Port of Monrovia, West Africa.

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

At this time, Liberia was a U.S. colony in West Africa, and since 1821, the "American Colonization Society" has established a black settlement here, with its center in Monrovia.

But these black people from the United States don't show much difference, and the local infrastructure is still a mess.

Economically dependent on the sale of timber and palm oil to the United States and other European countries, the black population of the United States is only about 15,000, in addition to about 200,000 indigenous people.

Although it has been 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 shambles.

The worst 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" blacks are not only of low quality but also expensive.

So the British discovered this business opportunity, although it can only be regarded as grasshopper legs, but it is also meaty, so the two countries are almost at peace with each other.

It wasn't until the first black governor of Liberia came to power, Joseph Roberts, who was of mixed American and African descent, did not feel inferior to whites or Europeans, so he decided to tax the merchant ships of the great powers.

Naturally, this caused discontent among the great powers, and King Louis Philippe of France even publicly stated that he would not pay taxes to slaves unless they went to hire a white tax collector.

As a result, he found that he underestimated the bottom line of Americans, and that there were really white people who worked as tax collectors for blacks for money.

But the French could not afford to save face, and France did not lack supply points in West Africa, so French merchant ships would choose to bypass this unfortunate place.

The Russian tsar behaved even more violently, claiming that blacks would tear blacks to shreds if they dared to step on the Russian ship.

In reality, however, Russian merchant ships did not usually leave the Black Sea in the past, and even now they are open to trade with the Austrian Empire.

But the British apparently did not believe in this evil.

As soon as John Bull stepped off the ship, he was warmly welcomed by his black brothers, and Captain John Davis and his twenty crew members were forcibly disembarked by a group of black soldiers.

The news soon spread to European public opinion, and not many people on the European continent paid attention to the fact that British merchant ships did not pay taxes, and people paid more attention to why those blacks dared to detain British ships.

Of course, this was deliberately guided, and Franz began to publicize this matter with high intensity as soon as he learned the news, with the aim of amplifying the incident.

The other powers also understood this and vowed to turn this incident into the fuse of the Third US-British War.

(The first U.S.-Britain War refers to the American Revolutionary War, and the second refers to the 1812 War, which burned down the White House.) ）

Because Louis Philippe 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 of barbarism and civilization.

It's as if the British committed suicide by seppuku in minutes as soon as they gave in.

The frenzied hype of the Great Powers seemed to be in solidarity with Britain, but in fact they were fanning the flames, because Britain was so strong that everyone hoped to weaken it through war.

In fact, whether it is the second burning of the White House or the second bombardment of London, the great powers can accept it, in short, it is very happy to watch Hensa eat dog.

On the island of Great Britain, there were different opinions, some felt that it was a mistake not to pay taxes, and the Whigs seized the opportunity to denigrate the barbarism of the Tories.

Robert Peele, however, was not a mediocre man, and soon gathered a group of legal experts to engage in a polemic with the Whigs.

The British Navy reacted immediately by intercepting one of Liberia's largest freighters, naturally on the grounds that they were involved in the slave trade.

In fact, the relationship between the blacks in Liberia and the local blacks is very poor, and they do not have much financial income, so they play some side balls.

Usually the British would turn a blind eye, but at this time it was already a gentleman not to drive the fleet directly into the port of Monrovia.

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

After all, at this time, the European continent described the seizure as a humiliation of the British by the blacks, and the British Navy had never been so humiliated in so many years.

Henry Berg Stein, commander-in-chief of the West African Fleet, had a crooked nose, and if it weren't for a few deputies stopping him, he would have thrown the black man in front of him into the sea to feed the sharks.

"Let your master talk to me!"

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

In desperation, he could only ask the U.S. government to intervene, to say that James Knox Polk was still quite tough.

As soon as he received 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 asking Britain to recognize the sovereignty of Liberia.

Robert Peel was also quick to reply.

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

Just like your country did in California with the Austro-Mexican Joint Development Corporation. As a result, the UK was not required to comply with Liberian law at this time. ”

The British's words can be described as murderous, because if the Americans insist that Britain abide by the laws of Liberia, then it is tantamount to admitting that it was not Mexico but Austria that invaded in the Mexican-American War.

The invasion of Mexico and the invasion of Austria were not the same concept at all, and although the United States and Austria were thousands of miles apart, Austria could use this excuse at any time to declare war on the United States, and even call on other powers.

On the other hand, when the United States and other powers are in conflict, Austria can also use this excuse to intervene, and the result of offending one power in person is really terrible, and offending two at the same time?

Even a hard-line president like Polk has to think about the consequences of this incident, but he deserves to be the most "tough" president in the United States.

In the face of the British face-jumping attack, he did not panic at all, and chose the strategy of inflicting a thousand self-inflicted losses and injuring the enemy by eight points.

Polk immediately opened the bill to promote Liberia's independence, and finally, at the president's insistence, the Board of Directors of the American Colonization Society declared:

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

Thus, 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 at the same time that the United States recognized Liberia's independence, Britain established diplomatic relations with the latter, which gave Polk a feeling of being "cattle".

In fact, Liberia shares a border with the British colony of Sierra Leone, which the British have long coveted, and the Liberians are very "sensible" and willing to accept the leadership of the British Empire.

(End of chapter)