Los Angeles daily herald., 1889-01-30
BISMARCK vs.. BAYARD.
A Specimen of Sharp Di-
plomatic Fencing.
THE CHANCELLOR PROTESTS
But Utterly Fails to Justify the
Germans or Throw the Blame
on Americans.
IA Associated Press Dispatches to the HERALD.

OH AmtTlCduS.
Associated Press DISPATCHES to the HERALD
WASHINGTON, January 29.-Of the va
rious documents transmitted ny the Pres
ident to Congress, explaining the cours
of the Department of State in the Samoan
complication, the letter of Prince Bis
marck to Baron Won Zedwetz, of tn
German Legation at Washington, il
November, 1887 and the reply Of Secre
tary Bayard through Minister Pen
dleton, in January, 1888, ar
perhaps the most interesting, a
presenting in clear and interesting wa.
the respective claims of Germany ant
the United States. Prince Bismarck. il
his letter, refers to complaints, befor
made, of the anti-German attitude OBJ
served by American Consul Genera
Sewell during Germany's action agains
Malietoa. Bismarck added that German,
had had similar experience with the
predecessors of Sewell on all OCCASION
whenever that government endeavored
in view of the unsettled state OF affairs
in Samoa, to obtain better guarantees
for the protection of German subjects
and their commercial interests. "The
reports of our representatives in Apis
for the past seven years." says he, ere
peatedly contain the complaint that theil
American colleagues showed a ten
dency to interfere with our rela.
tions to the Samoan government
and to Undue the latter with distrust
of Germany. At the outbreak of hostil-
tiles in 1881, when the commander OF the
German ship Move, on requisition oi
the German Consul at Apia, and on
agreement with the Samoan government,
occupied Apia in order to protect the
foreign settlement, the American Consul,
DR.. Dawson, protested against that
measure and caused the editor of an
Apia paper to publish series of articles
containing injurious statements against
Germany's representatives"
He added that OF fifty commercial sta
tions ana smaller trading places, Ameri-
can firms own not one. German firms
owned in 1885 twenty-one ships for trade
in the South Sea, while American firms
had no vessels of their own. The Ger
mans had brought, by the systematic es-
tablishment of plantations 1885 acres
under culture, while American plantata-
tions dc not exist; and only about
100 acres Of property owned by
Americans are cultivated. The houses
and property owned by German subjects
represented the value OF $4,000;
Americans, $50, 900. Germany had never
made use of this mercantile preponder-
ance to secure commercial PRIVILEGES, as
the United States recently did in Hawaii,
bv the ratification of a renewed re-
ciprocity treaty. He goes on to say:
''We always maintained the principle of
the equality Of the rights OF nations in
Samoa, and never aspired to political
advantages. Moreover, we have repeat
edlv given assurances that it is not our
intention to change anything with regard
to the relations of the treaty powers to
Samoa. 1 fail, therefore, to find in the
facts themselves any reason that could
explain the ill.will shown towards
us in Samoa by American representa-
tives, and should be thankful to Bayard
if he would lend me his assistance in the
investigation of this strange fact. Should
my supposition be right that these
difficulties have their origin in the per-
sonal disposition of representatives and
not in their instructions, l am con-
yinced the American Government will
cause necessary redress to take place.
It cannot be conceived that consular Off
GERS who do not respect the limits of
their task, and who cause, by their con-
duct, international ill-feeling between
countries entertaining friendly relations
toward each other, act in the sense of
their government, with which Germany,
since the foundation of the American
Union, has been connected by traditional
friendship"
In his dispatch to Minister Pendle-
ton, Secretary Bayard resisted the con-
tention that the troubles in Samoa were
due to the acts of American Consuls,
and presented counter-charges against
Germany Is representatives. He reviewed
the various diplomatic negotiations, and
said this government had manifested a
desire to avoid all possibilities of differ
ence with the other treaty powers
in Samoa. Had the government
of the United States entertained any
designs of territorial aggrandizement or
political control in Samoa. they could
have been accomplished with much sat-
isfaction to the natives long prior to the
date of either the German or British
treaty; but another and widely different
policy has guided our action in respect
to native communities in the Southern
Pacific, and the Secretary thinks it is not
claiming too much credit to express the
opinion that our example, as exhibited
in treating with Samoa as an independ-
ent State, led to similar course being
adopted by Germany and Great Britain.
When the conference in Washington in
July, 1887, was suspended it was solely
for the purpose of enabling the repre-
sentatives Of Germany and Great Britain
to consult their respective governments,
and no intimation was then given that
the status quo would be changed:
Continuing, Secretary Bayard says
"Prince Bismarck has referred in bis
note. as the German Minister did in the
conference, to guarantees to be de-
mauded and obtained from the Samoan
government. Whenever the guarantees
had been explained they had been found
virtually to involve the foreign control
which that government proposed IN
the German.Samoan convention OF
1884, and also in the plan present
ed by the German Minister in the con-
ference. The ground upon which such
control had been deemed essential is the
weakness of the native government, but
for the very reason that the native gov
ernment is weak, it has seemed all the
more clear to the United States that the
control of the islands by any strong for.
eign power, or it's representative, would