Examine Aspects of British Diplomacy in the colonisation of the Cross – River Region,  1849 – 1900

Introduction

It should be noted that from the year 1849 – 1900, Southern Nigeria remained under the jurisdiction of the foreign office in Britain. But prior to this time, Britain, during the second quarter of the 18th century had experienced a significant socioeconomic revolution which came to be known as the “industrial revolution” that intensified the demand for natural resources and products to keep industries operational. Fortunately for the British, the African continent presented itself as the best alternative with the answer to the latter’s prayers. According to  U. J. Akpan and S. I. Iseyen, in Southern Nigeria, the most relevant resources that the British needed was the palm oil and palm kernel which were used in manufacturing margarine, Vaseline, soap and other types of lubricating oil for industrial machines. With such an opportunity on ground, the British government let go of the slave trade and abolished it in 1807 after which it turned to the direction of trade in staple commodities like palm oil in Southern Nigeria. This became their new source of income.

In the course of the new trade which was termed “legitimate trade”, the British tried to forestall the role and position of the coastal chiefs, most of who took the role of coastal chiefs, middle men who took charge of the trading inlets to the hinterland but this brought about grave opposition from the locals in their various communities and villages. Additionally, with the trade competition that the British traders or supercargoes faced from the French, they established the consular rule on which the British consular was charged with the responsibility to safeguard and protect the British commercial interests on the coast on the coast and also wade off all hostile activities and attacks.

It was through the assistance of the missionaries who visited and had operated in Calabar from the year 1846, that the British consuls made many attempts to relocate their headquarters to the Old Calabar River. The presence of the missionaries, traders, and consuls in the Cross River Region resulted in heightened political interference to the economic and social organisation of the people which increased internal fractions. Howbeit, a situation such as this, of course, needed to be handled with a great deal of tact and intelligence. This is where the British deployed different aspects of diplomacy. Based on this background, the thrust of this article is to examine aspects of British diplomacy in the colonisation of the Cross River Region between 1849 when the first British consul, John Beecroft landed in the region and 1900 when the British colonial rule became official in the region.

Background to British Colonial Influence in the Cross River Region

It should be pointed out that the geographical location that has come to be known today as the Cross River Region, inhabited by different groups of people comprises the Ibibio, Oron, Eket, Annang, Ibeno of Akwa Ibom State, the Efik, Yakurr, Biase, Mbembe, and Ejagham of Cross Rivers State, and the Cross River Igbo namely: Arochukwu, Ohafia, Afikpo, Abriba, Edda, among others in present day Abia and Ebonyi States respectively. The above-mentioned communities and their peoples are believed to be historically, culturally and economically related. Elaborating more on this, O.E. Uya mentioned that the Cross River, with its main tributaries, has been a basin for cultural exchange between the peoples of the region because it served as the main source of communication for the people who reside in the riverine areas of the region. Furthermore, he continued that through trade, fishing and other aspects of socio-cultural contacts, the people of this region acquired knowledge which caused them to exercise influences on one another prior to colonial rule.

As a result of series of interaction and exchange, the Cross River Igbo comprising Arochukwu, Ohafia, Abriba, Afikpo and others were able to borrow certain cultural attributes from other communities from the same region. Some of these attributes include: the institution of secret societies like Ekpe, Ekan, on one hand, and age grade system on the other hand. The latter served as a significant pre-colonial tool that facilitated contacts within the area.

For the sake of clarity, it is important to note that the Cross River region is located in Southeastern Nigeria from where it stretches to Benue State southward and covers all of Cross Rivers State and Akwa Ibom State, the Eastern part of Enugu, Imo, Ebonyi, and Abia States, and continues into Mamfe Depression within which it flows into the upper courses of the Cross River in Western Cameroon. The region is split into two occupational zones comprising people who live by the river banks and along the estuaries of the region’s numerous rivers and others who live in dry land, mostly farmers. Consequently, the products of the farm such as palm oil, yams and vegetables became the basic commodities of trade in the region. These products were exchanged for sea products like fish, shrimps and salt.

Within the time the slave trade was operational up until it was abolished by the British in 1807, Calabar was one of the most profitable locations where overseas shipment of slaves took place. Be it as it may, the British abolition of slave trade did not put an end to the trade in Calabar area as traditional slave dealers changed their clientele to the Spanish and Portuguese. The British, in a bid to ensure the total stoppage of the slave trade which to them, was a threat to their new found trade – trade in staple commodities, entered into a lot of abolition treaties with Portugal and Spain. It set up the Naval Preventive Squadron in 1819 to patrol the West African waters but this strategy, however, did not work out. In 1807, the British acquired from Spain the right to use Fernando Po as a naval base for the suppression of the slave trade. With the assistance of the British Navy that was stationed there, the British negotiated with trade dealers stationed at the Bight of Benin and Biafra with the aim of stopping the trade.

U J Akpan stressed that the processes involved in the negotiations with the coastal chiefs to put a stop to slave trade in the area as well as in promoting stability was not easy for the British officers at Fernando Po. But with the appointment of John Beecroft in 1849, as the British Consul for the Bight of Benin and Biafra, the British were able to extend her influence in the Lower Cross River region. Also, as a result of Beecroft’s years of experience in the region, he used his position to build the foundation of British authority in the region. And in advancing British authority over the region, he employed strategies such as cajolery, bombardment and direct intervention Al against the people of the region. Even after John Beecroft”s reign in the region, other consuls like Livingstone, Hopkins, Hewett, Hartley, Burton were appointed and charged with the responsibility to advance British imperial mission. 

By 1885, the British made the area a protectorate after which it named it the Oil Rivers Protectorate. In 1891, Claud McDonald was named the Consul General and High Commissioner of the protectorate while in 1893, the name of the area was changed to Niger Coast Protectorate. U.J. Akpan continued that during most of the period of the protectorate’s arrangement, the hinterland of the Lower Cross River region was not effectively occupied thus leading to the emergence of some consular officials in the area. Some of these officials include: Roger Casement, Alfred Ashmall Whitehouse, Percy Amaury Talbot and others. They all contributed immensely to the advancement of British rule in the area.

Aspects of British Diplomacy in the colonisation of the Cross River region

In the course of British colonisation of the Cross River region, many diplomatic strategies were adopted and used in dealing with the people. One of these strategies is the use of treaties. On this note, Inyang and Bassey maintained that the British used treaties to navigate their way through the region. They continued that treaties with the coastal states contained clauses which provided that in return for giving up the trade in slaves, the rulers of these communities would be paid an ageed sum over a number of years. Usually, the compensation was thrilling especially when compared with the revenue hitherto derivable from the slave trade. Howbeit, while these treaties made provisions for protecting the lives and properties of British traders, they had no provision for the protection of the coastal states of the region. Based on this situation, one may not be wrong to conclude that the signing of treaties was yet another way of robbing the people and depriving them of their rights as well as resources. Inyang and Bassey continued that treaties further legitimised the strength of the British gunboats which was used when force is applied on the people.

The relevance of these treaties to the British was that once they were signed, the British used them as excuse for bombarding the region on the grounds that one or more treaties had been violated. Be it as it may, it was difficult, if not impossible for the locals to keep to all of the clauses of any treaty. The treaties however made leaders of the region vulnerable to British tricks through the use of military force

Consuls were appointed by the British for the purpose of regulating trade. With the appointment of the first British consul in 1849, the Court of Equity was also established in Bonny in 1950. The Court was comprised of Europeans mainly as well as leading Bonny leaders. It is obvious that the establishment of the court challenged the sovereignty of the area. In 1856, a Court of Equity was also established in Calabar to settle disputes between British firms and local traders. The Court was made up of a group of voting members, majority of who came from major British firms, with the consul himself as chairman. Consequently, because of the make-up of the court, decisions hardly favoured the locals. Elaborating more on this, Inyang and Bassey assert that the composition of the court was more unfavourably weighted for although a number of Efik chiefs sat on it, only the rulers of the Creek town and Duke town had a vote. The Calabar court was therefore, in terms of voting, a British controlled court. And the granting of judicial authority to such a foreign empowered British trading interest at the expense of the locals and undermined the sovereign authority of indigenous rulers in the Bight of Biafra.

In Calabar, the conflict which developed between the Efik and British traders were centered on the manipulation of the trust system by the latter. While the Efik did all they could to take full charge over the influx of new traders, the British traders planned to take away the new comers. In 1856, the British forced an agreement on the Efik leading to the establishment of the Court of Equity. The terms of the treaty provided that if any Efik owed any European trader oil, all other Europeans should refuse to trade until the debt was paid. Also, it emphasised that the trade of European traders was not to be stopped for any reason whatsoever. If this was to happen, the Efik kings would be held responsible and would be liable to a fine of one Puncheon of oil per day per hundred tons registered to the ship. If the Efik kings refused to acknowledge this, they would be held responsible. In another event, if an Efik trader was summoned to appear before the Court of Equity but failed to do so, Efik kings were to be held responsible and they were compelled to produce him within eight (8) days. Thereafter, they would be fined twenty (20) pieces of cloth every week until the absentee was brought before the court. 

Furthermore, appeals against the decision in the Court of Equity were to lie before the British consul. With this, it was very obvious that it would likely not be to the favour of the kings. Again, the Court of Equity gave biased interpretations to treaties made between and among the locals and the British. Using Bonny as a case study, let it be known that when John Beecroft was appointed Consul, he received letters of complaints from British traders in the Itsekiri kingdom as well as Bonny. The Bonny traders complained that king people of Bonny had put a stop to all trading activities due to the non-payment of the compensation he was promised. He requested that the treaty of 1848 be abrogated and that the situation should return to what it was prior to the treaty of 1836 was signed. Consequently, King Pepple was thereafter removed from power and exiled. Following his exile, a new treaty was signed with the new British installed king, Dappo, who made the Court of Equity supreme in the government in the government of Bonny.

The treaty forbade the king of Bonny from participating in trade rather he was meant to depend on the revenue on custom duties. It was only the Court of Equity that handled trade matters. The treaty also forbade the king of Bonny to go to war unless the British in Bonny approved it. All meetings on matters of interest to both sides were to be heard and decided on not in the King’s house but in the building that housed the Court of Equity. Although, evidence is lacking to suggest that the Court of Equity was involved in the direct process of treaty making, judgement of cases in the court was based on treaties thus making it a viable instrument in British relations with the locals.

Another case study is that of King Jaja of Opobo who signed a treaty with the British though with reservations. Upon the King’s violation of the terms of the treaty of protection by continuing to deny British traders access to the markets in the hinterland, he was deposed and deported in 1894 after refusing British traders access to the Urhobo markets in the hinterland. After Jaja’s deportation, the British had access to the hinterland, consolidating the gains of colonialism but at the expense of the locals. 

In the Eket/Oron axis of Calabar province, one of the diplomatic methods adopted by the British through its administrator, Percy Amaury Talbot to facilitate the the colonisation process in the Calabar Province was the use of political agents. Political agents were educated locals mostly of whom had been exposed to Western education and as such were incorporated to the system to become local officers who acted as assistants to the British officials during the colonial period. Since the political agents were enlightened than others in their communities, they got involved with colonial administration at a time the British government sought to strengthen its control but lacked the financial and human resources to achieve their goal. According to Okoko, some of the agents included Akpe Ntuen, Daniel Henshaw, Richard Henshaw, John Mfon, Sergeant Ime, Edoho Eket, among others. The British used these agents for various purposes. On one hand, they served as intelligence officers as they were sent to the hinterland to prepare the ground for the visits of British administrators. On the other hand, they accompanied British military expeditions and served as guides and interpreters. Also, as paid agents, they were expected to pacify the people in order to accept British rule.

In his explanation of the role of the political agents, Talbot noted that in 1899, the colonial government made the first attempt to move from Oron to Eket when Captain Ross-Brown was in charge, but Uruan people gave the agents wrong direction and Eyo Abasi and Ekim led them round and round Ubium, through swamp after swamp. Sometimes they passed and other times, they climbed over fallen trunks on which they balanced themselves like monkeys amid the branches. Also, there are times they waded and swam through cold waters after which the guides told them they would not lead them again. However, after two nights spent on the way, they arrived back to Idua (Oron). 

At the time Mayor Winn Sampson was commissioned in Calabar and Oron, he was anxious to open the road between Oron and Eket in order to enhance trade. Further, U.J. Akpan noted that on one afternoon, the Mayor summoned Richard Henshaw who was a political agent and Talbot to discuss the project with them. In the meeting, Talbot and Henshaw advised the Mayor to delay the commencement of the project until they were able to diplomatically establish friendship with the chiefs and powerful people in the communities. With the use of this strategy, the people became friendly with them. However, for the locals to be very sure and certain that the British officials would not bring war to them, they insisted on oath taking. In this regard, Talbot comments that in Eket, the three White men, with Edoho Eket and five of the principal chiefs, sat together and a bowl of nimbo was brought, with a glass for each and one over. Into the bowl, the men were cut themselves on the back of the hand by the wrist and let out a few drops of blood. And when all had contributed, a little nimbo was poured in and the glass carefully shaken so as to mix the contents. These were then shared out into the glasses of the five principal people. After the rite, a big dash was given, while much palm wine was drunk amidst rejoicing. In the evening, a splendid play was performed, and the visitors also joined in the dance to show that they were glad and friendly. It was this diplomatic initiative that facilitated the opening of the Oron-Eket road.

Aside the use of treaties, political agents and the Court of Equity, force was also employed by the British on some occasions to enable the administrators achieve their goal. For instance, when the attempt to open a link route from Eshi beach on the Ubium river was rebuffed by the indigenes of the community, the British administrators resorted to the use of force through military expedition against the prople of Afaha Ubium. O.E. Uya also maintained that the expansion of colonial authority into Oron involved the application of considered force and the participation of Daniel Henshaw. 

Talbot also served in Oban between 1907 and 1912. During the period, he interacted deeply with the people because he established sustained friendship with them. Most times, he used gifts to attract the prople. He used interpreters to enable him communicate with the people. Because of the trust and respect the people had for him, they peacefully related with him, they even told him about their past and ways of life. And with such opportunities, Talbot conducted research in the area. He encouraged the prople to acquire Western education since the Efik, their neighbours used the same instrument to dominate them.

On the other part of Cross River region, the British equally applied the use of force in resisting and attacking the people. For instance, the Aro people resisted the British intrusion into their land by launching attacks on communities that had ties with the British. They also disrupted British trading activities in the area. It is important to note that the Aro had long opposed British colonial penetration in the hinterland, with such opposition being motivated by economic concern. The Aros resisted the efforts of the British missionaries to introduce Christianity, which by every indication, threatened their religious influence through their oracle – Ibini Ukpabi. While the British prepared to invade Arochukwu in November 1901, the Afro, first, launched an offensive that sacked Obegu – a British ally and caused the death of four hundred people. Consequently, this attack quickened the British preparation for a counteroffensive that led to the capture of Arochukwu as well as the destruction of the Long Juju. In the same vein, the Ekumeku movement presented another case scenario where the British employed the use of force. In the course of the conflicts, the locals employed the use of guerrilla tactics against the British. It lasted from 1898 to 1911.

Conclusion

This article examined aspects of British diplomacy in the colonisation of the Cross River region from 1849 to 1900. It uncovered that with Britain’s advance into Southern Nigeria in the 1800s, there was significant contact between them and and the locals. However, this contact proved complicated due to both groups’ clashing interests. While the British traded in slaves which they later abolished in order to focus on trade in staple commodities, they worked with the kings and chiefs as well as privileged people of the region who assisted them in different ways such as trade, interpretation, of native language of the locals, etc. 

While the British traders and administrators were focused in making gains, the locals themselves were eager to benefit from the system as well. The article observed that in a bid to gain unhindered access into the interior areas of the Cross River region, the British adopted different diplomatic means of dealing with the people. These include: signing of treaties, establishment of Court of Equity, use of political agents and use of force/ military bombardment of areas where treaties were broken and political agents resisted.

Photo Credit: https://dailyfocus.com.ng/cross-river-govt-seeks-collaboration-with-britain-on-security-development/

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