THE UNITED STATES AND SAMOA 2^5 



the Emperor of Germany, and Tamasese has been proclaimed King 

 of Samoa. I desire to remind you of the promise so frequently 

 made by your government, and trust that you will so far redeem 

 them as to cause the lives and liberties of my chiefs and people 

 to be respected. 



As a hero, then, amid the lamentations of his people, Malie- 

 toa Laupepa was deported in exile to distant lands. For 

 several years he disappears from view. 



These events occurring in the face of the agreement to 

 leave Samoa matters in statu quo were not overlooked at 

 Washington. The action of the Germans was clearly in con- 

 tempt of this mutual understanding. There is a positive- 

 ness in German manners, which, although not intended to 

 give offence, is sometimes as irritating as an unfriendly act. 

 The Secretary of State was annoyed by the dash Mr. Becker 

 had taken into forbidden fields, but he felt more offended by 

 the arrogance of his authority. In the ensuing correspond- 

 ence, Bismarck persistently laid the blame upon the American 

 consuls, one and all, whose conduct in Apia, he declared, had 

 always been hostile to German interests. Secretary Bayard 

 could only reply that it was the German and not the Ameri- 

 can consuls who had brought about Samoa's troubles. 



With Malietoa out of the way, the main obstacle to the 

 success of Becker's plans was removed. Mataafa, however, 

 was arming ; but Tamasese was already armed, the alert 

 Brandeis having looked to that. The next step was to 

 silence the American and English consuls who were openly 

 hostile to his schemes. It will be remembered that the port 

 of Apia and a narrow strip of land on either side were neu- 

 tral territory over which the three powers exercised the right 

 of extraterritoriality. The municipality was governed by a 

 tripartite arrangement, the citizens of the three powers pre- 

 sumably sharing about equally the control of urban affairs, 

 and enjoying in equal proportion the spoils of office. The 

 judge of the municipal court at this time was a German sub- 

 ject whose term had some time since elapsed, and who should 

 have been succeeded by an American, according to the stipu- 

 lated system of rotation in office. An Anglo-Saxon judge was 



