ommission of two from each State and an arbitrator
appointed by the President of the United States met on the ground. Every
possible delay and impediment was resorted to by the British
commissioners, who further refused to submit the points disputed to the
umpire. Of course, no agreement was reached.

The situation remained unchanged until 1882. On March 20 four British
men-of-war silently entered the harbor, and Sir A.E. Havelock, Governor
of Sierra Leone, came ashore. President Gardiner was intimidated into
acceding to the demand that the boundary should be fixed at the Manna
River, only fifteen miles from Cape Mount. But when this "Draft
Convention," as it was called, came before the Senate for ratification,
it was indignantly repudiated. At the next regular meeting of the
Legislature in December, a resolution refusing to ratify the Draft
Convention was passed, and a copy sent to Havelock. It elicited the
reply:--

"Her Majesty's Government cannot in any case recognize any rights on the
part of Liberia to any portions of the territories in dispute," followed
by the peremptory announcement that "Her Majesty's Government consider
that they are relieved from the necessity of delaying any longer to
ratify an agreement made by me with the Gallinas, Solyma, and Manna
River chiefs on the 30th of March, 1882, whereby they ceded to Her
Majesty the coast line of their territories up to the right bank of the
Manna River."

Liberia made a last feeble effort. A "Protest" was drawn up and sent to
the various powers with whom she stood in treaty relations--of course,
without result. The President of the United States replied at once,
counselling acquiescence. Nothing else was possible. The Senate
authorized the President to accept the terms dictated, and the "Draft
Convention" was signed November 11, 1885. On April 26, 1888, Sir Samuel
Rowe visited Monrovia and formally exchanged ratifications. Thus once
more strength proved triumphant; Liberia's boundary was set at the Manna
River, and Sierra Leone, which had possessed but a few hills and swamps,
was given a valuable coast line.

VI.

HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE OF COLONIZATION.

Colonization has come to be looked upon with unmerited
indifference--with an apathy which its history and achievements surely
do not deserve. To some, perhaps the present condition of the Republic
seems a discouraging and inadequate return for the life and treasure
lavished upon it; for others,