220 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



check their company's growth, not even an unfriendly 

 native king. To " aid " in framing laws for Samoa, to incite 

 a revolution, or to depose a hostile government, must be ac- 

 cepted as legitimate acts if the company's interest demanded 

 them; in short, any means were permissible to that end. It 

 is not to be wondered that the Germans regarded the Ameri- 

 can and English traders somewhat in the light that a game- 

 keeper regards a poacher within his preserves. When the 

 latter evinced a tendency to adopt their own tactics for in- 

 fluencing native legislation, the Germans resented their bold- 

 ness, and bitter feelings were aroused ; when they hinted at 

 annexation, the Germans lost their equanimity of temper. 

 The predominance of their commercial interests was their 

 excuse for all acts of interference in native affairs, and in the 

 passively hostile attitude which they sullenly maintained 

 toward the other foreigners in Apia. 



The English element was a smaller, but in some respects a 

 no less active, one. On the veranda of the British consulate 

 and at the counter of McArthur and Company they discussed 

 with much feeling the growing influence of the Germans, 

 and plotted for the advancement of their own business affairs. 

 England was known to favor imperialism, and she was con- 

 stantly alive for the absorption of new territory. Her ships 

 ranged the seas, and her commanders were quick to act. 

 With an avowed policy of expansion in London, the English 

 residents felt their strength in Apia. They watched the 

 Germans narrowly, and resented their meddling with the 

 natives. They also had considerable influence over the lat- 

 ter, by reason of the activity of the London Missionary 

 Society, whose workers in Samoa had succeeded in favorably 

 impressing the religiously inclined aborigines. 



The American element in Apia consisted of a mere hand- 

 ful of men who rallied around the premises of an American 

 firm to denounce the German and English attempts to gain 

 greater influence in the islands. Their trade was a grow- 

 ing one, but they felt hampered by the knowledge that the 

 United States would probably never care to annex the group. 

 It would be unfair to say that they always held aloof from 



