been wedded to a Liberian citizen.

Further, that in case of having children born unto such union in a foreign country, said children be not considered Liberian citizens except they take an oath of Alle- giance to the Government of Liberia upon reaching their majority and renounce allegiance to any and all Foreign States; and

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(6) That the said ingloriously defeated Presidential Candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Edwin Barclay, be required to pay all costs of this Extraordinary Session.

CONCLUSION

May your deliberations be characterized by your usual devotion to duty, the interest and welfare of the State under the guiding influence of the God of our Fathers Who is also our God, and may He grant His continued protection to our efforts in promoting and preserving the State.

Faithfully yours,

Monrovia, Liberia

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TO THE PARTISANS OF THE INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY AND CITIZENS IN GENERAL

Fellow Citizens: - The show staged on the 3rd of May last by Mr, Tubman and his henchmen, has only served to demonstrate and justify what our Party has clammed during the whole course of the campaign that he was not a fit person to be at the head of a Democracy. He has violated every constitutional and legal right of the people of this country to a free choice of those in whom they desired to vest authority. His actions were merely a continuation of his illegal usurpation of authority, which stemmed from his so-called election in 1951. Then he acted with greater subtlety. Now he has come into the open and has in a most shameful and disgraceful manner shown himself for the tyrant that he is.

THERE HAS IN FACT BEEN NO ELECTION.

Election implies, in any interpretation of our constitution and laws, the free choice by citizens of their agents in the sphere of Government. Mr. Tubman has forcibly denied citizens that right of free choice.

OUR PARTY HAS NOT BEEN DEFEATED.

By the use of force, violence and arms by Mr. Tubman, our partisans were prevented from exercising their free choice. He threw over the whole country A net-work of armed soldiers to coerce, intimidate and terrorize electors. He had ballots pre-marked and packed into the ballot boxes before the election was due to open. He prevented the Independent True Whig Party having a representative on the Elections Commission, as the law provides. He had appointed as elect...on officers only members of his own party, and even the right given to all parties by law to have representatives at the various polling booths, was in fact, denied the Independent True Whig Party; and when representatives of our party sought to be admitted to the booth, they were summarily ejected there from in order that they might not inspect the course of voting, the counting of the ballots and the activities of the election officers, as by law provided.

Liberian Studies Journal, )0W111, 1 (2003)

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We have evidence that at polling booths where citizens had cast a majority of votes for the independent True Whig Party, such votes were withdrawn from the ballot- boxes by the election officers and destroyed by fire or otherwise. Voters at many polling places were faced by election officers to accept ballot-papers already marked for the True Whig Party Candidates or if they refuse to accept such ballots so marked, ballot-papers personally marked by them were seized from them, destroyed by the election officers, and substituted against their will and consent, with ballot-papers marked for Mr. Tubman. Mr. Tubman, lawyer and ex-judge though he is, has had the boldness to charge the Independent True Whig Party as being and organization whose object is violently to subvert and overthrow legitimate Government. He evidently forgot or deliberately ignored the following section of the Liberia Constitution which he has not sought to "preserve, defend and protect" as he had sworn to do at his Inauguration: - "In order to prevent those who are vested with authority from becoming oppres- sors, the people have a right at such periods and in such manner as they shall establish by their frame Government to cause their public officers to return to private life, and to fill up vacant places by certain and regular elections and appointments," (Lib, Con. Article 1, sec. 19.) In view of this provision of the Constitution} you have done nothing for which you may conscientiously reproach yourselves. Believing as you do, and as the whole country knows that Mr. Tubman's administration has been both oppressive and corrupt, you have sought only to discharge one of the highest and most sacred obligations which a free citizen may take upon himself. He who calls this sedition desires either to undermine your self-confidence in the righteousness of your cause, or to fasten more firmly upon you the reeking talons of usurpation and tyranny. In countries where the habit of referring political difference to the test of legality instead of force is not traditional, such outrages produce violent armed reaction; but, not withstanding Mr. Tubman propaganda to the contrary, the Leaders of the Inde- pendent True Whig Party have consistently counseled our partisans throughout the whole country, to abstain from the use of force in any circumstances. In literally accepting and following the course of self restraint we have recommended, you have demonstrated a degree of political maturity which would seem to be woefully lacking in the leaders of the True Whig Party. You have shown yourselves more concerned about the long-term interests of the whole people than about the immediate short-term profits of the individual. This is the fundamental difference between the leaders of the two groups. They have sought to retain power with the hope of unlimited opportunities for illegal pelf. We have sought to attain power in order to limit, if not wholly to abolish, opportunity for graft and corruption in public office.

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They were fearful, as some of them admitted, that with change of administration, they would no longer be able to pursue their head-long course of official improbity and unchecked deviation from public rectitude. They were afraid that they would likely have to account for and surrender to the people their ill-gotten gains. Hence their violent reaction in attempted suppression of the bearers of the inescapable decrees of Nemesis. You have displayed wonderful, and praise-worthy self-restraint. Otherwise without doubt, the whole country would have been plunged into terrible blood-bath. I thank you for following our advice, notwithstanding the torture, brutalities aid undeserved imprisonments you have suffered. I am advising you that we are NOT ACCEPTING the so-called verdict celebrated by Mr. Tubman and his followers. We shall challenge it up to the highest legally authorized forum. I am sure that the people will, in time, convince Mr. Tubman that they are not going to submit like tame sheep to what would appear to be a reasonable seizure of power by the use of force and violence against them. We are free men and may tolerate neither tyranny nor slavery. Keep calm and trust and hope in the just administration of the law.

GOD SAVE THE REPUBLIC AND THE CONSTITUTION

(SGD) Edwin Barclay National Standard Bearer Independent True Whig Party, R. L.

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OFFICIAL REPORT OF WILLIAM V. S. TUBMAN President of the Republic of Liberia TO THE NATIONAL LEGISLATURE

IN EXTRAORDINARY SESSION MONROVIA ON THE INCIDENT OF THE ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT JUNE 22, 1955

Published by Authority Government Printing Office Department of State Monrovia, Liberia

MONROVIA, LIBERIA JULY 11, 1955 GENTLEMEN: By the grace of God, His infinite love and mercy, His inscrutable wisdom and perfect power, I am privileged to submit to you in the Land of the Living this Report on the vile, deliberate, premeditated and unjustified attempt to assassinate me on the eventful but not fateful evening of June 22, 1955. That evening marked one of the blackest pages in our national history; it revealed a conspiracy saturated with envy and hatred; the deepest dye of turpitude, moral depravity and seared consciences of a little group of vicious men bent on seizing power by force against the will of the People in order to impose revenge. The failure of the conspiracy is proof positive of the statement made in the 17th verse of the 4th Chapter of the Book of Daniel:

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVIII, 1 (2003)

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"This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will ,, In my Special Message communicated to your Honorable Body on June 13, 1955, you will recall that I reported that the Independent True Whig and Reformation Par- ties were subversive in character, practice and intent and aimed at overthrowing Gov- ernment by any means. I pointed out succinctly many overt acts of theirs that tended to substantiate my representations, and recommended that those two parties be outlawed. Acting favorably on that recommendation, you passed legislation outlawing them. The incident of the evening of June 22d, as you can readily see, has more than verified my representations and completely justified the recommendations and your action taken in the premises. Although you were on the scene and the drama was acted before your eyes, I have felt it my duty to summarize the entire occurrence for your better information and for the benefit of record. Acting upon your own violation, you designated the hour of five o'clock on the evening of the 22nd of June as the time when the Honorable the House of Representa- tives, in keeping with Constitutional provisions, would inform the Vice-President and rile of our reelection according to the returns of the last General Elections held throughout the country on May 3rd. The Centennial Memorial Pavilion was the place selected for the execution of the program. Aside from the Members of the Legislature who had been convened in Joint Ses- sion for the occasion. Members of the Supreme Court, the Diplomatic Corps, the Cabinet other officials of Government, citizens and foreigners had been invited and were present to witness the ceremonies. Immediately after the program a reception had scheduled in honor of the occasion on the roof terrace of the same building. At the last moment it was decided that due to the uncertainty of the weather (this being the rainy season) the place of reception be changed to the Executive Pavilion. This was indeed providential. At about one o'clock that afternoon, just four hours before the ceremonies were scheduled to commence, while preparations were being made for seating and other arrangements, Mr. S. Raymond Horace, Legal Adviser of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, called at the Centennial Memorial Pavilion. All persons present saw him walk around in and through the building. But thus was not made known until after the incident of June 22nd for no one suspected that that puny group of anarchists. representing no opinion but their own, had plotted to overthrow the Gov- ernment and seize power by assassinating the President. After the ceremonies, the guests departed to the Executive Pavillion. There they surprisingly met Messrs. Douglas Caranda and B. T. Bracewell, two of the leaders of the combined opposition parties who had not been invited to the ceremonies nor the reception. Since the Liberian people have not been know to be inclined or susceptible

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to the use of violence to attain political ambitions even though such ambitions be inordinate, no one asked the two imposters to leave the place; neither was a search of their persons undertaken nor were they kept under surveillance. The Presidential table had been placed directly in front of the bandstand at the southern end of the building. Seated thereat were the President and Mrs. Tubman, Mrs. Victoria Tolbert, wife of the Vice-President, the Speaker of the House of Repre- sentatives and Mrs. Richard Henries, former President and Mrs. C. D. B. King, the Acting Secretary of State, Honorable George A. Padmore, Senator J. A. H. Jones and Bishop Bravid W. Harris with their backs turned towards the bandstand. During the reception, several movie films depicting scenes of Liberian life and the State Visit of the President of Jamaica were put on the screen. In the midst of the shows the city power plant failed twice and the auxiliary lights with which the building is equipped were turned on. The show continued and all appeared to have been at ease. While attention was focused on the screen, at about eight o'clock, a pistol shot rang through the hall from the southern end of the building where the President was seated; then another and still another. They had all been fired by the would-be assassin Paul Dunbar who had edged his way up the aisles and on the bandstand behind the Presi- dent during the interval when the lights were out and in the semi-darkness that had enveloped the hall during the showing of the film. He was not more than six feet from the President's back. In his effort to make certain that his first shot hit its mark (the President in that instance) Paul Dunbar had crept so close that when he extended his arm, the shadow was seen by Police Inspector James Besunan, one of the President's bodyguards, who quickly knocked the hand up causing the shot to miss its target. The shot hit a concrete beam in the ceiling, ricocheted across the hall and struck Honourable Daniel Poo Derricks, a Member of the House of Representatives, in the leg. The would-be assassin Dunbar who actually shot at the President thrice, possibly 38 years old, a discharged police officer and a good marksman, was immediately caught and in the tussle to overpower him, two other shots were fired, one flying wild through the hall and the other penetrating the right hand of another of the President's bodyguards, Inspector William Hutchins and boring a hole in the mirrored ceiling just above the seat of the President. Dunbar was eventually overpowered. Upon being brought before the investigation board which was immediately instituted by the Attorney-General and the Secretary of War, both of whom were eye- witnesses of the attempted assassination, Paul Dunbar revealed that he had been hired to kill the President by Mr. S. David Coleman, National Chairman of the Indepen- dent True Whig and Reformation Parties, Mr. Nete-Sie Brownell, Vice Presidential candidate, and Mr. S. Raymond Horace, legal advisor of the same Parties. He also stated that the gun which he used for the purpose was given to him by Mr. S. David Coleman. That gun, a .38 six-shooter revolver made by Smith and Wesson,

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was wrestled front him by the President's bodyguards and is now in the possession of the law officers handling the prosecution of the case. The would-be assassin also revealed that earlier that evening Mr. S. Raymond Horace had taken him to Mr. Coleman's farm about 25 miles from Monrovia in the vicinity of Clay Ashland, to conclude all arrangements for the execution of the assassination plot; and that he was returned to the capital in Mr. Horace's car in time to execute the diabolical act. He said also further that when he and Mr. Horace reached Mr. Coleman's farm they met John Coleman, oldest son of the Colemans, Mr. Willie R. Davis, a member of the party, and an ex-soldier of the Liberian Frontier Force. Pressed for more details, Dunbar revealed that two previous meetings had been held at Mr. Coleman's Montrovia home on Front Street on Monday and Tuesday evenings the 20th and 21st of June, for the purpose of discussing the assassination plan; and that Messrs. Willie R. Davis, J. D. Gordon, T. N. Botoc, Nete-Sie Brownell and others whose names he could not recall them, attended each of the meetings which were called by Mr. Coleman and Mr. Horace. During the investigation it was also revealed that on the morning of the 22nd, Mr. Coleman had removed his family out of Monrovia to his Clay Ashland farm. Added to this, it was public knowledge that a few days previously he had published an Open Letter over his signature, alleging that he had information that a plot was afoot to assassinate Mr. Edwin Barclay, the defeated presidential candidate of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, and himself. Obviously these acts of Mr. Coleman could have been nothing but a ruse to veil him and his co-conspirators from suspicion of the plot which he new they had con- trived to kill the President, and to establish an alibi for himself and his family if and when the President had been shot and killed. It having been unquestionably established that Messrs. S. David Coleman, Nete- Sie Brownell and S. Raymond Horace were the chief architects, engineers and contriv- ers of the wicked plan to assassinate the President, on the following day, June 23rd, a warrant of arrest was issued against them. The Police Officers who were sent up to Mr. Coleman's farm to effect his arrest, were covered by Security Forces because it had been revealed that Mr. Coleman had accumulated large quantities of arms and ammunition at both his Montrovia and farm homes. Upon arriving at the farm house the police Officers preceded the Security Forces and according to them met the front door closed. According to Colonel William T. Thompson of the National Police Force who commanded the police detail, while he was tapping at the door to gain admission in order to serve the warrant, he heard Mr. Coleman remark from within the house; "I will give these bitches hell," and immediately he opened fire upon them by shooting through the closed door in front of which they were standing. Aside from shooting through the door, Mr. Coleman and his son John Coleman also started firing into the yard at which time they shot and killed on

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the spot Captain Thomas Y. Wilson of the Liberian Frontier Force and Police Private Yackparro Ballah, who were standing in the yard. Growing out of the heated gun battle which followed, five persons were wounded. They were First Lieutenant Joseph J. Yancy and Mamadi Kekura of the Liberian Fron- tier Force, Police Colonel William T. Thompson, Inspector Edwin Sulythe and Private Hilary Bishop. Meanwhile, the two desperadoes, Mr. Coleman and his son John, shot at and punctured the tires of the vehicles that conveyed the Police and Security Offic- ers to his farm so as to make it impossible for them to report to Monrovia what was happening or to get reinforcements. Seeing the critical position in which they were placed, the Police and Security Forces set fire to the house in which the two outlaws had barricaded themselves. But during the excitement and confusion, the desperadoes managed to escape into the wilds unscathed and fully armed. When this fact was reported, Security Forces were dispatched in hurried pursuit of the two fugitives; and after four and a half days search, on Monday, the 27th of June, they were spotted in the sugar cane farm of Mrs. Angela Dennis-Brown near the town of Klay. As soon as they discovered that they had been spotted and were being tracked down, they immediately opened fire, for the second time, on the Security Forces. But this time their doom was sealed, for the special detail consisted of selected soldiers and good marksmen. Returning fire, the two conspirators, murderers, outlaws and anarchists were shot and killed on the spot and brought to Security Headquarters at Barclay Training Centre, Monrovia. For them I pray that the Lord will pardon their sins and give them a perpetual peaceful repose. A Coroners inquest was convoked presided over by the Coroner of Montserrado County who arrived at the unanimous verdict that S. David Coleman and his son John D. Coleman were shot and killed by Security Officers in the line and course of their duties while the fugitives were resisting lawful arrest. Meanwhile, S. Raymond Horace, Nete-Sie Brownell, Willie R. Davis, co-conspirators, along with a number of others, have been arrested and are now being held in custody while the investigation of the Security Board continues. When Mr. Willie R. Davis, a cousin of Mr. Edwin Barclay by affinity, was called before the Security Board, he disclosed that he had gone to Mr. Coleman's farm on the day of the attempted assassination to take a machine gun which is the property of Mr. Edwin Barclay. Standard Bearer of the two outlawed parties, to have it cleaned; that Mr. Barclay had bought the gun through him from Mr. Janjue Trinity for $100.00, that Mr. Coleman and an ex-soldier had cleaned the gun, placed it into a pickup and he and Mr. John Coleman had brought it down, taken it to Mr. Barclay's residence and deliv- ered it to him; and that Mr. Barclay had directed them to hand it over to his watchman. You will recall that Mr. Edwin Barclay, the defeated presidential candidate of the now outlawed Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, filed a protest against the election in which he prayed that the Honorable the House of Representatives

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would award him the Presidency or call a new election. Mr. Barclay knew that such a prayer could not be granted under the Constitution: however his object obviously was to have the House of Representatives make a decision as they were obliged to do under the provisions of the Constitution that there could be no new election; but that, in case there was any uncertainty as to who had been elected, one of the three Presidential candidates having received the highest number of votes would be declared President by joint vote of the Senators and Representatives present. With this uppermost in their minds, Mr. Barclay and his party members then immediately plotted to assassinate the President. Had they succeeded, then by the provisions of the Constitution and the operation of Law, the Vice President would have become President for the residue of the present term of office of the assassinated President. In the meantime, the Legislature being in session, the members of the Opposition would have urged the Legislature under the provisions of the Constitution, to declare Edwin Barclay as Acting President for the next ensuing quadrennium since he had obtained the next highest number of votes-1,182 at the last General Elections which automatically placed him next in line to William V. S. Tubman who received 244,873. This demand might have been successfully urged by interpretation of Article V. Sec- tion 5 of the Constitution.

OBSERVATIONS

The entire plot was founded on no legitimate principle but the inordinate ambi- tion and determination of that little group of willut men of about ten in number, to gain power by force. They became enraged because the people of the country had persistently and incontrovertibly expressed by their vote of more than 99 1/2ck, their preferment of Will- iam V. S. Tubman, W. R. Tolbert and other leaders of the present administration, while in the meantime condemning them, the members of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, for their conduct as well as their vicious, malicious and false propaganda made during the campaign. Furthermore, the outstanding success of the recent State Visits of the President abroad, which gained surprisingly favorable publicity for the country, together with his constant strides and endeavors to interest foreign capital and foreign investment in the country for development purposes so as to raise the hegemony of the State and the standard of living of our people, intensified the envy and wrath of the die-hard and ne'er-do-well leaders of those combined parties. This also contributed to their vile and wicked attempted assassination. The fact that for more than a hundred years Liberia has maintained a stable and peaceful Government seems to have confirmed the confidence and attention of certain

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financiers and business executives for larger investments, and investment offers were coming in. This too added to their fury and jealousy. Still another policy enunciated and vigorously pursued with great success that further aroused the ire and envy of the contracted, selfish and constituted rebel parties was the National Unification Program. This program which was approved and subscribed to by the delegates attending the National Executive Council held with representatives from all tribes, elements and classes of the country, was subsequently referred to the people throughout the country and unanimously approved by them. Because of this, those outmoded pseudo-politicians declared that the administration was giving the country away to the native man, and was promoting a group of people who had no political or social background and no claim to prominence. It is now crystal clear, therefore, that rather than have the country develop, the living standards of the people raised, and the solidarity of the nation and its future ensured, the captains and chieftains of the Opposition have been satisfied to contrive, plan and attempt to execute a plot to assassinate the President, and to overthrow the Government. This they could never succeed in doing, for when the news of the assassination attempt was made known, the people from every section of the Republic rose up in indignation and expressed their desire and their willingness to come to the capital to fight against and subdue the rebels, but that was not necessary, for we knew too well that that little group of anarchists did not wield sufficient influence nor possess force or momentum enough to justify such action. The fact that this little group of nine had designed and premeditated what was attempted on the evening of the 22nd day of June, is further out by a letter dated 30th May, 1955, written by Mr. Netc-Sie Brownell to Mr. Yisah Williams of Pleebo, Mary- land County, above his genuine signature, which reads as follows:

Monrovia, 30th May, 1955 My dear Yisah: Sorry that I could not go to Cape Palmas as agreed. However. whatever happens, happens for the best. I am sending your Note of Hand to Mr. James W. Davies of Pleebo whom I am requesting to surrender it to you against the refund of the amount. I trust that you got home all right and met your family well. Nothing strange to report-things are moving on very strongly up here and we hope that you will hear from us again. Election Day was not the end of everything. With every kind regards, I am sincerely yours, (SGD) Nete-Sie Brownell Mr. Yisah Williams Pleebo, Maryland Country

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It is worthy of note that the above quoted letter was written 27 days after the elections and the last sentence "Election Day was not the end of everything," is plainly suggestive of the premeditated plot which was in the offing and of which Mr. Brownell is a party. Gentlemen, Mr. Edwin Barclay has haunted me for more than nine years as the Scriptures record Saul haunted David. His first act after my first inauguration was when he engaged the services of Messrs. Andre Turkett and Edwin Flowers to prepare and circulate surreptitiously anonymous pamphlets containing false and libelous matters against me and my Administration. These were found in your respective Houses on one morning when you went to session. You are in full knowledge of this. When the Secret Police was set in motion to apprehend the perpetrators of these notorious acts, they were found to be Messrs. Turkett and Flowers who revealed that it was Mr. Edwin Barclay who had engaged them to do the dirty act. In verification of their testimonies they produced the original manuscript which contained interlinea- tions and corrections made by Mr. Barclay in his own handwriting. Like David, I said: "Touch not the Lord's anointed," and I ordered no prosecution of him. This act of mercy made no change in his heart. Mr. Turkett and Mr. Flowers stated further than Mr. Barclay had procured for them dynamites and requested them to go to the Saturday Afternoon Club, one evening while I was there and dynamite the place. They took the sticks of dynamite they said and killed fish. Still I did not permit criminal prosecution to be instituted against Mr. Barclay. But again, that act of mercy made no change in heart. During the early part of the last campaign, a Mr. V. S. Onemegba presented a check for $25.00 issued and signed by Mr. Edwin Barclay which Mr. Onemegba stated was given to him to purchase a passport to proceed to Benin, Nigeria, West Africa, to kill by means of witchcraft, me and other high officials of Government whose names were written out by Mr. S. David Coleman. National Chairman of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties. Again I directed no action to be taken, but Mr. Coleman requested the Department of Justice to institute an investigation. This investigation was conducted by the Solicitor-General, the Honorable Momolu S. Cooper who was at the time Acting Attorney General. After several weeks of in- quiry, it was found by the Department of Justice that the allegations made against Mr. Barclay and Mr. Coleman were true, and it was recommended that criminal prosecution be instituted. I issued an order that no prosecution should be instituted for the reason that the Liberian Government would not permit itself to go on record as believing in or giving credence to witchcraft. But even still this act of mercy has made no change in his heart. Now the climax of climaxes has been reached. His complicity in the plot to assassinate me appears self-evident by the intimate relationship he sustained as National Standard Bearer of the two political parties whose combined efforts were unable to attract more than 1,182 adherents throughout the Republic.

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Smarting under his ignominious defeat, saturated with envy and jealousy of the colossal progress and success of the Administration over and above the appalling failure of his thirteen years' reign of terror, he bore the standard of the odious Indepen- dent True Whig and Reformation Parties throughout and after the campaign, up to and until the two parties were outlawed. He it is who was the source from which flowed the financial springs of the false, seditious, conspiratorial and unconscionable propaganda of these outlawed political parties. He it is who, when the members of his combined parties saw their doom written on the walls of the political history of the country that alley were "weighed in the balances and found wanting," adjured his small group of followers on one occasion in these words is time for us to take up arms." Even though that statement was published in both the local newspapers, the "Daily Listener" and the "Liberian Age" and was vehemently attacked by several of their contributors, Mr. Barclay remained surprisingly silent and did not as much as challenge it. Further, it is the identical Mr. Edwin Barclay who, in a message to the remnant of his fragmentary parties after his most ignoble defeat in the campaigne, wrote: "We shall not take it like tame sheep." He it is who, according to Willie R. Davis, one of the leaders of his parties and his cousin by allinity, purchased a machine gun from Mr. Janjue Trinity for $100.00 which transaction Mr. Trinity admits. It was on the very day of the attempted assassination, June 22nd last past that he, Edwin Barclay sent that same machine gun to the late S. David Coleman by his cousin Willie R. Davis to be cleaned and greased, and it was returned to him not more than six hours before the assassination attempt occurred. He it is who declared that if he received only five votes he would become President; and he it is who had planned to invoke his declaration by the Legislature as Acting President for the next quadrennium under the provisions of Section 5 of Article V of the Constitution, if the President had been assassinated. It is interesting to observe that from information given out by Honorable W N. Witherspoon, son-in-law of the late S. David Coleman and a Member of the House of Representatives, Mr. Edwin Barclay has forwarded a letter to Mrs. Etta M. Coleman, widow of the deceased S. David Coleman, in which it is alleged he deprecates and denounces the outlawry action of her late husband. It is further alleged that he wrote in the same letter that he does not believe in anarchy, or armed rebellion to gain political ends; hence, he was shocked that her husband had pursued such a notorious course. If Mr. Barclay does not believe in what he calls "anarchy or armed rebellion to gain political ends," then why did he make the statement during the campaign that "it is to take up arms?" And why has he not written to Messrs. Nete-Sie Brownell, S. Raymond Horace and other co-conspirators of the assassination plan, now in custody denouncing their actions? Or, can he do so now? His further failure will make it obvious that it is because the other co-conspirators are still alive and can answer for themselves

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while S. David Coleman is dead and cannot. Why did he not make such a pronounce- ment as soon as he heard of the attempt to assassinate the President? However, in the circumstances, he has feared to do so and his continued failure to denounce the actions of the leaders and other members of the conspiracy who are alive and in custody in the face of his position in the Parties, would make out not only prima facie case against him, but conclusive one, and that he it is who was the geome- trician of the plan, plot and conspiracy to assassinate the President; and, like the trum- peter captured in one of Caesar's Gallic expeditions, he sounded the chords which rallied his men to arms. That vicious plot was aimed not only at the life of the President but at the very core of the Government and the Nation. William V. S. Tubman was attempted to be slain, but it is Liberia that was meant. The President was to have been shot down, but the Government was smitten at. The President was to have been killed, but national life- breeding freedom and benignity were sought after. Theirs was the exponent of a venomous hatred of the Open-Door, the Unification and other far-flung policies of the present Administration, inflamed by their defeat at the last General Elections. Their honor is not honor, but a bastard quality which dis- graces the name of honor and for all time the honor of the promoters and supporters of assassination will be throughout this nation a by-word and a hissing. Their whole nature is death-smitten. That dastardly conspiracy, together with its attempted execution does not only give evidence of notoriously evil consciences, but marks the beginning of a most dangerous trend in our national history which, if not completely uprooted, destroyed and eradi- cated, will render our Government unstable and uncertain for ourselves and our pos- terity to such an extent that foreign investors and capitalists would be reluctant to invest in the country; and those who already have investments here might be compelled to withdraw. More than that, if the smallest root, scion or tendril of this nefarious trend is allowed to remain, it will render the Chief Executive-no matter how dedicated to the weal of the nation--unable to function effectively, since each moment of his life he would be wincing in anticipation of an assassin's bullet. In order, therefore, to ensure successors to the Office of President against a recur- rence of this wicked act, it is incumbent upon us to rigorously and effectively pursue the perpetrators of this diabolical crime until the last vestige of the inclination towards assassination is completely exterminated from their bosoms and from the hearts and consciences of our citizens and the shores of our native land. Meanwhile, permit me to record the Nation's and my deepest regrets for the deaths of two of our promising young men--Captain Y. Wilson of the Liberian Frontier Force and Police Private Yackparro Ballah who were mowed down by the fatal bullets of outlaw criminals, whilst they were defending the cause of the State against the rebel- lious forces of anarchy.

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Captain Wilson had but recently returned home from the United States after com- pleting an intensive course at Fort Benning, while Private Ballah, his heart beating with bright hope for a better tomorrow, had pursued and completed a course in the Literacy Training Program but died before he could put his new skills into action. His certificate still remains idle in the Department of Public Instruction. May Light Per- petual shine upon these two public servants who departed this life in the faithful discharge of duty. I wish also to commend the officers and enlisted men of the Security Guard who rallied to the cause of the nation in tracking down and subduing the culprits and the conspirators in the assassination attempt. While it is regrettable that Lieutenant J. Jenkins Yancy, and Maniadi Kekura of the Liberian Frontier Force, Police Colonel William T. Thompson. Inspector Edwin Smythe and Private Hilary Bishop were wounded in the execution of their duties, their vigilance and diligence in the discharge of these duties. along with all others of the Security Guard, are convincing evidence of their devotion to the State. It was especially gratifying and consoling to Mrs. Tubman, my immediate family and me to observe the keen interest which the public in general manifested I the entire occurrence by writing letters denouncing the perpetrators of this heinous plan, pledg- ing their confidence in and support to the Administration and forwarding delegations from all parts of the country by airplanes chartered at their own expense to come to the capital to convey their sentiments of regrets to us. Further, thousands of letters, postcards, radiograms, telephone and personal calls are still pouring in daily. The churches in various cities and towns, the Ministers' Union and other religious and civic organizations have all held Thanksgiving Services because of the failure of the assassination attempt. These are all indications of their patriotism and their determination to uphold, defend and protect the national patri- mony. For all these I cannot but register my personal thanks, those of my wife and family and the Government. Finally, Police Inspectors James Bestman, William Hutchins, Seaway Mammie and others of the President's bodyguard, who by their keen watchfulness, agility and by the direction of God, foiled the attempt of the would-be assassin on that eventful night, are deserving of the special praise, highest commendation and grateful thanks of the Government and People of the country. Guided by the strong hand of the Almighty, they saved the Nation from a national calamity and the President from sudden death.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In view of the foregoing, I submit the following recommendations, for your favorable attention:

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1. That legislation be enacted to amplify and implement Section 5, Article V of the Constitution to provide for the succession to the Office of President in case of the death or other disability of the President-elect before his is inaugurated.

2. That statutory provisions be trade for the sale and certain custody of prisoners charged or convicted of henous crimes against the State, such as treason, conspiracy to kill or murder the Chief of State or other high public functionaries of the Liberian or a foreign Government or such other felonies as would render such prisoners or convicts dangerous to public safety.

3. That the General Pensions Act he amended to provide that the widow and heirs or nearest kin of any officer or member of the Military Police or other Armed Services of the country, who may die in actual service, or in the lawful discharge of his duties, shall receive pension or annuity, equal to the amount of compensation that the deceased officer or member of the Military, Police or other Armed Services was receiving at the time of his death; and

4. That statutory authorization be given for the withdrawal and forfeiture of pensions, annuities, decorations of honor or any and all immunities and amenities granted, extended to, or conferred upon any official of Government, civil or military, who engages directly or indirectly in subversive activities against the Nation, or felonious crimes against the State.

CONCLUSION

May the Great and Only True God Who has given protection, guidance and guardian- ship to our Nation throughout its national life, continue to extend His bounteous blessings, protection and guidance of this nation, now, henceforth and forever.

Faithfully Yours,

WILLIAM V. S. TUBMAN

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FOREIGN SERVICE DESPATCH FROM EMBASSY, MONROVIA TO THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, WASHINGTON REF Embtel 217, June 22, 1955; Embtel 221, June 29, 1955

SUBJECT Attempted Assassination of Liberian President

The pistol assassination of Liberian President William V. S. TUBMAN was attempted on Wednesday June 22, 1955, at about 8 p.m. local time (2045 GMT), as reported in Embtels 217 and 221. This dispatch presents the Embassy's tentative observations, based on the partial information available at this time. In consideration of the infrequency of classified pouch service from this post, it is deemed essential that this interim report on the attempt and succeeding events be transmitted to the Department promptly. The attempt was made at the Executive Pavilion, Monrovia, during the reception that followed formal legislative notification to the President that he had been re-elected on May 3. It has been estimated that some 800 persons were present at the reception at the time of the incident, including the diplomatic corps, among which were four U.S. Embassy staff members. Police officers deflected the pistol before the first shot was fired. Three or four shots were fired in all. One police officer and a member of the House of Representatives were wounded, apparently not seriously. The President was unharmed and remained calm throughout the incident. The assailant, Paul DUNBAR, was formerly a member of the National Police Force. He was discharged from the Force over a year ago for, it is reliably reported, refusing to give appropriate but false testimony in a certain criminal case in which the Govern- ment had more than the usual amount of interest. His discharge was ordered by the President. Unable to retain a job, his subsequent employment being terminated each time his employer learned of his conflict with the President, he is reported to have become desperate. Dunbar was taken into custody on the spot and several other suspects were arrested soon thereafter. The Attorney General promptly held an investigation of the incident. It "revealed" that the attack was a deliberate act of the opposition Independent True Whig Party (ITWP). Next day, Thursday June 23, security forces (police and Liberian Frontier Force) arrested ITWP leaders Nete-Sie BROWNELL (Vice Presidential candidate in May), S. Raymond HORACE (legal advisor), and American-trained Dr. E. Murray BARCLAY (treasurer and cousin of Presidential candidate Edwin J. BARCLAY). Brownell and Horace were stripped to their underwear and questioned at the Executive Mansion.

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From the Mansion they were forced to run toward their place of confinement, the city jail near Barclay Training Center about a mile from the Executive Mansion. Falling exhausted from the running and from the beatings inflicted enroute by the security forces, they were dragged the rest of the distance by their feet. Both are in very critical condition. It has been learned from a very reliable source that the Secretary of War, very upset over the treatment his troops had given Brownell and Horace, has reprimanded the officers responsible and has ordered that such behavior not be repeated. He might well be upset. It is believed that this particular bit of brutality, viewed by hundreds and the subject of every street conversation within hours, has cost the incumbent True Whig Party (TWP) some popular support and has swung the sympathy of some politically apathetic persons toward the ITWP leaders. The Embassy has learned that Brownell and Horace were not dragged by jeep, as reported in Embtel 221, but by walking troops. The jeep story, nevertheless, is the one that has gained wide belief among Monrovians. On Thursday also, the security forces tried to arrest S. David COLEMAN (ITWP National Chairman) at his farm at Clay-Ashland. Coleman, his son John (former Chief Engineer of the Division of Highways), John's wife Olivia (an American citizen), and others were at the farm house as the security forces approached. Shots were fired from the farm house, killing two of the security forces and wounding two others. The house was set afire and burned to the ground. The Embassy has been informed by Mrs. Olivia Coleman, who has returned to Monrovia and is living openly with friends, that the two Coleman men escaped the blazing building. Though she is anxious to keep Liberian authorities guessing as to whether her husband and father-in-law escaped, it can easily be inferred that they were able to do so from the successful escape of the seven months pregnant Mr. Coleman and that of an elderly woman present in the house. The Government has reported that on Friday June 24, eight men opened fire on the Liberian Frontier Force troops stationed at the Coleman farm. Casualties resulted, but to what extent is not known. The troops are under orders to apprehend S. David Coleman dead or alive. It is not known whether the same orders apply to the son, John. The search for the Colemans has been pressed vigorously but as of Saturday June 25 they have not been located. The senior Coleman is believed to have many supporters in the Liberian wilds, who would likely aid the Coleman's escape or refuge. Edwin J. BARCLAY, the ITWP Presidential candidate, remains at his home in Monrovia. He has been neither arrested nor questioned. Among other persons arrested are B. T. BRACEWELL (Edwin J. Barclay's attorney), James GORDON (reputedly found with ammunition behind Mr. Barclay's residence), and three electricians employed by the Monrovia power station. The Electri- cians were charged with complicity in the plot by their act of turning off the power in the Executive Pavilion area the evening of the attack. The electricians have been

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released. The lights were off for a few minutes, but some thirty minutes before the assault on the President. The Government has reported discovering 2,444 pistol bullets at Mr. S. David Coleman's home in Monrovia. A Government source has informed the Embassy that Coleman and his colleagues had large caches of ammunition and weapons, including sub-machine guns. Illustrative of the falsity of the official TWP explanations of the assassination plot are the remarks of a prominent source very close to the President, an attorney and Government official trained at a leading American university. His statements were made to officers of the Embassy in a private conversation on Friday June 24. First, he "verified" a tale that had been given currency by the TWP several months ago: that the Government had seized a letter addressed to Edwin J. Barclay by Sir Anthony Eden in the British Colonial Office (sic.) promising Barclay an early shipment of arms and ammunition with which to accomplish a revolution. Secondly, he advised that there were really three gunmen involved in the assassination attempt. (The Government- controlled newspapers, anxious to establish the extent of the ITWP plot, would certainly have mentioned the other two gunmen - gunmen which Embassy officers present at the time did not see.) Thirdly, he later set the number of guns involved at two. (This is clearly inconsistent with his above-mentioned remark, unless one of the weapons was a two-man bazooka.) Fourthly, with the straightest of faces, he mentioned that he and the Attorney Gen- eral had just returned from an inspection of the ashes of the Coleman farm. The only evidence they could find of persons unable to escape the burning building was one human heart. (Superstitious Liberians believe that, caught in a fire, all of the human body is destroyed by the flames except the heart. Not only did his American-educated gentleman believe this superstition himself, he apparently expected the Embassy officers to believe it too.) The Embassy is of the opinion at this time that objective evidence does not fully support the Liberian Government's findings that the assassination attempt was a well- laid plot by S. David Coleman and/or the ITWP. If Coleman had had the arsenal he is alleged to have had, and which the firing at his farm might confirm he did have, he would hardly have entrusted the climax of his plot to a single gunman. No matter who was behind it, of course, the unsuccessful attempt was bound to be blamed on the ITWP. The attempt - as long as it was unsuccessful - may become a bonanza to the TWP. Already it has been used to "verify" all the earlier TWP criticism of ITWP villainy. It tends to support the justification for the President's use of troops during the elections to "maintain" the peace.

Approved:

Counselor of Embassy Richard L. Jones

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The Reverend President William Tubman Confession from BTC by an Officer of the Liberian Frontier Force re Midnight Conversation Between Reverend President Tubman and his Two Political prisoners, L. David Coleman and his son John, upon their being brought down under cruel torture, from their Klay hide-out. The Conversation Marked a Lasting Tribute of Historical Importance to Montserrado County and Liberia as a Whole.

Having been cruelly tortured and brought down alive from their Klay hide-out, Opposition National Chairman S. David Coleman and his son, John Coleman, with their hands tied on their backs and feet strung together with heavy cords and laid on bare floor of the BTC mud but prison cell, the Reverend President Tubman entered the room to converse with this half dying political prisoners whose doom he had sealed before their arrest was effected; the price of $1,000.00 already being offered for their capture "dead or alive." In the prison cell with Reverend President Tubman fold- ing a flash light which he occasionally focused in the prisoners' faces, while the gunman to make the finishing touché of the affairs stood outside, the following conversation in the form of a dialogue ensued.

Pres. Tubman: David Coleman, I told you that sooner or later I will get you in my power. What would you tell me now? I hold complete power over your very life, you and your sons, in fact ever your entire household. What have you to say now, tell me. One thing you ought to be certain of and that is, more of your fellow partisans will sooner or later find themselves in your shoes, if they are not already in it. Talk, I am a gentleman enough to hear you, talk, I listen at you?

S. D. Coleman: (After an effort to clear his threat and moisten his parched lips under agonizing pains of the cruel cords that cut off the circulation of his blood from the heart to the tied up limbs, Mr. Coleman began.) Miiiiistra Tubman (he changed his mind and thought to address him "President".) President Tubman, I know you have

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got me, me. (The word "Me" was uttered with trembling voice.) You know why you have power over me and my son, and as you said, over my entire household. You know why. (Meanwhile John who was under excruciating pains, began to build up hope that their lives might be saved) but, but (Mr. Coleman continued) I know you are still a friend, and - (The President interrupted him).

Pres. Tubman: Friend, you a friend? (The President forgot the esoteric nature of his mid-night mission and raised the voice above the planned whispering tone) Friend, Barclay, or Bownell, or Horace or Blackstock could call me a friend too, or I regard them as such. Haw haw haw haw!

S. D. Coleman: President Tubman, not speaking for myself, but whether friend or enemy remember God, and spare my son, John (not knowing that Othello was already behind prison bars) do for Jesus' sake, spare John's life, do for God's sake.

John Coleman: (John who so loved his father, cleared his throat and in a trembling voice spoke.) Papa, he must save you, too.

Pres. Tubman: As for you, John, I did all I could for you Coleman's children. I gave you a splendid opportunity for an education. I made way for you so that you could be one of the future leaders of Liberia, standing side by side of my son who has had my repeated advises of what honor to confer on each of you young men even as I have been doing to your father until he thought he was smart enough to measure up arms with me, following Barclay's wicked plots to strangulate and wonderful progress I have been able to make through the open door policy, but you abused my good nature, you abused my good nature, you will have to bear the penalty. (Mr. Coleman blinked his eyes, the President then flashed his light on them to watch their countenances.) No, (the Presi- dent continued) let me tell you Coleman, if you had had me in your power, you won't spare me, I know it, I know it, both you and that Barclay man who professes to be the learned and the money man. I know it. But as for Barclay, he doesn't know who he is playing with. So far as he is concerned, he should wait to see what I shall do to him. I will scatter his wealth to the four corners of the earth before bringing him to his final end which will be

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more ignoble than that which now awaits you, and probably your son John and many other beside.

S. D. Coleman: Mr. Tubman, will you kill me, will you not spare even my son? For political difference will you destroy me and my son. We have been friendly, or a least we are still friendly.

Pres. Tubman: Look here, Coleman, don't tell me any of you men who launched this fight against me are friends to me. For Barclay and Horace and you, so far as I am concerned, there will be no reconciliation with me. You will have to take what comes and I be prepared to take whatever the consequence. Let me further tell you, what living creature here in Liberia can stand in my way. I bet you, for the next twenty-five years or more, I will either personally control the affairs of this country, or someone under my direct influence does it. I hope your life could be spared to witness what I am saying. Let me tell you the secret you never know and even though I am telling you of it, you will have had no power from where you shall find yourself, to work out mischief to undo it. To begin with, I have had good reason for permitting you Montserrado County people to such the marrow of my administration. I have had good reason to open wider our doors for the entrance of foreign capital from the United States and Lebanon, the savings of the latter group can always be put at my disposal to fight you and your multimillioner Barclay or anybody else from now till hell freezes. I have had good reason to get closer to me my friend Simonovich from whose wholesome advices I gain tre- mendously a whole lot in the way of mass psychology. I have had good reason for being on perfect mutual understanding, if not personal intimacy, with all of the foreign legations and embassies and of permitting their personal to materialize their individual dreams and aspiration in the interest of the state they represent. With these on my side, could you not have used your head to know that Barclay's erstwhile theory of modern nation, does not fit in with the time element? You have actually done yourself more harm than good in splitting with me. Do you really think you ought to be spared in order to have Barclay promote your interest to succeed me and be able to carry out your personal vengeance on me and my household? You and Barclay are envious not only of the remarkable improvement I have made for myself and those around me, but you are bent on impoverishing

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me, after hauling me out of the Executive Chair; and those of your County men who are feigning friendship with me are only doing so in the end that they may win my confidence to have one of them succeed me, then show their true color. I know all of these conditions, or at least I am aware of them. You may be away or turn a new leaf, but I can tell you this much, wherever you be, I have one more trump card to play, and when it is played, a complete new Liberia will be born for all time. Do you not even know, that I have sufficient influence both foreign and local to do what I want without incurring any serious condemnation from the masses? This is possible with me, whether you believe it now or not. I hope there could ever be a day when the Montserrade County sycephants would ever get together in large number to make showing such as you have attempted - resisting lawful arrest. Such is a day I am looking forward to. I bet you, their children's children would have a tough time of it knowing exactly what accomplishment their father achieved.

S. D. Coleman: Mmmm, Mr. Tubman, I have always regarded you, or at least you are sympathetic. When John was wounded and we were not killed on the spot, I knew you would spare our lives, once you see me or I lay my eyes on you. (Thus Mr. Coleman evaded entirely the President's expostulation and bent on craving pardon for his son and himself.) Mr. Tubman, (Mr. Coleman continued) if for Wilson's death you thus punish me and my son, and threatened to take our lives, we didn't shoot Wilson. We didn't do that, I fact, we shot and killed nobody earnest to God, it was the killing of Wilson which we saw with our own eyes by the shots from the soldiers in an effort to kill ?? and my entire household, that I did some firing, thinking they will get scared and return, during which we would be able to have John bring me in town to submit myself, for I know I never hired any Paul Dunbar to assassinate you. Believe me. No, I didn't hate you that much to take away your life. You know it. If at all it were my plan, God forbid, to kill you, such arrangement could have been effected with someone other than the Paul Dunbar of whom I knew nothing.

Pres. Tubman: Mmmmmm Hmmmmm. Now, let me tell you the truth, Coleman, you think you are smart, when it comes to politics. If you think you are, I should regard myself smarter than you are. However, since this is our final friendly and political conversa-

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Lion, and since I have made up my mind how to terminate your and Barclay's nonsense, I will be candid to tell you the living truth. For the killing of one officer, I ordered it, but of course, I never exactly meant Wilson in particular. You people may have had your College Diplomas and University Degrees, but I know exactly what the average Liberian wants. I knew what Barclay was interested in - Liberia for the Liberians alone, and at the privation of the present generation, and for what? To keep of the white man from enjoying the natural resources of this country, even when it is obvious that by ourselves, we shall never be able to tap one fourth of it. I devoted my entire time and energy to impressing him that where his interest lies there was also mine, and so I got him. Poor fool, when the time came, he regarded me abundantly for my "Patriotism" and a promise of "loyalty to him." Coleman, I hope, if there is life after death, when we meet, you all will understand my position. Now, what concerned me in your case is, which of you to spare. However, perhaps I will give it a thought, a little more thought, as I leave the room (meaning the tragic.)

S. D. Coleman: Mr. Tubman, whatever you do, spare John's life. As for me I know this is my end although I still hope that you will change your mind.

John Coleman: Papa, if you must die, there is no sense anybody sparing my life. The only thing I would like to ask of the President is to please let him order the soldiers to slacken the cords on you a little, if not what must happen let the President order it happen, for sooner the better for you and me, Papa. (John spoke these words seeing how the cords had sunk deeply in his father's flesh, while the Reverend President Tubman discussed with them as though two equals were chatting while enjoying themselves.) Then (John continued) we shall be with my grand father in God's sweet kingdom. I know he is there with all the great men of this Republic, even though the President said "if there is life after death." For my part, I am confident when we shall have gone, those we leave behind us will carry on in the fight for the freedom of all liber- Liberians great or small. And those who have not taken part in the fight for liberty, will either join in this struggle, or will resolve to determining where lies their immediate future, remembering our tragic end.

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Pres. Tubman: Haw haw haw haw. You have no idea what the public is thinking about you both. See what is being said with reference to what should be done to you. (The President hauled out a copy of the "Daily Listener" and read the article written by Charles Cain and also that in the "Liberian Age" advising that after killing Coleman and his son, their bodies should be placed for exhibition as an example to all would be assassins.)

S. D. Coleman: (Mr. Coleman, after hearing the reading of the papers decided to ask the President a special favor.) President Tubman, will you do me this favor - (he was sharply interrupted by the President who thought Coleman was asking him again to spare his life and that of his son.)

Pres. Tubman: Listen, Coleman, there is no need of your asking me to spare your life. Your own so-called Montserrade County men had urged me to put an end to your nonsense. Needless for you to beseech me to spare your life. What kind of man will the different editors of news organs call me after they had been vocal in urging the Government to take a strong position against you and all members of your pseudo party. How would I look C.C. Dennis in the face after committing myself to his suggestions? No, Coleman, it is too late. I hope I could give you the recent "Listener" so that you could read Editorial after the night of the attempted assassination. No, Coleman, I am sorry, too sorry.

S. D. Coleman: Mr. Tubman, you mean Charlie Dennis?

Pres. Tubman: Yes, Charlie C. Dennis, the Propriator of the "Daily Listener." You may not have read the Editorial of this paper, urging the Government to take a strong hand in dealing with members of your party.

S. D. Coleman: Mmmmmm, Charlie Dennis. Well, what I want to say is that you order my being released a little and permitted to send a letter to my wife, my dearest wife, (the thought of his wife changed Mr. Coleman's mind and resolved once more to beg for his dear life) my sweet wife, oh, my wife and children, if for no other person, Mr. Tubman, remember for my wife's sake and spare John and me.

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Pres. Tubman: You want to write to your wife. Well, the officer at the door will take care of that, but whatever you write, you should predate it, or at least do not date it. Now, since you, in a friendly gesture, requested me to do a favor I will also ask of you a favor. I understand you have hidden the key to your safe in your home on Front Street. I further understand that in that safe you locked up a copy of the Agreement I signed with France of Spain. You do not know what it has caused me to get that copy stolen from you, without success, Coleman, you have made me to lose good money, very good money. Do show me the whereabouts of that key or keys. Held me out as perhaps I might try to let by-gones be by-gones.

S. D. Coleman: To begin with, Mr. Tubman, nothing worth while is in that safe. Besides, I am not the one in possession of that copy of the agreement you referred to, may be somebody else does.

Pres. Tubman: It couldn't be anybody else, but that damn fool Barclay. But I know, you at least either have it in your possession or you know all about it, but you just want to be tough, and in doing so, you make it harder, very hard for whoever you call your wife. If I don't get in that safe, and take possession of its contents, whatever it is, your wife will not find it easy to enter that building, either to live in or to get something from it. I mean it, and you ought to know.

John Coleman: President Tubman, have you forgotten your friendship, the old friendship between papa and you, will you destroy papa and me simply because he formed or joined a party against you? If you still feel that you cannot spare papa and me, please order water for him to drink, he is too thirsty, very thirsty, too thirsty. Please.

Pres. Tubman: The soldier at the door will see after all that for you both, John. I must have a little friendly talk with your father before I leave the room. John, I am really in sympathy with you, but you see, to save any of you will be safe-keeping of trouble for myself or my children. So I do not know what to do, especially in your case. Are you badly wounded (The President who had heard that John was the only one wounded in an effort to arrest them, had been thinking of saving his life by sending him into exile at Seylahun, but wanted to be sure whether he would survive the wound; oth-

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erwise it would be better for him, President, to slay them at the same time.)

Solder at Door: Yes, Sir, Sir, Ay be him want sh000t but I make quick I fired him (President Tubman hushed him from speaking aloud.)

Pres. Tubman: Ssssssssss. Talk low, anybody else around here?

Soldier: Yes, Sir, Sir. Ay be some big big people ay day way for road wait you (Attorney General Cassell, Asst. Attorney General Chessen, Social Secretary Dupigney Leigh, Speaker of the House of Representatives Richard Henries, Asst. Secretary of Public Instruction Nathanial Massaquoi who divorced his wife because of suspected intimacy with Coleman, Samonovich, the Commu- nist friend of the President, Henry B. Cole, Editor of the Gov- ernment owned Newspaper the "Liberian Age" and Mr. Charles Alphanso Caine, the President's Criminologist.)

John Coleman: I don't care for myself, only for my father.

Pres. Tubman: This is a terrible boy. You are just good to be now and ever side by side with your awful father.

John Coleman: Papa, are you still thirsty. This is what I used to tell Mamma about spending lot of money for secret societies. Now, you are thirsty and will not so much as give you a drink of water even for the last time as he said.

Pres. Tubman: Coleman, I love you and your son. I will give your matter a little more thought. (The President started for the door and hesitated a little as Mr. Coleman wanted to speak a few words still.)

S. D. Coleman: You are going, Mr. Tubman, I know perhaps to see me alive no more. Well, just lately you get the power ever my life and that of my children. But you have no power over my soul. We believe we shall never die in vain by our deal Liberia will be saved from the growing tendency of dictatorship or creeping communism. Before you leave, Mr. Tubman, (Mr. Coleman now spoke a little louder and with vigor, seeing that the end will soon come, his friend Mr. Tubman has failed him) I want to tell you that your officers took from me $35,000.00 of the party money which I

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had on me. My son John also had some amount in the neighbor- hood of $6,000.00 In all that you failed me, I now ask you in the name of the good God above, to collect his amount and turn over John's to his mother and his wife. The Party fund, of course, you may settle that with Hon. Barclay. Please do not fail me in this regard.

Pres. Tubman: That will be at least a part of the price of the eventual freedom you are going to watch your party enjoy. (Stepping outside, Presi- dent Tubman beckoned to his henchman, Asst. Attorney Chessen to meet him.)

Pres. Tubman: Chessen, at least David Coleman had long been looking for trouble now he got it.

Chessen: It doesn't make any sense to spare that fool, Mr. President. Mr. Coleman had been picking at you for a long time I should think this is the end.

Pres. Tubman: David Coleman is begging like a child, he thought I could spare him. With all his flowery speeches, I have had enough of him. He and his son, I am only sorry for poor John. But he deserved every bit of what is going to happen to him. He refused the assignment to Cape Palmas saying that he was going to remain here and die by his father. His wish will now be granted him. I hope he knows what he is dying for. Tell the soldier to make a good business of it.

Chesson: Well, Mr. President, leave that with me. (The President left Chesson standing up while he walked to join the other group awaiting for him on the main road.) (Chesson to the soldier.) Soldier, listen, you hear me. Right here, (Pointing to his own body, showing the unlettered man where Coleman should be shot.) Don't miss him, I don't any repetition, you hear me?

Soldier: Yes, Sir, Sir. (The telephone rang from the Executive Mansion, a soldier has brought a message from the President to Guard at the Coleman's prison door that it is time. The prison door is opened and with a dull flash light to give deadly aim at the required spot on Coleman's body: Boom. Boom. Two solitary shots were fired, to the hearing of the President and his gang who had been listen-

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ing intently on the scheduled time for the final consummation of the vicious business Coleman had long anticipated. Early in the morning, Assistant Attorney General Chesson came to take a look at the two lifeless bodies still tied lying on the bare ground. He is to order the cutting off the cords that bound the prisoners. He now ordered that Othello Coleman should be brought from his prison cell and help carry out the dead bodies of his father and brother for exhibition in the morning as authorized by the President.)

Attorney Chesson: Othello you know who is this? (Pointing to the dead body of Mr. Coleman.) Tell me who is that?

Othello Coleman: (After wiping of the mist from his eyes, to his astonishment he beheld his dear father's corpse.) Oh God, Oh Lord, Oh Jesus, Lord, Lord, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Lord Jesus.

Attorney Chesson: Shut up you Coleman dog, soldier, make the man shut up. (Sol- dier dealt Othello a blow with the butt of the rifle.) I say, shut up, and tell me who that man is. You know him.

Othello Coleman: Yesssss Sirrrrr. That is my father, my father, my father, my dear father.

Attorney Chesson: Who is the next person? (Emphasizing the word "who ".)

Othello Coleman: (With eyes filled with tears and astonishment, Othello could not see his brother John's lifeless body until he was forced to take a keen look.) N000000 Sirrrrr.

Attorney Chesson: Wipe your God damn eyes and tell me quickly who the new person is. Quickly, I say, soldier make him wipe off his eyes. (Soldier again dealt Othello another heavy blow on his head with the butt of the rifle. Othello now felt the griping pains and opened his eyes wide. ) Now tell me who that person is.

Othello Coleman: Jesus, Jesus, Oh Jesus, Lord, Lord, kill me, kill me, kill me. Oh kill, I am ready to die with my father and brother. I am ready, I am ready, here is my breast, here is my breast for the shot. I open my breast. (Chesson now felt a qualm of conscience, and objected the soldier's attempt to deal Othello another blow, but

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subsequently he winked at the soldier to slap Othello in the face with the palm of his hand, to keep him quiet. The soldier blasted Othello with his feast which deafened Othello's ears of which Chesson was cognizant. Chesson now coaxes Othello to keep quiet.)

Attorney Chesson: Keep quiet, boy, keep quiet, look at me Othello, look at me. Now, Othello, help carry out the dead bodies. Look at me. If ever you attempt to shoot President Tubman, our beloved Presi- dent Tubman, our God's sent President, this is just what will happen to you. Do you hear me, you understand. (Othello standing dumb founded, nodded.) Now carry your pa and brother outside in the field for the people to see them tomorrow. In the meantime, let me tell you. You will be called to the Department of Justice and when you are asked whether you saw your father and Paul Dunbar making arrangements to kill the President you know exactly what to answer. If you don't, when you are brought back here this is what will happen to you. Soldier, show him the little exercise. (The soldier took a large needle, held out Othello's hand, and pulled out his thumb. Holding his thumb separately, the soldier drilled the needle under Othello's thumb nail which sent the poor fellow spinning in the room.) You see that, Othello, that is what you will receive, plenty of it. Now you go to the Department and start lying. (Othello lifted the bulky body of his father, and being fatigued from the beating he had received during the previous days and being behind prison bars without food and water except for a half bucket of urine with which the soldiers had been instructed to give him to drink as a sort of putting "the fear of God in him," was unable to convey the body. A soldier was ordered to assist. The Soldier, on reaching the spot, dumped the body on the ground as though it were a bunch of wood. Othello again was ???? to return to the prison cell and convey his brother John's body by his father. David Coleman was stretched on his back while John on his stomach, each of them with bullets through their bodies. The next morning the public was aroused by machine guns announcing the purported bringing of Mr. Coleman and his son from their Klay hide-out. Young and old, men and women, rushed to the scene to see a respect- able gentleman like Hon. S. David Coleman whose ancestors also formed the nucleus of the founding Father's of the nation, he and above all his son in the prime of life, laid on the bare

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ground naked except for a worn out rain coat with the soldiers wrapped around his waist with bullets through their heads, for the common people to come and behold, all of which simply because Mr. Edwin Barclay forced the people to entrust the operation of Government in the hands of a man with an obscured background, and of whose characteristics neither Mr. Barclay himself nor any responsible member of the Liberian Society knew as well. Such is the case with the Reverend Presi- dent William Tubman our latter day saint.)

Who knows when we are not going to have President controlled Legislature pass into law a bill defying the Statue of "Jehovah Tubman" to which public worship ought to be performed, or for the "Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs" to issue out an edict declaring by what name the President should be regarded, symbolic of his super-natural powers? During the course of the day, as men, women and children beheld with their own eyes, the work of our "God Sent President Tubman" of the Methodist Church of Liberia, one could not help but ponder and reflect, if, during all these years, Mr. Tubman had spent in the Church of God, professing the Christian faith, and attempting to inculcate the teaching and meekness of Christ on his associates and hearers, what benefit could anyone derive from whatever knowledge "Reverend Tubman" had imparted from the Book of Books, the Book of the living God of his fathers? It struck the people forcibly all the more, when "Reverend Tubman" majestically rode in his official car, guarded by heavily armed soldiers and policemen, he stood in the ring of heavily guarded men because he is afraid someone might want to send a steel bullet through his brains, to see the remains of his political enemies, and when he stood ever the lifeless bodies, he audibly uttered the words long to be remembered throughout the length and breadth of Liberia, more so in Monteserrade County: "YES, THIS IS WHAT THEY LOOKED FOR." That he had refused the family to take over the corpses and give them a decent burial until one of David Coleman's sons-in-law who is member of the Legislature importuned the America Liberian Christ, is common knowledge. But it might not be amiss to mention that Rev. President Tubman's reluctance to give up the carcass of his two beasts should be obvious to any man - the desire to perform the Black Act Cer- emonies. Now that the people prevailed over him, he regretted for turning over the dead bodies. Quite recently, however, he purposely went to his Teteta Farm where he summoned all his chief Magicians, after giving public notice that he will receive no visitors, in order to give him and his magicians the chance to perform, without interference, the Black Act Ceremony, so as to dispel the "Spirit" of David Coleman, which, it is rumored all over town, is troubling him. About the 20th inst. (August) Magicians

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were reported wending their way to Clayashland in the silent night to exhume the bodies to get David Coleman's heart, finger nails and tongue. I now believe the story of Rev. President Tubman's visit to the United States, among other things, to obtain a leaf, or a grass, stick, or something from around the grave of American's President Franklin D. Roosevelt of whom the world knows the American populace loved him dearly and consequently he had no successful rival for the Presi- dency. With the imported Spirit of Roosevelt to Africa, to help tide him over during the last campaign, Rev. Tubman spent ONE HUNDRED SEVENTY THOUSAND DOLLARS of the nation's finances to go to America and return before the last election. My final impression of Rev. President Tubman is that those Churches, Christian and Mohammedans alike, who accepted his verdict to offer THANKSGIVING SER- VICE for "his miraculous escape from the bullets of the assassin," when indeed he was and is his own assassin, are the representative organizations of Satan on earth. To whose who now receive payments from Rev. President William Tubman out of the Treasury for no service to the State except such as in ordered by the master to promote his vicious lies, and are pleased to regard themselves as Public Relations Officers to bear false testimony against their neighbors, I would say that they are the recipients of "JUDA'S THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER." In warning my fellow countrymen against extravagant expenditure towards Rev. President Wm. Tubman's inauguration requirements as prescribed by his henchmen, I would prefer to say "Wait a while" for Mr. Tubman is not well. He is sick in body, soul and mind. Doctors might try to cure his bodily illness and perhaps a little pipe lead of opium might ease the mind too. But not the Soul. It is a fight between soul and soul: The Coleman soul and Tubman soul. The funny thing about it is that John Coleman sticks fast to his father and two are with their tommy guns, even though it has been clearly proven that they never used their weapons to kill anybody from Commander Tubman's army. While Tubman's son is way in American. And even if he were here, he might not likely possess the fortitude and indimitable spirit of John Coleman. Besides, he is a Nullius fillius, a bastard, incapable of interfering in political matters of the country, for the fight is purely political. So my fellow country, do not be in haste, wait a while, before making your tremendous preparation for the impending Inauguration, because Mr. Tubman is suffering from triangular sin: 1) He sinned against the Past; 2) He sinned against the Present: 3) He sinned against God and Religion. In sinning against the Past President Rev. Tubman flatly disregarded in its entirely that which the Founding Fathers cherished most dear to their hearts - the Constitu- tion. Reverend President Tubman solemnly swore to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution," yet, a) Without any qualm of conscience he disallowed bail to prisoners, especially his political opponents against the Constitution; b) He filled the City with armed soldiers carrying deadly weapons in time of peace, against the Constitu- tion: c) He filled the whole country with spies called Relations Officers in order to

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prevent citizens from getting together to consult upon the common good, against the Constitution; d) He worked out formidable plans to prevent citizens from casting their vote for candidates of their choice, against the constitution. (Reader I know you could name much more of Rev. Tubman's breach of the Constitution, pass the word around.) In sinning against the Present a) Reverend President Tubman called upon two or more persons, known to be vocal in showering ecomiums on him and get them to suggest hearing resolutions to him to retain power, expecting others to follow suit; b) He believes no other person is qualified enough for the Presidency only he and probably his son next; c) He vilified and ridiculed men who had assisted him in every way to be what he is today; d) He is a Communist in disguise. For he liquidates his political enemies without any consideration of what they have stood for and meant not only to him personally, but their immediate family circle, the Church and the State. These he does not liquidate or postpones the time of the liquidation, he deprives them of the means of giving out public information while he enjoys such information as he approves to go in his government owned press, since all the personnel of his two news organs are on government payroll; e) He does not draw back from what another man cherishes dearer to his heart - another man's wife. In sinning against God and Religion a) Rev. President Tubman believes in witch craft, medicine man, etc. If I lied ask his Dr. Saku Alhaje of Camp Johnson Road; b) He believes the Church and the State are one; c) He vehemently called upon, or allowed God's name to be called on every occasion, even when the object of such meeting is for mischief. With a thousand odd sins hanging around the Reverend President's neck to account for, while the soul of David Coleman and his son are chasing him from Man- sion in Monrovia to Mansion in Teteta, even Jammbed to Cape Palmas if he were to run away there, let us wait and see whether Rev. President will tide it over this year. He ought to be at Teteta for his Inauguration, for wisely did he make the selection for his farm; because "Tete" in creole means just what the Rev. President seems to fancy above other things. I close with tears in my eyes for the hundred and hundreds of prisoners whose times are waiting behind prison bars because they dare raise a voice against his unconstitutional acts; and above all I feel the joy of knowing that S. David Coleman and his son are enjoying God's Sweet Kingdom while Reverend Tubman is fighting with his guilty conscience.

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EXHIBIT "A"

HEADQUARTERS AND GENERAL OFFICES INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY, R. L. ROBERTS STREET, HOUSE NO. 20 MONROVIA, LIBERIA

March 2, 1955

Hon. D. B. Cooper, Hon. James T. Phillips, Commissioners of Elections, Camp Johnson Road, Monrovia

Sirs, Pursuant to your campaign activities of the Independent True Whig Party, please take legal notice of the names of Candidates, lawful voters and citizens of this Repub- lic, which are today forwarding you, who have been chosen for seats in the National Legislature of the Republic, to be canvassed and balloted for, and during the ensuing General elections to be held on the first Tuesday in May, A. D. 1955. In keeping with provision of Elections Law of the Republic, it is hereby requested that the tickets or election ballots shall carry the names of the said Candidates with our Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates which have already been previously notified to wit: For President - Edwin Barclay For Vice President - N. H. S. Brownell COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES: Montserrado County 1. Hon. S. Raymond Horace Senator 2. Rev. Samuel B. Stubblefield Representative 3. Mr. Willie Dennis Representative 4. Mr. Eslie L. Holder Representative 5. Mr. J. Gbafflen Davis Representative 6. Mr. Thomas C. Lomax Representative 7. Mr. J. Soko Brown Representative 8. Mr. P. Z. Hondor Representative Marshall Teritory 1. Rev. J. F. Walker Representative Stone County 1. Hon. T. E. Cess-Pelham Senator 2. Hon. T. N Botoe Representative 3. Mr. B. R. William Representative

Liberian Studies Journal, XXVIII, 1 (2003)

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4. Mr. S. Tuan Wreh Representative 5. Mr. John Snohgbay Represenative 6. Mr. William H. Broh Representative Grand Cape Mount County 1. Hon. Zuke Kandakai Senator 2. Mr. Richard Duncan Representative 3. Mr. George M. Wesley Representative 4. Mr. H. K. Brown Representative 5. Mr. Dauda Fahnbulleh Representative Maryland County 1. Hon. E W. M. Morias Senator 2. Mr. Piah Blayon Representative 3. Mr. Abraham Toe Representative 4. Mr. Abraham T. Gray Representative 5. Mr. Ben Elliot Representative 6. Mr. Francis N. Wesseh Representative Grand Bassa County 1. Hon. E. Tyson Woods Senator 2. Mr. Joseph Whitfield Representative 3. Mr. Joseph Barchue Representative 4. Mr. Henry Dillion Representative Native Representative - Bassa County 1. Mr. Gloso Representative

Please be informed that the Independent True Whig Party has selected the "Palm Tree" as its symbol or token of identification to appear on the tickets.

Faithfully yours,

Sgd. S. David Coleman LEADER & NATIONAL CHAIRMAN INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY, MONROVIA

Certified true and correct copy of original.

Chas. H. D. Simpson ASSISTANT CLERK OF WRITS ELECTIONS COMMISSION, R. L.

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EXHIBIT "B"

March 11, 1955

The Commissioner of Election, R. L., Election Office Monrovia

Mr. Commissioner: I have been informed that my name is being used on the ticket of the Independent True Whig Party as one of their Representatives, if the information is true, I am requesting of you to have my name dropped immediately. I am not a member of the Independent True Whig Party and know nothing of my name being used, of which I do not appreciate at all. I am sick in the Hospital and cannot get about therefore I making this request of you.

Thanking you most kindly, I remain.

Sgd. Frederick Walker

True and correct copy of the original.

Chas. H. D. Simpson ASSISTANT CLERK OF WRITS ELECTIONS COMMISSION, R. L.

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REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA Objections to Certificate of COUNTY OF SINOE ss: Nomination of the Independent True Whig Party.

AFFIDAVIT

I, Isaac W. Clarke being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. That no County Convention was held in Sinoe County whereat I was duly nominated as Candidate on the ticket of the Independent True Whig Party. 2. That my name certified to the Elections Commission as having been nominated as candidate for the House of Representative of the Independent True Whig Party ticket was without my knowledge and consent and I definitely disapprove of the said alleged nomination. 3. That in view of the facts hereinabove stated I do not care to have my name appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Independent True Whig Party Sinoe to be carried to the Polls on Elections Day, May 3, 1955, from either the Inde- pendent True Whig Party or the Reformation Party or otherwise. 4. That I have not, the necessary qualifications that would entitle me to candidacy if I were thus inclined and nominated pursuant to law. 5. That I am, a Citizen of the Republic of Liberia; and I have not resided in the County for two (2) years past. AND further deponent sayeth not.

Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned at my office in the City of Greenville this 28th day of March A. D. 1955.

Sgd. J. C. Kuanooh JUSTICE OF THE PEACE SINOE COUNTY

$0.25 Revenue Stamp. Receipt No. 79484

Sgd. Isaac W. Clarke DEPONENT True and Correct Copy of the Original. Chas. H. D. Simpson ASSISTANT CLERK OF WRITS, ELECTONS COMMISSION, R. L.

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REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA Objections to Certificate of COUNTY OF SINOE ss: Nomination of the Independent True Whig Party.

AFFIDAVIT

I, John Snohgbay being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. That no County Convention was held in Sinoe County whereat I was duly nominated as Candidate on the ticket of the Independent True Whig Party. 2. That my name certified to the Elections Commission as having been nominated as candidate for the House of Representative of the Independent True Whig Party ticket was without my knowledge and consent and I definitely disapprove of the said alleged nomination. 3. That in view of the facts hereinabove stated I do not care to have my name appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Independent True Whig Party Sinoe to be carried to the Polls on Elections Day, May 3, 1955, from either the Inde- pendent True Whig Party or the Reformation Party or otherwise. 4. That I have not, the necessary qualifications that would entitle me to candidacy if I were thus inclined and nominated pursuant to law. 5. That I am, a Citizen of the Republic of Liberia; and I have not resided in the County for two (2) years past. AND further deponent sayeth not.

Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned at my office in the City of Greenville this 28th day of March A. D. 1955.

Sgd. J. C. Kuanooh JUSTICE OF THE PEACE SINOE COUNTY $0.25 Revenue Stamp. Receipt No. 79485

Sgd. John Snohgbay DEPONENT True and Correct Copy of the Original. Chas. H. D. Simpson ASSISTANT CLERK OF WRITS, ELECTIONS COMMISSION, R. L.

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REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA Objections to Certificate of COUNTY OF SINOE ss: Nomination of the Independent True Whig Party.

AFFIDAVIT

I, Ben Elliot being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. That no County Convention was held in Maryland County whereat I was duly nominated as Candidate on the ticket of the Independent True Whig Party. 2. That my name certified to the Elections Commission as having been nominated as candidate for the House of Representative of the Independent True Whig Party ticket was without my knowledge and consent and I definitely disapprove of the said alleged nomination. 3. That in view of the facts hereinabove stated I do not care to have my name appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Independent True Whig Party to be carried to the Polls on Elections Day, May 3, 1955, from either the Independent True Whig Party or the Reformation Party or otherwise. 4. That I have not, the necessary qualifications that would entitle me to candidacy if I were thus inclined and nominated pursuant to law. 5. That I am, a Citizen of the Republic of Liberia; and I have not resided in the County for two (2) years past. AND further deponent sayeth not.

Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned at my office in the City of Harper this 28th day of March A. D. 1955.

Sgd. Martin Hemie Seton JUSTICE OF THE PEACE COUNTY OF MARYLAND, R. L. $0.25 Revenue Stamp. Receipt No. 92521

Sgd. Ben Elliot DEPONENT True and Correct Copy of the Original. Chas. H. D. Simpson ASSISTANT CLERK OF WRITS

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REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA Objections to Certificate of COUNTY OF SINOE ss: Nomination of the Independent True Whig Party.

AFFIDAVIT

I, Francis N. Wesseh being duly sworn, deposes and says: 1. That no County Convention was held in Kru Coast or Maryland County whereat I was duly nominated as Candidate on the ticket of the Independent True Whig Party. 2. That my name certified to the Elections Commission as having been nominated as candidate for the House of Representative of the Independent True Whig Party ticket was without my knowledge and consent and I definitely disapprove of the said alleged nomination. 3. That in view of the facts hereinabove stated I do not care to have my name appear on the ballot as a candidate for the Independent True Whig Party to be carried to the Polls on Elections Day, May 3, 1955, from either the Independent True Whig Party or the Reformation Party or otherwise. 4. That I have not, the necessary qualifications that would entitle me to candidacy if I were thus inclined and nominated pursuant to law. 5. That I am, a Citizen of the Republic of Liberia; and I have not resided in the County for two (2) years past. AND further deponent sayeth not.

Sworn to and subscribed before me the undersigned at my office in the Municipality of Grand Cess County of Maryland this 28th day of March A. D. 1955.

Sgd. Samuel M. Tulley JUSTICE OF THE PEACE COUNTY OF MARYLAND $0.25 Revenue Stamp. Sgd. Francis N. Wesseh DEPONENT True and Correct Copy of the Original. V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs

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Greenville, Sinoe County, March 4, 1955

Honorable S. David Coleman National Chairman of the Independent True Whig Party Monrovia, Liberia

Honorable Sir: I am creditably informed that my name had been sent by you to the Elections Commissions as Candidate for the House of Representatives from Sinoe County on the ticket of your Party - The Independent True Whig Party. If this information is true, I wish to say here that I have never at any time given consent to my name being used as such, by implication or suggestion. Further to this, I have never witnessed nor heard of any organization of your Party in Sinoe County, much less witnessing any Convention of theirs. In view of the foregoing I wish to assure you that I have no intention of severing my connections with the True Whig Party of which I have been a loyal member all my days; and, I emphatically request that you will immediately upon the receipt of this letter have my name expunged, erased, obliterated and entirely removed from your ticket and record. An insistence on your part to disregard this notice will be promptly resented. Please be informed that I am today forwarding a copy of this letter to the National Standard Bearer of the True Whig Party, to the National Chairman of said Party, to the Chairman of the Elections Commissions as well as to the Newsorgan of the City of Monrovia for publication.

Sincerely yours, Sgd. John Snogfbay

Witnesses: Kpokai Teah Slarmee Parhnyonnoh (His Cross) Wreahtu Jebah (His Cross) Partisans, Clan & Paramount Chiefs Butaw, Sinoe County Certified true and correct copies of original files in this office. V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Whits

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Cape Palmas, Maryland County, R. L. March 5th, 1955

Honorables D. Bartholomew Cooper (Chairman) James T. Phillips J. E B. Coleman Members of the Elections Commission, R. L. MONROVIA

Gentlemen: It has come our knowledge that the Independent True Whig Party without reference to us nor the holding of a County Convention for the nomination of candidates for election to the House of Representative nor a Senator for the Liberian Senate in May 1955, has surreptitiously and clandestinely forwarded our names to your office as their candidates to take to the polls in May next for election to the National Legislature. We append hereto a signed copy of a letter addressed to Hon. S. David Coleman, National Chairman of the Independent True Whig Party in which we have protested to our names being used by said Party as Candidates for the National Legislature to be taken to the polls in May and we hereby request and require the cancellation of our names from any list that may have been submitted by them for this purpose since we are not candidates for election to the Legislature nor are we members of said Indepen- dent True Whig Party. On the Contrary we are active members of the True Whig Party, the only Party that had held a County Convention in this County for the nomination of persons to be taken to the Polls in May 1955 for election to the Legislature. In this convention of the True Whig Party we participated and cast our vote in favor of the candidates that were passed upon by the True Whig Party, which candidates have been forwarded to your Office within the time prescribed by law. Because of the failure of the Independent True Whig Party to hold a Convention before the 3rd of March or even since that date leaving them completely out of time to hold any such convention to pass upon candidates as the law requires; they have adopted this illegal method in submitting names to the Commissioners of Election who have not been passed upon at a Convention nor are members of their Party, nor even with their knowledge and consent. Thanking you in anticipation of your prompt action in the premises. Very truly yours, Sgd. Piah Blayon Sgd. Ben Elliott Sgd. Francis N. Wesseh Certified true and correct copy of the original. V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor DOCUMENTS 135

Cape Palmas Maryland County, R. L. March 5th, 1955

Hon. S. David Coleman National Chairman ITW Party MONROVIA

Mr. Chairman: It has come our knowledge that the Independent True Whig Party over which you are National Chairman in combination with so-called Reformation Party, without our knowledge and consent and without holding a Party Convention in the County of Maryland, has stealthily and deceptively forwarded our names to the Commissioners of Election, Monrovia, as Candidates of your Party for the House of Representatives to be taken to the polls in May 1955, even though we have not been and are not up to this time members of your political Party. For your information and the people of our Country, we seriously except to, and protest against this clandestine, nefarious and corrupt practice of your political Party designed to mislead the Public and place us in a false light at home and abroad. How you can consider us sympathizers of your ignominious and unprincipled group gives us the greatest puzzle of our lives, when you have not made the slightest effort or attempt to organize a following in our County, nor do you have any, and to forward our names to the Commissioners of Election as your candidates for the House of Representatives next May without a meeting of any kind in this County, nor a Con- vention to pass upon any candidates whatsoever, only convinces us that there is something definitely wrong mentally with the leaders of your Party. Accordingly, we do hereby denounce as wicked and misleading the action of your Party in forwarding our names to the Commissioners of Election as your candidates for the House of Representative. We are not your candidates, nor are we in affiliation with your Political Party; and are therefore and concurrently filing our objections to the Commissioners of Election, against our names being put on any ticket to go to the polls in May next, and to warn and advise you against this careless and reckless use of our names as members of your Party, or even your choice for the House of Represen- tatives and to inform you that we are staunch and active members of the True Whig Party and have participated in the only convention held in this County the first day of March 1955 by the True Whig Party; at which said convention the following persons were unanimously passed upon as candidates for election to the national Legislature the first Tuesday in May 1955, which candidates we joined in nominating and endors- ing as follows:

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James N. Anderson For the Senate N. T. Milton House of Representatives J. G. Kolenky House of Representatives D. A. Cox House of Representatives John C. Howe House of Representatives T Nimley Bedell House of Representatives The above being the only names that have been passed upon by the partisans of the True Whig Party and citizens of Maryland County, are the only named legally due to be carried to the polls in May next for the Legislature from this county. Your failure to hold a convention and decide on candidates for the Legislature by March 3rd, 1955, the time limit provided by law is what has led your Party to the base and clandestine way of getting names in the office of the Commissioners of Election without the holding of a Convention by you.

Very truly yours,

Sgd. Pich Blayon Ben Elliott Francis Messeh

Certified true and correct copy of original.

V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs

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Greenville, Sinoe County, March 5, 1955

Hon. D. B. Cooper Chairman of the Elections Commission Monrovia, Liberia

Mr. Chairman: and Gentlemen: To my utter surprise and disgust I have been creditably informed that my name was sent to the Elections Commission as a Candidate from the Independent True Whig Party for the House of Representative. I could not believe this until I saw with my own eyes a letter addressed to you dated March 2, 1955 in which under the caption Mary- land County my name appeared - Mr. Abraham T. Gray for Representative. I am not a member of the Independent True Whig Party, I am a member of the True Whig Party and am giving my full support to President William V. S. Tubman, Vice President W. R. Tolbert, Honorable J. N. Anderson as Senator, Honorables N. T. Milton, J.G. Kolenky, D. A. Cox, J. G. Howe and T N Bedell, True Whig Party candidates and I protest and object to the fraudulent use of my name by the Indepen- dent True Whig Party. I require therefore that my name be deleted from among the candidates that were sent forward to you by the National Chairman of the Independent True Whig Party. The next point is, that the Independent True Whig Party had no convention in Maryland County, therefore they could not nominate any one, they have no organization in Maryland County nor has anyone spoken with me to become a candidate on their ticket, if they had I would have completely refused.

Faithfully yours,

Sgd. Abraham T. Gray

Witness: Jacob S. Nma

Certified true and correct copy of the original.

V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs

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Owensgrove, Grand Bassa County March 11, 1955

The Honorable The Chairman & Members of the Elections Commission, R. L. Monrovia, Liberia

Gentlemen: Representation has been made to me that the Independent True Whig Party has informed you that I am chosen by them as a Candidate to be taken to the polls in May next for election to the national Legislature as Native Representative from Grand Bassa County. I wish to register my protest and resentment to this position taken by the Independent True Whig Party, for I cannot lend aid and support to a Party whose sole object seems to be a mischief, and misrepresentation their game. I am no member of the Independent True Whig Party. I have not been approached by them to accept a nomination in their party. Even if I had been I would have hesitat- ingly refused, as I am, since my disillusionment, a staunch member of the True Whig Party and do not want to have anything to do with the Independent True Whig Party particularly so, since I have had a peek behind the curtain. Kindly be informed that the Independent True Whig Party has no organization in Grand Bassa County and to date they have held no convention there to nominate me or for that matter, any other person. I therefore protest to my name being used by them and hereby give you notice that it was used without authority. I therefore demand and ask that you will not place my name on any tickets or ballot papers which you may at any issue. Enclosed is a copy of a letter of protest and disapproval which I have this day addressed to the said Party through its National Chairman, S. David Coleman, which is self explanatory. Hoping that I have succeeded in making my position plain.

Yours truly, Sgd. Goshro (my Cross) Typed: Chief Goshro, My Cross

Witnesses: A. D. Williams J. W. Smallwood Certified true and correct copy of original

V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs

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Greenville, Sinoe County March 5, 1955

Hon. D. Bartholomew Cooper Chairman, Elections Commission, R. L. Elections Commission Office Camp Johnson Road Monrovia

Mr. Chairman, We, the Undersigned Citizens and True Whig Partisans of Sinoe County, have been creditably informed that Hon. S. David Coleman, National Chairman of the Independent True Whig Party, Monrovia, has filed in your Office the names of Nomi- nees from Sinoe County as Candidates for the ensuing Quadrennial Election in May 1955, for the Senate and House of Representatives, R. L. on their ticket. If this information is correct, we are puzzled to know the grounds upon which Mr. Coleman has predicated his action; therefore, we feel it necessary and timely to submit the following to your Commission as a PROTEST against any cognizance by you of the said notice because the same would be in strict violation of the Election Laws in existence and against the organic law of the Republic for the following reasons, to wit: 1. We submit that the Independent True Whig Party has never been organized in Sinoe County which is a prerequisite to the holding of a County Convention nor have they in any form, shape or fashion so as to enable them to nominate candidates for ensuing election in keeping with law. 2. We submit further that, the names of Messrs. T. E. C. Pelham, B. R. Williams, T. N. Botoe, Tuan Wreh, William Broh and John Snohgbay, have never been canvassed in this County as candidates of the Independent True Whig Party from Sinoe County for the Senate and House of Representatives respectively at the General Election in May, 1955 in keeping with Election Laws in vogue. See Act of Legislature 1945-46, page 23, Division (2) NOMINATIONS, Section 54 (1) & (2). 3. And also because we PROTEST further against the registration of the aforesaid names in your Office because Mr. Tuan Wreh, one of the purported candidates who is presently in the common jail of Monrovia, Montserrado County, is unknown in Sinoe County as a inhabitant of this County nor does he possess real estate in our County to the smallest part. Because, Mr. T. N. Botoe, although born in Sasstown Sinoe County, has had permanent residence in Monrovia, Montserrado County for the past twenty five or more years; and he too as Mr. Tuan Wreh, has no property qualification in this County.

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That Mr. William Broh is also disqualified because although civilized, yet he had lived among the indigenous people of this County during his whole life as a Factory man for merchants in Greenville and has no property in his own right. That Mr. B. R. Williams does own real property in Sinoe, yet he has not been an inhabitant in this County for the last four or more years, being in Monrovia grasping after the testate estate of the late Miss Juah Weeks. And lastly, because Mr. John Snohgbay being of the indigenous people is qualified, but he has publicly declared in writing, a copy of which instrument is forwarded your Office for information that, he has at no time given consent for his name to be used as a Candidate on the Independent True Whig Party's ticket and therefore has requested that the same be expunged, erased and obliterated immediately therefrom. See Act of Legislature 1950-51, page 6 Section 1. (Amendments to Section 2 Article 11 of the Constitution.) Wherefore, Mr. Chairman, for the foregoing legal grounds, we respectfully PRO- TEST against the registration of the names of the foregoing persons as Candidates on the Independent True Whig Party ticket from Sinoe County and earnestly request that necessary action be taken by your Commission as to you may seem just and in keeping with law.

Respectfully Submitted,

H. R. Williams James Greene Mary C. Monger Signature Indecipherable R. W Broh S. J. C. Davies C. Jerry Wayne Sr. E. Berkine Minor Charles H. Bassil Claudia Major D. Signature Indecipherable P. C. Jackson Tweh R. P. Greene P. C. Sammy Payonnah (His Cross) G. A. Greene N. W. Draper J. J. Bing T. C. Greene

Citizens and True Whig Partisans, Sinoe County

Certified - True and correct copy of original filed in this office.

V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs

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EXHIBIT "C"

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that the within document is the true and correct copy of PETITION FOR REGISTRATION OF THE TRUE WHIG PARTY of the Repub- lic of Liberia, as recorded in volume 59, of the Records of Montserrado County, Republic of Liberia, filed in the Archives of the Department of State, R. L.

GIVEN under my hand and Seal this 23rd day of May A. D. 1955, and of the Republic the One Hundred and Eighth.

George Padmore ACTING SECRETARY OF STATE

CHECKED BY:

Augustine D. Jallah ACTING CHIEF, BUREAU OF ARCHIVES

REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA In the Monthly and Probate Court MONTSERRADO COUNTY Montserrado County, Sitting in its Probate Division, January Term, A. D. 1947.

Before His Honor S. Raymond Horace - Commissioner of Probate

In Re:

Petition of the True Whig Party of the Republic of Liberia for registration and probation as a political organization under the Election Law of 1945 - 1946.

PETITION And Now Come Willie R. Tolbert, National Chairman, McKinley A. Deshield, General Secretary and William E. Dennis, General Treasurer of the True Whig Party, Republic of Liberia by and through J. Carney Johnson, and Richard Henries, Attor- ney-at-Law, of Counsel for the said True Whig Party, Republic of Liberia and say as follows: 1. That a political party known as the True Whig Party of the Republic of Liberia has been and is an organized political Party of approximately eighty (80) years standing.

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2. That a roster of the Party organization is hereto attached and made a part of this petition showing that it is composed of more than three hundred (300) adherents-eligible voters within and under the laws of the Republic of Liberia. 3. That in compliance with the act of the Legislature passed at their 1945 - 1946 Session and approved December 19, 1945, entitled 'An Act to Regulate all Elec- tions in Liberia" which provides as follows: (2) The term "organized Political Party" used in this act shall apply to any group of eligible voters composed of not less than three hundred persons organized, probated and registered in any of the probate courts of any county of the Republic as a political party associating themselves together under a special name and style for the purpose of canvassing and nominating any person or set of persons for election to any electoral position to be filled at any general election; provided political party is formed, organized and registered at least six (6) months previous to any general election, and shall not adopt or make use of its official name the name of any other existing organized political party without having a distinguishing prefix to said "name." Petitioners therefore, because of the provision above shown, respectfully pray that the said True Whig Party of the Republic of Liberia under the provisions of the above cited Act be ordered to probate and registered as an organized political party within the Republic of Liberia with the rights, privileges and benefits of similar organizations politic and corporate together with the right, benefit and privilege its own real and personal property within the Republic in a sum not exceeding one Million dollars and to do, exercise and enjoy all benefits and privileges permitted and allowed to political parties under the act hereinbefore cited.

Respectfully submitted,

J. Carney Johnson, Richard A. Henries ATTORNEY-AT-LAW OF COUNSEL FOR THE TRUE WHIG PARTY, REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA

Stamp $1.00

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REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA, Office of the Justice of the Peace MONTSERRADO COUNTY Montserrado County, Monrovia

In Re: Petition of the True Whig Party of the Republic of Liberia for registration as a political organization under the Election Law of 1945-1946.

AFFIDAVIT

Personally appeared before me a qualified Justice of the Peace at my Office in the City of Monrovia, Carney Johnson, Attorney-at-Law and one of the counsels for the True Whig Party, Republic of Liberia and made oath according to law that all and singular the allegations of facts made and contained in the attached and foregoing Petition for the probation and registration of the True Whig Party, Republic of Liberia are true to the best of his knowledge and belief.

SWORN and SUBSCRIBED to before me this 20th day of January A. D. 1947

J. Everett Bull JUSTICE OF THE PEACE, MONTESERRADO COUNTY R. L.

Carney Johnson, One of Counsel for Petitioner AFFIANT

Stamp $1.00

Roster and List of Eligible Voters True Whig Party of the Republic of Liberia

(No. 1) National Standard Bearer William V. S. Tubman National Chairman W. R. Tolbert General Secretary M. A. Deshield National Vice Chairman E. A. Morgan General Treasurer W E. Dennis

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County Chairman, Mo. Co., J. B. McGill County Secretary, Mo. Co., J. C. Johnson County Chairman, GD. Bassa Co., W. P. L. Brumskine County Secretary, GD. Bassa Co., T. W. Jones County Chairman, Sinoe Co., J. Lemuel Gibson County Secretary, Sinoe Co., Lawrence Mitchell County Chairman, Md., Co., J. N. Anderson County Secretary, Md., Co., E. B. B. Cummings Chairman, Marshall Territory S. J. Williams Secretary Robert Okai Grand Cape Mount County: Chairman J. A. H. Jones Secretary R. E Sherman Western Province: Chairman A. B. Mars, Jr. Secretary Frank Goll Central Province: Chairman E. C. B. Jones Secretary Chas. Sheldon Eastern Province: Chairman James Garnett Secretary Gabriel Gedebeko Monrovia: Local Chairman Richard Henries Local Secretary James B. McCritty New Georgia: Chairman J. L. Poindexter Secretary G. W. Coleman Caldwell: Chairman J. S. Melton Secretary A. L. Scott Virginia: Chairman Z. B. Roberts Secretary D. E Snorton Brewerville: Chairman Jos. Parker Secretary I. R. Woods Cheesemanburg: Chairman Samuel Richardson Secretary Burl Anderson Royesville: Chairman T. L. Holman

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Secretary J. W. Matthews Clayashland: Chairman N. L. Perkins Secretary R. L. Brown Bushrod Island: Chairman M. J. Bernard Secretary Frank Grimes Arthington: Chairman June Moore Secretary James Wright Suehn: Chairman M. Dukuly Secretary J. M. Dukuly

(No. 2) Congo Town: Chairman C. A. Brown Secretary J. H. Morgan Paynesville: Chairman J. C. N. Howard Johnsonville: Chairman James Brown Secretary J. J. Blassingim Barnesville: Chairman S. S. Paul Secretary J. T. B. Carey Dixville: Chairman S. F. Howland Secretary U. N. Carter Louisanna: Chairman C. A. Cassell Secretary W. H Teage White Plains: Chairman James Kellie Coosierville: Chairman R. N. Holder Secretary S. N. Hardy Bensonville: Chairman E E. Tolbert Secretary Martin Fagans Careysburg: Chairman J. Jackson

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Secretary B. E. Freeman Harrisburg: Chairman J. J. Wright Secretary Frank D. Roberts Kakata: Chairman J. B. Watson Secretary W. L. Crusoe Schefflin: Chairman G. H. Tay Secretary E. Dossen Walker

PARTISANS

Edwin Barclay S. D. Coleman J. W. Pearson J. T. Phillips N. S. Brownell W H. Tyler A. B. Mars W. R. Tolbert, Jr. S. D. George R. E D. Smallwood A. D. Wilson A. D. Wilson, Jr. C. A. Smith M. Mc. White J. B. Watson, Jr. J. B. Stryker E. L. Dunn J. R. Crayton E. Tyson Woods W. B. Geeby D. E. W. Thomas C. T. Railey D. E Johnson J. G. Howe N. T. Melton T. H. Greaves C. T. Railey J. S. Smith J. E. Smith Floma Fromoyan J. G. Kolenky D. P. Derricks Newyork Karpeh Gboto Barclay J. A. Gittens S. B. 0. Trinity G. D. N. Morris J. C. A. Gibson J. G. A. Gibson, Jr. R. L. Stryker A. W. Deline N. P. Spears B. T. Collins J. A. Robinson H. A. Clements S. B. Cole D. E. W. Thomas Zwannah Hohnson Yankoon Davies Gabssie Kpangba S. S. Collins John Grigsby Bare Lewis Free Dahn Bowehn Kano Gonda James Bryant Twasamah H. Laf. Harmon Emmett Harmon J. E. Knight C. G. Bryant G. Chas. Cooper J. L Toles J. J. MendsCole J. A. MendCole James B. Dennis J. E. Early J. E Harris S. E. McCarey L. A. Deshield T. J. Brooks W. 0. Deshield J. P. Harman C. T. 0. King Johnny Pedderson J. J. Wilson W. E. Greaves J. L. Cooper Major Branch H. B. Duncan

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J. F. Marshall E. B. Minor Geo. Hodgekine T. E. C. Polham N. T. Dennis B. G. Freeman Geo. Weaver J. J. Minor U. J. D. Cole A. Karnga D. B. Brown H. R. Cooper W. D. Stubblefield Soloman Davies J. E. Brent G. W. Gibson J. E. Padmore S. C. M. Watkins Harrison Grigsby N. R. Richardson S. T. Sotoe W. N. Ross Geeplah Brown S. B. Margbey D. Twe

(No. 3) C. S. Sanso Henry Ricks R. D. George Jesse R. Cooper C. C. Dennis Anthony Roberts T W D. Leigh N. T Morton J. B. Koon K. N. Payne R. H. Dennis D. B. Warner Boymah Hoh E. B. Burphey J. P. Nelson P. F. Simson I. Van Fiske J. D. Lawrence H. C. Thomas J. G. B. McCauley Ben Jefferson J. J. Dossen Willie Cooper Tom Bestman W. H Brooks M. H. Seton D. A. Cox A. B. Woart Jas. M. Thomson S. A. D. Thomson Alex. K. Hney Ernest Yancy W. A. Tubman Robert Neal Joseph Otaka Magnus Yancy A. S. Nebo Samual Cummings S. T. Diggs Mansfield Yancy T M. Gardiner G. T. Brewer G. T Brewer, Jr. A. D. Peabody H. C. Reeves J. S. Houston S. Trotman A. S. Lloyd A. W Gardiner A. N. Marks Jesse Banks Eddie J. Hutchison Daniel E Wright Robert Francis Okai, Sr. Jehu Smith D. C. Nelson Albert Addo T F. Howard J. H. Brown R. I. E. Bright R. S Bright Harmon Bracewell Jacob Browne Pohlman Bracewell Tilman Dunbar O.S. Norman P.C. Simpson R. S. Phillips Jos. Dunbar E. C. M. Gibson H. E. Luke Joshua Phillips William Phillips Urias N. Dixon J. B. Doe J. A. A. Pierre Isaac Edington S. D. Lartey L. W. Watkins R. J. Taylor S. B. Gabbidon C. E Sherman Frank Stewart David Harris M. A. Jones D. B. Cooper R. D. Urey W. W Burton John Varfeley E. S. Garnett J. E. Bull Esli Holder G. W. Diggs

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S. A. Holder J. F. Porte R. I. Holder J. T. Mitchell Jaiah Massaquoi W. H. Brooks Sameul Smith T. M. Cole W. H. Scott Simeon Cole M. S. Cooper James Cole John Burnett William McGee J. D. Beysolow John Deshield G. W Wallace H. D. B. Massey C. T. H. Dennis Lewis Flowers E. G. W. King W H. Blaine James Jackson J. B. Alexander Aurthur Grant David Payne Boimag Sandimandi D. V. S. Payne S. P. Parker Henry Hoff J. Z. Wilson Hezikah George Henry Parker Samuel Mitchell J. D. Benson Randolph Outland Joseph Outland J. B. Sancho Robert George, Jr. Chas. L. Cooper A. K. Snoh P. C. Jappah Boe Sanso

ENFORSEMENT

Petition for Registration, True Whig Party "Let this Be Registered" S. Raymond Horace, Commissioner of Probated this 20th day of January A. D. 1947. J. Everett Bull Clerk Probate Court Mo. Co., Registered according to Law this 24th day of January A. D. 1947. Volume 59 Pages 51-56. Reuben B. Logan, Registrar.

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EXHIBIT "D"

Republic of Liberia Court Room, Monrovia Montserrado County 20th January 1947

MINUTES

The Monthly and Probate Court met today pursuant to adjournment, His Honor S. Raymond Horace, Commissioner of Probate Presiding, the officers of Court present, the following members of the bar present Nil: Prayers were conducted by the bench. In Re: The matter of Sagay Gray, Petitioner resumed. Parties present. Mr. Oscar J. K. Gray qualified to testify in this matter, and took the stand. What is your name and where do you live? Oscar J. K. Gray, Kakata

Question by Court: Mr. Gray, Mrs. Sangay Gray has petitioned this Court to order the granting of relief to her and the heirs begotten of her body from the estate of the late Momo Gray which she has represented you are administrator and had been administering since the year 1942. Will you please tell the Court all the facts with in your knowledge regarding said estate during the time you have been administering same? Answer: I have been administrator since 1942. From 1942 to 1944 about the month of August, I did not have anything to do with the estate because in 1942 I had to go away in the Interior and as such I asked oldman King to permit his son C. T 0. King to administer the estate along with Mammy Sangay and not until I returned in 1944 about the month of August that I took over administration of the estate and since then up to the present we have been having confusion over the estate. First was the burning of rubber; after that was an action of ejectment case, the latter of which we are not on.

Question by Court: Do I understand that from 1942 when Mr. Chas G. Cheeks turned over the estate to you up to August 1944 you did not control in any way the proceeds accruing from said estate? Answer: No I did not control the fund.

Question: Nor did you have anything whatsoever to do with the control of said proceeds through your agent Counselor Chas. T. 0. King? Answer: No.

Question: Please say how you have controlled the proceeds from 1944 to the present and have you ever reported to court? Answer: Since taking over after paying expenses of the operation whatever remained from the proceeds accruing from the estate I have expended for the upkeep of the

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family in a way to protect the estate from whatever difficulties that might be encountered such as lawsuit against the estate. And this Proceeds have from time to time been implemented by amounts from my own pocket. No, I have never reported to court.

Question: According to a copy of the stipulations signed by Mr. Cheeks, Mrs.

Sangay Gray and you through your Attorney Counselor Chas. T. L. King , Counselor Kind acted for you. When you took over from him did he not report to you for the period he and Mrs. Sangay Gray had been jointly administering the estate as you say? Answer: Up to the present they have not made any report to me.

Question: Don't you know, Mr. Gray, that as administrator, of an estate you are to report to this court from time to time? Answer: Yes, I do. But the reason why I have not been able to make any report to this Honorable court is because the estate has been tampered with that is by lawsuit and which I thought to wait until the case is finally terminated to know our whereabouts before I could make an accurate report.

Question: During the time of your administering said estate have in any way provided for the petitioner Mrs. Sangay Gray and her daughters? Answer: Yes, the first month when I gave her ten dollars ($10) from the fund accruing from the sale of rubber; but since then I have not provided for her.

Matter suspended until 2:30.

Madam Marian Davis King and Florence Davis Bryant represented to Court that they with Sprigs and Thomas Monger are the surviving heirs of the late T W. Monger who died in the County of Sinoe, A. D. 1940 and there are two cheques issued by the government of Liberia in favor of their late Grand Father T. W. Monger, lying in the Treasury Department which they would like to obtain and divide among the heirs. The Heirs Thomas and Sprigs Monger are represented by their mother Mrs. Lucy Monger who had made a similar representation to Court. The Court being satisfied with the representation made by the parties made supra, whereby orders the Clerk of this Court to issue an order on the disbursing officer of the Government of Liberia to permit Mrs. Lucy Monger for her two sons and Madams Marian Davis King and Florence Davis Bryant to jointly sign for and receive said Cheque. And it is here so order. Matter suspended. The Curator at his stage came into Court and prayed for the admission to Probate the following Estates: 1. Intestate Estate of two late A. J. Sawyer, deceased of Monrovia. 2. Intestate Estate of the late Solomon Brooklyn of Harbel, Firestone Plantations.

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3. Intestate Estate of the late Ida Page, deceased of the city of Monrovia and Angie F. Ricks, deceased of the City of Clayashland, and Madam Bote Wright. The above name Intestates Estate as per request and petition of the Curator are herby granted. An order in respect thereto was so issued unto him.

Recess hour having expired, Court resumed business.

In Re: Petition of the True Whig Party of the Republic of Liberia for registration and Probation as a Political Organization under the Election Law of 1945-46 Was presented for Probation by Attys. J. Carney Johnson and Richard A. Henries, Attorneys-at-Law. Said Petition was ordered read by Court. Same was cried at the door and there being not objection was ordered Registered. Atty. Richards also offered for Probations: 1. Power of Atty. from Joseph G. Richards to Etmonia L. H. King. 2. Lease Agreement between John H. R. Richards and Ajaj Aridi 3. Power of Attorney from N. M. Yunis to Adib Ynis. Atty. Samual George offered for Probate the Following Documents: 1. Warranty Deed from Chancey M. E. Gibson to J. Gertrude Summons, No. 100. 2. Public Land Grand from Republic of Liberia to Jacob George, lot No. 153, Kakata. 3. Warrant Deed from Preston A. Hope and Matilda A. Hope to Agnes E. Koneh, part of lot No. 16, Monrovia. Same were cried at the door and there being no Objection were ordered Registered.

The Petition of Madam Sanga resumed: Question by Petitioner to Mr. Gray: Did you say you gave me $10.00 from the proceeds of rubber? Answer: Yes.

Question: Did I understand you to say of survey of 25 acres of land which included the sacrete bush of some people which I suppose to have ordered and action of Eject- ment is brought against the Estate? Answer: Yes that is one of the causes.

At this stage Mrs. Gray offered a deed from Momo Gray to M. K. Tourdy Aminata Gray and asked for identification. Court orders document marked "A".

Question: Did I understand you to say that when the Bassa Devil came to me because you of the survey, I have ordered to be made I went to Kakata to call you?

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Answer: Yes. You did and you explained to me the expression by the oldman Sammacar our father to me.

Question: Did I understand you to say that you are using the proceeds from the sale of rubber to meet the expenses of the Ejectment suit now pending in the Civil Law Court of the Sixth Judicial Circuit, Montserrado County? Answer: Yes together with my own money, because of its insufficiency.

Petitioner rest cross examination. The Court says: That the trend of these proceedings becomes more and more con- fusing as testimony is give. The Court not knowing what the assets of the estate are nor the intake from the sale of rubber. In order therefore to enable the Court to proceed intelligently in these proceedings, Mr. Gray who by his Atty. and himself in person, by his own admission has been administering the estate since February A. D. 1942, and has never submitted a report of any kind to Court, it required to submit a full and complete report for the period he and his Atty. administered said Estate by 3' Febru- ary A. S. 1947 and it is hereby so ordered. Matter suspended. The Curator of Intestate Estate presented and read report No. 1. Filing inventory of George M. Lewis of Arthington St. Paul's River, Montserrado County, requesting for an order of Court to confirm said Inventory: Payment of Government Revenue Stamps Appraisement of Fees, Curator Commission admeasurement of Widow's dower, Settlement of Claims and Payment of Court's fees. The Court orders said Report filed and that the Curator shall proceed in the manner outline in said Report and outlined by him in said Report #1. The Inventory and Affidavit attached to said Report are also ordered filed. Matter suspended.

Court adjourned to meet tomorrow 10 o'clock. Sgd. J. Everett Bull CLERK, MONTHLY AND PROBATE COURT MONTSERRADO COUNTY

Certified, correct and true copy of the original.

S. E. Williams Acting Clerk, Monthly and Probate Court, Montserrado County, R. L.

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EXHIBIT "E"

REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA In the Office of the Chairman, of the MONTSERRADO COUNTY Elections Commission, Monrovia

Present: Hon. D. B. Cooper, Chairman, Elections Commission, R. L. Hon. J. T. Phillips, Member, Elections Commission, R. L. Absent: Dr. J. F. B. Coleman, Member, Elections Commission, R. L.

In Re: OBJECTIONS TO CERTIFICATE OF NOMINATION OF THE INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY

Filed by: The True Whig Party, Republic of Liberia

RULING

When the above Objections were filed into the Office of this Commission as aforesaid notification thereof was given to the Opposition Part through the Hon. S. David Coleman, its National Chairman and Party Leader. This was done on March 30, 1955. On April 4, 1955, Mr. Coleman acknowledged the copy of Objections furnished him and gave notice of his intentions to appear in person and by and through legal counsel if necessary, in order to answer, contest, oppose and resist said Objections as well as to particularly challenge the jurisdiction of the Elections Commission as a whole or of its Chairman, acting for and on behalf of the other Members of the Commission. Subse- quently Mr. Coleman filed a Motion consisting of seven (7) counts to Dismiss the Objections. On April 19, 1955 receipt of his Motion to Dismiss was made and the matter assigned for 3 p.m. the following day. Both parties concerned were requested to have their Brief filed before this Commission in quadruplicate by 12 o'clock noon on the 20th day of April, 1955. Accordingly Counsel for the True Whig Party filed Formal Resistance consisting of 13 counts against said Motion to Dismiss. At the call of the matter all parties being present the Commission proceeded to hear the Objections and Resistance. Arguments pro and con were made and submitted. See Minutes of this Investiga- tion. The Commission dented the Motion to Dismiss observing that under the law as found in 29 C. J. S. 73, Sec. 55; Sheils V. Flynn, 299 N. Y. S. 61 affurned 275 N. Y. 446, the Elections Commission, under the laws of some states, are given judicial and quasi judicial powers, and as such the exercise judgment and discretion. In other states, election officials have no judicial power; the duties of such election boards and inspectors of elections are purely ministerial, and as such they are not permitted to exercise discretion in the discharge of their duties. PDF compression, OCR, web optimization using a watermarked evaluation copy of CVISION PDFCompressor 154 DOCUMENTS

Furthermore, the act providing for the creation of the Board of Election Commis- sioner adopting the act gives them substantially absolute control over all elections within their respective jurisdictions. ee: People V Coit, 215 III. App. 574. The Election Laws of the Republic provide for the appointment of the Elections Commission to administer elections in the Republic. The duties and functions of the Commission are not specifically pin-pointed and enumerated in the act but there seems no doubt that the powers of the Commission are administrative, judicial and quasi- judicial in character. The responsibility of the Commission interalia, is to see that all election posts are filled, including such posts as sheriffs, registrars, clerk of writs, etc; that election officers perform their duties faithfully and efficiently as prescribed by law and that all matters pertaining to elections are conducted in keeping with the provisions of the Election Laws. These duties of our Elections Commission and the powers delegated to it by the National Legislature, in the passage of the Election Laws, are not unconstitutional and it would therefore seem appropriate to conclude that the Elections Commission is competent to determine all matters and decide all objections relating to the regularity of the conduct of Elections and Election procedures, except where specific provisions in our Election Laws, to the contrary appear (e. g. Part V of the Election Laws, Con- tested Elections). Thus dependent on the provisions of the governing statues and the nature of objections, the power to determine objections may be vested in party tribunals, officers of state or local governments, or other officials with duties to perform in relation to the nomination or election of candidates, or in the courts with original jurisdiction or with power to review the decision of the tribunals or officials. ee: 29 C. J. S. 213, Sec. 145 - Determination of Objections. Our Election Laws provide: Part IV, Division (2), Nominations. (1) Nominations shall ordinarily be made by any organized political party of candidates for any electoral office, and shall be duly notified to the Elec- tions Commission in accordance with the provisions of this Act. This section of the Election Laws when considered in context with other sections of the law, indicates that the Commission has the power, authority and jurisdiction over election matters and procedure similar to other administrative boards or commissions such as a Labor Commission or a Labor Relations Board, a Tax Commission, a Price Control Board, a Railroad Commission, or a Workmen's Compensation Board. It is elementary knowledge that each such commission or board has the authority to conduct hearings or investigations, regulate the particular field within the framework of the power delegated by the Legislature, settle disputes between individuals, parties, institutions or corporations, and exercise other quasi-judicial and quasi-legislative functions. The objection raised by the True Whig Party relates, in the first instance, to the elementary procedural question of the regularity of the nomination of certain candi-

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dates for the National Legislature, and secondly, to the question of eligibility to run for the post, as distinguished from the right to be central in the Legislature after an election (i.e. election returns and contested elections) as provided in the Constitution, Art. 11, ec 8, - or qualification to remain in the Legislature after being seated (i.e. impeachment) as provided in the Constitution, Art. ii, ec. 4.

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EXHIBIT "F"

REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA In the Civil Law Court for the Sixth MONTSERRADO COUNTY Judicial Circuit Montserrado County sitting in its Law Division, March Term A. D. 1955

BEFORE HIS HONOR: J. Daniel Beysolow....Assigned Circuit Judge

Wednesday, April 21, 1955 24th day's session

Court met today at the hour of 9 o'clock this morning at the Circuit Court House in the City of Monrovia for transaction of business. His Honor the Judge presiding. Officers of Court present. Opening of this day's session cried at the door. Devotion lead by Attorney M. A. Deshield. Lawyers present: Attorney M. A. Deshield, Counselor Wm. E. Dennis, Counselor A. E. Morgan and Counselor Richard A. Henries on the part of the Respondents.

In re: The application of S. D. Coleman etc, et. al versus Edwin A. Morgan, et. al, application to show cause why the application should or should not be granted call. Applicants are represented by Counselors Coleman, S. R. Horace, Brownell and W. A. Johns; respondents are represented by Counselors K. S. Tamba, Richard A. Henries, Attorney J. C. N. Howard, and Counselor R. E D. Smallwood.

COURT'S STATEMENT: The court was handed a few days ago an application for order to issue a Writ of Injunction on the TRUE WHIG PARTY at the instance of Respondents, as there are certain feature of the latter of application that the court desire clear put, thought it proper to send out notices for the parties to show cause among the things that the court is not quite clear of, whether or not the subject matter of the petition now before court is such that could not be cured by redress of court sitting in law and (2) whether or not the issuance of writ of injunction mandatory or obligatory on the court or discretionary. This of course does not preclude the parties from advancing any point they desire to bring to the court's attention. Application ordered read. Counsel for Respondent argued to court on the opening: Respondents in resisting the application for the writ of injunction respectfully prays, that the application be denied for the following legal and factual reasons to wit:

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1. That before Your Honor could ever give cognizance to the document submitted, Your Honor would have to inspect the principle document referred to in the application for the Writ of Injunction. The said document which they referred to has not been proferted so that Your Honor might inspect it and certify yourself as to the truthfulness of the allegation made in counts 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the Application. This not having been done Your Honor has nothing before the court, whereupon the application should not be granted.

2. With respect to count 1 (one) of the complaint Your Honor cannot even enter- tain that count in the application for neither have they proferted the Articles of Association of the INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY or the Reforma- tion Party to certify Your Honor that such parties do exist in keeping with Election Laws nor have they proferted a copy of the document referred to alleged to have been given to them by the State Department. Your Honor therefore not having before you any of the documents mentioned supra, which could be proved and anable this court to certify itself that the allegations contained in the complaint, the main points upon which they rest their complaint, Your Honor cannot and should not entertained such an application. 3. The issuance of the Writ of Injunction is discretionary with the court and where the court finds out that the complaint contains allegations merely for the point of baffling Justice, it has a right to deny such an application. 4. That if any fraud or anything has been committed as alleged they have recourse to a court at law and not a court sitting in Chancery. Further Respondents submit that such points are cognizable before the Election Commission and only where the Election Laws has been violated which is a criminal offence do they have recourse to a court at law sitting in its Criminal Assizers and not to a court in Equity. 5. A Court in Equity cannot grant unto another party a Writ of Injunction to prohibit them from exercising their constitutional rights as is intended to be done by the application now made before court. WHEREFORE in view of the foregoing the Respondents most respectfully pray that the application be denied. Counsel for applicants argued on the open and submitted. Whereupon Respondents in arguing cites: 28 American Jurisprudence section 74; also 0. B. B. Chpt. 1, section 37 and submitted on the opening. Counselor K. S. Tamba arguing on part of Respondents, close argument, whereupon Counselor S. David Coleman proceeded to close on part of Petitioners and cited: 32 Corpus Juris Secundum, p. 386, section 655 "Injunction condition to be dissolved on giving bond for damages."

COURT'S RULING: The court in ruling says that as far as it can remember or recall, during its connection with the Court of this Republic, dated as far back as 1932 the present case is without precedent. The Petitioner have instituted this matter appli-

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cation for issuance Writ ofInjunction against the Respondents because as it claims, the Respondents as a Political Party has not registered as such by probating an Article of Association in the self-same petition. Petitioners admit that upon their request they were furnished a copy of some list of names which they styled as members of the True Whig Party from the Archives of the Department of State where all such instruments are kept. As injunction is an action in which the Plaintiff seeks to have the defendant allow the matter to remain in its present state, and the Statutes goes further to state that the party applying must furnish the Court with sufficient evidence to satisfy it in ordering the issuance of said writ. Let's see how far the Court has been furnished by Petitioner in evident so as to order its function in Chancery to order the writ prayed for issued. The Petitioners state that they are a Political Party under the laws of Liberia duly probated and registered. This fact or allegation was not accompanied by any evidence, that is the profert of their Article of Association which they claim has been duly registered and probated, but attacked the Respondents as not having been probated and registered. They admit that upon their request they were furnished with a certain list of persons as members of that Party registered, but failed file same with their pleading or their application so that the Court might be satisfied as to whether or not their allegation is in the least of the injunction proceedings, but Writ of Injunction being as extraordinary Writ, must be issued if at all with the sound discretion of the Judge or court to whom application is made and only then, when the Court is satisfied that the matter of averment made in the complaint are within reason and good conscience in which case, the Court may grant the issuance. The application for the issuance of this Writ is also void in its material part in it is provided substantially that that is shall only be granted upon an application of the complaint, verified by its own oath. Upon inspection of the records in this case, the affidavit, which suppose to support the petition has never been subscribed to before any Justice of the Peace. In order to be fair to the party Petitioners this court called attention to the one of signed affidavit and Counselor S. David Coleman, one of the Counsels for Petitioners, stated that they could not get "any Justice of the Peace to sign the affidavit to said Petition." I asked him whether he had called the Court's attention to the refusal of the clerk or court who is commissioned as Justice of the Peace to swear to this affidavit and your effort failed, why not get a Mandamus from the Supreme Court to swear your affidavit. He said not more and we parted. Without going at length, for the reasons already stated above, and for the want of Equity, appearing on the fact of the Petition presented, this court has no alternative but to refuse issuance and granting the Writ of Injunction prayed for. See O.B.B. page 38, section 37, latter part. The application for the issuance of the Writ of Injunction is therefore denied, AND IT IS SO ORDERED. In viewing of the Ruling made by the court, and particularly with respect to the Clerk of Court which is sworn Justice of the Peace, since we did not have recorded for

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the action of the court the Clerk's reasons for refusing to sign the affidavit, we hereby requesting the court permission to withdraw the petition reserving to ourselves the right to file another in keeping with law.

COURT'S RULING: Since the application was prayed for to the court and it has not been filed in the Office of the Clerk to form a part thereof, the request for the return of said application is herby granted, and the application is handed back to the Counselor. Matter suspended.

Respectfully submitted

Robert Biogni Anthony ACTING CLERK OF CIVIL LAW COURT

Certified true and correct copy:

Robert B. Anthony ACTING CLERK OF CIVIL LAW COURT

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EXHIBIT "G"

IN THE HONORABLE SUPREME COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA MARCH TERM, A. D. 1955

CHAMBERS Davis, J.

S. David Coleman, National Chairman S. Benoni Dunbar, Sr., General Secretary E. Murray Barclay, General Treasurer, acting for themselves and the other Members of the Independent True Whig Party of Liberia, Inc., Thomas N. Botoo, National Vice Chairman and acting National Chairman, and George Black Stock A. Johns, General Secretary, and acting for themselves and the other Members of the Reformation Party of Liberia, Inc. Petitioners-in-Mandamus PETITION FOR WRIT Versus OF MANDAMUS Edwin A. Morgan, National Chairman McKinley A. Deshielf, General Secretary, and William E. Dennis, General Treasurer acting for themselves and other Members of the True Whig Party of Liberia,

And

His Honor J. Daniel Beysolow, Assigned Circuit Judge, Presiding over the March Term, of the Civil Law Court, Sixth Judicial Circuit, Montserrado County, Respondents-in-Mandamus

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GROWING OUT OF THE CASE: FOR WRIT OF INJUNCTION PETITION S. David Coleman, National Chairman, S. Benoni Dumbar, Sr., General Secretary and E. Murray Barclay, General Treasurer, acting for themselves and the other Members of the Independent True Whig Party of Liberia, Inc., Thomas N. Botoo, National Vice Chairman, and George Blackstock A. Johns, General Secretary, acting for themselves and the other Members of the Reformation Party of the Republic of Liberia, Inc., Plaintiffs

Versus

Edwin A. Morgan, National Chairman, McKinley A. Deshield, General Secretary, William E. Dennis, General Treasurer, acting for themselves and the other Members of the True Whig Party of Liberia, Defendents

COURT'S RULING ON PETITION FOR MANDAMUS

Ever and anon in the history of our Courts we are confronted with now issues as the law expands and progress, issues which either from their magnitude or anomalous nature and character, awaken unusual public interest, and create great sensation which undoubtedly calls forth public opinion from all corners of not only our own Nation, but other civilized Counties of the World. Issues which in many instances take us back to the Constitution - the Organic Law of the State, and cause us to diligently inquire for, and ascertain the very genius of our Constitution on given questions. The case now before us I am persuaded to say, falls within the category of the second qualification - the anomalous group; and, its genesis may be stated in the following terse manner to wit: From the records now before us, it would appear that on the 25th day of April A. D. 1955, and eight days before the General Election was due to be hold, Petitioners submitted a Petition to His Honor Judge J. Daniel Feysolow, praying for the issuance of a Writ of Injunction to enjoin, restrain and prevent the Officials of the True Whig Party, namely Edwin A. Morgan, National Chairman, McKinley A. Deshield, General Sec-

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retary, William E. Dennis, General Treasurer, and all other members and Partisans of the said True Whig Party from canvassing the names of candidates of theirs for election, and from voting or taking any part in the General Elections then due to be held on the third day of May, A. D. 1955, alleging as reasons for such and application, that the said True Whig Party was not registered according to law, and therefore was not an organized Political Party, More over they also alleged in the Petition for the Injunction that the Document or to use their own language, the paper filed by the True Whig Party and styled as Articles of Association was a spurious and fictitious document. Petitioners also prayed that the Elections Commission should also be enjoined and restrained from printing on the ballot any of the names of the True Whig Party's Can- didates for the same reasons as stated above. It also appears from the Petition and the arguments of Petitioners Counsel here at this bar that after Judge Feysolow read the said Petition for Injunction, he, in the exercise of his discretion refused to order the issuance of the Writ of Injunction prayed for by Petitioners, stating as was argued here by Petitioners, "that he was of the same Opinion as recorded by him on the former date when Petitioners presented a similar Petition to him which after being denied by him, Counselor S. David Coleman one of the lawyers for Petitioners asked permission to 'physically' withdraw." In passing we deem it necessary and important to observe that although Petitioners in their arguments here at this bar stressed the point that Judge Feysolow in refusing to order the issuance of the present Writ of Injunction assigned as reason for his refusal the existence of a former ruling of his from which he was unwilling to deviate, yet Petitioners in coming to this forum for Mandamus did not perceive the legal propriety of bringing a copy of this particular ruling of the Judge up for us to review in order to enable us to be in a position to say whether or not the said ruling upon which Judge Feysolow based his action was well founded or not. And when pressed with questions from the Bench respecting their failure to bring up some, they said that they saw no necessity for doing so. Petitioners having alleged in their Petition for Mandamus that His Honor Judge Feysolow had abused his discretion by refusing to order the issuance of the Writ of Injunction, we ordered the parties on both sides cited to appear in order that Petition- ers may be given an opportunity to show cause why the Interlocutory Writ of Manda- mus should be issued, whereupon they appeared, and arguments were listened to from both sides. Let us now see whether or not there was any merits in Petitioners Petition praying for the Writ of Injunction, and whether the Judge in refusing to order the writ issued abused his discretion. We now proceed to advance and answer the following questions, upon which, in our opinion, a correct and legal disposition of this matter rests. (a) Can a Court of Chancery interpose in matters of a Political Character as the one now before us, and give the relief sought by Petitioners in their Petition?

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(b) Will Injunction lie to enjoin and restrain a person, or group of people from the exercise of their political right to vote, or canvass for their Candidates for election? (c) Does the issuance or refusal to issue a Writ of Injunction lie within the discretion of the Judge to whom the application is made? If the answer is the affirmative, then is the exercise of such discretion reviewable Mandamus? We shall consider or pass upon the questions in a reverse order, that is by com- mencing with question "C". Does the issuance of, or refusal to issue a Writ of Injunc- tion lie within the discretion of the Court to whom is it applied for? The answer to this question, and for that matter - the settlement of the issue presented can be found in 32 Corpus Juris, page 29, paragraph 11 which reads word for word as follows: "An Injunction whether temporary or permanent cannot as a general rule be sought as a matter of right, but its granting or refusal rests in the sound discretion of the court under the circumstances and the facts of the particular case." Vide Corpus Juris, page 29, paragraph 11. It requires no argument in view of the foregoing citation of law to settle the question and make clear the point that the issuance of, or refusal to issue a Writ of Injunc- tion lies within the sound discretion of the court. Having found an affirmative answer to question "C", let us now see whether or not in the exercise of this discretion, the court can be reviewed by Mandamus proceedings. Recourse of 35 American Jurispru- dence discloses that on page 35 is the following provision of law on the subject: "Courts of Equity exercise a sound judicial discretion in granting or deny- ing injunctive relief, and unless they abuse their power in the matter, an appellate court will not disturb their conclusion even on direct review. Much less then will it attempt to do so by Mandamus, even though the decision of the lower court is erroneous. So, the writ will not issue the decision of the court made in the exercise of its judgment and discretion granting an injunction, or refusing to grant one x x x x." See 35 American Jurispru- dence, page 35, paragraph 265 titled INJUNCTIONS. Traveling now to question "B" that is, will Injunction lie to enjoin and restrain a person or persons from the exercise of their political rights to vote or canvass for their candidates for election? Injunction in our opinion could never be legally resorted to, to enjoin and restrain any person or persons from voting or from canvassing the names of candidates for election regardless of what might be the reason assigned by the party applying for the issuance of same, for courts of Chancery will not interfere in such matters, as can be seen from the following provision of law found in 14 Ruling Case Law, page 375 and section 77, the relevant portion of which we quote. "Matters relating to Elections, such as the right to vote and the like are generally regarded as being within the application of the doctrine that Equity will not interfere in matters of a Political nature. The accepted rule is that the extraordinary jurisdiction of a court of Chancery cannot be

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involved to protect the right of a citizen to vote, or to be voted for at an election, or his right to be a candidate for, or to be elected to any office, nor can it be invoked to restrain the holding of an election, or of directing or controlling which an election shall be held. Such matters involve no property rights, but pertain solely to the political administration of Govern- ment. Courts of Equity therefore have no jurisdiction to enjoin an election board from producing, county and canvassing ballots in a contested election case, xxxxxx x."

THUS SAITH THE LAW!

The last question for our consideration and disposition in question 'A", namely, can a Court of Chancery interpose in matters of Political character, and afford or grant the relief sought by Petitioners? Section Seventy Six, page 374 of Twenty-second Ruling Case Law in emphatic and definitive language answers this question and settles the issue by the following provisions: POLITICAL RIGHTS. "It is a general rule that courts of equity have no jurisdiction in matters of a political nature, and no injunction to protect a person acquiring such a right will be granted. No such jurisdiction has ever been conceded to a Chancery Court, either by the English or American Judiciary. Although the political rights of a citizen are so sacred as are his rights to personal liberty and property, yet he must go into a court of law for them. To assure jurisdiction to control the exercise of political powers, or to protect the purely political rights of individuals, would be to invade the domain of the other departments of Government, or of the courts of common law. In line with this principle courts of equity have uniformly refused to interfere by injunction in controversies relating to public office. Thus such right as person may have to hold a public office is not a property right which equity will enforce. Although he may have a right in the emoluments of his office which he may enforce in an acting at law to recover the same, nor, on the other hand, will it interfere by injunction to prevent a person from entering on the duties of a public office. This rule restriction person to remedies at law, to the exclusion of equitable remedies, for contesting title to office or the vindication of political rights, is not a denial of due process of law, nor of the equal protection of the laws. In accordance with their policy not to interfere in regard to matters of a political nature courts have also declined to enjoin a citizen from petitioning either branch of legislature upon any subject of legislation in which he is interested, as such as injunction would be an unauthorized abridgment of the political rights of the party enjoined."

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It is crystal clear from the foregoing provisions of law that Petitioners Petition praying for a Writ of Injunction before Judge Feysolow possessed not a scintilla of legal merit, but was a clever effort on part of Petitioners to mislead the learned Judge and cause him if they could, to render him if ridiculous by Issuing the injunction thus employing the strong arms of Chancery in a matter purely political in character, and over which Courts of Chancery can exercise no jurisdiction under the Law. His Honor Judge Feysolow did not abuse his discretion therefore in refusing to issue the Writ of Injunction prayed for by Petitioners, but rather, in our opinion he exhibited a pro- found understanding of the law, and he exercised a sound judicial discretion - one contemplated by the law in such cases. In view of the foregoing conclusions and the law cited, we are of the opinion that the Petitioners have hopelessly failed to show legal cause why the Interlocutory Writ of Mandamus should be issued, either by their Petition or their arguments at this bar. We therefore refuse the issuance of same. AND IT IS HEREBY SO ORDERED.

Given from under my hand and signature this 2nd day of May, A. D. 1955, and in Open Court.

0. Natty D. Davis, ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF LIBERIA, PRESIDING IN CHAMBERS

CERTIFIED TRUE COPY

Clerk, Supreme Court of Liberia

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IN THE HONORABLE THE SUPREME COURT OF THE REPUBLIC OF LIBERIA MARCH TERM A. D. 1955

CHAMBERS ..Davis J.

PRESENT: His Honor 0. Natty B. Davis, Associate Justice, Presiding

S. David Coleman, national Chairman and Leader of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, for himself in person and for and on behalf of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties and Partisans collectively Petitioners PETITION FOR WRIT OF Versus PROHIBITION

D. B. Cooper, Chairman, Elections Commission J. F. B. Coleman, Member, Elections Commission James T. Phillips, Member, Elections Commission Edwin A. Morgan, National Chairman, McKinley A. Deshielf, General Secretary and William E. Dennis, General Treasurer, all representing the True Whig Party Respondents

GROWING OUT OF A PAPER FILED IN THE OFFICE OF THE ELECTIONS COMMISSION STYLED, "OBJECTINGS TO CERTIFICATE OF NOMINATION OF THE INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY"

AND

S. David Coleman, National Chairman and Leader of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties, for himself in person and for and on behalf of the Independent True Whig and Reformation Parties and Partisans collectively Registered Defendants

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Versus MOTION TO DISMISS FOR Edwin A. Morgan, National Chairman, WANT OF McKinley A. Deshield, General Secretary, JURISDICTION and William E. Dennis, General Treasurer, all representing the True Whig Party Objectors Respondents

AND

Bill of Exceptions tendered against said illegal unconstitutional proceedings, ULTRA \TIRES, by D. B. Cooper and James T. Phillips, two Member of the Elections Commission.

COURT'S RULING ON PETITION

The Genesis of these proceedings as culled from the records before us may be stated in the following succinct manner to wit: On the 28th day of April, 1955, Petitioners, through their Attorneys S. David Coleman, Nete-Sie Brownell and T. Gibli Collins, lodged in the office of the Clerk of this Court for filing and notifying to the Justice presiding in Chambers a Petition embodying seven (7) counts with sub-sections A. to G. in count 6, praying for the issuance of a Writ of Prohibition against the parties named therein, that is to say the Respondents. The Petition having on the following day been referred to us, we gave an order that the parties should be cited in order that the Petitioners may be given an opportunity to show cause why the alternative Writ should be issued. Expatiating on the nature and purpose of the Writ of Prohibition we quote the following from Ruling Case Law: "The authorities all agree that prohibition is a common law writ, of ancient origin. Indeed, the writ is so ancient that forms of it are given in Glanville, the first book of English law, written in 1189, and mention is made of it in nearly all the treatises upon the common law, and the early reports. It is a civil remedy, given in a civil action, and has been held to be a suit. Jurisdic- tion by prohibition is primarily preventive or restraining, and only inciden- tally remedial in the sense of giving relief to parties. The original purpose of the writ was to secure the sovereign rights, and preserve the public quiet; it was an emanative of the great executive authority of the king, delegated to his courts, and particularly to the king's bench; one of his justice and the control of subordinate functionaries and authorities. The principal purpose

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at present is to prevent an inferior court or other tribunal from assuming a jurisdiction with which it is not legally vested, in cases where wrong, damage, and injustive are likely to follow from such action. It does not lie, as a rule, for grievances which may be redressed in the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, by other remedies provided by law." (See 22 R. C. L., page 4 section 3, Nature and Purpose of Writ). An inspection of the Petition discloses that it is framed in two (2) separate divisions

to wit: from counts 1 to 5 contain a complaint against certain actions of the Elections Commission in hearing, passing upon and deciding sundry objections filed by the True Whig Party against certain candidates whose names were sent in to said Commis- sion by the Independent and Reformation Parties to be placed upon the ballot; and, division two which embraces counts 6 and 7, make a recital of various acts which Petitioners claim that the Elections Commission has done and is likely to do, but this portion, however, of the Petition fails to show that the said acts referred to are about to be committed by the Commission nor does it show that the Commission's attention was at any time called to its intention to do the said acts thereby making this a subject of controversy so as to make a consistently legal presentation of same and the records supporting same before the Appellate Court, since it is try that in the institution of proceedings for remedial process the applicant involved the appellate jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. Stripping the Petition therefore of these two counts, that is 6 and 7 which were never made the subject of controversy before the Elections Commission, and which Petitioners themselves in their own argument at this Bar classified as innuendoes there

remain in our opinion counts 1 to 5 to be considered by us in determining whether or not there is legal justification for the issuance of the alternative Writ. As has been stated above, prohibition as conceded by all law writers is a preventative rather than a corrective remedy, and it issues to prevent the commission of a future act rather than to undo an act which has already been performed. It will not be granted when the acts to be prevented are already done even where such acts have been done pending the issuance of the Writ. Let us now turn our attention to the records before us and see whether or not from Petitioners' Petition that the acts complained of by Petitioners in counts 1 to 5 namely, the Commission hearing and deciding objections filed by the True Whig Party against certain persons who had been recommended as candidates for the Independent and Reformation Parties had already been performed and fully and completely carried into effect before the filing of these objections by the True Whig Party which was done on the 12th of March and copies simultaneously served on Petitioners, Petitioners took no position to question or challenge the legality of the procedure nor the jurisdiction of the Elections Commission until, according to their own argument, after they were threatened by the Commission that the Commis- sion would take certain steps if they did not appear and defend or take some position against the objections filed by the True Whig Party. It was at this time, according to

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their argument, that they filed a motion to dismiss the proceedings in which they challenged the jurisdiction of the Elections Commission. It was also brought out in their argument that on the 20th day of April when the matter of objection was heard by the Commission, they appeared and argued their motion which was denied by the Commission. And although said motion was denied and the Commission continued to hear the matter the Petitioners knowing as they contended at the Bar, that the Commission was without jurisdiction, and to use their own language, was usurping the authority it was exercising, sat supinely by and did not bring prohibition proceedings at that time to prevent the Commission from hearing the matter over which it, the Commission, had no jurisdiction, and from abusing as they argued at this Bar the jurisdiction it had usurped. At this Bar, Petitioners in an effort to show why the alternative Writ should be issued argued strenuously that although they failed to restrain and prohibit the Commission from doing the act complained of at the time it had threatened, shown signs of its intention, and commenced to do them, but waited until the Commission had fully completed the said acts and then gave notice of appeal and submitted a bill of exceptions that they were still entitled after all of this to move for prohibition, because, as they contended, an appeal would not have been an adequate remedy, in that certain rights may have been destroyed which an eventual decision of the Appellate Court in case of a regular appeal could not restore. This argument might seem plausible at first blush, but when the records are carefully studied and it is shown there from that Petitioners had every privilege and opportunity to restrain and prohibit the Elections Commission from hearing and deciding the said matter before rendition of judgment but failed and elected to move by regular appeal, that is to say, by entering exceptions to the said judgment of the Commission giving notice of appeal and tendering a bill of exception, such an argument crumbles and leaves no reasonable conclusion except that Petitioners upon their own election preferred a regular appeal. For them at this state after the judgment so rendered by the Elections Com- mission has been fully carried out in all aspects and respects to petition this court to restrain the said Commission seen in our opinion, to be anomalous. Let us however examine the law on the point and see whether or not Petitioners contention can stand the test and accomplish the desired end. In 22 Ruling Case Law, page 8, we have the following provision: "It may be stated as a general rule that the only effect of a writ of prohibition is to suspend all action, and to prevent any further proceeding in the prohibited direction. It can only operate to retrain a pending action or preceeding, and can never be used to prevent the institution of an action. Where prohibition would be ineffectual it will usually be disallowed, as where the act sought to be prevented is already done, or where, if the act were performed, it would be void and could not affect the rights of the party. This is certainly true to the extent that where the proceeding in the lower court had ended, and the court has nothing further to do in pursu-

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ance or in completion of its order, or where it has dismissed the proceeding, prohibition is not an effectual remedy. But, where anything remains to be done by the court, prohibition not only prevents what remains to be done, but gives complete relief by undoing what has been done." (See 22 R.C. L., page 8 section 7, Scope of Relief). In this case nothing remains to be done by the Commission. Consequently, the exception contained in the latter part of the foregoing provision is inapplicable. It is our opinion therefore that if Petitioners felt that the Elections Commission had no jurisdiction over the matter, or having jurisdiction was abusing same, or was proceeding by rules different from those which ought to be observed at all times, they should have immediately taken steps to restrain and prohibit them at that time, especially so when the Commission had refused to sustain their motion challenging its jurisdiction and indicated its intention to continue the hearing of the matter; but not to have waited until the Commission had rendered judgment and had carried into effect such judgment before invoking the aid of prohibition. In 50 Corpus Juris we have the following rule on the subject to wit: "Prohibition is a preventative, rather than a corrective, remedy, and issues to prevent the commission of a future act rather than to undo an act which is already performed. It will not be granted when the act sought to be prevented is already done, even where such act has been done pending the application for the writ; but where the act sought to be prohibited in not a full, complete, and accomplished judicial act, the writ will lie, any further proceeding may be prohibited, and complete relief may be afforded by undoing what had been done." (See C. J. 50, page 662 section 18, Acts Already Completed).

It follows therefore from the foregoing citation of law that at the time of the filing of Petitioners' Petition for prohibition if the Respondents had not fully and completely performed and carried into effect all of the acts complained against by Petition- ers, and if there had remained unperformed any acts, or any phase of the proceedings still undecided then and in such circumstances if Petitioners' allegation that the Com- mission had no jurisdiction was legally sound then prohibition would lie to prevent what had not been done up to the time of the filing of the Petition and to even undo what had already been done. This, however, not being the case, the Writ according to the provisions of law quoted supra does not lie. A further inspection shows that there were no accompanying records filed along with the Petition in support of the factual charges upon which Petitioners based said Petition, that is to say, no minutes of the trial court, (in that case the Elections Com- mission), no copy of the resistance filed by the opposite side, and for that matter, not even the Commission's decision rendered against them. Pressed with questions from the Bench in respect to their failure to file such accompanying records, Petitioners

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argued with forensic eloquesnce that the Commission refused to furnish them copies of the records even though they repeatedly applied for same. To a layman this contention might seem plausible, but to one who knows that there is always a Justice presiding in our Chambers whose duty it is to give relief to parties from any oppression inconvenience, and/or embarrassment suffered at the hand of an inferior tribunal, such a contention finds no legal foundation upon which to rest, because if the Com- mission had refused to furnish Petitioners with copies of the records Petitioners had a full and adequate remedy and that was by Mandamus proceedings to compel it to supply them copies of the records. In the light of the foregoing conclusions, and in view of the fact that the granting of a Writ of Prohibition is in the discretion of the court to who it is applied for; this court in the exercise of its sound discretion refuses to order the issuance of the alternative Writ of Prohibition, as the Petitioners have not been able to show sufficient cause either from the Petition or by their arguments to justify the issuance of same. THE REQUEST IS THEREFORE DENIED AND IF IS HEREBY SO ORDERED.

Counselors S. David Coleman, S. Raymond Horace and T. Gib li Collins appeared for Petitioners.

Counselors Richard A. Henries, D. B. Cooper and K. S. Tamba appeared for Respondents.

Given from under my hand and official signature this 3rd day of May, A. D. 1955, and in open court.

0. Natty B. Davis ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, SUPREME COURT OF LIBERIA PRESIDING IN CHAMBERS

CERTIFIED TRUE COPY Clerk Supreme Court of Liberia

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EXHIBIT "H"

HEADQUARTERS AND GENERAL OFFICES INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY, R. L. ROBERTS STREET, HOUSE NO. 20 MONROVIA, LIBERIA

March 28, 1955

The Honorable The Chairman, Elections Commission Monrovia

Sir, Permit me to acknowledge receipt of your letter of March 17, 1955 calling my "attention to an Act of the Legislature entitled AN ACT TO REGULATE ALL ELEC- TIONS IN THE REBUBLIC OF LIBERIA,' and that candidates shall be 'regularly nominate' for any electoral office." In reply thereto, I wish to confirm my letter of the 2nd instant, in which the names of candidates for seats in the National Legislature of the Republic "to be canvasses and balloted for, at and during the ensuing General Elections to be held on the first Tues- day in May, A. D. 1955 were submitted." It seems very peculiar to me that mention is made in your letter of persons whose names appear among our list of candidates have asked to have their names deleted and disclaim any affiliation with this party, while our records fail to disclose any such fact. We have been creditably informed that our parties will not be given a chance for a fair ballot and that the Elections Commission will be used to manipulate to exclude us from the polls. The Elections Commission being legally known to us as a neutral Body, we fail to imagine how such a diabolical act could be done and therefore we have decided to approach the Commission again on this matter as soon as certain evidence which is soon forthcoming shall have reached us. Please be informed that we hold no brief for anyone who may have approached the Commission direct for the elimination of their names; as we feel, in the instance, we would be trying to be more Catholic than the Pope; therefore, any such action of the Commission is such a case would be on their own responsibility. The majority of our candidates who have been nominated and their names sent forward have confirmed

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their nomination of running so with the exceptions of Mr. J.K. Walker who is ill at the Government Hospital and wrote for his name to be deleted, we are still confirming our tickets. If any change is further decided upon, you will hear us in time.

Yours faithfully,

Sgd. S. David Colemen LEADER AND NATIONAL CHAIRMAN INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY, MONROVIA

true and correct copy of original. Chas. N. D. Simpson ASSISTANT CLERK OF WRITS

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HEADQUARTERS AND GENERAL OFFICES INDEPENDENT TRUE WHIG PARTY, R. L. ROBERTS STREET, HOUSE NO. 20 MONROVIA, LIBERIA March 18, 1955

The Honorable Chairman, Elections Commission, Monrovia, Liberia

Sir; Permit me to acknowledge receipt of your letter of March 17, 1955 calling my "attention to an Act of the Legislature entitled AN ACT TO REGULATE ALL ELEC- TIONS IN THE REBUBLIC OF LIBERIA,' and that candidates shall be 'regularly nominate' for any electoral office." In reply thereto, I wish to confirm my letter of the 2nd instant, in which the names of candidates for seats in the National Legislature of the Republic "to be canvasses and balloted for, at and during the ensuing General Elections to be held on the first Tues- day in May, A. D. 1955 were submitted." It seems very peculiar to me that mention is made in your letter of persons whose names appear among our list of candidates have asked to have their names deleted and disclaim any affiliation with this party, while our records fail to disclose any such fact. We have been creditably informed that our parties will not be given a chance for a fair ballot and that the Elections Commission will be used to manipulate to exclude us from the polls. The Elections Commission being legally known to us as a neutral Body, we fail to imagine how such a diabolical act could be done and therefore we have decided to approach the Commission again on this matter as soon as certain evidence which is soon forthcoming shall have reached us. Please be informed that we hold no brief for anyone who may have approached the Commission direct for the elimination of their names; as we feel, in the instance, we would be trying to be more Catholic than the Pope; therefore, any such action of the Commission is such a case would be on their own responsibility. The majority of our candidates who have been nominated and their names sent forward have confirmed their nomination of running so with the exceptions of Mr. J.K. Walker who is ill at the Government Hospital and wrote for his name to be deleted, we are still confirming our tickets. If any change is further decided upon, you will hear us in time.

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Yours faithfully Sgd. T. Ninn Botoe

Certified true and correct copy of original files in this office.

V. McKrae Gray Clerk of Writs

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EXHIBIT "I"

REBUBLIC OF LIBERIA THE ELECTIONS COMMISSION MONROVIA REGULATIONS FOR THE CARRYING OUT OF THE ELECTION LAWS OF 1945

IT IS HEREBY NOTIFIED: (1) That on Election Day no group of persons of any Political Party or other persons shall be permitted to assemble within Fifty yards of any Voting Poll, or Booth, except one Representative of each Political Party at a time who shall have been certified to the Sheriff by his Political Party as a Representative of that Political Party; and the Elections Commission simultaneously notified accordingly. Upon presentation of the Certificate to the Sheriff he shall be allowed at the Poll to watch the proceedings and interest of his Party in consonance with the Elections Law of 1945. (a) The word "group" as used in the proceeding paragraph shall mean not more than Ten (10) persons. (2) Citizens who have qualified to vote, when arriving at the limit of a Voting Poll or Booth, that is, fifty yards from the Voting Poll or booth which shall be marked by a flag or flags, and Policemen stationed thereat, shall halt, or shall be halted should they not have done so upon reaching the limit. If more than Ten (10) persons arrive at the limit of the Voting area together, all persons in excess of Ten (10) shall be required to stop and the Ten (10) shall be allowed to pass on to the Poll where each shall orderly poll his ticket in secrecy and retire; and, successively, not more than Ten (10) voters at a time shall be allowed within the Voting Area. It shall be unlawful for any person or persons, group or groups or persons to carry any arms, dangerous concealed weapon, within, near or about the limits of any voting area. Any violation of this regulation shall subject the offender or offenders, violator or violators to immediate arrest, without warrant, and seizure of the arms or weapon and prosecution for violation of the Elections law. (3) The Police Constabulary and Security Guards under the directions of the Sher- iff shall see that the above Regulations and all other Laws, Rules and Regulations controlling Elections and Voting are strictly observed, and enforced in reference to all persons and Parties alike. They shall arrest without warrant and take before a Justice of the Peace or Stipendi- ary Magistrate of the locality any person or persons, group or groups of persons violat-

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ing or attempting to violate any of the provisions of these Regulations or any of the provisions of the Elections Law; and in so doing they are authorized under the Elec- tions Law to employ adequate and sufficient force to prevent rioting or other acts that would have a tendency to disturb the orderly conduct of the Election. They shall not interfere with persons demeaning themselves peaceable and within the bounds of the law, but shall assist and offer protection to all such persons, regardless of Party affiliation from interference or molestations by other. GIVEN under our hands at the City of Monrovia, this 29th day of April, A. D. 1955.

D. BARTHOLOMEW COOPER Chairman J. F. B. COLEMAN Member J. T PHILLIPS Member ELECTIONS COMMISSION

APPROVED: W V. S. TUBMAN President of the Republic of Liberia

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EXHIBIT "5-A"

RECORDS OF THE CONVERSATION HELD BETWEEN MME. WILBUR HITCHCOCK, FIRST SECRETARY AND VICE CONSUL OF THE US EMBASSY AND MRS. BERTHA CORBIN, REGARDING THE LATTER'S CLAIM TO AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP, AT WHICH TIME WERE ALSO PRESENT: MR. ROCHEFORT L. WEEKS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND MR. LLOYD WHISNANT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF STATE, BOTH IN THE CAPACITY OF OBSERV- ERS AND MISS ANTOINETTE CORBIN. CONVERSATION HELD AT THE DEPT. OF JUSTICE, MONDAY, MAY 16, 1955, 11:00 O'CLOCK A. M.

Mr. Weeks: Ladies and gentlemen, we are here as the result of a request from the American Embassy, through the Department of State, that a conversation be arranged between Mrs. Corbin and a representative of the Embassy in regard to Mrs. Corbin's claim to United States citizenship. Mr. Whisnant is here as an Observer from the Department of State and I am here for the Department of Justice as an Observer. All interested parties being present, the Conversation may proceed.

Mr. Hitchcock: As far as we can determine, Mrs. Corbin is an American citizen and steps have not been take to jeopardize her claim to American citizenship. We have instructions to issue to her a temporary US passport after she has discharged her obligations to the Liberian Government if she should desire to go to the United States of America. I should like to begin by asking Mrs. Corbin a few questions.

Ques: Mrs. Corbin, were you born in the States? Ans: Yes.

Ques: When did you come to Liberia? Ans: In 1924, with my husband.

Ques: How many times have you been married? Ans: Once.

Ques: Is your husband an American citizen or a Liberian Citizen? Ans: He is a Liberian citizen now

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Ques: Did he become a Liberian citizen by taking the oath of naturalization? Ans: Yes. He naturalized as a Liberian citizen many years ago.

Ques: Have you ever returned to the United States of America? Ans: I returned in 1925 on a temporary US passport. I was there again in 1935 and 1946.

Ques: What passport did you use? Ans: In 1925, I traveled on a temporary US passport as I said before. In 1935 and in 1946, I traveled on a Liberian passport with a non-quota visa.

Ques: But are you not still an American citizen or a Liberian citizen, or both: Ans: It has been a question of dual nationality for years not because when Mr. Corbin took out his citizenship under the Liberian law that made me automatically become a Liberia citizen as his wife. But Mr. Hood protested and never considered me as a Liberian because I did not take the oath myself.

Ques: So you have never pledged an oath of allegiance to Liberia to become a citizen? Ans: No. I have had no cause because I was accepted as a Liberian because my husband was.

Ques: You have taken no steps or made no efforts to acquire Liberian citizenship? Ans: No.

Ques: The only steps you took was to marry a man who later became a citizen of Liberia? Ans: Yes.

Mr. Hitchcock: Under the circumstances then, the Embassy can say that the United States Government can provide Mrs. Corbin a limited passport to return to the United States at such time as her obligations are properly fulfilled to the Liberian Government provided, of course, that she does not meanwhile perform some expatriate act, and upon surrender of her Liberian passport, to the proper authorities. The American Embassy is aware of the fact, of course, that it appears that Mrs. Corbin is a Liberian citizen but in as much as she took no steps to acquire the Liberian nationality and came only under the nationality of her husband, we see no particular reason why we should interfere with the law or Liberia which makes a wife of a Liberian citizen automatically become a Liberian.

Question by Mr. Weeks: Mrs. Corbin, please throw additional light on the various passports on which you traveled to the States and their present whereabouts.

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Ans: In 1925, I went on an American passport, which Mr. Hood protested and which caused a lot to trouble. In 1935 and 1946 I got a Liberian passport and non-quota visa.

Ques: Who is Mr. Hood? Ans: He was the American Minister here.

Ques: Do you still have the 1925 American passport? Ans: No, It was taken by Mr. George. I think this was in 1935, so I got a Liberian passport then.

Question by Mr. Whisnant: Did you have to take an oath at the State Department to say that you were a Liberian citizen before the Liberian passport was issued to you? Ans: No. I did not have to take any oath. I only paid ten dollars ($10.00) and the passport was given to me.

Ques: Did you come back on the same passport? Ans: Yes, but after I got back Mr. George of the Embassy cancelled that passport which caused a lot of trouble.

Question by Mr. Weeks: You said that Mr. Hood protested your passport; when was that? Ans: It was when I wanted to go back on the same passport. Anyway, I got a Liberian passport and went on a non-quota visa. I had kept the same US passport I went on before.

Question by Mr. Whisnant: What happened to the passport you said Mr. George took from you? Ans: I don't know what happened to it, but it caused a lot of trouble when I got in Baltimore. The State Department in Washington, D. C. has all of the records about this, I am sure.

Question by Mr. Weeks: Your 1925 passport was lifted, you said; what passport did you return to Liberia on if that was taken? Ans: I came back the same year on the 20th of January, on the same passport.

Ques: How long were you in the United States in 1925? Ans: I stayed there seven months.

Question by Mr. Whisnant: Did you say that the passport that was detained was an American Passport?

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Ans: I had a Liberian Passport when I went away but my first passport was an Ameri- can passport.

Ques: Did you return the passports? Ans: No, I still have them. (1946 Liberian passport No. 31-46 exhibited).

Ques: What happened to your American passport? Ans: I don't know what happened to it. Mr. George took it and was supposed to have sent it to me to the boat and he did not so I left without it. This was in 1946.

Ques: When you got the Liberian passport did you take an oath when you applied for it? Ans: No, that was not the custom at that time and I don't think any oath was given at the time.

Question by Mr. Weeks: Have you ever been employed by the Liberian Government? Ans: Yes, I was Postmistress at Kakata.

Question by Mr. Whisnant: Were you sworn in when you took over this job as Post- mistress? Ans: I was not sworn in. Mr. Dixon Brown only came up with Mr. Isaac Fisk and turned the books over to me and installed me as Postmistress.

Question by Mr. Weeks: Have you held any other government posts? Ans: No.

Ques: Weren't you a school teacher? Ans: Yes. But it was a private school.

Question by Mr. Whisnant: You said you did not take an oath as Postmistress but don't you know when such a job is given to someone it is understood that they thereby pledge to uphold and defend the laws of the country as a citizen? Ans: Yes, I know that and I was considered a citizen of Liberia.

Mr. Hitchcock: It is my understanding that missionaries usually occupy such posi- tions at our stations. Under the Liberian law, Mrs. Corbin automatically became a Liberian because her husband was. That does not mean that she is not an American citizen, though we are not trying to question the law. I would also like to say that I am no lawyer but as I interpret the law, Mrs. Corbin has done no positive act which would cause her to lose her American citizenship. Furthermore, I am following instructions

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we have received from the State Department, Washington, when I say were are prepared to issue her a limited passport at the appropriate time. (Several documents were here passed around by Mr. Hitchcock, read and discussed, including portions of the US Immigration and Nationality Law, an US passport application, US State Department's instructions to the American Mission, Monrovia, and statement of claim to American citizenship and oath of Allegiance by Mrs. Corbin dated January 15, 1953).

Mrs. Corbin: I would like to say that I was in Kakata when their article was published in THE INDEPENDENT newspaper and I have been held without reasons, and a fine of five thousand ($5,000.00) dollars have been placed on me. I have appealed to the American Government for political asylum, and I wish the amount will be sent soon so I can be released. My mother and other relative are still alive in the United States and I have appealed to them for this amount which I expect them to send as soon as the amount is raised, for my release.

Mr. Weeks: I should like to point out that we are here merely as Observers and it is not within the scope of these Conversations to discuss the matter of political asylum, or how Mrs. Corbin's fine will be paid.

Question by Mr. Whisnant: Would you like to return to Liberia, again when you go to the United States? Ans: I feel that my life will not be safe under the present conditions so I will not come back. As my husband is not in the position to help me, he would rather see me away than to be locked up.

Ques: Did I understand you to say that you took an oath of allegiance at the Ameri- can Embassy? Ans: Yes this was in January, 1953. I did so because my daughter was going away and I needed to do that when she applied for a passport.

Ques: Does that mean that you had before then given up the rights of your Ameri- can citizenship? Ans: No, I am still an American citizen and have never given up my right to it but I am also considered a Liberian citizen. This has been in question for many years.

Mr. Hitchcock: In confirming what I have said regarding the Embassy's position in this matter and its preparedness to issue Mrs. Corbin a limited passport, if necessary, I should like to make it clear that we would not like to separate Mrs. Corbin's family and it is not the policy of the US Government to separate any family, for that matter; but

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it is left with her to decide whether she wants to go or not. If she decides, we will issue to her a passport to return to the United States.

Mr. Weeks: There being nothing further, this Conversation is now terminated. If necessary, the Department of Justice will submit its observations thereon at the appropriate time.

Initialed R. L. W.

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TO: THE ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL, R. L. FROM: THE CODIFICATION AND RESEARCH ASSISTANT SUBJECT: MRS. BERTHA LONG CORBIN'S CLAIM TO UNITED STATES CITIZENSHIP: REPORT ON CONVERSATION

In compliance with your instructions that I sit in as an Observer on behalf of the Department of Justice, at the Conversation between Mr. Bertha Corbin, presently imprisoned on contempt charges by the Liberian Legislature and Mr. Wilbur Hitchcock of the United States Embassy, in regard to Mrs. Corbin's claim to United States citizenship, I have the honor respectfully to advise that the Conversation was held at the Department of Justice on Monday, May 16, 1955, at 11:00 o'clock A. M. Present at the Conversation were: Mr. Wilbur Hitchcock, First Secretary and Vice Consul, the US Embassy; Mrs. Bertha Corbin; Mr. Lloyd Whisnant, Observer, the Department of State; the undersigned, Observer from the Department of Justice, and Miss Antoinette Corbin, daughter of Mrs. Corbin. It would seem that Mrs. Corbin's claim to United States citizenship is based upon the following; 1) that she was born in the United States of America and is consequently a natural born citizen of that country; 2) that although she has resided in the Republic of Liberia since 1924, she has taken no affirmative or positive steps to divest herself of her American citizenship; 3) that her husband is a naturalized Liberian citizen but she has not taken as oath of allegiance to this county even though according to our laws she, as the wife of a naturalized citizen, automatically became and has been accepted as a Liberian; 4) that although her present situation might involve a question of dual nationality, she has not lost her American citizenship, which she now has the right to claim, and 5) that she has all along, and by various means, asserted her American citizenship, which she again claims in this manner. She states that her reasons for raising the claim to United States citizenship at this time and in this matter are: 1) because she considers her safety in the Republic of Liberia jeopardized; 2) because she desires to return to the United States of American for permanent residence; 3) because she desires to seek political asylum, and 4) because she desires to raise the necessary funds in the United States of America in order to obtain release from prison. During the course of the Conversation, it was stated by Mrs. Corbin that she came to the Republic of Liberia with her husband in 1924. In 1925 she returned to the United States and was there for seven (7) months, traveling on a temporary United States passport. She visited the United States in 1935 and again in 1946, each time traveling on a Liberian passport and non-quota visa. Mr. Hood, the American Minis- ter at Monrovia protested her Liberian citizenship and the issuance of an American passport to her which she held and this caused much difficulty which was never clari- fied at the time. In 1935, her American passport was lifted by Mr. George, the Ameri-

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can Consul, when she applied for a United States passport to travel to the States. She therefore applied for and procured a Liberian passport in 1935 and again in 1946, for the purpose of traveling to the United States. She states that she was not called upon to take an oath of allegiance to the Republic of Liberia neither in 1935 nor 1946 as a pre-requisite to obtaining the Liberian passports issued to her. She also states that she served as Postmistress at Kakata, Liberia, during the years 1936 to 1944 inclusive; that she has at no time taken an oath of allegiance to the Republic of Liberia; that she has never voted in a political election or plebiscite; that her first participation in politics was in September, 1954, when she undertook the editorship of "THE INDEPENDENT", a political newsorgan. She considers herself presently unsafe in Liberia; she regards her imprisonment false and unjustified; she is doing all in her power to raise and pay the Five Thousand Dollars contempt fine imposed by the National Legislature, so that she might be free to proceed to the United States for permanent residence, and in the meantime, she under- takes to seek political asylum. It was also brought out at the Conversation that on January 15, 1953, Mrs. Corbin took an Oath of Allegiance to the United States Government in connection with the application of her daughter for an American passport to travel to the United States for school. On that date she also filed at the Embassy a statement of claim to United States citizenship and executed an application for registration. The said application for registration was disapproved by the Department of State, Washington; in its submission of April 7, 1954, to the Officer in Charge of the American Mission, Monrovia, "in conformity with the Department's practice in cases of long foreign residence, dual nationality and practical abandonment of United States citizenship." (See attached). The United States Embassy, through its representative at the Conversation recognized Mrs. Corbin's Liberian citizenship but nevertheless, considered her claim to United States citizenship well founded in view of the fact that she is a natural born citizen of that country who has not taken an oath of allegiance to any foreign sovereign, has not denounced her American citizenship or done any other positive act or thing which would tend to divest her of her United States citizenship. The Embassy does not intend to and could not intervene in regard to the present situation of Mrs. Corbin which in its opinion grew out of legal action taken by the Legislature of the Republic of Liberia but in the light of instructions from Washing- ton, would be prepared to issue a limited passport to Mrs. Corbin, upon surrender of her Liberian passport, for the purpose of traveling to a United States Port of Entry and their applying for admission to the States, at such time as she has fulfilled her obligations to the Government of the Republic of Liberia, and provided that in the meantime, she does not perform some expatriative act. The Embassy is of opinion that no act on Mrs. Corbin's part to date, is considered expatriative: she denies having ever voted in a political election or plebiscite during her entire stay in Liberia. The Embassy regards her acceptance of the post of Postmistress

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as a mere missionary contract; her participation in politics to the extent of writing political articles and serving as editor of a political newsorgan, not sufficient, under the laws of the United States, to invalidate her United States citizenship; considers the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952 the only operative US law today regulation nationality and citizenship in the United States and since Mrs. Corbin has violated no provision of the said act and in view of instructions from the Department of State, Washington, dated April 7, 1954, referred to supra, the Embassy recognizing her claim to United States citizenship, and without questioning her Liberian citizenship, is prepared to issue a Limited passport to her. In this connection, the Embassy desired to make it clear that it is not the US Government's policy to recommend, encourage or facilitate the splitting up or separation of the family. The foregoing represents the substance of the Conversation, and the important points raised and discussed threat. Before concluding, nevertheless, we deem it necessary to make the following observations. 1. Mr. and Mrs. Corbin having immigrated to the Republic of Liberia in 1924, and Mr. Corbin having taken the oath of allegiance to the Republic and naturalized as a citizen in 1925, his wife, Mrs. Corbin automatically became a citizen of the Republic by virtue of the provisions of Section 67 of the Regulations for the Consular Service of the Republic of Liberia, approved February 8, 1922, by act of the National Legislature, which provides: Sec 67. WIFE OF CITIZEN: Any woman of negro descent married to a citizen of the Republic of Liberia is a citizen thereof; and it is immaterial whether the husband became a citizen before or after marriage. Any woman who acquired Liberian Citizenship by marriage shall be assumed to have retained it after the termination of marital relation by death or absolute divorce if she continues to reside in the Republic of Liberia, unless she make formal renunciation thereof before a court having jurisdiction to naturalize aliens or, if she resides abroad, she may retain Liberian citizenship by regis- tering as a Liberian citizen before a Liberian Counsel within one year after the termination of the marital relation. As is evident from the foregoing, the wife of a Liberian citizen is assumed to acquire and retain such citizenship for all times, unless she renounces it after the termination of the marital relation by death or absolute divorce; by making a formal declaration of renunciation before a court having competent jurisdiction. Today, Mrs. Corbin has not renounced her Liberian citizenship but on the contrary, she has accepted every benefit accruing there from. 2. We make not comment here or observation as to the effect of later Liberian statutes on the Liberian citizenship of Mrs. Corbin, or in the absence of any specific statue, the effect of the common law on her citizenship status, or the effect of her oath of allegiance to the United States Government in January, 1953, in the application for

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a US passport on behalf of her daughter. These matters could claim our attention at the appropriate time. 3. With reference to her claim to United States citizenship, we should like to observe: a) that the possibility of dual nationality exists; b) that her acts to date would suggest an abandonment, if not renunciation of American citizenship; c) that the actual determination of whether or not she is an American citizen rests with the United States Government, in accordance with the provisions of the nationality laws of the that country; d) that the determination that she is a citizen of the United States should in no way affect her Liberian nationality or her obligations to this country, especially while she resides here.

Respectfully submitted,

Sgd. Rocheforte L. Weeks CONDIFICATION RESEARCH ASSISTANT R. L.

RLW/amd

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Address Official Communications To THE SECRETARY OF STATE WASHINGTON 25, D. C.

DEPARTMENT OF STATE WASHINGTON

April 7, 1954 AIR MAIL

UNCLASSIFIED

To the Officer in Charge of the American Mission, Monrovia

The Department refers to the application for registration executed at your office on January 15, 1953 by Bertha Long Corbin. The Department concurs in the opinion of your office that Mrs. Corbin is not entitled to registration and her application is therefore disapproved. At such time as she returns to the United States she may be issued a passport valid only for the journey, provided of course that she does not meanwhile perform some expatriative act, and upon surrender of her Liberian passport to the proper authorities. Mrs. Corbin may be informed that she is being refused registration in conformity with the Department's practice in cases of long foreign residence, dual nationality and practical abandonment of United States citizenship.

(signed)

R. B. S.

Y130-Corbin, Bertha Long

CERTIFIED TRUE AND CORRECT COPY OF THE COPY.

(SGD) Anthony M. Dison