Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-02-08
SEWALL SHELVED.
Bounced for Not Agreeing
With Bayard.
A PLAIN UNVARNISHED TALE
Handicapped by the State Depart
ment and Forced to Play Into
Bismarck's Hand.
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD.

Dloin0kC . AAUhN'
Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD. !
WASHINGTON, February This morn
ing Harold M. Sewall, Consul General to
the Samoan Islands, received notification
from the State Department that his res
ignation would be accepted on the
ground that his views were not in har-
mony with those of the Administration.
An Associated Press reporter called
this afternoon upon Sewall, and asked
for statement of the reasons given by
the State Department in its request that
he should tender his resignation as Con-
sui. General at Samoa.
Mr.. Sewall, in reply, said: "The rea-
son g iven in the letter asking my resig-
nation is the disagreement of my ex-
pressed views with the views entertained
by the State Department with regard to
Samoan affairs. This refers, suppose,
to the testimony have given before the
Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
and which has not yet been published.
No disapproval of my conduct in Samoa,
as Consul-General, has ever been
expressed by the State Department,
as far as l am aware. Last Thurs
day I was discharged by the COM
mittee, and, affairs in Samoa being in
most critical condition, l Immediately
made arrangements to return there. No
intimation was given me that 1 should
not be allowed to do 30 until within few
hours of my intended departure, when l
was notified to remain here. The pur-
pose was obvious. My services were
needed Immediately, if at all. Another
steamer would not sail until March, and
| it was the evident intention to detain me
until after the coming in of the next ad-
ministration, upon which, as is we'll
known. have not the slightest claim to
political recognition"
"No," continued Sewall, "I did not
thereupon tender my resignation. / had
done nothing wrong. l had too much
respect for Bayard to assume that had
offended him by my testimony before the
committee. Besides, was under oath
to tell all knew of Samoan affairs, and
to withhold nothing. The views I ex-
pressed on the situation, and the remedy
necessary, were given at the request OF
the committee. 1t was not for me to
consider whether those views agreed
with Bavard's or not. l do know.
however, that my views coincide with
those of all Americans who have given
the matter any thought, the State De-
partment excepted, for which l cannot
| speak,"
"What are those views, Mr.. Sewall ?"
81 believe" said Sewall, with deliber-
alton, that the deposition of Malietoa
was determined upon before the confer
ence of the three powers began, and that
it was the German intention to carry out
the policy it had decided upon, regard
less of that conference. The purpose OF
Germany is to secure control OF Samoa
in defiance of the solemn and repeated
assurances it has given our government.
Furthermore, believe that Lord Sails
bury is party to this scheme, and that
the movement against Samoa is only the
precursor of an Anglo-German attempt to
secure supremacy in the Hawaiian
Islands,"
"What, in your opinion, will be the
effect of the dispatch of American ships
OF war to protect our interests in
Samoa?"
81 concur with Mr.. Bates, our late
lished opinion that Admiral Kimberly
|
structions from the State Department.
Bayard expects Admiral Kimberly to
succeed in doing by protest what he has
been trying to do, without success, for
years."
"Does Bayard suppose that protest
will turn Germany from the course she
has been steadily pursuing?"
81 believe with Secretary Whitney,
that definite policy should be adopted
in Samoa. To send our ships there with
only their present instructions, is simply
to subject their officers and men to hu-
initiation, or, as Secretary Whitney says
using polite term out Of respect,
suppose, to Bayard-under irritating con-
ditions, from which their self-respect
makes them revolt. But Secretary
Bayard cannot punish Secretary Whitney
or Mr.. Bates. 1 am weakest, and am
therefore singled out for sacrifice"
Sewall said that, whatever his personal
opinion of the attitude of Bayard in Sa-
moan affairs might be, he had, during
his entire term of service, loyalty and
Implicitly followed the Secretary s
instructions, Notwithstanding that they
placed him in false and humiliating
tposition. In reply to an inquiry as to
whether German aggression had been
going on for so long time, Sewall said
that the recent news from Samoa, which
had 80 aroused the country, was but a
repetition of what had happened before.
"Why," said he, "a great stir has been
made by the announcement that martial
law has been declared by Germany in
Apia; but this is not the first time the
German Consul has declared martial law
in force. German sentries, even before
Americans had been deprived of their
rights to joint vote in the govern
ment of the town, had been commanded
to shoot, until they were dead all men,
not answering their challenge, and
the notice giving warning OF this was
posted in German script only. An Amer
lean banner was torn down by the Ger
mans and trampled on when war was
declared against Malietoa. Apia was oc-
cupied without notice to the Americans.
A leading American merchant, standing
on his own land. was knocked down by
a German sailor who, on his return to
his ship, was imprisoned for not having
bayonetted the man. 1, myself, was
stopped on the highway of Apia even be-
fore war had been declared and an officer
whose command had taken possession OF
that part of the town threatened 1 would
be shot if proceeded. German sentries
were posted around my consulate at
night. 1t is for testifying to these facts,
L presume, that my resignation was
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