sion.

66

February 17, 1872, Commander Meade, of the U. S. S. Narragansett, entered into an agreement with Maunga, Great Meade agreement: Chief of the Bay of Pagopago (pronounced PangoPagopago. pango), in the island of Tutuila, whereby the chief, who professed a desire for the friendship and protection of the United States, granted to the Government the exclusive privilege of establishing in that harbor a naval station for the use and convenience of United States Government vessels." May 22, 1872, President Grant communicated this agreement to the Senate, saying that he would not hesitate to recommend its approval but for the protection to which it pledged the United States, and that with some modification of the obligation he recommended it to the favorable consideration of the Senate." About the same time the attention of the United States was directed, by highly respected commercial persons, to Steinberger's mis- the importance of the growing trade and commerce of the United States with the islands in the South Pacific Ocean and to the opportunities of increasing our commercial relations in that quarter of the globe." With a view to secure trustworthy information in regard to the Samoan Islands, a special agent named Steinberger was sent thither by the Department of State in 1873. He accomplished his mission, and his report was communicated by the President to Congress on April 21, 1874. In December, 1874, he was sent back to the islands to convey to the chiefs a letter from the President and some presents. Not long afterwards rumors reached the United States that he had set up a government in the islands and was administering it; and it was said that he had assured the natives that the islands were under the protection of the United States. These reports led the House of Representatives, on March 28, 1876, to adopt a resolution instructing the Committee on Foreign Affairs to inquire into the extent and character of Steinberger's powers, and to call on the Secretary of State for correspondence relating to his mission. The investigation elicited the fact that his visits to the islands "were simply for the purpose of observation and report; that his mission had no diplomatic or political significance whatever, and that he had never been authorized to pledge the United States to the support of any government he might form or assist in forming."e

After making a second report, Steinberger resigned his position as special agent of the United States. As ruler of Samoa he fell into difficulties, and with the concurrence of the American consul, who was

a H. Ex. Doc. 161, 44 Cong. 1 sess. 6.

H. Ex. Doc. 161, 41 Cong. 1 sess. 6.

e Report of Mr. Fish, Secretary of State, to the President, May 1, 1876, H. Ex. Doc. 161, 44 Cong. 1 sess.

d S. Ex. Doc. 45, 43 Cong. 1 sess.

e Report of Mr. Fish, May 1, 1876, H. Ex. Doc. 161, 44 Cong. 1 sess.

at open variance with him, he was deported on a British man-of-war. On March 18, 1876, the American consul at Apia transmitted to the Department of State a copy of a document said to have been found among Steinberger's papers after his arrest, and which purported to be an agreement between him and the house of Godeffroy & Son, of Hamburg, entered into before his return to Samoa, by which, for a certain commission, he undertook to exercise all his influence in Samoa in any position he might occupy for the furtherance of the German firm's trade."

Treaty with United
States.

In 1877 a native of rank, named Mamea, was sent by the chiefs of Samoa to the United States as ambassador to conclude a treaty. A deputation of chiefs had in the same year made an unsuccessful application for annexation to Great Britain, and Mamea came to the United States with a view to obtain at least the protection of this Government. President Hayes, in his first annual message, 1877, stated that the object of Mamea's mission was "to invite the Government of the United States to recognize and protect their [Samoan Islands] independence, to establish commercial relations with their people, and to assist them in their steps toward regulated and responsible government." He observed that the subject was deemed worthy of respectful attention and that "the claims upon our assistance by this distant community will be carefully considered."

On January 16, 1878, a treaty between the United States and Samoa was concluded at Washington. By the 2nd article, the Government of the United States was granted "the privilege of entering and using the port of Pagopago, and establishing therein and on the shores thereof a station for coal and other naval supplies," and the Samoan Government engaged that it would thereafter "neither exercise nor authorize any jurisdiction within said port adverse to such rights of the United States or restrictive thereof." In the 5th article it was provided that if any differences should arise between the Samoan Government and any other government in amity with the United States, the Government of the United States would "employ its good offices for the purpose of adjusting those differences upon a satisfactory and solid foundation." No provision was made for a protectorate. In 1877 however, and again in 1878, the flag of the United States was raised by different American consular representatives at Apia as the sign of a protectorate, but on neither occasion was the act sustained by the United States.

a

@ H. Ex. Doc. 161, 44 Cong. 1 sess., 128; Nineteenth Century, February, 1886, 298-300.

See, as to the American construction of this stipulation, Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, to Mr. White, chargé at London, Nov. 21, 1892, For. Rel. 1892, 243.

January 24, 1879, a treaty was concluded between Germany and Samoa, by which the latter conceded to the former the right to establish a naval station in the harbor of Saluafata, and engaged not to grant a similar right in that harbor to any other nation.

Treaties with Germany and Great

Britain.

On August 28, in the same year, a treaty was concluded between Samoa and Great Britain, by the eighth article of which a right was granted to the latter to establish "a naval station and coaling depot" on the shores of a Samoan harbor thereafter to be designated by her Britainic Majesty, there being excepted from this right the harbors of Apia and Saluafata, and “that part of the harbor of Pagopago" which might thereafter be "selected by the Government of the United States as a station." a

President Hayes stated in his third annual message, 1879, that a naval vessel had been sent to the Samoan Islands to

in Pagopago.

American rights make surveys and take possession of the privileges conceded to the United States by Samoa in the harbor of Pagopago, and that a coaling station was to be established there which would be convenient and useful to United States vessels. In his fourth annual message, 1880, he recommended that the jurisdiction of the United States consul at Apia be "increased in extent and importance so as to guard American interests in the surrounding and outlying islands of Oceanica."

Native disturbances in Samoa.

For a number of years before the treaties with foreign powers were made, the situation in the islands was exceedingly unsatisfactory. The natives, unaccustomed to a centralized government, were restive under the exercise of authority, and their discontent was ministered to and aggravated by the intrigues and rivalries of foreign interests. This condition of things. gave rise from time to time to grave disturbances, and not infrequently to open hostilities, between the native factions. Early in 1885 a crisis. occurred in the affairs of the islands.

Reprisals by
Germany.

On November 10, 1884, a treaty was signed at the German consulate at Apia by Malietoa, King of Samoa, and Dr. Steubel, acting Imperial German consul, by which a GermanSamoan council of state was to be formed, a German adviser was to be appointed to the King, and a special police force was to be appointed and to be under the control of the German member of the Samoan Government. The English and American residents objected

@See Mr. Foster, Sec. of State, to Mr. White, chargé at London, Nov. 21, 1892, For. Rel. 1892, 243. See, also, Mr. Evarts, Sec. of State, to Mr. Thompson, Sec. of Navy, April 8, 1880, 132 MS. Dom. Let. 434.

See, also, Mr. Evarts, Sec. of State, to Mr. von Thielmann, June 15, 1877, MS. Notes to Germany, IX. 326; Mr. Evarts, Sec. of State, to Mr. Welsh, May 15, 1879, MS. Inst. Great Britain, XXV. 405.

CH. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 5.

Action of the United States.

to the convention, and Malietoa, when advised of its full meaning, refused to carry it out. On December 31, 1885, the German consul, as an act of reprisal, attached the sovereign rights of Malietoa in the municipality of Apia, and an armed force from the German man-of-war Albatross hauled down the Samoan flag from the Government House." Mr. Bayard, Secretary of State, when advised of these events, instructed the American minister at Berlin: “You will temperately but decidedly, in oral conference, notify the German minister for foreign affairs that we expect nothing will be done to impair the rights of the United States under the existing treaty with Samoa, and anticipate fulfilment of solemn assurances heretofore and recently given that Germany seeks no exclusive control in Samoa." The German Government replied that it intended to maintain the condition which had previously existed, and that if any wrong had been done it should be righted. Affairs remained in this state till May 13, 1886, when the United States consul, Greenebaum, in compliance with the request of Malietoa, issued a proclamation declaring the islands to be under the protection of the United States, and raised the Samoan flag on the Government House with the American flag over it.".

June 1, 1886, the ministers of the United States at London and Berlin were instructed to say that the claim of an American protectorate over Samoa by the United States consul at Apia was wholly unauthorized and disapproved, no separate protectorate by any nation being desired; and to suggest that the British and German ministers at Washington be instructed to confer with the Secretary of State with a view to the establishment of order. This suggestion was accepted with the modification that, before the conference was held, each of the three Governments should send an agent to Samoa to investigate and report upon the situation in the islands."

@ H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 24. "The latest intelligence from Samoa shows that the native chiefs and the King resenting the action of the German consul in constraining them to sign a treaty giving him greater jurisdictional powers, had sent a special message to Fiji offering the islands to the British Crown. It may be inferred from this that the German consul's action in raising the German flag was taken to prevent annexation to Great Britain. It is doubtful whether expediency or treaty right gives us any ground for intervening to prevent annexation." (Mr. Frelinghuysen, Sec. of State, to Mr. Miller, M. C., Feb. 27, 1885, 154 MS. Dom. Let. 352.)

H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 15, telegram of January 12, 1886. See Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. von Alvensleben, German min., Dec. 9, 1885, and Jan. 11, 1886, MS. Notes to Germany, X. 404, 442.

H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 16. See Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Carter, Hawaiian Min., Nov. 11, 1885, MS. Notes to Hawaii, I. 109.

dH. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 24, 26.

H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 29. See Mr. Bayard, Sec. of State, to Mr. Whitney, Sec. of Navy, March 31 and April 1, 1886, 159 MS. Dom. Let. 483, 498.

Washington conference, 1887.

This preliminary having been accomplished, a conference was held at Washington in June and July, 1887, between the Secretary of State and the British and German ministers. It was adjourned on the 26th of July by unanimous consent till the autumn, in order that the members might consult their respective Governments with a view to reconcile certain divergencies of view which the discussions had disclosed. The German Government proposed, in the conference, a plan to commit the practical control of Samoan affairs to a single foreign official, called an adviser to the King, and to be appointed by the power having the preponderence of commercial interests. The plan proposed by the United States was to commit the administration of the laws to an executive council to be composed of the Samoan King and vice-king and three foreigners, one of whom should be designated by each of the treaty powers, but who should hold their commissions and receive their compensation from the native Government so as to be independent of the influence and control of the powers designating them. It was also proposed by the United States that any arrangement that might be devised should be embodied by the powers in identic, but several and independent, treaties with Samoa. Germany objected to the plan of the United States on the ground that it did not promise a solution of existing difficulties, which were largely due to rival foreign interests. The British minister supported the German minister, and, incidentally, the German plan." It was the understanding of the United States, based upon the diplomatic correspondence and the course of the negotiations, that the status quo in the islands should be preserved pending the settlement by the three powers. Immediately after the suspension of the conference, however, the a For. Rel. 1894, App. I. 508. The protocols of the conference are printed in S. Ex. Doc. 102, 50 Cong. 2 sess., and are reprinted in For. Rel. 1889, 204–236. These protocols were prepared by the editor of the present work, who was present at the conference.

Rupture of the status quo.

Light is thrown on the course of the British minister in the conference by a dispatch of the British ambassador at Berlin to his Government January 24, 1885, narrating a conversation with Prince Bismarck in relation to the "political estrangement" between the two countries. During the interview Prince Bismarck read to the British ambassador an instruction which he had sent during the previous year to the German ambassador at London. This instruction, said the British ambassador, "was a very remarkable one. It stated the great importance which the Prince attached to the colonial question, and also the friendship of Germany and England. It pointed out that in the commencement of German colonial enterprise England might render signal service to Germany, and said that for such services Germany would use her best endeavors in England's behalf in questions affecting her interests nearer home." It also intimated that, if an understanding could not be reached with England, Germany would seek assistance from France. To give point to this intimation, Prince Bismarck also read to the ambassador a draft of another instruction which he was just then sending to London, in which the Egyptian question was mentioned. (H. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 61-63; German Staatsarchiv, XLIV. 252.) bH. Ex. Doc. 238, 50 Cong. 1 sess. 114-116.