274 AMERICAN DIPLOMATIC QUESTIONS 



the decree of Chief Justice Chambers, and ordered that the 

 chiefs of the Tanu party, who had been deported to other 

 islands, should be returned to their own homes ; it ordered 

 that the decrees of the court should be respected, and ended 

 in a threat that unless these things should be done, military 

 force would be employed to carry out the purposes of the 

 instrument. 



Admiral Kautz, no doubt, assumed that a majority vote of 

 the consuls was sufficient to authorize any such proceeding 

 an opinion which was not shared by the German Consul. 

 The latter held that unanimity of consular agreement was 

 required to order the dissolution of the provisional govern- 

 ment. Two days later he met the admiral's proclamation 

 by a counter-proclamation which gave 



NOTICE TO ALL SAMOANS : By the proclamation of the Admiral 

 of the United States, dated March 11, it was made known that 

 the three Consuls of the signatory powers of the Berlin treaty, as 

 well as the three commanders of men-of-war, had been unanimous 

 in deciding to recognize no more the provisional government com- 

 posed of Mataafa and thirteen chiefs. 



I, therefore, make known to you that this proclamation is quite 

 false. I, the German Consul General, continue to recognize the 

 provisional government of Samoa until I have received contrary 

 instructions from my government. 



ROSE, German Consul General. 



Apia, March 13, 1899. 



Instead of dispersing, as ordered by Admiral Kautz, the 

 Mataafa party became more aggressively defiant and bold. 

 They occupied and fortified positions within the neutral area 

 of the municipality. More Tanu supporters were cap- 

 tured and deported to other islands. The triumph of 

 Mataafa seemed to be complete when Admiral Kautz inter- 

 fered by force of arms. His ultimatum to the rebellious 

 chieftain to cease hostilities carried with it the threat of a 

 bombardment to begin at one o'clock, MareL~15. Wnen 

 that moment arrived, the Mataafans refused to yield their 

 positions in Apia, and the shelling process began. Ameri- 

 can and English marines were landed, and fought side by 



