Chapter 590 The Liberians want to defy heaven

Chapter 590 The Liberians want to defy heaven

Port of Monrovia, West Africa.

A British merchant ship sailed into this quiet harbor as usual.

Liberia at this time was an American colony in West Africa. From 1821, the "American Colonization Society" established a black immigration area here, with the center in Monrovia.

However, these black people from the United States do not show much difference, and the local infrastructure is still a mess.

The economy mainly relies on selling timber and palm oil to the United States and other European countries to make profits. The black population in the United States is only about 15,000, and there are about 200,000 indigenous people in addition.

Although it has developed for more than 20 years, the main achievement of the local people is to drive the indigenous tribes out of their land, and the economy and infrastructure are in a mess.

The most terrible thing is that Liberia still needs to import food and weapons from abroad, but the weapons and food sold by the Americans to these "free" black people are not only of low quality but also expensive.

So the British discovered this business opportunity. Although it could only be regarded as a grasshopper's leg, it still had meat. In this way, the two countries were generally in peace.

Until the first black governor of Liberia took office, Joseph Roberts, as an American-African mixed-race, did not feel that he was inferior to whites or Europeans, so he decided to tax the merchant ships of foreign powers.

This naturally aroused dissatisfaction among the great powers. King Louis Philippe of France even stated in public that he would not pay taxes to slaves unless they hired a white tax collector.

As a result, he found that he had underestimated the bottom line of Americans. For money, some white people actually worked as tax collectors for black people.

But the French have to lose face, and France has no shortage of supply points in West Africa, so French merchant ships will choose to avoid this unlucky place.

The Russian Czar was even more violent, claiming that he would tear any black man to pieces if he dared set foot on a Russian ship.

But in fact, Russian merchant ships usually did not leave the Black Sea in the past, and even now that trade with the Austrian Empire is open, they almost never leave the Mediterranean.

But the British obviously don't believe in this evil.

As a result, John Bull was warmly welcomed by the black brothers as soon as he got off the ship. Captain John Davis and his twenty crew members were forced to disembark by a group of black soldiers.

The news soon spread to Europe and public opinion was in an uproar. Not many people on the European continent paid attention to the fact that British merchant ships did not pay taxes. People paid more attention to why those black people dared to detain British ships.

Of course, this was deliberately guided by someone. As soon as Franz learned the news, he began to publicize the matter with great intensity, with the purpose of amplifying the incident.

Other powers also understood this and vowed to make this incident the trigger for the third American-British War.

(The first American-British War refers to the American Revolutionary War, and the second refers to the War of 1812, when the White House was burned down.)

Because Louis Philippe had lost face before, the French media was particularly crazy at this time, and even described it as a confrontation between black and white, a collision between barbarism and civilization.

It's like if the British give in, they will commit seppuku every minute.

The crazy campaign of the great powers seems to be in support of Britain, but in fact it is fanning the flames. Because Britain is too strong, everyone hopes to weaken it through war.

In fact, whether it is setting fire to the White House for the second time or bombarding London for the second time, the great powers can accept it. In short, it is very happy to watch dogs bite dogs.

On the island of Great Britain, people have different opinions. Some people think that not paying taxes is a mistake. The Whigs seized this opportunity to denounce the barbarism of the Tories.

However, Robert Peel was not a mediocre person and quickly gathered a group of legal experts to start a debate with the Whigs.

The British navy responded immediately and intercepted one of the largest cargo ships in Liberia, naturally on the grounds that they were suspected of slave trading.

In fact, the relationship between the black people in Liberia and the local black people is very poor, and they do not have much economic income, so they play some side projects.

Normally the British would turn a blind eye, but at this time it was very gentlemanly not to sail the fleet directly into the port of Monrovia.

Joseph Jenkins Roberts personally protested to the British government, but was mercilessly humiliated.

After all, everyone on the European continent described this detention incident as a humiliation of the British by black people. The British Navy had never been so humiliated in so many years of fighting in the north and south.

As the commander-in-chief of the West African Fleet, Henry Berg Stein's nose was so angry that he would have thrown the black man in front of him into the sea to feed the sharks if several deputies had not stopped him.

"Let your master talk to me!"

As a result, Joseph Jenkins Roberts only received this reply and was driven back to Liberia.

In desperation, he could only ask the US government to intervene. James Knox Polk was quite tough.

As soon as he got the news, he wrote a letter asking the British government to pay attention to the special interests of the United States in the colonial movement and to ask the United Kingdom to recognize the sovereignty of Liberia.

Robert Peel responded immediately.

"In response to your request, the UK Government cannot treat a commercial entity established by a charity as a sovereign state.

Just like your country did with OMD in California. Therefore Britain was not required to abide by Liberian laws at this time. "

The words of the British guy can be described as murderous, because if the Americans forcefully demand that the United Kingdom abide by the laws of Liberia, it will be equivalent to admitting that it was not Mexico but Austria that they invaded in the US-Mexico War.

Invading Mexico and invading Austria are completely different concepts. Although the United States and Austria are thousands of miles apart, Austria can use this excuse to declare war on the United States at any time, and can even call on other powers.

On the contrary, when the United States conflicts with other powers, Austria can also use this excuse to intervene. The result of offending one power in person is really terrible, but what about offending two at the same time?

Even a tough President like Polk had to consider the consequences of this matter, but he is worthy of being the toughest president in the United States.

Faced with the British attack, he did not panic at all, and chose the strategy of damaging one thousand to himself and eight to the enemy.

Polk immediately launched a bill to promote Liberia's independence. Finally, at the president's insistence, the American Colonization Society's Board of Directors announced:

"At this time, it is 'appropriate' to transfer all powers of self-government, including the power to handle foreign relations, into the hands of the people of Liberia."

As a result, Liberia became independent, and the British theoretically had to pay tariffs, and they could no longer use this reason to continue to humiliate Polk and threaten the United States.

But just as the United States recognized Liberia's independence, Britain established diplomatic relations with the latter, which made Polk feel like he was being "cowed."

In fact, Liberia borders the British colony of Lion Rock, which the British have long coveted, and the Liberian people are also very "currently aware" and willing to accept the leadership of the British Empire.