St. Paul daily globe., 1889-01-27
SOMETHING OF SAMOA.
The Little Kingdom Which Form
the BASIS Of All This Rumpus.

Diplomatic circles, the world over havl
been more or less excited and interested TO,
the past ten days over the stirring news from
the moan islands, Pacific sea-group ths
local government OF which may involve the
United State and Germany in war. AS de
veloplng arrogant posltivism on the part Of
Bismarck and almost ultra conservatism 90
the part of bayard, the recent developmentS
have been of surprising interest and havs
excited universal desire to know something
of this group of islands and the histort
which has preceded the late outbreak.
Where are the Samoan islands and what
have been their relations with the threS
great powers now represented, diplomatioa
ally and by naval armament, at the harDce
of Apia!
This group, which has always been better
known as the Navigators', consists of twelve
lying about midway between the Sandwich
islands and Australia, and distant 5000
miles from each. They are of volcanic
origin n and contain, in me e. aggregate, bu.
acres are not only arabic, but exceed.
ingly rich i'll soil. Savai and Upolu
are the principal islands of tho
group, but Tutuila, at the extreme east.
ern limit, contains the harbor of Pangas
Panga, ceded to the United States, and valu-
able as an unapproachable haven and tho
chief coaling station for trans-Australian
commerce. The population, which has won.
uorIully lnCredSeQ OI ldle years, apprOaCDeS
'O,uO0, largely German, but with growing
American tendency. The importance of the
Samoan group as South Sea station was
recognized as early as 1873, when Commo.
dore Meade made a treaty with Chief Maunga,
by which Panga-Panga was
CEDED TO THE UNITED STATES,
and since held in peaceful possession. The
senate, i'll ralfylng the treaty, 50 modified 10
as TO eliminate any intlmation of the 'obliga.
ton of protection In later years the
Ga m MT tn hp TTr,iro
States and Great Britain respectively TO es.
tablish protecturate over the islands, but
the appeal was declined in each case. with
the tacit understanding that both govern.
Samoan autonomy. The real spring of the
present diflic alty is found in the apparent
desire of the German government to break
down the autonomy and set up protecto-
rate, and back of this desire is the fact taat
Bismarck is interested in the Hamburg com.
pany which owns most of the cultivated
land, and, to large extent, controls. Samoan
commerce.
The first real outbreak was in the spring Of
1885, when an effort to annex Samoa to New
Zealand was defeated. The German man-of-
war AlDatross was in the harDor of Apia, and
landed party of Marines who, headed by
DR.. Steubel, the German consul general, tore
down the government flag, hOiSted their own
and drove the king and his followers back
from the town. This act was promptly dis.
avowed by the German government, and was
passed over. But the German intrigue took
another form. King Malietoa had been the
sovereign of the islands, duly recognized ny
the great powers, and whose title came down
in an unbroken line for 500 years. Tamasese,
the present claimant, was vice king, and by
German encouragement in 1856
SET GP A CLAIM 4;
to the throne. He removed to Fasetootia,
and was there visited by the German SQUAD
ron, and recognized as authority. King Nal.
ietOa appealed TO United states Consul
xol<o yba da6 Nil al,-
nation declaring Malietoa the rightful king,
and hoisting the Samoan flag surmounted by
the United States ensign, thus virtually es.
tablishing an American proteetorate over the
was promptly recalled by President Cleve.
land but it had the effect of encouraging
MalietOa to organize an army of resistance
and prepare for war: Capt. Day, of the
United States steamer Moh1can. approved the
action of Greenebaum, but az gen.
eral conference of all the foreign consuls,
called by Malictoa, il was decided to avert ali
difficulty, recognize Malietoa as king, and
call upon Tamasese to lay down his arms.
The apparent agreement OF the three great
powers to this programme brought peace to
Samoa for some months. but in June, 1887,
the Germans again assumed the aggressive,
Three war vessels arrived In the harbor and
snmptuously entertained Iamasese, with his
banner flying at their mast heads, within 400
feet of Malietoa's residence. Consul General
Becker followed this insult with a letter to
Malietoa, with trumped-up indems
nifty bill, and a demand for an
abject apology to the German
government. Upon the failure to imme.
diately obtain either, Commodore Heusner.
of the German squadron, sent body OF
mariners ashore to sack the kings house,
but Malietoa had fled in the night Heusner
then declared war and proclaimed Tawasese
king. in the face Of the protests by repre-.
sentatives OF the American and British gov.
ernments. A few days later, Malietoa was
decoyed on board the German man-of-war
Adler. on the pretense of q conference. but
was forcibly detained, declared prisoner Of
war, and
FINALLY DEP0SED.
Subsequently he was taken to New Guinea
and thence to the Marshall islands, where, as
will be seen by this mornings dispatches. he
is now. Subsequent events upon the island
are personally fresh in the public mind. The
of Malietoa refused to recognize
the royalty of Tamasese and have declared
Chief Maafa for king, and quasi recognition
has been given him bv Howard Tuyall, sent
out to succeed Greenebgum as American
consul. John G. Klein, the newspaper cor.
who appears to have figured quito
extensively in the recent affrays, is the rep
resentative of California and New York pa.
pers. and it is through him that all but OF,
fetal information has reached the United