SAMOAN (OR NAVIGATORS') ISLANDS. 



729 



go-Pango." A United States coaling-station 

 was also established there lor the couvenience 

 and use of the United States. 



These acts, and the obtaining of special privi- 

 leges in Samoa for the United States, proved 

 very mortifying to the German Government, 

 and were made the subject of discussions on 

 the part of Herr von Bulow and Prince Bismarck 

 in the German Reichstag. Prior to this treaty 

 the German land claims in Samoa were offi- 

 cially stated to comprise 232,000 acres, while 

 British subjects claimed not less than 357,000 

 acres. But the terrible animosities and the 

 series of wars which ensued between 1869 and 

 1872 gave the Germans their opportunity, when 

 the natives being anxious to procure firearms, 

 German traders would only sell them for land. 

 The consequence was that bet ween the years 

 named more than one hundred thousand acres 

 passed into the hands of Germans, and at a 

 virtual cost of but a few pence per acre. 



President Grant, in his message committing 

 the treaty of 1872 to the Senate, said: "The 

 advantages of the concessions which it professes 

 to make are so great, in view of the advan- 

 tageous position of Tutuila seaport as a coaling- 

 station for steamers between San Francisco 

 and Australia, that I should not hesitate to rec- 

 ommend its adoption but for the obligation of 

 protection on the part of the United States 

 which it seem* to imply." This "obligation 

 of protection " was modified by the Senate, 

 which then ratified the treaty. 



Under this agreement the chief had promised 

 that he would not grant a like privilege to any 

 other foreign power or potentate. This under- 

 taking it was which disturbed the German and 

 English statesmen, who have never since 

 ceased their machinations to break up the ad- 

 vantage which the United States thus had over 

 Great Britain and Germany in Samoa. 



On the basis of the facts concerning German 

 interference with King Malietoa up to the 

 close of 1886, President Cleveland in his annual 

 message at that time said : " Civil perturbations 

 in the Samoan Islands have during the past 

 four years been a source of extreme embarass- 

 ment to three governments, Germany, Great 

 Britain, and the United States, whose relations 

 and extra-territorial rights in that important 

 sea group are granted by treaties. The weak- 

 ness of the native administration and the con- 

 flict of opposing interests in the islands had 

 led King Malietoa to seek alliance or protec- 

 tion in some one quarter, regardless of the dis- 

 tinct requirement that no one of the three 

 treaty powers may acquire any permanent or 

 exclusive interest. In May last Malietoa offered 

 to place Samoa under the protection of the 

 United States, and the late consul, without 

 authority, assumed to grant it. This proceed- 

 ing was promptly disavowed and the over- 

 zealous official recalled. Special agents of the 

 three governments having been deputed to 

 examine the situation in the islands, with a 

 change in the representatives of all the powers 



and a harmonious understanding among them, 

 the business prosperity of the autonomous ad- 

 ministration and the neutrality of Samoa can 

 hardly fail to be secured." 



In the mean time even the Sandwich Islands 

 became interested in the questions agitating 

 the Samoan group, and King Kalakaua, having 

 elected to support Malietoa sent a half-breed 

 named Bush to Apia as ambassador, accompa- 

 nied by a suite, to draw up a treaty as between 

 the two sovereigns. Malietoa, however, did 

 not seem to take kindly to the proposition, not 

 even being influenced thereunto by the pres- 

 ence of the Hawaian naval steamer " Kamoa," 

 which followed Bush three month slater. The 

 ambassador was not only unsuccessful, but, as 

 is alleged, brought to himself no credit for his 

 manner of conducting his commission, and an 

 order for his recall was sent down by the late 

 Minister Gibson from Honolulu. Rough weath- 

 er prevented the landing of this dispatch at 

 Apia, and it was carried on to Australia. A 

 new ministry being formed, a second recall 

 was sent to Apia, and after some difficulty in 

 finding the ambassador he was discovered and 

 brought back to the Sandwich Islands. 



Early in the year, the United States Govern- 

 ment, being without a representative at Apia, 

 the President appointed and the Senate con- 

 firmed Mr. Harold Sewall, of Maine, a young 

 gentleman who had been trained in the diplo- 

 matic service, as American consul at Apia. 

 Meanwhile, steamers arriving at San Francisco 

 brought the news of continued movements on 

 the part of the Germans in the Samoan Islands, 

 which gave rise to considerable discussion and 

 some uneasiness, as it was feared that the fact 

 of several German men-of-war having sailed 

 for the Samoan Islands indicated that that Gov- 

 ernment designed to assume a protectorate over 

 the group. 



On September 8 it was announced in the 

 British House of Commons, by the Secretary 

 to the Foreign Office, that the Government 

 had received advices that the Germans had 

 deposed the King of Samoa, and that the Eng- 

 lish and American consuls at Apia had pro- 

 tested against the action of the Germans. A 

 newspaper interview with ex-Consul Greene- 

 baum, in San Francisco, extracted from that 

 gentleman the statement that Prince Bismarck 

 was largely interested in the German Commer- 

 cial Company of the South Seas, and that this 

 fact to some extent accounted for the move- 

 ment which had been announced in the British 

 House of Commons and cabled to the United 

 States. It was pointed out at this time that 

 the treaty of 1878 between England, Germany, 

 and the United States, contained the following 

 article : u In the event of the Government of 

 Samoa being at any time in difficulty with 

 powers in amity with the United States the 

 Samoan Government then reserves to itself 

 the right to claim the protection of the Ameri- 

 can flag." 



It was not until the beginning of October 



