Liberia: Description, History, ProblemsStarr, Frederick
History
Liberia: Description, History, Problems
Starr, Frederick
Liberia
Of course where there is corruption in the judiciary there is almost
certain to be miscarriage of justice. During the time we were in
Monrovia, there was great excitement over the case of Col. Lomax and
Commissioner Cooper. We have already mentioned Col. Lomax. He figured
conspicuously in the Kanre-Lahun matter, when he gained the undying
hostility of the British; when Major Mackay Cadell was removed from his
position as the head of the Frontier Force, Lomax took charge; he has
recently been in the district of the newly acquired Behlu Territory.
This is the tract of forest land, of little value, which Great Britain
traded to the Liberian Government in exchange for the rich and desirable
Kanre-Lahun district. Poor as that area is, Britain will never be
content to leave it in Liberian possession. In taking over the area,
Col. Lomax was sent to the new boundary with soldiers, and Commissioner
Cooper was sent to aid in delimiting the boundary. Of course there was
trouble; there would have been trouble had Lomax and Cooper been angels.
At the town of Behlu itself, certainly within the new Liberian
territory, there was difficulty, and several Liberian soldiers were
killed. All sorts of complaints were hurried to Monrovia by the Sierra
Leone authorities:--Lomax was causing difficulties; he and Cooper were
interfering with the delimitation of the boundary; Liberian soldiers,
instigated no doubt by Lomax, were tearing down the cairns which marked
the boundary line; the British commissioners refused to do anything
unless both men were summoned from the border, and meantime would charge
up the expenses of the commission for the period of their idleness; Col.
Lomax was accused of murder--it was stated that he had killed eight
native chiefs. These complaints were so urgent and serious that the
President of the Republic sent orders to Lomax and Cooper to return at
once to Monrovia; to these orders no attention was given. The Secretary
of State was sent to fetch them, but is said to have stayed in the
district, apparently sympathizing in their attitude; it is asserted that
the deeds of violence, destruction of cairns, and insulting of British
commissioners continued after he was on the ground. The
Postmaster-General was hurried to the boundary to bring back the
Secretary of State, the Colonel, the Commissioner, and their henchman,
Lieutenant Morris,--who, it seems, had been the active agent in the
cairn destruction. Some days of inexplicable delay seem to have passed,
when the Secretary of the Treasury, the Assistant Secretary of State,
and Capt. Brown (one of the American officers) were hastened to the
scene of difficulty to get the recalcitrants home. The Secretary of
State, Postmaster-General, Secretary of the Treasury, and Capt. Brown
started together for Monrovia; Lomax, Cooper, and Morris were reported
to be already upon their way through the interior to the capital.
Arrived there, Lomax and Cooper were promptly jailed; less promptly they
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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