POSTSCRIPT IN MONROVIA	283
delegate was convinced that England was behind
them. There was to be a Convention in Monrovia
of the Unit True Whig Party to elect a Presidential
Candidate to oppose President Barclay and the True
Whig Party. All is fair during a Liberian election
and the Government agent at Cape Palmas had tried
to arrest the owner of the boat and hold it up till
the Convention was over. Some of the delegates were
supporters of a Mr. Cooper, some of ex-President
King, so though they all belonged to the same party,
they had plenty to argue about, and the arguments
got fiercer after midday, after the tin basins of cassava
roots had been handed round (for meals were in-
cluded in the tariff) and the bottles of cane juice. The
cane juice in the midday heal: worked quickly; almost
immediately half the hundred and fifty politicians
were roaring drunk. They couldn't do anything
about it, because if they moved more than a foot the
boat heeled over, and once there was a panic on
board at a loud crash which reminded them of the
rock they had hit the night before. Some tried to
stand up and others shouted to them to be still as the
boat heeled towards the glassy sea and the captain
was heard shouting that he would put any man who
moved in irons. I couldn't move because the
Methodist minister was asleep on my shoulder, and
the panic soon subsided. We hadn't hit a rock, some-
body had passed out under the cane juice and his
head had hit the deck.
The owner of the boat said to me, "These men:
they are quiet and gentle now, but you wait till they
get ashore. They are thirsting for blood. They would
rather kill Barclay than see him elected."