SAMOA. 



617 



ship, and recognized the claim of Malietoa Tanu- 

 jnafili. Mataafa rebelled on Jan. 1, the day fol- 

 lowing the decision, and fighting ensued in which 

 his party was in the end victorious and com- 

 pelled Malietoa Tanumafili to take refuge on a 

 British cruiser. The German authorities upheld 

 Mataafa and refused to recognize the American 

 chief justice, who nevertheless reopened court 

 under an escort of British bluejackets. The party 

 of Mataafa plundered the private property of for- 

 eigners and, the fighting and anarchic conditions 

 continuing, the British and American consuls, 

 from whom the German consul had separated 

 himself, called on the naval forces of their gov- 

 ernments to intervene. The warriors of Malietoa 

 that had fled to other islands were brought back 

 and supplied with arms, and to support them 

 the British and American war-ships bombarded 

 Mataafa's forces back of Apia and in other places 

 and landed parties to destroy their villages and 

 to fight them in cooperation with Malietoan na- 

 tives. British and American marines occupied 

 Apia. The chief justice's decisions were carried 

 out. Malietoa Tanu was installed as King. The 

 German cruiser took no part in the conflict. A 

 Joint Commission of the three powers arrived on 

 May 13, 1899, and, after restoring order, it came 

 to the conclusion that the joint control was im- 

 practicable and the kingship useless. Consequent- 

 ly the islands were divided, Great Britain receiv- 

 ing compensation from Germany in the Solomon 

 Islands, in Tonga, and in Africa. Before the con- 

 ventions were concluded for the partition of the 

 Samoa group the three powers signed a conven- 

 tion on Nov. 7, 1899, referring claims for com- 

 pensation made by their citizens to the arbitra- 

 tion of the King of Norway and' Sweden. These 

 claims were on account of losses suffered in con- 

 sequence of the military action of officers of the 

 signatory powers between Jan. 1, 1899, when Ma- 

 taafa rejected and rebelled against the decision 

 of the American chief justice, and May, 13, 1899, 

 the date of the arrival of the Joint Commission. 

 These claims were to be adjudicated in conform- 

 ity with the principles of international law or 

 considerations of equity, and the arbitrator was 

 empowered to decide whether, and to what extent, 

 any of the three governments is bound, solely or 

 jointly, with the others, to make good these 

 losses. King Oscar laid the matters in dispute 

 before M. Annerstedt, former Swedish Minister of 

 Justice; ex-Premier Hagerup, of Norway; and 

 M. Cederkranz, formerly Chief Justice of Samoa. 

 In accordance with their views he gave his deci- 

 sion on Oct. 14, 1902. Claims presented by other 

 powers were by arrangement brought within the 

 arbitration. The German Government contended 

 that the military action taken by British and 

 American officers was wholly unwarranted, and 

 that therefore the British and American govern- 

 ments were responsible for losses caused by their 

 action to Germans and persons under German 

 protection. The British and United States gov- 

 ernments argued that the military action was 

 necessary and justifiable, and that therefore no 

 claims were entitled to consideration. They con- 

 tended that under the general act signed at Ber- 

 lin on June 14, 1889, any one of the signatory 

 powers was authorized to enforce the decision of 

 the chief justice. The Swedish-Norwegian jurists 

 found nothing in the act giving one or a major- 

 ity of the powers authority to enforce its provi- 

 sions, but on the contrary a provision that nei- 

 ther of the powers shall exercise any separate 

 control over the islands or their government. 

 The military action of the British and Americans 

 was considered to have the character of a serious 



control. The evident intention of the powers 

 was to establish the principle that in their deal- 

 ings with Samoa they should proceed by common 

 accord, and this principle was reaffirmed in sup- 

 plementary agreements of 1892 and 189G, which 

 permitted the use of a naval force to support the 

 Supreme Court and the supplying of ammuni- 

 tion to the Samoan Government, yet only with 

 the unanimous consent of the representatives of 

 the three powers. The consular representatives 

 of the three treaty powers had by a proclama- 

 tion issued on Jan. 4, 1899, recognized Mataafa 

 and his chiefs as the Provisional Government of 

 the islands pending instructions from their gov- 

 ernments, and hence the powers were bound by 

 international good faith to maintain the situa- 

 tion thereby created until by common accord 

 they otherwise decided. The military action of 

 the British and Americans tending to overthrow 

 the Provisional Government can not be justified 

 either on the plea of the invalidity of the Pro- 

 visional Government or on that of its estab- 

 lishment by force. The German consul had re- 

 fused to sign a proclamation proposed by the 

 two other consuls recognizing Malietoa as King 

 immediately after the chief justice had decided 

 in favor of his claim, and this refusal was held 

 by the British and American governments to have 

 been the cause and origin of the civil conflict 

 that followed. The arbitrator did not find that 

 the German consul had taken any steps contrary 

 to the general act, did not consider him bound 

 to sign the proclamation or support the decision 

 of the chief justice, and therefore absolved his 

 Government of responsibility for any conse- 

 quences of his attitude. The British and Amer- 

 ican governments contended that, whether there 

 was authority or not to insist by force on the 

 acceptance of the provisions of the general act, 

 the military action was warranted because it 

 was necessary for the protection of lives and 

 property, and alleged that firing on Mataafa's 

 men was not begun until these were moving to 

 attack the British and American consulates and 

 threatened Mulinuu, where a detachment from 

 the ships was stationed, with war canoes. The 

 arbitrator found from the evidence that the sup- 

 posed movement on the consulates was directed 

 to fleeing women of the Malietoan party and 

 that the canoes were not going to Mulinuu, but 

 in the opposite direction; nor did it appear that 

 the general condition of affairs was such as to 

 render military action necessary to protect lives 

 and property. Before the arrival of the United 

 States vessel Philadelphia the Malietoans were 

 completely defeated, deported to distant places, 

 deprived of their arms, and unable to offer any 

 resistance to the victorious Mataafans. The Uni- 

 ted States admiral ordered Mataafa away from 

 Mulinuu, and the Malietoans were brought back 

 there by the British and United States military 

 authorities; arms that when defeated they had 

 surrendered to the commander of the British 

 cruiser were returned to them., and ammunition 

 was served out to them from the stock kept in 

 reserve for the Samoan Government, although the 

 arrangement of 1896 provided that it should be 

 distributed only by the unanimous consent of 

 the three consuls. It ought to have been foreseen 

 that these actions, which can not be considered 

 to have been justified by any threatening attitude 

 of the Mataafans, would exasperate the latter 

 and endanger the peace of the country and the 

 situation created by the surrender of the Malie- 

 toans on Jan. 2 and by the establishment of the 

 Provisional Government; therefore the British 

 and United States authorities ought to have 



