SAMOA. 



T6T 



barred as a former rebel, who had been allowed 

 to return from exile in the Marshall Islands on 

 the condition that he should never again take 

 part in Samoan politics. The American, Eng- 

 lish, and German consuls were present until the 

 German consul withdrew, saying that the chief 

 justice was not conducting the investigation prop- 

 erly and that the question should be decided by 

 popular vote. The chief justice pointed out that 

 the Supreme Court was the tribunal appointed by 

 the provisions of the Berlin treaty. His life 

 being openly threatened, the American and Brit- 

 ish flags were hoisted together over his resi- 

 dence, the German consul refusing to associate 

 himself with his colleagues in this act of pro- 

 tection. On Dec. 31 the chief justice decided in 

 favor of the claims of Tanu and against those of 

 Mataafa. The American and British consuls in- 

 timated their acquiescence in the decision, but 

 the German consul never acknowledged the re- 

 ceipt of the court's decree. 



The German officials encouraged the supporters 

 of Mataafa to resist, and German merchants of- 

 fered to supply arms. Having as his military 

 adviser a German ex-officer named Von Billow, 

 Mataafa mustered his 4,000 warriors on Jan. 1. 

 Tanu's fighting force was only half as strong. 

 When hostilities were seen to be inevitable, Capt. 

 Sturdee, of the British war vessel Porpoise, sent 

 25 bluejackets ashore to guard the residence of 

 the chief justice. Mataafa's men occupied the 

 roads leading to Apia, drove the loyal natives 

 back upon the capital, and finally hemmed them 

 in and entered the town. Tanu was saved from 

 capture by the British naval commander and the 

 American and British consuls, who escorted him 

 to a mission building, in which 600 of his people 

 had already taken refuge. Fighting continued 

 in the streets all the afternoon, and toward night 

 Mataafa's victory became assured. Tanu and 

 Tamasese, the Vice-King, escaped to the Por- 

 poise, to which 1,200 of the defeated warriors 

 fled on their boats. Capt. Sturdee emphatically 

 refused to give up Tanu and Tamasese to Ma- 

 taafa. For two days burning and plundering went 

 on in Apia and the surrounding country. On 

 Jan. 4 the American and British consuls decided 

 in the interests of the protection of life and prop- 

 erty to open negotiations with the successful 

 rebels and to acknowledge Mataafa as de facto 

 King. A provisional Government was formed, 

 composed of Mataafa and 13 chiefs, with Dr. 

 Johannes RaflFel, the German president of the 

 municipal council, who had taken a prominent 

 part on Mataafa's side, at its head as executive 

 chief. His first official act was to issue a decree 

 proclaiming himself acting chief justice, Mr. 

 Chambers having taken refuge on the British war 

 vessel. He took the ground that, aside from 

 the flight of Chief-Justice Chambers, the old Gov- 

 ernment was superseded by the provisional Gov- 

 ernment, which the chief justice did not recog- 

 nize and in which he had no part, and which 

 therefore could not recognize his judicial author- 

 ity without stultifying itself by calling its own 

 in question. In taking this course Dr. Raffel was 

 strongly supported by the German consul and resi- 

 dents. On Jan. 9 the German consul general, Rose, 

 issued a proclamation stating that it was legally 

 impossible for Mr. Chambers to continue in the of- 

 fice of chief justice in a government constituted in 

 consequence of the violent overthrow of his de- 

 cision, and that the president of the municipality 

 would therefore under the treaty fill the office 

 during the temporary vacancy. The American 

 and British consuls protested energetically, and 

 the British naval commander gave notice that 



Chief-Justice Chambers would hold court under 

 the protection of the British guns, which would 

 open fire if resistance were offered. Capt. Stur- 

 dee explained that in thus upholding the author- 

 ity of the chief justice his motive was to assert 

 and protect the rights of Great Britain and the 

 United States in Samoa. On this intimation the 

 provisional Government withdrew the guard 

 posted at the courthouse, and on the appointed 

 day Chief-Justice Chambers, accompanied by the 

 American and British consuls and escorted by a 

 guard of bluejackets, approached the courthouse. 

 Dr. Raffel and the German consul protested and 

 refused to open the door, which was broken, and 

 the chief justice took his seat and read a decree 

 condemning the unauthorized, unlawful, and re- 

 bellious proceedings of the provisional Govern- 

 ment. 



The United States Government, which had re- 

 cently contracted for the construction of a coal- 

 ing station at Pago Pago harbor, ordered Rear- 

 Admiral Kautz to proceed to Samoa on the Phila- 

 delphia. The Malietoa chiefs who were captured 

 by Mataafa's men were banished to Tutuila, 

 where they were welcomed by the people. Fight- 

 ing continued in Upolu outside of Apia. The 

 Mataafa people looted the houses of the defeated 

 party and destroyed what they could not carry 

 away, but sometimes their opponents overpow- 

 ered their bands in the bush. A German resi- 

 dent of Apia, named Grossmiihl, having shown 

 his contempt for the authority of the chief jus- 

 tice after it was restored by breaking the win- 

 dows of the courthouse, Chief-Justice Chambers- 

 had him arrested and imposed a fine and sen- 

 tenced him to imprisonment. By direction of 

 Dr. RafTel the German chief of police released 

 the prisoner, and the German consul protested 

 against the action of the chief justice as an in- 

 fringement of the rights of the consulate. The 

 British and American consuls held that the chief 

 justice had jurisdiction in the matter, and they 

 declined to hold further intercourse with the Ger- 

 man consul or the municipal president except in 

 writing unless an apology, were offered for their 

 behavior toward the chief justice. Dr. Raffel 

 was cited to answer for contempt of court, and 

 the German consul protested that this was an 

 invasion of his consular jurisdiction. Otherwise 

 he recognized the restored authority of the chief 

 justice under instructions from his Government. 

 Mataafa refused to let the natives deal with the 

 British cruiser while Tanu and Tamasese and 

 the chief justice were on board, but the threaten- 

 ing attitude of Capt. Sturdee impelled him to 

 revoke his orders and to make an apology. 



Mataafa and his followers did not entirely trust 

 the Germans, who were formerly his chief ene- 

 mies, and many of the people who at first de- 

 clared for the experienced Mataafa in preference 

 to the youthful Tanu began to waver when they 

 saw that the old chief could not obtain the 

 recognition of the English and American gov- 

 ernments and might be abandoned by the Ger- 

 man Government. All the inhabitants of Tutuila 

 and half those of Savaii were on the side of 

 Malietoa Tanu, There was little prospect of the 

 settlement of the question without protracted 

 civil war, even after the protecting powers should 

 come to an agreement. The dispute was com- 

 plicated with missionary rivalries, Mataafa being 

 a Catholic and Tanu a Protestant. While await- 

 ing the decision of the three powers as to who 

 should be King the sentiment in Upolu, which 

 had been preponderantly in favor of Mataafa, 

 veered round to the cause of Tanu, and many 

 chiefs deserted Mataafa. Still his partisans were 



