272 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



American press to open an assault upon Germany. Criti- 

 cism of Germany was at that moment acceptable to all par- 

 ties, as the Admiral Diedrich episode at Manila Bay was still 

 fresh in mind. The history of German intrigue in Samoa 

 was fully reviewed in highly colored accounts, and the story 

 of the lively careers of consuls Steubel and Knappe were 

 glowingly rehearsed to demonstrate Germany's hostile atti- 

 tude toward the United States. In these proceedings was 

 found another link in that chain of evidence which proved 

 the enmity of Germany. The German Government, it was 

 insisted, should be called upon to answer for a gross viola- 

 tion of the Berlin Act. That Consul Rose and President 

 Raffel were wholly in the wrong there could be no doubt, 

 for had they not refused to accept the final decision of the 

 Supreme Court, in violation of treaty regulations ; had they 

 not furthermore encouraged the defeated party into open 

 revolt against the law of the land; had they not seized the 

 courthouse, broken the jail, and were they not to be charged 

 with having instituted a reign of anarchy ? The valor of 

 the Americans and English in upholding the decision of the 

 chief justice against great odds was highly commended, and 

 a desire was generally manifested for a warship to be sent 

 at once to the scene. 



The German side of the case was simply that the decision 

 of Chief Justice Chambers was biassed, and decidedly unjust ; 

 indeed, it was so outrageous it could not be tolerated. In 

 justification of their conduct the Germans insisted that they 

 had only sought to prevent the imposition of a weakling upon 

 the people who was not the choice of the Samoans, and whose 

 succession to the throne would inevitably lead to war. They 

 charged the missionary party with complicity (Mataafa being 

 a Catholic), and Justice Chambers with corruption. If they 

 had exceeded the bounds of propriety in their methods to 

 relieve the situation in Apia, it was because of their zeal to 

 right a wrong as quickly as possible. 



Much anxiety was nevertheless felt upon all sides lest the 

 signatory powers would seek to uphold the acts of their 

 agents in Samoa, and thus expand the disturbances in the 



