768 



SAMOA. 



greatly in the majority on the principal island. 

 They would not recognize the supreme court or 

 bring suits before the chief justice. Mataafa's 

 provisional Government taxed the people heavily 

 and imposed fines on adherents of Tanu. In Sa- 

 vaii the soldiers of Mataafa threatened to burn 

 Malietoan villages unless the people sent taxes 

 and recruits to support Mataafa. A British 

 cruiser visited the island and threatened to shell 

 the Mataafa villages if the peace were disturbed. 

 The British and American consuls issued procla- 

 mations threatening to take strong action if the 

 provisional Government interfered with the Ma- 

 lietoans. The German consul issued a proclama- 

 tion upholding the provisional Government and 

 denouncing the action of his colleagues. Dr. 

 Raffel was recalled by the German Government 

 and left Samoa. Admiral Kautz arrived on the 

 Philadelphia. 



Negotiations for the settlement of the Samoan 

 difficulties, carried on by the representatives of 

 the American, English, and German governments, 

 were conducted in Washington and Berlin. A 

 basis was sought for the alteration of the Samoa 

 act of 1889, which was considered unsatisfactory 

 and impracticable by all three governments. A 

 petition of 01 German residents of Apia com- 

 plained that English was used in the courts; that 

 they paid the greater part of the taxes and cus- 

 toms dues, yet were deprived of influence by a 

 hostile combination of English and American 

 officials; that the natives would not pay the poll 

 tax because the chief justice ignored their cus- 

 toms; therefore they prayed the German Gov- 

 ernment to proclaim a protectorate over Samoa. 

 The German Government protested against any 

 action of the American and British consuls in 

 which the German consul did not concur, as the 

 Berlin treaty makes the unanimity of the repre- 

 sentatives of the three powers an essential con- 

 dition of any decision affecting the administra- 

 tion of the islands. The grounds for this pro- 

 test were furnished by cabled instructions from 

 Washington to the American admiral to act in 

 accordance with the decision arrived at by any 

 two of the representatives of the powers in de- 

 fault of unanimity. The American Government 

 in its reply recognized the necessity of unanimity 

 under the "treaty as a condition of a settled policy 

 or permanent action, and said that any action 

 taken by the admiral on the agreement of a 

 majority of the representatives of the powers 

 when an emergency should arise rendering delay 

 dangerous would be subject to ratification or ad- 

 justment by the unanimous vote . of the three 

 powers at the earliest possible moment, no per- 

 manent arrangement being admissible without 

 such unanimous vote. 



When Admiral Kautz arrived at Apia he found 

 existing a state of affairs bordering on anarchy. 

 The decrees of the Supreme Court could not be 

 enforced, and the lives of the chief justice and 

 other Americans were in danger. Mataafa had 

 a large force of armed men surrounding Apia, and 

 his followers defied the constituted authorities. 

 There was constant danger of an outbreak, in 

 which the lives of Americans. and British, as well 

 as those of the followers of Malietoa Tanu, would 

 be sacrificed. Admiral Kautz called a meeting 

 of the consular representatives and naval com- 

 manders of the three powers to discuss means of 

 ending these conditions. The German representa- 

 tives did not attend the meeting. By the de- 

 cision of the American and British representatives 

 the adherents of Malietoa Tanu who had been 

 banished to other islands were brought back and 

 their arms were restored to them. A proclama- 



tion was issued by Admiral Kautz declaring Ma- 

 taafa's Government to be illegal, and calling upon 

 the Mataafa chiefs to disperse their forces and 

 return to their homes, threatening bombardment 

 if they did not withdraw from the vicinity of 

 Apia. * On March 13 Mataafa evacuated Mulinuu, 

 the native capital, which was fortified by the 

 Americans for the reception of the Malietoans 

 that the British ship Royalist had brought from 

 other islands. After the German consul had is- 

 sued a counter-proclamation, saying that Ad- 

 miral Kautz's proclamation was untrue and that 

 he should uphold the provisional Government, 

 Mataafa assembled his forces and hemmed in the 

 town. His men entered the municipality, killed 

 an American marine and three British* sailors, 

 barricaded the streets, and seized British h<m- -. 

 An ultimatum was sent to them on March 11. 

 'saying that if they did not evacuate the town 

 in* twenty-four hours they would be shelled. A 

 bombardment was first opened on villages along 

 the shore, some of which took fire. Marines took 

 possession of the town, which the rebels attacked 

 in the night of March 10, killing an America n 

 sentry. The bombardment was kept up for eight 

 days, the whites taking refuge on the war ship*. 

 When a third British war ship arrived, the erui-cr 

 Tauranga, the British and American consul- i- 

 sued a proclamation stating that they would 

 give Mataafa a last chance to submit. The French 

 priests tried to induce him to give up, but all 

 efforts failed. The Mataafans continued to pillage 

 the property of foreigners and destroyed bridges 

 and barricaded roads. With the aid of tin- Ma- 

 lietoans, British and American sailors attempted 

 to clear the country around Apia. A party of 

 Mataafans was attacked and put to flight on 

 March 2!) at Maguigui. One of the naii\e aux- 

 iliaries was seen carrying the head of one of the 

 enemy, and the British officer commanding, threat 

 ening to shoot any man found taking heads, in- 

 duced Mulietoa Ta'nu to issue a proclamation t.i 

 bidding the practice. The German consul wrote 

 to Admiral Kautz, asking if the American and 

 British commanders countenanced decapitation l>\ 

 their savage allies, and elicited the reply that it 

 the German consul had not resisted the lawful 

 decision of the Supreme Court there would ha\e 

 been no bloodshed, and that the barbarou 

 moan custom first became known to the world 

 ten years before when the chief Mataafa, whom 

 the German consul was now upholding, had cut 

 off the heads of brave German sailors. 



Armed cutters destroyed villages and boats he 

 longing to Mataafa's party along the coast, and 

 a flying column was sent out from Apia into 

 the bush daily. On April 1 a force of 214 Brit- 

 ish and Americans, commanded by Lieut, l-'ree- 

 man of the Tauranga, was caught in an aml>u>h 

 on a German plantation at Vailele. When the 

 rebels opened fire from three sides the friendly 

 natives ran away, but the marines and sailors 

 stood their ground until their machine gun -"i 

 jammed, and finally retreated in good order alter 

 killing nearly 50 rebels and wounding many. 

 Lieut. Angel* F. Freeman and two British 

 men were killed and two were wounded, and of 

 the Americans Lieut. Philip Lansdale of the 

 Philadelphia and Ensign John Monaghan, who 

 attempted to rescue him, were killed, also two 

 seamen, and five were wounded. The savages 

 carried off the heads of the slain, according i<> 

 their practice, but these were recovered by French 

 priests. The German manager of the plantation 

 was arrested and carried as a prisoner on board 

 of a British man-of-war on the charge of having 

 incited the natives to attack the British and 



