Arthur Barclay
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Arthur Barclay
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15th President of Liberia
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| In office January 4, 1904 – January 1, 1912 |
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| Vice President | J. J. Dossen |
| Preceded by | Garreston W. Gibson |
| Succeeded by | Daniel Edward Howard |
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| Born | July 31, 1854 Bridgetown, Barbados |
| Died | July 10, 1938 (aged 83) Monrovia, Liberia |
| Political party | True Whig |
Arthur Barclay (July 31, 1854–July 10, 1938) was President of Liberia from 1904 to 1912.
Barclay was born at Bridgetown, Barbados, British West Indies, July 31, 1854, the tenth of twelve children of Anthony and Sarah Barclay. He is the father to Anthony Barclay, who later served on the Liberian Supreme Court and Uncle to President Edwin Barclay. Arthur Barclay was the 14th President of Liberia, serving from November 4, 1904 until January 1, 1912, representing the True Whig Party.
His first preceptress was his oldest sister, Antoinette Barclay, under whose tuition he remained until he entered the Preparatory Department of Liberia College, under the principalship of Anthony T. Ferguson. Having completed the course prescribed, he matriculated into the Collegiate Department and graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in the Class of 1873.
In 1877, he was appointed Principal of the Perparatory Department of his Alma Mater, which position he held for a number of years, and served during the vacation as Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives. His later services to the said institution were: Professor, Member of the Board of Trustees, and sometimes Acting President.
He was called to the Bar of Montserrado County in 1877, and after practising law for three years, he attained the rank of Counsellor of the Supreme Court in the year 1880.
His first official position was Private Secretary to President Joseph Jenkins Roberts, from 1874; his second, Judge of the Court of Quarter Sessions and Common Pleas of Montserrado County to which he was appointed by President Alfred F. Russell, in 1883.
In 1885, President Hilary R. W. Johnson appointed him Sub-Treasurer of Montserrado County, which post he held for 5 years.
In 1892, President Joseph James Cheeseman, on taking office, elevated him to Cabinet rank as Postmaster-General, and afterwards to the post of Secretary of State. On the demise of H. A. Williams in 1896, he was appointed Secretary of the Treasury, which position he held continuously until his election to the Presidency in May, 1903. Inaugurated in January, 1904, he served until January 1912. After his retirement he frequently acted as Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, and Secretary of the Interior and War. He was President of Liberia College, 1914-1917.
He served upon the following diplomatic commissions:
- In 1893, associated with Senator A. B. King, and William Rothery, he was sent as a Commissioner to the World's Fair at Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
- In 1897, associated with Attorney-General Stevens, he went to London, England, to arrange with the Council of Foreign Bondholders for the amortization of the loan of 1870, contracted in the administration of President Edward James Roye, which had been in default for over 20 years.
- In 1901, he was associated with Chief Justice Z. B. Roberts and Senator A. B. King on diplomatic missions to England and France.
- In 1907, while President of the Nation, he headed the mission to arrange boundary disputes with the British and French Governments, associating with F. E. R. Johnson, Secretary of State, and T. McCants Stewart, Deputy Attorney-General of Liberia.
He died at his home in Monrovia on Sunday, July 10th, 1938, at the hour of 4:30 in the evening.
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[edit] Presidency (1904-1912)
Arthur Barclay was President from 1904 to 1912. During his administration Liberia joined the convention of African Powers for the preservation of big game, rare animals and birds. In addition to continued internal unrest, the country faced a severe economic crisis and huge indebtedness to European creditors. In the decades after 1868, escalating economic difficulties weakened the state's dominance over the coastal indigenous population. Conditions worsened, as the cost of imports was far greater than the income generated by exports of coffee, rice, palm oil, sugarcane, and timber. Liberia tried desperately to modernize its largely agricultural economy.
[edit] U.S. meddling in territorial and financial problems
In 1903, the British had forced a concession of Liberian territory to Sierra Leone, but tension along that border remained high. A three-person commission appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt recommended that the U.S. government help the African nation to reorganize its finances and to negotiate territorial settlements with European governments. As a signal of American support, Roosevelt dispatched three warships to transport the commission to Monrovia. However, the commission firmly recommended against U.S. guarantees of Liberian independence or territorial integrity,[1] upholding instead the traditional U.S. policy of avoiding anything that might be considered an alliance. Liberia named an American to supervise the treasury, and Britain and France accepted U.S. proposals to resolve border disputes.
[edit] Foreign meddling in financial problems
By 1906 the Liberian Government was literally bankrupt. The Government could not pay its bills without borrowing money from local German merchants. This forced President Arthur Barclay to negotiate for another $500,000 English loan, through Sir Harry Johnston, a British colonial agent, and his Liberia Development Company. In his book The Story of Life, Sir Harry Johnston revealed that the loan was not a legitimate business transaction, but was used to trap Liberia in the colonial claws of the British Empire. On the establishment of the company, Sir Harry Johnston wrote, "I discussed the question of my joining the Liberia Company with the African Department of the [British] Foreign office, and they were favorable to the idea...It was feared at the Foreign Office in those times that if no attempt was made to strengthen British commerce in Liberia, the whole of [Liberia would] inevitably come within the French political sphere in West Africa, since the United States had at that period professed --or seemed to profess --indifference as to its fate."[2]
The condition of this loan was that British agents take over, as lien, the collection of Liberian Government revenue. Subsequently, this loan was also embezzled. During this period, Liberia's primary sources of revenue were customs revenue, and "head money", taxes paid by indigenous Liberian workers, who left Liberia as recruits to work on European vessels as deck hands, as soldiers in Europe's wars against other Africans during the "scramble for Africa", and on plantations in Fernando Po and São Tomé and Príncipe in the Gulf of Guinea, off the coast of Cameroon.
In 1912, the U.S. arranged a 40-year international loan totalling $1.7 million, with the proviso that four outsiders (American, British, French and German) be given control over customs receipts and taxes, which were earmarked for loan repayment. In this regard, a receivership was imposed on Liberian Government revenue, which lasted until 1926. During this period, Liberia's primary exports were coffee, palm oil, palm kernels, and piassava. The Government's primary sources of revenue during this period were hut tax, the tax imposed by the Government on individual dwellings inhibited by the indigenous people, and revenue from customs.
The presence of foreign receivers was a major irritant to Liberian sensibilities, and violence was directed at Europeans and Americans in some parts of the country[3]
[edit] References
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
[edit] Sources and links
- Nathaniel R. Richardson, Liberia's Past and Present. London: The Diplomatic Press and Publishing Company, 1959.
- see also History of Liberia, external links
| Preceded by Garretson W. Gibson |
President of Liberia 1904–1912 |
Succeeded by Daniel E. Howard |
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