Liberia: Description, History, ProblemsStarr, Frederick
History
Liberia: Description, History, Problems
Starr, Frederick
Liberia
were brought to trial. The Attorney-General presented the case against
them. Lomax was tried for the murder of two native chiefs; Cooper for
the murder of a third. The Lomax trial lasted two days; it was before
the jury for but ten minutes. He was found not guilty, and was carried
in triumph on the shoulders of friends, amidst a great outburst of
feeling, from the court-house. The Cooper trial came the next day; it
was promptly decided in his favor. There is no question that the Behlu
difficulty is on; Great Britain will in some way get back the territory
which she so generously traded to Liberia; undoubtedly in the diplomatic
dealings regarding it much will be made of this Lomax case; there is not
the least doubt that the native chiefs were killed; there is no denial
that Lomax and Cooper were responsible for the killing; but the trial
and its results are good psychology; they were as inevitable as anything
could be. There was in this case no actual miscarriage of justice; Col.
Lomax is a national hero; he embodied the national aspirations; he
represented the nation as a victim of the injustice and greed of Britain
through the years; his ovation was the result of natural sentiments. It
may not be diplomacy; it may not be good politics; but it is in the very
nature of humanity.
The great American government, after a silence, far from forgetting
and abandoning the tender infant cast upon the shores of Africa, has
come in our hour of danger to assist us on her strong pinions to a
nest of safety. If we but follow her example and heed her teachings of
economy, thrift and industry, and if we are just in our dealings with
men and nations we shall never escape her vigilant eye, nor cease to
be the object of marked manifestation of interest on her part.--DANIEL
E. HOWARD.
THE APPEAL TO THE UNITED STATES.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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