The_Open_Door_deel1

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conflict", the struggle for political power between the mulattoes
and the people of darker complexion. President Roye was arrested
and the Liberian Legislature subsequently declared him deposed.
True Whig Party supporters were arrested on a large scale, some
were murdered (among whom the Secretary of the Treasury,
Findley) (63). After the arrest of President Roye the affairs
of the country were taken over by a junta of three men: Reginald
A. Sherman, Charles B. Dunbar, and Amos Herring. General Reginald
A. Sherman declined the nomination to become President of Liberia
(64) and Vice-President Smith probably served Roy's unexpired
term (65).
New (presidential) elections were organized and as most leading
officials of the True Whig Party had been jailed the Republican
Party won these elections. In January 1872 the presidential power
was handed over to a former (Liberia's first) President, J.J.
Roberts, one of the leaders of the Republican Party. The
following month the deposed President, Roye, died under
mysterious circumstances (see Annex 1). One of the two
commissioners who had obtained the British loan, William S.
Anderson (Speaker of the House of Representatives), refused to
return to Liberia after hearing about the coup d'etat against
President Roye unless the new Government would guarantee his
safety. As President Roberts failed to do so, Anderson stayed
away, and also refused to hand over a portion of the British loan
which he still kept back, thus contributing to the large amount
of loan funds which never reached the Liberian Treasury (66).
Edward James Roye was known as a shrewd trader and ship-owner who
in a relatively short time had amassed a fortune. Unfortunately,
it has never been proved whether the outcome of the 1871 Loan was
intentional though it would not have been the first time in
Liberia's short history as an independent nation that Government
funds failed to reach the Government Treasury. In February 1864
the Liberian Legislature proved that President Benson had
embezzled Government money. Also President Payne, and his
Secretary of the Treasury, Benjamin J.K. Anderson were found
guilty by a committee of the Liberian Legislature to have stolen
public finds. In the case of President Payne an impeachment
procedure was even considered (67).
In the history of Liberia the Roye Administration represents the
climax of the "colour-conflict" between mulattoes and blacks.
But the inauguration of the first "black" President of Liberia
and the coup d'etat against him by mulattoes represents a much
wider interest than this racial conflict. The "Roye-affaire"
symbolizes the struggle between the supporters of an "Open Door
Policy", who seemed to have won in 1869, and the advocates of a
"Closed Door Policy" who regained their lost power over the
affairs of the republic less than two years later. The views of
the latter group, the "Republicans", were partly motivated by
their (financial) interests. But the encroachments upon the