246 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



Apia was trying to reconcile the contending parties, and for 

 which he had sought the cooperation of his English and 

 American colleagues, into a state of war with the assailants, to 

 our regret. 



We shall carry on the contest which has been forced upon us 

 by Mataafa and his followers, with the utmost consideration for 

 English and American interests. Our military measures have 

 in view only the punishment of the murderers of German 

 soldiers and the protection of our countrymen and their property. 

 As they, on their part, are at war with Tamasese, our interference 

 will necessarily assume the character of assistance to Tama- 

 sese. . . . 



The words " unprovoked attack " and the " murder " of 

 German soldiers, are especially interesting, in the light of the 

 fact that the armed marines were admittedly landed with 

 hostile intent. It seems almost unworthy of the man of blood 

 and iron to refer to the defeat of his troops in legitimate 

 warfare as a "murderous crime." What if, in the darkness 

 of that night, those same marines had succeeded in surpris- 

 ing their enemy, and had fallen upon the guard of Mataafa ? 

 Would it have been a "murderous crime" or merely a 

 " regrettable incident " ? 



Count Arco-Valley complained that the task of settling 

 these difficulties by amicable arrangement "has been ren- 

 dered difficult by the fact that the officer in charge of the 

 American consulate and the commander of the American 

 war vessel [Leary] have, during the present revolution on the 

 Samoan Islands, openly taken part against Chief Tamasese, 

 who is recognized by the imperial government, and have sup- 

 ported Mataafa." In this the count may not have been so 

 very far from the truth, and Mr. Bayard in his reply was also 

 substantially correct in saying that " neither of these officers 

 has assumed on behalf of the Government of the United 

 States, to recognize Chief Mataafa, or to do any act contrary to 

 the rival claims of Chief Tamasese, other than to take neces- 

 sary steps to protect Americans and their interest in those 

 islands." In the same communication (January 18, 1889) 

 he sounded) the key-note of the American policy in Samoa as 

 follows : 



