But there are natives and natives. The different natives form distinct problems—it is not just one simple proposition. The Mandingo and Vai are Mohammedan populations; they are independent, proud, aggressive; they are industrious, and their industries render them to a large degree independent of all neighbors. Their towns and villages are large, prosperous, and relatively wealthy. Few visitors have ever penetrated into their country; it is practically unknown to the Liberians. Yet it is in the highest degree important that the Liberians should know them thoroughly, should come into close and intimate contact with them, should co-operate with them in the development and advancement of the country. In their towns and villages boys are taught Arabic and read the Koran; it is true—as in so much religious teaching elsewhere—that they often learn only to repeat the words of the sacred texts without any knowledge of their actual meaning—many, however, read with understanding. It is an interesting fact that the Vai have a system of writing which has been invented by themselves; it is widely known among them and they are fond of writing letters and making records in their own script. Momulu Massaquoi, whose name is well known in this country and in England, is a Vai; he governed a considerable section of his people as chief through a period of years; he has now for some time been located at Monrovia, where he ably fills the position of chief clerk in the Department of the Interior; he is useful to the Government as an intermediary between it and the Mohammedans of the Republic; although himself a Christian, both Mandingo and Vai have more confidence in him than they could possibly repose in a stranger to their customs and languages. There are various ways in which the Government might proceed to develop friendly relations with these people. They should encourage village schools—both religious and secular; in the religious schools, which should be uncontrolled, the Koran and Arabic would continue to be the chief subjects taught; in the other schools there should be the usual subjects taught in the public schools of the Americo-Liberians; these will best be taught through the Vai language, and charts and text-books should be printed in the native characters. Mr. Massaquoi has already undertaken to prepare such text-books. Trade with these peoples should be encouraged; and developed as rapidly as possible. No opportunity should be lost to impress upon them that their interests and those of the Liberians are one, and every effort should be made to gain co-operation. These peoples occupy that portion of the Republic which is most in danger of aggression by the British; surely the natural impulse is for these black peoples, though they be Mohammedans, to unite in common progress with other blacks rather than with any whites. If religion is actually a barrier against friendship and co-operation, it would be as strong against friendship with the British Christians as against Liberian Christians. There is no question, however, that if the Government of the Republic will deal justly, amicably, and wisely with these tribes, they will heartily respond.
The Kru and related peoples of the coast form a completely different proposition. They are full of force and vigor; Sir Harry Johnston and others call them “cheeky”; they are actually awake. They are ready for progress; they want education; they have for centuries been in contact with white men and know their strength and weakness; they are strong, intelligent, industrious, and want work. They have no dainty fears regarding labor, so that it be paid—but pay they want, and justly. At the present they form the strongest immediate hope in the Liberian population. We have said that they want education; as a matter of fact, they flock into the schools. When Bishop Ferguson was at Cape Palmas, in 1912, four promising-looking native boys walked from Pickaninny Cess, fifty miles to Cape Palmas. They told him they had heard of the big school (Epiphany Hall) and desired to attend; that another of their comrades was coming the following week. The Bishop says: “They are just the age when the inducement to go down the coast to earn money is strong; in fact they had already made several trips; but instead of going again, they had decided ‘to learn book’. I did not have the heart to turn such applicants off, and so wrote to the Principal to admit them under special arrangement.” When in Monrovia, I several times visited the College of West Africa. It is over-crowded and ministers to both Americo-Liberian and native boys. On one occasion I seated myself in the midst of the class in fourth grade arithmetic. The recitation was well conducted and well given. While black-board work was occupying the general attention, I remarked to a boy at my side, “But you are a native boy.” “Yes,” he said, “I am Kru—and so is that boy, and that one, and that one.” As a matter of fact, I was practically surrounded by them. “Well,” said I, “and how do you native boys get on? Do you do well?” “Yes, sir,” was the immediate response, “we do well; we do better than they do.” It was not necessary for me to ask who he meant by “they.” I answered, “It would sound better if some one else said so.” He replied, “That may be so; but it is true.” “How does that happen?” I asked. His reply deserves attention: “We love our country more than they do, sir.” I am not prepared to assert that they love their country more than the Americo-Liberians; it is true, however, that they are passionately fond of their native land. The first time that my personal attention was turned to the black Republic was in 1905 when a Kru boy upon our steamer bound to Congo told me with evident affection of his dear, his native land, and pointed out to me the distant green shore of the villages where his people were located. And whether they love their country more than the Americo-Liberians or no, they are more aggressive, more ambitious, more willing to work that they may achieve their ends. These Kru boys on their way to and from school often, after my visit to the College, dropped in to see me. There is the fixed intention among many of them to visit the United States and complete their studies in our schools. One of these boys informed me that five of them some months ago had entered into an agreement in some way or other to reach our country. All of them have made journeys on steamers along the coast; some of them have been to Europe; all of them can easily reach Hamburg and have money in their pockets; the anxious question with them all is how to go from Hamburg to New York—and whether they will be admitted in the port—and whether they can form connections after they are in our country. There is no foolishness in all these plans; they have thought them out in detail: they will come.
Then there are the pagan tribes of the interior. They are a more serious proposition for the Liberian than the Mohammedans and Kru. They are still “bush niggers”; they live in little towns under the control of petty chiefs; most of them speak only a native language; there is no unity among them; not only are there jealousies between the tribes, but there are suspicions between the villages of one tribe and speech; they live in native houses, wear little clothing, have simple needs; they are ununited and know nothing of the outside world—they know little of France or England, have rarely seen a white man, scarcely know what the Liberian Government means or wants; they are satisfied and only wish to be left alone; they do not need to work steadily—life is easy, they raise sufficient rice and sweet-potatoes and corn and cassava to feed themselves; if they wish to cover their nakedness, they can weave cloth for their own use; there is little which they need from other peoples. Few know anything either of the teachings of the Prophet or Christianity; they practice fetish—“devil-worship”—have their bush schools for the instruction of their boys and girls in the mysteries of life and of religion. They are polygamists, the number of whose wives depends wholly upon the ability to accumulate sufficient wealth with which to purchase them. Among them domestic slavery—which, by the way, is not a matter which need particularly call for reprehension—is common; some of the tribes no doubt still practice cannibalism; it is these tribes in the interior upon which Liberia depends almost completely for the development of wealth; if Liberia shall flourish, it is necessary that these peoples shall produce and deliver the raw materials for shipment to the outside world; it is these peoples who must supply palm nuts, palm kernels, palm oil, piassava fiber, ivory, rubber, gums; it is these peoples who must keep the trails open, and develop them into roads; it is they who must permit the easy passage of soldiers and Government representatives through their territories; it is they who must supply the soldiers for the Frontier Force.
It is clear, then, that the “natives” present no simple problem. There are many questions to be considered in laying out a native policy. The matter has by no means been neglected by Liberian rulers; one or another of them has grappled with it. Of President Barclay’s native policy Gerard says: “Among many other subjects of preoccupation, Barclay attaches an entirely particular importance to the native policy. At the beginning of his administration, he brought together a great number of native chiefs, notably of the Gola, Kondo, and Pessy tribes; he convoked likewise a crowd of Kru and Grebo notabilities; he sent special missions along the Cavalla River up to two hundred kilometers from its mouth, and others up the St. Paul’s. This innovation was so much the more appreciated by the natives, and aided so much more powerfully toward the development of mercantile relations of the coast district with the interior, because theretofore the repatriated negroes had been considered by their subjugated congeners only as unjust conquerors and pillagers, or as merchants who were equally tricky and dishonest.”
President Howard also realizes the importance of conciliating the native populations; he designs to carry out an active policy; in his inaugural address he says: “We are aware of the oft-repeated charges of ill treatment toward this portion of our citizenship, made by foreigners against the officers of the Government, also of the fact that some of our people feel that these uncivilized citizens have but few rights which should be respected or accorded to them. But the responsible citizens recognize that in order for us to obtain that position of independence, power, and wealth, which we should obtain, it must be accomplished by the united efforts of all citizens, civilized and uncivilized, male and female. The denial of equal rights to the ‘natives’ has never been the intention or purpose of the Government. We will not disallow that much wrong has been done to that portion of our citizen body, but it is equally true that much of the deception and misunderstanding of the past have been due to machinations and subterfuges of some unscrupulous aliens, among whom had been some missionaries who have done all in their power to make and widen the breach between the two elements of our citizenship. We are very optimistic, however, in our belief that the dangers of such exploitations and false pretensions of friendships are drawing to a close.”
Again he says: “Much of our interior trouble of the past has been the result of a lack of proper understanding between ourselves and our fellow-citizens of that section of the land. Another source of trouble has been the actions of unqualified men sent among these people to represent the Government. We believe that great good will accrue to the State by holding frequent conferences with these chiefs and head men, and by responsible representatives of the Government, explaining to them its policy, the benefits to be derived by them in co-operating to build up the country, as well as the evils of the inter-tribal wars which they have been waging with each other for years.”
Exactly how to unite the chiefs with the Government is a serious question; to seriously weaken their authority among their own people would lead to chaos; to lead them to recognize the supremacy of the Government and yet not arouse their hostility by the abrogation of their own powers is a delicate task. Yet it must be done. Of one of the notable features of this inaugural President Howard himself says the following: “The very large concourse of chiefs and head men from the interior of all the counties, as well as from the Kru coast and most of the Grebo towns in Maryland, who are up to take part in the inaugural exercises, is to me one of the most pleasing features of the occasion. Their presence here testifies to their loyalty to the State and their willingness to co-operate with the Government in matters pertaining to the welfare of the country. Moreover it betokens the kindly feelings they and their people entertain toward the outgoing, and their well wishes for the incoming administration.”
No less difficult than the question of how to adjust the power of the Government with the power of the chiefs is the problem of how to adjust Liberian law and practice to native law and practice. According to their constitution, Liberia must forever be without slavery. Still domestic slavery flourishes in the interior. We have already indicated our opinion that it is not a serious matter and that it may quite well be left to regulate itself with time; still there is bound to be an outcry on the part of outsiders in this matter. Liberia as a civilized and Christian nation is legally monogamous; yet both among Mohammedans, Kru and pagan interior tribes polygamy is common. Is it wise, is it possible to extend the monogamous law of the Republic to the polygamous natives? Cannibalism no doubt still exists among certain of the interior tribes; if so, it will be long before the strong arm of the Government located upon the coast can reach the practice. Among all these native tribes there are methods of procedure and ordeals which have their value and their place. Thus the sassy-wood ordeal is used not only in dealing with witchcraft, but with a thousand other difficulties and misdemeanors; personally I should consider it unwise to attempt to do away with such native methods of control; they work more certainly than the legal procedure of the civilized government can work. A wise policy will probably lead to the gradual disappearance of these things with a general advance in education and with a greater contact with the outside world. There is always, however, the danger of these native practices extending their influence upon the Christian populations in the outside settlements. If the bush negro is polygamous, and the Americo-Liberian is in constant contact with his polygamy, the legal monogamy of the Government may become more difficult to maintain; if the sassy-wood ordeal is repeatedly seen to be effective in the conviction of the truly guilty, there will be a constant tendency to reproduce it for the detection and discrimination of criminals among the civilized; if domestic slavery is tolerable among the neighboring pagans, a feeling of the harmlessness of some vicious system of apprenticeship may be developed. These are real dangers, and while it probably is wise to exercise a deal of tolerance toward native customs, it must be constantly and carefully watched from this point of view.
The native life is certainly good in many ways; all that is actually good in it should be left so far as possible. Native houses are well adapted to the conditions of the country and nothing is gained by the attempt to change the styles of local architecture; scantness of clothing, or even nakedness, is not immoral, suggestive, or in itself worthy of blame—and native dress, though scanty, may be entirely becoming and even beautiful; there are many native arts—which, far from being blotted out, might well be conserved and developed; public palavers in native communities are often models of dignified conduct and serious consideration; the respect shown to native chiefs is often warranted and in every way should be encouraged and developed. The topic lends itself to many observations and tempts to full development. We can only say, however, that there are actually few things in native life which deserve condemnation and immediate destruction. The natives will be happier, better, and make more certain progress if they are permitted to build largely upon their own foundations. Dr. Blyden was always begging the people to make an African nation in Liberia, not the copy of a European state. Delafosse carries the same plea to an even greater extreme. It is impossible to actually meet the wishes of these gentlemen. Liberia is and must be patterned after other civilized nations. Such a native African state, original in all things, and purely African, as Delafosse imagines, would not be permitted to exist a single week by the crowding, selfish, civilized and Christian foreign nations. If Liberia is to play within the game, it must follow the rules of play.
In dealing with its natives, the government should be frank, honest, and candid; it should make no promises unless it knows that it can keep them—unless it means to keep them—unless it will keep them. Too many times in the past, when misunderstandings have led to armed resistance on the part of native peoples, the Government has appealed to one or another man of great personal influence among the aroused natives. Facing danger, frightened, wanting peace at any price, it has authorized its representative to make promises of satisfaction which it knew perfectly well could not and would not be kept. Such a temporizing policy is always bad; it not only fails to right wrongs, but destroys the trust of natives in the government, and shatters the influence for good which the intermediary formerly enjoyed.