THE UNITED STATES AND SAMOA 269 



an armed force of marines landed from an English man-of- 

 war, a demonstration in which the justice was himself 

 fully prepared to join. 



The decision was at once accepted by the English and 

 American consuls-general, Messrs. Maxse and Osborn, but 

 was indignantly scorned by the German Consul, Herr Rose. 

 With the Germans solidly opposed to the ruling of the court, 

 and in open and avowed sympathy with the defeated party, 

 Mataafa was encouraged to resist this decree of the court. 

 Conditions were favorable for a revolt. A German vessel 

 was in the harbor, and Mataafa's wari^ors were restless and 

 hard to restrain ; for weeks they had been preparing to 

 defend the cause of their chief, and the moment was now 

 at hand. It tfcas a period '@; intense excitement, and the 

 Mataafans felt that their leader had been greatly wronged. 

 For one day only was there hesitancy and suspense, and 

 then the Mataafa forces broke from their camp at Mulinuu 

 and swept into Apia, headed, as the Americans alleged, by 

 German officers, one detachment of the "rebels" actually 

 being led by the president of the municipality, Herr 

 Johaness Raffel. The Tanu supporters could not withstand 

 the " rebel " assault ; they fled in every direction, many 

 taking refuge upon the British gunboats at anchor in the 

 harbor, while the chief justice was himself obliged to seek 

 safety in flight. Mataafa was at once in control, aritl, with 

 some pomp, crowned himself king. 



In the midst of this confusion, the three consuls succeeded 

 in effecting a truce (January 5, 1899), by the unanimous 

 acceptance of the Mataafa Government as the " Provisional 

 government of Samoa," which it was expected would at least 

 keep the peace until a way out of the difficulties could be 

 decided upon. The text of this consular agreement took the 

 form of the following proclamation : 



Owing to the events of the last few days and to the urgent neces- 

 sity of establishing a strong provisional government for Samoa, 

 we, the undersigned consular representatives of the three treaty 

 powers, declare as follows : 



1. The Mataafa party, represented by the High Chief Mataafa 



