236 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



not what the Germans in Apia wanted at that particular junc- 

 ture, so Mr. Becker began a process of elbowing out the 

 foreigners from the councils of the municipality. To ac- 

 complish this task satisfactorily required some very skilful 

 manoeuvring, but Mr. Becker was fully equal to the occa- 

 sion. For some weeks, with various excuses, he absented 

 himself from the regular consular meetings, thus preventing 

 the necessary quorum for the consideration of municipal 

 affairs. Finally appearing at an appointed meeting, he took 

 advantage of the fact that the American Consul, Mr. Sewall, 

 was not present, although it is believed he knew that the 

 belated official was hastening to the meeting. He quickly 

 left for his home to write a letter to Mr. Sewall, in which he 

 said that he regretted to be obliged to consider the municipal 

 government to be in abeyance, "since you have refused to 

 take part in the meeting." By resort to such a doubtful 

 method, he succeeded in abrogating the neutrality of Apia, 

 while he instantly became deaf to all the protests and de- 

 nunciations showered upon him by the indignant Americans. 

 He duly announced that Apia was Samoan territory, over 

 which Tamasese ruled. 



The German flag still flying at Mulinuu no longer tres- 

 passed therefore upon neutral territory ; the king himself 

 resided in a German house on German land ; the king 

 governed Apia, and the Germans controlled the king. To 

 cap the climax, Tamasese appointed a German judge to pre- 

 side over the courts of Apia. Captain Bnindeis was made 

 Prime Minister, and Mr. Weber, of the German firm, was 

 the power behind the throne. At last German persistence 

 was crowned with full and complete success. 



The Tamasese- Brandeis Government continued in active 

 operation from the latter part of 1887 until September 1888, 

 when its career drew to a sanguinary close. After the excite- 

 ments of revolution were well over, and the ruffled tempers 

 of the foreigners in Apia had had time to subside, it 

 was found that the new government was not a wholly 

 bad one after all. Brandeis appears to have been a man of 

 considerable ability and, for a professional instigator of 



