THE FAKE BRITISH TREATY WITH LAGOS 1861 Treaty between Norman B. Bedingfield, commander of Her Majesty’s ship “PROMETHEUS” and Senior Officer of the Bights division and William M’coskry esquire, her Britannic Majesty’s acting consul on the part of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Docemo, Oba of Lagos on the part of himself and chiefs. ARTICLE I In order that the Queen of England may be the better enabled to assist, defend and protect the inhabitants of Lagos and to put an end to slave trade in this land and the neighbouring countries and to prevent the destructive wars so frequently undertaken by Dahomey and others for the capture of slaves, I, Docemo, do with the consent and advice of my council, give, transfer and by this presents grants and confirm into the Queen of Britain, her heirs and successors for ever, the port and Island of Lagos, with all the rights, profits, territories and appurtenances whatsoever, thereto belonging and as well the profits and revenues as the direct, full and absolute dominion and sovereignity of the said port, Island and premises, with all the royalties thereof, freely, fully, entirely and absolutely. I do also covenant and grant that the quiet and peaceable possession thereof shall, with all possible speed, be freely and effectually delivered to the Queen of Great Britain or such person as her Majesty shall there unto appoint for her use in the performance of this grant, the inhabitants of the said Island and territories, as the Queen’s subjects and under her sovereignty, Crown jurisdiction and government being still suffered to live there. Article II Docemo will be allowed the use of the title Oba in its usual African significance and will be permitted to decide disputes between natives of Lagos with their consent, subject to appeal to the British laws. Article III In the transfer of lands, the stamp of Docemo affixed to the document will be proof that there are no other native claims upon it and for the purpose he will be permitted to use it as hitherto. In consideration of the cessation as before mentioned of the port and Island and territories of Lagos, the representatives of the Queen of Great Britain do promise, subject to the approval of her Majesty, that Docemo shall receive an annual pension from the Queen of Great Britain equal to the revenue hitherto annually received by him; such pension to be paid at such periods and in such mode as may here after be determined. Lagos August 6, 1861 Signed: Docemo – His X Mark Telake – His X Mark Rocamena – His X Mark Obalekolo – His X Mark Achebong – His X Mark Norman B. Bedingfield Her Majesty’s Ship PROMETHEUS Senior Officer, Bights Division W. McCoskry Acting Consul Dosunmu was first requested to sign the treaty of cessation aboard the PROMETHEUS. He refused to do so because his chiefs were not with him. the treaty was then presented to him @ his palace on 1st August 1861. Dosunmu refused to sign any paper giving up his country. He was then threatened by Commander Bedingfield with the bombardment of the town. Again on the 5th of August, the Acting Consul, William McCoskry and Commander Bedingfield went to Dosunmu at the palace, this time with a guard of marines, who were landed and drawn up alongside the Obas Palace. the draft treaty containing only Article I was read over and translated into the Yoruba and Portuguese languages. At this point the White Cap (Idejo) Chiefs protested, because they feared that they were about to be deprived of their rights to the land of Lagos, which theyve had from time immemorial (traditionally, the Oba owns no land apart from his palace. The land of Lagos is vested in the Idejo: land owning white cap chiefs). They solemnly declared that the Oba had no power to give away their lands (indeed, there were threats of an uprising in Lagos, but the presence of the marines kept things quiet). At this point Dosunmu desired the Commander and Acting Consul to insert such clauses that would satisfy the Idejo that their rights to private ownership of land was not being abrogated, since the Idejo depended on the land for their livelihood and it belongs to them. It was at this point that articles II and III were inserted into the treaty, but the Idejo refused to ratify the treaty. Governor Freeman arrived on 22nd January 1862, as the first governor and found that the matter of the treaty was still unsettled. after holding several long palavers with the Oba and his Chiefs at Government House, he discovered that the real problem lay with the fear of the Idejo that they would lose their land. He also said that the Oba claimed that he was forced to sign the treaty without knowing its contents. the governor claimed that the Obas assertion was false, since the treaty was translated into Yoruba and Portuguese. He also claimed that he had succeeded in getting the chiefs to ratify the treaty. The treaty was signed by Telake, i.e. Talabi (Talabi was a relative of Dosunmu and a prince of royal blood), Rocamena, i.e Apena (Apena was a magistrate in Lagos at that time), Obalekoro, i.e Obanikoro (Obanikoro was the Archbishop of Lagos) and Achebong, i.e Ashogbon (Ashogbon was the commander in chief of the Obas bodyguards). None of the Idejo signed the treaty.
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 10:38:50 +0000
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